After the long battle, Ryth and the others took a rest to recover their HP and MP. The room where they fought earlier was safe as they had also defeated the other monsters inside. An hour later, Ryth began to collect the loot from the mini boss and the monsters.Both Ryth and Azalea took care of the minotaur"s corpse, while the rest of the group took care of the other monsters.
"Partner," Daedalus" voice rang out. "Congratulations! You"ve leveled up to level 37 after you have defeated the boss."
Ryth looked up in surprise. "Oh, really?" He then opened up his status panel. "Hmm… I didn"t notice the announcement."
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Ryth Myrad
Level 37
STR : 54
END : 46
AGI : 60
VIT : 42
INT : 40 (+110)
LUK : 11
Free 5 addition points unused.
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"Maybe that"s because you"ve gotten too mesmerized by Miss Azalea"s action from before? Ku ku ku!" Ryth could hear Daedalus smirking.
The memory of where Azalea gently wiped the bloodstains off his face with her handkerchief replayed in his mind.
He coughed awkwardly and retorted, "What are you talking about? It"s just… I got too tired, that"s all."
"Ku ku ku!"
"Just do me a favor, add all the free points to STR." Ryth rolled his eyes.
"Okay, okay!" Daedalus paused for a bit before he continued, "The pa.s.sive skill that you got from hitting the 50 points mark of STR points really helped you out, right?"
"Yeah, {Sheer Power} is really a good pa.s.sive skill."
"Ku ku ku! Go check out the magic scroll that Woodgard gave you earlier!"
"Ah, yeah."
Ryth took out the magic scroll that Woodgard stole from the minotaur earlier and began reading it.
"Hmm... what"s that magic scroll for?" asked Azalea, her head tilted.
Ryth rubbed his chin in thought. "Looks like an interesting one," he commented. "Looks useful."
He pa.s.sed the magic scroll to Azalea. "Here, have a look."
Azalea took the scroll and read its content.
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[Gravity]
Level 8
(Bind magic)
(Area type)
Prevents the enemies from moving their bodies.
Range : 8 meters from the user.
Duration : 8 seconds.
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Azalea"s eyes widened in surprise as she placed a hand over her mouth. "Oh my! This is really good. We got lucky with this scroll," she exclaimed in excitement.
Ryth peeked over her shoulder and read it. He then laughed out loud. "Hahaha! We sure got lucky, alright!" he grinned. "I"m glad that Woodgard managed to steal it. If he did managed to use the scroll, it would be really troublesome to deal with it."
He shook his head. "Besides, it"s such a waste, anyway, if the monster did used it."
Azalea handed over the scroll back to Ryth.
Ryth took it and pretends to place it back inside his bag.
Ryth crouched down beside the minotaur"s corpse and began examining it. "Hmmm…" he mused, as he looked from top to bottom. "Lets see here… We have the minotaur"s fur, the big axe, the armor and the horns."
He looked up at Azalea, who was standing beside him. "Do we need the armor? No, right? I mean, it"s a good armor but its made of humans and elves" skulls. Seems so wrong to use it."
Azalea nodded. "We should destroy it, then," she suggested.
Ryth nodded in agreement. He took out his {Ryuujin"s Will} and destroyed the armor.
The two of them continued to collect the loot and then pa.s.sed it all over to Lady Elsa. Lady Elsa immediately stored them inside her spatial magic.
Once they are done, they began to advance forward.
The monsters on the second floor were easy to be dealt with. It"s the same kind of monsters that were in the same room as the minotaur was earlier.
They advanced really fast, and finally, they managed to find the stairs that led to the third floor.
With the help of [Eye of Daedalus], Ryth doesn"t need to a.n.a.lyze the path like he always does. So, they saved more time, also with the help of the mini map. Besides, with his memories from "The Throne" he had already know where the right paths were.
Once they were in front of the stairs, which lead to the third floor, Ryth stopped and faced the group.
"Our plan now is to head towards a place before moving on to the fourth floor," he explained. "Its a safe place called, "Fountain". This dungeon actually has 4 floors and the "Fountain" is located between the third and the fourth floor. We"ll head there to rest first.
We will need to recover our stamina and so forth. And I"m sure most of us are pretty tired at the moment. I"d like the chance to get my skill ready before meeting the final boss," he finished.
From what he remembered from "The Throne" and from what he had seen, using Daedalus" scanning skill, there was actually a safe place in this dungeon where players are safe from monsters. They can also eat and rest. Something like a save point.
Lady Elsa nodded as she listened to Ryth"s explanation. "That"s a great plan," she commented. "We should recover our stamina and be in top shape before facing the final boss. The mini boss was already troublesome. And I bet that the final boss is much worse."
Azalea nodded in agreement. "Mhm…I agree. We should have plenty of time to rest."
Ryth waved everyone forward and said, "Alright, then. Lets go!"
They advanced lower and already they have encountered many monsters.
The monsters were below level 40, although it was pretty strong, but with Llyod, Woodgard, Hill, and Lady Elsa being there, they were easy to be defeated.
After an hour, they finally arrived at the stairs that led to the fourth floor, but Ryth led everyone further to another path inside the third floor and they found another stairs.
There were no monsters at all near the stairs as there were some kind of mysterious aura surrounding the area.
Ryth and the others began to walk towards the stairs. There were torches being lit on the side of the wall. And after they had walked about 5 minutes, the entrance could be seen where it gushed out with lights.
Ryth walked in and he could feel the wind breeze from the inside. It felt so different that it felt like they were outside.
Inside, there were many trees that filled the area, with a waterfall that flows down to a clean blue lake. There were also many crystals that filled the gra.s.ses, lighting up the area.
"Oh my!" Azalea said in awe. "This place is so beautiful," looking at the waterfall.
"Wow, so cool!"
"I"ve never would have thought that such a place would exist in this dark dungeon!"
The dark elves were also shouting in excitement and awe.
Ryth clapped his hands, getting their attention. "I know that you"re all excited, but we need to make our camp right now. Let"s move!"
They found a good place where there"s so much s.p.a.ce, for them near the river. So they built their camp there.
By the time they had finished setting up their camp, it was already late afternoon. The women took their bath first near the waterfall, with Azalea setting up a frosted barrier around them. The men, on the other hand, prepared the dinner on the other side of the camp, away from the waterfalls.
Once the women have done with their bath, they exchanged their duties with the women continuing cooking dinner, whereas the men went to have their baths.
Ryth and the men returned back to the camp, when they are done. They chatted with each other as they walked.
Just then, Ryth saw Azalea sitting amongst the women, near the campfire. He walked towards her.
The other women in the group looked up when they saw Ryth approaching. However, they did not approach him, like they did before. They realized that Miss Azalea might have feelings for him so they decided to back off.
Ryth sat down beside Azalea and asked, "Hey, still tired?"
Azalea turned towards Ryth and nodded, smiling. "Mhm, kinda."
"Well, you should rest more after dinner," Ryth suggested. He then turned to face the campfire and stretched his hands towards it to warm him up.
Azalea nodded as she stretched her hands towards the campfire too. She then looked around, her eyes stopped at the crystals. "What are those crystals? Do you know them? This is the first time I"ve seen something like that."
Ryth looked over and said, "Ahhh… Those, huh? Those crystals are magic crystals that have absorbed the energy of the "Fountain" core to light this place. This unknown core is the one that gives out some kind of mysterious energy ro prevent monsters from getting close to this area."
Azalea nodded in understanding. She then faced Ryth and asked, "How do you know about this?"
Ryth continued to stare at the crystals. "I"ve read a book about it before," he answered.
"Hmm... I see." Azalea nodded again and continued, "You are quite knowledgeable about dungeons."
"I just read a lot of books about it," Ryth defended. "Not just about this dungeon. But also others too. I guessed you"ve just never encountered this type of dungeon before."
"Yeah, that"s true." Azalea smiled.
"By the way, the skills that you used during the battle with the minotaur was awesome! The one where you pierced through and stabbed it from the back."
"Hmm? You mean the {Lost b.u.t.terfly}?"
"Yeah, that was a great skill."
"Ahhh…" Azalea said slowly. "I"ve learned it from my mother when I was young. She created that skill."
Ryth"s eyes widened. "Wow! That"s amazing!"
"So, no wonder I can"t get that skill for myself," he thought to himself. "I guessed I didn"t meet the requirements to unlock the skill.
In "The Throne", there was one time when Ryth was facing a player who had this skill. He wondered how to get that skill, but he couldn"t find it. Apparently, "The Throne" was huge to explore further.
"Okay, let"s eat and then rest. Tomorrow, we will head over to the fourth floor to get the [Crystal of Truth].
"Mhm." Azalea nodded.