Charging at the Crimson King, he simply stands there, looking down on us. Without a word he raises the sword in his hand and swings vertically, aiming at cutting all of us. Using this to my advantage, I push my mana behind me giving me a boost of speed. Ducking under the sword, I quickly step into the Crimson King’s blindspot, pivoting on my foot, I leap towards his head and slam my powered fist into the Crimson King’s head.
Hearing a loud clang sound, I retract my fist and push myself backwards with wind, overdoing it too much and slamming myself into the ground. I wasn’t used to how fast mana was being cast with these new mana veins. Pushing myself up, I look at where I’ve punched and see a dent in his helmet, he was otherwise fine.
Watching the others, Sally had a shield of blood in front of her, like a blood barrier but she was guiding it with a hand in front of her instead of surrounding herself while blocking the sword strikes that were threatening to break through. Gray was nowhere to be seen and Elizabeth was helping stop the sword strikes from the Crimson King.
Seeing an arrow strike at a gap in the helmet, I wait to see what it does and seeing the Guardian seemingly not bothered, I focus on charging both fists with Star Dust and continue striking his armour. As more dents are made, I knew I was having very little effect. From time to time Gray would appear, stabbing into gaps in the armour, drawing a small amount of blood each time.
Thinking of what to do, I considered asking Elizabeth for a sword, however I wanted to avoid doing that. I didn’t want to rely on other equipment, the teachings from Master Lee and the fact I had a natural affinity for using my fists made me want to rely on myself. Thinking through what I could do, I remember Ash’s words about Lunar magic. It could buff myself or my allies. But how do I do that? I’d need some time to try and figure it out.
Moving to Elizabeth’s side, I say “I need a few minutes.” and seeing her nod I move back to where Olivia is. Olivia nods at me and doesn’t say a word as she focuses on shooting. Closing my eyes, I empty my mind and focus on sensing my Mana Realm. Once again standing on this lake, I look at the stars that indicate my Mana Veins.
“Using moonlight or starlight…do I need to separate them? Does Lunar refer to the night itself or does the word represent the moon or stars.” Breathing in, I knew I didn’t have long to figure this out. The first thing I wanted to try was gathering moonlight and starlight together into my body, into my muscles to empower them. Focusing my mind, even though I was in my Mana Realm, I could feel my physical body on the outside…it was a strange feeling. Focusing on gathering moonlight and then starlight into myself, I push my mana from outwards towards myself..
Not succeeding with both energies, I open my eyes and frown. Breathing and calming myself, I attempt the second method. Taking only moonlight into myself, I instead don’t use mana from outside but the mana that exists within those muscles. Feeling something different, I put more power into drawing in the moonlight into my body. Feeling a strength welling it, it suddenly dissipates as quickly as it came.
Changing tactics, I gather starlight instead, however the same thing happens. Opening my eyes, I consider why it wasn’t working, maybe trying both would work. Taking a breath, I close my eyes again and this time I gather both moonlight and starlight together.
Feeling that strength return, this time my muscles feel lighter with a calm power within them. Since I was in a rush, I didn't feel it across my body, however seeing the notification from the System I knew I had succeeded, at least partially.
[Lunar Blessing of the Fighter (Incomplete)
You can bless an individual with the power of Lunar Magic, granting them 10% extra Strength and Agility.
Mana Cost: 1,000]
Pulling myself from my Mana Realm, I felt power within my body. Opening my eyes, I look at the fight as nothing had changed, the Guardian still appears to be bored with the fight while the most damage we have done is some scratches.
“Alisha.” Glancing at Olivia she whispers “Be careful. The Guardian is barely trying yet we have not done any significant damage. It’s likely he is much stronger than we think. Tread carefully.” Nodding to her, I return to the fight. Thinking it through, the only one I could use this ability on would be Gray, the mana cost would be significant and I don’t know how long it’ll last. I still needed mana for myself so using it all is not an option.
Arriving at the Guardian, I once again power my fists with Star Dust, this time I felt the power gather fast. Without giving it thought, I launch myself at the Crimson King and punch into his shoulder. This time, instead of a small dent, my fist slams into the armour causing a huge dent to appear, the metal sinking into the flesh and muscles. For the first time, the Guardian looks at me seemingly surprised as he strikes out with his sword.
Blowing myself upwards, I dodge the sword and throw energy into my leg. Thinking quickly, I try to gather starlight energy into the leg, and finding that it worked, I push wind behind me, speeding towards the head of the Crimson King. Striking with my leg, which was now a light rosy colour, I lash out my Lashing Fire Kick at the helmet, hitting true and once again seeing the helmet dent as a fire sprung up on the flesh not protected by the helmet.
Due to the impact, the Crimson King stumbles sideways, landing on one knee. Not letting this chance slide, Sally and Elizabeth move in. Gray reappears as he aims at the back of the Guardian’s neck. Seeing Gray, I emulate the feeling of drawing in moon and star light and direct it at Gray instead. Pushing my palm towards him, I gather mana to combine it with Lunar magic and release it. An orb of silvery white appears in front of my palm, a soothing and calming feeling coming from it and moves to Gray.
Hitting Gray, the orb very quickly is absorbed by him, and a faint glow surrounds him. Seeing Gray show a surprised face for a moment, I saw the System saying that I had provided Gray with Lunar Blessing. With the new strength, Gray stabs downwards, stabbing through the armour and piercing the neck of the Crimson King deeply. Howling, the Crimson King recovers and a blast of red energy pushes us all back.
“Foolish mortals. You dare defy the Blood God? Deal with these pests. Arise”
Holding a hand out, a red glow pulses from below the Crimson King as it spreads outwards for a hundred metres before disappearing. Hearing the ground shift, I look around. Dozens of skeletons and aberrations appear, surrounding us completely. Looking at them, I felt my heart sink slightly.
[Level 16 Reanimated Skeleton Warrior]
[Level 15 Blood Stained Construct]
The Crimson King wasn’t done. Grabbing the sword with both hands, he tugs both hands as the sword separates, somehow becoming two smaller swords. A visible red aura surrounds him as the enemies around us approach. With the level difference, I felt confident I could handle two or three of them at one time, however there were a lot more than that.
Guessing there were around twenty or more, I looked at Sally who looked towards me at the same time. Nodding her head, I knew she would handle the Guardian. Breaking from the group, I approach a skeleton, throwing out a Lashing Fire Kick, smashing it to pieces.
Seeing the Blood Stained Constructs, I aimed at the spot where the Blooded Heretics had those rocks. Punching through, I felt my fist crack something within it, causing it to flow into a pool of blood. Is this the difference in levels or was it the lunar blessing. Or a combination of both at the same time? Continuing on, I keep my attacks up as I’m surrounded, and feeling a sword strike my back that I couldn’t dodge.
Feeling the cut on my back, I knew it wasn’t deep but I was surrounded and I couldn’t kill more than one at a time, with a bit of risk I could maybe do two. As I kept going, each time I killed something I was struck by a sword or grabbed by one of the constructs, causing a blotch of corrosion to appear on my skin. Gritting my teeth, I dealt with the pain, I knew I could be healed by Olivia afterwards.
Hearing another roar from the Crimson King, I do my best to ignore it as I start feeling the blessing within me wearing off. Blocking another grab with my arm, I break the construct’s core with the opening, spin and kick out at another skeleton. I was starting to feel light headed, not from mana exhaustion but from pain and fatigue. I had yet to rest since seeing that moment…
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Seeing an arrow fly past me into the chest and core of a construct, I knew Olivia had been freed up. She would’ve been surrounded too, however her capabilities in close combat was next to none. Knowing this meant either Elizabeth or Gray had helped her, I kept going as they would arrive shortly.
Knocking away a sword with my arm, I had noticed my ability to dodge these strikes was getting less and less. I wasn’t doing well with dodging, there were so many attacks coming at me from every direction, making it hard to dodge. I need to practise what I was taught. Before I could turn around, I smelled Elizabeth behind me as a crunching sound came out. Knowing that whatever struck me was done in by her, I focused on the enemies around me.
Breathing in, I gather my mana and blast out a weak frontal Wind Explosion, pushing everything in front of me off balance. Moving in quickly, I punch out on both sides, hitting the cores of two constructs, and move to the next enemy on my left as Gray appears to my right. Finishing the enemies before they could recover, I turn and see Elizabeth has also finished.
Moving back towards Sally while ignoring my injuries, I see she has her own fair share of injuries. Blood splattered on the ground around her, likely from her blood barriers. It wasn’t in vain, she had done injuries to the Guardian too. It wasn’t much, but there were cracks in his armour and his helmet was knocked off. A slash across his face indicated Sally had done well.
As Gray, Elizabeth and I return to our original positions, we keep our attacks up, weaker now due to losing the blessing and our injuries, however there was now a big open weakspot exposed to us. Launching myself at the Crimson Kings head, I connect Star Dust Punches one after another. Cracking sounds ring out punch after punch as the Guardian gets angrier. Pushing myself back, I watch as the Crimson King drops a sword, turns to me and grabs me.
Struggling to get out of his grip as it strengthens, I feel my bones creaking. Lifting me upwards, he throws me at the ground, hard. Wrapping myself with wind magic in haste, I hit the ground and feel severe pain down the left side of my body. Letting out a groan of pain, I get up and look down at my left arm and side. My shoulder was out of place and a bone was sticking out of my forearm. Gritting my teeth, I push the bone back in with a slight scream of pain.
Finding Olivia at the back, I made my way over to her as quickly as I could. Stumbling to her, she turns to look at my injuries and puts her bow to the side. “I’ll heal your arm and leg, I can’t heal everything right now. Next time, use your wind to fly over or something.” When she mentions the part of using wind to fly, I feel a bit dumbstruck…I saw Anita do that, couldn’t I? Leaving a mental note to try it once we leave this place, I sit still while watching everyone fight.
Seeing Alice flying high above not able to do much, I found myself missing her being on my head while we fought. It was simply too dangerous, if she were to be caught up with me when I was slammed just now she would’ve been hurt. Feeling a pat from Olivia, a signal to indicate she was done, I moved back to the fight, and just as I do the Crimson King explodes with anger.
“Enough!”
A force erupts from him as those close to him are blown back. At this moment, he swung downwards towards Sally who wasn’t prepared. Watching in horror, he slices through her chest, blood spurting from the wound. Looking at the cut, I could see it was deep, but not fatal, she had stepped back at the last second. However, the wound would mean Sally was defenceless, or so I thought.
In the next moment, an overwhelming bloodthirst erupts from her, and the normally emotionless toned Sally suddenly screamed in anger “YOU BASTARD.” Two silver horns burst from her forehead, slightly curved back, black bat-like wings appearing behind her as her fangs grew in size. Her skin turned paler as she held a palm towards the Crimson King, all the blood spilled during this size rushes to her, initially surrounding her then moving in front of her palm.
All of the blood swirls in front of the palm and forms into a circle of symbols, rotating slowly. With a roar, Sally yells in anger once again “BLOOD ERUPTION” as the circle of symbols launches itself at the Crimson King, slamming into his chest. At first, nothing happened. The Crimson King steps forward, raising a sword above his head, ready to strike. Then it happened.
Boiling blood erupted out from every orifice. Nose, mouth, ears, eyes, if it had an opening he was bleeding from it. Spitting up more blood, the Guardian didn’t move. “KICK HIS ARSE” hearing Elizabeth shout this, we all moved in, attacking any and everywhere we could reach while the Guardian struggled to recover.
Sally flapped her wings and lunged at the Crimson King’s neck, sinking her teeth into it. I knew it was very likely she wasn’t thinking straight, so I moved to protect her as the Crimson King started moving his hands to get her off. Arriving at her side, I could see her madly drinking while swinging off his neck. Fending off one of the hands, I see Gray appear next to her while he kicks a hand away as well.
Landing, I keep punching into the armour protecting the Crimson King’s chest while dealing with the weakened sword strikes or hand grabs towards Sally. He was getting weaker the longer we stalled, I have no idea what type of blood magic Sally had used, but it had been extremely effective.
“S-stop you heathens! By the name of the Blood God, I command you to stop!” Hearing a panic in his voice, I kept moving my injured body faster, my attacks became slightly weaker as a result, so I started aiming for his head once more. Using another blessing on Gray, he used it to his advantage and was slowly cutting through one of the Crimson King’s arms.
After a few more minutes, the Guardian drops to his knees, face pale from the loss of blood, Sally was not stopping or even slowing down. It’s like she was a bottomless pit, or maybe the blood was going into healing her wound. An arrow strikes true into the eye of the Crimson King, while Elizabeth swung and cut into his neck, opposite of Sally.
“I-i am h-his Majesty's c-chosen one…you c-can’t do this to me.” In a final struggle, he roars and a surge of energy erupts from him, but it doesn’t change anything, Sally at this point has dug her claws in, refusing to let go. Tumbling back, I surge my wind once again and block the hand that tried to grab Sally with a Lashing Fire Kick. Feeling fatigue digging deeply, I held my ground, protecting Sally.
Soon, Elizabeth and Olivia hit their marks, an arrow burrowing deeply into the Crimson King’s forehead and Elizabeth’s sword cutting through his skull. A moment of silence followed, only interrupted by the sounds of Sally gulping, then the Crimson King finally fell.
Falling onto my back, I felt relief, it was over, we were done with the dungeon. I was covered in corroded spots of flesh, cuts on every part of my body except the left arm and leg. Hearing Sally walk over, I see her monster transformation come undone, she hadn’t healed at all, the bleeding had stopped however. Olivia came to our sides, and looking at Elizabeth and Gray, they weren’t any better. We were all injured, the most extreme case was Sally.
Seeing an explosion of notifications from the System, I made sure Sally was okay first before I started looking through them.
[You have defeated The Crimson King. Received 30,000xp]
[You have levelled to 19!]
[The monster within is nearly awake.]
[Dungeon Performance Rating: S+]
[You have conquered the True Route of a Dungeon. This is an achievement most do not reach. You have earned the Unique Title: Aspiring Hero.]
[Aspiring Hero: Gain 10% extra stat points per level.]
[A Hidden Condition has been met.]
[You have conquered the True Route of the Temple of the Blood God. You have received the Talent: Reinvigorated Blood.]
[Reinvigorated Blood: Provides a rank increase to toughness.]
[Toughness increased to F]
[Quest Blood for the Blood God has been completed. Calculating rewards, Dungeon Performance Rating: S+.
Rewards available.]
[You may not enter a dungeon for six months.]
Mentally preparing myself for the feeling of my monsters trying to take over, there was nothing. Frowning, I checked my Status and saw Demonic Fox Awakening at 99.99%. One more level and it’ll likely be 100%. Looking at the other notifications, I notice one in particular.
Title? Not understanding this term, I checked my Status but nothing showed, perhaps this was something that would only show up at Level 20. Sitting up, I requested the rewards.
[Gained 50,000xp!
Crystallised Tear of the Moon Goddess
Tome of Basic Knowledge]
[Level 20 is available.]
Seeing the two items appear before me, I pick up a small blue gem, the size of my fingernail.
[Crystallised Tear of the Moon Goddess.
A Tear from the Moon Goddess, said to be shed from the loss of her son. Keep this on your person.
Grade: S+]
Not sure what the purpose of this was, I did as the System said and put it in my skirt pocket. Picking up the Tome again, I had an idea of what I wanted to ask of this. Since it would revolve around building a new home for the Hybrids, I decided to leave it for now, I’ll ask the others later.
Seeing Olivia come over, I see she too is level 19. She was higher level than us before we came in, meaning she would also have level 20 available. Looking around, everyone was level 19, meaning all of us should be able to level to 20. Deciding it would be best to leave it till we return home, Olivia finishes healing me slightly, enough to return home and let my natural healing take over.
Once Olivia finished treating everyone, I stood to find a place to rest just as I received another message from the System.
[Returning you to the dungeon’s entrance. As the Temple of the Blood God’s True Route has been conquered, this dungeon will be mutated into a new one.]
Seeing a flash of light, I blink and see we’re near the doors of the dungeons in the first room. Seeing everyone else around me, I look at the first room once more. It was barren, no blood or monsters, just the empty pool with the staircase leading down. We’ve gotten a lot from here, and learnt a lot about the world outside of Crater. Checking on everyone else, we move towards the doors of the dungeon and leave.