Healing Aurexion from the damage he took wasn’t going to be a quick process. Much like when dealing with other burn victims or necrotic poison some patches of scales were fully charred, Ajax would need to peel them off and then use healing to regenerate a fresh layer in their place.
“Now I see why you don’t like fighting elementals.” Ajax commented as he worked on getting Aurexion ready for healing while also restoring his Mana.
Aurexion could use his size and power to fight level one hundred and eighty creatures despite being a hundred levels lower in relative safety yet against anything that was very resistant to physical attacks there were even level one hundred and twenties that could kill him despite not being Ascended, he just knew better than to keep fighting those battles.
“All that effort and we still smashed the core.” Aurexion looked towards the remains of the elemental.
“Don’t worry about that.” Ajax shook his head. “ I doubt I was going to use it all at once anyway.”
In the end Ajax decided not to try and take the core out of the dungeon. There was just too large of a risk at play if word got out about how unusual the core was. Seeing as he didn’t have anything that he needed the core for on the outside it would be best if he just used it inside the dungeon and just waited until he got back to his own duchy to start pulling elemental cores out of the dungeon if he needed them for his alchemy.
The dungeon floor was almost cleared of all other creatures so Ajax and Aurexion moved their small camp to the obelisk where Ajax got to work using up all of the remaining reagents he had. Using the pieces of the core as catalysts he had his best crafting session yet, he had even managed to put his [Mass Production] Skill to use with some of the bigger core pieces. The resulting potions were of very poor quality even if they were successful but Ajax could feel his proficiency as an alchemist growing from the effort he had to put in while also carefully monitoring the stabilising effects of the core.
It took about two days for Aurexion to recover even after Ajax’s healing and Ajax finished with his crafting during that time before they activated the obelisk. What followed once the obelisk was activated was a long battle of attrition as stragglers slowly streamed in over the next two days.
“I really wish mud elementals would move faster.” Ajax commented as they waited for the last of the elementals to arrive.
“No you don’t.” Aurexion chastised Ajax for his impatience. “You just don’t like waiting.”
As one delved deeper into the dungeon and the creatures on the floors became stronger, activating the obelisk became more and more dangerous, not because the creatures were harder to fight, though that was also a factor but mainly because of how quickly they could gather. The increase in floor size helped a little with this but it also meant that the few exceptions that moved slowly had a large distance to cover once the obelisk was activated.
The first twelve hours after activating the obelisk had been an actual challenge for Ajax and Aurexion as every snake and jaguar they missed had quickly made their way to the obelisk. The monsters didn’t coordinate but because of their high level reinforcements usually arrived before they finished dealing with the first arrivals.
Having seen the effectiveness of his freezing potion on the magma elemental Ajax made sure to write down the recipe and made as many as he could before activating the obelisk. It had been almost three months at this point from the moment the floor boss arrived so everything on the floor was attuned to the Fire Mana that now was a staple of the floor.
By the middle of the second day everything else on the floor had been killed off and Ajax and Aurexion were now just waiting for the last few mud elemental stragglers to arrive. They had gotten proficient at killing anything on this floor over the past few months and with elementals trickling in one or two every hour they weren’t an issue to kill.
“Are you sure that frog is what you want to take out of the dungeon?” Aurexion asked as they waited.
“I’m sure.” Ajax nodded. The frog was barely bigger than a dog, this made it one of the smallest creatures on the floor and something tiny compared to anything else. Ajax recognised the colorful pattern of its skin as an evolutionary defense mechanism employed by the poison dart frog back on earth. Its poison was extremely potent.
While the frog was physically weak and its main offensive reliance was on its poison it was clearly a caster type monster that focused on infecting predators with its poison as well as Shadow and Wind Mana casting to keep a safe distance from them. There were few of them on the floor with Ajax and Aurexion encountering only eight, five of those had been during the last two days during the obelisk rush, the addition of Fire Mana hadn’t done anything to make the frog more dangerous.
“[Danger Sense] activated every time they came close to me.” Ajax informed his bond. “This despite how resistant to poisons I am. It might not be strong enough to kill me but I know it's potent. I’m sure the Republic would gladly open up its vault to buy it.”
Elementals had finally stopped showing up towards the end of the third day. With the floor fully cleared Ajax and Aurexion returned to the exit arch where they spent two days actually relaxing for once and just enjoying the high Mana Density of the floor.
“I see the dungeons finally provided a challenge for you.” Ajax commented as he looked at Aurexion’s Status. “You finally leveled up.”
Name : Aurexion
Level : 81
Experience : 1320/329500
Traits: Duke, Aura, Bond
Health: 4620/8200
Mana: 1100/2300
Stamina : 6800/8100
Vitality : 825
Strength :820
Endurance :820
Dexterity : 700
Intellect : 600
Wisdom : 190
Mind : 230
Perception : 370
Stat Points : 0
Skills :
Common : [Unarmed Combat Lvl 83][Stealth Lvl 30][Tracking 50][Intimidation Lvl 16][Sleep Lvl 66][Heat Resistance Lvl 67][Poison Resistance Lvl 50][Cold Resistance Lvl 60][Pain Resistance Lvl 15][Flight Lvl 52]
Uncommon :[Medidtation Lvl 53][Sense Mana Lvl 45][Expel Mana Lvl 33][Tail Swipe Lvl 72][Flashing Swipe Lvl 56][Crushing Bite Lvl 41][Wing Buffet Lvl 45][Treasure Sense Lvl 11][Danger Sense Lvl 4][Reinforced Scales Lvl 27]
Rare : [Hoard Lvl 23][Inspect Treasure Lvl 22][Fire Aspect Mana 15][Smoke Aspect Mana Lvl 12][Body Empowerment Lvl 35][Overwhelming Strength Style Lvl 29][Hybernate Lvl 12][Spell Direction Lvl 4][Draconic Roar Lvl 18][Earth Aspect Mana Lvl 1]
Epic : [Magma Aspect Mana Lvl 4]
Legendary : [Dragon’s Breath Lvl 1]
Aurexion’s experience gain during the war had been slow compared to Ajax who despite the dominant presence on the battlefield had been feeling the challenge of fighting against champions much more than his bond.
“It wasn’t just the extra challenge the dungeon provided.” Aurexion commented. “The Mana training also provided some experience.”
Gaining Earth Mana as well as attempting to learn Mana Manipulation had been a real challenge for Aurexion and it was reflected in the Experience gain even without the extra bonus of being in danger.
“It’s a good thing you'll be keeping that up going forward then.” Ajax commented as they both got ready to exit the dungeon.
“We should delve again soon.” Aurexion said, dreading the return to the Mana desert that was humanoid lands. He had almost spent as much time inside the dungeon as he had in humanoid lands and returning to the low Mana density wasn’t very appealing to him.
“Don’t worry once the war is over I plan to delve a fair bit.” Ajax reassured his bond, though on the inside he was hoping he would be able to keep his word and his duties as a Duke wouldn’t keep him from it.
With that they both exited the dungeon. The three months they had spent inside had only been about a month on the outside but the guards were quick to react once they exited, pulling Ajax off to one side while clearing out everyone else in case any level one hundred and eighty would exit after them.
“Pretty sure we cleared everything on the floor.” Ajax tried to reassure the guards but it wasn’t until a minute later after nothing else came out of the dungeon that the guards started to relax.
The same guard that had inspected their loot the last time they had come out of a dungeon was already waiting for them. Unlike last time however he had already sent word to archduke Goldenmouth before he even got started.