Return to Jorgaldur Volume III: blood warrior

Dungeon, first floor (IV)

Her gear was still level 15, so the gains from leveling up weren't as big as they could have been, though they weren't inconsequential either. Furthermore, she had discovered some details about her enemies.

Those mannequis always attacked with all available arms. They didn't bother to keep some back to defend themselves, or launch attacks in waves. That could be exploited.

By standing in front of it, within arm's reach, and dodging them with Decoy, she got them all to attack her at once. They spread out in an attempt to pierce her, so they needed to fold before launching a new attack. Since the eight arms had been used, it was vulnerable for a few moments, so she could safely attack it.

Also, by placing a Dark Wall on top of some Tentacles and keeping attacking around her enemy, the Wall continuously corroded it. It also reduced its ability to detect her when it was inside or on the other side of the Wall. Therefore, she could use Darkness more easily.

As if that weren't enough, by using the Bats as bait she could lure their enemies near the rest area. It gave her the ability to retreat as needed.

The biggest problem had happened when she had lured two at once, but she had soon turned the problem into an opportunity. After getting them close enough, she had only needed to appear between the two and dodge in time for them to pierce each other. They didn't learn no matter how much she repeated it.

With that, she had soon leveled up to 18 and halfway to 19. Unfortunately, using Bats as bait stopped working the farther she had to send them.

Rather than being attracted to them, the mannequins were stimulated by the connection they had with their owner, with a living being. That connection weakened as they moved away, until it was no longer enough to attract their attention. Therefore, she had no choice but to give up the security of the rest area and start touring the tunnels.

At 18, she had re-gained Disrupt. It disturbs the target's blood through their wounds, thus causing them to lose concentration. It was very useful against wizards, once they were wounded for the first time, and totally pointless inside the dungeon.

As for skill, she had been surprised with Basic Martial Arts. In the game, this skill gave access to a limited number of moves. Now, somehow, it had been merged with her own knowledge, with her martial arts practices in the real world, and even with the videos she had watched. It was clear that many of the movements weren't at the highest level, that she hadn't fully mastered them. Therefore, it wasn't long before she made them a new goal, to train them when possible.

After letting it attack, she could dodge, grab a pair of its outstretched arms, use her leg against it with Harden, and knock it to the ground. Following that, Gjaki could use the hammer, the spear, or fall with the leg extended against the neck, or against one of the limbs.

She could extend the leg to the head in a quick kick with Surprise Dagger, after dodging.

Another option was to drop to the ground, support herself with her hands and hit its groin with her Hardened leg. It would have been terrifyingly effective on a live male target.

Also, she could take advantage of the fact that all the arms were extended to jump towards the neck with an extended leg, in what would be a flying kick. In addition, the daggers would be stabbed inside it after the kick that had managed to destabilize it.

It was also possible a spin kick, with Harden or Surprise Dagger, after going under its legs and winning its back.

She could also push one of its arms and move it away to make space for her leg, her other hand, or even her elbow. It could be combined with Harden or a dagger.

It didn't take long for the vampire to fuse those martial arts with her skills and her agility. For that, a humanoid opponent was ideal, even though it had eight arms, at least as long as they hadn't been cut off.

She soon discovered that it was easy to catch it off guard, knock him off balance or knock it to the ground. So much so that she became overconfident and received a deep slash on her leg, which served as a painful lesson. Self-Regeneration healed her, but it prevented neither pain nor the humiliation.

From time to time, there were two at a time, and even a couple of times three. It might be more dangerous, but it was also faster, as she managed to get them to damage each other. Sometimes, she got in the way as bait, and other times she threw them directly at each other. The vampire once even pinned down a mannequin with fewer arms to use as a shield against a newcomer.

An imposing three-meter spider mannequin was the floor boss, which the vampire ignored after finding it. She retraced her steps and decided not to challenge it until reaching level 20.

In her day, she would have faced it even two or three levels lower, but now her life was at stake. So, after a couple of days, after reaching level 20, she decided to give it a try. She had decided that if Intangible was needed, she would use the boring procedure of killing over sixty of those mannequins to raise her level to 21 before trying again.

If it wasn't enough, she would go to the blue area to level up. Reaching 22 on that floor of the dungeon would be very inefficient, and even more so if she had to repeat it on the other floors.

At 19, she had unlocked the Blasphemous Touch spell. It is applied to a weapon, and is a single use spell. If the attack is successful, it can remove a boon from the target. This can be very annoying, especially if the blessing was given by a companion who isn't nearby anymore, or you have to realize what has happened.

Mirror Clone, at 20, allows to summon an illusion of oneself. It moves like the summoner, in a circle around the target. There is no limit on the number of clones summoned, other than the mana consumed when summoning and maintaining them. In practice, she rarely used more than five.

At 19, she had regained the Ventriloquist skill. It allows to take the voice to another point, in order to make them believe that it is there where one is.

Scrape, at 20, allows to inflict multiple fast attacks with daggers. They are capable of inflicting superficial wounds that can be exploited by other skills or spells. Maybe poison.