Tower - Chapter 4 Labyrinth
Leif continued to journey forward and came across a small group of five rodents. The rodents looked like the same type of rodent the Imp ate in the previous hallway.
Leif realized the rodents were giant Scarvers. These monsters had an immense amount of large, sharp teeth and were unable to fully close their mouth’s.
As Leif watched, it seemed as though they were searching the halls for food.
Finally, something I can test lightning bolt out on. Let’s see what happens if I pour most of my anima into it.
Leif held his hand out and aimed at the pack of monsters.
ZWOOH! KABOOM!
The three in the center of the pack of beasts exploded, sending ash everywhere. The two farther away were sent flying, charred and roasted.
“That was overkill,” Leif whispered to himself as he looked at the crater in the ground where his lightning bolt had hit.
With this much power, I won’t have to worry if I run into another imp. It smells like a roast in here now.
Leif walked up to the burnt giant scarvers on the ground and inspected them.
This smell is making me hungry. I wonder what they taste like.
Leif squatted down above the roasted monsters and pulled out his dagger. He carefully skinned and cut off a leg of meat from the beast.
Looks completely cooked.
Leif brought the leg to his mouth and took a bite.
The meat was dry and a little crispy, but to Leif who had only been eating dried meat for the last two days, it was amazing. Leif ate his fill of the meat before packing up a few chunks of it in his satchel and departing.
Leif kept on exploring the halls, mapping everything out in his head. He came across a few more packs of scarvers, which were completely annihilated by his lightning. He even gained two more levels but opted to save the points for when he could figure out what he wanted to do with them.
After exploring for hours and hours, Leif decided to head back to the safe room and rest.
Using his satchel as a pillow, Leif laid down on the stone floor to sleep.
Leif stayed vigilant of his surroundings just in case any monsters decided to enter the room. He slept on and off unaware of how much time was passing by. Eventually, Leif woke up and felt rested enough that he could continue on with his search for an exit.
He sat up, ate some meat, and drank some water from his gourd, which strangely didn’t seem to be getting any emptier than when he had first used it. Leif concluded that it must be some sort of enchanted gourd that filled itself back up after a while.
Well, that’s convenient. I guess the Tower God isn’t that terrible.
After gathering his gear, Leif set out to map the rest of the labyrinth and find an exit.
Leif would occasionally run into monsters but they would always be obliterated by his lightning or stabbed to death by his dagger. After using his lightning Leif would take a sip of the blue liquid and if he got hurt he would take a sip of the red liquid. Leif kept this up for days without end. Whenever he felt tired he would make his way back to the safe room and sleep before continuing on when he woke up.
During this time Leif mostly encountered packs of Giant Scarvers and the occasional Imp. A couple of times he encountered variants of Scarvers and Imps, such as Scarver Wolves and Winged Imps. Those battles were hard fought ones since the variants were much stronger than the normal ones.
A week later.
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Name: Leif Ryner
Level: 11
Age: 17
Weight: 161lbs
Height: 5’11”
Gender: Male
HP:212/212
AP:188/188
(30) unused ability points!
VIT:24 END:21
AGI:25 STR:18
DEX:17 INT:27
WIS:8 RES:10
DEF:12 LUC:12
Active Skills: Lightning Bolt (fires a bolt of lightning with the size depending on the amount of anime injected),
Passive Skills: Focus (able to gather anima faster and with more precision), Stab (increases the effectiveness of stabbing), Dodge (increases the effectiveness of dodging)
MONSTERS DISCOVERED:
Imp – Imps have greyish-red, extremely tough skin. The skin is rough and scaly to the touch. Imp’s stand about four feet tall. They have long rounded ears and an oversized head. It has a scorpion-like tail with a stinger at the end. They have two large talons on each of their feet that they use to rip their prey open. At the end of their short arms are long, razor-sharp claws. They rarely travel in groups. (Levels range from 1-12)
Killed: 12
Winged Imp – Winged Imps have the same features as normal Imps with the exception of a pair of large wings on their backs which make them more agile. (Levels range from 6-17)
Killed: 3
Giant Scarver – Giant Scarvers are large furry carnivorous rodents with a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth. (Levels range from 1-9)
Killed: 36
Scarver Wolf – Scarver wolves are massive Scarvers with a huge mouth full of long razor-sharp teeth and extremely powerful legs. (Levels range from 5-15)
Killed: 2
FEATS:
Tower-Walker – Survived your first encounter with a monster and killed it. (gain +1 to all stats when equipped)
“I’ve leveled up a lot and gotten a few new skills but I still haven’t found an exit. I only have this one last path left to explore, so the exit has to be this way.” Leif said to himself.
Leif walked down the last hall he had yet to explore. He cleaned up monsters as he went and eventually discovered a strange door at the end of a long narrow corridor.
“This must be the way out!” Leif yelled out as he ran toward the door and shoved it open.
Through the door was a huge room full of a few hundred Imps gathered together in groups standing around piles of other monster corpses.
All at once the Imps turned their heads to face Leif.
SHREEK!
The hundreds of Imps all howled and started charging toward Leif.
Shit.
Leif slammed the door shut and took off running down the hall.
There’s no way in hell I can face all of those things at the same time!
Leif made his way back to the safe room and began to hatch a plan. He had no blue liquid left so firing off endless lightning bolts wasn’t feasible. He only had a few swigs of red liquid left so he couldn’t charge in there and fight them all by hand. He would have to take out as many as possible with his lightning and then finish the rest by hand.
After Leif had formed his plan he headed back to the room of Imps. This time when he got to the door it was guarded by three imps.
As soon as three Imps saw Leif they immediately barreled toward him with their razor-sharp claws out in front.
The first Imp leaped at Leif, who instantly sidestepped and drove his dagger into the Imps stomach. He ripped the blade upwards tearing the Imp open.
THUD!
The Imp fell to the ground lifeless.
The other two Imps continued their assault unfazed by their comrade’s death. They both attacked Leif at the same time from different angles.
Leif dodged to the left avoiding one of the Imps but the second Imp caught him with its talons and left a nasty gash on his arm.
Leif lunged forward and stabbed the Imp in the neck, ignoring the pain from his gash. He had been hurt many times fighting monsters, this was nothing.
Blood spurted from the Imps neck as it fell to the ground.
Leif rushed forward at the last Imp and dug his blade into its chest.
The Imp clawed at him but Leif jumped back unscathed.
The Imp fell to the floor dead before it could take another step toward Leif.
“Haah…” Leif breathed out.
He took out the red potion and took a swig of it. Instantly his wound began healing and within seconds it was gone.
Alright. Now the hard part.
Leif slowly opened the door in front of him and peered inside.
There were still hundreds of Imps gathered around in groups eating the carcasses of other monsters. None of them had noticed Leif yet.
Leif held out his hand and aimed for one of the bigger crowds of Imps. He gathered about a third of his anima and let loose a bolt of lightning.
ZWOOH! KABOOM!
The fifty Imps in the center of the explosion were reduced to ash and another twenty farther away from the center were burnt to a crisp.
The other Imps turned to see where the lightning bolt had come from.
As soon as they saw Leif they began charging toward him. He turned and ran about thirty steps before stopping. Leif turned and faced the door, waiting for the onslaught of Imps.
The Imps all rushed through the door at once and funneled out into the hallway.
ZWOOH! KABOOM!
Leif fired a lightning bolt at the crowd of Imps.
I can only use lightning one more time. I have to make it count.
As the dust cleared, more Imps came rushing out of the hole in the wall Leif had just created. They climbed over the corpses of their comrades, swarming toward Leif once again. This time Leif waited longer for more Imps to fill the hall before he let another bolt of lightning.
ZWOOH! KABOOM!
Only twelve Imps remained and most of them were charred in some sort of way.
Leif charged forward at the remaining Imps with his dagger clenched tightly in his hand. He slashed and stabbed furiously while dodging every attack he could.
“Haah… haah… haah…” Leif stood in the middle of the room gasping for breath loudly, drenched in sweat and blood.
All around him were the bodies of Imps and in front of him were the giant doors.