a/n: I've realized I've borked some very basic addition. The last level of the first watershed of Iron is 27. 28 is the first level of the second watershed. I made a note that was wrong a while ago, and this might have far-reaching affects. Fuuuuuuu. Anyways. I'm in the process of editing things, but just an FYI for you if things seem inconsistent, it's because they are.
For the rest of the twenty-third and twenty-fourth floors, the party didn't come across any more of the high level individuals. Without the Wandering Trials throwing these accelerated challenges at them, the party's experience again was slowed just a little, but even so, they killed packs of five to eight wargs without issue. With every pack they killed, they gained at least 1,200 experience each, and, by the end of the sixth day of delving the Wandering Trials, every member of the party hit level 25 as Skandr and Benedict shredded through the twenty-fourth floor.
"The core! It is in the center!" As Muti gave the instructions, Benedict and Skandr both waved her off, for although she was being genuine in her advice, she was also being facetious. This latest floor was populated with slimes, a monster significantly less threatening than most others, but nearly impossible to kill with regular physical weapons. They had a fist sized core in their center, which was required to be struck very firmly to be broken. Their bodies, however, were immensely resistant to physical weapons, as they were caught in the slimes' slime. As an example, Felix was currently trying to kill a single slime while Skandr and Benedict both ripped the magically vulnerable creatures into un-living puddles of goo.
Felix, however, cut through the slime as much as he could, the blade of his axe getting caught inside the schlorping liquid. Finally, with no other slimes nearby, he roared and whipped his axe into the creature as its gooey tendrils wrapped around his feet. He activated Whirling Blades, which cut enough of the creature away from its core to allow him, with a roar of frustration, to punch the core with what Astrid was sure was an unnecessarily large expenditure of Power-aligned mana.
Covered in splatters of bluish goo, Felix groaned and tried to shake himself clean, to no avail. Meanwhile, Skandr and Benedict both looked at him with grins of superiority. For a brief second, Felix's face flashed with a real irritation, then he took a deep breath, relaxed his shoulders, and sighed as he turned away.
"Fine. Your responsibility. See if I care."
As the Guardian splashed through the remains of the slimes, he got to the semi–solid ground the other two weapon wielding delvers were standing on. As they continued on their progress through this marsh, the slimes ambushed from all over, and frequently, it was impossible to tell how many there were until the kill notifications started rolling in. What would appear to be maybe three could turn out to be seven, and what might have been thirteen, by appearances, ended up being only four. Fortunately, Benedict's Song of Vindication didn't care how many bodies there were, everything unfriendly within ten meters slowly succumbed to the influence of his flute.
Both Benedict and Skandr had crossed 100 in all three of their mental attributes at level 25, just like how Astrid and Felix had done so for their physical attributes. As such, both men experienced a qualitative change in their magical skills once their Acumen crossed the benchmark. Just like Astrid, they struggled to explain exactly what the difference was, but the improvement in their efficiency and potency couldn't be overstated. Benedict especially, even on the twenty-third floor while fighting wargs, became deadly. Since he had much greater reserves of mana, he could use Silvertongue and Doubletalk to stack Hasty Rebuke and Song of Vindication on each other, causing the wargs to cough blood and collapse.
Muti, the only one of the party who hadn't quite passed one of the benchmarks, whether mental or physical since her Fortitude remained at 98, glared at the rest of the party while they talked about the changes they experienced. Even so, she wasn't truly bitter, so far as Astrid could tell. Instead, Muti remained as reliable as ever, and instead focused on training Dread Master and Ambusher's Aura. Her efforts were at least partially successful, as she was quickly able to keep all of the slimes from recognizing the three physical fighters' presence, instead focusing on the rippling, crackling cloud that was Skandr.
Benedict was a surprise powerhouse against the slimes. Skandr, though? His overwhelming destructivity was entirely predictable. Under his command, lightning surged through the wet ground, stunning and killing slimes without issue. His spell he developed to evolve to Iron, what he called his pocket storm, became more mobile than ever after he crossed his third 100 baseline. As he and Benedict led the way through the twenty-fourth floor under Muti's guidance, he kept the cloud constantly billowing overhead, following him at a quick jog's pace. After an hour of maintaining the pocket storm, Skandr finally reduced his mana expenditure, instead experimenting with a different spell, chain lightning.
With this spell, he experienced some success, with his lightning jumping from one slime to the next, exterminating four in one swift movement. He grumbled in obvious dissatisfaction seeing it.
"Is killing so many so quickly not good enough for you?" Felix, with his helmet dismissed, made no secret of his frown.
Skandr chuckled, putting both of his hands up in an attempt to modify the frustrated Guardian. He quickly explained to the others that, "The only reason that the spell worked was because it's against these slimes and in a place where the electricity travels easily. Elsewhere, it would function as a lightning javelin, just much more mana intensive without doing anything more dangerous."
The party continued on their path after that, Skandr continuing his experimentations while Benedict worked on using all four of his Skills at the same time. He experienced some measure of success, though by his expression, he wasn't nearly satisfied with the progress he made. At the "test" to get off of the twenty-fourth floor, the two men destroyed the level 28 slime without issue. Its Skill for being past the watershed and reaching level 28 was the ability to solidify parts of itself. The party never got the opportunity to see that, because the lightning burst that smashed into it nearly killed the beast in a single blow, with Benedict's assistance finishing off the beast right after.
At the end of the sixth day, the party rested before going onto the twenty-fifth floor. Astrid couldn't help but feel that she'd gotten too worried about the Trials, given how smoothly things were going so far. She immediately scolded herself for thinking such a thing, knowing that to expect things to go smoothly was to curse the party to complicated times.
Unfortunately, the curse was brought on them even if she tried to take it back.
The twenty-fifth floor was a harsh awakening.
According to the brief, this floor was where it would be relatively easy to come across a monster that'd passed the watershed and was level 28. The two times at the party had faced a monster that reached and passed at least level 28 until now, it had only been a single monster, even if it was supported by others. The warg, supported by its pack, had been troublesome but mostly just good experience and a warning to pay attention to the general strengths of the monsters they were coming in contact with. Then, there was the slime guardian on the floor before, which had mostly been a joke.
The closest thing to a difficult fight at the party had had in the trials until now were the ghoul "delvers" on the twentieth floor. That was, until the twenty-fifth floor.
Everybody had read the brief. They all knew that this was the floor where they finally encountered enemies that were exclusively magically inclined, and that some of them were going to be level 28 or higher. Everybody knew that they were going to need to be careful, and they entered the twenty fifth floor with the utmost caution. After all, they had just seen the damage that just two magic casters could do from their two allies. Even Muti, deliberately dismissive of magic as she was, had promised to stay close to the rest of the party while they learned how to deal with the flame spitters.
It turns out, if somebody got close to one of the lizard-like creatures, they were very easy to deal with. They were immensely fragile and about a meter long, so with a single swipe of a blade, they were dispatched. As such, the first couple of combats went swimmingly. The two or three flame splitters were spotted by Muti and then, with Hasty Rebuke pushing them faster, Astrid, Felix, and Muti hurried to put them down. The creatures, hidden in the fields they lived in, seemed to be a simple enough foe.
That supposition was wrenched from them on the fifth fight of the floor. The three that had been sighted were quickly dispatched, and the party relaxed. The fourth and fifth monsters coiled up in the grass evaded their notice until it was too late and spat thick globules of flame not at the delvers themselves, but instead at the grass all around. In seconds, an explosive inferno surrounded the party, the flame spitters getting quickly lost in the conflagration. Skandr threw a burst of wind to try to clear the view, and accidentally fed the flames to greater heights. A bonfire surrounded them, and Astrid heard as the two monsters added more flames, spreading their deadly domain further by the second.
"Skandr! Do something!" Felix screamed.
The Storm Wizard, to his credit, didn't snap back at the verbal attack. Instead, he evaluated the situation and shook his head helplessly.
"Astrid, you have all four charges, right?"
"Duchess above. I know what you're saying, I'm going to do it, but damn you."
Without another word, Astrid activated Immortal Warrior's Aura and felt her skin, already uncomfortably warm, begin to crisp up as the heat that every one of her party members was experiencing flooded her at the same second
"Muti, lead the way!"
The Ambusher didn't take any time to ask if the party leader was sure, instead leaping into movement, ostensibly to the quickest exit from the growing prairie fire. Felix fell in behind her, Benedict behind him, and then Skandr and Astrid bringing up the back. As soon as Muti stepped into the inferno, Astrid felt herself groan in pain. Her eyes were drying in her head, and she very quickly couldn't see anything. She continued running, calling for help, calling for anyone to guide her out of the inferno, but more smoke than was actually around her filled her lungs and choked off her cries.
Astrid gagged, coughed, and stumbled as she tried to scream again. Her vision clouded to nothing as her eyes dried further. Strangely, even blind, she saw two kill notifications she ignored. She pushed Fortitude-aligned mana to her whole body, focusing on her eyes as she activated Immortal Warrior's Body. As the Skill washed through her, Astrid's vision cleared enough for her to follow a shadow, but with five people's burning bodies contributing to her blindness, that brief reprieve was destroyed once again, and faster than she could reorient herself.
Unable to breathe, unable to cough, unable to scream, Astrid wept. She imagined she could hear her tears sizzling as they ran down her face. She spent another charge of Immortal Warrior's Body. Her vision returned, though not as clearly as before, and she fought to catch up to the flickering shadows she thought were her party. She activated her healing a third time, hoping to be able to escape the flames, but they seem to stretch forever in every direction, and she could no longer see anybody. She thought she heard something, but the roar of the inferno drowned it out. Onward she stumbled, praying for deliverance from this agony. She deactivated Immortal Warrior's Aura as she spent her last charge of her healing.
Astrid could see a shape approaching her, and they flashed in front of her as they grabbed her by the wrist and hurled her forward. She floundered through the air and smashed against the ground. She rolled to a stop, and heard someone say something she couldn't understand. Another voice rose, three chattering until they mumbled in unison, but nothing she could understand. Astrid felt her head loll as she recognized the touch of Song of Vindication healing her.
The Skill was unable to be fully focused on any particular location. Instead, it was a holistic recovery that washed over her, and after nearly a full minute, Astrid could finally hear what was being chanted at her.
"Remove helmet. Remove helmet. Remove helmet."
The words processed sluggishly in her mind. Several seconds passed, and finally she understood. With a thought that was somehow painful, she dismissed her helmet. She still couldn't see, but she felt the pain of grass brushing her seared skin. Fingers entered her mouth and held it open, though it hadn't closed in a while. Something wet her throat and she started to cough. The hand that had held her mouth open, now pushed roughly over her mouth, keeping her from retching out the potion.
Recognizing what was happening, Astrid fought to swallow the life-saving liquid. Her throat worked, and her party member pulled their hand from her mouth. It burned her throat as it went down, but even before it reached her stomach, Astrid could feel that it had dissipated through her body. Smoke rose from her lungs, and she coughed, something physical expelling from her mouth as she puked. It wasn't food, and the bile was horrid, but the potion had already done its work.
"Astrid! Can you hear me?" Skandr's voice was the one that spoke most clearly, and Astrid tried to speak. She gagged again, her body involuntarily bending over at her action. Instead of trying to speak again, she weakly held a thumb up. Was it even visible? Did she have a thumb anymore? Her entire existence was agony, and she still couldn't see.
"Astrid, can you hear me?" Skandr repeated.
She tried her best to shake her thumb.
"Thumbs up, okay. You can hear us. We're gonna give you another potion, alright? Do you have any more charges of Body?"
Thumbs down.
"Dammit. Okay. Here comes another potion, we won't give you another one after, don't want to give you potion overload, so take it slow."
Thumbs up.
Nobody said anything as another hand held a potion up to her mouth. A part of Astrid wanted to try to drink it herself, but instead, she remained laying on her back and sipped the potion. Again, she could feel the liquid dissipate into something else before it hit her stomach, but this time, instead of burning, it brought a cool relief that leached out into her body.
Astrid's body still screamed in pain, but she could breathe once again, and her throat no longer felt as if it had been scrubbed out with jagged stones. She laid there for a moment, trying to gather herself. Would she ever be able to see again? Was this the end of her journey?
No, this wasn't going to be the end of her journey as a delver. A Healer could restore vision, it would be expensive and difficult, but that was a possibility. However, this might be the end of her and her party's journey in the Trials.
The thought made Astrid's throat swell closed, but no tears came to her eyes. She was entirely dehydrated, and she struggled to speak.
"Water…"
Somehow, Astrid knew it was Muti's hands that held a water bladder immediately to her mouth. Maybe she'd been waiting for that exact request, but Astrid struggled to take a mouthful. The inside of her mouth was still raw, but Astrid forced herself to swish the water around before turning and spitting it to the side.
She didn't have to ask for more, and she felt some of the liquid dribble down her neck, somehow burning like fire down the scorched flesh. This second mouthful, Astrid swallowed. It seemed like the potion had focused on her insides more than anything, and the water went down easy. Having been dehydrated before, Astrid knew to fight to keep herself from guzzling the water and making herself puke. Instead, she took several measured sips before she sat up.
"You're a lifesaver," Benedict said as he seemed to settle in front of her. Astrid could see two shadows in front of her, and when she turned her head, she saw others to her side. "I don't think I would've been able to get out of that without you, and because of what you did, Muti was able to kill the two spitters before they made it any worse. Fortunately, Felix got you out fast enough that we could pull you away from the fire. It's dying down surprisingly quickly, only maybe forty meters across without spreading any further."
"You ramble needlessly. Silence." Even with the strange echoey, hollow tone to everything she heard, Astrid could pick out Muti's tone with ease. Astrid got a preview of how bad she must have looked given how Benedict didn't argue back, but instead went silent.
"You undoubtedly saved lives with that. I did not deserve your assistance after failing the party as I did. Nonetheless, I thank you, Astrid, my leader. If ever there is anything you need from me, you need not ask."
Astrid tried to pick out which of the shadows it was that was Muti. She thought it was the one to her right, and she turned and tried to give a smile to her Barbarian friend.
"Oh, Duchess above." Skandr breathed out the oath as Astrid moved that small amount.
"What?" Felix demanded as Astrid heard him shoot to his feet.
"Astrid, you can't see, can you?"
That same tightness returned to her throat, and Astrid shook her head.