Healer Book 4 -- Chapter 24

Chapter 24

The both of them watched as the Raid Party stood around them, unmoving but still obviously alive.  Thaden replenished all of the Regeneration and Rejuvenation effects on everyone, as their Health fluctuated wildly.  Checking to make sure they had their protection spells still active, he discovered that they were all still present – and not diminished at all since they had been up in the shaft with the Wisp monsters.    

“What do you think is going on here?” he finally asked her, thoroughly confused.

“I’m at a loss.  I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this.”

He could well understand that, because this was so far out of the norm that he wasn’t sure what to do.  There was no escape at this point, something he didn’t believe was supposed to be denied to them once they reached the Boss room in these Intermediate dungeons, and there was no foe for him to fight.  If it was just a matter of killing the problem and dealing with the consequences later, that was one thing, but there was nothing for him to target. 

In fact the only thing he could think of was happening was that the entire Raid Party was fighting through a number of Assault Waves in their minds, and since they believed it was real, it was actually hurting them – just like what had happened up above with the actual monsters that they fought, even if they weren’t what they thought they were. 

His head started to hurt with the thought of all these potential mental illusions attacking his Party and the consequences of letting them all die, but he was still holding out hope that they would prevail, finishing the dungeon so that he could get his Evolution Assignment completed.  Was it selfish?  Definitely.  But was there something else he could do?  Possibly, but that would likely involve killing some or all of them, at least temporarily, and that wasn’t something he wanted to risk.

Because if they were the only ones that could see the Assault Waves and the final Boss, then it was unlikely that he would ever complete the dungeon on his own.  Therefore, he would be stuck down there without any way to get out.

 So, just like he’d done above, he shut up and let things play out however they were going to.

After about 15 minutes of silence as Thaden continued to heal his Party, they began to breathe heavily, as if they were racing around the area.  There were even pained grunts that accompanied large dips in the Health of many of the Fighters out front, and over the next few minutes, two of the Mages near him had the Death Ward on them activate as they took enough damage in one hit to kill them – through their other protective spells – and he could only assume that the imaginary Waves they were “fighting” through were starting to heat up.

Another half hour that went by was filled with a constant assessment of the Health of everyone, and he was hard-pressed to keep up with the dramatically fluctuating Health pools of the Contenders around him.  “Do you think you’d be able to help with this, Sadia?”

“It’s doubtful.  There’s a 98.2% chance that I’ll fall into the same situation as before, unable to pierce the mental illusion and be sucked back into it.  Even now, it still feels real enough that I can’t believe that it was all in my head, which is a strange experience for someone like me.

With her predicted chances of success being so low, he kept her inside with him, because at least he could talk to her when she was in this state.  It was comforting not being the only one knowing something was screwy here, because he’d been feeling more than a bit isolated over the last few hours when no one would believe him – or would turn on him if he continued to try and convince them of the danger.

“If I’m correct, it looks like they’re heading into the final Wave.”

That became quite evident over the next few seconds as Health pools all over the place were nearly depleted, and the heavy breathing and grunts of pain increased to the point where Thaden felt highly uncomfortable.  It was sounding less like a battlefield and more like he’d inadvertently walked into an orgy.

It took everything iota of concentration to keep everyone alive, especially since it didn’t seem like any of his protection spells were doing even the slightest bit of damage mitigation.  Death Wards and even a few Resuscitations were placed at a frantic pace when they came off of cooldown, preventing anyone from dying completely, but it was a stretch of his abilities to ensure everyone survived – especially without Sadia there to back him up.

There was a temporary lull as the heavy breathing slowed down, but it came back even stronger a few moments later.  He could only assume that they were now facing the final stage of the Boss they were fighting in their mass illusion, so this was where things got highly dangerous.  There was a point where Corinna took enough damage in one hit to trigger her Death Ward, and even though he healed her to full, she nearly died a second later when her Health pool nearly emptied for good, but he managed to slap a Resuscitation on her at the last second, keeping her away from death.

It took another 20 minutes or so of frantic healing, using nearly every type of healing spell he had access to in order to ensure no one died, but eventually the heavy breathing turned to excited exhalations, and smiles graced the faces of the entire Raid Party. 

Thaden checked the last few of his notifications to confirm that they had succeeded, after all.

You have slain the Horrific Terror of Ultimate Darkness – Intermediate Minimal – Level 190 (Perceived Level 247)!

You have received 750 PICK!

Unkillable I Achievement activated!

You have received 1,500 PICK!

Unkillable II Achievement activated!

You have received 4,500 PICK!

Army Of One I Achievement activated!

You have received: 13,500 PICK!

Assault Wave 9 Completed!  Congratulations on setting a record time of completion!

Rank #1 Total Time: 22:43

Aggregate Final Rank For All Assault Waves: #1

Congratulations for completing The Descent into Darkness Intermediate Dungeon on Minimal difficulty!

Achievement received: Banish The Darkness

Bonus reward: 3,500 PICK

Unkillable I Achievement activated!

Bonus reward: 7,000 PICK

Army Of One I Achievement activated!

Bonus reward: 21,000 PICK

Contender World First Achievement: +10% Shadow Resistance, Free Stat Points (30), (1) Spell selection choice

Army Of One I Achievement activated!

Bonus reward: +30% Shadow Resistance, Free Stat Points (90), (3) Spell selection choice

Congratulations for completing 9 Guild Progression Quests with the Adventurer Coalition!

Achievement received: Guild Asset II

Bonus reward: 10,000 PICK

Unkillable I Achievement activated!

Bonus reward: 20,000 PICK

Army Of One I Achievement activated!

Bonus reward: 60,000 PICK

While there was no notification regarding what he hoped to see, a satisfied feeling settled over him and he instinctively knew that his Evolution Assignment had just been completed.  Sadia confirmed it a moment later.

“Yep, it’s all done.  Now, let’s get out of here as soon as possible.”

He couldn’t help but agree.  Looking around, he saw a glowing doorway in the darkness to his right, and he started walking toward it.  The only problem was that no one else from his Raid Party was moving from where they had stood the entire time.  Now that everything was completed, he felt a little more justified in doing something a little more drastic to try and snap them out of whatever fugue state they seemed to be in.  He was actually a little surprised that they weren’t released from whatever mental hold that had been controlling them this entire time, but he was going to do what he could to release them on his own.

However, before he could do anything, they all started to move in unison…

…to the left, away from the exit.

“Hey, not that way!  There’s nothing over there!  This way to the treasures!  Reward room?!  Come on, let’s get out of here!” he shouted at them, but they walked woodenly into the darkness.  As he followed them, the glow from his equipment was enough to light up the area around him for about 10 feet, so he was able to keep up with them fairly easily even when they began to jog, their feet creepily hitting the floor at the exact same time.

“Sadia, shouldn’t they have been released?” he asked.  He was again tempted to bring her out, but if his Raid Party was still affected by whatever was messing with their minds, he didn’t dare take the chance that she would be affected, as well.

“Logically, that would make sense.  I’m not sure—”

Thaden nearly faceplanted when he heard the sudden cessation of what she was saying.  Before he could ask what was wrong, she went on, an obvious warbling to her voice that made him think she was extremely frightened.

“Thaden, there’s something there.  You should turn around and leave.”

Now he stopped, hearing the warning in her voice.  “What is it?”

“It’s—"

Just as Sadia began to respond, he had his answer as a wave of force knocked him off his feet.  As he slid backwards, he screamed as he sensed something intangible try to wriggle into his mind, feeling like a pair of spikes shoved through his temples.  He clutched his head as it felt like it was going to explode at any point and it was only his hands keeping it together.

The foreign force continued to try and penetrate into his mind, and he felt himself slipping away; after what felt like an eternity of fighting against it with everything he had, the pain and the pressure on his mind began to recede, giving him the clarity to get to his feet and stumble toward the glowing door of the exit.  It wasn’t until the pain faded to a dull ache and was on its way to being completely nullified that he realized that something was missing. 

It wasn’t an item that was missing, but an entire Raid Party.  The feeling of his Raid Party that had settled in the back of his mind was completely gone, as if they had suddenly kicked him from the Party.  Replacing it, he could feel something familiar, but it wasn’t in his mind; instead, it was coming from behind him, right where the Guilded Glory members had been heading and where the wave of force had erupted.

It only took him half a second to identify where he recognized the sensation from, even as it attempted to weigh him down with a powerful Level Compression.  He struggled to run faster as the pain from his mind faded entirely, but even at a 90% reduction in Level Compression effects from his Impossible Odds III Achievement, it felt like his feet had 20-ton weights attached to them.  He could still move because of his high Physicality and Celerity, but he was convinced that without them being so high, he would’ve been smushed to the floor under the pressure.

It was even worse than the last time he had felt this particular kind of pressure, which had been in the Coalition Region Leader’s office in Darkwood Vale. 

Just before it blew up.

“Run!  You can’t fight whatever that is!”

“I’m… huff… trying…” he grunted out as he pushed himself toward the glowing light of salvation in the distance.  It felt like he was moving in slow motion as the exit gradually approached, while at the same time, he could feel the pressure starting to ramp up from behind him.  Panicking, he could feel his muscles tearing and then healing as he pushed himself to the limit, doing everything he could to reach what he could only hope was safety ahead of him.  

Every second, he imagined whatever was back there closing its jaws around him as it pounced on his fleeing form, spurring him on even more than before.  After what felt like years, he finally reached the glowing door and strained as he pushed it forward, revealing an empty treasure room – and the final exit leading out of the dungeon. 

No treasure or other rewards?  It’s not like I was going to stop, anyway.

Stumbling as his objective grew closer in his vision, he made the mistake of looking behind him as he reached the doorway he needed to push open in order to exit.  A shapeless mass of what looked like a void, which was somehow darker than the rest of the darkness that permeated the bottom of the pit, was briefly highlighted by the glowing door leading into the treasure room, and he caught a glimpse of its nametag before he fell through the exit.

??? – Adversarial Elite

Level 710

Oh, crap.

Falling into the dirt as the evening sun shone down on him, blinding him after the severe darkness inside the dungeon, he blinked as he kicked the door shut on the approaching Level 710 monster, and the portion of the cliff face he’d fallen out of resealed itself without a trace of where it was located.

Breathing a sigh of relief for escaping with his life, he picked himself up as the pressure of the Level Compression were gone. 

“How?  What?  Where did that come from?” he asked, not sure if he was asking Sadia… or the System.  Thinking about his Raid Party, he hoped they were alright, but he had severe doubts that they had made it out alive.  Then again, if they were being mind-controlled still, then perhaps he could find a way to go back in and somehow free them.  “At least that thing looks like it’s trapped in there.  I wonder why there hasn’t been a world-wide Quest about it like the last time?” he wondered aloud.

“I don’t know, but it’s not trapped.  Can you feel that?” 

It took him a few seconds for him to feel it.  Looking at the entrance, which was approximately 150 feet away from where the exit let him out, he could feel a rising pressure coming from that direction. 

“Oh, crap; can it escape from there?”

“Again, I don’t know.  But I don’t think you want to stick around to find out.”

She was right.  After feeling the Level Compression it pushed down onto him, even at a distance, he knew he didn’t want to face it right now.  While he might be able to do millions of points of damage in a short amount of time, for all he knew, something at Level 710 had billions or trillions of Health.  In addition, his protection spells could only do so much against an adversary like that; he’d be dead before he could blink.

Thaden couldn’t face it right now.  He could only hope that the dungeon could hold it for a while and it didn’t break out immediately; he couldn’t help but think that something like a dungeon could keep that thing secure forever.  In the meantime, he needed to get stronger, and to do that, he needed to Evolve his Class. 

Slipping on his Wyvern’s Flight cloak, he took off into the sky, heading to Darkwood Vale as fast as he could fly, leaving the Adversarial Elite behind in the dungeon that likely claimed the lives of his entire Raid Party.