[
You have killed 1 Common Changeling
ExPs obtained: 230
You have leveled up
Warning: Attributed Points not applicable
Warning: Skill Points not applicable
]
Aldrich saw the continuous notifications and rembered the Crawler's Stats. The monster wasn't quite strong per se, but it's Skills were deadly and unavoidable. The thing was a walking Mana tank.
[
Record of Common Changeling
Status: Healthy
Level: 5
HP: 193/193
SP: 154/154
MP: 626/626
Rank: Common
Attributes -->
Strength: 7
Defense: 9
Agility: 9
Vitality: 10
Perception: 25
Correspondence: 32
Active Skills -->
1. Blessed Call
2. Identity Duplication
Passive Skills -->
1. Fog of Thousand Illusions
]
As Aldrich killed both the Crawlers, the fog around their bodies vanished. The fog took away the nearby trees and vibrant green grass along with it. And it left behind rotten and deserted earth, full of cracks. The patch of lifeless earth looked as being painted over a background of tropic scenery. The whole second floor was nothing but a breeding den of these Changelings.
After using the 3 Miles Shot, Aldrich realized that the second floor wasn't nearly as big as that of the 1st floor. It had taken them an entire day to cross that tunnel. He looked at two more Changelings approaching Tomiko and Seong. They were already in a deep state of illusion from the Blessed Call. A shield was rotating around the pair, aning that the Korean Tanker had yet to lose his bearing.
Aldrich checked on Sonu's condition and put him over his shoulders. The dead Crawler couldn't get the ti to steal Sonu's identity. Otherwise, his end wouldn't have differed from that of Mantis. Aldrich dashed in Seong's direction. It was a great opportunity to get back to his original Level. And there was one more thing that he could take care of along with it.
[
Title Quest (optional): Kill 100 Common Ranked Crawlers (50/100)
Title Reward: Enemy of Crawlers
]
There weren't enough Crawlers on this level to complete his pending Title Quest. But their numbers still approached a significant mark. Aldrich took care of the two Crawlers while heading over to his destination. By the ti he reached there, Seong had already lost consciousness. And Tomiko, incapable of motion, had miniscule traces of intelligence in her half-opened eyes. Aldrich dropped Sonu off, gave a brief look to Tomiko, and vanished.
The slaughter that ensued needn't be ntioned. Aside from their illusions, the Changelings were quite weak. The greenery of the second floor was getting erased at the rate of seconds. A dagger in the Crawler's mouth cut short its last call to the warriors of the ocean. The barren ground with spider-web cracks here and there had an ominous red tinge to it. In the distance, Aldrich could see an arch-like gateway followed by stairs leading up.
By the ti the group got back control over their senses, Aldrich had already cleared out the sources of their terrible state. Aldrich approached the group of four, who were looking at him like watching a monster. Tun Bo Ag still looked groggy from all the screams and songs even after consuming his Strength Potion.
"Who are you?" asked Tomiko, clenching hard on her Naginata.
It didn't matter if they thought it was Aldrich or another Crawler. They had already labeled both as inhuman. The group had shared their Levels at the entrance of the Dungeon. There was no way one could have leveled up fast enough to survive such illusions and kill all the Crawlers on top of it. But Aldrich didn't feel like explaining himself. He threw a Strength Potion at Tun Bo Ag and walked towards the Arched gateway. He had a feeling that the Elite would be right behind it.
"Thank you for saving my life," Sonu said, just as Aldrich passed by him.
Aldrich nodded.
"Can we trust him?" Seong said, directing the group's gaze towards the mummified body of Mantis. It seed like the only thing keeping him alive was the Crawler's belly.
"It doesn't matter. If he wanted to kill us, who among us could have stopped him," Sonu said, taking a deep breath.
The four of them headed over towards the stairs, maintaining a considerable distance from Aldrich. All things were silent around them. The bellows of dust, the creaking of earth's layer under footsteps, and their racing hearts did nothing but enhance this silence's gravity. But the most silent among them was Tomiko.
"What are you thinking?" asked Sonu, worrying if the horrifying events had traumatized her.
"Nothing, I am alright," replied Tomiko, staring at Aldrich's back.
She hadn't rembered how soone saved her or who saved her. When she woke up, both Seong and Sonu were still unconscious. But she had a vague mory that he had seen soone. But that wasn't the reason for her silence. It was the feeling that had co with mory. Tomiko didn't know if any of the other three by her side had seen or felt a truly strong Drear's presence, but she had. And the feeling that she had undergone was enormous even compared to her master's standards.
"How can that even be possible?" Tomiko asked herself in complete bewildernt.
The group climbed up the stairs, and through a small opening in the roof, entered the third floor. Unlike the previous 2 floors, it felt like a do building rather than a natural setting. The wall of the do was made of mud, and the dry grass had covered the entire floor. The round walls converged on to a 50 ft tall archaic door. But the most eye-catching was the person or Crawler seated in front of it.
The black-armored Crawler in the ditation posture was headless, and one didn't need to go far to look for its head. As one could see it clearly on its lap. The head was even more rotten and porous than the mummified head of Mr. Mantis they had seen. Just as the group had entered the floor, it also opened its eyes.
Aldrich saw as the Crawler's hand took hold of its head's hair and stood up. It raised its hand and the head alongside it. The air fluctuated around its body with black flashes. And the mbers looked in horror as an ear-to-ear grin crept up on its face. The whole do livened up with the echoes of its demonic laugh. The left empty hand of the Crawler reached towards its neck and with a jerk pulled out its spine. Aldrich's eyes shook as the normal sized spine shuddered and elongated to 15 ft. The whip's bones shone with an ominous glow.
The headless knight barred the road to outside. And the Party mbers behind Aldrich get to know that it was going to be a bitter fight. But Aldrich wasn't thinking of fighting at all, his eyes were already glued to the Stats over the Crawler.
[
Record of Common Dullahan
Status: Healthy
Level: 10
HP: 546/546
SP: 448/448
MP: 860/860
Rank: Common
Attributes -->
Strength: 30
Defense: 26
Agility: 30
Vitality: 30
Perception: 25
Correspondence: 60
Active Skills -->
1. Will of ?#?#?#
2. Demonic breath
3. Banishnt
4. Summon
Passive Skills -->
1. Pain Manipulation
]
Aldrich got a disastrous feeling reading the Skill of Crawler, which he couldn't see. This was the second ti he had co across such a situation. The first being with his own. He still couldn't see the na written in the description of his tacreativity Skill. But now he knew to whom that na must have belonged. And if there was so connection between these two Skills, then none of them might leave this place alive. Aldrich took out his Daggers, seeing the Crawler walking towards them like taking an evening stroll.
"Let out of the Party. It is beyond your capabilities," Aldrich said, without taking his eye off the Crawler.
"Are you out of your mind? No matter how much stronger you have beco, you can't take on that thing alone," Sonu outrightly refused.
"Or maybe he just wants to hog up all the ExPs," said Seong, berating Aldrich for his selfish demand.
"Do it."
Neither Sonu nor Seong thought Tomiko would assent to it. Her gaze towards Aldrich wasn't of submission or trust, but it looked more aligned towards respect.
PAH!
A whip-cracking resounded in the do. And all could see the heinous thing's smile becoming even more hideous, with its rotten tongue hanging out.
"Hurry!" Aldrich urged.
"Damn it! Okay," Sonu said through the clenched teeth.
[
You have left the Party
Updating Quests
Quest 1: Hunt Elite Crawler
Quest 2: Break at least one of the Boss Crawler's Items
]
The rest of the mbers got a notification from the System too. And the drastic change in the Quest's difficulty had left the current Party-mbers totally flabbergasted
[
Aldrich has left the Party
Updating Quests
Quest 1 (Party): Bring down the Elite's HP to 40% of its Max HP
]
From facing the Boss's Skill to bring down Elite's HP ant only one thing.
That the whole reason they were being forced to face the Boss Crawler in the first place had lied with Aldrich and Aldrich only.
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