The beauty and craftsmanship of the towering ice doors was utterly wasted on the party of ten before it. Needing no confirmation, Donny pushed the doors open which gave way easily into a frozen palace. They entered a hallway built of solid white snow blocks and furnished just as a magical castle would with carpet and candles and furniture, save for the fact it was all made of crystal blue ice and pure white snow.
Jean took point, casting several skills in silence. He moved quickly and carefully, stopping for a brief moment to toss a simple rock ahead. Ice spikes shot out from the ground and walls the moment the rock landed, then slowly receded back into the hall. Jean cast Greater Dispel and moved on.
Some of the traps he encountered were physical and could be dismantled, but the vast majority through the long hallway were magical in nature. It got to the point where he had to rely on Shin and Kamala using dispel from and item to help, lest his mana run out. He dispelled the magic surrounding the door and entered carefully.
An ice spike pierced through the head of a puppet that fell where Jean stood. Several golems of ice raised their handless arms and volleys of shards crashed against the ward mara formed. Ashley slipped through the gap in the door and in a flash the golems fell severed along with a dark blue core within each, invisible before.
[Ice Sentry Golem (epic) - Greater Monarch]
A horde of hundreds formed within the great hall they now found themselves in and raised their arms. A stream of flames spread over them all, melting shard attacks and golems alike and even the interior of the dungeon, although that restored itself quickly.
The party waited for a moment but nothing further happened so they moved on. Through the next door they found a wide tower with a spiraling stairway running along the walls up to the top far above. Jean went first and Shin behind. The moment the last of them, Basem, followed up the ice steps started crumbling behind. Frostbolts from carved faces in the walls fired upon Yen and Kamala continuously, but the priestess effortlessly protected both with a greater mystic shield.
Frost Ifrits appeared from the walls, casting all manner of frost attacks but none lasted more than a moment before Shin’s spirit gyros carved through their elemental bodies. The party raced up the stairs amidst the chaos of an an arctic battleground.
Shin made it to the top of the tower, an open balcony in a winter wonderland connected to a floating building by a single narrow bridge. They were out of the line of sight of the faces but the ifrits continued to rise from the tower around them in greater numbers.
“The whole bridge is a trap.”
Shin called Mara at Jean’s words and formed a platform from a ward just over it. The party continued over with Kamala at the back blocking the barrage from the monsters behind, and were immediately struck with a slowing effect. Two cannons in front fired on them, strong enough to break Mara’s mana shields in two hits. A sudden firebolt exploded on the dungeon artillery but the cannons started to reform instantly.
Karla burst up, the only one unaffected and lept between the cannons but they reformed faster than she could destroy them. Fired on from both ends, the party sluggish pushed on into the floating dome, and the doors behind slammed shut. A single room lay before them, more intricate that any of the palace before. Inscriptions on the six pillars holding up the circular dome roof shone a deep blue one by one and a lavishly dressed ifrit appeared before them, arrogant and fierce.
[Noble Ifrit (epic) - Greater Monarch]
Power frost swirled in the ifrits palm and a dense stream of fire ended its existence. But just as quickly, the ifrit reformed in a surge of mana. Yen channelled fire again but a spiraling green orb flared with duality sheered through an impish blue creature, invisible to the normal eye.
[Ijarait Taskmaster (epic) - Greater Monarch]
“Found me~” The ijarait’s shock turned to mockery in an instant as it dissipated in the air and reemerged from one of the pillars.
Kamala blocked a greater frostbolt from the new ifrit and Yen blasted it away as Shin erased the ijarait once more. And once again, it appeared from a pillar to summon a party of noble ifrit with a mocking cackle.
“Destroy the pillars.” Yen yelled.
“No, dispel them.” Karla stopped her kick just short at Jean’s words.
The four among them did as advised as the rest battled the ifrit summons, and the ijarait’s expression fell into horror at the sight of his pillars losing their luster. “Noooooo!”
The writings on the pillars all faded and Shin snatched the impish figure out of the hand. A pulse in his bursting it to shreds and this time harvest worked, recovering and storing its soul away. A portal opened up to the side and ten chests appeared in the center of the room.
“Feels too easy.” Donny mused.
“This party’s just broken.” Yen walked over and tapped a chest, not to pleased with the result. The other chests opened to similar reactions, apart from Mujin’s. From his spawned a beautiful white spear, pristine as fresh snow.
[Arctic Spear - Legendary]
‘Frostbite: Inflicts wounds made by the spears blade with frostbite.’
“At least someone got something out of this.” Yen said.
“Is it normal to get rewards a tier above?” Jean asked.
“Probably a raid thing. Greed Mountain gave all legendary tier despite being epic. But Donny’s right.” Yen looked at Shin. “The only difference between this and normal dungeons was the quantity and epic tier is basically just an inconvenience to the top tiers now. We need to upgrade ours soon or someone is going to wipe it out.”
“Hmm…” Shin thought to himself, slightly troubled, as Basem glared at Mujin in the background. A notification appeared before them all without warning, and the atmosphere subtly changed around him as he read.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
[Initiate World Journey]
‘Transport to another world among the initiated of the 9th epoch for 90 days.’
‘Reward: ???’
‘Reward granted improves depending on how much you impact the world.’
‘Time remaining: 23:58’
Shin looked over to Yen with a casual smile. “I’ll upgrade her.”
---
A gnoll in the corner of the flower throne room trembled under the spells that tormented its mind and pained its body, unable to do anything in response. Flutter undid Greater Harass and Greater Ache, switching inside to Greater Befuddle. The gnoll fidgeted and jittered in confusion before sprinting head first into a wall, which put a smile on the would be fairy’s face.
Punishing nasty evil creatures was one of the most effective ways she discovered to relieve the stress and animosity she found constantly building within. Even better were the creatures the terrors of her past. The one benefit she enjoyed from the vile big form she found herself trapped in was the power. Power she wouldn’t mind a little more.
Flutter turned as Shin flickered beside without warning, his sudden appearances wouldn’t frighten her anymore. “Did you find one?”
“No.”
Flutter was pulled screeching like a mad harpy into a fusion with the sidhe dreamer Shin encountered all those days before. A brutal battle ensued in the swirling pool, one that the dreamer seemed to be winning. Just as she was pushed to the brink, Flutter lashed out tyrannically, consuming and conquering until the fusion shone.
A beautiful humanoid woman appeared in the air above. Pale skin and long blonde hair with glowing pure blue eyes, her lower half a wisping trail of blue smoke with a sash around her waist. Cloth draped scantly over her body and her mouth veiled in transparent thing silk, all adorned with jewelry. Flutter let out a banshee’s wail of pure unmitigated resentment as Shin checked her status.
[Marid Despot (epic) - Greater Lord]
Strength - 322
Agility - 748
Constitution - 306
Vitality - 315
Dexterity - 582
Perception - 903
Force - 1424
Spirit - 1617
Control - 1150
Willpower - 1501
Skills:
Greater Conjure Spirit lvl. 1, Faerie Dust lvl 1, Bewilder lvl. 1, Invisibility lvl. 1, Anguish lvl. 1, Pain lvl. 1, Manipulation lvl. 1, Fly lvl. 1,
Traits:
Faerie Soul (epic), Magic Affinity (epic), Psychic Mind (epic), Charming Resistance (epic), Curse Resistance (epic), Lesser Poison Resistance (rare), Lesser Disease Resistance (rare),
He had chosen Lesser Magic Affinity as her vestige from what Yen had told him about the trait. Her mythic tier Loved By Magic allowed her to wield spells of a potency far beyond what her Control should allow. Excess beyond Control became a heavy burden on the mind. Flutter did not posses any spells powerful enough to warrant it as Yen did, but the trait also applied to using spells simultaneously. As a debuffer, she would surely find value in that.
As for the Sidhe Dreamer, who Shin wouldn’t have minded to win, he naturally chose Conjure Spirit, an incredible summoning skill. While it only let her call imitations of a spirit, it allowed her to conjure any spirit she could think of, enabling her to respond with the best counter to any situation.
While Flutter continued her rapid screechings, Shin scanned through her skillset. Faerie Soul was of some note, a lesser version to his Ethereal Soul, and Faerie Dust had become more versatile and dangerous but neither held his focus for long. Manipulation, a direct mind control spell was more promising, but there was no reason to chose one skill among the mental afflictions when he could likely keep them all.
He made Psychic Mind a vestige and drew the Ijarait Taskmaster. An epic tier elite summon in the Ifrit Noble was tempting and even more so the skill that let him hide between the material and spirit realm, but Shin already had a path in mind, choosing the Summoner trait. Before she could process her trauma, Shin pulled Flutter into a fusion once again, and once again she managed to survive through sheer bitter animosity.
The dungeon tremored as the chamber of flowers grew in size. A woman of even more indescribably mystical beauty appeared in the air again. She donned a dress of exquisite turquoise silk, disconnected sleeves attached only to the small golden mantle around her neck, open slit skirt draped down the sides of her legs. A transparent silk raiment flowed over her shoulders from behind and flowers like jewels adorned her body more splendid than the finest riches. All capped off with an elaborate crown of flowers.
“I had to fuse you now or you’d be in danger.”
Flutter didn’t respond, falling into silence for a few moments before her body swirled down back into her original fairy form and she unleashed an inelegant roar of victory. Shin checked her status and quickly found why.
[Silah Tyrant (legendary) - Greater Monarch]
Strength - 1878
Agility - 3363
Constitution - 1785
Vitality - 1575
Dexterity - 2910
Perception - 5515
Force - 8120
Spirit - 10085
Control - 7750
Willpower - 8519
Skills:
Create Spirit lvl. 1, Greater Faerie Dust lvl 1, Greater Bewilder lvl. 1, Greater Anguish lvl. 1, Greater Pain lvl. 1, Greater Manipulation lvl. 1, Greater Fly lvl. 1, Greater Morph lvl. 1, Greater Blink lvl. 1,
Traits:
Summon Master (mythic), Ethereal Soul (mythic), Domineering (mythic), Greater Magic Affinity (legendary), Greater Psychic Mind (legendary), Diamond Mind (legendary), Greater Charming Resistance (legendary), Greater Curse Resistance (legendary), Poison Resistance (epic), Disease Resistance (epic),
Greater Morph, a skill that let one alter their body into nearly any shape within some degree of reason. An inherent trait for Silah, he assumed, as was Blink. More importantly, her skillset had vastly improved. All skills upgraded to legendary tier, aside from the now mythic tier Create Spirit, which no longer made pale imitations, but spawn real living spirits under her control.
Greater Summoner now Summon Master, the same as his own, which passively increased the stats of monsters summoned threefold at no cost. Faerie Soul had become Ethereal Soul, and she acquired the mythic tier Domineering trait, which enhanced all mental attacks. And of course, he could not ignore her enormous stats, not only advancing up to Greater Monarch as was the ijarait, but advancing from an elite to a boss.
“Congratulations.”
Flutter shot him a glare of annoyance but that soon melted into a sneer followed by arrogant laughter. “So much power! I am the goddess of petals and dread! You fool! What can you do before a legendary greater monarch!”
Shin casually pulled out the souls of various legendaries he harvested from Blood Island and the fairy stopped in her tracks. “I had a lot more but I used them to level Greater Soul Fusion. There was the mananngal too but I didn’t want that.”
“J… Joking!” Flutter broke into nervous laughter, shamelessly changing her tune to subservience. “Of course legendary monsters are nothing in the face of your supreme might, how many monsters would you like to be sacrificed in your honor?”
“Hey.” Yen interrupted. “Check the status of the dungeon.”
“Hah?” Flutter shot her a mean look. Her terrifying master was one thing but she wouldn’t be ordered around by other humans. Not while he held such power.
“Do it.”
“At once!” Flutter raced over to the core at Shin’s words and sent her will within, to nothing less than confusion. “Raid…? Stupid dungeon doesn’t even know what it is.”
“How many floors?” The annoying orange haired human asked her. Flutter was about to question what that even was but the answer revealed itself at a moments inquiry.
“Five? They’re all separated? All my traps are gone!”
Jean looked a little more tired at that revelation but Yen grew nothing short of thrilled. “Alright, let’s make the worst death pit this tower has ever seen.”