Hera was on her own, going to the dungeon. She was yet again going to try to make the Jarnak become friendly to her. She was going alone because everyone was exhausted. Even Pandora was growing tired of that kind of thing. As a matter of fact, the dwarf had chosen not to participate on this particular run. Instead, she would be back in the room trying to upgrade her items.
She was trained a crafter, after all. An explorer with the crafter skill, but still. And there were a few materials that she could use to make her hammer work better. Even more than that, there were a few of the Feywyrm scales that she could use on her relic. She spent a very long time trying to make sure she had the necessary materials to imbue it with her Relic construct and now felt confident she could do so.
Which left Hera to go on her own to the dungeon. She was one of the two people who were actively still trying to get all the items. With the other one being Shane. The two who were the most invested in exploring Deakoshara. Everybody else was just going along with the flow and treating this as just a regular day instead of something they had to do quickly.
But this time, the empress had a different idea. Instead of just trying to be friends with a creature, she would trap one of the Apex beasts and make them attack the Jarnak. Not kill it, of course, but hurt it enough that it would be endangered. Then, Filigree would swoop in with her new ability and heal the creature in order to save its life. It wasn't really a good thing to do, but, the Empress did feel like she was running out of options. And even after discovering they could make this Apex snake grow, they had yet to find the last piece of the poison resistance set. The piece that they were really searching for in hopes of allowing them to explore the poison field in Deakoshara. And they were not the only ones hunting for those items.
Once they had discovered the possibility of making the Jarnak grow, they informed those in the room and the harpies went into a frenzy, trying to figure out all the extra loot they would get from this creature. Unlike the previous version of the set, this one had more applications, especially considering the increase in poison resistance abilities. Which could compound into making it a very powerful poison resistance set. But even they were unable to find the last piece. The one last set item that would make it complete.
The empress took a look around the monsters that she was supposed to fight and decided that the Karin was the easiest one to capture. And also the weakest of the bunch. More specifically, its attacks were more focused on paralyzing or burning the target. And it took a little while for them to properly kill its prey. Meaning that it was likely the one that could hurt the Jarnak the most without killing it.
But unfortunately, that wasn't the case. After knocking the Karin out and placing it nearby the Jarnak, the thunder horse woke up and attacked the snake, frying it on the spot. Hera left and came back, looking for another prey. This time she took the spider that lived in the valley and placed it around the Jarnak's territory.
They had a very intense fight and eventually it became clear the snake was going to lose. Only then Hera stepped in to save it. But the creature refused to let Filigree approach it. Even attacking her to the point where they had to kill the snake before anything else.
They were not entirely sure why that happened and tried again luckily with the same Apex creature, but this time it became clear. Once they were bringing the snake out of the valley, the Jarnak was watching them approach. So it knew that they were the reason for the fight. It was because of them that the creature got that injured. Which made it even less susceptible to being tamed by the Empress.
On the 4th attempt, after knocking the spider out, they went the long way around the island. Until they came to the forest in the mouth of the valley through the opposite side. This allowed the spider to approach the Jarnak territory and fight it without the creature noticing Hera. And when she swooped in to save it, this time it thanked their saviors for the healing. Finally, following along without the need to trap it or capture it somehow.
This worked out even better since Hera was able to make the Jarnak deliver the killing blow to the spider. Having the creature follow them willingly made things much easier, especially considering that she wouldn't need to trap the creature and keep carrying it while caged everywhere. Now it simply accepted the help and went along with what Hera requested.
One by one, she went around the island, killing every single Apex creature she could find. More specifically, letting the Jarnak deal the last hit against every single one of them. Again, there were no versions of the dungeon that required her to fight against all of them, but there was one constant in the shape of the Nactra-Vall.
But in the end, instead of fighting the two creatures in front of the village, Hera opted for chasing after them in their own lair. The reason was quite simple. Even if she was to kill one of those creatures, the other would still be around. The only way to make sure the Jarnak ate them both was to go after them in their natural habitat.
The empress was also unsure if the eggs would count for this particular possibility. And as they approached, the Jarnak seemed to start hesitating as well. To make matters worse, the closer they got to the nest of the Nactra-Vall, the more the Jarnak seemed to be hurting. As if there was something actually damaging it. But Filigree stepped in to help. Her [Balm of Life] skill kept the snake alive and Daskka's purple mist form also protected it from whatever was damaging the creature.
The closer they got to their destination, the stronger that effect was, but the second they entered the domain of the Nactra-Vall, it all stopped. There was one final, and violent attempt from this strange feeling, but it happened only at the threshold of the entrance. The second the Jarnak passed through it, it noticed how the pain stopped and it just rushed inside, leaving some of its scales behind.
It would still take some walking to reach the Final Bosses of the dungeon, giving them enough time to fully heal up the snake. Hera felt really bad for doing all this, but the Jarnak's eyes were filled with gratitude for letting it get this far.
The fight against the dungeon bosses was extremely underwhelming. Hera didn't really have to worry about facing them. She was several levels higher than them, and there was an entire battalion by her side at all times. Not to mention that with Filigree in the mix, anytime the mantises tried to use their surroundings to use it as a weapon, the Weaver would cut off their threads, blocking them from using most of their abilities.
The empress also noticed a strange smirk in the face of her new title blade every time she was stopping the boss from being able to use their weapons. But the feeling that came through their connection was one of pride. The type of pride one would feel for fighting against someone who used the same kind of weapon and being able to perform better than them.
Despite knowing that Filigree was extremely powerful and a great addition to her court, Hera was still getting a feel for her new court member, which not always seemed to act in ways that she expected. Then again, Hera understood that there was a learning process to this kind of thing. No one would know about each other in a day or two. It would take some time.
After beating the Nactra-Vall to an inch of their lives, the group allowed the Jarnak to deal the finishing blow on both creatures. And to their surprise, instead of just killing them as it had done with the previous creatures, the snake actually swallowed them whole. And then it continued doing the same thing with every single egg that was in the area.
It took quite a bit of time for the snake to finish its meal, but after about an hour of constant moving around and eating, it was done. The Jarnak, which was now a creature bigger than Daskka's own silver snake form, the spikes around its neck also had grown quite a lot and after eating the Nactra-Vall, it was much more regal.
In a way, it did remind her of Filigree's new set of horns, which mirrored the crown of a Pharao. But when upon closer inspection, it was more like the natural camouflage of a snake wrapping the sides of its head in a different shape in this case. If the Jarnak moved just right, it could create a face that resembled that of the Feywyrm. It was already intimidating enough for the creature to be this big and this strong. But after eating, everything seemed like it was ready to fight even something bigger and meaner.
Then again, its entire existence was about survival. It saw every single one of the other Apex beasts and realized that it was the weakest of them all. Hera believed that this was why the Jarnak was still trying to use that kind of protection.
The last thing the creature did was look at Hera with a menacing expression. Pulling her weapons, the Empress was about to attack it before it started hacking, almost as if it was going to throw up and a gem fell from its mouth. The Jarnak used its nose to push the gem towards Hera as if it was giving it to her.
Hera frowned and picked up the item, only to be surprised by its attributes.
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Perfected jewel of poison.
Over the eons, one single snake was able to refine the mana of the poison that killed the Feywyrm and create a perfected version of the toxin. By crystallizing it, the offensive capabilities are lost but instead the defensive abilities of the jewel are increased.
This jewel can be inlaid in an accessory or a piece of armor. When doing so, the skills of said equipment will be overwritten by the following:
Passive Skills:
Poison magic
Spells and skills that require the poison elements will have their cost reduced by 25%.
Poison nullification
If the wearer of this item is under the influence of a poison of any kind its duration will be reduced by 50%.
Jeweled Poison Set Effects.
Poison resistance + 20%.
Poison reduction
Reduces the effects of poison on the wearer by 30%.
Poison impermeability
The wearer can temporarily become impermeable to poison. A barrier is created around wearer's body, stopping any poison from touching its skin or entering through the lungs.
This effect does not stop poison that is able to break through the barrier.
Duration 1 hour.
Cooldown 3 hours.
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But despite seeing the set effects. Which she could only do since there were other two pieces in her possession. There was one more notification that had the Empress's undivided attention.
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By eating every other Apex monster of the island, the Feywyrm's final experiment was completed.
The Jarnak is now the ruler of the island.
Dungeon quest rewards not yet claimed.
Dungeon quest rewards altered to:
Full Set of Jeweled Poison
A new dungeon variation has been created.
Island of Decay
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The empress had heard about dungeon variations from Alex and Bonnie. She even looked them up to understand the conditions for their creation, but realized that it was extremely hard to do. After all, the person had to somehow finish the dungeon in a way that was not intended to be finished.
From what she understood, there were only a handful of reports of someone creating a dungeon variation. It was simply too complicated and too impossible to come up with a solution that the system itself had failed to come up with so far.
But she really didn't believe that this was the case here. After all, all she did was heal the damage the Jarnak was taking. She was sure the system would believe that someone was going to try that. It was stupid and brutish, but so were people. There was no reason to believe that no one would consider that kind of thing.
Maybe she could talk to Nana Mittens about this. After all, she wouldn't have a chance to do the first run in the dungeon. According to Alex and Bonnie, they were not able to enter the dungeon once it was created. They had to wait for someone else to clear it first before they were allowed inside. It was very similar to a situation where someone created a dungeon. Like Hera did with the sky ruler and possibly with something else, but she didn't care about going back to the Soldiers of Strength lab and trying to see if there was a dungeon there or not.
One way or another, she had fulfilled her objective. She had gotten not one but two full sets of the Jeweled Poison. Which meant that now they could explore Deakoshara. But, if people were fast enough on clearing this particular dungeon, she might decide to run it before going back to her original goal.