Syl

Chapter 56: Dead Easy

The next room we entered had rotting corpses rather than skeletons, slowly lurching around mindlessly and even wandering into walls. Their senses must have been really bad as they hadn't detected us yet. I used [Identify] on the group, as suggested.

"Ugh, Zombies..." Kurt mumbled, sheathing his swords and pulling out two small clubs from his storage bag.

"They don't seem too bad? The highest is only level 8."

"Their body parts keep moving until you kill them, knock the undeath out of them or something. Means I can't use my swords, or I'll be making more enemies."

"They seem slow. Instead of engaging directly, want me to start blasting them from here, then if any reach us, you can deal with them?"

"Sounds like a good plan. We could probably even back up and kite them. Assuming you have the mana?"

I grinned, "Mana is one of the few things I don't need to worry about."

I cast my spell four times with the aid of my three [Sub-Cores] and fired them simultaneously, one at each zombie. I hoped [Sneak Attack] did apply to spells, and this seemed like the perfect test condition. The spheres of water exploded on contact, and the zombies finally reacted, turning to face us and shuffling forward.

Kurt whistled, impressed with the display, as I continued my barrage of water spells. The weaker zombies even halted a little with each blast, and I was impressed with the amount of concussive force inside these magical water balls. Eventually, the weaker zombies stopped moving, and when only the strongest remained, Kurt stepped in and dealt two crunchy blows to its head and torso, collapsing it.

"I thought Dewi said Water magic was boring? Cause that seemed pretty cool to me." Kurt said, and gave me a thumbs up, "You good on mana?"

"Thanks. I'm all good. The low-level spells don't seem to use much." I replied and started storing away the zombies.

"I guess I better pick up the slack on the next group of skeletons. You're definitely on zombie duty after that display. Also I gained a level, we're making good progress!"

We continued exploring the first floor, and the next pack of enemies we found was a mixed group of skeleton archers and zombies. I lured the zombies away from Kurt with a barrage of water spells, and he began to engage the skeleton archers. His dodging skills were impressive, and he even deflected an arrow with his sword. His confidence or skill levels must have been pretty high to showboat like that. I also took a quick peek with [Identify] to grab the first-time bonus on the skeletons.

I tried to restrain the zombie duo with [Water Whip], but despite lacking in speed compared to the skeletons, they far exceeded them in strength, and the magical density of the water was not enough to hold. I swapped to using a disguised [Pseudopod] to grab one of the Zombies and hold it in place, then pelted the remaining with repeated casts of [Water Orb].

Since Kurt continued to play with his foes, I sneakily ate both zombies. I was surprised how much he trusted me to keep them off his back; were all adventurer parties like this? The restrained one died rapidly once engulfed in acid slime, and then I ate the remains of the last one.

Again, they were extremely disappointing in terms of slime mass, which seemed to be a recurring theme of the undead. While I waited for Kurt to finish killing the last one, I looked over the profile and spotted [Undead Fortitude] and a new one [Undead Resilience], which was what let them keep fighting even when chopped into bits. Resilient was a bit of an understatement, in my opinion. When Kurt finished off the last archer, I had gained another level.

'Hmm... No skill revelation this time. Although, if I suddenly got offered another previously missing element, I would've been utterly confused. Actually, I have a skill point, and I've seen [Earth Magic], so let's give it a try...'

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'Damn...'

Kurt asked to take a short break, and after I deposited the corpses, he drank water and ate some dried meat. I pulled out some leftovers from the inn and found a new appreciation for my storage as it was as fresh as when it was prepared and still warm. I ignored Kurt's envious stares, as Whitney had told me repeatedly that every adventurer was responsible for their own supplies.

"We could probably go to floor two."

"Is it much harder? How many floors does this dungeon have?"

"Four floors, although the last one is occupied by the dungeon boss. The second floor is a lot more classed skeletons and some undead animals. I've never been to the third floor, so I'm unsure what's there, but I was warned never to go without a mage for some reason."

"That makes me think it's a monster weak to magic."

"Maybe. We could ask Whitney if she comes."

"Will she be able to find us? Especially if we go to the next floor."

"Finding things is kinda her specialty. I'd bet she could probably sneak to the boss without getting caught by a single undead." He got up, dusted his hands against his pants, and gripped his blades, "There's one more room before the next staircase."

The room was a horde of seven zombies, so I once again barraged them from a distance. When they finally reached us, there were still three active, so I grabbed one with a disguised tendril while Kurt bashed and engaged the remaining two with his clubs. I didn't need to try weaving spells to hit them, as he promptly dispatched them.

"Maybe fighting zombies isn't so bad if you soften them up like that." Kurt said as he walked into the room, he spotted a small chest and ran towards it, "Loot! Let's hope it's not crap."

While he was occupied and fumbling with the chest, I looked over my gains from that encounter.

I cast the new spell, which created a dome of water surrounding myself. From my understanding, this was a defensive spell and a utility spell. I fired a [Water Orb], and it passed through the barrier, hitting the dungeon wall.

"Woah!" Kurt exclaimed, reacting to my sudden attack, and he calmed down when he saw it was just me, "Oh, you're trying out a new spell."

"Yes. Although, I'm not sure how useful it is. Supposedly, it's a protection spell, but I have my doubts."

Kurt picked up a small piece of debris and threw it at me. It bounced off the bubble before I could shout at him.

"Seems okay to me." He shrugged and held out a ring for me to see, "The loot is a ring, but I don't have [Appraisal], so I can't tell what it does."

"Appraisal?"

"It's an addon for [Identify], specifically for items and stuff."

"I'm adding that to my list."

"Ask Whitney or Tabby to show you. Anyway, want me to try swinging at your bubble?"

"Sure. Just don't hit me."

Kurt laughed and swung his blade halfheartedly, causing it to bounce off when he connected. He then redoubled his effort, and the bubble burst on contact, splashing outwards and soaking him. I, however, was bone dry, so I gave him a smug grin in response.

"Looks like it can only block light attacks unless I can work on improving it. If I'm correctly understanding the utility part of the spell, I could also use it to move easier underwater."

Kurt's eyes widened at that, "Can you cast it on other people?"

"I think so..." I replied and tried casting the spell on Kurt. When the bubble of water formed around him, he started smiling happily.

"We could explore the pond!" He shouted excitedly, "Ever since I was a kid, we wanted to search the pond for treasure."

"I think there's just frogs down there."

"No, no, no. You need to work on your sense of adventure, Syl. Plus, monsters sometimes hoard treasure."

I unfortunately couldn't deny that. I was a monster, and I certainly had a hoard of treasure. I shrugged and started heading towards the staircase, which prompted a surprise notification for me.

If I focused my mind, I could mentally picture the path we had traveled in the dungeon. What a wonderful upgrade!

Our first encounter on the second floor proved one application of my bubble, as it had numerous skeleton archers that all shot at Kurt. Their arrows bounced off harmlessly, and I formed my own bubble when they started to shoot at me as well. We both stood there curiously until the archers ran out of arrows and then charged at us to strike with their bows, which also harmlessly bounced off the bubble.

"I kind of feel bad for them." Kurt laughed.

"If they had [Power Shot], we might have been at risk of getting hit. And the zombies could possibly break the bubble outright."

I had already tried [Water Orb], which could go through my bubble, so I tried casting [Water Whip] and lashed out at one of the poor skeletons. After a few good smacks and cracks, it crumpled to the floor. It was nice to see that my spells could synergize, and it reminded me of combining my slime traits for some amazing combinations.

Curiously, I formed a [Pseudopod] and tried to pass it through the bubble, and it also passed through unimpeded and with no visible damage to my bubble. After easily destroying the skeleton, my slime tendrils demonstrating their superiority over their watery duplicate, I decided to see if the bubble allowed anything to pass outwards and drew my bow.

I activated [Elven Marksmanship] and saw no markings appear. I could only assume that the undead had no weak points, which meant that my mental scolding for forgetting to use it earlier could be reduced. I fired an arrow and it passed through, then fired a few more until the skeleton died. Kurt clapped excitedly.

"Do you think you could make my bubble smaller? Then maybe I could swing my sword through."

I couldn't seem to modify the spell once cast, so I tried casting it again on him in a smaller radius, which thankfully seemed like a simple customization. Once formed, I ended the original casting, and it detonated outwards, splashing the remaining two skeletons. Kurt wasted no time and swung his blades, which could now pass through the barrier, and he bullied the two skeletons until they perished.

"This bubble spell is awesome!" Kurt shouted excitedly and I could only nod happily in agreement. Also, it appeared all my spellcasting had rewarded my efforts.