A stampede of monsters ran past us from the entrance of the crypt. Their numbers were staggeringly large, even compared to the last few assaults. Thanks to our equipment, they ignored us standing by the entrance.

It was disastrous number, and I could guess how much the damage would be. Maybe a broken encampment and 3-4 casualties, and maybe 5 injured.

I could only hope they can withstand the tide.

I looked behind me and urged Madriel to follow behind.

We took our first step into the den of horrific creatures. Would we survive? I was certain. It wasn’t overconfidence, but merely an abundance of information. How? I have a hazy idea of the map of the place, it would be easier to infiltrate with that.

It’s kind of sad that I’m relying so much on my meta game knowledge, when I resolved myself to not blindly trust in it, what other choice do I have? If I didn’t move now, without taking a risk, many more lives will be at risk.

Maybe I’m just a big fat softie, but I want to at least do something when I can.

As we entered the ancient crypt, the first thing I noticed was the environment. It was... squeaky clean. At least, as clean as a crypt can be. Not to mention, there were also torches lining up the walls.

“Same as ever...” Madriel said, a forlorn look on her.

“Was the crypt always this clean?”

She shook her head and chose silence.

Okay? Well, in the game, the crypt was incredibly dark, save for a few rooms with lights. It was to teach players to use the darkness to conceal their movements.

I formed that hazy picture in my head and trudged on. The crypt of Bastroll was quite large and despite the name, it wasn’t actually a crypt for Bastroll. Instead, it was a crypt for the dead of Blaine. How it got its name, we never really went that far. This world though, it might have answers.

The entrance to the crypt was narrow but it soon opened up a few meters from the entrance. There, a large clearing formed as sort of the ritual space for the dead. This opening was large, and just like the scouts reported, heavily fortified.

They made a haphazard heap of broken stone bricks and wood into a wall, with only one entrance guarded by two. These two were surprisingly human shape.

Obviously, it wasn’t human. No way human could survive here now that it was infested with monsters. These were living corpses, the undead, the unliving, the desecrated.

“Stay here, I’ll check it.” I told her and walked towards the gate.

Fortunately, living corpses didn’t have a sense of sight, or anything really. They’ve been deprived of everything that is part of living, except for one thing. Instinct. These creatures move only by instinct.

In the game, they had quite a large detection radius compared to other monsters, but their detection capabilities were quite low. Unless they had an actual master to direct them where to attack, they were useless. This, compounded with my armor set, I was basically invisible to them. It was a different matter if I didn’t have it though, as they’d swarm me the moment I enter their detection radius.

As I passed through the gates, there were even more undead swarming the place. So many, in fact, that it would be impossible for us to break through with force. We might be able to do it with magic, but large-scale magic within a confined space was a recipe for disaster.

It was a good thing we didn’t force ourselves in, even our elite troop would have trouble.

I spent a few minutes inside their fortification looking for a path for Madriel to take. Fortunately for us, these undead were still.

So, within an hour, we were able to slip past our first hurdle.

A few ways away from the fortification, Madriel slumped down on the floor.

“Sed, might we change our armor? I don’t think my heart can handle this.”

I looked at her body and immediately shook my head. “There’s no way you can fit in this. Just suck it up, you chose to follow me.”

Madriel groaned.

“Stay cautious, I’ll scout ahead.”

I told her and left for the next area, which was one floor down. A spiral staircase stretched downwards, the walls still lined with numerous torches. As I neared the final steps for the next floor, I immediately hunched down, hugged the wall, and peeked behind.

Ah, damn it.

As far as the eye can see was a mass of chimeric beasts.

Seriously, how the hell are we even supposed to sneak past through this, much less clear it with brute force? I expected the difficulty to spike due to the situation, but not by this much.

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On the bright side, at least, the 2nd hurdle is still within acceptable boundaries if I use my items.

The first hurdle was a tutorial on using the enemy’s senses to sneak past, teaching players to research their opponents before blindly trying. In real life, it was about the same, though we did clear it with very powerful items.

The second hurdle was a tutorial on using the environment, using rocks as cover and hiding behind the darkness. Since the opponents weren’t the undead corpses, it would be much harder. The number’s pumped up the max, so this is nearly impossible to do... if I didn’t have my items.

I think I know what do now. Nodding to myself, I returned to Madriel.

“Large number of monsters, chimeras. Can’t sneak past this without a little bit of help.” I told her while taking out a number of items from my bag (pouch) of wonders.

She sighed and held her head. “What are those?” She asked, pointing at the items I took out. “They seem familiar, wait, a paper familiar?”

“Close. It’s a paper crane. It’s better than a paper familiar in every way. Well, maybe except for it’s production.”

“And that?”

“Talisman. Better than a scroll in every way, I mean. You can use it ten times more before it loses power.”

“Forgive me, but what?”

Madriel stared at me, wide-eyed. She continuously flapped her mouth like a fish before taking a deep breath and regaining her composure.

“Do you know how amazing that is?” She asked, her voice subdued as if cautious.

“Well, yeah, I do.”

Of course I do, it’s a high-level item only possible to craft by a max-level scribe. Really, it’s almost impossible to find it anywhere else. Talismans were indispensable for end-game raids because it allowed non-magic casters to cast up to intermediate spells.

It was common for raid parties to outfit their members with a ‘Shield’, ‘Heal’, or ‘Potency’ talisman. They were expensive to make, but was more cost-effective than a scroll which was incredibly bulky to bring and was single-use. Compared to a talisman, which was just a strip of paper.

First, I took out a ‘Potency’ talisman. This was a simple talisman that increased the function of an item. For example, using it on a shield will increase a shield’s defensive ability. Using it on a lock will increase its difficulty to pick. It was an incredibly versatile talisman.

Using ‘my’ experience, I used one of the functions of the talisman and removed its limiter. One of the reasons talismans were able to have their abilities be used several times was by limiting their effect, thereby decreasing the loss of power from using it. So, what will happen if I remove it?

I then took out a noise maker. Unlike the ones available in Blaine, this was one a bit different. For one, it was larger and etched with several runes on the metal casing, and the small iron balls were similarly runed. This was a noise maker I made with the help of our resident enchanter.

I rolled the talisman across the cylindrical noise maker, then tied it to bottom half of the paper crane. I grinned at my own handiwork. This was impossible to do in AdOn, but now that it was real life, nothing was stopping me.

Hehe, how much more bullshit can I get away with?

Anyway, I made two more of these contraptions and stored them in my pouch.

“By the way, Madriel. What’s your specialty?” I asked her. I wanted to know what she did in fights just so I can plan accordingly.

“Master of the arcane.”

“Specifics, which school did you study?”

“Necromancy.”

... Interesting choice for an elf. The school of necromancy, the study of the vital forces, its flow, and its expenditure. It was a school of magic very reminiscent of medical science on earth, but with magic instead of science.

Elves generally did not care for the vital forces, as they were a race so abundant with it. You could say most elves didn’t have an interest in it. On the other hand, short-lived races like the humans were invested in it, some even madly so.

I nodded. This was good, in a dungeon full of undead, having a necromancer was a god-send.

“Anyway, follow me. We’ll blow through the 2nd floor easy.”

We stepped down to the 2nd floor. The monsters were still there, lazing about. It seems, when they aren’t attacking us, they do nothing. It’s perfect though, most of them are sleeping but some of them seem to be playing around. They really don’t have their guards up.

Can’t blame them, not only are the undead protecting the first floor, but they were also numerous enough that any attack they can easily defend.

These chimera lack sophisticated intellect, evident by their reckless attacks thus far.

“Madriel, I want you to calm down and be natural. When I activate this paper crane, I want you to follow me properly. No sudden movements, no nothing, okay?”

Madriel nodded, but from the way she fidgets and her pallid complexion, it was obvious she wasn’t ready. I sighed, and offered my hand.

“Hold it, then we can start.”

She laughed nervously. “So this is how you flirt? When you were so averse to mine.”

“I’m not that twisted.” I shrugged and grabbed her hand. With my free hand, I took out the paper crane modification and activated it with a slip of mana.

The paper crane moved its wings lifelike and started to float from my palm. Using one of its functions, I instructed it to move to the left of the room and fly at a considerable height from the monsters. From there, I activated one more function, bird’s eye.

Looking from up high, the monsters seem to have not noticed the paper crane. I looked to the front of the large room. The door to the next floor was on the far side, opposite from ours. It’s a bit of a stretch, but I should be able to get there without trouble using all of our paper crane mods.

The paper crane is a creation of a max-level scribe and enchanter, meaning a person needs to have specced into two civilian jobs to create it. The materials needed to create it was also nothing to scoff at.

The reason it was so coveted despite the requirements and the price was because of its ability to totally function independent of the caster, whilst still properly relaying information of the field. Not only that, but it was also able to activate magic items as long as it still had mana in its reserves.

I grinned and activated its last function. Immediately, the item hooked on its bottom half started glowing a hue of blue and red. An intense noise soon followed, one so incredibly loud that it almost felt like the entire floor reverberated from the noise alone.

As I expected, the monsters woke up and went berserk. What could they do? They were confused, angry, groggy, all neatly packaged into one emotion. They could do nothing but howl and search for the noise. Immediately, the mass of monsters seemed to congregate where the ringing noise was originating from.

“Now.” I whispered to Madriel and started walking forward slowly.

The loud ringing noise was annoying to bear with, but the rampaging and erratic monsters were even more of a headache than it, so really, it was a choice of which to focus on. The answer was obvious though.

As we neared halfway through the room, the paper crane sent me a notification via our mana link that it was nearing its end. Immediately, I activated another paper crane and had it hover beside the last one. I set it to activate the sound bomb the moment the other one finishes.

I did this one more time in the course of us walking.

Thankfully, we managed to pass perfectly without a monster finding out. We ran across the empty halls and found an empty corner to rest.

“One last room, and arguably the easiest one.”