From the Beginning
Page 17
Erchik butted in as he cleared his throat. “Jokes aside friends I do not like it down here so might we move along a bit quicker.”
The three others nodded and with Dante still smiling broadly he led them through the darkness towards the structure. Along the way they were attacked two more times by large groups of monsters but they were dealt with swiftly and without incident. Glowing a light greenish blue the structure was large enough to house just about anything. Pillars and archways of the same obsidian stone covered in the red glowing runes were evenly placed around it, they were shorter than the ones they’d encountered along the way and more like tall pedestals with giant red pulsating crystals sitting atop them just barely visible to the human eye from their distance above the heads of the party.
“How much do you think one of those rocks would go for?” Terrance asked jokingly.
Erchik shook his head replying “Not enough for me to try and get it. Just this close to whatever that is makes me feel sick.”
Dante and Laurina nodded in agreement and they all continued through the large stone archway. Inside there were huge caskets lining the walls each of which was made of the same obsidian and red runes, with the largest casket on the farthest wall. It dwarfed not only the party but the other caskets and had seven red pulsating gems interlinking with detailed red script much like the crystals on the pillars outside.
When the whole party finally fully crossed the threshold an echo of elderly sounding voices boomed at them made up of both men and women. “All who pass here shall perish, unless you are one of the lost Adventurers as spoken about by the Gods you must leave or you will die here this day!”
Laughing Dante replied “Wow, could you be more melodramatic?”
There was no response, only silence answering him in return. Wanting to be ready for anything he counted off the caskets finding seven of them besides the giant one and instructed the others to be weary of them since he was unsure of what pattern the enemies would spawn in, or if they were to be rushed by all of them at once. He took one more step into the room before everything began to shake and the sound of stone grinding on stone broke the silence as one after another of the caskets opened leaving only the large one closed.
From each of the caskets came an elite undead monster, each monster slightly different from the last but all of them having a single pulsating red gem showing in their chest or breastplate depending on what the creature was or was not wearing. Not wanting to be taken by surprise Dante directed the other three member of his party to the right while he headed to the left advancing on the group of four now standing in front of him.
He launched at the first one with Leap of Chaos only to throw himself at the next one using his Scatter Blades and grabbing the attention of the next monster with Swift Strike and finally getting the last one to follow suite with his Intertwined Fates skill. Dashing back and waiting for all four to get close enough that he could hit them all with his Cycle of Fate, Cascading Blades, and Swift Strike followed by Core Attack: Annihilation and Plight of Chaos finishing off his group and leaving him winded. Not wanting to go into battle unprepared he activated Chaotic Flow while the others worked on their group of monsters.
Glancing at his other party members he watched as Erchik activated skills he’d never seen shooting out arrows powered with a yellow energy while he used speedy hit and run tactics allowing Terrance to pull agro each time Erchik managed to divert the enemies’ attention with his damage per second. Laurina kept Terrance well healed and even tossed on a few buffs making sure that the few times a mob managed to get a hit on Erchik she got his health to max as fast as possible. All three worked seamlessly in unison and it was not long before all of the enemies on their side were disposed of. Dante had expected the boss to appear then but nothing seemed to happen as the last of the monsters fell and he was left feeling both disappointed and annoyed.
“Well,” he said aloud. “What the hell do we do now?” looking at each of his friends hoping one of them might have a clue.
“Look around for something that might activate the last casket?” Terrance offered.
Shaking his head Dante replied “As astute as ever hun” ignoring Terrance who was sticking out his tongue in response.
Upon further inspection they found something of a control panel next to the larger casket that had seven slots. Each one the same size and shape as the gems that were in the enemies chests. Not wanting the items to despawn with the bodies he and the others got to work gathering all seven of the gems just before the monsters housing them faded into nothingness and they stood there as the last of their cool downs wore off while they planned out how to deal with the legendary beast.
“Attack patterns?” Terrance asked Dante.
“Dargath goes back and forth from slow but hard hitting attacks to random powerful bursts of area of effect damage about every twenty percent. He’ll begin to glow red and that's when the random bursts start. That is your real warning that the change is about to happen. He duel wields sickles and they do bleed damage for about ten seconds for each good hit stacking up to five times. I suggest when he goes into rage mode that Terrance goes full shield with Laurina to buff him and Erchik and Laurina standing as far back behind him as possible. If I fall during the fight I will resurrect at the camp outside the dungeon if given that as an option, so I want you guys to beat a hasty retreat out there and we will regroup and decide how to tackle this boss again then” Dante said as the whole group agreed and readied themselves for the fight.
Dante Alexander: Knight Mage
Level: 37.42
Attack Power:134
Defense Power:378
Health:1805/1805
Mana:983/983
Stamina:977/977
Attack Speed +5
Casting Speed +5
Critical Hit +5
Movement Speed +4
Gear:
Main Hand
+14 Blade of Chaos
Off Hand
+14 Short Sword of Chaos
Helm
+19 Hidden Circlet of Chaos +150 HP
Armor
+25 Leather Breastplate of Chaos +250 HP and +30% Damage Reduction
Gloves
+14 Leather Gloves of Chaos
Shoes
+18 Leather Shoes of Chaos +250 stamina, +87 to evasion
Set effects:
2 pieces: + 1 to casting/ attacking speed
3 Pieces: +1 to critical hit
Full set:???
L Earring slot +20 Earring of the Enchantress +50 Mana/Energy, +20 Attack, +20 Accuracy
R Earring slot Empty
L Ring slot Ring of Attack +1 to attack speed
R Ring slot Empty
Necklace slot Empty
Belt slot Empty
Skills:
Basic Attack
Swift Strike
Cascading Blades
Scatter Blades
Chaotic Shield
Hidden Power
Cycle of Fate
Chaos Hold
Shadows of Chaos
Intertwined Fates
Chaos Dash
Plight of Chaos
Chaotic Blast
Chaotic Subterfuge
Light of Chaos
Dominion of Chaos
Core Attack: Annihilation
Chaotic Flow
Evasive Blade Stance
Lashing Chaos
Burst of Chaotic Blades
Leap of Chaos
Companions:
Terrance Walsh: Warrior
Level:33.64
Attack Power:144
Defense Power:322
Health:2149/2149
Stamina:1201/1201
Attack Speed +3
Casting Speed +2
Critical Hit +4
Movement Speed +4
Erchik: Crossbowman
Level:33.76
Attack Power:151
Defense Power:207
Health:1512/1512
Stamina:896/896
Attack Speed +2
Casting Speed +0
Critical Hit +3
Movement Speed +1
Laurina: Healer
Level:30.11
Attack Power:114
Defense Power:172
Health:1262/1262
Mana: 801/801
Stamina:491/491
Attack Speed +1
Casting Speed +2
Critical Hit +1
Movement Speed +0
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Placing each gem in a slot the group waited just behind Dante as he slipped the last one in place and leapt back waiting for the large casket to open. Without warning there was a bright flash of red accompanied with a high pitched squeal similar to over stressed metal followed by darkness and silence before the thud of the casket lid falling to the ground. Inside the casket the group could see a large human-like being with coal black skin and little spikes protruding from all over its body seemingly asleep with its arms crossed and a sickle in each hand.
Without warning or any sign of movement it was suddenly before them and striking out at Dante who moved back just in time as the monster raged in anger at missing its prey. Taking but a moment to inspect Dante was less than surprised at the legendary beast’s stats.
Legendary Beast: Dargath
Level: 84
Health: 272,000/272,000
He was less afraid of this thing then the last few legendary beasts. Something about it being his fourth time and having his friends at his back that made him feel differently than when he faced the other legendary beasts. In moments the whole group fell into a rhythm with Dante off tanking while Terrance taking the brunt when Dante needed to regenerate mana and stamina or allow other abilities come off of cooldown. Laurina kept them well above three fourths health making sure not to overtax her own mana in case she needed to do a quick high end healing prayer. Erchik had the easiest job making sure to whittle down what health points he could from the beast from as far away as possible and with Dante at the front lines doing the majority of the damage he found it easy to do his job without grabbing agro from Dargath.
Everything seemed to fall into place and run smoothly and even during the sporadic attacks with Dante and Terrance trading off tanking they took down the health of the legendary beast faster and safer then Dante had done on his own with the other legendary beasts. It wasn’t until the beast fell and they were about to celebrate that they quickly realized that they were not yet done.
The same grouping of voices that had assaulted them before when entered the structure boomed again. “Bound to this place of power, lives were sacrificed to keep hold of the legendary beast. Death is but the first cycle, un-death is the next. If you are one of the lost Adventurers who has made it this far then you must survive. Best the beast and you will be able to continue on your journey.”
Loud cracking could be heard and the group saw out the archway one of the large red glowing gemstones was now broken and dead and by the sounds of things the other seven were not far behind it. Flashing a bright bloody red the corpse of the fallen legendary beast rose again though this time the flesh was rotten, the eyes sunken in, and bone protruded from the joints where the flesh completely fell off. Death, decay, and fear permeated the room as a whole, and an effect of sorts froze everyone in place but Laurina who was shrouded in a dim white light emanating from her necklace.
Knowing she had to move quickly she cast prayers of cure and release on the party letting them move freely as they went back to their positions in hopes of holding out against this now dark and mutated legendary beast. Just as they got back into formation it struck out and managed to do a large bit of damage to Terrance through his shield. Its attacks were sporadic like its berserker mode before they took it down the first time. It wailed in what sounded almost like pain as its body lurched around striking at any one of them that moved before Dante managed to pull it away from the others and evade its blows while doing as much damage as possible.
He took a few glancing blows before getting the beast down to its first twenty percent mark and it began glowing red again and striking slower. In that moment he knew that the usual pattern that the legendary beast took would now be altered and reverse of what its normal patterns would be.
“Dargath slows down every twenty percent now. When he does I want you all to hit him with everything you have then fall back behind Terrance’s shield until he hits the next twenty percent mark!” Dante shouted to the group almost lazily dodging the attacks seeing them slowly ramp up as the red glow faded away.
Acknowledging his words they let loose some of their most powerful attacks while he was still slowed and focused on Dante only to stop and pull back when the red glow completely subsided. Though its attacks were sporadic since it was closest to Dante it kept after him and forced him to move quickly while attacking and whittling down its health with every strike. Its defense points seemed much higher meaning he could do less damage to the legendary beast even though the health was still maxed at two hundred seventy thousand when it was at full.
Hours seemed to pass as they worked on the legendary beast hitting it repeatedly with each party member’s core attack which was each class’s strongest attack multiple times. Dante could feel his strength tugging at the edges of the laws of the world demanding that he break them and though he knew he could and that he could win if he did he was terrified of what he could do, or worse what he could become if he relied on that power too much or too often.
With his final combination of Dominion of Chaos and Core Attack: Annihilation he finished off the last bit of the legendary beasts health before he and the rest of his party collapsed on the ground each having exhausted mana and stamina during the fight.
Raising a hand in the air from his prone state fist lightly clenched Dante shouted “Take that you old, dead fucks!” Which caused the others to break out in fits of giggles and elation as the presence of the beast no longer affected them. Everyone in the group then got a series of prompts from defeating the legendary beast.
Congratulations you completed the hidden quest: Spell Breaking
In beating the dungeon and lying to rest the enspelled legendary beast Dargath you have fulfilled the requirements of the hidden quest. The following rewards will be offered to all members of your party combined with the reward of slaying the legendary beast.
Rewards: 1 Item imbued with Dargath’s power, 16,000,000 exp, and 15,000,000 gold
Congratulations you have defeated another legendary beast!
Having defeated five legendary beasts you have earned the title Legendary Warrior
Warning!
Upon picking up Gloves of Dargath it has instantly fused with your magical armor and added its stats and abilities to your armors current stats and abilities.
Dante felt a surge of power as the final piece of the boss armor merged with his own armor. Looking himself over he saw that the armor changed appearance again. Not having paid much attention during the last transformation he looked himself over in the dim light of the lanterns and was quite pleased with the way he now looked. All the metal plating had a wooden obsidian texture with runes glowing with dark purple energy etched into the outer rings which looked like darkened bones infused to the metal and bordered the plates. Small purple glowing gems in constellation like patterns were dispersed over each plate. The leather underneath felt warm and soft but had the look of dusky gray worn leather similar to an old tough imps hide with light specks of ashy gray all over. The boots though encasing his feet left him feeling light as if nothing was there at all and made movement even easier, while the gloves covered all of the fingers they still allowed him nimble and complex movement.
AS he looked over at the others he saw that they each picked a different piece of the armor to supplement their own and each member now had much better stats and raised levels. Dante felt that he was ready to face pretty much everything now. Each person gathered t
heir loot and as they readied themselves for the trek back through the dungeon they found that the casket which held the altered legendary beast was now glowing and the light which emanated from the casket showed them the world outside the lighthouse and without argument they stepped through and out into the bright sunlight of late afternoon.
Dante Alexander: Knight Mage
Level: 38.61
Attack Power:174
Defense Power:413
Health:1866/1866
Mana:1264/1264
Stamina:1249/1249
Attack Speed +5
Casting Speed +5
Critical Hit +5
Movement Speed +5
Gear:
Main Hand
+14 Blade of Chaos
Off Hand
+14 Short Sword of Chaos
Helm
+19 Hidden Circlet of Chaos +150 HP
Armor
+25 Leather Breastplate of Chaos +250 HP and +30% Damage Reduction
Gloves
+17 Leather Gloves of Chaos +250 Mana/Stamina, +22 to evasion
Shoes
+18 Leather Shoes of Chaos +250 stamina, +87 to evasion
Set effects:
2 pieces: + 1 to casting/ attacking speed
3 Pieces: +1 to critical hit
Full set: +1 to movement speed, and +40 to Attack
L Earring slot +20 Earring of the Enchantress +50 Mana/Energy, +20 Attack, +20 Accuracy
R Earring slot Empty
L Ring slot Ring of Attack +1 to attack speed
R Ring slot Empty
Necklace slot Empty