*Ping* The Second Wave Begins in One Minute

  Shen, Marco, and Ben all do final checks of equipment and Mana before getting into position. Shen in the front, [Earthen Armor] growing back over his head and his greathammer appearing once more, ready to break some monsters. A couple of flashes of [Light] from Ben and his shield surround the party and prepared to deflect damage.

  Marco begins to cast [Salt Bolt] as usual, letting them hover around his body. Soon a dozen projectiles are ready to be launched into the new monsters that appear.

  *Ping* The Second Wave Begins

  Tree Ents Slain (0/21)

  “Tree Ents? This might be a problem if they are the hulking brutes like stories from back home.” Marco thinks, scanning the clearing and the surrounding forest for any animate trees.

  A small tree, truck about the same thickness as both of Marco’s arm put together, steps out of the shade of a larger tree and begins to shuffle its way toward the party on its roots. Several more step out of the shadows made by the larger and more grown trees; they all slowly lumber toward Shen.

  Marco once again launches the opening salvo with devastating results. Several of the Tree Ents now laying in pieces, scattered by others slowly lumbering toward the group.

  *Ping* Tree Ents Slain (7/21)

  He finishes his opening move with his first [Saltstrike], directed toward a grouped-up trio of Ents, turning them into chunks of orange hued bark and blade shaped leaves.

  *Ping* Tree Ents Slain (10/21)

  “The new spell has got some power, damn. What is that smell though, so familiar?” Marco thinks, compressing the cloud of salt particles into a pair of bolts once again.

  Shen splits an Ent in half, the ten foot tree falling into uneven halves onto the forest floor. Ben joins combat with a [Focused Beam], the laser slamming to the middle of a trunk, rending it in half with the cut pieces smoking slightly.

  Marco continues to sniff, smelling something familiar but unable to place it in the midst of combat. He casts [Flash Cure] on an Ent with little noticeable damage, a few leaves browning and falling off and slowly drifting to the ground.

  Shen continues to crack and split trunks with ease, making Marco uncomfortable. “This seems too easy for a second round.” He thinks, immediately jinxing himself.

  *Ping* Tree Ent, Ironwood Variant

  The new monster is much faster than its normal compatriots, rushing Shen before Marco can send bolts its way, knocking the tank back several steps before his greathammer is deflected off with a clang.

  “That’s not good!” Marco starts forming a [Saltstrike], holding it back and yelling at his teammates, “[Saltstrike] incoming! Get out of the way!”

  Shen jumps backward with impressive strength, clearing ten feet of distance with the single jump. Ben is far enough away but renews his [Shield of Hardlight] on Shen, the Ironwood variant Ent having shattered it.

  The explosive crystal growth tears the monster to shreds, chunks of slightly shiny bark and wood scattering through the clearing.

  *Ping* Tree Ents Slain (19/21)

  “Two more incoming from the left and right! The right one looks a little strange though!” Ben calls, a beam flashing out to meet the left monster only smoke and a light burn left behind on the large monster. A stream of [Salt Bolts] tear a sizeable chunk from the monster but it still lumbers toward them. Repeated clanging noises make the clearing sound like a smithy, Shen’s repeated strikes on the other Ironwood Ent, ineffective but the strikes keep the monster’s attention.

  Marco tries to cast [Flash Cure] this time focusing on the internals of the tree monster, the monster creaking as a result, the slightly shiny bark flaking off and crumbling to dust on the ground. The monster, slightly slowed by his spell finally falls to a well-placed bolt, breaking the monster in half.

  Marco turns, just in time to see the Ironwood Ent shatter [Shield of Hardlight] and take a root strike to the midsection, flying across the clearing. Ben immediately runs toward the downed tank, hands glowing with [Light].

  [Saltstrike] after [Saltstrike] flow from Marco’s hand, the sharp spines doing damage to the monster but crystalline growth is having trouble penetrating the Ironwood bark. “Why is this one so much tougher than the last two?”

  He watches as a final [Saltstrike] tears the monster in half, the upper half of the trunk still held aloft by the giant crystal.

  “Is he okay Ben?” Marco calls, moving toward the pair now that they have defeated all of the monsters.

  “Yes! His armor blocked most of the damage, just a bruised rib, [Renew] took care of it!” Ben says, gesturing to Shen who has started his Mana regeneration meditation.

  *Ping* Tree Ents Slain (21/21)

  “What was up with that last Ent? It was so much stronger.” Marco questions, a similar notification to earlier appearing once again. The new notification immediately answering his question.

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  *Ping* Congratulations, The Second Wave of the Root of the Forest Dungeon has been cleared

  Bonus Reward: For Slaying the Steelbark Hickory Variant, You Receive:

  Mana Replenishment

  All of the party members sigh in relief, all of their Mana returning thanks to the System, Shen returns to his feet beginning to stretch and make sure none of his injuries were bothering him anymore.

  *Ping* The Third Wave will begin in Twenty Minutes

  “We should except a Peak Silver boss variant for the final round. Steelbark Hickory is a high Silver material, the ents made of the wood are similar. Paired with the fact that we got through the first two rounds without issue we can assume that this dungeon is backloaded with strength.” Ben says with a serious look on his face. Glowing plates of light flash in existence around him, [Hyperion Plate] is one of Ben’s highest rank spells.

  The light-yellow armor fashioned of Hardlight has a massive capacity for absorbing damage, best against blunt force damage. Shen’s armor shrinks and molds to his body more, growing darker and sturdier.

  Marco summons his [Saltskin], feeding it extra Mana and causing it to expand over his body, thin layers of sturdy crystal coating his armor, turning black leather and gray fabric white and providing vastly increased protection.

  He spends a couple of minutes throwing Root Tangles into his [Inventory], getting a mixture of regular and [Flash Cured] bodies. The tangles smelling faintly of lemon, “Interesting, lemongrass flavored root tangles? I will take it.” The smell from earlier in the fight finally clicks for Marco a mixture of cinnamon and cardamom, he looks at the regular Ents with a look of disbelief.

  “Cinnamon Ents? This is awesome and I love this new world.” Marco thinks to himself, immediately going to work on peeling bark from regular Ents, his kitchen knife not great for the task so he summons a small hooked knife made of [Salt]. The process not taking very long with his increased physical abilities, soon having rolls and rolls of bark stored in his [Inventory].

  *Ping* The Third Wave will begin in One Minute

  Ben, Marco and Shen all repeat similar movements as they get ready for the final wave of this dungeon; a helmet forms, shields spring in existence, and bolts begin to compress into shape.

  The minute ends and the ground begins to shake before exploding outward, a huge monster digging its way to the surface.

  *Ping* Root Abomination, Steelbark Hickory Variant

  “Ah shit, we barely got through that Ent with the Steelbark Hickory variant. This is going to be rough.” Marco starts to sweat a little.

  The monster is fifteen feet tall, brown roots of every shade tangled together into a semi humanoid shape. Leaves of every shade of green cover the creature, glinting slightly as they move in the light.

  Marco starts his first attack, opening up with a [Saltstrike], the crystal pushing the humanoid root monster back a step but not breaking anything. Bolts target where important places would be on a normal person; several slamming into the head, knees, elbows and neck.

  All of the air vacates his lungs and he feels weightless as he flies through the air, a root had burrowed through the ground and hit him in the midsection. His [Salt Skin] manages to block all of the damage to his chest but he lands gasping for breath.

  “Are you alright Marco?” Ben calls, he nods when he sees the shaky thumbs up and his eyes widen at the sheer amount of [Salt Bolts] forming around Marco. The cloud of projectiles flies, impacting the monster with a sounds like gun fire, pieces of the monster falling off.

  Unfortunately, the damage is main superficial, but Marco casts [Flash Cure] on the monsters exposed insides, slowing it marginally. Beams of light rake over the monster, lighting smoking strips of root and leaf, massive hammer blows from Shen rattle the monster's legs, all of the damage combined finally showing up on the giant body.

  More [Saltstrike] explosions focused on the back of the monster to shield Shen from the damage, rip open more of the monster, more roots visible below the surface. The party has to dodge and roll from the numerous burrowing roots trying to knocking them across the clearing.

  Marco focuses on flattening out his [Salt Bolt] projectile like he did to remove the Alpha Wolf’s head. A ten-inch guillotine blade might be able to lop off a limb, he focuses and pushes his intent into the projectiles surrounding him, slowing they flatten as he dodges around the clearing.

  “I am getting close to damaging my channels again.” Marco thinks, finally getting the projectiles flat and sharp on one end. He fires them, smirking as they rip through the monster the left arm falling free of the Abomination.

  Breathing heavily from the strain of casting so many spells, [Saltstrike] taking a ton of Mana every cast. The guillotine bolts made an opening for Ben to channel his [Focused Beam] into the wound, starting a small fire inside the monster's body.

  The Root Abomination goes berserk, lashing out wilding making Marco and his party jump, duck, and weave around flailing root tentacles.

  Shen finally turns one of the legs to pulp and causing the monster to fall backward, onto the many [Saltstrike] crystals, shattering them and littering the body with wounds. Salt burrowing into the root body, ripping and tearing as the monster attempts to stand again

  Bands of Hardlight snap around the monster and Shen’s hammer grows unbelievably large, the head easily three feet long and a foot across of solid bedrock. Shen jumps with his giant hammer and brings it down on the monster’s midsection, ripping the abomination in half with a resounding boom and a small quake.

  Marco hurriedly uses [Flash Cure] on both of the monster pieces, hoping that they don’t try and reform.

  *Ping* Root Abomination Slain (1/1)

  Congratulations on clearing The Root of the Forest Dungeon

  Congratulation on completing your Silver Ranked Adventurer Job.

  Rewards not available due to Affinity Disparity between Adventurer Marco, Shen, and Benjamin and the completed job.

  Marco falls to his behind, breathing heavily and checking himself over for injuries. “Is everybody alright?” He asks.

  “I think you were the only one to get hit hard like that.” Shen says, his hammer dispersing into Mana and his [Earthen Armor] falling away to dust to mix with the churned-up soil of the clearing. Ben’s [Hyperion Plate] breaks into particles before they too disappear and he joins Marco on the ground, flashing [Renew] through everyone causing sighs of relief.

  Marco’s [Salt Skin] returns to Mana and he stretches out lightly in the destroyed clearing. “That was a rough fight, I feel like our elemental match up isn’t great against something like the Abomination.” He says, tiredness evident in his voice.

  “Yeah, that was a tough one. Thankfully we outranked all of the monsters today or the whole dungeon would have been much more difficult.” Ben says from next to him, once again fidgeting with {Light].

  “We did well on the teamwork front though! Everyone worked well together and didn’t get in each other's way.” Shen supplies, “We still need a final member, they will be able to balance out our elements as well.”

  Marco pushes himself to his feet, gather a couple of roots from the abomination and smelling them, he is amazing that the newest monster body smells just like horseradish. His mind begins to work on his future dinner plans, “I have the Ent Cinnamon, Lemongrass Tangles, and now Horseradish from the Abomination.” He starts to think of all the dishes he can make, combinations of flavors between all of the monster ingredients.