"The dungeon is supposed to be here according to the map."
"But there's nothing here," said Mei.
The trio had wandered for a long distance from the Greylands Town, following Alzeth as he led on with a map he bought from a shop in his hands. But like the rest of the Greylands, there was only grey moss. Save for the trail made by the bamboo bundle Alzeth dragged everywhere.
"Harbert said the entrance regrows after a while. Let me try..."
Alzeth lifted up his bamboo weapon and started slamming the ground violently. Mei slowly edged away.
"What are you doing? Use your skills to help too!" Emerr tapped her shoulder.
Emerr began throwing fireballs randomly at the ground, burning the moss. It was a good thing the moss wasn't very flammable. The 'lovely' scent of burnt moss wafted through the air. Mei wrinkled her nose in distaste.
Mei felt slightly worried after recalling that she didn't have any skills yet but felt a little nervous about saying it. She stood for a moment and watched the siblings destroy the lawn until Emerr turned back and stared at her again, the look on her face questioning why Mei was doing nothing.
"I don't have skills yet..." mumbled Mei.
"Then use a weapon to hit the ground!" said Emerr with a frown.
"My sword broke..."
Emerr was speechless.
"You came here to join us on a dungeon raid, but without a weapon? What are you thinking?" Emerr approached Mei, a little too close for her comfort.
"I-I..." stuttered Mei.
"Calm down girls!" said Alzeth as he continued to wack randomly. "I have a-"
The ground finally gave way to the attacks. Alzeth fell down the hole with a shout of surprise.
Emerr gave Mei one exasperated glance. She walked toward the hole and looked down, seeing only darkness. Naturally, she tossed a fireball down. The light lit up the entrance, showing that it wasn't that deep of a fall.
"Oi! You almost hit me! Use your lantern!" complained Alzeth.
Emerr threw another fireball down.
"Hey hey hey, stop wasting your mana!" shouted Alzeth as he dodged.
"Hmph."
Emerr took out her lantern and lit it up. She carefully lowered herself into the hole, Mei following suit nervously.
You have entered The Heart Of The Moss (Lv50 Dungeon)
Wait, what?
"Um... is it just me or are we a tinyyyy bit underlevelled?" asked Mei softly after a moment of hesitation.
"No problem. I heard some enemies here are less than level 20. We just need to be careful..." whispered Alzeth. "Oh, I almost forgot to lend you a weapon. Totally not because my sister was trying to kill me."
Alzeth took out a plain looking sword and passed it to Mei.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
"I bought it from the shop. I tried to sell it back after I got a smith to help me make this awesome weapon," Alzeth shook his bamboo bundle. "But apparently they had a no buyback policy. What the heck? That means I can't collect a thousand old rags and demand they buy it! Ah, the drawbacks of smart NPCs..."
His dumb joke prompted a smile from Mei. Not that it was very visible in the dark. She decided to scan the sword.
Metal Sword
Type: Sword
Rarity: Common
LVL: 10
183/200 DUR
Effects
+100 DMG
Creator's Note
Made from 100% steel by expert smiths. 100 Gold.
Apparently, the sales tag stayed after purchase. Mei wondered if there was a way to remove it. It would be kind of weird if she got an amazing weapon and the shop's note stayed after purchase forever.
"So... how are we going to find those low levelled enemies? Won't there be a lot of monsters that kill us in one hit in such a high levelled dungeon?" asked Mei.
"Hah! You see, my Agrro skill is very low levelled right now. That means it only works on enemies 5 levels higher than me. That means all I need to do is to spam aggro until something attacks!" explained Alzeth proudly.
"Huh, that's actually pretty smart!" Mei was slightly impressed.
"I know right-"
"He read about that tactic from an online guide," said Emerr. "Braggart."
"Oh... I see..." mumbled Mei.
Alzeth coughed.
"Let's not talk so much, okay? Monsters might hear us."
They walked on silently as Alzeth used Aggro from time to time. Mei found the dungeon quite unpleasant. The walls were covered in grey moss that was everywhere in the wasteland and there was the smell of stagnant air and a faint scent similar to mildew.
Alzeth chugged a mana potion and used Agrro again for the umpteenth time. This time, a silent groan echoed through the dungeon. The trio stopped walking and starred tensely towards the direction of the groan.
A corpse covered in the grey moss shambled towards them, wielding a sword in one of its hands and a shield in another. It reminded Mei of zombies she saw in movies, except that the corpse was not rotting or covered in wounds. Or was it? The moss covering the body made it unclear. It staggered forwards, its lifeless face starring at Alzeth.
She quickly used Scan.
Moss Zombie
Grade: Common
LVL: 20
HP: 4,020
Skill is too low levelled to excess more info.
Well, that was not a lot of info. Mei made a note to train Scan by scanning random objects as she travelled.
Alzeth raised his weapon and prepared to charge, but Emerr was faster. She ran up to the monster and stabbed it with the sharpened tip of her staff before it could react. Red light burst from within the corpse as a fireball exploded from the inside of the wound.
-1466!
-100 -100 -100
Flames enveloped the zombie as it caught on fire, but the fire quickly went out. As if angered, it leapt towards Emerr swinging its sword wildly. Alzeth quickly stepped forward and deflected the attack with his weapon. The zombie didn't let up however, it continued to swing its sword like a maniac, making gashes appear all over the bamboo.
Alzeth retreated backwards, making it stumble from the force it swung its sword. This time, Emerr threw a bolt of ice towards it.
-277!
Ice encased the zombie, but it didn't seem too bothered. It shook off the bits of ice and threw its sword towards Emerr. Not a very smart move. She dodged the clumsy throw with ease.
Seeing that the monster wasn't paying attention to her, Mei ran towards it and swung her sword. The zombie raised its shield and blocked her attack, then kicked her in the stomach, knocking her towards the ground.
-57 HP
Mei braced herself for the pain but felt none. Right, there was no pain in VR. The zombie lifted its shield and held it up, ready to smash it towards her face. Mei instinctively raised up her arms to block.
-1568!
Alzeth slammed his pole against the zombie's head violently, sending it flying. The disembowelled body of the zombie fell to the ground, not a drop of blood spilling out.
Moss Zombie (Lv 20) defeated!
200 EXP total.
70 EXP to Alzeth. (35%)
80 EXP to Emerr. (40%)
50 EXP gained. (25%)
Race EXP: 300/500
SpellSword EXP: 300/360
Then like a puppet without strings, the dead zombie's body toppled onto Mei.
"Aieeeeee!" she shrieked.
She kicked off the disgusting corpse and quickly patted the dust off her. Gross!