Luke unsheathed both Xera and Whispering Edge. Backing up a step, he moved his head both ways in observation. He spawned in front of a ghostly drawbridge. Two skeleton guards saluted when they noticed his appearance.
The drawbridge drew down as the chains moved, producing wails instead of constricting metal sounds. With a thump, the bridge closed the gap over the ravine between Luke and a gigantic medieval castle. Half of the building was illusory, the other a mix of rot and blood.
Watching the two skeletal guards closely, Luke took his time going down the bridge. He tested it out with a foot, first pushing weight down onto the normal wooden portion. Next, he put another foot on the illusory, see-through section. Both held up the same.
Crossing the draw bridge, Luke landed onto lifeless soil slick with a brown and red liquid. He put Xera between himself and the undead gate guards. They glanced at him and returned to rearing the drawbridge back up.
Luke remembered Sooty’s Quicksilver feather, and it's property to sense hostile intent. He asked her, “Do either plan to attack us, Sooty?”
The corvid tilted her head and observed each guard separately. She confidently cawed in denial.
“We’ll go further in, keep watch around for me, pal. Check behind every so often.” Sooty turned around on his shoulder when Luke said that.
“Xera, keep your eyes peeled.”
“Righto, I’ll see if we can find something worth slashing or blasting. Maybe a fun puzzle to solve? Where have I seen this rot before…” Xera began to ramble.
Luke trusted his senses, but having others watch out for him lowered the tension within. He cautiously stepped further in. A red and ghostly green marble door was shut above a double-stairs entrance. Handrails covered in rust trimmed the front.
No one was around, but Luke used Polar South to be sure. Within an elevated threshold, through Polar South, he would manage to understand or see what he couldn’t before. The best example being when this ability ‘caught’ Veronica spying on him.
The measure was far from perfect, the assassination attempt being the sore point that is. Concentrating, Luke came up empty. The Reaver underwent this sudden preparation, but he decided that this was how he would use the unidentifiable mask.
For now, he would be ‘Rune’ publicly when possible. Plenty of people seemed to use elementalization at higher tiers, although not nearly as skilled as he did. A bit of ice here or there shouldn’t give him away.
He did have to lecture Xera, “When the mask is on, stay silent. Pretty sure it mutes your words to the world anyway. Need to check if it does the same for ‘him.’”
Luke slipped on the black metal mask, and his appearance changed rapidly. Weight vanished, and Xera turned into a plain white sword. The outer miscellaneous wear, including Wayfinder, became dull silver. His armor turned into tight black and red cloth. Notably, the boots retained a leather appeal, but its color scheme did match. He did wish he had thought of putting on the mask before coming to the dungeon, but perhaps it was for the best this way.
The most out-of-place change was Sooty. The small crow had tried into an undulating shadow with four tendrils. Two green eyes poked out the writhing mass. Sooty attempted to caw in confusion, but the sound came out as a questioning wail.
Rubbing his throat, Luke said in the returning distorted voice, “It’s the mask, Sooty. You’re still you. Only you’ll look different and sound different. Your capabilities are the same.”
Sooty started to play with her new form instead. Trying to wrap a shadow tendril around Luke’s hair and pull it. She chirped in laughter, which came out as a haunting echo in this form.
Everyone would adjust to this, Luke hoped. With the raised insight from Polar South, Luke experienced a deeper awareness of his naturally radiating aura. Rather than the cold and desolate air it gave off, it ‘twisted.’ A murky nothingness, an illusion, near invisible, less noticeable, and easier to blend in.
A desirable trait for someone trying to conceal their nature as the Sin of Greed.
“This mask does its job too well. I’ll have to thank ‘her’ for it later.” Luke shivered at the thought. He muttered soon after, “Please, no vials or touchy-feely time when that happens.”
Leaving the problems of a troublesome coworker, as Luke supposed he could call other Defiers, for the future, the Reaver placed a hand on the flat door. There were no outer handles this time. He pushed, and with a loud creak, the door reluctantly crept open.
Getting his bearings, Luke felt stagnant air mixed with a faint blood and rot smell. He could taste the dust. From the looks of it, he entered a foyer room. A Victorian-esque chandelier hung from the top of the ceiling. Ghostly green drapes covered the walls on one side. And torn red ones with a forgotten symbol plastered the other. He saw rotted white wooden walls between them, with a brown metal vertical stud on every panel.
In the back corner on opposite sides were elongated frames for entrances further into the castle. When Luke scrutinized them, he made out a thin, near-transparent barrier in their midst. The entire floor reminded Luke of one you’d see at an old ballroom. A presence worse than monsters infested every corner.
He willfully said it out loud, “People.”
Reminiscent of his last grand entrance to a dungeon, Luke felt half the room observing him. At least this time, the eyes were on him, not his companion. To give full disclosure, people gave the ‘illusory’ version of Sooty glances of disgust and fear. People dismissing his equipment was a welcome change, except for a handful mocking him for wearing a mask.
Better than having people try to attack me for my gear or Sooty like before. Luke thought.
“Another no-fur weirdo. How can he walk so proudly without a tail?” A tora woman scoffed in her party full of other tora. Who, of course, nodded along approvingly.
“Someone came to the ruined realm alone? A masochist, or looking to die.” A monic mage with a monocle commented.
A human with a much lower but still audible whisper, said, “What is that on its shoulder? All slithering about and disgusting-looking. Those tendrils make me shiver.”
What a rude thing to say about Sooty. Appearance rules this world, too.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
One of her party members replied, “Looks similar to an eldritch companion type, but not quite. Wonder where he tamed it. Think we should ask him?”
A middle-aged human man with faint scars and a thick black beard shook his head, “No need to invite potential trouble. Leave him alone. I don’t like that feeling of nothingness coming off his aura.”
Luke let the various groups chatter. Once their curiosity was sated, people left well enough alone. Tuning out the chatter, he observed the two entrances. From what he could gather, each was an entrance to a separate wing. If the different themes on each side meant anything, he’d wage the ghostly green for the Spectral Wing on the map, and the red with rot side for the Vampiric & Humanoid side.
By virtue of that fact a minority stood on the spectral side, Luke veered to that direction. The Reaver grew curious as to why the overwhelming majority of people chose to clear the Vampiric wing. At the least, they mostly avoided the side in the foyer where Luke stood. Pausing near the entrance to the Spectral Wing, he peered inside. Possibly due to the thin, semi-transparent barrier an inch away from his face, Luke gleaned no new information.
Here goes nothing.
He cautiously passed through the barrier, leaving the other hunter parties behind. After his entire body passed through, the chatter from behind immediately cut off. Luke turned around, and the same phenomenon occurred; he could see nothing. Backtracking, he tried to pierce the barrier and found that he could. With his six confirmed, Luke settled the final details before delving into the unknown.
“Lilith, when I have this mask on, that’s your name.” Luke scratched Sooty’s Talons, which would seem like Luke was caressing formless shadow tendrils to an outsider. Further strengthening the message, he emoted a similar take over Reaver’s Link. Sooty flapped her wings in understanding, making all four tendrils wiggle.
He skimmed through the Interface Log, making sure he hadn’t missed anything from last time. Toward the bottom, much after the messages informing him of stat steals and reaching level 28, he saw one more of import.
[Through Training, you have increased your health by 10 and water resistance by two]
[Through Training, your companion, Sooty, has strengthened her link with you. Settling part of her fear, Reaver’s Link has upgraded to Rank IV]
Musai’s training is certainly practical. I’m happier that Sooty isn’t as scared anymore. Anyone who took that contract I found on that last fool’s body will suffer for it.
Luke pulled up Reaver’s Link. The only change was that her attacks had a 2.5% to stat steal, up from 2%. Yet, he felt the spiritual link between the two. It had noticeably thickened once he concentrated on it. Going down the rabbit hole, Luke checked further on any changes to his crow. Who looked like a writhing shadow tendril mass on his shoulder with the black metal mask on. At least the two green eyes were suitably kind-looking, which somehow heightened the visceral reaction of others when viewing it.
Understanding Sooty’s Panel, his companion had undergone several changes. She’d spent all but one of her skill points, which brought Talon Strike up to Tier 1, Essence Screech rose to Tier 1, and Shadow Wing to IV. The improvements to Shadow Wing were welcomed but too negligible to change anything. Essence Screech increased the chances of stat-steal up to 10% from 8%. The essential change per description is ‘Upgraded damage scaling from Intellect.’
For Talon Strike, an additional effect was added. Luke studied it internally. A successful critical strike will create a secondary Talon gash, permanently lowering the affected target’s resistance. Cannot stack. Considered an Essence debuff.
Double-checking where he was, Luke seemed to be at the end of a hall, with souls slithering up the walls. They made no noise; Luke was unsure if they were sentient or merely an environmental effect. To what mattered more to him, no monsters were around.
But perhaps if he turned the corner, there would be. Telling Sooty to keep an eye out, he tried to wrap up any differences he noticed for her. Luke chanced upon the Spatial Feather, with both of them having reached tier 1, a new effect unlocked. He filtered out the information he already knew and observed.
[Spatial Feather]
Gigantification: Increases size by two to twelve times, dependent on the user’s will. Boosts next offensive action by 40%. Automatically deactivates after first ability or attack. Unable to last more than one minute.
Cooldown: 15 Minutes
“Soo-I mean, Lilith, you can turn into a giant if you want? That could be useful, the extra attack boost is for sure. Use it from time to time as you want to, maybe you can figure out an optimal way to use it. Stay with only a two times size increase for now.”
Sooty gave a proud rattle, which, unfortunately, sounded like a horrendous scream. The corvid became downtrodden.
Patting his transformed companion, Luke explored the hall. As anticipated, three groups of creatures were in an expanded portion of the hall. Gray metal covered the floor; each group was a mix of levitating blue ghostly spirits with a dilapidated dress or rotten undead. Faint wailing and pleading played on Luke’s hearing as he observed the creatures.
Somehow, there were no hunter groups around. Luke used the Interface on both types of monsters.
[Banshee]
Tier: 1
Level: 31
HP: 2300/2300
The spirit of a young woman cursed to this hall after betrayal. Prefers sumptuous male hunters to suck the life out from. Especially muscular ones. Unholy energy slowly saps from those who cannot adapt. The decay of the Spectral Wing seethes around them.
Luke thought, Decay? What decay? Feel perfectly normal here. Should check the log.
[Unholy energy detected, negative sapping invades you and your party. Confirmed Essence based class, energy is passively converted to stamina and Essence]
Is this why people herded over to the vampiric side? This unholy energy aura? Did the tomb have the same effect, and was I too weak to notice?
Over ruminating on questions he had no feasible way to answer, Luke scanned the other assorted information on the undead creature beside most Banshees.
[Undead Abomination] (Elite)
Tier: 1
Level: 35
HP: 4500/4500
A put-together mass of limbs, skin, human patchwork, and a madman’s magic. Enjoys munching on tender female hunters. Gives the smelly and tough male ones to the Banshees. A refined palette for an undead horror. Greatly amplifies the Banshee’s unholy aura.
Leaving aside the Interface’s flavor text, Luke faced the reality before him. Of the three groups, each one held an Undead Abomination and several Banshees. Their passive decaying effect turned into a boon for him. With an increased regeneration in Essence and stamina, he could push out elementalization to the maximum.
With no one around, he saw fit to speak more directly, “That’s a nasty jump up from the Beast Divide in difficulty. We’re going to test ourselves here, Sooty, but be ready to run if it turns out we bit off more than we could chew.”
Sooty sent an affirmation through Reaver’s Link. She truly disliked the sounds she made as ‘Lilith’ in her illusory form.
The three groups kept to themselves. However, the longer Luke stood there, the more he noticed they were becoming aggressive. If he rested his laurels for too long, they’d attack him. Luke kept Whispering Edge sheathed. He’d take it out if he needed Wraith Wail in a hairy situation. Otherwise, it was time to get used to solely using Xera.
Taking a risk, Luke asked Wayfinder, “Any Input, Wayfinder?” For good measure, he added, “And Xera?”
The dull gray orb shook, “Aye, the Abominations strengthen the Banshees, which soups you up. But why not confirm their special tricks? Drawback to the smaller hall lad and try to lure them in. Then turn the corner.”
Xera reminded, “Those kinds always are tricky to hit. Sooty will have a blast, but you’ll need to coat me in your frost if you want to hit anything. Pesky ladies.”
“Almost forgot about that. True, the banshees appear too ethereal. The Abominations would be fine I’m guessing. Is that the reason people don’t come to this wing? You can’t even fight the first pull effectively without certain measures,” Luke said.
Thankful his Essence Based class happened to counter the drawbacks here harshly, Luke prepared the party. He applied Infusion to Xera and Sooty first. After the cooldown reset, he did the same for himself and Whispering Edge.
Next, he applied Essence Bond to Xera, who lit up more than usual. Finally, he laid eyes on a banshee most separated from the groups. With a bit of luck, he could get her to only bring the first group with her. The three groups pathed slightly, after understanding the pattern, Luke took action. When the distance was at its maximum, he applied Siphon onto the aforementioned Banshee and sprinted back to the smaller hall. The ability fed him stamina, but it felt like overfilling a cup already at the brim. The energy entered and dissipated.
The Banshee released an ear-piercing baleful screech, which alerted all three groups. With a total of roughly twenty, three being the Abominations, they barreled toward Luke.
“There goes that plan.”