Dungeon of Chance: Even Odds: A Dungeon Core Novel (Serious Probabilities Book 1) Jonathan Brooks (book recommendations txt) 📖

hallway, Pascale in the lead this time.  It didn’t take long before he found an identical stone to the first in the middle of the passageway, and when he pointed it out to Jeska and the others it was extremely obvious; she had to admit to herself that she probably would’ve missed it the first time, however.

When they arrived at the entrance further unscathed, they stopped before they ever entered the room.  There were…dozens of monsters around the room, some she had never seen before nor could even identify, but that wasn’t the major reason they stopped.  No, that had to do with the massive 5-Star Colossal Serpent taking up what felt like a third of the room by itself, and it stared in their direction as if daring them to walk inside.  There were even things behind its gigantic bulk that she couldn’t even make out, but all of it was frightening.

“Okay, I think we chose wrong.  Who wants to bet that #3 was the hardest of the bunch, and #1 is the easiest?” Arcen said.  No one took him up on that bet.

They backtracked to the entrance, picked up an annoyed Rosara as they waited the requisite time for the dungeon to be ready for them again, and then made their way through the first 3 rooms again.  This time it was even easier, mainly because they knew what to expect, and the general placement of the monsters was basically the same.  Even though they couldn’t see the monsters, they were able to take them out, with some additional help from Pascale.  There’s that saying that you might know something well enough to “do it with your eyes closed”; I think that sums up the situation quite well.

Regardless, it only took them another 20 minutes to find their way into hallway #1.  Pascale was looking out for traps, but he thankfully didn’t find any.  When they got to the entrance of the room, they were greeted with a space filled with stalactites and stalagmites coming off the floor and ceiling.

“Are those Bats?” Rosara asked, though everyone could see that they were.  “This should be much easier than the other room you told me about.”

And so it was – though not quite as easy as they first expected.  There were a total of 10 Bats of different kinds inside, though thankfully there were no more Ice Bats – she’d had enough of them. In addition, there were also 10 Rats down among the stalagmites on the floor.  Being assaulted by 20 monsters in the same room was overwhelming, and they nearly lost Kelty when she was attacked by 2 Bats and 2 Rats at the same time. Thankfully, Pascale was there to help fend them off, so that she could drink a Minor Health Potion and heal herself while her healing Skill was on cooldown.

But they did it.  On their first try.

“Look at this!” Jeska exclaimed.  She was helping to open up the veritable treasure trove of Drop Chests after the intense fight, and something dropped that she wasn’t expecting.

Drop Chest

Contents:

1X Mage Class Orb Tier 2 (BOA)

In just one short day, they had gone from not being able to find a single Mage Class Orb Tier 1, to finding 3 of them earlier – and now this!  It was their first Class Orb Tier 2, which meant – from what they had learned previously – that she was only 1 more Orb away from gaining what she needed to increase her Tier.  Things were certainly looking up for her and the rest of the group, especially now that they had access to…room #1?  She wasn’t sure how to designate it, but they had gained more Drop Chests in this room than the previous 3 rooms combined.

“Shall we see what’s inside hallway #2?” Arcen asked.  Riding on the high of being able to defeat #1 without anyone dying, they marched out and quickly found the hallway marked with 2 glowing squares.

“We’ve got this – nothing can stop us now,” Pascale said as he led the way.  His sentiments were echoed by the others, and even Jeska was looking forward to testing themselves against another room.  I hope it’s a challenge this time.

Chapter 30

Okay, that was a bit more of a challenge than I was hoping for. 

To say they were slaughtered would be putting it mildly.  As soon as they looked inside, they knew it was going to be a much tougher room than the last, but they still had hope.  There were some slimy-looking globs of goop called “Slimes” waiting for them in front of what appeared to be a small pool of lava that was blocking them from moving further into the room.  Past the lava was an assortment of monsters – most new to Jeksa, though there were some she was familiar with – that looked ready for them to step inside.

Aside from there being a 3-Star Nether Mage Slime in the center, the most dangerous part of the monsters on the far end of the lava pool were their Attack Types according to the information floating above them: Ranged and Magical.  As their group’s only real “ranged” option via her Ice Shards and even her Dazzle Skill, it was going to be up to Jeska to take them out.

“Okay, Arcen will guard against these Slimes while Pascale and Kelty take them out one by one.  Rosara, I need you to use your sexy song—”

“It’s called ‘Captivating Melody’,” Rosara interrupted.  Jeska already knew that, but it was more fun to call it a sexy song.  Like her sexy dance, only audible.

“—on that Nether Mage Slime in the middle, because it will likely be the most dangerous,” Jeska went on despite the interruption.  “I’ll start to take out the other monsters one-by-one, and then we’ll just have to work together to finish off the