30-32

[ARC 1] EXTRA CHAPTER 2: THE DARKNESS, CHAOS, AND THE SPIDER

Realm of the Ultimate Gods: Celestial World, Nibiru

"Wha-hahahaha! That gnat of yours is ruthless, big sis Alvi!"

So roared Chaos, the 12th Ultimate God, named after the attribute he rules over. Besides him was Alvatria, the 6th Ultimate Goddess and ruler over the Darkness attribute.

They were both looking at a fountain that showed images on the water's surface. These images looked glitched, like a TV screen gone snowy, but they were still able to see the fight before.

"It is the one I chose as my Champion for a reason. I knew it would grow into that ruthless personality by limiting her reincarnation choices to those that would be born in the wilderness... did not expect for her to pop up in that 'annoying' Dungeon of yours." - Alvatria

The Darkness Goddess, taking the appearance of a modern teenage girl, replied to her partner, the man dressed in jet-black clothes, similar to a royalty, covering his upper face with a mask similar to the visor of an iron helmet.

"Yeah, it was a huge success there! Damn that snake-in-the-grass. Who does he think he is? Forcing a popular landmark into his Dungeon to facilitate a fake Dungeon effect to hack the effects the Dungeon is allowed to have? Don't f*ck with me!!" - Chaos

Alvatria made a silent sigh as she went along with Chaos's grumbling. It was her duty as a "big sis", a title Chaos did not give even his real twin sister after all.

"Oh yeah, what about that Outer God? Ata... Ala... Ara?" - Chaos

"Atlach-Nacha." - Alvatria

"Yeah, that one! What happened to it?" - Chaos

"It went back to its own world, where it is called a Great Old One, apparently." - Alvatria

"Damn, and here I wanted to thank it. Those gods from other worlds won't be hindered by the rules from the World System after all, so only something like it could bypass the Disaster Dungeon's defensives." - Chaos

"It did have the stranger habit of calling that girl a 'Voyager'" - Alvatria

"Yeah. Hey, why did it do that?" - Chaos

"Something about something with the same name traveling to its former home, I think. It must have been a show of respect." - Alvatria

"Huh? Are you feeling sick, sis?" - Chaos

"How so?" - Alvatria

"You said the word 'respect' without being sarcastic." - Chaos

"Is that so? Maybe the tension of having my Champion on a success fever is getting to me? Better knock her down a notch." - Alvatria

"Please, anything but that! It's not too long before it reaches the point where Luks HAS to give her approval!" - Chaos

"Hoh? You are rooting for my Champion instead of your own?" - Alvatria

The game of the Ultimate Gods, which revolved around which god's Champion would obtain the right to design the Continent-class Dungeon that was planned, is something Chaos, also known as the God of Dungeons, would do anything to win for.

"There's no way that lazybones would succeed anyway. I'll rather bet on your girl instead." - Chaos

'I see' was Alvatria's thoughts about that statement. The Champion of Chaos was the most unattractive after all, even if Alvatria had granted her approval to that person due to their hilarious situation (in her eyes).

"But back to the point, what are you going to do with that Disaster Dungeon?" - Alvatria

The Water-Knot of Glavras, also known as the Disaster Dungeon by the Gods, had rewritten the rules and abilities that a Dungeon was supposed to have. Instead of just absorbing aether from the leylines, the Dungeon was draining any type of moisture from the land surrounding it, and that power kept on growing, granting the Dungeon space amongst the twelve Ultimate Disasters.

It is a silver lining that moisture from living beings would not be absorbed, but the gods couldn't interfere with the Disaster Dungeon due to its connection with the leylines. The worst-case scenario would be the end of the world due to the leylines drying up due to unskillfully detaching the hacked Dungeon Core from it. Destroying the Core, or turning it offline by the death of the Dungeon Master is a safer solution.

"-and that's how it is. Having your girl finish the deal with those Chain Quests are the best alternative here. Even more so if she's joining up with the rebelling Dungeon monsters and Sahuagins that joined forces. The only good part about that stupid castle is knocking the loyalty outta the smarter monsters down there. Sheesh, can't a god get to do his work in peace?" - Chaos

After explaining to his colleague, the god of Chaos collapsed in a nearby chair, looking awfully tired despite his divinity. Alvatria couldn't do anything but give her 'little brother' a soft smile, despite herself.

"Hope nothing else happens..." - Chaos

Oi, that's a flag right there! - Alvatria

---

Meanwhile, the Water-Knot of Glavras: Floor 10

"...DESTRUCTION OF AVALAR MEMORIAL CASTLE CONFIRMED.

PLANS EXPEDITED DUE TO LOSS.

INITIATING OPERATION: APOTHEOSIS."

Greydra

Kigal-Note/Dread Spirit: Wild Hunt Lord

Description:

The Wild Hunt Lord, more commonly known as the Kings of Ghosts, is a special type of apparition created by the strong will and extreme amount of aether of someone who had died.

These apparitions have authority over other Dread Spirits and are seen as the rulers over them. The Wild Hunt Lords are not known for their ferocity, so as long as one is not bothering them, they are considered harmless.

Appearance:

The Wild Hunt Lords take on the appearance of their previous life, meaning they can look like any kind of creature on Terra Sol.

Abilities:

The power of a Wild Hunt Lord is a direct copy of their living self, making it impossible to categorize their strength in static values. They do have a certain amount of strength, as the requirement for becoming a Dread Spirit is to have a large aether value. This is proven that most of the public is unaware of the name "Wild Hunt Lord", calling them Kings of Ghosts instead, due to nobody having returned with the information regarding these non-living royalties.

All the Wild Hunt Lords lacks access to any type of skills, but their authority over Dread Spirits allows them to channel the power of the Spirits into their own attacks, drastically increasing their power. They are also able to utilize Dread Spirits as mediums for instant travels similar to teleportation magic.

Like with Dread Spirits, the Wild Hunt Lords are fragile towards energies that would disrupt their aether-bodies. While they have a higher resistance to this than the Dread Spirits, the Wild Hunt Lords can also have fatal weaknesses towards what caused their death. In case a Wild Hunt Lord died due to poison when they were alive, their Wild Hunt Lord persona will have a critical weakness towards poison.

Garami's comment: ...HEY! Teleportation magic's a thing?!

[ARC 1] CHAPTER 23: A DEMONIC NECROMANCER! (TRAINEE)

"You beat it!? The King of Ghosts!?!?" - Gust

"...Yup." - Garami

The V-sign was enough for the bird to jump around like a superball of happiness. Or fly-hopping? He's a bird... and he crashed in the roof. Saw that coming.

After I escaped from the castle, I saw that I made the correct choice of using the window route. The Dread Spirits had flocked to the castle, probably due to the King's orders, and the result was that the fire had obtained more fuel in the form of Dread Spirit aether. I think that's the reason. I mean, I only used a few barrels of the booze I found. It's not enough to generate flames with enough heat to melt rocks. Damn, that was a scary sight.

The moles must have noticed the fire before I came, as they had stuffed the self-made backdoor with earth and dirt due to their [Digging] skill. Speaking of moles, it seems they also obtained 7 Skill Points from the Quest. But I was the one who cleared it?!

Oh, so just participating is enough for the rewards sometimes? But items are usually no good unless it mentions "for each participant"? That sounds fair enough.

Thing is, Gust got a whooping 14 Points. How!? Oh, you got a message telling you something about "Champion of Alvatria" doubled it? Sorry, but that's due to me. You're still just your everyday bird.

But Leadership Skills that make you the boss of a group allow you to share the Champion effect? That's an important piece of information to know. Maybe I can use this as bait to get some companions... or a one-way ticket to the mafia. *Shiver*

Anyway, through this Quest, I've obtained tons of Skill Points, all the various skills from the Challenges plus [Sunlight Resistance] (already used it on my way back to the caves), the Steel Swords plus the Blackiron Rapier, which is unfortunately on its last legs due to the rough fight against the King, and finally, the Deathcaliber set of sword and scabbard from the mentioned King.

Oh, and the books and those maid clothes. And all the other junk I stole.

Then there is that King of Ghost... rather, the Wild Hunt Lord-related Legacy Quest. Let's have a look at that before I decide what to do with the rest.

Opening the Quest Log... there's a "!"-mark shining next to the "Completed Quest" tab.

Oh? Oooohh!! You serious!? Godly timing, the rapier's Durability is below 50 due to the battle with the King. It felt nice to use, fast and light, the whole package, but the length was bothering me a little.

Select your Extra Equipment.

Equipment Stats and abilities are basically the same, excluding special abilities for each category.

SWORDS (Mana Blade):

SPECIAL SWORDS (Slash Amp):

STAFF (Mana Staff):

HEAVY WEAPON (Destruction Amp):

TACHI (Draw-Slash Amp):

LONG-RANGE WEAPON (Mana Ammo):

And this is...? Let me check the Kigal-Note. Ehm, it was called "Hunt the Wild Hunt"...

Wo-hoo!! The Quest clearer gets to design your own personal Ex-rarity weapon! Oh man, is there a reward out there better than this? Well, it may just be me who loves making their own stuff so much. That's what got me to this world after all.

What more did it say... the first one selects what type of weapon one wants from the six categories, then one can further specify what weapon one wants.

For example, if one chooses the Mace weapon, one can then select the Morning Star weapon, or the Flail even. Bow weapons include crossbows, longbows, even slingshots! Guns only have handhelds like pistoles, no assault rifles. A curved sword can result in sabers and scimitars amongst others. One can also obtain a curved, one-handed sword with either category, so the only difference is the special ability for that category.

The design of the weapons changes based on the owner. Or rather, they get designed to match the owner's style as much as possible. I kinda wanted to design that part myself, but I'll refrain this time.

And all these are can be used as Magic Catalysts. It's basically the same as a magic wand or a grimoire. It becomes easier to use magic when using one. So, there's no way I'm gonna let this chance go!

As for the special abilities for each category:

The Mana-types store the owner's excessive magic power into special units and uses them at a later date. You can even choose what effects these units have, but it's limited to the abilities that you have... can't I add the effects of captured monsters from the Kigal-Note?

Anyway, the Blade ability covers the sword with a magic coating, drastically increasing the power. The unit here's a gem created by an accessory obtained with the weapon. Staff is basically the same, but one can alter the range as well as the power. More versatile, but less power when compared to Blade. The Ammo ability is just generating the type of ammo for the weapon in question. Throwing Weapon can be either to generate copies of your weapon or enhance them like with Blade and Staff.

The Amp (Amplify) abilities are basically certain-kill moves that use MP the moment they are used. The plus side is that you don't need to wait for the ability like the Mana abilities, but it also means you have to pay up when using them. As for what each version does, I think the names tell it all.

They're all good, but the Heavy Weapons aren't me. Too slow-hitting. The weapon I want is...

---

And we're on Floor 7!

Eh? Too sudden? A girl needs to be allowed to keep her cards a secret for a little while. Relax, I'll show you my current favorite momentarily.

"Hey, why did you take the moles with you?" - Gust

I looked behind me to Gust and the moles, still inside the tunnel leading to Floor 6.

Oh, and as for why the moles managed to climb up the abyss, they dug a tunnel in the wall and created their own spiral staircase in the Dungeon wall. The Dread Spirits had left the Dungeon completely after the Wild Hunt Lord got defeated.

"...Because why not?" - Garami

"That's not a reason for dragging them to the battlefield of the centuries!!" - Gust

Seems like someone hasn't experienced the terror of war yet... but I'm the same. I only know about the stuff from textbooks and fiction.

Floor 7 was that of a massive plain without vegetation, a stark contrast from the abyss-like Floor 6, the waterway-like Floor 5, or even the miniature Grand Canyon that's Floor 9. If the tunnel leading to Floor 6 is the north, then the entrance to Floor 8 is south. And in east and west respectively are the bases for the Sahuagins and the Glavras monsters.

The middle of the floor is being used as a warzone for the two factions. From where I stand, I can see a giant tortoise with several heads like a hydra spew blasts of water from its mouth towards something on the ground. Heck, how big is that thing? 100 meters? If I'm right here, it should be the evolution of the two-headed tortoise, meaning it should only be a C-Rank monster, not the heir to the king cobra on Floor 9.

"...Relax. You guys are in support. And tell the moles to get [Identification]. There are Crackerberries on this floor." - Garami

"Don't try to dodge the subject! But those sounds painful, so I'll relay the message." - Gust

"Good... Try to find, or build, a lair somewhere on the edge of the floor... Those guys aren't interested in what's not in front of them." - Garami

I pointed towards the battling forces, to prove my point. These guys fight throughout the entire day, for then take a rest during the night. The "night and day" I mentioned refers to the light crystals on the Dungeon roof. They turn dim, creating a "night"-scenery on this floor. I guess that no sides have [Night Vision] or similar skills. A fact that allowed me to bypass the battling parties during my first visit on this floor.

The moles started to dig around the wall to answer my request. Better leave them to Gust's capable wings. I'll go and test out the new powers I've obtained.

---

And there. The poor Greycave Rats doesn't stand a chance against the current me. Just a Pierce Thread here and there, and they all fall like flies... or is there something like Beelzebub in this world? That fly won't go down without a fight.

Flies aside, now I've gotten the materials, as in "rat corpses", needed for my tests. What types of tests? Necromancy tests, stupid!

Mwa-hahahaha! It's the dawn of the demonic necromancer!!

...And I splurged again!! Why didn't I save some points for Light attribute spells? I mean, [Acrobatics] is perfect for me, and [Sky Jump] is the real-life double-jump! [Shooting] is something I've been looking forward to since I maxed [Throwing], and I was in a bad mood due to the STR and VIT Ability Skills only got 2 levels with the addition of the (Small) versions of the skills.

I've got enough Skill Points for a skill or two that I need, and I got a new title by having 100 skills that also gave me more points, so who could blame me for wanting even more? Even if there's someone like that, I'm still going with my necro-experiments!

The main actors are the two skills obtained from the Spectermancer class, meaning [Create Undead] and [Control Undead]. The first explains itself with its name, and the second is a limited taming skill for the undeads you make.

It's by combining this maxed skill with [Tame] that you can obtain [Undead Servant] by the way.

The difference is that Control only lets you use the undeads as will-less dolls, while the other allows them to think for themselves. Take the classic rolling boulder trap from adventure movies. An undead under Control would get steamrolled by the boulder, while the one under Servant would use what it had left of brains to escape it. Also, Servant gives me EXP as [Tame] does, but Control lacks that function.

Also, it seems that the Royal-skills don't work on Controlled monsters. You need to have them as Servants. I've got no clue as to why.

Back to Create. I used the skill... or rather, the magic on the Greycave Rat corpse in front of me. A dark, shadowy magic circle appeared underneath the corpse and seemed to inject the darkness (?) into the corpse. Is it-

*Splat*

-...working not. It didn't work at all. The rat corpse imploded into tons of black, rotten sludge. I think I got something in my mouth. Bleargh!

[Create Undead] has some nasty restrictions. The success rate for creating an undead with an E-Rank corpse is equal to 10% + the skill's level. For each rank down, the probability increases by 10%, and vice versa for higher ranks. "+"-Ranks has a 5% less chance of success, and "-"-Ranks 5% up for me.

Even so, I failed when I had a 31% chance with the G-rank Greycave Rat? This skill's gonna be more difficult to master than I imagined.

*Splat*

And another fail. I learned my lesson and used some goggles I stole from the castle, along with a self-made scarf to cover my mouth and nose. It's still not a pleasant feeling. Fails do give proficiency with the skill, so it's not a wasted investment in MP or corpses, even if it's less than half of what one gets from a success.

*Splat*

As for the undead created, I've got no clue. The result will be a type of corporal undead of the same genus and rank as the material, but I won't know if it will be a Greycave Zombie Rat or a Zombie Rat. Ghosts are also impossible, as I'm using a corpse as material, rather than a soul, or spirit, or whatever.

*Splat* *Splat*

And another two failures. It wasn't that [Create Undead] could be used multiple times in a row. I combined it with [Chaotic Concurrence].

The skill's effect is simple: Turns one action from a skill into multiple.

Kinda wicked, right? But it doesn't work on Passive Skills and skills that grant a passive effect after being used such as the thread skills or the bite skills. It works wonderfully with Attack Skills such as [Guard] and [Parry], meaning skills that have special moves. Not to forget about Magic Skills, which is the best stage for the skill to shine.

And for some reason, the skill's Chaos attribute. Wasn't that attribute supposed to have no skills? I bet it's limited to Champions only. Wonder what the Order skill is? Not to mention the other skills those Champions got.

Another thing about [Chaotic Concurrence], you don't need to pay anything to use it. No MP, SP, or special items. NOTHING! For how many moves you can use at once is decided by the skill level, so I wanna train this one alongside my Magic Skills.

There is the weakness in the nasty cooldown period that's based on what you're multiplying, and how many you throw out at once. So while I'm waiting for the next use, I'll continue training [Create Undead]...oh?

The corpse has started to change. And no splat! Then could this be...

The black magic circle started to emit more dark light (?) as the corpse started to turn darker and darker. And at the end of it stood... the skeleton of a rat.

It worked! It freaking worked! The skeletal rat was standing before me like a sculpture, but when I wanted it to lift its forepaw, it did so.

Its stats are pretty low, but it still feels stronger than the original Greycave Rat. My first undead! It's probably not gonna last for long, but hey, it's the memorial first success.

Still, I was expecting something like a Zombie, but I got a Skeleton instead? [Create Undead] feels more like a gacha than a creation-type skill. If that's the case, I need more tickets1Corpses. to ensure I get some jackpots then.

I hurriedly used up the remaining corpses and got 1 more Bone Rat and 1 Rotten Rat. The bad news is that [Control Undead] only works on as many undeads as the skill level. It had risen to Lv.2 before I noticed, but the Rotten Rat had to go. Heck, it was scary when it tried to attack me.

I sent the two Bone Rats to scout for some more undead candidates, so it may be a good thing that the Zombie had to go? It stinks and all that. No good for scout-work.

My nose has adapted to the stench from the failed attempts, which is something like the stench of a graveyard plus rotten meat, and for some reason, bad gasoline. Oh, that's as good as over-rotten corpses. I'm convinced.

---

Sometime later, enough for the floor to reach its "night-phase", and I had created enough undeads to reach Lv.9 with my Spectermancer class. The two Undead-skills have passed Lv.10 already.

What the heck? Was it that easy to grind skills? And the "materials" are G- and F-Rank thrash, so that's not the solution...

Is it my race? Even Rogue's gotten easier to level up, even if it was used in the way it was supposed to by ransacking the castle.

...Is it because of my current body? Do humanoids have it easier in gaining proficiency with classes than non-humanoids?

Now that I think about it, I kinda remember reading something like that when going over my choices back in that... "limbo"? Let's call that place the "limbo" for now.

But hey, I can't imagine humanoids having as much raw power as monsters and animals. Having some kind of EXP-cheat for classes to compensate would be something the Gods would do.

On the other hand, I noticed that my racial level takes more EXP than before. After all this material-hunting and I've only reached Lv.2. Damn...

The Kigal-Note doesn't have any info about the EXP difference between monsters and humanoids, but that book ain't foolproof either. The information about the Dread Spirits did get blocked after all, and I had Gust tell me about the weapons of the other Champions.

They are a secretive bunch, so not much is known to the general public, but I got to know that the Metal Champion has a hammer that can help to create any items of metal through smithing, while the Wind Champion has boots that let them travel anywhere they want without losing stamina.

The important common point between these two items is that both of them have a single ability while the Kigal-Note has two: the capture ability and the encyclopedia ability. And considering the Darkness attribute, I would say that the capture ability is the book's real power.

Due to that, I think the encyclopedia part is an additional ability that wasn't supposed to be part of the Darkness Champion's weapon. It must have been added due to its owner being someone new to this world, meaning me.

Did forcing a second ability making it turn buggy, or was it that a buggy ability was all that they could force into an already completed work? Or more likely, that goddess probably forced the buggy version of another encyclopedia item into the Darkness Champion item just to mess with me if she needed to.

Thinking about it, the reason why I decided to challenge the castle-Quest was more because I was curious about the Dread Spirits than about the [Sunlight Resistance] skill itself. I could have bought the skill with some Skill Points if I had saved some, as I get double the Points compared to others and all.

The whole thing about their page in the Note being blocked got my attention more than I could have known on a subconscious level.

The Kigal-Note's been looking funny lately as well. Like, seriously. A jet-black, pearl-like bead has appeared on the front's right side. Is it related to the Chaos god's approval?

Even so, it's always better to have multiple sources of information. Trusting that sketchy book's bound to make me being unable to decide something on my own. I'll be no better than all these undeads I've made! Good thing I have my own personal library in my 4-D pocket! Just kiddin'!

Speaking of undeads, the final result of my gacha-fever with [Create Undead] gave me three Skeleton Rats (the two originals got crushed in the first fight), 1 Skeleton Frog, 2 Zombie Frogs, and 1 Snake Zombie. The last one came from a Scavenger Snake that came out thinking the Zombie Frog was some prey. So nostalgic~.

Since I have a good shot at F-Ranks now, it's a good time to aim for E-Ranks. The higher ranks give more proficiency after all. That's for tomorrow though. And I need some information about the boss I'm targeting.

Joining the "resistance" would be a good move. They conflict with the boss-monsters after all. If things go right, maybe I could ride on their coattails through all the remaining Quests. As for how to join... let's have Gust help me with that.

I then started to travel to the area where I could sense Gust's presence. A side-effect from the [Tame] skill. The undeads followed me like some cursed variant of a hero party from an RPG.

While walking through the plains, I noticed something with [Presence Perception]. A group of monsters in battle. Didn't they have a ceasefire during the night? Let's have a look.

I had the zombies keep a distance due to the smell and sneaked closer to the presence. In a gap in the ground, kinda like a trench, I saw a group of fish-humans, better known as Sahuagins, in battle with three raptors and seven spiders. Hey, aren't the monster-ratio a little strange!? That many spiders? It's more than all the spiders I've seen in my life till now, myself included!

A great chance fell into my lap! Saving the Sahuagins will put me in a good light with the rebelling monsters, and I'll get 10 corpses for [Create Undead]!

I made sure not to get caught by the monsters, then I jumped down on the Glavras spiders. Hai-Yaa!!

Three spiders were done in with the surprise-Impact Thread from above, leaving 7 monsters remaining. The spiders have long-range capabilities such as [Water Blast], so I'll take care of them first with a good punch in the face.

Threads? They're too close for that, and I have [Close Quarters Combat] and [Mana Burst (Darkness)] to help me.

I crushed the face of a spider with a good kick (don't be technical here) before the other monsters started to catch on to what was happening. The three remaining spiders tried to make some distance between me and them while the three dinos charged at me.

I ignored the dinos and leaped to the closest spider with [Blink]. And bang! I shouldn't probably be so excited to crush spiders, but it's too fun!

[Blink]'s not usable yet, so I used Dark Grasp again on one of the remaining spiders. The last guy tried to use [Water Blast] on me, but too bad! You're right below a bunch of Skeletons! The poor guy now has to struggle with the undeads while I can focus on the dinos.

And before I noticed, they had snuck onto me! Where did they get that speed from?

Stronk!? This guy's unnaturally strong! What's this, a hidden boss!? The other guys don't have such high stats, but they're not too far. Even the spiders and they're less than Lv.10!

What's up with this power inflation?! The monsters on Floor 9 weren't this strong, so why're these guys so rule-breaking?!

Once again I'm been showed that my firepower with the Darkness attribute is abnormal. While thinking about all this and dodging the onslaught of the raptors, I threw threads to trap them in their place. It worked on two of the raptors, but the last one, the "hidden boss", produced some aura of water around its body and flushed the threads away.

That's [Torrent]! The skill that's the reward for beating the hydra-tortoise! I thought it was something like those dragon breaths of water... and this ain't the time to be impressed!

The raptor charged at me, ignoring the traps and magics I flung at him. I couldn't do anything but dodge his charge while throwing more webbing on the remaining monsters. The Bone Rats were already dead by that point, leaving only the Skeleton Frog.

Damn, running away all the time won't work on this one. The Sahuagins are too wounded to give me a hand as well, and if they did do that, the raptor could go at them instead. That won't look good on my review.

...Fine. Fine! I get it. I stopped dodging the raptor's charges and used [Parry]'s Parry Art and Break Parry. The first is the original Art of the skill which shares the name and is used against physical blows. The second one activates the moment one successfully parries an opposing close-range blow, forcing the opponent to lose their balance.

The dino fell to the ground and I grappled it while it was laying down. While so, I used [Aura of Darkness] while bitting it with all my different Bite-skills active. If trapping doesn't work, I'll rely on ailments instead! The Evil Eye's been used during the whole fight, so it shouldn't have enough strength with the aura... added?

Oi, this guy suddenly fell. I didn't notice any special resistance skills, sure, but to be this weak to status ailments... I can make use of this. But first, Cutting Thread.

*Slash*

And then to finish the other four...

*slash*, *slash*,

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Level has increased. Reached Lv.3

You have earned 0.3 Skill Points

Due to "Champion of Alvatria", an additional 0.3 Skill Points were earned.

*crush*, *crush*

And done. I should look after the Sahuagins now. They had the Bleeding condition when I sneaked a peek at their stats... where did the spider corpses go? The first four I killed.

Don't tell me they survived!? Oh, the fifth spider started to glow... then disappear? Did they have that ability?

Something's fishy here on several fronts, but saving the Sahuagins is the priority now. One Heal or two from [Magic Ability] should-?

I lost contact with the zombies I had ordered to stay away. Did they turn rogue? Or...

"*Grrrr*" - Jurrasic-sounding voice

I turned around and found... a spinosaurus? It looks like one, but with real blades to make up that "sail" on its back. Are you the one who squashed my zombies?

Oi, ain't this guy one of the bosses of the resistance? Why're you looking at me like that? Is it because you found me surrounded by dino-corpses and some wounded Sahuagins?

...Isn't this a little bad?

Greydra

Kigal-Note/Magician Classes: Spectermancer

Description:

A Spectermancer is a rookie in the art of necromancy. Through their magic, they create artificial souls that inhabit the bodies of dead creatures and commands them to do their bidding. The necromantic spell awakens the memories of old skills and other abilities that are still retained in the body, resulting in a formidable servant.

Spectermancers cannot command Vengeful Spirits to do their bidding like real Necromancers but they can still purify the Vengeful Spirits, meaning that there is a slight chance for cooperation with the lost soul.

The skill [Create Undead] is the start of everything. The Magic Skill creates and grants an artificial soul to a corpse, for then recreating the body so it will match the soul as much as possible. If the body cannot endure the transformation, such as the body being too damaged or the artificial soul being too much of a mismatch with the body, it will lead to a misfire and destroy the corpse.

[Control Undead] is used to command the undeads created with [Create Undead], but additional effects obtainable through taming skills or the [Party] skill is not attainable. One needs the [Undead Servant] skill, a combination evolution skill of [Control Undead] at the highest level and [Tame], for that.

[Necromantic Rite] allows the Spectermancer to absorb corpses into a special Storage, obtaining materials to create new undeads through [Create Undead], along with blueprints for undeads of the same genus as the corpse absorbed. This bypasses the chances of the undead creation falling. One can also create original undeads with additional materials.

Gust's comment: The [Lesser Undead Attribute] can only be obtained through having this class as your main, or by being born as an undead. The "Undead Technique User" title is apparently impossible to obtain if you're not already an undead, so I've heard.

[ARC 1] CHAPTER 24: DEAD OR ALIVE… OR SOMETHING INBETWEEN

The bladed spinosaurus kept on staring in my direction as if it was probing me for information. It didn't have [Identification], so is it trying to figure what happened by experience?

"Lord Virt... we are alright...*Cough, cough!*" - Sahuagin

Whoops. I was afraid this would happen. The Sahuagin started to cough up blood, and his unconscious allies didn't look any better. Will I be named the culprit for this? Please, nooooo!!

"*Grrrr*" - Spinosaurus

Crap, is he gonna attack? ...Guess not? He's not even looking in this direction.

Yikes! A parade of Glavras monsters is coming this way! From this direction, I would say they all came from the boss monster's HQ?

The monster parade consists mostly of spiders for some reason, but there are also tortoises, enemy raptors, and even snakes mixed in. Some of the spiders looked bigger than the others, so maybe they're evolved... and in the back is...

"Virt!! Damn you blasted traitor! This time will be the end of you!!" - Big Snake

That's the Floor 5 Boss! He's alive?!

He must have regrouped with the other Floor Bosses after Floor 5 and 6 were made unhabitable due to the bombs I used and the King's slash. And it sounds like he's not been taking anger management classes.

Virt, which is the spinosaurus, jumped at the challenge and charged into the small army of monsters. Is he stupid? That's a good 100 monsters right there, with some Rank D, plus a C-Rank to lead them!

If he's got that positive Karma Value from being reckless, then I'm happy being "True Chaos". That stupid-saurus killed my hard-earned Zombies, so I'll not be crying if he gets himself killed.

...But lettin' one of the big bosses of the "resistance" die would dampen the chances of working together. Should I help him? I can't see how... for now, I'll heal these Sahuagins and have them evacuate.

Heal! Heal! And [Chaotic Concurrence] Heal! And some more Heals! Heal-train!

This must be the best magic of [Magic Ability]. It's the basic spell you get from the Life attribute Magic Skill, but damn it's effective due to its low MP consumption and easy magic formula.

"A-an angel...!" - Sahuagin

Urgh, what's this guy saying? I'm a demon! I'll Heal him an extra round to cure that delusional brain of his.

"We g-got to help lord Virt!" - Sahuagin

Oi, you're going to fight a bigger group than the guys that trashed you before? Stop it! My precious MP used for the healing spells will be as good as wasted!

"Run." - Garami

"Eh, what did you-?" - Sahuagin

"You, weak." - Garami

The sahuagin's froze when they heard my words. What, that came as such a big shock? You're barely past Lv.10. Fighting a small army of more than 100 monsters ain't the best way to duke it out.

"Come on, she is right. We should bring reinforcements instead of throwing our lives here." - Sahuagin

Oh, a smart guy's among them. It's the one who was conscious when that Virt-guy appeared. He half-forced the other five with him the opposite way of the Glavras army, leaving me behind.

Now then, what to do? Virt is crushing the spiders with ease while preventing the raptors from passing him, but the said raptors aren't going down due to using the spiders as living shields and the tortoises blocking the attacks with their shells.

Let's give him some backup. I wanna have a shot against the boss-snake as well. That guy would be great for leveling up [Create Undead], failure or not.

But first, let me make some backup of my own. Concurrence [Create Undead]! Three dark magic circles appeared underneath the three raptor corpses from the battle before. Give me at least one more ally...

!? A triple-jackpot! What's up with my luck now? It's not gonna be that I'm gonna get that slammed with misfortune after this...right?

W-whatever. Undead raptors, attack the Glavras monsters while supporting that spinosaurus! Oh, almost forgot about this guy. Skeleton Frog, you do the same!

After sending off the undeads to something no different than their second death, I used a bungee thread to climb up from the trench and back to the surface ground. Charging in from the front ain't my style, so the undeads will act as a distraction while I attack from above. Most importantly, I need to do something with the boss-snake.

There's no need for any elixir syndrome here. Time to use all I have in my arsenal! I retrieved the secret weapon I had stored. I seriously wanted to use it, but it needed some time before I could do so. While I'm at it...

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Acquired a skill from the Skill Shop.

Acquired skill: [Marksmanship Lv.1]

I arrived just above the boss-snake. He's throwing magic at the spinosaurus while commanding the mobs. I can see that the Virt-guy keeps on struggling with the tortoise and spider tanks, but some of the tortoises have started to fall from the pressure. The spider corpses disappear after being defeated, but the tortoise corpses remain for some reason.

What's the difference between the spiders and the other monsters? That's not important right now. I aimed at the boss-snake with my secret weapon.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

"Wha-!? What the-!?" - Boss-snake

Aha! Take the power of modern... maybe not. This thing's completely a child of fantasy. And the "power"'s not that great either. I think the sound scared him more than the bullets damaged him.

A magic gun that has changed its appearance to fit its new owner. If someone unworthy tries to wield it, they will be cursed with a fate worse than death.

It is created by a mysterious metal alloy and cursed wood of an unknown nature, cladding it in a mystical atmosphere.

It can fire regular- and special Thaumaturgy Bullets, and it can be used as a Magic Catalyst to improve magic spells.

A ring that has changed its appearance for its new owner. If someone unworthy tries to wield it, they will be cursed with a fate worse than death.

It is created by a mysterious metal alloy and a gem with an unknown nature, cladding it in a mystical atmosphere.

If I had to describe the gun, I would call it an automatic revolver? I'm no expert about guns, but this appearance makes no doubt. As for why I know it's auto, well, I tested it. Are you happy?

Most of the gun's tar-black with dark-bronze parts here and there, making it feel more like a decorated flintlock or other types of old guns instead of a revolver. Is that why it's a magic gun? And this is supposed to be designed for me? Maybe I can use it with [Parry]? Ex-Rank Items are invincible after all, and they will just repair themselves even if broken to pieces.

I gave another few shots at the boss-snake before I had to reload the gun, but even if I say it like that, the ring does the reloading on its own. The bad news is that this ring takes a long time to create a single bullet. 10 minutes for the fastest bullet.

It's been 18 hours since I obtained the items, and during 13 of those hours, I've had the ring produce those 10 min bullets, along with five 1-hour bullets. I've kept it in the Storage until now due to not wanting to waste ammo, but right now-

"Damn, damn, damn it all! Why do I have to be a part of their stupid plans! Can't I retire in peace already!? That stupid Dungeon Master and its stupid plans! Why do you have to force all the work on someone like me? At least give me some subordinates then!! And I had to watch over that freaking castle that attracted that freaking knight, are you f*cking with me!? And then my workplace was obliterated by both that mysterious explosion and the monster knight's attack, then you ask me to be the gopher for those three musclebrains?! And no rewards, stop joking with me!! I want to live underneath the sun, sleep whenever I want, eat good food, sleep whenever I want, AND SLEEP WHENEVER I WANT!! Why did I have to be born in this wretched Dungeon? Why am I cursed to a life of working for those no-good-doers? WHYYYY!?" - Boss(?)-snake

...Okay, I better screw the "Grand reveal of OP-weapon" plans I made. This guy's too pitiable. Crying more tears than his Water Magic can produce is on a level I would call 'stressed'. He's more like an overworked office worker than a Floor Boss at this point.

I Identified him, and most of his skills are information-related ones. Even his highest attack skill which is [Water Magic] is only on Lv.15, while other skills such as [Sleep Reistance] [Hunger Resistance] are maxed out. Heck, he's got something like [Overwork Resistance]!

Only his stats are worthy of being called a boss, which is one of two reasons why he managed to fight against the roach army on Floor 5. That, and the army was too used to the skills I let them borrow back then.

No way I can stand proud and tall if I beat him. Heck, I'm even sympathizing with him a little. Even if he's lying, that performance is worth sparing his life here, as long as he doesn't try something like this again.

...It's decided. I'll let him run.

Making him leave the battlefield's good enough. There's no bounty on him after all, and his corpse's too high-ranked for me to get a hit. There's the temptation of EXP for killing him, but I would have to waste one Legendary-Rank poison to do that. Letting the spinosaurus do the kill won't give me a single percent of the EXP.

I fired one more shot to get the snake's attention, for then doing the most difficult action I had in my arsenal.

"Hey, stupid reptile! Scared of facing a single demon alone?" - Garami

I taunted it.

No, seriously, that's damn difficult! Talking's worse enough, but having to do so in front of such a large crowd (of monsters)? To top it off, in front of a monster that can crush me easily if I give it a chance?

The snake looked seriously pissed off. To be honest, I was scared. Facing something stronger than you face-on without any traps is damn scary!!

"You lot, take care of the traitor. This one is mine!" - Boss-snake

It worked! Worked too well! Shape up, Garami. This isn't the time to be scared!

I ran from the boss-snake that started to climb up the trench while giving it a love tap with my bullets. After we were too far away for those in the trench to hear us, I retrieved two new items from the Storage. One of them that I made a theatric turn to show off to the boss-snake.

Seeing the item caused the snake to stop in his tracks. And the item in question is:

The Deathcaliber.

"Yo-y-y-y-you-!? T-th-th-that's-!?" - Boss-snake

Yeah, he would remember the weapon that almost killed him. Time for act 2. Go, go, me!

"Killed him..., the knight." - Garami

"What-!? That thing, you-" - Boss-snake

"However... spare you." - Garami

"Huh? Why's that? Explain already!" - Boss-snake

That's what I'm trying to do, stupid snake. I silenced him by showing him the second item, the Lernaean Hydra Poison.

As expected of someone with intelligence gathering skills. He understood the danger of this poison just by looking at the bottle. I didn't know that a snake's scale could turn pale like that.

"I kill bosses, but you don't have a bounty. Tiresome to kill, so letting you go." - Garami

"For real-ah. The Quest..." - Boss-snake

So they also received the Quest? No matter...

"Upper floor's safe. No Spirits. They all left after the knight's death." - Garami

The boss-snake looked surprised at first, but then he started to nod to himself. He must have some info about those Spirits after all. I mean, with his (former) job, it would be stranger not to know.

"If you fight, then I will use the poison. But if you not, then you can do anything. Sleep, eat, or even finding a way out is fine. Just don't fight for the Dungeon." - Garami

And there we go! After a serious threat, I gave him an offer he couldn't refuse... in a good way. I want that kinda offer myself...

"But, the other Floor Bosses..." - Boss-snake

"Are to be killed. By me and resistance-, the traitors." - Garami

After hearing my words, the boss-snake started to think. I don't have any [Telepathy] like Gust has, but I can guess what he's thinking. That a wildcard (meaning me) has joined the battlefield, which can cause unparalleled damage (due to the Hydra poison) if they find themselves in a pinch. Then the best opportunity for him is to leave now during the night when there's nobody else with the ability to locate him in the dark.

"Alright, you have a deal!" - Boss-snake

Phew. Glad I was right. Now, leave already!

"Ahahaha! See you later, suckers!" - Boss-snake (whispering)

...Just how much stress did that guy have to go Benedict Arnold on his own Dungeon? I should treat Gust a little better after this. Now, back to the trench!

---

The fight between the Glavras mobs and the spinosaurus/undeads tag team is at a stalemate. The Glavras monster keeps on falling to the sword-claws of Virt the spinosaurus, while Virt himself keeps on having small amounts of damage piled on top of each other. Sooner or later, he's gonna reach his limit.

The undeads? Still alive, if you can call them that. The [Drain Life] skill turns out to be great in a brawl. Wonder if I could get something like that... and how's the Skeleton Frog still alive?! It had a LUK of over 110, but even so...

Crap, I digressed again, didn't I? Better start giving cover-fire for the undeads... and Virt, by extension only.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

The bullets flew through the heads of the unsuspecting Glavras monsters. Eh, did I get better at this? When I first shot the boss-snake, I tried to aim at his eyes, but only hit other parts of his body.

Did [Marksmanship]'s level increase? No, it's too early for that, and it wouldn't be this much of a change. Is it my latent potential that's finally blooming!? Yeah, right.

Uh-oh. Water blasts from spiders incoming! Time to get to cover. I laid myself flat on the ground to escape the spider's counterattack-hey! Now the remaining snakes started throwing magic this way too!

If that's the case, [Stealth]! Sneaky, silently, like a shinobi, run away! Good, the monsters didn't notice that I had left that place. In that case, let's target some snakes.

I fired again from a different position, sending the Glavras monsters into a small panic. I aimed at the snake monsters... but I failed. Only spider targets were hit. And their corpses disappear as well. And here I have 5 [Create Undead] bullets ready for a zombie pandemic!

When the monsters started to fire at me, I went undercover with my Stealth-skills again and changed my shooting position. Before long, the 72 bullets I had on me were reduced to 21. Some of the raptors tried to climb up the trench, but I threw a sticky thread-bomb at them.

Aaaand, finished. The long-range monsters were too busy with me to help the tank monsters in defeating that Virt-guy and the undeads. And they had help from the Sahuagins reinforcement that came as well. They're keeping a distance from the undeads I made, but I should explain... yeah. No way.

"Garami! Are you alright-hey, what's going on here!?" - Gust

Just as I was thinking how to do this without me having to be-*brr*. social about it, my savior with black wings appeared. Nice timing, Gust!

"Explain." - Garami

"Wait, that's my line!" - Gust

"Don't wanna. You talk." - Garami

After giving Gust a rundown of the events (through [Telepathy]), I dumped all the responsibility of explaining the situation to the Sahuagins and that Virt-guy. Eh? Wasn't I supposed to do something about my treatment towards Gust?

...I forgot. Eh, whatever.

Seems like the negotiations are finished. Gust came back to me and-

"Congratulations! You are now a respectable teacher of the whole Sahuagin tribe." - Gust

"...... No, why're you joking?" - Garami

"I am not joking at all. To make the story as short as possible, these guys were a tribe on the outside of the Dungeon. The mentioned Dungeon had for some reason stolen something extremely important from them, so they entered the place, in the hope of taking it back." - Gust

"...The Dungeon did? Not the monsters?" - Garami

"That is what they said. Also, due to the sudden immigration, or rather, the Dungeon monsters that harassed them as they kept on clearing floors, they have lost most information regarding classes and magics. So I thought-" - Gust

"If it's about the Kigal-Note, why not let you do it?" - Garami

"Sorry to say, but it seems like you won the heart of the Sahuagins when you saved them. The big boss named Virt would also apologize for the zombies he destroyed or something by granting you the honor of teaching them." - Gust

"...And the real reason?" - Garami

"I was the one who suggested it!" - Gust

This little-!!

Greydra

Kigal-Note/Monsters/Arachnids: Glavras General Aquarect

Description:

A spider monster that was first seen in the Dungeon: "The Water-Knot of Glavras". It leads a troop of Glavras Aquarect to defend the Dungeon, acting as sergeants and generals depending on their ranks.

They are also seen commanding other monsters of equal or lower racial rank in the Dungeon, and they only take commands from their higher-ranked brethren.

Appearance:

The Glavras General Aquarect is a spider one size bigger than the regular Aquarect, with a small trunk in dark marine colors and dark blue legs.

Abilities:

The General Aquarect is capable of everything the normal Aquarect can do, including water blasts and swarm tactics. They are also capable of generating medicines and/or poison, depending on the individual.

Their real strength comes from their leadership of the Aquarect swarms, which will drastically increase their Danger Rank, all depending on the size of the swarm the General is leading.

Garami's comment: So, it sits back and commanding forces, only for spraying blasts of water and ailments when you finally reach it? What a coward. I like it!