ALL NOVEL Chapter 254: Showoff
Prince Thaddeus was beginning to revise downward his opinion of the dungeon. Not necessarily because of anything wrong with the dungeon itself, but rather that his expectations had perhaps not matched up to reality. While Tizzy was currently occupied with clearing Floor Four with her latest party, the rest of the group had decided to push through Floors Two and Three so as to not fall too far behind. Tizzy and Linda had finished their first mana-conversion amulet which Linda herself was now wearing, putting her more or less back at full strength, and it seemed to be worthwhile testing it out. Thaddeus and Lei the Iron Palm focused mainly on a combination of martial skills and enchanted items, so they had only been somewhat affected by the new environment to begin with, which left only the shaman Pulg to have to metaphorically limp along with the team.
Unfortunately, now that their team was operating at something approximating an 'Expert' Challenger tier, the tests posed by the dungeon's higher floors seemed to be less impressive than they had been on the team's first visit. They had played it cautious with Lollyp, avoiding her Challenge Mode, but Linda's magical defenses had practically neutered the Elementalist and the rest of the team had managed to slay the slime in perhaps less than a minute. Floor Three meanwhile had so far simply been...annoying. The jumping puzzle with the slime ambushes, the slime spiders and ghost tentacles which mostly only served to slow them down, and the timing puzzle with the magical barriers...Thaddeus badly needed to slay something.
So it is that when the team approaches Floor Three's arena, he makes a rather controversial statement. "We've done well so far, today! Defeated one of the dungeon's most notorious monsters with ease, and nearly cleared two floors in a matter of hours. So in celebration of your achievements and hard work, you all may remain here in the safe room and relax, while I slay the floor's guardians."
Lei's head immediately snaps up from where he'd been sipping from the room's healing fountain. "What!? My - boss, you recall the scout briefing, yes? This floor has two bosses at once! Not to mention nuisance monsters!"
The prince gives the martial artist a grin. "Are you suggesting the fight is beyond me, Lei?"
The man quickly bows his head. "Not at all! But to pick this fight as your first solo combat...also, I'll admit, I was rather looking forward to turning one of them into scrap myself."
Pulg studies his master a little before speaking up. "I assume this isn't actually about rewarding us, is it? Is this perhaps an attempt to prove yourself?"
"Well, I suppose the entire dungeon is about that, is it not? But no, I'll admit - I mostly feel as if I haven't actually been allowed to cut loose so far today. These cramped tunnels, so many slime monsters...I need to savor the taste of a fiercer battle than we've seen so far."
Linda simply shrugs as she continues to recharge one of her wands. "Just let it go, boys. You know how he gets when he doesn't get to play around every once in a while. Remember that time with that troll village?"
Lei chuckles. "The trolls certainly do - the survivors, at any rate. Very well, but don't hesitate to call on us if the dungeon manages to surprise us, yes?"
"I am not so foolhardy as to entirely abandon my support. I'll leave the arena door open, feel free to charge in to my rescue in the event something does go wrong. But I don't expect this to take more than a few minutes." As the group offers him their well-wishes, the black-haired prince turns and pushes the arena doors open, then draws his sword as he steps inside.
He quickly scans the room, almost ignoring the two giant suits of armor standing on the opposite side. Instead he first examines the floor, watching out for the so-called Terror Tentacles waiting to ambush and grab onto him. While they're currently hidden within the stone of the floor, the man does have enough mana-sense to get an impression of where the ghostly creatures are hiding, and he mentally maps out a safe route towards the floor's guardians. They don't wait for Thaddeus to finish doing so, of course, and Dips's first javelin goes flying towards his head just as he returns his attention in her direction. He almost absentmindedly dodges the projectile though, earning a curse from Pulg as the weapon goes soaring into the safe room behind him.
Dips doesn't seem too off-put by the miss, though. "What's thhiiiiiss? The human approaches us alone?"
Tank grunts at the strategy. "Another overinflated eegggggooo. They've suffered no casualties yet? Allow us to grant you your firrrrrrst, then!" The heavy suit charges ahead, his shield held in front of him and his giant double-bladed axe swinging, but the smaller man simply rolls below the attack as if he'd done it a hundred times before. His own blade is already swinging by time he returns to his feet, swiping through the back of Tank's knee, a blow that would have been very serious if Tank had things like bones or tendons. It is rather impressive that the man's sword can cut through the possessed armor at all, but the damage seems to be only superficial given by how little it affects the undead.
That doesn't much bother Thaddeus, though - the attack was merely a probe, to see what passes for a weak point in a mobile hunk of metal. There's certainly many more to test, particularly the head, and so Thaddeus's next move involves dashing to the side of the guardian and swinging upwards...and missing entirely as a cloud of almost-tangible shadow envelops him.
"What in the blazes? We heard no mention of dark magics in this fight!"
Along with the stomping of Tank's boots, Thaddeus can hear Dips's laughter from across the arena. "A new trick this is, yyeeeess. Worthy told us not to use the shadow magic on the Innnnitiates, but if you are so eager to fight alone, surely you're not complaining about a little challenge?"
To the contrary, the prince actually finds himself smiling. "Not at all - in fact, you've only given me justification to employ a few tricks of my own!" As he hears the sound of Tank's axe swinging towards him, Thaddeus drives a bit of magic into his boots, which briefly glow with a golden light and nearly teleport the man ten feet backwards, tearing apart a ghostly tentacle which tries to latch on to him on the way. It's enough distance to bring the man outside of the magical shadow, and when he glances in Dips's direction he almost gets the feeling the armor is frowning at him.
"Swift on your feet - what Swordsman class are you, I wonder?"
"Not a skill, I'm afraid, simply a little enchanted trinket I've picked up over the past few years. And not the only one, either!" Indeed, he demonstrates another as Dips tosses another projectile his way. Ducking to the side in a way that manages to make his cloak swoosh through the air, the javelin gets entangled within it, a move that would normally not be as ideal as a complete miss. To Dips' surprise however the cloak actually latches onto the javelin, grabbing it and then brandishing it above Thaddeus's head as if the man had suddenly grown a scorpion's tail. It puts itself to use immediately, deflecting a quick swing from Tank even as the man begins to approach Dips.
"You're the source of those shadow magics, yes? Congratulations, then - you've just become the priority target!" Indeed, Dips quickly gets to repositioning her shadow onto Thaddeus's new position, using the spell she'd acquired from Taly's Shadow Rogue class, but without the element of surprise it seems to have little effect on the swordsman. In fact, the spell seems to affect Tank most of all - only the shadow's creator gains the ability to see through it, leaving Tank to settle for using his bulk to try and score a hit on the slippery fellow, but Dips can only watch as his swings miss by ever more distance.
"Tank, to me, he is - " She's interrupted as she needs to quickly bring up her own sword to deflect a blow, but at least she has no breath she needs to catch before continuing. "He is upon me!" Giving up on her spell, Dips focuses instead on her swordplay, and her speed is at least somewhat better compared to Tank's heavy blows. Even so, it's not enough - she only gets in one or two thrusts before finding herself on the defensive, and even when Tank closes the distance the man's cloak continues to defend him as if he had eyes in the back of his head.
The cloak isn't the only supporter the man has either, even if the others are merely in the morale sense. "You have them, Tad! Aim for the eye slits!"
Lei scoffs at Linda's suggestion. "There's no eyes in there, mage! Go for the neck!"
"I - am - working on it!" Although he does have a noticeable edge on the guardians in terms of skill, they do still have several feet of height and reach advantage on him, and his enchanted cloak can barely keep Tank at bay let alone actually damage him with a mere javelin. Eventually though he sees an opening, and uses the two against each other. The next time Tank raises his shield to deflect a blow from Thaddeus's cloak, he again feeds a bit of magic into his boots, but this time into a leap. Practically bouncing off of the gigantic piece of metal, the prince comes in swinging at Dips at eye level, and when he lands on the ground Dips's helmet is only a second behind him.
Growling, Tank abandons his shield in order to go all-in on offense...on the extremely annoying cloak, that is. Lunging forward, the guardian grabs onto the offending garment, before moving to use it to swing the egotistical Challenger across the room. Or at least, that's the plan. Instead the cloak seems to automatically detach from Thaddeus's shoulders the moment Tank puts any force into it, and instead of holding onto the fabric Tank finds that the fabric is now holding on to him.
Although it attempts to bind the armor's two arms together, moving like a sentient rope, it's too weak to do so considering the monster's strength and sheer size. It does however manage to distract the boss for a few key seconds, and as Tank waves his arm around in an attempt to dislodge the thing, Thaddeus has the opportunity to move into the creature's blind spot. One magic boot-enhanced jump later, and a second helmet is soon clattering to the stony ground, to the applause of the man's audience.
Pulg chuckles as the others clap. "Showing off some of your toys, were you? Not worried about burning through their charge?"
Thaddeus doesn't respond right away, instead watching to ensure that the undead monsters are actually dead as their empty shells crumple to the ground. When a chest appears in the center of the room though he relaxes, sheathing his sword and reaching out for the cloak which grabs onto him, crawling up his arm and re-attaching itself to his shoulders. "As our scout said, they should be fine for a few weeks even in the worst case. And now that Linda at the least can potentially recharge them, well, no reason not to cut a little loose once in a while, wouldn't you say?"
Lei starts to nod, but scratches his head. "Wouldn't you rather keep all your cards up your sleeve? Until a fight that matters, that is."
The prince chuckles. "They're hardly my only cards, now aren't they? Besides..." He trails off for a moment, as if lost in thought, before Linda attracts his attention.
"Besides what, Tad?"
"Individual cards are minor concerns for us, are they not? I think the time has come for us to draw upon an entirely new deck."
That comment certainly surprises the blonde, her eyebrows rising. "You mean..."
Thaddeus nods. "Indeed. When we return tonight, focus your energies on recharging the artifact. I think the others have waited long enough..."
