Ghost's Shadow
Noah teleported to VioletLight Town and followed the Explorer map as he flew on his staff.
The Dungeon was quite far compared to the other B Class dungeons in the area. He sat back ready for the long journey. The Black Estoc was still being reforged so he had equipped the True Wood Staff instead, the extra mana it gave helped a lot in such journeys.
On the Staff, he practiced shooting as he flew. Aiming for low rank monsters.
SCREEE!
Noah looked in the direction of the sound.
[Ancient Spotted Pterodactyl] (Elite)
B Class
Level 77
A group of seven people were running away from the giant flying dinosaur. Noah Flash Stepped and got close to the fight immediately, A B Class elite was valuable. If they weren't going to kill it he was happy to help.
...
A man wearing pieces of E and F Class armour, held an E Class shield, on his arm an insignia of a full moon between clouds shining light, as he instructed, "Retreat Further! I'll hold it back! Lyla how far is the guild leader!?"
A girl with a purple oozing wound on her leg who was being carried by another man responded, "She'll take ten minutes to come."
"F###! Why is it so fast?!" The man shouted as the Pterodactyl flew past him, towards the injured girl.
A girl further away wearing a blue mage suit who had been casting, finished, "Ice Spikes!"
Large spikes of ice rose from the ground and pierced at the Pterodactyl. It sent out a screech as it dodged the attack. It then flew up and sent shots of purple acid in a wide covering all seven of them.
The three people who were trying to retreat, one made it out but two were hit. One on his back while the other on his foot. Both crashed into the ground. The uninjured man ran closest to the closest one from the two and picked him up. The injured man drank a healing potion but his injury didn't heal only stopped it from worsening, he ended stuffing his mouth with healing stones.
"Logan! Jason and Chan are down! I can't carry both of them!" The man shouted as he hid behind a tree holding his injured friend. The Ice Magic user formed an ice wall to protect the other fallen person, then ran towards him, "I'll carry him."
The captain of the group saw that another two were injured, and internally swore, "Heavy Sheild!" he shouted as his shield expanded to block the Pterodactyl. They were coming back from a C Class dungeon and they were suddenly met by this monster. They couldn't escape because of how fast it was.
The ice magic user picked up the other injured man and started running. Seeing that the whole group was retreating the captain, used a skill, "Shocking Howl!'
Releasing a loud howl he ran back as well to regroup, the skill that was supposed to stun for ten seconds didn't even for one. The Pterodactyl flew up and released a purple poisonous gas from its large body enough to encompass the whole team.
The team watched in horror as the purple gas withered leaves at it fell on them.
Above the Pterodactyl Noah arrived. He saw the attack and pulled out the True Wood Staff and activated Leaf Storm. Using the wind currents the leaves created he cleared the poisonous gas, directing it away from the Moonlight guild members.
Then he pointed at the man who had been hit on the back. Low Heal! He activated the skill of his gloves. He healed this man since he was closest to dying.
The Pterodactyl feeling the threat from behind flew up, however, Noah was faster, with Cold Mind and Death's Dance activated he used Blind and Evil Glare on the Pterodactyl as he drew the flintlock and shot twenty times in a single moment. All of them piercing through its body.
Not stopping he activated Roots of Binding to hold the Pterodactyl from rising further as he shot Ancient Solar Ray, straight through the weakest point he saw with Critical Hit eyes.
Screeching in pain the Pterodactyl burst out with more gas that broke the roots holding it, it then sped up in running away, too injured to continue the battle. Noah flying in its direction used the enhancer Lock On. Then shot again. Rapid Shots combined with Lock On the Pterodactyl fell to the ground in a minute.
Picking the drops, Noah went back to see the team of seven.
...
The seven watched a deer masked person overpowered the B Class elite monster by himself and then chased after it.
The pale man who was had his veins blacken had recovered, He looked around and saw that he was suddenly fine. The other two injured were surprised since they knew how many potions they had drunk and yet the injury still hadn't healed.
"Who was that?" Layla asked.
"Do you think he's in the guild?" The man questioned back.
"He doesn't have the insignia, so he probably isn't." The captain responded. This first time he had seen someone so strong. This person was stronger than their guild leader.
Screee!
A large blue bird carrying a team of four people landed. A woman with flowing golden hair and cold green eyes wore all silver armour similar to knights of old, on her side a silver sword. She jumped off the bird and saw the seven sitting and resting.
"Where is the monster?" She asked looking around.
"Someone else came and took care of it. They went in that direction." Lyla answered.
"I see. Anya, heal them. I'll go ahead to take a look." The girl nodded, petting the blue bird nodded, she pulled out a staff from her inventory and started singing a song. Song of Healing!
The guild leader about to leave saw a man wearing a Silver Deer Mask fly out above them. The two behind pulled up their weapons ready to attack.
With her hand on her sword hilt, the guild leader tried to read the person before her from top to bottom and was surprised she couldn't. This man had to be stronger than her if he had taken a B Class Elite monster by himself yet his aura was nonexistent.
She understood it was the effect of that cloak or mask since she had never seen such gear before. The gun hung on his side was exquisite, it had to be a D Class weapon like her sword.
Her eyes then met the man's, she looked at those chilling blue eyes and felt they were familiar. But she couldn't remember where she had seen them. If it was an acquaintance they wouldn't be so intimidating.
"I'm the guild leader of Moonlight, Valerie King. I thank you for saving my guild members." She said valour.
While Valerie was analysing him he was doing the same to her. He had recognised her before she had said her name. They had met each other in a few social gatherings. They even went to the same school but were in different classes so almost never met.
Her strength was at the level of B Class dungeons. She wore E Class equipment and had a D Class sword. The people that had come with her had similar equipment. The four of them were the members of the main team at Moonlight, clearing B Class dungeons. These were the people he might have to work with in clearing the A Class dungeon.
He had made his first impression, as for A Class dungeons he wanted to start running after getting the reforged Black Estoc. He would go to them after that, so for now he was leaving.
Noah floating answered as he left, "No need, I benefited as well. Hope to meet again."
"Wait, can I know your name?"
"Silver Druid." He remembered what the online post had called him and decided to use it as his name.
Valerie watched Noah leave and she herself also started going back.
...
Noah entered a large dark cave. Inside he was put into a hallway of a ruined stone brick castle. Torn red carpet on the ground. Large windows with the night sky and full moon. The castle was large as he couldn't see an end from the window where he was. It was likely the whole dungeon.
There were no lights so he walked in darkness. Taking a turn he Flash Stepped to the side, then followed it with another. Two monsters with shadow-like bodies and bladed arms stood before him.
[Phantom Dancer]
B Class
Level 80
Noah was disappointed seeing they didn't have a '+' Class. But it was fine, he could tell this dungeon was at the peak of what a normal B Class dungeon could offer. So it was likely he would get something good.
Drawing the flintlock he shot as he Flash Stepped around. He had activated Death's Dance and Cold Mind. With his enormous pool of mana, he could keep them active throughout the whole dungeon without a problem.
Taking them out he moved swiftly through the dungeon, ignoring normal mobs.
In the Dungeon Lord's Lair, he saw a five-meter tall large bladed armed mannequin-like monster. It had thin strips of cloth wrapped around it on its joints. With a greyish white energy coming off of it seemed ghostly.
[Great Phantom Dancer]
B Class
Level 82
The clashed with speed, Noah retreated while shooting as the Great Phantom Dancer arrived before him. Even when he used Flash Step it was able to catch up. Its body bending unnaturally as it struck.
Tracking its swift movements using Spatial Sense Noah avoided the attacks. Fighting back, his bullets slid past the Phantom as it distorted its body. It then came in like a jump scare with its blades close.
Noah teleported through it and shot at it from behind. Sensing the bullet, it dodged and attacked with its other arm.
Creating distance with another Flash Step, Noah pulled out the True Wood Staff. He had gotten used to using it a lot more without the Black Estoc.
Root Control! Large thick roots came out from the ground trying to bind the Phantom. However, it spun with a series of quick strikes and cut them all down.
With his gun liner to his body as he shot Ancient Solar Ray. The beam only seared the Phantom's shoulder leaving a small indent in it. It didn't bleed like most monsters it instead showed that the phantom was completely solid on the inside dark material.
Seeing his attack miss, Noah Flash Stepped as the Phantom closed in. He had already used Lock On on the Pterodactyl he fought earlier so he couldn't use it now.
Hold of the Shadows! The Dungeon Lord used a skill. A black shadow spread from it covering the whole lair's floor. Noah on the floor had his feet trapped in place.
The Phantom closed in. Noah dropped the Gravitational staff and activated Gravitational zone while using Anti Gravity on himself. He cast Leaf Storm, concentrating it around himself so it was like a shield of flowing leaves around him. His buffs and debuffs were all active so he finally used Defence up as the Phantom hit.
The bladed arm pushed through the leaves and reached Noah. He used the True Wood Staff in hand to block the attack. The True Wood Staff as a D Class weapon was solid but didn't hold long.
The shiny black blade pierced in, if Noah held on any longer the arm would cut through. He deflected the attack to the side.
The curved blade enchanted with greyish energy cut deep into his side, ignoring his armour. The Hold of the Shadows finally disappeared teleporting away. Noah felt the wound burn under his armour. The dungeon lord had some passive effect that let it ignore defence.
He stamped the True Wood Staff down and used 30% of his total mana on Root Control, numerous large roots burst out and constantly tried to bind the Phantom. Even as it cut them down more would come up.
Noah controlled the roots at the back of his mind, using Spatial Sense to make the best attacks. As he did this he used Low Heal on his wound.
In B Class dungeons it wasn't rare to get injured but it was the first he had gotten injured so seriously. The wound healed. He then reapplied his buffs: Strenght Boost, Speed Boost and Bulk Up.
His eyes flashed Black as he used Evil Glare again.
Then jumped on the Levitation Staff which he pulled out with mana. On it, he activated Mana Absorption and recovered 30% of his mana again from the mana dense dungeon.
Back in the fight, he started with rapid shooting.
As he fought, he tried using the effect of his Firearm Mastery, Restrictive Hit. It was an Iron rank enhancer and its effect was basically null on B Class Dungeon Lords.
Other than weak monsters he wouldn't use it. As for Bullet Rebound, it was also becoming unnecessary now as his bullets were so fast and strong that most monsters couldn't dodge them.
So fighting the Great Phantom Dancer challenged his Firearm Mastery Skill. Making him pull it all he could. Restrictive Hit had no effect normally but if he kept on trying it was possible to get the dungeon Lord to monetarily flinch.
With that in mind, he kept the barrage up until it happed. Flash Stepping directly in front of its chest, he stood on the Levitation Staff.
Ancient Solar Ray! Using all of his remaining mana in this final shot.
The beam went through it and even broke through the hard stone castle wall behind.
The Dungeon Lord then fell back.
[You have slain the Dungeon Lord!]
Noah picked up the drops as he drank a mana potion. Getting used to having high mana, having his body empty out of all of it made him extremely uncomfortable. He picked up the drops, they were all worth keeping but not worth using, except two.
One was a Gold rank enhancer, [Phantom Hit].
[Phantom Hit (Gold): Increases the unpredictability of your attacks. Has a high chance of doubling the damage of an attack and a low chance of tripling. Increases Critical hit rate. Increases speed of attacks.]
Noah still had three spaces free for Firearm Mastery. He wasn't sure yet but Phantom seemed like his current best option. He didn't learn and put it away. He still hadn't reached max level in Firearm Mastery so wasn't in a hurry to learn enhancers.
He then looked at a black cloak that had dropped. It was a long one unlike the current he wore.
[Ghost's Shadow] (D Class)
Agility +200, Physique +50, Sense +90, Mana +40
Passive skill 1: [Presence Control] Able to scale the amount of presence you release, increasing or decreasing it.
Active Skill 1: [Disappearance] Turn invisible, constantly uses mana. Deactivates when mana runs out.
Active Skill 2: [Phase Shift] You're able to momentarily pass through physical objects like a ghost.
cooldown: 1 hour
He looked at the cloak. It was much better than than the Jungle Tree Cloak he currently wore. A D Class agility focused cloak. The skills it gave were incredible. He loved the cloak but put it away instead of equipping it. It was long and would get in the way of his staffs.
Currently, he also felt that he was strong enough in the equipment he wore. He would switch to it for more difficult battles.