The walk had been mostly uneventful and silent. The silence was deafening at first, it was uncomfortable to talk so no one did. The only voices that were heard were callouts for when they took on skeleton patrols. Over the course of several hours, they must’ve killed almost two dozen of them. Though killed was a hard term to use given they were already dead.
At least some good had come from this escapade so far, the Evolved skeleton had given him 3 levels on its own since he did most of the work himself. Accumulated with all the patrols, there was an additional 3 levels to add on to it. Level 57 felt good, he had earned a total of 42 free points from all those levels and distributed them more sparingly than he had previously. 20 points went into Dexterity in order to match it to his Strength and Constitution. Another 15 went into his Intelligence for the increase in magic he desperately needed while the last 7 fell into Charisma. From now on, Intelligence needed to become stronger if he was going to raise his Void spells anymore. The length of time he could cast spells wasn’t enough for any lengthy fights, they were only good for small encounters at the moment.
His companions were also doing well for themselves. Farah was getting close to breaking level 60 while Peluna was close to level 50 with Grim not far behind her. Everyone was making the gains they needed to so far, all they needed was to keep up the momentum if they were to really succeed. Even though they were leveling, the progress was becoming slower. Skeletons weren’t as effective as they were at first.
As it turned out, the System wasn’t stupid. In order to keep leveling up you either needed to fight wider variety of monsters or they needed to be higher leveled. Small patrols became nothing more than an inconvenience and even support classes like Peluna didn’t gain anything from helping out. At this point, only the boss was going to help them level up further, maybe even the Realm King if they decided to go that far. That was unlikely though, considering all the problems they faced from an Evolved skeleton that wasn’t even the incursion leader.
From here on out, there was good news and bad news. The good news, they easily discovered the location of the incursion base. The bad news, pretty much the same thing. It was easy to discover mainly because there was a powerful aura coming from the central building, the incursion leader wasn’t even trying to hide their presence. Anyone with a class could probably sense it, this was no different then walking around with your pants down. Sweat caked Cyrus’ forehead, he was nervous, this was nothing like the ant Prince.
On the outside of the building was not a single guard, it was like the leader was beckoning anyone to come and try. Then again, there actually had been the Evolved skeleton out here, but maybe the leader believed that was all they needed to be protected.
“What are the odds of us backing out now?” Peluna broke the silence, the first one brave enough to comment.
To be fair, Cyrus wanted to turn around right here and now. Given, it might be their last chance to do so. But he had already come so far, there was little point in giving up at this point so he was determined so see this through until the end. That was his own resolution at least, he was not going to drag everyone else down with him if they didn’t desire it.
“I’m going to go inside, none of you have to follow me in if you don’t want to.” Cyrus said with his head lowered, he didn’t want them to risk everything on a possibly hopeless endeavor.
Not that he had a good chance of surviving if he went in alone either, but he didn’t want his party to die because of a stupid mistake on his part either. It wouldn’t be fair.
A knife flashed and Cyrus yelped, flinching his head back. It hadn’t been aimed at him but Farah had thrown it nearby. “I knew you were going to say something stupid like that. Don’t even think about it pal.” Farah warned him, flipping her knife playfully in her hand.
Warning received.
“We’re your party Cyrus, that means we decide to do things together.” Peluna affirmed. “We’re also you friends, weather you realize it or not and we won’t let you go in there alone.”
Cyrus didn’t even realize he had been biting his inner cheek until he drew a bit of blood. His hands were clenched into fists, he felt like there was turmoil in his stomach all over again. This time, it wasn’t as bad, it almost felt like his chest was being alleviated.
A small smile forced its way across his features, it wasn’t forced for once but genuine. “Guess there’s no way I’ll be changing any of your minds about this?”
“Hah!” Grim laughed, pushing himself to the front of the pack. “You’re not getting rid of us that easily! Besides, I can smell a fortune for clearing this quest. Maybe some glory too.”
“You say that, yet we’re all wearing masks like a bunch of criminals.” Peluna muttered, scratching at her own mask like it was some sort of curse. No one blamed her, going incognito wasn’t exactly comfortable.
Even with the encouragement, it didn’t except anyone’s eyes that Farah was still playing with her knives like a child that found their new favorite toy. “You have to stay alive, if you die, I won’t be able to interrogate anyone for you.”
Take note, never fuck with Farah and her knives.
Joking aside, this was making Cyrus feel a bit better. Even though the aura was strong, stronger than the Prince even, everyone was still willing to run in and fight. Cyrus was confident they could carve apart the Prince if it came down to another fight, but this aura felt much stronger.
Then again, his party was also much stronger, plus they had Farah this time who had incredible skills with her knives. In simpler words, this was one of those all or nothing missions.
“Glad we can all be in this together, yada yada yada.” Cyrus mumbled, his face heating up for whatever reason as he said the first part. He rubbed the back of his head nervously and looked away from the rest of the group. It felt like he had said the cheesiest thing ever.
“Well we’re glad you actually have a heart to care for us buddy!” Grim laughs and puts his arm over Cyrus’ shoulder, swaying them back and forth like a couple of drunken idiots. Minus the idiot part.
Cyrus shrugged his demon friends arm away and turned back to the building. “Don’t take it to heart or anything, I’m just using all of you.”
The comment lacked the usual confidence and the trio took his words in stride. “Yea, we know how you really feel.” Peluna laughed and walked to stand by his side as well.
The sound of steel against steel could be heard just from behind, along with the unmistakable sight of Farah’s excited grin. “Now that we’re all friends again, let’s go kill ourselves a monster.”
The outside of the building had been pretty destroyed; the inside was utter devastation. There were no rooms, only rubble and destruction like a cyclone occurred inside the walls. The ceiling was on the edge of crumbling down and crushing everything inside, only maintained by the pillars scattered across the inside.
On the far end, was the ruler of death on this side of the dungeon. Whatever the group had expected it sure as hell wasn’t this. Maybe the enemy should have been some giant skeleton with 6 arms or a shielded warrior even, but it was none of those.
Instead, they were met with a 6-foot 2 opponent wearing martial artist robes and a black belt wrapped around its waist. There was no armor unless the piece lay underneath the robes themselves. Beside him, strapped to a chair like a prisoner was the dwarf the two demons had mentioned. He didn’t seem to be in bad shape for someone that had gotten kidnapped, rather he seemed to be fairly healthy. That screamed of cooperation.
*Skeleton Grand Master – Level 102[Incursion Leader]*
That explained why the aura was so strong, the Grand Master had passed level 100. Monsters inherently were weaker than intelligence species that live on the surface due to lack of opportunities, but an evolved monster like this picked up many powerful traits.
“Boss, those robes are enchanted with runes. That’s why it captured the dwarf. What’s the plan here?” Grim mumbled from the side, his fists were trembling at the sight of the monster.
Most monsters wait until you’ve attacked before pressing an advantage. Unless of course, you invaded their territory. The latter was prominent in this case. Before Cyrus even had time to respond, the Grand Master rushed forward with superhuman speed right at Farah. The skeleton’s fist collided directly with one of her knives, she barely had time to intercept the fist even though it crossed a large distance to reach her.
The Grand Master, as it turned out, was not a one trick skeleton and kicked her in the side as a follow up after she blocked. Most kicks hurt, this one was backed up with enough speed and strength to send her flying in the opposite direction. She had at least moved her leg to absorb some of the impact, but the force behind the attack was simply too strong.
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Rather than mindlessly chase her like many other simple monsters would have done, the Grand Master turned to the next closest target, Peluna. There was zero chance that she would be able to handle a full-frontal attack from this monster, she’d probably die on impact if it actually hit her. The skeleton charged her next, Grim moved to intercept but he was just a second too late as the Grand Master sent its fist hurtling at her next.
She had the sense to not bother trying to dodge and instead wrapped herself in her shield [Embrace]. The fist impacted the shield with force that sent wind scattering across the room, the blow was so strong that cracks formed across as her mana was sapped from her body. Mana was not meant to be pulled so quickly out of someone and blood dribbled out of her mouth. However, her shield held and was able to give the skeleton some pause.
Grim, being the closest person was quick on the uptake and threw a punch at the skeleton himself, his hand impacting the skull with a beautiful crunch that would hopefully be the skull shattering. While the blow would have obliterated any other skeleton, the Grand Master was not an incursion leader for nothing and exchanged blows with the tank itself.
A flurry of punches were sent back and forth between the two, the skeleton blocked and dodged most of them and any that hit his robes did little damage. The Grand Master ducked under another punch and powered its own hand up with a red aura before unleashing a blow directly to Grim’s chest.
Now, Cyrus didn’t know a whole lot about armor, but Grim’s chest plate was no joke when it had come to craftsmanship. It had to be worth hundreds of gold in total and was made of high-level metal, now it was going to be worth almost nothing as the plates broke apart.
A crunch was heard from under the armor as soon as the blow landed, the only thing that could make that sound was Grim’s ribcage. This was the most Cyrus had ever seen the massive demon move upon taking a hit as he was sent hurtling from the force and didn’t stop until he slammed into the wall. The wall he was halted by cracked like an icy lake and pieces of rock crumbled off of it.
“NO! Grim!” Cyrus cried out as his friend vomited blood on the dusty floor. Grim was trying to stand, but he was down for the count. “Peluna, go protect Grim. Farah and I will take care of this!”
Farah growled from across the hall as she walked back into the ring. “I’m pissed, but even I know we ain’t taking care of shit.”
“Here I thought you were supposed to be the confident one during this.”
“Please, don’t give me a reason to target you instead of the skeleton.”
Cyrus chuckled to himself despite the situation. Things were off to a less than stellar start; their tank was down for the count and their healer had to fall back in order to protect him. Farah was fast enough to at least keep up with the skeleton’s movements, but it seemed unlikely that she could do any lasting damage based on the defense attributes of the Grand Master’s robes. Even Grim’s punches seemed like they were hitting pillows.
With a nod of their heads to one another, Farah and Cyrus attacked simultaneously. Cyrus fought head on, choosing to attempt and slice the Grand Master with one blow. Every time he swung his rapier, even with an extended his aura, the Grand Master was quick enough to dodge just barely out of the way. What he did notice, was that the skeleton never blocked or parried a single attack from his sword, as if the Void magic was a disease to be avoided.
The skeleton was having a hard time throwing punches at Cyrus, as it couldn’t get too close at any given time due to the magic which made it easy for him to dodge. But Cyrus wasn’t making any progress either, not a single swing landed.
Farah wasn’t staying still either; she ran circles around the pair as they fought. Whenever she could, she threw throwing knives at the Grand Master’s head in order to hit him, causing it to have to dodge two opponents instead of one. Cyrus had long set the skeleton as his [Prey] but was still having trouble landing any hits, it was much different than a larger target like the Prince had been.
The skeleton also seemed to be getting frustrated, its attacks became heavier and each one seemed like they would shatter his skin like his constitution meant nothing. The skeletal bones scraped his shoulder and easily cut open his skin, drawing blood from him. He winced from the pain but quickly spun out of the way before a second attack went through his chest.
Farah was there immediately after she saw him take a hit, her knives intervening in the close-knit fight and attempting to breach the Grand Master’s defenses. Her knife stabbed through the robes but her wrist was quickly deflected by a parry. Cyrus used that opening to throw his rapier forward in a jab but was met with nothing but air as the skeleton seemingly teleported backwards. Its movements were so fast that neither of their eyes were able to follow.
Sweat caked his forehead and he glances back at his companion. “This is ridiculous, the skeleton is too damn fast for us to take down. How would you go about it?”
“Well, normally I’d say that Grim should hug the Grand Master and restrict its movements so you could kill it, but he’s out of the fight. Neither of us have any way to trap it, so we’re kind stuck.” Farah growled, flipping her knife up and down through her fingers like a toy.
Suddenly, Cyrus had an idea. There was a way to trap the Grand Master but it was risky. Though, not as risky as it would be to try and keep fighting a pointless fruition like this.
“Farah, I need you to keep the skeleton distracted for at least 5 seconds.”
To her credit, she looked at Cyrus like he was positively mad. “And what is THAT going to accomplish?”
“Well. I don’t actually need 5 seconds but I need a second to mentally prepare to do something stupid.”
“Might I ask what that stupid thing is? Before you do it.” Farah asks with a groan; it was almost like she didn’t have any faith in him. Not that it could be his fault or anything.
Some things were better left as a surprise, this plan was probably one of those things. “Nah, you’ll just have to watch.”
Somewhere in Farah’s gaze, she was telling Cyrus that she would gut him later. Of course, that was if he survived the next 30 seconds anyways. Even with her objections, Farah listened and made the first move against the skeleton. Her knife was like a blaze as it stabbed and pierced the air with deadly precision. The misses had nothing to do with her skill, but simply an overwhelming difference in stats that change everything in a battle.
While it matters how good you are and your technique with the weapons a person uses. Personal mastery means nothing in the face of the System and its stats. It’s almost depressing, knowing that someone who trained their entire life could be beaten by another with no training at all just because of a couple numbers.
While the skeleton retaliated against Farah and she attempted to dodge the attacks, he ran right for its back. The obvious intention was that he would swing the rapier in an attempt to cut the Grand Master down, so he chose not to. Instead, he took a note from Grim’s book and went straight for a hug.
The skeleton must’ve felt there was no danger, because there truly wasn’t and its fist went straight through Cyrus’ gut. In through the front and stuck out the other side, dripping with blood. The pain was excruciating and unimaginable, but he had the skeleton exactly where he wanted it. With his hands wrapped around the back, his rapier was now behind the skeleton while his body was in front.
The Void aura activated on his weapon and he pulled the sword towards him, cutting right through the middle of the Grand Master and tearing its robes in half along with its body. If the skeleton had eyes, he was sure they would be wide in their sockets. Much like Farah’s were, he was sure Peluna was having a similar reaction, but it was hard to turn around when you had a hole in your chest.
He was vaguely aware of the notifications from the System telling him he had won, but that was for after he survived this ordeal. The skeleton dissipated as if it were never there, saving Cyrus the trouble of having to pull the fist back out and his nearby companion cried out in shock.
Cyrus felt his body giving out, his legs were like jelly and he would have crumbled to the ground if Farah had not been there right away. She eased him to the floor before he just slammed down and her eyes were panicked. As long as this worked out, he fully intended to tease her about having a heart later.
She looked like she was trying to find words, but he shook his head. He had earned a spell a while back that would come in handy. With the help of Farah’s guidance, he brought his hand carefully over the hole and cast [Self Repair], the skill tat would heal any single injure and then be unusable for 24 hours.
Magic was beautiful, he was able to watch during the glow as his nerved and innards reconnected themselves inside his body. The pain wasn’t at all deterring but the fist sized hole clammed up and covered with fresh skin as if it had never been there. Blood still caked his clothes and skin, if only there was a cleaning spell that would make that go away too. There was no point in complaining though, his breathing was easing and he didn’t feel as if he were about to croak anymore.
“W…Was this your shitty plan Cyrus? I thought you were going to die, even if you had a healing spell this was stupid!” Farah yelled in his face. To be fair, they probably would have died if he didn’t do that, but he wasn’t about to argue.
Cyrus winced as sat up. “You’re right, sorry. I won’t do it again.” Farah had her back under one of his arms, helping him stand on wobbly legs.
“Better not, or I’ll make sure the monster ends up killing you next time. Or the monster will just do it for me.” Cyrus could only nod his head in understanding.
Thankfully, Grim and Peluna were walking over to save him. He was glad Grim seemed to be all healed, he was walking on his own. Though most of his armor was gone, having been broken far beyond repair. Peluna must have been able to heal him because his ribs were probably a wreck after taking such a strong direct hit.
“Hey Grim, glad you could join u-“ The next sound that came was somewhere between a cry and a cough as Grim suddenly punched Cyrus in the face. Clearly his decision had been unpopular amongst the crowd, but he never would have expected this to come from the demon.
To her credit, Farah maintained a hold on him even as they took a couple steps back from the impact. No blood was drawn, but the phantom pain remained. He gave the demon his best “What the hell man?” face but was met with no sympathy.
Grim than smiled and held up his hands in defense. “Just so you know, Peluna told me to do that. I only did it since she asked.”
“And did you enjoy doing it still?”
“…You sure you want my answer.”
“Never mind, I already know.”
The demon was then pushed aside by Peluna and she poked her finger at him. “That punch is a reminder not to do that again.” A reminder Cyrus sure wasn’t going to forget for at least the next 20 minutes.
“And you couldn’t have been the one to punch me.” Cyrus asked with a flattened expression.
“I wanted to have the best effect. So I made use of Grim, that was the price of healing him.” She replied, seemingly satisfied with the results.
What a cruel mistress, the price of healing was to hurt her companion. On the bright side, everything turned out exactly as they intended. Well, mostly at least given the circumstances.
“Aren’t we forgetting something important?” Farah asked, though it was less of a question and more of a statement because her tone made it sound like she already knew. That and the undeniable smirk on her face.
“I’m glad you all are getting along now.” The dwarf called out from the seat he was strapped in. “But would you mind setting me free?”
A grin stretched upon Grim’s face and he looked at the other three. “I say we take a nap first.”
Life was good.