13

Name: Vindictus

Race: Human

Class: Ranger

Sub-class: Archer

Level: 10 EXP: 4500/4500

EXP Pot: 1000

Health: 229/229

Mana: 195/195

Strength 23

Vitality 21

Agility 23

Dexterity 15

Intelligence 15

Speed 22 [Boots +1]

Luck 23

Charisma 13

Points available: 2

Skill Points: 6

[Boost Summon – Level 2]

[Harvester Skill – Level 3]

[Alchemy – Level 1]

[Smithing – Level 3]

[Leatherworking – Level 4]

[Eagle Eye – Level 1]

[Power Shot – Level 3]

Before he even had a chance to loot the general a hidden door in the back slide open and a voice could be heard screaming from the floor below. "Who dared to kill my guardian!"

Vindictus had trigger the hidden dungeon the that sister assigned him. If this had been in normal mode, he would have simply walked down the stairs to the fountain and got what he needed. But now he had to face the man that was using the crypt as his hideout. This could also be triggered in hard mode about every twenty runs and in the hell mode every run but he was going to get to do it first. The voice said the same thing again but Vindictus continued to ignore it. He wanted the check the zombie general for drops before went to face the mad man. He also pulled out a few of his healing potions and drank them as he took care of other things.

Vindictus hit the harvest option on the boss and felt, and not for the first time, that the system should change it to loot when it was a humanoid monster. It felt like they were preparing to eat it and it still unnerved him after a decade. He had even made the recommendation to the company many times and had a lot of support but they did not think it was a big enough of an issue to warrant the small change in the system. But he would probably try again in this world and hopefully if he did it early enough this time it would take before the game got too big and the managers to lazy.

The quantity of things that hit the floor after the body disappeared was staggering. This was a dungeon that was designed for five people and this was the first run so the rewards were double. So, there were no less that ten pieces of equipment and lots of scrolls and books and even there was a wide variety of crafting materials that he would use in the near future. There were also two gold coins in the mix. He was amazed at the amount of stuff. He had never had a first clear with double drops before. This was on a different level. The thing that he was the most excited about was the leather armor that glowing blue. He had hoped to get the green version but the blue version was even more amazing.

[Night Weaver Leather Armor – Rare

Physical Defense +100

Magical Defense +100

Stealth – At night wearer can turn invisible just as the Stealth Skill.

Part 1/5 Night Weaver Set]

Vindictus put on the leather and ignored the rest of the items and got ready to head deeper into the dungeon. Technically this was enough for him to not only clear the dungeon but also in the fastest time and he would have those accomplishments even if he died from here on but it would wait until he exited to announce it. Now that he had the armor equipped and the new bow there was no use hesitating any longer. He put an arrow on the string and headed down the stairs. He knew that any of his arrows would work on the man but he stuck with the few remaining fire arrows that he got back from the death of the general.

About half way down the stairs he got another alert.

[Mad Man's Lair Hidden Dungeon discover, all exp and loot drops doubled for the completion.]

As we walked a few more steps he started to hear giggles, not the fun kid giggles but the giggles of someone that was too old to do it but their mind was not right so they did not care. It sent a shiver down his spine. He took a second and a deep cleansing breath before he continued. He knew the layout of the room and he knew where in the room his goal was but the problem was that he did not know where the boss would be. Unlike most bosses that have a specific starting point this was a boss that was only constrained to the room and not a point in the room. The entire room was his range.

As soon as Vindictus stepped off the bottom stair the man would know that he was there. So, making sure that nothing crossed the barrier Vindictus leaned forward just enough to spot the man in the wandering and giggling fit. It was as if he had already forgot that the minion above him had died. The man walked a little closer and this was the first time he had ever taken the tine to listen to the man. "Going to make mommy proud. Going to make mommy proud." Hehehehehehe. Yeah, that is more than a little disturbing.

[Mad Man – Hidden Boss

HP 1000/1000

MP 5000/5000

Skills: ???

Spells: ???]

The info block did not tell him a lot but since he was not worried about the time he just waited until the man was where he wanted him to be. He used the same technique and got an arrow ready to fire before he went in. But this time he did not bother with a second arrow, the room was too small for him to be able to fire two in such a short amount of time. But since that was the case, he took his time to aim as best he could and held it until he was positive about his shot. He released the arrow and it slammed right into the back of the man.

[-288 critical hit, sneak attack]

Vindictus was surprised by the number that popped up. This should have been close to 600 damage with both of those multipliers. This was an insane defense that even Vindictus had underestimated. But he did not stand around the think about it, he had already started moving towards the table that held the glass that he was looking for as well as a place for the statue he was supposed to deliver. He felt the magical energy building behind him and looked over his shoulder to time his dodge. The second problem with this fight was the most to the AoE spells that the mage had in his arsenal would cover most of the room.

Vindictus knew that the fireball would cover everywhere but one specific point, he just had to get there in time. It was flying through the air towards him when he baseball slid under the table that held the cup. He still took some damage as the fire rolled under the table with him but it was limited in this area.

[-76]

Even with the limited damage and the magical damage resistance it still took a third of his health. Vindictus rolled out behind the table and pulled out a holy water and healing potion. He poured both of them in the cup on the table and smoke started to stream out like a huge fire was in the cup. The man across the room started screaming in pain. Vindictus picked his bow back up and took aim. As long as he could keep the table between him and the mad man, he had a chance. This was the only advantage that a single player had over a group of players. The second arrow hit the screaming man and the damage was where Vindictus expected it to be. The cup was protecting the mage. It not only provided him with a defense bonus but could also provide healing if he was within range of the cup. But now that he used the two potions to disrupt the negative energy from the cup, he had a lot higher chance of success.

Was he playing dirty? Yes, but it was not his fault that they made a mistake in the design of the game. Well, it was not really a mistake it was intentionally designed that way to give a few smart, independent players a chance to close the distance to the guild players. He just happened to know about it and use it a lot sooner than regular players. He would give it a couple of weeks and then share, well sell, the strategy on the forum. But he could worry about that later and right now he had to kill the mad man.

After three more arrows the man's health bar dropped to the ten percent range and he stopped carrying about the goblet on the table and started throwing more spells at him. They were all direct spells and not AoE so they were harder to dodge but did not do as much damage so Vindictus did not give up his position. It the man got him far enough away and dumped the potions he would be in real trouble. He saw the ice bolt forming and was about to draw another and reached down and realized that he was out of the fire arrows, in fact he lost count and his quiver was empty. He quickly switched out the one on his back for the one in his inventory but it was not fast enough.

Vindictus turned so that the ice bolt would hit him in the back instead of the chest as he tired, to move out of the way. The bolt did not hit him right in the back as he was moving but it still tore the side of his chest open. Vindictus grunted in pain but by this time he had a new arrow on his bow and started firing. He was injured and it threw his aim off a little but he activated his Power Shot and sent two arrows at the man. With a final scream of disbelief, the man dropped to the ground dead. Vindictus quickly moved the goblet out of the middle of the table and put the statue in its place. The body that appeared to be dead let out another ear-splitting scream and dissolved at the same time as the goblet dissolved.

As the body of the man mad dissolved a chest appeared in his place. Normally a player would have to loot the body but this one was special and while almost all the chests in the game had metals describing them, when a boss dropped one it would always be wooden but it would not affect the contents of the chest. This one did not have a timer and opened right up. Vindictus was even more amazed when he saw everything that was in the chest. A blue ring caught his attention quicker than any other item and he quickly tried to figure out what it was.

[Lady Lucks Lover – Rare

This ring adds +5 to the luck of the wearer at all times.

Lover's Embrace – when activated for the next five minutes it will double the luck of the wearer if they are by themselves, if part of a party luck will only increase by 50%. This skill has a two-hour cooldown.]

[Night Weaver Bracers - Rare

Physical Defense +25

Magical Defense +25

Agility +1

Dexterity +1

Night Vision – provides user with night vision as the skill

Part 2/5 Night Weaver Set – bonus abilities after three or more pieces are worn.]

Vindictus was ecstatic that he got a second piece of the Night Weaver set. He would have to run the dungeon a few more times and see if he could get the rest of the set. The boots that he had were great but the Night Weaver boots granted trackless step. He thought it would come in handy. As he pulled out a few potions and books he saw what he was hoping for the most. There were recipes and formula's that he really wanted. There were also the materials that he needed to craft all of them a few times, the holy basil was the hardest one to find since it was rarely found outside of the church's garden.

Once he had everything, he grabbed the water and a pile of the minerals from the side of the pool and then activated the array that lit up in the room that would take him to the start of the dungeon. As soon as he was outside the notification popped up in his vision.

[You have cleared the Dean Family Crypt on hard mode would you like to announce this achievement to the world?

Yes/No]

[You have cleared the Dean Family Crypt in the fastest time in hard mode, would you like to announce this to the world?

[Yes/No]

[You have cleared the Mad Man's Lair Hidden Dungeon on hard mode, would you like to announce this to the world?

[Yes/No]

Vindictus quickly selected no to all of them.

[Congratulations to player ***** for the first clear of the Dean Family Crypt Dungeon on hard mode. For this achievement they will receive 10 gold coins, +1000 reputation in the region, +100 reputation in the world.] This repeated three times before the second one started.

[Congratulations to player ***** for the fastest clear of the Dean Family Crypt Dungeon on hard mode in a time of 2:28:37. For this achievement they will receive 10 gold coins, +1000 reputation in the region, +100 reputation in the world.] This one also repeated three times.

[Congratulations to player ***** for the first clear of the hidden dungeon Mad Man's Lair in hard more. For this achievement they will receive 50 gold coins, +5000 reputation in the region, +500 reputation in the world.]

After this one repeated three times Vindictus knew that he would have to be really careful or someone would come looking for him. That was a lot of gold and most people were still dealing in silver. But first he still had two missions to finish.