Chapter 68: The Second Boss And Forseeable Developments

POV Eliza

We went into the dungeon with the new plan. We were still faced with the combined power of mummies and lichs. Our levels were high enough to be able to deal with higher level monsters. But we were still hanging around floor 10. Cornelius wanted to test the effectiveness of our plan and Eleonore's light magic on a few monsters before we entered a cave.

“There are three monsters in front of us.” <Eliza>

Then I waited to see what happened. Eleonore glared at me and cast her light spell to illuminate the area. As a reflex, I closed my eyes and shortly afterwards it became bright around us. A scream was heard from the others. They seemed to have been blinded by the sudden brightness and had underestimated the effect of the light spell. I carefully opened my eyes and looked around. Everything around us had been illuminated. The three monsters, 2 mummies and 1 lich, that were attracted by our proximity were almost within attacking range. I also saw three more monsters that were further back in the hallway. Since they were moving toward us, the light must have activated them too. Without the magic they wouldn't be that.

“Watch out, there are three more monsters coming back there.” <Eliza>

The mummies slowly came closer, while the Liches remained within magic range and cast spells. I cast air bolts on the mummies and dodged the spells as best I could. The others were hit by the first spells while they were still blinded. By the time the foremost mummies were near them, the others had recovered. I was ordered to take care of the first lich. Because everyone could now see well, the mummies were only slightly dangerous. After that, we were able to quickly defeat the lichs and Cornelius gathered us together to discuss something.

“The light spell was very effective, but we should close our eyes first. Each of us now knows at which point in the spell we should do this and are then on the safe side. And we should avoid that in corridors when we are close to a cave.” <Cornelius>

As if we always knew in advance when a cave was coming. I already suspected something bad. It was better not to use the spell in corridors at all, as we managed without it. But that was just my personal opinion and I didn't express it. That wasn't worth the hassle. Nevertheless, we made good progress on the floor. Then came the next cave, although this time we were lucky because it was around a bend. This meant we couldn't activate all the monsters in advance. We got ready and heard Eleonore casting her light spell behind us. This time everyone managed to close their eyes in time. The first look into the cave revealed 4 mummies and 3 lichs. Could have been more, so that shouldn't be a problem.

That's how it was. We were now able to deal with the types of opponents well and we defeated them quickly. The exception was the usual light bolt in my back. I knew by now how much damage it did and reduced my HP accordingly in my status so that Javier would see it in his appraisal. In fact, thanks to my regeneration, I got my HP back relatively quickly. Nevertheless, I cast the water healing spell twice because Eleonore did not treat me adequately when it came to healing.

That day we explored the floorfor a while and then returned to the surface. At the evening meeting:

“This time things went much better. Once we learned the side effects of the light spell, we were able to work around them. So we’re ready for the next boss.” <Cornelius>

“Hmm, the increased visibility is very helpful. It's only of limited use against the Liches, but once we get to the higher floors we'll benefit from it." <Javier>

"Noble heroes, I don't know if it's relevant, but I'm now level 20." <Eliza>

“Just now? How slowly are you rising? We are already much higher.” <Eleonore>

“Don’t be unfair, Eli. She doesn't have our advantage of increased XP gain. But this means you deserve better equipment. We brought appropriate equipment with us. I’ll have them brought to your tent.” <Cornelius>

“Thank you, noble heroes. I’ll know how to put it to good use.” <Eliza>

That evening I got a new spear, a better dagger, leather armor, gloves and boots. Plus a ring that slightly increased my agility and therefore my chance of hitting, as well as two mana potions. The next morning we reached the boss room. Now Eleonore didn't bother to heal me beforehand completely, which she obviously didn't like. We were then all buffed and given protection spells. Then we entered the boss room. As already known, the monsters appeared in the back half of the room. There were several wights and ghosts, many mummies and many lichs. It wasn't clear from the number whether the boss was a lich or a mummy. But my Sense Danger skill clearly pointed to a mummy. This was also supported by the fact that one of the mummies color was different than the others.

“The different colored mummy is the boss.” <Eliza>

“All right, I’ll take it. Keep the rest away from me.” <Cornelius>

He did it again, although I had to admit it made perfect sense. At least for me, because it was the opponent who would propably do me the most damage. First I cast an air bolt on one of the ghosts. Javier and Eleonore also cast spells on the ghosts because their fear spell got very dangerous. Meanwhile, Ansgar instantly ran towards a lich.

The fight broke out immediately. While the lichs retreated to cast spells, the other monsters took care of the two melee fighters. I was again the person who was supposed to take care of the ghosts. As soon as I had defeated them, I took a quick look around and cast a spell on a free lich. Then I launched into melee combat with him. I moved through the battlefield in this rhythm and tried my best not to get hit. Needless to say, I kept getting hit by a light bolt.

I was just on my third lich when thebolts of light stopped. After I defeated the lich, I noticed that Eleonore was being harassed by several wights. They must have moved past the others unhindered. In addition, the Lich who was furthest away from me had also turned to Eleonore. I grinned inwardly and hoped that she learned from this and would rather concentrate on her opponents.

Her precarious situation didn't last very long as Cornelius came to her aid. We were then able to defeat the monsters without any of us being knocked out. I used appraisal on everyone out of pure curiosity to see how many HP they had left. Javier was doing well. He had again managed to take only a few hits, probably from lich spells. Ansgar was on the verge of unconsciousness and Cornelius had also only suffered a little. On the other hand, his shield and armor were badly damaged. Eleonore was also on the verge of unconsciousness and had only not fallen to the ground because Cornelius had come to her rescue. Since we were all injured, Eleonore had to heal us despite her pain, which she visibly disliked. With the exception of Ansgar, we all had our HP back afterwards.

In the meantime, while Eleonore was using her healing spells, I went to the stele and touched it. This time I had a little more time and was able to take some time to look at the skills that I could improve. They were the same as the first stele, only now I also had light resistance to choose from. But my skill level was still low, so it would cost me way too much EXP to improve it. The same was true for paralysis resistance. Since I wasn't interested in the other skills, I decided not to improve them here either and saved myself the development point.

I then quickly went to the chest and took care of the trap. Meanwhile, the others were finishing up and talking about the last battle. I was only half-listening because I had to concentrate. But I heard enough to understand Eleonore's complaints that she was not adequately protected. Above all, I should have protected her better. Cornelius defended her, Javier insisted on his role as a long-range fighter and Ansgar pointed out his wounds. I quickly realized which direction this was going. My time in the hero group seemed to be running out and I should prepare for my expulsion. But things turned out differently.