Noire's PoV:
Around the same time as Garami and Mira should have positioned themselves by that "secret hideout" theater as Garami called it, I and the rest of the combatants had to follow that Regina to the castle front. Since our group was so big, we had split up into several smaller ones and were supposed to regroup in the city right before the castle grounds. And the main star's yet to arrive...
"...Where is she already!? She should have been here already!" - Noire
"Probably been spotted by some undeads. It is General Regina after all." - Alf
"Yes, yes."
The other combatants that had already arrived agreed with Alf's statement. And the worst of it all, he is right. No way that woman would ever be capable of traveling without getting into-, correction, without making any problems.
And just as we suspected, after waiting for a few more minutes, that woman arrived and apologized for the wait created by her "seeing some lizards, so I went and pocked them"-line. And you say "lizards", but they were "dragons", right? Are we going to survive while under her command?
"Ahem, ladies and gentlemen! Are you ready for the castle-raid of your life~?" - Regina
None of us answered her.
"...Fine, then we'll do it in the old and boring way." - Regina
After saying her piece, Regina turned towards the castle gates and... started to run...
*Ka-BOOOM!*
"How do you cause an explosion with a punch!?"
Do we have some newbies with us today? Not Iron though. He fainted while standing.
---
After Regina had knuckle-busted in the castle gates, we hurried inside. Not that Regina needed any support. We needed to acquire the valuables inside the castle before they turned to ashes.
However, we were met with an expected, yet unexpected scene: Undeads being burned alive. However...
"Eh? Why are those Skeletons still moving?" - Alf
Yes. The soot-black Skeletons are still "alive" and charging towards Regina, who is trying to beat them back with her flaming fists... oh, crap!
"Turn Undead!!" - Noire
I used the all-known Holy spell to extinguish the burning Skeleton before Regina could punch it.
"Hey! Stealing my kill is-" - Regina
"What kill!? You have not beaten a single one of those Burning Skulls!" - Noire
"Huh? Now that mention it... and why're you giving them such awesome nicknames?" - Regina
"It is not a nickname, but a race name! These are D-rank Undeads with the [Fire Absorption] skill from unbirth! Your punches may damage them, but the fire 'damage' works as recovery them, so they take virtually no damage!" - Noire
"Ah, oops," said Regina while turning off the flames on her hands. That will not help with this many...
"Are they still increasing?" - Noire
I ask so since the Burning Skulls are visually increasing by the minute.
"Ooh, you're right again. They're coming out of the castle." - Regina
I knew it! Of all undeads out there, why did they have to pick the one with the worst compatibility with our ace-in-the-hole!?
"I've never seen wild undeads like these," said Iron who slammed an incoming Skull with his shield.
"Did they specifically order these when they noticed her fieriness arriving?" asked Alf while swinging the hammer part of his weapon around, crushing and freezing the Skulls...
"AAAHH!!" - Noire
"W-what is it?" - Alf
"You-!" - Noire
"...Yes?" - Alf
"...Blunt and Ice together easily crush fiery wild ones?" - Iron
"Yes! Yes to that! Yes!" - Noire
It is a miracle of a combination! Alf is probably the only one who specializes in both blunt attacks and the Ice attribute among all the members of the organization here on this island now! Alf drove away more Burning Skulls, which came apart into pieces when they were hit with the ice-enveloped hammer of his hybrid weapon.
"Wow, she's right. They're crumbling like sandcastles." - Alf
"Burning Skulls are originally Skeleton-type monsters, so they take four times the damage to blunt. And despite being Fire attribute monsters, their strongest weakness is ironically ice, which they take four times the damage again!" - Noire
"Then... sixteen times...?" - Iron
"A-aw come on. Now I'm starting to feel bad for these guys." - Alf
It did not stop him from crushing three more undeads approaching...
"Wha-" - Alf, Iron, & Noire
Wait, their levels increased too?
"...You three! Get inside and stop the supply of the ashen boneheads!" - Regina
Us three? All alone? Against that pandemonium of burning undeads!?
"Use the other combatants as a distraction and look for the source of these guys. They are probably focusing solely on the production of these hotheads to have the resources for any other undeads, so the three of you should be able to navigate through the castle." - Regina
"And what about you?" - Alf
No, ask about us instead!!
"I'll be making havoc here to distract their main forces. Relax. Even if they do figure out the trick-" said Regina before taking a break to kick off the head of an incoming Burning Skull... "It's not like they can leave me unattended~." - Regina
T-true... even with her flames disabled, General Regina is still strong enough with her bare hands... rather, is she not the best candidate to face the Burning Skulls with her high fire resistance?
"Roger." - Iron
"I'm on it." - Alf
Ah! You two! Don't agree with her so readily-!
"We've got no time for a detailed plan here. Just go!" - Regina
"Y-yes, ma'am!" - Noire
And with that, the three of us entered the castle, leading the many combatants at our rear.
---
"Ha-ha-ha-ha!! Come at me! I'll make you regret ever leaving the place you call hell!" - Alf
Damn, he is broken from the adrenaline. We are completing our assignment of gaining EXP, but still...
It's been only a few ten minutes since we entered the castle... then again, it is also already been several ten minutes.
After we first entered the gloomy and abandoned-looking castle, the Burning Skulls started to flock on us, covering poor Iron like a carpet of flames. As a Living Armor, no amount of heat would bother him, except for temperatures that can melt even metal. The sole problem was that the undeads were too close to Iron. We could not attack them without harming him as well.
*Twang!*
As long as we relied on magic in its purest sense.
"Nice shot." - Iron
Iron gave me a curt reply as I finished the Burning Skull that tried to grab onto his shield, in the same fashion as the others I had taken care of.
Before we had started this operation, both me and Iron, as well as Mira who should be at the theater right now, had obtained or upgraded our classes.
Iron had obtained the Guardian Knight class which focuses on defense, Mira had taken the Elementalist class after helping some spirits that were living in the Safe Area, and me? I obtained the Archer class.
Archery has always been a favorite past-time for me before, but Garami refused me from obtaining it because arrows are too weak to use against undeads. That changed with one of the weapons that Regina had taken along with the other provisions.
Borrowing Garami's words, it is a "bow-version of the Thaumaturgy Revolver". It consists of a metal arc that creates threads of aether when given mana. As for the arrows, one needs to cast a spell, then activate the abilities of the bow to reshape the spell into an arrow that can be used with the bow. The process takes even more time than using the spells on their own, but since the range of the spell is condensed to a single spot, the effects are drastically increased. It also helps when you want to hit only the enemy in close-knitted brawls.
Iron kept on taunting the undeads to attack him while I helped him finish them off or support him with spells like Negative Heal or the defense-enhancing Fortitude spell.
Alf is cutting us a path, smashing Skeletons left and right with his ice-clad weapon. Most of the kills inside the castle belong to him, having defeated at least 30 Burning Skulls on his own. He even mentioned off-handed that his level has already reached 40.
Most of the Burning Skulls had fallen prey to the Warhammer-part of his weapon, but the rest came from Alf manipulating his newly evolved [Icicle Wall] skill to either make them appear in the door openings with undeads still there, have the ice spears appear from walls to skewer the Skeletons right beside it or make the walls appear to both block the attacks, then grab the Skeltons by inserting his weapon into their ribcage and slam the undead into the frozen walls.
The D-rank undeads have turned quite pitiable. This one-sided battle seems to please Alf quite well. He never enjoyed an equal fight.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha... backup! I need backup!" - Alf
And the cocky spearsman ran back to us right after entering the next room in high spirits. What now?
*CRASH!*
I take back the previous question! I didn't want to know about this!!
A gigantic Skeleton holding a sword of equal proportions appeared from the broken wall and into the large hall that we are currently fighting in.
It looked like a normal Skeleton that had increased drastically in size. So much it had to crawl on all four due to the castle being too small for it.
"I-it's a Giant Skeleton Guardian! Rank C! No classes! But it has an average in all stats when you ignore MAG! Skills are mostly endurance types!"
The combatants with [Identification] told us the nightmarish capabilities of the enemy in front of us. And to make things worse, more Burning Skulls are coming from between the legs of the Giant Skeleton and takes a detour around us to fortify the ones outside.
"...Last boss?" - Iron
Iron said so while pointing at the Giant Skeleton. Last?
"Oh, I see! They probably made this guy so he could defend the spawning area for the flaming undeads." - Alf
That... seems probable. Whoever is managing this Dungeon must be focusing solely on Burning Undeads to the point of them not having the room or resources to create other types of troops. So why not simply make one gigantic guardian instead? It seems they didn't have enough for a shield to the big guy...
"...What a pain!" - Alf
I wholeheartedly agree.
The other combatants led by Iron started to distract the Giant Skeleton. Meanwhile, Alf came back to us in the rearguard for recovery and an MP Potion break.
"Then, what shall we do? Or, what can we do?" - Noire
While not as much as Garami, Alf always had some tricky plots to clear the missions he had been given before the foundation of Garami's platoon. It is the main reason why he was promoted to a commander back then.
"...Noire. Try drawing that guy's attention." - Alf
"I'll die!" - Noire
I take that back too! This guy is as stupid as a ghoul!
"Now, now, listen to what I have to say. Try to have that big guy leave the wall in the hole so much that I and some others can sneak past him and destroy the spawning point. Then we will return and flank the big guy from both sides." - Alf
"...And just how are we supposed to distract him enough after we lure him into the hall? It's not like he will allow you to pass just because-" - Noire
Alf handed over a round object to me as I tried to refuse his idea. A sphere... oh, great.
"A Flash Orb. Mira has already demonstrated for us that undeads can be blinded, so this one will also work. Use it when you have him somewhere in the middle of the hall. And make sure to fire at him from the air. And do it as flashy as possible." - Alf
......Argh, fine! I just need to do it, right!?
I placed the Orb into the Item Pouch and took it to the sky. The Giant Skeleton noticed me when I was high enough to see it eye-to-eye, right as I released an arrow formed from Holy Regeneration, a higher-ranking variant of Holy Heal.
The spell-arrow struck the Skeleton in its empty right eye and exploded in its empty cranium. W-whoa... did I score a critical hit? Ah-aaahh!! Here it comes!!
"Nice shot!"
Who said that!? I'll make the next one after this straight up their rear!
The Giant Skeleton lashed at me in anger with its gigantic black longsword. I barely dodged thanks to me flying in the air and the sword being so large it scrapped the roof and floor when the Giant tried to swing it.
I kept on flying into the hall to escape the Skeleton's attacks. Like Alf had predicted, the giant stepped out of the hole in the wall, forgetting its purpose of defending the corridor... iik! Here it comes! I-Illusion!
The illusion-type spell from the new Magic Skill I had recently obtained worked like a charm and hid me from the Skeleton for a moment. Then the effect went out and the Skeleton came charging at me again. Please, give me a break!
"Alright... do it!" - Alf
F-finally! I waited for the Giant to miss with its latest slash and threw the Flash Orb at its face. I used the moment when the Skeleton's attention was stolen by the Orb and escaped behind a pillar, just before the item exploded.
Intense light filled the hall and blinded everyone that happened to look at the Orb at the moment of detonation. The Giant Skeleton was one of those unfortunate souls.
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Alf and three combatants took the opportunity to slip past the Giant Skeleton and entered the next corridor. Let us hope that there are no other "bosses", as Iron named it...
The Giant Skeleton swung its longsword around while blinded, taking out many of the Burning Skulls that had suffered the same fate. The combatants had managed to escape both the Orb and the flailing of the Giant Skeleton unharmed and started to attack it with all their might after the Giant calmed down.
---
A few minutes after the fight started, and the situation is looking good. No new Burning Skulls are appearing from the corridor, and the ones that had been here from the beginning have been culled thanks to the combatants, making the Giant Skeleton the last enemy in the hall.
There was no one here who could withstand the mighty blows of the Giant, except for Iron at full health and enhanced with defensive spells. All the other members used long-range attacks to whittle away the Giant's health and concentration. Even so, we are only halfway there according to the combatants with [Identification]. And we are running out of potions and other consumables...
I had to provide both support and damage thanks to the Giant being weak towards healing spells and the Holy attribute. Especially when it was only me who could use Negative Heal that worked on Iron. What is taking Alf so long!?
"A huge one's coming!"
The Giant Skeleton is winding up for a large attack. Its sword started emitting a black haze... isn't this a little bad?
"T-take cover!"
Everyone tried to escape the incoming slash of the Skeleton... except for one.
"I-Iron!?" - Noire
Only Iron stayed at his position. Is he stupid? Does he want to die?
The Giant Skeleton's sword came crashing down towards Iron, who took the blow with his greatshield. An explosion of black mist came from the sword when it collided with Iron's shield, spreading out to the rest of the hall... wait, this is miasma!! Purify, purify, purify already!!
*CRASH!*
What now!? Is the building falling apart? Or... the Skeleton's sword and arm got crushed?!! The big guy was even sent flying backward!!
All of us simply stood there with our mouths agape. Then, when the miasma-like fog disappeared, we saw Iron with his broken shield in his hands.
"Skill... [Counter]." - Iron
"Ah, aaaaahhh."
We all understood just from that word alone. Yeah, a counter from that blow... all too understandable...
The Giant Skeleton stood up... to the best of its abilities, and started to crawl over to Iron again. Ah, crap! The shield got destroyed just-*STAB!*-now... what?
The Giant Skeleton stopped in its tracks... as a large spike of ice struck its "rear entrance"...
"Sorry for being late-what the-!?" - Alf
"Alf! Good timing! Do it again!" - Noire
"So sorry!... Do what again?" - Alf
"That! The thing you just did!" I shouted, pointing at the stiffened Skeleton.
"Eeh... I didn't mean to" - Alf
"Just do it!!" - Noire and combatants
"...Argh, fine then! [Icicle Wall]!" - Alf
The next stake-like ice wall struck the Skeleton in its rear again, this time with enough force to send it up to the roof... pfft!? It crashed through the roof!
"Wha-ha-ha! Again, again!" - Noire
"Seriously? I think this much is too..." - Alf
"One more time! One more time!" - Combatants
"...This is ruthless..." - Iron
Pressured by the combatants, Alf kept the icicles coming up to the Skeleton stuck in the roof. After a few ten critical hits or so...
The Giant Skeleton had fallen. And fittingly, all members who had participated had obtained the Giant Killer title. Ku-ku-ku-ku.
"Wha-ha-ha-ha! See that! That is what you get when you try to stand up against Nequitia!" - Noire
"Yes, your highness!" - Combatants
"Sorry. So sorry..." - Alf
Despite the Giant Skeleton having been defeated, Alf is sulking back at the wall while Iron's watching over him. They need to sharpen up some more.
Some of the scout combatants came back with the report that the Burning Skulls had all disappeared thanks to the destruction of the spawning point. Regina's now free to attack the rest of the castle and started with some more guardians that had been deployed after the Burning Skulls had disappeared. These are not what one could call the anti-fire types, so she should be able to handle them on her own.
"Now then, good work today, Alf. This makes up for the uselessness of yours lately." - Noire
"Stop talking to me in such a good mood. I'm feeling like the worst piece of shit... ah. I almost forgot. I hit the jackpot down there.
Hmm?
---
"Wow! What a pile of treasures!" - Noire
"That expression have never been truer than today." - Alf
The spawning point for the Burning Skulls was right before a Treasure Chamber! The Giant Skeleton Guardian must have originally been the guard for this place. The owner of the Dungeon must have placed the spawning point at this place so it would be close enough for the Burning Skulls to deploy while saving resources for a new guardian.
"Still, is that thing a little too big?" I asked, looking at the sorry state of what used to be the spawning point facility, now crushed, hammered, and frozen solid.
"That probably explains why it could make so many of those burning Skeletons. They must have gone for the deluxe version or something." - Alf
Figures.
We focused on emptying the Treasure Chamber, which contained several Treasure Chests holding various items of high rarities. One of them was even a new greatshield for Iron! And it is a Legendary rarity!
"Hey, why did the owner even build this place?" - Alf
"Isn't it because it allows them to make more facilities? Like with the Safe Area?" - Noire
"Ah, I see..." - Alf
Still, I have heard about Treasure Chambers before, but they went all out with this place. Maybe they build it on top of a real treasure chamber? No, they have to have done so. You cannot explain all these old coins except with that.
"Hey, there's a big one over here! And it's locked!"
The thief-type combatants are making a ruckus in the inner depths of the Chamber. I walked over and... sure, that is a big Treasure Chest, I have to admit. But why do they not simply pick it open... this is not a lock. It's more of a block that is welded on top of the keyhole.
"At this size, maybe there's a Godly-ranked item here? Psych..."
"-!? Alf! Get that hammer of yours over here!" - Noire
"What? What is... oi." - Alf
"Break this thing open! Right now!" - Noire
"You know, when people seal a chest that secure, it's because they don't want people to open-" - Alf
"Who cares about that! Open it, open it right now! My Godly-tier item is waiting for me!" - Noire
"...I want to ask why you are so certain it is something of the Godly-tier, but why should it even be yours? Even limited to the three of us, you were the one who contributed the least to the previous fight." - Alf
"*Nod, nod*." - Iron
"Wha-!? Are you doubting this Noire's decision!?" - Noire
"Fine, fine, I'll open it. Just don't make a scene." - Alf
Alf finally got into the mood and swung his hammer at the lock-blocking block with a *CLANK*.
"...Nothing?" - Iron
"Nothing at all!?" - Noire
"No, there's something at the bottom." - Alf
Alf bowed down into the chest to retrieve the item at the-"You know, there's always something cursed in these types of chests."-Treasure... what?
I and Iron listened to the whispers of the combatants behind us, who had taken quite the distance from the chest before we noticed, with dwindling composure. Alf was too busy searching the chest to notice.
"Yes. Like it's a Mimic or the chest's filled with poison gas."
"Or do you remember that one who turned Golder into a girl? What happened to the guy again?"
"Think he-, I mean her, is working at the red-light district even now."
"And there's the chest of impotence as well... hey, aren't all these curses mostly perverse types only?"
"Curses are perverted from the start. No surprise there."
"True that."
Don't 'True that' me! Awawawa, A-Alf...
"Oh? I think I found it... whoa!?" - Alf
Alf fell into the chest!!
*Clank.* *Clank* *Clank, clank, clank, claclaclaclaclaclaclacla-CLANK!*
And the chest got locked itself! Hey, there's a limit to the number of locks and security!
"Hmm? Hey, can someone open this-*CHOMP*-OUUUCH!!" - Alf
"Alf?!" - Noire & Iron
Biting sounds could be heard inside the chest, along with Alf's screams of pain. The chest jumped around as whatever inside tried to break out. And after a while, both the screams and the movements ceased...... Alf!!
Iron picked up the halberd that Alf had put aside and used it to pry the chest open. And heave and ho!
*CRACK!'
Phew, we did it... and we found Alf in one piece, albeit with some bite-marks all over him.
Something else hopped out from the chest. Are these... dentures? It's around the size to fit a bat's mouth. Why bat? Because there are some nasty fangs attached to it. The dentures moved jumped around on their own, but whatever that powered it must have gone out. It's stone dead now. And turned to dust.
"Hey... Alf...?" - Noire
...No response. It is almost as if talking to a corpse.
"...!! T-t-t-t-t-this is b-b-b-bad!!" - Iron
"R-r-r-r-relax! W-w-w-we just n-n-n-need to s-s-say to Garami that Alf lost to that Giant Skeleton! Yes, we can trick them with tha-*Grab!*-aa...aat?" - Noire
I looked down at my... and Iron's wrists, which had been grabbed by something...
"Who are you trying to declare deaaaaaad?" - Alf
"G-GYAAAAAA!!" - Noire & Iron
---
Skill Lists
Noire:
Iron:
Alf:
---
Further Information:
Kinda.
This set of teeth will attack the first person who opens the sealed treasure chest that is generated along with the fangs in areas with a high potency of Death- and Undead aether. The victim of the fangs will then be able to evolve into a vampire species close to their original race, but they will also be unable to evolve into any other race.
As a side-effect of the fangs, when the victim evolves, they will automatically receive the [True Ancestor] title, which negates the negative effects of the vampire species, such as the need for blood, sunlight, silver weapons, and garlic. They still retain racial weaknesses to certain attributes, such as Light and Water.
Mira's comment: Wow! This one sounds amazing! Kinda impossible to get, though. It sounds like it's created randomly.