Chapter 20: Chapter 17 – The Gnoll Chief

The three of them and the dog had worked around the small village clearing houses and pulling patrols to them and dispatching the gnolls with ease, killing over a hundred of them over the course of a few hours. They now only had a large group of them in the center, what appeared to be nearly thirty of them. He spotted the Gnoll Chief near the center on a raised dais, and he looked quite menacing. He was half again larger than the other gnolls and quite muscled, but full of what appeared to be decent chainmail armor that covered them from head to toe. They also carried a wicked looking axe that resembled a cleaver on the end of a polearm.    

Jake thought for a moment. This was a large number of enemies, and if the Gnoll Chief was smart enough, they could be in big trouble. Jake still had his Thornwood Field scroll, perhaps this is enough for them to have some level of safety on their assault. The demoness seemed to agree that this should be sufficient. Jake did remember that she also stated that she held large attacks in reserve, so a giant fireball that blows away many enemies should even the odds as well, especially if they retreat to a choke point.

Jake pointed over to a space between two buildings that would serve this purpose, and the two women nodded; they would do a fighting retreat in that direction if it seemed they were going to be overwhelmed.

Plans made, Jake and Ophelia began their casting and fired their balls of ice at the two nearest gnolls. At first, it seemed like the camp of creatures hardly cared except for those that were struck who were getting back up, but the Gnoll Chief growled and hiccupped out what seemed to be words if a hyena was able to speak, and the gnolls seemed to get in formation; aside from the two that were now rushing the party. The demoness and the Valkyrie quickly put down the damaged foes, and it seemed the gnoll camp was now split up into three groups of nine gnolls.

The first group of gnolls approached while the other two groups and the chief seemed to hang back, and Jake felt it was like a scripted event had started, where they would have to survive waves of the enemies and finally face the boss. Still, Jake and the two women would have no problem handling only nine enemies at a time, so he was not worried. He started firing balls of ice at the oncoming gnolls, damaging and knocking back two of them. He also cast his strength rune on the demoness, allowing her to easily slice through two gnolls that were next to each other.

Jake then joined the melee, picking off the targets trying to flank the demoness and the Valkyrie. They quickly bested their foes until they were down to only two, when he heard a barking laughter from the chief. Whatever caused the next stage to occur must have happened, because the next wave of enemies approached. They finished their remaining targets and while they had taken no damage, Jake could see the girls were starting to flag slightly. Jake on the other hand was still at nearly 75% of his unreserved mana, so he began casting once more.

Once again, he had struck two of the gnolls, and when he decided to use the strength rune on the Valkyrie, he saw that she used it on herself instead, so he cast it on the demoness. Once again, she was able to capitalize, kicking a gnoll hard enough to launch them in the air, smashing into another gnoll bowling them over, and allowing her to then rake both of her claws on another gnoll that was not facing her and ready for her to flank them. The gnoll’s formation broken, the demoness and Valkyrie were able to wrap up the rest of the enemies. Jake had kept the dog nipping at gnoll’s heels and assisting with the formation himself with his spear, keeping them out of position to get around the girl’s guards and assault them from behind or the side unchallenged.

Just as they finished the last gnoll, the final wave of gnolls without the Chief approached. Once again Jake started combat with a ball of ice, and the Valkyrie joined him in that. When they finished the last gnoll the girls were out of breath, and Jake was beneath half of his mana.

The Gnoll Chief roared, and charged towards the demoness at a speed that was supernatural, like it was using a spell or ability. Jake quickly cast his new barrier rune spell in front of the demoness with very little time to spare, to which the Gnoll Chief slammed into it, but stopped in its tracks, its supernatural momentum and speed stopped. The Valkyrie seemed to blur into motion and slam into the Chief with a [Charge] of her own, but they just stumbled back instead of being launched like most of the other Gnolls would be.

Meanwhile, the demoness seemed to charge a fireball attack, and Jake could just feel the not-divine power just pouring off of it. The Valkyrie seemed to sense that she was preparing her attack, and kept the axe wielding Gnoll Chief at a distance so that she could easily break away when she was ready. When the demoness was ready to launch her fireball, the Valkyrie disengaged with a kicking leap into the air with her wings, and as the demoness’ fireball was about to land square in the Gnoll Chief’s chest, they were covered in a bubble of energy: a shield of their own. The ball of fire slammed into the shield and shattered it, but when it reached the Gnoll Chief it was less than half its original size. The ball of fire exploded, and the Gnoll Chief shrieked as they were engulfed in flames.

The Chief still had some control of its faculties despite being engulfed in flame, as when the demoness sped towards their side, they quickly swiped with their axe in her direction, causing her to need to use a cross-guard to block. Jake used his strength rune on the Valkyrie as they both sped towards the Gnoll Chief’s other side, and she managed a powerful thrust of her spear into their flaming gut, as Jake positioned himself behind her like they had done in practice hundreds of times. She managed to twist the spear and retract it, before deflecting a return blow from the Gnoll Chief’s polearm, while Jake coated his spearhead with [Mana Blade] and thrust his spear over both of their shoulders into the opening the Valkyrie always creates for him. Jake’s spear went easily through their armor where he thought the Gnoll Chief’s heart was, and the light slowly left their eyes. The Gnoll Chief toppled to the ground, dead. Jake received a notification on the dungeon completion.

The Valkyrie seemed to cheer, and seemed to embrace Jake in a side-hug, to which he smiled and returned, and reached out to the demoness to join them in their group celebration. The Valkyrie was absolutely beaming, and Jake had to admit it felt good that their teamwork training had really paid off there.

 

 

Jake was really starting to feel like these dungeons were truly insidious, though. It felt like if you didn’t outclass the challenge thoroughly, there would always be a risk of someone being harmed severely. Jake had a very hard time picturing the warrior, not the summoner, version of Jake or a ranger or something like this being able to complete this dungeon, even if there would have been three of him for things to be fair. The valkyrie and demoness completely outclassed what Jake thought an equal level human warrior would be able to accomplish, yet the challenge was far from trivial.

Jake had read that the difficulty of dungeons scaled based on those that entered, but usually it was based on their level. Jake was just a level five summoner with his summons by himself with no other party members. He wondered if somehow the difficulty was being skewed upwards because of the demoness; her original level being what would have been fifty, and her control over what was heavenly truths or Daos as she called them felt like something adjacent to divinity. Perhaps that made the dungeon try extra hard to surprise and kill them?

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If Jake didn’t manage to raise that runic shield on the demoness, she likely would have taken significant damage from that odd charge ability and what would have been their follow up attack. Not only that, but the barrier of the same creature was able to block Fhesiah’s fireball, something that likely would have simply destroyed an entire wave of nine gnolls by itself. Jake was not confident on his own ability to survive such an attack, though he thought his barrier spell could stand up to it in a similar fashion as the Gnoll Chief’s barrier.

The trio did not take any significant damage, but the threat was there despite how easily the Valkyrie or the demoness had bested all the gnolls earlier in the dungeon. Jake cast [Cure Wounds] on all three of them, to help repair their bruises and scratches they received during the dungeon. Jake resolved himself to bring as many items like the scroll he had purchased, for as many situations as he could think of to prevent the worst from happening.

Jake had learned that at the very least the valkyrie was completely protected from death, once they arrived to the multiverse and were able to visit a temple, at least, he could revive them with ease just like in the game, or by himself once he received his own resurrection spell. His bond with her would protect her soul, giving none of it to the outsiders should she fall, as long as he lived.

Jake was just worried about the demoness and himself, at this point. Jake had read about familiars previously, and normally a familiar would be able to be resurrected or resummoned without issue; the problem was that she was not really a traditional familiar, and he even had doubts about their bond. The summon familiar ritual didn’t summon anything, but instead bound the demoness that was inside the circle. Was she really even a familiar in the first place?

Even if Jake’s call to the void had reached another creature than her, he would be doubtful that he could easily resurrect it, as the ritual was special and the being summoned was not the same as beings from other planes of existence that would normally be considered a familiar, such as an imp or elemental. Jake would have to confirm her compatibility for resurrection when they reached a temple.

They dismantled and otherwise looted the many bodies, and retrieved the gnoll’s armor and massive cleaver. Jake noticed that most of the equipment from the gnolls was worth salvaging, especially in the center of the village. They set about making a sled where they stacked all the equipment, leaving the dismantled body parts of the gnolls in Jake’s gym bag, and dragged it to the portal.

They set about their after-dungeon activities, cleaning and preparing everything for sale. Nobody in Jake’s party could use the large cleaver or gnoll-shaped equipment, so he would have to set up a special auction for these items and see how much he could get, on the [Multiverse Market]. They could then use the funds to purchase something equivalent from another auction, perhaps.

[You worry too much, Jake. While the Gnoll Chief’s charge was surprising, I was prepared to block, and you tested my robes. I was amazed at your response with the runic shield, but you would do well to trust your team-mates to mostly protect themselves; we are not weak. I hope you were just as prepared to put that shield on yourself.]

Jake could have just as easily shielded himself as he did her, but he is not so sure he would have relied on it instead of blocking or parrying with his spear, which very well could have been a big mistake; the training weapon nearly outlasting its usefulness. Luckily the Valkyrie was closer to Jake than the demoness, and would have arrived even quicker to assist him.

Jake wondered how best to handle this. Perhaps he should equip himself with a shield like the Valkyrie, as he was now noticing that he would be the weak point in the party. If he died, then nobody could be resurrected, them all being split up in the void of the framework, at least Jake thought. Perhaps the permanent summons could in fact resurrect him, and Valkyries did get that capability usually, as well, though not until much higher levels. In the game this was not possible, the NPC’s being limited, but things could be different under the framework. Pure healers would get this capability the earliest. 

[We have a lot to learn; you are still only level five, after all. In a way, you really only became a summoner a week ago, not having your specialization yet. We can try the shield, and we will keep up with our training each day. We have a lot of paths to power, and we have only begun on the ones we have started. Now, I think your poor mood despite completing your first dungeon with the valkyrie has even left her cheerful self in a funk. Aren’t we rich now, compared to before? We should celebrate.]

Fhesiah was right: they now had made over 30,000 credits clearing out the dungeon, not even including the auction for the Gnoll Chief’s equipment, and whatever Jake might get selling the village square gnoll’s armor and weapons. These things were certainly enough a reason to celebrate, and yet Jake had been filled with worry overthinking the future. Jake decided to try to move forward and improve the mood, and try to take on a happy tone.

“Ophelia, Fhesiah, that was some great work in that dungeon. I am really happy with our teamwork and how strong we are for our level. We are now full of funds, so let’s celebrate! I want each of us to pick something, as long as it’s under 8,000 credits, for our personal advancement such as a skill book, and something for personal equipment, any remainder and you can purchase whatever you like. We’ll cook up a feast and enjoy, and we’ll each pick out an activity that we want to do for us all to do together.”

Jake thought that he would allow each person to choose their own personal advancement for now, and then he would try to add things that he could find to add synergy to the party or reduce shortcomings later. For now, he had a party to prepare for.

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