Level 1 Fallen

Hearing Diane's reason for not being able to purchase the new skills from other players, I briefly considered whether I should contact Ennolf or Nuoda about having them get the skills for me. However, the two of them hadn't been subtle in their attempts to shelter Failures, especially the other Drakes. It was likely that they were already under scrutiny from the other players, so it would be best to not get them involved with this.

As for Ella… I hadn't spoken to her since discovering that I had a bounty on my head, so I wasn't sure what to think about her until we met again. Instead, I began to focus on how we were going to conquer the Dark King's Tomb, as well as the new identities that the two of us would take when we left this dungeon.

After leaving the gates of Shadowbane, it was about a thirty minute walk to an old graveyard to the south. Inside the graveyard were a few basic ghost-type monsters that we dispatched… or rather, Diane did, as they required magic attacks to kill them. Still, they were relatively weak, even for their level, so it didn't take us long to reach a large crypt at the center of the graveyard.

Just outside of this crypt were two guards in black armor, standing with their spears against the ground. Thankfully, these were human guards, as opposed to skeletal monsters. When they saw us approach, they didn't stop us to tell us that it wasn't time yet. Instead, they simply glanced away, as if pretending not to have seen us.

Well, they are definitely with the League… and it looks like they've been told that we're in a hurry. I thought to myself as Diane ushered the two of us inside. Only once we were in the dungeon did she seem to relax, letting out a long breath of relief.

"Sorry. We should be safe now. Wisteria is sending someone to the Dungeon Management Office to change the name that we reserved this dungeon under. The guards were also told to report us heading towards the southern mountains if anyone asked. That would be a logical place for us to rest for a while, so people might believe it."

I gave a small nod, surprised at how thorough Diane and Wisteria's preparations were for this. "Have you thought about what you are going to do for your new identity? You won't be able to keep up a disguise all the time like I can."

Diane hesitated at that. "My face wasn't shown in the video, because of my outfit. As long as we can get a complete set of light or medium armor from this dungeon, I will have something to wear to the next city. Otherwise, I'll send Hammerhead a commission for some new gear when we reach Harkenfeld. Aside from that, I just need to use an alias."

That was somewhat relieving to hear, though there was something that I was more worried about. "How long are we going to hide like this? It's not very fair to you to make you go through so much."

Diane's eyes narrowed for a moment as she looked up at me. However, after that, her gaze seemed to soften slightly. "Give it one week. After a week, we'll see how your skills have improved. This will give you more time to master your new Myriad Strikes skill, and we'll be able to see the extent of the bounty hunter's movements, as well as the dragon."

"After that week… as long as you are strong enough, it will be our turn to go on the offensive. Fighting back won't be a permanent solution, but if we show them that it's not worth the trouble to deal with you, they'll have to reconsider whether they want to keep chasing us, or go back to playing normally. As for the dragon… I'm sure that he'll come back eventually, even if we show them overwhelming force."

"Besides, at that point, we'll have the items from the league. I don't know exactly what they are preparing for us, but it should make it easier for us to disguise ourselves again if we have to."

I gave a small nod at that plan. As long as I wasn't forcing Diane to always be on the run for my sake, that was fine. This might be my real life, but it was only a game to her, and a game should be something that you do because you enjoy it.

"Alright… in that case, what's the plan for this dungeon?" I asked, changing the subject. I could worry about my disguise after we had cleared the dungeon, as long as it was before we left.

Diane gave a firm nod, looking down the passage. "This crypt's first floor takes the form of a long maze, filled with undead monsters. Once we pass that first corner, we'll start to encounter them. Additionally, there are three 'battlefield zones' in the dungeon where large groups spawn, and these are the locations of the three chests in the dungeon."

"The main monsters that we will be fighting are Dark Spectres. Like the ghosts outside, they can only be killed by a magic skill, and cast Lesser Darkness to create patches of darkness over an area to boost their attack. Additionally, there are Black Skeletons that roam the halls, but they can be killed normally. The last monster type that we need to watch out for on this floor is a Black Knight, watch out for their Dark Embrace, where they will drain your magic on contact. Five of them guard each treasure chest."

"As for the Dark King, he is found on the second floor, sitting on his throne. The battle will begin as soon as we enter the room. The Dark King fight can be divided into three stages. For the first stage, he sits on the throne and summons an army of Dark Spectres, as well as twenty Black Knights. Once the last of these are slain, he summons four shadow clones of himself that fight."

"After the last clone is killed, the king himself rises from his throne to fight, and will intermittently summon different monsters from the dungeon during the battle."

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

When I heard that, I couldn't help but ask. "Why not go for the boss straight from the start of the fight? Why wait for each phase first?"

Diane shook her head. "According to the information that the office provided, it is because the king is in a state of rest. The first phase is more of an automatic defense from the dungeon itself, and the second has him too tired to fight personally. If you attack him and wake him up early, you have to deal with all three phases at once."

"Also… I know that I said yesterday that I wanted to get the loot from this place for some extra money, but… now that things have come to this, we need to be more selective with the loot we take out. If any skills drop, we'll take those, and we each need a full set of new equipment. Otherwise, the common drops will just be evidence leading back to us if we sell them in bulk in Harkenfeld. If we can get the traits to drop from the boss, we'll definitely take those. But if we get extras, we won't sell them for at least a week."

"The rest of the monsters won't begin respawning before the boss does, and his respawn timer is one hour. That means that we can stay just outside his room, and then fight him once an hour to claim the loot until we get everything that we need, or our twelve hours expire."

That made sense. Most likely, Diane had considered simply getting the skills and equipment from vendors in the town, but there was the risk that players could already be watching for us around town. Seeing our purchases would just give them more information.

Though… on the subject of extras, that made me wonder, why were bosses able to drop their traits repeatedly? From how Erebus had spoken, my trait would be lost as soon as I dropped it. Was there some extra condition that allowed a trait to be locked, preventing it from being lost even when it was dropped as loot? I would have to ask him about that the next time I had the chance.

Taking a deep breath, I looked at Diane again. "What magic should I be using here?" I still had Animate Shadow on my fists, but the creatures here were certain to have a degree of darkness resistance, so I thought it would be best to change.

Diane thought it over before answering. "Of your current magic skills, the one most likely to be useful is Fireball. However, save it for the battlefield zones and the first stage of the boss fight. My build isn't suitable to fight armies with magic, so I'll leave those parts to you."

With a nod, I deactivated my Myriad Strikes-X skill, and then reactivated it while chanting an improvised incantation. Diane had the decency to pretend to ignore me, though she did look at my arms in worry when flames started to pour out through cracks in my skin. "I'm good." I said through gritted teeth, and she gave a brief nod.

After healing my injuries, we started to walk down the hall. Sure enough, we encountered a Black Skeleton patrol after just twenty meters. I rushed in, sword and shield at the ready, to grab their attention. This might be an easy battle for us, but it was still my first time acting as a tank for Diane. I think she understood that as well, because she took her time dealing with the monsters.

"Do you not have a taunt skill?" She asked after the first skeleton was slain, one of the others turning to face her. "If you do, you should always use it at the start of a battle."

I thought about that briefly. Originally, I had Provoke and Intimidate, both of which could be considered taunts of one form or another. However, they had fused into Killing Stare. I wasn't sure if that could still be considered a taunting skill, but I tried it anyway, focusing on the skeleton that was moving towards Diane.

Sure enough, the skeleton stumbled, turning to face me again. It seemed that Killing Stare still worked as a taunt, so I used it on the others. With this, I was able to keep them focusing on me, even as Diane slashed them from behind.

"As a tank, you'll need to keep aggro control in mind." Diane said once the five skeletons had been defeated, leaning down to loot them. There was always the remote chance that they would drop something good… but instead we only received three pieces of rotten cloth. "Every fight should begin with your taunt, and you should apply it again immediately if you see a monster focusing on another party member."

"Normally, after making sure to taunt the enemies, you would focus on defense. But, since it's you… you could probably be a more aggressive tank. Just make sure not to get tunnel vision if you are attacking, because that could lead to monsters escaping your control."

I nodded my head, listening to her advice. For the second patrol, I opened up with my Killing Stare, and immediately charged in to begin attacking. Because we weren't holding back anymore, the fight was over in seconds.

Like this, Diane led us through the maze, seeming to know exactly where she was going. With her leading us, we never hit a dead end, and she always knew where the traps were. My best guess was that reading the booklet had saved the map of the dungeon for her, like when I had been reading books back in Athua.

It didn't take long for us to reach the first battlefield zone, which itself looked like a great graveyard, only the gravestones were more than a dozen meters tall and topped with jagged crosses. Diane stood back once we entered this area, giving me a silent signal.

I felt a small grin rise upon my lips, holding both hands forwards as dark, ghostly entities began to sweep towards us. "I've always wanted to do this. Fireball!" I called out, a blast of fire releasing from my hands, and then another. Every second, another fireball was launched, scattering and scorching the ghosts.

Once one group died, I used my Killing Stare on the next to get their attention and weaken them, before repeating the process. I could tell that my Intelligence stat had increased considerably since the last time that I used Fireball, doing more damage than I had initially expected. It still took four fireballs to wipe out a group of ghosts, but that was fine. I had the chance to level my Fireball more and more now.

Soon, the battlefield was cleared, and we began to loot the skeletons, knights, and ghosts. Of these, the only pieces of loot that we kept were a black trench coat with ghostly wisps from the edges of the coat ,and a pair of black, fingerless cloth gloves. Both of these items went to Diane, who swapped her ninja cloak for the coat, and replaced her thicker gloves with these new ones.

Next was the chest. When Diane opened it, she received the Animate Shadow skill book, a black staff, and a clear potion that I identified as an invisibility potion. When I opened it… all I received was a pair of gloves that matched the ones Diane had previously obtained, so I left them behind.

After we repeated the process twice more, I managed to get a pair of thick, black gloves with spiked studs on the knuckles. Diane received a dagger, and a pair of black pants that went well together with her trench coat. Now, all that was left was to fight the boss. Repeatedly.