After uttering her words, the darkness that had been covering the room retracted back into Maria’s body, turning the room back into its normal state. Seeing the sudden change, everyone watching thought that the battle was over. They saw Maria drain the life out of Rudina, so she did decide to kill her in the end, but it wasn’t over.
In the next instant, everyone saw that from Maria’s body, the pitch black darkness that she had retracted came surging out of her again, but this time, it didn’t cover the entire hall. Instead, it surged towards Rudina’s corpse and slowly began to taint it. The darkness drilling into the corpse began to change its skin, turning it into a pitch black color. Tendrils of darkness wriggled underneath Rudina’s skin and it made for an extremely eerie display. Things began to click in a few people’s heads and they now understood what Maria meant by her previous words.
“Once you’ve caught my eye, you don’t get to die~”
Maria was going to turn Rudina into one of her Shadow Puppets!
Wait, can she do that? Even to a boss monster? This is just crazy! I thought it was only limited to normal monsters! Just how powerful will the monster created from Rudina’s corpse be?
There was excitement laced in everyone’s comments as they flooded the chats from each of Maria’s friends’ streams.
“S-She’s going to convert Rudina into one of her shadow puppets! Is this even possible?” Lilith asked.
“...It seems that way,” Lizzy said, as she too was unsure of how her friend’s skill worked.
Since Rudina was an NPC and not a monster, Maria’s [Unholy Raise] didn’t work, but it did manage to reanimate her corpse for a moment. Everyone watching could see that Rudina hadn’t fully become a shadow puppet as they thought would happen. Maria frowned when she noticed this as well. Usually, her [Unholy Raise] skill would work, so she couldn’t wrap her head around why it was failing this time around.
She really wanted Rudina in her ranks because of her unique ghost summoning ability. She was unwilling to believe that her skill had failed to work, so Maria tried it again. Some of the viewers thought that because Rudina’s quality level as a boss monster was just too high, it was only natural that Maria would fail in her attempt to resurrect her as one of her puppets.
It has to be mentioned that Maria had made many successful attempts at creating shadow puppets using fresh, high-quality boss monster corpses in the past. She didn’t believe for a second that Rudina could be any different from the previous boss monsters she had converted into puppets.
The gears in her mind turned as Maria continued to try over and over again to reanimate Rudina. After a moment, Maria finally remembered how she raised Calen, her Undead Champion who was previously a boss-level NPC, from the dead and quickly pulled out her [Necronomicon].
“Dammit, of course it wouldn’t work! [Unholy Raise] only works on monsters! Rudina is an NPC!”
Holding the [Necronomicon] in one hand while the other was tightly gripping onto Rudina’s head, Maria activated her book’s unique ability and shouted, “Rise!”
A dark green magic circle appeared around Rudina’s corpse and tendrils of darkness rose from the ground around Maria. The darkness from Maria’s [Unholy Raise] skill was still present inside of Rudina’s corpse, so her resurrection was affected by it in a way Maria couldn’t have imagined. The tendrils of darkness that rose from the ground around Rudina’s corpse began to pierce into its flesh and disintegrate it into nothingness until all that remained was a wriggling blob of darkness that hovered silently in the middle of the air.
The ball of darkness started changing shape until it resembled Rudina when she was still alive, except that her appearance was much darker than before. She wasn’t entirely pitch black like Maria’s other shadow puppets. She was greyer and instead of resembling a shadow, she resembled a ghost.
“[Inspect]!”
Name: Ghost Queen Rudina Level: 50 HP: 20,000/20,000
MP: 70,000/70,000
SP: 2,300/2,300 EXP: 0/500,000 STR: 200
AGI: 1,000
VIT: 400
INT: 700 Skills: [Soul Drain Lv. 1], [Soul Extraction Lv. 1], [Hymn of the Dead Lv. 1], [Ultimate Skill: Ghost Festival Lv. 1] Promotion: Unavailable (Lv. 60) Evolution: N/A
Skill: Soul Drain Level: 1 Rank: B Description: The Ghost Queen uses her powers to slowly drain the living essence out of a live creature. Decreases the target’s HP, MP, and SP by 1% every 2 seconds for 30 seconds and restores the same amount of stolen resources to a designated target Channeling time: 30 seconds Cooldown: 60 seconds MP Cost: 10% of total MP
Skill: Soul Extraction Level: 1 Rank: A Description: The Ghost Queen extracts the soul of a freshly killed creature and uses it to strengthen or weaken a target’s attributes by 10%. Effects can be stacked up to 5 times Duration: 20 seconds Cooldown: 40 seconds MP Cost: 1,000 MP
Skill: Hymn of the Dead Level: 1 Description: Rudina’s woeful cries decreases the DEF and M.DEF of any enemy creature within 10-meters of itself and increases the ATK, A.SPD, and M.SPD of all allies that possess the [Ghost] trait and grants them the [Traceless] buff
This was the first time Maria saw the [Traceless] buff, so she quickly opened its description menu.
Buff: Traceless Description: Grants the ability to pass through solid objects and become Immune to all forms of damage, except Pure Damage. 100% increase to damage received by attacks of Pure Damage
“Hm, so it’s sort of like a double-edged sword? Luckily, not many people possess a skill, item, or weapon that deals pure damage!”
Maria finally turned to look at the last skill Rudina had and she immediately cheered when she saw it.
“Yes!”
Ultimate Skill: Ghost Festival Level: 1 Rank: S Description: The Ghost Queen calls upon the souls of the dead and summons them back onto the mortal plane. The summoned ghosts will randomly attack any enemy unit within 50-meters of the Ghost Queen. Each ghost steals 0.5% HP and MP from any unit it attacks and has a 25% chance to mark them with a [Ghost Brand]. Enemies marked by a [Ghost Brand] will take 100% more damage from any summoned ghost. Once the duration of the skill is over, the summoned ghosts will return to the Ghost Queen and completely restore her HP and MP. Summon Limit: 200 units Channeling time: 200 seconds Duration: 200 seconds Cooldown: 300 seconds Cost: 100% MP
While Maria was proudly admiring her new subordinate’s skill, the rest of her party walked up behind her and surprised her.
“Hey!”
“HYAH?!”
Maria reflexively swung her ax behind her and nearly split Lizzy’s head open.
“Mary, what the heck?!”
“S-S-Sorry! You shouldn’t sneak up behind me like that!”
“I thought you knew!”
“Well, I don’t have eyes on the back of my head!”
“Then what was all that nonsense you said a while ago about being able to detect other players’ presence? Hm???”
“Uhhhh…”
“Nevermind, anyway, what’s going on? Did we win?”
Maria smiled and gave her friends a thumbs up.
“We certainly did!”
“More like YOU certainly did.”
“Ehehehe…sorry…”
“What for?”
“For leaving you guys out…”
“We’re fine…but I don’t think Cindy is though…”
“M-My chance to prove that I’m useful…aaahhh. I just wanted…I mean, it was my time to…but then Maria…why did this…no…agggghhhhh…”
Cindy had a dejected look on her face as she mumbled before breaking into an incoherent tirade while pulling at her hair.
“C-Cindy?”
“I’m so done. I should’ve played as a DPS…”
The rest of the girls tried to console her and Maria felt a little bad. It wasn’t like she was unneeded. The rest of the party absolutely needed her around since she was the only one who could provide a steady flow of healing for them.
Maria was a priestess, but everyone knew that she was just a fake. What kind of priestess goes around the battlefield while swinging a large ax? A proper priestess was supposed to stay at the back to provide healing and support for her team.
Technically speaking, however, Maria was no longer a priest anyway. Her class had changed into [Divine Vessel of Sin] a while back. It was a legendary-grade unique class that only one person in the server could ever possess.
The branch of class that Maria’s unique class fell into was completely unknown, since there were no instructors for it and, as previously mentioned, only she could possess the class in the game, so it meant that no instructor would even have it.
Maria had never spoken about her class change to anyone, so people still regarded her as a Dark Priestess, a hidden class that fell under the priestess class.
“Ch-Cheer up, Cindy. I’m sure in the next boss battle we’ll be able to do things PROPERLY as a team!” Lizzy said as she emphasized the word ‘properly’.
She was obviously hinting at her best friend, Maria, who had been going around completing the dungeon in the most unorthodox way anyone could have imagined. In fact, no one could’ve imagined Maria completing the dungeon like this at all.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
From her ability alone, Lizzy deduced that her friend could even solo this dungeon if she wanted to. The only reason why she made a party with everyone here was to reward them with the items found in the dungeon for their cooperation in her war against the lycans.
Lizzy sighed at the thought and scratched her head because it was all true.
“Mary, since it seems like the next boss is going to be the last boss, the Lycan King, let’s do things properly as a party, okay? Everyone knows that you’re extremely powerful and can probably solo this entire dungeon if you wanted, but let’s have you try playing in a proper player party, alright?”
“Sure, Liz. Whatever you say!”
“Thanks, Mary.”
“Honestly, this wasn’t the response I was expecting everyone to have. I thought that you guys would be happy if I was able to make things easier with my abilities, but I guess I made it look like everyone else is useless… I’m sorry.”
“It’s not like we don’t like it if things are easy, but we did earn the spots in your party because of our contributions in the war. It’d be more satisfying for us if we were able to pull our own weight in the dungeon just like we did in the war.”
“O-Okay…”
“And yeah, you did make us feel useless.”
“Ack–”
“Anyway, let’s check the loot first before heading to the last boss?”
Maria’s eyes glittered and she quickly replied, “Yes!”
Maria quickly brought up the list of items that she obtained after defeating Rudina and shared them with everyone in the party before she started to gleefully take them out of her shadow.
Item List
1x Coronet of the Moon
1x Staff of Resurrection
1x Krutyr’s Armlets
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Maria’s shadow puppets and undead soldiers were the ones who killed all of the Lycans in the hall, so the drops had been swallowed up by the shadows. Taking them out was easy and Maria laid them out all on the ground before inspecting each and every one of them carefully.
The long list of items Maria had obtained after defeating Rudina and all of her Lycan subordinates was really hard to look at since plenty of them were obtained from Rudina’s subordinate lycans, so they were of low quality and they mostly consisted of crafting materials. The only noteworthy items came directly from the boss, Rudina.
First off was the crown that she had been wearing, the [Coronet of the Moon]. It was an item that let the wearer use one of Rudina’s skills and it was the one that created an artificial night and full moon.
Item: Coronet of the Moon Level: 400 Rank: Legendary DEF: 5,000
M.DEF: 5,000 All stats +10% Equipment Skill 1: Waxing of the Moon
Description: Creates an artificial night and moon for 1 hour. Creatures of the night and darkness will have their attributes enhanced by 20% while this skill is still in effect and will receive a 50% increase in evasion and stealth. Cooldown: 2 hours Equipment Skill 2: Moonlight Protection
Description: When under the light of the moon, increases A.SPD by 20% and reduces Cast Time by 10% for all creatures of the night and darkness. Equipment Skill 3: Moonlit Transformation
Description: Temporarily transforms you into a Lycan or werewolf for 60 seconds. Cooldown: 90 seconds Restrictions: Female Level requirement: 380 Description: The crown that Lycan Queen Rudina wore after becoming queen of the lycans. This was an item that was passed down from queen to queen within the Lycan Royal Family. Possessing and wearing this crown symbolizes that you are the Queen of the Lycans!
The second item was the [Staff of Resurrection]. A priest exclusive staff. Maria felt a little bewildered by it because this meant that Rudina was a priestess and not a mage like she had originally believed her to be, since during their fight, Rudina had, at one point, been constantly firing magic spells after magic spells at her.
This was the reason why Maria had the misunderstanding that Rudina was a mage. It was quite ironic because most people tend to have the same misunderstanding about her.
She dual-wielded two weapons and swung them around like a warrior, but other times, she bombarded places and people with her large arsenal of magic spells like a mage. Funnily enough, Maria hardly ever used her priestess skills at all.
Item: Staff of Resurrection Level: 350 Rank: Unique M.ATK: 7,500 All stats +5%
INT +300 Weapon Skill 1: Enhanced Raise
Description: Enhances the skill [Raise] by a single rank and reduces its cooldown by 10 seconds Weapon Skill 2: Resurrection
Description: When using the skill [Raise], targets more than 1 unit and up to 3 units, bringing them back to life with 50% of their HP. Cooldown: 24 hours Restrictions: Priest Class Level Requirement: 325 Description: The staff that Lycan Queen Rudina used and was very fond of. She used this staff in her ancestral rituals to summon the Lycan masters of the past, so that she could receive their blessings and wisdom
The staff was an extremely powerful weapon for Priest and Priestess players. Despite the [Staff of Resurrection] being a lower grade than the [Coronet of the Moon], the former had what people would arguably say, better skills.
Of course, that was only if you were playing as a Priest or Priestess. Having an extra rank in the [Raise] skill was really great because it allowed the Priest or Priestess player to resurrect their friends without them being inflicted with the death penalty.
Maria looked at the last item from Rudina and just tossed it over to Lizzy before saying, “I think you and Sky should work things out for this item.”
Item: Krutyr’s Armlet Level: 350 Rank: Unique DEF +2,000
M.DEF + 1,500 All Stats +5%
STR + 300
VIT +300 Weapon Skill 1: Destructive Bash
Description: Attacks the target with an energy-infused fist, dealing 10,000 DMG and stunning them for 3 seconds. Cooldown 30 seconds Weapon Skill 2: Krutyr’s Howl
Description: Taunts all enemies within 10-meters of the caster for 5 seconds. Cooldown 60 seconds Restrictions: None Level requirement: 325
The last item was something a main or secondary tank needed, which was why Maria gave it to Lizzy, who would have to sort things out between her and Sky about who would get it, since they were the party’s tanks.
The staff naturally had to go to the team’s priestess, Cindy, because she was the only one who could properly use it. Her dejected mood was somewhat lifted by the unexpected gain.
However, Cindy still felt bad that she was completely useless in the dungeon because she never got to use any of her healing or supporting skills in a boss fight and now, here she was getting a very powerful staff for the reason that she was the only one who could utilize it. Of course, she was nevertheless grateful to everyone in the party who just let her have it.
Although the items were really good, Maria didn’t see a single bit of appeal to them. This was only natural since all of her items were way better and most of them were upgradable, so she never had thoughts of replacing them unless she really had to.
After distributing all of the loot and getting the quest item, the dungeon’s quest was updated and now they only had one remaining area to explore, the Lycan King’s area.
Quest updated! Defeat the Lycan Empress and obtain the [Great Hall’s Key] (1/1) (Complete)
DING
Quest: Find the Key Description: The [Great Hall of the Lycan Castle] is locked by a powerful enchantment! Find the key to dispel the enchantment. It is being held by the [Lycan Empress] who is in the [West Wing] of the castle! Objective 1: Get access to the Castle’s Garden! (1/1) (Complete)
Objective 2: Obtain the Key to the West Wing (1/1) (Complete)
Objective 3: Defeat the Lycan Empress and obtain the [Great Hall’s Key] (1/1) (Complete)
Objective 4: Enter the Great Hall and put a stop to Lycan King Beowulf! (NEW!)
The quest window that previously only had 3 objectives now has 4. The 4th objective, which was to defeat Lycan King Beowulf, only appeared after the previous 3 objectives were complete.
Maria was hoping that the quest would end so she could receive her rewards for completing it before another quest appeared. This way, she could get two quest rewards from this dungeon.
“Alright everyone, let’s make our way back to the Great Hall!” Lizzy exclaimed.
To everyone’s surprise, all of the lycans had respawned and now the castle halls, corridors, and gardens were full of them again.
“Well, here we go again…”
“Wait, wait, wait!” Maria suddenly exclaimed.
The rest of the girls were just about to attack the mobs in front of them when Maria suddenly asked them to stop.
“What now, Mary?”
“Since all the mobs are back, can you guys let me test out my newest familiar?”
“You mean Rudina?”
“Yeah!”
“Mary, didn’t I just ask–”
“I’ll only be testing her on the mobs! I won’t be summoning her or anyone else later when we fight the boss and I want to use the respawned lycans to level her up a bit! Unfortunately, all my shadow puppets and undead get their levels reset to 50 when I convert them from a living being into a shadow or undead.
Lizzy turned to look at the rest of the party members, who only shrugged and didn’t mind it at all, so she gave Maria the okay, “...Alright. Knock yourself out then. Remember, no funny business later with the boss! Got it?”
“Yes!”
“Good…now let’s see what your ghost familiar can do!”
After taking another look at Ghost Queen Rudina’s stats again, Maria noticed that her AGI and INT were the highest.
“Hmmm, does this make her a mobile spell caster or something? Her skills don’t make her seem like it though.”
Maria caught a nearby lycan and quickly had Rudina use her first skill, [Soul Drain], on it. The skill locked Rudina in place because of the channeling time, but it did the same to the target lycan that she used the skill on.
Maybe because it was still level one, the damage was really underwhelming. Of course, it just seemed underwhelming because the skill was still only level one. After leveling it up a bit, it was likely that the damage would increase.
DING
Ghost Queen Rudina has leveled up! Rudina is now level 51!
Ghost Queen Rudina has leveled up! Rudina is now level 52!
Ghost Queen Rudina has leveled up! Rudina is now level 53!
Ghost Queen Rudina has leveled up! Rudina is now level 54!
Ghost Queen Rudina has leveled up! Rudina is now level 55!
Ghost Queen Rudina has leveled up! Rudina is now level 56!
Ghost Queen Rudina has leveled up! …
Ghost Queen Rudina has leveled up! …
Ghost Queen Rudina …
Ghost Queen Rudina …
After killing the lycan, Rudina’s level jumped up by quite a bit. Too bad it was only her level. Maria wished that proficiency EXP was just as easy to grind as normal EXP, but that was just her wishful thinking.
“Alright, next skill.”
Maria caught a few lycans to let Rudina use her 2nd skill, [Soul Extraction], on them and the results from the skill were actually really great. She had Rudina select her as the target to receive the stackable 10% increase in attributes. The 10% increase in all stats and attributes was really awesome. Rudina continued to extract souls from the lycans that Maria brought to her until finally, she was able to grant her master a 50% increase in all attributes, which was, by every means, a rather substantial buff.
There was still the opposite effect of the strengthening, which was the weakening. Maria once again went to fetch a few lycans for experimentation. Thankfully, Rudina was able to store the souls she collected and the party went to find a suitable target to check the effectiveness of the [Soul Extraction]’s weakening.
The weakening was also quite substantial as well. It took a while, but Rudina was able to kill a lycan all by herself with just the [Soul Extraction] and [Soul Drain] spells at her disposal.
Of course, Maria did help by making sure the lycans never got a clean hit on her. Otherwise, Rudina would’ve been sent back to Maria’s shadow realm, since just one attack from those high-leveled monsters could kill her.
Ghost Queen Rudina has leveled up! Rudina is now level 75!
25 levels in just a few minutes. Maria couldn’t wait to see how much stronger her newest addition to the Shadow and Undead Armies would become once she reached the same level as her other Shadow and Undead Champions.
“Alright, let’s continue with the test!”