Chương 58: 1-57 Explosive success

"I should really try to put some extra range on that spell," Josef said, using a sphere of water to cleanse himself roughly. Bits and pieces of the creature he struck had found their way onto him, decorating him with gore. Dusty tried to aid him with cleanup, but made himself scarce after catching some very perturbed faces when he began licking up the watery remains. Pretzel was a little more helpful in that regard, joining with her own magic to speed up the process.

It might just be his imagination, but Josef was sure she was getting rougher whenever she glanced at his barely healed injury. His shirt was doing its best to close the revealing hole left behind after the impaling attack, but it had yet to fully undo the damage left behind by the impaling limb. While he was quite happy with the enchanted clothing, he wished it would do its job a little more quickly. He wasn't usually this impatient about a minor wardrobe failure, but these weren't normal circumstances.

Unfortunately, his body had decided that having scales covering his stomach should be the new trend to avoid further injury. Which would be fine if that change wasn't currently visible to the world. Which is why he had positioned himself to face away from the rest of the group, slightly hunched over. Pretending to deal with his wounds, while he was buying time until his new scales were all covered up.

"Are you alright? That looked nasty." Zippa was the first to close in, showing his concern. For a moment, Josef felt like turning even him away, feeling reluctant to be seen in this state. Then, he swallowed that sensation down, knowing that such a reaction would be unfounded.

"It looks pretty bad, doesn't it?" Josef joked with some mirth, turning just far enough to show off his predicament. To Zippa's credit, he didn't even make a face when he saw the strange amalgamation of skin and scales. Instead, his friend merely shook his head, saying, "Looks fine to me. Though I'm not the healer here. Might wanna get rid of the extra meat, though." Josef understood immediately that his friend was helping him buy time, being no stranger to seeing the fabric of his clothes knit up after a fight.

Still, did he have to actually poke and prod at him? As the reptile feigned removing leftover chunks of monster, using his body to provide cover, he was really just taking his chance to touch the freshly grown scales.

"Hey, watch where you're touching!" Josef knocked the reptile on his head, to make his indignation known. While the act somewhat embarrassed him, it at least kept everyone else away successfully, seeing that their injured healer was taken care of. Bezzo joined Aifreed in discussing ways to combat the newly encountered creatures, with Linda eagerly hanging on both of their lips. The younger reptile had his fair share of trouble with this new creature.

Getting close enough to scratch it was not only difficult but ultimately pointless, as the monster didn't care about his poison. On top of that, he just didn't have the same level of resilience as his brother, forcing him to dodge around every strike instead of barreling straight through. Linda, on the other hand, had taken care of her opponent on her own as well. She had cut off several of the dangerous limbs when the creature was dumb enough to take her sword on directly.

With both its mobility and offense hampered massively, it didn't take long for her to land a decisive blow on the body.

"So, it looks like you worked out a new spell," Zippa started.

"At least, I can't remember you starting any blood-baths like this before." By the way he was looking at Josef, he clearly expected a reaction to his poor joke.

"Yeah, I really wanted a proper offensive spell. Didn't expect it to be this messy. Really, who could have expected pressurized water inside a living body to turn out like this?" He rolled his eyes. Still, reading over the spell's notification, he couldn't help but feel a little proud of how it turned out. ✩✩✩✩ Water Jet (Moderate) Some crack under pressure, others fall apart. Using your own body as a vessel, you have touched on the concept of pressure to turn gentle streams into lethal eruptions.

Next time, he would try to use this magic at a distance, to hopefully keep himself out of the resulting splash zone. Pretzel had also nudged him with barely contained greed for his newest acquisition, demanding him to teach her how he had done it. While her tone could use a little work, he didn't mind sharing how it was done. At least it gave him something to hold over her, since she couldn't exactly carry him to the next boss room as compensation.

"What about your eyes?" Josef finally recalled how his friend was rubbing his eyes after the unconventional attack.

"Do you need any healing for that?" As he was talking, restorative mana already gathered in his hand, ready for action.

"Nah, I'm good. Don't think you can do much about it, anyway." Seeing the human's challenging gaze, he quickly added, "It doesn't hurt me, just leaves hot and sticky blood on my eyes. Not exactly a pleasant experience." Josef nodded at that. He really didn't have a spell well-suited to help with that right now. What his friend needed wasn't healing, but some sort of automated eye-cleaning spell. Like magical windshield wipers for his eyes. Maybe there were magical items that could help with that?

With all the gems they were collecting from the slain monsters, they were bound to earn some money once they got back out. He filed that idea away for later, if he ever needed to think of a present for Zippa.

"Still, shooting blood from your eyes is quite badass. Also, a little disturbing. But mostly pretty cool." If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The lizard first smiled, before switching to a puzzled expression.

"Thanks, but I can promise you that there is nothing cool about it. Actually, it's pretty hot." He had to admit that it was an impressive turn at the end there, even if he didn't know about the misunderstanding that had just happened. Unsurprisingly, calling something 'cool' didn't have the same connotations on Aurum.

"Actually…" Trying to think up a way to explain what he meant without making it sound too awkward, he hesitated long enough to get interrupted.

"Oh, look, it's finished." Zippa pointed out, gesturing at the shirt. Finally, his current predicament was once again covered up, hiding everything that could give away his spreading condition. Josef caught himself thinking about this change like a disease he had caught. That wasn't a healthy mindset to have, especially because there was no known cure that could offer him salvation. Instead, he tried to recall what Cana had explained to him about change being something worth celebrating.

For now, those thoughts helped him tide over the negative emotions trying to gather in his mind.

"Are you two done flirting?" Bezzo's voice cut loudly through the air.

"The rest of us are ready to move on." Josef was just about to throw some scathing insults at the offending lizard when his older brother did it better than he ever could. Leaning over, making a show of secrecy, he whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.

"He's just jealous. Thirty years without a single date will do that to you."

"Wait, how long?" Josef gasped in mock surprise. Then, he loudly whispered back, "I didn't even know he's that old. The poor guy is practically a fossil, gathering dust." While Zippa had kept it together during his own bit, he had a hard time stifling his laughter into wheezes after that combination attack. Expression darkening, Bezzo shook a fist at his brother.

"You're older than me, for fuck's sake!."

"Older and more experienced," he hammered the final nail into the coffin that contained his younger brother's dignity. As they both strode past him, Josef could see a flicker of amusement in the reptile's eyes. Clearly, he wasn't nearly as upset as he was acting. Still, he wouldn't want to be in Zippa's shoes when this came back to bite him. Tonight's burrito might just be suffocatingly tight. Wait, did he have to fear repercussions as well? Suddenly, the joke almost didn't feel worth it anymore. Almost.

Once they had finally gathered their wits again, the journey into the dungeon continued. Having gained a better understanding of the Skittering Rachse haunting these floors, they improved their battle performance significantly. Aifreed, using quick footwork and decisive cuts, proved just how lethal a swordsman could be, no matter how simplistic their style might look compared to magic.

Though Josef suspected that there was plenty of mana involved in the knight's fighting style, going by how unnaturally smooth some of his movements looked. On top of that, using his skill to inspect the blade in combat, he could spot just the barest hint of mana wrapping around the blade. Linda was holding her own as well, looking like a much less refined version of her loyal knight. That was in part the literal truth, as she was still struggling to adapt to his impromptu lessons.

However, that impression was also rooted in a difference in fighting styles. After all, a greatsword was just no precision tool, demanding more excessive swings from her. Compared to the hapless swinging she had displayed in their first fight, she was growing at a frightening pace, even if her hit ratio needed more work, yet. Bezzo turned out to be their new trouble child, struggling to take down any of these beasts in single combat.

Where simplicity lent itself well to the knight, it hamstrung the poison-clawed lizard. They continued to give him plenty of chances to fight on his own, though, so he could work on pushing his style against this new adversity. Hopefully, he would figure something out to expand his toolkit. If push came to shove, maybe the new skill gem held something useful for him.

Josef already held plenty of advantages, and Linda had shown little interest in the gem, wrinkling her nose whenever the sight of it reminded her of the creature it came from, so there was little reason they couldn't give it to him. Zippa was taking to the new encounters like a fish to water, as his ignited scales were just hardy enough to endure collisions with the spear-like limbs of the monsters. Meanwhile, they had a weakness against being ripped open and torched to ashes. Nobody could fault them for that.

It was a common shortcoming that most organisms shared. As for himself and his familiars, they were doing a lot better than during the first fight. Successfully avoiding any other gut-piercing incidents, while using teamwork to bring down anything that dared to skitter too close. While Water Jet turned out to be rather limited in its effective range, losing any chance to pierce flesh at over a meter distance, it still proved plenty useful in these fights.

After all, even if he couldn't pierce their bodies at a distance, Josef could at least obliterate any limbs that dared to get too close to him. As it turned out, the skewering implements didn't take well to getting pierced themselves. Once he destroyed a limb, the monster would quickly fall prey to his eager familiars. If losing one leg was not enough to topple a beast on its own, Pretzel's added barrage of watery projectiles made sure that it would go down quickly.

From there, it quickly found itself wrapped up, legs tied together by the living rope. Dusty was the one responsible for finishing the job, descending on the creatures like a raving monster. Their dying screeches almost awoke some instinctual pity in Josef, but those notions were quickly squashed by taking a single look at the hideous creatures. If he could burn them with fire, he would. Thankfully, Zippa was regularly fulfilling that primal desire for him.

With their combined efforts, it was no surprise that they made quick work of the 21st floor, reaching the next stairs in no time at all. Level 29 -> 30 2 Free attribute points. 1 Dexterity, 2 Endurance, 2 Intelligence, 1 Wisdom and 2 Charisma gained The Charisma was a little surprising, as Josef hadn't expected his little speech from before to count for that much. Other than that, his progress was well received and welcomed.

1 Endurance and 1 Intelligence gained A balanced distribution for mind and body, just as he enjoyed it. However, as quickly as their spirits had lifted at reaching the next stairs so soon, their mood came crashing down even faster at what they encountered there. It wasn't a dangerous monster, nor was it a trap. There were also no murderous knights looking to cut them down. What they found were several satchels, all of different making, but depressingly similar in their meaning.

Next to them, an empty suit of silvery armor lay on the ground, strewn about messily. More people had died here, right on the edge of another floor. And somehow, a knight of Sanctum was involved.