So one thing that was pointed out in the last chapter is the fact that I have not explained how exactly dungeons worked in my setting. I think I had definitely explained a few things at this point in the original version of the story, but probably missed it due to seeming unimportant, I'm honestly not sure. I actually have a another story which was going to be dungeon building and that was going to explain most of it, but i decided to start this chapter off with some hints.
Also this is the first chapter I've properly deviated from the original. There was a whole side story with the Goblins originally, which literally existed because I wanted a Hobgoblin in the setting. Hobgoblins, more specifically DnD inspired Hobgoblins are possibly my favourite fantasy race. I have left this out this time around, purely because it seemed an unnecessary addition.
Anyway, hope you all enjoy regardless!
It was finally time, Samora and Ellephwen could no longer delay Ellena, the little Mushman was finally going to challenge her first dungeon boss. The two women did just as they promised, preparing some health potions and food for her. Samora still protested, but there was no other route left for Ellena to evolve inside the dungeon, she had exhausted every path.
In fact, Ellena had spent the last few days grinding in the dungeon once again and gained a few more levels, bringing her to [lvl 91], but just as she feared it was beginning to damage the dungeon's ecology.
Dungeons have always been a strange existence, they draw Monsters in that make it their home, the Monsters breed and expand and eventually reach a stable level. Once that level is met, many younger Monsters seem compelled to leave the dungeon. Yet even when someone like Ellena came along and spent weeks fighting the beasts inside, the population never dropped too low. The Ex-Human had a better understanding of why that was than most thanks to the old Dwarf she used to know. On top of being a warrior, he was an ex-adventurer and taught her what knowledge he had.
The very dungeon itself collected reserve mana from each Monster that called it home and used them to quite literally generate new Monsters upon their deaths, attempting to maintain the ideal number of each Species. Of course, it only gained a finite amount of mana from each Monster based on their stats, so each generation was a diminishing return. Depleting a floor's mana completely would prevent any more generation and damage the carefully balanced circle of life in each floor.
This is where Ellena’s knowledge fell off, she didn’t know how the dungeon managed this or why. Perhaps it was the subtle will of the Dungeon bosses on each floor or perhaps dungeons were conscious and intelligent. Or maybe even whatever beast brought the dungeon into existence held a level of control over it, all she could do was speculate. The ex-Human also had many questions, such as were the new monsters generated the same as the ones that died, or completely new existences? Also, how exactly did these dungeons just birth new life into the world anyway?
Of course, the little Mushman had asked Ellephwen who seemed to know almost everything about this exact subject, but she also had very little knowledge on this specific topic. Neither Ellephwen or Samora had spent much time Dungeon diving in their long lives as neither needed to. Ellephwen claimed she was involved in many wars and Samora was a renowned healer, besides it was very much more of a Mortal pass time.
All of this was simply to say that Ellena could no longer mindlessly slaughter the beasts inside the first floor. So, it was time to face her first boss instead. Though there was another fear in the back of her mind, she had no idea if the dungeon would try and generate more bosses the same way it did the rest of the Monsters, or if a new Monster would just have to somehow rise up and take over.
So, for once, when she reached the dungeon, Ellena did not activate Guardian. She stayed under the radar as long as possible. Through the winding stone pathways, into the Wolves great hunting ground and down the corridor that was now free of Elder Wolf corpses. There were still two living Elders there, possibly recently generated, but it was far too little to waste one of her Mushroom Shields. The Mushman wanted as much energy and mana as possible going into this particular fight.
She charged the remaining Wolves and the ensuing combat was swift, but deadly. She bounced between the two Wolves, not giving either enough time to truly react, even then, one managed to dig a tooth into her. Fortunately, it was nowhere near enough damage to slow her down. When she finally took the two Elders out, she had been shunted into the next level, so was even more ready for this coming fight.
Ellena took a deep breath, and peaked around the corner of the Matriarch's lair barely hiding a smile. She could not deny her excitement as her eyes spotted their target. This time, she was quite lucky as her foe lay upon his podium rock, looking rather noble actually. If she had a fist it would have been pumping.
Quietly the Mushman summoned her Mushroom Shield and hopped onto it. She had practised a certain move quite a few times after realising its potential after rescuing the three adventurers a few days back.
Then, Ellena simply launched herself towards the Matriarch, head first. The Wolf had little time to react, only noticing the red and white blur as it smacked her in the snout. She yelped as the force threw her into the rocky ceiling, causing a few loose stones to crumble.
Not letting up, the Mushman then launched her shield not far behind her, battering the Wolf further into the ceiling, birthing a burst of dust. Ellena landed on the Matriarch's rocky platform and threw her shield back up towards her foe. The Matriarch opened her pained eyes and growled, digging her rear claws into the rock and jumping at the shield.
They collided in mid-air and a dozen cracks formed across the shield surface, the Wolf herself spat out blood, but managed to force the shield down. Ellena struggled to try and fight back, but she could feel the Matriarch's strength through her shield, it was like trying to fight a cliff wall. The Wolf Matriarch crushed the Mushroom Shield into the rock below. At this point, Ellena could no longer lift the shield at all, the Matriarch was clearly stronger than her, but that just made the challenge she faced all the more exciting. It was not the first time she had a stronger foe.
With a grin, the battle junkie Mushroom rushed in, ramming into the Matriarch and sending her flying off the rock with another bruise and spray of blood. The Wolf quickly recovered, landing on her feet and jumping straight back up at Ellena, who lifted the now free again shield to attempt to block.
The Matriarch ripped through the already damaged shield and lunged for the Mushman. Ellena dodged her jaw narrowly, but took a deep wound from the beast's claws, deep enough that it was her turn to cough up blood.
Both combatants panted, the battle had barely begun but already the both of them had taken decent damage, both dripped blood as the room filled with the stench of iron. Even then, Ellena’s heart wouldn’t stop pounding. She breathed to attempt to regain some composure and her mind cleared just a little, if it weren’t for her skills she’d have gone a little wild, which would probably have gotten her killed.
After the breath respite the Matriarch made the first move, Ellena made no attempts to block this time, throwing her body to the side and generating another shield to catch her. The Matriarch nipped her left leg, but it was nowhere near the damage of her first attack.
Ellena sprang herself off the new shield and flew towards the boss, who turned to face her. The Matriarch opened her mouth ready for Ellena, who did not have a chance to change her target.
With a gulp, Ellena tensed her body up, her mushroom helmet flying straight into the beast's open jaw. They both shot backwards as the Wolf dug her jagged teeth into Ellena’s head, struggling to break through the tough defenses the helmet carried with it. The Mushman winced in pain as the two collided with the far wall.
The Matriarch yelped as well, a sharp jutting rock sticking deep into her back, her jaw loosened and Ellena wriggled free, watching her own health slowly drop. Her foe growled and shook, eyes wide with rage and bloodlust.
Adrenaline flowed as Ellena pulled her shield back to her, blood trickling down her head and over her eyes. She had to finish this soon, she couldn’t let herself lose consciousness or something. So, as the Wolf freed itself, as they fell from the wall, Ellena threw her own body at it.
Now prepared, the Matriarch opened her mouth, ready to catch Ellena in her jaws once more. This time, the Mushman knew that the beast's bite would be too deep, but she had no intention of suffering it.
As the Wolf was distracted by her own attack, Ellena snuck the Mushroom Shield behind the boss, spun it around until its thinnest angle faced her, and pulled it towards her person. Just before teeth met head, the Matriarch's own head was separated from her body, flopping to the floor as the Mushroom Shield shattered not far behind it.
Ellena hit the remaining body, sending it effortlessly away, and slowly flopping to the ground. She herself crash landed, bleeding heavily, but alive. She breathed a sigh of relief and waited for a certain message.
“Overall level has increased from [Level 92] to [Level 100]!”
“Unique skill [{Mushroom Helmet lvl 20}] has increased to [{Mushroom Helmet lvl 21}]!”
“Skill [Lesser Regeneration lvl 9] has increased to [Lesser Regeneration lvl 10]!”
“Skill [Pain Resistance lvl 9] has increased to [Pain Resistance lvl 10]!”
“Skill [Unarmed Combat Journeyman lvl 7] has increased to [Unarmed Combat Journeyman lvl 8]!”
“Skill [Warriors Heart lvl 9] has increased to [Warriors Heart lvl 10]!”
“Skill Warriors Will lvl 6] has increased to [Warriors Will lvl 11]!”
“Skill [Swiftfoot lvl 8] has increased to [Swiftfoot lvl 9]!”
“[Lvl 100] has been reached, Evolution has been triggered!”
“Evolution now available [Mushroom Warrior]!”
“Evolution now available [Oaken Treechild]!”
“Evolution now available [Cission Raptor]!”
“Evolution now available [Lesser Ent]!”
“Evolution now available [Lesser Floskin]!”
“Evolution now available [Lesser Dryad]!”
“Evolution now available [Sollium]!”
“Varient Evolution now available [Mushman, Greater Guardian]!”
“Varient Evolution now available [Mushman/Dryad, Guardian Knight]!”
“Varient Evolution now available [Dryad/Mushman, Virga Minor]!”
…Well that’s a whole lot of information at once. Ellena thought to herself. Apparently killing that Matriarch gave her far more than expected, or perhaps that was just the case when one killed any boss?
First things first, the Mushman Guardian wanted to get home, she wanted to evolve in peace and comfort for once, but before then, she had to heal up a bit. It was a good thing she won the fight when she did, as she did not have time to drink the health potions Samora had kindly given her, now though, before she could be attacked again, she swallowed a few down. They simply appeared in front of her, hovered over her head and poured down.
They did not instantly heal her, perhaps because she spilt a bit, her regeneration did however pick up the pace quite rapidly and she even regained some energy. With that being the case, Ellena rushed home, beyond excited to finally evolve once again.
The evolution was the main draw of that particular fight, but she also gained many levels in many skills, a few of which were even on the verge of evolving. If they reached level 10 and didn’t immediately switch to being (Max) it meant they would evolve when she next leveled them.
Speaking of evolution, Ellena scanned over her choices. It would be another choice that would affect her for a long time to come. Several choices came with the potential for arms and a voice. Dryad and its variant, Treechild, Ent and even Floskin, which was a strange flower like Monster which she had only heard of before. She had also heard they were kind of weak.
There was one she had never heard of, a Sollium. The mystery of what it could be made it quite tempting as a choice, but it could have also been an evolutionary backfall for all she knew.
The two that most stood out to her were the ones that appeared to be a hybrid of two species, Guardian Knight and Verga Minor. Perhaps that was thanks to becoming kin with Ellephwen?
As unfortunate as it was, given how interesting some of the others sounded, she was likely to go for one of these two choices. Variants were rare and often more powerful, she certainly had far more power than a normal Mushman. Guardian Knight appeared to be a variant of a variant, given that it was a Guardian variant, so that one was the one that interested her the most. The main issue was that she still had no idea if it was an armless evolution once again.
…
“You should go for Guardian Knight Ellie,” Samora commented, sipping intently on her tea. She bore a serious expression.
“Samora, you are just saying that as you want her to stay a Mushman.” Sitting opposite her, nursing her own drink was Ellephwen, sitting out of bed for the first time since her battle with Levias.
The Elf stared blankly at the Dryad. “I never denied it. You probably want her to be a Dryad or something.”
Ellephwen chuckled. “I want Ellena to choose whatever she is drawn to, as I’m sure, just as with her last choice, that will be the correct one.”
The two adult women turned to the tiny Mushman, waiting for her answer, even though one of them could not even hear it.
Though her evening began with getting scolded, still being covered in blood and all, the fuss calmed down quick when Ellena explained the situation to Ellephwen. It did not take long for this particular set up to form. For once, Ellena was quite inclined to agree with Samora. The two variants felt the most right to her, but this one, this Guardian Knight especially spoke to her.
Ellena continued to think for a while, then nodded, having chosen her choice. By her side the Dryad smiled. “So you’ve chosen, have you, Ellena?”
I think for now. I’ll remain mostly a Mushman, but surely a little Dryad couldn’t hurt, right? She asked her soon-to-be fellow Dryad.
Ellephwen smiled and patted her kin’s head. “If that is your wish child, I have no objections. Just make sure to eat plenty before you pick.”
The Mushman felt her heartbeat hasten with excitement. She could barely contain herself now, but she would have to eat for now, no doubt having your body instantly change size and form took a significant toll on one's energy.
Still, she had chosen now. A meeting of who she was and who saved her life. She would pick Mushman Guardian Knight. Even without knowing what excitement she had in store, Ellena couldn’t help but smile. The rest of the bosses on the first floor would surely be a piece of moss now.
Yes, big spoiler, but her next evolution has changed somewhat as well! I always regretted how quickly Ellena turned into a Dryad/ Mushman hybrid, so instead I had her turn into a Mushman/Dryad hybrid and yes there is a difference haha. Also, been trying to keep up with editing my chapters a bit more, trying to smooth out paragraphs etc, but they're surely still far from great, but I've had a kind of exhausting few weeks, so hopefully I'll improve at spotting the issues as time goes on. I certainly hope so, I sorely need to improve!