Chapter 57 (2 of 2) The Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis (Patreon)

Scytale stared at her. “Um… could you explain? What’s happening?”

“Share User Lucille Goldcroft’s notifications with User Scytale,” Lucy announced.

The blue screen of chaotic messages unfurled in Scytale’s sight.

[User Lucille Goldcroft has discovered the Ancient Dungeon: Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis.]

[Do you wish to accept the Realm Quest: Ancient Dungeon Discover-]

[Error: User is ineligible for Quests]

[User Lucille Goldcroft has discovered the Ancient Dungeon: Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis.]

[Do you wish to accept the Realm Quest: Ancient Dungeon Discover-]

[Error: User is ineligible for Quests]

[User Lucille Goldcroft has discovered the Ancient Dungeon: Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis.]

[Do you wish to accept the Realm Quest: Ancient Dungeon Discover-]

[Error: User is ineligible for Quests]

Scytale watched the messages repeat. “…huh? Wait, wait, wait.” He turned back to his human form and touched Lucy’s shoulder. “Let me try this.”

[User Scytale wishes to share Realm Quest: Ancient Dungeon Discovery with User Lucille Goldcroft. Do you wish to accept? Rewards will be split equally.

Yes/No]

Lucille pressed on [Yes] and a series of messages cascaded down her vision.

[User Lucille Goldcroft has accepted the Realm Quest: Ancient Dungeon Discovery]

[Quest Log: ]

Main Quest (Rank-2: Demon Realm):

- Complete Stages 11-20 In the Demon Realm to reach Rank-2

Rewards: Rank-2 status, Lvl cap increased to 299, Main skill slot +1, Class Tier cap +3, Aspect cap +3, Class Tier +1, 1000xp, Main Quest (Rank-3: Tartarus Realm) Unlocked. Failure: N/A

- In the Demon Realm, slay a demon at Intermediate or greater strength, and return to Obelisk alive 48 hours after its defeat.

Rewards: Stages 11-15 Unlocked, 2500 xp, Crystalline Token +1. Failure: N/A

General

- Resist the demonic aura of a demon without being affected by mental influences for 30 seconds or longer.

Rewards: Stages 16-20 Unlocked, Demon Resistor Title. Failure: N/A

Class

- N/A

Faction

- N/A

Realm Quest - Ancient Dungeon Discovery Tier I (Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis):

- Investigate the first three zones of the Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis:

•  Determine the main element of the Dungeon: INCOMPLETE
• Defeat three zone bosses: INCOMPLETE
• Locate the main hall of the Dungeon: INCOMPLETE

Rewards: +4000 xp, Crystalline Token +2, Ancient Skill Book x2, Stat Potions (+10) x4, Faction Command (Ancient), Ancient Dungeon Discoverer Title x2, Successor of Synadis Title x2, Origin Skill Primer (+5%) x2, Realm Quest – Ancient Dungeon Discovery Tier II (Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis) Unlocked, Realm Sub-Quests – Ancient Dungeon Exploration Tier I (Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis) Unlocked.

Failure: Realm Announcement of Ancient Dungeon, Permanent removal of Dusky Undercroft Dungeon Realm Quest from any User’s Quest Log.

Time Limit: 13:23:42

Personal

- Explore the realms of the Tower as pioneers for Earth. Unlimited Resurrections during this period.

Rewards: Forerunner Title, Home Realm Permissions, Class Rarity ^1. Time Limit: 4:6:11:19:22:39

[  ]

Scytale let out a sigh of relief. “It does work. And here I was, worried for nothing.” He turned to look at Lucy. “See, you can receive Quests. You were completely wrong!”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “I said I can’t ‘begin’ Quests, not that I can’t receive them.”

Scytale screwed up his face, thinking. Then he rolled his eyes. “Fine, whatever. Anyway, why do you think all those errors popped up?”

Lucille narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. “I’d assume it would be somehow due to my broken Status, but…” She shot her Quest Log another look. “I may need to bring this up with the Authorizer.”

Scytale shuddered and stiffly turned away, walking into the gloom. “I’ll leave that part to you then, ‘cos you’re so familiar with the System and stuff.”

She rolled her eyes and walked behind him, analysing everything with her perception field. At the same time, she was using her Origin Skill to recreate a 3D model of the Dungeon. She planned on implementing it in an illusion spell so Sedric could craft a holographic map item for the Commission’s explorers, to increase her portion of the profits.

Scytale navigated through the Dungeon, prepared to be the ‘tank’ of their party. He glanced at his bond. “Even if you say the Hero won’t care about this too much, the rewards for finishing this Quest are pretty hefty. Like, an Ancient rarity Faction Command? Surely that would be valuable. Anyone who makes a Guild using that could end up being in the top ten of their realm in a year or two!”

Lucille shook her head. “Do you think the Hero would stop at a mere Ancient Dungeon?” She walked forward past Scytale, who had stopped to stare at her. “No, he’ll be aiming for a Faction Command of the next rarity.”

“…do you have any plans to prevent that?” her bond asked.

Lucy looked back and smirked. “I won’t stop it, but what I can do is leave appropriate hints that will lead him to aim above his pay grade when it comes to a specific Dungeon.” She gained a wicked grin. “Surely the great Hero of Light can easily defeat an Aberration before Rank-6?”

Scytale snickered. “Oh, that will be fun. He’ll probably be questioning if that Faction Command was worth it in the end.” Scytale looked at his Quest Log. “But we have two whole weeks to do this Quest, and you want us to do it in three days?”

“The normal situation that occurs when a User locates an Ancient Dungeon is to sell the information or report it to the Adventurer’s Guild,” Lucy explained. They paused before a branching corridor and Lucille added, “The System accounts for this to give people enough time to search it. Guilds often use the first Quest to gain a comprehensive map of the first few zones so their members can get a head start on the exploration of them.”

Scytale nodded and went to take another step but Lucy held out her hand. “Wait.”

Summoning a bright red fireball with a spell, she threw it onto the crossroads before them. They spread their arms to steady themselves as the floor rumbled and the floor of the crossroads crumbled to pieces, falling into a pit. The sound of something with very heavy footsteps echoed up the hole, only a small flicker of light seen below.

“Uh huh…” Scytale leaned forward to look. “I’m going to take a guess that this hole would’ve sent us to the very bottom layer of the Dungeon.”

Lucy ignored the hole and gestured to him. “Come on, this way.”

With a quick change of form for Scytale and a weak wind-element spell for Lucille, they hopped over the newly formed chasm and walked down another dark hallway. The ground sealed back up behind them, almost as if there had been nothing.

[Mystical Realm Event: Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis]

[Exploration Progress +0.05%]

[New! Exploration Progress: 0.15%]

“Sheesh, this is taking forever. Wasn’t it something like each 1% is a separate layer of the Dungeon?” the silver amphiptere asked as he flew in front.

“For Ancient Dungeons, yes,” she replied. Her two snake-swords thrummed eagerly in their sheaths. “We can expect to achieve 1% by the end of our trip. But first…” Lucille took out Apophis and Ouroboros, making Scytale instantly react and activate his Primal Descendant form to the largest size it could in the hallway.

The sound of chittering and stone clacking against stone was heard as 10-15 crystal scarab-beetle look-alikes the height of small dogs rounded the corner and noticed Lucy and Scytale. Their mineral pincers clicked angrily.

[Lesser Quartzite Beetle Spawn - Lvl. 15]

[HP: 2500/2500 {+50 HP/5m}]

[Lesser Quartzite Beetle Spawn - Lvl. 16]

[Lesser Quartzite Beetle Spawn - Lvl. 14]

[Lesser Quartzite Beetle Spawn - Lvl. 17]

[Lesser Quartzite Beetle Spawn - Lvl. 18]

[Lesser Quartzite Beetle Spawn – Lv…….]

[Lesser Quartzite Bee…….]

[Lesser Quartz….]

“…we’ve got company.”

…

“Another wave coming in five minutes!”

“Got it!”

Silvery coils rippling with power slammed into a line of monsters. Their crystallised carcasses shattered under the force, spraying shards everywhere.

Lucy whipped out with Ouroboros to destroy the jagged crystal shards the beetles sent flying towards her, then used Apophis to smash them apart.

She ran over to Scytale to regroup once the wave had been killed.

[User Lucille Goldcroft has slain Lesser Quartzite Beetle Spawn – Lvl. 18]

[User Lucille Goldcroft has slain Lesser Quartzite Beetle Spawn x8]

[+1386 xp]

[Level Up! x9]

[+9 levels]

[+45 Free stat points]

[User has reached Level 26]

[Xp: 25/167]

“What’s your level right now?” she asked her bond, facing the opposite way to deal with the monsters soon to come from behind.

“34.” He glanced back at her. “How are you handling this?”

“With the help of Apophis and Ouroboros, fairly well,” she replied. “But we’ll need to find a safe spot for me to transfer the stats I gained from the monsters over.”

“It’s good that you can gain stats from the monsters to increase your strength before the next layers otherwise this could’ve been impossible,” Scytale said, his golden mana regenerating his health with a spell. “Not for me, obviously, but for you, sure.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Yes. The monsters have weak CON but high INT due to being crystalline creatures, and I’m not immune to monster skills.” She shook her head. “One glass cannon against a hundred, it seems.” She shifted her weapons. “Let’s go again.”

The monsters rounded the corners behind Lucille and in front of Scytale, chittering loudly. Behind each of the two groups were two massive beetles three times the size of the others.

[Lesser Quartzite Beetle Prince – Lvl. 30]

[HP: 5000/5000 {+71 HP/1m}]

[Lesser Quartzite Beetle Prince – Lvl. 30]

[HP: 5000/5000 {+71 HP/1m}]

“We’ll need to handle the two Beetle Princes together,” Lucy said. Arcane force orbs manifested from dark blue mana-circles around her as she prepared to attack the first line of monsters.

“Roger that.” Scytale flared his wings and hissed at the creatures. “Come and meet your doom!”

They leapt forward, sending attacks towards their respective enemies. Arcane orbs dashed the weakest monsters while Apophis’s segments gradually pulverised the limbs and protective exoskeletons of the quartzite beetles.

The Beetle Prince facing Lucy let out a loud screeching sound, and the three Level 20 beetles near him summoned a glimmering cloud of mana. Lucille hastily retracted Apophis, extended Ouroboros and cast her own Earthen Barrier to defend against the bombardment.

Three massive crystalline shards formed in mid-air and were sent flying towards her. The sky-blue shield summoned by Ouroboros protected her from the worst of it, as did her spell, but the jagged pieces that sprayed afterwards left small cuts in her skin, making Lucy wince.

[-49 HP]

[-23 HP]

[-67 HP]

[-14 HP]

“Are you alright Lucy?” Scytale called out with worry, sensing the pain through her bond.

She didn’t bother to nod, sending her confirmation through the bond, and ran towards the monsters while they were recovering from the large attack. The air around her flared red as she increased her strength, and then she slammed Ouroboros down with all her might. The flat sides of the blade crushed them completely.

[User Lucille Goldcroft has slain Lesser Quartzite Beetle Spawn x3]

The Beetle Prince screeched in anger and glowed silver. Lucy hastily changed the elements around her to wind, and she cast a wind spell to speed up as her AGI rapidly increased. Behind her, the Beetle Prince spread its crystalline wings and lifted from the ground.

It didn’t fly towards her, but instead, its silver-tinged monster essence released rays of light. Crystal formations grew from the ground wherever the light touched with the sound of cracking. A ray hit Lucille and she stumbled as her left leg was encased in crystal. She tried to dislodge it with earth and fire mana, but the crystal absorbed the mana and Lucy could detect it overcharging itself. If it absorbed too much more, it would explode.

“Scytale!”

Her winged bond looked back and nodded when he sensed her message. Briefly sending a few beams of light towards his enemies to create space, he flew back. Then he increased his size as much as he could in the hallway and crushed the crystal with his jaws.

The crystal released mana and Lucille was quick to return it to her own body, enhancing her stats.

Then they both paused as two screeches sounded. In front and behind them, the two Beetle Princes had lifted off the ground and flared their wings. Scytale spread his own wings and shielded Lucille with his body as the crystalising rays shone down again.

“You have a higher resistance to it?” Lucy asked, surveying the area to prepare for their next move.

“Kinda. My second main skill is doing well, but my defence values aren’t enough for it all,” her bond replied, hissing at the beetle closest to him.

Lucille quickly pulled open Ouroboros’s Status and glanced at her bond. “Just ten more points of damage and Ouroboros is ready to reflect it.”

“Really?” Scytale whipped the end of his tail towards Lucy, the bright blue shield appearing to absorb his attack. “Guess I’ll do the honours then.”

Lucille smirked when she saw the two massive beetles had stopped flying. “Their mana is low. Scytale, now’s the time.”

He shrunk down and flew out of her way.

Lucille extended Ouroboros and used the second activation of Rebirth from Death. “Ordered Origin!”

The blade rapidly lengthened and coiled around Lucy as if to form a dome. Jagged lightning-like strikes of blue mana beamed out of the hemispherical blade and shot into the two beetles. They let out screeches of pain as their translucent bodies turned blue and gained thread-like cracks running through their bodies.

[-150 Damage]

[-2250 Damage]

[-100 Damage]

[-150 Damage]

[-2250 Damage]

[-100 Damage]

The attack, including the additional SATK and MATK from Ouroboros, sheared off more than half of the health of both beetles, and Lucille dashed forward with Apophis prepared, a grin on her face. “Let’s finish them off!”

The pulverising black blade was sent out, shattering the Beetle Prince, while Scytale’s vicious light-element strike laced with bloodlust decimated the other. Crystal shards lay in pieces around them as they took a breather.

“…is that the final wave?” Scytale asked when he had recovered from the effort.

“Yes,” Lucille replied, bending down to inspect one of the Beetle Prince’s shards.

[User Lucille Goldcroft has slain Lesser Quartzite Beetle Prince – Lvl. 30]

[+811 xp]

[+410 xp]

[Level Up! x7]

[+7 levels]

[+35 Free stat points]

[User has reached Level 33]

[Xp: 5/192]

[Apophis: +24 xp]

[Xp: 139/145]

[Ouroboros: +24 xp]

[Xp: 139/145]

She glanced at the notifications. “I’m Level 33 now. What about you?”

“40. Not as much experience for me because of Ouroboros’s whopping huge attack.” Scytale morphed into his human form and walked over as she continued inspecting the shards. “But Y’know… the fact you have to rely on Ouroboros to get stats instead of levels has a plus I can see…”

She raised an eyebrow as he gestured to her. “I mean, the skill description of Rebirth from Death just says you can only gain half of the Rank Max, right? There’s no limitations as to when you get those stats.” Scytale placed his hands on his hips. “I say you go find a really weak Dungeon or Lair or something, kill hundreds of weak monsters, and boost your stats high before people with classes can catch up to you.”

Lucy hummed as she held her chin. “I have considered this, but…” She looked at the ground. “I believe that the energy Ouroboros obtains from monsters may not be enough to enhance my stats when I’m at higher Ranks and levels. Or I may need an increased quantity of monster essence to achieve the same effect…”

Scytale shrugged. “If it doesn’t work, oh well. But it would be great if you could gain a hundred-plus stats before anyone else.”

She nodded. “I’ll test it out. But first…” She looked at the new notification that had appeared.

[Mystical Realm Event: Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis]

[Exploration Progress +0.05%]

[New! Exploration Progress: 0.2%]

She smirked and walked forward. “We’ll find somewhere for me to transfer the stats and then slay the ruling monster of this zone.”

…

They looked up at the tree with large glowing fronds extending over their heads. Underneath the protection of its leaves, countless luminous flowers and small plants were blooming across the cracked tiles of the floor.

Scytale let out a whistle as he sat down on the mossy ground. “Nice, a Purifying Palm. Those future Guilders who will come down here will be over the moon.”

Lucille sat down next to him with a nod. Dungeons didn’t have official ‘safe spots’ within because the System couldn’t control monsters, who had decaying or even no souls. But Dungeons still had natural enemies, such as the tree behind them. The Purifying Palm took monster essence and reverted it to natural elemental harmony, preventing monsters from coming close. The plants searched out monster essence for their sustenance, making Dungeons a lucky place for them to grow, if a seed somehow entered. The Purifying Palm also secreted a sap that worked as a health potion.

She opened up Ouroboros’s skill to see the collected stats.

[Skill: Rebirth From Death | Type: Influence/Spirit ]

Desc: In times past in an unknown world, the mythology of an ancient empire was spread to other continents and underwent a reformation. Now of another form, the deity represented the cyclic nature of life and death, and all within. A confluence with this mythology and spiritual energy has led to the bestowment of a ______’s resonance blessing upon this weapon, taking on the forces of Order’s pinnacle.

Abilities:

Cyclic Reforming – The strength of one becomes another’s.

- Gives the weapon the ability to obtain the spiritual energy of those killed by its soul twin. {Only active when used alongside Twin Souls: Chaos}

- Gives the weapon the ability to reconstitute skills from the energy of those slain by its soul twin and pass them to its User. Collected Skill Shards: (5/10) Lesser Quartzite Beetle Spawn, (1/5) Lesser Quartzite Beetle Prince.

- Gives the weapon the ability to merge skill shards to form new tertiary or secondary skills. Limitations apply. Collected Skills: Lesser Quartzite Beetle Spawn Skill x2, Lesser Quartzite Beetle Prince Skill x1.

- Gives the weapon the ability to reconstitute stats from the energy of those slain by its soul twin and pass them to its User. Stat gain maximum: 50% of Rank Total. {Temporarily Stored Stats: x3 CON, x5 STR, x8 AGI, x16 INT, x12 WIS, x2 DEX}

Ordered Origin – Order became power.

- Gives the weapon the ability to shield its User from damage up to the total of its active ATK, MATK and SATK. Shield resets when its User receives unshielded damage the equivalent of what was negated.

- Gives the weapon the ability to absorb damage up to its active ATK using its User’s equivalent MP, while shield is active. Absorbed damage can be reflected partially or completely. Current absorbed damage:

[ ]

“46 stats total…” Lucy mused. “Some monsters must’ve given me additional stats when they died.”

“Or you got stats from monsters you helped me kill,” Scytale pointed out.

“That too.” Lucille impressed her will for the stats to be transferred on Ouroboros.

[Transferred x3 CON, x5 STR, x8 AGI, x16 INT, x12 WIS, x2 DEX to User Lucille Goldcroft from The Serpent’s Form: Ouroboros]

“The type of monster definitely affects what stats you get,” Scytale commented, leaning to take a look at her screen. “All the beetles were magic-focused, so you got tons of INT and WIS.”

Lucille stood up and stretched. “Then if I do end up doing as you suggested, I need to be careful about what monsters I kill before the max is reached.” She looked around and then down at Scytale again. “Ready? I don’t plan on transferring the skills over just yet.”

He nodded and switched into his serpent form. “Let’s go.”

They walked away from the Purifying Palm, Scytale following Lucy and her spiritual perception. She turned a corner and they stepped into a wide corridor, more ornate and decorated than anything they had seen in the other hallways. As they walked down, crystal orbs set in alcoves on either side of them lit up.

“Dramatic much?” Scytale said. He grew in size and flapped his wings in front of Lucy. “Huzzah, it is I! Scytale! The mighty World-Ender! Hear ye, hear ye, your lord is arriving! Beware, foul Dungeon!”

“It’s probably a remnant of the earth elementalists that built this place,” Lucille commented offhandedly, ignoring her bond. “I imagine their egos were quite large.”

Scytale shot her a disgruntled look for walking past him but shrunk and continued to fly by her side. “You’re no fun. But I’ve been wondering something.” He flew to the ground and slithered beside her. “How do we go and tell the System what the Dungeon’s element is? I mean, with all this crystal and gemstone around, I can tell it’s earth as the crystal isn’t glass, but…”

Lucille glanced at him, then continued walking. “The Dungeon’s ‘element’ will be revealed with the first Heretic item that drops.”

“Oh… urgh, yuck. Okay.” He flapped his wings and flew up again. “And the central hall?”

She hummed. “Likely in the second zone. Three zones make up a layer of the Dungeon, so the central hall will be placed in the middle of the zone.”

He nodded, and their conversation lapsed into anticipatory silence. They eventually approached two large double doors made of coloured crystal, frosted to prevent anyone from seeing in. Scytale enlarged his form as Lucille increased her STR, and they traded glances. They nodded and then pushed the doors wide open.

[Mystical Realm Event: Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis]

[Exploration Progress +0.09%]

[New! Exploration Progress: 0.29%]

Inside was a massive hall, filled with bedazzling rays of mana-powered light beaming through the domed crystal roof. Fake stars were embedded in the crystal of the ceiling, with ten yellow gemstone pillars evenly spaced around the edges of the circular room. The multitude of colours created a kaleidoscopic scenery.

In the centre of the room was an ornate sculpture, ten metres high. Carved with runes, the enormous bejewelled beetle stayed perfectly still, not making a sound. Nobody would think that the exquisite sculpture was a monster in disguise.

“…okay, how did the Dungeon end up conjuring that?” Scytale asked sceptically. “Surely these old earth elementalists didn’t just make fancy beetle statues all day?”

“The Prism Bug is a real monster species,” Lucy replied quietly as they watched the still monster. “It’s just a monster with the mid-level element of glass, and the emperor variant is a particularly large kind. The Dungeon builds upon the materials of its domain and generates more constructions that resemble the original. It’s an attempt at luring the races into thinking this is still the same building. Of course, not being something with a soul, everything it constructs will always contain distinct incongruities.”

They fell silent, sharing their battle plans through their bond. Lucille used the ‘Shard of Totality’ to see its HP.

[Dungeon Scion: Lesser Emperor Prism Bug – Lvl. 50]

[HP: 9000 {+95/1m}

‘Not much health…’ Scytale sent through the bond, not wanting to use his mental transmission anymore when they were so close.

Then the Emperor Prism Bug has greater magical ability, just like all the other beetles we’ve fought.

Sending one last message to Scytale, they both took up positions on either side of the room, in front and behind the beetle. Then with shared understanding, Lucille dashed towards the monster and swung Apophis around the beetle, preventing it from flying.

The monster let out a horrendous screech and struggled fiercely. Lucille drew upon the fire mana to keep her hold on Apophis, but it was difficult. She was relying on Scytale for the next part, as she wouldn’t manage for much longer.

Enhancing his size far larger than he had been before, the open space of the hall giving him freedom, Scytale hissed and flapped his wings. Baring his fangs wide he lunged at the Prism Bug, gouging out shards of its translucent body. A sound like fingernails against a chalkboard was heard as the beetle screamed.

Lucy brought out Ouroboros and tried to get a hit in where she could, being careful to avoid entangling Scytale. The jagged edges of the Emperor Prism Bug’s damaged carcass created bleeding serrations across Scytale’s scales, but he ignored it.

But Lucille knew that the Emperor Prism Bug wasn’t strongest when it was in its current form. Scytale gripped the monster tighter, keeping pressure on it, until the beetle began to get antsy and less violent. Instead, it was devoting all its efforts to trying to escape Scytale’s coils.

The change happened when the monster’s body appeared to fracture from the inside out. Lucille dashed forward as she shouted, “Now!”

Scytale abandoned the bug to activate his Lightspeed Sky Predator Aspect, zooming over to the doors with immense speed. Just as he did so, the Emperor Prism Bug exploded into thousands of shards, each a miniature replica of itself.

[Dungeon Scion: Lesser Emperor Prism Bug Splinter x900]

They flew towards the doors, aiming to get out.

The doors slammed shut as Scytale pulled it closed and turned to face the many enemies. They hesitated for a second as their escape route was removed, and Lucille took advantage of the opportunity to whip Apophis straight through the centre of the crystal cloud. The demonic aura razed half of the bugs immediately, their clear corpses forming a carpet of diamond-like shards.

Enraged by the loss of power, the living bugs turned a brilliant white, sending needle-like rays of power towards their two attackers. Scytale’s DEF blocked most of it, and Ouroboros’s shield aided Lucy, but the bugs were already beginning their next attack.

Reforming back into five separate Emperor Prism Bugs, three smaller ones and two larger ones, the three attacked Lucille and the two Scytale.

Pushed apart by the onslaught, Lucy and Scytale fought their own enemies. A well-timed fireball allowed Lucille to devastate one of the clones, but her lack of defence made itself clear when a crystal shard managed to gouge a deep line down her forearm. Lucy quickly turned her sense of pain in the arm off, not wanting to be hindered by the sensation, and set to work casting a light spell on herself to heal, running from her two pursuers.

She ducked behind golden pillars and ornaments, buying time for her to recover her strength, as well as slowly change all her mana to earth mana. A pained cry alerted her to the death of one of Scytale’s attackers, and she could see he was nearly finished with the other two. If she didn’t want to fall behind, she needed to get rid of the two Prism Bugs behind her.

She rolled out of the way as the top half of the ornamental cabinet she had been behind was instantaneously decimated by a beam of power from both of her attackers. She spun around and pointed a black-gloved finger between them, both of them perfectly positioned right next to each other… just as she had arranged.

“Gravitational Point.”

The earth spell lifted the broken stone, crystal, and metal clumps around her and within the hall, then attracted them towards the glowing circle of earth mana between the two monsters. Slow at first, the mana-rich crystals were consumed by the spell to fuel it and everything gathered speed. Lucille dashed back from the spell that was gathering momentum, gradually crushing everything within it into itself. The two Emperor Prism Bug clones – the first things attracted by the spell – struggled to extract themselves but failed, becoming squashed together and crushed under the weight of everything.

It all ended when two loud screams sounded, the earthen sphere suddenly collapsed inward… and then there was silence.

A final cry sounded as Scytale’s foe was vanquished, and then, the promised notifications arrived.

[Users Lucille Goldcroft and Scytale have slain Lesser Emperor Prism Bug – Lvl. 50]

[Dungeon Scion Lesser Emperor Prism Bug of the Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis has been killed]

[Exploration Progress +0.04%]

[New! Exploration Progress: 0.33%]

[+953 XP]

[Level Up!]

[+1 level]

[+5 Free stat points]

[Level Up!]

[+1 level]

[+5 Free stat points]

[Level Up!]

[+1 level]

[+5 Free stat points]

[Level Up!]

[+1 level]

[+5 Free stat points]

[User has reached Level 37]

[Xp: 163/208]

[Apophis: +202 XP]

[Apophis has reached Level 22]

[Xp: 48/151]

[Ouroboros: +202 XP]

[Ouroboros has reached Level 22]

[Xp: 48/151]

[Realm Quest - Ancient Dungeon Discovery Tier I (Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis):]

- Investigate the first three zones of the Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis:

• Determine the main element of the Dungeon: INCOMPLETE
• Defeat three zone bosses: INCOMPLETE (1/3)
• Locate the main hall of the Dungeon: INCOMPLETE]

Lucille took a flask out of her dimensional bag and had a long sip of water. She wiped her mouth and looked at the ground as Scytale came over.

“First zone, done and dusted!” he announced proudly, returning to his human form. He followed her gaze. “Oh, have you found something?”

She gestured for him to stay back as the ground began to bubble with an ugly, frothy brown-green miasma. Releasing a putrid stench, the monstrous mist gathered together and congealed into an object as long as Lucy was tall.

Made of a sickly green crystal, glowing green liquid of the same colour seeped out of a long rod, bubbling and frothing. Covering a flesh-like rot-scented orb the size of a fist were uncountable dark green live beetles, burrowing into the orb and buzzing around it on spread wings. Connecting the orb to the rod were four brown beetles that looked like the Prism Bug they had fought earlier. Dull stones instead of eyes gleamed in their eye sockets, that bright green liquid flowing from their bodies.

Instinctually, the name of the weapon echoed in Lucille and Scytale’s minds.

~The Infested Sceptre of Weeping Stone~

[Realm Quest - Ancient Dungeon Discovery Tier I (Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis):]

- Investigate the first three zones of the Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis:

• Determine the main element of the Dungeon: COMPLETE (Earth)
• Defeat three zone bosses: INCOMPLETE (1/3)
• Locate the main hall of the Dungeon: INCOMPLETE]

Lucy narrowed her eyes and gestured to the weapon. “And this here… is the promised Heretic weapon. One of the few things capable of turning the humanoid races into abhorred monstrosities, and causing them to destroy their souls.”