Chapter 67: Soul Snatcher
Coop shook his head as he led Jett through the first corridors in the basement of the fort. He turned around and used Presence of Mind to inspect her again, just to confirm what he had seen.
[Awakened Cat (Level 54)]
[Sentinel of Shadows (Agility)]
[Venerated of the Blessed Mau Collective]
[Sharp, Dark, Silent (Slayer)]
How was it possible for her to be leveling so efficiently? He wanted to know her secrets. Maybe he could copy her strategy, if only she would show it to him. She had barely lifted a finger, or claw, ever since she casually rescued him from the monsters that swarmed him while he was stunned. She just observed while he cleared the rest of the second floor, then the first, and now the basement. It felt like escorting a supervisor that was constantly and silently judging his performance.
Still, he was making good progress fighting the Ruin Excavators in the hours that they had been exploring the fort’s corridors. It reminded him of stemming the tide of Primal Trackers, with the density and level of monsters slowly increasing as he pushed forward in their open air golf course dungeon.
In absolute contrast, the basement was dark and damp, the complete opposite of the open fairways of the golf course. The sounds of dripping water constantly tricked him into thinking it was the footsteps of a Ruin Excavator. They hid in the shadows, and not just on the ceiling, waiting to ambush him with their awful debuffs. To make matters worse, they increased in strength every time they went down. They were already level 40 with elites sprinkled among them in the basement level and he was slightly worried they would keep getting stronger.
The monsters really didn’t stand a chance in a straight fight with Coop. He wouldn’t be overwhelmed again, unless they could find a way to trick him into springing one of their traps. Coop was being more careful, checking the corners and ceiling while moving at an even slower, deliberate pace. The monsters were almost always in large groups, but Coop could handle them as long as he didn’t wander into their midst. Really, he thought he would be fine, even if he did end up in the center of another full swarm, but it wasn’t a pleasant experience the first time around. It was also faster to systematically eliminate the monsters instead of rushing between them, so he and Jett didn’t travel through the fort with any substantial speed.
Jett seemed to prefer a slow pace, as it gave her opportunities to resume cleaning herself, or otherwise lounge at the edge of rooms while Coop stomped and crushed his way through monsters.
As they moved through the basement level, the amount of water steadily increased. Even though the first floor was damp, with small puddles in some corners, and a really humid atmosphere, the basement was just plain wet. Most rooms had barely enough dry spots for Jett to carefully pick her way through. The constant dripping and occasional rushing sounds of ocean water made Coop nervous for threats other than ambushing monsters.
There was a reason basements generally didn’t exist in this region of the world. The bedrock was porous limestone, and the ocean was an enduring presence. The fort’s foundation was reinforced with packed sand, but being in the basement really brought his confidence in the sturdiness of the walls way down.