《The Once Simple Life of a Dungeon Skeleton》
Chapter 1 - The Day That Changed My Life
I am a Skeleton, but not just any old Skeleton you find in a tomb, I am a Dungeon Skeleton. Being a Dungeon Skeleton doesn''t get you much of anything besides immortality. If you think immortality is worth giving up your free will and being forced to die over and over again at the hands of mostly arrogant "adventurers" that don''t even give you a second glance before they''re bashing your skull in with the closest blunt object they can get their hands on then I would gladly trade places with you. No, if I had to choose between this and living a normal human life, the choice would be obvious. Sadly, I was never given a choice, or even a will of my own, one day I just happened to find myself standing in this tunnel on the first floor of this dungeon. Yes, incase you were wondering, my "job", or sole reason for existing, is to stand in this tunnel on the first floor and die. You would think my job would be to guard the floor and make sure no one manages to get past me. No, I wasn''t even given so much as a rock to defend myself with, I was just created then told by some voice to stand in this tunnel.
If anyone was wondering how this whole "Dungeon" thing works and how I differ from regular Skeletons aside from the title it''s simple: First, Dungeon Skeletons cannot die so long as the "heart" of the dungeon lives. Second, Dungeon Skeletons as well as any other monsters living in the dungeon, do not have a free will. Sure, they can think, or at least I can, but they can''t do anything else unless the dungeon allows it. Finally, Dungeon Skeletons do not and cannot ever level up or gain any type of experience whatsoever. Even the way they engage adventurers cannot change, believe me, I''ve tried to vary my attacks or dodge the numerous swords swung at me using my memories to remember certain styles of fighting but in the end I always attack the same way and end up with my bones crushed.
''Ah- more are coming again.''
Through my eye sockets I could see the life forces of five people approaching, they were humanoid shaped red figures. Other than that all I saw was a black void and yes, that is what I see, the only reason I knew I was standing in a tunnel is because of spells fired at me. Other than being able to see the life force of living beings, I can also see mana, though mana is seen as more of a blue light and it sort of bounces off the walls of the dungeon. As for my other senses such as hearing, taste, touch, and smell, I can''t smell anything as I have no nose, I can''t hear anything without ears, and I can''t taste anything without a tongue, quite boring if I do say so myself. For touch it''s a bit odd, I can sort of ''feel'' things though it''s a very dull feeling, as I can only feel the hardness of the dungeon wall and not the fine details of it. As for pain, well I don''t feel any of that, though I do know when one of my bones breaks. One of the other odd things I noticed was the fact that I knew what color was even though I don''t ever have any memory of learning about colors or humans or anything that I know, such as I somehow know that my sense of touch differs from a human''s greatly. All I know is that I have the knowledge somehow, maybe it has something to do with me being able to actually think, though I will probably never know.
''Oh, I was crushed again, and in one hit no less, how embarrassing.''
Whenever I am "killed" I lay there and slowly regenerate until my bones are whole again, the more destroyed my body, the longer it takes for me to regenerate. Oh right, I almost forgot the last thing I can do, you see if I call out using my thoughts and ask to see information about myself or something along those lines I hear a different voice aside from the dungeon''s.
''Ahem, would you please show me my stats, Mother?''
| Name: | N/A | Total Level: | N/A | [/tr]Title: | Dungeon Skeleton | Job: | Floor 1 Guard - Warwic Dungeon | [/tr]| Main Class: | N/A | Race: | Undead |
| - |
| HP: | 30/30 | MP: | N/A |
| Strength: | 10 | Dexterity: | 7 |
| Constitution: | 15 | Intelligence: | N/A |
| Wisdom: | N/A | Charisma: | N/A |
| Main Skills |
| N/A |
| Main Spells |
| N/A |
| - |
| Experience: | N/A |
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''Thank you, Mother.''
There it is, the only other voice I ever hear. I call her Mother as the voice sounds female and since she is the only other voice I hear aside form the dungeon which I''ve only ever heard a few times. I''ve grown kind of attached to her, even if she has only ever told me one thing. At least she hasn''t ordered me to stand in one place and die over and over for all eternity. As you can see I have no name, class, or even a level, just a title, a job, and four stats. My title and job explain themselves, as for my stats, the only ones I have are physical ones like Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution. Even if I can think, since I can''t act on any of my thoughts I might as well have no Intelligence at all right?
''Hm? Ah- looks like they''re coming back already.''
The party of adventurers that had recently crushed my skull were heading back out of the dungeon. Luckily I hadn''t finished regenerating my skull so I wasn''t able to have it crushed again. As they got closer I noticed their life forces were weaker than before and they were moving a lot slower, a couple of them were limping too. As they past by I noticed they had a few more items with mana in them than they had when they entered.
''Looks like they made it kind of far before turning back. Ah! Something just fell!''
A small sphere infused with mana fell out of one of their pockets and landed right where my skull was regenerating.
''Ah! That can''t be good, Hey! Come get your item back!''
My skull started to regenerate around the small magical orb and I started to worry more and more. I had no idea what would happen if my skull regenerated around it. Even with my somehow pre-known knowledge, I didn''t know what would happen. Would I explode? Would it just get stuck in my skull? Would I absorb its power? I didn''t know what to expect, I thought the most logical would be the second and I hoped it wouldn''t be the first but-
| Intelligence increased by 6 |
| Wisdom increased by 4 |
| You have gained a level |
| Congratulations |
Mother spoke to me, and it wasn''t her usual reading off of who I was and what my purpose for existing is. It was the third possibility. I suddenly felt my body freed as though the many chains that were restricting me were released. My mind felt much more clearer than it ever had before. In order to confirm what Mother had said I asked her to display my stats again.
| Name: | None | Total Level: | 1 | [/tr]Title: | Dungeon Skeleton | Job: | Floor 1 Guard - Warwic Dungeon | [/tr]| Main Class: | None | Race: | Undead |
| - |
| HP: | 30/30 | MP: | 8/8 |
| Strength: | 10 | Dexterity: | 7 |
| Constitution: | 15 | Intelligence: | 6 |
| Wisdom: | 4 | Charisma: | 0 |
| Main Skills |
| None |
| Main Spells |
| None |
| - |
| Experience: | 0/77 |
''It changed!''
Not just a little but every single one had changed! I was free, finally! The first thing I had to do was find my way out of the dungeon. Though without being able to see it would probably take me a while. Even if I did get out I would be instantly killed by adventurers and whoever else might be out there. If I die outside of the dungeon I might just die forever. Even if true death would mean escaping this hell of dying forever I wouldn''t want to just waste my freedom. I have to be able to survive out there, so that just leaves me with one course of action, I have to get stronger.
Chapter 2 - My Very First Victory
I had three things I always wanted to do. The first two were simple, get revenge by killing the dungeon and killing adventurers, the third was to finally get out of this dungeon. I first tried getting my revenge on the adventurers. I was finally able to move freely for the first time in my life and now I could actually fight against these adventurers and wi-
''Ah, I lost again.''
Die, yes. Even though I was finally able to move on my own I was still nothing but a level 1 Skeleton. Even if I could see their attacks coming, my Dexterity wasn''t high enough for me to dodge. One good thing to come out of this was that I still couldn''t really die. but other than me being able to vary my attacks I was still in the same spot as before, that was until I got lucky.
''Hm? They''re coming back, I guess I should get ready. No wait, it''s just one, and it''s crawling. This is it! My Chance!''
A group of three adventurers recently entered the dungeon and crushed my skull again. It looks like only one of them managed to make it out and it was heavily wounded and approaching slowly so I took the time to prepare an ambush. I laid down next to the wall and waited for it pass by, then I jumped on its back and went for its eyes. I felt something soft around its head so I was lucky it wasn''t wearing a helmet, though I still couldn''t feel anything other than the softness of its face. As soon it felt me land on it it started flailing around but with me on its back and as heavily wounded as it was it stood no chance. As I was poking around on the front of its face I must have finally found the eyes since it suddenly started flailing about more strongly than before. It occurred to me as I was on top of it that I could just easily twist its neck rather than trying to do whatever it was I was doing. I just put my hands on either side of its face and started twisting and eventually it finally stopped flailing around.
| You have gained a level
You have gained a level
You have gained a level
You have gained a level
You have gained a level
Congratulations |
Ah Mother! I did it, I finally got revenge against one these adventurers! Now, to loot my ki-''
It was then I noticed, I still couldn''t see. Yes I haven''t been able to see anything except life fore and mana since the day I was created but I had forgotten and solely focused on getting revenge. If I can''t see then how the hell did I expect to loot these adventurers. I began patting the body and searching for anything hard. I found one long, thin, and hard thing which was an iron long sword, one short, thin, and hard thing which was an iron dagger, and the adventurer''s iron armor which consisted of an iron chestplate, bracers, and shin guards. How exactly was I able to tell what these were and what they were made of? Well, using my extraordinary cunning and intelligence I was easily able to tell due to the shape of the object and hardness of its material that-| Items Acquired |
| Iron Longsword
Iron Dagger
Iron Chestplate
Iron Bracers
Iron Shin Guards |
[/table]
''Thank you for telling me Mother.''
Now how do I equip this? The sword and dagger should have some sort of belt. But as for the chestplate and other armor pieces it''ll be hard for me to find the straps on them and properly equip it.
''I wish I had a better sense of touch so I could actually equip these without any trouble.''
| Would you like to equip your most recently acquired Items? |
I heard Mother''s voice, this time she wasn''t telling me something but instead she asked me a question! A question! For the first time in my life I had been asked a question!
''Yes Mother! Yes Please!''
The armor and weapons I looted from the adventurer suddenly disappeared and reappeared on my body. The sword was strapped to my side and the dagger to the back of my waist. The armor was equipped and fitted to my body perfectly.
| Your Items have been equipped |
''Thank you! Thank you so much Mother!''
I had finally acquired my very first set of weapons and armor and now it was time to move on to the next part of my plan. Yes, I had a plan. My plan consisted of a few parts and the first was to get a set of armor and weapons from the adventurers. After completing the first part I could now move on to the second and that was...
''Good, here they come.''
Seven small life forces appeared in my sigh. They were small, round and had a jelly-like wiggle to them. They were the cleaners of this dungeon that appeared whenever an adventurer died, Slimes. Slimes were simple creatures and their job was to clean up dead bodies of adventurers and carry their loot deeper into the dungeon. This time, however, I was there with free will and I wouldn''t be letting them do their job this time. I did have some guilt about killing my own family of dungeon monsters but I knew they were like me and they would just respawn somewhere deeper in the dungeon.
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''I''m sorry, but It''s not like you haven''t died hundreds of times before.''
Since slimes were practically immune to physical damage it''s not easy to actually kill them. If you had no choice but to use physical damage then the easiest way to kill it would be to find a large rock that is too big for them to fit into their bod. If it is too big their body can''t digest it and they will just break apart and die. Since I had neither magic nor a big rock I simply resorted to sticking my sword in it and beating it against the wall of the tunnel.
Did it work? Yes, yes it did. When fighting a slime without magic one of the key things to remember is area. The bigger the area of the weapon you use, the easier it is to kill a slime. Out of the different types of physical damage, blunt damage is most effective. If I used my sword and just slashed away at the slime I wouldn''t even kill one before the other six finished devouring the body and left. But if I did this it took no more than four or five hits against the wall before the slime broke apart and I moved onto the next.
| You have gained a level
You have gained a level
You have gained a level
You have gained a level |
| You have acquired an Ability Point |
| Skill learned: Longsword |
| Class acquired: Warrior |
| Congratulations |
| Would you like to spend your Ability Point? |
| Would you like to spend your unallocated levels in the Class: Warrior? |
''Oh, Mother! I gained my first class! Yes to both questions!''
| You have one Ability Point |
| You may pick one of the following Abilities: |
| Sight: Basic
Hearing: Basic
Touch: Intermediate |
I froze for a second, I couldn''t believe what Mother was telling me. I could gain sight and hearing, after all this time living in a silent and dark world?
''I choose Sight!''| You have chosen the Ability: Sight: Basic |
| You have gained ten levels in the Class: Warrior |
| Skill gained: Surge
Skill gained: Second Wind
Congratulations |
| You may choose a fighting style from the Class: Warrior |
| Would you like to choose one now? |
[/table]
''Yes!''
| You may choose one of the following fighting styles: |
| Archery |
| Choosing Archery will give you a 20% damage bonus when using ranged weapons |
| Defense |
| Choosing Defense will give you a 20% damage reduction when using a melee weapon and shield |
| Single Weapon Fighting |
| Choosing Single Weapon Fighting will give you a 20% damage bonus when using a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons |
| Great Weapon Fighting |
| Choosing Great Weapon Fighting will give you a 20% damage bonus when using a two-handed melee weapon |
| Dual Wielding |
| Choosing Dual Wielding will give you a 20% damage bonus when using two melee weapons |
I considered each of these and then compared them with what I had available to me. At the time all I had was a longsword and a dagger. I had no bow, shield, or two-handed weapon, and I didn''t have the skill of Dual Wielding. I couldn''t be sure that choosing that fighting style would give me that skill, so in the end I chose Single Weapon Fighting. Mother had confirmed my choice and then something happened. I saw light, specifically light from two torches that were at each end of the tunnel. I could see! For the first time in my life I saw light! There wasn''t any color though but I didn''t care, I could finally see after all this time! I don''t know how I was able to see as I still didn''t have any eyes but that can come later. I don''t know how long, but for a time I just stood there staring at one of the torches at the end of the tunnel, staring in wonder at the way the flame moved because of the wind. It took me a while to remember that I had work to do and I reluctantly turned from the torch and headed deeper into the dungeon.
Chapter 3 - A Challenge
''Mother! I''ve killed another one!''
I''ve been hunting adventurers lately since I got my first weapon. I avoided any of the groups that had a high life force or a number of magical items. Sticking to the weaker adventurers has helped me level up easier and get me more equipment. Though I still don''t have much use for five swords and three sets of armor, but I carry them around anyway. The good thing about being a skeleton is that you can''t even get tired from carrying around five swords, three daggers, two maces, two shields, a bow, three full quivers of arrows, three chestplates, two sets of greaves, four pairs of boots, two pairs of gauntlets, and two helmets. Carrying all this stuff around even levels up my strength without me knowing about it.
''Mother, what are my stats like now?''
| Name: | None | Total Level: | 14 | [/tr]Title: | Dungeon Warrior Skeleton | Job: | Floor 1 Monster - Warwic Dungeon | [/tr]| Main Class: | Warrior | Race: | Undead |
| - |
| HP: | 42/42 | MP: | 16/16 |
| Strength: | 34 | Dexterity: | 14 |
| Constitution: | 21 | Intelligence: | 13 |
| Wisdom: | 8 | Charisma: | 0 |
| Main Skills |
Longsword: | Intermediate | Surge: | Beginner | [/tr]Second Wind: | Beginner | | Main Spells |
| None |
| - |
| Experience: | 1097/1185 |
''Even though I''ve killed many of them I still only leveled up four times.''
My title changed to include my class and my job switched to monster from guard. Due to carrying all this equipment around my strength rose considerably. As I was looting my most recent kill five life forces appeared in my vision. They were coming around the corner and I had only a few seconds before they saw me. I decided that this time I would test myself since I''ve never fought five adventurers at once so I readied my sword and got closer. When the first one came around the corner I threw my sword at him and managed to actually hit him in the chest with it. This adventurer was only wearing leather armor and my sword easily pierced through it.
I drew my second sword while I dropped the large bundle of armor I was carrying around and sprinted toward the others before they could react. Two of them ran to aid the one I hit with my sword and they didn''t notice me. Since I had an opportunity I threw my second sword as I drew my third. This time I wasn''t as lucky as before because I missed and the sword ended up hitting the wall. The last two rounded the corner and saw me but by then I was already close enough to attack and swung my sword at one of the ones who were helping the one I hit with my sword. Before my sword hit I saw a shield of mana appear around her and my sword bounced off of it.
One of the larger ones swung a large axe at me and I barely managed to dodge it. I tossed my third sword in an arc as I backed up and it cut the one that looked like a wizard in the arm. The large one was advancing on me and the one I cut in the arm was preparing a spell of some kind while the other two were dragging the one I impaled with my sword behind them. I had to act fast so I charged in with my fourth sword drawn.
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''Now Mother! Activate Surge!''
| Skill Activated: | Surge | | Movement speed increased by 200% for 6 seconds
You will not be able to activate Surge again for 24 hours |
I leaned in and charged under the large one as he swung his axe past my head. I swung my sword from left to right hitting him in his left side then twisted my body and slashed the wizard across the chest. With the last seconds of my Surge I stabbed him in the chest with my sword to finish him. Surge then ended and I slightly underestimated the big guy because I was hit in the side and sent flying, hitting the wall.
The side where I hit him was gushing with blood and he could hardly stand. I was getting up and noticed that I landed next to my second sword so I grabbed it and stood up when an arrow hit me in the shoulder. One of the two in the back was an Elf Ranger and I could see she really didn''t like me hurting her adventuring friends. She was crying as she kept shooting arrows at me.
''What kind of adventurer forgets that Skeletons are nearly immune to piercing damage? Just because it hits my armor doesn''t mean it hits my body.''
I walked over to her while watching the other woman panic as she tried to heal the other three, two of which were already dead. The large man with the axe was now lying on the ground and wasn''t moving.
''Is this what the adventurers feel when they kill me?''
A feeling of power filled me as I looked at them in their panicked and near dead state. At this point I reached the Ranger and she took out a dagger and tried to stab me. She didn''t even try to surprise me so it was easy to grab her wrist and break it.
''Ha Ha! How does it feel to know that you''re going to die!''
I knew they couldn''t hear me so that kind of took the fun out of it and I decided to stop playing around. I stabbed the Ranger in the chest and when I turned to finish off the last one I noticed I had gotten to arrogant. I was hit with a spell, a spell I would''ve easily noticed if I wasn''t busy losing myself in my uncertain victory. A bright light surrounded my body and burned it up from the inside.
''Mother! Activate Second Wind!''
| Skill Activated: | Second Wind | | Death prevented
Health restored to 10%
You will not be able to activate Second Wind again for 24 hours |
With that I was saved from being turned to ash. I could see the look of surprise on her face but I wasn''t about to give her another chance to kill me so I immediately cut her head off before she could react. Just like that, the first very tough battle of my life had ended.
| You have gained a level
You have gained a level
Congratulations |
| You may now choose an archetype from the Class: Warrior |
| Would you like to choose an archetype now? |
''Yes!''
| You may choose one of the following archetypes: |
| Champion |
| The Champion focuses on raw physical power |
| Battle Master |
| The Battle Master focuses on the mastery of all weapon types and fighting styles |
| Mystic Knight |
| The Mystic Knight focuses on both magic and fighting |
''Oh! Mystic Knight!''
The Mystic Knight is the only one that could use magic. I always wanted to learn magic but thought it would be impossible.
| You have chosen the archetype: Mystic Knight |
| Spell learned: Frost Armor
Spell learned: Frost Bolt
Spell learned: Frost Blade
Spell learned: Frost Ray
Congratulations |
''Yes! I can cast spells now!''
Chapter 4 - Actions Have Consequences
"So tell me again, how many are dead?"
An old man, looking to be in his sixties, with long white hair and an equally long beard sat at an old, worn desk starring intently at his subordinate that just delivered some troubling news. The young man who looked no more than sixteen was slightly sweating as the old man was starring a whole into the side of his head. He couldn''t meet his gaze as he feared the old man would tear him apart. This old man was of course, James Nichye, Guild Master of the Warwic''s Adventurer''s Guild, the most famous Adventurers Guild in the country. The very thing that made this guild famous was a particular dungeon that it just happened to be named after. This dungeon also seemed to be having a problem that surfaced over the past month, a problem that was being discussed right now.
"Y-yes Sir, the reports have showed the deaths of eleven adventurers this past month. All of which happened on the first floor and the most recent being the deaths of five C ranked adventurers."
In response to hearing this James let out a sigh.
"Great, it looks like a monster from the lower floors somehow made its way to the first. Send an extermination unit to drag the thing out of the dungeon and deal with it. That way they won''t have to bother chasing it back down to the floor it came from. Since it''s on the first floor it''ll be much easier to deal with. Oh, and make sure everyone in the unit is at least rank A, I want this dealt with quickly before any of the nobles find out. If they end up finding out about this before it''s been dealt with there''s going to be trouble, understood?"
"Yes Sir! I''ll arrange to have it taken care of immediately!"
With that the young man left the office, closing the door behind him. James leaned back in his chair and stroked his beard.
"The last thing I need is some damn monster giving the nobles a reason to have me replaced with someone they pay. I''ll die before I let this seat be taken by some foot-licking noble dog."
------------
| Skill learned: Sword Throw |
''Ah Mother! So it is a skill I can learn!''
Since I fought those five adventurers I decided to take a little break to practice my new magic and learn some new skills. So far I''ve learned how to use my bow, daggers, and mace. I haven''t gotten to the large axe yet but I planned on learning how to use it at some point. As for my spells, Frost Armor surrounds me in a cloak of frost that deals damage to any enemy that gets too close. Frost Bolt fires a small concentrated bolt of ice at any target I can see within range. Frost Blade enhances my weapon with frost and when it hits an enemy frost slowly spreads and freezes the area around the wound. Frost Ray fires a concentrated beam of ice from my palm and constantly drains mana while fired. Sadly my MP is only 22 now so I can only use two of these spells before I run out.
I thought about this after I killed those five adventurers and searched them to see if I could find something to restore my mana. I found two potions, one that had life force infused into it and one that had mana. I was thankful for my ability to see both life force and mana because with my current sight I probably wouldn''t be able to tell which one I needed and which would hurt me. Normally adventurers just drink the potion for it to work but since I was nothing but bones I wasn''t sure if it would work. My first idea was to just try and drink it like you would normally use a potion, this didn''t work very well as only a tiny portion of the potion refilled my mana, the rest just fell to the floor. The second idea I had was to just smash the potion against the front of my face. This way the majority of it would touch my body. It worked, nearly all of my mana was refilled and I only had to use up two of the twenty potions I collected from the adventurers.
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------------
"So, they want us to go and kill this monster that somehow managed to get to the first floor?"
A man equipped in full plate, with a shield slung over his back and a large mace strapped to his side asked his companion as they walked toward the Adventurer''s Guild. This man was Krusk Anstald a half-orc Paladin, standing at nearly seven feet. At the young age of 20 with a total level of 88 and class level of 50, Krusk was the highest leveled Paladin in the city of Tayton. Tayton was the capital city of the country Gaham. Krusk had short, brown hair, dark green eyes, a bit of a greenish tint to his skin, and a point to his ears. Krusk had much more human in him than most half-orcs do and if it wasn''t for the tint to his skin some might even mistake him for a tall half-elf.
The woman to his side, Elen Enderwell, an elf druid with a total level of 74 and a class level of 46, stood at around five and a half feet. With long blonde hair, bright green eyes, long pointy ears, and smooth, milky-white skin, she was the perfect image of an elf.
"Yes, the Guild Master wanted it dealt with quickly because it killed a group of five rank C adventurers recently."
"I see, hmm."
Krusk stopped and thought for a second as he starred off into the sky.
"Well we still have some time before lunch and the two of us are much stronger than a handful of some useless rank C adventurers. So why don''t the two of use just go take care of this monster ourselves?"
"Oh? Feeling adventurous today are we?"
"Not really, I just don''t feel like going through the trouble of gathering everyone together to deal with a single monster. Plus it gives us some time alone together."
"How romantic, just you and me alone in a dungeon hunting down a monster."
"Hmph, if you didn''t want to then all you had to do was say so."
Krusk turned his head and started sulking.
"Oh come now, when did I ever say I didn''t want to? Let''s go!"
Elen grabbed Krusk''s arm and pulled him in the direction of the dungeon.
------------
| Skill learned: Dagger Throw |
''Yes! I''ve learned another skill Mother!''
I just finished learning my last skill and started to gather up my equipment when I noticed two very large life forces enter my vision.
''Oh wow, they''re really strong, and carrying plenty of magical items. Hmm, there''s only two of them though, maybe I could take them?''
I thought about it for a moment but it would probably take only one hit from them for me to die. If I was going to fight them I''d have to prepare something in advance. While I tried to think of something I noticed they didn''t bother taking the stairs to the second floor.
''Well that''s odd, shouldn''t they have moved to the second floor by now? Could they be looking for something on this floor?''
The only thing I could think of that two adventurers as strong as them could be looking for on this floor would be-
''Me? No that can''t be it can it?''
Chapter 5 - A New Life on a New Floor
If I had a voice I''m pretty sure I''d be screaming right now. I mean, after seeing the 10th floor boss annihilated in a few seconds and having the very thing that did that chasing after me. I had to drop all of the armor I''ve gathered so I could run faster and the only things I had left were my swords and daggers. After clearing the entire first floor they found me somehow, probably by using a spell to detect the presence of monsters. Once they found me I had no choice but to either fight or run away. My first decision was to fight so I attacked and lost my right arm. If it wasn''t for me activating Surge at the last second to dodge a large mace, my chest would''ve been crushed right there. When I realized I highly overestimated myself, I ducked behind a corner and ran for the second floor.
If I wasn''t screaming after I losing my right arm, then I would''ve definitely let out a scream when I saw that damn elf woman turn into a fucking dragon and burn up the tenth floor boss in an instant. The bosses in this dungeon weren''t for show you know, each one was made with the idea that it would be facing multiple parties. I suppose that I didn''t just overestimate myself, but I underestimated them just as much. I forgot that sometimes there are adventurers who can be arrogant because they have the power to back it up.
If I didn''t scream after seeing the tenth floor boss burnt up in seconds. Then I would certainly be screaming now, because for the first time in my life, I''m falling an uncertain distance into complete and total darkness. In the Warwic dungeon, or home as it is known to me, there is a boss set every ten floors. Each boss is placed into a room big enough to fit multiple parties of adventurers. After each of these rooms is a bridge leading to the next section of ten floors. Each section is set to be significantly harder than the last, so much so that even those two incredibly strong adventurers would''ve had trouble getting through floors eleven to twenty by themselves. My goal was to run across that bridge as fast as my skeletal feet could take me. Maybe if I had dropped a sword or two, maybe if I unequipped my armor while I was running, maybe if I didn''t think the boss could handle those two, I would''ve been able to make it to the other side.
------------
A pair of adventurers could be seen standing on very large bridge that mysteriously had a huge portion of the middle melted out.
"Oh dear, do you think that was a bit much?" Elen said, wearing a look of guilt. If the bridge linking sections of the dungeon was destroyed beyond repair, then no one would be able to travel past the tenth floor. Then the dungeon, not the mention the city that lives off of it, would be useless.
The Paladin next to her, Krusk, tried to think of a way to comfort her, though he would be seen just as guilty as her for the destruction of the bridge. He said the first thing that came to his mind.
"Of course not Elen, that skeleton thought it could take us on. This is simply the price one has to pay for underestimating us."
At this she gave him a fake smile then turned to face the now mostly melted bridge.
"I know that but, how is anyone going to cross the bridge now that a giant section of it is melted."
Krusk didn''t know what to say to this, he knew there was a spell that could mend broken walls and bridges to a certain extent, though he''d never seen it used on something of this scale. But he managed to think of something to say, even if he didn''t believe it himself.
"Don''t worry, it''ll repair itself in no time at all."
She spun around to look at him, everyone knew that things in a dungeon repaired themselves over time. During the first few hundred years of discovering dungeons, people started to study them and the first thing people noticed was how everything created by the dungeon repaired itself. The second thing people noticed was how any monster taken out of the dungeon would then lose this ability, which explained why no monster ever left the dungeon. Eventually this became common knowledge to everyone, but no one has ever witnessed a dungeon repair damage that was this large. Regardless, this was the only hope the two could cling to, otherwise they would probably be hunted down for causing the economical destruction of an entire city.
"You really think so?" She said, staring at him with teary eyes.
"Yes! Without a doubt! I mean, everything repairs itself in a dungeon so why wouldn''t the bridge do the same?" He responded in the only way he knew he could. Even if he wasn''t sure that the bridge would actually repair itself, he thought it was a reasonable assumption.
"I suppose your right, we still have some time before lunch so let''s get going." She said as she wiped the tears from her face and grabbed Krusk''s arm.
As they were walking away Krusk couldn''t help but feel like he''d forgotten something. He''d been through the first ten floors of the dungeon much more than most adventurers, so much that he knew exactly how many of what monsters were on certain floors.
''Hmm, wasn''t there supposed to be a skeleton there? No, I must''ve confused that with a different floor.''
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Even with all the knowledge I was somehow created with, I still didn''t know what would happen to someone if they fell off the bridge. I''m sure plenty of people have fallen off the bridges before, but it''s not like I was there to see it happen or anything. So I fell and continued to fall for quite sometime, so much that I would''ve forgotten I was falling if I didn''t hit something. What I hit wasn''t the hard ground I expected to hit either, it was something soft and squishy that I bounced off of, then I hit that hard ground I''d been expecting.
If I wasn''t wearing my armor I''m sure my body would''ve probably exploded on impact, but I was held together. Still, it wasn''t like the fall didn''t crush every single bone in my body. This is one of the reasons I''m thankful for Second Wind, I activated it as soon as I felt the impact against the hard ground. Just like that I was restored to ten percent of my health. I was still able to move but with all the cracks I had in my bones a strong gust of wind was enough to blow me apart at this point.
Getting up, I was able to see what I landed on first. What greeted me was a, well, slime, not just any slime though, this slime could easily fit at least a hundred or so of me in it, and still have room for a full sized dragon. It was the classic green colored slime, except for the fact that it was much larger than any slime should be. For a moment I just stood there staring at it. I think it did the same but since it doesn''t have eyes I couldn''t tell. I waved at it, it sat there, I poked it to see if it would respond, it didn''t. I looked around to see if I could figure out where I was. My best guess is that I was on some high level floor, but since I''ve never ventured beyond the first floor I had no idea which floor I was on.
The only thing I could figure out about this floor is that it was massive. This floor was nothing like the first ten, where the first ten floors were like a series of tunnels, this was it''s own underground world. Grassless wasteland could be seen as far as my sight would allow, looking to the ceiling I could see what looked like stars. Ruins of what looked like very old buildings could be seen in the distance. Whatever this floor was, it was somewhere that people once lived.
While I was caught up in looking at the scenery, the giant slime I met started to move. I followed it since I didn''t have anything else on my schedule anymore seeing as how I had no clue as to where I was. For a while the slime simply moved along the ground, it didn''t really seem to have a destination in mind, until we reached it. A large life force entered my vision in the direction we were headed, a much larger life force than that of those adventurers. As I followed the slime, I saw what this life force belonged to. It was a bear, from this distance it looked like any regular bear drinking from a stream, except for that massive amount of life force I could see in it. The slime spread its body along the surface of the ground and split up into a dozen or so parts. These parts formed into long snake-like slimes and slithered toward the bear.
What I found amazing was that the main body that held the core of the slime stayed behind, while the rest of its body went towards the bear. As I watched the parts of the slime slowly head toward the bear I remembered something I knew about this dungeon. After the 60th floor, the floor monsters drastically change in order to protect the dungeon heart. The best way to get stronger in this world was to level up and the only way to do that was by killing monsters. Below the 60th floor all monsters are ordered to kill each other on sight in order to gain experience to get stronger.
''If I am below floor sixty then why didn''t it just kill me on sight? Maybe because I wasn''t worth enough experience?''
As I was thinking about this the slime made its move. The snake-like parts of the slime all leaped in unison and pierced the bear, burrowing into it. This bear thrashed around kicking up rocks and splashing in the water but it wasn''t long before one of the slimes pierced through its head from the inside. After the bear stopped moving the slimes dragged the bear back to the main body. Only when it was nearing us did I notice how large the bear really was. It was easily twice the size of an adult dragon.
I stood there amazed that something that strong, with a life force that big, was so easily killed by a simple slime. While I stared at it, the slime cut the bear in half and started eating it. It just sat there, slowly dissolving half the bear it killed. When I looked back over to the bear I noticed something had fallen out of it. A very large sphere, much like the one that gave me free will, except this one was much, much larger. I looked at it, then the slime, then it again, and slowly reached my hand out to grab it. As I touched it I looked at the slime, it gave no response so I picked it up, it was then I heard Mother''s voice.
| Item Acquired: Mana Core (Massive) |
Chapter 6 - A New Friend
''The hell am I supposed to do with this? I don''t suppose you have a suggestion Mother?''
''........''
Since I''ve gotten my hands on this Mana Core I tried to find a way to use it. I tried smashing it against a rock and all that did was break the rock. I tried hitting it with a sword or chipping away at it with a dagger, now I have both a broken dagger and a sword. I even tried eating it and all that got me was a few chipped teeth.
''Is this thing indestructible or something?''
By the way, I kept following the slime around as it seemed to not be hostile to me and also seemed to be the strongest thing on this floor. I''ve seen it kill giant bears, giant birds, and even giant giants. I tried waving one of the giant giants to see if it could communicate but it just tried to step on me and I ran back to the slime which then killed and ate him. Also it seems that every thing here drops one of those mana cores when they die and I have yet to find one smaller than massive size. I made a small sleigh out of some dead tree branches I found lying around and I''m dragging around ten of the things right now.
''Hmmm, I wonder if the slime knows what to do with these things.''
I tried to communicate with it but it''s a little hard when you can''t talk and don''t know any languages to write. Just pointing at the giant orb didn''t seem to get the point across either. I honestly had no idea what to do, I was stuck in a high level floor with monsters that I could never fight no matter how hard I tried and I had ten massive mana cores that I didn''t know what to do with, then I remembered something Mother did for me once.
''Ah! Wait a minute, what if I- Could that work?! It''s not a sword or armor but maybe. Mother, please equip this Mana Core!''
''........''
''Great, that was my last-''
| Error, unable to equip Item: Mana Core (Massive) |
| Would you like to Absorb the Item instead? |
''Ah! Mother! You''re a genius! YES!''
| Detected multiples of the Item: Mana Core (Massive) |
| Would you like to absorb them all?
Note: Absorbing multiples at once will take much longer |
''Yes! Absorb them all!''
Suddenly a bright light surrounded me and all of the cores I was carrying around disappeared.| Absorption started |
| Estimated time until completion: 302Y, 4M, 12D |
| Note: Increasing level will also decrease absorption time |
[/table]
''Ah, looks like it''s going to take some time for me to absorb them, good thing I have eternity.''
I noticed that my slime friend stopped moving and was just sitting there, I think it was wondering why a bright light just appeared next to it. What I didn''t noticed was the large amount of monsters the light gathered. It was like a giant beacon to all the monsters in the area, and I didn''t notice it until one already hit me and sent me flying, forcing me to activate Second Wind.
''What was that!?''
Getting up I shouted in my mind at whatever just hit me. Then I saw my friend getting surrounded by a handful of giant monsters.
''No! That bright light must''ve attracted them to us!''
I got up and started running over while trying to think of a way to help my slime friend. As I got closer I realized that it didn''t need any help at all. I watched as it split up into many parts and burrowed its way into each monster attacking it, it was really something to see. All the monsters that gathered around just started attacking each other and the slime just burrowed into some of them and waited until most of them were dead. When there were only a few left my friend made its move and finished them off one at a time.
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''Wow, its a lot stronger than I thought.''
I just stood there amazed at how easily it handled them all. While I was watching my friend gather up the remains of the monsters it killed, I saw another giant bear approach. I figured the slime would notice but I guess it was too busy dragging all the bodies together.
''Ah, he doesn''t notice, now''s my chance!''
I took out my sword and cast Frost Blade on it.
''It''s not that far of a shot right? I even have the skill for this.''
The bear was closing in and getting ready to attack, only now did my friend notice it, but it didn''t have enough time to react. I was about one or two hundred feet away and to be honest I didn''t even think I could throw the sword that far, but I had to try.
''Ok, please hit!''
I threw my sword just as the bear leapt at my friend. I tried aiming at where the bear was going to land but I still didn''t think it would work, and it didn''t. My sword only flew about half way before it hit a rock and bounced off, flying through the air.
''Damn! I knew it wouldn''t work, I should''ve gotten closer.''
I took out another one of my swords and started running at the bear.
''I don''t care even if you are a giant, I''ll defend my friend!''
The bear landed next to my friend and swung at him with one of its huge clawed paws. My friend dodged and started to retreat in my direction while the bear perused it. I was nearly there when the bear was suddenly hit in the eye by a sword that fell out of the sky, it was then that I heard Mother''s voice.
| Skill Upgraded: | Sword Throw: Beginner > Intermediate | [tr]| Congratulations |
''What, you''re kidding me.''
Surprised that it was suddenly stabbed in the eye, the bear started flailing around and my friend took the opportunity to kill it.
| You have leveled up
You have leveled up
You have leveled up
You have leveled up
You have leveled up...
Congratulations |
''I got experience even though I didn''t kill it myself?''
I was just as surprised as the bear that my sword actually hit it. My slime friend came over to me and dropped my sword at my feet.
''Oh, thank you for giving it back to me and not just eating it.''
I picked up my sword and put it back in its sheath. I noticed my slime friend still sitting there, I could swear if it had eyes it''d be staring at me right now. I didn''t really know what it wanted so I reached my hand out and patted it. My hand sent small ripples through its body and it jiggled. A large tentacle sprouted out of it and patted me in the chest, knocking me over.
| Companion Gained: | Green Slime (Massive) | [tr]| Congratulations |
''Ah, even Mother thinks you''re my friend!''
I jumped up and hugged my friend, slowing sinking into its green, jelly-like body.
Chapter 7 - What Floor?
My friend was currently in the middle of a feast with the large amount of monsters that showed up due to he bright light. While my friend was busy with its feast, I used this time to check on my stats. The first thing Mother told me about was that I gained a new Ability Point along with a new skill that I could use once a day. I decided to spend my Ability Point first before I checked on everything else.
| You have one Ability Point |
| You may pick one of the following Abilities: |
| Sight: Intermediate
Hearing: Basic
Touch: Intermediate |
''Oh, it''s this again. Last time I picked Sight so this time I''ll pick Hearing.''
| You have chosen the Ability: Hearing: Basic |
''Ah, I can hear... nothing?''
Even though I could hear now, there wasn''t anything to hear. There wasn''t a single sound in this barren wasteland.
''Well, I guess I wasn''t missing much, maybe I should''ve went with sight instead so I could at least see a little better, though with how dark and dead it is down here there really isn''t much to see besides those star-like things in the ceiling.''
Disappointed with my choice, I decided to move on and check my stats that I haven''t looked at in a while.
| Name: | None | Total Level: | 26 | [/tr]Title: | Dungeon Mystic Knight Skeleton | Job: | Floor 89 Monster - Warwic Dungeon | [/tr]| Main Class: | Mystic Knight | Race: | Undead |
| - |
| HP: | 68/68 | MP: | 28/28 |
| Strength: | 42 | Dexterity: | 22 |
| Constitution: | 34 | Intelligence: | 17 |
| Wisdom: | 14 | Charisma: | 0 |
| Main Skills |
| Longsword: | Intermediate | Shortbow: | Beginner |
| Sword Throw: | Intermediate |
| Surge: | Beginner | Second Wind: | Beginner |
| Main Spells |
| Frost Armor: | 1st level | Frost Bolt: | 1st level |
| Frost Ray: | 1st level | Frost Blade: | 1st level |
| - |
| Experience: | 2,808/2,885 |
Needless to say the first thing I noticed was that I was now on the 89th floor. I now knew why everything down here was so damn big and strong. I also noticed my Constitution went up quite a bit, I guess surviving two things that should''ve killed you will do that. I almost had enough MP now to cast three spells, I really wanted to find a way to learn more magic but I had no idea where I would start. I remembered to ask Mother about my new ability too and I learned that it was called Double Attack. I could use my new ability once every twenty-four hours and for 6 seconds all of my melee attacks would hit twice.
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''That seems really useful if I combine it wi- AH! What is that?!''
Suddenly I heard a loud sound next to me and jumped up with my sword drawn. It was just my friend dragging over another body of one of the monsters. The very first sound I heard was the body of a giant snake being dragged across the ground and then devoured by my first friend.
''Wow, it looks like you''re about half done with your feast huh?''
I decided I sat around long enough so I walked around gathering some dead tree branches again and made a new sleigh because the last one was crushed thanks to some giant monsters. Once my brand new sleigh was finished I started gathering up all the mana cores of the dead monsters. By the time I finished gathering them all I had fourteen of the damn things.
''Just what exactly am I supposed to do with all of these? If I absorb them all then it''ll probably make an even bigger light than the one before.''
I looked over to my friend and noticed that it was nearly done with the last body.
''I guess if I found a place in one of those ruins that wasn''t too run down then I could store them all there. It''s not like I''ll get tired carrying them all but I doubt there''s enough dead tree branches in this place to carry hundreds of these things. I guess it wouldn''t hurt to see if my friend would be willing to visit one of the ruins.''
I sat down and waited patiently until my friend finished eating and then I walked over to it and poked it in the side. I waited a few seconds, then walked back a little and pointed towards one of the ruins in the distance. With a little waving of my arms, some more poking, and a little more pointing, my friend got the idea and started wiggling toward the large ruins in the distance. I followed closely behind with my sleigh full of mana cores waiting to see if I could make myself a home in one of the many ruined castles that littered this wasteland.
We walked, and walked, and then walked even more after that. I didn''t realize how far away this castle really was, it didn''t look this far when we started. Along the way the mana cores kept piling up, I didn''t want a single one to go to waste. As I was thinking about these mana cores and what exactly they did I remembered that Mother told me that by raising my level I would also shorten the time it took to absorb the cores.
''Mother, how much time is left until I finish absorbing the cores?''
| Time remaining for current absorption: 272Y, 1M, 18D |
''Oh, well at least it was shortened significantly. Maybe I should throw swords at giant monsters more often.''
The only reason why I didn''t bother trying to gain experience off of my friends kills is that it felt like a rude thing to do. When I did it before it was to protect it because I didn''t want to lose the only friend I''ve ever had. But if I do it now it''ll only be because I want experience so I can get stronger. I don''t want be someone that uses friends to get things I want. I only collect these mana cores because it doesn''t bother to eat them, if it doesn''t want them then anyone can take it.
I kept debating whether I should or shouldn''t start using my friends kills as a way of gaining experience when I noticed that we''d finally arrived at the castle. At least, from a distance it looked like a castle, up close it looked closer to a mountain but that was probably just because a good portion of it was a ''mountain'' of rubble.
''Looks like we finally made it, let''s go explore and see if I can find a way to make this a home.''
I took my first step inside of the giant ruined castle and hoped that I wouldn''t be forced to use Second Wind again.
Chapter 8 - Learning
''Wow, this place is even bigger on the inside.''
I was strolling through what I think was the courtyard of this castle looking for a way to explore the inside. My friend split up into ten smaller slimes and followed me inside. As big as my friend was, if we did find an entrance to the inside it wouldn''t fit. Looking around the courtyard, it seemed like a serious battle took place here a long time ago. Everywhere I stepped I heard the crunching of bones, the entire ground was covered with skeletons, most of them were human but there were some that looked monstrous. Skeletons of giants, dragons, giant snakes, birds, and all other types of animals. Just looking at the skeletons wasn''t enough to know exactly what they were when they were alive but they all seemed to be skeletons of the monsters that are already here.
''What exactly happened here? It looks like humans lived here and fought with the monsters. But if humans were here first then where did the monsters come from?''
I didn''t know what to think to be honest, I highly doubt that the monsters made these castles. If humans made them then they would''ve had to dig all the way down here. I thought that perhaps dwarves made these castles since they''re known for living underground but I couldn''t find a single dwarvish skeleton anywhere. After wandering around for a while I managed to find a hole in one of the walls and made my way inside.
''Ah, so you can''t fit huh?''
The hole I found was about three times my size but my friend was much bigger than that even when it split into ten parts. My friend was forced to split again, this time into a horde of regular sized slimes that spilled through the hole. I was swept off my feet by the sudden flood of slimes and slid down the hall way, hitting a door. Standing up and looking down the hall way all I saw were slimes.
''I guess that''s one way to fit. Now, what''s behind this door?''
I turned around to find a solid metal door that was in surprisingly good condition given the rest of the place. The door itself looked like it was just made, the hinges, on the other hand, were rusted to the point that I could just rip them out of the wall.
''Well that was easy.''
With the hinges ripped out, the strong metal door that was in perfect condition simply fell over. I walked through the doorway with the horde of small slimes trailing behind me. I took about three steps before falling down a very long staircase. I got up and dusted myself off before getting drowned in a horde of slimes. When I got up the second time I noticed that the room I fell into lit up with magical stones.
''Oh, wow...''
What I saw in this room was a lot of books, somehow still in perfect condition.
''A Library, I found a Library!''
I jumped up and down and ended up stepping on a slime and falling over again. If there was one thing I wanted to find more than anything, it was information about the world. I got up again, this time being careful of where I stepped, and looked around the library.
''As I thought, I can''t read any of these.''
I walked around looking at the books and all I saw were strange symbols I didn''t understand. I was just about to give up when I spotted a door all the way at the back of the library. I walked to it and simply opened the door, to my surprise.
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''That''s it? No trap or something?''
I took a step inside, and nothing happened.
''I guess not.''
I walked into the room and it was a simple small room with a single desk in the middle, a magical light stone in the ceiling, and a chest at the back. I walked over to the chest and opened it up, no trap either. Inside were more books I couldn''t read but these all looked exactly the same except for the symbols it had on the front. I took out the ones at the top and found even more underneath them. Taking all the books out I counted sixteen and then I noticed something, the symbols on one of the books looked familiar. Then it hit me all at once, an entire language I knew came flooding into my head like something I forgot about.
''I, can read this!''
I grabbed the book and read the title of it on the cover; "Xaxis'' Sixteen Volumes of Languages: Number Sixteen: The Dead". I opened the book and read the note on the first page.
"Hello and welcome to the sixteenth volume of Xaxis'' Sixteen Volumes of Languages! Each and every volume is written exactly the same, in order for easy learning of all the languages. These sixteen volumes are the only existing copies so I suggest that they be kept together. Every known word of this language is contained within, along with a brief meaning of the word, and pronunciation key to help you learn how to speak it. The reason these books must be kept together is because a minimum of two are needed for anyone to learn a language using these books, it''s a bit of a failsafe I came up with. All sixteen volumes are as follows: Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Giants, Goblins, Orcs, Beasts, Demons, Angels, Dragons, Sea Creatures, Fey, Primordials, Celestials, Abyssals, and finally, The Dead. On the next page of each book you will find the books volume written in each language so you can tell which one you have. Have fun learning and please, don''t share these books with just anyone.
-Xaxis"
I was amazed, I didn''t know what to think and my mind went blank for a bit. I was finally able to read something, and I had a way to learn fifteen other languages! I turned the page and sure enough, the volume of the book was written there sixteen times. I took out all the books and laid them on the desk.
''It would be best for me to learn all of these languages if I can ever get out of here.''
I sat down at the desk and started with the Human language. The horde of slimes gathered around the room I was in and sat there waiting for me while I tried learning a new language. After a while of reading and trying to decipher the unknown symbols in one of the books I started to get the hang of it and then heard Mother.
| Skill Learned: Translation |
| Language Learned: Human(Written) |
''Yes! I did it!''
I managed to learn some of the human language and even got a skill out of it which made translating things a little faster. I still had quite a way to go to finish the book so I kept on learning.
Chapter 9 - Challengers Appear?
| Knowledge of Abyssal(Written): Expert > Mastered |
''Ahhhh, finally I''m done. That only took me.... Mother, how much time is left until I absorb those mana cores?''
| Time remaining for current absorption: 264Y, 9M, 24D |
''Eight years...''
Yes, I hadn''t moved from this seat for eight years.
''Wow, I thought it was hard but to take eight years. At least I''m finally done though, now I can finally learn what''s in the library.''
I got up and all of the slimes around me suddenly started jumping around.
''Yeah I know, it must''ve been boring waiting for me finish huh?''
We left the room and I walked to the nearest bookcase and skimmed a few books.
''These are, books about magic! This one is fire magic! This one is about holy magic! And this one is even about nature magic!''
Every single book I opened up was about magic, and they were all categorized in their respective languages. I thought a bit, it would take me quite a long time to read all of these and I just spent years learning how to read these languages so I decided I would just learn what I need now and then focus on the rest later.
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Over the past few months hundreds of adventurers have flocked to the city of Tayton for a certain reason.
"Hey, is it true what they''ve been saying? There''s going to be an expedition into the dungeon soon?"
"No, we all just gathered here for the hell of it. Of course there''s going to be an expedition you idiot, why the hell would everyone waste their time. Not only that but there''s been talk going around that the expedition is going to be lead by a team of S rank adventurers."
"Really? I thought all the S rank adventurers did was search the world for the strongest monsters to kill."
"Yeah but think about it, no one has ever organized an expedition of this scale for this dungeon yet. Not to mention that the last expedition into this dungeon only made it to the 60th floor. There''s no telling what kind of treasure is waiting in the deeper floors and all of it is untouched. There''s even rumors that the nobles pitched in and covered most of the costs required for food and other supplies."
------------
"So, today is the day huh?"
James, the Guild Master of Waric''s Adventurer''s Guild in Tayton, looked out the window from his office as he was preparing for the day. This day was going to mark the beginning of the second expedition into the Warwic Dungeon and it was his job as Guild Master to lead the adventurers into the dungeon.
"Ugh, I''m seventy-four for fucks sake, even if I am the Guild Master I''m too damn old for this shit. Why the hell did those damn nobles have to resort to funding an expedition just to try and get me to resign."
According to the rules of the Adventurer''s Guild, if the Guild Master, for any reason, cannot preform the duties required of them, they will be removed. One of these duties is leading any and all expeditions into a dungeon so long as the ones participating in the expedition were adventurers.
"Hmph, I''ll show them that even though I am old I wasn''t a previous S rank for nothing."
James tied back his long white hair before he equipped his armor. The armor he wore, old and worn from countless battles, the armor was chipped in many places and color of the armor had long since faded away. But color of the armor James wore didn''t matter, neither did the armors condition, all that mattered is that it was the armor that belonged to the previous S rank Blood Samurai, James Nichye. The nickname wasn''t his idea though, the samurai part was the idea of the adventurers because the armor he wore resembled warriors called samurai from where they came from. The blood part of the nickname came from the way James fought, the armor he wore would look old and worn normally but when the blood of the wearers enemies got on it the armor would absorb it and the defensive stats would increase considerably. His armor would not only increase in defense but it would also store any excess blood and turn it into life force for the wearer whenever they were hurt. This same effect applied to the four swords James used as well. His swords, old, rusted and chipped, would absorb the life force any enemy cut and cause massive amounts of bleeding to any wound. James also knew a fair amount of blood magic and he was able to drain away the life force from himself as well as his enemies in order to increase the damage and range of his attacks.
Back when James was in his thirties he was already one of the most feared S rank Battle Masters just because of his pure mastery of the sword. On his first dungeon expedition he found the armor that would earn him his everlasting nickname. Instead of rejecting the title of Blood Samurai he decided to scour the world for weapons that would suit the name and he wouldn''t stop there. By his mid forties his body was starting to decline so he decided to learn some blood magic that would give him back his previous reflexes and strength while draining away the life force of both him and his enemies. Normally magic like this would kill someone after just a few years of using it, but due to the effects of his armor he''s managed to live to the age of seventy-four.
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As James finished preparing his armor and weapons he grabbed his helmet and stepped through the door.
"Hell, I probably won''t even have that much trouble since those seven bastards are on their way."
------------
On the outskirts of the city of Tayton, seven strange characters could be seen.
The first was a seven foot tall man clad in full plate armor that looked to have been charred black and warped from dragon fire. Similarly to the armor, was a massive slab of charred and warped steel roughly seven and a half feet long being dragged behind him. On his side seemed to be a longsword, also charred black and warped into an odd shape.
The second, another man wearing what looked like stone carved to resemble plate armor. In his right hand he held a halberd that was pitch black and would stink of blood if anyone got close enough. In his left hand he held a massive hunk of stone that was carved in the form of a shield. About six inches thick, five and a half feet tall, and three feet wide.
The third was wearing golden plate armor, he was like a beacon of shining light, though that was probably just the sun reflecting off of the armor. In one hand he carried a mace that seemed to actually produce light. In the other he held a tower shield with the image of the sun carved onto it.
The fourth was a woman who had every inch of her skin covered in long purple robes. Her hands were covered with purple gloves and she held a black wand that had small purple stones embedded in it. On her side she had a book that had numerous purple runes on the cover.
The fifth was the least memorable of them all, this one was completely covered in rags to the point you couldn''t even distinguish gender. What stood out about them though, was the two daggers they held, both were identical and had three blue runes engraved on each side of the blade.
The sixth was a woman with her face covered by a black leather mask and hood. Wearing black leather armor, she had a black longbow on her back and a black rapier strapped to her side.
The last was a incredibly beautiful woman, with long flowing blonde hair and bright blue eyes, any man would fall in love at just the sight of her. She wore long white robes and carried an odd black bell with her along with a white book that had a single golden rune carved on its cover.
These seven were the S rank adventuring team known as The Skeleton Crew. Black the Berserker, was the main physical damage dealer with a total level of 498. Gery the Defender, was the main tank with a total level of 487. Cyne the Paladin, was a secondary tank and healer with a total level of 464. Brenda the Witch, was the main magic damage dealer, with a total level 479. Sam the Rouge, was a secondary physical damage dealer and trap disarmer with a total level of 475. Hilda the Ranger, was also a secondary physical damage dealer and scout, with a total level of 470. Finally there was Elisabeth the Priestess, she was the main healer and a secondary magic damage dealer with a total level of 501. These seven were not only the biggest team of S rank adventurers, but also the most feared for their ruthless effectiveness as they''ve never failed a single mission.
"So, are we almost there?"
The one to ask this question was Black.
"Oh come on Black, you''re the tallest of us so shouldn''t you be able to tell before any of us?" Hilda was the one to respond, and was met with a low growl from Black.
"Will you knock it off. Yes Black, we''re nearly there." Elisabeth stopped them before anything even started, after countless fights she got quite good at predicting when they might fight.
"Hopefully this time we might be able to find a clue on how to get out of this shitty game." Cyne spoke this time.
"Jeez, do you still believe that''s possible? We''ve been stuck here for how many years now? How many of us are even still alive after this much time anyway, I can''t even tell the fucking NPCs from actual people anymore since they''ve started registering as adventurers."
"Relax Brenda, we will find a way out, we just have to keep searching. Maybe this time we''ll be able to find an answer inside this dungeon." Elisabeth tried to comfort her.
The group calmed down and continued heading toward Tayton, to hopefully find the answer that would help them get back home.
Chapter 10 - The Plan
| Spell learned: Create Undead |
''Yes! Now I can start my master plan Mother! Mwhahahahaha!''
On the 89th floor of the Warwic dungeon, a skeleton could be seen silently laughing in the bone-covered courtyard of a massive ruined castle. After a while of this, the skeleton stopped and slumped its shoulders.
''Ugh, it''s just not the same if can''t actually laugh. Anyway, now is time to begin.''
The library I found had books for nearly every type of magic and skill and I managed to find two that would benefit me the most. The first of these books being Necromancy, and the second being Mana Siphoning. Once I learned the Mana Siphoning skill I was able to use the mana contained in the mana cores I had instead of using my own. I don''t know how much mana was contained within the cores I had, but I did know that it was more than enough for what I wanted to do.
I grabbed one of the mana cores, placed it inside my chest and activated my Mana Siphoning skill. Then I started the first step in my grand plan, raising all of the dead in this castle. At first it was a bit slow as I could only use the spell to create one undead at a time. But that soon resolved itself as I was able to level up the spell in record time since I had a near limitless source of mana now.
| Spell Evolved: | Create Undead > Mass Create Undead | [tr]| Congratulations |
''Oh, so spells can evolve after leveling up past the 9th level?''
Spells ranged from the 1st level to the 9th and depending on the power of the spell, you could start anywhere from the 1st level to the 9th level. Only some spells, as I would find out later, had the ability to evolve after reaching the 9th level.
''Hahaha! Rise my army of the dead!''
By the time the mana core I had was drained dry, I raised the largest (and only) army of the dead I had ever seen.
| Class aquired: Necromancer |
Aside from the thousands of regular skeletons I had under my control, I also had control of two dragons, three giants, four giant snakes, one giant bird, two giant bears, and many others.
''Good, now first order of business, rebuild this castle!''
I sent out a mental command to all of my undead and they all started moving, clearing the mountains of rubble and rebuilding the walls with it.
''Perfect, now to go and level up, come!''
I ordered my dragons and giants to follow me.
''Ah, are you coming too friend?''
My massive slime friend followed me closely, jiggling in what seemed like an excited way.
''Are you also excited to finally get out of that place?''
We searched for anything living and eventually found one of the many giant bears that lived here.
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''Seriously? Why the hell is it always bears? Whatever, kill it!''
I stood on a hill and watched as my minions descended and ripped apart the bear in seconds, the giants suffered some damage but they started slowly regenerating.
''Wow, I didn''t think they would be able to regenerate, that makes it even better.''
With that single kill I gained twenty levels and put them all into my Necromancer class.
| Skill learned: Life Force Siphoning |
| Spell learned: Touch of Death |
| Ability learned: Life Force Drain (passive) |
| Ability learned: Aura of the Dead (passive) |
| You have acquired an Ability Point |
| You have acquired an Ability Point |
| Would you like to spend your Ability Points? |
''Yes!''
| You have two Ability Points |
| You may pick two of the following Abilities: |
| Sight: Intermediate
Hearing: Intermediate
Touch: Intermediate |
''Ah, it''s not there, my voice...''
I thought that maybe it would appear this time, it didn''t. I chose to put both points in my sight and then something happened.
| You have chosen the Ability: Sight: Intermediate |
| You have chosen the Ability: Sight: Advanced |
| Abilities Upgraded: |
| Life Force Sight: Basic > Advanced |
| Mana Sight: Basic > Advanced |
Suddenly the range on my view of life force doubled- No, it tripled. Dozens of life forces suddenly entered my vision, I could see them from so far away. My regular sight sharpened as well, with a little bit of focus I could see much further than I ever thought possible.
''So, it affects all other Sight abilities I have. Now all I have to do is- Ah, so you''ve finished eating already?''
As though my friend knew exactly what I was thinking it devoured the corpse, leaving only the bones and the mana core.
''Thanks! You''ve saved me the trouble of trying to ask you to do that.''
I patted my friend and it jiggled again, I raised another minion and grabbed another core, then set off to find more prey.
''Oh, I almost forgot, Mother could you tell me how much time is left now?''
| Time remaining for current absorption: 211Y, 9M, 21D |
The time lowered drastically again with me leveling up.
''Good, I just need to focus on leveling now.''
Chapter 11 - Progress
''Hahaha! Go my minions! We shall make this entire floor ours!''
On the 89th floor of the Warwic Dungeon a skeleton could be seen riding on the back of a very large bear skeleton. Around this skeleton was a group of equally large skeletons and a slime.
I was leveling up like wind now that I had an army of giant skeletons to do my bidding. As nice as leveling up was I got a bit bored after a while of this and decided it was time to head back to the library again. I ordered my minions to keep hunting and drag dead bodies back to the castle so I could create more undead. Went I got back to the castle I noticed my army of regular skeletons was hard at work rebuilding. The castle almost looked like an actual castle again and not a pile of rubble. I made my way back down to the library while my friend split into a horde of slimes again.
''Hmmm, I should really think of a name for you huh?''
Sadly, I''d never named anything before and I only knew one name, it was the name of the one that wrote those sixteen volumes of languages, Xaxis. I didn''t want to steal someone''s name though, that would be rude. I decided I would give the name more thought if I ever learned how to talk. With that decided I focused on learning more magic and leveling up my current spells. I learned that spells would level up by just casting them, which was fortunate for me because I had a near limitless amount of mana from all the mana cores I was getting now. My own mana was also increasing every time I leveled up, this way if I ever run out of mana in a core I have an emergency pool that I can use.
Recently, thanks to leveling up, I maxed out my sight and could now see much, much further. I watched as various life forces around the area were slowly snuffed out.
''Well, they seem to be doing quite the job of killing anything on this floor.''
I was still gaining experience every time one of my minions would kill something.
''Wow, I wonder what my stats are looking like now.''
| Name: | None | Total Level: | 94 | [/tr]Title: | Dungeon Mystic Knight Skeleton | Job: | Floor 89 Monster - Warwic Dungeon | [/tr]| Main Class: | Mystic Knight | Race: | Undead |
| - |
| HP: | 86/86 | MP: | 164/164 |
| Strength: | 58 | Dexterity: | 38 |
| Constitution: | 43 | Intelligence: | 55 |
| Wisdom: | 82 | Charisma: | 0 |
| Main Skills |
| Longsword: | Intermediate | Shortbow: | Beginner |
| Sword Throw: | Intermediate |
| Surge: | Expert | Second Wind: | Expert |
| Main Spells |
| Frost Armor: | 1st level | Frost Bolt: | 1st level |
| Frost Blade: | 1st level |
| Touch of Death: | 1st level | Mass Create Undead: | 3rd level |
| - |
| Experience: | 29,006 |
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My Intelligence and Wisdom increased dramatically, I assumed that was because of casting Create Undead so much that it evolved.
''Hmm, I still don''t feel like it''s enough. Having a high level is nice and all but I need skills to go along with it.''
I turned my focus back to my reading and would soon learn something that would skyrocket my training rate.
--------------
On the bridge between floors 39 and 40 a very large group of adventurers could be seen crossing, leading this group were eight incredibly strong adventurers.
"So, we''ve only just past the fourth block? Ugh, this would be so much faster if we didn''t have to wait for these useless NPCs." The one to complain was Hilda, she always preferred doing things herself, but because her life was at stake she teamed up with six other people, this was the most she was willing to compromise without complaint, anymore and she usually ended up complaining constantly.
"Hilda, you said the same thing when we past the first block, and the second, and the third..." Black, of course, was the one to respond, he wasn''t very fond of Hilda who would always voice a complaint whenever the team had to do something she didn''t like.
"Yeah? Well why don''t you just-" Hilda''s response was cut off by a scream from one of the adventurers. Looking back the group saw someone falling, it appeared to be a young girl.
"Oh, looks like some idiot fell, good riddance." Hilda laughed to herself as she seemed to forget what she was previously going to complain about.
One of the members of the team stopped and knelt down to prey for the poor soul that just fell, this was Elisabeth, the Priestess. Hilda happened to notice this and decided she had something to say.
"Really Liz? I know you have to keep up the act of being the "Priestess" and all, but all you''re doing is wasting time."
At this remark Elisabeth looked over to Hilda and suddenly Hilda heard a voice in her head.
''Didn''t I tell you never to call me Liz while we''re around the NPCs!? Acting this way is necessary if we want to win them over, have you forgotten that!?!''
At this Hilda threw her hands up.
"Sheesh, fine shit, no need to yell." Hilda turned around and kept walking.
While kneeling there "praying" for the girl that fell, Elisabeth made sure that everyone passing by noticed. The adventurers who walked by her noticed what she was doing and whispered to each other.
"Wow, shes praying for someone she didn''t even know."
"I guess she really does care for every soul, even if she never knew them."
"Here I thought she was just a Priestess in name only."
''That''s right you predictable NPCs, you idiots will believe anything you see.''
This was her plan, to win over the trust and love of all the NPCs in the country. Why? Simple, the power of the people, if one had that they could easily overthrow any existing King or Queen and take the throne for themselves. If the people could also be convinced that they did this in the name of a god, it would be even more effective. The plan was to gain the trust of the people and then eventually overthrow the King of Gaham, the country they were currently in. This way they would have much more man power to search for a way home, and if that failed, they would be the rulers of a country, so it was a win-win.
As for the girl who fell, well, she would end up either very lucky, or very unlucky, depending on how you look at it.
Chapter 12 - Evolution
My name is Erika Nelebrie, I''m an elf wizard and also a rank B adventurer. I have green eyes and light-brown hair which I have tied up to keep from getting in my eyes when I try to cast a spell. My skin is rather pale because I don''t tend to get out much even though I am an adventurer and when I do go outside I''m usually covered up in my robes. I am a bit short for my age since I am only four feet and seven inches tall and though I may look like a child I''ll have you know I am over 150 years old. Though to elves, 150 isn''t really considered an adult yet, I still do not like being treated like a child. Yes, I may be a bit clumsy and trip over my own robes but that does not mean I need my hand held, though in this particular case, it probably would have saved me from falling off of a bridge to my inevitable death.
I accepted the fact that I was going to die around ten seconds into the fall since I didn''t bother to learn any flight magic, now it was minutes into the fall and I was starting to wonder if there was ever going to be a bottom to this hole. Then the walls to my sides eventually stopped and opened up into a very large wasteland. At this point I was falling face first so I had some time to take in the area in which I would die. As I looked around I saw something small appear below in a flash, it slowly started to come into view as I got closer. It suddenly disappeared just as it first appeared but this time it reappeared right next to me and grabbed me. Before I knew what was happening I was sitting on the floor of this incredibly large and empty wasteland, I looked up to thank my savior only to immediately wish I hadn''t. In front of me was a black skeleton clad in equally black plate armor, I only knew it was a skeleton by the fact that it didn''t have its helmet on and I had a full view of the two red flames it used as eyes. I could feel a warm wetness spread through my lower half, it was then I knew I wet myself in front of a Death Knight.
"Ah, a@3%? you al#$^?!t ?"
I heard an incredibly deep and rough voice come from the Death Knight, I could hardly make out what it was saying as it sounded like it was trying to speak two languages at once. I could make out a little bit of elven in its words but the little that there was sounded ancient, kind of the way I remember my parents speaking.
"Ex$#!? me, are you al$#%@?!~ht?"
The Death Knight kneeled down and reached its hand out while the gauntlet on it seemed to disappear into a black smoke. It was here that I passed out and fell to the ground.
---------------
''Ha Ha! Finally I learned it, thank you Mother!''
I was still hard at work learning more skills and spells, unfortunately all the books in this library only had skills relating to magic. Apparently the one who owned this library was only interested in magic, though I wasn''t complaining. I ran up to the courtyard to test my new skill, as I headed to my practice area I raised the new skeletons my minions brought in.
''Okay, now according to the book, to activate it I have to include the name in the spells activation.''
I took a firm stance and aimed at a boulder I asked my minions to place for a target.
''Now, Overloaded Frost Bolt!''
The mana core in my chest crackled and released a purple glow as it was heavily drained of mana. My entire body was sparking with purple lightning that collected into my right hand. In front of my hand formed an icicle that was much larger than it should have been, a normal cast of frost bolt would produce a small icicle that would be about half the size of a regular crossbow bolt. This icicle was more like a spear than a crossbow bolt, it shot out with such speed that it was hard to follow even with my mastered sight. When it hit the boulder the result was obvious, it had been obliterated, leaving nothing but pebbles where there was once a boulder bigger than me. I couldn''t hold back my excitement that I managed to learn such a powerful skill.
''To think there was such an amazing skill. I must learn more!''
I sprinted back to the library to double my reading, I wouldn''t stop until I''d learned everything these mountains of books had to offer. Before I could get back to reading I leveled up again thanks to the minions I had still out fighting, but this time something very strange happened.
| You have leveled up |
| Level 100 reached, evolution is possible |
| Would you like to evolve? |
| Skill gained: Heavy Armor |
''What? Evolution is possible not just for spells but me as well?''
Little did I know this would be the first of many evolutions I would experience, both with me, and others. But right now I was unsure about what Mother said, I read that evolution happened when certain skills and spells were mastered but I never knew that I could evolve. I was a little hesitant but decided to go for it in the end.
''Um, yes?''
I was suddenly enveloped by a black smoke that wrapped itself around my bones. I felt myself grow stronger and stronger as seconds passed and the smoke thickened around my body, forming into black armor.
| Evolution completed: | Skeleton > Death Knight | | Ability gained: Speech |
| Ability gained: Death Knight Armor |
Ability Evolved: | Death Knight Armor > Death Knight Plate Armor | | Skill gained: Shadow Magic Mastery |
| Skill gained: Death Magic Mastery |
| Skill gained: Dark Magic Mastery |
Skill Evolved: | Longsword > Longsword Mastery | | Due to the ability of the evolved, evolution effects have been increased |
"Wow, this is-"
Before I could even fully comprehend what just happened I spoke. I SPOKE!
"I, can talk..."
My voice was low and rough but it was mine! I finally had my own voice!
"I CAN TALK!"
I jumped up and screamed as loud as I could, I wanted the entire world to hear my voice.
"Mother! I can finally speak! I can finally tell you how much I appreciate your voice! Thank you for everything!"
If I could I probably would''ve cried, unfortunately undead are incapable of things like that. After I calmed down I decided to check my status.
This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
| Name: | None | Total Level: | 100 | [/tr]Title: | Dungeon Death Knight | Job: | Floor 89 Monster - Warwic Dungeon | [/tr]| Main Class: | Death Knight | Race: | Undead II |
| - |
| HP: | 192/192 | MP: | 368/368 |
| Strength: | 88(114) | Dexterity: | 59 |
| Constitution: | 74(96) | Intelligence: | 101 |
| Wisdom: | 184 | Charisma: | 0 |
| Main Skills |
| Longsword Mastery: | Beginner | Overload: | Beginner |
| Dark Magic Mastery: | Beginner |
| Shadow Magic Mastery: | Beginner | Death Magic Mastery: | Beginner |
| Main Spells |
| Frost Armor: | 1st level | Frost Bolt: | 2nd level |
| Frost Blade: | 1st level |
| Touch of Death: | 1st level | Mass Create Undead: | 3rd level |
| - |
| Experience: | 33,984 |
My stats increased dramatically with the evolution, I was amazed yet again.
"Mother, show me what my Shadow Plate Armor ability does."
| Ability: | Death Knight Plate Armor: | Basic | | When activated, covers the Death Knight in armor of only the blackest shade to accurately reflect the soul of the one wearing it
Increases Constitution and Strength by 30% |
"Amazing, with that increase there''s no reason to ever take off the armor."
I activated and deactivated the armor until I was comfortable in it, then I decided to resume my reading. Before I could even get through the first page I noticed a life force enter my vision, this wasn''t unusual, except for the fact that it was falling, much like I had once upon a time.
"Oh? Someone else with my kind of luck?"
I closed the book and stood up to look in the direction the life force was falling. I decided I could use this as an excuse to test a spell I learned recently.
"Now, Overloaded Teleportation!"
A similar purple glow shined through my armor and purple lightning covered my body. There was much more power used on this spell than the one before it, and the lightning began to arc out, hitting the floor around me. I then disappeared and found myself directly under where the life force was falling from. Normally the Teleportation spell wouldn''t take me very far since it was only at the 1st level, but the overloaded version was able to take me a fair distance from my castle.
I looked up to see what was falling toward me and I saw a small elven girl falling toward me.
''Huh, looks like an adventurer, what a waste of my time.''
I was just about to head back when I remembered that I just recently learned how to talk and I had no one to talk to..
''Hmm, very well, I suppose I can make an exception since I am in need of someone that can speak.''
I then used Overloaded Teleportation again to teleport up, grab her, then teleport back down. I placed her on the ground then deactivated the helmet portion of my armor. Even if I hated adventurers I didn''t want to sink to their level and be rude, and it was rude to not show your face to a guest. I tried to remember the elven language book, it had a section in the back for pronunciation which was translated into the fifteen other languages. I decided to read it even though I couldn''t speak and tried to learn how it sounded in my head, I was sure I wasn''t going to be able to say it correctly the first time, but I wanted to try. I then noticed that while I was wracking my nonexistent brain to try and piece together what elven was supposed to sound like the girl in front of me had a small puddle of yellow liquid forming at her legs.
''To hell with it, I''ll try anyway.''
"Ah, a@3%? you al#$^?!t ?"
''Shit! What the hell was that?! It was like I mixed my language and hers together! Good job, your first time speaking to someone and you manage to completely annihilate their language.''
She was shaking now, and tears were forming at the corners of her eyes. I reached a hand out while I deactivated the gauntlet on it and tried to speak again.
"Ex$#!? me, are you al$#%@?!~ht?"
Before I even touched her she passed out and fell over.
''Great, your attempt was so horrible it caused her to pass out, good job.''
I hit myself on the head for being so stupid as to try and speak in a language I only knew how to read just minutes after gaining my voice. I picked up the girl and decided I would walk back to my castle while I took the time to reflect on my actions.
Name Poll
The poll is here! I could only have a maximum of ten options so I decided to use the first ten names that were posted. You have 24 hours to vote then I''ll close the poll and post the new chapter. You have three votes, use them wisely.
Chapter 13 - Emerald, The Slime Queen
I carried the elf girl back to the castle and placed her on the floor in the library along side some bags and a staff she was carrying with her. Any beds the castle had have long since rotted away and I wanted to keep a close eye on her. I was kind of curious about what she had in her bags but I wasn''t going to go through someone''s things. When I placed her on the floor, some slimes came over and formed a bed under her while I searched for another magic book.
"Hmm, it should be around here somewhere. Tele.... tell.... telekinesis! Ah, no that''s not it...."
I was looking through books trying to find one I saw earlier. I planned on learning this at some point so I could talk to my slime friend. Since I had someone else I needed to talk to now, I figured it would be a good time to learn it.
"Ah ha! Telepathy!"
I immediately grabbed the book and started reading.
[-----------------------
The first thing that came to mind was the wetness between my legs, this made we wonder why this feeling was there, then I suddenly remembered everything. I tripped, fell, and fell, and then fell a little more, then there was a flash and...
"AHHH!"
I jumped up when I remembered the face of the thing that saved me, a Death Knight. I looked around where I was only to find a limitless number of slimes covering the floor, I was even using a medium slime as a bed. These slimes didn''t seem hostile though so I relaxed a little. I was apparently in a library as both in front of me and behind me were two bookshelves completely filled with books.
''Hello.''
I suddenly heard a voice in my head, the voice sounded like it belonged to a man, I looked around to see where this voice might have come from. That''s when it came into view, the Death Knight. I instantly started shaking from the cold, death-like aura the Knight gave off.
''Hello, it seems you''ve woken up.''
"Ah..."
There it was again, that voice. What was happening was impossible, undead shouldn''t be able to use Telepathy. Undead usually have no intelligence to speak of so they normally just wonder around mindlessly trying to kill the living. Death Knights were a bit smarter, could command lesser undead, and use magic. But there has never been an undead below the level of a Lich that could ever use Telepathy.
''Umm, is this working? Hello?''
The Death Knight then waved at me, there was no doubt now.
"Umm, hi.."
I responded but I was answered with another thought.
''Ah, if you have anything to say please think it, I don''t understand what you''re saying.''
Well, that made sense, I then tried to think of what to say.
''Umm, hello, my name is Erika Nelebrie, thank you for saving my life. I will do whatever I can to repay you.''
I even bowed the way my parents taught me to if I was ever in the presence of royalty, I never thought there was a point in me learning that but it seemed to help.
''Good, it just so happens I need help with something, follow me.''
The Death Knight turned to leave and I would''ve been more than happy to follow but I remembered something I had to do.
''Umm, wait!''
He stopped and turned to face me.
''What?''
The stare he gave me felt like he would rip my head off at any second.
''Umm, well, I need to change out of these clothes.''
''Oh, alright then, I''ll wait.''
After responding he turned around and actually waited. I quickly changed in a new set of clothes I had in my bag and then followed him to another spot in the library.
''Umm, if you don''t mind me asking, what does a Death Knight need from me?''
I followed him into a room with a single desk that was covered with books. The Death Knight grabbed one and showed it to me.
''I need you to teach me how to speak.''
''What?''
I then remembered that just before I passed out he tried to say something to me. I looked at the book he showed me and read the cover, it was written in Ancient Elven. Most elves today don''t know much about the ancient version of our language but my parents were quite old when they had me and made sure I was taught all of the older languages.
''You, want me to teach you how to speak Ancient Elven?''
I looked at him to confirm this and I saw his eyes glow a bright red for a second.
''Ancient? Mother told me it was just the elven language.''
Mother? Undead usually form randomly, are created by dungeons, or created by necromancers. Maybe he could be referring to the necromancer that created him? I wanted to know but if I got too curious he would probably just kill me, so I decided I wouldn''t ask any questions. If I behaved and didn''t learn anything I wasn''t supposed to know then I might be able to leave here alive.
''So, this is Ancient Elven then?''
''Oh, yes, most elves don''t know much about the ancient language anymore but my parents taught me about it. I can help you learn how to speak it.''
''Great! So you weren''t a waste of my time then, let''s get started immediately.''
He said something that worried me, but I was useful to him so I didn''t think he would kill me, as long as I stayed useful. He motioned for me to have a seat, it was the only seat in the room so I tried to be polite and decline but he responded by saying he was undead and that he could stand for eternity. I couldn''t really argue so I just sat down, I had a little trouble remembering what Ancient Elven sounded like but I got the hang of it again and started with the first of many lessons.
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-----------------------
It has been a while since I saved Erika and brought her here, she managed to teach me how to speak Ancient Elven but I still haven''t been able to master it yet. I was walking down the stairs bringing Erika another meal, it was cooked giant bear meat again, I didn''t tell her that of course. I don''t think she would like knowing that her only food came from a giant bear that was bigger than a dragon. Recently she seemed to warm up to me a bit, at first she would constantly shake around me and even passed out from hunger because she was afraid that if she asked me for food I would just kill her. Kind of odd if you ask me but I don''t ever need to eat so I wouldn''t understand.
"Oh, your back. There''s something I wanted to ask you."
She was using one of the medium-sized pieces of my friend as a bed again, my friend didn''t seem to mind so I didn''t either.
"Alright, what is it?"
I sat down next to her and she looked at me to ask her question.
"How did a Death Knight like you tame all of these slimes?"
Oh, that''s it? I was kind of surprised at the simple question, but the answer was just as simple.
"I didn''t tame them, in fact, they are all just smaller pieces of one big slime that happens to be my one and only friend."
"Oh..."
She looked sad for a moment, I didn''t really understand why though. But she looked at me again and asked another question.
"Can I go see what she really looks like?"
"She? My friend?"
I never knew slimes had genders, if they did then that was something I should''ve known, like how I knew so many other things without having memories of being taught it.
"Yes! Isn''t she pretty, look at how the light shines through her!"
Erika grabbed one of the smaller slimes and held it- er her? up to the light. Even I had to admit that the light shinned through her beautifully. The slime in her hands wiggled proudly while shinning in the light.
"Yeah, I guess she does? Let''s go then, I''ll show you to her."
"Yay!"
Erika jumped up and followed me up stairs to the courtyard. It occurred to me while I was walking upstairs that Erika has never been outside the library since I carried her in and she hasn''t yet seen my army of minions.
"Erika, there''s something you should know."
"Oh? What is it?"
"I have some minions outside, they won''t hurt you though so don''t pass out."
I glanced back at her and she seemed to stop for a second.
"Oh... okay, I won''t be scared. You control them right?"
"Right, they won''t do anything unless I say so."
I reassured her, if she wet herself at the sight of me there''s no telling what might happen if she sees an army of skeletons. We made it to the top of the stairs and walked outside. My army was there guarding my castle diligently while the giant skeletons where still out killing the living on this floor and dragging them back to be made into more of my endless army. I was still leveling up constantly by the way, I think I''m currently around level 146, I haven''t checked my status in a while.
"Here we are, and there is my friend."
All the smaller slimes followed us out and my friend took her true form, nearly filling up the entire courtyard, and pushing most of my minions out of the way. I looked over to Erika and she looked at my friend with amazement.
"Wow! She''s the biggest slime I''ve ever seen before! What''s her name?"
She looked at me expecting an answer, I did think of naming her once I got my voice but I''d been busy so I didn''t have the time.
"Umm, she doesn''t have a name."
Erika had a look of surprise on her face.
"What! How could you not name her!? I''ll do it then! How about... Slime Queen!"
What... I know not naming my one and only friend is kind of rude but-
"That isn''t a name, that''s more like a title...."
"Fine! Then.... AH! How about Emerald, The Slime Queen!"
Emerald huh? I looked over to my friend, she wiggled in agreement, I didn''t really mind either, it was a nice name that suited her color.
"She doesn''t have a problem with it and neither do I."
After I said that, something unexpected happened again. You would think I''d be used to it by now, but I wasn''t.
| Requirements for Companion evolution met |
| Evolving... |
"What."
My friend suddenly glowed a bright green color and her size started rapidly decreasing. The light disappeared after a few seconds and Mother said something.
| Companion Evolved: | Green Slime (Massive) > Slime Queen |
I looked over and in place of my slime friend, a small girl stood. On her head she wore a green crown, her hair was so long it touched the floor and would probably be dragged around if she didn''t tie it up. The hair was green, which matched the color of her eyes, I noticed she also had long, pointed ears and- wait a minute.
I looked at my newly evolved friend, then I looked at Erika, then my friend again.....
"Why does my friend look exactly like you!?!"
The only difference between them was the color of their hair and eyes, they could be sisters.
Chapter 14 - Fun
"Why does my friend look exactly like you!?!"
I looked at Erika who looked just as confused as me.
"Does my friend not like this form?"
I heard Erika''s voice but I was looking at her and she didn''t move her mouth. I then turned my head and looked down to see Emerald looking up at me through her long hair with her head turned to the side. She spoke elven, or rather, ancient elven, I would''ve questioned this but I just didn''t care anymore. She was there when I was being taught how to speak it so I''ll just assume that''s how she learned it.
"You mean you''re not going to look like that forever?"
At this she gave me a big smile.
"Of course not friend! I just thought you would like this form better than another skeleton."
Oh, well that''s true, Erika is the only thing around here that isn''t a skeleton. So I guess she didn''t have many options.
"I see, well I don''t really care what form you take as long as you''re comfortable."
She gave me another big smile and a hug.
"Okay friend!"
She let me go and ran over to Erika to give her a hug.
"Thank you for giving me a name Erika!"
She was lifting Erika off the ground at this point.
"Well, you two have fun, I have to go read."
"Yay! Let''s go play Erika!"
Emerald threw Erika over her shoulder and ran off.
"Wait! What''re we going to play!?!"
Erika was starting to get scared since she was being carried off somewhere.
"We''re going hunting! It''s the most fun thing to do here!"
"Whaaat! Can''t we play something else!?! Wait!"
I listened until they were out of range, I was sure nothing would happen to Erika as long as Emerald was there. Anyway, I wouldn''t care if something did happen since I already learned what I needed to from her. Once I was back in my library, I grabbed some more skill and spell books and sat down to learn.
-------------------
We just beat the 6th boss of this dungeon, which was surprisingly strong, usually bosses don''t put up much of a fight until the last three or four. I was enjoying the peaceful walk to the next ten floors when an annoying voice assaulted my ears. This voice belonged to Hilda of course, the one person in our group that I wanted to kill the most.
"Ugh! We only just past the 6th block!?!"
Every time, every fucking time we beat a boss and were half way across the bridge she would always have something to complain about.
"Hilda, if you''re in such a hurry to get there, you can just jump off the bridge you know."
After I said this she stopped walking and looked over the bridge. There''s no way she could be considering what I said right?
"You know Black, that''s not a bad idea."
She was.
"Oh? Then by all means, go ahead and jump, I won''t stop you."
"Will you two please stop fighting."
Elizabeth cut in again, she didn''t like the NPCs seeing us fight, it lowered their affection for us. I knew and understood her plan for us to take over the continent, but I really didn''t care for it. In the years I''ve been stuck here I''ve given up any hope of getting back home, I was perfectly fine being here for the rest of my life. Any family I had was back in the real world so at least I knew they were safe, unlike Cyne. Cyne and his family (his wife and two daughters) were all playing this game when everyone ended up trapped. His family was ambushed by pkers while they were traveling between cities, he only managed to make it out alive because I happened to be traveling on the same route. By the time I noticed what was happening his family had already been killed. Cyne doesn''t really talk much and just follows me everywhere, whenever I ask him why he just looks at me through his helmet for a few seconds. I was suddenly dragged out of my thoughts when I noticed Hilda tied a rope around me.
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"Hilda, what the hell are you doing?"
"Hm? Oh nothing Black, just taking your advice."
"What do you-"
It suddenly hit me, I knew exactly what she was going to do.
"Hilda, I swear I will kill you if you-"
"Too late! Let''s go!"
She pulled on the rope and before I knew it I was suddenly off the bridge. I didn''t have any magic for flying since I focused on pure melee. My armor would protect me from dying so I wasn''t worried about that. As I started falling I saw both Hilda and Cynne jump off the bridge. I liked the fact that Cyne was willing to follow me everywhere, but if he liked me so much he could''ve at least tried to stop this from happening.
"Weeee!"
Hilda had a giant smile on her face, the bitch. One of these days I swear I''m going to kill her.
-------------------
I just watched Hilda throw Black off the bridge then jump off after him, Cyne obviously followed them.
"Excuse me Elizabeth, why the hell did they just jump off?"
I looked to my left and saw the annoying fucking Guild Master, James.
"Ah Mister Nichye, they just wanted to go ahead and clear the way for us."
''Why do I always end up having to make excuses for everyone!? I swear as soon as I gain control of this country I''m going to get rid of those two!''
"Hey Elizabeth, calm down, your anger is starting to show on your face."
"Ah, thank you Brenda."
Brenda The Witch, she was probably the only one who understood me. She was always there to calm me down whenever I got mad and she even helped me to come up with our current plan. Out of all of the people in my group I hated her the least.
-------------------
"Welp, I think I''ve learned enough for me to not die in combat now."
I stood up and made my way to the courtyard, I had my minions bring in a giant bear so I could test myself.
"Alright, first let''s test this new spell. Overloaded Shadow Sword!"
Again, a purple glow surrounded me and my body emitted purple lightinng. The lightning gathered in my right hand and seemed to absorb light, the area around me started to darken as shadows formed and covered my arm. When the spell ended my entire arm up to my shoulder was covered in dark shadow that extended out a few feet.
"Oh wow... this is amazing."
The sword in my hand that ate up all the light around it didn''t weigh anything.
"Alright, release it!"
I ordered my minions to release the giant bear they''d been holding and I readied myself for its charge. Sure enough, as soon as it was released it charged me without caring for its life, lucky I was ready to test another spell.
"Overloaded Shadow Strike!"
As I cast the spell, I swung my sword and my entire arm lit up with purple lightning. Out of the end of my blade shot out a giant shadow that tore up the ground as it headed toward the bear at a speed that I could hardly see. In a flash, the bear that was charging me was sliced in two and fell to the ground, sliding toward me. The ground ended up with an incredibly large cut in it. As I looked at the result of my hard work I couldn''t hold myself back.
"Hehehe... HAHAHAHA! This is great! This must be how adventurers feel when kill something with a single strike! HAHAHA!"
Chapter 15 - Running Out of Chapter Names
Now that I felt I was finally ready to fight, I called back all of my minions in order to prepare to proceed deeper into the dungeon. The first thing I noticed is that I didn''t actually realize how many monsters were on this floor. I knew the floor was huge but I just didn''t know how big it really was until I laid my red, fiery eyes upon the army of thousands of giant skeletons I now had under my command. I had to climb into a tower to even be able to see most of them. The second thing I noticed was that some of my minions decided they didn''t like the natural color of their bones anymore and turned them black. Okay, so maybe they just evolved into a wraith or something, I don''t know and at this point I''ve gotten tired of being surprised by anything.
"Is my friend planning on having some fun?"
Suddenly Emerald appeared in the window I was looking out of, she climbed into the room carrying Erika in her hair. It seemed that even though she looked like an elf except for the green crown on her head, she was still able to use her hair like regular slime without ruining her elven appearance. She placed Erika on the floor and uncovered her mouth, so that''s why I didn''t hear anything.
"Yes Emerald, I just so happen to be planning on going hunting."
"Yay! We were hunting but it was boring since there was nothing to hunt. We ran around looking everywhere but everything was dead."
She crossed her arms and started pouting while staring at me. It was my fault but I didn''t think that every single monster on the floor was dead. I guess the reason why I stopped leveling was because my minions had nothing to kill.
"Sorry about that Emerald, I didn''t know everything on the floor was dead."
"Well it was! Hmph! It was so boring running around everywhere and never finding anything to kill! Right Erika?"
She looked over to Erika who was still sitting on the ground and looked like she was going to throw up any second.
"I... yes..."
"See! She agrees with me!"
I honestly don''t think she''s in any shape to disagree with you though.
"Like I said, I''m sorry. Once I''m done gathering my minions we''ll-"
Before I could finish my sentence three incredibly large life forces appeared in my vision. All three were falling just like Erika had when she ended up here.
"What... oh wow..."
"Hm? What is it friend?"
"Three very strong people are coming."
"Oh yay! We can go hunt them!"
"Wait..."
I carefully looked at their life force, then looked at Emerald.
"They''re too strong for you, you might be able to handle one but all three of them would surely kill you."
"Hmph! You''re just saying that so you can have them all to yourself!"
"No Emerald, I''m serious. If you split part of your body and use that to test their strength, you''ll know for yourself."
I kneeled down to her height and made sure that she knew I was serious. There was no way I was going to let my one and only friend run to her death. From what I''ve seen on this floor, the monsters that die don''t regenerate. She looked into my eyes for a moment and clamed down.
"Fine, but if your lying I''m going to eat one of your limbs."
"Alright, if I''m wrong and they''re weaker than I thought I''ll hand you one of my limbs myself."
She nodded in agreement and then split in two. Her clones hair wrapped around her body and solidified, forming a full body armor.
''So that''s what she looks like when she fights.''
In her left hand formed a shield that covered the left side of her body, in her right had formed a very large lance. Her clone then jumped out of the window with incredible speed.
"Oh wait, you didn''t tell me what direction they''re in."
"Oh, yeah I''ll send some minions to guide you to them."
"Okay, but don''t let them get in the way."
I focused my vision on her clone and ordered some minions to guide her to where they would land. I ordered the rest of my minions to gather around the area and wait until her clone was destroyed, then swarm them. These life forces I saw were much stronger than anything on this floor but there''s no way they''ll be a match for every single monster on this floor attacking at the same time. At least, I hoped they wouldn''t be.
----------------
We were nearing the end of our fall around floor 89, I really wish I never suggested that she jump. I wasn''t worried about dying but there''s no telling how strong the monsters on this floor will be. The other 15 dungeons were all varied in strength but this dungeon seemed to be the strongest of them all. I landed first, being the heaviest of the three, I also created a fairly large crater. Cyne landed shortly after me, then Hilda. We climbed out of the crater and were immediately greeted by a girl wearing full green plate armor. The top of the armor looked like regular plate armor while the bottom looked like a dress and even moved like cloth but you would clearly see light reflect off of it, which made me think it was much harder than it looked. Her face was covered by a helmet and her hair flowed out of the back, in her hands were a shield as big as she was and a lance about twice her height. She looked threatening but didn''t immediately attack, which was odd if she was supposed to be some sort of monster on this floor. She then bowed and said something in a language I didn''t understand.
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"What is she?"
I asked Hilda who was the only one of us three who had a skill to analyze the race of a target. I kept my eye on the girl while Hilda used her skill.
"Let''s see, hmmm.... Wait?! Slime Queen?!"
I couldn''t believe what I just heard. Slime Queen, a legendary monster that evolves from a Massive Slime, normally monsters never evolve on their own. The reason why monsters don''t normally evolve is because they have to reach certain requirements, one of these being that they must be named. As far as I know there have been only a few exceptions to that rule, those have generally been nameless event bosses that required hundreds of players to kill. This Slime Queen either somehow evolved without being named, which would mean we''re all as good as dead, or it managed to find a being of high enough intelligence to name it, which meant this slime wasn''t the only thing we had to worry about.
Slimes alone aren''t any trouble no matter the size, Slime Queens, on the other hand, were incredibly dangerous. They were easily as strong as a lower level floor boss. Physically, Slime Queens were very weak, the problem is that they were nearly immune to all physical damage and had the ability to split. The physical damage resistance wasn''t as troubling as the ability they had to split. With the near human-like intelligence the Slime Queens had they would use the ability to split in ways some wouldn''t even think of. The biggest problem of the splitting is that Slime Queens had much more mass than their form let on, some would only have the mass of a large slime stored in them while others would have about twice the mass of a massive slime. I turned my head to ask Hilda if she was sure, this was a mistake I should''ve never made. As soon as I took my eyes off of the slime, I felt a sharp pain in my side.
----------------
"See, they''re not that strong."
"Huh, maybe you''re right."
I watched the fight begin, Emerald started by taking her opponent by surprise when one of them foolishly took his eyes off her. I wonder if all adventurers were this stupid, you''d think if they were that strong they would know never to take their eyes off of an enemy. She stabbed him through the side and it looked like she split part of the clone and left it inside him. This was an incredibly clever idea that I didn''t know she knew she could do. With a part of her inside him she could easily eat him from the inside out, I was quite impressed with this.
"Wow, they''re pretty stupid huh?"
"Yeah... It''s kind of sad."
They were attacking her with only physical means, it seems that only one of them was capable of using magic but he could only heal since holy magic didn''t really have any extra affect on her. I don''t know why they decided to come down here without bringing someone who could use offensive magic. Even though their physical damage was nearly nullified because Emerald was a slime, they still were able to do quite a bit of damage to her clone. Thanks to the Paladin they brought with them they were able to stay alive long enough to turn the tables and end up with a victory.
Needless to say, Emerald was less than pleased.
"Hmph! I would''ve won if they didn''t cheat and heal themselves! CHEATERS!"
She stomped her feet, leaving a bit of a hole in the floor.
"Now that you''re done, is it alright if I clean up?"
"FINE! I don''t care about what happens to CHEATERS!"
Wow, apparently losing really makes her angry, I''ll be sure never to beat her in anything.
With Emerald finally done playing I ordered my minions to surround them and finish them off. The Paladin proved to be quite the annoyance since his holy magic dealt extra damage to undead. Even with a Paladin they were eventually overwhelmed and killed one by one. I''d like to note that a few of my minions evolved and I even gained some levels from this experience.
----------------
I died.
For the first time in years I actually died, and here I thought these rings Sam gave us all were never going to be used. Ring of Resurrection, it was essential to staying alive in this world and everyone in our team wore one at all times. If we died, the ring would turn to dust with our bodies and we would resurrect at the last place we slept. This place happened to be an Inn in the city of Tayton, the ones who died seemed to be me, Hilda, and Cyne. We didn''t remember the last few minutes leading up to our deaths but this was due to the experience loss suffered when you die. This penalty was rather annoying since it would be very useful to know what the hell killed us, one thing we knew for sure though, Elisabeth would be pissed. We all looked to each other and silently agreed on one thing, probably the only thing Hilda and I would ever agree on. I wanted to say it just to make sure though.
"So, turn all Private Messages off?"
Both Hilda and Cyne nodded in unison, then we left the Inn and decided to get something to eat, for some reason dying makes you quite hungry.
Chapter 16 - Heading to the Boss
''Those fucking bastards! Don''t they realize how expensive those damn rings are?!? Once I''m in control of this country I''m going to get rid of those worthless, annoying, pieces of sh-''
"Elisabeth, please calm down, I know what happened but you''re getting too angry."
Brenda placed her hand on my shoulder, and managed to calm me down a bit.
"Thank you Brenda."
"I know it''s expensive but we can make more rings."
"Yes, I''ll just wait until we get back."
--------------------
"What the hell, their bodies disappeared?"
The bodies of the three adventurers turned to dust as they died, leaving just a pile of dust.
"See! I told you they were cheaters!"
"Hmm, I suppose you''re right."
Since there was nothing left of the three adventurers I decided to grab some books and learn more while I waited for my minions to regenerate. I also decided to grab some books about healing magic.
"Here Emerald, read these."
"Hm? Books? But books are boring! I want to play!"
She crossed her arms and looked away from me.
"Oh? So you don''t want to be able to cheat like them and heal yourself?"
At this I saw one of her ears twitch and then she slowly turned her head so I tossed one of the books at her.
"There, that''ll teach you how to heal yourself, if you want more then I have some others for regeneration and even one for resurrection should you ever feel you''re going to die."
I placed the books down next to her, took a seat, and started reading. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn''t learn healing and holy magic since I was undead. The knowledge I had told me that if undead ever tried to use holy magic they would most likely burn up on the spot. I focused on reading while occasionally glancing at Emerald to see her reading. While I was reading I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Erika, apparently she''d finally recovered from being dragged around the wasteland.
"Um, would you mind if I read some of these books?"
She then put her hand onto some of the books I was reading, most of them involving unholy magic and various other spells and skills to increase strength, constitution, and regeneration.
"Ah, I don''t care if you read them but they''re mostly about dark magic and other unholy stuff."
"Oh, well that''s fine."
"Then go ahead."
She sat down next to me and started reading one of my books, when she did I noticed Emerald also moved closer to me, odd. Anyway, I kept on reading and learning new things and when I got bored I decided to check on my stats again.
| Name: | None | Total Level: | 152 | [/tr]Title: | Dungeon Death Knight | Job: | Floor 89 Monster - Warwic Dungeon | [/tr]| Main Class: | Death Knight | Race: | Undead II |
| - |
| HP: | 222/222 | MP: | 414/414 |
| Strength: | 99(129) | Dexterity: | 72 |
| Constitution: | 85(111) | Intelligence: | 156 |
| Wisdom: | 207 | Charisma: | 10 |
| Main Skills |
| Longsword Mastery: | Intermediate | Overload: | Mastered |
| Dark Magic Mastery: | Expert |
| Shadow Magic Mastery: | Advanced | Death Magic Mastery: | Advanced |
| Main Spells |
| Frost Armor: | 2nd level | Shadow Strike: | 4th level |
| Shadow Sword: | 4th level |
| Touch of Death: | 2nd level | Mass Create Undead: | 4th level |
| - |
| Experience: | 130,660 |
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I''ve saved up five Ability points and managed to hit the level cap on the Necromancer class which gave me some pretty amazing abilities that I''ll have to test out later. For some reason I still haven''t unlocked any other classes, I''ll have to look into that later.
After waiting for quite some time, my minions finally managed to regenerate and were finally ready to follow me to one particular place I hadn''t been to yet. I didn''t really plan on coming back to this castle so I decided to learn a little spell called Inventory, it was an incredibly useful dimension magic that allowed me to hold a near unlimited amount of items. With this spell I stored all of the books within the library, with room to spare. I was more than surprised at how much room there was with this spell, it was really useful.
"Wow! That''s a really cool magic trick friend! Teach me!"
Once seeing an entire library of thousands of books disappear, Emerald was quite excited by it. Erika was speechless when she saw it happen, she just stared at the once full shelves, then looked at me.
"Can I learn that?"
"Sure, I don''t care."
I took the book from my Inventory and handed it to her, then gathered my army and headed toward the boss room on this floor. I ordered all of my minions to form up, the humanoid skeletons in the front, and the giant ones to the back, with the dragon and other bird-like skeletons flying above. I didn''t bother asking how the hell they were able to fly with just bones for wings, kind of like how I don''t question how I''m able to move around without any muscles. In the very front of the army, Emerald, Erika, and I all sat on one of the black wraith-like dragon. The evolved minions of mine had shadows that formed a type of skin around their bones which made them look like a black version of their living selves from far away.
"Yay! We''re finally going hunting!"
Emerald was more than a little excited at the fact we were going to kill the floor boss. Erika was visibly shaking at the moment, probably fearing that she would die upon entering the boss room. I decided to comfort her a little by talking to Emerald, I don''t know why but I felt that Erika was somehow my responsibility now since I was the one who decided to save her. Don''t misunderstand, if she died I still wouldn''t care, but if there was something I could do to prevent it I felt that I would.
"So Emerald, did you learn that healing magic?"
"Hm? Oh yes friend! I learned that and the regeneration and resurrection magic too!"
"Good, you''ll use that magic to protect Erika right?"
"Of course friend! I''ll protect Erika for sure!"
She stood up and saluted me for some reason. I glanced at Erika and she seemed to calm down a little.
''Good, it worked.''
So like that, we marched towards the boss room. It was rather obvious where it was at since there was a giant door at the end of this floor that could be seen from any part of this wasteland.
Chapter 17 - Warwics Ninth Boss
There I was, nothing but a cracked skull sitting on the ground, watching as my one and only friend put herself in harm''s way to save my life. I wanted to protect my friend, not the other way around. Maybe if I wasn''t so stupid I would''ve just used everything from the start.
"How could I have been so stupid."
-------------
"Hmmm, how the hell do we open this door?"
In front of me was a very large door, this door was made of stone and screeched from the ground to the ceiling of this floor, it was quite wide as well. I stood there for a moment thinking about how I should open this thing. I tried pushing on the door, prying it open, and even searching for a secret keyhole or pressure plate.
"It says to knock friend."
I heard Emerald''s voice and turned my head, she was pointing at something and when I followed her finger I saw it written in the language of the dead.
"Those who wish to die must simply knock."
"Huh, I guess you''re ri- wait... You can read that?!"
I thought she would be able to read Ancient Elven so the books I gave her to read were all written in that language. What I didn''t know was that she could also apparently read my language too. After hearing what I said she simply looked at me and tilted her head.
"Hm? Of course I can. You spent so long learning from those books I decided I''d learn with you!"
She gave me a big smile as if it was something I should''ve known all along. Thinking back on it, there was always a slime on top of the desk where I was reading. I suppose she would''ve been able to read, but that would mean that she knew a language beforehand. I had many questions which I decided I would ask later, first I would like to open this door.
I knocked on the door, and surely enough, it opened. A much, much smaller door, only a few times bigger than me, opened within the door.
''What the hell? If the actual door is only that big then why make such a large door?''
I walked through the door and inside I saw an incredibly large coliseum that easily dwarfed any mountain. This coliseum was placed directly in the middle of a massive pit that surrounded it like a sea of endless darkness. I was currently the the top of a very long staircase that lead straight to this coliseum, the staircase had more than enough space to fit my army so I ordered them to come through. As we marched toward the coliseum I took the time to look around. Looking over the edge of the staircases one would see a dark pit that seemed to go on forever, even straining my eyesight I couldn''t see a bottom. The staircase itself was marvelously made, the stairs were made of marble, the railing of the staircase was made of pure silver that was carved with patterns of various monsters that seemed to be fighting countless armies of Humans, Elves, Beastmen, and the other races. On one side of the railing the combined armies of the various races would win, on the other, the monsters.
If the various races won then the carvings would show them building cities and ships that would sail across the seas. Eventually these cities would encompass the entire world. Then they would begin to fight each other over land, food, and other resources. Killing each other over and over again in an endless cycle and dividing themselves with imaginary lines and shunning each other based on their race, until once again monsters appeared. When the monsters threatened the very existence of all the races, they would unite and fight. The monsters would destroy everything in their way, tearing down all the races have built and destroying these imaginary lines they''ve created.
If the monsters won they would ravage the land, stripping it bear of all life until none remained but the monsters themselves. Then the monsters would turn on one another until even they were no more. When nothing but death remained the very dead themselves would rise from the ground. Among them a leader would be chosen to lead them to-
"Ah, the railing is missing."
Nearing the end of the stairs, a section of the railing was torn off. Out of the entire staircase, this was the only part that was missing. I was a bit disappointed, I wanted to see how the story ended.
"Well, it doesn''t matter, were here now anyway."
We had made it to the entrance of the coliseum and two large doors opened up to a tunnel which lead into the arena. As I stepped inside I noticed the floor was made with some sort of stone. It was polished to the point of giving off a reflection and decorated with a black and white checkerboard pattern. This floor lead all the way through the tunnel and ended at the arena. The floor of this arena was just simply dirt, the arena itself was just a circle. Looking up you could see hundreds of rows of seats where an audience would sit.
"Emerald, take Erika up there and protect her. I don''t know how strong this boss is."
"Okay friend!"
Emerald split herself and had one of her clones carry Erika into the stands.
''Not what I had in mind, but Emerald should be able to take care of herself, especially since she can heal herself now.''
"So, there should be something around here that calls the boss.... Ah ha!"
In the middle of the arena a sword was stuck into the ground.
"Well that''s rather obvious."
I sent one of my minions over just in case there was some sort of trap. My minion grabbed the sword and brought it over to me.
| Item Equipped: | Silver Sword | | Spell Effects +20%
Spell Costs -20%
Wisdom +20%
Intelligence +20% |
"Hm?"
The sword itself looked like any regular sword but when I held it I could feel an incredible increase in my power. With this increase in power the blade gave off a purple glow and various different runes could be seen on the blade. This sword was obviously not just any regular sword made of silver. Before I had time to study the sword further the entire coliseum started to shake and a loud roar could be heard coming from all around us.
"Looks like I was right about the sword. Emerald! Be ready!"
I looked over to Emerald who already had her armor on, she took a stance and looked at me.
"Yes friend!"
I cast Overloaded Shadow Sword and my Death Knight Plate Armor had been on the entire time so I figured I was ready for whatever was coming.
A dragon, one larger than I could''ve ever imagined appeared over the coliseum and landed inside the arena, it shook the entire coliseum with its landing. I had knowledge of dragons and I knew that they grow until they die and have an average life span of around one thousand years. The oldest of dragons could easily be the size of a castle, but this... was so much larger. I had no idea how a dragon could ever live long enough to grow to such a size, but this one somehow found a way. Its scales, each as big as my entire body, covered its body like an impenetrable black wall. Its massive wings could easily span over the entire coliseum, and its eyes glowed a bright, fiery red. After entering it sized up both me and my army, then readied itself to attack.
"Attack!"
I yelled to initiate the fight, then charged in like an idiot and cast an Overloaded Shadow Strike. This spell was immediately deflected by a tail easily three times bigger than me. I couldn''t see it coming, let alone hope to dodge, half of my army and I were hit by the tail and sent flying. My body was blown apart by the impact and sent flying into the seats, landing on one. Half of my body was missing, needless to say I was quite surprised by how fast such a large beast could move.
"Well, this is embarrassing. Unholy Regeneration! Everlasting Undead!"
I cast two spells to rapidly speed up my regeneration and in less than a minute I was able to get back on my feet. I had to recast Shadow Sword and this time I cast a few spells along side it to increase my reaction time.
"Perception! Eagle''s Eye! Precognition!"
With the three of these cast it felt as if time slowed around me. I could see the dragon''s movements now, but they were still slightly blurred. I charged in again and cast a few more Overloaded Shadow Strikes, every single one of which didn''t even penetrate its scales.
"Damn! I can''t even damage it!"
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I was too distracted by my inability to even scratch the scales on this monstrosity that I didn''t notice it''s massive claw coming towards me.
"Shit!"
By the time I saw it, it had already hit me and sent me flying again, this time I was left with nothing but my head.
"Friend! Are you alright?!"
Emerald landed next to me, my body was regenerating at a much slower pace now with all of the damage I just took.
"Yeah, I''ll be fine in a bit Emerald."
"Don''t worry friend! I won''t let any harm come to you!"
"Emerald, it''s too strong for-"
Suddenly, Emerald split into dozens and gave me a big smile.
"Don''t worry friend! I''ll be fine!"
She and her dozens of clones charged the dragon. While the dragon was busy moping up the rest of my pitiful army, Emerald used the chance to attack certain spots underneath its scales. When she stabbed it under its scales she split off a small part of herself and slowly ate away at it on the inside. It didn''t take long for the dragon to notice Emerald, when it did it turned all attention to her and slowly started destroying her clones.
-------------
"How could I have been so stupid."
''I tried challenging such a strong boss with such a small and weak army.''
Emerald was down to just a few clones now, I still had to regenerate my legs. I was getting more and more impatient, I couldn''t let my friend die because of my idiocy. In the few seconds I had until I was fully regenerated, I formed a plan. I needed to be fast enough, and strong enough to pull it off. Currently, the me who just finished regenerating its body, was useless. I decided I would finally use every last bit of knowledge I gained from that library to take down this dragon. I took out five mana cores from my body, and with my newly acquired Silver Sword in hand, used my Mana Siphoning on them. When I was ready, I cast some spells to regenerate my health, hopefully at a rate that would be fast enough for what I had planned.
"Overloaded Unholy Regeneration! Overloaded Everlasting Dead! Overloaded Necromantic Regeneration!"
With those three spells an entire core was drained and my body was covered with an incredibly dense dark aura. Next was a spell that I never wanted to cast overloaded because I feared it would kill me in seconds.
"Overloaded Limit Break!"
| Spell Cast: | [/size]Limit Break | | User''s Stats +220%
Spell Effects +220%
Health will be constantly drained until death or until spell is canceled
Spell can be cast again in: 6D, 23H, 59M |
Another core was drained.
I felt it then, my bones being constantly disintegrated and regenerated at an incredible speed. At this point in time I was glad I couldn''t feel pain.
"Activate Layering!"
| Skill Activated: | Layering | | Certain spells can now be cast without being overridden
You will not be able to activate Layering again for 24 hours |
Layering was a skill I learned when I reached a certain level in the Necromancy class. I could only cast it once a day but it was incredibly powerful.
"Overloaded Frost Armor, Overloaded Fire Armor, Overloaded Shadow Armor, Overloaded Unholy Armor, Overloaded Armor of the Dead!"
My body was covered in ice, then fire, then it was cloaked by shadow and darkness. Finally, bones erupted from the ground and covered my armor, turning black. My stats and resistances were increased beyond anything I''ve ever experienced so far, I felt as though I could take on the entire world in this state. With only a single core left of the five I''d taken out, I recast the Overloaded versions of Perception, Eagle''s Eye, and Precognition. This time the world around me slowed to a crawl, the dragon that was once so fast was now slower than a snail. I decided it still wasn''t enough, so I took out two more mana cores, I wanted to be sure I held nothing back this time.
"Overloaded Spell Charge!"
Spell Charge, a spell which let me prepare a few spells in advance so they could be cast at the same time. I prepared Overloaded versions of Shadow Strike, Death Strike, and Unholy Strike. With the second core I used it to cast Overloaded versions, of Shadow Blade, Death Blade, and Unholy Blade. With my entire body now covered in enough mana to destroy an entire city, I now felt I was ready.
I activated Surge and took off toward the dragon, leaving a crater in the ground where I once stood. Flying towards the dragon at speeds high enough to rip my body apart, I prepared one last spell.
"Overloaded Final Strike!"
| Spell Cast: | Final Strike | | User''s next attack damage +704%
User''s next attack will damage both the user and target
Spell can be cast again in: 6D, 23H, 59M |
I was directly in front of the dragon now, I took aim at its head.
"Release Spell Charge!"
I released the spells as I swung my sword at the dragon''s head. Out of my sword a streak of dark magic was released that ate up all of the light in and around the coliseum. I saw its eyes as it realized what was coming toward it. I could see it trying to move out of the way but it was much to slow to avoid a spell this large being cast at such a close distance. When the spell collided with the dragon''s head it surged forward, devouring the head of this beast, it was as if the spell had a will of its own. An explosion of magic burst out of the collision, blowing back everyone and everything, destroying most of the coliseum. I felt the damage of my spell hit, and instantly kill me, I activated Second Wind while my body was flying through the air. My head was the only thing left whole when I hit the ground.
I looked up to see a large cloud of darkness covering most of the dragon''s upper body. I then heard a loud roar and saw it emerge from the cloud. Over half of its head was gone, but it was still moving.
"Damn it! It''s still alive?!"
It took a single step, then collapsed onto the coliseum floor. Its single eye stared at me as I watched the life slowly drain from it. When it finally died, Mother spoke to me.
| You have defeated the Ninth Boss of Warwic Dungeon |
| You have gained a level
You have gained a level
You have gained a level
You have gained a level
You have gained a level
You have gained a level...
Congratulations |
Its body began to turn to dust and disappear, leaving a golden chest behind, a single mana core bigger than any other I had seen before, and a smaller red core.
"You did it friend!"
Emerald landed near me and picked up my head, I saw one of her clones bring over Erika too. Looking around, nearly all of the coliseum was destroyed by the blast. Most of my army was gone as well, the few that remained would need a lot of time to regenerate.
"Are you alright Erika?"
I looked her over as I was carried toward the chest and two cores.
"Of course she''s fine friend! I protected her after all!"
Emerald''s clone answered for her while she carried Erika over her shoulder. Erika stared at me with a look that seemed to ask me to save her.
"Emerald, since the boss is dead, you can put her down now."
"Okay!"
Emerald dropped Erika on the ground, Erika then stood up and bowed to me.
"Thank you for asking Emerald to protect me."
"Ah, it''s fine, don''t mention it."
I cast a couple regeneration spells on myself to help me get back on my feet faster. Once we were at the chest I was set down since I almost finished regenerating my legs. When I was ready, I stood up and placed my hand on the chest.
"Alright, let''s see our reward!"
I opened the chest and a bright light erupted from the chest and revealed our reward.
Chapter 18 - Intermission
"Oh? Well this looks interesting."
Within the large chest that the dragon boss left behind was an entire set of armor that was shaped like a dragon and looked to be made of bone. With the armor was also a sword and shield. The sword and shield, just like the armor, appeared to be made of bone. I picked up the sword and took a look at it.
| Item Acquired: Dragon Slayer''s Sword |
"How interesting."
I held the sword with my hand and felt a power spread through me similar to what I felt with the Silver Sword.
| Item Equipped: | Dragon Slayer''s Sword | | Strength +25%
Constitution +25%
Dexterity +15%
Physical Damage +25% |
When I held the sword, a strange pattern spread throughout the blade. At the hilt, a dragon''s head appeared and out of its mouth, a pattern of fire spread to the tip of the blade.
"Hm, maybe I should start dual wielding now."
I grabbed my Silver Sword with my other hand and sure enough, the effects stacked.
"Perfect."
I took the armor out of the chest and put it on, it seemed to conform to my body to fit it perfectly.
| Armor Set Equipped: | Dragon Slayer''s Armor | | Strength +80%
Constitution +80%
Dexterity +30%
Physical Damage +50%
Physical Damage Resist +25%
Magical Damage Resist +25% |
Once Mother told me about the effects of the armor, I immediately felt my body become stronger. Just like the sword, a pattern spread throughout the armor, covering it in pattern of fire.
"That armor looks really good on you friend!"
Emerald was circling me while touching my new armor in various places.
"Thanks, it doesn''t seem like there''s anything else in here though."
I looked inside the chest again and found a large pouch filled with different types of coins, some large HP and MP potions, and a ring.
''Well, I can''t just take all of the loot.''
I took out the large HP potions and handed them to Erika.
"Here, you can have this."
She took them and looked at me.
"Are you sure I can have these? I didn''t even help."
"Yeah, I can''t use them since I''m Undead, and Emerald can heal herself."
"Okay, Thanks!"
She showed a small smile and put the potions in her bag. I then looked over to Emerald who had a less than pleased look on her face.
"Why does she get something?! I was the one who was prote-"
Before she finished a threw the ring at her.
"There, I only gave her the HP potions, I can''t use them and you can heal yourself. She can also get hurt easily so if you''re not there to heal her she can just drink one of those potions."
"Okay..."
She didn''t even seem to listen to me since she was just staring at the ring I threw her. After she was finished looking at it she put it on and smiled at me.
"It''s beautiful! Thank you friend!"
"Right..."
There was one more thing I wanted to try, so I activated my Death Knight Plate Armor to see if it would still work if I was already wearing armor. When I activated my Death Knight Plate Armor, the armor I was wearing slowly turned black.
"Oh, so it does still work even with armor on."
''I wonder just how much strength this armor is giving me.''
Fully equipped with my armor and swords, I asked Mother for my status.
| Name: | None | Total Level: | 163 | [/tr]Title: | Dungeon Death Knight | Job: | Floor 89 Monster - Warwic Dungeon | [/tr]| Main Class: | Death Knight | Race: | Undead II |
| - |
| HP: | 356/356 | MP: | 530/530 |
| Strength: | 111(200) | Dexterity: | 81(117) |
| Constitution: | 99(178) | Intelligence: | 164(197) |
| Wisdom: | 221(265) | Charisma: | 15 |
| Main Skills |
| Longsword Mastery: | Expert | Overload: | Mastered |
| Dark Magic Mastery: | Expert |
| Shadow Magic Mastery: | Expert | Death Magic Mastery: | Expert |
| Main Spells |
| Frost Armor: | 3rd level | Shadow Strike: | 4th level |
| Shadow Sword: | 5th level |
| Shadow Armor: | 2nd level | Mass Create Undead: | 4th level |
| - |
| Experience: | 170,712 |
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"So, I really am much stronger with this armor."
I took a few swings to get used to my strength. I used some of the destroyed coliseum as a target, with my new strength and swords I was able to cut apart most of what remained.
"Amazing, with this I won''t need to use magic as much anymore."
''Ah! Speaking of magic, I forgot about that.''
I remembered that the dragon dropped two cores, one was an incredibly large mana core, and the other was a red core that was filled with a massive amount of life force. I picked up the red one which was small enough for me to pick up with just one hand, the other core was just as big as I was.
"Hmm, the dragon never used magic so how come it left such a large mana core?"
It seemed that either it didn''t get a chance to use magic, or it used the mana for something else.
"For some reason I feel that we got incredibly lucky with this boss."
I was just about to ask Mother to absorb the red core when I remembered that I still didn''t finish absorbing the others.
"Mother, how much time is left until I finish absorbing those cores?"
| Time remaining for current absorption: 6D, 10H, 30M |
"Oh good, I''m almost done."
Since I didn''t have much time left, for now I just stored the two cores in my Inventory. With that out of the way, there were a few more things I needed to do. I walked over to Emerald who was throwing around pieces of the coliseum. When she saw me coming over to her she stopped playing and ran over to me.
"Do you want something friend?"
"Yes actually, I have a question for you."
"Then ask away friend!"
"Alright then, will you tell me how you could see before you evolved?"
She tilted her head to the side and gave me a blank stare.
"See?"
"Yes, you said you were able to see the books I read. How did you do that?"
"Oh that, I see the same way you do friend!"
"..."
''Somehow that doesn''t help me...''
"Ahem, I don''t mean now, I mean when you were just a slime. How did you see without eyes?"
Again, a blank stare.
"Um, Emerald?"
I waved one of my hands in front of her face.
"Ah! Yes, I understand. Hmm..."
She squinted her eyes and started scratching her head.
"I guess, I just saw with my body?"
''What...''
"So, you''re saying you used your body to see? Like what, feeling the world around you?"
"No friend, I could see just like you did, but with my body."
"I don''t- Ah! So you mean your body was just like one big eye then?"
"Yes! Exactly, I knew you would understand friend."
For some reason, she seemed proud of herself. So, according to her, her slime body acted as one big eye. If that''s the case then she would''ve been able to see everything aro- Wait!
"Emerald..."
"Yes friend?"
She tilted her head again and gave me a smile.
"Do you remember when I threw my sword at that giant bear that attacked you?"
"Of course I do! That was when you saved me and we became friends!"
"If your body acted like one big eye, then you saw it before it attacked didn''t you?"
Her eyes went wide for a second and then she looked down.
"Um, well, you see friend..."
"Yes?"
"It was sort of like, a test, to see if you were really a friend. When you helped me I knew you were really my friend."
"Oh, is that it?"
She slowly looked up at me.
"You''re not mad?"
"Hm? No, it was just a test right?"
She smiled again and hugged me.
"Yes! Just a test! I knew you would understand!"
"Just one more question Emerald."
"Yes friend?"
"What would you have done if I didn''t help you?"
"Oh, I would''ve ate you of course!"
"Haha... right."
Chapter 19 - Absorption Finished
"Finally, it looks like the last one is finished regenerating."
Sitting on a stone that I made into a seat, I was watching as the last bit of what was left of my army finally finish regenerating.
"As I thought, they''ve all changed."
The minions of mine that managed to survive now wore black plate armor. Even the few giant bears, dragons, snakes, and the one giant dog that managed to survive, were covered in black plate armor that surrounded them in a dark aura.
"They changed again, I wonder how strong they are now?"
My regular humanoid minions didn''t look much different from me now. The only difference there was between them and I was the fact that my armor made me look like a humanoid dragon.
"Now that we''re finished, we can finally proceed to the next floor."
I ordered my minions to get into formation and then proceed to exit the boss room.
"Emerald, Erika, it''s time to go."
We walked toward the exit but before we got there I heard Mother speak to me.
| Absorption completed |
| Intelligence increased by 700 |
| Wisdom increased by 500 |
| You have gained a level
You have gained a level
You have gained a level
You have gained a level
You have gained a level... |
| Congratulations |
I felt my power increase like nothing ever before. Purple light erupted from me, with purple lightning arching out and hitting the ground around me. Emerald grabbed Erika and jumped back when she saw this.
"This is... amazing!"
----------------------
"Damn it! We lost too many to this boss, why the hell did they go and leave!"
"Grey, relax. We still managed to defeat the boss, calm down."
"I know Brenda, but to lose so many people, I''m a disgrace to Defenders everywhere."
"No you''re not Grey, you''re the best Defender we have. Now come, we have to get moving otherwise Elisabeth will get angry."
"Alright..."
This last boss was much harder with three of our members missing. We lost nearly fifty of the NPCs, and if that wasn''t bad enough, Elisabeth has been much more angry than usual. This dungeon also seemed much harder than all the other dungeons before it, the monsters levels were too high. Usually on floors seventy to eighty the monsters would range from level 150 - 200 but here they were averaging 200 - 300 and the boss was even level 345. Fortunately, with the monsters being such a high level, the loot from them also increased. This increase in loot encouraged the NPCs to stay with us and keep going forward, even at the cost of their lives.
When expeditions begin, groups of adventurers are formed according to their rank. Within these groups, parties are formed and loot obtained by parties is split between both the party and the rest of their ranked group, 50% goes to the party that obtained the loot, and the other 50% is split between the rest of their group. Loot obtained from bosses is split between everyone. In order to prevent conflict, the lowest ranked group (D rank) fights on the first twenty floors. Then the total loot they''ve gained is gathered and they head back to the top of the dungeon. This process continues next with the C rank group on floors thirty to forty, B rank on floors fifty to sixty, A rank on floors seventy to eighty, and finally S rank on the last twenty floors.
Normally expeditions never make it past the eightieth floor due to there being so few S rank adventures. This is the first time we''ve ever actually participated in an expedition. We''d usually just enter the dungeon ourselves and have it conquered within the month, but because we have to protect and wait for all of these NPCs to fight through everything, it''s taken nearly six just to get to the eightieth floor.
Due to this slow pace, even Elisabeth is starting to get fed up with it. With the monsters being much stronger, our team being down three people, and that odd tremor that occurred a week ago, nothing is going as planned. I could see Elisabeth starting to get angry again, and I was just about to go help her calm down when Sam grabbed my shoulder.
"There''s another one."
Sam whispered in my ear, and I was confused for a moment when Sam spoke again.
"Another shake, this one is much weaker than the last."
"What? A dungeon has never shaken before, let alone twice. Are you sure?"
"Of course, you know my skills at detection are the best."
If Sam was telling the truth, then that means that something strong enough to shake a dungeon is waiting for us below.
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----------------------
"Absorb it Mother!"
| Item Absorbed: | Mana Core (Massive) | [/tr]| Intelligence increased by 70 |
| Wisdom increased by 50 |
| You have gained a level |
| Congratulations |
I could feel the power spreading throughout my entire body, spells I now cast shook the whole room, they were easily ten times more powerful than before.
"AHHAHAHAHAH!"
I cast a simple Frost Bolt and now it had even more strength than the Overloaded version before it. When it impacted the wall of the boss room, it exploded sending ice fragments that were each the size of a regular Frost Bolt flying out which caused even more damage.
"This level of power is unbelievable!"
I pulled out another Mana Core from my Inventory.
"Absorb this Mother!"
| Unable to Absorb
You have reached the item Absorb limit.
You will be able to Absorb another item in: 23H, 59M, 59S |
"Damn! I only absorbed five of them and I already hit a limit?! Well, there''s always tomorrow. Mother, what do my stats look like now?"
| Name: | None | Total Level: | 173 | [/tr]Title: | Dungeon Death Knight | Job: | Floor 89 Monster - Warwic Dungeon | [/tr]| Main Class: | Death Knight | Race: | Undead II |
| - |
| HP: | 430/430 | MP: | 2930/2930 |
| Strength: | 117(240) | Dexterity: | 81(117) |
| Constitution: | 105(215) | Intelligence: | 1564(1877) |
| Wisdom: | 1221(1465) | Charisma: | 15 |
| Main Skills |
| Longsword Mastery: | Expert | Overload: | Mastered |
| Dark Magic Mastery: | Expert |
| Shadow Magic Mastery: | Expert | Death Magic Mastery: | Expert |
| Main Spells |
| Frost Armor: | 3rd level | Shadow Strike: | 4th level |
| Shadow Sword: | 5th level |
| Shadow Armor: | 2nd level | Mass Create Undead: | 4th level |
| - |
| Experience: | 280,847 |
"Oh, wow..."
I felt a tap on my shoulder, and when I looked I saw Emerald standing there.
"Are you done playing around friend? I want to go hunting!"
"Oh right, yeah let''s go."
"Yay!"
And so, we headed for the exit again and this time we didn''t stop. It was time to conquer the last ten floors and finally have my revenge.
Chapter 20 - Arc 1 End
"So... this is the door to the final boss huh?"
I stood in front of a large metal door, Emerald, Erika, and another army of thousands of undead stood behind me. These undead are ones that I collected over the last ten floors. Fortunately for me, most of them were already undead and all I had to do was use my new Ability, Command Undead. This new Ability is something that I''ve gained when I evolved again after I hit level 200.
"I guess it''s finally time to get my revenge."
I pushed the door open and entered the boss room.
The boss room itself was a perfect circle, it was completely lit up by blue magical stones that were placed around the room. In the center was a black suit of armor with an aura much like my own, only it was several times more intense than mine. When we stepped inside a voice coming from the armor filled the room.
"So, you''ve finally made it."
The armor''s head rose up and I could see two blue, glowing eyes inside of the helmet.
"You can talk!?"
I was surprised, usually bosses are never allowed to communicate.
"Heh, of course I can, I am the heart of this place after all. How long has it been I wonder, since I last spoke to someone."
"So, you''re the heart?"
"Heh heh, yes I am. Death Lord, Alexander Warwic at your service."
He bowed as he said this and his aura started to spread throughout the room.
"We don''t have much time, so let''s get started quickly shall we?"
His aura covered up the entire room and both Emerald and Erika disappeared.
"What did you do to them?!"
"Relax, they''re fine. I just didn''t want them to interfere. Now, this is what you''re aiming for is it not?"
In his hand, a heart formed, it was beating even though it wasn''t connected to his body. He showed it to me for a second then shoved it into his chest.
"If you want to kill me, you''ll have to destroy my heart. Though you probably already knew that. I''ve talked long enough, prepare yourself."
Any light that was in the room was now gone and the only light that remained was from our glowing eyes.
"Just a tip, if you don''t go all out you won''t even be able to scratch me."
The pressure of his aura increased many times over. I even had trouble moving under the intense pressure his aura let off.
"Fine! I''ll hold nothing back!"
I cast every single spell I knew to increase my strength. I used Layering then cast Overloaded versions of every armor spell I had. I was finally able to move freely once I finished casting them all.
"Oh? So you''ve even learned Layering, I can''t say I''m surprised Xaxis found that skill as well."
I wasn''t done yet, I used Overloaded versions of every spell I knew to increase my speed and health. Then I cast Overloaded versions of every sword spell I knew, which covered both my arms in various magical auras.
"Are you finished yet?"
I ignored what he was saying and cast even more spells, this time for regeneration, then I used Overloaded Limit Break. The eruption of power that came from me when I used Limit Break shook the entire room.
"I''m done waiting now. I''ve waited so long for this and I can''t wait anymore."
He suddenly disappeared from my sight and reappeared behind me. I didn''t have enough time to react and before I knew it I was thrown into a wall and most of my armor was destroyed. Thanks to my regeneration spells the armor would repair itself so I wouldn''t have to recast it. But with a single blow most of my armor was blown through and my body took some damage.
"Hmph, you''re much weaker than I thought you''d be, that was just my hand. I wonder how you will fare with my weapon."
In his left hand, a sword of pure darkness formed, and in his right, a shield.
''Damn, I didn''t think he would be so strong.''
I stood up and used Overloaded Spell Charge to charge Overloaded Final Strike, Overloaded Grand Death Strike, and Overloaded Grand Unholy Strike. By now my mana was nearly gone, even with all of the cores I was absorbing on my way here I still ran out of mana.
"Now it''s my turn!"
I leaped toward him and he didn''t even move, instead he prepared to take my strike head on.
"Come! This is the moment I''ve been waiting for!"
Just before I hit him, I released the three charged spells I had and cast Overloaded Grand Shadow Strike with the last of my mana. He also swung his sword in my direction, but for some reason it was much slower than I thought it would be and I was able to block it. As my sword swung toward him, charged with the Grand spells, he... moved his shield, giving me a clear shot at his chest. At this point it was too late and there was no way I could stop. My sword collided with his chest, the spells released, and I was blown back by the explosion. I felt the damage of Final Strike hit me and I used Second Chance to keep myself alive.
His aura disappeared and we were back inside the lit up room. I stood up and saw his body, only part of his right arm, his torso, and his head remained.
"Why didn''t block my attack?! Why would you just let me kill you!?!"
I could see that what was left of his body was starting to slowly disappear.
"Heh, did you honestly think I was ever going to kill you? I''ve waited so long for someone to come and kill me and there''s no way I was going to let this chance pass by."
"You, even when I kill you I''m still doing what you want?!"
The rest of his right arm was gone now.
"Well, aren''t we mad? If it''ll make you feel better, once I''m gone a door is going to appear. Inside that door is the final floor, floor one hundred. That room is where I have gathered every single piece of loot that I have collected over the years. Since no one has even challenged me in- how long has it been now? Hundreds? Thousands of years? Anyway, I''ve collected quite the horde of treasure, and it''s all yours, it''ll help you out quite a bit when you decided to head outside. There''s a special ring in that room that''ll hold all of the items for you."
Just his head remained now, and it was slowly disappearing.
"By the way, I''ll give you a bit of advice for when you try to live in the world above. If you don''t want to be hunted down by every living thing, you might want to try to win over the people who live up there."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Talk to Erika, she can explain it to you since I don''t have the time. I wonder, will I reincarnate again, or will it finally be time for me to truly die?"
He started rambling about things as his head was almost gone.
"Oh, and one more thing. I know you still haven''t given yourself a name. If you want, you can have mine, I won''t be needing it anymore."
"You, would let me have your name?"
"Sure why not? One last thing before I go, thank you for finally ending this boring life of mine."
With those last words he disappeared. Just like he said, a door appeared after he died and Mother told me a few things. I entered the room and found the ring he mentioned, when I grabbed it and put it on my finger all of the items in the room were suddenly sucked into the ring.
"Alexander Warwic huh? I''ll have to ask Emerald what she thinks of it."
--------------
"What the hell is going on."
Ever since we entered the eighty ninth floor, there haven''t been any monsters. Since we reached the levels where only S ranks were allowed, we were able to progress much faster than before. Right now, Sam, Brenda, Grey, and I have been running through the floors, trying to find a reason why these floors were cleared.
"Ah, there it is again."
"Yeah, I feel it too Sam."
The dungeon was shaking again, much more than the other times. We reached floor ninety-five now, the shaking was getting more violent the further down we went. Once we reached floor ninety-eight the shaking suddenly stopped. On floor ninety-nine, we finally found all of the monsters that seemed to disappear. Floor ninety-nine was basically just a very large tunnel that lead to the boss door that was currently open.
"What the hell? Did some Necromancer beat us here?"
"No Grey, there''s no way a simple Necromancer would be able to control this many undead."
Then it appeared, a Death Knight, but this one stood at at least seven feet, and the armor it had on was carved in the shape of a dragon.
"Sam, identify whatever the hell that thing is."
"Right..."
As Sam tried to identify it, it noticed us and began to walk towards us. Behind it, I noticed two girls appear, one of which was completely naked for some reason.
"What the hell? Why is that girl naked?"
"Oh, my god. We need to get the hell out of here right now."
"Sam? What is it?"
"Right now! That isn''t a Death Knight, it''s a fucking Death General, and that "girl" next to it is a god damned Slime Queen!"
"What?!?!"
Death Generals were an evolved form of a Death Knight and were very tough Event Bosses. The only thing worse than a Death General would be a Death Lord, which were usually World Bosses that need hundreds of people to kill. Death Generals had a Unique Ability that allowed them to command any undead that was Death Knight class or below. Sure enough, looking around I could see over a hundred Death Knights.
If that wasn''t enough, it managed to somehow tame a fucking Slime Queen, which was much worse than any Death General.
"You''re right Sam, we can''t take that on with just the four of us, we need to get the hell out of here."
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
We turned to start running away but when we did, it appeared directly in front of us. This close, the aura it was letting off was already damaging us.
"Hello, and who might you be?"
--------------
I woke up in a bed and my memory was a bit fuzzy, which meant only one thing.
"Did, we die?"
Looking around the room I was in I saw Sam, Grey, and Brenda. We all must have died to something, but what the hell was it? Then I remembered I had something to take care of now that I was back in town.
"Where the hell are they now? I''m going to have to give them a piece of my mind. Because of those idiots we now have to make seven more rings!"
Shortly after I found those three having fun partying with some of the nobles from the city. After straightening them out, we set off to gather materials to make more rings. During our time gathering these materials we heard news that the dungeon from Tayton died. Some months after hearing about the death of the dungeon, we also heard that a horde of undead erupted from the dungeon and took over the entire city. This event gave us the perfect opportunity to finally set our plans in motion and gain control of the country. By using this horde of Undead as an example of "God''s Wraith" I was able to easily get the support of the people and overthrow the current ruler of the country by accusing him of being "evil" or something.
Unfortunately, due to the plan being "ours", I had to split the country between the seven of us. So now instead of a single throne in the capital of the kingdom, there were seven. Also, the church, that now had much more power thanks to me, trusted me with a certain secret prophecy that they believe started with the horde of Undead. This prophecy also came with a certain spell that was called "Hero Summoning".
--------------
"Hmmm, so they were more of those "Cheaters" huh?"
Four humans, who were quite strong by the way, were waiting for me when I came out of the boss room. I decided to ask them who they were but instead of talking they just tried to kill me and run. Offended by this, I killed them, though they were quite resilient, especially the priestess that kept healing them and using holy magic on me.
I would have surely died if I didn''t already have on multiple layers of armor spells from my fight with the boss. Instead of killing me their attacks hardly did any damage. Unfortunately, I ended up having to use an Overloaded version of Grand Shadow Strike to finish them off. I didn''t like using this because of how powerful the spell was. It was so strong that it ended up collapsing the entire floor and made me lose a few hundred of my minions. But I did notice that when they died their bodies turned to dust and disappeared.
"How rude! All you did was try and talk to them and they tried to kill you!"
"You''re right Emerald, I don''t understand why they did that. Hmm, perhaps my Human was a little off and I offended them? Erika, are you sure what I said was correct?"
"Ah, ummm, yes, it should have been a simple "Hello, who are you?", maybe they were scared of your appearance?"
It was then I realized I was now over seven feet tall due to my previous evolution. The black dragon armor I was wearing that gave off an aura of death strong enough to hurt Erika if she got too close to me probably wasn''t doing me any favors.
"I guess you might be right there. Oh well, no use dwelling on it. It''s time to finally leave this dungeon and make a place for myself above ground."
I checked my Status one last time before heading to the upper floors, increasing the size of my army along the way.
| Name: | None | Total Level: | 234 | [/tr]Title: | Dungeon Killer, Death General | Job: | General of the Undead Army of Warwic | [/tr]| Main Class: | Death General | Race: | Undead III |
| - |
| HP: | 562/562 | MP: | 24530/24530 |
| Strength: | 129(264) | Dexterity: | 93(135) |
| Constitution: | 137(281) | Intelligence: | 14164(16997) |
| Wisdom: | 10221(12265) | Charisma: | 30 |
| Main Skills |
| Longsword Mastery: | Mastered | Overload: | Mastered |
| Dark Magic Mastery: | Mastered |
| Shadow Magic Mastery: | Mastered | Death Magic Mastery: | Mastered |
| Main Spells |
| Frost Plate Armor: | 4th level | Grand Shadow Strike: | 4th level |
| Grand Shadow Sword: | 5th level |
| Shadow Plate Armor: | 4th level | Mass Create Undead: | 7th level |
| - |
| Experience: | 1,000,847 |
--------------
The end of Arc 1 is here! (Sadly)
I''m going to be taking about a week to get the next Arc planned. It is going to be told from a different perspective after our Skeleton has taken over Tayton. I''m not sure yet how much our Skeleton is going to be in the next Arc as I''ve hardly even pieced together the first chapter. Thank you all for the amazing support so far and I hope I can make the next Arc even better than the first.
Side: Final Boss
I apologize for not having this in the last chapter. I was very distracted by things going on and I wanted to get it out as quickly as I could. Now that I found time, here is the battle that should have been in the chapter when I first posted it. This fight is now in the chapter for anyone who might read it later. I posted this separately for anyone who already read that chapter.
--------------
The boss room itself was a perfect circle, it was completely lit up by blue magical stones that were placed around the room. In the center was a black suit of armor with an aura much like my own, only it was several times more intense than mine. When we stepped inside a voice coming from the armor filled the room.
"So, you''ve finally made it."
The armor''s head rose up and I could see two blue, glowing eyes inside of the helmet.
"You can talk!?"
I was surprised, usually bosses are never allowed to communicate.
"Heh, of course I can, I am the heart of this place after all. How long has it been I wonder, since I last spoke to someone."
"So, you''re the heart?"
"Heh heh, yes I am. Death Lord, Alexander Warwic at your service."
He bowed as he said this and his aura started to spread throughout the room.
"We don''t have much time, so let''s get started quickly shall we?"
His aura covered up the entire room and both Emerald and Erika disappeared.
"What did you do to them?!"
"Relax, they''re fine. I just didn''t want them to interfere. Now, this is what you''re aiming for is it not?"
In his hand, a heart formed, it was beating even though it wasn''t connected to his body. He showed it to me for a second then shoved it into his chest.
"If you want to kill me, you''ll have to destroy my heart. Though you probably already knew that. I''ve talked long enough, prepare yourself."
Any light that was in the room was now gone and the only light that remained was from our glowing eyes.
"Just a tip, if you don''t go all out you won''t even be able to scratch me."
The pressure of his aura increased many times over. I even had trouble moving under the intense pressure his aura let off.
"Fine! I''ll hold nothing back!"
I cast every single spell I knew to increase my strength. I used Layering then cast Overloaded versions of every armor spell I had. I was finally able to move freely once I finished casting them all.
"Oh? So you''ve even learned Layering, I can''t say I''m surprised Xaxis found that skill as well."
I wasn''t done yet, I used Overloaded versions of every spell I knew to increase my speed and health. Then I cast Overloaded versions of every sword spell I knew, which covered both my arms in various magical auras.
"Are you finished yet?"
I ignored what he was saying and cast even more spells, this time for regeneration, then I used Overloaded Limit Break. The eruption of power that came from we when I used Limit Break shook the entire room.
"I''m done waiting now. I''ve waited so long for this and I can''t wait anymore."
He suddenly disappeared from my sight and reappeared behind me. I didn''t have enough time to react and before I knew it I was thrown into a wall and most of my armor was destroyed. Thanks to my regeneration spells the armor would repair itself so I wouldn''t have to recast it. But with a single blow most of my armor was blown through and my body took some damage.
"Hmph, you''re much weaker than I thought you''d be, that was just my hand. I wonder how you will fare with my weapon."
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In his left hand, a sword of pure darkness formed, and in his right, a shield.
''Damn, I didn''t think he would be so strong.''
I stood up and used Overloaded Spell Charge to charge Overloaded Final Strike, Overloaded Grand Death Strike, and Overloaded Grand Unholy Strike. By now my mana was nearly gone, even with all of the cores I was absorbing on my way here I still ran out of mana.
"Now it''s my turn!"
I leaped toward him and he didn''t even move, instead he prepared to take my strike head on.
"Come! This is the moment I''ve been waiting for!"
Just before I hit him, I released the three charged spells I had and cast Overloaded Grand Shadow Strike with the last of my mana. He also swung his sword in my direction, but for some reason it was much slower than I thought it would be and I was able to block it. As my sword swung toward him, charged with the Grand spells, he... moved his shield, giving me a clear shot at his chest. At this point it was too late and there was no way I could stop. My sword collided with his chest, the spells released, and I was blown back by the explosion. I felt the damage of Final Strike hit me and I used Second Chance to keep myself alive.
His aura disappeared and we were back inside the lit up room. I stood up and saw his body, only part of his right arm, his torso, and his head remained.
"Why didn''t block my attack?! Why would you just let me kill you!?!"
I could see that what was left of his body was starting to slowly disappear.
"Heh, did you honestly think I was ever going to kill you? I''ve waited so long for someone to come and kill me and there''s no way I was going to let this chance pass by."
"You, even when I kill you I''m still doing what you want?!"
The rest of his right arm was gone now.
"Well, aren''t we mad? If it''ll make you feel better, once I''m gone a door is going to appear. Inside that door is the final floor, floor one hundred. That room is where I have gathered every single piece of loot that I have collected over the years. Since no one has even challenged me in- how long has it been now? Hundreds? Thousands of years? Anyway, I''ve collected quite the horde of treasure, and it''s all yours, it''ll help you out quite a bit when you decided to head outside. There''s a special ring in that room that''ll hold all of the items for you."
Just his head remained now, and it was slowly disappearing.
"By the way, I''ll give you a bit of advice for when you try to live in the world above. If you don''t want to be hunted down by every living thing, you might want to try to win over the people who live up there."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Talk to Erika, she can explain it to you since I don''t have the time. I wonder, will I reincarnate again, or will it finally be time for me to truly die?"
He started rambling about things as his head was almost gone.
"Oh, and one more thing. I know you still haven''t given yourself a name. If you want, you can have mine, I won''t be needing it anymore."
"You, would let me have your name?"
"Sure why not? One last thing before I go, thank you for finally ending this boring life of mine."
With those last words he disappeared. Just like he said, a door appeared after he died and Mother told me a few things. I entered the room and found the ring he mentioned, when I grabbed it and put it on my finger all of the items in the room were suddenly sucked into the ring.
"Alexander Warwic huh? I''ll have to ask Emerald what she thinks of it."
Chapter 21 - Hero Summoning
It had been one year since the city of Tayton, now more commonly known as The City of the Dead, was overrun by a horde of undead that erupted from the dead dungeon that the city was built around. Currently, the entire city was surrounded by the Third Holy Army of Haford. What happened to the first and second armies? Well...
It was a rather sunny day today, and since nothing but farmland surrounded the city of Tayton, one could get a clear view of the landscape for quite some distance. A small group of soldiers were scouting out an area near the northern gate of city. The reason they decided to do this on such a clear say was simply because the undead were much weaker during the day. Another reason was that the undead didn''t see very well during the day while during the night they could see much better than any human and even better than some elves.
"Sir! We have some movement!"
One of the men noticed something move across the plains and called his captain over. This man was Amed Barne he''d recently been promoted to the rank of captain due to the last one dying on a scouting mission, much like this one. He walked over to the soldier that called him, George Lete, he was responsible for checking that the area around them was clear before they set up camp for the night. The reason this job fell to George was because of his skill with scrying magic, which allowed him to send his consciousness out a certain distance without having to physically be there.
"Yes, what is it?"
The captain was a little nervous because of the reputation these scouting missions had. On a good day, around ten to fifteen percent of scouts sent out would make it back alive. On a bad day none would come back at all. The ones that did come back were always severely wounded and kept rambling on about-
"There seems to be a girl walking towards us sir."
Before Amed could finish remembering the rumors he''d heard from his fellow soldiers, George responded.
"What, a girl? Are you certain?"
"Yes Sir! There''s no doubt, shes heading to our exact location. She''s about fifteen minutes away."
That was very odd, a girl heading towards their exact location? Even with the best eyesight there''s no way someone would see them from that far away.
"Perhaps it''s a survivor? But after a year how is that even-"
Suddenly, the memory of the rumors came back, most of them about a certain girl.
"Soldier! What does the girl look like!? What is she wearing?!? The color of the dress!"
It couldn''t be, the Gods didn''t hate him this much did they? Sure he''d done some things he wasn''t proud of in his life, but for his luck to be this bad. He was only 32 after all, and he hasn''t even married yet.
"Sir? How did you know she was wearing a dress?"
He was sweating now, his body felt like it just rose thirty degrees.
"The color George! The damn color!"
"It''s green sir, what are getting so worked up about?"
His worst fears were realized in that instant.
"N-no... it can''t be..."
He was visibly shaking now. The sight of their new captain scared to the point where he was pouring sweat and shaking so much that he could barely stand worried the soldiers. They started to talk among themselves when the captain turned to them and started removing his plate armor.
"Men! It has been an honor serving with you for the past few days. I know it is sudden but I''m officially resigning as your captain and deserting the army. As a final word of advice: If you value your lives, run with all you have. Good luck and Gods speed."
The captain, or former captain now, then turned and took off running faster than any of them thought he was capable of.
While sprinting across the plains, the captain showed a small smile on his face.
"Heh, fools, you''re all new so you probably haven''t heard of her. The reaper of the battlefield, Emerald."
Shortly after Amed left his men standing there in shock, screams of death echoed across the plains.
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-----------------
"So, none of the scouts came back this time."
"Y-yes my Queen."
"Ugh, how useless, dismissed."
''It''s been a year and all we''ve managed to do is give them more bodies for their army. The seven of us could have easily dealt with those undead if it was just the Death General. But for some reason a Slime Queen seems to be following it which makes it impossible for just us to deal with. What we need is some cannon fodder that isn''t as weak as the NPCs.''
"Queen Elisabeth, the Head Priest of the Church is here to see you."
"Oh? Could it finally be ready? Send him in."
The two large doors of the throne room opened and in walked the Head Priest Giles Cain who was followed by ten of his handpicked high priestesses. They approached the seven thrones, only one of which currently seated one of the seven kings and queens that now rule Lamor, The Human Country. Once close enough, Giles and his High Priestesses bowed and then he spoke.
"Queen Elisabeth! I am pleased to report that the preparations are finally finished and we can get started at a moments notice."
''Finally! After all this time, we''ll have the cannon fodder we need.''
"Good, set everything up here, notify the people of the capital that the Hero Summoning will take place within the week. I''ll gather the other Kings and Queens and have them ready within the same amount of time."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
By the end of the week, all seven Kings and Queens were summoned to the capital and there wasn''t a single person within the whole country and didn''t know what was about to take place.
Inside the throne room, at least 100 of the country''s highest ranked individuals stood around the room. In the center stood Queen Elisabeth, to her right side, Queen Brenda, to her left, Head Priest Giles, and behind them stood the ten High Priestesses. Due to both Queen Elisabeth''s and Queen Brenda''s extraordinary amount of mana, the only hope this spell had at succeeding was if they both participated in the casting of the spell.
"People of Lamor! The Hero Summoning will now begin."
The nobles scattered about the room took a few steps back and cleared the middle of the throne room. At maximum capacity, the throne room would be able to hold around two thousand people. The reason why so few people were allowed to witness the summoning was because no one had any idea what would actually be summoned, they only knew that it would be some sort of "Heroes". So now, with the people out of the way, and the spell prepared, Elisabeth started the chant.
"I call upon thee, oh great Heroes. Help us in our time of need and answer our pleas!"
''God this chant is stupid, the others are probably laughing their asses off right now. From what I remember, Giles explained that there are two options for the summoning. I could either choose to summon a few extremely strong Heroes, or I could just summon a large amount of weak ones. The choice is quite obvious since the only thing we need is some slightly strong cannon fodder.''
"Come forth, oh great Heroes and deliver us from evil!"
''There''s no way in hell I''m ever doing this shit again, even if I do manage to live through the 200 year cool down this spell has.''
Suddenly a massive magical circle appeared around twenty feet off the ground and a bright light shot down from the heavens through the circle. As the light slowly faded away, the Heroes came into view. Roughly one or two hundred people, most looked to be anywhere from 10 to 16 years old, some even in their 20s, stood in the center of the throne room looking around with surprised expressions on their faces.
''Well, I certainly did get quite the amount of cannon fodder. Now it''s time to put on my best ''I''m the Queen of a kingdom from another world and I need you to help me kill the evil Undead King and save Humanity'' impression.''
"Welcome Heroes!"
Chapter 22 - Heroic Slaves
The day started just like any other, I woke up, dragged myself of to my computer, sat down, and began my work day. My job allowed me to work from home so I never had to leave my room. What was my job? Well, to put it simply I level characters in MMOs, and farm gold or whatever currency the MMO is using at the time. I max out characters levels and then sell them along with the currency I''ve gathered while leveling. The money I make isn''t much but it''s enough to pay the rent for the apartment I live in and it means that I don''t have to go outside either. It''s not that I hate going outside, it''s just that I hate the people that are out there. Certain things happened to me earlier in my life that I''d rather never remember, and because of that I hate being around other people.
Now with that out of the way, I was simply sitting at my desk when a bight light appeared below me and blinded me for a few seconds. By the time I opened my eyes I was sitting on a floor that looked to made of marble and I was surrounded by a crowd of people. I started to break out in a cold sweat but then I realized the people around me were just as confused as I was. They were looking around, so I did the same and what I saw was amazing. We were all in what looked like a very large throne room, there were even seven thrones at the front of the room and large statues of angels everywhere. Then I noticed the other people, the ones that didn''t look right. While the people around me in the center of the room had on modern clothes and were just as confused as I was, there were other people surrounding us that wore a very different type of clothing. It looked at handmade and from a much earlier time. There were even people who wore suits of armor and others that carried staves and wore really long robes. And it was about here that I realized what was happening.
"Ah... so that''s it..."
My sweating stopped just as fast as it started and I almost couldn''t stop myself from jumping up and down and shouting at the top of my lungs.
''It actually fucking happened! I can''t believe it! This is the best thing ever!''
At this point I heard a woman yell.
"Welcome Heroes!"
The woman who yelled was wearing what looked like priest robes and she was holding a staff. I didn''t really bother listening to what she had to say because it probably involved something like the fate of Humanity and killing some Demon Lord, both of which I didn''t care for.
''So, if it''s like this then I should have that right? Right? Let''s see... Status!''
I tried saying it in my head first because interrupting someone who was probably a Queen wasn''t a very good idea.
| Name: | Adrian Banner | Total Level: | 1 | [/tr]Title: | Summoned Hero | Job: | Dark Mage Hero | [/tr]| Main Class: | Dark Mage (Heroic) | Race: | Human |
| - |
| HP: | 30/30 | MP: | 2000/2000 |
| Strength: | 8 | Dexterity: | 5 |
| Constitution: | 15 | Intelligence: | 100 |
| Wisdom: | 1000 | Charisma: | 5 |
| Main Skills |
| Dark Magic Mastery: | Beginner | Shadow Magic Mastery: | Beginner | [tr]Main Spells |
| Dark Frost Armor: | 1st level | Dark Frost Bolt: | 1st level |
| Dark Frost Blade: | 1st level |
| Dark Frost Strike: | 1st level | Dark Fire Bolt: | 1st level |
| - |
| Experience: | 0 |
''Oh, so my "cheat" is that I have a lot of MP? Am I supposed to be some sort of glass cannon? It''s useful but I need to think of a way I can get out of all this "Hero" business. I don''t feel like dying for anyone, let alone people I don''t know.''
I started thinking of a plan when I heard the woman''s speech come to an end.
"Now my guards will guide you all to a room where you can rest for today. I understand you all must be very tired with all of this happening so suddenly. I know you all must have questions, they will be answered tomorrow, I promise."
With her speech finished we were all led off like a herd of cattle and taken to our rooms.
If I''m being honest, my room was quite nice, and I wouldn''t actually mind staying here if it didn''t mean I had to die for it. I looked around the room for a bit then tried to open the door only to find that it was locked. Next I tried climbing out of the window only to find there was some sort of invisible barrier preventing me from leaving.
"I see..."
''So they really do intend to treat us like cattle huh? We''ll see about that.''
I aimed my hand at the window and shouted out one of the spells I had in my mind.
''Dark Ice Bolt!''
I didn''t feel like setting the whole room on fire and then burning to death of I couldn''t get out.
A large black icicle formed in front of my hand and then flew toward the window. When it hit the invisible barrier on the window it exploded and covered the entire room in black frost. In response to the loud explosion a group of guards rushed inside and before I could do anything I was tied up and thrown on the bed with a bag over my head. Thinking back on it now, it probably would''ve been better to cast a spell at the damn wooden door instead of some magical invisible barrier.
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"Ugh..."
''I''m such an idiot, I should really think things through a little more.''
So, there I was, tied up and laying on a nice bed that was currently covered in black frost. For some reason I didn''t feel cold even though the entire room was frozen. Perhaps I was immune to the cold, but I had a fire spell too so maybe I was also immune to fire? I tried casting a spell again but nothing happened. Maybe I could only cast a spell when I knew where I wanted it to go? I would have to test it out more if I ever got the chance.
I was sitting there for a while and I heard noises coming from around me, most of them were people yelling, a few sounded like explosions. Once that quieted down my door opened again and I was thrown to the ground on my stomach and had my shirt ripped off. At this point I didn''t know what was going to happen but I feared the worst.
"Good, this one isn''t resisting like the others."
"Maybe there''s something wrong with him Master?"
"That''s none of our concern just prepare the spell."
"Yes."
I heard two voices, the one being called Master sounded female while the other sounded male. I was a bit relieved when they mentioned a spell since my mind had imagined much darker things happening to a man that was face down on a floor with his clothes ripped off, though I still had my pants on. I heard them chant something in a language I didn''t understand and then my back felt like it was fire. The pain was so intense I couldn''t hold back my screams as I felt something carve its way into my skin.
"Done, let''s go, we have much more work to do tonight."
"Yes Master."
When they left I got up and took the bag off my head. Apparently whatever they just did to me means that they don''t have to worry about me trying to escape anymore. I tried casting a spell again and only felt pain from my back that paralyzed me for a few seconds.
"Great..."
''Not even a full day after being summoned to another world and I''m already a slave. Great job Adrian, and here you''re supposed to have 100 Intelligence and 1000 Wisdom. I guess those stats don''t accurately reflect how smart I really am.''
With nothing else to do I decided I might as well get some sleep.
---------------
"So it''s done then?"
"Yes, my Queen."
"Well done, you''re dismissed."
A woman who was dressed like a witch and had a small boy following her left the throne room. Once they were gone the Queen formed a very disturbing smile on her face.
"Oooooohh ho ho ho ho! My plan is finally coming together!"
"Elisabeth, could you please not laugh like that. It''s creepy and it makes you look like some cliche anime villain. Especially the way you put your hand in front of your face like that."
"Oh come on Brenda, don''t ruin my fun. All we have to do now is train our cannon fod- I mean Heroes, and then send them off to fight that annoying Slime Queen while we kill the Death General. Easy right?"
"Umm, sorry Elisabeth, but do you think you could explain to me again what exactly this plan of yours is? I know we summoned the Heroes to help us fight the Slime Queen and Death General, but why are we trying to fight them? Aren''t we supposed to be trying to find a way to get back home?"
"Ugh, look Black, I know it might be hard to understand due to how utterly stupid you are. So sit down, listen, and try not to fall asleep this time okay?"
"..... Fine."
"Good. Now starting with the main reason, finding a way back home. If there even is a way back, we have no idea where to look and so we''ve been wondering around this world looking for something we''re not even sure exists. So, on the very likely chance that there isn''t a way home, we need to find a way to live in this world permanently."
"And to do that we took over a country?"
"Look Black! Given the choice, would you rather live like a middle class person or live like a king?"
"Well I''d-"
"A king! Exactly! And a king needs subjects to rule over does he not?"
"Well that depends on-"
"Yes he does! And so I came up with the plan to win over the NPCs and take over this country. The way I did that was by overthrowing the country''s current king by making it seem like he was guilty of something no one knew about. Since he couldn''t face judgment due to no one knowing about it, one of the gods sent some divine judgment in the form of the undead. Was the king truly guilty of something no one knew about? What exactly was the king guilty of? Who fucking cares. The NPCs ate it up and now we rule the country, so you understand it so far Black?
"Uhhhh-"
"Perfect! Moving on. Since we took control of the country, it is now our job to get rid of those undead and that Slime Queen. We could handle them one on one but we can''t beat them while they''re together, so we summoned Heroes. Now the last thing we need is them refusing to help us, so we enslave them. Simple right?"
"Wait, I still don''t-"
"Great! All this explaining has made me tired, I''m going to sleep."
"Elisabeth, I understand your plan and all, but I still don''t like enslaving those people, some of which were even children. Also couldn''t we just go back home with them once they''ve finished their job?"
"Oh come on Grey, you don''t believe they''re actual people do you? Look, the spell to summon them was already in the game before we were trapped here. So the summoned "Heroes" are obviously just NPCs. Don''t become one of those people that can''t tell the difference between a game and reality. Besides, there''s no way to send them back. They''ll just fight and die in order to make sure that we come back alive, like true Heroes. Now, we have a lot of work tomorrow so I need some rest, good night."
Chapter 23 - First Day of Slavery
I was at home as usual, grinding out more levels on a character for some MMO when I felt a slight itch on my back. Attempting to scratch said itch, I reached behind my back and started scratching at where I believed the itch to be. Instead of stopping it however, the itch only grew more intense and started spreading throughout my whole back. Within seconds, the itching feeling turned into intense pain and my back suddenly caught fire. I jumped out of my chair and tried rolling on the ground to put out the fire but it only kept burning. By now smoke was filling the room and I could smell my flesh cooking and hear my skin sizzling. As I continued rolling around on the ground I felt myself fall and hit my head on something. I opened my eyes and I was in what looked like a very expensive room, there was even a woman dressed in a maid outfit who had blue hair and very long ears for some reason.
''Oh that''s right, I was summoned to another world then enslaved overnight.''
The beautiful elf woman noticed I woke up and bowed slightly while introducing herself.
"Good morning Master Hero, I am Elen Idrith and I''ll be your handler for the foreseeable future."
''Handler? What am I, some kind of animal?''
"I apologize for the rude awakening but I was ordered to get you up as soon as possible."
''Ah, so that pain was from the mark. It even has some kind of remote function? I''ll need to find out more about this thing later.''
"I placed a change of clothes on the table for you. I will wait outside while you change, you have two minutes. If you don''t finish in time you will feel pain similar to what you felt before. It will only get worse the longer you take, so I suggest that you hurry."
With that she left the room and closed the door. I got up quickly and started changing while remembering the things I learned about this mark.
''So, it seems like if I don''t follow a command the mark activates on its own and the pain felt will slowly increase, but to what end?''
I wondered whether or not the mark would kill me after enough time past and I ended up taking too long with getting changed. I exited the room as quickly as I could once I felt a familiar itch on my back.
"Good, you''re finished. Now follow me."
Elen started to walk down the hall and I noticed several other people being lead as well. Most of the summoned people looked to be between sixteen and thirty with some being much older and younger. There was quite a bit of yelling at first which then turned into screams of pain and were finally silenced all together. I even saw one person trying to attack one of the maids only to immediately fall to the ground paralyzed.
''I guess it''s a good thing I didn''t try to do anything stupid before.''
We were both walking down the hallway when Elen spoke.
"Wow, I didn''t think that everyone else would have so much trouble. I guess I got lucky with you Master... ummm."
''Oh right, I haven''t given her my name yet.''
"Adrian... Banner."
"Master Banner then."
She smiled at me as she said this.
''You know, if I wasn''t currently enslaved and forced to do whatever I''m ordered to, this might not have been so bad.''
Eventually we made our way to the throne room where we were summoned. The seven thrones were currently occupied by seven individuals that looked like they were ready to face off against a demon king or something.
''Hmmm, now that I have time to look at them, they seem strong enough to handle just about anything. If people like them couldn''t win against whatever is threatening them then what hope do we have?''
Elen and I were one of the first to arrive and we had to wait while the rest were quite literally dragged in due to them not being able to move. Once everyone was present woman seated in the middle throne spoke. The same one who seemed to summon us here yesterday.
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"Finally you''re here, I was getting bored waiting so damn long. Didn''t I tell you to hurry?"
All of the maids bowed at once and said in unison "We apologize Queen Elisabeth!"
"Don''t let it happen again. Now all of you "Heroes" will now be trained and should be ready for combat within a few months."
''Months!? Is she serious? Does this woman really think ordinary people will be able to fight what they cannot in just a few months? We''ll all be slaughtered!''
A few people started to speak out but then screamed in pain and fell to the ground. Seeing this I decided to do something sensible and raise my hand.
"Oh? It seems like one of you at least has some manners. You there, what is it?"
She looked to me and I asked my question, I had a little time to think about it on the way here so I decided on one thing.
"May I be allowed to visit the library?"
Since I''m not a fighting type, my best chance at surviving this whole thing is to learn as much magic as possible. Since this is a fantasy world they should have a library with a lot of books on magic right?
When she heard my question she showed a smile and laughed a bit.
"Library? That''s your question? You''re not going to beg for freedom or ask why I''ve done this to you?"
''Well, even if I was free to do what I want in this world, my living conditions would go from a room in a royal castle to the street. Even if I am enslaved I''m still living like royalty, I just need to find a way to get rid of this damn mark so I don''t have to die.''
"Yes."
"Very well, you''re allowed to visit the library when you have time and you may read whatever you want. I''ll now give you all your orders. From now on you''re not to speak to anyone of your first two days here. If anyone asks about the mark on your back you will tell them that it is the mark of a "Hero" and whenever speaking of it you will always refer to it as such. Lastly, you must follow every order given to you by your handler and in public they will act as your bodyguard. That is all, you''re now free to head off to training."
With her talk finished, we were lead out to a large yard somewhere in the castle and split into three groups. The first group was made up of those that fought with swords, the second had those that fought with bows, and the final one that I was in, used magic. I was given a staff and allowed to cast spells with the condition that I didn''t cast a spell at anything except the targets I was given. The only thing we were really taught was how to aim the spells we already knew. Aiming the spell was much harder than I thought. When you fire a spell at a target the spell only goes toward where the target was at the time you cast it. Firing a spell was much like firing a gun that shot balls of fire and it wasn''t easy considering I''ve never fired a gun before. By the end of the day I hardly made any progress with hitting the moving targets.
''Damn, to think hitting targets was so hard, I really should practice more.''
As we''re walking back from training Elen turns to me and gives me a slime.
"You did quite well on your first day Master Banner."
''Quite well? Sure I could hit regular targets, but I only managed to hit about ten percent of the moving ones.''
"Thanks. Could we stop at the library?"
"Oh that''s right, Queen Elisabeth did give you permission after all. Of course, follow me!"
After she said that we changed direction and walked for a few minutes before we reached a massive building which was apparently the library. It looked to have at least three floors and was made of stone that looked like marble.
''For them to have a library that big, just what kind of people summoned me?''
I walked into the library with Elen and thought on what I should learn first.
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I''ve gotten a couple of messages from people asking when I''m going to continue writing this and I''m not to sure. I''m currently editing the previous chapters while also reading through them and trying to remember what the hell I was doing with this story. Vote on whether you want me to continue the story or not. It will let me know how many people actually want more. This poll will be open for seven days