15 The Might of Magic (2/2)

As I read, I was amazed at my memory of the whole thing. I absorbed the knowledge like a dessert soaking up water when it rains. Even without any notes, I processed the information with machine like efficiency. The extra intelligence was already very notable. I may invest in its first perk next. I mean, knowledge is power, right?

I glanced around the sewer room for a bit longer, wondering if there was anything hidden. While searching the place, the throne of the rat king looked oddly suspicious. I walked over and pressed down on the throne.

The stone tablet sunk, and darts shot towards me from above. They bounced off my armor like rain on a window. I shrugged before a set of stone tablets lowered around the dungeon floor, revealing a staircase.

I walked down the stairs brimming with excitement. Now it's time to go dungeon delving. I walked down for about ten minutes before reaching a doorway. A circular, hollowed out slot was at its center along with a weird language I couldn't read.

At least, I thought I couldn't. After focusing for a few seconds, a few of the words came into focus.

”Level 2...Put....core....slot...”

How could I read this though? I put my hands on my hips before an epiphany suddenly smacked me. I said, ”Holy fuck! I can't believe it. This is what perception does.”

This is why the skill was so good. The skill didn't just let you see your surroundings more clearly. It let you understand things you didn't more easily. That combined with my higher intelligence and sheer willpower let's me interpret random runic glyphs that make no sense. That's what lets me understand the lizard's language.

How else would non-combat skills be even remotely useful? I mean, I had to invest into combat given my early circumstances, but now I didn't. Information can be worth it's non-existent weight in gold. I'm sure my realization of all this is due at least partially to my increased intelligence at this point too.

My armor deformed before revealing a pitch black orb that glowed with a white outline. As it landed in my hand, I was holding a tiny little eclipse in my fingers. The dungeon cores looked as valuable as they were.

I put the core in the doorway, and the orb floated midair. Tendrils of light leaked into the doorway from the core before light expanded all around the glyphs. The door slid open revealing a massive cavern.

Torches sparsely lit dozens of pillars stretching from the top of the cavern to the bottom. Wooden bridges stretched out from these pillars, connecting makeshift shacks at the midway points of these pillars. Gremlins, goblins, and orcs walked on these bridges. Some of them were as high as level 20.

At the bottom of the dungeon, swarms of angular, sharp insects crawled on the ground. Colored a deep, menacing purple, these reached up towards level 30. In the distance, a gremlin laid on its knees in front of an armored orc. The orc kicked the gremlin down into the abyss, and when it landed, the insects swarmed it. It died in less than a second.

I already could paint a picture of how this place worked. Orcs ruled over gremlin and goblin slaves. The insects kept them fighting over the limited space the pillars offered. What a shitty existence.

Well, they wouldn't be existing for much longer. I was plenty deep now. I activated oppression and trot forward. Several goblins and gremlins fell of the bridge leading towards the first pillar. They died within 2-3 seconds of oppressions aura. Sick.

I trot forward, the goblins and gremlins dying in a wave as I went forward. Their bodies would disintegrate into blue mana that my armor absorbed before reaching the bottom. The insects below cried out, likely feeling cheated out of a feast.

I passed by absorbing the easy ambient mana. The orcs would charge at me, weathering the aura rather well. They'd die after around 10 or so seconds, but it was still much better than the others. A few even reached me. I would smash them like dropping an egg of a countertop, but they did reach me.

I got zero exp for these enemies. They were far to low level for any exp. Still, they gave tiny bits of ambient mana. I'd see what the boss of this area was like. He'd give me another dungeon core, and then I'd be able to get another perk. Hopefully, at least.

I walked for a while like this, inflicting an effortless genocide on the village. About two hours later, I reach the fanciest shack here, with skulls, feathers, and totem poles jutting out from it. An ogre strolls out, a deep green compared with the lighter shade of his minions. Muscles ripple as he moves with a club of iron. His teeth jut out from his jaw, and above him it reads,

Cracole, Exiled Ogre of the Wild(Level 34) - An ogre that was exiled by his village for his cruel methods. He was sentenced to become a bottom dweller, living in the darkness of the caves below the village. He slowly bided his time, trying to amass an army strong enough to over take the vilage.

After Schema moved his village, his plans fell apart. Now he is a bitter, angry cheiftain, who unleashes his wrath onto the weaker members of his village.

I suppose the easiest method for judging a person's character isn't how he treats those above him. It's how he treats those below him. It doesn't matter. He's like a BloodHollow bat.

As I near him though, he contorts. He vomits a stream of blood before the veins on him turn black. Claws grow from his fingers. Skin grows over his eyes and nose. His arms lengthen. His teeth turn long, like knives while acid drools from his mouth.

What the fuck is going on? I walk until it's within oppressions range. It crumbles down before roaring with an inhuman, alien sound. The Schema's message of what it is changes.

Monster(Unknown lvl 84) - A force unleashed this being's inner potential at the cost of its mind. Be wary.

I sprinted forward as it stampeded towards me. We clashed at the center of a bridge.

Stronger than I, it pushed my back. The wood beneath me cracked as I pushed against its shoulders. We shook as we struggled, each of us trying to get the upper hand. Jerking sideways, I used the monster's momentum to force it against the bridge.

It charged again, but this time I planted my feet. I torqued my hips sideways and arced my fist forward. It traveled overhead, and right as the monster reached me, my fist collided with the top of its head.

I nearly bounced backwards at the sheer force of the impact. The creature crushed into the bridge, crushing wood like dry leaves. The echoes boomed seconds later in the gargantuan cavern.

I lifted both fists into the air and crushed the monster into the bridge again. With a few more strikes, the beast's skull cracked open like a wet walnut. A few seconds later, it died. As I started wiping purple blood of me, my armor chomped on the corpse in a grotesque malformation of metal.

The screeching of bending steel finally stopped when it finished eating the corpse. With the fight handled, I turned around, wondering where and who the necromancer was. There was no movement on any of the pillars, except for the writhing of insects below the bridge.

Beneath my feet, the wood creaked for a second. I glanced down, noticing just how fucked up the bridge was at this point. I pushed off my feet to run off it, but the bridge collapsed as I did so.

I fell downwards for a few seconds. My skin pulled on me, and then my stomach floated as I fell. A second later, my head whipped as I landed with a monstrous boom. Stone cracked, and bugs hissed in pain. As I pushed myself off my landing spot. The insects swarmed towards me.

Thank jesus for oppression. I smashed the bugs like trying to kill cockroaches. They gave a similar, satisfying crunch when I hit them.

A few seconds later, the insects crawling on me died from oppression. I hid in their bodies, using them as a shield from the other insects. The bodies dissipated as my armor absorbed their mana. Of course the greedy little fuck couldn't wait a second.

The insects could actually damage me, mainly with poison. Without oppression, I would have died there. It took over an hour of killing these damn things before they thinned enough that I could reach a pillar.

As I climbed the pillar, I checked out my notifications. I'd gained a level, so I put a point into dexterity before my perk screen appeared again. I'd gotten another core from the chieftain.

[Powerful(Strength of 15 or more) - Your strength is admirable. Doubles carrying weight.]

[Smart(Intelligence of 10 or more) - Your intelligence is good. Doubles effective memory.]

[Flexible(Dexterity of 10 or more) - Your dexterity is good. Doubles flexibility bonus.]

[Perceptive(Perception of 10 or more) - Your perception is good. Doubles sensory bonuses.]

I select powerful this time. I'd wait until I put more points into intelligence for the smart perk, and besides, getting up this pillar is hard as fuck. I'd been putting off powerful for a long time too.

My body and armor lightened a tremendous amount, so I crawled up the rest of the way with ease. Once atop it, I sprinted towards the exit. Whatever unleashed that chieftain, I didn't want to fight it. At least not here on unstable bridges.

I reached another stone wall just like the one leading into this dungeon. My armor spit out the dungeon core into my hand. Holding the tiny eclipse in my palm, streams of light flowed into the gate. The glyphs on it glowed blue before the doors slid open. Dust fell from the corners and cracks of the ancient stone as they moved.

The door opened. All I could see was a wall of sickly, purple smoke as the doors opened. This mist condensed into a single point. From it, a gray man walked out. Wearing ornate robes, his skin peeled off him, like a mummy. His body was dry as cracks in mud, and when he moved his hands, his flesh crinkled.

An aura leaked off him, nothing like my own. My aura suppressed until something died, his decayed until no life was left. It tore into my health like Baldag-Ruhl's insects. The wooden bridge behind me collapsed at its might.

This lich's eyes glowed a deep blue, like plumes of navy fire. He let his mana ebb outwards. When it crawled over me, I choked on it. This mana was thicker than the sand that the Lord of Worms let out. I couldn't even breath. He didn't even need time to set this up. He just had the mana needed for it. He was that powerful.

As I gasped for air in the mana, the thing spoke with a gritty, archaic voice, ”What have you done to my son?”