Chapter 25- Aerial Bombardment

Eighty-five bullywugs were living in this particular waterfall. Four large groups, seven groups of two, and the rest were stragglers. Stragglers would be Ivar and his modified crossbow's prey. My job was the groups so after a calming sigh I raised my gauntlet-clad arm

'Fireball' I aimed at the largest group and moved my arm a few inches to the right. 'Fireball' and then the next. Soon there were four fireballs headed toward the base of the waterfall. As the explosions and bouts of steam rose into the air, I calmly pulled out my swift bow and aimed at the smaller groups. A mechanical click was heard next to me as Ivar decided to join in.

Thirty-seven bipedal frogs died in our initial assault, now it was time for our more meticulous and precise secondary attack.

'Thirty eight' I calmly counted as I let the arrow fly, piercing through the side of a bullywugs head. Its partner croaked in alarm as it began looking for the perpetrator. Just as it gave up looking around the lake and chose to look up a lightning-enhanced arrow pierced his chest.

A group fell, and then another before a minute had passed Ivar began helping with the smaller groups as he had expertly handled the seven stragglers. They might have tried their psychic croaks but it would've been in vain. We weren't novices nor prey, to them we were now hunters.

In four minutes our aerial bombardment completely obliterated a force of eighty-five bullywugs.

"Wow….." I said as I looked at the rather morid scene we had created. Burned dismembered body parts lay strewn around intact corpses. Their purple-colored blood had begun to dye the lake but as their bodies began getting carried by the current so did the colored water.

"I'd say we could do the same to a force twice maybe even thrice as large. Given we have the same preparations and advantages." Ivar said as he holstered his crossbow.

I was slightly shocked by his estimation but then I thought about it, despite my mana pool being almost half I did have a regen. In one minute I could recharge around ten percent of my mana, so in theory, I could send ten fireballs all at once then every minute I could fire another.

In between fireballs Ivar and I would continue mowing down their forces with our lightning-enchanted arrows. After putting all of that into perspective, well it didn't seem as outlandish to think we could take on a force of two hundred and forty at once.

"Wonder if we'll get any loot for this one?" I asked Ivar as I started climbing down the crest of the waterfall.

The thought of loot caused Ivar to abandon his strategizing and he soon just jumped down the waterfall, which looked rather dangerous but I guess greed made people do crazy things.

As I safely got down to the base of the waterfall I noticed Ivar at the front of the waterfall waiting for me. I smiled slightly at the gesture as we both cut through the powerful stream into a rather spacious cave. Luckily there was no need for a makeshift torch as the water reflected a decent amount of moonlight.

Not to mention the fact that our reason for coming in here was very reflective. A small iron chest sat in the center of the cave. So did that mean there would be better rewards than in the wooden chests we found before? 

So far we've raided fourteen waterfalls and in the process, we've found three wooden chests and now one iron chest. My gamer senses went off as there was a real looting system in this tower. What was odd was that it always gave us gold coins and I highly doubted there were shops here. So what was the point?

Now the tools were going to prove useful, Ivar used the whetstone after every battle and I planned to use the carving knife to be more meticulous in my wooden crafting.

I almost wanted to clap as a mechanical click echoed through the cave, followed by a crackle of electricity as the lightning-enchanted bolt slammed into the iron chest. Impressively piercing through it and exiting out the back. No mimic this time it seemed and hopefully not ever.

"Go ahead Ace" Ivar said which caused me to chuckle at how sad he sounded, it was my turn after all. Still, I was extremely curious about what would be in an iron chest.

I kicked open the lid and waited a moment. I walked forward and crouched slightly to check our spoils.

"Finally!" I said with excitement as I pulled out an odd cone-shaped device, covered in transparent runes.

"Hell is that?" Ivar asked as I bet the only thing he could deduce was the ethereal green glow.

"You didn't have these in your time?" I asked as it wasn't like I even knew when these were invented, my knowledge ended at the fact pirates used them. 

"No? I don't believe so. But I wasn't much of a sailor, is that some kind of sea fairing tool?" Ivar said as I put the spyglass to my eye, sadly all I could see was blackness as we were in cave.

"Yeah, it's called a spyglass. Let's you see further normally, but it's enchanted so it could do anything" I said with a shrug as I put it in my arcane bag that sat on my left hip. There were ten gold coins that I had Ivar place in his money pouch and that was it from an iron chest.

After three days of constant fighting and traveling this slightly damp cave looked especially comfortable. After a few minutes of debate, we agreed it was time for a rest, plus it was about time to level up and I was itching to learn the name of the black spyglass.

A few arrows turned kindling and we had a small fire between us.

'Enough essence to level up twice….. Agility it is' I decided after a few moments of debate, this would probably be the last time for a while I leveled up my agility. My dexterity and endurance just took more precedence at the moment.

 -

{Essence: 8,000}

Lvl:91-93

Name: Ace Lothbrook

Mana: 500/500

Class: N/A

Rank: Human

Strength:10

Agility:22-24

Endurance:34

Dexterity:30

Intelligence:50

Faith:9

[Statistical Upgrade Cost: 81,000]

-

"Ivar what's your level?" I asked with anticipation.

"Ninety-three," He said to which I fist-bumped into the air.

"Finally caught up" I said with excitement, Ivar looked over at me and sighed at my apparent foolishness. He motioned me over to look over his stat screen, maybe to offer my opinion or just to show off his muscle head build.

-

{Essence: 69,000}

Lvl:93

Name: Ivar Ragnnarson

Mana: 50/50

Class: N/A

Rank: Human

Strength:70{77}

Agility:8

Endurance:59{65}

Dexterity:10

Intelligence:5

Faith:5

[Statistical Upgrade Cost: 81,000]

-

"Pretty damn awesome, though you might want to invest in some agility" I advised. "But trading for the pauldron was a good move on your part, the ten percent boosts to both strength and endurance work well for you. In reality, you have the stats of a level one hundred and six. Still, with your low-speed stat, it'll get harder to use that strength against fast or small enemies. But it's also not wrong to specialize if that's your choice. In some cases it's better to rely on your teammates to take care of quick enemies while you take out the big guys" I finished my spew as Ivar looked at me with a slightly pained expression.

"Sorry, nerded out there for a second" I said embarrassedly rubbing the back of my head.

"Don't worry about it Ace" Ivar said with a chuckle as he smacked my back, I almost face-planted from the force as Ivar began to laugh harder.

"Damn meatheads" I lamented as I shook the wrist I used to catch myself.

"Thanks though, I get the gist. But with everything in this tower, surely there will be something like my pauldron to help me speed up" Ivar said which caused to me stop and contemplate. It seemed he already had a plan to fix his mobility issues.

"Yes that would be perfect for you, but you'd have to be pretty lucky to get a speed-boosting item before it becomes a problem for you. I'd say your battle experience and skill are covering you now but how long would that be enough." I still advised to which Ivar simply nodded.