Chương 93: Limitless Path Chapter Ninety-Three

The two relaxed after just a moment, receiving the kill confirmation letting them know that the beast was truly dead. Beth had managed to get her eyes cleared and started by dropping her pack in a clear area away from the corpse before reaching up and pulling out the ice shard from her cheek with a wince. Maybe because it was magical ice, or maybe because the dungeon was quite cold, or due to some combination of many factors, the ice wasn't really melting, even exposed to their body heat.

Beth set about pulling the bladelike slivers out of her armor and herself before assisting Blood, cleaning out her left side and back. Once the ice was clear, the two were able to sit down and meditate while focusing on regenerating. Beth was first to finish, even with her gaping cheek wound, as her skill was much stronger. After their earlier discussion with Soph, she knew that was because Regeneration was only a tier one skill while Lordly Reconstruction was at least tier two.

The comparative power of the two was a strong indication that her skill might even be tier three, as the rate of her healing even with the skill at Copper ranks was phenomenal. Shaking off thoughts of tiers, Beth reviewed the last few messages while guarding Blood during the wolf's healing. She noted the kill message and the reward of money, smiling a little at the fact that the beast was worth a considerable number of copper coins.

Everything in the level forty-one to fifty bracket was worth a chunk of copper coins, with fifty being a major turning point where beasts got much stronger but also much more rewarding. She scrolled the rest of the messages, noting a few levels in Ice Resistance for both of them, as well as an overall level. She assigned their free stat points before checking their status screens for the first time in a little while.

Name Elizabeth Anne Bell Class Brawler Level 40 Strength 111 Dexterity 61 Endurance 79 Intelligence 30 Wisdom 30 Free Points 0 Titles Silver Flame Empress' Inheritor Skills Ancient World Gate[1] Blacksmithing Apprentice[4] Crush Copper[9] Focused Meditation Copper[8] Ice Resistance Copper[2] Identify Copper[8] Lightning Resistance Copper[4] Lordly Reconstruction Copper[8] Monstrous Blow Copper[9] Pain Tolerance Copper[9] Swift Copper[5] Swords Apprentice[9] Toxic Resistance Copper[5] Unarmed Apprentice[9] Wealth 12g 44s 70c Emblems CRA Copper Emblem Bonds Blood Name Blood Race Red Wolf Queen Level 40 Strength 74 Dexterity 106 Endurance 60 Intelligence 38 Wisdom 38 Free Points 0 Titles - Skills Ice Resistance Copper[2] Identify Copper[7] Meditation Copper[8] Lightning Resistance Copper[3] Regeneration Copper[8] Rending Bite Copper[1] Swift Copper[9] Toxic Resistance Copper[4] Wealth 52s 29c If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen.

Report the violation. She was surprised to see that Blood had a new skill, checking the messages from the battle to see the wolf had apparently learned it during the final push of the fight. It seemed she had either learned or created a skill with her final bite to the throat that had killed the kobold, a welcome additional to her companion's arsenal. Beth noted the new resistance levels and nodded in satisfaction, hoping that she would be seeing a Journeyman level for a weapon skill at some point soon.

She proceeded with cleaning her blade while she continued to wait, noting the slow but steady closing of the cuts across her companion's body. She finished with her blade and dug out the pack of ration bars in the meanwhile, feeling the weight down about half, which should be more than enough for this dungeon dive. She made yet another mental note, thinking they would have to buy multiple packs from Jaq once they were back in the hall.

She ate two bars and drank a ton from one of their two ever-full canteens before moving to the back of the room to take care of some business, washing her hands with more water when she was done. She moved over to the ravager's body as Blood was getting close to finishing her healing, at least, to Beth's observations. She messily chopped the hauberk apart, tugging the sections she hacked it into off the corpse with a grimace.

She worked to remove the leather, getting much of it cut away before stacking the frost iron plates in her backpack. She would have to ask Elana if there was any kind of easy way to remove rivets without an entire forge setup. Blood woke from her meditation a few minutes later as Beth finished with the hauberk and had three ration bars herself as well as a huge amount of water before also making use of the back corner of the room.

She came back as Beth was finishing inspecting her armor, noting two scales that were basically broken. She decided not to worry about them for now, as they were still attached and providing some level of protection. When they snapped off, she would use the armor maintenance kit in the pack to make a hasty fix.

"So," Beth said, turning to Blood, "was that you earlier?"' Yes…' the wolf replied mentally, her husky voice echoing beautifully in Beth's mind. The tall girl immediately leapt on the wolf, wrapping her arms around the big lupine while burying her face in Blood's neck. She dug her hands in and scratched for all she was worth, Blood growling deeply in response to the affection.

"Your voice is so damn pretty, just like you," Beth said, face still rubbing against Blood's neck.' Thank you, Sister,' Blood replied a little sheepishly, hanging her head as much as she could with Beth wrapped around her neck.

"Sister. I like that," Beth replied firmly, letting go of Blood's neck to move in front of her before planting a warm kiss on her forehead.

"Welcome to the family, sweetheart." Blood growled deeply in response, rubbing her face firmly against the front of Beth's torso, not bothered by the hardness of the scales on Beth's chest armor. Beth reached under Blood's massive jaws in response and scratched quite strongly, reaching down onto the large wolf's throat as well. The two eventually broke apart, eager to get out of the elite's room and get the dungeon completed.

Once Beth had repacked everything, they headed back out the only tunnel available to them, moving back to the previous room. Sticking with their 'stay to the left' theory, they would take the only tunnel they hadn't been in from here, which was technically the next choice moving along the left wall. They passed through the room quickly, Beth noting the corpses were still there, not sure how long it took a dungeon to do cleanup.

It might not even happen in one of these bigger, instanced dungeons, the bodies only disappearing when the instance collapsed after they cleared it. Musing on the nature of dungeons almost caught her flatfooted, as they walked into two level forty miners in the tunnel itself. They were stuck in some rather narrow confines for what turned into a quick but brutal fight, Beth taking a few scratches on her heavy gauntlets to absorb a couple sloppy strikes.

The two girls dealt with the beasts quickly enough, Blood using her new ability at an opportune moment to quickly and viciously kill the second beast by tearing its neck apart after getting in its blind spot.' Enemies wander now, Sister,' Blood commented through their bond. Beth was unsure if anyone else would be able to hear her, something she was eager to test once they had completed this tedious maze.

"It seems so," Beth replied.

"Just means we'll have to stay alert in higher-level dungeons. We can't assume tunnels and such are safe. Hell, we need to be careful when we backtrack, since cleared rooms could have new enemies stumbling into them." Blood just nodded in response as Beth finished quickly cleaning her blade, the two then moving on down the tunnel just a smidge more cautiously.

With the fact they hadn't encountered any branching in the actual tunnels, just the rooms, and that Beth's stone provided ample light to see a good distance in front of them, they certainly didn't need to crawl along. Combined with Beth's rather good eyesight and Blood's superior hearing, they were able to keep making good time. And make good time is what they did next, tearing through the next half dozen rooms, fighting enemies at level forty and forty-one in every room.

They eventually came to what Beth realized was a dead end, a section of the labyrinth that wasn't connected to any other part other than the tunnel leading in. They mowed through three rooms of level forty-one enemies at high speed to prove her thoughts, finding it was entirely a dead-end section. They had to backtrack to the next tunnel that could possibly lead them further into the maze, made an easy feat thanks to their enhanced Intelligence and Wisdom providing near perfect recall.

Two more rooms and the enemies jumped to level forty-two uniformly. The added toughness made the fights take longer, Beth really done with underground mazes as a dungeon archetype already. The only fortunate part of it all was that the higher levels and greater power of the enemies provided ample experience.

Beth estimated they would likely hit level forty-one in another four rooms and, if the labyrinth was about the size she was estimating at this point, they would make either forty-four or forty-five before all was said and done. She wasn't really concerned, either, since the only consideration that mattered even a little was not hitting level one hundred yet, and even that was only a recommendation.

The other thing to worry about, that hopefully wouldn't come up here based on the dungeon's size, was breaching level fifty. While not a concern in terms of missed opportunities, fifty marked a noticeable increase in beasts' power all around, whether it was in terms of offense, defense, resistances, or even overall cunning. She really wanted to make sure she got at least one weapon skill into Journeyman before hitting fifty, which would hopefully give them an easier time dealing with the enemies' increased power.

Her prediction proved accurate, as they hit forty-one after the fourth room, Beth estimating that they were maybe a third of the way through the dungeon. The room had taken some time, as the singular overseer had been level forty-three, and all the tougher for it. Beth was dumping a decent chunk of Blood's free points in Strength, doing the same for her two free points for a few levels.

She wanted to really boost their damage, keeping in mind that her two offensive skills and Blood's singular offensive skill both scaled heavily off Strength, amplifying the effect of the stat. A Copper[9] level Crush executed with two hundred Strength would be far more destructive, particularly to hardened targets, than one performed with only one hundred Strength. The fights and dungeon proceeded from there, with them encountering more wandering kobolds while they navigated between rooms.

They moved forward both through the maze and through their levels, gaining another level four or so hours later. Four hours of near-constant fighting was, however, rather tiring, and being stuck underground for many hours did nothing to liven them up. What was also unfortunate was the cold getting much more oppressive. Beth had the ring and multiple layers on, while Blood had her long, thick, luxurious fur, but it started to weigh them down.

It sapped their stamina and leeched into their muscles, slowing their movements and tiring them out. It got bad enough that at the three-quarters mark, by Beth's rough estimation, they stopped after clearing a moderate sized room containing all level forty-fives, before backtracking to ensure they had a buffer zone. They set up the tent or, at least, Beth set up the tent while Blood stood guard.

Beth then sat outside on the ground in front of the tent, which she had placed in the corner of a room with only two doorways opposite where they were, watching while Blood slept. Beth gave her nearly three hours, taking her chest armor off at one point to re-stitch a few scales. She was pleasantly surprised, though also a little suspicious, that no wandering kobolds entered the room during Blood's rest, but she shrugged it off as she woke her companion up.

She immediately dropped in the warm section Blood left in the blankets on the tent floor, passing out as soon as she stopped moving. The environmental cold was rather draining, but that wasn't even the worst, as the kobolds had all started to use ice and frost in their attacks. It was only a small amount, but it was still annoying in the short term and highly frustrating as the battles compounded. Beth's sleep was also uninterrupted until a large, warm, soft nose poked her cheek rather hard.

Beth grunted and rolled onto her back, groaning as she realized how much sleeping in her armor sucked. She sat up and scratched Blood thoroughly, giving her lupine sister plenty of attention before getting up and exiting the tent. They set out after they were properly hydrated and nourished, making their way to the next room with enemies. The room was slightly large, but more than made up for the extra overseer and two miners by granting them each another level.

The fights were long and tedious, fighting up several levels, but their stats, high level skills, training, and coordination let the two fight the relatively easy beasts while only sustaining minor injuries. The level closed the gap a little more, and Beth was dumping points into Strength for both of them, further evening the odds. She would have to get her Dexterity back in line after this, as she was approaching having only half in that stat as she did in Strength, but she was otherwise doing rather well.

Blood was also doing nicely, her Dexterity being over one hundred giving her more than enough speed and maneuverability while her growing Strength and Endurance let her engage more directly in the fights. They were only two levels under the dungeon, and Beth estimated they might be able to eek one more out before the final boss, depending on how many side rooms they went through on the path to the finish.

As long as the enemies didn't have a spike in levels, she was rather confident in dealing with a level forty-five boss even at forty-three, let alone forty-four. She and Blood made sure to check thoroughly for any loot or loose items, but they were earning nothing apart from coins and general experience. That and Ice Resistance levels were the only things they had to show so far, and Beth was kind of frustrated with what might be the last big dungeon she did before hitting the big five-oh for the first time.

They didn't even find any more side bosses, Beth disappointed by what felt like a missed opportunity to level resistances faster and get more valuable materials. They managed to match Beth's predicted pace, hitting forty-four before walking down a rather long and somewhat large tunnel that led into a massive cavern. Different from what they had encountered so far, there were stalactites hanging from the ceiling while the floor was quite rough and uneven.

Beth knew footing could be a real problem, at least for her, the ever-fleet Blood not likely to be overly bothered by the jagged terrain. The other thing Beth noticed was the boss, and it was hard not to notice, considering it glowed a faint bluish white and emitted an aura of frigid cold. It also towered eight feet tall and wielded something that much more resembled a tree trunk with the branches hacked away than it did a club. As always, she used Identify to see what they were up against.

Level 45 Kobold Ice Mauler Mauler was a new appellation, and Beth had a sneaking suspicion it might have some small relation to the massive pillar of wood the beast held. It was also equipped with a solid hauberk of a style similar to the Ravager, though it also lacked both arm and neck protection. Going for a neck blow would likely be rather risky before this opponent was greatly injured, so it looked like they were sticking to limb mutilation as a battle plan.