The team quickly realized that Apophis was right. The path through the Dungeon was a labyrinth, despite no such structure existing in the normal desert which this Dungeon was based on.
As soon as this was clear, Lotus started making a map to track their progress while everyone else debated the best strategy to adopt for moving forward.
But before even a minute had passed, the party was attacked by a group of ten monsters who sprang from the mist!
╔══════════════╕
╟─╼ ELITE MONSTER
║ ╰╼[Name]: Naga Scout
║ ╰╼[LvL]: 20
║ ╰╼[Rank]: D+
╚══════════════╛
The team leaped into formation! Hulk moved to the front, preparing to tank, while the others arranged themselves for attacking. Unfortunately, unlike when Apophis had entered the Gravedigger's Tower, his current party lacked balance.
Hulk was their only melee fighter, while everyone else specialized in ranged combat! White and Lotus both had combat pets to help in melee, but it just wasn't the same as having more melee DPS players.
Their fight was brutal. The nagas were extremely aggressive creatures and didn't give up easily, but the party took them down one by one under Apophis's direction.
System: Level 14 achieved. Gain 5 Skill Points for the Talent Tree.
In the end, even if they lacked perfect party balance, it was no surprise that a team full of elite players and equipped with Epic items was victorious against even IronMan nagas!
After their victory, the group continued walking, having eventually decided on a path. Apophis gave a quick speech in a quiet voice as they walked, giving instructions on how they should improve their performance based on the last fight. "Those nagas had 'scout' in their name," he said. "Therefore, they were surely less powerful but more mobile than other nagas in here. We'd best prepare for an even tougher fight."
Sure enough, it wasn't long before they encountered more Naga Scouts and a few stronger Naga Soldiers…
And then more, and even more!
The party fought hard over the next hour, and everyone grew gradually exhausted. Nagas were coming at them from all sides, emerging from the mist and around twisting corners as though they were ants emerging from a hill! Some even leaped down from the walls above them, like meteors from the deathly gray sky.
The situation became unbearable. Apophis realized the team had no time to rest with how often the enemies were attacking. Time to try out my new ~Cosmic Materialization~ Skill! he thought.
This Skill was supposed to allow him to materialize any object he wanted, so long as he had enough Energy… but he wouldn't know exactly how effective it would be until he tried it out.
Apophis quickly materialized some huge granite boulders, which appeared between the players and some of the monsters. His first thought was to create them above the heads of the nagas, but it seemed that creating objects which would immediately be used as weapons cost much, much more Energy than making a simple barrier. Or perhaps it was much easier to create them on the ground than in the air.
Regardless, this barrier of boulders didn't cost much Energy at all.
The party took deep, relieved breaths. The rocks hadn't blocked out all the monsters, but they at least allowed the party to fight forward without being attacked on all sides for a few minutes!
Though this was an enormous help, they had another problem. The players were sustaining constant damage from the vicious nagas, and, though she was very skilled, Chocolate simply didn't have enough Energy to keep up. She constantly drank Energy potions to refill her reserves, and every moment she was drinking a potion was a moment when she wasn't healing her allies!
However, despite the insane difficulty of the battle, Apophis's party finally eliminated the waves of monsters that had seemed endless only moments before.
The most intense phase of the fight, when the nagas had come in endless waves, had lasted well over twenty minutes and had resulted in over a hundred dead enemies!
The monster corpses had piled on top of one another as the reinforcements crawled over the corpses of their dead allies in order to attack, and they had ultimately made a hill five meters high!
Fortunately, the fight was worthwhile. The team had gained so much experience that almost everyone had hit LvL 15. Lotus was the only exception, and even she had reached LvL 14.
They took a quick break, allowing everyone a chance to breathe a little. Apophis sat down and used the time to spend his 25 Skill Points that he'd accumulated since LvL 10. Before he did so, Apophis opened his character menu and inspected his stats.
╔══════════════╕
╟─╼ CHARACTER
║ ╰╼[Name] : Apophis
║ ╰╼[LvL] : 15
║ ╰╼[Tier] : C {Ascendant}
║ ╰╼[Class] : Esper
║ ╰╼[Biology] : Male Zetark-Human Hybrid {Tier 3; Next Tier: LvL 20}
╠══════════════╡
╟─╼ SOUL
║ ╰╼[Host Soul] Enclabossa
║ ╰╼[Energy] : 1500 (+50%) x2 = 4500
║ ╰╼[Alignment] : -100 {Very Dark}
╠══════════════╡
╟─╼ STATS
║ ╰╼[Strength] 200 (+10%) x2 = 440 STR
║ ╰╼[Intelligence] 200 (+10%) x2 = 440 INT
║ ╰╼[Agility] 200 (+10%) x2 = 440 AGI
║ ╰╼[Dexterity] 200 (+10%) x2 = 440 DEX
║ ╰╼[Luck] 1 LUK
╠══════════════╡
╟─╼ BOOK SKILLS
║ ╰╼~Berserk (lvl 1)~
║ ╰╼~Cosmic Materialization (lvl 1)~
║ ╰╼~Dark Cosmic Meditation (lvl 2)~
║ ╰╼~Demon God Flame (lvl 2)~
║ ╰╼~Lord of Flames (lvl 1)~
║ ╰╼~Susanoo (lvl 1)~
║ ╰╼~Zooanthropy (lvl 1)~
╟─╼ TALENT TREE SKILLS
║ ╰╼~Energy Regeneration (15 pts)~
║ ╰╼~Firebending (50 pts)~
║ ╰╼~Telekinesis (10 pts)~
╟─╼ PASSIVE SKILLS
║ ╰╼[ Archaeologist ]
║ ╰╼[ Genocidal ]
║ ╰╼[ Warrior-Esper ]
╠══════════════╡
╟─╼ EQUIPMENT
║ ╰╼[Galactic Coins] : 13,000 GC
║ ╰╼[Complete Zetark Battle Armor (Rare)]
║ ╰╼[God Tzeentch's Rings of Power (Legendary)]
║ ╰╼[Ring of the God-Emperor Apophis (Common)]
║ ╰╼[Zetark Nobility Uniform (Epic)]
╚═══════════════╛
Most players at this level would be around Rank D or D+, and would only achieve Rank C once they achieved the third stage of character evolution.
Of course, Apophis wasn't like most players. The power rank was a descriptor of a character's overall effectiveness, regardless of level. It was no surprise that Apophis was so ahead of the curve, considering all his Skill Books and equipment!
Apophis looked through his Talent Tree for a while and finally made his decision. He spent 25 Skill Points in a new branch of the tree: Hydrokinesis, the mastery of water. He put those points into ~Waterbending~, a Skill to match ~Firebending~.
Server: Congratulations, your ~Firebending~ and ~Waterbending~ Skills have unlocked a Skill Synthesis. You can now combine both elements without receiving any damage penalty.
Apophis has just created liquid fire!