Having an extradimensional space would be awesome, but giving fifteen Stat points to everyone and raising their levels by fifteen for the defense was even better. There was another reason why [Knight] felt better than [Rook]. She was going to pick a Queen class next. She was pretty sure one of the Queens or another class elsewhere would have a pocket dimension. A huge boost to her group? She was betting that was harder to find.
She made her choice with a clear conscience.
> [Knight *]: Replaces [Protector IV]. Increase the number of protectors to 10 and the granted bonuses to 15. The Princess can borrow one Skill at a time from one of her Knights. The knight does not lose access to the Skill.
She immediately appointed everyone as her Knights. "Check your Status. You should've gained fifteen to all Stats," Cless announced with an enormous grin.
There was more. She could now see their Skills. The list was huge, with all the Skills she granted them during the last months. She focused only on the Skills they were born with.
> [Knight *] granted Skill selection. Pick one Skill from your Knights.
>
> Silverfang: [Steel Fur] (D-Rank): Your fur is as strong as Steel. Subtract half your Health from any, cold, heat, slashing or blunt damage. Subtract a quarter of your Health from any acid or piercing damage. Your fur never sheds or burns. This Skill doesn't grant protection on parts of your body with exposed skin.
>
> Venaris: [Survivor's Mettle] (D-rank): Whenever you should die, you can operate normally and ignore the wounds or conditions that should've caused your death for 5 minutes.
>
> Vic: [Venomancy] (C-rank): Unlocks the Magic stat. Learns spells of the Venomancer classes as a caster of your main level. You resist 80% of the damage and suffer for only 80% of the duration from any poison you are inflicted with.
>
> Kurt: [Peacock's Grace] (C-rank): Unlocks the Charisma Stat. You can tell the gender of any creature you can sense. Increase the initial reaction of all females by one step. After each romantic interaction with a female, improve her reaction by one step. If you have tail feathers, they change patterns to match a peacock's.
Now that was a curious selection of traits. Silverfang's Skill was useless unless she grew fur over her body. Maybe to protect her head? Venaris' Skill was very powerful but too situational, hence the reason for its low rank. Vic's could unlock a plethora of magic but it was important for one reason: it would allow her to use her Blink spell at the full range again. Kurt's skill was very interesting and would also combine with [Chick Magnet] to make all girls she met immediately friendlier. It should also work with [Seductress' Charm] on females. Too bad Cless had the wrong gear or tastes to fully appreciate females.
She kept a copy of Venaris' Skill for now. An idea came to her and she tried to share the Skill she got from her Knight to her tame monsters. It didn't work.
They made a short break to get some food, hydrate and breathe some clean air. Cless buried the dust from the undead again.
"Ok, folks. We are clearing this floor before we go back to the surface. I want that treasure chest. If you are too tired we can go back."
Cless also wanted to reach level one hundred before returning up. She wanted to cap her profession too, but she'd need other three-quarters of a million Experience for that. Eek.
They repeated the Fireball-Ward-Hallow trick. four more times, but the amount of undead called dwindled fast. They were tired and found a dead-end tunnel to rest in. Cless placed Hallow Wards on the tunnel leading to their resting spot rigged to go when an undead approached. The ward could not sustain the spell but the initial burst would happen. She shared [Dangersense] with Kate and let the slemuroth sleep a little away. Even if the Hallow wards didn't work, any undead that strayed nearby would attack Kate first. Cless would take over the guard after her rest since she needed only half as much sleep as she should. The girl checked her status before going to sleep.
> For defeating 74 undead, you gained 96,123 kill and 24,000 proficiency Experience. You reached level 98.
"Ninety-eight!" Cless cheered as she lulled herself to sleep.
She woke up and the Dungeon was silent. Dead silent. Cless Blinked past kate and created a bench of stone to sit on and keep guard. she practiced her spells to increase her proficiencies back to the soft cap. After a few hours, the rest of the guild woke up. After eating their breakfast, they were back on the hunt. She mapped the floor, drawing circles where she used her Hallow magic. They wasted hours wandering around, fighting small groups of undead before they could find a section Cless hadn't purified yet.
She was avoiding taking the path to the boss room yet. The prize of that tasty third digit on her level was tantalizing.
"I don't think there's that much of this Dungeon floor left for us to explore. I hope the clear bonus is good," Venaris complained.
Everyone was tired of just walking but the Experience was really good. Once they found a good spot, Cless went on placing the Fireball Wards primed to five undead only along the three tunnels of the T-intersection she was going to lure the undead to. She placed five of them on each corridor this time. Cless used Hallow and it was a repeat of the last few traps they used. Except some wards didn't detonate because the amount of undead to cross through that particular tunnel was too low.
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> For defeating 31 undead, you gained 41,546 kill and 7,000 proficiency Experience.
Close but no candy. They kept walking and mapping the tunnels. After another hour they found a tunnel with black mold and went ahead until she found a sign in an area with a very low miasma concentration. Glowing runes carved in the walls, roof, and floor were an alert to any trespassers.
> Glauchester's Delver Association Branch.
>
> Breeding grounds. No trespassing.
That was the last spot where she could use Hallow. The entirety of the floor behind them was clear except for the area around the boss room. Cless checked her map, sensed the depth and smelled the air. Besides the stale mold and undead stench, the air there felt moist, contrasting with the rest of the Dungeon that was extremely dry. She thought on how Undead would breed and something clicked on her mind.
To make undead, you need a source of corpses. There was a connection between the Dungeon and the catacombs under her house somewhere. The catacombs were flooded and full of bodies.
She studied the runes and noticed they only triggered if anything tried to enter the protected area. Not exit. Makes sense, as the undead would never return to this miasma-thin section. She wouldn't risk playing with the runes now, but she wondered if it detected teleportation.
In any case, she was not going to be hindered by a no-go zone. She was sure her spell would flush any undead her way. Cless made another Hallow trap, setting no fireball wards. She wanted to stand right in front of the runes for maximum effect. She used Hallow and surely enough, another horde of burning undead came to take a pound of her flesh. The guild was ready and set a wall of swords and claws near the tunnel on either side of the chanting priestess.
As the undead came, they were downed easily. These were softer than the others behind, probably recently-animated corpses that didn't have time to grow with the miasma of the Dungeon. They were blown away like dandelions in a breeze.
> For defeating 78 undead you gained 62,571 kill and 19,000 proficiency Experience. You reached level 99. +1 Stat Point.
Cless guffawed. It was that close. Just a little more. That makes the monster population of this floor over four hundred undead. Maybe she could go for the full clear.
"Silverfang, can you listen to any undead noises around us?"
The werewolf perked his ears and checked. "Nothing. Just the wind and water sloshing beyond this point."
"Good! Let's take the boss out and then go home."
They backtracked to the boss room, following the miasma flows. Cless anxiously checked. Only twenty-one thousand Exp. They searched and checked if any stray groups wandered into the already-cleared areas. it could happen but the undead should be clustering near the boss room. They reached the moldy zone again and heard the undead shambling around.
In her excitement, Cless drew her sword and ignited it as she went forward. Down the pitch-black tunnel and out of her Light spell, [Shadow Eminence] showed its full power, boosting her Agility by over a hundred points.
She moved faster than ever and after a few bends were ahead of her guild. She saw what seemed like a group of zombies in the pitch dark ahead. She needed no light to see anyway. Shouting a challenge to the undead, she was saved by the [Dangersense] Skill. Sensing a surprise attack, Cless skid to halt her momentum and did a backward somersault. A sword flew and slashed where her neck should be.
"Awesome. I didn't expect you to dodge that!"
The Steelhammer guild party that was farming the metal bulls upstairs set up an ambush.
"What do you want?" Cless hissed and clenched her fist around her sword.
"I warned you. Don't come down here. And now look, you are almost clearing the whole floor!" He spoke like he was scolding a child and as if clearing the floor was a bad thing. Maybe it was, for him. "You'll be punished now, miss. You and your monsters end here."
If they want a fight, they'd get a fight, Cless swore to herself.
"We shall see if you can make good on your threat."
They came at her. Two arrows flew and bounced on her Shield. The man swung his sword and Cless parried. She gritted her teeth and released hell.
Cless activated [Fear Aura]. The people around her froze, even her own guild. Even though she trained a lot in the catacombs, Cless could only reduce the effect for them, not cancel. Kate, Venaris, and Silverfang were able to move. The gnome girl jumped from behind a bend in the tunnel and pelted the leader with a sling bullet, sending him flying back with a broken arm. Silverfang jumped over Cless and landed with his fangs ripping off an armored arm from a sword-and-board warrior. Kate barreled forward and trampled another two, going for the archers at the back.
She decided to show no mercy for these scumbags. She'd neutralize them and deprive them of everything. Cless used the last of the five seconds of paralysis to sever the leg and the good arm of their leader. The two Kate walked over were on the ground and clambered to their feet, trying to get away from her. She dashed forward and hamstrung them, cutting the back of their calves where their greaves were bound only by leather straps.
She heard a crunch and the shouts of the archers. Another two were behind the leader and ran for their lives. Cless turned off her fear aura and heard the flutter of wings as Kurt took off in the narrow tunnels after them.
"Numbing Venom!"
Vic came from behind and shot the last fighter that didn't run away with a paralytic poison. Cless ran after Kurt, intending to give the fleeing men another dose of fear aura once it was available again. She heard sounds of battle and a song. Fighting to resist the hypnotic melody, she went around a corner to find the two men dazed, staring at a singing Kurt. Instead of congratulating him for learning how to use his harpy powers on males, Cless went past him and maimed the two.
Cless dragged the two men by holding the legs she didn't cut off. The Blind Eye gathered nine delvers that set up the ambush for them. Someone was missing.
"Where is Shad?" She asked. Cless heard a fireball exploding and Silverfang dashed in that direction, running on all fours. She pulled Shad's status and he was wounded. She was divided between keeping [Perfect Might] or changing to [Dragon Skin]. She did the change. If he was facing a mage, the resistance would save him. Cless was almost running after Silverfang when Kurt held her by the arm.
"Trust brother Silverfang. He'll bring the little fellow back."
Cless instead turned to glower at the mutilated delvers. She threw a Mass Mending on them to avoid any deaths from exsanguination. Some of them started to shout and curse. Cless needed them able to speak but only when she wanted.
"Gag them. I don't want to hear them cursing."
Vic did it. Soon after their mouths were covered up, Silverfang returned with a beaten and burnt Shad cradled on one arm and a robed guy over his shoulder. Cless ran and picked the drillmole, showering him in praise and healing magic.
"You went after their mage alone? That's brave!," She cooed. "And foolish, I guess." Caressing the crystals covering the monster's back, she looked at the ten delvers they defeated. "Now what should we do with these guys, I wonder?"