Twinkle
The bat faded away which left Shin's boot hanging in the air, still stained with blood. Nightingale reached down and grabbed a peculiar crystal and stuffed it in his item pouch. They took some time to rest from the encounter.
Shin leaned against the wall of the cave and rubbed at the blood on his boots with a cloth. Across from him was Nightingale. He sat with his back against the wall staring at the crystal.
"I'm actually not sure what this is. The item doesn't have a proper description. It says something about appraising it."
Nightingale tossed the crystal to Shin. It wasn't particularly heavy but its crystalline structure refracted light which allowed him to look at his surroundings.
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[???]
This item must be appraised by an occultist.
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After he checked the item's description, Shin threw the crystal back at Nightingale and it slipped neatly into his item pouch.
Nightingale stood up.
"We should get going now shouldn't we?" Nightingale said while patting the dirt off his pants and armor.
Nightingale continued to lead the way with a [Fireball] in hand. They followed the path in the cave downwards in a rough spiral shape. Icicles hung from the ceiling of the cave causing occasional drips of water to fall on them. The stone walls of the cave faded from grey to dark blue solid ice. The water dripping from the ceiling rolled down the side of the cave creating lines of ice. At this point, the temperature hasn't gotten any colder. Although, that may be due to Nightingale's [Fireball].
"I would not be surprised if this wasn't even the right way." Shin said, breaking the silence.
"My experience from other games is telling me the bat we fought was not the final boss of this instance." Nightingale replied.
They continued to pace themselves following the cave's winding path. Shin almost lost his footing and tripped a few times due to the icy floors.
Eventually, the path opened up to a large empty area in the shape of a dome.
"If there was any place to put a final boss, this would be it." Shin quipped.
In the middle of the area was a frozen lake. Surrounding the lake were patchy shrubs of greenery that should be impossible at this depth and temperature. Despite all that, small blue berries were growing on the shrubs.
Shin and Nightingale walked over to the edge of the lake and looked around. There wasn't a single sign of a monster anywhere nearby. Suddenly, he saw a splash of water fall on Nightingale's fireball, plunging them into darkness.
"Ah, I'll just make a new [Fireball]" Nightingale said with a confused tone.
Seemingly undeterred by the sudden dousing, Shin heard him flick the water off his gloves before casting another [Fireball] in his hand.
"[Fireball]."
Once again, Shin scanned his surroundings and found nothing. If there was anything at all, Shin thought that his [Perception II] passive skill would help him pick up on it. He looked to his left at Nightingale in a moment of confusion and saw the look of panic begin to set in on his face.
Nightingale was staring at the ice floor. Following his gaze, Shin also took a glance at the floor.
In the ice was a reflection of a massive spider three times as big as them. Next to the spider was Adam, who was tied up in a web hanging from the ceiling. He squirmed around and screamed but his voice was muffled by webs.
In the reflection, Shin could just barely make out the spider's stats.
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[(BOSS) Unstoppable Frostspider]
Level: 19 | HP: 4,851
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He looked over to Nightingale as he snapped back to his senses and threw the [Fireball] directly up at the spider. The spider leaped off the ceiling directly at Shin leaving Adam hanging on his own.
Shin quickly dodged to the side before the spider landed crushing the ice where he stood. Immediately, he followed up by throwing his dagger at one of the legs. The dagger pierced the spider's lower half of its leg and pinned it to the ground. The spider howled in pain, pausing for a moment and staring directly at Shin.
The spider lunged at Shin aggressively with immense power that ripped its own leg off in the process. In a panic, he called back his dagger.
"Shin!" Nightingale yelled out.
"[Wind Slicer]!"
As the spider nearly hit Shin, the [Wind Slicer] struck the spider's abdomen and caused it to slightly change course. The spider barely missed him as he took his dagger, casted [Enhance] on it, and ran it down the length of the spider's body using [Swift Strike]. The spider flew past Shin as he darted forward leaving a massive gash. Purple blood poured from the gash but the spider seemed mostly unbothered.
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[(BOSS) Unstoppable Frostspider]
Level: 19 | HP: 4,021
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The spider looked right at Shin, but surprisingly shifting his focus to Nightingale. The spider shot a flurry of four webs at Nightingale.
"[Fireball]!" His face brows furled in focus as the [Fireball] grew in size in the palm of his hand.
The webs flying right at him were seared into nothingness as they came in contact with his spell. While Shin was still recovering, he saw Nightingale retaliate by launching the [Fireball] directly into the spider's body.
Shin took up his bow and shot a series of arrows in rapid succession at the spider. Noticing the attack, the spider turned its back towards Shin and shot webs at his arrows knocking them aside.
Suddenly, a field of green appeared in front of Shin as he heard Nightingale cast [Galewind Barrier]. Learning from the previous fight, he took the opportunity to launch more arrows at the spider.
Once again, the spider countered with webs but the webs were scattered aside as they came in contact with [Galewind Barrier]. Shin's arrows flew straight through and gained speed before burying into the spider. He reached his arm out and made a pulling motion while casting [Retrieval]. The arrows tore out of the spider's body along with blood and pieces of the spider's flesh.
Enraged by its wounds, the spider stomped the ice beneath it. Cracks formed and extended outwards, shattering the ice and revealing the ice-cold water underneath.
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[(BOSS) Unstoppable Frostspider]
Level: 19 | HP: 3,163
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Shin and Nightingale leapt backward, jumping between islands of ice before landing on solid ground. As they leapt backward, the spider vaulted up and landed on the ceiling.
From the ceiling, the spider launched itself down which caught Shin off guard. The spider shot webs tying his legs together as it lunged at him. As the spider landed, it swung two of its legs into his chest. It knocked the wind out of Shin and he was thrown across the cave and into the wall.
Shin's vision blurred as he clutched his chest in pain. The spider immediately leaped and landed right in front of him. Shin peeked at the top-left of his vision and found his HP dangerously low.
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[Shin]
Level: 13 | HP: 103
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"Shin!" Nightingale called out to Shin before casting another [Wind Slicer] directly at the spider's eyes.
Shin tried to get back on his feet but his legs were still tied together, causing him to fall back on the ground. The spider flinched in pain as it seemingly lost some of its vision. Shin heard rushing footsteps as he could barely make out Nightingale running toward the creature with a [Fireball] in his hands.
The spider's face got dangerously closer to Shin as he could make out all the details of hairs, fangs, and eyes. As its fangs opened wide to bite his head off, Nightingale slammed a [Fireball] directly into the spider's face. He twisted his body towards Shin and used the remaining flames to free his legs from the webs.
Shin heard crashing and cracking sounds. Blood ran down his face. He looked up in horror as he realized what just happened.
The spider had sent Nightingale flying into the ceiling with a swing of its legs. Nightingale's body was suspended in the air with an icicle impaling his stomach. In his blurred vision, Shin could barely make out a smile on as Nightingale's face as his body faded away with a twinkle.
Shin screamed, rage coursing through his veins.
He picked up his quiver full of arrows and stood up. Instantly, he dashed forward at the monster before him. Shin pulled arrows out of his quiver one after another and impaled them deep into the spider with [Swift Strike] relentlessly. The spider wailed out in pain, writhing its legs in every direction in an attempt to hit him. Shin dashed in every direction while dodging its flailing appendages impaling it with more arrows as he went. With one last [Swift Strike], he sank the final arrow into its head as he dashed away from the monster.
"[Retrieval]."
In one motion, Shin clenched his hand into a fist while pulling his arm toward himself.
The arrows were violently rended from the spider's body revealing holes across the entire body of the spider. Fountains of blood burst from every slit as the arrows flew past Shin and sank into the lake behind him.
The monster's body turned into an unrecognizable mass of flesh.
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[YOU REACHED LEVEL 18]
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Shin collapsed onto the floor with his hand over my head, exhausted. He moved his hands off of his eyes revealing Adam who was still pinned to the ceiling.
Remembering the quest, Shin threw his dagger at the strand connecting him to the ceiling. Adam fell into the lake. The impact against the water broke the webs apart and he swam towards Shin.
"Hey, are you alright?!"
Shin passed out from exhaustion.
[April 4, 2035]
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[Character Page]
[Nickname: [Shin] | Level: 18 | Specialization: Savant | Profession: NONE]
[Attributes]
Strength: 25 | Agility: 25 | Intelligence: 25
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