NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 13: Inspiration And A Bad Influence
Only an hour after they’d entered The Endless Tunnels, the party was ready to brave the deeper reaches of the dungeon. Seeyela had gotten her advanced class within the giant image of a green spider that spread across the chamber and rained Ghost-Web Venom on anything underneath. The damage to the ant horde had been so extensive, even Seena’s cascading antsplosions had taken a break. When all was said and done, Seeyela Bamf’d back up to the group to share her new class, The Unseen Fang.
Like her sister, the terrifying spider was an actual living creature somewhere in the world—some kind of spider-god-patron that had decided to take Seeyela under its tutelage. What it meant for the world at large that such a massive and dangerous beast existed somewhere was a question for another day, and the group prepared to punch through the horde of ants.
More immediate was the Evolutionary Inspiration bonus Hiral had gotten from witnessing Seeyela’s evolution. Like the others had gotten when he achieved his advanced class, he’d gained an upgraded skill, and a surprising one at that.
Class Ability (Passive): Ever Changing+ – Every time the Duelist changes fighting styles, techniques, or weapons, they gain a stacking bonus of +3% critical hit chance and +8% critical hit damage.
It was roughly a fifty-percent increase in efficiency, and though it looked small at first glance, when it was at the full 5 stacks, it’d be pretty impressive. Though, now that he was starting to see more of these critical hit chance and damage bonuses, how would they work?
Only one way to find out—testing!
“I’ve confirmed the Mid-Boss was down that tunnel, there,” Left said, returning from scouting with his Way of Shadow. “There are ants in the tunnel, but certainly nothing we can’t handle. Also, the regular Soldier Ants from this room don’t seem to travel up the tunnels. There are several of those spawn points along the way, but they only produce groups of three.”
“So, once we’re through the room, you’re saying we don’t have to worry about this horde of ants chasing us all the way to the Boss?” Seeyela asked.
“That seems to be the case, yes,” Left said.
“I wanted to see how high Racial Growth could go,” she said, a slight sulk to her voice.
Hiral took a quick look at his status window to spot the impressive tally it was already sitting at. Just over an hour of endless carnage had racked up quite the number. Labeled simply as Giant Ants—PIMP is lacking creativity on this one—they had amassed aRacial Growth level of 6, with 701 ants killed out of 750. With the bonus at 25%, it was just stacking the odds against the already heavily outmatched ants.
Will level 7 actually go up to 30%?
Looking at the ants waiting below—and the four fireballs floating about Seena’s hand—they were definitely going to find out sooner rather than later.
“Ready?” she asked, the same manic grin back on her face.
“You’re addicted,” Hiral said.
“I can stop if I want,” Seena said. “I just don’t want to.” Then she threw the four fireballs in a wide arc to splash into the poor, crowded ants.
Hiral quickly shared Killing Spree+ with her to help her regain the solar energy she’d used, and she gave him a tap on the shoulder in return. Which was fine for him—he had some more testing to do—and he drew his RHCs as he charged down into the carnage.
Running a thread of solar energy into the Ring of Amin Thett, he drew Death Knell and Stormstrike out of the storage space, but left them floating loosely by his sides. Instead, he pulled his triggers on cooldown as he waded into the enemy lines, and the Chord rang in his ears. The searing bolts of Impact easily dropped any Soldier Ant they struck, and his own Killing Spree+ was already capped.
More importantly, after almost ten seconds, he sheathed the hand cannons and went to work with the swords in the air, all the while keeping an eye on his notifications. The first stack of Ever Changing+ quickly popped up, signaling he could have the floating swords already out and ready without worrying about the swap to them not counting.
With that concern out of the way, Hiral focused again on working his way through the mass of monsters. The Chordguided his actions as he waded in, body going through the motions like he was performing a practice routine. Even though his fists didn’t come anywhere close to striking an ant, every punch, elbow, flip, and swing cut monsters down around him. A glance at the flashing notification window in the corner of his vision showed him a handy countdown on the first stage of Ever Changing+, and as though the Chord had foretold what would happen next, a mass of ants charged for him.
Letting the floating swords return to their ready positions at his side, Hiral swapped to the Emperor’s Greatsword over his back and cleaved through the entire front line with one swing. It wasn’t like he needed critical hits at this point to drop the ants, but the practice swapping from one weapon to the next would show its value when they got to an opponent he couldn’t one-shot.
Powerful, sweeping swings carved the way forward for the party, though it wasn’t like the others behind him weren’t also earning their keep. Chain Lightning+ devastated the ant ranks, as did the powerful Gravity Wellslashing out with venomous streamers of energy. A trio of explosions even sounded on the other side of the line of ants in front of Hiral, and his timer told him it was time to switch anyway.
Sheathing the sword over his back in one quick motion, Hiral hit the next ant with a quick one-two punch combo, his Rune of Impact caving in each side of the monster’s head. With it down, his fighting style swapped from overwhelming to elusive. Darting between the ants as they tried to get their mandibles around him, his Lost Echoes instead exploded in their faces. And, where some of those deaths led to A Violent End, the resulting detonations cleared a path for the rest of the group.
Just like that, less than thirty seconds later, the party rushed up the tunnel leading to where the first Mid-Boss would’ve been. Like Left had said, none of the monsters from the giant chamber seemed eager to follow them, and they instead hit their first patrol of three Soldier Ants. If they were any stronger than the more numerous version in the big room, they didn’t show it, dying in short order, and the group pressed on.
“Your exploding pets really made a mess in here,” Seeyela said to her sister as they jogged up the tunnel.
Charred and broken ant-bits lay scattered all along the tunnel, with scorch marks staining the walls so thoroughly it was like they were painted black. And yet, somehow, the glowing roots providing light remained undamaged. Luckily. Sure, the ants weren’t terribly threatening, but fighting them while being unable to see would be another matter.
Then again, it might be a good challenge. Maybe I should blindfold myself to rely on my Atn. Might even get an achievement for it. Except… Seena would probably consider that extremely reckless.
“Didn’t hear you complaining when those same pets were raking in the experience,” Seena joked back.
“Wasn’t complaining,” Seeyela said. “Just noting. I’m all for wiping these insects out.”
“We crossed over into level seven of Racial Growth,” Hiral said. “Thirty-percent damage bonus now, but, oof, fifteen hundred more kills until we get to level eight. Ah, I think this is the Mid-Boss room ahead,” he added, not even slowing since they’d already killed that monster.
Leaving the small tunnel, the group entered a wider room, a raised dais in the center with what looked like a desk made of earth. Around it, there were another dozen smaller desks, and the whole room had chitinous body parts scattered like leaves.
“What did we miss?” Yanily asked as he went out to the side, inspecting one of the desks and even opening a drawer in it. “There’s paperwork here. I can’t read any of it, but since when can ants read or write?”
“Think I found what’s left of the Mid-Boss,” Seeyela said, standing over by the largest desk. “What little is left,” she added, holding up a mandible at least three times bigger than anything they’d seen up to that point, but oddly shaped. Instead of the usual serrated inner edge, it almost looked like it had been carved into a specific shape, with two square teeth. The outer side, normally rounded, ran perfectly flat. Seeyela looked at it for a moment longer, flipping it over in her hands, and then the thing vanished as it was swallowed by her Interspatial Ring.
“How many of your pets do you think made it in here?” Hiral asked, looking at the singed ceiling and walls.
“All it would’ve taken is one or two,” Seena said. “I’m guessing each desk had another ant, and if From the Ashes+ triggered on a couple of them… Well, boom,” she added with a little exploding gesture of her fingers.
“Saved us the trouble of doing it ourselves, and we still got the experience. Win-win,” Yanily said. “Looks like there’s a tunnel out the other side. We taking it?”
“You bet we are,” Seena said. “And, listen, people. I know we’ve had it pretty easy in here so far, but don’t let your guard down. These are still Elite enemies, and we’ve got a Mid-Boss and Boss ahead of us. They could have all kinds of tricks up their ant-sleeves.”
“We know,” Seeyela said, putting a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “We’ll be careful… while testing out our new classes,” she added, tossing Hiral a wink.
“You’re a bad influence on her,” Seena said, scowling at Hiral.
“Me?” he asked.
“Yes, you.” She then very purposefully walked over behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Somehow, telling me to be careful and then go first seems a little at odds,” Hiral mumbled. Still, he motioned for his doubles to join him, then headed up the tunnel exiting the large room.