Ereban's Lab (2)

After a few hours, they finally reached the fourth floor.

In the rooms of each floor, they found similar chimeras, gaining a total of 40 Rank 2 Beast Cores and 40 Rank 3 Beast Cores. All of them were of the same type of amalgamation of different Beast Cores.

The boss of the second floor was a lion with an emerald snake for a tail, a Rank 3 Alpha Monster. And the boss from the third floor was a massive bat that was at least 15 meters in length, a Rank 4 Alpha Monster. 

Viel still couldn't believe how they killed it. 

Thanks to the set of abilities from Bael, the bat attacks were nearly ineffective and due to Ferto being an armour with very high defense, he could resist its blood-sucking attacks.

Also, thanks to Viel's Toxic Blood [Ex] and his Blood Tattoo trait, Behemoth Skin, he was able to resist the bat attacks and even injure it when it tried to suck his blood.

Following the logic of the previous floors, where he would find 40 Rank 4 Monsters and a Rank 5 Alpha Monster. 

He tried to use Blessing of the OGH [???] on the monsters of the second floor, but it was impossible. 

Viel doesn't know if he will be able to finish this floor. Even if he was able to kill all the 40 Rank 4 Monsters, it would be impossible to kill a Rank 5 Alpha Monster.

He summoned Jör and told him to enter the first room. Who knows what Ereban may have put in there.

This time, he connected his view with Jör so he could see what there was.

Jör trespassed the wall and entered the room unnoticed. There was a new type of monster, different from the rest. they still were chimeras, but they were different. they were humanoid.

They seemed like a mix between a human and different beasts.

If they were Rank 4 Monsters, they should have been created from at least a Grade B Apostle.

'Jör, get out of there.' Viel commanded.

"If they were made from an Apostle, the probability of every one of them having a variety of skills is very high. This is going to be very difficult, I am going to need the help of Lux.

Viel left Ferto and Jör there to keep an eye on the rooms and left to the base floor with Bael.

"Lux! Lux!" Viel called for Lux.

"...aH! ..aAH! AAHHHH!" 

Viel started hearing something. When he found the source of the noise, he saw his little brother running for his life from a ghost.

"Big bro! RUN! RUN!" Lux shouted.

"Why?" Viel asked confused.

"It's a Rank 3 Alpha Monster!"

"And?" 

Lux abruptly stopped running and looked at Viel.

"What? It's a Rank 3 Alpha Monster. Even with all of our summons, it will be almost impossible to kill." 

"I will show you something," Viel said.

"Although it will be difficult with only you, you have just the right set of skills to kill it," Viel stated. "Bael, kill it."

Thanks to Bael's Soul Drain and Dark Resilience, he was able to inflict damage on a ghost and be nearly immune to his necrotic attacks.

After a short fight, the only thing left of the ghost was a sticky slime and a black Rank 2 Alpha Beast Core.

"Brother! How did you do it?!" Lux asked excitedly.

"It's just that your big brother is special," Viel replied playfully.

"Anyway, how did you encounter a Rank 3 Alpha Monster? This floor should be more secure than that."

"I find it guarding a door. When I found out its strength and prepared to run away, it sensed me and started coming for me." Lux explained.

"Let's see what it was guarding." Viel declared.

They both went to the door that the monster was guarding. When they entered the room, they found a black obsidian fountain pouring some sort of liquid that emanated a miasma. On top of it, a black skull was floating.

When they approached it, they started hearing agonized and haunting screams. The screams were coming from the thousands of pained souls being carried over by the liquid.

"Lux. I think this is where Ereban stored the souls for his experiments."

"I think so too," Lux replied.

Viel tried to appraise it, but he couldn't.

< The rank of the designated object is too high. >

< To appraise it, you need to be the owner. >

'I think I have an idea.' Viel thought.

"Lux, do you mind if I keep it?" 

"Of course not," Lux answered. "Thanks to you I have come here and got a bunch of Beast Cores. Even a Skill Book."

"Ok, Lil' Bro. Be careful. I don't know what could happen."

'Steal.' Viel said in his mind.

< Do you want to steal the 'Obsidian Soulfont, Ephemeral Abyss'? >

< Yes/No >

'Yes.'

A bright light started coming out from the fountain.

< The 'Obsidian Soulfont, Ephemeral Abyss' will be linked and stored in your soul. >

< Due to the difference in rank, some of its functions will be sealed. >

—--

< Obsidian Soulfont, Ephemeral Abyss >

Rarity: Demigod

Abilities:

– Soul Harvest (Passive): The fountain perpetually draws in the souls of the departed, collecting them within its obsidian depths.

– Death Elixir Conversion: Using the accumulated souls, the Obsidian Soulfont can transmute them into a potent Death Elixir, a pitch-black liquid teeming with spectral energy.

– Eternal Reservoir: The fountain has an infinite capacity to store souls, allowing it to amass an ever-growing reservoir of spiritual energy.

– Souls: 6969 (Locked)

—--

"Big brother! Are you okay?" Lux asked worried. "The fountain started shining and then it fused with you."

"Yes, I am fine. Now it is with me."

'What if I use Ephemeral Abyss' ability to create Death Elixir and my ability to create souls?'

Viel used one of the Rank 3 Beast Cores from the dessert monsters to create a soul. The skill Soul Creation [Ex] didn't let him use a soul of a rank higher than his, except on special occasions, but he was able to create souls of any rank if he could subdue them to store them.

Thanks to his Soul stat, Viel easily subdued the soul of a Sand Beetle. Although its physical prowess may be a little high, its willpower was very low; thus his soul was relatively weak, unlike Ferto's.

Viel then stored the newly created soul in Ephemeral Abyss.

—--

< Obsidian Soulfont, Ephemeral Abyss >

Rarity: Demigod

Souls: 6969 (Locked) | Rank 3 (1)

—--

< Would you like to use the Rank 3 Sand Beetle soul to make a Death Elixir through 'Death Elixir Conversion'? >

< Yes/No >

Viel selected 'Yes', and a crystal vial filled with an eerie black liquid materialized before him.

"Lux. Take this." Viel said as he handed the Death Elixir to Lux.

"What's this?"

"It's a Death Elixir. Give it to one of your undead summons and it will improve its abilities by a lot" Viel explained.

"Really?!"

Lux instantly summoned Diablo and ordered him to "drink" the Death Elixir. (It's a skeleton, just imagine it.)

When Diablo finished drinking it, he started emitting a black miasma, and suddenly it was absorbed by its bones, which turned into a greyish colour.

"Big brother! Diablo has gone from B+ to A in rating. Thank you very much." Lux said as he hugged Viel.

"You're welcome, and don't worry. It's not very much."

Viel explained to Lux that he needed his help on the fourth floor as it was flooded by Rank 4 Chimeras.

"I will do what I can Big Brother." Lux said.

"Ok. We should rest and then go to the fourth floor." Viel stated.

….

After eating and resting, Viel and Lux went back to the fourth floor and went towards the rooms.

The plan was that Lux would summon his summons and send them to the rooms. Bael, Ferto, Diablo and Ishtar would be the main force. And Lux's skeletons and Viel's living swords, which he created using 15 Rank 1 Souls he harvested from the chimeras, would be the support force.

Meanwhile, Viel and Lux would use different skills from the rear to support them. If things go south they could just leave, as Viel tried it before and verified that the chimeras don't leave the room if they are fighting with another person or thing.

They entered the first room in the corridor and found 5 humanoid chimeras.

All of them had different parts and colours. Some had 2 arms, others had 4 arms. Some were completely covered in fur, while others were covered in scales. They were like an abomination of 5 different people.

When the chimeras noticed their presence, they all attacked at the same time.

But Bael activated his Darkened Shroud skill and shrouded the place with darkness, making the chimeras attack blindly.

They couldn't see through the darkness, so this was their weakness.

Lux summoned three Skeleton Fighters and four Skeleton Grand Archers, who alongside the Living Swords started attacking and distracting the chimeras from the real "danger".

Ishtar, Diablo, and Ferto took this chance and started fighting the chimeras.

They were not only stronger but faster. But due to the effect of Bael's Soul Drain, the chimeras were getting weaker by the second.

Viel and Lux were watching everything from the entrance of the room.

Although they didn't participate directly, they were ready to help at any moment.

"Big Brother. Do you think we will be able to kill them?" Lux asked.

"I don't know. It will depend on their strength and endurance." Viel replied.

"Let's go with the plan." Viel continued.

Viel then summoned Jör and gave him orders.

"Go and use your Mana Devour skills to help the others and also make some attacks, your Soul Venom should help a lot." Viel ordered

Jör nodded and rushed into the dark fog.

Viel cut his hand and let his blood flow. Then he used Blood Origin and extracted the True Blood from the dead chimeras and fused his own blood, which thanks to Toxic Blood [Ex], turned the giant ball of blood into a poison bomb.

He used Hemomancy [Ex] and created a small cloud of nails from the ball of blood, he used almost a quarter of his mana to do this.

The nails fell from the sky, dealing a good amount of damage to the chimeras.

The battle went on for more than 20 minutes and the chimeras finally died.

After a lot of breaks between the eight rooms and repeating the same strategy again and again, they finally finished with all the rooms on the fourth floor. Leaving only the boss left.