839. Sufferer in the Darkness

They were no hills, not at all, but monsters.

"James, Edward, block!" he called out.

Seth and the two tanks quickly raised their shields when a cloud of breath billowed toward them. The blacksmith used <Apollo's Shield> and was able to block the brunt of the attack.

The notification rang continuously. Meanwhile, the hills started crawling. Coming closer Seth could finally make out their feature, though he may have wished he didn't. He could only say that Sufferer in the Darkness was a fitting name.

If it wasn't for their size and danger, Seth might have felt pity for them. Their bodies looked pale and tumid, like fresh water corpses. At the same time, they were riddled with necrotic holes in their flesh where black rot was eating away at them.

They pulled themselves over the ground, maybe too weak to stand, and kept moaning pitifully. With every moan that released the breath of disease. The sight reminded him of horrifying renditions of the bubonic plague. But seeing it in real life and in this size, made it hit harder even more.

Well, one thing was clear, <Tisiphone's Mirror> had close to no effect on them. The passive skill would reflect 50% of the damage of direct hits and 25% of the damage received on barriers, with a chance to disease or illness. In this case, it was obvious that these creatures would be immune to this kind of damage. Even more so if it was their own damage reflected back on them,

He wasn't the only one hesitating at the sight. When Seth was about to say something, he was interrupted by a notification.

Bulko had already started deploying his buffs. Right afterward, lightning strikes and fireballs descended onto the crawling hills of rotting flesh. His instructions were not needed as the assembled party worked like clockwork, thanks to their extensive experience in dungeon crawling.

The vanguard stood back, for now, leaving it to Evee's undead to take the front line, while the rear guard unloaded everything they had. Only Edward was wading through the fire and the flames, hacking away at the meat mountains with his flaming White Hilt, halting their advance.

It was safe to say that the tension was gone after the first few minutes. Except for their size and their breath, the Sufferers in the Darkness had no special features. Like the peasants, Lydia and her party had faced previously, they didn't pose a huge threat to their party.

After the first encounter, Seth enjoyed switching between roles as the explored the other rooms on this floor. Had he wanted to, he could have carried his friends, but as Mina said, it was not the point of their excursion. Unlike the time when he hurried down the bridges with Tatzel, the blacksmith actually enjoyed raiding a dungeon properly with everyone working together.

Not enough to prefer it above peacefully working in his workshop, but it was a nice change of pace. He could feel his mind clearing and relaxing, despite the less-than-inviting environment.

"Thank you, Mina, Fin," he whispered to the two sitting beside them.

After blazing through their first floor, the party had set up a little camp to rest. They had just eaten their meal and the three were now sitting at the fire. Thinking about the day, he couldn't help but speak it out loud.

"Then show your appreciation later, when we rest for the night," the cat woman purred in his ears, hugging his arm. At Mina's aggressive comment, Fin hugged his other arm tightly.

"R-Right, show us lots of your appreciation...," the human-sized fairy stuttered blushing. It was clear that Fin was a lot less experience in flirting, but she tried her best, which had its own charm.

"Hey! Hey! Stop it you three, you two, too. Lydia, Mike! We are in a dungeon, stop withdrawing into your own little world!" Lyxiss barked at them seriously. Seemed like Lydia and Mike had also used the break for some couple talk.

"Lyxiss, I'm sure you will also find someone soon. No need to be jealous," Lydia teased her

"That- That's not the point. We are in a dungeon and anything could happen. You should be getting distracted like that," Lyxiss scolded, not denying that she was jealous.

"You know, Lyxiss, hmm~ If you need some action you can visit our tent tonight~" Mina teased half serious, half joking. It was hard to know, but at least one person in the camp took the offer seriously.

"Don't," Faenys grasped the priest's shoulder and shook her head grimly. She had overheard them by chance and remembered when she joined Mina and Seth for a night in Chrona. She go close to Lyxiss and whispered in her ear.

"Those two are beasts. I have no idea how they endure it, but you shouldn't join them unless you want us to carry you through the dungeon for the next few days."

Lyxiss looked at her and then at the couple, then at Fin, deeply disturbed. It didn't hold for long, she finally cleared her throat and returned to her usual self.

"i think we should set off for the next floor soon," she said succinctly and walked away stiffly.

"Aw, Faenys, what did you say to scare her? Maybe you want to-"

"Nothing! I said nothing," the mountain brigand said hurriedly and fled the scene.

"You shouldn't tease Lyxiss like that," Seth scolded the horny cat softly. After all, she knew that the blacksmith had never looked at Lyxiss that way. "You are scaring Fin, too."

"D-Don't mind Fin..." she said weakly. Hearing her like that, Seth could help but hug her tightly.

Inviting someone between just Seth and Mina was one thing, but now the fairy was also part of their family. They could not neglect her opinion, and judging by the face she made when Mina was joking, Fin was different from Mina.

"I'm sorry, Fin. It was just a joke. I wouldn't want to do anything you dislike," Mina said softly and hugged her from the other side.

"B-But if Seth wants to-" she said meekly.

"Hey now. I already feel like a scumbag having the both of you. It's Mina who has to reign in her instinct a little," Seth protested. Mina suddenly pushed tighter from the other side, squeezing the soft Fin between them.

"What do you mean to reign in? You just have to work harder to release them. I'm sure Fin will do her best to help," she hushed in a raunchy voice.

"I-I- Fin will!" the fairy answered with a beet-red head. "You are awful~" Seth whispered to Mina lovingly.

"I said stop that! Get ready, we are setting off!" Lyxiss barked at the three, embracing each other.

"You are a real mood killer, Lyxiss~" Mina said, releasing herself from the hug first.

Seth slowly cooled down, after the two left to get ready. He was a guy and the two were his significant others, he would have to be made of stone, to not get aroused. But things had to wait for later when their work was done.

At least the work paid off. Each room they entered had three or four Sufferers and each of them raised their experience by 0,3%. With 10 rooms on this floor, they had already collected roughly 10% experience. Evee, who had not yet reached lv.95 before their departure had quickly caught up. It was a good thing she had already known what Path she would take.

With the flying golems, that increased their travel speed between rooms and floors, they expected to clear another floor like this before setting up a real camp to get some sleep. This meant they could raise their experience by at least 20% a day in this dungeon, with the tendency to make more as the enemies got stronger.

Depending on the increase of required experience once they level up, it might be a consistent pace. Maybe they could really reach lv.100 in one go by raiding this dungeon alone. It was just a shame that there was nothing but the experience for Seth to get excited about.

The few big souls the sufferers dropped were nothing for him to get excited about anymore. Their bodies were completely rotten, there was nothing usable for the blacksmith. The only happy one was Evee, as the rotten bodies seemed to have a lot of stuff she and Alison could use.

But maybe there would be better stuff when they got further down? Seth was looking forward to the actual undead they may meet.

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