Chapter 60

Mausoleum of the Arsonist, Etson - 11:23 AM

I reentered the mid boss’ arena after six or seven minutes of watching my wounds close and replacing the Straw Hat of the Seer on top of my head. The air was much cooler now though it was still very humid. That wouldn’t be a problem for very long. Retrieving the shovel from my inventory, I started digging through the piles of bones near where the Scorched Skeleton fell. I didn’t have to dig very deep.

I dug through to find a breastplate made of blackened, flame-charred bones and a red skill book with a picture of a man standing under an overbearing sun. Pulling the armor towards me with the shovel, I picked it up.

[[Item]]

Charred Bone Breastplate

(+3 constitution, +5 ???, Sweltering Heat skill acquired)

[[Skill]]

Sweltering Heat

By spending 20% more resources on a fire based ability, inflict the Minor Dehydration debuff on all targets.

[[Debuff]]

Dehydration

Dehydration is a stackable debuff afflicted in stages. Targets suffering from Dehydration are more vulnerable to fire damage by the specified amounts.

Minor: 10%

Moderate: 20%

Severe: 30%

Extreme: 50%

I had been hit by the Moderate Dehydration debuff early on in the fight when I couldn’t escape the Scorched Skeleton’s short range AoE. That made its later skill, the one where it made the entire room hotter, push me over the line and into Severe. Still, it was stellar armor. I received more hit points from the Windbreaker of Warmth since it gave me a flat +20 health as well as the +2 constitution, but this armor would be perfect for Francis. The additional stat increase would go towards any offensive fire-based one.

Putting the Charred Bone Breastplate into my inventory, I picked up the skill book. I opened it up to receive the prompt for the Heat Resistance passive. I accepted it.

[[Passive]]

Heat Resistance

Take 25% less damage from fire based attacks. Exist comfortably in hot environments as high as 150 degrees Fahrenheit.

I nodded to myself as the humid air stopped being so bothersome. It was still uncomfortably sticky, but not so much uncomfortably hot. This ability became fairly common later on but having it early was nice, especially considering there would be a lot more fire where I was heading. Between my Windbreaker of Warmth providing Cold Resistance and my new Heat Resistance passive, I would be comfortable just about anywhere.

Snapping closed my menu, I figured I had wasted enough time. My hit points were full and I was feeling refreshed after a good fight. I headed towards the doorway that led to a staircase downwards. Alarm bells began to ring through my head as I stepped in.

The first part of the Mausoleum always seemed like it was designed to wipe out players quickly. The first room you came to had forty skeletons bum rush you from all sides followed by a mid boss that dealt automatic fire damage if you were inside its room. If the players died quicker, then the door would open for new players faster. It was a shredder.

Which made it all the weirder that this second part was so much slower with traps. The alarm bells in my head started to dim as I looked down and identified which of the stone steps on the staircase was actually a pressure switch. On the slanted ceiling in front of me was a small section that had been created to house a morningstar that would swing down and slam into whoever tripped the trap. The way the stone had been carved, it would have been hard to notice in torchlight, but it was obvious when I could see in the dark so clearly.

I Pushed the pressure plate and watched the weapon swing down. Willing the Vague Stick into a long sword, I cut the spiked ball down and tossed it into my inventory. Morningstar heads made fantastic projectiles.

The staircase led me downwards nearly twenty feet before I reached the next level. A thick smoke filled the hallway and obstructed my vision to a few feet in front of my face. Calling on the power of my Straw Hat of the Seer, I activated the second part of my Clear Eyes skill.

[[Skill]]

Clear Eyes

You can always see through darkness as if it were daylight. For a low Mental Point cost per minute, you may see through magical darkness, smoke, fire, and similar obscurement.

The smoke became easier to see through until it was similar to a fine mist; there, but in no way obstructive. Ten feet in front of me was a hunched man wearing burnt tatters. His seared skin had blackened from heat, and what was left of his eyes boiled inside of their sockets. The smoke emanated from his body, escaping from his mouth, nose, ears, and clothing.

“Gross, dude,” I muttered, giving the Vague Stick, still in its sword form, a gentle underhand toss. At my words the smoking zombie began to shuffle towards me. It didn’t get far. I Pushed my blade, pierced the skull, and I Pulled it back to my hand. The zombie fell to the ground. I took a few steps back and watched.

After a few seconds, the smoking zombie began to convulse violently. Its skin stretched, its body bloated, and with a disgustingly wet ripping noise burst open to release a giant cloud of green smoke. I took a few more steps backwards onto the staircase as the gas settled on the floor. Sitting on the stairs, I waited. I had forgotten how long this part took.

[[Victory!]]

You have slain x1 Zombie Gasser. +5 points.

“Slow and steady,” I sighed.

The cloud of smoke disappeared, but the green gas lingered for longer. If any part of my body or gear touched it then it would start boiling immediately. It was incredibly painful, enough so that even I didn’t want to test myself against it. The unlucky were the ones who stepped inside of the gas and fell in when their leg stopped working the way they should. It was utterly inhumane, but there was no expectation of anything otherwise.

After a few minutes, the gas dissipated. I tapped my Vague Stick against the floor to see if it would get damaged, but it came back fine and I went along my merry way. Well, maybe not merry; I did give myself a time limit when I told Thomas and crew how long it would take me. While this floor was filled with Zombie Gassers, there was a way to avoid waiting for their gas to disappear.

I pulled my Red Scarf up around my mouth and nose and began running through the halls. Alarm bells triggered in my mind again, but I jumped and Air Stepped over a rather large trap and continued forward.

The floor above was a straight shot to the mid boss but this one was filled with twists, turns, and dead ends.  A thick layer of smoke was coming from the first room I came across. I stopped, looking inside for just a moment to see a trio of Zombie Gassers. Thickening my Vague Stick and returning it to staff form, I threw it at the one farthest from the door. Without my psychic powers behind it, the weapon merely clattered to the ground instead of doing any real damage. I Pulled it back as the undead looked down, following its movements until they looked at me.

“Sup.” I didn’t say much now that I had their attention. After confirming they were following after me, I began jogging down the hall. Alarm bells again, and I triggered a trap in front of me by Pushing down on the pressure plate. A wooden plank painted to look like the surrounding stone moved to reveal a series of ten arrows. They shot out of their holes, hitting the opposite wall and falling to the ground. Without breaking stride, I lowered myself to scoop the arrows and held them in my arms. Their heads were blunted from the impact, which made them exactly what I needed.

I turned the corner and was met face to face with another zombie. This one lurched towards me. I ducked under its arms and continued jogging, careful not to go too fast too soon. I put on a burst of speed right before a fork in the hallway and took a right.

Four open doors were down this hallway, two on each side before reaching a dead end. I ran to the far end of the corridor, stopped, and started sprinting back the direction I came from. I threw a single arrow into each of the doorways, causing the zombies inside to moan and give chase. A quick glance into the smoky haze behind me showed that they had taken the bait.

I body checked a zombie as I returned to the main hall, but bounced off of it and kept going. The four gassers I had initially snagged were now followed by four more. Alarm bells. This time I stepped on the pressure plate on the floor and flung myself to the side. A large, crescent axe flew from the ceiling and passed through the area my head would have occupied. It hit the apex of its swing and began returning to the hole it came from, but I shoved my Vague Stick there and it became stuck outside instead of resetting as intended.

“Look at how nice I am,” I yelled to the Zombie Gassers as I left my main weapon behind. “Don’t let you get hurt or nothing.” A blackened hand came out of a doorway not too far after I yelled, but I was already on the other side of the hall in preparation. I ignored it since it was already set to chase, and continued running.

More alarm bells, but I ignored them this time. In a path to the right was a dead end with a treasure chest that was just another trap. A very enticing trap, but a trap nonetheless. I kept going left, passing a closed doorway that would lead to a large room and instead heading for the end of the hall where things were rapidly becoming hotter.

The corridor opened up into a huge room twice the size of the one belonging to the Scorched Skeleton. The middle was taken up by a large, leafless tree. The bark had been blackened from fire, but stood proudly despite it. Branches and detritus lined the floor everywhere, but the biggest draw in the room was the lone figure.

The crushing heat I felt was coming from him. He hung from the tree with a noose around his neck as if being presented to me. His body, burnt and cracked with lines of bright orange wavering across his naked flesh, was translucent. There were no identifiable features left, and only the shape of his body showed that he was once a human in his old life. The ghost of Mathias Gray, the arsonist and boss of this dungeon.

Hearing the Zombie Gassers coming for me, I turned back and headed towards the closed door. I took in a deep breath and held it. Crashing through the weakened wooden door, I came face to face with a veritable horde of zombies. The gassers behind me were closing in, and I threw myself into the crowd. I thanked myself for the Clear Eyes skill; if it weren’t for that, there would be no way I would be able to see through the oppressive smoke permeating every inch of the room.

Enemies scratched at me, and the moment I felt myself get damaged I threw up Shield. I ran through the room, avoiding large crowds of Zombie Gassers when I could until I reached the far wall. An abnormally large zombie swiped at me, causing me to dive to the side and knock over a few of its brethren. Luckily, they didn’t take any piercing damage from the arrows I still had in my hand so their most dangerous gas hadn’t started flowing.

This part was crucial. If any of them started dropping that boiling gas then the rest of them would follow suit and drown the room in it. Shifting, I jumped towards the wall and put all of my strength into my legs. I pushed off, sailing across the room over the heads of the Zombie Gassers. The alpha screamed, causing the others to follow suit. They reached up to catch me but were too slow. I used an Air Step to right myself and another Air Step to make it to the doorway. I hit the ground on my feet and began jogging again.

I allowed myself to take a breath now. My constitution could deal with light smoke inhalation, but the air in that room was more smoke than oxygen. Plus it was already gross enough breathing in the rancid smoke produced by the Zombie Gassers as I passed through it in the hallway, there was no way I was going to in that room full of them.

Now that the dangerous part was over, I took my time shepherding the zombies back where I came from. Being more mindless undead, they didn’t have the slight instinctual awareness of the skeletons upstairs. So they focused on me and not much else.

They followed me straight to the beginning of the level. I jumped lightly over a trap, making sure I made it over with Air Step, and turned around. “Alright, you assholes! Come get some!” I yelled while waving my hands. It was a superfluous action at best, but I dusted off my hands and put them on my hips. The Alpha Zombie Gasser had shoved its way to the front of the pack, and it had the honor of being the first to fall into the trap.

The stone floor wasn’t as sturdy as it looked at first glance. In fact, it was so bad that even Charlie upstairs could trigger it. The very moment the Alpha Zombie Gasser took a step on top of the section I had avoided, the stone bricks fell away to reveal an enormous fifty foot pit. I watched with immense satisfaction as the zombies fell one by one. The enjoyment I got from the sounds of them hitting the ground, bones breaking on impact and skin ripping from the damage, made me pause but I soon got over it.

By the time the last zombie had fallen in, the green gas had filled up all but the last foot or so of the hole. I jumped back over the pit, not bothering to use Air Step now that I could see where it started and ended. I reached for one of my firebombs on Krinkee’s Bandolier and casually tossed it behind me into the pit as I walked away. The glass vial shattered at the edge, exploding in a small burst of flames that licked at the green gas. The pit immediately went up in flames.

[[Victory!]]

You have slain x1 Alpha Zombie Gasser. +10 points.

You have slain x22 Zombie Gassers. +110 points.

Just like that, I had over 4,000 points. That was normally a feat that I wouldn’t achieve until I left Etson, but I would enjoy it now. Well, I would enjoy saving it now; no point spending it here in Etson when I can show up rich to Atlanta.

But first I would have to make it through the rest of the dungeon. There was still an incorporeal boss waiting in the final chamber, after all.