Road To Sierra Pt5

In the next moment the undead boss was standing in its sarcophagus and I was being held off of the ground and holding onto the boss's arm for dear life.

The boss's other hand was around my throat while applying a great deal of pressure even through my armor. Luckily, my body was almost impossible to strangle or even constrict the blood flow of without magic. It was only because I was trapped in a scene that I was gripping the wrist of the arm holding my throat and dangling instead of ripping this cheating bastard apart.

He was clearly abusing the cut-scene to try and strangle me! The boss's AI probably remembered me from our previous encounters and wanted revenge. However, after a moment of silence in which the small lights in its eyes grew into candle-like flames of dark purple the undead boss began looking me up and down.

Then, he actually took a moment to appraise himself before saying, "Advancements have been made in the imperial armaments, I see. Your equipment even carries the taint of chaos. Boy, what year is this? Has the corrupted darkness been quelled?"

For a moment, I did and said nothing because I figured the scene would have automated responses. Instead, only silence answered the undead boss for a long time until I realized that I could at least speak on my own. Thinking of the last time I saw the calendar date in my menus, I say, "It's twelve-thirty-three but there's some kind of age or era along with it. All I know is that the current world empire is different from the empire you know."

How did I know this? The flavor text in not only the description of the ancient scrap metal and its alloys but also part of the description from when we made the first player-created legendary gear for Stonewall. Unlike most armor types, we incorporated the primitive style of light armors in our medium and heavy metal armors, albeit only as ornamentation.

This, though, allowed for strengthened inherited stats.

The small candle sized flames in the undead boss's dried ghoulish face flared into full-sized purple flames in an instant. Then, a moment later, they slowly shrank down to half the size of the sockets and the undead boss who was usually tagged as Damned Commander but currently had none tossed me aside.

I somehow managed to stay upright despite the cinematic restrictions, taking three over dramatized steps back from the sarcophagus and its treasures on which the ghoul now stood. Now, the undead boss looks back toward the dead Silk Spitter and simply shakes his head without a sound.

Looking back to me, the ghostly telepathic voice in my head says, "The fact that the mortal races are still around and possibly the dominant species is good enough. We won… after three hundred years of war against the corruption, we succeeded. From whom do your holy auras derive? I can recognize the aura on the Aegis artifact you bear, but the one on you is too obscure."

"Lady Luck herself, Mistress of Fate, Melpomene," I reply almost proudly, suddenly finding my mantle fluttering off to the side in a non-existent wind. "I have also personally fought with entities of chaos and closed a Sight-Seer's gate, traveling all the way to the Between. Due to the fact that I created my own race, I am also something of a sanctified chaos entity myself, but believe me when I say I am not even eighteen years old and the only of my kind."

Raising a single hand while only glancing in my direction, the undead boss suddenly unleashes a dense haze of dark energy to spreads out over the surrounding area before shooting back into his body. Though the undead boss was not radiating a heavy undead aura, that was exactly the aura I usually saw over the boss.

Being covered by the boss's life signature was both creepy and surprising. I immediately expected for the boss to attempt to roast me alive and thus start the battle because I screwed up the dialogue somehow. Instead, the aura simply disappeared and the ghoul once again looked directly at me before saying, "You are derived from another entity derived from chaos, but you were human first. The chaos in you is too diluted to matter, but those creatures… they are new to me but also feel like an undead. Which of the mortal races does the current emperor belong to?"

Even though I had no idea who or what the current emperor was, I forcibly responded, "Human," without any hesitation.

"The humans are in power?" Asks the dark ghostly whisper in my mind with some surprise. Then, nodding as if this made sense, the undead says, "This… can be true. In my time the Emperor and mortal race in power were us elves, but because of this we stood at the forefront of every battle. We must have lost too many people and secluded our race to recover while the humans bred like rats to claim the seat of power."

I briefly wanted to say, 'hey, I'm a human,' but this did not seem like a part of the dialogue in which I was allowed to talk. So I simply waited while the undead boss seemed to muse to himself in silence while looking into his sarcophagus. "A pity you are not an elf, I could bless you with my own high-born heritage. However… since you're something entirely new, I suppose it could be considered fitting.

"I, from the oldest and most powerful race, can grant to you, the sole existence of a newborn race, my legacy," his voice continues to say while picking up a strange tubular piece of crystal I had never seen before. "However, you must trade me a favor for a favor. In order to preserve the empire at a time when it was threatened, many of the most powerful figures sacrificed themselves in ways similar to myself.

"We accepted curses and darkness, bonded with demons and performed profane arts, but in various ways we managed to preserve ourselves to lie in wait until a time when peace had returned to the world. Whether that peace came with the destruction of the mortal races or its survival, only time could tell, but here I am and here you are. This is profane item that was blessed for the sake of sacrifice of the elves and contains not only a small part of my untainted soul but also the essence of the elven peoples.

"With this, I could create a new version of the elves from whatever sentient race had grown to succeed the world or I could empower a modern elf with the purest of bloodlines. I could even turn you into an elf, but I presume elves still exist?"

"I know a dark elf and several elven-human halflings," I reply quickly, this time slightly of my own volition.

"Dark elf?" The man asks curiously, suddenly reminding me of the flavor text behind the dark elven characters. Even though dark elves could live for hundreds of years like regular elves, their race itself was around two thousand years old while the normal elven races were around ten thousand years old.

However, I never got a chance to speak as the ghoulish boss suddenly muses, "Yes… I seem to remember something like this. Like the giantlings, they should be another form of preservation. They are probably what you call yourself, a sanctified race made from chaos. However, the giants mixed with humans to preserve themselves during the war. Dark elves must have come about shortly after and been allowed to exist to supplement our numbers.

"This dark elf will do," he decides at last. "If you give this soul stone to your dark elf companion, I believe they will become a high-born version of the dark elves similar to the pure blood High Elves. Regardless, grant the inheritance of my race to your companions and I will grant to you my legacy. Do we have a deal?"

"What… is… your… legacy," I ask through clenched teeth, fighting to ask a question rather than simply give the NPC an affirmation. If I was not given the ability to speak for myself at all, I would have probably said yes and shut up afterward. Luckily, this was a dialogue spot where I could speak so I was able to forcibly say what I wanted.

"In order to help protect the inheritor of my people, I gathered some of the strongest items available at the time as well as my own achievements," he explains with a proud stance, even puffing his emaciated chest out a bit. "Since the world seems to be more or less at peace and our race survived, the inheritor of our race will be taken care of. You may be my own inheritor in exchange for your assistance.

"Inside my sarcophagus is a suit of armor crafted from the threads of a Metarach spider who was fed nothing but mithril all its life," he goes on to explain, picking up a large woven mesh coat that covered most of the body. "To arm the inheritor I myself crafted a pair of elven bastard swords from mithril and Imperial Steel as well as two grimoire for spells and two skill nodes containing my earliest and my greatest achievements.

"Alongside these armaments are a Lifestone Amulet which will shatter in place of the wearer's death, a Refiner's Ring which can perform the highest levels of medicinal alchemy, and Divine Intervention Scroll. At any point in time when the Lifestone Amulet shattered, the Divine Intervention Scroll will activate automatically to teleport you one hundred miles away in any random direction. All of those will be yours if you agree to give this soul stone to your companion."

I had only ever read about mithril and knew that it was an upper A and sometimes S material based on the ore quality, an ore which was exclusive to distant world regions where the level advisory was at least one-twenty. Essentially, it was an early-mid game material that I did not think anybody actually had at this point. If I could eat that armor, would it advance my body or be something I could Reproduce?

As for the rest of the legacy offered, I could certainly find used for them. Since I was already a fairly overpowered player I could probably give the skills to members of my party. There were two swords so the initial achievement could go to Skooma while the greatest achievement could be given to Merch. As for the magic skills… I would need to see what they were first.

After only a moment or two spent considering the undead boss's proposal, I carefully consider my words and say, "I, Life Hack, accept. The dark elf, IvanaWin, will receive the inheritance of the elves in exchange for the legacy of…?"

"General Cosades," the boss responds in answer to my vaguely spoken question before tossing me the soul stone. "Here, boy, its yours."

As soon as those words were spoken, the undead boss's aura suddenly flared to life and instead of wisping all around its body turned into near-tangible dark purple flames. Within moments, General Cosades' entire being simply ashed away into nothingness. Once he was gone, the world flashed like Fast Travel and the widescreen view went away while notifications began appearing.

[Achieved: Silk Spitter's Sepulcher Hidden Clear]

[Hidden Clear Rating: S+]

[Achieved: Silk Spitter's Sepulcher Solo Clear]

[Solo Clear Rating: S++]

[Achieved: Silk Spitter's Sepulcher Hardcore First Clear]

[Hardcore First Clear Rating: S+]

[Hidden Clear Reward: +25000XP, +25 Gold, Legacy of General Caius Cosades, +100 Imperial Reputation, Hardcore Disabled]

[Hidden Clear Rating Reward: +50000XP, +50 Gold]

[Solo Clear Reward: +20000XP, +20 Gold, Soloist Title]

[Solo Clear Rating Reward: +25000XP, +25 Gold, Soloist Perk]

[Hardcore First Clear Reward: +100x Dungeon Materials, +25000XP, +25 Gold]

[Hardcore First Clear Rating Reward: +20000XP +20 Gold, +100 Imperial Reputation]

As soon as I was done reading the notification, the Fast Travel effect was gone and I found myself standing outside the dungeon entrance carrying a long and thing ancient, or Imperial Steel chest. The chest was actually tagged 'Legacy Chest' when I inspected it.

Finding myself outside all by myself I curiously open up the legacy chest to find a neatly folded suit of armor under a pair of swords in shiny ivory scabbards. Between the pair of swords were the life saving accessories and soul stone. Taking everything on top into my Player Inventory, I soon find four small but thick booklets under the armor with copious amounts of silver coins and various precious stones framing them.

The books on either end were skill books, but while the one on the left was was an B grade skill book tagged 'Dual Stroke Bell'. Unlike most skills I knew of from the beginner and intermediate classes, this was a combined attack and defense skill containing a combination of parries, counters, and raw mana Self-Enchantment that were performed all around the person within the space of two-and-a-half seconds.

In two-point-five seconds, the player will have blocked and attacked every direction around their body to create a temporary state of immunity while dealing damage to every person within roughly three meters of the person. Even those above or below them. This first achievement of the general was a game-changing skill for the average solo player or even tanker who used dual weapons.

At the other end of the chest was the greatest achievement of the general which turned out to not be a combat skill but a mastery skill. The name on this book's tag was 'Twin Blades Heaven And Hell Swordsmanship'. This was the culmination of the general's achievements converted into a swordsmanship, containing a medium sized set of basic attacks, blocks, and footwork which contained the teachings of his skills which unlocked in stages.

From the looks of it, Dual Strokes Bell was the foundation of Heaven And Hell Swordsmanship but was not actually unlocked until the third level of the mastery skill. With the skill book dedicated to the bell technique, the inheritor of the elves would have instant access to this overwhelming defensive ability and would probably acquire a great amount of benefits from the swordsmanship in the future.

Dual Strokes Bell alone was almost too much to hand out despite its one-minute cool time, but I was definitely going to give it to Merch. The swords, which had damages comparable to my own Hauntings, could be given to Skooma in lieu of a skill.

This swordsmanship mastery, though, was not going anywhere except my Player Inventory for the time being.

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