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Chapter 219 - How dwarves level up
🕑 Added 2021-04-03 13:01:01 +0000 UTCIt took just 10 minutes to arrive at the location of the firework. A couple of Wooly Rams appeared during that time, but not one of the mountain variations showed up. According to Sevaris, this was normal, the two types of sheep would rarely be seen together, and the rams even fought against each other. Since the other team already had cleaned up the area, the monsters were nowhere to be seen.
When they meet up with the other team, Naka quickly got a report. The Plains Sheep was waiting on the other side of a hill. It was possible to see some of its wool moving in the distance. Now they still had to wait for the other team to arrive. Although the captain was responsible for killing the boss, everyone would attack it once to get some share of the experience. Hera wasn't sure if that worked. When people were power leveled, they usually went for high-level dungeons and just completed the quest, or they captured and completely restrained monsters before letting the lower level one kill it. Having everyone share the experience by hitting a monster once didn't seem to have a very good result. Then again, she wasn't going to complain about their culture.
After another five minutes, the other team arrived. Naka walked in front of everyone, "You all know how this goes, but I'll say it again for the humans. I'll attack the boss's attention and hold it in place. You can use whatever you have to deal some damage to the creature. Ranged attacks only. If you have none, get a throwing knife from Mirvia. When everyone got a hit in, give me the signal so I can finish the fight," she turned to Hera and Blue, "Are you going to need a knife?"
"I'm not, but Blue is," Hera said.
"Yeah. I really have to figure out some ranged spells or something," Blue sighted.
A short-haired dwarf with a slender build walked towards Blue. She wore tight-fitted armor that complimented her curves with purple lipstick and black eyeliner. She handed one throwing knife to Blue, "Here, just remember to give me back later, ok? As late as you want," she winked.
"Keep it in your pants, Mirvia," Naka said.
They all moved towards the hill. Beyond it, there was a massive 2-meter tall sheep with so much wool around that it looked like a cloud with legs. You couldn't even see its face between all the wool. The 15 members of the group gathered in a line and prepared whatever spell or long-range attack they had.
"Can you hit it?" Hera turned to Blue.
"I think so. It's too big for me to miss."
"If you need any tips, go ask Mirvia."
"I rather not. She's… too forward."
"I thought you liked that. Or is she missing some muscle?" Hera joked.
The two stopped talking and got ready to strike. Naka jumped towards the sheep, taking her longsword out of her back. Slamming it against her armor created a bell-like sound that made the Plain Sheep move towards her.
"What's Naka's role again?" Blue asked.
"She's a fighter, but all the captains learn some spells and skills to help control the battlefield. That thing she just did is one of those skills. It makes any monster that hears the noise focus its attacks on her," Sevaris explained.
"Oh, I have a skill like that too, but I have to yell," Blue looked back at the captain who was dodging the tackles of the sheep with ease, "When do we attack?"
"We wait for her signal. She has to neutralize the wool tentacles first," Silah replied.
They kept watching the fight. Naka hit the monster a couple of times with the side of her sword, not to cut it but to slam it. The sheep needed to feel threatened before using its wool as a defense mechanism. It took only two hits before the two tentacles appeared from the monster's side. It slammed against Naka like a whip, but the dwarf didn't even flinch. She parried the first strike, sending the wool back against the sheep's body. The second attack went towards her legs and was blocked by the sword, cutting the tentacle in two. The pieces that were cut instantly stopped moving, and the wool started to return to the monster. Naka dashed forward, slamming her fist against what looked to be the sheep's head.
"Now!" the captain yelled.
Everyone started attacking. Silah used a fire spell while Sevaris seemed to punch the air, sending light blue energy towards the sheep. The other guards all used different spells, aside from Mirvia, who just threw one of her knives. Blue did the same, and her attack barely hit. Hera threw a paralyze spell, hoping it would help Naka during her fight. The green projectile hit and triggered the claws that grabbed the sheep and sent off the electricity through its body.
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Plains Sheep – Level 10 – Paralyzed (Wool Affinity)
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Hera smiled, seeing that it had worked. The spell could miss its effects sometimes. Still, every single attack could barely make a dent in the wool. The ricochet from a couple of the hits created large marks around the area, marks much bigger than those produced by the wool attacks. The Plains Sheep was clearly a monster focused on defense. Hera gauged that even she could take those small whip attacks, and they weren't as fast as it seemed. Seeing them coming was easy and avoiding didn't seem that hard. If considering only how to dodge and evade the strikes, it was possible that even Blue and her could beat the boss.
Naka pulled up her sword and started attacking. Her movements were quick and effortless, almost like cleaving through a cloud. Each strike removed part of the wool from the sheep. That didn't hurt the monster, but it got frantic. It tried to move closer to pieces of wool on the ground, but Naka didn't let it. She jumped in front of the beast every time it would reach for its missing parts. Not satisfied with doing just that, she even cut off another piece of wool with each step. Hera couldn't tell if the paralysis made any difference for the combat.
The two continued their dance, with Naka taking the lead until the sheep was completely naked. Its body had a sort of grey-blue color with several black spots around. It was almost like seeing a giant dalmatian. Naka took a wide stance, and with a single slash, cut the monster in half. It was a good thing that the creatures inside a dungeon dissolved. Otherwise, they would see all the sheep's organs spilling out.
Before the sides even hit the ground, they all turned granular and vanished, leaving behind a massive grey package.
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You have completed the dungeon quest inside the Wooly Plains
By killing the king of the plains, you have restored order to the area.
Rewards: 10 000 gold, Cloud Wool
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At the same time that the notification appeared, Silah and another dwarf glowed in a familiar blue light. Unlike what Hera and Blue were used to, the rewards appeared in front of them right away. There was a bag of 10 thousand gold pieces on the ground and a massive bundle of wool. Despite being almost as tall as she was, the wool was very light. She could lift it in a single finger, although balancing it was another thing entirely. Blue got a similar bundle, but her wool was glowing slightly.
"Wow! You got enchanted Cloud Wool!" Silah gasped.
"Enchanted?" Blue asked.
"Yeah! It almost guarantees that whatever is made with that will be enchanted," Silah explained.
“Oh, that's nice. And congratulations on the level up," Blue said.
"Thanks, I'll talk to the captain about the attributes I should Increase."
"You guys need the captain's permission to increase your attributes?" Hera asked.
"We don't need her permission, but we take her advice. It's better to listen to someone that knows better," Silah explained.
"Hey, Blue. Mind getting my knives back?" Mirvia interrupted the conversation.
"Sure," Blue walked over the battlefield and picked the two throwing knives that she and Mirvia used. When she returned, Naka was by her side, carrying the large bundle of meat.
"Now, we leave the dungeon and get ready for the next attempt," the captain commanded.
Everyone nodded and helped gather the drops. The entire team got in total close to 80 kg of meat.
As they walked, Hera turned to Naka, "Can we try to call the ruler's spawn? "
"Not right now. We are on a tight schedule. Wait for the end of the day. If we have enough time, we can give it a chance," Naka replied.
It didn't take long for the group to leave the dungeon. They were the first ones to finish the dungeon run, and before diving back into another one, they had a 30-minute break. The teams gathered a little over 100kg of meat. Ideally, they would get between 5 to 7 hundred kilograms before the end of the day. The breaks were almost like company parties, minus the alcohol. People would laugh and talk, have a barbecue with the freshly dropped meat. There were some drinks, but nothing too strong or that could cause any stomach problems. Silah had a job to fix any weapon that had been damaged. There were only a couple right now, but in the next runs, more would appear. Hera offered to help, but there was no need for that at the moment.
The second run was very similar. Hera's group fought against 40 sheep, and about 5 rams and another team found the boss. The fight was the same, with Naka shaving off the wool before delivering the finishing blow. Talking with the other guards, Hera learned that there was a reason for that. The captain could kill the monster in a single strike, but it would require a very powerful skill that would cause a large crater to appear. If she used that skill near the other guard members, she would put them in danger.
Doing this dungeon felt much less intense than doing the Kobold Field one or the Underground Forest. It was more akin to an average hunt in a room. Fighting the sheep was easy, and even the rams weren't much of a problem with Naka's commands. During the 3rd run, Hera noticed that the captain's orders weren't just a way to control the guards but also to teach them how to fight against the creatures. Naka wouldn't give straight commands like 'move back' or 'go to the left,' instead, she would tell them their mistakes and how to fix them.
They found the Cloud Sheep and killed it on the 4th run, but it only dropped more meat and not the cloud wool. During their breaks, Hera started to help Silah since there were too many pieces of gear to fix. By the end of the first day of dungeon running. Hera and Blue had an idea of what it would be like to level up here. Despite their differences, Naka was a great trainer, and the skills they were learning with the dwarves were strong. Hera also wanted to get more of Risli's teachings. Now that they didn't have a healer on the team, one of them had to heal their wounds. Another unexpected result was that they now had fewer things to do during their free time. With no books or televisions around, it let them focus even more on training. Blue was learning how to be a better controller, and Hera wanted to increase her mana regeneration. She already had the skill at rank 3. One more, and she could get the mage role skill that would boost her abilities and maybe have a chance to talk to Peaches.
All in all, there were several ways to get stronger in the city of Boothudurn. If they managed to keep that pace up, it might not take too long before facing the Sky Ruler.
Comments
Tyler Babcock
I am really starting to like this arc. Really the first time we are getting a good view of the natives in the MAZE. Yet these ones are cut off from the rest, allowing us to still question what the difference between the ones with constant access to other rooms/humans are.
