Chương 151: CDM 3, Chapter 27: Professional Growth

Our first C gate the next day was a desert temple populated by scarabs, mummies, animated statues, and snakes ranging from typical earth pythons to giants like the water moccasin Megan and I fought in the Allegheny mountains. My voidwood bow finally had the chance to truly shine. Arches, pillars, statues, sarcophagi–I could paint a room with arrows before my party stepped inside to clear it, and we abused that advantage liberally. Before we opened a door or stepped into a new chamber, I did a pass with my arrows.

At one point, I caught Sergeant Major Cook rolling her eyes. When Megan and Giago breached, any monster inside was either injured or incredibly confused, with the exception of statues and scarabs. Statues were immune to arrows, and scarabs were incredibly resistant. For the former, Giago hit them with his Stone spell to break them apart. If the statue was larger and more durable, that Stone spell set up a charge where Megan and another party member tipped it over.

If the target was a scarab, Giago went low with Ice spells. The flying frozen spikes didn't pose a significant threat to the beetles, but they were sensitive to cold. As soon as the scarab spread its wings to get away from the ice, Hornby or I put arrows into its stomach. They still needed a good bit more stabbing after that before they officially died, but a wounded scarab wasn't as diligent about holding its protective plating together, so the fight wasn't too bad. The boss for that dungeon was a giant cobra.

Its head was the size of a grizzly bear's. Hornby and I turned it into a pincushion, creating openings for Megan and Giago to get at it with their blades. The second gate that day was behind a thick, rough-cut wooden door. As soon as I realized where we were when I stepped inside, I locked up. Mineshafts. Could we have jumpscares or shadow hunters waiting beneath our feet? Was this floor going to collapse when we least expected it?

Would I have to watch while everyone around me was chopped up by claws that cut like scalpels?

"We should keep moving," Cook said.

"Dor," Megan called.

"Take a second if you need it."

"Is there a problem here?" Cook asked. I shook my head.

"No, I'm okay. Needed a moment, but I'm good now."

"We'll get you a nightlight so you don't have to be afraid of the dark," Giago sneered.

"Giago," Megan barked.

"Do not open your mouth again." Cook stepped into the middle of our formation with her arms up.

"It sounds like there's something here I should know. What is the issue?"

"Dor- I mean, Gray was in a Stage 2 gate variant recently. A mineshaft collapsed into a more traditional dungeon, and the party was attacked by a shadow hunter. It was supposed to be a D-ranked run."

"Shadow hunter?"

"Kind of like a jumpscares but a bit smaller."

"Jumpscares as in the shadow monsters from the S-ranked star dragon dungeon?" Cook asked. At first, I wanted to talk with her about us both being LootLootLouis fans, but then it occurred to me that someone who cleared gates for a living would probably keep up to date on new and unusual monsters. I nodded.

"I'm fine, though. We can move on. I didn't mean to hold up the run." Cook stepped closer to address me more personally.

"You saw one of those in a D gate?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"From everything I've heard about you, I'm starting to think you are the least lucky person on the planet."

"God doesn't like me." She cracked a smile.

"Carmino says he's good. Let's move out." Megan gave me one more glance to check in and then did as she was told. After 10 minutes of walking straight down the same mine shaft, a dull rumbling echoed from ahead. When I listened closely, I could hear grunts and snickers among the pounding. Goblins. Megan and Giago parted so I could shoot between them. I loaded up Dual Nocking with Multi-Shot, Piercing, and Vengeful Arrow. I sent that volley into the mass as soon as I could make out their twisted, yellow teeth.

I fired a few more and slid back so the front line could chop them up. 23 goblins in total attacked in that group. Then we fought two more groups with similar numbers.

"Anyone recognize this pattern yet?" Megan asked. We shook our heads. This was looking like a variant, but it didn't feel like a Stage 2 variant. Not yet, at least. The next wave had 37 goblins. Among them were 10 berserkers. At our level and with our formation discipline, we held them off with relatively little issue. The greater challenge was keeping ourselves alert.

When a small horde of goblins racing at you with murderous intent starts to feel boring, that's a sign you let your mind shift out of life-or-death fighting mode. Not taking even a single goblin seriously could get people hurt. When the last group finally fell, we ventured into a vast cavern, as if whoever dug the mineshaft broke into this natural formation by accident. I counted 15 hobgoblins standing on the far ridge. Even in the dim light, the orange tint of their skin was visible but only in glimpses.

Unlike the hobs I fought in a gate variant previously, these six-foot goblinoids were wrapped in leather armor with pieces of metal plating sewn in. Ramps on either side of the cave led up to the hobs while a mass of goblins stood at the bottom. 32, from a quick glance. The majority of them appeared to be berserkers. The hobgoblin shaman started to bellow an incantation, but his soldiers, hobgoblins and goblins alike, did not move. They waited.

"Can you hit them?" Megan asked me.

"If we go in about 10 feet, yes," I said. She nodded and led us into the chamber. The goblin berserkers ran across the cave carrying crude wooden spears. Hornby and I started to thin them out. But why hadn't the hobgoblins moved yet? Weirder still, the hobgoblin shaman had yet to complete the spell he started to cast the moment we entered the room. No projectiles, no barriers, no buffs. What kind of spell was this? The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

A familiar rumbling reached my ears. I looked over my shoulder and saw Cook squaring up with her two party members, staring down a wall of undead goblins running their direction. Those were all goblins we killed, I realized. The shaman was a necromancer, and this was a trap. In my first week at the CDM, I had to clean up the remains of crawlers who got overwhelmed in a bugbear gate variant. They fought their way in but were taken by surprise when a bugbear necromancer raised the dead to attack from the rear.

Unlike our group, they didn't have three high-level chaperones watching their backs, and they wiped. That was the first time I put individual body parts into bags. I'd never forget it. Shit. Berserkers we killed in that very room started to stand again. The hobgoblin necromancer worked quickly, and I saw no obvious signs of fatigue on its face or in its posture. This monster could potentially outlast us. Undead didn't tire, but we would. If this shaman had a deep enough mana pool, it would win the war of attrition.

And the other hobs hadn't moved yet.

"Giago!" Megan called.

"Hit the bodies with Fire!" That was a good idea. Corpses burnt well enough wouldn't come back. It wasn't a perfect or foolproof solution, but it was one way to thin the herd. Judging by the burnt fish smell coming from behind me, Cook's party used a similar strategy.

"Get me another 10 feet!" I shouted to Megan. She yelled, "We're going to press them! Formation!" She triggered her Knockback ability to force extra space in front of her. Hornby and Giago joined her in dicing up undead berserkers, advancing our position one step at a time. I loosed a volley of arrows up at the shaman, and the bastard finally stopped casting. That spurred the other 14 hobs into action. They ran down the ramps with axes and clubs in their hands.

That was a lot of hobs to fight all at once, and our frontline had been at it for a while now. Those hobs were fresh. All they had done so far was watch. Megan was tough, but her frontline wouldn't be able to fend off that many hobs. I desperately loosed arrows at the approaching beasts, but their armor was thick. My arrows couldn't find their way through. When they did, the hobs barely slowed. Fighting them this way was pointless.

We needed to retreat back to the mineshaft, where we could use the terrain to our advantage. I debated making that call, but I changed my mind a moment later. Bolt spells rocketed across the upper level of the cave in a massive flurry. Once the hobs were momentarily stunned, the barrage ceased, and two well-aimed Bolts struck the frontmost goblin. Cook's team had finished with the undead goblins at our rear and had joined the fight with the hobs. Thank God.

That was the shift in tide we needed, wounding the enemy and putting them on their heels. Our frontline dealt with the hobs who hadn't been fried to death yet, and I kept arrows on the shaman to keep him from reanimating anything. A minute later, the shaman fell, and the room was quiet save for the sound of labored breaths. We all needed a few seconds to collect ourselves.

"Thank you for your help," Megan said to Sergeant Major Cook.

"It's our job."

"Then thank you for being good at your job." Cook cracked a smile.

"You're welcome." We had another two hours in the Humvee until we made camp again, and no one felt much like talking. That was fine by me because that run gave me the XP I needed to move up to level 12. I already had an ability in mind from my pool of unselected unlocks: Steady Hands Class: Archer Type: Trait Cooldown: None Duration: Perpetual When in motion, your control over your bow and your shot is equal to that of a stationary shot.

Now that I had a voidwood bow, I could move behind cover and still loose arrows. Steady Hands would eliminate the major drawback to being so mobile–my ability to properly aim on the run–and open up more tactical options for our party. I still had to read the three new options, though: Shattered Arrow Class: Archer Type: Ability Cooldown: 15 seconds Duration: Instant Prerequisites: Piercing Shot, Vengeful Arrow Your next arrow explodes into shrapnel when it pierces its target, magnifying wound severity.

Battle-Tested Class: Archer Type: Trait Cooldown: None Duration: Perpetual Prerequisite: Battle-Hardened Gain a 5% bonus to damage and to damage resistance. Arrow damage and penetration ability receive an additional bonus that scales with your level. Scavenger Class: Archer Type: Trait Cooldown: None Duration: Perpetual When you are outside of combat, coming within two feet of your arrow automatically places it in your quiver. Arrow location does not matter, and broken arrows are automatically ignored.

Of those new options, Battle-Tested was the only one I ever saw included in a dexer build. A flat bonus to damage and to damage resistance was a clear win, and it wasn't uncommon for dex archers to forgo one of the special strike or arrow-enhancing abilities to make room for Battle-Tested. Scavenger was a nifty ability, and old-school archer builds often selected it for the convenience. The trend toward dogmatic optimization meant it was rarely included in modern builds, however.

Would you rather spend a few extra minutes picking up your own damn arrows or get a juicy bonus to your damage? The correct answer was the juicy bonus to damage. Shattered Arrow wasn't all that popular these days either, but some power builds still used it, and military archers often selected it as well. Like it was with a hollow-point bullet, an arrowhead breaking into dozens of sharp fragments did more internal damage and was harder to heal with all methods, magic or otherwise.

Frank really sold me on the moving and firing options with voidwood, so Steady Hands had to be my choice. I allocated 2 points to intelligence and 1 point to constitution. For the next few levels, my stat points would be put toward balancing my strengths and weaknesses. Dexterity did most of the lifting for my perception and reflexes, but getting to 10 points of intelligence would sharpen those even more. And constitution was all about survivability.

I needed endurance to push my dex as hard as I could, and I also needed to up my chances of living through a bad hit or injury. Constitution would help with both. I reviewed my profile: Class: Archer Level: 12 XP Progress: 43, 409 / 204, 800 Str: 10 Dex: 19 Con: 13 Int: 7 Cha: 3 Abilities: Piercing Shot Dual Nocking Multi-Shot Vengeful Arrow Traits: Ranged Accuracy Improved Reload Sharpen Momentum Swift Hands Bloody Hands Battle Hardened Improved Recovery Steady Hands Spells: (none) A new level felt good.

That next XP requirement made me a bit ill, though. We had 2 more days on this training lap, 1 rest day, and then another 5 days of grinding after that. Cook seemed confident we could all be level 13 by the end of this, and the math said it was possible, but damn, that was a lot of XP.

"Gray," Giago said from the backseat.

"Yeah?"

"Will Osheski believe me if I apologize?"

"Is it a real apology?"

"Yeah."

"I think she would appreciate it," I said.

"I got so butthurt about getting passed over for squad leader… I was an asshole."

"We all have a lot to learn from each other, I think," I added.

"I'm sure she'll be picking your brains about tactics when we actually get a chance to sit still for a while."

"I just hope I didn't ruin it for good."

"I don't think you did."

"I'm sorry to you too," Giago said.

"I crapped all over you while talking up your secret alter ego. I must have sounded like a complete dumbass."

"We're good, man, but thank you."