Might as Well

Their journey through the depths of the mine was neither slow nor fast. They walked at an even pace, destroying all the monsters that came before them. It started with one or two zombie miners attacking them, each augmented in a different place, but it escalated fast.

After half an hour of walking through cramped corridors, they widened. Increasing in width enough that more than four zombies could march against them next to each other. Not that the monsters were helped by their increased numbers.

Despite their chimeric existence and their clearly enchanted prostheses, they weren’t much of a challenge for Sam’s team. Because at their core, they were just zombies.

And basic zombies like these were slow and dumb. So, very dumb.

Sam was pretty sure that the only reason they didn’t hurt each other with their wicked sharp prostheses was because whoever created them included either a friend-or-foe identification in the equipment or was simply controlling them through the enchanted metals.

It was pretty interesting.

While watching either Katie or Dan dismantling the current group coming against them, he cast his gaze on the prostheses decorating the bodies of monsters. Some of them had their arms replaced, some their legs, some had metal tails with spokes at the end. There were a few that had their whole upper torso replaced with enchanted gear, leaving only their legs and head free from modifications.

Or there was one that had only its head replaced, which was adorned by one big eye. Naturally, it shot lasers at them through it.

He spent some time focusing his mana senses on the metal equipment grafted onto the bodies of poor departed miners, and while the structure of the mana inside was fascinating, it was inherently chaotic and followed no rhyme or reason that would allow Sam to replicate it some way. Or learn new runes to add to his collection.

Though in the end, the chaotic mana inside the monsters did give him an idea; however, inside a fracture was not the perfect time to experiment with new spells…

They continued through the dungeon, bashing through every monster, no matter how fast or strong it came at them, their superior skills and teamwork making almost a mockery of them.

Soon, they reached the end of the last corridor and all of them could see that it opened into a bigger hall, shrouded in darkness.

Super conveniently, before the entrance to said hall, there was a small area, where the walls and ground were carved into chairs and tables, perfect for a party wanting to rest.

“So, I assume this means we are going to fight a mini-boss, right?” asked Clarissa as she poked one of the chairs with the butt of her staff.

Sam nonchalantly reached out to Katie’s collar, grabbing her and preventing her from sneaking into the cavern as he answered.

“More than likely. Or maybe an event. Monster waves seem to be popular nowadays…”

Dan simply nodded and collapsed into one of the chairs. He spent a few seconds getting comfortable, then nodded again.

“Much more comfortable than I was expecting,” he stated, then leaned back with his eyes closed. “Man, I love these skills, but the concentration necessary to do what you taught me, boss. It just turns my brain into mush…”

Clarissa also took a seat and sat her staff next to her while folding her hands in her lap.

“Agreed. They make me much more powerful, but it’s damn hard…”

Stopping her struggling, Katie threw her head back and glared at Sam through her helmet, then relented and relaxed into his grip. Then, a moment later, she turned towards Clarissa.

“Dunno, I think it’s fun! Sam’s a good teacher! I just do whoosh,” she exclaimed demonstrating with her hands, doing some kind of motion that probably made sense to her. “Then waaah, and then another whoosh then bamm! My enemy is dead and I’m happy!” Every sound was punctuated by another weird hand gesture.

Sam had to chuckle at the despair on Clarissa’s face.

“Of course, she is some kind of idiot savant… why not?” the healer muttered to herself.

Sam let go of the excited berserker, who fell on the ground instantly, ignored the complaining meow from Puffball, and spoke up.

“Alright people, let’s take five! Go over your gains, rest your eyes, and so on…”

Receiving affirmatives from the team, he also sat down and opened his status screen. It had been a long time since he went over his gains. Unfortunately, he hadn’t gained a level yet, but his skills went up plenty. Not by much, as the one-shot fractures weren’t exactly monumental challenges, but he was still happy with getting even closer to his eventual goals.

Sam eyed his skill collection for a few moments, then he turned his attention to the notifications screen where a list of changes awaited him.

[Mana Manipulation is now Level 27!]

[Mana Shield is now Level 66!]

[Mana Tempered Body is now Level 24!]

[Mana Gaze is now Level 5!]

[Controlled Slash is now Level 1!]

[Triple Mana Slash is now Level 1!]

[Mana Body Enhancement is now Level 62!]

[Mana Influenced Body is now Level 10!]

[Mana Disruption is now Level 13!]

[Spell Layering is now Level 14!]

[Mana Construct is now Level 13!]

It was not a big growth, but he felt it was heading in the right direction. Plus, the synergy between his skills and abilities was just too nice. There were a few more skills he wanted to make his build complete, but he would need to prepare for them a little more. One of them was from a hidden fracture some distance away from Ironwood City, the other only had some stat requirements.

[Light Ball III is now Level 1!]

[Clean IV is now Level 2!]

[Ground Shake is now Level 2!]

[Wind Bullet III is now Level 8!]

[Wind Explosion is now Level 1!]

[Wind Movement is now Level 30!]

[Aerodynamic is now Level 1!]

[Wind Edge is now Level 5!]

[Wind Affinity is now Level 58!]

[Gentle Wind is now Level 1!]

[Active Meditation is now Level 45!]

[Battle Awareness is now Level 5!]

While he didn’t have many chances to flex his bigger spells, the smaller ones still got their chance to shine.

[Advanced Shadow Footwork is now Level 9!]

[Shadow Grace is now Level 4!]

[Shadow Burst II is now Level 1!]

[Shadow Mirage is now Level 17!]

[Shadow Shield is now Level 21!]

[Shadow Affinity is now Level 24!]

Thanks to his great control, now that he had the Shadow Affinity skill, it shot up rather fast as he applied all the tricks he learned from manipulating wind-natured mana to the shadows. He hoped that soon he would be able to catch it up to Wind Affinity.

[Advanced Sword Mastery is now Level 14!]

[Basic Armor Mastery is now Level 41!]

[Calm Heart is now Level 46!]

[Flow is now Level 42!]

[Earth Resistance is now Level 8!]

[Multitasking is now Level 78!]

[Parallel Processing is now Level 9!]

Small it may be, but Sam was rather satisfied with his growth. Now he only needed to clear this fracture and then go do the two he knew were in the area that the Silvercrest family controlled, while also looking for one more where the treasure trove fracture should have been.

Looking up from his status screen, he called out.

“Lucky!”

The excitable wolf surfaced instantly from his shadow, filling the small area with his bulk and silky fur. Puffball hissed in a challenge, but after one growl from the giant wolf, the small unnatural cat familiar retreated behind Katie, while Lucky looked back at him with a proud look on his silly face.

“Let’s go boy, it’s time to show the world what you can do!”

Everybody looked up as Lucky began barking in excitement and then chasing his own tail while it wagged happily.

Sam turned to the others and spoke up.

“I’m ready. You guys?”

Katie sprang to her feet with the same energy as Lucky. “Ready to kill, boss!” She unsheathed her greatsword and began swinging it around to warm up.

Dan opened his eyes and let out a sigh. “Sure! With Lucky, I won’t have to concentrate that much…”

Clarissa also stood and nodded at him. “I’m also ready.”

“Good! Then let’s go and see what the dungeon has for us!” he exclaimed and before he could even move one of his legs, Lucky shot off, bowling over Katie, and rushed into the cavern.

Running after Lucky, they found themselves in an interesting cavern. The side where they entered looked like it was naturally formed, but around halfway through the cavern, it transitioned into clearly man-made stonework. As if the mountain simply swallowed an entire building. Stonework and mountain rock blended into each other seamlessly as if formed that way at the beginning of time.

In the middle, where the man-made construction met the geological one, stood Lucky in an attack position, growling at a giant zombie, as it stood on the opposite end of the corridor, in front of a dilapidated gate.

As it growled back and almost lunged forward, Sam observed it.

It was bigger than any of the zombies they had met so far, almost two times as big. Its arms were long enough that its knuckles brushed the floor, and Sam could see that the craggy skin formed into formidable muscles, or at least a facsimile of them. One of its legs was replaced by an enchanted prosthesis, as were both of his arms up to the elbow, forming menacing-looking fists that radiated death. The only other thing that looked like it came from the same source as the prostheses was the helmet it was wearing. It had several antennae on it and a few blinking lights.

By the time he finished his observation, the monster made its decision and lunged forward at Lucky, clearly threatened by the wolf’s presence.

Lucky in reaction let out a small howl, unleashing his Fear Aura, but to their surprise, a simple sickly green shield sprung up originating from the helmet it was wearing, which simply caused the aura to go around the monster.

The wolf didn’t much care. His claws shone with wispy shadows and jumped directly at the charging zombie.

“Shield him, please,” he called out almost silently to the watching healer.

Instantly, barely visible hexagons surrounded the excited wolf.

“Thanks!”

“No problem,” came the equally quiet answer.

Then he turned back to the fight and called out to his companion.

“Go for the arms!”

There was no reaction from Lucky, but he could see that the claws that were previously aimed at the jugular of the monster were moving just a little bit faster.

However, the zombie wasn’t idle. It raised its arms at the same time as Lucky’s claws reached it, forming a cross guard and causing a great sound to echo around the cavern as claw met metal. Lucky, experienced in battle, used the monster’s crossed arms as a platform to jump away, directly at one of the many shadows that obscured parts of the room.

As the shadow swallowed him, the monster looked around confusedly for a second, but then its beady eyes found their group and it snarled in rage.

Though, before it could charge at them, Lucky reappeared behind it, claws raised once again.

Sadly for the giant zombie, this time it wasn’t fast enough to react, and the team watched as both arms fell to Lucky’s guillotine-like claws, separating them from the main body.

For a long moment, it stared at nothing, then let out an earth-shattering roar.

“RAAAR – urk…”

Which was interrupted by Lucky going for the throat and ripping the monster’s head off.

Then, as the body fell, Lucky dashed around it to arrive in front of Sam, with his tail wagging proudly, ready for compliments. Sam naturally reached out and began to pet the proud wolf, with Katie joining him almost immediately.

“So, it was not a mini-boss,” spoke up Clarissa with a sigh, then joined Katie in providing some ministration to the wolf, who looked like Christmas came early for him.

The mini-boss was in the next room. It was another bruiser like the one that stood guard at the gate, only once again, twice as big and the fists emitted a sickly green aura that was definitely not friendly to the living.

Unfortunately, for the monster that is, they fell relatively quickly under their assault, as they simply sent in Lucky, and while the wolf distracted the not-so-bright monster, they unleashed their attacks on the monster.

It made a very amusing gurgling sound as it was electrocuted, burned, and diced into pieces at the same time.

Sadly, the drops were only more ores. While it was disappointing to them, it still showed that the fracture had a lot of future.

After dealing with the mini-boss, they continued their journey.

Sam knew that fractures like these had anywhere between one and three mini-bosses, and this particular one had two. The first one, the gate guard, was simply a bruiser, who specialized in physical attacks. If one distracted it, as they did with Lucky, it was child’s play to defeat it with magic.

The second one, however, was different.

After trudging through several more corridors, made from stone bricks, stacked on each other with inhumane precision, illuminated by torches burning merrily with green light, and destroying zombie miners as they came at them, they arrived in front of another door.

Over the door was a big plaque, showing a pickaxe and a shovel crossed over each other.

Not pausing, Katie opened the door and stepped inside.

She instantly had to bring up her sword as she was attacked by a monster. Their weapons clashed, sending out a clanging sound, but before they could retaliate, the monster jumped back, leaving them at the door, at the same time healing light enveloped Katie, returning the health she lost in the attack.

Sam prepared for the fight, readying his skills and making sure his mana was ready to react while observing the monster. The other Sam had gotten lucky and managed to go through this fracture once, while two guilds fought over its ownership and freelancers were free to exploit it. Even then, the second monster was rather famous for its ambush at the beginning of the fight.

The monster itself was the same size as the previous mini-boss, but it was much thinner, and both of its arms were fully mechanical. However, it also had a helmet that protected one from mind attacks.

In its mechanical arms, it was holding a shovel that looked like a normal shovel in its hands but was almost ten feet in length and the edges of the shovel’s head shone, showing it was razor sharp.

On its back, affixed there in some manner, was an equally large pickaxe. Sam knew that after it lost fifty percent of its health, it would throw away the shovel and use the pickaxe to continue the fight. The trick was to kill it before that happened.

Instantly, he began to issue orders.

“Clarissa, shields! Katie, distract it! Dan, blind it with Ash and Lucky, prepare for ambush!”

There was no discussion. All of them followed their orders without any complaint. Katie dashed forward crossing her greatsword with the shovel in the monster’s hand, while Lucky began prowling in the shadows behind the monster. Dan chanted for a moment, then pointed his weapon at the zombie, and a small ash cloud shot off toward its face.

The moment the monster’s head was enveloped in a thick cloud of ash, Sam exclaimed.

“Now! Aim at the neck!”

Immediately, the entire party, including Lucky (and Clarissa with her basic offensive spells) unloaded on the blinded monster.

A second later, its body fell on the ground with a meaty thud, sans its head, as it was obliterated by their combined attack.

Sam glanced around and saw that Clarissa was doing a little dance.

“What’s up?”

“I leveled up?”

“Oh? Congrats!”

“Thanks!” she replied with a smile, then focused on her notification screen.

Sam turned to the others. “How about you guys?”

“I’m about twenty percent from the next level,” came the report from Dan.

“I recently leveled up, so it’ll take a while for me…” grumbled Katie.

He nodded, then turned towards the loot. “Let’s see what our headless friend has for us…”

Once again, he was met with a pile of ores and several magical crystals, all useful for creating or fueling magical furnaces. Finally, under all the material was a skill book.

He picked it up and took a look.

[Surprise Strike]

“Huh…”

Katie walked up to him and looked over his shoulder. “What is it?”

“Surprise Strike! Mind if I learn it?” he asked while eyeing the others.

Clarissa took a look, but after she saw the details, she nodded. “Go for it!”

“It’s not magic, “ came the agreement from Dan.

Katie simply nodded with a smile.

Sam returned the smile, then learned the skill in short order.

[You learned the skill Surprise Strike!]

[Surprise Strike: Level 0/25 (0%) Unleash a surprise attack. Can be only used as an opening move, and has no effect if used during a fight. The strike made with this skill has a 2% increased critical chance, per skill level and a 5% increased damage per skill level.]

A very powerful opening move. Especially if leveled up, so Sam was rather happy with his gains.

They spent a few minutes resting, waiting for Clarissa to deal with her level-up, then continued their journey.

Once again, they cut through the small monsters with contemptuous ease, while making sure they didn’t miss any hidden treasure. Sadly, they found nothing.

Almost an hour after they entered the dungeon, they finally reached the last door. It was bigger, and instead of wood it was riveted steel, with a giant emblazoned skull on it.

Sam looked at the others and spoke up.

“Ready?”