*The Gamer has received a new quest: Harem King.
*Obtain more wives, concubines, mistresses, lovers, maids or friends with benefits.
*Cultivate your harem.
*Become a king.
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Rewards: profit, pleasure, skills, abilities, fame, ???, ???, ???.
-You have obtained the Unending ability:refractory period has been removed.
-You have obtained Sonia Tonero as a maid. Rescue your maid before it's too late: 23.59.59
*You have slept in your bed. HP, MP and Stamina restored. 40% Exp bonus for 12 hours.
Pef stretched his arms, then looked down to find his wives snuggled around his body.
A red marker on his holodisplay map pointed towards the latest quest. His cute Italian maid, Sonia.
She seemed to be in some kind of trouble.
"Wake up ladies. We have a mission!" Pef proclaimed out loud, as he shook his wives awake.
Lucia groaned and hugged his side tighter. "What mission?" she mumbled half-asleep.
"Sonia. She is in trouble."
Lucia woke up and glanced at his quest screen, reading the newest quest. "I doubt our goddess would give us a timer if this wasn't dangerous."
Lise and Miya woke up as well, and gathered around their husband to read the quest.
"Harem King, eh? And so many side options too." Lise said with a half-amused growl.
Miya sighed and kissed Pef's cheek. "It's my fault, hubby. I asked you to gather a harem. Now I can only support you..."
Pef started kissing them one by one. Then he took Anne-Lise's hand and placed it on his chest. "My queen, this might get dangerous, so will you grant me your help?"
The blonde queen nodded with a frown. "This might be related to the Church, or the Inquisition. And it's very likely a trap, for Lucia or Miya or yourself. Possibly all three."
"I think so as well. That's why Miya and Lucia will stay. They need to become Legends before leaving the alchemists." he replied with a frown of his own.
They still had a few months in the deal, and it would be wasteful to lose the protection and expose them to the Abyss, not when Pef and Lise were already Legends and quite strong.
Miya untied her Saint ribbon and then passed it to Lise, as extra protection if it came to a big fight.
Lucia also took out her Earth Urn, but Lise and Pef refused to take it. "A Church relic might make things worse. Hopefully we can rescue Sonia by stealth, and be back today." Pef explained with a head shake.
After some more preparation, and giving Kimmel and Paracelsus a short account for their absence, Pef and Lise flew out from the Geneva dungeon, crossing the Alps and heading for Turin, the place where the quest marker pointed.
Some time later, they both hovered at the edge of a Church Dungeon, marking the boundary to the St John the Baptist Cathedral in Turin, Italy.
Even outside the boundary, Pef could feel the aura of a sacred relic emanating from deep under the ground.
"Is that the Turin Shroud? I read it was a medieval fake." he wondered out loud.
Lise patted his shoulder for comfort. "Does it matter? If a billion people believe it's real, then it becomes real."
Pef's eyes glinted with a hidden desire. Then, he slipped inside the boundary, still under cloak.
*You have entered a World Dungeon: The Turin Shroud Cathedral.
*As a heretic, you receive 100 health damage per minute, from the holy aura.
*As a heretic, you receive 100 mana burn per minute, from the holy aura.
*Your Holy Barrier blocks 31 percent of damage.
-69
On the ground, it was a whole army arrayed in defensive layers, from soldiers with machine guns and Ariette tanks to Centauro armored vehicles and anti-air missiles.
Priests and monks formed another layer of magical defenses, then golems and formation arrays glowing with gold and silver runes.
Pef turned the map on the side, locating the marker for Sonia a dozen floors underground.
Lise glanced at his screen then towards the welcoming party.
Then at once, Pef and Lise began spamming spells, while Raiju appeared to charge the armored vehicles with his own lightning spells and abilities.
For a few seconds, the shock and awe worked wonders.
Clouds of poison and acid, lightning bolts and jets fire and ice, even a few Arc Torpedoes rapidly reduced the defenders in strength and numbers. The regular soldiers and their armored vehicles were obliterated first and so were the novice priests.
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*You have killed a Church of Light soldier. 300 Exp.
*You have destroyed an Ariette main battle tank. 5000 Exp.
*You have destroyed a Centauro tank destroyer. 3000 Exp.
*You have killed all novice priests in this dungeon. Bonus Exp 1 million.
But soon after, the stronger magic users and the golems rallied behind their magic arrays, making the wide area attacks lose their power.
And thus, a huge melee battle began. Raiju had its claws and shock armor, and with its fast movements was able to attack and then retreat at will.
Pef switched to his Yang cultivation, powered up the Farmer Strength and began lashing with his Arclance, chopping off limbs and heads with near impunity.
Lise took out her magic sword and swirled around, parrying golem javelins and lobbing exploding crystal where the enemies bunched up.
In a few minutes, the remaining priests were cut down, and Pef flew away to launch a barrage of torpedoes at the golems, while also reducing their Magic resistance with his newly learned debuff spells.
*Lower Resistance has increased in level. *Lower Resistance has increased in level. *Lower Resistance has increased in level.
*You have killed a Solomon Golem. 50000 Exp.
*You have killed a Solomon Golem.
*You have killed a Solomon Golem.
*You have killed an Elite Solomon Golem. 100 000 Exp.
The last golem exploded into shards of metal and stone and silence fell in the courtyard, while dust and fires still lingered.
Pef checked his mana bar, noticing it was nearly depleted and was too slow to recharge. He promptly drank a few mana potions and urged Lise to do the same.
Pef then entered Floating Meditation to increase his recovery speed, while mentally reviewing the combat logs and the loot. Sadly, the outer defenders were quite poor and only a couple of Phantom-class artifacts had been found.
A few more guns and other soldier equipment fell from the troops he had killed, including a portable minigun, nightvision goggles and kevlar bodyarmor.
In his early days, this loot would have been valuable, but not anymore.
Not even Consecrated incense urns or crucifixes were worth much in Pef's eyes.
"Did you loot anything nice?" Pef asked Lise without hope.
"Not really. A Holy Book with 10 percent resistance and a pair of gold rings with 5 percent." Lise replied after scrolling through her own loot.
Pef sighed and glanced at the Cathedral, then checked the timer. 18 hours left.
Then he smiled and fired a torpedo down, creating a tunnel leading towards the catacombs, and thus avoiding the whole maze of traps and troops that was sure to await them in the Cathedral.
Raiju sprinted ahead, descending into the tunnel and engaging the cultists at the end of the path.
Pef and Lise followed, shields raised and weapons at ready.
However, what they found was beyond expectations. Over a hundred girls chained to wooden beams forming an X, with tubes draining their veins of blood.
In the middle, a sacrificial altar was nearly full, the blood bubbling joyously in anticipation.
Sonia was there as well, barely alive and cut up badly.
An Inquisitor in red robes stood beside her, with a bloody knife in his hand. He had a pig's face, eyes small and buried in layers of fat.
*You have entered the Rosarius Sacrifice private dungeon.
*Your stats are suppressed by 50 percent, due to being a hated enemy.
*Blood spells and rituals are 500 percent more effective.
"Welcome to Turin. It took a great deal of preparation to set up this place, just for you." the Inquisitor announced and drew the knife over Sonia's shoulder, cutting a deep gush and making the woman groan in more pain.
Pef tilted his head while he observed the man, and then glanced around marking the victims.
"You chose a strange way to suicide, priest. Tell me, will you cut your own throat and should I do it for you?" Pef asked in a glacial voice.
"It is your death that awaits, Blood Vessel! Quick, open your veins and pour your blood into the sacred pool, or this woman will die." the priest replied menacingly, holding the knife at Sonia's throat.
Sonia opened a bruised eye and stared in confusion.
"Stick your tongue out Sonia. Show the priest you're not afraid." Lise said in a soft and calming voice.
A second later, the Inquisitor sliced his knife and tore open Sonia's throat, just as the young maid stuck out her tongue in defiance.