Draconic Karma Dungeon

Chapter 81: Can't Hide Behind Ash and Smoke

One thing which might turn the fight in my favor, which hadn't been there for my unicorn blessing, were my Totem traps.

These traps were debuff traps. In a 10 meters radius around the Totem one Ability Score would be temporarily suppressed a certain amount.

That is, if the trap was activated by having a person with 25% karma or less nearby.

Which Ability Score depended on the type of Totem with the animal on the Totem representing a lack of that Ability Score. Sloths were known for being slow, so the sloth Totem suppressed people's Dexterity. Chickens weren't the most aware of creatures. The feathered serpents had a Skill to temporarily make you dumb. Jellyfish lacked both external and internal skeleton and could thus easily be ripped apart. The blobfish looked ugly when forced outside its natural deep sea habitat. Earthworms were weak.

… Though I'm not sure how obvious it was that the Totem was of an earthworm as the animal on each Totem had roughly the same size.

… And as the chicken on the Awareness Totem was only double the size of a normal chicken, the wooden earthworm was naturally way too big to actually look like a tiny earthworm.

How much each Totem suppressed their respective Ability Score depended entirely on the amount of mana I had originally paid for it, but the general premise was 'half the Ability Score, but at most' and then a number depending on the price of the trap.

However, the price of a Totem didn't only depend on how strong I made it but also on how many Totems were already in the room. A Totem with a maximum suppressing of -8 cost 100 mana, if it was the first in a room. But if it was the second it cost 150 mana. The third: 500 mana. The fourth: 1,500 mana. Then 4,500 mana.

And each type of Totem couldn't stack with itself, so I couldn't simply surround people with Toughness Totems to reduce someone's Toughness to ridiculous decrees before attacking with my creatures.

So, having more than one or two Totems in a room was rarely worth it. Especially since Totem traps had no ability to kill on their own, which is usually the point with traps.

But this was my second Boss Room and I had felt like it could use a little extra. So, it had gotten a whole 5 Totems, each with the ability to suppress a Score by half up to the maximum of 20 points.

It had naturally been quite expensive and maybe it would have been better to do it with less Totems. I hadn't included the blobfish Totem in the Boss Room as I doubted people would be using a whole lot of Charisma based Skills in there.

The other 5 Ability Scores?

Dexterity, Toughness, and Awareness would most certainly be used to run around, dodge attacks, survive the attacks which couldn't be dodged, have enough stamina to keep fighting, and to keep an eye on the entire battlefield. There were multiple Dungeon creatures in there, after all, that one needed to keep an eye on.

Strength VS Intelligence was here a question of whether the intruder was a spellcaster or more physically focused. Which was not only something I couldn't know beforehand, but it was quite likely they wouldn't be alone.

So, I had decided to splurge for all 5 Totems.

The 6th trap in the room was a Fata Morgana, making it appear as if there were two Bosses. The actual Boss had even been instructed to cloak itself in ashes and flying rocks once in a while and to some of those times swap places with the Fata Morgana. This way, the intruder had to keep figuring out which one was the real one - if and when they realized one was fake - instead of it being a one and done deal.

I was pretty satisfied with my 2nd Boss Room, and I honestly thought it could delay the Light Hunter long enough for the Brainwash to disappear. But I had thought highly of my unicorn blessing as well and she had dealt with them so quickly!

Once she had been de-stoned, that is.

Maybe I get lucky and she'll cast a spell again, which ends up being Wonky? It's only a 10% chance if she even uses a spell and I can't change that number again today.

And as luck would have it - or rather misfortune on the side of the elf - she attempted to cast a spell again only for her body to get covered in a sticky substance. It only distracted her a couple of seconds before she decided to simply cast the spell again, blinding my creatures.

But while the thick liquid failed to truly distract the Light Hunter, it instead succeeded in foiling her attacks. As her glove-covered hands were now covered in the sticky substance, it made it difficult for her to let go of the arrow after she had aimed it at the unicorn. And once she had let it fly, it ended up hitting the mouth rather than the eye of the disoriented, yet still charging unicorn due to the added weight of the sticky goop now on the arrow.

The second arrow hit where the first hadn't, killing it instantly like she had its kin two rooms beforehand. The unicorn had been right in front of her at that point, so it wasn't really a surprise that she had hit despite the goop.

As the unicorn went down and dispersed into mana particles and loot, the bā zú lung dragon succeeded in cursing the elf with minor bad luck despite its blinded state.

Which was something I hadn't thought of before: Where a unicorn had to know an attack is coming, where it is coming from, and how fast it's coming - something it achieved through sight - to be able to shield itself through magic, a bā zú lung dragon cursed and blessed luck based on and aimed at an individual's Karma Aura - which didn't depend on sight.

Well… Not the kind of sight one needed functioning eyes to see with at least. The information translated into shades in the grayscale around the sight of each person, but in actuality it was two different senses.

And with misfortune now in more effect than before, the Light Hunter had a slightly harder time hitting exactly where she aimed.

That being said, she was still good enough at archery to hit every shot, even if she didn't hit whatever vulnerable spot she was aiming at.

And despite being powered by the deaths of several hundreds of 'Heroes', the kirin assistant only survived three of the elf's Skill-powered arrows.

8 minutes had passed and only the Boss was left.

At least her spell didn't have enough power behind it to affect and blind the Boss. Likely due to the feathered serpent Totem messing with her Intelligence mixed with it being further away from her than the assistants.

I don't think she has even noticed the suppression of her Dexterity and Awareness yet despite needing those for her archery. Probably has more than enough for creatures of this low a level compared to hers.

With the three assistants down there was only the Boss left, yes. But their sacrifice hadn't been completely in vain. The Boss - and the Fata Morgana trap - was relatively slow moving. But with the Light Hunter distracted, it now had ample time and opportunity to strike. It's Fata Morgana doppelgänger striking with it from the opposite side.

That being said… Even with 20 less Awareness the elf was still able to detect the 'double' bite attack from behind and jump forward into the now vacant space where the defeated kirin had just been.

But that was okay. The attack had brought the head of the volcanic dragon right next to the intruder, pelting her with scalding hot smoke, ash, and flying volcanic rocks originating from the dragon's breath and nostrils.

It wasn't even a 'breath attack' like a traditional fire breath would have been. The heated smoke, ash, and rocks were simply a part of its exhale.

With her Toughness lowered from the jellyfish Totem, these flying rocks, small as they were, were enough to make her cry out in short bursts of pain. But more importantly, the smoke and ash had caused her to start coughing even with her mouth behind a mask.

Said mask might be protecting her from some of it, but it was made to hide her face, not filter the air for her.

And naturally, it's difficult to aim an arrow while coughing.

Something she clearly realized as well as her next course of action was to create distance between herself and my Boss, hoping to find an area with cleaner air.

This was when she realized she was trapped in the Boss Room. The way back had been blocked by the slow moving Magma Flow trap, which couldn't leave the previous room and had instead grown upwards, while the way forward was blocked by the dragon's tail made of lava. Something I had naturally ordered it to do to keep the way to my Core barricaded for as long as possible.

Still, the Light Hunter was able to find a corner to take a couple of clean breaths in, which allowed her to begin a game of keep away. Shot a couple of arrows till the Boss and Fata Morgana came too close and the air became hard to breathe in, then she would use her superior speed to dash to another corner before repeating it.

My young karmic elemental dragon of the Fire and Gravity elements might be a slow moving dragon, but it had Strength and Toughness where it lacked in Dexterity. And with both the 'Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves' Rule increasing Toughness ridiculously at this point and the 'Boss' Achievement doubling its every Ability Score, her arrows really couldn't do massive amounts of damage to it.

And of course the presence of the Fata Morgana meant she wasn't even aiming at the real one half of the time. And after she realized one of them was fake she would still be tricked by it, as the real one would continue to occasionally cover the two of them temporarily in smoke and flying ash before potentially switching places.

… Huh?!

That plan had worked exactly twice after she realized only one of them was real. Then she suddenly stopped aiming for the Fata Morgana at all. Not a single shot was wasted by shooting the wrong one anymore.

What?!

First the unicorns, then Hell's Judgement, and now this! Not to mention how her high level let her breeze through everything else!

How is this possible?! Was she specifically created to counter my every move?!

If I had still had a throat I would have gulped nervously and perhaps even started sweating.

There might only be 12 minutes left on the clock, but it was looking more and more like that wouldn't be soon enough.

Granted. I wouldn't die as she would take my Fake Core thinking it was the real one. But the Tribe demanded they stand between it and the impending 8th tier, defending me to their last breath.

And last breath it would be. They stood no chance before her.

And once the trickery was realized, she would simply come back with reinforcements. And there was no guarantee I would be prepared to defend myself against that…

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The moment Talindra Delonix-Regia realized one of the Bosses were actually just an illusion, she switched from her normal light based vision to the Heat Vision Skill she had gotten from the System when she first got her 8th tier Class.

And naturally, the illusion had no heat signature.

Having to only deal with one Boss meant the Crown Princess felt much more comfortable using her remaining mana to place her strongest Skills on her most Enchanted arrows.

While clearly Tough for its level, there was no way the dragon could last long with that kind of power attacking it!