Chapter 452

“You’re a monster.” Rue said as James got to work. “I love it.”

James shot her a grin as he continued down his dicken upgrading path. Just as he’d done back in the day, he was working through the upgrades for his mobs, looking at various skill trees, and trying to work out what best he could do to them. However, the first time around, he’d been new and uncertain, and worried about scaring away adventurers. This time around… he was fully embracing the chaos that was the Random Dungeon. And besides, it wasn’t like these floors were ‘mandatory’. The whole point of them, was to give adventurers new, and unique, challenges.

“You know we’ve always wanted to go down this tree.” James said as he continued applying points to the Dickens. His first order of business, of course, was maxing out Growth Hormone. First, because who didn’t love six foot dickens, but more importantly, because it gave him access to the Demonic Mutation skill. Unlocking that, was what had given him the path for his explosive dicken eggs, as well as the H5 N-fernal 1 debuff.

The third option, which he’d neglected in the past, he now had not only selected, but maxed out, with a whopping skill point, using 9 of his 20 total. Original, the skill had seemed amusing, but underwhelming.

Yakitori– Dickens gain the ability to breathe fire, at a range of 2 yards + lvl, dealing 3 + lvl fire damage.

Upgraded though, it became a whole new beast.

Yakitori (Max)- Dickens gain the ability to shoot a beam of highly intensified, searing flame. This attack has a range of 10 yards + 1 yard per level. This attack does 50 (+lvl) fire damage, per second, ignoring 50% armor. This attack can be channeled by a dicken for 5 seconds, with each second increasing the damage done by 10%, and ignoring an additional 1% of armor, per second.

*Channeling this attack for the whole duration leaves the Dicken overheated, stunning it for 3 seconds, and increasing damage dealt to it by 100%.

All James could think of, as he continued to upgrade the skill, was the looks on player’s faces as the six foot monster let loose a stream of white hot flames their way. And, even better, given the fact the mobs were level 50 in the Augmented floor, it meant the dickens could literally blast their attack 60 yards away, for 100 damage at base. They weren’t painguins, but a small part of him felt like a bit of a dick, giving the dickens such a ranged attack.

But, only partly. Because James immediately jumped into the additional upgrades of the mob, savoring the skill points at his disposal, laughing like a maniacal scientist as he created his new and improved monstrosity.

Born of Flames – A dicken is a creature of fiery resilience. Upon taking damage that would be fatal, the Dicken will burst into flames, damaging enemies within 5 yards of it for 10+lvl fire damage. For 5 seconds after, the Dicken will attempt to regenerate, and will do so, unless its fiery core is destroyed.

James dumped the single point into that instantly, putting him at 10 of his 20 points spent. Apparently, he’d found when he started this upgrading process, the extra skill points and such he’d unlocked via achievements for his regular dungeon, weren’t applied here. If he had to guess, it was to keep a solid baseline for the special mode. Annoying for sure, but honestly, he wasn’t going to complain. Twenty was still more than enough to create the nightmare fuel he intended to.

“What next?” James asked aloud as he skimmed through the skill tree. “Infernal plumage, or-”

“Demonic leap.” Rue cut in, her eyes flashing deviously. “You totally need to do demonic leap.”

James turned his focus to the skill, putting Infernal plumage on the backburner. That particular skill was one that gave dickens increased defense, while also giving them a variation of thorns. That is, each attack they took, would return a small amount back to the attacker, as fire damage. Demonic leap, on the other hand…

Demonic Leap – Dickens have especially sharp claws and know how to use them. Dickens gain the ability to charge their claws with infernal energy. The dicken can jump 1yard + level yards towards its prey, inflicting a wound that pierces armor. This attack does 10+level damage and ignores 10%+ 0.1xlvl armor.

The thought of six foot dickens, leaping at targets 50 yards away, was too good. James grabbed the skill, and maxed it out. Fifteen of twenty skill points spent, oh so well. On top of increasing the damage of the attack from 10+ level, to 50+ level, it came with a whopping new bit of perks.

Demonic Leap (Max) – Infernal energy radiates from a dicken’s claws, seeping into the ground around them. When this skill is activated, emit a burst of demonic energy around the dicken, empowering any dicken within 1+Lvl yards. Empowered dickens will immediately activate demonic leap, attacking the same target as the initial dicken. On impact, demonic energy will ripple outwards, dealing decreasing amounts of damage, based on distance from impact to all non-demonic entities. This damage has a 5% + 0.1xlvl chance of applying infernal bird flu* to players.

Infernal Bird Flu- Decrease players stats by 1%, per 2 seconds, until cleansed.

James looked over the list of skills, his mouth watering over the dickens. As much as he was still eying the infernal plumage, there was something he needed to know. Something he needed to confirm, and he happened to know the one person that could let him know. And, lucky for James, that individual was online. James knew that for a fact. He pulled up his chat interface, and selected Steve, sending a quick message. A moment later, the response came in, along with an unhealthy amount of winky faces, and a rather lengthy bwahahahahaha.

With his idea vindicated, he dumped his remaining stats into Gren-eggs???

Gren-eggs??? (5) - Dickens gain the ability to lay….eggs? Dickens can temporarily take flight and drop explosive eggs on enemies. Dicken eggs do 5 + lvl fire damage in a 2 yard radius. Upgraded versions allow one enhancement level per upgrade.

Upgrade: Eggro (3)- Exploded dicken eggs release a baby dicken chick, which will aggro the nearest adventure, pecking them for 1 point of damage per second for 5 seconds. Upgraded versions increase the amount of dicken chicks hatched per egg.

Upgrade: Infernal Acceleration (1) – Gren-eggs are rapidly accelerated with demonic energy. On impact, deal an additional 10 + lvl damage. IF Dicken Eggro has been selected, Dicken Chicks will hatch with a stack of Infernal Growth, per upgrade amounts. Infernal Growth increases Dicken Chick size, duration, and stats by 10+lvl%

Upgrade: Cluster Cluck Bombs (1): Dickens release a cluster of gren-eggs. Each explosive egg will now launch as 5 eggs. Upgraded versions increase launched eggs by 1.

He let out a content sigh, his eyes drifting to the pop ups trying to get his attention. Already, he’d gained three total achievements. If he had to guess, two of those achievements had to deal with the new skills he’d fully maxed. What the third one was, would remain a mystery. Because now that he’d gotten started on this upgrade train, he wasn’t about to stop. Up next, everyone’s favorite, the Sacrificial Lambs. Already, he could feel his mouth salivating, his hands rubbing together in a devious way. If massive, flame shooting, bomb dropping, fire chickens were any indication of how his floor was going to go, this new and improved, Augmented Floor, was bound to provide laughs, and pain, in full.