Return to Jorgaldur Volume III: blood warrior

In group: last floor

Against so many enemies, it wasn't enough to dodge in one place. There were too many at once, and she couldn't keep an eye on all of them, so she needed to scatter them, even if being in one place full of walls was convenient.

She created a circuit around the cavern through which she was running continuously. Her speed wasn't too high, so that a few at a time would catch up with her, five or six at most.

Every so often, she stood in front of a wall, and damaged them with the whip, especially with the combination of Scrub and Dark Touch. Also, she jumped between them, and hit them with the foot, knee, elbow, fist or outstretched hand, with different Martial Arts movements. Sometimes, Gjaki pierced them with Spearhead, and tried to push or pull them to the walls.

When there were more than five or six, she moved to another wall, thus letting those from before dive back into the ground, and others catch up.

Little by little, she weakened them, until the boss worm was completely annihilated, and she was able to rejoin her companions. They wanted to appear calm, but it wasn't easy for them to hide their impatience. It was even more evident in Krongo and Krinia.

They stood looking at the path to the last floor that their partner, their friend, had crossed. She surprised them by returning earlier than expected.

"Let's go. The rest area is close, and I've got some samples to test."

A completely black wasp attacked her shortly after arriving at the floor. The biggest danger was that they could detect the adventurers from quite a distance, and move towards them quickly.

The vampiress had seen it before it arrived, for the first thing she had done was deploy a pair of winged scouts. She pressed against the wall to dodge it at the last moment.

The insect didn't collide, but for a moment it slowed down until it almost stood still in the air. She took advantage of it. The whip was bent implausibly thanks to Dribble, thus managing to Grab one of the wings and halting its flight.

Gjaki lunged at the now powerless foe, cut off both of its wings, and left it on the ground. It was unable to move, totally defenseless. Not long after, a second one arrived, and received the same treatment.

When the group of reptilians arrived, they found the two wasps on the ground. Their stingers were still dangerous, but given their poor mobility, they just had to be a little careful.

It took them a bit to kill them due to the level difference, but there was no danger. The only risk would be if another one came, as it happened. Nonetheless, the vampiress was guarding, so it just became another victim.

There were seven levels of difference between them and the wasps. Therefore, even though they leveled up much more slowly than Gjaki, it was a very efficient way to do it.

Immobilizing enemies was a method only used by some nobles and royalty, those who wanted to level up quickly without actually becoming a warrior. For that reason, despite being the offspring of the counts, and their friends, they had never had it at their disposal. It was considered an inappropriate and undignified shortcut.

However, they had been fighting higher level enemies while accompanying the vampiress, over and over again. They had been pressured with danger past their level, something that normally would have been too risky. Therefore, using that shortcut was no longer so inappropriate. Besides, it would only be a few levels, they would need to keep training, or so they told themselves.

Gjaki, for her part, was also leveling up. Although her contribution had greatly diminished, she wasn't worried about it. Her goal was for them to raise three levels. Then, she would give them some level 40 gear, so they could at least fight on that floor. Afterwards, if she hadn't reached level 45 yet, she would take care of it.

It took them more than a week to achieve it, by finishing off defenseless wasps. Therefore, when her friend lent them some level 40 weapons, especially a shield, they were more than willing to confront them directly.

It wasn't an easy fight. It was four levels higher than them, and they weren't used to their new power yet. Besides, a large part of their equipment was inferior, since the vampiress didn't have everything for everyone. Nonetheless, they were extremely pleased to defeat it, no matter the vampiress had killed two others in the meantime.

It didn't take much longer for Gjaki to reach level 45, as she had previously accumulated several days of a small portion of the experience.

At 45, she had regained Hunt. With that spell, an enemy can be marked for the summons to attack, and control over them is lost. Therefore, the summons will chase and attack relentlessly, as long as they have mana left to sustain themselves, beyond even the summoner's range.

Flying Daggers is an upgraded and more expensive version of Fleeting Dagger, as well as it requires more weapons. Four daggers are grabbed between the fingers of a hand, with the tips between every two fingers, and can be thrown at different enemies.

Knowing that they were capable of defending themselves, Gjaki could move forward more confident. Again, they came to a wall, and again an invisible door opened. However, when the door appeared, it was evident that it wasn't like the others.

The size and power of that door was much greater, as well as the multiple runes engraved there. They granted it an imposing appearance. However, when they entered, the blood aura was barely noticeable, unlike before.

The door had opened into a circular room, in which there were eight other doors. They were similar to the ones they had opened on other floors, but somewhat more powerful. It was noticeable in the flow of mana, although to a lesser extent than the one they had just crossed.

The aura they now felt was leaking from those doors, so one more was needed to seal it completely.

"Can you open them?" the vampiress asked the count's daughter.

"Yes, but only one at a time. It's needed to close the first."

Gjaki nodded, and soon there was the sound of the door closing behind them. The power of the seal was activated again, and the ezihuq couldn't help but feel a chill at being locked up. They knew that they couldn't escape from there once one of the other doors was opened.

They looked at the vampiress apprehensively. Only when they saw her resolve did they calm down a bit, although it was impossible to completely shake that feeling.