“Impressive. Your body adapted to my haze immediately.” Yael’s voice penetrated the case that enveloped me. “Perhaps there’s a reason why the system put me here. The system is never wrong.”

The stone that was held in my arms vibrated with newfound hunger. From the lack of tactile sensations, I failed to notice that it was also absorbing the tar that was encasing my figure since they were climbing up to my eyes.

“There it goes. It finally had its fill.”

Color that was drained gradually returned to my vision. The black tar oozed out of every single pore on my skin, trickling back down towards the dark floor. The stone then continued inhaling all the dark substances in the room, and only when things returned to normal did it stop.

Both black flames that were lit before were extinguished. Crawling on the floor, I was left alone in silence as if the horror that just transpired had never happened.

“Haaa.. Nghaa!! *Cough* Hgaa….” It felt like it was an eternity ago that I sucked in the damp air around me. All of my muscles had lost their strength from the suffocation, resulting in my limp body slumping to the floor. All I can do was breathe.

[The stone was now fed. Death poisoning removed.]

True death, fake death, whatever… I’m just glad that it’s over with.

Yael’s appearance was completely unexpected. After all, this dungeon wasn’t named after him, It was named after Tzatch. And yet, from the manner of his introduction, his apparent strength showed that he was at least some kind of a boss, with the sheer dominance of his presence being enough to freeze me from the sheer panic alone.

Never had I seen a person like him, or was he even a person? He could’ve been a God, like the shining figure who claimed to be the administrator…

But not Ezekiel. That being was on an entirely different level compared to Yael.

Panting on the floor, I examined the stone that was clutched tightly in my hand.

[Ezekiel’s overflowing beacon : Having gained enough death energy, the stone now lies dormant. Use to gain a new skill, Death siphon.]

Death siphon? If it was anything like how the stone operated…

Not wasting another second to think, I answered the system’s prompt. The stone in my hand sparkled with darkness for a moment, then dissipated into the air.

At the same time, my mind was assaulted with a torrent of information. The skill, Death siphon, worked almost the same way the stone did.

[You gained a new ability: Death Siphon. Drains a selected corpse or death haze. Upon usage, recovers 10% of health and mana. If you own the Death affinity at a certain level, you will also drain a percentage of their attributes. The attribute drain only works on bosses, elite, or higher-tiered tagged entities. You can also drain any form of death haze. Doing it this way, however, will not gain you any attributes.]

Whoa… You could drain their attributes and regain your health and mana?

The line about the skill of only being able to drain attributes when I owned a Death affinity bothers me a little. After all, nobody knew how to gain such an affinity. I’d assume that Ezekiel was supposed to help me out here, but with his pettiness, there’s no point in for him to do so.

That being said, this dungeon was filled with corpses. All the walking deads stumbling about in the dungeon should enable me to heal up whenever I wanted.

A few minutes passed before I found the strength to rise from where I fell. The room that was deathly oppressive before returning to its dormant, peaceful state. Well, at least, compared to when Yael showed up.

Speaking of him… Did he just… leave? What am I supposed to do to clear this dungeon?

The lack of the system message clearly meant that there was unfinished business in here. Does that mean that I have to kill Yael? If so, that is simply impossible.

There has to be another answer.

The dungeon itself was mostly unexplored. I rushed to this spot as quickly as I could and ignored anything that was worth any interest, no; it was more like I wasn’t paying attention to what was around me as I navigated my way here.

Then… Was any of this even necessary to clear the dungeon? He mentioned he was a tutorial boss, but not the boss of this dungeon specifically.

So many questions… And yet, so little time.

There was an invasion going on outside. I had to at least check things out, even if there’s close to no chance that they failed to defend the first wave.

With a newfound purpose, I opened my stat page, checking the new skills that I received.

Player : Zane Black

Race : [G - HUMAN]

Level : 17

Health : 103/480

Stamina : 123/480

Mana : 56/160

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ATTRIBUTES

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Physical [23] :

[Strength] - 49 [base : 23] [sub + achv :20] [equipment :5] [bonus 1% : 1]

[Dexterity] - 61 [base : 23] [sub + achv :32] [equipment : 2] [bonus 6% : 4]

[Constitution] - 43 [base : 23] [sub + achv : 19] [equipment :0] [bonus 1% : 1]

Mind [0] :

[Intelligence] - 11 [base : 0] [sub + achv : 11] [equipment :0] [bonus 1% : 0]

[Willpower] - 3 [base : 0] [sub + achv : 3] [equipment :0] [bonus 1% : 0]

[Capacity] - 11 [base : 0] [sub + achv : 11] [equipment :0] [bonus 1% : 0]

[Free Main Attribute points : 0 ]

[Free Sub Attribute points : 0 ]

——————————————————————————————————————————————————

Classes :

[The coveted Shadow - epic (9)]

Skills :

[Daggers mastery - novice(2)] [Spear mastery - novice(9)] [Sword mastery - Novice(5)] [Dark arsenal - novice (6)] [Shadow step - epic] [Death siphon] [Death resistance - novice (1)]

Achievements :

[Death’s door(2)] [Big game hunter] [The first of many] [the trial seeker] [Mark of the elite]

Affinities :

[]

Talents :

[Innate sensory]

Both spear mastery and my class is about to reach level 10. There’s a tiny hope inside my heart that I’ll receive something akin to the talent point that I got when my player level reached 10.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————

“Shields up!”

The initial wave of wolves proved to be easy for the vanguard squad. Reghan’s prediction was not far off. The first group of wolves was just shy below level 5, which meant that none of them could use their magic attacks and were reliant on their physical attacks instead.

Realizing that, he let the defense squad intercept them instead. They were able to hold the first group of wolves with ease, and a lot of them even gained a few levels.

Their smiles were rubbed off when a rain of magical bolts clouded the night sky. In an instant, the mood was replaced with screams of pain and terror as the bolts ripped the defense squad’s formation apart. They killed multiple defenders in the first volley of magical bolts, and the vanguard had to take over the role of defense immediately.

Raising his shield, Reghan used his Class skill, [Shield wall] to conjure a giant bubble of transparent shield stretching a few ten or so meters all around him. The projectile from the wolves bounced harmlessly when they collided with the sphere, granting solid protection to those in his circle.

Avoiding the projectile attacks themselves wasn’t a big deal. Those who are high-leveled enough had more than the required stats to either tank or avoid the pesky magical bolts. No, it was the sheer amount of those wolves that encircled the camp, firing their attacks without pausing.

The sky then turned bright orange. Behind him, near the walls, Julie returned the ballistic attacks from the wolves, throwing multiple boulder-sized flames right onto their location. If Reghan was the defensive MVP, then Julie definitely took the cake on the offensive end.

Her other party members were incredible, too. Karl and Richard were instrumental in dealing damage from the flanks. Amanda preferred to fight alone, opting to finish the wolves from the forest, sneaking her way between their ranks.

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

“Whoa…” Even in the midst of being bombarded with spells, Reghan can’t help but smile when he received another boost to his level.

The assault of the wolves gradually waned as their numbers dropped. It wasn’t until the sun was about to rise that the wave was declared over.

[You cleared the first wave! The next wave will arrive in 22 : 14 : 45]

The next midnight? Reghan yelled in his own head. The first wave was hard enough to deal with, even when they had shown all the best cards they had, and now, they had to face an even possibly stronger wave tomorrow?

Sure, the defense only lasted for 2 hours. But they had to use every single point of their mana and stamina to bolster a good enough offense to clear the wave before they destroyed the walls. If it lasted, say, one hour longer, they would’ve been dead for sure.

He turned towards the others, watching their face stiffen, hiding their despair deep inside their own hearts. Reghan understood fully how they felt. There were those that displayed another expression that was common to those who always strived to be strong when they saw their gains, which Reghan was absolutely a part of.

The levels gained during this invasion are something else.

Regardless of how they felt, he had to remain stoic. Even when the others had faltered, he had to lead them towards victory. That was what it takes to be the leader of humanity.

“We’ll return to the gate. Let’s prepare for the next wave.”

——————————————————————————————————————————————————

[You cleared the first wave! The next wave will arrive in 22 : 07 : 24]

“Haaa… ha…. Haa…” Julie clutched onto the walls of the gate, catching her breath with a passion. The defense had almost depleted both her stamina and mana, and the newest system message finally relieved her of her duties. She had never been depleted to this extent before, but the gains she received were… immense, if she had to put it lightly.

She surpassed the tenth level of her class, earning her another skill. [Fire cloak]. Not only that, the system gave her a chance to modify one of her existing class skills. As a cherry on top, she grew 4 whole levels in the first defense, reaching level 13 and earning herself a talent point.

[Fireball modification available! Please select one of the choices from below.]

Not now. Julie wanted to level up when things have calmed down. She’s still worried about the rest of her party members, after all. She smiled internally when she saw Richard and Karl’s faces amongst the others approaching the walls.

“Julie!” Richard’s voice erupted from behind the gate. He and Karl wore this smile on their face that could only mean one thing; They both surpassed level 10, too.

Amanda eventually joined them, sharing her experience of sneaking her way into the forest. She, like the others, also had surpassed level 10, making their party perhaps the strongest amongst their peers.

“We’ve come a long way,” Julie whispered, embarrassed about her attempts at complimenting. She was never the one to do this, but because of her exhaustion, she couldn’t keep up her usual cold facade.

Or maybe she’s just damned happy that she’s alive. It was still pitch black outside, but they had survived another day.

“Heh… Look at that smile.” Amanda nudged Julie’s side, winking. “It was tough. Honestly, we cut it pretty close. Everyone knows we won’t last much longer. Look.”

She pointed at the defeated faces of those who were resting inside the walls.

“Yeah… I have to agree.” Richard’s voice came from their back. His armor was bent from a close call when one of the bolts hit the side of his chest. “One of them almost got me. Thankfully, I was wearing this.”

“We have to adjust our strategy.” Julie exclaimed. It didn’t take a genius to understand what was missing in their current plan. So far, their plans relied on the back line to deal most of the damage, while the flanks attempt to finish those who lingered too close to the walls.

Richard’s group was tasked with taking most of the brunt of the wave’s attention, which Julie and Amanda admitted he had done admirably well. But they didn’t have enough stamina and mana to keep their defenses up for a long time. What if, let’s say, an elite showed up?

What they need is an elite amongst themselves.

Her mind instantly went to Zane. Where the fuck is he?