Welcome To Fafnir’s Grave  

Fafnir's Grave was a pocket dimension that existed on the Middle World tier. It was an intersection of multiple valleys found in a mountain range with peaks towering into the heavens. Fafnir was a Poison Dragon and had spewed a large miasma cloud of poison on the valley. The poison was viral in nature and could easily erode most defences.

It was a purple-grey mist that released a baleful dragon force that could easily frighten and overwhelm most organisms. The poison had a corrosive nature and forcefully oxidised most organic and some inorganic materials. Metals, wood and human flesh were the primary targets, making the environment unappealing to those that depended on metallic equipment

Due to the nature of this poison, only certain abilities and higher powers, such as Truth, could counter its effects. Truth was not only extremely stable but it was also viral in nature. Truthseekers that excelled in cleansing had the ability to purify large areas of the dungeons allowing exploration to proceed.

Even after purification, one had to use Truth often to cleanse their body of the remnants of the poison, because Fafnir's poison could not be completely cleansed by any ordinary Truth cast by mortals. The poison's viral nature allowed it to spread even from an extremely minuscule amount. Thus even if an area was cleansed, if one wasn't a Truthseeker, one would not be advised to stay there. Because their flesh and equipment would most likely be affected.

The Mt Olympus expedition had arrived in one of the valleys at the base of a large mountain. Upon arrival, they immediately cleansed the area with many wide area Truthseeking abilities. Light-type magic was purifying by nature, thus the few light mages present were quite busy at the beginning. To no one's surprise, the majority of the cleansing was done by the Spectralian contingent.

The Veritas specialized in Truth, The maidens in Negative Energy and The Spectralians in Light and support magic. This was well-known and accepted. Thus the duty of Purification fell to Mercedes' followers. Ulysses was still recovering and did not take part while Mercedes spent most of her time going through the information they had about the area.

There were two primary areas of interest within the area. The first was Fafnir's true grave. It was located in a valley at the base of the highest peak next to a lake. It was there that the hero Siegfried slew the beast. Siegfried had dug a pit under a trail leading to the lake and had struck the beast from underneath. With its dying breath, the Dragon cursed the land with poison while the hero Siegfried had become immune after bathing in the dragon's blood and eating a portion of its heart.

The dragon's remains were the main attraction for that location, especially its heart. Its cave, located high up the mountain, was also attractive due to the gold the dragon had hoarded and stolen from others. Dragons were well known for their greed and desire for shiny objects, but Fafnir's desire for precious metals was particularly frightening. Only precious metals with a shiny lustre could naturally resist corrosion, the beast's love for them even showed in the way its poison operated.

Within a few hours of cleansing the area, the expedition encountered its first foe. Scouts had stumbled upon a trail of creatures that showed signs of coming back shortly. Mercedes and the others quickly prepared for the ensuing battle. The greedy users could already see the drops from the creatures as precious material for their growth.

Fafnir's grave was a graveyard that benefitted dragon, poison and weapon-type cultivators the most. Mages were also quite interested in the materials of a dragon as they made superb ingredients for many a potion or enchantment. Warriors eyed the weapon drops that the mobs would provide as most of them were metal-type weapons, with the higher-quality ones having poison properties. Peerless had left only a few instructions, but one of them made Mercedes particularly happy.

Fight every enemy you come across!

…

"Main Tanks, hold your positions!"

"Long-range mages, aim for their left flank and hit them with concentrated fire-type attacks!"

"These guys are just mobs, there isn't a need to fuss. Just hold your positions and safely kite them from afar!"

Captains barked orders at the troops under them as two groups engaged in a fierce battle on the ground. From above, it seemed as if two rivers had clashed, one made up of monochromatic colours, while the other was filled with all sorts of gleams and lustre.

They were fighting at a narrow pass that forced both sides to concentrate their forces in one area, thus the humans only had to deal with a few dozen sword fiends at a time. As soon as one creature was dispatched, its body dissipated into experience that was in the form of motes of light that the others absorbed.

The humans were all peak level 99 powerhouses, and so far not even one human had died, with only a few minor scratches being suffered. The scratches had traces of the poison making them much more dangerous than an ordinary wound. This was why Mercedes had asked all the light and fire-type support cultivators to gather and apply all kinds of protective buffs to the warriors fighting at the front. Mages did not take any action aside from support and merely observed for now.

Natasha and her mage troops did not have an easy time as the threat of the poisonous Miasma forced the mages to keep cleansing the area. The mages were also responsible for long-range reconnaissance and healing, thus everyone had their hands full. Only the lowest level fighters were involved while Captain and General tier combatants only watched. If they had to interfere in a battle of this level, then there was no point in even continuing this expedition.

Drops and items eventually littered the ground as countless creatures lost their lives under the firm and ordered onslaught of the invaders. Under Odysseus' watchful eye, no one dared to have any ideas about the drops and focused on the task they had been handed out. The creatures they were fighting were not particularly strong, but they had a home-ground advantage and also had the upper hand in terms of numbers.

The monochromatic army was a group of monsters called Silver Sword Fiends. A troublesome creature C- creature that had the ability to grow from eating any metal weapon and absorbing their properties. They ate all weapons from arrowheads to spear tips, but their favourite meal was definitely swords. They were humanoid in nature and looked like humans covered in black latex from head to toe with some random patches of silver. They had blade-like weapons for hands that had a silver edge to them.

The creatures could also grow from eating their fallen brethren, hence as their numbers dwindled, the strength of some of the remaining Silver Sword Fiends would increase. Thus even though they were C- at the beginning, a score of them had reached the peak of C+.

The Silver Sword Fiends did not have eyes and detected their environment through scent and intent detection, with the skin acting as the main sensory organ. Their sensitivity to intent was especially frightening, making it very difficult to take by surprise. But every creature had a weakness.

They were weak to fire-type and light-type attacks. They were also only capable of short to mid-range attacks and thus were at a disadvantage against certain figures, such as the one approaching.

Mercedes Spectralia had brought with her 4 helpers, one of them was a cut above the rest. She wore a tight leather combat suit that hugged her figure while her strawberry blonde hair swayed in the wind. Her cold expression contrasted the warmth her body exuded as she floated above a section of the sword fiends. The light element World Energy fluctuated as if welcoming her presence to the battlefield. With a snort, she released a wave of Truth-infused mana that swept the environment clean of poisonous substances.

The wave was not only cleansing by nature, but it also carried with it a buff that greatly raised the potency of light and fire-type energy within her party's members.