Seeds of Discordia

Liam, Artem, Blair, and Roman faced the six Diseased Cave Trolls a bit easier this time. Now that they knew what to expect they used counter measures to take them on. They took out two by having Blair drop a Gravity Well in between them which allowed Roman use Wave of Ignition constantly on them until they died. When the Toxos inside their stomachs emerged like an angry horde of wasps that had their nest messed with, what awaited them was nothing but waves upon waves of fire. Each creature poured out only to be burned to death.

Liam had snared another of the Diseased Cave Trolls with his Grasp of the Shadows. After the body had dropped from the venom draining its life away, more of the freshly born Toxos popped right out of the giant creature’s stomach only for Liam to drop a Weak Poisoned Shadow Ash flask right on top of them.

The explosion of shadow smoke and ash completely covered the body and the creatures emerging from it. Within the affected area the Toxo spider creatures were covered with the substance. Their bodies burned up from both outside and within as they opened their mouths to scream and inhaled the burning ash. After the item was spent not a single creature was alive.

Blair flew over to another and attack it with her axe until the giant monstrosity dropped dead. Artem, who was channeling his Water Mana, released his Hydro Rush spell the moment the spider creatures started to emerge from it. He continued to spray the area, soaking the creatures as they spilled out until Liam and Roman joined him and used Static Grasp to paralyze them.

As they did that Artem moved on to the next one to do the same as Blair killed another Diseased Cave Troll. Roman decided to use another one of his new Lightning spells that allowed him to continuously pump currents of lightning into the water and fry the low leveled creatures. Liam switched over and used Static Grasp once more to stop the creatures movements before throwing his Throwing Daggers at each monster until they died.

The last two were killed in almost the same fashion. While they were focused on taking out the fifth Diseased Cave Troll, the last one dropped by itself before they could get to it. Liam had to join Blair into taking them out one at a time as Artem and Roman killed the ones that came out of the fifth Diseased Cave Trolls.

The next couple of mini waves were filled with more Orb Weaver Trapper Toxos and had a new one that had venom dripping from its mandible and fanged mouth. It was a Leaping Rabies Toxo. True to its name it could leap, and not short distances wither. The group was happy that only two had emerged with the pack of Toxos, but they feared more would start to show themselves sooner than later.

The third Wave Boss had ended up being an Orb Weaver Trapdoor Toxo. It looked almost similar to the Orb Weaver Trapper Toxos, but instead it was taller and wider and had some earth magic mixed in with its web trapping power. It was a bit more difficult than the Orb Weaver Trapper Toxos as well due to it not fully emerging from the hole it popped its head from.

Instead, it would try to lock them down in place by shooting globs of webbing. If it missed it would drop back into the hole and allow some Toxo Disease Spider Carriers and Orb Weaver Trapper Toxos to emerge from that hole to attack them. After they had killed the smaller spiders, the Orb Weaver Trapdoor Toxo would poke its head out from another hole. It didn’t matter if the hole was covered with webs or one that already had monster poured out from earlier mini waves. The only thing that Liam noticed was it was always a close hole.

They weren’t always lucky with their dodges when the Wave Boss tried to trap them. A few times one or two of them were caught by the webbings shot at them. Those times were dangerous. It would submerge itself back in the hole allowing more of the Toxo spiders to come out, but at the same time it would cast earth magic to tunnel its way over to the closest trapped target.

They found out exactly how dangerous it was if they didn’t free their companion trapped when Roman had gotten stuck, and Liam tried to cut him free. They saw the trail the giant Wave Boss monster made as it scurried towards him. Liam had freed him two seconds before the monster arrived. The moment they had moved away, the trail stopped making it look like it had dived before several stone spike shot up around the empty webbing like teeth, then closed over the spot and sucked up the area the stone spikes had covered leaving nothing but a hole behind.  

  It had taken them some time to figure out how to kill this Wave Boss. Blair floated above them as they tried to look for the next hole the Orb Weaver Trapdoor Toxo would appear next. The moment it did, Blair called it as Liam chanted his Blanket of Darkness spell while she flew. Right as the monster opened its mouth to shoot out a glob of webbing the shadows created from the hole it was in allowed a tendril to wrap itself around its eyes, blinding it.

A few globs of webbings shot out wildly before it disappeared back into the ground in time before Blair could strike it on the head. The next couple of times it reappeared, even though it was blinded by Liam’s Blanket of Darkness spell, it still knew where they were. Roman guessed it was using some form of Earth magic to feel where they were on the ground. Liam had an idea and shared it with them.

Even though they felt it was risky, they agreed to try it out. Roman was used as bait by getting caught by one of the webbings it had shot out. Artem focused on the creatures that had emerged while the Wave Boss dug its way towards Roman. Blair sliced through the webs trapping Roman in place and got him out in time by grabbing him and flying him up into the air right as the teeth-like stone spikes formed. Right before they closed into each other and sunk into the ground, Liam had finished chanting a spell and threw it into the area Roman once was at.

The pale while orb was engulfed in time before its light brighten immensely. Liam received a notification that the Wave Boss received not only damage from swallowing the Lunar Exposure spell, but it had received additional damage since the Blanket of Darkness spell was still activated.

The ground beneath them rumbled as painful screeches echoed out from the holes all around them. Shortly after that, a massive amount of earth had risen and flew back, like a trapdoor had opened up. It was big enough for the Wave Boss monster to finally emerge from the ground. Liam’s Blanket of Darkness spell had disappeared, and it looked at them with rage through its beady black eyes.

After that, Liam had chanted his Grasp of the Shadows to try and trap it in place before loading it up with his remaining Shadow and Lunar afflictions. The shadows that trapped it in place didn’t hold for long, but it was enough for Artem, Blair and Roman to approach it and start landing their attacks.

The Orb Weaver Trapdoor Toxo didn’t make it easy for them as it tried to use its webbings to trap them in place and if that didn’t work it shot stones the size of baseballs at them or stone spikes from underneath them to try and get its attackers to back off. A few of the stone balls had found purchase against a few of them, taking out a huge amount of health with each one that struck. However, it wasn’t enough as they found the best rhythm to both dodge the earth magic spells, the globs of webbings, and even the occasion swings of its legs and dive back in to attack.

The item it had dropped was a chest piece called Orb Weaver Toxosilk Chest Piece. It was lightweight, but at the same time it felt strong and sturdy. It was stretchy but didn’t tear no matter how far they pulled on it. The defense on it was great since it was a rare rarity and average quality.

To their surprise it had an effect called Reinforced Webbing. The effect allowed the wearer to harden the silk of the armor, increasing the defense by a certain amount. The cooldown wasn’t long, but it wasn’t short either. They didn’t know exactly how it worked or looked when activated, but they had some ideas.

The design looked like more like scale mail than something created using silk or webbings. It was black with dark green hues here and there. They gave it Roman since he needed an upgrade to his current armor. Not only that, but the chest piece he was currently wearing was starting to fall apart on him. He didn’t complain and replaced his old armor with it.

During the short break time after defeating the third Wave Boss, they took their time to replenish their health, mana, and stamina. Liam also harvested the Soul Orbs hanging around. He noticed the pull on them was a bit stronger this time around due to how far they had already moved during their fight against the Orb Weaver Trapdoor Toxo. He didn’t like that.

The next few mini waves grew harder not in strength or higher levels. Instead, it grew harder due to the amount of monsters that came out. This confused Liam as he scanned their levels. Usually when you got farther in a dungeon both the power and levels of the creatures increased. Now that they were facing the fourth wave, they had expected the creatures to be level twenty one or higher. Instead, they had dropped down to twelve to fifteen.

They didn’t know why that was happening. They weren’t going to complain about fighting lower leveled monsters since they were easier to kill, but it felt like the dungeon corrected this sudden drop in power by adding more creatures to fight. The increase of monster bodies became a problem, especially when the Leaping Rabies Toxos started coming out more mixing themselves with Orb Weaver Trapper Toxos. That combination of enemies was bad. It was even worse when Toxo Disease Spider Carriers mixed in with them.

They were able to make it through the mini waves without getting infected by their venom, which they were glad about. They knew that if the levels were higher than what they were this endeavor would have been impossible, however, thanks to the sudden level drops it was starting to seem manageable. They just hoped this was the case for what came after the fourth Wave Boss.

The fourth Wave boss ended up being Toxo Corpse Controller that was hiding inside a Zombified Cave Troll. They had some issues with this Wave boss not because they couldn’t kill it, but it was smarter than its brethren. Before the body of the monster it was controlling died it would exit it, leaving behind a weaker Toxo Corpse Controller to take over the monster. It would then jump back in to the hole and appear in a different creature.

At first Liam didn’t notice that. None of them did. It was Artem who made a comment about how the bodies started moving differently once they reached a certain health threshold. They started walking like their legs were made of rubber and their attacks seemed to start to miss or move in a different pattern.

After they got a Possessed Zombified Hobgoblin Warrior’s health down to the percentage they were starting to notice the changes at, Liam saw the figure running down the monsters back and heading towards one of the holes closest to it. Liam sprinted after it to try and stop it. The creature was faster than he thought it would be, however, thanks to Blair using Gravitational Force Increase, the Toxo Corpse Controller’s movement speed had slowed down enough for Liam to throw a Lightning Enchanted Throwing Dagger right into its abdomen.

The dagger piercing through the backend of the spider didn’t outright kill it, which surprised Liam. Instead it sent a spark of lightning through its body and caused it to stop as a Paralyze Debuff activated. The few seconds of it being paralyzed gave Liam the time to reach it and kill it.

After the Fourth Wave Boss had died, the four took a moment to replenish their health, mana, and stamina. The continuous wave of creatures the Toxo Corpse Controller had kept coming out with didn’t give them enough time to drink a potion, but only catch a small bit of their breath. Since they were able to do it after I had finally died they took that time.

Liam harvested the Soul Orbs the moment they had their rest bit. The pull on the Soul Orbs had gotten even stronger now that they were even closer to the hill. However, the closer they got to what he believed was a hill the more he was able to see it. it had not been a hill, but rather a small mountain with the side facing them carved out.

Liam was able to see something pressed against the side of the mountain but wasn’t able to make out all of the details as a fog had started to form the closer they got. Liam and the others didn’t like the fact there was fog starting to appear since it meant that their perception of their surroundings was going to be obstructed.

After resting a bit and replenishing their health, mana, and Stamina, they decided to loot the small Wave Boss. The item that had dropped from the Wave Boss was necklace called the Toxo Poison Catcher. It was a black chained necklace with a Toxo shaped spider pendant. The form was one before it transformed into the terrifyingly half human, half spider form. It increased immunity to poisons and venom. Separately, it had a higher immunity against the Toxo’s Raging Rabies Venom.

It also had an effect called Poison Collector. The effect allowed any poisons that tried to be injected or inflicted onto the wearer to be sucked into the spider pendant. The poison it collected was limited to the size of the spider. Once it was full or even before, the wearer could drain the poison or venom into a vial.

At first the group thought Artem could utilize it best since he was up front all the time. It could help him against creatures that used poisons or venoms without having to cleanse himself. However, he heavily protested against receiving it. One of the reasons was what they had already figured that he didn’t want anything that resembled a spider anywhere near his body. The other reason was a sound argument though. He insisted that Liam take it since he could use the effect to collect poisons or venoms as material for his Poison Craft.

After listening to that, they all agreed with him. Liam accepted it without issue. He did want it because of the effect it had, but he also agreed that Artem needed some protection against poisons and similar things to it. He wanted his teammates to be as safe as possible.

Liam had also received another couple of Raging Rabies Venom vials as loot. He was starting to gain a stock on the venom, which made him happy since he had a new material to practice with.

After finishing up they stared at the fog. They had expected monsters to start crawling out of the sight obstructive phenomenon, however, nothing came out. They waited a couple more minutes to see if anything would come, but once more nothing did. Feeling unsure, they decided to push forward into the fog.

The moment they entered the fog, they felt something strange wash over them. that feeling made them look around and be on guard for anything to come. When nothing tried to attack them they grew confused. It was Eri who had cleared their confusion.

“That thing you just felt was the dungeon shifting,” Eri started.

“What do you mean shifting?” Liam questioned.

“Wave Dungeons are a bit special,” Eri started to explain. “Unless specified in the restrictions, many groups can enter a Wave dungeon at different times and appear both in a different space than other groups or the same space.”

Liam and the others grew confused with that explanation. They were about to ask what she meant, but stopped as she continued, “What I mean by that is say a group entered a Wave dungeon and proceeded to the second wave right as another group entered. If the second group finishes the first wave before the earlier group finishes the second wave then the dungeon links them together by shifting the two spaces together.”

Blair looked at Liam as they understood what she was saying.

“So you’re saying there is another group already here and this is the wave they are on?” Liam asked.

“Yes,” Eri answered.

“Any idea who it is?” Roman asked.

“I have some guesses, but for some reason I cannot see that far ahead…which is troubling to me,” Eri said with some concern in her voice.

“Why is that troubling?” Artem asked.

The others looked at him.

“Eri is a goddess,” Liam started. “She can essentially see almost anything within the area we are in. if something is blocking her sight then…”

Liam left the sentence hanging to let him understand the importance of what he was saying. It had taken Artem a few seconds to get what he was implying, His eyes widened before growing both worried and concerned.

“So what you’re saying is they are strong enough to either have the strength to block out a Goddess’ sight or has an item that can do that?” Artem asked.

Liam nodded.

“We might have to retreat if they are too strong for us to handle,” Artem suggested as he stared at Liam.

Before Liam could agree Eri chimed back in, “Unfortunately you might not be able to leave as things currently stand.”

“What do you mean?” Artem swiftly asked.

“I might not be able to see who is there, but I can feel that there is magic being constantly casted, affecting the exit portal and the entrance portal. If you can either stop what they are doing or cast interference magic then you could have a chance to escape. However, you do not have that kind of magic. Which leaves you the option to confront the people and try to stop them from whatever they are doing. Whether that means to kill them or cause a magical backlash from canceling their spells, either options means you will need to continue forward.”

“Great,” Artem gulped. “Just what we need.”

Roman let out a laugh. “Come on man. We’ve already gotten this far, no need to retreat now. Let’s see this through to the end.”

Artem glared at Roman. He was about to argue, but was stopped as Blair stated, “There is no point arguing with an idiot. Don’t waste your breath. Let’s move forward.”

Artem let out a sigh as he understood what she was saying. He started moving with her and Liam as Roman stood there processing what she had just said. The moment he realized it, he said, “Who are you calling an idiot?”

Liam laughed as Blair smirked. “You…but that’s alright. you are our idiot.”

Roman’s mouth dropped as he stared at her. He was about to say something, but was interrupted as Liam said, “If you don’t start moving those legs of yours you’re going to be left behind.

This made him move to catch up. He didn’t let the comments slip as he tried to argue why he wasn’t an idiot. However, his argument points were weak, and he was starting to realize it as well.