33 Grotto of Red Cats Dungeon
Knowing that his target is inside the Grotto of Red Cats dungeon, things become easier.
Although he already prepared himself to kill DollBill04 silently through the use of the skills in his arsenal, which is quite possible since it's night already, it seems there was no need as his target voluntarily enters a dungeon.
Nothing inside the dungeon could be traced back outside, anything can happen inside.
It's definitely going to be a walk in the park if it's inside a dungeon like this.
Moreover, Blake could enter the dungeon without much preparation. Compared to the regular adventurers that need to prepare themselves to enter the dungeon by buying numerous elixirs that will boost their stats or regenerate their HP and MP, he didn't need to do all of that.
Equipped with nothing but his equipment, he could enter without buying such elixirs.
As a Spectral Vampire, he could refill his HP by drinking blood. Additionally, he also doesn't need MP potions since he has the Proxy of Blood skill under his belt, he's entirely self-sufficient without the need for external items.
In a way, his build is vitality-based build, relying mostly on HP.
Not even focusing on his vitality stat, it still retains the number one highest raw stat in his arsenal due to the fact that it increases by a whopping ten points each time he leveled up which is a lot.
Many would be envious of his abilities as the cost of buying elixirs is not a joke.
But then again, that's just one of the benefits of having an EX-grade race. There will always be natural advantages that come along with such a race compared to other players. Blake is basically a juiced-up newbie at this point.
Striding through the crowds, he then reaches the mouth of the huge portal.
Paying attention to his surroundings, he recognized the procedure for entering the dungeon. One needs to pay the entrance fee to the person in charge, it's probably one of the city's sources of income.
After buying the entry permit for 5 gold coins, he strides into the portal.
Then suddenly, he hits an invisible wall.
Thud!
Blake rubbed his throbbing nose that hits the invisible wall that prevents him from entering the dungeon, he wasn't aware that there was an invisible wall separating the portal, "What the heck was that? Why can't I enter the dungeon?" he mused to himself.
It was then, a simple system prompt appeared in his vision.
[Please fulfill the requirement in order to enter Grotto of Red Cats Dungeon!]
-> Above level 20
-> Part of a party of five members
At the sight of the system prompt, Blake couldn't help but click his tongue in displeasure.
He would need to fulfill the requirement first before he could enter the dungeon, and this is going to be a problem for him. Inside this city, he doesn't know anyone that could help him fit the quota.
Moreover, there are no players around, only NPCs.
It seems for whatever reason, he was away from the other millions of players.
Conversely, he was quite far away from the novice cities for players. It's not a shock to find so few players here. In fact, he was surprised to see that the DollBill04 can even reach here.
'Should I just join a random party? I bet some still short 1 damage dealer' Blake thought.
Pondering for a second, he decided that he would try.
Deciding that he would search for a party that still has less than five members, Blake was surprised when he found a familiar face approaching him from amidst the crowd with a huge smile on his face.
It was Issaiah, and he was followed by three other adventurers behind him.
Each of the three adventurers behind him wears a similar green attire, and there's an emblem or badge shaped like a shield on their chests, showing that they are a part of the same guild. The Arcane Knights Guild.
"Hello there, are you also going into the dungeon?" Issaiah asked with a smile.
Upon looking at him, Blake then asked straight to the point, "Were you following me?"
Issaiah's smile froze for a second before it turned guilty, he doesn't have any intention to lie and nodded his head, "I already told you earlier that I'm going to compensate you for the trouble, and if you're planning to enter the dungeon then I could help you with that. I hope you don't take offense to this"
Knowing how strong Blake really is, he tries to keep to his good side.
Looking over to the other members behind Issaiah, Blake raises his eyebrows finding that none of them seems to be a Tank. In a good party synergy, there should be one tank, two damage dealers, a buffer, and a healer minimum.
Out of three, none of them looked robust and could take a hit.
"None of them seems like a tank, how can we go inside without a tank?" Blake asked.
Fearing that he would be asked this question, Issaiah can only smile wryly as he was in a hurry earlier and couldn't form an appropriate team to be here, "A-A tank? Ah, yes... about that... We could still go inside the dungeon as long as there are five members"
"Just forget about it, we might die" A man wielding two scimitars commented.
Issaiah turns to look at the man with beads of cold sweat drizzling down the side of his face/
Facing the man wielding two scimitars, his smile then contorted, warning the man to play along and be optimistic, "O-Of course not, we've raided the dungeon without a Tank before so we should be fine if we trot carefully. It's going to be alright"
"No matter, I could act as a Tank. I appreciate your help" Blake replied nonchalantly.
At this moment, he has one job, and that is to kill DollBill04.
Despite his interest in the dungeon as he would definitely give some time to grind in there to increase his level further and possibly get better equipment, he needs to focus on one thing before he could rent a room to log out and get a proper rest.
Looking at Blake's nonchalant manner, the other three adventurers frown.
"Who is he anyway? Why are we here to help him fit the quota?" the man with the scimitars whispered to Issaiah curiously, there's no need for them to risk their lives entering the dungeon with a party member that they didn't know.
But Issaiah quickly replied, "If we play it right, then we might be able to recruit him!"
"Maybe you think little of him due to his appearance, however, he defeated Axel from the Blue Tiger Guild and even has access to shadow spells! Just trust me on this, we're not going to lose out if we are good to him" he added before Issaiahn quickly ran after Blake who is already trotting away.
A moment later, the party of five eventually enters the portal.
Upon entering the dungeon Blake could feel a cooling breeze brushing against his skin, and although his eyes can't see anything, he could feel through his senses that he was moving into a different terrain than the city of Carymount.
It was when his vision came back that he now can see where he was.
Like the name of the dungeon, he seems to be inside a Grotto, a cavern-like structure with rock formations jutting from the ground as well as the ceiling which is not very tall. A damp air filled the place, yet it increasingly becomes hotter.
Glancing to his left, Blake finds the source of the heat that filled the air.
Blake expected there to be a hot or cooler pool inside the dungeon, but turns out it was not a pool filled with water, but lava instead. The lava bubbles on its own, without any outside input except for the heat of the earth's core.
If it weren't for the lava, the dungeon would probably be quite dark.
Knowing that they were in the territory of danger, Issaiah as well as the three other adventurers sticks close and gets into a formation while Blake is scanning the place with his eyes that can pierce through the darkness.
At the far distance, they could already hear the menacing growl and sounds of fighting.
"Watch out, from the right!"
One of the adventurers shouted when he saw a cat-like creature the size of a dog with a body burning with flames emerging from the rocks, its blazing eyes landed on the group before it shows immediate aggression.
Roar!
Following that warning roar, more of the same creatures came out.
[Flalynx]
Level: 20
Grade: Uncommon
HP: 14,500 / 14,500
Skill:
Flame Body - Possess a body blazing with a flame that burns anything that touches it.
Laser Charge - Charge at an enemy with a 50% increase in agility and causes an explosion that can deal high magical damage.
Upon seeing the information about the cat-like creatures that should be a burning Lynx, Blake finds them weaker than the Brown Iron-skin Bear, 'But the problem is, there are about a dozen of them...'
In a second, the first Flalynx roared again before all of them charges forward.
Despite their bodies already burning with hot flames, the flames grew even bigger as they charge forward, using their Laser Charge skill in order to take down Blake and the others with one wave of attack.
Looking at them charging, Issaiah and the other adventurers get readies to use their skills.
Just as they were about to clash with the wave of Flalynx threatening to explode them all to smithereens, Blake dashed from the side before he jumped. While he was in the air, he glanced at Issaiah.
"Issaiah! Lend me your sword!"
Issaiah snapped out of his daze and quickly threw his sword at Blake.
Since his sword was taken by the guards and he didn't want to buy a weapon just to enter the dungeon as he was perfectly capable of fighting unarmed, he decided to borrow Issaiah's sword for once.
Following that, the muscles in his arms bulged as he cast his strongest Gladiator Class skill.
"Colossal Slam!"
Boom!!
Under the might of his strength, he managed to explode the ground and destroy the Flalynx formation of attack, flinging them to other directions before they could finish their Laser Charge skill.
But some of them resist, and charge at Blake instead.
However, Blake was too fast for them and didn't need tot think twice to cast Shadow Step.
Avoiding their charges easily, the Flalynx that missed exploded yet Blake didn't get hit at all before he reappeared behind like a shadow. Clenching the hilt of the sword tightly, he did a horizontal cleave.
Swish!
In an instant, he managed to decapitate three Flalynxs with one strike.
[Level 20 Flalynx killed!]
[Level 22 Flalynx killed!]
[Level 19...]
Finding that Blake was able to single-handedly destroy the Flalynx formation as well as kill three of them in a few seconds, the other adventurers gasped as this is the first time they saw a shadow user in the flesh.
Now they could confirm that the rumor is true, shadow users are quite terrifying.
"Where the heck did Issaiah find this guy...?"
