On the second day, with Iris, I grinded the entire first floor for this day. After completing the mapping for this floor we got some nice loot. Unable to bring all of it, we just collected it and piled it in front of the dungeon, I gained yet another level for the day. When we finished, we once again camped outside as Maria came from the sky with Saint.

“I was surprised that you managed to sneak into a dungeon like that.”

“Is it a wrong thing to do?”

“Well, normally a raid group is formed to clear a dungeon like this, it is to prevent ambushes. Somewhere along 10 or 20 people. For mapping a dungeon like this, normally you would need 2 days for the first floor. Sneaking up to the third floor in one day was rushing it a little bit. You see, even though we hunted all day long, we only managed to clear 1 floor right? Others would usually rest for a while and chat. Not to mention we have inflated stats.” Iris said.

“Battle of Trisia huh?”

“I was also grieved by the death of the Tantalus members. But as a player, I was still happy that I got such stat increases. Getting that is not easy you know. I would jump in joy if I were you. I kind of guessed how many stat increases you got since even if I am below you, I still got a huge stat increase. Normally it would be worth around at least 50.000 or 70.000 gold for my stat increases that I assume are half of yours. Sorry. Are you offended?”

“No, it is logical.”

“The stats increase was worth 30 levels I think. Even though they are spread out, a stat increase is still a stat increase. Well, what about you? Don’t answer if you don’t want to. It is fine.”

“Somewhere along 400 stats, I guess it is around 80 levels huh?” Even though going by stats alone I was inflated by more than 100 levels, it was actually not that great. Stats such as charisma, faith, and charm were easy to get for a few people. By commanding an army or leading a group raid, one could raise these stats. Charm was useless to most people. No one cares even if they generated the stat either. As for faith, if you donate money to church regularly, this stat will increase by itself. Except for faith, other additional stats like art, charisma, charm, leadership and fighting spirit cannot be relied upon in battles in dungeons or player groups. (Charisma and leadership only affect NPCs)

Iris stared for a moment then he continued. “Well, being a commander you must have an awesome charisma stat. Not to mention you gained some immunity towards dark and light magic right?”

“Yes.”

“That is the rare part. Me and Arknum got 3%. It might sound small. But I must tell you that for a non-mage human, it is rare to get magic resistance.“ Iris spoke with shining eyes, he seemed to want to brag about his stat inflation.

I spend the night with him talking about how to get magical resistance. It was to get hit with a pure elemental property for a long time and a strong one at that too. He got information from his friend that he only got 1% magical resistance after battling a single elemental spirit for 12 hours.

After that he blabbed about the stat increases. Almost every stat was hard to increase if one wants to increase it without a special event or food, all stat increases would have around the same difficulty like hitting a scarecrow. After that he blabbed about how food affects stat increases starting from its name and its average price. Though it was actually very difficult for a player to not get a stat increase from playing until level 100. It was also even more rare for a player to get a stat increase for more than 20 levels worth of stats when they reached lvl 100. While level is the universal indicator of strength of a player, it is not absolute, this stat increase is the proof of it.

He also mentioned skills. While stats are essential to someone’s battle-strength, skills are just as important as stats are. A real example is sword mastery. It could increase your sword’s speed by 2 fold when it reached intermediate. There are also stat increasing skills such as ambidextrous. He was lucky to have it since he dual wields.

While hearing Iris yapping about food and stat increases worth thousands of gold, my eyes got weary and I fell asleep. Tomorrow would be the third day for this quest. Only 27 days left for me to clear this quest. Can I clear it? Iris kept babbling that we would somehow manage to clear it in a week’s time but a day now felt like years. If somehow this quest fails, I would not be able to forgive myself.

Another dawn came. Now in a group of three, we grinded the dungeon again. This time, we managed to get into the second floor easier. Maria’s healing spells were lethal to the monsters in first floor. We almost got no enemies left to fight.

On the second floor, we fought the ogres I mentioned. Either my dexterity was too high or the opponent was just incompatible with Iris’s style, somehow Iris was having trouble dodging those ogres’ machetes. He could block them but each hit shaved off a little of his HP. Just like me, Iris was supposed to be an agility-type warrior but I could dodge better than him. Is it because of our dexterity? No, I was moving just as fast as him, ahh, it is the multitasking skill. His dodging was a little bit disordered. There were wasted movements here and there.

Truthfully, the party was rather unbalanced. We needed someone more tank-like. Hasega would be a good choice. Though we managed to clear this level in one day, there were some tight situations where we got surrounded by 4 ogres. Maria had to run while I baited the ogre with my fireballs.

“Hello Riri.” Hasega greeted me.

“Whew. I am tired of flying for 3 days nonstop. Let me sleep for the night okay?” Saint said as he lay down and rested.

“Hello..”

“So, I heard you are going on another quest?”

“Umm, yes. Didn’t you already accept it?”

“Umm, well yes.“ Hasega answered a little flustered.

“We are going to clear it tomorrow.” Iris made a remark.

Then we slept for the night. Iris didn’t actually let me leech his food for free. He was a more thrifty person than I thought. Just like Hasega, he tried to sell his food to me for a whopping 40 silver a piece. No matter in the real world or virtual world. Humans are controlled by money!

Just as dawn came, we marched towards the dungeon once more. This time with a balanced party. Consisting of an attacker Iris, a defender Hasega, a mage Elkami, a cleric Maria and me as a leecher. Not technically a leecher as I helped luring all the monsters away from El and Maria and El was also using my mana for her magic. I am not a leecher right?

The third floor was completely filled with two headed ogres. Unlike the second floor, these ones had far better equipment than a crude club. Some used machetes with helmets and armour. Some even formed a group with 2 warriors and two archers. But with Maria’s buff, we easily overwhelmed their power. Even though it was a party fight, it was just El and me vs the archers while the warriors were fighting with the other warriors. Somehow, we had this outside system skill to pick the opponent most suitable for us and that was it for day 4. 26 days left until the time limit.

You have leveled up

Acrobatics is now intermediate lvl 6

We are now on the fourth floor. We were able to keep our pace for 1 day each floor but it seemed impossible now. Ghouls and spectres roamed this dungeon. Only magic worked against spectres so the group’s attack power was literally halved. Not to mention Maria had to keep tabs on everyone since curses and poison were spit out from every creature here. If Maria had not been around we would have been in deep trouble. Because it would be a bother to come back again after venturing this far, we decided to camp at the safe location in this cave. Loot was just collected at the entrance of each floor.

“See? That is the table right?” Iris said as he pointed at the table behind two fearsome monsters. The final floor only consisted of rectangular rooms over 30 meter wide and 50 meter wide. The altars were at the opposite corners of the room with two giants guarding at the center of the room. “After we beat these bosses, the quest will be completed.”

“Those bosses look tough.” Hasega said.

“Alright, everyone. Beat that damn boss. Melee is for defence while others prepare to attack. Protect Riri at all costs since if she dies, the quest will fail.”

The enemy are two giants fully equipped with full plate armour and an axe while the other held a two-handed sword in one of his hands with the same full plate armour and helmet. No matter how you look at it they seemed tough to beat.

The first to charge was Iris. As he charged towards the sword monster, he was met with a horizontal slash from it. He instinctively jumped to dodge the attack but he was met with a vertical upward slash from the other monster. If he was normal person, the slash would have hit bulls eye dealing a critical hit but he was able to block the attack using his twin swords. But, even if he was able to block it, he was sent flying by the force of the attack sending him crashing into the cave walls.

Without delay, the sword monster charged at the defenceless Iris sending a stab attack this time. Hasega quickly jumped in and with his shield, he changed the direction of the monster’s sword. Then in unison the axe wielding one slashed vertically downward at Hasega. Hasega raised his shield to block the axe attack. The force of the attack sent the ground beneath him cracking but he was able to block it.

“Retreat!” Iris sounded the alarm. While Elkami cast some of her lightning spells to distract them, Iris and Hasega ran in our direction. We climbed up the stairs and said monsters no longer pursued us.

“That was tough. Even though I blocked both attacks my life was still decreased by a great amount. It was just 2 attacks!” Hasega said.

“Well, they are boss monsters. They are supposed to be tough.” Iris said. “We need to test the monsters’ power and attack pattern. Only then we can defeat them.”

We spent another 3 days with random skirmishes and ambushes. Using various strategies we finally found the weak spot of the monsters’ attack pattern. As they coordinated well together, they were far weaker when alone. The difficult part was how to separate them. Iris then came to the conclusion that we should behave just like they did.

The tactic was to deploy the enemy’s strategy upon itself. That was extreme coordination. It was easier said than done but it was doable. The strategy was to have Hasega and Iris charge together at the same pace. When the monster picked Iris, Iris was supposed to block or dodge the sword monster only. The monsters always picked their opponents one by one, so the axe wielder would also charge at Iris. But that charge was blocked by Hasega.

When the enemy then in unison changed their target to Hasega, Hasega only needed to block the Axe wielder while Iris would block the sword wielding monster. It was tough for Iris to block attacks being an agility type warrior but he was able to do it. Their HP bar was always kept steady by Maria and me. El was the one doing the attacks. We decided that this pattern was the safest choice.

While the monster shifted its target towards Hasega, Iris blocked the sword user. While the monster shifted towards Iris, Hasega blocked the axe, this situation forced the monsters to fight the players one on one. Though the monsters tried to cooperate with all their might, Iris and Hasega managed to separate them.

Leaving the damage dealing entirely to El was opposed at first, since I was also needed in the healing department. But seeing there was no other choice, all of us agreed on this strategy. At first I volunteered to be some kind of distraction for one of the monster but it was dismissed since my death would mean failing the quest. The battle might drag on for a long time since El is the only one who attacks. But we had to endure.

After 12 tiring hours, one of the monsters died. The defence department was left entirely to Hasega while Iris joined the attacking department and we finished off the remaining monster in less than 3 hours. The monsters were tough when together. But alone they were nothing. What made the battle last so long was because El was unable to cast her enigma spell. Using the spell would make Riri unable to use other healing spells. It was risky and therefore forbidden. Besides, thinking how close the monster was to Hasega and Iris , the spell could misfire and killed them instead.

Nevertheless, the monsters were defeated. After resting for the day to recover stamina and satiety, standing in front of the 2 rectangular altars standing at both corners of the rectangular boss room, the group read the inscription on the altar. It clearly said sacrificial altars on one side while the others says purification altar. How convenient!

“Well, what will you sacrifice Riri?” Iris asked.

After fumbling her inventory windows she decided to use her beginners attire as a sacrifice. After putting her beginners pants, shoes, and clothes on the sacrificial altar, she put the horn and feather on the other.on my bag there was a lot of junk items. but no equipment that dropped in this dungeon works on the altar so i chose my most useless equipment to be the sacrifice. i was about to ask others junk weapons if my beginner's attire isn't enough but it seems it was enough now.

Purification will now commence

Time until purification complete 12 hours

Both Item durability will be temporarily reduced to 1.

“Well, all that we need to do is wait right?” Hasega said while watching the counter. Somehow I had a real bad feeling when I looked at the counter above the items.

#GROWL ROAR##

Growls and roars of the ogres could be heard from the floor above us.

“uh oh.” Iris said as he realised something. “Riri, could you cancel the purification for a moment?”

When I tried to touch my beginner clothes, a barrier zapped me dealing 50 lightning damage.

Sacrificial altar barrier has been reduced by 50

Current sacrificial altar barrier energy 2950/3000

Current purification altar barrier energy 3000/3000

“Hey, tell me this is not going the way I think it is.” Said Hasega.

“It is pretty much going the way you think. Let’s call everyone on the first floor.” Said Iris. “If my hunch is right, it is supposed to be empty right now.”

What Iris meant would be Arknum, Fira, Dem and Victor on the first floor. Saint managed to bring them over when we were having difficulties against the boss on this floor.

*Hey, somehow all the monsters are marching in the same direction. With the exception the one we are currently enganging.* Said Fira on her whisper channel.

“We are now surrounded by monsters in all direction. Any ideas?” Hasega asked.

“Why don’t we ask the more brilliant one? Riri?”

“Maria’s barrier?”

“The range isn’t enough to cover both 2 altars.” Said Maria.

“Now that is a problem.” Iris said. ”We could ask Maria to protect one altar while we defend the other but we would lose a lot of healing capabilities.”

“Can’t do anything about it. Maria, protect the purification one while we protect the other.” Said Iris.

*Hello, Fira, try to make it to the 4th floor at full speed. We need immediate reinforcements here!* Iris shouted at his party chat.

Over 20 two-headed ogres were marching towards Maria’s altar. A barrier was erected just in the nick of times as two arrows flew towards it. Now on our end, we were faced with another ten of those ogres. With a battlecry, I ran towards the ogres while dodging their attacks. Just a distraction is enough, I pierced one of the ogres’ stomachs and ran to the others doing the same. Drawing all the agro of the monsters towards me.

The monsters’ default target was the altar. It was shown by the first attacks of their archers, they always aimed at the altar. But when I stabbed their chest, their attacks were redirected towards me instead. Thanks to the multitasking ability and bullet deflector, archers were not a big trouble for me. As I did not need to kill the ogres, I just outran the melee ones. So the battle became a game of tag now.

I ignored the 20 ogres that were hitting Maria’s barrier. Knowing its strength, the barrier would probably last two days of such attacks. More ogres were pouring into this floor. Iris tried to pick off my pursuers one by one while El also killed some of the melee ogres. Hasega was forced to stay near the altar as when some arrows flew in, we could only rely on his tower shield.

As the ogres poured in from the upper floor, I picked only the ones that were attacking Hasega’s altar. Maria was safe and sound in her cocoon. She could handle it even if there were 200 more ogres storming her makeshift fortress.

Only 2 hours had passed. The ogres were starting to overwhelm me. Dealing with 40 ogres with half of them being archers was not particularly easy.

“El, prepare an enigma spell.”

“Okay.”

As 20 ghouls and spectres also rushed in after the ogres, my mana bar was finally full and a magic circle was formed on the cave’s ceiling.

“Enigma of lightning god Zeus bolt shower!”

Now I only needed to wait for a minute while trying to take some distance. This spell should be able to clear anything in a 20 meter radius. Pretty much half of this army.

After a minute, my life bar was turned to yellow by a constant barrage of arrows and curses from the spectre and ghouls. Then, from the magic circle, a crystal dropped in and with a spark, it electrified everything. Enjoying the show while Iris picked off the remaining 4 or 5 ogres that were not hit, I cast some healing spells on myself.

“whoa, the damage was higher than Zeus strike.” I mumbled.

“Actually the damage was lower if we are talking about a single enemy. It was only because of the night bonuses. If you are talking about single hit KO, then Zeus strike is better but if you are talking about AOE spell, this one is better.”

“What about the Thor series?”

“Thor’s hammer work pretty much like Zeus strike while bolt of Thor is like Zeus bolt shower with higher damage but shorter duration.”

The enemy was electrified for a good 30 seconds. Most of the archers were dead as the melee warriors’ HP was in the red zone. With a single slash, the melee ones were exterminated by Iris.

“Good job!” Iris gave a thumbs up.

“More are on their way.” Said El as she took a sneak peek at the upper floor.

Skeletons and zombies were now charging at us. My mana wasn’t even at 5% of its maximum value and they just kept on pouring in. We had to hold on.

Sacrificial altar barrier has been reduced by 100

Current sacrificial altar barrier energy 2850/3000

”Huh?”

“The mages. I can’t block both the archers’ and the mages’ attacks.” Hasega said.

“Fireball.” I cast a fireball on one of the skeleton mages. “El, try to herd the archers and mages towards me or you. Just don’t let them attack the altars.” I gave an order. I knew my order was absurd. With a mere 3% of my mana, El, couldn’t do much but I still gave out the order regardless.

“Riri, try to distract the melee ones. I will handle the ranged ones!” Iris tried to make a solution for our dire situation. Hasega tried his best to block arrows and fireballs thrown by skeleton mages and archers. But he was still overwhelmed.

At that time, A shining figure charged from the stairs and destroyed the skeletons.

“Saint. You came!”

Quest has been offered

Guard Saint the heir of Pegasus

Saint has marched into the battlefield. While he provides an enormous advantage, he must not be killed for he is the heir of Pegasus, should he be killed the horn and the feather that were being cleansed have no meaning and therefore the quest Cleanse the tainted horn and feather will fail

Quest difficulty unknown

Quest failure Saint dies

Time limit until quest successful 8 hours

You cannot refuse this quest

Quest has been accepted

http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=350&t=3796http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=350&t=3804

________________

author's note

- double chapters. enjoy

- comment questions and suggestions are welcomed.

- since i have nothing more to say here is our usual MC stat

Spoiler : Status window

Name Riri class idol performers

Health 6675(+800) mana 10900 (+800)

Level 122 Race human

Fame 1000

Title manager, the white rider

Job none

Health regen/sec 26.5 mana regen/sec 43.4

Strength 143(+122) dexterity 352 (+55)

Wisdom 342 (+102) intelect 311 (+125)

Stamina 305 vitality 117 (+125)

Art 74 charisma 177 (+140)

Leadership. 160(+30) charm 105(+150)

Fighting spirit 180 faith 140 (+105)

Magic resistance

Fire water

Earth wind

Thunder ice

Dark 45%(E) light 45%(E)

Unused points 5

Contribution point church 8000

Contribution point haven 2500

Bonuses

all stat +10 except dex and charm

Dex +25 charm +40

Stamina +40

Magic will be reduced by 90%. unless you meet normal requirement of 300 wisdom

weapon will be reduced by 90% unless have intermediate blacksmith

Leather armor will not be penalized

iron armor will have it’s movement speed reduced by 30% and increased stamina consumption by 20%. Only if you meet the equipment requirement

movement reduced by 30% (E)

healing spell increased by 40% (E)

While riding horse the movement speed increased by 10%

Bag 1

Water canteen

gold coins (5)

Ring of mana(E) (Mana +200, charm +20)

Ring of leadership(E) (chr +30 leadership +30)

Black staff

Circlet of purity.Charm +30Char +30Int +10Wis +10Faith +20, heal,light,dark res+10%

White high heel shoes Charm+30Char+10Faith +20 heal,light,dark res+10%

White dress of purity Charm +20Faith +20 heal,light,dark res+20%

Sword of Elkami Faith +25 Str +20 Dex +25 Int +25 Wis +20

Autographed Beginner’s cloth

Beginner’s pant

Beginner’s shoes

Earing of faith and wisdomFaith +40 wis +20

Necklace of vitalityVit +30Str +20

Ring of vitalityx4 Health +200Vit +30 Str +20

Ring of inteligence x3 Mana +200Intelect +30Wis +20

Stella’s ring Dex +25Str +20Int +30Wis +20Charm +25Charisma +30

Tainted pegasus horn

Tainted pegasus feather

Skill list

Speed reading beginner’s lvl 2 (40%)

Manage beginner’s lvl 5(10%).

Magic mastery intermediate lvl 9

Acrobatic intermediate lvl 6 (Movement 160%)

Multitasking intermediate lvl 3 ( (Focus 6, intelect +25)

Sword mastery intermediate lvl 6 (power 70% speed 70%)

Ambidextrous beginner lvl 2 (Dex +2)

Bullet deflector intermediate lvl 6 (Dex +80)

Sneak beginner level 2

Horseriding intermediate lvl 1

Soul transmutation beginner level 1

Enchanted autograph beginner lvl 1

Break dance beginner level 1

Audience beginner lvl 1

Sub skill

light blessing intermediate lvl 5

phoenix regen intermediate lvl 4

healing hand intermediate lvl 7

Healing Area intermediate lvl 9

Group cure intermediate lvl 6

Expert cure intermediate lvl 6

Single bless intermediate lvl 8

Fireball intermediate lvl 7

El spell list

Thunder Barrier advance lvl 6

Thunder strike advance lvl 8

Thunder shower advance lvl 1

Thunder ball advance lvl 2

Lightning ball advance lvl 9

Enigma of lightning god Zeus strike intermediate lvl 7

Enigma of lightning god thor Hammer intermediate lvl 3

Enigma of lightning god zeus bolt shower intermediate lvl 2

Enigma of lightning god bolt of thor intermediate lvl 5

Lightning bolt intermediate lvl 6

Mana bolt intermediate lvl 6

Lightning charge advance lvl 4

Lightning pulse advance lvl 5

Lightning strike advance lvl 2

Lighting flash advance lvl 1

Lightning storm advance lvl 2

Shadow ball beginner lvl 2

Dark lightning beginner lvl 3