Chapter 166. Anica's Claim
Inspecting his surroundings while having his minions advance, Michael nodded upon seeing the walls and the ground.
There were wooden tracks on the floor that could be used to pull carts easier, and the walls were 'sculpted' by villagers over time.
Lamps with burning oil repelled the darkness, placed every ten to fifteen meters apart.
There were scaffolds and makeshift ladders leading to the upper portions of the walls, but even after climbing them out of curiosity, nothing except some holes in the walls greeted him.
Leaving aside the typical 'architecture' of the mine, the Dungeon itself was 'decorated' with blood and skeletons of humans and monsters alike, probably courtesy of the devil in charge.
Trying to ignore the 'mounted' human bodies on wooden spikes that would make even Vlad the Impaler proud, the Necromancer calmly advanced through the Dungeon, searching for the first enemy.
After descending for a while, he finally found the expected goatmen, with the Marauders and Impalers at the forefront.
Killing them and advancing without interruption, Michael couldn't help but sigh in admiration at the sights surrounding him.
How this mine was arranged reminded him of the Mines of Moria from a particular movie, with cliff-like paths and the depths of the space around them leading into nothingness below.
Not long into his exploration, he found a door sealed with magical runes. In front of it was an urn he had seen plenty of times before, the object in which he would have to deposit the animus later on.
The first two Elites he encountered were also Animus Carriers. One was an Impaler with a Poison Enchanted modifier, while the other was a Maraurder with the Waller attribute.
Due to the large number of Minion-type goatmen around them, they quickly fell, and Michael collected the purple balls of animus as he moved forward.
The third Animus Carrier ambushed him alongside an Elite Impaler with the Shocking Lance modifier. The Animus Carrier was a melee monster with the Vampiric attribute, so it wasn't too hard to deal with once the protection bubble from his Legendary Aspect activated.
The fourth one was a Mage-type Elite with the Multishot and the new Crystal snowflakes modifier, but he also quickly fell to the abuse of his minions.
Probably hearing the commotion, the last Animus Carrier joined the fight, and upon its inevitable demise, the Necromancer finally collected all the needed animus.
[ Dungeon Quest update - Anica's Claim
Objective: Deposit Animus into the Animus Urn. ]
Muttering 'How concise' while kicking the Elite's corpse to the side and collecting his loot, Michael also found a blue, glowing book. The Sanctuary identified it as 'Abandoned Journal.'
With his newfound knowledge of the language normally written in this world, Michael could finally read more than what the Sanctuary fed him. Still, the book was heavily damaged, and only some pages were clear enough to understand the words on them.
[Mother Anica says the Light delivered us to these mines. She says... she says we were sent to do good work, to deliver good materials to the fine folk at Kor Valar. She says it's part of the Father's grand design.]
'How laughable... exploiting people's faith for labor. And with such pitiful reasoning. It's a wonder Inarius has any believers to begin with...'
[*Sigh* I'm faithful, truly I am. But to say this is the Father's work? Oh ho, I hear strange noises. I catch whiffs of a foul odor. And the structures? We've found sharp wooden poles scattered throughout the tunnels. Obviously handmade, but not by us. Who made them? Hmm? Why? And what is this place exactly?]
Closing the journal and planning to bring it to Helen's ever-growing stash of strange notes found in the Dungeons, Michael speculated that the Cathedral had a hand in making this Dungeon 'unique.'
How? He didn't know. But the church led people to mine inside it after it became a Dungeon, and people obviously didn't know about it, given the nature of the words written in the journal.
He wondered about the price they had to pay to create the safe passage needed to mine the materials for Kor Valar's fort. Was the Sanctuary involved? Or was it something Inarius helped with, just like the Training Grounds Dungeon?
Returning to the sealed door, Michael pressed his hand on the urn and deposited all the accumulated animus from his inventory into it. He couldn't see it before and thought that it was his body that sucked those purple balls in, but they were actually sent into the system's space.
[ Dungeon Quest update - Anica's Claim
Objective: Travel to the Tunnels of Zagraal. ]
With the Quest updated, he continued his exploration. He found a group of five militia wounded inside the Dungeon, and an Event popped up because of them.
Having to save them and keep them alive while killing at least five waves of enemies, the Necromancer succeeded and gained a Resplendent Chest as a reward, besides the usual experience and gold coins.
He was happy to gain some rare item boxes, as well as 18 Murmuring Obols, bringing his stash up to 488/515.
Walking deeper inside the mines, he finally found the Ancient Statue he had to return to the pedestal according to his updated Dungeon Quest once he reached the Tunnels of Zagraal. Furthermore, the undead joined the fray and teamed up with the goatmen, hoping to get rid of the invading Necromancer.
Unfortunately for them, they all fell in quick succession, and the door leading to the Boss Room was unsealed after placing the statue in its rightful place.
[ Dungeon Quest update - Anica's Claim
Objective: Interact with the Frozen Heart of Zagraal. ]
"..."
Speechless, he stood in front of an amalgamation of pulsing flesh trapped between ice crystals reaching the ceiling of the Dungeon.
Taking a deep breath, he willed some Essence into his eyes, and his field of view changed once more. Unsurprisingly, the amalgamation of flesh was emitting a foul energy, dark red in color.
As for the crystals imprisoning it, they continuously absorbed the dark-red energy, attempting to weaken whatever the demon was.
When Michael closed in on it, thirty undead popped up trying to defend the 'heart' but were quickly dispatched.
Strangely, what came out of the heart wasn't a Boss-level creature but an Elite.
[ Shatterhorn, Heart of Zagraal (Elite) - Level 50
*Cold Enchanted: All attacks deal an extra 150 Cold damage.
*Chilling Wind: Summons a wall of wind to block all ranged attacks.
*Frozen: Summons three balls of frost. Upon explosion, they freeze and deal 250 fixed damage in a five-meter radius. ]
The Elite fell anticlimactically to the ground without putting up too much of a fight, puzzling the Necromancer greatly.
However, upon further inspection of the dead Shatterhorn, he realized the uncanny resemblance between it and the Champion he put down during the Stronghold Event.
'Could it be that the Champion came from this Dungeon instead of the Rimescar Cavern? Seeing how they are both filled with goatmen, could it possibly be that the devil behind the scenes owns both locations? Or did the two devils work together to destroy Malnok or inflict as much damage as possible and gain the souls of the slain?'
Seeing that he lacked too much intel about these two Dungeons, Michael returned to the entrance and found a group of twenty or so Wanderers looking curiously at him.
Scratching his head and realizing who they were, he politely nodded and explained the situation.
Upon hearing and confirming that the Dungeon hadn't changed, the five gathered parties breathed a sigh of relief. Furthermore, upon hearing that the Boss was downgraded to an Elite, they all barbarically rushed to clear the Dungeon as much as they could.
The contact from Menestad, who came with the five parties, explained that they would be rewarded heavily if they cleared the Dungeon to the point of 'weakness' as he called it.
'A period of weakness for the Dungeon means that it will be inactive for at least a week, during which time the villagers of Malnok could mine fearlessly, even in the Boss Room, without worrying about being attacked. Hmm... does this mean that whatever plan the devil behind the goatmen had used all its resources on this invasion, and I fucked it up for him?'
Laughing proudly, he found the armor shop and sold most of his items at a discounted price to help the local industry.
Still, he gained 276,112 gold coins after the sale, bringing him close to his goal of one million again.
'Unfortunately, due to the resources the devil spent on invading the Sanctuary, I didn't gain any Legendary items. As of right now, I have three of them in my inventory. Two are from the Champion, and one from the Ritual Overseer Mage I killed. A ring and two amulets.'
The amulets were decent but weren't worth swapping the current one he had. The ring was better than his useless Legendary ring, though.
[ Band of Empowering Reaper
Legendary Ring
452 Item Power
-----------------
* +3.1% Resistance to All Elements
* +3.1% Poison Resistance
------------------
* +8.5% Damage to Distant Enemies
* +1.8% Critical Strike Chance
* +8.5% Damage to Stunned Enemies
* +2.8% Lucky Hit Chance
Legendary Aspect: Damaging enemies with Sever has a 12% chance to spawn a pool of Blight under the target that deals 48% bonus damage. This effect can only happen once every 3 seconds (Necromancer only).
+125 Armor (Chipped Skull slotted) ]
[ Rapid Band
Legendary Ring
520 Item Power
-----------------
* +3.6% Resistance to All Elements
* +3.6% Lightning Resistance
------------------
* +10.0% Shadow Damage
* +5.5% Damage over Time
* +13.0% Damage to Injured Enemies
* +13.0% Maximum Minion Life
Legendary Aspect: Basic Skills gain +25% Attack Speed.
Empty Socket ]
Compared to his currently equipped Band of Empowering Reaper, the Rapid Band was better in terms of overall attributes.
Especially upon seeing the increased Shadow and Damage over Time, his main source of overall damage in fights.
'The Aspect is lacking, and I cannot temporarily replace it with anything good. But that's not an issue. The Aspect on the Band of Empowering Reaper is just as bad, so I can get rid of it.'
Michael swapped the items and found the local Blacksmith, salvaging the other three unnecessary Legendary items.
He gained 5 Iron Chunks, 3 Silver Ores, and 3 Abstruse Sigils.
The Blacksmith also helped him recover the Chipped Skull, which he then socketed in the new ring, making sure he didn't lose any Armor.
Not only that, but the only Rare item he kept could also replace the only Rare item piece in his possession. The chest armor.
[ Virtue's Favor
Rare Chest Armor
422 Item Power
-----------------
738 Armor
* +13 Intelligence
* +4.5% Blood Skill Damage
* +8.0% Lightning Resistance
+2.5% Maximum Life (Chipped Ruby slotted)
+2.5% Maximum Life (Chipped Ruby slotted) ]
Fortunately, the new piece was much better overall in terms of what he had to gain from it.
So he salvaged the old one and slotted the Chipped Rubbies into the new piece.
[ The Sight
Rare Chest Armor
522 Item Power
-----------------
738 Armor
* +10.0% Ultimate Skill Damage
* +6.5% Darkness Skill Damage
* +134 Maximum Life
+2.5% Maximum Life (Chipped Ruby slotted)
+2.5% Maximum Life (Chipped Ruby slotted) ]
His Armor and Life Points increased, ensuring that the Necromancer would have a bigger chance of surviving the next deadly encounter the Sanctuary would throw at him.
Knowing it was already 1 PM, Michael hurriedly located the location of the Rimescar Cavern, prepared to find the Hammer of the Champion and complete his last Side Quest handed by the people of Bear Tribe.
After that, there was one Dungeon left to clear in Fractured Peaks, and he would finally reach his goal of 25.
'*Sigh* I'm slightly worried about following Lilith's trail tomorrow. Something tells me things will end up pretty shitty.'
As the name implied, he found the entrance to the cavern and prepared to enter the second Dungeon of the day.
'Knowing how things usually play, I will have a harder time fighting in this Dungeon thanks to the Side Quest. That, fortunately, means more items and gold, though, so I can't complain too much.'
Stepping through the film, he found himself in yet another frozen cave. The Sanctuary dubbed the place Impaler's Delve, earning another annoyed grunt from the Necromancer.
[ Dungeon Quest issued - Rimescar Caver
Objective: Destroy the Sacrificial Flesh. ]
[ Side Quest update - Hammer of the Champion
Objective: Recover the Grizzly's Maul. ]
Shrugging, he directed his minions forward, prepared to explore this Dungeon fully.
"I'm curious what types of monsters I'll find here."