First Blood
[11:50]
The elevator descended shakily. It was held up by four rope lines at each corner of the elevator and was constructed similarly to a shark cage but with a hardwood floor. Over the creaking of the elevator, they could hear the sounds of flesh being torn apart by the swords and spears of the royal guards.
On their side of the ravine were sprawling narrow wooden paths and scaffolding that expanded downwards. The pathway was barely wide enough to fit three people and lacked any form of railing or safety. Miners rolled wagons of rock and crystals up and down the path, narrowly dodging one another.
Nightingale and Shin diverted their attention across to the other side of the ravine which was only connected by a narrow wooden bridge. A series of frost goblins and orcs made their way up the winding staircase toward a group of miners. The royal guards in their way cut them down with relative ease but were eventually overwhelmed.
Shin took out his shortbow but Nightingale stopped him from drawing the bowstring.
"I know you want to help them but there's no way your arrows will reach." He stated begrudgingly.
"The downwards draft created by the ravine is only gonna carry your arrow downwards and be a hazard to the other miners below us." He added.
Reluctantly, Shin put his bow away and watched as the small group of three were cut down by a horde of goblins and orcs. Their blood stained the walls of the ravine.
The elevator continued to descend for what seemed like five minutes.
The grey skies began to fade from view as the elevator plunged them into the darkness of the ravine. The clouds were only visible as a small slit in the sky. They could no longer hear the howling winds from above as they were too far deep.
Eventually, the elevator came to the stop as the gates opened. Nightingale and Shin stepped out of the elevator as it creaked and bounced as they took turns stepping out. Not long after, the elevator began to move back up again.
[11:56]
They took their first steps on the narrow wooden path further down. According to Rodgier, Adam was found on the lowest levels of the mine. They were wary and on edge as they didn't know what to expect and what level monsters they would encounter.
The path downwards on this side of the ravine was eerily quiet. Nightingale caused the wooden floorboards to creak with each step as his heavy armor weighed him down significantly more than Shin's lightweight armor.
However, their paranoia soon turned into panic as a swarm of icewind bats ambushed them. Their talons scratched into them - piercing their armor and freezing patches of their skin frozen solid. Shin took out his dagger and cut into the swarm of bats that seemed to be unending. Their health was slowly getting chipped away by the level 8 bats.
"Guh..."
In the chaos, Nightingale lost his footing and slipped off the narrow path. In a moment of clarity, Shin looked over the edge as he fell and immediately threw the hilt of his dagger at him.
"Catch!" Shin's scream pierced through the squeals of bats.
"Ugh..."
Nightingale caught his dagger, slightly cutting the palm of his hand in the process.
"[Retrieval]!"
Nightingale hung suspended in the air holding on to Shin's dagger. Shin fell to the ground holding his arm out and focusing on his index finger to maintain the strength of [Retrieval].
Icewind bats continued to fly over Shin's head and clawed at his legs.
Shin felt strength leaving his finger as he could not concentrate on maintaining the skill. He screamed out and threw his left arm onto his wrist gripping it tightly to cast [Enhance] on his right arm.
After the crowd of bats passed, Shin used all of his strength to pull Nightingale closer to the ledge.
Nightingale grunted with his left hand holding onto the dagger and his right hand made contact with the wooden ledge. Shin pulled him back on top of the path and sat back completely exhausted.
Nightingale fell over on his hands and knees gasping for air.
"I-I thought... that I was a goner there." He said with a heavy breath.
The sweat rolling down their faces essentially counteracted the cold and ice inflicted on them by the bats. Shin was too winded to say anything back as he sat with his back to the ice wall behind him. Nightingale cast a healing spell on both of them. They rested for what felt like two minutes before getting up and continuing their journey. There was no time to waste as Adam was potentially in danger and they were not sure whether or not the quest had a time limit.
They carefully walked down the path as it began to narrow to a width that was only barely wide enough to fit one person. The number of lights from the miners began to decrease as fewer NPCs were at the lower levels of the ravine. The sky above them could no longer be seen as the hanging cliff above covered us in darkness.
"If someone told me this is what you'd see at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, I would have believed them." Shin thought.
+++++++++++++
[12:08]
They reached the end of the path but it wasn't the bottom of the ravine. The path instead turned inwards into the side of the ravine which led them to a small cave.
"Let me go first." Nightingale said assertively.
Shin nodded and moved out of the way to let him take the lead.
Nightingale stepped forward and cast [Fireball] in his hands to light the walls of the cave.
They heard screaming from what sounded like a human voice.
"Kyaaaa, help me!" A female voice screamed out.
They took out their weapons and broke out into a sprint as they rushed toward the source of the sound. They turned two corners and snapped their heads left and right to see where the sounds were coming from. However, what they found wasn't anything humanoid.
A massive bat monster stood about ten meters away, staring them dead in the eye as it screamed mimicking a human-like voice.
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[(BOSS) Chanting Frostqueen Bat]
Level: 15 | HP: 2221
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The human screams were suddenly interrupted by a piercing screech that made Nightingale and Shin cover their ears. This was easily the strongest foe they encountered so far.
The creature flapped its wings levitating in place and swiped its wings toward them creating a wave of icicles that flew straight in their direction.
"[Galewind Barrier]!" Nightingale yelled out.
A green rectangle-shaped barrier was erected in front of them and the icicles were quickly swept to the side with a shattering sound as they crashed into the walls of the cave.
Shin readied his bow and took aim at the creature's wing. He casted [Enhance] on his arm and used the additional strength to increase the draw of his bow to its absolute limits. Without any hesitation, Shin let loose an arrow, shooting it through Nightingale's [Galewind Barrier] which increased its speed significantly. The arrow pierced directly through the bat's wing. The arrow created a splat of purple blood on the walls of the cave behind the bat.
Using the same hand that he used to pull back his bowstring, Shin called the arrow back with [Retrieval] to tear another hole in the bat's right wing.
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[(BOSS) Chanting Frostqueen Bat]
Level: 15 | HP: 1,783
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Nightingale's codex flipped to a separate page suspended in the air.
"[Fireball]!" He shouted out.
A large fireball flew straight at the bat but it managed to just barely dodge a direct hit in the face as it slammed into its torso. The bat cried out screeching once again. In a fit of rage, the bat rushed towards them sloppily with its broken wing and lunged directly at Nightingale.
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[(BOSS) Chanting Frostqueen Bat]
Level: 15 | HP: 1,253
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He sidestepped it and made a pushing motion toward the ground with his arm creating a current of wind that pushed the bat to the ground.
"[Current]!"
"Now!" Nightingale yelled.
Shin stepped on the back of the bat with his left boot and did the same setup as before to enhance his shot. Shin aimed directly at the back of the bat's head and let go of his arrow, which made a swish sound followed by a crack as the arrow planted itself in the back of the bat's head. Using his right boot, Shin used [Swift Strike] and kicked the arrow that was jammed into the bat's head at a diagonal angle downwards lodging it further into the bat.
Blood gushed outwards and onto his boots as the bat's squirming slowed to a crawl before stopping altogether.
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[YOU REACHED LEVEL 13]
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[Character Page]
[Nickname: [Shin] | Level: 13 | Specialization: Savant | Profession: NONE]
[Attributes]
Strength: 19 | Agility: 19 | Intelligence: 19