Chapter 4.9 - Boss becomes Mob

They had gone down farther than they had wanted to. Each level was colder, dryer, and more barren than the last. Soon everyone had to activate the [resist cold] spell to endure the weather. Then the ground froze. As they went deeper, the land became more inhospitable.

Serin was terrified at what had happened to the team. And it wasn't until they reached level 7 that Serin found out. When Serin came through the gate to the 7th floor, he found two things different. First there were the signs of battle with large insects with thick scythe like appendages blood strewn on the ground. The other thing that Serin saw was that the enemy counter on this level was 12/27. Serin looked at his team. They all knew. There were still corpses of previous enemies on this level. This is where they would find the other team.

Then he saw it. A herd of the large six legged wooly creatures from the first level. They were called 'wooly hexapeds', and they were currently ramming into what looked like an earthen dome of rock. It was 12 of them, all pummeling the dome, which was covered in cracks and chips. Serin noticed that between each strike the earth repaired itself. Serin knew that the only way to do this was to keep casting mana upon the dome, and hope that the caster's skill in Terramancy was strong enough to keep their mana from being overloaded.

Serin pointed to the dome, and his recovery team sprang into action. Serin remembered these creatures liked to charge and could take quite a bit of damage, so instead of facing them head on, he swiftly dug earthen holes with a thin layer of the frozen soil on top to create a trench between the team and the woolies.

Everyone else focused on getting the woolies attention and as if on cue the herd charged Serin and his team.

The trench trap worked as expected, and the large woolies fell into the trap as designed. Serin took stock of the count, and there were 12. Serin then looked at Olma. "Don't kill them all. If we leave one alive the boss won't be summoned. We need to assess the situation first."

Olma focused on killing the woolies.

Serin got to the dome. He used his [Message] spell to send a message to everyone in the dome.

[Help has arrived. Sit tight and stop casting, we are opening the dome.]

Serin then looked to Allister, "Send a shadow to find their supplies, then work with Jericho to load it up." Allister and Jericho nodded. Although Serin's team had been in a hurry to catch this team, they might be able to recoup some of the cost.

Serin used his terramancy to open the dome. He was immediately assaulted by the smell of blood.

***

Serin looked at the carnage. Inside there were five changelings and four Demis. Two of the changelings were torn to shreds, most likely ambushed by the bugs at the entrance. Two of the Demis were dead, their mangled bodies very obviously trampled to death. Three changelings were unconscious. One Demis was awake and bleeding out, and the last one was suffering from advanced brainburn. Serin could tell by her sunken bloodshot eyes he long overextended his mana and had been pulling from the others to keep casting.

Serin went to the Demis bleeding out. Serin recognized him, but did not know his name. He did know he recently Plated over winter, and had bonded with another classmate. The Demis bleeding out pointed to the sunken eyed Caster "Please, help Sara first. She has been casting for too long."

Serin grimaced. "You are dying. She is not." Serin started to heal the Demis. "So what is your name?" Serin overcast [calm] and then began to cast [regenerate]. Serin found out this would keep the patient from dying of shock. Serin began to reform bones and suture arteries. "My name is Rahim." Serin watched as his punctured lung popped back together and Rahim's breathing ran a little ragged. "We should never have kept going."

Serin scowled. "Right now we are focused on you not dying. We are far from being out of danger. So you focus on breathing, I will focus on the healing you. I will then help Sara recover, but she is too brainburned to be useful. Was she pulling mana from the unconscious?"

Rahim nodded his head. Serin shook his. "There is a reason we refrain from teaching necromancer spells. She is suffering from 'corruption sickness'. And since she did not class Necromancer, she is not immune to it. Since it is minor, she will recover. But she will need to be monitored at the surface."

Serin was finishing up with the [Regenerate] of Rahim, but he looked ragged. It was still a lot for the body to go through. Serin then looked at Sara. He checked her status and saw she was suffering from heightened exhaustion, extended brainburn, and overcast. Serin had no idea how she was still alive, let alone conscious. He then saw that she had a perk he had never seen.

Mage's Last Stand (Rare): The User can continue to use stamina and health in lieu of mana.

Serin looked at their surroundings and then knew this was an achievement perk he did not want to attain. The cost had been too high.

Other than recovering her lost stamina and health and purging the corruption from her body, Serin could not do anything to alleviate her current status effects. So instead he loaded her on the cart. The other demis were suffering from extending and exhausting their mana and stamina. They must have been the subject of Sara's mana and stamina pull. Serin then looked at the dead. Other than regenerate, Serin could not bring them back to life here. So Serin chose not to regenerate them on site. "We will load them onto the cart in their current condition."

The Demis had been trampled to death, but the changelings had been sliced into several pieces, organs falling out, and blood everywhere. It was not possible to even distinguish who was who. Serin just made sure to collect the bodies.

By the time Serin was done packing the patients, bodies, and body parts, Allister had arrived with Jericho. They had found four large packs of equipment, materials, and magic stones, as well as a few cuts of creatures Serin identified as belonging to the previous floor's creatures.

"Load their equipment and materials. Since we are not in a rush, we are recovering those as well."

Serin looked to Olma. She had taken care of all but one of the large woolies. The last one she had severed tendons in four of its six legs, leaving it crippled, but not dead. Serin realized that they were covered in a very rich wool. "We will make a note that these animals can be sheared for their wool, which seems to be denser than regular wool."

He looked at Olma. "Olma, my darling, do you think you can skin the woolies you have killed so far?"

Serin looked at his team. "Collect everything you can from this level. Since the dungeon will be locked down until all personnel are recovered, we better mine this level as best we can."

***

Three hours went by before Serin and his group had cleaned all sources out of the group. Thanks to skills Serin had learned from the delvers, he was able to use a new skill, [detect door] and found a secret entrance to a warm cave. Inside Serin's eyes glowed at the sight. The mushrooms inside the cave seemed to be dusted in gold. Serin used [Greater Identify] and discovered that these Mushrooms, called "gold-dust mushrooms" were highly electric, and because of this as they grew they had veins of gold running through them for the electrical signal. Serin took time to not only take mushroom cuttings, but sections of the rock they grew on.

Through a bit more inspection of the area of the dungeon they were at, Serin found a brooding cave with what he thought were baby woolies.

Serin was surprised, as when he checked the count of monsters the baby brood was not accounted as a monster. Serin smiled. "Looks like I will be making an agreement with the tamers."

So with the baby woolies calmed with magic and placed on summoned leashes tied to the cart, Serin and his group had thoroughly looted the area. The group assembled at the cart, and Serin motioned to Olma, "If you could, dispatch the last wooly please, dear." It seemed the nickname for this creature had stuck.

The rest of the team prepared. Serin had quickly built a dome around the survivors and the cart of supplies.

With the last wooly dead, Serin saw that the boss was summoned. Like the previous wooly, this one was large. Except it stood on two legs and was the size of an ogre. It also wielded a club made of what Serin was sure was solid rock. Serin thought, if the wooly was a dog, this is one of the fabled werewolves.

Serin didn't wait. He nodded to his team and began to cast.

The boss monster was met with the entire team expelling a barrage of magic and iron. Serin refrained from overcasting, as he was sure he would have a lot of magic use ahead of him.

With the monster disabled, Olma landed the finishing blow. And with one more creature added to her list of aspects, the group readied up and traveled towards the exit gate.

***