Syl

Chapter 153: First Roadblock

We managed to catch up with Pelopi before we reached the next room. Ian was a little upset by her tomfoolery but soon forgave her.

"Aren't you worried about traps?" I asked.

"The first floor doesn't have traps," Jet explained. "Although it is better to be safe than sorry."

"Is that a universal dungeon rule or just for this one?" I asked.

"This dungeon specifically, although it's quite common for most multi-floor dungeons. Obviously, the big labyrinth maze dungeons are only a single floor, so the traps are there from the beginning."

"Also... You didn't have a rogue in your party." I said, pointing to Ian. "How exactly did you expect to get past the second floor?"

"Well, originally, we planned on mostly farming the first-floor mini-boss," Ian explained. "Although we did consider me being a human trap detector."

"Please never do that in the future. I say as both guild staff and a loyal member of the rogue class," Jet said authoritatively.

"Yes, sir..." Ian grumbled, causing Pelopi and Eliza to giggle together.

The next room we had to deal with was a small group of ogres. They were smaller than the minotaurs but a larger pack, and they had several random monsters smashed together with them. The most troublesome had clearly been merged with a salamander and seemed to almost copy Ian in setting itself on fire. Both were at a stalemate in dealing damage, so we mostly left them to wail at each other while we cleaned up the rest of the room.

The most unfortunate of the random monsters was an ogre merged with possibly a harpy, griffon, or another feathered monster. Despite having massive wing arms, it couldn't fly at all and just flapped desperately in an attempt to soar towards us. It promptly died while flapping like an idiot.

Once again, ice played a big role in our victory, and I got to show off my versatility in targeting the monsters' weaknesses. We chopped off what parts we could before rushing to the next room. I had assuredly sneaked a piece or two extra into my storage for slime food. Much to my regret, I had gained no levels, so I was beginning to suspect my built-up experience debt.

The next room made me wonder if I had already upset the dungeon. We faced yetis as the group theme; giant white wooly monsters entirely immune to ice. The pack was smaller again, clearly a much bigger threat individually than the ogres, but still not at the minotaur level again. This time, I got to bring out the [Fire Magic] and gleefully joined Ian in setting them on fire.

Other than a single iconic enemy per room, most of them seemed entirely random in their monster distribution. That led to one of the yetis having giant, meaty crab claws instead of hands, so it immediately snapped its own weapon in half before charging at us. The truly unfortunate yeti, however, was one joined with some form of vine plant monster, and it burnt spectacularly when it made contact with Ian. The troublesome enemy for the room was a yeti made partially out of granite, clearly merged with either an elemental or a golem and covering for its weakness to Fire.

We spent quite a long time wailing on it until it eventually died. Arguably, I should have used [Water Magic] and blasted it with the deadly water beams, but at the time, I couldn't think of a way to safely use them in coordination with two party members fighting and dodging in melee combat with it. So, taking the simpler option, I swapped to using [Acid Dart] despite not having any of my elemental advantages.

'Seriously, Gramps? I'm going to tell Mother you're stealing my Elementalist experience!' I mentally threatened the void.

"The mini-boss is likely coming up next," Ian announced while we were looting what we could.

"What can we expect?" I asked curiously.

"It'll mostly be focused on this floor's theme but have a minor effect from the next floor," Ian answered.

"How would that apply to this Mutation?" Eliza wondered aloud.

"It'll be three or four monsters slapped together at a minimum." Jet answered.

"So, another horsebullman?" I joked.

"That would be great! That rock yeti was not fun..." Pelopi mumbled, chewing on one of her horribly misshapen bear claws.

"That certainly would be the least dangerous option." Jet agreed.

"Which means we definitely should expect something much worse." Eliza pointed out.

"Boo..." Pelopi grumbled.

"Well, I'm almost full on Holy energy, so I got plenty of room for big heals," Eliza said, causing everyone to ready their weapons and glance towards the passageway.

We cautiously ran through the passage until we reached a fancily engraved archway with glowing sigils.

"Boss time!" Ian said excitedly.

Unfortunately, we couldn't take a sneak peek at what we would encounter, as they would spawn once we all entered the room. I could see a massive locked door in the distance, which would only open once we defeated the boss and led us to the second floor.

"Remember, retreat is an option," Jet pointed out. We all nodded to his welcome advice.

Even the final boss of this dungeon apparently wasn't a lock-in fight, but we were all warned that in future dungeons, that did become a normal condition, and very rarely would a high-level dungeon spare you if you couldn't handle its final challenge.

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We entered the room, fully battle-ready, when our foe dropped from the ceiling out of nowhere. It appeared to be a giant scorpion made of both molten rock and ice. Despite being the boss of the floor, it was about the size of the minotaur-centaur combo and only slightly bigger than the earthshaker bear.

Something about it seemed odd, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Ultimately, we just needed to kill it, so I discarded that nagging feeling in the back of my mind.

"Wow. The dungeon really hates you, Syl." Eliza joked.

"Scorpion! I want its claws and tail!" Pelopi shouted cheerfully.

"Focus!" Ian shouted as he taunted the boss and charged forward to grab its attention.

I started my debuff cycle; I was going to throw absolutely everything at this monster just in case. Perhaps I could even seal the deal with a well-timed [Decay]. Obviously, I started with [Erode] into [Hex] to immediately begin benefiting the others, as I doubted they cared if I made a likely ice-resistant monster marginally weak to it.

Pelopi shifted into a more feral form, her legs becoming wolf-like and digitigrade with dark grey fur to match. Even her teeth elongated into fangs, although I doubted she would be taking a bite out of either side of the elemental scorpion.

Jet slinked to the room's edges and began providing ranged support with his double-hitting crossbow bolts, aiming for the tail whenever possible. Since I was going through my routine at this point, I thought about what hitting twice with one attack could potentially imply. Assuming he had [Sneak Attack] or better, did that mean he received the bonus damage twice?

Ian set himself on fire as usual; even if it did little damage to the monster, he would still provide a constant supply of Dark energy for Eliza to siphon and use offensively. However, at later levels, if his resistance becomes too high, they might need to figure out a new trick.

All my debuffs were in place just as I watched Ian use his new ghost shield to block an incoming strike from that menacing-looking tail. I wondered if it was poisonous, possibly a new sample for me to grab after the battle?

Pelopi was pouncing around, trying to strike at its legs to reduce its mobility, so I chose to join Jet in trying to target the tail. I shifted my primary core to Lightning, and after a quick [Thunder Step] to reposition myself, I fired a [Lightning Bolt] directly at the tail.

"Bloody hells!" Pelopi shrieked, her furry bits standing on end.

"Of course, Lisa sold you her skill! Ha!" Jet laughed.

The scorpion, however, was not happy about being shocked, and surprisingly, when it flicked its tail, an icy shard of purple ice targeted me. Rather than dodge, I threw up a quick [Aegis] to block it and watched it shatter against the magical shield and scatter some sizzling ice shards.

"Is that poison ice?" I questioned aloud.

"Could be! Be careful of that tail," Eliza warned. "I'll keep some Holy in reserve for detoxification."

I kept peppering it with [Lightning Bolt] spells whenever possible, which it clearly didn't like as it kept trying to sway toward my direction before Ian controlled it to stay focused on him. I would have thought he might blindly take some pincer wounds from the monster to fuel Eliza, but instead, he was thoughtful about it and would either deflect a pincer with his axe or dodge to the side and only take a grazing blow.

There was a brief scary moment where it unhinged its mandibles wide and breathed a frosty breath on Ian, but he roared in response and exploded in flame to counter it.

I kept feeling something was wrong with the monster; weirdly, it had yet to do any fire attacks against us. I could understand it sticking to ice in an attempt to counter Ian, but the rest of us would've surely been prime targets for some molten rock and fire.

Things were going well; we were almost in a battle rhythm, and with its tail looking extremely weakened, I decided to try to remove it from the equation.

"Heads up, Pelopi! Stay clear of its rear!" I shouted before triggering [Thunder Step] and appearing near its side rather than its rear.

I shifted myself and some extra cores to Water alignment and began trying to recreate the thin blade of water I had seen in the final moments against the undine. With all the debuffs stacked together, I was pretty sure I could entirely remove the tail now that it looked thoroughly mangled from all the damage Jet and I had caused it.

I began casting the spell; four perfectly overlayed [Torrent] spells, compressed together in an absolutely tiny spell form. With so many of my cores now aligned to water and my new skill levels, it looked perfect and perhaps even better than what I had seen Aquillia use. With an upward sweeping motion, I cast the spell and targetted the scorpion tail; the water screeched through the air and scored the dungeon floor and wall in the path it traveled. In the path, it impacted with the tail and, with a gruesome sound, sliced through the tail and sent it into a spinning loop into the air.

The scorpion screeched in rage as its tail stump leaked its purple fluid, which likely still posed a slight threat if it got into someone's face. Still, I'd rather have some purple goop to the face than a giant stinger stabbing through it.

"Thanks for making my job easier!" Ian cheered.

"Thanks for the warning!" Pelopi said, looking slightly startled.

It was looking great. Now we just needed to finish off the last dregs of its health, and we'd be done with the first floor. That was when something seemed to shimmer above the scorpion's main torso.

I blinked rapidly and started swapping through all my different visions and senses, finally landing on [Electro-magnetic Sense]. I had marked the monster with [Conductive] so it shone brightly according to this vision, and that's where I saw the faint, blurry outline of what looked like another torso from just above and behind the scorpion's head. I could see the faint traces of something long ending with three-prongs in the blurry torso's hands.

The blurry image suddenly lurched, and I could see a vaguely feminine form holding a trident. It was already mid-thrust before I could shout my warning, the hidden trident stabbing deeply into Ian's shoulder before being ripped backward and tearing flesh with it.

"Ian!" Eliza screamed before a golden light enveloped him and rapidly closed the wound.

Ian immediately backed off, holding his axe in a defensive stance in front of his body. "What the fuck hit me!?" He screamed.

"I don't know? I didn't see anything!" Eliza answered.

Pelopi was frantically scanning the room as if looking for hidden enemies. I realized nobody else had resisted the illusion, although glancing at Jet and his lack of surprise made me rethink that.

"It's hiding its other body behind an illusion!" I shouted my answer to the others.

"About time!" Jet shouted with a chuckle. "You kids forgot all about the second mutation!"

The scorpion woman thing was now behaving more defensively; it looked like we still had round two to win before we could move to the next floor. It was as if knowing it was an illusion, combined with my resistance trait and my senses, that more and more of its hidden features were being perforated. Suddenly, the odd feeling I had regarding the monster made more sense, and even its molten rock body was a complete lie! It had no fire and was almost entirely ice with a few bits of rocky carapace.

Everyone was taking defensive positions, staring at the wounded scorpion with newfound caution and worry. Other than some bloodstains, Ian looked healthy and ready for round two.

"Still... If the dungeon is already throwing illusions at us on the second floor, I hate to know what the third floor will have." I overheard Jet mutter to himself.

I readily agreed, and I wondered what cruel fate chose these particular mutations for the dungeon run I was on. Either the dungeon was out to get us, or was Gramps a lot angrier at me than I thought?

I shook myself out of my negative thoughts; it was time to finish this fight.

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