Kind Demon King

I pulled my sword from the werewolf’s corpse. I cleared the blood and hung it on my back.

“They were feral.”

I muttered.

“What do you mean?”

I didn’t notice Percavel standing close enough to hear.

“Guardians we faced before had human-like intelligence. The fact that these behave like animals is weird.”

“You think so?”

“I don’t really know. I haven’t been in a lot of dungeons let alone a temple dedicated to a “Calamity.” By the way, I don’t know what exactly a Calamity is.”

While I couldn’t see Percavel’s face because it was covered with his helmet I could say that he was surprised due to his body language. Damn, another common knowledge I don’t know about?

“Beings born from the mud of evil. Embodying countless sins committed in this world, they come to this world to end it. That’s what a Calamity is.”

Agatha joined our conversation. Hmm. Nope. I don’t think her knowledge about Calamities was correct. At least all of it. Wolf King…

He was a God Killer. Or at least he claimed so. The drawings I saw here also supported that. Agatha, as a believer of said Gods probably didn’t have the best and most objective opinion of him. But I didn’t think Wolf King was a Chaotic Evil as Agatha claimed. More like Chaotic Neutral.

“Stop the religious talk. Brat is right. These guys are probably the weakest we will face in this dungeon.”

Duncan spoke.

“Weakest? They were already pretty strong!”

Percavel nearly shouted.

“For you.”

Duncan answered him. I looked at Blanche, expecting her to take the reins and reassure the group. Yet, she looked forward while casting spells. I softly sighed.

“It doesn’t matter. We are a well-rounded party while they are just feral beasts. We have a clear formation where everyone has a role for their specific strengths, they don’t. We have the equipment, they don’t. It doesn’t matter if they get stronger as we go on, strength without discipline and tactics is worthless.”

I cringed to my core as I made that speech. Taking leadership when you were the weakest was… Yikes. I also didn’t have the right since Blanche was still here but she… I don’t think leadership was her strongest suit. Duncan looked disinterested in what I just said while Agatha and Percavel looked better.

“I finished scanning the area.”

Blanche spoke up.

“Mana is very thick so detection magic doesn’t work that well but I can say that this place at least has 10 floors.”

“Better than I expected.”

Duncan said.

“Earth Dragon Callison’s Grave has 25 floors. Compared to it this dungeon will be easy.”

“A dungeon’s floor number isn't related to its difficulty.”

Percavel said.

“War God’s Battle Area only has 3 floors yet it is seen as one of hardest to clear.”

Duncan clicked his tongue but didn’t answer beyond that.

“Let’s keep moving. We already warmed up.”

As we moved and got deeper, the cold increased.

“Worgs!”

“They have skeleton riders!”

Worgs were creatures similar to wolves. Except ugly. Their snoot was longer and their fangs were mismatched. Their fur was matted and formed spikes. That caused most of their skin to be exposed. Their tail was like a rat’s, naked and long. On top of them were skeletons. Okay, they weren’t bastard skellys. Their skin was intact. Looks like they were mummified because of the cold. Maybe they were from previous expeditions? Worgs were smaller than most wolf-like creatures I fought before but they were fast. Their riders were slow and rigid but the grey haze covering their body made me feel uncomfortable. They carried various weapons but they were old and rusted. Some broke when I clashed with them. They were slightly tricky to fight. Only smashing their skull stopped them. But after I killed the worg they rode, they were too slow to pose a danger.

“Too bad we haven’t got an item drop yet. All of their weapons are trash.”

Percavel said. We moved forward. We got into several other fights, but nothing big.

“Is this the boss room?”

Duncan asked Blanche while looking at the door in front of our group.

“Mana coming from here is denser. It either leads to the next floor or a boss monster is here.”

He pushed the huge door open.

“Come on!”

Duncan shouted with his two axes in his hands.

“Growl.”

“Rattle.”

Countless growls and rattling noises answered his battle cry.

“Shit.”

I said as I gazed upon 50 or so worg riders. They looked better equipped than others. What’s worse was they were in a formation. Around 15 of them carried huge shields and they were high in the air, creating a barrier. A solid barrier we must break through. The real boss monster was on the very back. It was a huge skeleton riding similarly huge worg. He held a huge battle axe. Blue light shone from where his eyes were supposed to be. It looked down at us and opened its mouth. The noise that followed was loud.

(Worg Rider Captain uses Warcy. All of its allies' strength increases by 10 percent for 5 minutes.)

I pulled my bow.

“A commander type of enemy! I will try to stop it from using his buffs!”

I pulled my bow’s string back and I noticed it immediately. The correction came with my skill. Weird. I fired one arrow. My arrow managed to pass through their shields and reach to Captain. Despite that its armor shone and my arrow just bounced off its armor. I clicked my tongue.

“Its armor must have the option to defend against projectiles.”

Blanche spoke.

“Madam Agatha, do it.”

“Yes. Dead doesn’t belong in this world. With the light of Anshar! Return to rest!”

Golden light shone. I squinted my eyes before turning my head. When I turned my head back, I saw the grey mist coming out of the skeletons was lessened. Agatha gasped.

“They resisted it!”

She spat out.

“They are weaker now! Start attacking!”

Blanche ordered. And with that our 2-hour-long battle started.

(Duration ended. Your strength will be decreased by 10 percent for the next 4 minutes and 30 seconds.)

Duration of Monstrous Strength ended for maybe the fifth time in this battle. Sweat covered my body and my muscles ached. I fell down on my ass while breathing heavily.

(You conquered the first floor of Wolf King’s Tomb. You can pass the second floor without battle next time you visit here.)

(You carry mana compatible with this dungeon. All stats increases by 1.)

The pain this time wasn’t as bad as the time I absorbed the stat booster.

(Your party is rewarded with Plunder of Skeleton Army for their first clear.)

A huge chest covered with bones fell out of the sky. Or maybe from the roof? Seeing we were in a building? Only I was surprised by it.

“Uh. This didn’t happen with other dungeons.”

“That dungeons didn’t have this many records and mana in them.”

Blanche answered me while opening the chest.

“Will this boss respawn?”

“Yes. It will be weaker that time.”

I wanted to ask if we could farm them but hearing the term “first clear” made it clear that you only could be rewarded for the first time. Duncan dropped the corpse- can you even call a dead skeleton dead?- of the Captain. He ripped the armor off it.

“Its stats are bad. It even has a negative effect.”

I touched it.

(Ice-Infused Armor)

(Defense: 18)

(Durability: 178\ 650)

(Option: Projectile Blocker: Any projectile fired with skills under Rank D will be negated.)

(Demerit: Cold Feet: User’s agility will be lowered by 5 percent as long as they wear this armor.)

“I guess it is not a problem if you have a good ride and order from the back.”

Duncan looked at me.

“You have an Appraisal skill?”

Oh, shit. Everyone was looking at me now. Seeing the attention I got I probably shouldn’t say yes.

“No. Not really.”

“Then how did you know?”

“Know what?”

Technically I wasn’t lying. Whatever this “see information about items thing” was it didn’t count as a skill. Was it called an authority?

He frowned before turning to Blanche.

“Is there anything we can use?”

Blanche threw each one of us one thing. I looked at the thing in my palm.

(Ring of Frost)

(Durability: 10)

(Option: Frost Booster: By consuming 1 Durability, your weapons will be enchanted with ice element for 10 minutes. During that time your weapon’s power will increase by 5 percent. Enemies that are hit by ice element will slow down and may get frostbite if their resistance is low. This ring will break down after its durability hits 0.)

I put the ring on my ring finger(duh!). It was made out of silver at least I think so. Runic letters were carved on it. It sucked that I only had 10 uses but better than nothing.

“I will not use an item coming from an undead!”

Agatha bitched.

“Give it back then.”

Blanche basically tore away the item she gave to Agatha. She looked surprised. I guess she wanted to play hard to get? But Blanche had no patience for that shit. Lol.

“Do any of you have a problem with the item I gave to you?”

“No, My Lady.”

“Good. We will continue to the second floor now.”