The pair marched through the second phase of the dungeon with as much ease as the first. The new wolves, though bigger and tougher, still fell to Rayna’s Wind Blade. It took a couple of extra casts, but they still had less defense than the bears from wave one.
The group had been in the dungeon for less than a day, and everyone, other than Brandi and Derek, was making rapid progress. Soon, Malorie used her blade staff and killed the last remaining wolf. Rayna, from just the wolves, had gained two more levels. Derek, because of the XP share, had even leveled again.
Thomas had leveled to 27 and Mal, because of her uncommon class, had made it to level 28. As both of them had been putting stat points into endurance and vitality, Derek almost felt safe letting them stay out of the cabin and fight like Rayna. After debating for a while, he decided to wait until they were both at least level 30. He had faith that Thomas’s spear skill could handle a wolf easily, but Mal didn’t have any skills other than Ohm’s Might.
Besides, all that was left in the dungeon were the boar and some panther-like creatures. Luckily, the majority of the boars were solitary and wandered around on their own, and the panthers were the same. Derek figured that Rayna would have no problems with taking out the boars—and depending on reaction speed, the panthers too.
They approached a boar just as they did the bear from the previous wave. When they were close enough, Rayna began her assault. Sure enough, with only four strikes, and before the beast could even charge, it was dead. Seeing the ease at which she was able to take out the beast, they increased their clearing speed. In no time, they slaughtered all the boars. Derek stored a few of them in his bracelet for future meals.
Next were the panthers. They took the same approach as they did with the boar, but before Rayna could get within a comfortable range, the panther noticed them and charged. Rayna let out a Wind Blade, but the panther sidestepped it and continued its approach.
Derek didn’t intercept the beast. While Rayna had good firepower, her class was actually more speed-based. He wanted to see how she handled herself against an enemy that seemed to be even more agile than she was.
She didn’t disappoint. The fight lasted much longer than usual, but the victor was the woman. He finally saw the woman use her other skills in battle and was surprised at how well she could integrate the Wind Walk skill into her combat. Instead of using it to escape from battle, she used it to propel herself forward at the unsuspecting monster and simultaneously, with Razor Edge activated, cleanly thrust her blade through the skull of the creature.
The recovery after the battle took longer than usual because of the mana usage, but Derek didn’t mind taking a little extra time. They continued their slaughter. Rayna got more and more comfortable fighting the panthers, and she finished the final one before it could even attack.
As soon as the last monster fell, a bright pillar of light flashed at the center of the area. When it faded, a piercing howl rang out through the dungeon. Derek saw a giant white wolf in the distance, standing at least 15 feet tall. He used Identify on what he assumed was the boss.
Canis Cyclonis
Level 65
A boss monster spawned in a low-level beast dungeon. A wolf with the power of wind coursing through its body.
“Hmm… I think I’ll take this one,” Derek said while looking at Rayna. “You should probably get back to the cabin.”
“No complaints from me.” She smiled as she retreated.
Derek ran toward the beast. He expected it to charge him the moment he was discovered, but to his surprise, the wolf only glared at him with its keen blue eyes.
Then, out of nowhere, the wolf raised its paw and swiped down. He was waiting for a wind blade or something to fly at him, but instead, the wind picked up. Soon, it was a gale. Finally, the wind formed a tornado and began closing the distance between them. Derek stood still, interested in the attack.
Soon, the tornado engulfed him. The wind lifted him off his feet, and the force of the rotation caused him to spin uncontrollably. Even with all his stats, it was still a dizzying experience. The wind blades he looked for before appeared inside the tornado. They sliced through his leather armor one after another, leaving it in tatters. Shit. Why didn’t I remove it before the fight? Oh well, maybe Brandi will be able to at least repair leather armor.
Soon, the notification he was waiting for appeared, showing that his Magic Resistance had reached level 7. Not liking the feeling of being tossed around by the wind, Derek decided that enough was enough. Now, how do I get out of this?
Ah. I know! Derek activated his new skill, Void Shift. His mana took a giant hit because of it, but all his surroundings paused, and everything changed to a transparent shade of purple. Uhh… Everything was still, but he was still floating in midair, and his mana was draining rapidly. Derek focused, letting the Void Sense he had pushed to the back of his mind move back to the front.
Again, he could see the ripples in space. This time, they were more prominent. He reached toward a ripple, and when his hand made contact, it moved through, disappearing. He quickly pulled his arm back out. Uhh… Is this like a portal? After observing the process, he realized that was not the case. He was not opening anything or causing a disturbance. He was just interacting with the void that was always there.
The ripples were everywhere, and while he was shifted into the void, he could interact with and use them somehow. Derek focused more on his Void Sense. He could feel the ripples more than see them. Again, he reached into the ripple in front of him. He suddenly felt a change in another of the ripples. He looked over and was taken aback when he saw his arm sticking out of it.
He hurriedly pulled his arm back and grabbed his hand. He then focused on a ripple that was close to the ground and put his hand through the one beside him. Sure enough, his hand appeared through the other ripple. Holy shit! He really wanted to experiment more, but his mana was almost out.
Derek moved his arm that was poking out of the other ripple and felt around. When he reached the edge of the ripple, it felt solid. He took a deep breath, only to realize that he couldn’t and had not actually been breathing. He used the solid foundation to pull his body through. It worked. If he focused on a space, he could use it to move around.
It was almost like he was in a space with zero gravity, except when he stopped pulling himself, his body came to a complete halt. It didn’t continue in motion. Soon, his entire body was through, and he was out of the tornado, floating only a couple of inches above the ground. He focused on one of the solid spaces and pushed himself up, righting himself above the ground. He then pushed on the space above his head, and his feet found purchase on the ground. This is going to take a lot of getting used to.
Everything happened in seconds, but it still seemed longer than his 2150 mana pool should have allowed. Four seconds of using Void Shift should have been his limit, but he was definitely in it for longer than that. Remembering that he had not been breathing but still felt perfectly fine, he thought of a possibility. Maybe the mana in my body also paused along with everything else—or at least diminishes slower. Seeing his mana at less than 10%, Derek made a note to investigate further, then canceled the shift.
His surroundings started up again. The tornado was whirling behind him, and the wolf was standing in front. Seeing Derek appear out of nowhere, a flash of shock glistened in the wolf’s eyes.
Derek, feeling the mana headache that came from using up most of his mana, didn’t feel like playing around anymore. He summoned his glaive and jumped forward before the wolf could react. Reaching eye level with the beast, he drove his glaive with both hands into the blue eye of the creature. The angle was such that the glaive penetrated the eye and broke out from the top of the skull.
Derek landed back on the ground and dismissed his glaive, the wolf’s body falling seconds later. The wind died down, and eventually, everything was calm again. Derek momentarily slipped into Greater Meditation to replenish some mana to ease the headache. A couple seconds later, his mana was above 15% and the headache was gone.
He let out a sigh, thinking about all the ways he could use his new skill and the potential dangers of it. One thought was, what would happen if he was in the middle of transitioning between ripples and he ran out of mana? He shuddered as he thought about his body lying in two halves. Let’s not test that theory.
Another pillar of light formed in front of Derek. When it disappeared, the dungeon orb was floating in its place. I guess that means the dungeon is complete.
He walked back to the cabin, dragging the corpse of the giant wolf behind him. He turned the knob of the door and opened it. “Okay, you can all come out now. The dungeon is finished. It’s time to get our rewards and head to the next one.”
