The Arcane Archer - Chapter 41 Strong

Continuing my way down the dungeon, I eventually got to my next set of enemies which was once again some goblins. This time however, there was two of them and one of them had what appeared to be a bow.
for visiting.

Getting into position, I aimed towards the archer goblin first to take him out and prevent him from providing any support to the goblin holding the short sword. Just as I was about to release the bowstring, I saw something in the corner of my vision move and promptly combat-rolled to the side to evade whatever it was.

Taking a quick look over to where I was just standing, I saw a goblin with a dagger stuck in the ground. Seeing as it was having trouble pulling it out, I quickly ran over to it and kicked it in the face. Whether it was from the goblin itself being very light or me just catching it in surprise, it flew backwards and hit the wall.

I took the opportunity to shoot another arrow at him in hopes that it would finish him off and allow me to deal with the other two. Speaking of the other two, the archer goblin sent an arrow past my ear just a second ago and the short sword one was getting awfully close.

Moving my left hand away from my bow so I could cast a spell, I casted {Hold Person} on the short sword goblin that was getting awfully close. I could hold this spell for about a minute before I either lose concentration and drop the spell, the goblin figures out how to escape, or I just try holding it longer then the duration.

The goblin then was lifted in the air a few feet before staying there in confusion. It tried struggling and escaping but its wisdom must’ve been incredibly low to not figure out how. I took another quick glance at the dagger goblin to see if it was going to chase after me if I went for the archer goblin, but quickly saw that there was nothing left but the small crystal.

As another arrow came flying my way, I quickly reacted by dodging to the side and just barely moving out of the way of the arrow. Not having time to draw another arrow and knock it onto the string, I instead went for a nice and simple firebolt towards the goblin.

It must’ve note been expecting that as when I casted it, the goblin’s eyes opened in fear before the firebolt hit it directly in the face, leaving it no time to react or move. The goblin was instantly sent flying backwards into a nearby wall and hit it with a lot of momentum and force causing it to die instantly.

The goblin I casted {Hold Person} on now was just staring at me with fear in its eyes and was still trying to escape. I did the quick mental calculations and realized that it was only around 24 seconds since I casted the spell and had some time to spare.

Walking up to it, I pulled out one of may daggers and quickly stabbed it in the side of the head. Instantly the body of the goblin fell to the floor as my spell broke because it could only be used on living things, which the goblin no longer was.

A couple of seconds later the body from the archer goblin turned into air and so did the short sword goblin, leaving nothing but their tiny crystals and the archer goblin’s arrows. Picking up the nearby crystal, I made my way to the loot of the archer goblin and picked up the few arrows it dropped.

Instantly I noticed that they looked like my arrows, better even. Pulling out one of my arrows, I noticed instantly that they were dull and shouldn’t even be used for hunting. I never really looked at this previously as I just assumed that when I bought them that the store was selling actual arrows, not some training ones. I threw a quick {Inspect} at my arrows to double check.

[Item – Training arrow

1 4 Bludgeoning damage + 1% of Dexterity

Made by a blacksmith in training, these arrows are not made for fighting and instead of made for practicing. The arrowhead itself is blunt and the tip doesn’t even have a point. Can be sharpened to increase damage slightly.]

This made me question things. How long have I been using these horrible arrows? How long have I been extending a fight or loosing a fight just because of these? I picked up one of the goblin’s arrows and used {Inspect} on it as well.

[Item – Goblin Arrow

30-50 Piercing damage + 25% of Dexterity

Used by the goblins of Dungeon #473, these arrows are below average in terms of regular arrows, only able to reach the normal damage of one if it’s a critical hit. Can be sharpened to increase damage slightly.]

Massive improvement from my other ones.

Picking up one of my arrows, I shot it at the wall nearby. It went inside slightly but seemed as if fall out at any second. Trying one of the goblin’s arrows instead, I shot that at the wall and watched as it went much further into it.

I shook my head before dropping all my current arrows and picking up the 7 arrows the goblin dropped. While it wasn’t much, I could just use mana archery to replace some of the arrows. It would require me to take a break every now and then to recharge my mana because of the nerf to mana regeneration, but that should be fine.

Walking down the tunnel, I eventually found another goblin by itself. I made sure to check the area first for any traps or what not and any goblins hiding around the corner but didn’t find anything.

Knocking an arrow, I fired it at the goblin quickly and watched as it swiftly pierced through it. I whistled upon seeing this before quickly walking over and picking it up as well as the small crystal too.

After that, an hour quickly passed. Whenever I found a goblin, I would swiftly kill it and just continue my way after gathering everything. Once I even found a small group of goblins which I found the perfect opportunity to cast {Fireball} on. It was amazing to watch as that area just exploded and sent every goblin flying to the walls and burnt them nice and crispy.

With that done, I eventually found myself at large door with Ava sitting down next to it reading a book. As she heard me coming, she looked up from her book and moved one hand to a dagger on the floor next to her. Once she saw that it was just me, she just went back to reading her book.

“So how did you enjoy your first hunt?” She asked while turning a page in the book.

“Wasn’t to bad.” I said while sitting down across from her. “Found a lot of these tiny crystals though. What’re they used for?”

She shrugged. “A multitude of things. A professional alchemist can make some potions out of them, an enchanter could use them to help power an enchantment, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Those however are pretty much useless. They hold so little power that you’d need a hundred of them or so to even have enough mana to do something with them. Did you find anything else though?”

I pulled out the magic book holder and handed it over to her. She inspected it for a bit before casting a spell on it. After a minute of chanting something with her eyes closed and holding a pearl and owl feather for some reason, she suddenly opened her eyes before giving me the book holder.

“That is a magic book holder that offers some protection to whatever book is inside. The leather is very strong and can withstand multiple attacks without being scratched. However, it seems like the top part makes it easy to hurt the book itself if not closed properly. An ok find compared to some of the other stuff you might’ve found.”

“Did you find anything?”

She pulled out 18 copper pieces and a spool of thread.

“There isn’t really that much good loot until you get much deeper into the dungeon.” She said. “Lucky for us, we only need to clear out the first floor as it’ll take a week or so for it to fill back up with goblins. It needs to divert mana from creating other things to these so if we go deeper inside the dungeon and kill more things, the longer it would take before we need to come back here and clean everything up. If you are feeling up to it to try and do the next level, or do you want to head back to chance?”

I stared at the giant door next to Ava.

“Would we have to fight some sort of giant creature if we go through that door?” I asked while pointing.

“Yes, we would. We hunters call that the Floor Master as it usually is like the monsters on the floor in some way. Hearing that, you think you want to head back?”

I thought for a second before grinning. Knowing that I was weak because of my weaponry and that my magic can deal large amounts of damage, I think I would have a good chance at beating it if Ava helped.

“No, lets head in and fight it. We’ve got a pretty good chance I think.”

She grinned upon hearing this, quickly got up from her sitting position, and put her book away.

“That’s what I like to hear!” She said as she pushed open the door.