Hell's Glitch (initial draft)

2:25 Back to the Castle

After getting accustomed to summoning the servants and using them in a few easy battles, Sam rode Peter to the cave and dismissed her so that he could descend to the pit alone. He briefly equipped the Spring Ring so that he could avoid all the battles by jumping to unoccupied platforms. Once he reached the pit, he unequipped the ring for another one.

Ji's remains were still there. Sam glanced at them briefly before sprinting down the tunnel and pulling the lever to send the elevator down. The chains clicked and rattled as the platform was lowered down in front of Sam. He climbed onto it and took it up once more.

The secret wall was still open when he made it up to the dungeon floor and in front of the cell with the Soul Beacon was the respawned Revenant Golem that he had killed before. He snuck up behind it and quietly killed it with a Pierce imbued charged attack, just like before. He then unlocked the cell and rested at the Soul Beacon. The golem respawned in front of the cell again and so Sam had to wait for it to move forward before sneaking behind it and killing it again. He opened the nearby cells and found a set of Valley Knight Mage Robes and an Ashen Breath magick scroll on the two corpses. Judging from the stats, he'd never wear the robes, but the scroll interested him.

Ashen Breath

Spew a cloud of Dust to slow down a foe and gradually turn them to stone.

A crafty mage seeking to unearth the secrets of the ancient kingdom of Misseiji crafted this Blasphemy by using alchemical methods. The mage had to flee from Merl, who found the Blasphemy to be an affront to his liege, the patriarch of magick, Arachne.

Maybe I can cast this with the alchemy book I picked up earlier.

He continued down the hall, opening each of the cells, searching them for items, and killing the golems along the way. He didn't find anything else so he made his way to the other side, killing more of the golems and sneaking past those in the cells. He'd get to them later. He took out the mage at the end of the hall and walked back towards the first hall. The Golem Knight's cell was already busted and it walked out of it just like before, showing Sam that its impending ambush was a scripted event.

"Melbern, Peter, time for battle."

The servants came out of the ground in front of him, both in battle stances. He had set the terms of his contract to give an offering of souls every time he summoned them for battle and they would also gain souls for every kill or kill assist that they made. Besides that, he'd have to offer the souls himself.

"Spread out!" he yelled as the knight drew closer. Melbern stomped to the right while Peter dashed to the left. "Peter, get in close, dodge it once, and back away. Melbern, go in and put pressure on its shield so that I can get a clear shot at its body."

The servants obeyed his orders flawlessly and the plan had so far worked just as well with the knight distracted by Peter then taken off guard by Melbern's powerful stone fisted blows. Melbern was at a thirty in strength, seventeen points higher than Sam and he used all those points to his advantage. Sam had a clear shot at the knight and used it to put a sizeable hole in its belly with a limit breaking charged attack. The knight was unfazed by Sam's attack. It pushed Melbern away with a quick bash from its shield. And swung its sword around towards Sam's head. Sam ducked it and backed away as the knight stomped forward.

"Peter, stay behind me," he said as he watched Melbern charge into the knight from behind and knock it into the cell bars. Melbern followed up with quick strikes to the knight's head. "Melbern, focus on the shield. Grab it!"

The knight swung its shield around and came forward with brutal horizontal slash that cleaved right through Melbern's torso.

"Shit!" Sam said as Melbern's upper half slid off of his legs. The knight lifted its sword overhead, seconds away from finishing Melbern off. "I dismiss you, Melbern." Melbern melted into the ground, now gone for the rest of the fight. It was better than the expensive alternative that was Servant Revival.