Chapter 387: Day 806 – To Tower Or Not To Tower?
I had cleared five dungeons in level 3 zones in the last couple of days. Some of them had been a pain, searching for their exact position in the zone. Especially the last one, which was at the end of an intrusion or crack from the adjacent void zone.
It was one of the last places I had looked and was quite annoying to find. The void zones were weird, and the Protector had no idea what they were. Best guesses included errors in the Almighty System’s layout, or past battles where the zones had been blown away somehow.
Or more worryingly, one mega super battle. If that was the cast then it was like saying the void zones were an act of god or an act of the Almighty System. Our level of abilities was too small. Maybe in time we would come to figure out what exactly they were and why they doted the landscape, but that day was not any time soon.
I had used two of the skill upgrades on Acid Shot maxing it out with nullification and gestureless. It didn’t need another minor effect and I wanted to cut through defenses better. The cost of the skill had doubled again, which made me wince. It had gone from 160 energy to 320 energy.
But I was used to the ability to just think the skill into existence. Having to say words and make a hand gesture impeded my fighting style. I felt a lot better about Acid Shot even with the higher cost once all the upgrades were maxed out.
I had a specific way that I was used to fighting. While I could make changes to it to use hand gestures and words, I felt diminished. Even the increased cost wasn’t too bad with my Spirit and Regeneration stat being at 10,000 respectively.
My limit in combat was about 20 uses. While I could go up to around 30 uses, I would need to save energy and keep some in reserve for Air Burst and Force Wave. That was why I set that mental limit for myself. It kind of sucked that I couldn’t create waves of acid anymore to overwhelm my opponents, but the increased power and how I had easily dealt with all the level 4 monsters had put my concerns to rest.
I should be able to deal with a level 5 monster, or at least damage it now. That was very important in my mind. If I could damage something, then I could kill it. If I couldn’t damage it, then I was completely out of luck and could only retreat.N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.
The next three upgrades were much harder to decide. I had gone back and forth on what skill to invest them in. It was either between Air Burst and Force Wave. I wanted to pick Air Burst but getting Force Wave upgraded would allow me to unleash one mega-attack by surprise. Since the cost would quadruple from 500 to 2,000, combined with Acid Shot. It wasn’t something I could spam in a fight.
I had tested the combinations and I could hit something with Acid Shot and then follow up with the much harder to spot and wider range Force Wave to create the annihilation effect. I would only have a short time period while Acid Shot still had energy which didn’t disperse. The liquid quickly following after the skill, leaving behind melted physical matter. It was a couple of seconds but I had been working on the timing.
Realistically, the best effect was having both skills hit a target at the same time. It wasn’t going to be simple or easy. I had no doubt that a level 5 monster would have the ability to dodge and have enough intelligence to make a combination attack very annoying. I might, big might, be able to damage a level 6 monster, but it was all guesswork at that point.
I moved while using my skills. So much easier to move, attack, and think when the skills were entirely mental. A hemisphere of the sphere golem shot off taking out the first Acid Shot but the second one impacted the golem.
Unlike before where I had to stack attack after attack with the hope it would do something, now the golem just melted away like butter in a microwave. It quickly turned to dust before it could unleash a single attack. The point crystal hit the stone stairs and I didn’t even give it a look. If I was going to grind points, then it would be on a level 5 monster, not these things.
That was my favorite kind of fight, one where the monsters or the other party didn’t even have a chance to do anything. I heard a lot more impacts and glanced upwards. All remaining nine sphere golems were bouncing their way towards me.
Oh, that was interesting, but I suppose they thought I was a real threat. Kill one, stir them all up. I waited calmly as they kept approaching. I already had a plan in mind if they all decided to act at the same time. Two steps away, I acted. Acid Shot x2. Acid Shot x2.
I targeted two of the lead golems. They intercepted the first acid shots by ejecting part of their outer shell, but the follow up attack got them. I kicked of the stairs moving backwards. By the time I was at the bottom six of the nine golems had perished.
Acid Shot x2. Acid Shot x2. Now there was only a single golem left. I retreated a bit and let it land in front of me curious to what it would do. I normally didn’t like letting monsters have an attack against me, but I wanted to see how much their capabilities differed compared to the other golems.
The golem launched a metal blade at me from its shell and began rolling rapidly towards me. I dodged to the side. It kept rolling at me and quickly adjusted course. Blades extended to either side. It was a death ball that was trying to knee cap me.
Acid Shot. Acid Shot. I leapt back again and it turned to dust and dropped a point crystal before it could reach me. Too easy.
It was always hard to judge how much I was improving since level 4 monsters could vary so much. But I had put these golems at the same combat level and ability as the crusher golems. Before it had been a fight for my very life both times, I had confronted them.
There was always a bit of a shadow in my heart. Not a huge one, but it had always felt like a defeat having to run back to a city. Then the other level 4 monsters were so varied, it was hard to compare them that easily. But these level 4 monsters were clearly the same golem or tower type of monster. Silver metallic constructs hell bent on my death and very geometric.
The fact I could finish one off in a single attack so quickly spoke volumes to the power of a higher level skill and its ability to inflict damage. In fact, I had overkilled the golems in my mind with a single Acid Shot on their main body.
I waited calmly. While I wanted to go up the stairs and look inside the tower, and check the other sides of the tower I wanted to make sure I had all my energy back first. No sense in tempting fate when hordes of level 4 monsters could come pouring out of the structure.
