Part Nine

I’d thought the crystals would make a map of some sort, but they actually made a literal crystal compass that had separate indicators for each Mid-Boss. It was a little too…contrived for my tastes, but I wasn’t going to complain about something that would make the Dungeon easier to clear.

Unfortunately, the compass didn’t tell me how far away each target was, and because of how big the Dungeon was, I had no idea which one could be closest to me. It would highly irritating if I chose one that led me farther away from the other two. Efficiency may not always be my highest concern, but doing something that was outright inefficient was always irritating.

Hrm, I may be able to circle around for a bit to test which one is closest. Normal compasses, or directional indicators at least, should rotate faster the closer you are to the objective. Assuming that things work similarly here, then whichever arrow swivels the slowest should be the furthest from me. I think. I’m not actually all that sure that my logic is sound, I just need something to do or I’ll go crazy from how annoying this is.

Whatever. I figure this out and pick one. Let’s just hope it isn’t too far away.

***

A few days(?) later, I was standing in front of what appeared to be a cathedral of sorts. After a day of testing, I’d determined that this was the closest objective, and had wound up making my way here, though that was easier said than done. The concentration of monsters near here was levels above everywhere else I’d been, a rather good indicator of how important this area was. And importance usually meant Mid-Boss, or it did in my head, at least.

The door to the cathedral wasn’t locked, and swung open at the slightest push. The inside was empty, devoid of any of the decorations or religious paraphernalia you’d expect to find. Then again, what exactly would be worshiped here? The Undead? Demons? Actually, that last one kind of made sense, though I’d yet to actually see a Demon in here. There sure were a lot of Demon-Type monsters though.

The only object of note was an altar on the far side of the room, large enough for something to hide behind. I couldn’t make it out from here, but it had something embossed in gold on the side facing me, likely an emblem of some sort. Hopefully it wasn’t that stupid snake thing again. I was getting sick of seeing it.

I crept through the silent cathedral, my head on a swivel for anything that seemed off. Given how large the building was, I’d expected for there to be dozens, if not hundreds, of Undead in here, but the building was shockingly empty. Though that didn’t exactly reassure me. I’d played plenty of RPGs, so I knew wide-open spaces like this usually seemed okay, but almost always held bosses just waiting for you to go so far into them, just so they could pop out when you least expected it.

“…”

Unfortunately, it seemed my expectations were to be disappointed today. Nothing happened no matter how long I waited, though I refused to lower my guard. I would not live that particular cliché today. Hey, that rhymed. Cool.

I continued through the cathedral, the echo of my footsteps the only sound. I was beginning to get fed up with how big and empty this place was, and my patience was running thin. But again, I knew that if I dropped my guard, something would happen. This was a Dungeon, and while everything had been going pretty well up until now, I knew things could spiral pretty quickly. Yes, a few of the field bosses had given me a hard time, but it wasn’t to the point where I’d felt pressured like when I’d fought the Baculth Warlord. Even if a single mistake could’ve killed me, the same thing applied to pretty much every battle. It was just a question of whether I’d actually make that mistake.

Okay, I may be getting a little too philosophical for my tastes. It’s just, this cathedral is impossibly huge. How the fuck am I still not at the far end? It’s like it’s not even getting any…closer…fuck. It’s an Endless Staircase, isn’t it?

That made more sense than I wanted it to, and explained why the cathedral was so lacking in anything. It was probably to make it harder to notice the fact that you weren’t getting anywhere.

Though that didn’t mean I knew how to get through whatever was keeping me back. In games, you usually needed to meet some criteria to get through, like having a certain item or completing so many objectives. I hadn’t found anything like that here, except for maybe the crystal compass. And since I was already holding onto it, that obviously wasn’t right.

Seriously? A puzzle at this timing? Haaaaah, I hate the System sometimes. This feels a little sadistic.

***

I looked everywhere, but was unable to figure out how to get through the stupid cathedral. There weren’t any clues inside, nor were there any in the nearby buildings. I even tried climbing onto the cathedral to see if that did anything, and nearly broke my neck doing so. I was honestly getting fed up with the whole thing, at least until I got the somewhat insane idea to grab a nearby Zombie and see if it could get me anywhere.

My idea was to simply see if the Undead could get through whatever was keeping me from getting through. After severing all its limbs and lower jaw, I dragged the torso back to the cathedral and flung it, though I put too much oomph on it, causing it to sail right towards the altar, where it smacked into it with a wet, meaty thud. For a moment, I thought nothing would happen, until the altar began to slowly tip backwards.

*CRASH!*

It was like watching a tree fall. It went slowly at first, but its own weight began to pull it towards the ground. And soon enough, it hit the ground with an enormous crash, shattering into a hundred pieces. At the same time, a pulse of mana went through the room, indicating that something had changed.

Wait, really? Did, did that do what I think it did? It had. The Endless Staircase enchantment was gone.

Goddammit! Why is it always the last fucking thing I think of!? Obviously the very suspicious and out-of-place altar would be the fucking source of the spell, so why didn’t I think of that earlier!? Haaah, I hate this Dungeon.

Realizing once again that I really wasn’t suited to puzzle solving, I made my way over to where the altar had stood. Because of how much it shattered, I was unable to tell what the emblem embossed into it had been, though it probably wasn’t the snake thing that appeared on Boss Chamber doors. I think. Eh, it probably doesn’t matter.

Behind the altar was a staircase heading down. A rank, unpleasant smell wafted up from it, indicating that the basement was likely a crypt or catacombs of some kind, though that didn’t make much sense.

Are catacombs supposed to smell like this? Don’t they preserve the bodies so they don’t rot? I’m not actually sure about this anymore. Something's down there waiting for me, and it probably won’t be happy to see me. Haaah, I don’t have much choice, do I? Either I do this now, or I’ll never get out of here.

***

The catacombs were as empty as the cathedral above, and they also lacked the slight glow that filled the rest of the Dungeon, though that wasn’t really a problem for me since I had a couple lanterns. I’d actually been quite surprised by the fact that nearly all the supplies I’d brought had come through with me, even the food and drink. While I didn’t need to eat in here, being able to do so meant I could more easily take a break here and there, bolstering my spirits. Fighting an endless horde of monsters on my own was hard, even for me. Little comforts like this were nice.

The only things that hadn’t come through with me were my watch and phone. I wasn’t exactly sure why that was, though I thought it was due to them being more technological than anything else I had. Or maybe the Dungeon just wanted me to not be able to keep track of time. Who knows?

Eventually, I came across another door, this one embossed with the ouroboros pattern I was so familiar with. However, there was a slab standing in front of the door, glyphs engraved into is surface.

That’s that Glyph Script thing, right? Kalia said that I could read it just by pouring mana into the glyphs. Oh, that’s a weird sensation. I’d thought I’d gotten used to having things engraved directly into my memories, but this was rather odd, even by my standards. Rather than memories being put there, it was like someone was talking directly into my head, but with thoughts, not sound. Quite odd and hard to describe.

Ye who seeks to serve the Ruler of Fear

First, slay those who would stand in thy way

Only then shall thy path forward be opened.

Oh joy, archaic language. Haaah, have I mentioned how much I hate this Dungeon? At least this is straightforward. I just need to fight something through this door, right? The fact that it says first is concerning, but I never thought this would be easy.

Pushing open the door, I was greeted with a rather odd sight.

“Eh? Human?”

“”””Human? Human~.””””

“What the heck?”

Five children were sitting in a circle, talking and giggling to each other, though they all reacted once one of them noticed me. Friendly smiles appeared on each of their faces, and they began to beckon me over. While normally I would’ve joined them (I actually liked kids), the situation being what it was confused me. I’d expected a fight, not playtime. Wait, don’t tell me…

“Huh? Human? Come, come!”

“”””Come, come!””””

Seeing my hesitation, one of the kids called to me again, which was quickly parroted by the others. However, I couldn’t help but be suspicious. I was inside a Dungeon, so there was little chance of these being actual children. Something was up here, though I wasn’t sure what. But since I couldn’t stand around forever, I took a step forward.

Unfortunately, the second I did so, the lead kid cried out in a confused voice, which soon caused thing to devolve onto chaos.

“Ah! Tainted! Human tainted!”

“”””Tainted!? Demon-touched!?””””

“Demon-touched! Kill!”

“”””Kill, kill, kill!””””

Uh, what just happened? Almost as one, the children began to emit an intense bloodlust towards me, and all of them stood up before conjuring bows of light. Their adorable, innocent faces twisted into ones of righteous fury, and they all fired arrows at the same time. Fortunately I’d been expecting something like that, so I was able to dodge the attack easily.

Okay, they’re clearly hostile. Guess playtime's been canceled. …..Pfft, gotta remember that one for later.

I wasted no time closing the distance between us. Letting them have any advantages wasn’t a smart idea. I knew from experience how deadly a skilled archer could be, and I had no intentions of ever being on the receiving end of that experience. Fortunately, I was more than fast enough to close in on one of them, decapitating it before it had the chance to dodge.

“Ah! Fly away!”

“””Fly away!”””

Do they really need to repeat everything? Wait, Fly away? Uh-oh.

White, feathery wings burst out from behind each of the remaining creatures. If they all took off, this would be a lot harder to finish. I hurriedly launched a [Rot] projectile at one, catching it in the face, but the other three all successfully went airborne.

Clicking my tongue, I finally decided to Analyze the creatures, something I should’ve done first. I’d just gotten in the habit of not doing that lately, mostly because I either already knew what I was fighting, or because I knew the Skill wouldn’t work.

Lesser Seraph

Rank: C

Description: The weakest kind of Seraph, more commonly known as a cherub. Seraphs are strict upholders of law and order, and instinctually hate beings connected to the Dark, which perverts the natural order, or Demons, who spread the power of the Dark. Most Lesser Seraphs prefer ranged combat, making use of Holy Magic to form a near-limitless amount of arrows. However, individually, Lesser Seraphs are rather weak, as they are meant to be foot soldiers in the Seraphic Legions.

Okay, I guess this is a thing now. Though I guess it makes sense. If they were wearing diapers instead of togas, they’d look just like depictions of cupid, what with the wings and bows. Though they’re much less cute than those pictures are.

Even while I was having idiotic thoughts, more arrows continued to fly towards me. Thankfully they didn’t explode, so dealing with this was a piece of cake compared to what Alicia could do. I was actually a bit afraid of what she’d be able to do in a few months.

“Blasted human, stay still!”

“”Stay still, stay still!””

“Like I’m gonna do that, you fucking morons!”

“””Ah, language!”””

“Tch. Ash, counter-attack time.”

*…*

At my command, the Spirit burst free of my shadow, streaking towards one of the Seraphs. Since it had been in the middle of forming another arrow, it wasn’t able to react in time to Ash's attack, and was quickly caught and consumed by the Spirit. Unfortunately that would only work once, as the two remaining Seraphs were now aware of the Spirit’s presence, and would be sure to keep an eye out for it. Though, it was too late for them.

“”Gah!””

Neither Seraph had noticed the fact that I’d used [Malignancy] when they took off, filling this space with Miasma, though you couldn’t see it. This might be the most broken spell I’d learned yet, as it seemed my innate resistance to Miasma protected me from its effects, all the while harming my enemies. It didn’t work on Demon-Type monsters or the Undead, but the Fiend-Type monsters here had little to no resistance to it, turning them into punching bags.

The only real downside to it was the amount of Grudge and mana required to cast, though the former was rarely an issue. The black sword somehow managed to always gather all the Grudge produced by the enemies I killed, regardless of how they died. While I did wonder how exactly it worked, I wasn’t going to look into it too hard just yet. Honestly, the Twin Swords were just overpowered in nearly every aspect.

If all Unique Rank items are like this, then I definitely want more, though I imagine it’ll be hard. I haven’t seen any others in the last half-year. Eh, if I do, I do. And if I don’t, I don’t. It’s that simple. Now, let’s finish this fight.

With [Malignancy]’s effects having fully taken hold, the last two Seraphs were writhing on the ground in pain, leaving them completely vulnerable. Two quick slashes ended the fight, and all five corpses faded away. Two seconds passed, and I heard a grating sound as one part of the wall shifted, revealing a second door.

Haaaah, I should’ve known. There’s no way this’ll end with one fight. Haaah. Fuck this Dungeon