New Mines of Pruzonia 6: Exit or Entrance

John ducked under a thrust from yet another of the garnet guards he had come across in the last few minutes. It seemed every fifty meters or so, another one stepped out from a side passage or recessed alcove, slowing his progress. Despite their near level parity with him, John found them more of a nuisance than a threat. They just weren’t fast enough to pose a threat with their spears. But what they lacked in speed they made up for in durability, taking several good hits with his greatsword to defeat.

35 DMG
100 (5) EXP Gained.

“And that’s five down,” John breathed out as he relaxed slightly. If there was one good thing about the guards, it was that he could go toe to toe with them without taking much risk to his health or needing to use any of his mana costing abilities. Using Verdant Surge might have sped up these fights, but was a waste of mana he couldn’t afford while on his own.

John looked down and saw a small bundle of cash and a spear made of a solid piece of red crystal.

Polestone Spear
Uncommon
A spear made of a single piece of red garnet. The crystal lattice interacts oddly with light, scattering it about like a prism.
Attributes: Mana Infusion (0/100), Refinement

John picked up the spear as he willed the cash away. This was the second spear he got as loot. At first, he had simply stowed it after a quick Observe, not wanting to waste any more time than he had to. After facing four more, curiosity was beginning to eat at him.

‘Running into a bunch of them in a row has to be a sign, right? There could be some clue in their weapon.’

His self reasoning was enough and he pulled up the spear’s detailed information.

Mana Infusion: This material can be charged with mana. Unlike with other mana storage methods, mana stored in this material grants it a unique effect depending on elemental composition. Mana drains from this item at a rate of 1MP per hour. This rate can be affected by the effect of the stored mana.

Refinement: Mana held by this material undergoes a transformation, growing in potency the longer it remains infused. Mana withdrawn may confer new effects.

“That’s not as helpful as I hoped it’d be,” John groaned, drawing a confused look from Candle. The fox spirit had been his sole companion, and having grown used to talking to Senka when cut off from the others, he had taken to talking to her to complain, sound out plans and just to not go stir crazy alone in the caves. The fox didn’t seem to understand his words but listened intently regardless, always ready to let out a yip in response.

With no answer to be found in the text, John was left only one recourse if he wanted something out of this pause beyond a short rest.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?” he said softly as he summoned Senka’s vessel. He figured using the mana from the knife was less of a risk than using his own mana, which was still only about half full. He took in the knife’s dark mana, the cool and comforting sensation racing up his arm. Before he let it settle in his chest, John directed the flow down to the spear in his other hand. Dark violet light began to shine through the spear along unseen channels running through it, creating something of a kaleidoscope effect.

John stopped at ten, leaving the knife with a small reserve and stowed it, his attention turning to the spear. It had grown cool, much like the mana that was flowing through it, and John recast Observe on it.

Mana Infusion, Dark: The dark mana within calls to other mana sources. Strikes with this weapon will drain the target’s mana at a rate of 1MP per hit. This draining grows stronger due to Refinement’s effect, increasing by 1MP every hour. This effect may get overwritten if the mana ratio grows to favor other elements.

“Huh, that's not so bad. If at full charge and given a few hours to refine and drain out, this could really sap an enemy down,” John muttered, possibilities running through his mind. “Might only be good for a few hits but that’s both damage and drainage.”

While it was cool, he wasn’t used to a spear and he willed it into his inventory. “Okay, that’s enough with that. Cool tool to have. Maybe Aeolia would like to give it a swing.”

Focusing his mind back on task, John marched down the tunnel, Candle at his heels. As he marched forward, he began to see changes to the passage. When before it was a rough hewn tunnel, appearing freshly excavated or just naturally formed, John was beginning to see signs that it was becoming more refined. The light emitting crystals were slowly going from haphazardly jutting out from every surface to only appearing on the walls at somewhat regular intervals and the ground was steadily growing more even and clear of debris.

“I think we might be heading towards some kind of central control area,” John said to Candle. “Or maybe the entrance? If this place has a story attached to it, building up a functional entrance would be a good way to start things off. A good base camp with things getting rougher the deeper down you go. And as we clear it out, things get more developed. Or maybe that’ll be left to whoever we get to dig the mines.”

Thoughts about what was ahead made John wonder. Where was he going anyway? He was fairly sure they were still in Pruzonia, if Fortuna’s quest was to be believed. That he was getting loot from the enemies was a good sign of that. Were they in the same area they had traveled to, or had Fortuna teleported them much further away.

John shook his head. He could worry about where they were once the quest was beaten and everyone was back together. And if his intuition and knowledge of game design was right, that was hopefully something that was soon to happen.

John kept moving, the tunnel growing more orderly until any trace of it being a natural formation was swept away, if there ever was any to begin with. And John began to hear the rhythmic sound of machinery from further down the passage. With quick steps he and Candle hurried along, ready for any more ambushes.

None came before an opening into a larger chamber came into view. Unlike this part of the tunnel, it was still somewhat in its natural state, a high ceilinged cavern with stalactites reaching down. Matching stalagmites, however, had been shaved down to even out the floor. A number of stone buildings had either been erected or carved directly into existing formations dotted the area but the most dominating feature was the large set of doors at the far end of the cavern.

John guessed they had to be ten meters tall at least and each door was about three across, turning a good portion of the far wall into a perfectly flat surface etched with arcane markings filled with glowing gems. And standing sentinel in front of that was a towering figure of gleaming clear crystal.

‘That’s a bit bigger than the guards,’ John thought as he scanned over the Observe. ‘Just what does ‘the Quest ends’ even mean? It stops trying to attack and lets us pass? We get yeeted back to where we were? I don’t like the ambiguity here.’

A part of him wanted to just let the timer run out. He was tired and annoyed with this whole thing. He wanted everyone back together, and if letting the quest just end with no reward from the boss, then he was okay with that.

But a larger part of him wanted to take those frustrations out on the armored figure on the far side of the cave. He had spent so long getting bullied and pushed around before getting his powers that it happening again pissed him off. And beating her quest was the only way he could get back at Fortuna. He wasn’t dumb enough to think he had any chance against her directly.

‘Level twenty-five. Eleven above me, but if everyone’s close to reaching here, we can topple it,’ John thought, strategies forming in his mind. ‘Beth can get it stuck and we can hit it from range. Aeolia, Vivian, Senka and I have options for that, and even if it's hard to break, I think combined we can crack it. And that’s not counting on whether Estelle or Teri can do something or if Anita's spores can affect it in any way. We have options and ways to win.’

The only question he had was when would the timer start? The immediate idea he had was things would start when someone entered the cavern. This notion was supported by the fact that a line of inlaid crystals formed a threshold separating it from the tunnel he was in. A starting line if he ever saw one.

‘Suppose that’s better than a fog wall,’ he mused with a grin. ‘At least I can see what’s on the other side.’

He wished he could risk heading towards one of the two other tunnels he could see, but not knowing if that would trigger the knight and countdown, he waited. He sighed as there was little more he could do. He couldn't even use Bask as it was still on cooldown, leaving him with his innate regeneration.

‘Closing in on eighty,’ he thought to himself. ‘Gives me four shots with Pursuit but that’ll leave me with next to nothing to work with later. Hope everyone else isn’t running dry.’

Worry began to creep into his mind. He knew most of them could handle themselves if everything in the caves were to the caliber of the things he’d fought, but doubts still ate at him. Did Estelle have anything to deal with the golems? Were Anita’s magic disrupting spores effective on something like the guards? Could Kiera’s claws break the mineral based enemies?

John shook his head, dispelling those dark thoughts. ‘They’re alright. Any minute now they’re going to come out of one of those tunnels and we can get out of here.’

Time seemed to stretch out forever as John waited. Since sitting still was not something John could just do, he surveyed the cavern, noting that the small buildings would likely make for decent cover and the ceiling overheard was more than high enough for Aeolia to effectively fight.

“We’ve got a lot of options when the time comes,” he muttered. Candle looked up at him for a moment before her head swiftly turned towards one of the other tunnels. John’s gaze followed hers; a few seconds later, he began to hear whatever the fox had picked up, quick footsteps and indecipherable shouting.

A sudden spike of fear shot through John and he got right to the edge of the tunnel, the tips of his sneakers touching the gem line.

‘If these tunnels are similar, whoever’s coming is fighting the guards,’ John frantically thought, waiting to see who was coming. ‘And it sounds like they’re fighting and running this way. If they cross the threshold, it could be a pincer move!’

His eyes snapped to the knight, which remained still as the sound of battle grew closer.

“We’ll need to get between that guy and the tunnel, Candle,” John said in a tense voice. “Can’t let whoever’s coming get caught between whatever their fighting and the boss. Be ready.”

Candle let out a soft yip and crouched low, ready to pounce. John smiled at her then shifted his gaze back to the tunnel. He would have to quickly account who was coming and jump into the chamber. And the answer to that question was quickly approaching.

“Just a bit more!” Vivian’s voice rang out from the tunnel. “There’s a chamber just ahead. It’s a lot more open!”

John saw Vivian leading Estelle, Beth, Senka and Anita away from three guards. Any thoughts he could have had as to how they came to be in that situation didn’t have time to form in John’s mind as Vivian crossed the threshold. The gems on the ground glowed, both the one Vivian crossed and the one by John, and the knight flashed with bright white light for a second before it began to march towards the redhead.

John and Candle dashed into the chamber, right towards the knight. With how the cave was laid out, there were several free standing buildings between the knight’s starting point and the tunnel the girls were coming from. John’s angle of attack was far more direct and he raced to cut off the boss.

It didn’t seem to notice his approach, causing him to wonder if it either prioritized the first group or the larger group. Whatever the case was, John was hoping that attacking it would draw aggro.

‘I’m glad to see you’re in good spirits,’ Senka’s voice was dry and mirthless, but hearing her and feeling their link reestablish itself made John grin. He could feel her probe his recent memories for info on the boss and guards. ‘Well, we’ve certainly made a mess of things.’

‘Can’t really blame you, unless you want to tell me Estelle’s got some fortune telling device that missed this,’ John joked.

‘She’s got a crystal ball, but she didn’t do any readings,’ Senka shot back. There was a brief pause, and John could hear Senka and Vivian’s faint voices through the din of activity. ‘We’re going to try and deal with these. Think you can stall the boss?’

‘I’m going to,’ John declared, his grip tightening. He didn’t know how long it would take them to beat the guards but he was going to give them all the time they needed.

As he got close to the boss, John fired a Fiery Pursuit at its head, hoping that such a direct attack would draw agro. He wasn’t expecting its arm to snap up and block the fireball with its shield. And to John’s dismay, the resulting explosion caused the knight's clear, round shield to take on a reddish hue.

‘Fuck!’ John cursed as the knight pivoted and began towards him. ‘It’s either got a charging counter attack that uses my mana or a shield that gets better at blocking my stuff. Both suck.’

Of the two, he hoped it was the defence boosting one. At least that meant he didn’t have to worry about getting blasted by his own recycled mana. Though, right now, it seemed content to attack him with its sword.

John dipped to the right as the boss swung its blade down at him. Now up close, John tried to look for obvious weak points before he had to dodge another swing. Seeing an opening, John thrust his sword up into the knight’s exposed armpit, chipping away a small amount of it.

5 DMG

‘Shit, this is going to be a grind,’ John thought as he hastily backed away. Through his link to Senka, he could see that they were using Beth’s magic to lock the guards in place and whittle them down from a distance. From his own experience of dealing with them, John knew they’d be at that for at least a few minutes, unless Estelle had been holding some kind of powerful artifact in her back pocket.

The knight pressed John back, its attacks barely missing him as it swung with deadly focus, the tip of the blade whistling as it cut through the air around John. Then, John’s retreat was too slow.

-20 HP

John hissed in pain as the crystal blade carved through his torso, going from shoulder to hip. The strike had been deep enough to hit some of his ribs and the vibrations continued even after his skin had knitted back together. John stumbled back as the knight recovered from its attack, his blood dripping off the sword. It took a step closer to him.

And stumbled forwards when an arc of green wind slammed into its back, its crystal body briefly lighting up in a matching color.

19 DMG

“Sorry we’re late to the party,” Aeolia taunted from atop one of the nearby buildings, wind swirling around the blade of her glaive. “Had a fucking big snake in our way. Looks like you’re going to be less of a pain to deal with!”

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