Chapter 140. Blood Chapel
Michael realized that he rushed too much. That was also the reason for his severed arm in the fight against Kauller.
Overall, the Elite was weaker than the Khazra Abomination. So how could he lose an arm to it if the Boss didn't push him that far?
[Leaving already? I'm hoping you're not running away.](Oleth)
"Don't tease me, Miss Oleth... I need to clear one more Dungeon for another Quest. I'll return after that. As for your... interest in me. As much as I am flattered, I would prefer to live to see the next sunrise. If Helen finds out I cheated on her, I'm afraid we'll both suffer."
[Helen? From Kyovashad?](Oleth)
"Mhm. You seem to know each other."
[Of course. Great woman and an even greater warrior. Tsk, tsk, tsk! She got herself a good man. Well, if things fall through with her, you know where to find me.](Oleth)
Watching the woman leaving as she was seductively shaking her hips, Michael swallowed his saliva and nudged his horse forward reluctantly.
The horse seemed to mock him through its snorts, but the Necromancer paid no attention to it. He valued his status as a man. If he fucked up, even if Helen forgave him, Aylin and the other girls wouldn't.
Ignoring all the monsters he saw in the wilderness as he had his horse accelerate when they were in sight, Michael reached the Monastery in less than half an hour.
"Tsk! So many goddamn monsters... *Sigh* Back here, huh?"
Looking at open gates, he dismounted and unsummoned his horse. Calmly walking forward, he nodded in the direction of the building, even if nobody was there.
Then, turning to the right, he took a path that apparently led to a cold storage room.
Seeing the film covering the entrance and the wide open doors, Michael took out another Third Eye Elixir and downed it.
[ Dungeon Quest issued - Sanguine Chapel
Objective: Return the Mechanical Box to the Pedestal. ]
The insides looked similar to the main building he visited yesterday, but the presence of Bloated Corpses, Shambling Corpses, and Ghouls said otherwise.
As he traveled forward, he found the door closed and the two Pedestals. Taking the left path first, he found a shrine of Inarius, which he wanted to activate, only to find it corrupted.
[ Dungeon Event joined - Corrupted Shrine
Objective: Survive for five minutes.
Mastery: Defeat five waves of enemies in the allotted time (0/5). ]
It wasn't hard dealing with all the demons summoned, but it was a pain in the ass that his inventory was now full.
Using his fast travel, he opened a portal back to the Bear Tribe.
As long as he didn't leave the outpost, he could travel between the two locations without having to worry.
Seeing him return so fast, Oleth eyed him suspiciously but quickly brought him to Grethe, the local Blacksmith
37 Iron Chunks, 6 Silver Ores, 15 Rawhides, 12 Superior Leather, and 21 Veiled Crystals. And that was after adding the two Veiled Crystals from the Salvaged Cache and the 8 Superior leathers from the Leather Cache.
Obviously, he only got rid of the Magic and Rare items.
Upon returning hurriedly to the Dungeon, he continued his search for the Mechanical Box and finally found it. Though, it was very well guarded.
[New blood! The Bishop will be most pleased!](?)
As creepy and disgusting as the voice was, seeing the room with three Elites was even worse.
[ Sobek (Elite) - Level 40
*Teleporter: Teleport randomly in a 15-meter radius range to avoid taking damage.
*Vampiric: Each successful hit on an enemy heals you for 60% of the damage dealt.
*Suppressor: Create a five-meter range force field that blocks the use of spells and prevents ranged attacks. ]
[ Pharakis (Elite) - Level 40
*Terryfing: Summons three spell circles on the ground. Targets affected by it would fall into 'Terrified' status. Targets inflicted with Terrifying would become 'Vulnerable' for three seconds.
*Summoner: Creates four summoning circles through which demonic creatures can be called upon every 3 minutes. ]
[ Exploding Bloated Corpse (Elite) - Level 40
*Explosive: Explosions send shockwaves around the creature afflicted with this modifier, dealing 350 damage to its surroundings. ]
The disgusting combo of a melee Elite with a Suppressor Modifier and a ranged Elite attacking from behind it finally appeared.
Also, as if to prove the 'theme' of the Dungeon, Sobek was a Revenant, while Pharakis was a Blood Mage. Hearing the latter mention the Blood Bishop, he knew that was probably the name of the Boss.
Sighing, he engaged the Elite trio, and after having his Golem killed twice, and his minions decimated multiple times, he was finally able to collect the first Mechanical Box and some nice items.
Among them was a strange ledger called 'Bill of Mortality.'
[ Bill of Mortality: In the year of the Light 1318 Anno Kehjistani, we have buried 92 souls on these hallowed grounds.
Abortive and Stillborn: 7; Bleeding wounds: 4; Childbed: 2; Executed: 15; Frostbiten: 6; Old Age: 1; Removal of Blood: 54; Starvation: 3. ]
Appaled at the numbers and the words in the booklet, Michael threw it in his inventory and planned to show it to Prava later, if the girls in the Pink Palace approved of the action.
'Still... more than 54 died because of blood removal. Fuck me sideways! Are there vampires in the Sanctuary? Like... the actual fanged creatures?'
Shuddering at the possibility, he quickly returned to the closed gate and placed the Mechanical Box on the first pedestal.
Continuing his search, he encountered a familiar event. A soul was sitting in the middle of the room as other ghosts appeared to feast on it.
[ Dungeon Event joined - Ravenous Soul
Objective: Survive five minutes while attacked by the waves of enemies.
Mastery: Feed the Ravenous Soul by killing enemies near it. ]
Rolling his eyes, he entered the room and decimated everything summoned. Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to feed the Ravenous Soul, so at the end of the five minutes, it simply dissipated while crying pitifully.
'I'm not mentally challenged, thank you very much! Why the hell would I create another Unique Elite by feeding you souls? I'd rather get my money and get the hell out.'
Opening the Resplendent Chest, he grinned after noticing his level up to 36 and grabbed another 10 Obols from inside.
A Legendary Necklace dropped as well, surprising Michael quite a bit. Giving it a quick look, he couldn't decide if it was better than his current one, so he threw it back in the inventory. He had plenty of time to decide on it later.
The second Mechanical Box was on the opposite side of the room where he found the first one, and another strong Unique Elite was guarding it.
[ Vadim (Elite) - Level 41
*Poison Enchanted: All attacks create a poison puddle on the ground. Enemies affected by poison are dealt 150 damage per second for a duration of 8 seconds.
*Vampiric: Each successful hit on an enemy heals you for 60% of the damage dealt.
*Plaguebearer: Upon death, it detonates its body and soul to deal 800 fixed damage, as well as 150 Poison damage per second, for a duration of 5 seconds. ]
Initially surprised to find the Elite alone, Michael realized why he didn't need any minions or allies after getting his minions shredded.
As overpowered as it was, it soon fell to the tons of skills and attacks piled up upon it.
Returning to the gate and placing down the second Mechanical Box, he could finally continue his travels deeper inside.
[ Dungeon Quest update - Sanguine Chapel
Objective: Travel to the Defiled Undercroft. ]
It was safe to say that after venturing deeper inside, the Quest updated again, asking him to kill all enemies in the Undercroft.
There was nothing complicated about it; he just had to travel around the place and ensure every last one was purged. Once that happened, the door leading to the Boss Room was open.
[ Blood Bishop (Boss) - Level 41 ]
Even if he couldn't see the Modifiers it had, Michael knew it had Vampiric. That was because even hitting his minions would significantly heal the Boss.
Furthermore, it would summon these weird blood blisters around the room, which, if left unchecked, would explode and deal ridiculous damage to him and his Skeletons.
The Golem was tanky, so it didn't care much, but the healing through each hit it took annoyed Michael greatly.
It wasn't wrong to say that the fight was simple but tedious. The Boss wasn't a major threat, but it was hard to take it down with its continuous lifesteal.
"At least it wasn't stingy. Ha! Haha! Hahaha!"
Executing the 'three steps evil laughter,' Michael danced crazily around the room.
If Inarius was somehow watching, it would've smitten the crazed before in a heartbeat for fear of him being infected by some demonic entity.
Looking at his current helm, Michael grinned and compared it to the Legendary one, which the Boss had just dropped.
[ Champion Sin
Rare Helm
361 Item Power
-----------------
451 Armor (+153 when compared to the currently equipped item)
* +6.5% Total Armor
* +3.0% Crowd Control Duration
* +34 Maximum Life
Empty Socket ]
[ Adventurer's Helm of Exploding Mist
Legendary Helm
432 Item Power
-----------------
540 Armor (+189 when compared to the currently equipped item)
* +16 Willpower
* +15 Life regeneration per second if not Damaged Recently
* +14% Cold Resistance
Legendary Aspect: Blood Mist triggers Corpse Explosion on surrounding Corpses. When Blood Mist detonates a Corpse, its cooldown is reduced by 0.2 seconds (Necromancer Only).
Empty Socket ]
Even if he lost some Armor, he immediately swapped helms. The new one was just... amazing!
Especially its Aspect! It could detonate Corpses through Blood Mist, and in doing so, it would reduce its own cooldown. Also, adding Decrepify to it and the fact that Blood Mist usually creates at least three more Corpses, Michael was grinning madly.
[ Class: High Necromancer
Attack Power: 583
Armor: 2,194
Life: 1230
--------------
Strength: 169
Intelligence: 221
Willpower: 212
Dexterity: 199 ]
His Armor didn't decrease too much, and his attributes rose instead. Not only that, but he could go to Helen's dad and replace one of the options on the helm, which he found useless.
It would cost... a lot! But if he could replace that Life regeneration with something more practical, he would take off!
Rushing back to the room where the portal to the Bear Tribe Refuge was still open, he quickly returned to civilization.
[It's you!](?)
Turning around and seeing the woman, Michael took out the Blood Chalice dropped after the Boss died and handed it over.
"I have the Red Chalice."
[Ah! Thank the fates that you live! I will destroy the Chalice, and with some luck, that'll be the end of it.](Sister Vera)
"I see..."
[Thank you for all you've done... but please, never speak of this again.](Vera)
Nodding at the woman, he watched her blend into the crowd of excited people. He made a mental note to tell Prava to keep an eye on the woman.
If that Blood Chalice was similar to the One Ring, it was better to have a 'Gandalf' keep an eye on her. After all, temptation could befall the clergy just as much as it would the common folk, as demonstrated by the Blood Chapel Dungeon.
[ Quest complete - Blood Sermon
Reward 1: 11,220 experience points
Reward 2: 1,850 gold coins
Reward 3: Murmuring Cache. ]
'Anyway, that's two more Dungeons down and 11 remaining. Now, what should I do about this celebration? I don't mind staying over and partying, but I don't want to risk falling into temptation myself...'
[Back already?](Oleth)
'Speak of the devil...'
"Miss Oleth. I just returned. I wanted to head back and take a bath and, if possible, invite some friends."
[Including Helen?](Oleth)
"*Ahem* Yes. Her and her sisters."
[Hehe! Sure, we don't mind. The more, the merrier. Plus, all those girls are gorgeous on their own. The men of the tribe will be happy to see them.](Oleth)
Beating a hasty retreat, Michael ran back to Kyovashad and found the girls. They all raised an eyebrow upon hearing what he managed to do in such a short time.
Even Helen and Aylin were face-palming, wondering how much of a ruckus he would continue to create under the Sanctuary's guidance.
Of course, none of the girls refused the invitation to join a 'party,' especially since Helen mentioned the drinks the Bear Tribe offered. It was a specialty of theirs and sweet enough to be enjoyable.
As they all rushed to prepare, Helen stood behind, touching his left arm.
"Don't be like that... it would be absurd to travel the Sanctuary while undergoing Preferential Treatment without sporting at least tens of injuries like that..."
[I know... You leveled up again.](Helen)
"Mhm. 36. Plus, I have four skill points to assign. After the fun, we can return home, and you'll help me decide what to do with them."
[Mhm.](Helen)
Kissing the smiling tigress, he couldn't help but admit that having someone who would worry about you was lovely.
Unexpectedly, his thoughts wandered to Neyrelle. That child was probably lost in grief and anger.
'I'll do what I can. Since I finished all the Side Quests I could in one go, I'll focus on some Dungeons tomorrow. Then, the day after, I'll search for Neyrelle. If all goes well, I should reach Level 40 after traveling the Black Lake and finding what Lilith has been doing there...'