Chapter 100. Exploration and more fights

Unfortunately, before he could act, the Earth Manipulator trapped him with walls at least three meters tall while the rest of the Elites and the monsters around them kept throwing ranged attacks.

To say that the demons were more intelligent now was an understatement, as their coordination and cunning were at a whole different level altogether.

Fortunately, he activated Blood Mist to advance, as arrows of light emerged from his bloody mist-like body and were expelled in all directions.

Both the walls and the enemies were damaged by more than 250 with each arrow, creating plenty of Corpses for Michael to use.

In the end, by the time the blessing ended, so did the life of the three Elites.

Grabbing the three Rare item boxes from the ground, Michael rushed through the next room, where he found a Warg Elite with the Teleportation modifier, which contributed another Rare item box.

Returning to the main hall where the Knight Hunters fell, he inspected his gains.

"75,006 gold coins, 7 Rare item boxes, 4 Magic item boxes, and probably most surprising and exciting, my experience is already at 53,716/82,940. It seems that with the Sanctuary removing the suppression placed on these monsters, I get a bigger portion of their soul. That means more experience. It seems like I was worried for nothing. Also... 75K gold coins! Damn, I feel rich!"

With his spirits lifted, Michael advanced further into the Dungeon once its objective was updated.

[ Dungeon Quest updated - Mercy's Reach

Quest's Objective: Travel to Unsanctified Reliquary. ]

As for what a 'reliquary' was, Michael had no clue, but it was probably a room of sorts.

"Let's keep going! Maybe I can level up soon!"

Walking for another fifteen minutes, the halls seem to bring him lower and lower into the ground. Finally, he reached his objective, therefore updating the Quest.

[ Dungeon Quest updated - Mercy's Reach

Quest's Objective: Return Mechanical Boxes to the Pedestal (0/2). ]

Michael stomped his way forward, annoyed at having to search randomly through many rooms again instead of just killing demons.

To his surprise, as he moved forward, the monsters changed once more, this time having to face the goatmen.

[ Wretched Ice Shaman (Elite) - Level 30

*Poison Enchanted: All attacks create a poison puddle on the ground. Enemies affected by poison are dealt 50 damage per second for a duration of 5 seconds. ]

[ Ice Clan Maraurder (Minion) - Level 30 ]

[ Ice Clan Impaler (Minion) - Level 30 ]

Michael wasn't mad at all, as the Elite added another two Rare item boxes to his growing collection, making him almost regret killing the good guy. Almost!

Finally, he reached the Unsanctified Reliquary, where a large door with a strange glowing seal stood quietly. In front of it were the two Pedestals mentioned by the Quest, but obviously, no damned Mechanical Boxes in sight.

There were only two roads to travel now, one straight ahead and one to the right. He picked the one to the right first.

Having to explore the Dungeon, Michael quickened his pace, wanting to get this over with faster.

At the end of the road, he had to face off against another three goatmen Elite. 

Two had the Frozen modifier, while the third was also an Earth Manipulator, making things rather difficult, as they were all ranged enemies.

In the end, using Bone Storm to deflect some ranged attacks, Michael finished the fight in under five minutes and found the first Mechanical Box in the middle of the room.

"Now that's one down. What the fuck is that!?"

[ Ice Clan Mauler (Minion) - Level 30 ]

"That's only a Minion!? It's over 3 meters tall, for crying out loud!"

After returning to the Unsanctified Reliquary and placing the first Mechanical Box on the Pedestal, a huge-ass goatmen charged him out of nowhere.

The giant axe in its hands was quite intimidating to face without a shield, making the young Necromancer run around the room while casting Reap and Corpse Explosion repeatedly.

Embarrassed at how flustered he acted, Michael decided to vent on the next Elites he would find on the last remaining road to take.

As expected, another three Elites waited for him; one was similar to the others carrying the Frozen modifier, while the other two were a Summoner and a Poison Enchanted.

Fortunately, halfway through the fight, he leveled up to 26, the damage dealt by the leveling up process finishing the fight for him.

If there was a problem, however, it was that his inventory was full to the brim, with no space left.

"Well... only the Boss Room left to check. Worst case, I throw away some Magic item boxes."

Hearing the wasteful words come out so smoothly out of his mouth made Michael click his tongue. He was now a wealthy Wanderer, with plenty of Rare items and even 75K gold coins as his possessions.

Returning the last Mechanical Box to the Pedestal, the seal on the door fell, and it now stood open.

[ Dungeon Quest updated - Mercy's Reach

Quest's Objective: Travel to the tomb of the Nameless Saint. ]

"Fuck. Judging by the name, it will be an annoyingly hard fight, won't it?"

And as expected, it was. The next room was a trap room, and he encountered yet another Event similar to the one he went through in the Tormented Ruins.

Ice Clan goatmen kept spawning from the ground, and two Elites out of the four he faced were Summoners, making the numbers he had to deal with even higher.

Finally, after ten minutes of intense fighting, he stood leaning on the walls, trying to catch his breath between curses.

"Another bullshit Dungeon! Fuck! I almost died there. Blood Mist was on cooldown, and one of the Elites had the Frozen, while the other had the Terrifying modifier. I got caught by their fucking combo. Shit! Doing this solo is super dangerous!"

With the high number of monsters he had to face, he lost sight of the spell diagrams on the ground, inflicting him with a Terrified status. 

After that, he simply ran into another diagram of the Frozen Elite... well... freezing him in the process.

Then, he had to stay still while enduring the ice on his body and take a beating from the monsters without being able to fight back.

Three spears pieced through his legs and chest, and one cut a portion of his neck, making him wonder how the hell he was still alive.

"Fuck! I turned into a game character. Not that it's a bad thing. A normal person would've died from such injuries..."

Highly annoyed and scared at the same time from the close encounter with death, Michael walked cautiously into the Boss Room.

Seeing the system identify the room as the Crypt of the Unsung gave him the heebie-jeebies. 

Unfortunately, he had yet to reach the Boss Room, as he had to go through another twenty minutes of walking and fighting with another fuckton of monsters.

He even happened upon another Event where the goatmen were worshiping a strange shrine that looked like an evil giant shit.

[ Dungeon Event issued - Shrine of Zagraal

Objective: Survive the enemy assault.

Mastery: Destroy the Corrupted Shrine. ]

Once more, Michael survived without any particular problems but could not destroy the shrine in time due to his low damage to buildings.

And this was after the upgrade gained through the Legendary Focus.

The Event ended, and he was awarded another Radiant Chest, besides the obvious gold and experience.

[ Dungeon Event completed - Shrine of Zagraal

Reward 1: 3780 experience points

Reward 2: 1,080 gold coins. ]

The chest held 10 Murmuring Obols, 3 Biteberries, and a Rare Chest Armor.

Once more, it wasn't an item box but rather the item itself. With pain in his heart, Michael threw a Magic item box on the ground and put the chest piece into his inventory.

Then, after pondering for a moment, he grabbed the magic box again and placed it into his pants pockets.

"Uhm... it works... it seems I can even carry it in my hands if needed. Hehe. Now, I don't have to throw things away. Hmm... I should carry a backpack with me from now on."

Inspecting the new Chest Armor he gained, Michael turned even happier.

[ Aegis Ire

Rare Chest Armor

286 Item Power

-----------------

500 Armor (+80 Armor when compared to the currently equipped item)

* +5 to All Stats

* +11.5% Lightning Resistance

* +7.0% Fire Resistance ]

Without hesitation, Michael equipped the new item, as it gave him more than the previous chest piece.

That's when he noticed a strange discrepancy.

[ Class: High Necromancer

Attack Power: 565

 Armor: 1125

 Life: 670

--------------

Strength: 108

Intelligence: 133

Willpower: 120

Dexterity: 137 ]

"Interesting. So I gain 50 points to my Life for each level-up and 7 points for each attribute? That's different from the 5 Helen mentioned. As expected, is it because of the Heart of the Forest Hoduin gave me? Helen said that it's a pretty rare item and one of the best things to gain as a newbie Wanderer. *Sigh* It seems like I need to thank Hoduin even more next time I see him."

Walking through the suddenly silent crypt, Michael focused on his surroundings. Reaching the Healing Well, he knew that straight ahead was the Boss Room.

Right next to it, there was a strange coffin marked by the system as a Quest objective.

"Let's see... Undisturbed Sarcophagus? There's a statue of a person lying on it. Man... something will come out of it, won't it?"

Cautiously touching the weird thing, Michael noticed that nothing was happening. He then decided to accept his inner grave-robber nature and thoroughly searched the damned thing.

As expected, he soon found the objective of his coming here.

"Hmm... this is the thingy? Not very impressive. I was expecting a much 'warmer' reception as well. Huh?" 

Before he realized it, Michael was surrounded by seven knights, all sporting similar equipment to what he saw the knights of the Church wear.

Among them was even an Elite staring furiously at him.

[ Brother Rith (Elite) - Level 31

*Explosive: Explosions send shockwaves around the creature afflicted with this modifier, dealing 350 damage to its surroundings

*Fire enchanted: All attacks deal an extra 100 Fire damage. ]

Seeing the ridiculous modifiers, Michael immediately went into action and activated his Bone Storm Ultimate, hoping to absorb some damage through it while also distancing himself from the sudden enemies.

Unfortunately for him, these creatures were the ghostly type and simply passed through it.

Making use of his other skills, including Reap, after taking three explosions to the face and almost dying twice, Michael finished the fight and grabbed the two Rare item boxes from the ground.

Stuffing two more Magic item boxes in his pockets, he walked to the Healing Well to replenish his empty potions. 

"Fuck! I might've died if not for the effect of my Legendary Aspect of my helm. I ended up using 9 Life Potions and barely survived. This... is truly annoying and dangerous. Especially with the healing delay..."

Looking at the Aspect on his helm, Michael patted it adoringly.

[ Legendary Aspect: Consuming a Corpse has a 22% chance to spawn a Blood Orb (Necromancer Only) ]

Each Blood Orb can be used to replenish a Life Potion. According to the young Necromancer's insight, it worked just like the regular liquid in the Healing Well, but it tasted worse.

Finally, after a break of fifteen minutes, when he had made sure everything was in order, Michael walked into the Boss Room.

He was nervous as it was the first Boss he would fight after his Class Awakening. Seeing the Elites become that intelligent and much stronger, he had scary expectations of the Bosses.

"To begin with, a Boss is a puppet imbued with the soul of a high-ranking devil noble. They are smarter than normal Elites. This means that I can expect a more diverse attacking pattern, as well as more skills and spells. *Sigh* Let's get this over with!"

As soon as he entered the room, he was greeted by the sight of a corpse over six meters tall, with a crown and a huge wizardry staff in his hands.

Floating quietly toward Michael, the Boss didn't roar or attack. It simply stood in the air, looking down at him calmly.

[ Tomb Lord (Boss) - Level 31 ]

With an introduction as good as not getting one, Michael cautiously advanced toward the creature. Just as he was five steps away from it, the Boss raised its staff and hit the ground with it.

Then, in quick succession, he repeated the gesture twice more.

"Hmm... with the first tap, he surrounded me with these strange wooden walls. Then, with the second... he summoned his 'minions,' huh? Skeleton Archers. Annoying!"

Calmly analyzing his situation, Michael decided to deal with the minions first. To his surprise, his Corpse Explosion skill also destroyed the wooden walls summoned by the Boss, slightly surprising him.

"That's not right... Wood shouldn't be affected by my Shadow damage. Something is definitely wrong with it, so let's add that to the list of things I need to wreck."

Fortunately, the Boss's attack pattern wasn't complex at all. It kept repeating the same moves, and Michael would deal with the summons, then deal damage to the Boss.

It was annoying that he couldn't stack Corpse Explosion damage since the Boss kept moving out of its radius, but it only meant a slower grind.

Until the Boss reached half its Life points and issued a strange shriek. Tapping the ground three times with its staff, the Boss surrounded itself with the same 'wooden' prison, stupefying the young Necromancer.

Then, he smashed the weapon at the ground once more, resulting in a terrifying explosion. The shockwave sent Michael flying, his Armor pierced through with many wooden splinters.

Even his Life points were now at 30/670.

"You've gotta be kidding me! Almost 650 damage using a party-wipe type skill!? This fucker thinks quite highly of me!"