[{Congratulations on completing the first floor}]
[{10,000 gold has been added to your total amount}]
The same was for Lyssara with shards. A bitter smile formed on her face as she felt that it was an insult to her from those above. "Well I guess that we are on the same level now. With me being level two now." As soon as she said this, another window popped up for her.
'I forgot that she got that as well.' She was now certain that Dagna was getting a bit too lucky. Far luckier than she was. 'Her special vision makes it easier not to mention the drone as well. But the item I bought wasn't that bad either.' She mused as she opened her stats.
[{Player: Lyssara}]
[{Level:2}]
[{Health: 25/25}]
[{Innate skill: Black flame- A flame that burns through eternity with no pause, reminiscent of the abyss once before}]
[{Weapons: Estoc}]
[{Active Skills: Echo Step, Inferno Reclamation I, Blaze wraith Wings}]
[{Passive Skills: Predator's Calm}]
[{Utility Skill: Vampiric Mark}]
[{Charm: The Abyss's reminiscent}]
[Favor: Personally favored by the Creators}
{Active Skills}
{Echo Step} –
A delayed movement skill that allows Lyssara to leave behind a brief afterimage. The afterimage repeats her last attack half a second later with reduced damage. Excellent for baiting or chaining hits in tight spaces.
{Inferno Reclamation I}-
A skill that allows you to make lesser than mimics of the foes faced. These copies can be used for assault, stealth or scout. Enemies have to be killed with an active or passive attack skill
{Black Bolt (Selective to ranged weapons like the crossbow)}-
A skill with the crossbow that allows her to fire a burst of three arrows in quick succession.
{Blaze wraith Wings- Black fire wings that allow the player to traverse great distances and hover above chasms. Does not work in the abyss}
{Passive Skills}
{Predator's Calm} –
When standing still for more than three seconds, Lyssara gains a temporary precision buff, increasing her critical hit rate for the next two attacks.
---
{Free Utility}
{Vampiric Mark} –
Marks the enemy she kills for the first time; subsequent kills of similar foes yield increased experience and drop rates. It's a primitive tracking skill — something that makes her feel attuned to the dungeon's rhythm.
{Artifacts}
{Emberveil Sigil I-Epic}-
A ring that generates a veil of invisible heat in a radius, felt by foes. Can be merged with utility skills like Bloodmark.
{Hell weft Spindles}
A charred runic quiver when invoked with the user's will cracks open with silent fire, releasing spectral arrowheads that ignite into black flame as they streak across the battlefield. These arrows think for themselves, hunting enemies by intent alone and striking with unnerving precision. Damage is doubled when in the heat radius bursting into miniature explosions
Something she found pleasing was that she had the option to keep the items in her inventory and it would still activate with a mere thought. Of course this came with a greater tax of her will on the items but was far more favorable than having to carry a quiver in the heat of battle. In a high stakes encounter, she knew that speed was a key factor.
"So have you cleared this floor or have not?" Dagna asked as soon as she was done with her selection. When choosing their skills, they had the choice of having other players to see it or not and so far Dagna had made the choice of keeping it a secret to Lyssara. Something that began to tick her off. 'But if she doesn't want to reveal her skills then I won't force her.'
She mused as she gave her response. "I haven't been able to get across a specific part of this floor. Not to mention it's far bigger than the first floor." Dagna still eager to explore more of the game saw it as a challenge she readily accepted. "Well then, with me around I'm sure that it won't be a hitch."
Rather than a bitter face, a smile formed on Lyssara's face. "Let's see whether you'll be so confident with the beasts here." Her mutters nothing more than a whisper in the wind to Dagna. The two began their trek and almost immediately, they came across their first enemy.
Dagna's face contorted into one of disgust as she saw what she had to face. "Are those corpses?!" Lyssara's smile didn't waver. "Yeah, and it'll only get worse from here." Brandishing her estoc, she easily beheaded one of the undead. Dagna watched how easily Lyssara disposed of the horde steeling her nerves.
'I should be able to deal with this.' With a short sigh, she brought out her drone which immediately began to lock in with corpses. It shot out beams of light, it's design black and white which went well with her gold trims. Taking out her Ion blade, she too began to mow down the horde of corpses.
The undead weren't an issue for her given their slow and sluggish movements. As for her debuff back on the first floor was now gone thanks to her attack which burnt parts of her body requiring the nanites. 'She doesn't know how costly that attack is. Hopefully I don't have to use it here.'
Dagna thought as she slayed the last corpse of the swarm. The two moved deeper into the floor. This time they encountered skeletons, their eyes lit with green flames and their skeletal figures clattering with each step they took easily revealing their location. Something that the pair didn't have much of a problem dealing with.
"I thought you said that this floor would be a problem, so far it doesn't seem to be all that hard." Dagna stated as her drone shot one of the skeletons squarely in the head. "Don't worry, I'm sure that the difficulty should be to your liking." Lyssara chuckled darkly as they went on with their dive.
Taking a few steps forward, they faced another kind of enemy. Lyssara's grin stretched as she saw their next opponents. "What are those? They look like undead spirits or something!" Dagna inquired as a tingle ran through her skull. She felt the shift of the air turn heavier, now filled with dread and death.
"Wraiths! And it's extremely difficult to not attack them." Dagna's brows furrowed. "What do you mean not attack them?!" A suspicion growing in her mind. "They're spirits so mechanical attacks won't be of much use to them. As for flames, their numbers make sure that that kind of advantage is nullified."
Dagna smacked her lips, her tone ridiculing. "So you never even came to face the first boss of the floor? How pathetic!" Lyssara rolled her eyes at her comment. "Just walk through them and don't attack." Before they could take their next step, Dagna's drone without warning fired at one of the wraiths. "Damn it!" Dagna cursed as she reached for her blade.
Lyssara on the other hand watched the whole altercation with a smile. With the wraiths now majorly focusing on Dagna, she had the window to walk through the yard. Around her graveyards stretched for as far as she could see, a mysterious fog covering the ground which chilled the air even more.
"Whahhh!!" One of the wraiths noticing her let out a blood curling scream. She grit he teeth, fighting the urge to lash out at the wraith that began to hover around her. It's face bony and pale that made her shiver, it's obsidian claws long and jagged as it swirled around her frame letting out more shrills into the air. With more screams, more wraiths emerged from the ground and swirled her.
It wasn't long before an army of them circled her, some screeching, others boring their hollow sockets for eyes at her. 'Come on Lyssara...' She urged herself before the air was cut with the screams of Dagna who was busy with the wraiths. Her ion blade slashed one of them only to phase through their ghostly frames.
Because of this she was running further and further away from Lyssara and back to the start of the floor.
[{You have to help me!}]
A message popped up for Lyssara that took her by surprise.
[{It would be too much for me to go out of my way and help you at the moment. Unless you use the bet to help you then you'll have to deal with it yourself}]
The response was longer making Lyssara certain that Dagna didn't want to waste it for something like this. 'As much as I want her to die to know the true difficulty of the game, her skills of noticing hidden paths is rather crucial for me.' She wondered as with each step, she fought the urge to lash out at the wraiths that now circled her like sharks sighting their prey.
[{Fine, come help me then}]
Her eyes lit up and her Echo Step skill darted back to the start of the floor. Of course with the flames that she left behind aggravated the wraiths having them chase her. 'These wraiths, it only my flames could comb the entire floor or a huge portion then I wouldn't have to be passive about them.' She cursed as she saw Dagna's figure.
Her attention focused on fleeing from the wraiths, those of which managed to land hits on her thanks to her barrier nullified the damage. However she didn't have a field to run forever as the beginning of the floor came into view. Just as she thought that it was all over, Lyssara's frame came into view.
On her back her black spectral wings fluttered, her face hidden with her golden mask before with a sudden move bathed the starting area of the second floor in black flames. Dagna leapt into the air escaping the sea of flames that sent the wraiths screaming.
"Whahhh!!" Some of their screams resembled human screams, other those of sheep bleating and others mournful of children. The collage of screams sent shivers down the spines of the pair.
*Whoosh*
With most of the wraiths now warded off, the pair began to fly deeper into the floor. Lyssara's attack had managed to keep off most of them at bay however for those that dug deep into the ground managed to escape her torment. "Just how long will we have to keep on running away from them?!" Dagna asked, gee face turning pale.
"I have a plan however I'm not sure whether it'll work." Faced with no other option, the two kept on with their run.
...
A few miles later, behind them a swarm of undead, skeletons and more enemies chased the two. "Next time let's not do your plan." Dagna shot at Lyssara as she saw the staggering number that wanted the pair dead. "Well we won't know till we try. Or do you want to use that skill of yours once more and deal with the horde. After all you were able to take the boss down with a single strike."
Dagna hesitated with her response. 'It would seem that the attack wasn't as light as she had made it to be for her to be so hesitant at a time like this.' Realizing that with her current speed that her debuff had to have been nullified. 'Maybe it burns through her body making it a one time use.'
'And that is only when she is at full health.' Now somewhat understating of her attack, her mind then recalled of her other choices she had made upon stepping into the floor. "What choices did you make when coming into this level for you to not use them?!" Lyssara already concluding that they ha something to do with single targets.
"I don't think that this is the best time for you to be asking me something like that!" Dagna reflected as what Lyssara had been fleeing to came into view. The rows of graveyards came to an end, now replaced with a field of flowers.
The horde behind them as she had hoped ceased their chase however now they had to deal with an elite. And with Lyssara's spent stamina and Dagna's low health, it made the encounter perilous to deal with.
*Whoosh*
The flowers upon a closer look seemed to be sunflower and collectively filled the sky with a strange and brilliant white beam. Before the two could realize what had happened, they were met with a notification.
[{You died}]