With the Vyhild easily slaughtered in their sleep, and the room looted of its meager resources, Eradin and Farah continued deeper into the cavern along its path. Although Farah had [Night Vision], the cave seemed to get darker and darker the further they descended. Finally, as they rounded a corner, torches with violet flames began to appear on the cave walls, in the distance a door resembling obsidian appeared. Standing guard were two humanoid monsters.
They were each armed with hide armor, a wooden greatshield and rusty polearms. They had bat-like features that included cone shaped ears, a pushed in snout, fangs close to four inches in length, blood red eyes and clawlike appendages similar to human hands but they were comprised of two fingers and a thumb, each armed with sharp claws. Sprouting from their backs were very small leathery bat wings which looked as if they could only support a minute of flight at the most.
Eradin looked over to Farah and thought about how she was slowly becoming a walking textbook full of information in his eyes. It sure was great to finally learn the identities of things he encountered. "Farah, what might those things in the distance be?"
"They are known as the Kvaldir, they are typically servants of masters that live in caves like these, none have ever been known to rank up past boss rank and typically don't get much stronger than level forty. They are very agile which makes up for the weak body strength they have. A strong sense of smell and keen hearing makes up for their lack of eye-sight. They are pretty much blind. As for weaknesses, lightning or fire based attacks work on them the best, or connecting an attack accompanied with brute force since they don't have very tough bodies."
"So.... basically they are humanoid bats that can't fly. That's easy enough to understand."
Shadows seemed to fuse as Eradin melded into them. With [Shadow Steps] he was able to move silently. Attempting to one shot unsuspecting foes was his plan right now. Under the cover of darkness, he sneaked towards the Kvaldir. They began to notice someting was wrong when they felt the Death Gods Scythe on the back of their necks, but it was far too late to escape their fates. Deep cuts appeared upon the back of their skulls. Being able to innately deal more critical and regular damage for wielding a scythe, his titles effect and [Eviscerate] synergised quite well and would lead to an extreme advantage, even if the target remained alive.
[Experience Gained: 29%/100%]
[Souls Absorbed: 2 Soul Points: 58]
Pitiful, just pitiful. I need to find creatures worth more experience and in high quantity. This is far too slow compared to when I was in Algaron Forest. I had killed hundreds in one night, and yet in one day, I have only killed twenty-two. There better be something beneficial behind this door or the cave here was a waste of time.
To kill hundreds of creatures in one night was an extroadinary feat. It was actually Eradin who had a warped way of thinking. Even with his requirement of obtaining double experience, he had leveled to twenty-eight in a little over a week. That was unprecedented in the continent. He should still be around level ten, but to level from one to twenty-eight, on average it would take an adeventurers a few months.
Eradin didn't know what the door was made of, but he assumed it had to be something close to obsidian as it had the same characteristics of a black luster and smooth surface. Upon it was an engraving of a bat. There wasn't any sign of an aura, but there was someone or something behind it. From Eradin's inner perception, he was able to sense what appeared to be a Kvaldir within the room, but the life sign it was showing had to be double or triple the life signs of it's subordinates.
With blood beginning to boil, Eradin switched his title to [Raid Hunter]. Putting both of his arms against the door, Eradin shoved with enough physical strength akin to that of a frontline fighter despite how he actually appeared. His tall and toned body hid much more physical strength than people would be led to believe on looks alone.
Slowly the door parted and gave way to Eradin, slowly it began to rumble with the sound of stone grating on stone until it was fully open. The room came into full view under the light of the torches. To the immediate right was weapon racks and armor stands. The left side of the room had chests, what looked to be a table that had a magic grimoire upon it and a small shelf with books and alchemical ingredients. However, the center of the room was currently occupied.
A massive Kvaldir was present, it was more than twice the size of the other two Kvaldir. And this one wasn't so measily armed. It had chainmail which had hardly any rust. A large tower shield that was enjeweled, and a mace that it was carrying one-handed, but for anyone else it would be a warhammer. Hovering above its head was the symbols for levle thirty-eight and boss rank.
There we go, this is worth it, a boss rank and a room full of loot. Now if only there were more caves that had one boss or raid rank, that would be the most ideal.
Eradin entered into the room and the very moment his foot had touched the ground within, the Kvaldi locked onto his presecence. It stood up and entered into a stance of complete defense. With it's tower shield and warhammer facing towards Eradin.
The sight of the Kvaldir didn't perturb Eradin in the slightest, instead his blood boiled even more. The Death God's Scythe seemed to be craving a soul to reap. The [Cursed Star] appeared and Eradin chose [Absorbtion: 1] and [Weaken Reflexes: 2] from the available curses.
Taking the initiative, Eradin released [Dragon Gods Aura] and reduced the physical capabilities of the Kvaldir. Even so it didn't move, despite the sudden oppressive aura of a true dragon, it remained in a stance worthy of a sentinel.
You won't be like that for long. Not when I am done with you. No matter how strong the defense is, a weakness is always prevalent somwhere. And they become much easier to find when you have a companion capable of magic.
"Farah, do you have any enchantments that I can make use of?"
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"I think that there is something within the tome to match your personality. You want to be oppressive and tyrannical right? Well then, here is something that suits you perfecty."
Farah began to chant from her tome, a ring of fire began to appear around her, then under the urging of her words, it began to coil like a snake and slithered across the ground over to Eradin's scythe. Climbing the shaft of the scythe, the flames began to converge upon the blade and mix with the gray aura of Eradin's curses. Until eventually they merged into a completely gray flame.
[Weapon Enchanted: Explosion Enchant] evolves into [Weapon Enchant: Cursed Exploding Flame: All attacks that land explode and have a chance of applying curses imbued upon the Death Gods Scythe.]
Hoooh? This will be useful. Time to test it out!
Without waiting any longer, Eradin seemingly haphazardly charged the boss rank Kvaldir. His movements were fast enough that flames trailed in the air behind him. He swung out in a diaganol angle which would allow his scythe to use it's arc to bypass the tower shield curving around it. But despite having virtually no vision at all, the Kvaldir was able to somehow read Eradin's actions. It clinched its mace and tower shield together in an attempt to lock Eradin's scythe in between its shield and mace. In the Kvaldirs mind, it was thinking that it had superior strength to the scrawny human and would shatter the scythe blade within his clinch. But looks are very decieving.
Eradin may only look as if he had toned muscles, but the entire body of the Dragon God which was over one hundred meters in length and was quite wide as well had condensed itself to form his body. All that raw muscle and fibers were forcefully compacted on top of eachother, giving rise to the capability of extreme physical strength that could also be extremely explosive. Combined with a god rank weapon that was indestructible, it became a weapon capable of extreme force that could bludgeon something to death, but also so sharp it could cut through anything without any resistance.
That mistake led to the Kvaldir being at a disadvantage. The force of the scythe struck so heavily that the tower shield was forcefully slammed to the side. With its heavy weight, the Kvaldir was being dragged in the direction of its shield leading to an opening. That was when the flaming scythe slashed downwards in an overhead arc. A long cut appeared from the chest of the Kvaldir as it's chainmail was split down the middle, but it wasn't over, first it became cursed, but the worst of it was just beginning.
After the cut appeared, the gray flame that was cursed exploded upon the wound causing multiple burn marks to spread around it. Before giving it a chance to stabilize itself, Eradin regained his posture and steadied his breathing, even if he had high endurance and a True God body, it would not do to waste any energy especially when cursed to use more than x10 energy.
As blood dripped from the wound of the Kvaldir, it began to grow angry, in the end, it had low intelligence even if there were many books in this chamber. It's long wound slowly began to regenerate, but it was nowhere near as fast compared to Eradin's regeneration capabilities. It wasn't even visibly to the eye. Instead it was just fast enough where the blood began to clot and stop the excessive bleeding. With multiple curses now affecting its body, the fact that the Kvaldir could even stand was surprising. It hadn't even attacked once and it was already so grievously wounded.
Nice! With Farah at my side, as long as it doesn't exceed level forty, I should be able to fight without relying on [Rage of the Dragon God]. To think it was this easy to fight boss ranks with a weapon enchantment. This is exceptional, we must learn to fight together now, who knows how much support Farah might be able to give. After all she doesn't seem to be a mage or a priest. A mage can't heal but deals much more destructive magic. On the other hand a priest can heal but deals less damage and relies on blessings. So where in the line does Farah lie? To heal, enchant and be able to bless. If she is able to cast destructive magic as well, we would be able to make up a typical five man party with only two people!
That wasn't an exaggeration in the slightest. A typical party had a mage, a priest, a frontline fighter and sometone that could fight at range with a bow or up front depending on the situation. Eradin already was a frontline bruiser, his exceptional range with a scythe made up for the fact neither he nor Farah had a bow. And Farah herself was basically a priest and a mage that could heal, enchant, bless and most certainly use highly destructive magic even if she hadn't used it yet. It also helped substantially that Farah could also fight as melee when needed. So with a two man party, they had the strength of a five man party. No boss rank monster below level forty would be of any threat to them. If there was a raid rank, they could always run away as they had phenomenal physiques for their levels.
As these thoughts ran throught Eradin's mind, he prepared to assault the Kvaldir again, however he didn't have to take the initiative this time. The Kvaldir moved towards him instead.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Under the weight of the tower shield, it was like the Kvaldir was a moving fortress as loud metallic clangs resounded through the chamber. Then those consecutive metallic sounds rang out multiple times faster as the Kvaldir began to run at Eradin with what looked like some type of skill involving a shield. The tower shield lit up in a resplendant blue light and a phantasmal image of a spear appeared in front of the fast approaching shield, with its spearhead pointed right at Eradin's throat.
Most adventurers might've panicked been impaled for hesitating. At time like these the Heart of the Evil God was really a cheat. Eradin's mind was icy cold and full of clarity. He was able to read the Kvaldirs movements and retaliate. With a simple side step to the right, Eradin dodged the attack completely as the Kvaldir appeared ubablt to change its path. In that moment of vulnerability, Eradin struck. His flame coated scythe cut through the chainmail and pierced multiple organs in its slash. Keeping the momentum, Eradin pivoted and channeled the force of the attack into an upward slash that struck the Kvladirs wrist holding the mace and amputating it.
Graaaaaaaah!
This Kvaldir screamed in pain, so much so that the wound on its chest spewed out fresh blood along with its wrist that was also very quickly draining of blood. Not even Eradin had regeneration capable of regrowing lost limbs and appendages. So for a Kvaldir, even at boss rank, its regeneration was almost non existent as it began to bleed out. In the end, Normal monsters and boss rank monsters up to level forty would never be able to kill Farah and Eradin, even if there were hundreds of them all converging upon them, they could always escape. Especially when they worked together in sync, which thus far, all Farah did was apply enchantments or blessings upon Eradin. If she also began to attack as well, nothing would live under their combined onslaught in these lower elevations of the Celestial Mountain Range.
[Boss Rank Monster: Kvaldir Lord: has been defeated.]
[Souls Absorbed: 1 Soul Points Gained: 260]
[Fused Body Equipement Exp Gained: 1.8%]
[Bonus Exp from Small Party Bonus/Title/Boss Rank or Higher Monster]
[Experience: 42%/100%]
[First Tier Skils in Soul Shop are available for purchase]
Boss Ranks are definately worth it. Only they can actually take a small chunk out of the required experience I need to level even once. The thought of trying to level when I reach a thoroughly high level really makes me want to vomit. The only way to level quickly, do things that give me a static amount of fixed experience. Yes that is the way. But more importantly, I can for the first time right the wrong from when I killed the Ogre Forest Lordand gain redemption! Let's plunder some loot like a real adventurers is supposed to!