The Dragon's Wrath: Ashes of the Fallen Read Online Free PDF Page B

about, was the mage's spell repertoire. He only used [Frost Bolt] and nothing else, which I found somewhat strange.
    "Just out of curiosity here," I started to ask as we moved between trash groups. "Is frost bolt your main damage spell? I haven't seen you use anything else."
    "Yeah sadly, at the moment it's my only reliable, chainable spell," he replied with a shrug. "It's our first spell, second is flash frost but that's just a crowd control shackle with a short duration, not at all useful here. Third spell is ice shard which is just a weak instant cast ability to use while on the move… I'm pretty much a one-trick pony at this stage of the game."
    Ah, I felt a little bad for him but, oh well.
    At least he had options I suppose, even if they weren't good ones.
    I was sure they would play some role later down the road, spell kits were usually meant to have some synergistic approach that might not be readily apparent so early in the game. I imagined his low-mana cost spells with built-in slows had some theme in mind. On the other hand, my high-mana cost, high-damage lightning spells with a stun were damn near perfect for Player versus Player scenarios, and I was kind of excited at what I could do with some of the future spells.
    Having a Wondrous Legendary Artifact certainly made things more appealing. 
    Thirty some minutes after we had started clearing the third floor, we had arrived at the mini-boss in all of its miniature glory. Along the way, we actually had a rare find off one of the [Outcast Goblins] when it dropped a [Rusty Iron Xiphos].
    The sword was basically the Greek version of what became the Roman Gladius, and was a poor quality but common grade weapon. It was actually fairly good for the level and worth at least a hundred and twenty copper.
    The dwarf took that up pretty quick though, and no one really complained.
    Taking a look at the boss, I found myself pleasantly surprised as a smile crept up my face. There was a level 42 [Goblin Guard] which was expected, but there were also three [Goblins] and one [Outcast Goblin Priest]… who just so happened to have a very peculiar weapon on hand.
    I wasn't really sure what weapon a priest should be equipped with, but I usually imagined a mace or staff. Curiously this goblin priest had a hand-axe, one that looked awfully interesting. Seeing as I had recently lost my axe in the last fight, my replacement weapon was staring right at me, teasing and tempting me to go and grab it from the clutches of the soon-to-be dead goblin.
    Even so, I didn't have a current melee weapon outside of my dagger that doubled as my skinning knife. It really wasn't that great for combat… assassinations and last line of defense sure, but not an offensive weapon in the least. I mean, at least not for me seeing as I had no skill proficiency with daggers or knives in general.
    "We good to give it a go?" asked the dwarf with little emotion showing.
    "I don't have a melee weapon, so it might be risky," I replied cautiously.
    To my surprise the dwarf disagreed with me completely.
    He looked down at his gear before stating his position, "I improved my armor considerably from that last boss and that Rusty Iron Xiphos is an upgrade as well. I think, if ye can cc that healer and kill them in order, I think, I can hold out."
    Well, I was interested.
    It's hard to turn down loot and experience when it stares you in the face.
    I was a little regretful for not turning in the second quest and picking up the third, but it wasn't like I had a chance to do so, seeing as we never left the dungeon. Eh, it didn't really matter anyways, if you can do it once, you can do it again.
    "I'm in, I think we can blow the priest up before it gets a chance to heal, long as you can tank the guard and two goblins for a bit," I said while thinking over the best strategy. "Actually, I think we should focus one of the normal goblins first, then swap to the priest second, I'll cc it before it can cast anything."
    The two of us