Thanking his ancestors for the manic episode where he continuously fought in his mind for a long time, Michael rejoiced at the almost instinctive defensive action.
'I felt the air around me change before seeing the sword. I could sense something descending toward me. Fighting that many Revenant Elites in my head created some imaginary muscle memory, from the looks of it. Seeing that huge-ass red sword, it would easily cleave me in two and then leave a deep cut on the ground if it hit.'
Michael didn't even bother with the charging Corpsefiends, as the dark haze from his Corpse Explosion still affected the room. Not for long, though...
The Elite and the minions took continuous damage, killing the pitiful fatties before they could reach their target.
Unfortunately, the effect of Corpse Explosion quickly dissipated, forcing the Necromancer to activate the skill once more around Lord Avitus while also having his Reapers engage in a melee.
He sweated while throwing all his skills at the giant, realizing that this was the first creature shameless enough to have four modifiers.
'Fuck's sake! Even the Ghoul Boss had only one. How the hell does this fucker have four!? Is it because of the Quest?'
The Elite was strong. Annoyingly so.
Every time the Reapers closed on it, it would swing its three-meter-long sword and send them flying. Also, it would shamelessly curse the ground ahead of it, dealing continuous damage to the Reapers.
Michael already revived the Goons three times and Pathfinder five. Fortunately, this shameless Lord Avitus didn't have teleportation skills, so he was easily baited on top of a mound of dead Ghouls, trapped using Bone Prison, and finally ground to death.
The Blast Wave helped even more, as the damage it dealt was between 125 and 175 points, so Michael would run at the Elite once it discharged and promptly activate his Blood Mist to avoid being cut in half.
"Fucker! So what if it's a shameless combo? You were even more shameless than I was! The fuck was that explosions at the end!?"
Looking at the buckler with 42/100 left of its durability, Michael sat down and drank a Healing Potion, as his health was down to 62/180.
Once Lord Avitus was almost dead, it decided to take him down with him and literally turned the room inside out. Michael put the shield to cover his face and upper body but was still sent hurtling through the air and smashed like a fly against the wall.
Looking at the single blue item box and a ragged cache on the ground, Michael wanted to find the Elite's corpse to kick, but it was already spread all across the room.
[ Quest complete - The Dread Martyr
Reward 1: 6,720 experience
Reward 2: 800 Gold coins
Reward 3: Ore Cache ]
The air around him displaced again, only this time around, the effect of Inarius's blessing was already gone.
After killing three Elites and plenty of other minions, Michael already had reached 1625/3,120 for his current level.
Gaining such a massive reward on top of it quickly made him rise through the ranks.
"Level 15, with 1,975/3,380 out of my current experience bar. Holy shit! That's just... ridiculous!"
Helen's Elixir, which he took right after entering the Dungeon, only seemed to affect the experience gained through kills. Nevertheless, three Elites and maybe around 40-50 monsters managed to reward him with over 1600 points, which was much more than he expected.
"Now, I can finally summon Skeletal Mages as well. And I have two Skill Points to assign. After using these two, I'll open the next Tier in the Skill Tree. Let's add these two points to Skeletal Mages Mastery."
Seeing the passive skill mention how it increased the Life points and damage of his newly added minions by 40%, Michael was stunned and speechless.
Grinnining and watching the plenty of Corpses remaining on the ground in the room, Michael first opened the Book Of The Dead and checked what options he had for his new addition.
[ Skeletal Mages
*Shadow - Spirit casters that deal Shadow damage.
-Perk 1 - +10% chance to stun for two seconds; can only happen to the same enemy once every five seconds.
-Perk 2 - Fire an additional shadow bolt every sixth attack.
Sacrifice - +15 maximum essence; unable to summon all types of Skeletal Mages.
*Cold - Spirits that chill, then freeze targets.
-Perk 1 - Gain +2 essence when Cold Mages deal damage with their normal attack.
-Perk 2 - Enemies frozen or damaged while frozen by your Cold Mages become vulnerable for three seconds.
-Sacrifice - +15% damage against vulnerable enemies; unable to summon all types of Skeletal Mages.
*Bone - Mages that deal damage using a part of their own HP.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
-Perk 1 - The HP lost per attack is reduced by 5%; +40% damage if the Bone Mage remains alive after five seconds.
-Perk 2 - Gain a percentage of fortify and leave behind a corpse whenever a Bone Mage dies.
-Sacrifice - +30% overpower damage; unable to summon all types of Skeletal Mages. ]
Michael ignored the Shadow and Bone options and directly picked the Cold Skeletal Mages.
"Wasn't this exactly what I was missing!? A way to control my enemies! Even if they don't get frozen, just slowing down is more than enough to give me time to outmaneuver them. Especially when I lack control skills besides the Bone Prison."
Just as he happily selected the Cold Skeletal Mages, the interface denied the option, advising of his insufficient level.
Only then did Michael notice.
"Fuck! I must be Level 18 for the Cold Mages and Level 22 for Bone Mages!? Shit! That means that I'm stuck with the Shadow ones for now..."
Selecting the first perk and deciding to count on RNG for control, Michael used his Raise Skeletons on the remaining corpses in the room.
After four uses, the familiar Reapers were ready to fight once more. Then, another three 'newbies' joined the party.
Not only were the Mages levitating above the ground, but their garments were also different from the Warriors, showing the flair of a scholar.
"There's no weapon in their hands, so I guess they cast Shadow bolts freely?"
Remembering the ranged attacks of the previous Vampire Elite that almost wrecked his left shoulder, Michael looked in anticipation at Accountants 1, 2, and 3.
Seeing their scholarly disposition, it would be a shame for them to be called simply Mages, as it would sully their prestige.
He didn't forget the Magic item, either.
[ Brutal Boot Blade
Magic Sword
145 Item Power
-----------------
71 Damage Per Second
* [52 - 78] Damage per Hit
* 1.10 Attacks per Second (Fast Weapon)
* +1.5% Critical Strike Damage
-----------------
* +1.0% Core Skill Damage ]
Michael entertained the idea of swinging two swords and fighting with the enemy creatures but quickly dropped the foolish act when he remembered how Lord Avitus almost bisected him.
Of course, besides the item box, there was also the Ore Cache. With this one, he now had three in total.
"I guess I should free up some space since my Equipment Inventory is getting crowded."
Selecting to open the first two cache he gained earlier through his Quests, Michael gained the following items:
-2 Blightshade
-1 Lifesbane
-8 Gallowvine
-2 Biteberry
-1 Reddamine
-1 Howler Moss
-2 Veiled Crystals
The first items were Alchemy ingredients, while the Veiled Crystals appeared to be used for something else. Thinking of Zivek, Michael decided to ask the next time he met the man.
Next, he opened up the Ore Cache as well, gaining the following:
-12 Iron Chunks
-6 Silver Ore
Knowing how these items would be needed for his future equipment upgrades, Michael smiled happily and decided to continue exploring.
"Hmm? What's this?"
A red piece of paper stood in the place where Lord Avitus decided to go out with a BANG, drawing Michael's attention.
With how well it blended with the surrounding blood and gore, the Necromancer was quite amazed at his observation skills.
Upon approaching the item, the Sanctuary helped him identify it as 'Bloody Parchment.' Fortunately, if there was something to read, it seemed like the system had his back.
"Sure enough, it seems to belong to that Lord Avitus. I'll read it first, bring it back to Helen alongside the bodies I gathered, and ask for her opinion. *Sigh* I have the body of a monk and a noble. All I need is a merchant, and I might as well leave Fractured Peaks before all factions start hunting me."
The parchment was covered in blood, yet the letters seemed particularly striking. It was as if the ink was imbued with the writer's feelings, unwilling to be covered by the red substance.
[I killed for my faith, burned and tortured.](Lord Avitus)
"Shit... now that's one way to start a journal if you'd ever keep one... Also, speaking of faith? Do nobles also believe in Inarius?"
[When I died in that forsaken place, it was without the grace of the Light. Their path to salvation led me only into darkness. Now, it is the blood that gives me purpose. I will drink the life of this world... forever.](Lord Avitus)
Michael was shaken as he read the last words on the page. It seems Lord Avitus regained consciousness upon being awoken as a Revenant. Yet, when Michael met him, he only attacked and commanded his minions to attack.
"Could it be that he lost his sense of self later on? Maybe it concerns his four modifiers, even if he was only an Elite. After all, if he were as willing to be turned as he let people know in this parchment, it would make sense for him to embrace the power given rather than fight it. Or maybe I'm overthinking things, and he simply didn't deem me worthy of talking to. He was a noble and all... They are known to be arrogant in the novels I've read."
Furthermore, this noble seemed to be an ally of the Cathedral of Light. His faith was indeed placed in Father Inarius, yet he felt betrayed when he died and the 'Light' didn't save him.
As for being saved from death or being brought into Inarius's kingdom or something, Michael didn't know for sure since he wasn't aware of what the Cathedral of Light preached.
"To make matters worse, now that the Side Quest is done, I must only complete the Dungeon. However, from the looks of it, there are at least another three Elites that I must kill."
Michael noticed that small purple lights would rush at him each time an Elite fell. When he realized they weren't dangerous, he inspected the progress bar for the Animus collection and found out what they were.
He was now about halfway done with his cleaning.
"Animus... could it be a part of their souls? Or consciousness?"
Sighing at the knowledge he was obviously lacking, Michael soldiered on and continued wrecking mobs in the Dungeon. With the addition of the Shadow Mages, he wouldn't necessarily have to act even if two or three Corpsefiends rushed at him.
At most, he would throw a Bone Prison occasionally to obstruct the road to him or the more rowdy Corpsefiends.
The following two Elites also came as a pair comprising the same Revenant-Vampire combination.
[ Gundir Sloughloam (Elite) - Level 17
*Poison Enchanted - Attacks an area and poisons all enemies within its range. Afflicted enemies suffer 20 points of damage per second. ]
[ Cadogan Iceblade (Elite) - Level 18
*Cold Enchanted - All attacks deal an extra 25 Cold damage. ]
Gundir's poisonous attack was stupidly strong, especially when combined with another attack that froze the Skeletons in place.
Fortunately, plenty of other minions of those two Elites decided to join the fray, only to become targets for Corpse Explosion and Raise Skeletons.
Also, these two Elites were cheap, only awarding the Necromancer a common item box and a magic one.
[ Simple Dagger
Magic Dagger
120 Item Power
-----------------
54 Damage Per Second
* [36 - 54] Damage per Hit
* 1.20 Attacks per Second (Very Fast Weapon)
* +3.0% Damage to close enemies ]
[ Harmonius Basic Greatsword
Magic Two-Handed Sword
131 Item Power
-----------------
121 Damage Per Second
* [97 - 145] Damage per Hit
* 1.0 Attacks per Second (Fast Weapon)
* +3.0% Critical Strike Damage
-----------------
* +10 to All Stats ]
Also, both items were trash in Michael's eyes. It took another half an hour, but he finally was able to find the last Elite after cleaning plenty of Plague Maggots and Ghouls, which barely awarded him ten experience points each.
Still, the Elites were quite generous, and Michael calculated that he gained about 250 points from each kill, with only Lord Avitus being more generous and donating 500 to the Necromancer's cause.
[ Orsova Doomspawn (Elite) - Level 18
*Summoner - Summon two Revenenants equal to your level. ]
As Orsova was also a Vampire, it took Michael over ten minutes to finish him off, mainly because the bastard would turn into small bats and keep disappearing from one location to another.
The Necromancer had to clear four waves of its summons before he could finally slay the last Elite needed.
"A blue item box! Neat. Hmm? Another piece of paper? Also bloodstained? What's with these people and blood!?"