KAPPA 68 (Patreon)

After washing up, filling their bellies, and getting plenty of rest, Cairn, Kaia, Tarou, and Zarah made their way to the far end of the Guardian's Chamber. The Core Room had been sealed off by a nearly indestructible wall, covered in a complex magical formula, but Vira had provided them a key that would grant them passage to the other side.

"Are the two of you ready...?" asked Cairn. Tarou squeaked in protest for being excluded, but Cairn just ignored him as he slid the Core Room's key, a large cylindrical object nearly a meter long, covered in circuit-like runes, into its intended groove.

Similar to when the Ground Dragon used Earthquake, the structure of the Guardian's Chamber began to shake in response to the key's insertion. A few seconds later, the rune-covered wall split into four distinct sections that retracted away from each other, revealing eight additional layers that promptly parted to reveal absolute darkness on the opposite side.

Raising his shields instinctively, Cairn's skin crawled as thick tendrils of darkness shot out from the Core Room's interior, slamming into him like a truck and sending him skidding backward. One struck Zarah, causing the barrier veiling her body to shatter, but she managed to avoid being caught by leaping to the side along the adjoining wall.

"Purification...!" shouted Kaia, extending her right hand to emit a wave of golden light as she evaded the tentacles that came her way with relative ease. As the light touched the darkness, a loud hissing sound filled the air as the tentacles retracted violently before shooting out with even greater force and number.

Leaping off of Kaia's head, Tarou spread his diminutive arms and legs wide before contracting himself into a tiny ball as vibrant, bluish-white electricity surged from his body, impacting the tentacles and spreading through them. Lightning was one of the natural counters to darkness, so the tentacles twisted, hissed, and spasmed as the tiny mouse's Discharge surged through and spread to their source.

"Damnit...!" exclaimed the pained, distinctive voice of a man, followed by the darkness fading to reveal a youth in his mid to late teens. His skin was the characteristic earthen brown of a Dark Elf, but he possessed icy-blue eyes reminiscent of a cat's, ashen-white hair. More notably, his attire was reminiscent of a beggar's, consisting of a tattered black shirt, linen pants, a large metal collar, and no shoes. His ears had also been clipped, the tips cauterized and closed off by a metal strip to indicate that his status within his tribe had been stripped away, making him an exile.

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Name: Joshua

Species: Dark Elf

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Title: Shadow-touched Abomination(Negative Karma accumulates more quickly. Drastically increases affinity with Darkness Element)

Class: Devourer(Epic)

[Attributes]

Level: 33/78(288,592/295,138)[Noble(-/-), Slave(-/-), Devourer(33)]

HP: 59,774/93,066

MP: 229,824/317,415

Str: 103+34

Agi: 131+130

Vit:  395+521

Int: 217+215

Dex: 142+141

Cha: 152+76

Talent(s): [Noble Birth(4/-)], [Resilience(20/20)], [Blessing of the Broodmother(33/78)], [Abyssal Wellspring(33/78)], [Corruption Resistance(33/78)], [Darkness Affinity(50/75)], [Slaughter(42/71)], [Pain Tolerance(40/69)], [Hunger Resistance(39/65)], [Dagger Mastery(35/60)], [Hunting(34/53)], [Camping(27/50)], [Cooking(14/39)]

Skill(s): [Devour(MAX)], [Backstab(MAX)], [Shadow Movement(MAX)], [Darkness(MAX)], [Darkness Imbue(MAX)], [Shadow Manifestation(7/10)], [Lifestyle Magic(6/6)]

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Seeing the Dark Elf's stats, specifically his MP, Cairn's pupils contracted to the size of pinholes as he shouted, "His Mana and physical capabilities are off the charts! Don't let him get—"

Before Cairn could finish shouting, the Dark Elf, Joshua, sank into his own shadow, reappearing behind him instantly as he said, "I harbor no grudge toward you..."

Feeling something hard press against his back, just under his ribs, Cairn expected to feel an intense, burning pain. Instead, both he and Joshua were surprised when the latter's vicious-looking black dagger failed to pierce his mantle and the tunic formed from Kaia's puncture-resistant fur.

Twisting his body, Cairn attempted to slice Joshua's neck with the blade protruding from the end of his shield, but the latter dipped down and sank into his shadow. Cairn looked around to see where he would reappear, but the youthful-looking Dark Elf could apparently lurk within the shadows for an extended period as there were no traces of his presence.

"Purification...!" shouted Kaia, just in time to prevent the shadowy tendrils from Cairn's own shadow from grasping and potentially drawing him into them. More importantly, as the light from her spell illuminated the room, a loud hissing sound echoed through the area as Joshua was expelled from the shadow of Zarah's skirt, causing her to exclaim in surprise.

"You perverted little shit...!" screamed the golden-haired lioness, swinging her hammer with the intention of bashing Joshua's head in. To her shock, the somewhat emaciated-looking youth raised his left hand, stopping the hammer mid-swing as he covered his face with his right and said, "I'm not a pervert..." while sporting a notably pouty expression.

Punctuating his words, Joshua lowered his hand from his face, revealing the sclera of his right eye had turned black as he reared his hand back to strike Zarah's stomach. Fortunately, she had used the last few seconds to restore her barrier. Thus, while she was forced back and sent crashing into the wall, losing her grip on her hammerstaff, she only sustained 230 points of cumulative damage.

Leaping to Zarah's aid, quite literally in the latter's case, Cairn and Kaia both used Shield Bash to try and Joshua off guard. Kaia, in particular, channeled Light Elemental energy into her shield, preventing Joshua from escaping into the shadows as he had done previously.

With speed and reaction time that dwarfed the duo, Joshua intercepted Cairn's and Kaia's attacks with a spinning wall of shadowy tendrils. The shockwaves from their Shield Bashes permeated through the shadows and impacted his body, dealing negligible damage and stunning him, but he recovered nigh-instantaneously before sweeping the shadowy tendrils like a cat o' nine tails.

Though Kaia managed to evade by bounding backward, Cairn had little choice but to grit his teeth as the shadowy tendrils impacted his body and constricted around him. He was confident that Kaia, Zarah, or even Tarou would come to his aid, so he focused on protecting his body by raising his shields to wait out Shield Bash's short cooldown.

Rewarding Cairn's trust, Tarou, proferred forth by Kaia, used Discharge to fill the area with a powerful discharge of Lightning Elemental energy. His actions confused Joshua, as the attack indiscriminately struck Cairn, Kaia, and Zarah, but due to being in the same Party, they were impervious to its damage component. Zarah's and Kaia's hair became noticeably puffy, but that was a small price to pay for damage immunity.

As the tendrils constraining his body disappeared due to the effects of Tarou's Discharge, Cairn shifted his shields to the front of his body and activated Shield Bash. This time, however, Joshua couldn't react since his Darkness Affinity made him twice as susceptible to Lightning damage and the paralytic effect it had on its targets. As a result, Cairn's shields struck him directly, dealing 694 combined damage and knocking him off balance.

Not content with simply knocking Joshua off balance, Cairn followed after him, rearing back his hands and extending his blades while activating Defense Conversion, converting 50% of his shield's defenses to offensive stats. Joshua wasn't wearing any armor, so even though he still had more than 50,000 HP remaining, being stabbed in the heart, neck, or any of his major vital points could result in instant death.

*You have dealt 11,742 damage!*

*Your attack has crippled your opponent's arms!*

Stabbing Joshua's shoulders, knocking him further off balance, Cairn tumbled to the ground with the ashen-haired Dark Elf, landing heavily against the unforgiving stone surface before rolling away, just to be safe. The system message informed him that he had crippled Joshua's arms, but there was a chance he could still use his tentacles.

Proving Cairn's suspicions correct, tentacles abruptly burst from Joshua's back. However, unlike the shadowy tentacles he had used to assail them, these possessed a physical form consisting of dark grey flesh spotted by light grey suction cups with visible teeth and eyes...

Raising his right brow, Cairn suppressed his ragged breath long enough to crack a smile and ask, "Are you the bastard child of Cthulu or something?"

Instead of answering Cairn's question, Joshua glared at him, black blood leaking from his right eye as he propped himself up with his tentacles and growled, "You've forced my hand..."

Extending two of his tentacles with blinding speed, Joshua sent Cairn crashing into the wall like a cannonball before using another to intercept Kaia's javelin. The tip successfully penetrated the tentacle's flesh, but the shaft promptly fell to the ground, corroded by a shadowy substance that hissed and bubbled as it dripped onto the floor.

Using four of his tentacles like the legs of a spider, Joshua barreled toward Kaia with the momentum of a runaway train, but the latter, despite possessing less Agility, managed to evade and keep her distance using a combination of Leap and Strong Kick.

Realizing that he wouldn't be able to catch Kaia normally, Joshua leveled several tentacles at her, their tips seeming to absorb the surrounding light to form black spheres that eventually burst forward like a shotgun spread of shadowy lasers. Kaia's wine-red eyes reflected their approach, but by the time her brain processed the kind of attack she was up against, seven of the several dozen lasers pierced cleanly through her body.

Seeing Kaia collapse and go limp, Cairn, embedded in a wall, shouted, "Kaia...!" before bursting free with all his strength. Unfortunately, his shout garnered him the attention of Joshua, the icy-eyed Dark Elf staring at him with a withering stare as he began charging a second volley.

'I should have killed this bastard when I had the chance...' thought Cairn, his vision briefly going dark as his lifeless body crumpled forward and slid across the ground, leaving him as a glowering phantom. It didn't help that Vira appeared beside him without her usual smile, hovering with her arms crossed as she closed her eyes, exhaled a disappointed sigh, and asked, "What's the point of wielding two shields if you use neither of them? You saw what kind of attack it was. If you had protected your vitals, you could have endured using your Shadowflame regeneration. He can only use that attack so many times before it completely exhausts him."

Seeing that Joshua's MP had decreased to fewer than 140,000 after just two salvos, Cairn's expression darkened further as he hung his head and balled his hands into fists. He noticed that Vira didn't criticize him for not killing Joshua when he had the chance, but that was a small comfort now that he had to watch, powerless, as his Party wiped. At least, that's what he expected to occur...

Approaching Cairn's body and confirming he was dead, Joshua appeared genuinely apologetic as he muttered, "I didn't want things to come to this, but you left me little choice. If you are reborn or resurrect after this, heed my advice and stay away from the Dungeons..."

Turning away from Cairn's body, Joshua looked to Zarah, standing off to the side with wide eyes and a pallid countenance. The two exchanged glances for several seconds, but instead of attacking, Joshua eventually shifted his gaze to the Guardian Chamber's entrance and sped away with the aid of his tentacles.

Realizing that her life had been spared, Zarah breathed a sigh of relief and plopped to the ground. Before she could rest, however, Tarou, missing his left ear and bleeding from his head, scurried over to her, squeaking loudly as he climbed onto her knee and gestured panickedly toward the downed Kaia.

"Oh, shit...!" exclaimed Zarah, coming to her senses and rushing over to check Kaia's condition. It was difficult to tell just how injured she was due to the amount of blood, but it ultimately didn't matter as Zarah pulled out a crystalline vial with shimmering white liquid and scattered its contents on Kaia's body, veiling her in divine light that caused her to float from the ground as a voluptuous, angelic figure with golden hair and twelve wings formed overhead, shedding a single tear...

...

..

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