Wrath, page 27
Pierre laughed. “Or any spines. Sort of an odd name for a group lacking that feature. But one thing I’m uncertain of - every time you’ve renamed a mob, you’ve made it a shorter version of their existing name. Why irritator?”
Pierre chuckled. “I can see that. And the microraptors will add to the irritation.”
“I like that,” Pierre said. “So…which room should I inspect first?”
“Oh? What are you planning for that one?”
Pierre flew in that direction as fast as his wings could manage.
Chapter 36
The room was mostly barren right now, save for the five dien...dyon...Tira looked it up. Deinonychus. The five Deinonychi?
“Nychs? Don’t you know usually shorten the first part of the name?”
Pierre furrowed his forehead, then shook his head. “As you wish. Nychs sounds fine.”
Pierre nodded and floated over to inspect them. They were in every regard a scaled up version of the velociraptor, and covered in grey and white feathers. They looked remarkably soft, and all five were inspecting Pierre with hungry eyes. “They’re beautiful creatures,” Pierre said.
Pierre clasps his hands behind his back and launched into the explanation. An Archive needed books - they could be empty, so Tira just made some blank tomes and filled them with pages - and shelves, which were easy to form from the walls and floor. Tira added a couple of bookshelves that would just be tall enough for the Nychs to leap on top of, then leap down towards the adventures, and a few more that would make it harder for groups to maneuver. A miniature maze of shelves. The archive also required a table where study could happen.
Tira said as she made the table.
“You don’t need to,” Pierre said. “It’s about the performative act of studying. They are mobs, they are extensions of your will. Zeke could not learn magic here, nor could Sara. Both are free willed beings. But if you take a mob that has performed the act of studying and make it into a servitor, it will retain the spells it had learned - but could not learn more from this room.”
Pierre nodded. “Magic is about satisfying the requirements of the systems of magic. Now. All you need to do is create the heart.”
Tira proceeded to do so. The archive reduced her mana regeneration by five, dropping it to fifteen in an instant.
“You’ve been going for a creature focused build,” Pierre said, fluttering his wings. The nychs were already moving through the room, awkwardly using their claws to pluck empty books from shelves and pantomime reading. One in particular, larger than the others, managed to manhandle a book over to the podium and open it, which allowed him to read more easily. Other nychs started to crowd around him, chirping. Pierre, oblivious to the nychs actions, continued. “Those have a less stringent mana requirement. You’ll want to pick up a spell or two at some point, so you have an option for personal defense if your mobs have all fallen. Soon, ideally - have you picked a Copper upgrade yet?”
Pierre smiled. “You should have an option for basic dungeon spellcasting then. It will grant you three spells based on the hearts you’ve accumulated - and the possession spell you’re so eager for.”
Tira focused on her menu and found the one in question.
Basic Dungeon Spellcasting: Unlocks limited spellcasting abilities. Spells granted: Possession, Elemental Orb (Magma), Lesser Heal, Drain Life. Must be cast from a pylon as the point of origin. Cost: 1 Upgrade Point Prerequisites: Copper Tier, 3 Non-Basic Hearts Unlocked. Token Bonus: Your wisp will gain the same spells.
It was the first time Tira had seen that bonus on something, and she was relieved to see the Token was doing things, even if she didn’t fully understand everything Pierre could do. Something she still needed to ask him about.
“That drops you to thirteen regeneration per hour,” Pierre said. “Still within safe ranges.”
“Oh, no, you won’t need more Arenas and Slaughterhouses. Each one can provide entertainment and food for three servitors, in addition to their other benefits.”
Tira perked up at that.
“Precisely,” Pierre said. “Although I would hold off on making one. Remember you’re supporting Glek as well, so a third will max those out. It would be ideal to find more iron veins first, so you can increase your effective regeneration - and to wait to see what other mobs you unlock this tier.”
“Increases by five. So you have ten per pylon now, fifteen per pylon at Bronze.”
Pierre buzzed along the maze, passing the Fiendish Irritator. Its ram horns glowed with an unnatural light, and it snapped as Pierre passed. Not directly at the wisp - just as if it wanted to establish that it was not afraid of the flying orb of light it had been commanded to ignore.
The east room was a large, open area. It didn’t have magma pools around the edges - they wouldn’t have fit the celestial theme Tira had been going for. Instead, it had crystal pillars around the room, spaced out just enough for the room’s sole occupant to maneuver.
The ankylosaurus. If adventurers thought they could be tanks, they were about to get a lesson in what that word meant. It was nearly as long as the irritator, although that’s where the comparison between the two ended. Its back was covered in thick bony plates, and its tail ended in an immense club capable of shattering bone. It moved about on all fours, idly wandering between the crystal pillars and munching on tufts of golden grass Tira had growing in its domain. It had a celestial heart, which had given its bone plates a silver and gold sheen that reflected light as it moved. “I love it,” Pierre said. “Although you mentioned you were particularly happy with how this room turned out. It is quite pretty and bright in here, but I doubt that’s the source of the pride.”
“Wonderful,” Pierre said, his lips spreading in a grin. “Should be a vicious strike if the group is trying to keep it at range.”
Pierre nodded in eager agreement. “And the last room?”
Tira indicated he should fly that way.
This room had a single occupant, same as the other, although it was far more fearsome. Making a carnotaurus with a fiend heart had increased the size of its horns and given it a baleful red glow to its eyes. The feathers on its back had risen to form a crest that traced from the base of the skull to the tip of the tail, giving the appearance of a full body mohawk. Tira had decorated with cauldrons that were full of magma, making the iron glow red hot but never quite melting, and there were spots on the ceiling for magma to drip down. Unlike other magma pools, however, these were powered by both a magma heart and a fiend heart. The end result meant the molten stone was ghostly green. “What does the fiendish magma do?” Pierre asked, fluttering as close as he dared.
“You’ll likely get one. Some sort of curse for anyone who is burned by it. And well done working with two hearts together.”
“I would hope so,” Pierre said. He gave the creature a firm look. “No.”
The fiendish carnotaurus snapped its jaws inches from Pierre, and the wisp fluttered out of the room so fast Tira could barely follow his motion. He dabbed at his forehead once he was safely clear. “If you don’t mind me saying so, I don’t think I’ll be spending much time around that one.”
“Yes,” Pierre said. “You make two magma hearts, and bind a fiendish and celestial heart to each of them, like you did to create the abyssal lava in the carnotaurus room. Then you create a basic mob heart - or boss heart in this case - and you link those to the boss heart. The unaligned heart will serve as a buffer between the conflicting energies.”
“An excellent plan. What about the gigantspinosaurus? You can create more of them now, although they won’t have Thago’s abilities.”
Pierre nodded and flitted into the boss room.
Chapter 37
Tira said, staring at her new creation.
The amargasaurus belonged to a group of dinosaurs known as sauropods. They were immense creatures - the amargasaurus was nearly twice the length of the other mobs on this floor, and when it reared up to its full height it scraped the top of the boss room. Unlike other sauropods, the amargasaurus had immense spines coming from its neck. And this creature was almost all neck - a third of its impressive forty feet length was just neck. By curling its head down, it could point the spines towards any attacker.
That was impressive enough on its own. But the three-aligned hearts had created a new addition - two extra heads. The central one had black spines cracked with red. The one to the right had spines that glowed with the same ethereal green of the cursed magma. The one to the left had spines of gold and silver. Three heads, one for each heart Tira could create.
It didn’t need the spines or elemental powers to be impressive. Its sheer size was almost overwhelming. The added elements made it so fearsome, Tira felt a new concern creep in.
“It’s a copper tier boss,” Pierre said. “I know it's hard to believe, but the system enforces a kind of balance. A copper tier group will be, in theory, capable of taking it down.” The amargasaurus raised up on its hind legs, peering closer to the top of the dome, then came crashing down. The impact shook the entire floor, making walls in the maze rattle and drawing the attention of every other dinosaur in the dungeon. “In theory,” Pierre repeated, this time with a touch more reverence to the words.
“Is that everything for this floor?” Pierre asked.
“Absolutely. That’s their primary use.”
“Yes,” Pierre said, his forehead furrowing. “Although since mobs normally stay in their room...ah, yes. The extra challenge on this floor. Calls the three lever guardians to this room.”
“I think that’s a capital idea,” Pierre said, nodding for emphasis that wasn’t needed. “The portals will only work if you allow them to operate, so nothing could use them to get back up here.”
Pierre nodded in excitement.
Pierre’s expression softened. “That seems like a practical idea.”
The hopeful gleam returned to Pierre’s eyes. “That certainly seems more interesting.”
Pierre whooped and did a loop in the air. He sensed Tira’s amusement and regained his decorum. “I’m certain I could assist with that. Although there is the small matter of buying the wines that would make that difficult.”
“I think it’s an excellent idea,” Pierre said. He smoothed his coat, but his grin didn’t fade in the slightest. “Thank you.”
Pierre’s face looked like it would split in two. “When can we begin?”
“They’re back?” Pierre asked.
“They got the manacore?”
***
Zeke emerged from the tunnel and blinked around. “Tira?” he asked.
