Chapter 461

The fourth floor was a drastic change from James’s third floor, and with the delicious taste of apple pie still on his tongue, he’d been loathe to jump into the salty water. That being said, it was a refreshing dip, and he immediately felt better with the swamp gunk off of him. From there, to his delight, he found both he and Rue had ship tokens. After a discussion with the rest of the groups, James and Rue decided to combine their ship tokens into a two person ship, much like what Fel and Alex had done. The only difference being, the actual players had leveled their ship up, giving it all sorts of nifty upgrades, while James and Rue’s little Post Ship was a basic as it came.

Still, leveling their ship up wasn’t a priority this run. There would be plenty of time later for James and Rue to take care of that task. For now, their goal was reaching the fifth-floor safe zone. There were a total of five ships leaving the starting island, ranging from a 1 token sloop, that was Trogdor’s, and a three person Frigate, from a trio that had joined them. It wasn’t anywhere near as impressive as the armada that James had watched go against the E.I.C., and yet, there was a special sort of thrill he felt in his chest as they sailed towards the Pirate Fortress that was the Skull Fort. Whereas he’d definitely captured the creepy, horror vibe of the swamp on his third floor, his fourth floor perfectly elicited the feel of pirate adventure.

Of course, Rue couldn’t resist making snide comments about James and his inability to handle grog the moment they began sailing away. To add insult to injury, Alex, who had gotten his er… brewing skill quite high, promptly created a batch of the potent liquor, to pass around. From the way Alex and Fel drank on their adventures, James was more than a little impressed at their progress. He was pretty sure the two were in a constant state of buzzed, and likely teetered on drunk. He made a mental note to ask if they’d ever actually gotten themselves black out drunk, which would have kicked them out of the game itself while they sobered up. He vaguely remembered Manly the Dwarf mentioning just that, as a reason for why he was so versed in the mythology of the game.

Jovial was still the mood for the group though, and they rode high on their emotions as they moved steadily closer to the pirate fortress. Rue managed to bum a fishing rod off of one of the players who’d joined them, and merrily spent the leisure portion of the sailing trip fishing from the side of their ship. Ifrit, on the other hand, followed along slowly behind the ship, grumbling over and over again at the order’s he’d been given. Skeletal mobs were fair game, but he’d been strictly ordered not to kill off the sharkies. They’d already dealt with one special type of boss, the last thing they needed, was for the Megalodonie to spawn. There was no way in hell their motley crew could handle that monstrosity. And James was not about to risk a party wipe due to his bloodthirsty summon chasing its needed kills to evolve. There’d bee plenty of time for mass farm animal murder for that purpose later.

All in all, James’s experiences on the fourth floor were enjoyable, yet short. Before he knew it, they were approaching the skull fortress, which was even more impressive, somehow, than he’d remembered it. Even though he’d viewed it time and time again while working on it, approaching it now, as an adventurer, brought with it a new range of emotions. Part of it was likely purely due to pride. The other part, he quickly realized, was due to the adrenaline rush that came with approaching the fortress.

After all, when James was the Dungeon Core, the Skull Fortress, armed to the teeth with skeletal pirates, cannons, traps, and the likes, didn’t shoot at him. When he was a dungeon core, this was a perfectly safe place. Now though, as adventurers, he’d been forced to focus his attention on maneuvering the ship to dodge the incoming cannon balls, as well as the range of pistol and rifle shots blasting at them from the inhabitants of the fort. Especially considering these mobs were level 60, and James had no doubt he and Rue’s ship wouldn’t be able to handle it. And after Grandma Jenkins, and Patches, James and Rue were so close to level 50, he could taste it. Not that there was ever a good time to wipe, but now, with their goal so close, it would be catastrophic.

Luckily, there were multiple ships for the mobs to shoot at, and they weren’t smart enough, nor organized enough, to try and focus their fire on the weaker members of the 10-man party. Instead they simply fired off shot after shot at whatever target they could find, and there were many for them to choose from. Even better, Fel and Alex, who continued to show their expertise and teamwork, raced ahead of the fleet, their upgraded ship built for speed and efficiency. The moment they made landfall on the island, the cannon fire slowed, and James and the others were able to navigate more safely.

By the time James and Rue reached a safe space to doc their ship, the fort was practically cleared out of enemy mobs. Alex and Fel had wasted no time slaying everything that stood in their way, and their combined mob armies swept through the fortress with ease. Apparently, the key to taking the fort, was to have your own army to siege it with. Of course, their blatant ‘skelicide’ of all the creatures on the fort, drew more than a few grumbles from Ifrit... At least, until Rue shot him a look, and the haughty Djinn quickly silenced his complaints.

Just before they regrouped, James saw his experience tick up, and he hit level 50. Immediately he simply continued down his Djinn path, wanting more than anything to keep upgrading his Seal of Solomon skill, knowing full well all he could do to better empower Ifrit, the better. Rue, as well, continued down her Cleric of the Blood path, gaining at level 50 a powerful new mass cleanse skill, as well as a strange spell that took 10 percent of a players hp initially, to create a Heal Over Time effect that would heal them for 30percent of their max HP over 10 seconds. Risky, for sure, but effective if played properly.

“Congrats on the levels.” Fel said with a grin as they all regrouped near the shimmering portal to the fifth floor. She and Alex looked right proper as pirates, down to the bottle of grog they were passing back and forth. The fourth floor, after all, was their main farming ground at the moment. They weren’t quite strong enough to risk farming on the fifth floor, and the third floor mobs, were just too low level to be effective. Meaning, Fel and Alex had acquired more than enough loot from the fourth-floor mobs to deck themselves out in appropriate attire.

“Thanks for the carry.” James said with a grin. “Nothing like an experience train.”

“Loot trains are better.” Rue said with a huff. A few of the other party members nodded and grumbled in agreement. James noticed that he and Rue weren’t the only ones who’d leveled, and he figured the experience share from being in a party had helped them out. All the more reason to find some way for James to reward Alex and Fel for the help, when this was all over.

“Are we ready to go to the fifth floor?” Trogdor asked, drawing everyone’s attention to the tank. He’d hit level 60 and was no longer classified as a Goth King. Instead, he’d become a Goth Legend, and his very form seemed to radiate a passive aura that buffed players around him slightly. For someone who seemed to do a lot of solo play, Trogdor sure was building himself up to be invaluable to any party that took him on. Sadly, James had a feeling the party Trogdor truly wanted to be a permanent member of, Alex and Fel’s, wouldn’t have him. Those two, after all, were perfectly content taking on the dungeon as just the two of them. And, given what James knew of their real world situation, they weren’t going to give up their freedom here, to have Trogdor tag along.

“That depends.” Alex said as he glanced at Rue and James. “Do you guys have mounts?”

James pulled up his inventory, doing a quick double check, before he shook his head. He’d gotten a few pets to drop, but so far, no mounts.

“I do.” Rue said cheerfully beside him. “One of the Snuggle Woofs dropped a mount for me.”

“Of course it did.” James grumbled. How she got so lucky, he really wanted to know. Hell, he’d accuse her of cheating if he could, but he knew not even Rue could game the system to that degree.

“Do you mind a dicken?” Alex asked James. “I had one drop, and was just planning on selling it on the auction board when we got back. You’re welcome to it.” A trade prompt appeared in James’s menu, and he accepted instantly. Without a moment of pause, he dumped all the gold he’d gotten so far on the run into the trade window, and hit accept. Alex looked at him, mouth wide, then closed it. No one else could see what had just happened, and James didn’t want it publicized.

“Thanks.” James said a moment later, as he selected the mount option, preparing it for summon at a moments notice. He was more than a little excited to finally see what dicken riding was all about.

“No problem.” Alex responded, though James could tell he definitely wanted to mention the gold. “Once we get through the portal, it’s going to be a race to town. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you two what types of mobs are there, nor what they’re capable of. Trogdor’s gonna burn his cooldown to help boost survivability, and we’ll use our mobs to try and draw the fire as well. Whatever you do, don’t stop moving till you reach the safe zone. If you die,” he shrugged, looking at the entire group with serious eyes, “we aren’t stopping to get you.”