74 Plan to infiltrate Oscorp
Having set the giant pink castle on the distant hill as my goal, I set out to reach it, and only after a few short hours had already made it mighty close despite my progress slowing down the further I went.
Knowing that I would be unable to deal with a large group of enemies, I advanced more carefully than in previous dungeon areas meaning whenever I saw a large battalion of those knights, whether they be on horses or just on foot, I would pull back and hide in one of those farmhouses that were thankfully littered all over the place and utterly devoid of life to boot.
I would take opportunities to fight and gain xp whenever I saw a singled-out enemy or a smaller group consisting of 4 or fewer hostiles, but the further I went the harder that became as it seemed larger groups became more common the closer I got to the main castle. I even happened to find a large training ground where there were easily hundreds of those enemies all doing mock battles, but you can bet your ass I sneaked away without even considering going in there.
Despite that, though, I had gained plenty of experience and made my way to level 94 of the Water Mage class, leaving me surprised at how quickly I was progressing here.
Perhaps it was because it was a very basic class compared to the Spiderman class I had previously or simply because the enemies in this dungeon area reached as high as level 120, but the progression speed was frightening. I was already close to being able to pick the next class…
That's not a bad thing, though, as I would never complain about getting stronger.
Skill-wise, the Water Mage class had been as versatile as I had hoped for, granting me ways to attack, defend and heal myself.
The [Water Resistance] skill, as you would expect, just granted me some resistance to any water element attacks. 0.5% per level, to be exact, so the same as [Physical Damage Reduction] did for physical damage.
[Bubble Shield] let me deploy a spherical shield around me that would protect against all attacks coming from the outside as long as it wasn't broken. At level one, it wasn't all that useful to me as I already had [Magic Shield], but as it reached level 5, it had already surpassed [Magic Shield] in the amount of damage it could absorb, making me realize how garbage the original skills I had created during my first few days in this world were. The size of the bubble shield also seemed to increase slightly with each level.
[Spring-Water Coating] was a toggleable skill that would train 50 mana per minute at level 1 in exchange for giving me an extra 25 HP regen per hour. Not exactly something I would call amazing, but a decent boost to my regen nonetheless, especially as it reached higher levels.
I had decided to keep it active at all times to level it up, seeing as the mana drain wasn't all that big of a problem to me to begin with as I regenerated around 4000 mana per minute, and throwing away 50 of it didn't affect me much. Even as the skill leveled up and the mana cost to keep it enabled increased by 10 mp/min each level, I still didn't have much of an issue with it.
For attacking skills, the class had given me [Water Tendrils], which turned my hands into long liquidy tendrils that I could use to whip people or grab things from afar but weren't all that strong. Ultimately I decided to just not bother with it.
[Geyser Blast] was a much stronger attacking skill that blasted out steaming hot water from the ground wherever I targeted. Higher levels increased the damage as well as the size of the blast to the point where I could get up to four enemies at a time with it if they were positioned close to each other. Not all that bad, and I ended up using it quite a bit.
Finally, I gained [Wave] upon reaching level 90 in Water Mage, and that was the AoE skill I had been looking for. As the name suggests, it created a big ass wave that targeted a whole group of enemies. Setting myself into a position where I could run away if necessary, I courageously took on a small squadron of 12 knights and, combining wave with a few other skills had, managed to take them all out with nearly 30% of my mana still remaining at the end of the fight.
Like this, ignoring big groups and only taking on smaller and medium ones, I made my way to the bottom of the hill that would be my path up to the castle. Typical of castles, there was a trench filled with water all around the hill and a single bridge crossing it filled with enemies.
By all means, it should be a big obstacle, but I had so many ways across it. A single web shot could have pulled me across, or I could have just crawled on the underside of the bridge and slipped past them, but in the end, I ended up using Wave to push them all into the water.
As you would expect, it is pretty difficult to swim with metal armor on, and after seeing some bubbles rise to the top of the water, I soon got a bunch of notifications about defeating enemies and gaining xp.
The path up the hill leading to the castle entrance was littered with enemies, which I had to sneak past as they were so tightly packed that fighting one would just alert enemies higher up on the hill, leading me to fighting an entire army of them. Good thing I was so good at stealth.
Making my way to the castle's front entrance, I realized something weird. Usually, each dungeon area is divided into ten smaller stages. The graveyard had stages 1 to 10, the Fungal forest was 11-20, and so on, but here I was, still on the same old stage 41 that I had first entered. Does this mean this area was just very long, or was it somehow different from the previous stages? Who knows.
As I pushed open the big door to take a peak inside, I heard the voice of Diana in my ear. "Wait up. You just got messages from Gwen you should take a look at."
Swiftly leaping backward into a secluded place, I take out my phone. Damn, it's 3 AM. Why is she messaging me at this time… also why is there wifi in the dungeon.
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Gwen: Hey, so since the Christmas break is about to begin, I started thinking… (∶__∶)
Gwen: I've heard you have been working together with some women on your secret job during the past week. (ꗞܫꗞ;)
Gwen: Not that I'm saying there is anything wrong with that. It's good to have backup and all that. I was just thinking about how to be more helpful too. (⋒ ⌣̀_⌣́)
Gwen: I can't go around in the air like whoosh and swoosh and bonk people without any powers, so I thought of a different way. I can be your eyes and ears in a sketchy place and maybe help prevent something before it even begins. (ᵔᴥᵔ)
Gwen: Anyways, I talked with my dad, and through his connections and my high grades, I got an internship at Oscorp! (.❁‿❁.)
Peter: Congratulations, I know you wanted to work there, but what do you mean by 'sketchy place.'
Gwen: Do you not pay attention to the news at all? I thought you had like a super smart A.I. that could keep an eye on things for you. (⊚_☉)
Gwen: Anyways, there are rumors about all kinds of weird stuff going on there.
Gwen: Like you know that Curt Connors guy who was with us when we visited Oscorp Tower? Well, apparently, he got fired just as he was close to finishing some breakthrough project and ended up disappearing right after.
Gwen: There are also other rumors, like how the genius scientist Otto Octavius got all his funding cut and had a huge falling out with Mr. Osborn, Oscorp working together with the crime boss Kingpin, and even some about Osborn himself. Some people say he looks REALLY sickly lately and barely comes out in public anymore.
Gwen: It could all be baseless rumors, but my instinct tells me that something is happening, and I intend to be there for it all. ψ(◣_◢)ψ
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I read through the messages she is sending me at lightning speed and find myself scared at how accurate her intuition is.
Knowing very well what Osborn's "sickness" could mean, I start typing out a message to try and discourage Gwen from putting herself in the center of where the danger would be, but before I am even halfway through my message, I am interrupted by Gwen's message.
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Gwen: I see you typing, and I know what you are going to say, so you better stop.
Gwen: I'm feeling left behind here, and since I can't help fighting like the other two you're with, I'm gonna find another way.
Gwen: It's better for me to know where and when it is dangerous, so I know to avoid it, right? Anyways tomorrow is my first day where I get an introduction to my work. If you want, I can give you a short tour afterward?
Peter: I kind of have a magic lesson with an old bald lady tomorrow, so…
Gwen: Sounds like a completely normal day. Oh well. I can give you a tour another time. Tomorrow is only my first day, so it's not like anything bad could happen anyways.
Peter: …
Gwen: Wait, shit, I just jinxed it, didn't I? Damn it. I'm gonna go to bed before I say anything else bad.
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Right after getting that last message, I see Gwen's green bubble turning gray, signaling that she has gone offline.
"Diana, keep a close eye on Oscorp Tower and all its surroundings tomorrow. Nothing bad is going to happen, but… wait, did I also just jinx it? Shit, well, you know what to do. Just let me know if something happens."
"Will do," Diana says and goes silent as I throw my phone back into my inventory.
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Note: Wah, the next chapter is the last one in the dungeon, then back to normal stuff.
