Pausing momentarily to think, Michael moved forward with his remaining goons and bent over to check the dead Monk.
He wasn't interested in whatever worldly possessions such a dumb person has; rather, he was curious if he could 'store' him like he did the child in Nevesk.
"Hopefully, it works; otherwise, I might have to burn or dismember your body, Monk. I've seen enough zombie movies to know how wrong leaving you out here could go. Also, I'm pretty sure you would prefer to be buried in the more civilized part of the Sanctuary rather than in the stomach of Ghouls or other beasts roaming about..."
Touching the dead man's shoulder, Michael could store him in his inventory, now having another casket to deliver.
"Priest Matvey in Margrave, huh? Well... It's 30 renown points, so I'll do it."
Unsurprisingly, after traveling for a while longer, more Phantom Soldiers and Archers ambushed him.
They had a very unpleasant way of materializing out of thin air around the unsuspecting traveler, making Michael scold them for their shamelessness.
A strange thing dropped after dealing with them, except for another 59 gold coins. Judging by the light blue in the system's appraising interface, it should be another Quest Item.
[ Sealed Exorcist's Cache
Quest Item: 'Exorcist's Cache'
----------------
Description: A magically sealed box. An engraving reads: 'Take the spirits of the restless dead and grant them peace in return.' ]
Unsurprisingly, just a moment later, another potential 30 renown points jumped at the Necromancer.
[ New Quest issued - Exorcist's Cache
Objective: Gather spirit anima from the undead
Description: You found a cache infused with powerful magic. You must collect spirit anima to lay the dead to rest and open the cache. ]
Unfortunately for Michael, there was no moment wasted in the wilderness. Maybe because of the strange cache, but from afar, an over two-meter-tall bulky humanoid creature led a group of seven wild Skeletons stomping their way to his position.
The lumbering fellow was dressed in guard armor and had a long two-handed sword, which he easily carried in his right hand.
Judging by the creature's gait and skeleton head, there was no doubt that this was not easy to deal with.
[ Skeleton (Minion) - Level 14 ]
[ Shattering Revenant (Elite) - Level 15
*Frozen: Summons two balls of frost. Upon explosion, they freeze and deal 100 fixed damage in a five-meter radius. ]
Michael's face fell when he saw the Elite. Cursing his bad luck, he had his minions advance to block the incoming enemies.
The three goons were responsible for the Skeletons, while Pathfinder had to block the Shattering Revenant.
All went well in the beginning, with Michael actually managing to make quick work of the seven Skeletons and even dropped the Elite's Life down to half when the fucker decided to use his skill.
To be fully frozen in ice and feel your skin burn due to the low temperature was an incredible experience that the Necromancer never wanted to go through in his life.
Fortunately, with the superior numbers of his minions. Michael managed to have the goons block the Shattering Revenant long enough for the Frozen status to disappear.
With the creature dead, Michael couldn't help but walk closer and kick its corpse with endless fury.
"That hurt like a motherfucker! What the hell!? How is it balanced to have such a creature just roam around the goddamn wilderness? If I was a solo magic Class, if this fucker would've frozen and pounced on me with his minions, wouldn't it have been game over!?"
Shivering - either due to the aftereffects of the skill or due to incredible fear of the dreadful possibility - Michael kicked the Corpse of the Elite one more time for good measure.
As the Corpse flew a couple of meters away, another strange cache and a blue item box stood in its place.
"At least you weren't stingy... Let's see... Hungering Bone Cache? The hell? Is it another Quest Item?"
[ Hungering Bone Cache
Quest item: 'Hungering Bone Cache'
-----------------------
Description: A sealed box with an engraving saying: 'Vengence is my legacy. Take the spirits of the werewolves, and I will open.' ]
And sure enough, the Quest followed soon after.
[ New Quest issued - Hungering Bone Cache
Objective: Harvest death anima from the Werewolves
Description: You found a cache sealed by powerful magic. To open it, you must slay werewolves in this area and feed their death motes to its hungering lock. ]
Reading the description twice over, Michael couldn't help but want to throw away the strange thing. From his reading and watching experience, anything that needs to be fed with souls or 'death motes' of the slain creatures shouldn't be a good thing.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
After considering it for a moment longer, he sighed and threw it in his Quest Inventory to rot in there until he checked with someone more knowledgeable.
Grabbing the blue item box on the ground, he swallowed and opened it.
"And now for the goodies. Please be something good, please be something good!"
[ Harmonious Strider's Tunic
Torso: Magic Chest Armor
Item Power: 112
---------------------
196 Armor
* +3 to All stats ]
Laughing, he didn't hesitate for a moment and simply unequipped his current tunic to replace it with its better version.
[ Dark Strider's Tunic
Torso: Magic Chest Armor
Item Power: 54
---------------------
94 Armor
* 1.0% Shadow Damage ]
Not only would he gain a total of an extra 12 attribute points, but also a full 102 Armor by swapping with this piece.
"Great! Now I'm even safer than before! Talk about luck! Hehe! Let's see... the light is still there, so I should have about another hour or so left until it's total darkness. My Life points also regenerated fully, thanks to the new ring."
Maybe talking to himself and wildly shouting in happiness wasn't the brightest of ideas, but Michael felt the need to express his feelings. After all, with such major luck these past few days, who wouldn't be happy?
The Shattering Revenant's Freeze dealt 100 points of damage to him, which he easily recovered passively by staying out of combat as he looted its dead body.
With full Life and Essence, Michael continued exploring the area while looking at the MAP and realizing that he somehow managed to head North instead of East toward his Main Quest.
"Uhm... fuck! Well, no use crying over spilled milk, but I need to make a note to constantly check the MAP in the future. I'm unsure if my sense of direction is poor or if some special effects are in play. Huh!? You've got to be kidding me... another dead body?"
[*Cough**Cough**Cough*](?)
Looking ahead, maybe twenty meters or so, Michael noticed a 'body' lying on the snow in front of a small bridge.
If not for the bloody coughs and the drag marks left on the ground by the man trying to move forward, Michael would've thought him dead.
Approaching fast but cautiously in case it was a trap, the man saw Michael moving in his direction, and his eyes lit up.
[Over...*Cough*... here! Please...](?)
Standing before the man, Michael realized it was another heavily wounded Wanderer.
Actually, judging by the depth of the wound on his chest, mortally wounded was more appropriate.
The system identified the man as Sir Cromwell, shocking Michael. This NPC seemed important if the Sanctuary decided he was worthy of being identified!
"That looks bad... I'm not sure if my Weak Healing Potion can patch you up."
[Listen carefully... I haven't much time. One of our men, Lord Avitus, was felled in the ancient city beneath the mountain. We carried his body to the Ossuary, but...](Sir Cromwell)
'He stood up and started massacring all of you stupid idiots...'
[He arose... thirsting for blood. Only I escaped. *Cough* Please... you must slay him.](Sir Cromwell)
Before Michael could get a word in, the man died. The 'important' NPC kicked the bucket as soon as he finished handing over the Quest.
[ New Quest issued - The Dread Martyr
Objective: Enter the Hollowed Ossuary
Description: A dying Cathedral knight told you of his fallen comrade who rose again with a vampiric curse.
He asked that you brave the Hollowed Ossuary and slay Lord Avitus. ]
"Yeah... no. That sounds like a pain in the ass. Not to mention that it definitely is a goddamn horror location. And you want me to go there alone? Nah, man, fuck that! I'll get my party to join if I can share it, and if not, I'll just let Prava know what happened. She can handle the rest."
A spirit of adventure was good, but stupidly rushing headfirst into a dangerous location was a warning sign of dead neurons.
Since he managed to gather four Side Quests and a really good tunic, Michael was ready to return to Kyovashad and continue his exploration tomorrow morning.
It wouldn't have been a problem if the sky was clear and the moon bright. But the fog kept blurring his field of view, limiting it to barely ten meters or so.
"Well then, let's see where the markers for the Side Quests are, and I'll deal with it tomorrow. Let's see... one of them is..."
Seeing a golden circle cover his location and extend to the size of a big stadium back on Earth, Michael closed the MAP and entered full alert.
Three strange statue-like things rose from the ground around him, further making the poor Necromancer pale.
"Just give me a break, would you!? What sort of bullshit is going on this time!?"
[ World Event joined - Ancient Syphon
Objective: Survive the enemy assault for 3 minutes.
Mastery: Satiate 3 Ancient Syphons by slaying enemies near them - 0/3.
Description: A powerful Vampire has been sealed in this area. Now, its blood thrals are trying to destroy the Ancient Syphons created to drain the life and energy of the creature.
With the seal broken and unable to cage back the Vampire, you must bathe the Ancient Syphons in the blood of the thrals. Only by doing so can you survive the calamity! ]
Shrieks and growls followed as three blood circles appeared around the shrines, intersecting in the middle where Michael was.
Gulping and looking ahead, Michael saw with horror Ghouls, Skeletons, Phantom Warriors, and two Elite Revenants charging at him.
The small horde crashed into him and his minions without giving him any time to react.
[ Skeleton Warrior (Minion) - Level 15 ]
[ Ghoul (Minion) - Level 14 ]
[ Phantom Warrior (Minion) - Level 15 ]
[ Shattering Revenant (Elite) - Level 16
*Frozen: Summons three balls of frost. Upon explosion, they freeze and deal 70 fixed damage in a five-meter radius. ]
[ Fortified Revenant (Elite) - Level 16
*Shield - Generates a shield protecting from all incoming attacks, equal to 75% of total Life points. ]
What followed next was utter chaos. Fortunately or unfortunately, the monsters focused their attention on the Necromancer rather than the Ancient Syphons, allowing himself enough space to kill the creatures inside the red circles.
The bad part was that he didn't escape unscathed. The Skeleton Warriors couldn't aggro the Elites, who instead rushed at Michael. He had no choice but to fight them both in melee range.
After three minutes had passed and all enemies had been slain, Michael stood on the ground weakly, his left arm barely hanging by the bone and a very large gaping wound in the left portion of his abdomen.
He had already used all his potions to survive the debacle and was now counting on the ring's passive health regeneration to recover enough.
"Why the fuck doesn't it activate!? Fuuuck, this hurts so bad! Shit! I'm I not out of combat yet!?"
Realizing the severity of his situation, Michael used Raise Skeletons twice and repositioned himself in the middle of a pile of Corpses.
With all his minions alive, Michael quickly grabbed two blue item boxes and threw them into the inventory while waiting for the Boss to spawn.
Surely enough, a few minutes later, swords of blood formed above the three Ancient Syphons. Without giving anyone time to think of their purpose, the three swords stabbed into the ground, producing a deafening shriek of pain.
"Fuck! So there's a Boss, after all... Damn it! What's this stupid fucking bad luck!? Since when are Bosses this fucking common?"
A hand rose through the ground in front of Michael, similar to something you'd see in a bad horror flick.
Moments later, the Necromancer stood face to face with a levitating corpse. Actually, rather than levitating, Michael wasn't sure if the robe that touched the ground was acting as support, but he was 100% certain that the creature didn't have legs.
[ Recov Razorpulse (Boss downgraded to Elite) - Level 17
*Vampiric: Each successful hit on an enemy heals you for 45% of the damage dealt. ]
Seeing the description of how the Vampire was downgraded to an Elite and remembering the three bloody swords, as well as the Event's description, Michael sported an ugly grin on his face.
"Hehe! Welcome back to the world above, fuckface! Time to send you back under."
*ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAR*
Even if the creature was unwilling, with Michael's Skeletons blocking the way and the Necromancer shamelessly attacking from behind them, there was nothing much it could do.
Unfortunately for the Necromancer in question, downgraded or not, a Boss was still a Boss. It somehow managed to teleport behind Michael and took a swipe at him with its long claws.
"AAAAAAAARGH! Fuck! My leg!"
Even with his instinctive response to danger, the claws still managed to dig into his right calf, cutting the flesh down to the bone as the poor bastard rolled away, opening up the injuries on his abdomen and left hand.
Recov Razorpulse managed to regenerate its Life points back to half, making Michael's attempts at killing it for the past ten minutes useless.
Fortunately, after another half an hour of pain and struggle, the Boss finally fell under a combination of Bone Prison, Blight, and crazily using Corpse Explosion at the location he baited it to.
Dizzy from blood loss, Michael grabbed the item box on the ground and ignored the gold coins as he channeled the fast travel.
[ World Event complete - Ancient Syphon
Reward 1: 1,050 experience
Reward 2: 250 gold coins. ]
Michael tumbled through the portal while giving the middle finger to the stupid system that threw him into such a ridiculously dangerous event.