Return to Jorgaldur Volume I: the battle mage

Dungeon third floor

When he reached the third floor, he saw in the distance a silhouette that was slowly moving towards him, making the floor rumble. It was a level 22 golem, but Eldi ignored it and took refuge in the rest area which was at the beginning of each floor. And although it probably hadn't been a day, he fell asleep after eating.

When he awoke, and while planning how to face the golems, he discovered that Feline Response had leveled up. In the game, they were quite resistant to magic, but vulnerable to some physical attacks. Piercing attacks such as spears or arrows weren't effective, while slashing with axe or sword could damage them. But the bludgeoning damage from hammers or maces was the best against those beings.

On the other hand, they were slow but quite powerful, as well as resistant to stuns and other mental controls. So, he wielded a hammer with ice, no matter how much the weapon was only level 15. And while magic wouldn't do much damage, it was better than nothing.

The golems were almost two meters tall, and the knowledge of the game turned out to be quite reliable this time. Given the length of the hammer, he could make a first strike before his enemy attacked, and while Propel couldn't throw the golem very far, it allowed him to regain the initiative.

The golems' attacks were not very fast, although he had to be careful with their Earth Trap ability, which could trap his feet and immobilize him for a few seconds. But since Propel gave him the time he needed, it wasn't very worrisome. In addition, he soon learned to recognize the signs that it was going to cast it, needing only to move one step to avoid it.

In short, unlike the previous floor and despite being of a higher level, the current floor was almost comfortable. Although it would have been a nightmare for someone who didn't have the right kind of damage. In fact, he soon switched weapons to maces, both to raise their level and to avoid the slow but continuous deterioration of his hammer, which he might need later.

It wasn't difficult to fight several of them at the same time, because they interfere with each other. Although he had to be careful with multiple Earth Trap, since he couldn't see which one was casting it. The main problem is that the golems attacks are very strong, and when one struck him, he broke a rib, so he had to use the healing spell immediately to withstand the pain and not let it get worse. Therefore, although relatively easy to dodge, he couldn't afford to relax.

It didn't take him long to raise the compatibility with the mace to level 5, the maximum for his class, after which he wielded a hammer again, but the level 10 one. Still, he was doing more than enough damage, and could level up skills such as Smash Ground- and Propel. In fact, the first one ended up reaching level 6, while the second one went up to 7.

Since he felt comfortable against those rock monsters, Eldi explored the entire dungeon, leaving for the end a cavern larger than the rest, and where he had seen in the distance a golem of five meters in height.

In addition to copper, he also discovered magical tin veins, which would allow him to create magical bronze by alloying both metals. And, with it, to craft equipment not only of better quality but magic, capable of blocking or diminishing the strength of magical attacks.

So, he managed to increase his reserves of magical copper and tin, as well as fungi, even ones with aphrodisiac properties that weren't in the game, so he had no recipe to process them. However, he kept them, you never know.

When he finally came back to face the boss, he had crushed at least a hundred and fifty golems, going up to level 24 and being only a third to the 25th.

He had unlocked the Burning Aura spell, which allows him to wrap himself with fire, damaging anyone who gets too close. Although there are auras of several elements, only one can be active at each time, but he had managed to raise them all to level 10 in the past. Above all, thanks to Fraternize and that Gjaki liked to use them to the limit, so it had been very easy to level them up.

As for skills, at level 24 he got the inverse of Lion's Roar, that is, Lion's Heart. It is a blessing that lasts a minute by level of compatibility, that he had at 4, and that protects against fear. Or, put in another way, it gives courage.

He grabbed the level 15 hammer, the best one he had, and ran to the huge golem, ready to face it. He had confidence in being able to damage it enough and dodge its blows, but a strong footstep made the grotto tremble.

What looked like stones began to rise, discovering that they were nothing more than buried golems, more than fifty. The golem boss had used Reinforcements to awaken that little army.

Eldi went back to the tunnel he had come from, dodging the golems and preparing to retreat farther if necessary. For now, he would try to confront those golems from the tunnel, hoping to be able to stop them, and that the boss couldn't summon more of them.

He looked for the narrowest area of the tunnel to hinder the golems, knowing that his Earthen Wall would simply be destroyed. Eldi wanted to take advantage of the area of Smash Ground as much as he could, and fight using Vampiric Touch, always trying to get the golems not to advance too much, in order to not be overwhelmed by their number.

Boomerang was also an interesting option, but it would force him to change weapons, something that would probably be complicated when they started to approach. And Mole's Power wasn't possible on a stone floor.