Reaching the end of the staircase, Kai remained on-guard and cautious. Contrasting the cave-like appearance of the dungeons entrance, the hall at the end of the stairs appeared more like the interior of a castle. The walls and ceiling were built out of bricks, with light moss and vines growing around them. The floor was lined out with large tiles, which showed signs of time, being cracked, scuffed and also covered by moss.
"I can feel something in the air… It's like something heavy surrounds me." Kai commented in his mind, as he slowly moved down the hall, gripping tightly the sickle in his right hand, in case anything jumped out.
Following the gentle torch light, Kai moved through the hall for a little bit, before eventually exiting into a large, empty room. Upon stepping inside, torches lined up against the walls lit up rapidly, one by one, engulfing the room in light. Vision became clear. In the room were seven enemies — two wolves, that looked quite a bit larger than the ones he faced outside, two goblins wielding bows, two other goblins that held short spears in their hands and lastly, a much, much larger goblin, which kind of towered over the other four.
"Alright… Uhh– System, can you identify my opponents for me?"
{ MONSTER }
Direwolf (x2)
F-Rank | Canine
A stronger variant of the Wolf monster.
Though they are not much of a threat on their own, these wolves always hunt in a minimum pack of two – going all the way up to five per pack.
{ MONSTER }
…
{ MONSTER }
Goblin (x4)
F-Rank | Humanoid
A weak humanoid monster with minimal intelligence.
Mostly relying on instinct, these monsters become a non-threat very fast, however, in large quantities, they tend to play dirty, setting traps and using methods to cripple weaker adventurers before ambushing them.
{ MONSTER }
…
{ MONSTER }
Hobgoblin
E-Rank | Humanoid
A stronger variant of the Goblins.
Possessing higher intelligence, Hobgoblins tend to be a lot more dangerous, especially high ranking ones. They usually act as leaders for weaker Goblins.
{ MONSTER }
"The only one I have to look out for is the Hobgoblin. Should be easy pickings otherwise." Kai then charged at the monsters, with the Hobgoblin seemingly giving an order to the others with a loud roar, pointing its large club towards Kai. The two goblins that wielded spears hopped onto the Direwolves, before riding them towards Kai, which surprised him for a moment.
However, he didn't halt for a second, and thanks to the investment in his agility stat, he moved rather swiftly, using his sickle to slice the throats of the spear wielding goblins first, before flipping around, slowing himself down and channeling some miasma into his left arm before throwing it out as a pair of balls – which quickly hit the Direwolves, causing them to fall to the ground, whimpering as their bodies quickly withered down to lifeless corpses.
Then, he flipped around, using his sickle to knock away the arrows shot by the archer goblins, who now looked afraid, retreating behind the Hobgoblin, who walked towards Kai with slow and heavy steps, drool falling from its mouth as it glared at him down. Kai gazed back up at the Hobgoblin – for a moment, the two frozen.
Then, it let out a loud battlecry, before lifting its club into the air and sending it crashing down towards Kai. "I better keep my distance, that club will do some serious damage if it connects." Kai leapt back, dodging the attack, before slowing his movement and placing the sickle to the side, before channeling miasma once more, this time through both of his arms, before focusing it into a small orb above him, which then exploded in size before he launched it at the Hobgoblin.
The monster braced itself, seemingly intending to tank the attack – however Kai quickly flicked his sickle up into the air, catching it and then with a quick twirl, spinning the weapon, launched it after the miasma bolt. The sickle dashed through the bolt, splitting it in half, before hitting the Hobgoblin directly in the head, knocking it back slightly.
Then, before it could recover, the two miasma bolts engulfed it – erupting around him like raging flames.
For a moment, the Hobgoblin roared in pain – as its body withered away from the miasma, before it collapsed to its knees, dropping its club and clutching its chest, clearly trying to resist the withering effect caused by the attack. Kai slowly stepped towards the monster, which lifted its head up towards Kai, before a surprised expression formed.
Somehow, Kai had closed the distance in but a second, his right hand outstretched at the Hobgoblins head. "Allow me to relieve you of your pain." Kai thought, before more miasma was channeled through his right arm, before forming into a ball at the palm of his right hand, which gently lowered onto the Hobgoblin, spreading across its body in an instant.
The Hobgoblin stopped breathing and thrashing, its arms falling to the sides, before it fell down, forcing Kai to step back a bit to not have his feet caught under its withered body.
Picking up his sickle, Kai looked at the last two remaining goblins, who trembled in fear, slowly backing up. However, before they could make a run for it, Kai quickly moved behind them and with two slashes of his sickle, sliced their necks – blood staining the blade and the floor.
{ You have levelled up; 19 > 20 }
Spinning around the sickle, Kai rested it onto his shoulder. Then, an announcement roared through the dungeon, which caught Kai's attention.
{ First floor cleared. Entry to the second floor permitted. }
Then, a pair of doors opened at the other end of the room, their movement heavy, dragging along the stone floor. After a moment, they were fully open, with torches lighting up beyond them, leading to a spiral staircase which led down deeper underground.
"Alright then. Let's head deeper." Kai, without wasting time, moved towards the gates, peaking down the spiral staircase after reaching it, before stepping down deeper. The structure of the dungeon suddenly changed halfway down the spiral staircase, the previously brick walls were replaced by rooted walls, which looked like trees were simply placed into the walls unprocessed as a way to cheap out on construction.
The general greenery of vines and moss still remained, but the sudden change from stone to wood was a bit off putting — especially at first, when Kai had slight second thoughts about journeying deeper. What if he encountered something that was too much for him to handle at his level? It was a scary thought. At least, somewhat scary. It was hard to feel fear when… Well, you were a skeleton.
Reaching the end of the stairs, Kai stepped into another open room, however this one was vastly different to the last one. It looked like he was underneath a giant tree, with tree roots that grew out from the ceiling spreading across the walls of the room, covering them completely. Some branches also sprouted from the roots, with leaves growing on them, while bushes and vines draped against the walls and in the corners of the room.
"Rather cool aesthetics this floor has. I really like the tree roots growing from the ceiling." He thought, moving deeper into the room, before his gaze fell onto four obstacles that blocked his path. They appeared to be trees at first, however, something looked off. Upon a closer look, he could make out rough human-like shapes — like legs and arms.
Immediately, Kai prepared, holding his sickle up, before slowly stepping a bit closer towards them. It was an intense bit – though he moved slowly, literally taking one step every few seconds, it felt like he was moving for hours. Then, he stopped – around ten meters away from the obstacles, observing them carefully.
….Nothing.
"Are they waiting for me to drop my guard? ….If so, perhaps I could surprise them a little.." Kai moved his left arm behind him, channeling some miasma through it and forming two small Miasma Bolts. Then, after a few seconds, he quickly launched them both at the two middle trees.
As soon as the miasma balls were sent at them, the trees suddenly twinged, before leaping out of the way, as the miasma bolts crashed into the ground where they stood just moments before. "They're quick–!" Kai commented, before flipping around and blocking a strike from one of them. Now he got a better look at them.
They had humanoid bodies, however they were clearly made from tree bark – with leaves growing on their backs to form sort of capes and carved out grins spread across their faces.
Before any others got to attack while he was locked in the block, Kai pushed back the attack and rolled back, before leaping even further away – to create as much distance as he could. Then, after he landed, he looked at what he was facing. Four of these humanoid tree things stood before him, each one wearing a similar, carved out grin on their faces.
{ MONSTER }
Woodman
F-Rank | Indicion
The basic form of the Woodman race. They're highly intelligent.
They use their tree-like bodies to stretch them out into all sorts of different weapons, such as whips and blades to fight. Though these are the weaker versions of the Woodmen race, they should not be underestimated, as they are quite tricky to land a hit on. It is recommended to utilise spells to deal with them from a distance.
{ MONSTER }
"Spells eh?" Kai sighed, before standing up and spinning his sickle around. Looks like he'll have to play a bit more defensively and keep his distance this time around. If he isn't careful, he could be overwhelmed quickly – especially considering that when he blocked the attack of that single woodman, it already felt far too physically superior compared to him.
The Woodmen tilted their heads to the sides, as if curious about what Kai was doing, before dashing towards him all at once, every one of them from their own side. It was time to test the limits of Miasma Bolt. First, Kai formed four small miasma bolts in the palm of his left hand, before throwing them into the air, the bolts lingering there for a second, before shooting at each of the woodmen, who dodged the bolts swiftly.
However, before they got to continue their march, Kai closed the distance between him and the furthest left one – engulfing his left arm in a thick coat of miasma, before punching the creature straight in the stomach. The contact already caused its body to wither, however, Kai managed to knock it away a bit, before channeling the miasma into a larger miasma bolt and quickly smashing it into the knocked down woodman, instantly causing its wooden body to wither and die – until there was just a pile of ashes left behind.
{ New spell learned: Miasma Punch. }
The other woodmen slowed down, their grins turning to now faces of anger, before they dashed at Kai once more. Kai looked at his arm, before dropping his sickle down and channeling miasma to surround his entire body. After a moment or two, a thick layer of miasma exploded around his body, before he turned around to look at the woodmen, shaping the miasma surrounding him into many tentacles, before shooting them towards the three woodmen.
The creatures quickly slowed their dash, before leaping back – two managing to dodge all of the incoming attacks, while the third was quickly caught by the tentacles – before completely wrapped up by them and then crushed by them, its body withering down to ashes.
The other two woodmen now looked pissed.
They had created a decently big distance between them and Kai, staring him down with angry frowns, while the tentacles formed from the miasma that surrounded Kai returned to him – Kai staring down the woodmen with empty eyes.
{ New spell learned: Miasma Appendages. }
"I'm getting quite used to using this 'miasma' I possess as an undead. It's quite easy to control – like it is an extension of my body." Kai smirked in his mind, before crossing his arms, staring down the remaining two woodmen, mocking them a bit with his body — inviting them to try and take him on.
And his provocations seemingly worked as well, as the woodmen clung down to the ground before one of them dashed forward, while the other let out an unholy screech that echoed through the room. Then, before he could intercept the one that dashed towards him, the ground beneath Kai rumbled, before large tree roots shot from the ground and then launched down at the skeleton. "Is that a spell?" Kai thought, before leaping out of the way, the roots crashing into the ground, kicking up a dust cloud.
While in the air, the other woodman, followed by the roots followed after him, all dashing towards him with great speed. Letting out a gentle, hollow laugh, Kai crossed his arms once more, the appendages surrounding him spinning around before dashing down towards the roots at the woodman.
The woodman dodged the tentacles, while the roots were instantly grabbed by them – upon making contact, being withered away and turned to dust. The woodman landed onto one root that was still somewhat intact, before leaping off of it, its right arm forming into a large root, which behaved a lot like a whip, before launching it towards Kai.
"Please…" Kai sighed, flicking his right hand fingers to the left, causing more tentacles to shoot out from the miasma that surrounded him, before they dashed down at the woodman, quickly wrapping around its arm before restraining its body. Then, just moments later, its body was withered down to dust as well.
{ You have levelled up; 20 > 21 }
"One remains." Kai thought, before using his tentacles to pull himself back down onto the ground, kicking up a small dust cloud with his landing. As he rose back up, miasma surrounding, he glared at the last remaining woodman, who now seemed to have fallen into fear. Its body trembled, as it backed up.
The angry frown was now a face of terror.
Kai stepped towards the woodman, walking after it – his shadow cast over it.
The woodman backed up, until it hit the wall. In a panic, it looked around before screeching at Kai, to try and scare him away, however Kai didn't even flinch. He simply dusted off his left shoulder, before outstretching his right hand at the woodman.
The miasma surrounding him shot out several tentacles, which impaled the last woodman – pinning its body against the wall before its body withered down and then faded to dust.
{ You have leveled up; 21 > 22 }
Kai sighed, the miasma surrounding him absorbing back into his body.
Then, he looked down at his right arm. "This miasma feels incredibly over powered… Whenever I call it forth, it feels like I have access to a never ending pool of energy which I can shape in whatever way I wish… Not like I'm complaining." Kai clenched his hand into a fist.
Then, the same announcement as before roared through the floor.
{ Second floor cleared. Entry to the boss floor permitted. }
Once more, large gates opened with heavy dragging, leading to another spiral staircase, which was lit up by torches that ignited one by one. Walking over, Kai looked down the stairs. "So the boss of the dungeon is next eh? Better distribute the stat points I earned from these two floors first."
Kai turned around, opening his status window and quickly distributing his stat points across his stats – throwing two into agility, two into MP and two into constitution. Then, after stretching out his bones a bit and also picking up his sickle, Kai descended down the staircase to the final floor.
At the end of the stairs, he entered a much smaller room than the other two floors. It was still an open room and it shared the aesthetic look with the previous second floor – however in terms of area of space, it was about two times smaller when compared to the last room, which was already about one and a half times smaller than the first floor.
It seemed as though the dungeon floors got smaller and their spaces more restricted the deeper you got – most likely to increase the difficulty of the fights held in them, since giving you less space to move around would definitely force you to play a bit differently. As he entered the room, the gates behind him shut close with a heavy thud.
{ PLAYER HAS ENTERED THE BOSS FLOOR. THIS ROOM CANNOT BE LEFT UNTIL THE BOSS IS DEFEATED OR ALL PLAYERS HAVE FALLEN. }
An announcement appeared before Kai.
"So I can't leave until I either defeat the boss or die to it… Alright, sure. I intend on killing it anyway." Kai stretched out his right arm a bit, as torches lit up all across the room, lighting it up. Then, above the center of the room, a large fruit-like chandelier ignited, casting a vast amount of light over the entire room.
Directly below it, stood a large, humanoid creature. Its body was similar to the woodmen of the previous floor, however it was more gorilla-like — being slanted forward and its arms being absolutely huge. It was clear that if he got hit by them, it would count as a bludgeon attack and so, would deal double the damage. Its legs and arms were like tree trunks, with its joints and torso being made up of mostly leaves, apart from the neck area, which was also like an outstretched trunk.
Lastly, its head was similar to the woodmen, with it having a face carved onto it, only this one was a sorrowful one – while a pair of thick branches stretched on out from its head, resembling antlers.
The monster lifted its head up towards Kai, its eyes lighting up with a green pupil before it let out a loud roar, which shook the dungeon.
{ MONSTER }
Greater Woodman
E-Rank | Boss
An evolved form of the Woodman race. They're highly intelligent and devastatingly strong in terms of physical attacks.
Their bodies are mainly composed of branches and leaves, with the exception of their legs, arms and neck – which are tough tree bark, that are resistant to all manner of physical attacks. Spells are recommended to fight it.
{ MONSTER }
"Say less. I wasn't intending on using this sickle to fight it anyway." Kai smirked in his mind, before opening his inventory and placing the sickle inside it. Then, after closing his inventory, Kai channeled his miasma once more, engulfing his body in it, before forming appendages from it above him and shooting them at the woodman, who launched towards Kai with a rage filled roar and heavy steps.
…
'Twould appear he hath found a child of Barbaros.
Thou speakest true, Luft—'tis verily a child of Barbaros.
Yet can he o'ercome this monstrous progeny?
Underestimate him not, good Serrect.
That energy which doth surround him—miasma, as 'tis named—hath most potent power, most especially 'gainst matter of the flesh.
Perchance. Yet hath he not an endless store thereof. Once he doth exhaust the miasma his frame hath allotted for martial use, he shall fall.
Thou wouldst know, wouldst thou not, Hades? This vigor, it issueth from thine own realm.
Verily, I do.
This vigor, the seal of the departed, which the quick may neither wield nor touch without being blasted by its breath, is what I harbor in mine abode. And though each unquiet spirit doth possess it and may employ it as they list... There lieth not an endless fount of it within their frames.
…
Have faith, my brethren.
He shall not fall here—of this I am certain.
Blast. Kai leapt out of the way, as the giant woodman smashed into the wall its large arms – causing the entire ceiling to collapse down onto it where the wall was smashed by it. Kai landed quite a distance away from it, before taking in a deep breath. "This thing is indeed tough… I'm using every single miasma spell I possess, yet I've barely even managed to scratch it. The withering effect… it isn't as strong." Kai shed a sweat in his mind.
"But why? Why did it suddenly weaken?" Then, as he realised, he quickly used his appendages created using miasma to pull himself onto the ceiling, as the woodman smashed through the rubble on top of it and charged at Kai, swinging its arms around. Then, while hanging up on the ceiling, Kai stared down at the monster, his expression a bit more worried.
"I'm going to bet that the undead kind, which is what I am, need miasma to survive and while they can use the one inside their bodies for fighting, there isn't an endless supply of it… Which means that the reason my miasma appendages is now weaker—" Kai quickly leapt out of the way, as the woodman smashed its right arm into the ceiling, causing it to collapse onto it.
Kai landed onto the ground, before shooting a barrage of miasma appendages at it, quickly tying them around it and tightening them around it, the miasma slightly withering away parts of its organic body. "...Is because I'm running out of miasma to use." Kai clicked his tongue in his mind, before exhaling and standing up.
"I should find a way to kill it before I run out… But how? I don't have any spells to use and physical attacks will be worthless with that rickety old sickle of mine…" Kai thought about it carefully, as the appendages holding down the woodman weakened more and more, before it broke them apart, roaring loudly.
The miasma surrounding Kai's body vanished, absorbing back into his body.
He felt exhausted now — however, still managed to stand on his feet. "I'm out— what now…?"
The woodman stared down the skeleton, before roaring at him and charging straight towards him. Kai brainstormed ideas on what to do. He needed a course of action and fast – but, what?
…
Then it clicked.
Kai quickly leapt out of the way of the woodman's attack, before running away, creating as much distance between him and the woodman as possible. Then, he stopped, before placing his palms together and lowering his head to them.
"The 'Prayer' skill I possess thanks to my priest class. Perhaps if I can invoke forth something from that which I chose as my benefactor, I can pull through."
Kai began to pray, remaining in place – all the while stressing in his mind.
The woodman broke out from the wall, flipping around and roaring once more, shaking the entire floor with its voice alone. Then, Kai heard as it began its charge towards him – its steps heavy, crushing and cracking the ground and rubble beneath it. As it approached Kai, it lifted its arms into the air, preparing for an attack.
Kai remained in place, continuing to focus.
"Come on, if you don't answer my prayer, I'm done for!"
As the woodman towered over him, about to crush him underneath its massive arm, a voice suddenly spoke in his mind.
Haha, very well, then.
I shall bestow upon thee a gift that shall aid thy cause—yet mark me, but this once. In time to come, strive to make better preparation ere thou dost rush headlong, lest I and my brethren abandon thee for good.
{ Your 'Prayer' has been answered. }
{ New spell acquired; Fire Lance }
Kai smirked in his mind.
His body was engulfed in a red light for a moment – before a violent flame erupted from his body, pushing back the woodman, who roared in pain, its body setting ablaze as it backed up, trying to put itself out. Kai stood up, lifting its head up to glare the woodman dead in the eyes.
The monster looked at Kai with furious pupils, which shook gently out of anger. Kai simply lifted his arm up above his head. Multiple lances of fire formed around him, before he sent them all flying at the woodman, piercing through its body with ease, as well as setting it on fire from the outside and inside.
The woodman roared in pain, thrashing around as the flames engulfed its body.
Kai looked at his mana. "Just six lances cost me half of my mana… No matter, I don't think this thing can live another two anyway." Kai dashed towards the woodman. Though his movement was more sluggish than usually due to having exhausted most of his miasma, he still moved swiftly towards the beast, dodging with ease its thrashing arms, before leaping into the air above it and forming another three lances of fire around him, sending them down at the woodman.
The monster turned to roar at Kai, however, its voice was engulfed and silenced by the flames, which now covered its entire body. Seconds later, the beast stumbled back and fell down, its body burning away from the flames created by Kai.
Kai landed back onto the ground, stumbling a bit himself, however managing to stand on his feet. "That wasn't easy… Gotta be more careful how I use my miasma in the future. Once I run out, my body starts to feel so heavy."
{ You have levelled up; 22 > 25 }
{ Congratulations, you have defeated the Greater Woodman and cleared the Dungeon: Woodmen Punishment. }
{ Reward has been distributed. }
{ You have levelled up; 25 > 27 }
"Exp as a reward? Y'know what – I'll take it. It makes it so I have to do less grinding later." Kai stood back up, before looking around. Turning his back onto the burning body of the Greater Woodman, he noticed a chest that had appeared now in the center of the room, where the woodman had been standing when he entered.
"That must be the dungeon loot." Kai smirked in his mind, walking over to the chest, before placing his hands onto it and pushing it up. Inside, he found several items – three lesser healing potions – a cloak which he examined a bit more closely.
{ ITEM }
Woodmen Cloak (E-Tier)
A cloak made using the fibers gathered from the woodmen race bodies. It is highly durable and provides protection against extreme temperatures as well as resistance to physical attacks.
{ ITEM }
"This will be useful." Kai immediately threw the cloak on, fixing it over his body, hiding most of his ribcage as well as the beating heart in it. Next, he took out another ring from the chest – this one still silver in colour, however with a green line in the middle.
{ ITEM }
Ring of the Woodheart (Healing)
A Ring that enhances the healing effectiveness of the spells used by its wearer.
{ ITEM }
"Huh… Well, I am technically a priest, so I suppose holding onto this wouldn't be a bad idea." Kai put the ring onto his right hand's middle finger, right next to the basic ring. A gentle green light traveled over his body after he did, which left a funny feeling in the heart he had in his chest.
Lastly, Kai took out a weapon from the chest – specifically, a sickle.
{ ITEM }
Woodhearts Sickle (E-Tier)
A sickle forged from the Woodhearts branch. It provides its wielder the ability to call forth a single root through the basic low-level spell 'Root Call'. This action will cost five mana every time it is used
{ ITEM }
"A new weapon most certainly will be useful. And it even allows me to utilise a basic spell that I don't have in my spell list. Nice." Kai spun the sickle around, swinging it around a bit to see how it feels. Unlike the sickle he had been using up until now, this one felt a lot lighter. It was rather strange, how come something that was bigger than the other one be lighter than it. After emptying the chest, he stood up and stretched out. "Well that is all. I suppose I should leave the dungeon now–"
{ DUNGEON HAS BEEN CLEARED. TRANSPORTING THE PLAYERS INSIDE OUTSIDE… }
Then before he knew it, he was suddenly back in the Mourning Forest. Looking around, the dungeon entrance was now gone – as if it was never there to begin with. Kai scratched his skull, however simply shrugged. "No point in questioning that much…" Kai exhaled before looking around.
It was time to move on now.
"Let's head… this way." Kai commented in his mind, before heading south – pulling the hood of the cloak he had on him now onto his head, before spinning the sickle around and strapping it onto the rope holding up his baggy trousers.
With measured steps, he headed back into the thick forest once more.
…
He liv'd in the end.
Yet did he so only by Fackel's gift of that spell.
Let us not judge.
That monster he did face—'twas mightier than what he might have foreseen. E'en with preparations, what mortal could have guessed such a thing would lie below, much less a mortal who is but newly come to this?
Nicht speaketh true. He is but a new-hatch'd chick in this world—'tis meet he comprehend not how it worketh.
Yet, should he persist in such reckless use of his gifts hereafter... He shall not e'en attain a mortal settlement.
What sayest thou, Kronos?
Dost we yet place our trust in him?
…
I have told thee many times already, my brethren.
Patience—rush not to conclusions. His journey hath but begun. For now, he shall prevail.
The true trials shall commence, once he findeth his way out of these woods.
Until then—we have no need for worry.