Chapter 66: Blood and Thunder
It seemed like Coop walked into a trap. Despite his attempt at carefully inspecting the fort for monsters, his attention had slipped after not finding anything for so long. Then, he’d overextended himself when he finally found something. He had received multiple afflictions from the surprise attack of a second monster and the death throes of the first.
He dismissed his sword and his shield, finding them less than ideal for fighting the smaller armored monsters. He summoned his spear, just for the improved reach, but he didn’t think it was the best weapon for the situation either. Stomping the monster had been wildly effective, even against the robust carapace that shrugged off the edge of his sword. He wanted to experiment with a blunt weapon against these foes, but for the time being he would make do with his spear. The spear was battle tested, and he was hesitant to try a new weapon under the circumstances.
Coop stayed still, keeping one eye on the ceiling, hoping to avoid having more of the unnerving invaders dive onto him. He leveled his spear at his attacker, as it waved its front appendages at him, still dripping with his blood from its surprise attack. Coop imagined it was mocking him, trying to goad him into a frantic attack that would just invite more of its brethren to swarm him. He felt his blood slowly dripping down his back and clenched his teeth.
Instead of rushing, he noted the afflictions that he had acquired. He had two stacks of Soul Degradation, which increased the cost and cooldown of his abilities by 17%. The effect was reduced by his magic defense, but he also wasn’t entirely reliant on his abilities in the first place.
Summoning his spear had cost him more mana, but it was hardly something he would need to worry about with his massive mana pool hardly budging. Soul Degradation had been applied by the claws of the ambushing monster that continued to taunt him, but Coop’s build meant he could mostly ignore the debuff and continue to rely on his regular attacks to defeat his enemies.
He also had three stacks of Soul Rot, from the dead monster’s tail barbs nicking his leg. Soul Rot drained a negligible amount of health and mana, but it would also apply another affliction when it expired, with the secondary affliction being dependent on the number of stacks of Soul Rot. It would always expire 60 seconds after the first stack was applied. Coop would have to keep track of the affliction’s timer.
It didn’t seem like a long time, but in the middle of combat 60 seconds was an eternity. Even in a staredown with the monster that had ambushed him, it took forever to countdown. The debuff would only drain 20 health and 30 mana over its duration, so he didn’t feel pressured to rush, preferring to wait for its expiration.
Coop couldn’t simply back away to wait out the debuff either, as the monsters lined the ceiling in every direction, waiting for the opportunity to ambush him. He’d need to mistjump if it came down to a retreat.
Coop continued to bide his time. It seemed like a better idea to be patient and deal with whatever came from three stacks of Soul Rot than to collect more stacks of the affliction while moving around and inviting more monsters to join the fight by ambushing him.
The waiting was the hardest part, and he braced as the debuff got closer to expiring. The monster scurried a bit, back and forth, and Coop followed it with the tip of his spear, ready for it to get into his range, but the monster seemed reluctant to leave the shadow of its brethren on the ceiling. Coop was equally reluctant to move into their range.
More clattering echoed in the shadowy corridor behind him. A quick glance told him that the monsters didn’t seem content to wait for his Soul Rot to expire after all. They had given him a chance to walk into their strike zones, but his refusal to move meant they were becoming aggressive. Monsters released themselves from the ceiling one after the other, all around the room, until Coop lost count of how many challengers he now faced. At least he had avoided their initial attacks. They were a lot less imposing when they were on the floor.
He lunged forward, with waiting no longer an option, and stabbed at the nearest monster. His initial attempt to impale it with his spear was just as ineffective as trying to cut them with his sword. His target allowed itself to be flattened, giving its metallic scutes the opportunity to protect its body, and all the rest of the monsters scurried toward Coop. The clacking of their arachnid-like legs against the stone floor was a horrible sound. Coop allowed himself to be drawn back toward the exit as the monsters converged on his position.