Compared to the Demonic Centipedes, the Demonic Ants were so slow it was like they were crawling. She killed the three in the first room, then killed the Shadow Swordsman, took its Mana Potion, and finished off the last and Ceiling Creeper. Killing the Shadow Demon while she was still level one gave her six more experience than killing it once she was level two. She checked how she was progressing after finishing 1D and made a note of her total stat increases.
Penelope moved the metal armor towards the center of the square before she went into 1C. Her spells fired faster, and she didn’t miss, which gave her an edge against the Shadow Caster. She killed the three ants and one Ceiling Creeper before finishing off the Demon, then the last Ceiling Creeper.
Ula’s team came in at this point, and Penelope handed off the metal gear, pointed them east, then went back to her side.
The minions in the first column weren’t a threat to her anymore, and the Shadow Buffer was the least threatening of all the bosses that she’d fought so far. Penelope repeated her process from the last room. She defeated the three ants and one Ceiling Creeper, beat the Shadow Demon to level, and then finished off the last of the smaller monsters.
Drinking the Mana Potions was increasing her Recovery. With the Air Pendant, she only needed one more point to gain the other two passives, so she kept the same pace for 1A. Order didn’t matter here since she wasn’t going to level up. Penelope took care of the Shadow Caster first, then finished off the minions with her wand.
She still needed the extra point of Recovery, so Penelope walked into 2A. She killed one of the Demonic Beetles, then the Shadow Warrior, before she finished off the rest of the monsters.
Penelope wanted to keep her Speed higher than her Recovery, which was sitting at eleven thanks to the point of Speed on the Wand, but unless she started running more, she was going to increase her Recovery too much, which would change her Mana Leech passive into something else.
The Shadow Caster in 2B was as little of a problem as the previous Casters. Penelope killed all the lesser Demons first, then finished off the Demon to level. With the running around that she did, she was able to increase her Speed this time.
As many times as she’d reset to get the fight in 2C down, it was like restarting an old routine. The whole thing went off without a hitch. She wasn’t getting experience from the floor mobs anymore, but the ring with Speed on it was nice.
2D had been challenging because of the Shadow Knight’s shield, but now that Penelope had better control over her spells, she just had to be patient and then hit it before it could bring its guard back.
For 2E, she kept the shield from the last room and hid behind it while she picked off the lesser Demons. The Shadow Poisoner wasn’t able to hit her with a spell, so it never closed the distance, which allowed her to back it up into the northeast corner. Once it was trapped, she burned it down before it could get clear.
Penelope went back to running again for 3D. The Demonic Moles were difficult to gauge when they would pop up. She went through six resets to work out the timing better, which also helped her work her way through the other rooms faster.
The running helped to ensure that her Speed was the stat that got increased. Penelope had also gotten so proficient at clearing the rooms that the other group was still in 2J when she finished. Since she wasn’t wounded, she kept going.
4D was still a challenge because of the Demonic Centipedes. They were durable enough that she had to hit them twice to get them off of her, but since she’d been squeezing all the experience she could out of the earlier rooms, she was level eight when she walked in this time instead of almost level eight.
It took her five resets to get the timing down to use a
The gloves gave her the extra point of Magic that she needed to unlock the new class and passive upgrades. Unlike the rest of the gear that provided a bonus to damage or resistance, the gloves only had a point of Magic, but that was all she needed. Before she tried 5D, Penelope wanted to level.
The Shadow Warrior in 4E was her next target. Ula’s group was in 2I and Penelope was approaching her third hour of a run in the Dungeon. Now that she had the Demonic Centipedes movements down, she was able to make short work of them, and with her upgraded passive, she one-shotted the boss to level herself to nine.
Penelope looked down at the special piece of gear that the Demon had dropped.
The “harness” was little more than a pair of leather straps that crisscrossed a person’s chest. Penelope couldn’t see Ula wearing it, especially when the grandmother wore metal armor so well. Neither was something that she was ever going to wear since she was a Caster, so Penelope threw it on her stash and filed it away as something the other team might be able to use in a keeper run.
It felt like a lifetime ago when she’d been dying in 5D. Penelope bounced from one foot to the other as she prepared herself for her next big challenge. Her fingers played with the strap on the back of the shield she’d looted from 2D. Her turtling had worked well against the last magic user, so she didn’t see a reason not to use it again.
“Considering how many times you’ve been resetting to get a run right, I don’t know why you’re getting anxious now.” Jeru eyed her.
“This is as far as I’ve gotten.” Penelope looked at the Shadow Caster in the middle of the square. “The others were about getting more efficient. This is about pushing past my record.”
The blue Elf shrugged. “Even if you beat this, you’re still going to reset until you get it down, so why the nerves?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “But I’m ready to try out my new spell.”
Jeru motioned at the barrier. “After you.”
Penelope stepped through the barrier and ran towards the leader.
The spiders scattered, skittering away to try to flank her.
“Light Barrage!”
Four
Penelope started moving to her right and swept her left hand in front of her, angling the shield so that her palm was pointing at the ground in front of her.
“Light Blast!”
The spiders were shooting webs to try to impede her charge, but she cut through it with a wave of her hand. Two balls each sought a spider in front of her, smashing into their faces as the monsters tried to back away.
DING!
Experience +6
Experience +6
“Behind you!”
Penelope heeded Jeru’s warning and twisted around, casting her next spell with a flick of her wand.
“Light Blast!”
The Demonic Frog howled as its tongue was burned off.
“Light Barrage!”
Two of the
DING!
Experience +6
She pulled the second one back after the frog died to the first one between its eyes.
“Light Blast!”
The webbing to her left burned away.
Metal shards plinked off the shield, alerting her that the Shadow Caster was close enough.
Penelope flicked her wand, and the two
DING!
Experience +24
The Demonic Spiders hissed and charged now that their commander was dead.
“Light Barrage!”
The four
DING!
Experience +6
Experience +6
“Well.” Penelope walked over to the pile of loot and picked up the silver robe. “That was easier than I thought it was going to be.”
She flipped the red robe that she’d been wearing off and wrapped the new one over her shoulders. Penelope took a deep breath.
Maybe I won’t need to reset this one.
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