Chapter 7: Catacombs Prison Dungeon

Next day, Akira joined Ray in dungeon exploration. Ray had prepared his equipment in advance. Head light, big bag to store loot and Ray's leather glove and boots.

When arriving, Akira was still doubtful about the whole magic and dungeon thing. But once inside, there is no more denying. It's real.

———

"Hmn… So, you also get this screen like the game?"

"Yeah."

Akira nodded and looked at the menu of his own character. I give him a quick rundown of everything on the menu before we enter this new dungeon.

[Ancient Prison Catacombs]

-Danger rating: Unknown

-Potential enemies: Unknown

-Participant limit: -

[Enter dungeon?]

[Yes / No]

Both of us looked at each other and nodded before we both selected Yes.

The iron gate lifts up and opens the passage into the catacombs. I take the front while Akira is behind me. We carefully tread into the dungeon with me checking for traps with tools or spells.

When we reached our first room, it was a prison cell with their inmates either skeletal remains or escaped as the cuffs were unlocked.

The floor also has plenty of dried blood, showing bloody battle once took place here. I took my time investigating each cell and rummaging through every hidden corner.

I did find a letter tucked under a rotten bed. It was in bad condition and had droplets of dried blood splattered all over.

———

To anyone that finds this letter. All I want to say is trust no one. The prison was cursed. It was runned by a dark mage that uses the inmates as experimental subjects, forcing them to undergo horrific experiments and twist them into monsters.

The evil energy in the catacombs had corrupted the living into twisted undead monsters. If you are unlucky to encounter Wraiths, remember that physical attacks do not work on them.

———

After reading the letter, I passed it to Akira who also read the letter. His face visibly changed as he probably regretted joining right now.

To reassure him, I told him to check the Arcane skill tree.

"You can learn a spell over there. You should have one skill point to do it right now."

Akira nodded and quickly went over to the Arcane skill tree and saw the available spell for beginners. Elementary magic for each element of fire, wind, water, earth and lightning.

"Which one should I get?"

Akira asks for my advice, which I suggest either fire or lightning. Those are elements known for offense. He chose Fireball as his first spell.

We continue walking deeper into the catacombs and pass by two forked paths. I assure Akira we will not get lost as I have a Map to navigate if we lose direction.

Then we encountered our first enemies, it was chilling in the dead end of a hallway and seemed to be sleeping. I signal Akira to stay put as I sneak up on an actual ghoul, an undead with slight intelligence that usually serves as the lower level familiar for vampires or necromancers.

Once I am close enough, I decapitate it with my Dirk. Ending its undying life, shackled to the world by nefarious magic. Once its corpse disappeared, it dropped nothing.

We continued exploring until we reached our second room. I peeked in and saw several ghouls and an animated skeleton wielding a sword. I light up a Molotov cocktail and throw it in before closing the door shut.

We waited for two minutes before opening the door again. The ghouls were killed but the skeleton was unaffected and aggroed. It instantly walked toward me and tried to attack.

Waiting until the skeleton reached the door and actually hacking its sword at the door, I kicked the door very hard and slammed the skeleton with a bludgeoning attack which is usually their weakness.

The skeleton was actually defeated and it dissipated, leaving nothing too but Exp and DP shared with me and Akira.

We entered the room and found our first loot of the day. A chainmail armor set.

"Do you want it?"

"I am more used to having none since my style is more of a Rogue while you are Swordsman." I explained my reason.

"How so?" He asks curiously and takes his time equipping the armor.

"Your kagune. It's Kokaku right, heavy but has high defense. Mine is Rinkaku, dexterous and agile."

He nodded and could see the logic behind my thoughts.

Another loot we found is a green pouch. The inside is empty, so we put it aside and continue exploring.

Along the way, we encountered more skeletons and ghouls. They are basically the main enemies of this dungeon it seems. We hadn't encountered Wraith yet.

As for loot, more unidentified scrolls and potions, a spear and the last one is surprising. A pair of bombs. Black and round bomb with fuse on top. It is quite heavy too, around a kilo each.

Then comes the fun part, locked rooms. We actually found an iron key earlier which saved me from needing to use a spell.

Once the door was unlocked, it's an empty room but at the end of the room is a pedestal with a chest on it. It's obvious there is something fishy about this room and once I use Detect Trap, the whole floor is filled with pressure plates that trigger traps.

"Gimme the spear."

Akira passes me the spear as I ask him to stand back a little. I toss the spear in and quickly shut the door.

But, instead of one click. I heard numerous clicks and sounds of monsters in an overcrowded room. Perhaps this is what the bombs are for.

I peek open the door slightly and saw it was filled with ghoul, skeleton and unidentified enemies. Akira already knew what to do, lit up the bomb's fuse before chucking it in through the gap before I closed the door again.

Thankfully the door is magically enchanted to be unbreakable but the frame it is attached to isn't.

Akira lit another bomb and next was homemade frag grenades to molotov cocktails. We used it all on this monster spawning room and still hadn't wiped them all out. Especially those on the other side of the room. Around a dozen more.

"Let me do this." Akira said and released his Kokaku.

I opened the door wide for him to enter while I followed from behind.

Once the ghouls and skeletons noticed, we were already charging at them.

Akira uses his spike shaped Kokaku to skewer the ghouls like kebab and smash them to other enemies.

Meanwhile, I aimed for the three skeletons by using my kagune like a mace, curling up the tip and smashing those skeletons into pieces.

"They are surprisingly easy to kill…" Akira said with mixed feelings and look at me.

"Well, we are Ghoul. Our fist can crack walls and skin impervious to swords. Of course it's easy."

I explain to him with a weird stare, stating this is common sense. But his face immediately darkened as if he was offended by my answer.

"Then, why are we sneaking around and acting very careful like walking through a minefield?"

"Good question… I don't."

Akira instantly facepalmed.

"It didn't hurt to be extra careful right?"

I defended myself. As an average hardcore roguelike player, I learn to be wary of traps and enemies that were never there. Better be careful than regret later. That is my motto.

Unable to deny the wisdom in my words, Akira sighed and let the matter go. It is indeed better to be careful than regret later.

After the small episode, I went to open the chest and found another Dirk. Similar to mine. Can't believe we wasted all those explosives on this one dagger.

Well, what's done is done. At least I can dual wield it like any cringy weebs would to imitate Archer Emiya or Kirito. Whichever strikes their fancy.

After we were done with the first floor, we went to the boss room and challenged the black skeleton mini boss. It's like a normal skeleton but more durable, stronger and can cause Withering debuffs that cause DoT damage that disappears once the mini boss is killed.

Akira went head first and bash the boss to death with his Kokaku. But also learned that magic like the debuff can ignore Ghoul's strong physical defense.

The second floor was a breeze with the same enemies except Wraith that spawn in corridors or rooms with many dead skeletons in the wall or basically the catacomb part of this prison.

Wraith aren't really that threatening except for their numbers as they keep spawning if we enter those areas. A simple Fireball is enough to one shot them. Low HP, average movement speed and only advantage is being able to phase through doors but not walls for some reason.

Surprisingly there isn't much drop in here and have many more enemies that give plenty of Exp. Even Akira, a first timer already reached Level 6.

Third floor is even worse. Other than occasional drops from the mob, the whole floor was absolutely barren. Understandably this is a prison, not exactly the place to find treasure. But still…

The mini boss for the third floor is amazing though. An abomination made through dark magic to fuse several dozen humans into one, creating one horrifying abomination.

The Abomination's main advantage is High HP, High Defence and High Regeneration. So good that physical attacks from us are near useless, Akira's spell is the only effective attack so far.

There I got an idea, I grabbed all three thermite bombs and lit them up before using my kagune to tear a hole into its body to drop these hot potatoes inside.

It writhed painfully while trashing its limbs, forcing us to take evasive maneuvers while waiting as the hot potatoes cooked it inside out and burned continuously until what was left was a giant charred corpse.

After that, the chest and peddler appeared but not the exit.

In the chest is a large pouch filled with gold and a Tome.

———

[Tier 1 Class Change Tome]

Upon usage, select one of the four classes. Warrior, Wizard, Rogue, Hunter, Gunslinger or Priest.

-Warrior: Sword Mastery LV 3, +3 Str, Identify Potion of Strength, Eating food regenerate HP.

-Wizard: Spell Casting LV 3, Energy Recharge LV 1, Identify Scroll of Identify, Food regenerate Charge.

-Rogue: Dagger Mastery LV 3, Ambush LV 1, Identify Scroll of Magic Mapping, Satiety drop twice slower.

Hunter: Projectile Weapon Mastery LV 3, Enemy Detection LV 3, Drop rate of seeds increase, Can achieve stealth when in nature.

-Gunslinger: Firearm Mastery LV 3, Accuracy LV 2, Critical Shot LV 1, Enemies are more likely to drop ammunition.

#Unable to equip melee weapons.

-Priest: Healing Light LV 3, Armor of Faith LV 3, Can pray for divine guidance once every 24 hours, Bonus damage against evil enemies.

#Can only learn Priest Skill.

[Item (Tier 1 Class Change Tome) are soulbound and usable only by (Ray).]

———

Odd, it seems the items are bound to me and Akira shrugged after hearing me read the description. He said I can take it as he is in for the food only.

Then we went to the peddler to sell all useless gears and identify the unknown scroll and potion. The usual routine.

Though, when I was selling the gears. I took a glimpse of the wares and became interested in three unusual objects.

———

[Whetstone]

Restore the weapon's durability to max. (2/2)

-Can reduce the weapon's weight for faster attack speed but deal lower damage.

-Can increase the weapon's weight to deal more damage but cause slower attack speed.

-150G

[Potion Bandolier]

A special bag for potions and similar items. Have 20 slots.

-250G

[Ankh]

Revive holder upon death and remove all debuff, ailment and negative effects. But lose every item currently in possession.

-500G

———

I bought all three of them and first tested out my curiosity. I released my Kagune and took the Whetstone to use on it. Because, Kagune is still a weapon, although it's real classification is natural weapon.

[Heavier / Lighter]

I selected heavier and instantly felt an increase in my weight. Although, the actual decrease in attack speed is negligible because Ghoul are physically stronger than humans.

"Akira, try this out."

I passed over the Whetstone since he was curiously looking at me testing my Kagune.

He chose lighter and also tried out some maneuver with his kagune before describing to me that he felt less tired compared to usual. Means, his stamina consumption decreased.

Neat.

Next, I put on the Bandolier like a sash over my waist and as I had thought before. It's not a simple storage item but an inventory. Specific to store potion and other glass bottled items like Molotov cocktail for example. Best thing is it stacks.

As for Ankh, the value is undisputed. Second chance in life? Priceless.

"Let's go to the next floor."

"Mhm, let's go." Akira nods.

———

2 hours later and three more floors later, we arrived at the final boss stage.

How did we know?

Well, it's obvious. One door leading only to the boss room and no other door.

We already knew the boss' identity, a necromancer.

It isn't a coincidence that we accumulated more than 12 Potions of Purification and 4 more from the peddler at the previous floor that refreshed his wares.

We check our status.

———

Name Ray (Rei Sasaki)

Level: 16

Class: Rogue

Ability: - Dagger Mastery LV 3

Skill; 0 SP

-Combat: - Ambush LV 1, Assassination LV 2,

-Arcane: -

-Support: Lock Picking Lv 3, Detect Trap Lv 2, Smoke Bomb LV 1, Ghostly Step LV2

Item: [Healing Potion x3], [Potion of Liquid Flame x3], [Potion of Frost x2], [Potion of Purification x8], [Scroll of Recharge x4], [Scroll of Upgrade x2]

Equipment: [Dirk dagger x2], [Ring of Shadow +2], [Paralytic Throwing Knives x5], [Ankh], [Potion Bandolier]

Point: 493 DP

G Coin: 3.1k

———

Akira

Level: 11

Ability: -

Skill; 0 SP

-Combat: Pile Bunker LV 2

-Arcane: Fireball LV 1, Lightning Smite LV 3

-Support: Reinvigorate LV 1

Item: [Healing Potion x3], [Potion of Liquid Flame x3], [Potion of Frost x2], [Potion of Purification x8], [Scroll of Recharge x3]

Equipment: [Chainmail Armor set], [Steel Boots], [Kite Shield], [Ankh], [Seed Pouch]

Point: 189 DP

G Coin: 800

———

We distributed our consumables equally and finished making our final check as we both stood with great anticipation for the last boss.

Just standing by the door is enough to make us shiver, a cold and malicious aura permeates out from the door to us.

"Ready?" I looked at Akira and asked.

"Always. I can't stand this place anymore. It's giving me claustrophobia." Akira sighed and I pushed the door open.

Instantly the aura spilled out and on to us. On the other side of the door is a mage of sorts wearing a filthy robe that discolored into gray. Over its head is a hood that covers his head from us. In his hand is a staff with sickly green and purplish orbs slotted on the tip.

My bombs are already finished, so I have to rely on looted potions. I enter with a Potion of Liquid Flame in my hand and as soon as the boss battle is initiated, I throw the potion with great accuracy and strength so that it hits the necromancer's body before it shatters and bursts into flame.

The orb on the staff glowed in yellowish green light before two dozen skeletons and ghouls crawl out the walls of the dungeon.

"Now!"

I shouted and both of us took out a Potion of Purification, aimed to cover most areas before throwing the potion which shattered and burst into an aurora of holy light that purified all nearby evil energy.

The potions wiped out 70% of the undeads and the remaining one was so damaged that all it takes is a little more damage to wipe them out.

[Lightning Smite]

Akira casted before a streak of blue lightning appeared above the undeads and then smited down, causing splash damage that wiped out the undeads.

Then we focus back on the Necromancer.

I retreated from the battle and let Akira take all its attention while I moved towards its back and saw the opportunity. I unsheathed both Dirks and used my skill.

[Assassination]

My body felt like it dissolved and reformed on top of the Necromancer, dropping in motion to slide both daggers over its neck and then slitting its throat with both daggers. But that isn't the real attack, the real attack is my Kagune that is released in a flash and stabs it's back.

The Necromancer HP however, didn't drop after reaching 75%. Which made me frown as I disengaged.

"FOOLISH MORTAL, I, THE GREAT NECROMANCER HAD TRANSCENDED BEYOND THE CONCEPT OF MORTALITY!"

The Necromancer bellowed under its hood. Then within a split second, the orb blinked again before power sickly green light washed over us, afflicting us with debuffs.

Akira took out another Potion of Purification as I rushed tk his side before he crushed it with his hand, purifying the debuff away.

[Acid Splash]

A blob of light green fluid formed in front of the staff before shooting toward us. I kicked Akira to the side and jumped back quickly to evade the acid blob.

[Ensnare]

[Poison Mist]

[Undead Creation]

The Necromancer made three successive casts and stopped. Returning to the previous mute state when it summoned its undead.

The pile of bones that tightly bound our legs were quite useless as we broke free easily. But the Poison Mist got us poisoned and coughing hard until we both drank Potion of Purification. 5 had been used and 11 more to go and by this pace, we won't last to the end.

I didn't go for the previous tactic to deal with the previous horde of undead. I jump in and kite them into a tighter group before I throw the Potion of Frost in the middle, freezing all of them.

Akira got the cue and cast another [Lightning Smite] to whittle down their health before we both dive in to wipe out the undead again with great efficiency.

Akira rushed forward and used another skill on the Necromancer.

[Pile Bunker]

A skill for thrusting weapons like lance and spear. But Akira's Kokaku is in the shape of a stake which fits the criteria. Once the strike landed, Akira stunned the boss and shaved off 10% of its HP.

I sneak to its back to trigger the [Ambush] that increases damage by x1.5 . My Kagune once again carved into its back and drew out black pus like blood. That trickled out the six stab wounds.

The Necromancer now down to 50% HP and once again becomes immune to further attack.

"INSOLENT MORTALS! HEED MY CALL, OH NOBLE KNIGHTS. EMISSARIES OF THE GOD OF DEATH. DESCEND UPON THIS BATTLE, OH DREAD KNIGHTS. BRING DEATH UPON THE MORTAL PLANE AND REAP THEIR SOUL!"

*NEIGGHHH*

Three black knights with heavy armor on horseback, arrived on the stage from a portal. Two are just plain all black but the center one has ghostly flame leaking from every crevice of its armor and the horse is visibly larger with its mane and on the hooves ignited with the same ghostly flame.

"TREMBLE, MORTAL! YOUR DEATH WILL BE ANYTHING BUT PEACEFUL!"

The Necromancer makes its last dialogue before turning silent again while we are facing the Dread Knights.

Akira quickly uses a Scroll of Recharge to regain all his Charges that he used up. Then we both take the Potion of Purification once again, throwing them at the three knights but only deal 10% damage on the lead knight.

We dismissed the use of Potion of Purification and decided to fight head on. Akira pulled all the aggro toward him as I sneak once again and used [Assassination] to eliminate one escort knight and again to remove the other one. Leaving only the lead.

Akira comes in with a jump and then uses [Pile Bunker] on its head, knocking its helmet off and shaved 10% HP with that headshot which revealed there was no body underneath the armor but those flames.

While the Dread Knight was still stunned, I jumped on its back and got a firm grip on its body before using my Kagune to rip off the dominant arm with a sword. It took quite an effort but I managed to pry it off with an additional stab with a tendril through the gap in the armpit area.

The results were great as I managed to disable its method of attack but, ripping off its arm, releasing it from the stun earlier, caused it to be enraged and the ghostly flame burst out intensely from all opening of the armor, burning the front of my body with its bone chilling flame.

The flame is the opposite of normal fire, it was cold instead of hot and it froze me as I fell to the ground and trampled by the horse, causing Shattering effect that took away a big chunk of my HP and I lost my lower limbs as it shattered off my body.

"Rei!"

Akira panicked when seeing my miserable state and tried to rush over. That idiot!

"Don't. Come. Kill. Knight."

I force my shivering body to convey my message to Akira as my body is rapidly heating up to mitigate the cold internal temperature. Once my body motors are restored, I quickly pop a Healing Potion that accelerates my natural regeneration to regenerate two entire limbs in seconds.

Meanwhile Akira went into a frenzy and unleashed skill after skill with care.

As I am outside of the Dread Knight's perception, I mount another [Assassination] with burning desire for revenge which is understood by my Kagune as it stabs into the knight and the bony spines extend out further from the plates to worsen the exit wound as apparently damaging the armor will also damage the thing controlling it.

I quickly jump away to avoid the burst of ghostly flame from the fresh wound on the Living Armor and use my Kagune to constrict its remaining left arm to pull it off the horse, landing it near Akira who finish it off with another [Pile Bunker] that shave off it's remaining HP.

We both sighed in relief but the battle is yet to be over.

The Necromancer start to move when it's summon died again but I noticed it and quickly throw a Paralyzing Throwing Knife that lodge it in the Necromancer's shoulder, buying Akira enough time to reach it and stab it's heart with his Kagune.

Akira immobilized the Necromancer and shoveled a Potion of Purification down its throat before dismissing his Kagune to deliver a right hook punch to shatter the vial, causing the Necromancer writhing in pain as the aurora of light burst inside its body.

[HP: 25/100%]

Apparently shoving a Potion of Purification down it's throat is a critical damage as it shaved off 20% HP and we reached that last quarter.

"RAAAGHHH MORTALS! IMPOSSIBLE I CANNOT DIE! NOT AFTER ACHIEVING THE LONG COVETED IMMORTALITY!"

The Necromancer breaks the orb in its staff by smashing it to the ground and absorbs all the energy released, turning itself into a Lich.

Jokes on it, Lich is even more vulnerable to the Potion of Purification.

The newly transformed Lich summons another batch of common undead in a last ditch effort to win. There are at least a hundred skeletons and ghoul summoned.

Both of us didn't hesitate.

I took the rest of Akira's potion and I gave him all my Scroll of Recharge. I dump potions, he cast [Lightning Smite] on the horde.

Once we dealt with the horde, I cast [Smoke Bomb] that temporarily blind the Lich. I ran as quickly as possible to its back and used my last Charge to cast [Assassination] which teleported me to its back once again. I use my Kagune to constrict its body, then snap all its bones before hurling it toward Akira that finishes it off with a stab into its skull.

When the skull cracked, the Lich howled in pain as countless life it devoured to sustain it's unnatural life escaped all over the place and it's HP hit 0%.

[Congratulations for defeating your first boss.]

[Obtained badge, Bane of The Undead]

[You killed Necromancer of Catacombs Prison]

[500 Exp and 150 DP]

A giant chest that isn't made of gold as usual but shining blue crystal brimming with mana, appeared at the center of the room.

Both of us didn't immediately rush to open the chest but instead, took a sit on the floor ignoring how dirty it is to catch our breath.

From start to finish, none of the enemies posed any challenges to us but the boss was wild. Almost like a hundred times jump in difficulty.

We basically burn through all our consumables except for Healing Potion as our natural regeneration is sufficient for most small injuries.

After a few minutes of rest, I stood up followed by Akira as we patted the dust and dirt on our pants before walking toward the crystal chest.

Akira was looking at the chest while waiting at me to open it. But I instead stared at him, signaling him to open it, knowing my bad luck will fuck me over.

He shrugged and lifted open the chest to release a brilliant glow before it died down to reveal the contents of the chest.

A necklace, a ring, a cloak and a small belt pouch. There are also piles of gold coins, ornaments, etc but cannot compare to the first four which are surrounded by dense mana, denoting those are the main prizes.

We swipe it clean and move on to the peddler to get them identified.

———

[Necklace of Warrior Church]

Necklace worn by every devout monk of Warrior Church.

-Increase +2 Str

-Reduce 20% incoming damage.

-Increase 100% HP regeneration in battle.

[Ring of Thorns]

-Reflect ⅓ of incoming damage back to the attacker.

#Cannot be upgraded.

[Cloak of Shadow]

Priceless artifact of a bygone era once possessed by a powerful hero named Prince of Shadow.

-Can temporarily turn user perfectly invisible

-Artifact is a growth type that will grow powerful as it is being used more frequently.

[Magic Pouch]

An ordinary pouch enchanted with spatial magic to increase its storage capacity and time stasis to store any item in pristine condition for an indefinite period of time.

-30 slot

-Soulbound item

-Indestructible object

———

Without even needing to discuss, Akira took the necklace and ring that was tailored for him while I took the latter two.

Once I put it on the pouch, my Bandolier disappeared and in the menu, both items fused and I can access the Bandolier through the pouch. The Velvet pouch, the green empty pouch also fused with the Magic Pouch and specifically used to store seeds and other plant materials.

Going over the peddler's ware, I immediately bought another Ankh that now doubled in price, a pasty that the description stated is filled with potato and beef, rations, overpriced rations and Whetstone.

I could afford to splurge my coins because the reward for defeating the boss also includes 5k Gold Coins.

After we finished with the peddler, we returned to the entrance with the door at the end of the boss room and returned home to rest. I offer to keep his armors which are very attention grabbing and store them in my Magic Pouch.

—————

(Ok enough dungeon for now, next will be Ghoul again.)