“Right, what should we do now? There are still two more months until classes start” said Peter looking at the timetable in his hands as the others were as well.
“We have to get back in the game for that Viv person you know” replied Hina.
Maria and Grace nodded at the same time and Maria said, “I have a feeling that I don't want to mess with that person no matter how small he is. If he's the same as Eden and Alexandra then that means he's a monster as well.”
“Honestly speaking, every other being in the guild is a monster” Ian pointed out.
“Well then, let's get in the capsules then” said Peter with the willingness to discuss things about their school that they were enrolled in later.
xXx
You have entered the dungeon 'The Cave of Darkness'
Bang!
“Ouch!” someone said while everyone landed awkwardly into the cave that quickly closed on them.
“Ahhh!” Lyndis who had the best balance and managed to not land on her back or upside-down tried to get out immediately but the cave entrance closed too fast.
“Damn” she muttered hitting her hand onto the stone wall.
The group looked around...no they tried to look around but it was completely pitch black. Sain wondered how they were breathing, were there pockets of air coming in? Then he remembered his training.
“...Light up....” he muttered concentrating enough for a ball of light to appear in his hand causing everyone to gain their sense of sight in this cave again.
Likewise Lyndis said, “Pocket Fireball” which lit up a small fireball that also served as a light source. The only person who was not completely frightened of the darkness was Shadow who had night vision for the most part.
Looking around Miriel started the conversation with, “We need to clear this cave.”
“But how...almost every last detail we know of this place is unknown...except that we need to send a message to someone at the end...plus there were undead in this cave and with Lyndis' fire skills possibly causing us to choke to death...” sighed Sain.
Looking at the small fireball in her hand and putting it out, Lyndis said “There is a chance that there are enough holes where air can get in that that may not happen...but for now I can't do much.”
“Well you can be bait by lighting yourself up like a candle stick” said Miriel much to her annoyance.
“Honestly do you have to mention so often about some of my new skills?” asked Lyndis.
Miriel tilted her head and asked, “Would you rather me reference your title?”
“Not at all, please continue calling me a candle stick” Lyndis immediately replied in agreement to Miriel.
“....”
'How much do you not like being called a Bomb Maniac?' wondered Sain in his thoughts.
“Anyway...we should get going then...” said Sain picking up a bag with supplies in there from Viv, “Take a bag and let's go...Lyndis you carry two so Shadow can scout ahead”
“...Fine” said Lyndis after a while of thought.
'Speaking of scouting...'
“Wolf Summoning!” chanted Sain summoning Luna into the cave as well.
[Master]
Luna nodded his head at Sain. Sain did the same.
“There are undead in this area. Tell us if they are near since in a cave, Shadow's hearing may be more inaccurate than normal” said Sain.
“Yeah...” Shadow was holding his ear, “I'm not going to do this in here...but there are enemies...somewhere...I can't tell where and the clanging is super hard on me....but I can still see well enough in the dark so it's fine.”
“In that case, let's go...Viv said we have a month to clear this place...” muttered Sain shaking....
“Yes...we have a month in here to 'play'....” Sain continued to mutter.
“Sain....?”
The others looked at him worried.
“Right” said Sain with his eyes glittering with happiness, “I'm going to make sure everyone here reaches at least level 110 at the end!”
“Wait!” Lyndis tried grabbing Sain but he slipped through walking ahead searching for undead to fight further into the cave.
[Master! Wait for me!]
“....”
The rest of the group looked at each other...
“Damnit!” cursed Shadow, “He went commando mode again!”
Miriel then muttered under her breath, “Is...it because we're in a dungeon? Is that is trigger? No...I'm sure that the symptoms appeared during the trip as well...”
Both Serena and Raven patted her back waking her up from her trance while Lyndis said, “Damn, we need to hurry up else he will die before we know it!” while complaining but nevertheless not even bothering to run away.
“Why does the commando have to come out now...” something whispered depressed on these turns of events.
In this place...there was no escape...so they all had to go deeper either way...
xXx
“You can come out now Al” said Viv looking annoyed to something a distance away. However at the same time Alexandra could hear Viv perfectly and leaped to him and quickly landed without any issues.
Viv sighing said, “You didn't say you were nearby at all. I only noticed a week ago. Eden didn't know where you were.”
“Yeah...” started Alexandra, “But Eden is dealing with some things on his own and I got a mission to clear most of these lands so they can be turned into towns and villages later on. Plus Eden avoids this place since it's kinda close to where Lily city is. There is a chance he could meet up with 'her'.”
“Well he does have a small trauma of it” said Viv.
“Small trauma?” said Alexandra with a laugh, “You should have seen the look on his face when he realised who she was. After that, for a whole week he let out his 'stress' onto nearby Gods to which the complaints was forwarded to me.”
“To be honest...that shock was amounted to his own guilt for the most part.”
“But in the end it was his own fault.”
“Yeah but he was completely....completely....”
“A maniac for slaughter? Or are you defending him because you love him?” Viv asked.
“Yes!....NO!” shouted Alexandra.
“....” “....”
“Well it's Eden so he'll be fine” said Viv.
But Alexandra shot a worrying look and said in response, “But it's been 20 years in game already and yet he still didn't get over it.”
“Plus there is Alena who is a whole other issue.”
Alexandra smiled slightly and then asked, “By the way, was it a good idea to lie about those brats?”
“What do you mean?” Viv put up the innocent face to her.
“Berserk state? I don't remember that happening at all with those who have the marks before. Well...not all of them but still it's better to say that instead of their personalities being altered slowly.”
“Al, it's more correct to say that only the dormant emotions are just being let loose a bit and that causes them to be a bit different than before” Viv replied trying to calm Alexandra down.
However this had no effect on her at all.
“Only?! I don't see any person who would like to know that their personality was being altered without them knowing! Furthermore they are Children! In the stage of their lives where they develop their own self....only for something unknown to interfere with it.”
“....”
“Do you think they will be all right?” asked Alexandra looking at the cave.
“Yes they will. Eden chose them for a reason. Also they are a bit broken in personality so the mark won't be as hard on them compared to more normal people.”
“I dearly hope else...I will beat Eden up” Alexandra said with a firm grip on her sword glancing as if Eden was in front of her already.
“Sigh...why do we have to deal with this? If only Eden got his act together earlier....” muttered Viv unlike himself, “Well right now he has to deal with his 'Trial of the Emperor' thing.”
“Ah! I got a message from Weed about that. He said something about having us help him deal with it. That man is so cheap even though he knows that all three of us are weakened right now.”
Viv nodded and proceeded to say, “Yes, with Eden unable to access most of his more powerful skills, me being unable to summon my ghost army and you with your divinity sealed by the Gods, we have to deal with it in our own way.”
“Wait who told you that-”
“Eden figured it out. He told me a while back that was the reason why you were collecting 'Sun Authorities' to make up the lack of power you have now. Al you are strong enough...” Viv assured her.
Hearing and seeing this determined Viv, Alexandra could only sigh and say, “Divinity and 'Sun Authorities' come from difference sources and yet amplify other powers. If I have both of them...then that means I get a decent boost at the end.”
Alexandra looked around and saw that the two of them were surrounded by undead.
“Well, it looks like I have to deal with this. Where are those kids?” asked Alexandra gathering holy magic in her hands at extreme quantities.
“I threw them in a cave.”
“Pha?!”
Her Holy Magic exploded in her face in shock. However at the same time, the attack went and killed all of the undead around them at the same time.
“You did WHAT?!” demanded Alexandra on the verge of trying to save them now.
“I needed someone to message Eri and yet you weren't here so...”
Alexandra sighed and muttered, “Honestly...why am I the one with the most common sense...?”
At that moment, both Eden and Viv despite the distance between one of them felt a sneeze coming through.
xXx
Back in the cave, after a few minutes of catching up to Sain, they encountered a couple of skeleton knights. There were 5 of them and according to what Sain knew, around level 110 and were quite strong in melee combat.
“Magic Arrows!” Sain did not hesitate at all attack them leading them to the rest of the group as well.
“Sain!” shouted Miriel realising what he was doing with the rest of them not at peak shape.
Sain didn't bother looking back and shouted, “Hurry up and fight! Miriel start buffing and the rest of you attack!” swinging his spear at the skeleton knights while retreating back to the rest of the group rapidly.
Luna did the same and retreated at the same pace as a large level gap was there between it and the skeleton knights after all.
“Double Strike” said Raven moving in next to Sain and hitting the nearby skeleton knight. Another skeleton knight also moved in to attack as well which forced the two to take several steps back.
“Compress Magic Mastery Release!” shouted Sain removing his magic limiter.
Compressed Magic Mastery has been released. Magic Strength +240%
“Magic Arrows!” chanted Sain again. 4 magic arrows appeared and hit that one skeleton knight with extra power and broke into pieces.
The other four skeleton knights charged at the same time after this.
“Ice Barrier!” chanted Miriel quickly.
A large block of ice appeared which the skeleton knights were knocked into by their charge. With their movements disrupted Serena chanted, “Root Bind!” creating vines to capture them now.
“Backstab! Double Strike! Backstab!”
Shadow finished off one of the skeleton knights that was a bit further away from the rest in this time before the skeleton knights managed to rip through the vines and smash through the ice barrier.
“Melody of Strength!” chanted Miriel finishing her buff in time.
51% increase in strength for 10 minutes
With this strength buff; Sain, Raven and Shadow worked together with some support from Miriel and Serena to get rid of the last three skeleton knights.
Meanwhile, banned from using her fire skills, Lyndis was reduced to a bag carrier.
“Right” said Sain after the group finished picking up the loot and gave it to Lyndis to carry, “Let's get to the next batch of enemies.”
In a dungeon there was a limited supply of monster to hunt even though there was no respawn limit. This number usually renewed after a few weeks.
For a normal dungeon there was roughly 5000 monsters in them so a small party would find it hard press to clear them all in time. Even with multiple parties this would be the same unless they were hunting without stop at an alarming high rate.
Knowing this, even while fighting with their lives on the line time after time, there are barely enough time to clear this dungeon.
Running through, a minute passed and they met another group of enemies. This time it was the slow moving and tough zombies they faced before. They started to come out of the ground and even the walls which was strangely soft when Sain touched it.
“Urrrr.....”
“Magic Arrows!” chanted Sain, “Magic Arrows! Magic Arrows! Magic Arrows! Magic Arrows!”
With his mana rapidly decreasing more than he wanted with 'Magic Arrows' costing 20 mana each cast. Sain stopped and then relied on his spear more.
“Leaf Cutter!” chanted Serena forming the leaves in the air and shooting at at the zombies. She did not use 'Root Bind' since zombies have high strength and could easily rip through them not slowing them down much.
“Cracked Barrier!” chanted Miriel casting the spell onto Sain who was deep into the battle.
He was hit a couple of times and took damage but as he fought he casted 'Minor Heal' on himself over and over again with the 10 second cool down the spell had. After the battle finished with them taking quite a bit of damage, most of them only had half health left, Sain started casting 'Minor Heal' on everyone.
“This is taking to long” muttered Sain while pleased that his spell was slowing gaining experience, “Lyndis! Hurry up and bandage everyone up as well!” in a loud commanding voice that did not allow rejection.
“R-Right!” Lyndis quickly took out the rolls of bandages and wrapped them around the wounds that Raven and Shadow sustained. Sain also started healing Luna as well who not known to the others, was complaining to Sain on his treatment.
3 minutes passed when their health went back to 75% thanks to Sain healing them and Lyndis using the bandages, Sain said, “Let's go” getting up and walking ahead again.
“Damn, why is he so quick on his feet?” complained Shadow seeing that he was the one in the deepest danger with his role.
“Well at least you can fight...I wonder if I can use my fire skills...” said Lyndis displeased she was getting no action. However then Miriel said, “Soon or later he will tell you...no force you to no matter what to speed things up. And at that time you wish you could not do anything.”
“Hurry up!” shouted Sain in the front with Luna.
xXx
Minor Heal levelled up to Beginner Level 9
With this message, it had been a week since they were thrown into the cave that was also a dungeon. In this time they had slain a large number of undead in numbers that reached several hundred and cleared the first floor and moved down to the second.
Reaching the second floor, the atmosphere in the cave reached a different level altogether as well.
“Uh....this place really smells bad...” muttered Lyndis covering her nose. At the same time Luna refused to go down there with them to which Sain simply de-summoned Luna since he was not going to be much use like this.
Walking a but further into the second floor, they were greeted with several skeletons along with skeleton mages.
Skeleton mages were extremely dangerous as they could cast magic. This simple fact made them a first target for parties as they could be wiped out if they did not stop them in time when they attacked and casted debuffs on the party.
As such Sain immediately shouted, “Lyndis! Use your skills to kill those mages!”
“Ai ai sir~ Flame Strike!” said Lyndis firing off a spear of flames to the mage. However at the same time, some of the skeletons moved and took the hit, dying to the flames but saving the skeleton mage.
“Magic Arrows!” Sain tried to attack as well but the skeletons were attacking them and using their bodies to block their attacks on the mage.
“Let mud smear the eyes of thy foes! Eyes of Darkness!” chanted the skeleton mages.
The world turned dark for Sain at that moment.
Your Party is affected by the blindness effect
“Ah!”
Slash!
You took 1531 damage
Sain and the others all had the blindness effect place on them. Without a line of sight, the other skeletons moved in and attacked them with them not being able to react.
“Mana Bolts!” Sain shouted shooting blindly in the 'dark'. However it seemed that his attack missed quite a bit as he was almost hit again.
'What to do...what to do....what to do....need AOE attack....!'
“Lyndis throw those bombs at them now!” Sain shouted while running away to retreat along with the others.
“Fire Bomb! Fire Bomb! Fire Bomb!”
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The group heard some explosions thanks to Lyndis' attack but had no idea of what was happening due to the restricted sight. Even Shadow's night visions didn't work as the debuff directly hindered his sight.
However a few seconds later....there was no sound from the enemy at all.
“So...we're safe?” asked Lyndis.
“Probably” Miriel replied.
“Ah...this debuff lasts for a minute. Quite annoying” said Shadow looking through the total duration of the blindness debuff that was placed on them.
After the blindness debuff wore off, Sain didn't talk to the rest of the group but went straight ahead to the next line of enemies.
“Wait! Where are you going” shouted Miriel when she noticed Sain was moving forward again.
Sain looked at her as if she was stupid and said, “To fight more enemies. That debuff only effects us when the mage finished casting right? So we just need to use Lyndis to bomb them until at least those mages die.”
With those words, the group was once again dragged forward fighting enemy after enemy with nearly no rest only to restore some health and mana for the next battle...
xXx
And so another 2 weeks passed in the cave. They were on, most likely the final floor where the number of undead was extremely high for the amount of space they had to fight.
At almost every corner there was an undead there to fight them. Often they had to fight several groups of undead at once. However because of this, they rapidly gained skill experience, more than normal as well as levelled up a couple of times as well.
On the third floor another few days passed (Yes I know I am REALLY skipping a lot of the details here...) they were met with a boss monster or something equal to it.
“Death Knight Raylean” muttered Sain reading the name of the creature in front of them.
With the continued fighting all this time, the group's equipment were in tatters almost on the point of breaking even with Raven repairing it over and over again. All of them were exhausted as well due to the large number of battles they had to go through.
This floor did not allow them many breaks and even without Sain to 'urge' them forward, but at the same time they were forced to be at their peak all this time.
“Lyndis...throw as many bombs at it as you can” said Sain immediately.
Obeying this command, Lyndis produced a dozen 'Fire Bombs' in which were all thrown at the unsuspecting death knight and exploded at it.
BOOM....!
“Fool that breath as livings....die!” shouted the Death Knight charging in with his shield and sword out of the smoke that the explosions caused.
“Magic Arrows!” Sain once again reacted first and attacked but seeing that his magic attacks was quickly deflected away with the shield...
“Shatter!” he shouted prompting the others to dodge the charge as fast as possible.
“Dark Blade!”
Bang Bang Bang!
The death knight swung his sword as he passed by the group that moved and stuck to the walls. Lyndis and Miriel took some damage being hit by the death knight passing through.
Seeing this power Sain estimated it's level to be around level 150.
'If we kill it...then we will gain lots of experience!'
“Shadow distract it as much as possible!” ordered Sain.
Shadow made a face of disbelief but shouted, “Damnit! I hate this role!” running directly at the death knight.
“Burst Speed!”
Using only his speed to survive barely against the death knight that seemed to be even faster than him at any rate normally.
“Melody of Speed!” chanted Miriel.
51% increase in strength for 10 minutes
“Swift Legs!” chanted Sain as well on Shadow, “Weaken!” and at the same time tried to reduce the damage from the death knight.
Party Member: Shadow has been buffed with 'Swift Legs'
With the increase in agility, Shadow was somehow able to properly keep up better with the death knight in question. However even with the two buffing Shadow up with spells, it didn't mean the others weren't doing anything as well.
“Root Bind!” Serena casted that spell in a frenzy trying to capture the death knight who was having a heated battle to the death with Shadow.
Serena's vines wrapped around the death knight's arm which slowed it down to a complete stop for a split second. Seeing this opportunity, Shadow leaped at the chance and tried to attack the death knight while it wasn't moving.
Clang!
However with the strength of the death knight, it easily broke free of the vines and blocked Shadow's attack with it's shield and kicked him away where he slid on the ground on his back.
“Die!”
The death knight moved to finish Shadow off.
“Raven! Get in there!” shouted Sain while preparing his spell.
“Mana Bolts!” chanted Sain and Miriel at the same time seeing the death knight getting closer to Shadow and Raven not being fast enough to directly stop it. Over two dozen 'Mana Bolts' came from the two and flew to hit the death knight.
Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang....!
“Damn that monster....! No effect” cried Miriel seeing the death knight perfectly fine even though it took on all of those attacks head on, Cracked Barrier!” she placed her barrier on Shadow in time for the attack to be deflected off.
“Ice Barrier!” she chanted next creating a wall between Shadow and it.
B-Break!
However the death knight easily broke through it in one strike but at the same time Shadow leaped at it attacking once again.
Clang!
His attack was instantly met with a block with the shield.
“No...that can't be right” Sain had a sudden thought, “Magic Arrows!”
He fired four projectiles at the death knight this time and the death knight quickly moved it's shield at an insane speed to block all of the attacks that went to a different location.
“Footwork! Double Strike!” said Raven who was close enough from running at the death knight to strike at it.
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Bang!
The death knight blocked these attack with it's shield again.
“Serena! Focus on binding it's shield arm! Lyndis! Attack using your fire skills!”
“R-Right!” “Aye Aye!”
The two added in their moves into the battle as well. Vines and flames flew towards the death knight who seemed more than happy to fight against both Raven and Shadow at the same time.
At this point, Sain noticed that Shadow and Raven's health were lower than 50%.
“Minor Heal!” he chanted making sure they won't die as easily.
“Compress Magic Mastery Release!” Sain chanted under his breath as he held his spear in his hand and walked to the death knight who was taking little damage despite the large amounts of attacks that hit it.
Compressed Magic Mastery has been released. Magic Strength +80%
The amount of increased magic strength from this release was down to it's most minimal level. The reason being was that Sain used it too many times today and as such it could only boost his power by this much.
If he knew that he was facing a death knight today, he would not have used this skill at all.
'Raven and Shadow are attacking from close range...they are at the most danger. Serena is slowing it down with her binding skills while Lyndis is attacking from afar. Miriel also attacking...no supporting mostly using her barrier...we should be able to whittler it down. But without healing...we need to kill it quickly..'
With those series of thoughts, Sain also entered close combat with the death knight along with Shadow and Raven while the other three supported from behind.
Every time one of them were about to get hit...
“Cracked Barrier!”
Miriel would cast this spell onto them to protect them a bit by negating the amount of damage they would take. And in another instant, she would cast 'Ice Barrier' as well to create a physical wall or Serena would cast one of her spells to force the death knight away from them with the others increasing their attacks at the same time.
Eventually some tens of minutes passed and Miriel chanted, “Melody of Speed!”
51% increase in agility for 10 minutes
Suddenly Sain and the others felt faster than before and could face the death knight more easily. Against an enemy with high attack, defence and speed in all areas, being as fast at it was the most important thing.
However everyone's health and mana were pushing their limits.
“Lyndis! Finish this with your bombs!” shouted Sain trying to hit the death knight but failing due to the shield blocking most of their attacks without end.
“Fire Bombs!” Lyndis shouted once again producing a dozen or so bombs that all went to the death knight.
Slash!
BOOM!
The death knight made the foolish decision to try to cut through the fire bomb and it exploded in it's face causing visible damage to it. The next moment, another eleven fire bombs chained exploded around it as well.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM...!
You have gained experience
You have levelled up
You have levelled up
Defeated a monster that was much stronger than you!
- All stats +5
- Fighting Spirit +10
Some windows appeared in front of the group when they finally defeated the death knight on their first try. All of them were over level 100 now but they still faced a monster that was 50 levels higher than them.
As such they gained extra stats from the battle as well.
“Fuaaaaaaa!” Lyndis let out a long drawn out breath and slid to the floor exhausted. While her health didn't go down that much, her mana was almost completely depleted.
The same were with Miriel and Serena as well as they were continuously casting spells over and over again in the battle.
However the ones who took the most damage were Shadow and Raven who were both on their last shiver of health left to which Sain prompted to end the battle as quickly as possible.
“The power of the fire bombs increase when chained eh...” muttered Miriel under her breath thinking about Lyndis' skill.
Sain was on the same line of thoughts seeing the power of that skill. It unlike the rest of their skills was on designed to create the most damage in as wide of an area as possible not caring for anything in that area.
'This kind of skill...will be useful later on....even without Lyndis not being able to fight with a sword...' he thought thinking more about it's uses.
Explosion damage was sort of unique in this game as it has the highest base damage there even including magic. Along with this, it also has the passive effect of ignoring and breaking armour of enemies which is super effective against large and often high defence foes.
And now this power fell into the hands of this group as well....
“That reminds me, with that fire bomb skill, couldn't Lyndis just keep on using it until the death knight died?” wondered Miriel speaking aloud not pleased with Sain after a month.
“Eh?”
Everyone looked at Sain as if everything made sense now.
“Sain...is this true?” asked Lyndis, her voice straining.
“I wasn't sure until the very end...that shield was quite troublesome and if it hit back one of the bombs...plus only a dozen bombs could affect it and Lyndis could really only do that twice in a row and if it blocked the second time as well...” he said with a pause at the end where the group imagined one of Lyndis' attacks coming back at them.
“In that case why didn't you have Serena restraint the death knight just before that could happen?” asked Shadow.
“That was impossible since that shield moved too fast and the death knight was really strong in the strength department” answered Sain once again.
It was then Raven spoke up raising an issue, “Another path there” he said pointing at an alternative path to which they could have avoided the battle
“....”
“Did you not see that?” wondered Miriel with a smile though her eyes were deadly cold.
“Well....” Sain tried to deny it but in the end...
“Yes I did. I wanted to fight a death knight so...” Sain played with his fingers saying that trying to look as innocent as possible.
Suddenly three people started to beat him up with anger flared up in their eyes. Only Serena who looked frightened at this scene and Raven who didn't care didn't take part.
“Bastard! You left me with the worse role!”
“I was super worried that my mistake in that battle could have killed someone!”
“Do you know how difficult it was to fire attacks WITHOUT hitting an ally?!”
Naturally they stopped before Sain died....and he took a while to heal using his own magic since Lyndis refused to use her 'Bandaging' skill on him which was at Beginner Level 6 now thanks to the last month.
“Umm...” Serena walked up to him while he was still recovering and whispered, “Sorry that I can't heal you....” with a sad face on.
“Don't worry about it” said Sain automatically patting her head with his hand. Sain could have sworn that Miriel shot him another glare at that moment so he stopped.
After he healed himself a couple more times...
Minor Heal reached Beginner Level 10, will be converted to Intermediate Level 1
You have unlocked the spell 'Moderate Heal'
Sain was surprised. Was that spell used that much that it could level up twice in a month? Either way, he looked at both spell windows now.
Minor Heal Intermediate Level 1
Heals a Target for 250 Health.
Heal: 250
Mana Cost: 15
Cool Down: 5 Seconds
Moderate Heal Beginner Level 1
Heals a Target for 500 Health.
Heal: 500
Mana Cost: 30
Cool Down: 20 Seconds
It looked like the bonus on reaching the intermediate level for the spell 'Minor Heal' was that the amount healed rounded up to 250 health healed each time and the cool down of the spell halved to only 5 seconds now.
On the other hand 'Moderate Heal' base healing was already double the amount 'Minor Heal' could do but the mana cost was double and the cool down was now four times higher. As a rule, the base amount that a healing spell one rank higher was equal to the amount the lower skill could do at the Advance skill level.
'At that point Minor Heal would heal 500 health at the advance skill level but Moderate heal does the same already at the beginning....then that means Advance Heal which is the next healing spell to unlock will initially heal 5000 health instead?'
Either way Sain shared this news to the others even though they just had finished beating him up.
“Good news everyone~” he said in a cheerful tone that was unlike the scream he made while being hit.
“What is it?” asked Miriel with her mouth twitching. She hoped that Sain was not going to immediately get revenge on them.
“My 'Minor Heal' went to the intermediate level and now I unlocked “Moderate Heal'! Now I can heal your wounds better than before so you can take more damage without worry” he continued to say still cheerful.
Then he made a sad face in which he said, “However without Serena, I'm really the only one who can heal you guys when you are in a tight situation. Plus we still have two more months on this trip.”
“....”
“It would be a shame that I 'forgot' to heal you but instead used a 'Paralyse Shot' on you instead wouldn't it? Hahahaha” Sain started laughing though no one else was and his own eyes weren't.
“Sain...is this a threat?” asked Shadow now worried about what was happening inside his head.
'Did us beating him up break something in him...?' they wondered.
“No no no...of course not. I might accidentally 'forget' to use a spell since I have so many of them now you see.”
“....”
“Anyway there are still a few more day and the rest of the dungeon left right...? Now, let's go and kill them all with our lives” Sain growled in a low tone with a sharp light in his eyes.
Everyone had a bad feeling about this.
“Shit!”
“Got to go!”
He immediately grabbed three people who tried and escaped and marched forward with them kicking and screaming.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”
xXx
A few more days later they reached the final room in the cave where the necromancers were.
“Please...no more...” Shadow was on the ground barely moving his mouth to say those words.
Raven was panting on the floor as well unable to move with his heavy load on. Meanwhile the three girls were leaning on each other out of breath as well. Luna was also here since Sain summoned him and refused to left him go while fighting undead as well.
Sain looked over then and said, “This is troubling, we still have one more boss fight to go through. It can't be that hard after the death knight battle.”
“Ha...ha...the death knight...” Shadow said, “Was EASY compared to what you put us through afterwards.”
“What happened?” asked Sain as if he didn't know what he put them through.
“For three bloody days we had almost no break in fighting! You drew so many undead to us time and time again to the point that we were overwhelmed and yet we somehow managed to survive!” Shadow shouted but then went limb due to using up all his energy to shout.
“Was it...really that bad?” Sain wondered. He was still standing here.
Seeing the state of the rest of the group, they were clearly in no position to even do anything right now.
“In that case, I can deal with the rest alone with Luna here” said Sain moving froward to the final room ignoring the shock of the others who tried but couldn't at all to follow him.
After they were out of sight, Luna said, [Master I don't think this is a wise idea. Without them supporting you-]
“Luna, am I that weak? To be in need of protecting all the time?” asked Sain.
[No of course not! But the enemy might be numerous...]
“Viv said something about delivering a message so that means there is a comrade on the other side as well.”
[If you say so...]
Luna backed down but did not stop in following Sain all the way as he entered this strange room where there were a dozen people dressed in complete black...no make that eleven since one of them is wearing pink all the way...
“Who is this to barge into our haven?”
“What is to be done to this being?”
“He shall die, he shall die!”
They all started to chant their spells and undead were raised from the ground. It happened so quickly that he couldn't even escape or attack one of them. Remembering Viv's words, Sain quickly took out the guild badge and flashed it in front of them.
“That is...”
Much to...actually as Sain expected the one in pink reacted to seeing that.
That person quickly moved around the undead and stood in front of Sain. The person was slightly shorter than him and looked at the guild badge saying, “Is this real?”
Sain nodded and said, “Viv said you would know what to do next” looking around at the hundred undead not moving against him...yet.
“Yes yes~ Viv did mention that he may send somebody but to think it would be another cute boy~”
“Er.....”
The person dressed in a pink cloak turned to the others and and said in a malicious tone, “Now for me to do more fun things~ You must all die~ Rise Undead under the command of Eri!” throwing off the cloak.
The person that Sain saw was a woman that was in her twenties...based on appearances, had pink hair that were tied in twin tails and from what Sain saw resembled something more like a magical girl than a necromancer.
However in front her, the necromancer Eri, 10 undead...all of which seemed more powerful than the other undead were raised.
“Eri you betray us?” asked one of the other necromancers.
“Of course not~ I was only having fun with you” her tone while cheerful suddenly took a dive, “By the request of my guildmaster you who have caused trouble with disappear. Kill them all” she ordered to her summoned undead.
Sain counted the different kinds of undead that was produced by Eri. There were 3 death knights, 2 skeleton mages and the other five were creatures he did not know.
However in mere minutes they wiped out the other hundred undead in the room with Eri casting buffs onto the undead...no undead have an opposite reaction to buffs and debuffs so it was better to say Eri cursed them to make them stronger.
“You fool! Dark Spear!” shouted one of the few necromancers left alive as Eri's undead started their killing spree.
Dark light gathered and formed into a spear that went straight to Eri who was in front of Sain. As such he did not know the expression on her face as she used her hand to absorb the magic and fire it back at the necromancer killing him in one shot.
With everything else in the room dead, Eri turned to Sain and asked, “Are you alone and is Viv with you?”
“No and no” Sain responded.
[Master this person seems....]
“Weird? Yes but it's not good to judge people like that” Sain responded to Luna.
Eri looked confused and asked, “Who are you talking to? Do you have an imaginary friend as well? No? Weird...”
“....”
After a few more lines which involved Sain feeling that this person in front of him was really really strange and not right in the head, Sain took her to where the others were resting. Upon seeing them immediately...
“Yahoo~ Let's go to Viv then” she said talking to the rest of the group who seemed fine enough as they could now move.
“Who is...this?” asked Miriel occasionally looking at what Eri was wearing. A frilly pink dress that made you think of magical girl was one thing but even her staff which had a skull on it was pink and frilly.
“This is Eri...I'm not sure what kind of relationship we have” said Sain.
“Relationship? Aren't you quick” said Miriel with a strangely dangerous aura around her....and had her whip out as well.
“Not in that way. Even Sain couldn't be that fast....right?” said Shadow stopping Miriel from attacking Sain but seemed intent to do so as well.
Seeing this Sain sighed and asked, “Anyway our objective here is done...is there a way out? The entrance kinda...closed when Viv threw us in” to Eri.
“Hmm...there was something like a shortcut in the back room that leads out. Let's go there then~” she said amused already at the people she met. Eri turned and started walking to which everyone else followed.
While walking through the back room which was still filled with the damages of the battle and the undead that she summoned, she started up a conversation as she revealed a hidden entrance and started walking up it.
With her short skirt and stairs...Miriel and Lyndis promptly walked behind her forcing Sain, Shadow and Raven at the back.
“So you guys joined the guild as well?” Eri asked.
“Yes” Miriel responded though not as kind as Sain expected.
“Hmm...you guys are around level 100...that's kinda low for them to let you in” Eri muttered thinking of something and then smirking.
“Actually...we joined really really early on when we were around level 56 I think” Miriel replied again.
“What?! I can't believe that Eden would let useless people join! Ah...sorry not to mean you guys are useless, anyone under level 600 would usually be rejected if and when they tried to join...not that anyone who tried to join got in” she said, “I'm guessing Eden, Alexandra or Viv sent you guys an invitation to join.”
“Yes.”
“Hmm...~” Eri kept to herself after that.
Upon exiting the cave, with a breath of flesh air, Viv was there.
“Welcome back” he said as if nothing happened at all and that he didn't throw them into a cave and then expected them to finish in a month.
“Vivvvvvvvvvvv!” Eri shouted running up and trying to hug him.
Bang!
She missed, tripped, did several back flips and landed on her head.
“....”
The group was completely silent on this. Ignoring that person, Viv then said to the group, “Judging by her being here, I believe you finished up? Yes, then let's go.”
“Umm...” Lyndis tried to point out Eri who was not moving...
“Please ignore that thing, we have to go” said Viv as if in a hurry. He went straight to the carriage, dragging the group with them and was about to leave...
“Bone Prison!”
Suddenly a wall made up of bones appeared in front of the carriage causing the bull to pull back in shock and fear. Viv gave up and sighed seeing this.
He got off the carriage moved over to Eri and introduced her to the group.
“This is Erica or Eri for short. Please introduce yourself without making me want to hit you.”
“Yes sir~! Eri here~ Level 654 Necromancer of Justice~”
Sain could have sworn that some sort of star appeared on the side of her head where she winked at them.
“And now you know and that she is in fact part of the guild as well though admittedly and thankfully one of the weaker ones” Viv said causing Eri to fake cry a bit.
“Boohoo...you are so mean! How could you say that to a fellow guild mate?” asked Eri in tears.
Viv shrugged and revealed, “The one who let you in was Al not me nor Eden. The ones we picked were at least the kind that didn't make me mad when I speak to them. Plus they are not the kind that wishes to dress me up when the opportunity arises!”
“Ahhhh....but I want to dress you up like me~”
Eri leaned closer and closer to Viv...
“Like a pretty doll” she whispered in his ear,
“I'M A GUY GOD DAMNIT!” he shouted to which he stopped and then sighed muttering, “I can't believe I just said something that Eden would have said...” completely depressed now.
“....”
Once again the group was stunned at this scene. For one, Viv was being played so easily....Sain guessed that some people had natural weaknesses and this was one of Viv's.
“Whimer...I guess I have to later play with Pato then...” said Eri in a depressed tone.
“Pato...” said Viv, “You mean that former captain guard that later turned into...a really good tailor and went from super low voice to super high voice with the same body figure?”
“No, I mean his grandson who is similar but has more muscle and a kind heart~”
“....”
“Aren't they the same then?” asked Viv with his voice strained for words.
“Not at all! I knew the first Pato and he was really good to me, got me into wearing this instead of...those bland black cloaks while the current Pato helped make this dress~” Eri swung her dress around a bit to show.
“Anyway....you know what to do Erica so get to work. Eden wants you to work...well to do those kinds of things again.” Viv held out a scroll to her.
“Yay! Eden's tasks are super fun to do for me~” she said rushing to grab the scroll and activated it to which she was covered in blue light and disappeared...teleported.
“Well that takes care of that...let's go” he said.
“Umm...” Serena interrupted.
“Yes?”
“What kind of tasks...does Eden give?” she asked.
“Hmm...hard to say but most of them are cater to the individually. For Erica it would be something related to her skills as a necromancer and nothing more. I believe some of you know what your masters do for Eden.”
He took out his hand and counted with his fingers, “Mel practises medicine, Park trains recruits in the city and Anna deals with assassinations when Eden can't be bothered and so on. If you wish, later on when you wish to have a steady job, Eden can find something for you to do.”
With that, the month long journey in a 'random' cave ended and they resumed their travel to Lily City located at the lands that are between the Western and Central Continents.
Onwards?PreviousExitNext
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Author's Notes:
- Word Count: 7900~
- Kinda had to compress 1 month of dungeon raiding into one chapter so skipped most of the content which would be 3 chapters of them exploring the place, facing monsters and traps and such to bring you this. Well it would be a good volume cliffhanger if I made them fall into a trap and leave it there...
- Just the Epilogue to do now...I'll post it tomorrow since I need to think up what to write that isn't completely boring