11 Quest
Devour an Elite-rank enemy or higher.
That was a tall order, considering enemies Zane had Devoured in the past couldn't be Devoured again. A low rank Dungeon like this one usually wouldn't have a wide variety of enemies, so it would be difficult to find an Elite-rank enemy—one level above Wraiths, who were considered 'Caster'-rank.
From past experience, the only Undead Elite-rank enemy Zane could think of would be Necromancers, but the chances of something like that appearing in a D-Rank Dungeon was quite low. If they were here, they'd most likely be in the deepest parts, which thankfully was also exactly where Zane was originally heading towards anyway.
The only difference was that now, he had a time limit on his hands.
He didn't know what the Penalty Dungeon meant, but it can't be good. Hell, he didn't even know what this 'Quests' thing was all about. He knew for a fact that this wasn't part of the 'normal' System, so it must have something to do with his special physique. And Bloodrunes…? Just what are those?
Well, at the very least, completing the quest can't be a bad thing. Not only will Zane be able to gain another skill from Devouring an enemy, he will also receive 10 stat points to spend according to the quest description.
And so, without further ado, Zane decided to leave the three bags of treasure here for pick-up later, as the hunt resumed once more.
*****
Within the depths of the catacombs, a demon went on a rampage through its chambers. Mercilessly, the devilish creature beheaded Undead Knights and burned Wraiths to a crisp, slaughtering any enemies who dared to venture into his vicinity. He was a true monster—and regardless of how many of these low-level enemies came for him, he would take them down.
This demon was naturally Zane Silverdale.
With his new [Twin Shade] daggers and [Basic Teleportation] skills, farming these Grunt and Caster-rank enemies were quite easy. He outleveled them now, so it was hardly a fight using his [Fire Manipulation] abilities. He took this as a chance to practice using his daggers, developing proficiency and mastery with the weapon type.
Throughout that process, Zane got a good idea of what his current weapons' advantages and disadvantages were. While he was very strong in close combat, the use of dual daggers meant he had little to no range. However, he did practice throwing the knives like projectiles, and figured that if he leveled up his DEX stat enough, he'd be able to start using that as an actual reliable skill in battle.
As a low-level Dungeon, the farming process was hardly interesting. Over and over again, Zane ran into the same enemy types, and slaughtered them using the same methods. Still, it was an efficient way to farm EXP, and by the time he was at the final chamber leading to the deepest, central part of the catacombs, he was Level 12, and had placed the 23 SP he gained from the two level-ups in a balanced manner. After all, given his Specialization was 'Omnipotence', it'd make sense for him to be a well-rounded Hunter.
Slowly, Zane took in a deep breath.
He must've killed dozens of Undead Knights and Wraiths on the way here. At first, he'd been keeping count, but eventually, he gave up. Thankfully, he had been conservative with his mana and energy, so he was still ready to face whatever the hell he'd find in here. It was times like these that he wished he could find a Ranger-class Hunter to drink their blood and obtain some kind of danger-sensing skill—there hadn't been one in the party he came here with.
Still, without much of a choice, Zane pushed open the large, old double stone doors before him. As the dust moved out of the way, he found himself staring at what seemed to be a long, rectangular room, with a straight aisle passing down the middle and leading up to a large crucifix. Zane frowned.
'A nave, huh… well, this differs from the original plan, but I suppose this works too.'
In a normal church, this chamber would be the place where visitors came to hear Mass. But here, down in a catacombs-archetype Dungeon, a nave was precisely where Elite-rank enemies like High Priests would spawn. They weren't quite the enemy Zane had in mind, but they would serve.
Already, he could spot them. Hovering between the aisles and pews, they walked, masks on their faces and staffs in their hands. They wore pale white robes that seemed to represent light and good, but the creepy bloodstains on their fingers said otherwise.
Before going in, he carefully used his System to analyze the monsters. They were Level 13, only one level above himself, but also barely had any DEF. With his current skills, they should be easy work.
Zane smiled, and used [Basic Invisibility] on himself. They won't even know what hit them.
Rather than using [Fire Manipulation] and going for an all-out battle of magic power, Zane chose the sneaky strategy, better fit for a solo fighting style like himself. He wasn't arrogant enough to think he could defeat four Elite-rank enemies roughly the same level as him in a battle of arcane strength, which was the High Priests' specialty.
There were four enemies in the room. Zane started with the one closest to him, quietly treading closer until it was within execute range.
'To take care of these four, though, it should be enough.'
Silently, Zane crept up behind one of the priests, and pulled out his daggers. With a single twist of his wrists, he lopped off its head, killing it instantly. The three other High Priests immediately turned around at this and fired off a barrage of purple arcane power towards Zane, but he immediately disappeared using [Basic Teleportation] and blinked to a different location.
[High Priest (Lv. 13) — Defeated!]
[+130 EXP]
'… Close,' Zane thought in his head with narrowed eyes. 'These things have such fast reaction speeds… and their magic power is quite high too. Looks like I'll have to use my teleportation skill after every kill if I want to make it out unscathed…'
Looks like his plan had been the correct one—had he decided to challenge the High Priests head-on, he most likely would've been completely bombarded with arcane blasts. Rather than going through something as troublesome as that, this strategy was a lot better.
Quickly, Zane switched to his next target, stowing his weapons to remain invisible and keeping his footsteps light. The High Priests, now on alert, looked around in search of the intruder, but could find nothing. They did not possess the same infrared vision Dahrka did.
One by one, Zane took them down using the same hit-n-run strategy. Each use of [Basic Teleportation] cost quite a bit of mana, but since he was about to use [Devour] anyway, that was of little concern to Zane. Easily, he dispatched the remaining High Priests in an assassin-versus-mage style beatdown, and by the time the last one standing realized that it was all alone, it was already too late.
Zane, enjoying as his prey panicked, slowly revolved around to stand behind the High Priest, who was busy spam-attacking in an attempt to get lucky. Licking his lips and twirling one of his daggers around in his hand, Zane slowly lifted his arm, and lined up his aim.
'Too bad, too bad… if you want to blame someone, blame the Wraiths for giving me this invisibility skill.'
Decisively, he let the knife fly.
With incredible precision, the dagger struck its enemy right in the back of the head, causing the High Priest to stop casting and fall to the ground, dead. As powerful as they were, they really didn't have much health or defensive capabilities—the equivalent of an average Mage-class Hunter.
Zane noticed that ever since becoming fully becoming a Vampire—selecting his class as a Progenitor, that is—not only did his physical attributes become stronger, but his aim and accuracy also became impressively good as well. Not only that, it didn't take him long to pick up a new skill and successfully learn it… though perhaps that is owed to how much trial and error he did back in the day when he was still trying to unlock his physique.
Satisfied, he walked over to where the High Priest was, and bent down before checking his System. On the top-right was a little timer indicating how much time left he had to complete his Quest.
[00:01:14]
'Hm… and with a minute to spare. Not bad.'
Pleased with his own performance, he recalled the new way he could use [Devour] now, and decided to try it out. Pointing his palm towards the body, he mentally chanted the skill name, and waited.
'Devour.'
An abyssal black mist seeped out from his fingertips and spread into the entire chamber, enveloping the four bodies whole. Apparently, the coverage range of the skill was even bigger than Zane had expected. The fog acted like an extension of his own body, extracting the energy out of the High Priests and converting them into a form of mana that then flowed back into Zane's body. It was a warm, relaxing feeling—and although this process was slightly slower than directly consuming, it certainly was a lot less… repulsive.
The most important part about this new method to [Devour], however, was the ability to use it during battle. The instant health and mana regeneration provided by the cast of this skill on an enemy its never been used on before would be incredible to have in a fight involving multiple monster species, and could potentially allow Zane to win a fight he otherwise wouldn't be able to.
It was like having constant regeneration while battling someone—and not only that, Zane could feel that the regeneration effects have been amplified as well, perhaps due to the fact that he's currently absorbing raw energy that's being transported and converted directly inside his body.
Not a second later, however, the entire chamber began to shake, and Zane's pleasure was interrupted. His movements paused, the Devour process interrupted before he could wholly absorb all of the energy in the High Priests' bodies.
Carefully, he stood up, looking around for any sign of danger. As the shaking grew stronger, however, he was forced to grab onto a nearby pew to remain balanced while gritting his teeth in defiance.
"What's… going on…?"
The answer to his question came in the force of a violent explosion, as the patch of ground before the large crucifix suddenly erupted, and out emerged an enormous, divine entity.
As soon as Zane saw it, he recognized what it was.
"Impossible… an Ascended? Here?"
[4 High Priests have been slain.]
[Hidden Boss — Triggered.]
[Azakiel, The Purger]
"A Hidden Boss…"
Hidden Bosses—special entities that could sometimes be found within Dungeons. While their level and stats were hidden, they often gave bountiful rewards. As such, most Hunter parties would almost always fight one if they found one, despite not knowing what they were going up against.
Six white, angelic wings jutted out from the figure's back, beautiful yet oppressive. Wearing full golden armor and a glorious pale casque, the heavenly being rose into the air and spread its beautiful wings, causing a terrible gust of wind to blow through the nave. The pews, the bodies, and everything else within the chamber were instantly tossed away, crashing into the stone walls and shattering upon impact.
Naturally, Zane was no exception.
"Ngh!"
He let out a groan as he was forcibly slammed into hard cobblestone for the second time that day, and fell back down to the floor panting. This was nothing like the High Priests he just faced, or even Dahrka the Fallen Paladin. Futile tricks like invisibility weren't going to work against Ascended beings, who had the innate ability to see souls.
[Azakiel, The Purger]
[Type: Ascended]
[Level: ???]
[Class: Monarch]
This was an entity on a whole other level. Despite technically being the same class as Dahrka, Zane could feel that the angel was multiple times more deadly in terms of raw attack power, though perhaps not as fast or mobile.
'Well, at the very least, it's not an Emperor-class.'
Slowly, Zane mustered up the strength to glare at the divine entity across the room, who held a blindingly bright sacred greatsword within its hand. Just its very presence was enough to make those in its vicinity bow and cower, but Zane refused to live like that again. Gritting his teeth, he defiantly crawled to his feet, and…
… Turned around before making a dash for the exit of the chamber.
'Tch, I can't beat that thing as I am right now… it won't even be a fight. I have to get out of here.'
He'd have to be an idiot if he let his pride take over here and ego-challenge this godlike entity. Of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, fleeing was best—at least, until he was ready.
The angel, however, apparently didn't take very nicely to this—and with a single blast of pure radiant fire from its sword, the ceiling shattered and caved in, blocking the exit before Zane could reach. The debris was too much—even if he tried to teleport through, he'd just get stuck half-way between the rocks and suffocate to death. Simply fireballing it wouldn't work either, as his fire wasn't quite strong enough to burn straight through pure cement just yet.
"You're really insistent, huh…"
Clenching his fists, Zane spun back around to face the angel, as he tried to think of another plan.
Unfortunately, there was none.
As the angel readied its next fire attack, aimed to purge his very existence, Zane braced for the worst.
'But why… would there be an Ascended-type enemy here?'
This was a Catacombs-archetype Dungeon, home to Undead-type enemies—the exact opposite of Ascended. Not only that, the Dungeon was classified as D-Rank by the Hunter's Association, so then—why was such a powerful entity here?
Zane had no time to think about it.
There was a flash of white light. A beep. A System notification.
And the next thing he knew, he was staring at a sunset, miles of sand stretching across all around him.
[Notice]
[You have failed to complete the quest <Body Maintenance> within the time limit. The penalty Dungeon will now initiate.]
[Objective: Survive.]
[Time remaining: 23:59:58]
"… You can't be serious."
