Chapter XXVII - Unexpected Discovery

"So what happened to this new party member you said you were bringing along?" Lisa asked while they made their way down the dusty dirt path that lead from Vhul to Sterling.

Marcus shrugged "He said he would make a decision after we make our guild, so we'll meet up with him later in Sterling." He replied wishing he had tagged along, it would have made this next task much easier, but he had faith in them.

Marcus also contemplated all 3 of them unlocking their Tier 1 classes before tackling the dungeon, but was worried he might not be able to get the reward as the Death Penalty threw a massive wrench in his plans.

Marcus couldn't shake the bad feeling he was getting as the trio approached the entrance to the dungeon. Despite the trio having reached level 20, they weren't listed in the top 100 players, but Marcus wasn't worried.

Much to his surprise when he interacted with the dungeon interface a notification rang as with every dungeon discovery:

<Congratulations to the party of Nobody, Mawu, and Lisa, the first party to discover the Dungeon Sewers of Despair! Go forth and be fortuitous!>

EXP+10%

Drop Chance+10%

The rewards only affect their first run of the dungeon but it was a massive boon that Marcus was grateful to be receiving. Unexpectedly he had received a message from a friend!

"Hey there buddy! Why didn't you tell me you were gonna do a dungeon? I would have tagged along" Artox had sent.

Marcus' eye twitched in annoyance before replying "You're the one who didn't want to come with!!! Even after everything I offered you still treated me like chopped liver!!"

"Lol wru (Where Are You)?" was the only reply Artox sent. Marcus couldn't believe the nerve of this guy sometimes but he still sent the party invitation.

"Bet! Brt (Be Right There)" Artox had said to the group. While they were waiting Marcus had received a bunch of friend requests as this was not an opportunity to miss but he simply deleted them all as none of their names rang any bells.

Artox strolled up and waved his hand "Yo!" was the only greeting he gave to the twins. Artox was a nice guy, he was skilled and talented, and would do a lot for anyone who asked him, but his demeanor often rubbed people the wrong way.

The group waved back as Marcus held out a fist towards Artox who fist bumped him back. "You ready to work your ***es off?" Marcus asked everyone.

The trio nodded as Marcus extended his hand towards the dungeon as the system chimed.

<Welcome to the Sewers of Despair! Which difficulty would you like to attempt?>

"Insanity" Marcus said as the portal turned the deep crimson red…

<Party allowed for up to 6 members, how many would the user like to bring?>

"Four!" Marcus replied once more.

<Adjusting parameters to meet party requirements…>

<One moment…>

<…>

<Complete! Please enter the portal!>

The party entered the portal as they all felt a tingling sensation followed by the flashing white light.

<Welcome to the Sewers of Despair!>

Time limit 45:00 minutes.

Objective: Slay the King of the Sewers

Sub-Objective: Open Sluice Gate #1

Open Sluice Gate #2

Open Sluice Gate A

Open Sluice Gate B

Marcus began explaining the dungeon to the party. They had to go through the 4 sluice gates in order to get to the boss. All 4 have minor bosses of different mechanics. The mechanics of the 4 Demi-Bosses were all combined as part of the main boss' skill set.

The dungeon is home to 5 types of creatures, slimes, bats, rats, snakes, and spiders. All types of things you'd expect to find in the sewers. The four Demi-Bosses taking form of 4 of the 5 monsters found in the dungeon.

Everyone was still in their Tier 0 classes, Marcus and Artox were Squires, while Mawu was a Rogue, and Lisa a Wizard.

The main difference between Artox and Marcus was that Artox was a proper tank wearing full plate armor while Marcus was wearing leather and chainmail denoting his DD (Damage Dealer) status.

"All the monsters are level 25 thanks to our difficulty choice." Marcus was explaining as Artox coughed "your choice." He joked.

Marcus glared at him "Go big or go home right?" He chided back and Artox shrugged smiling mischievously.

"Artox will take the lead with Mawu right behind him. Artox will point out which enemy he wants and Mawu will pull it so we can safely get through the groups. We don't want to be fighting evenly and will take our time.

As long as we don't take too long, we should have plenty of time leftover. I'll be beside Mawu and Lisa you'll be taking up the rear." Marcus explained their battle plans, they weren't going to be using the cheap tactics they used in their last dungeon. They were almost a full party and could start fighting as one.

Their first group of enemies was a set of 6 bats.

Artox pointed to the one he wanted.

<Dire Bat>

Level 25

???/??? HP

Mawu drew his arrow and shot it at the torso of the bat striking it dead on as it flew towards the party in anger. As Marcus had expected the remaining bats stayed in their area and let their friend fly to it's impending doom.

As the bat approached the party Artox unleashed the first of his skills [Envoke] causing the bat to ignore Mawu and target him instead. This was the lowest level taunt available.

Marcus knew from experience that every normal monster had as much if not more HP than the first 5 overworld bosses and since they had done so without a fourth party member this would be a fairly easy endeavor.

Mawu and Marcus circled around to the back of the bat as Marcus unleashed [Rush] and Mawu used a different skill than previously displayed [Rummage] a Rogue skill that increased the drops from monsters by 1%.

The damage output of the Dire Bat was more than Artox was expecting and used another of his skills [Deflecting Stance], a tank skill that increases block chance and block percentage. Lisa followed up with her spell [Whispering Winds] which slowly began regenerating Artox's HP. It wasn't very potent at this stage but as it ranked up it was an invaluable tool in her kit.

Marcus was attacking using the movements of skills he had used in his past life as he lifted his sword and brought it down in a strong vertical slash killing the foe.

The three party members had received the same message of 175+52 EXP but due to Marcus' equipment he got a much different message…

Dire Bat slain!

175+192 (180% from his enchantments, 20% from party bonus, 10% from dungeon bonus)

Bronze Chest dropped!

<Skill Created - Overhead Slash Lv 0 {0%} unlocked!>