Moving in from the entrance, the dungeon gets even more strange. Things that look solid aren't, and invisible walls are spread at random, turning a short walk into a long detour. Nobody likes this particular setup, but it's good experience, even without Cain here, as there are huge numbers of small misshapen demons through the entire labyrinth.
This is the first time Cain has encountered this type of demons since level 100, and almost all the demons are new forms to him. He gathered the new Wrath, Lust and Plague Demons already, but it looks like he's still going to fall way short of the thousand forms needed to make Vala Legendary.
They move forward, Cain holding himself to regular rate Arrow fire. As close as he can guess, it's about what he was doing before, plus one and a half times what an Oath Breaker does per hit. So he's getting about three quarters of the Demons power after the multiple Merge penalty.
He's also gained about the same percentage of their basic stats, and it's very clear in his summons. They're stronger, more durable, and much, much faster than usual. Their stats are based on his stats, so it does make sense, but seeing it in action is like they gained another rank, or he gained another thirty levels in an instant.
The raid this time spawned at level 112, higher than normal, but that made the Raid Group happy. The Demon Raid scales based on group level and power, making it useful all the way up to level 125 where it caps out. The fact they got it to scale halfway cheers them up and gives them a sense of strength. A feeling they were missing for a long time, being trampled by Guild Master AllNatty and his goons.
They've stopped to carefully look around a corner and into a large chamber with pulsating blue walls and gold shag carpet on the floor, as they've come come across a second Raid Boss now, that Cain might have called a Lamia, despite its six arms and wings, if it didn't have a scorpion Stinger at the end of its tail. They make a simple plan to get the Golems to turn it away a quarter turn so the Ranged members aren't directly in the path of the tail strikes and charge in to take it down.
Not only is this thing fast, and carrying four swords, it's casting spells at the same time. [Trance] to slow the group members, [Ice Block] to freeze them and [Chain Lightning] to deal damage.
It's every bit as fast as the Oath Breaker, who he can sense whistling in appreciation inside him, though the strikes don't hit as hard and only one target at a time, with the exception of her spells.
Cain's Arrows are doing a number on it as expected, but not what Cain had hoped for with [Might of Many] stacked up, plus with the spell damage it's doing they're still in danger of members getting one shotted by Chain Lightning arcing back onto them a second time.
There is a possibility it is immune to certain debuffs, or has a cap on damage taken per hit. That would be an amazing ability to have, and Cain hopes the Oath Breaker will forgive him if he experiments with merging this creature, known as a Primordial Shaman, instead of, or even in addition to the Oath Breaker.
Cain would try it out right now, but with ten of the twelve Oath Breakers in other instances, he would be causing a huge problem for his friends.
They come very close to losing a member in the seconds before the boss dies, only a skill called [Final Redemption] saves him. It's a high level Paladin skill that prevents a killing blow from taking him below 1HP and gives them three seconds of limited immunity once per day. Just long enough for the healers to save him, and the Boss died in those three seconds.
Well that was brutal, even with the option to retreat, they almost lost a Paladin to that thing. If they were locked inside like when the Guardians faced the Oath Breaker, it might have been just Cain and Kone leaving alive. It said it was an Epic Quality Raid Boss, but that had to be the limits of what counts as Epic before you simply must call it Legendary.
Fortunately, that is the last Boss level monster they see before finishing the clear of the Raid. Nobody has any gear they want to trade today, so they exit and Cain finds a bench to wait for the other groups. Opening the summons portion of the group status of his interface that he always keeps hidden, because of the amount of his vision it takes up, he sees that they're still in the instance.
He quickly hides it again, glad to have his sight back, and Kone returns with ice cream for him and Su. The others are back before they finish their snack, causing panic in the streets as a number of large demons appear in the town square. Cain dismisses the Oath Breakers and the area mostly clears of demons and the shopkeepers begin to calm down.
[Merged Summons cannot be dismissed]
That's interesting, he can have the Oath Breakers merged with him and still dismiss the others. But can he Summon a different Demon while merged with an Oath Breaker?
Cain runs over to the portal and steps inside the regular dungeon to test his theory, calling forth the Primordial Shaman. Only two appear, and he's still merged with the Oath Breaker.
He ends the Merger skill, causing the Oath Breakers to appear in front of him, and uses Lesser Demon Army to bring him up to six of each Demon. Then he merges with them all.
[Merger Complete]
[Primordial Demonic Spell Book] gained
[Skill: Deadly Shadow] gained
[Multiple Mergers have reduced efficiency]
[Merger Efficiency reduced beyond ten instances]
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Well that answers all the basic questions. Well, all but how powerful is he?
Cain releases one of each Legendary Demon from the Merger to bring him back to ten, where the system said he wouldn't suffer the additional penalty, and looks for a target. Perfect, a group of Epic Plague Demons. Very durable, and ideal for this test.
Cain fires an arrow at them, hitting one and causing the flash of black Mist to spread as far as he can see in this cityscape, so at least a city block. The entire group is dead and the Oath Breaker not merged with him is laughing.
"It's three quarters of the stats and damage up to ten. The area damage also increases in size with increased copies of me." The six armed Demon informs him, looking at the carnage wrought by that single skill.
That's enough experimenting for today, dinner is coming soon, so Cain dismisses all but one copy of the Oath Breaker and the Primordial Shaman that he keeps merged with himself. The extra strength and speed is incredible, plus he can now use Trance, Ice Block, Chain Lightning and Fireball.
"How did it go? Can you fight solo now?" Kone teases and Vala laughs.
"Like you wouldn't believe. With this one Simple Trick, I can even Summon two different Legendary Demons, letting me gain both the speed and attacks of the Oath Breaker, and the Spells of the Primordial Shaman at the same time."
"If it's a Shaman, can it use Totems?" Kone asks and Cain mentally flips through the spell book.
"Totem of Fire, Totem of Ice, Totem of Lightning and a Mana Totem. I guess the Primordial Shaman is more focused than most." Cain shrugs. The totems aren't even a buff to his abilities, they actually use their stated element against approaching enemies. That's pretty useful, he could set sentries if they're traveling.
They retire back to the Guild House for the evening and find the entire guild, including hired staff, have gathered to visit for a group meal. The first group meal in what feels like forever. The Ogres have been mostly suppressed and the Alliance forces have sent the volunteer transfers home, finishing up with just their dedicated armies. A celebration feast is certainly in order, and they've brought the good booze.
They used to do this at the buffet in the tavern all the time, and Cain kind of misses it. He should see if he can return through the portal between houses without completing the quest first.
There are a number of lower level new members to meet, and they've brought new foods with them. Personal favorites for everyone to try, a welcoming ritual of sorts.
The discussion is mostly about dungeons, and how the Companions can do their own, which leads Cain to look through his inventory and find only one run worth of items. Three was enough to pack his inventory full before.
"Looks like we miss out on the drops though. I only got them from the one I was in." Cain says and Laura grins at him before slapping a book in the table.
[Book of Cleave] Rank B. Usable by Warrior, Rogue, Hunter, Ranger
"We got them all for you. When we entered the Raid instance it opened up an inventory screen for us Companions and gear just started filling it up. It's only thirty spots each though, and clones share, so it fills up really fast."
That's pretty awesome. They're almost actual transfers now, just a bit limited.
"You can put what you don't want in the Guild Bank, if you can access it. I wonder if you can use skill books?" Misha thinks out loud.
[Invalid Target]
"Nope, can't use the skill book." Vala says and Laura grabs the book protectively away from the Demon.
"You've already got Cleave though, and so does Laura. Do we have any other ability book we could test with?" Nobody has one with them, so the question goes unanswered for now.
It's been a long and eventful day, and Cain is exceedingly drunk and happy to settle into bed, joined by Misha, who securely locks the door behind her, muttering about thieving cats, which makes Cain wonder if Nemu has been hiding her stuff.. He'll have to talk to the Felian in the morning if he remembers.