Everyone quickly regrouped with Maria, but this time in their usual formation. Maria looked a little drained, so everyone pulled her back to the rear of the party while Lizzy brought up the front.
The boss was still undergoing its change, so the party could only wait for it to happen as the transformation was uninterruptible due to the boss being in a state of invincibility.
The glow that was enshrouding the boss began to dim and, finally, the transformation was complete. Everyone was surprised when they saw that the tree had been split apart, but in the middle of the tree’s split trunk stood a naked, human-like figure.
“...”
This person had elf-like ears and emerald-colored eyes that glowed with a mysterious light. There was an aura surrounding the boss monster’s new form which was a little blinding, but that shine began receding until Maria and everyone could look at the boss in its new form without having to strain their eyes.
“Get ready, everyone. Its HP is still the same, but in its new form, it can move now!” Lizzy cautioned.
“[Inspect]!”
Name: Magradas, the Weeping Willow Dryad - Awakened Level: 420
“Its level has increased by 20! Be careful!”
The rest of the party members nodded and prepared to attack, but the boss monster didn’t do anything and just observed them. After a moment, it turned away and raised its hand to the remains of its previous body.
The tree trunk began wriggling and it suddenly shot towards Magradas’s body and began weaving itself into a neat brown robe. After looking down at its new attire, Magradas sighed and sat down on the tree stump of its previous body.
It looked up at the party and opened its mouth, “Thank you for freeing me from this cage. I acknowledge my defeat in battle, so here is the enchanted key to enter the castle’s West Wing.”
Before anyone could fully grasp the situation, Magradas threw the key towards the party and Maria caught it.
*DING*
You have obtained the quest item: West Wing Key!
“...What’s happening?”
“Did the boss…just admit defeat?”
“Eh???”
Everyone was still processing what was happening when another system notification window appeared in front of them.
*DING*
You have defeated Magradas, the Awakened Weeping Willow Dryad in battle!
“Ah, this means the battle is over!” Sky said as she leaned on her spear in exhaustion.
“Thank goodness.”
Everyone was really tired out right now, so they began slumping to the ground and finding a place to sit to recover their stamina.
The battle against Magradas had only taken around an hour and they had prepared for it to be much, much longer, but even then, an hour was already pretty exhausting for everyone.
Lizzy had half-expected this boss battle to take even 3 hours or so after calculating the rate they depleted the boss monster’s HP from the previous time they fought it, but thankfully, it didn’t take that long. They didn’t even have to completely defeat the monster as all they needed to do was lower Magradas’s HP to around 25 percent, which was more or less what they did earlier.
While the party members were resting, Magradas suddenly spoke up from where he sat, “Will you please hear my story?”
*DING*
Dryad Magradas would like to speak to you. Will you listen to his story? YES/NO
The prompt appeared in front of everyone, but only Maria was able to select whether or not they would listen to the boss monster.
“I smell a quest, Liz!” Maria excitedly said when she saw the prompt.
Lizzy nodded in agreement and said, “Then what are you waiting for? Accept it! We have to listen to his story now!”
Maria quickly accepted Magradas’s request and everyone’s vision suddenly distorted as they were pulled into some kind of cut-scene. This was something normal in the game, so nobody was surprised.
Everyone found themselves standing in the middle of a wide meadow and they saw a lone tree standing in the middle of it. Below this magnificent tree was some kind of glass egg that was being held up by a small pillar made of tree branches.
They could feel a faint heartbeat coming from this glass egg and Magradas suddenly appeared next to everyone.
“That is me and this place is the Great Meadow of what people now call the Vanargand Continent.”
“The Great Meadow? There’s no such meadow on the maps my subordinates drew out,” Maria mumbled to herself.
Time could change the landscape easily, so Maria deduced that this was likely a few hundred millennia from the current era. However, she could see that there were some slightly familiar places nearby.
“Wait, this meadow…it’s where the Lycan Capital City is built on, huh?”
“That’s correct, warrior. This is the location of the Lycan Capital City. A few hundreds of years later, the Wolf God, Vangandr, would descend onto this planet along with his nemesis, Garm, the Blood God.”
“Garm? That’s the name of that evil spirit that was in my–”
Maria’s mumbling was interrupted as Magradas continued to speak.
“The two Gods waged war here on this planet. Ripping it apart and even devastating it internally until, finally, both gods were mortally wounded.”
The scenery changed and it showed an impressive battle between two figures. One had a wolf’s head while the other wore a hood to cover its face, but had red eyes glowing like rubies from underneath.
The figure with a wolf’s head fought using his claws while the hooded figure with red eyes fought using a sword–a sword that Maria was quite familiar with.
“...That’s the evil blade, Garm…”
Everyone in her party heard her words, but they didn’t ask her anything and just focused on listening to Magradas’s story, since it was about the planet’s history, which rang alarm bells in everyone’s mind.
‘This is a clue about the Planet’s Main Story!’ was what everyone thought in their minds, except for Maria, who was trying to connect the lore behind the two gods, the vampires and lycans, and her Soul Weapon, Cali.
“After the battle, the Wolf God took to this landmass which is now called the Vanargand Continent and created his descendents, the lycans and werewolves, while his nemesis disappeared.”
‘Disappeared, huh? I’m guessing the Blood God’s body was severely damaged in battle and, in his desperation, transferred his soul into his weapon…’ Maria thought to herself. The first vampire was an indigenous resident of Vanhal who picked up the sword by accident and was granted power by the Blood God who was residing inside.
As time went by, the god’s injured soul deteriorated into an evil spirit as it couldn’t heal itself, so instead of bestowing power, it only bestowed madness onto its owner, which was why the Vampire Lords of each generation refrained from ever using it unless they really had to, because once they unsheathed the sword, the Blood God’s soul would immediately dominate their mind. Just like what happened with Elizabeth.
While Maria was deducing the history and background of the vampires, Magradas continued on with his story, “The Wolf God found me and trapped my yet-to-be-born spirit inside of the willow tree where he then built his castle around.”
The scene changed and it showed a wounded Vangandr whispering something to the tree.
“In my dormant state, I was nothing but a nutritious supplement for the Wolf God who he wanted to nurture inside of the willow tree to hasten my growth. Fortunately, he succumbed to his wounds before he was able to consume me and thus I was able to live on. However, in exchange for my life, I was sentenced to an eternity of imprisonment within the Willow Tree that was cursed by the Wolf God.”
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Magradas then turned to the party and bowed, “Thanks to you heroes, I was able to free myself from my prison. However, that ‘prison’ was also my long-time friend and guardian. My friend’s heart is being kept within the vaults of the Lycan Castle. Will you please retrieve my friend’s heart for me? I will reward you greatly for the trouble.”
*DING*
Quest: Willow Tree’s Heart Description: After listening to his story and finding out a bit about the background of the lycans and werewolves, Dryad Magradas wishes for you to retrieve his dear friend’s heart that is being locked inside the Wolf God’s secret vault! The key to the vault is always with the Lycan King. Objective: Retrieve the Weeping Willow’s Heart (0/1) Time limit: None Reward: ???
The scene changed and everyone found themselves back inside of the castle’s garden. Before Maria accepted the quest, she told everyone that they needed to exit the dungeon and remake their party.
Hendrick and Curio understood that they were just replacements, so the quest wasn’t something they could accept. They did feel that it was a bit regrettable, but it was fine. Their friends were still going to be the ones who accepted the quest, so they’d still be able to benefit from the rewards in a way.
They quickly rushed to the entrance of the dungeon and left. Once they were outside, Maria added Cindy and Lilith back to the party and, after taking a short break, they made their way back to Magradas, who was still waiting for their reply. Maria ran up to him and initiated the dialogue again and she quickly accepted his request.
“Don’t worry, Magradas. We’ll retrieve your friend’s heart from the lycans!”
Magradas smiled upon hearing Maria’s words and said, “Thank you, brave warriors. The key to the secret vault is being kept by the Lycan King. To aid in your battle against him, please accept my blessing.”
*DING*
You have been blessed by the Dryad, Magradas!
Name: Dryad’s Grace Effects:
- Increases all stats by 10%
- All skill cooldowns have been reduced by 25%
- While in combat, HP, MP, and SP will recover 50% faster
- While out of combat, HP, MP, and SP will recover 200% faster
- The efficacy of all potions will increase by 100% Duration: Blessing will remain active while the player is in the dungeon Warning: The blessing will be deactivated when exiting the dungeon. It will reactive once entering the dungeon again
“Wow, this is the first time I’ve received a quest where the reward isn’t specified,” Cindy exclaimed as she looked through the quest menu.
“Really? This is your first?” Maria asked, feeling a bit surprised because, for her, this was the usual kind of quest that she receives.
Most of the quests she’s done have had rewards that were completely unknown. Naturally, most of the rewards were useful, but there were some that, despite being valuable, had little to no use for Maria, so she had to stash those away in her treasury.
These quests basically gave wildcard rewards that could either be useful for the person receiving the reward or entirely useless to them. Of course, the reward might not be useful for them, but for someone else, it could be extremely precious.
Maria’s treasury was filled with various high-quality items that were completely useless to her because she got them as a reward for completing those kinds of quests. The only reason why she didn’t sell them or throw them away was because she knew she could give them to her friends if they found any of the items she'd stashed away useful.
“It’s my first time as well,” Lilith raised her hand and said. “I’m guessing you’re pretty used to this, Maria? Since you don’t seem too surprised.”
Maria nodded at her friend’s words and replied, “Yeah, most of the quests I completed had their rewards completely shrouded in mystery. The rewards were sometimes useful and sometimes totally useless for me.”
“Hmm…”
“Ah, but I think some of you guys might find them pretty useful. I’ll take you guys to my treasury back in Transylvania as an extra reward after we complete this dungeon. You can pick out anything you like, since most of the stuff I got from those quests are items I can’t even use anyway.”
“Are you sure that’s okay? Cindy asked. “I mean, even if you don’t use them, I’m guessing that they must be pretty valuable since you kept them with you instead of selling or throwing them away, right?”
“It’s fine. I can’t use them myself, so rather than having those items collecting dust in my castle, it'd be better if they were given away as rewards to people who can put them to good use!”
“O-Oh…Okay…”
The girls were walking through a long corridor just beyond the castle’s Gardens which they had just conquered. According to Magradas, this corridor that they opened with the key he gave them, would lead the party to the castle’s West Wing’s entrance.
Seeing that Lizzy and Sky were composed and didn’t talk too much about the quest they suddenly received from the boss NPC they just defeated, Lilith spoke up and asked them, “What about you two? Have you guys encountered a quest like this before?”
“I have had my fair share of these quests,” Sky nodded and said in reply. “From my experience, the quality of the rewards increases by how well you complete the quest.”
Lizzy agreed with Sky’s words and added, “Yes, what Sky says is true. In my experience as well, completing a quest like this with Mary, how well we perform can drastically change the final reward we receive from the quest giver!”
“So, how do we perform better then?” Cindy quickly asked.
“These quests have hidden objectives to them. You can only find them while doing the quest, so we have to pay close attention to any small detail because it could have a lead to a hidden objective that we can complete to raise the quest’s ‘hidden progression bar’.”
“He~h, That’s a really neat function,” Cindy replied as she began thinking about the cutscene that Magradas had them watch before accepting the quest.
Everyone was forced to watch the cutscene again before they could accept the quest, so despite Cindy and Lilith not being there the first time around, the two of them were still able to watch the cutscene because it was forced on everyone again when they talked to Magradas to accept the quest after returning to him.
Cindy was thinking hard about that cutscene to see if she could find any clues from it. The cutscene was the greatest hint that Magradas gave to them that could point towards the quest’s hidden objectives.
“The cutscene is our biggest clue at the moment…We should analyze the cutscene and see if we can pick up anything that might serve as a clue to one of the hidden objectives!”
Lizzy nodded and said, “Me and Sky have been trying to find clues by looking through the recording, but we haven’t found anything yet. Magradas only kept yammering about the Wolf God and the Weeping Willow’s Heart. He may not show it, but I’m guessing he really hates the Wolf God, right?”
Sky nodded at Lizzy’s words and said, “Since he hates the Wolf God, he’d naturally hate the Wolf God’s descendents too, right?”
“I guess…but he seemed so apathetic. Like he didn’t care about them at all,” Lilith replied.
“Remember how we had to exterminate every lycan in the garden before we could unlock his area? Maybe he wants us to eliminate all of the lycans as a hidden objective.”
“It doesn’t hurt to try doing that.”
While the girls were analyzing the cutscene and nitpicking every detail, Maria suddenly spoke up and nonchalantly said, “Do you guys know that you can also force the best rewards out of the quest giver?”
“Eh?”
“...What?”
“Huh?”
While the others were dumbfounded, Rafflesia suddenly asked, “A-Are you suggesting that we rob the NPC?”
“Heh, at least one of you understood,” Maria replied with a smirk before continuing. “The answer is both a ‘yes’ and a ‘no’. We won’t be robbing the NPC, we’ll only coax him into giving us the best rewards… Of course, you can only do this if you have a big Reputation value.”
Lizzy gave her friend the stink eye and asked, “I guess you’ve done it before, huh?”
“Yup~ I mean, I’m the Queen of this fucking planet! If you don’t want me to toss you off of this rock, then don’t make me angry! Hahahahaha!”
“She’s gone into full-blown villain mode, hasn’t she?” Lilith leaned towards Lizzy and whispered.
“...That’s just how she always is, unfortunately…”
“Of course, leave it to Maria to figure out an unconventional way to get the best of the rewards!” Rafflesia said with eyes full of admiration.
Naturally, the girls didn’t ask what Maria did to the poor NPCs she extorted rewards from, but from her playful demeanor, it probably wasn’t anything serious and she probably just got better rewards due to her immensely high Reputation value. She was the Queen of a nation after all and her citizens practically worshiped her like a goddess.
It was quite impossible to ‘steal’ from an NPC unless you killed said NPC. Everyone here knew that Maria treated NPCs just like real people, so killing one of them was the last thing she’d do unless she really had to or was part of some quest she was given.
Maria put her quest’s completion above anything else and this was evident from her destruction of a planet just because it was a quest from her previous boss, the Dark God, Death.
The party finally made it to the castle’s West Wing and they gained access to it with the key that they got from defeating Magradas.
“This should be the last area that we need to explore before we go on to fight the Lycan King.”
“The last area, huh…but don’t you guys think it’s pretty massive? I mean, compared to the East Wing, this part of the castle is at least 3 times larger…”
“That’s only because the West Wing’s area also includes the places outside of the castle. We can probably ignore those areas…hopefully…”
“I don’t think we should though! Remember, we still need to find those hidden objectives and try to get the best reward possible from Magradas’s quest!” Cindy reminded everyone.
“Nothing changes then. We’ll still be exploring every inch of this place. Other than finding those hidden objectives for the quest, I’m sure there’s a lot of chests and other valuables that we can plunder here!” Lizzy said while looking at the interior design of the castle’s West Wing.
Maria smiled at her words and said, “This part of the castle looks a lot richer than the previous areas we had ransacked. I’m sure there’s a lot of valuables to plunder here~”
She may have forgotten, but once the castle’s raid was completed and they conquered the dungeon, this castle would go to her. Maria was literally robbing her own house, so to speak.
What more, she was even giving her friends permission to rob the place as well. It was funny, but Maria only thought about the moment. The future where this castle does become hers hasn’t arrived yet, so she didn’t stress about it too much.
They didn’t immediately begin exploring just yet. The girls stopped for a break, but it wasn’t because they were tired. Lizzy, Cindy, and the other 3 girls were busy analyzing the cutscene video and trying to find hints about the hidden objectives of Magradas’s Quest.
Maria naturally did share the info that the quest could have more than one hidden objective. Most quests like these had multiple hidden objectives, so they didn’t need to focus on just finding about one.
She told them that if one hidden objective could be plausible from the clues that they gathered–no matter how absurd it may be–then that could be one of the hidden objectives.
It wouldn’t hurt to try it out, even though it may seem absurd, because in the end, they wouldn’t know if it was the hidden objective or not until after they cashed in on the quest and waited for the quest giver’s verdict on how well they did and how much their quest completion rate was.
Maria remembered that some of the hidden objectives she had to do were extremely absurd, so she was speaking from experience. The girls naturally took her words to heart because it was coming from a person that always did these kinds of quests.
However, instead of speeding up the discussion like Maria had hoped for, her advice only dragged it out even longer.