Return to Jorgaldur Volume II: the druid archer

Dungeon second floor

Just by getting close was enough for it to attack the lynx. Those beings moved instinctively, and their greatest danger was that it was difficult to locate them, unless you had a spell like Goldmi's.

They aren't very strong, neither offensively nor defensively, but their surprise attack can cause considerable damage if it can hit, and it is difficult to damage them if they manage to hide. However, the feline was adept at both dodging and catching them, so the rock worm's skills were clearly restricted.

They were hunting them for a while, a somewhat cumbersome task for what it means to have to go find them, lure them out, or act as bait, but it wasn't excessively difficult for them. Goldmi, too, dodged them relatively easily, and might even have pulled them off the ground if there had been plants around.

In a few hours, they had managed to locate and annihilate twenty of them, which was neither very efficient nor gave them much experience, so they decided to try to locate the floor boss as soon as possible, and move on to the next one. Although, first, they would rest for the night. They couldn't see the light from the sky, but they knew the time outside thanks to a kind of clock that the elf had, and that even gave the temperature.

Perhaps, one of the reasons they didn't find these rock worms challenging was because they were one level higher than them. After having suffered from slugs for weeks, while being many levels lower, or after having dealt with hundreds of them at once, it was placid to fight off worms whose greatest danger was their ability to hide in the rock.

They spent two days touring the tunnels, and wiping out over a hundred of them, and reaching level 23, before they located the boss worm.

She had unlocked a magic resistance passive, and, as a skill, she now had Pacify, which consists of reducing an enemy's hostility towards a target. In the game, it was very useful to redirect attention to or from her sister, depending on the situation, and she had it at 8.

The large cavern where the boss was supposed to be was empty, but Goldmi had detected a strong presence, and 5 other weaker. They entered cautiously, and she used Life Detection again.

"The boss is there. Five worms are there, there, there, there and there," she pointed to various locations.

The lynx went towards one of them, causing a rock worm to come out, which they finished off quickly, even investing energy to shoot three by three. They wanted to get rid of the smaller ones as soon as possible, to avoid problems.

"Three are going against you. Another is approaching me. The boss isn't moving," the elf reported after Detecting them again.

She used Float to get out of range, while the feline waited for the others. Although it was a mana waste, she wanted first to help her sister deal against those which were going to attack her.

As she had announced, one after the other, three worms attempted to Ram the lynx, though only one of them managed to graze her, and was quickly subdued by the joint action of both sisters.

Then, the feline went towards her sister, so she was attacked on her way by the last worm, although it didn't manage to hit her, and was caught, so it disappeared soon after.

The two of them rested, while recovering mana and watching that the boss didn't move.

"I'm going to take a look," the lynx stepped forward.

Her sister was looking at her worriedly, but when she reached the place where the guardian of the passage to the next floor was supposed to be, nothing happened. She confirmed that it was still there, and frowned at not understanding what was happening.

"Now what?" Asked the elf.

"How do we wake it up? Or maybe it's better not to. Couldn't we go directly to the next floor?" suggested the feline.

"We can try. Do you see the way out?"

"Maybe there, under that stone."

"Move a little, I'm going to try."

The archer fired with Rough and Piercing Arrow included, and slightly cracked the stone. Suddenly, a level 21 rock worm, about five meters long and one meter in diameter, appeared, and attacked the closest one, the lynx, who jumped and dodged it. After having detected the movement of mana that formed the boss, much larger than the others, she was ready. However, she couldn't prevent it from hiding again on the ground after receiving three Rough Arrows, as its size made it very difficult to trap it.

They had damaged it a little, but it was difficult to continue doing so when it was hidden in the ground. However, now they knew how to lure it out of there.

She fired at the stone again, which was presumably blocking the way to the next floor, and this time the huge worm lunged for the archer, who used Fallback to get away and avoid the attack.

Immediately, the lynx attacked the stone, which caused the floor boss to turn towards her, while several arrows hit its back.

They soon discovered that the tactic of attacking the stone alternately to get its attention was very effective in keeping it out of the ground, in keeping it going from side to side like a headless chicken. It wasn't even necessary to attack the stone with much strength, since a simple arrow was enough to draw its attention.

In the end, it was surprisingly easy to get rid of the massive rock worm, which, unable to set a target, barely had time to attack, nor to display any other skills. In fact, the second floor of the dungeon hadn't been a challenge for them.

As on the previous occasion, they rested to recover mana and energy, before going down to the third floor, as the blockage had disappeared when the floor boss did so. Level 22 beings awaited them there, though they didn't think they would be a great challenge, but they knew they couldn't be overconfident.

However, it was clear that it couldn't be more difficult than when they had entered the dungeon while being eleven levels lower than its inhabitants. They had undoubtedly overcome the toughest test, although they knew that a single mistake could lead to a tragic outcome.