After Diane disappeared into the passageway within the giant skeleton’s spine, there was no contact from her for several minutes. However, since that also meant that she hadn’t died yet, I wasn’t too incredibly worried.
It wasn’t until about ten minutes passed that Diane walked out calmly, waving a hand towards where we were anchored. “Come on down! This place isn’t that bad.” She said, causing Bella and I to look at one another.
We got out of the car, stowing it away with the respawn point, and walked over to meet her. “Is the dungeon low level enough that you’re not worried about needing a respawn point?” I asked in confusion, and she gave a small nod.
“It’s probably around the same level as me. But, the monsters inside are really slow.” She said, turning to lead us inside to show us what she meant.
The dark tunnel seemed to open up and become a wide hallway as soon as we stepped inside. Within the dungeon, the landscape changed to a giant floor made of bones, with spikes jutting out every few meters.
Surveying the landscape, I soon noticed the monsters that Diane mentioned. They were skeletons, their bones stained green as they lumbered around, carrying half-melted weapons. Diane calmly walked up to one while talking. “At first, I was concerned that they might have some surprise methods of attacking.” She said, the skeleton she was approaching raising its sword.
However, when it brought the blade down, it was slow enough that Diane was able to casually side-step it without any concern. “Because of that, I had my familiar fight a few of them first. Just to test out their capabilities.” With that, she kicked the shin of the skeleton, causing the leg to shatter and the monster to fall to the ground.
“These things are so weak, I almost thought this was a newbie dungeon once the familiar killed them.” She chuckled, before jumping back as the fallen skeleton swung its sword at her again. “But don’t let them hit you.”
I arched a brow, before appraising the skeleton, which turned out to be a level ninety-five Corrosive Skeleton. Its one and only skill was Corrosive Touch. “It killed your familiar when it landed a blow?” I asked, and Diane nodded her head in confirmation.
“That’s right. Completely dissolved it into nothing with one touch when I told it to take a hit. That’s not all… watch.” She pointed a finger at the skeleton’s hand, firing a thin beam of black energy. However, the beam seemed to disappear when it touched the skeleton’s hand. “Anything that touches their hands or their weapons are erased, whether it is a physical target or a skill.”
My eyes widened at that, and I tested it out myself, using Martial Intent-X to create shackles around both the blade and the skeleton’s wrist. Sure enough, the projected energy sizzled, slowly dissolving under the influence of the creature’s Corrosive Touch. “My guess? It’s a balance issue.” Diane said with a shrug. “Their attack skills are so strong, so their defenses and speed were nerfed into the ground. Most likely, even if we obtained their skill, it would be a far more watered down version.”
After saying that, she stomped on the skeleton’s skull, causing it to go limp, and beckoned me over. “I don’t have much hope for their value, being skeletons and all, but maybe their hands will be worth something?”
Understanding what she meant, I harvested and dismantled the skeleton, before my eye twitched. Without a word, I dumped the bones back onto the ground, causing her to look at me in dismay. “It’s that bad?”
“Barely half a gold for the entire corpse. We’d need about two hundred of them just to be worth the same as a single Dark Whale.” When I said that, Diane clicked her tongue.
“Guessing that their corrosive effect doesn’t carry over to their corpse, so it’s just a pile of rotten bones. High level rotten bones, but still.” She said with a sullen sigh, before perking up at my next words.
“Still, I’d say that this dungeon might be more valuable for us individually than even that fortress dungeon earlier.” I said, and she looked at me in interest. To answer, I glanced over at Bella. “Hordes of slow-moving, level ninety monsters with weak defenses that even someone half their level could kill in one shot to the head.”
Bella blinked, understanding my meaning. Without a second thought, she drew her bow and fired at the skull of another skeleton, immediately bringing it down.
Diane seemed to understand as well. “This is an experience farm for Bella.” She muttered, before nodding her head. “Yeah, I can see how that would be good. They can’t hurt Bella without getting close, and they’re too slow to do that even if they attack in groups. She can just stand somewhere and fire off like a turret. This could even be a good way to train low level combat skills.”
I nodded my head at that, smiling. “Exactly. Of course, we’ll need to be careful whenever we move deeper in. Who knows, maybe some of the later monsters have different balance mechanics. Weak attacks and defense, but moves so fast that they can strike you fifty times in a second. Or slow and weak, but defenses that make them a walking tank.”
Diane pursed her lips, nodding her head in agreement. “That last one wouldn’t be too hard for us to deal with. But, if there’s one that can come at us that fast, it would really pose a problem.” She said, before looking at the redheaded elf. “For now, train up all of your lower level skills. Let’s try to get all of them their first evolution by the end of the day.”
Bella’s eyes widened, nodding her head and firing off her Twin Shot skill to strike two skeletons at once. “I’m surprised, though! To think that monsters at this level could be taken down with just one arrow?”
I simply shrugged my shoulders, shaking my head. “I was always taught that fights should be over within a few moves. All it takes is one good strike to your opponent’s weak spot, or one overwhelming attack. The only time that a battle will go on for an extended period are if the combatants possess natural counters for one another, or if they are the same level of skill. Even then, all it takes is for one good hit to land.”
Diane chuckled at that. “It’s not like that in every game, you know? In most games we Players play, everything has a number of hit points that you have to get through. Even if you blow up their brain or heart, if their hit points don’t run out, they can shrug it off and continue attacking as if nothing happened.”
“Eh?!” I looked at Diane in surprise, my eyes wide. “That sounds absolutely horrifying! Are all monsters in the games you play undead?”
Diane smirked, shaking her head. “No, it’s just how the system works there. There aren’t realistic injuries like we have here. Taking an arrow to the skull is just a little more damage than taking it to the shoulder. Here, it’s like you said, and a fatal injury is… well, a fatal injury.”
I hesitated, but nodded my head. I couldn’t imagine trying to fight in those other games. Because I know my own limits, I had always tried to end fights as quickly as I possibly could. One wrong move, and I would be killed without any chance to fight back. To learn that there were games where even that level of caution was meaningless was horrifying.
I shook my head, watching Bella train herself on the skeletal army within the tunnel of bones. Every now and then, we had to relocate to find new targets for her, advancing deeper into the dungeon. Once we cleared out the first area, I left my Ki Clone near the dungeon’s entrance with the respawn anchor, just to be on the safe side.
However, this dungeon was… far larger than I had initially imagined. And that was even taking into account the massive size of the skeleton from the outside. We had walked for at least three kilometers before we reached an area where the tunnel narrowed, leading into the next zone. To compare it to the outside, this three thousand meters would be the equivalent of just a single vertebrae.
In the second section of the dungeon, the monsters underwent an evolution. They wore black, half-melted armor, and their movements were more fluid than before. They were still slower than an average person, but it was not as bad as in the first area.
As a test, I created a projected wall in front of one of the skeletons, which was identified as a Corrosive Knight. As before, their blades and hands tore through my skill. However, their armor also possessed a corrosive effect, albeit a weaker one than their weapon.
“Can you pierce through the armor?” I asked Bella, who pursed her lips. She had managed to upgrade her various basic skills by repeatedly launching them against high level monsters in the first zone. At the same time, I had managed to raise my Perception back to level twenty, earning both myself and Bella the Blindsight skill.
“Let me try a Sundering Shot.” She said, taking a deep breath and charging her next attack as the armored skeleton slowly ran towards her. I could see a blunt force attaching itself to the end of her attack, seeming to solidify before she released the bowstring.
When the arrow smashed against the skeleton’s helmet, it pierced straight through and shattered the back of it. Sundering Shot was the upgraded form of Power Shot, and according to Bella it had increased damage against items, which was how it had shattered the helmet just now.
Still, this showed that she could continue to hold her own against these monsters, even if Diane and I sometimes needed to step in to slow them down. After all, she wasn’t able to simply keep firing that skill as often as she wanted.
Thanks to this, our progress slowed through the second stage, but we were still earning a considerable amount of experience for Bella. Moreover, neither Diane or I really cared about clearing this dungeon. Once the experience for Bella stopped being worth it, or the monsters became legitimate threats, we were fully prepared to just leave.
Though, I was thankful that the dungeon did not submerge itself while there were challengers inside… that would have been a big problem. As I was thinking about that, I felt a mental alert from my clone stationed at the entrance.
Closing my eyes, I focused on perceiving through my Ki Clone, which was hiding with Ghost-X while holding the respawn anchor. Nearby, at the entrance to the dungeon, a small group of people were walking in, weapons at the ready. Their skins were dark, some red and others black. One of them had large horns atop his head, and batlike wings behind himself, his eyes burning red. At the same time, there was a burning brand on his forehead.
“Diane, Bella!” I called out, opening my eyes and getting the attention of the two girls. Without wasting a moment, I wrapped Ghost Zone around the three of us.
“What’s going on, Drake?” Diane asked, eyes narrowing as she glanced back towards the way we came.
“A group of demons just entered the dungeon. And, from what my clone is seeing, at least one of them is a player.” I informed them, and their eyes widened in surprise. Unfortunately, my clones could only activate Martial skills, and both of my appraisal skills fell under the Utility category. I had no way to know what level the demons were.
“What’s your level at now, Bella?” Diane asked, and Bella’s gaze flicked down slightly to look at her own experience.
“Eighty-five now.” She said, sounding surprised at her own leveling speed. I couldn’t blame her, since it was only a week ago that her level was in the high thirties.
“That’s good enough for now.” Diane responded with a nod. “Your experience would slow down soon anyways, so it’s better to pull out while we can. Drake, try to appraise the demons on our way out. If they’re weak enough that we can fight, we’ll take them out. Otherwise, we’ll make our escape before they realize we’re still here.”
