Day twenty three.
Slow progress I suppose.
They can take on the challenge even better. Dullahans are no problem for them now even with their numbers. The main reason for this is because Nunu have acquired the holy attribute, artificially. Via soul link, he now can use the holy attribute. It took me longer than I expected to completely make him have it. It doesn't have the same power but it still have the same effects. About forty percent, I guess.
"Loki, what are the perks of a god when they have an apostle?"
The master of the souls really likes on supporting me. There's no way she is doing that out of goodwill.
"When a God's apostle is powerful, that god will also receive additional authority and power. So the more successful the apostle is the happier the God that is backing the apostle will be. Of course, us gods have many restrictions when it comes to giving our apostles power. We can't go overboard and make them extremely powerful since that will ruin the balance in the world"
So it's like that, huh. No wonder.
Cheering up Nunu became a lot easier using the "All princesses loves strong knights" method. Now he is working even harder... I'd say more like his totally desperate to get stronger. He wasn't like this before though. He is even asking me to train him. It's good but I am worried about him losing his sense of reason because of this. He looks more like a berserker than a knight. And why does he keep yelling whenever he fight? At least the other three are getting motivated when he howls like a maniac.
"Master, how long are we exactly going to be here?" Mel ask.
"I guess as long as we have food. Our food should last for about another four months at the very least"
Since I don't need to eat we can stay longer here. Ella, Ello and Mel don't really need to eat much either since the three are conscious about their bodies. This leaves Nunu who would eats a lot after fighting the dullahans. He sure is a growing boy.
"What about my night activities?"
"Mel, you should make progress here or you won't be able to have your fun. I need people with actual worth. So you better show that you also have worth. Of course I can just brainwash you if you want" I smiled cockily.
"This is basically blackmailing!"
"At least you have a will of your own, you know. I could have just destroyed you back then and then put the enslavement on you. You're pretty lucky"
"What's this, are you falling for me~?"
I hit her in the head.
"No, I don't"
"You don't have to hit me you know"
She sure is an odd one.
Day twenty five.
We reach the fortieth floor. In this floor, there are mummies. I'd say they are like a bit stronger than the skeletons at the tenth floor. The only similarities is their numbers. Their defense are also better, but they sure burn easy.
A festival of fire? Nunu sure loves burning all the mummies here. I made the others to back down so that Nunu can have his fair share of fun.
"Man, I want to go up to the surface and drink another elixir!"
"Wait, master, don't tell me you drink one?" Mel ask.
"Yeah. Something wrong?"
"Was it high grade?"
"Well, yes. Why?"
"That's because you can only drink an elixir once in your life. No matter which race you came from. To drink two elixirs in a lifetime is the same thing as committing suicide"
She laugh. She's looking at me with an expression that says 'That's common sense, stupid'.
Hey, I didn't knew anything about this. How come Gwen never told me anything about this? Is it really considered as common knowledge? At the very least I consume something that even the tower master considers as a high grade.
Argh.
How am I suppose to increase my mana pool then?! There should be something else right? Another method! For sure there should be something else.
We camp in the middle of the fortieth floor.
"You four should scout the area. I'll stay here"
"Understood" They replied.
Now that I'm alone.
"Um, goddess?"
[The Master of the Souls is listening to what you have to say]
"Can I sacrifice my capacity limit of spirits in exchange for the increase of.... my mana pool?"
"She said that it is possible although that would be stupid" Loki said.
"Still, there really is no point if I can't even summon my familiars if I don't have enough mana"
"She said how many exactly are you going to sacrifice"
"Everything. I just need fifteen familiars. Since the limit of familiars I get grow bigger the more I level up. Instead of that, I only need fifteen familiars. So I am going to sacrifice everything else"
[The Master of the Souls is thinking about your outrageous plan]
Saying that it is outrageous is a bit mean, don't you think?
"She agreed. But in one condition: You will lose twenty of your levels"
Twenty levels. Hmm.
"Okay"
[The Master of the Souls is now commencing the deal]
Light shined everywhere. Again, what is up with all the blinding lights?
[Your maximum limit for your
That's nice! Now my mana pool is fifty seven thousand.
I don't need an army of weak spirits. What I need is a small elite group. It's not like I have the time to train each one of them personally to get stronger anyway.
Plus, leveling up the twenty levels that I lost should be easy here in the labyrinth .
Day thirty.
We finally have reach floor fifty. It's been a month already inside the Hel's labyrinth.
[The Goddess of Death, Hel, have taken an interest towards you]
"Loki, why does your daughter have any interest to me?"
"That's because your the second one to reach floor fifty, solo"
"Solo? But we're a group"
"They are you slaves and familiars. So it is considered that you went down all the way to floor fifty on your own"
Ho, I've never heard of this before.
No wonder some of their experience goes to me.
We have been wondering about an hour already but no monster have shown itself nor do I feel any presence at all. Looking at the map, there is one suspiciously big space in this floor. A boss?
We head to the the big space which is the center of floor fifty. Of course we never have completely trusted the map. It may have lead us to traps or something dangerous after all. Having false information is worse than not having any information at all.
As we head to the center of the floor, I just can't get rid of this eerie feeling.
"Hey, you better be careful. If you don't want do die that is" (Loki)
I didn't ask him but his telling me this much?
We entered the big space. And saw a black knight who seems to be guarding the stairs to the next floor.
"W-we need to g-get out of h-here!" Mel said desperately.
Why is she so scared?
"That is a death knight!"
Hmm.
I took the gun from my inventory and toss it to Ella without saying anything. I walk nonchalantly forward.
"You all have trained so much for the past month. Now, show me how good you are at supporting me in an actual battle. Show me whether you guys are usable!"
If this is something that scares even Mel then a death knight should be strong, no? I never red anything about them, so experiencing it firsthand should be helpful.
"
[Death knight's resistance is greater. Attempt failed]
The death knight took a stance.
The kids scattered. They prepared how to help me by going to their positions. The room itself is quite small. A room with a five hundred meter radius for a big fight is rather small.
The death knight charge towards me.
So fast!
I took a direct hit and hit the wall. I underestimated his speed since he is wearing such heavy looking armor. The aura protected me from all lethal injuries and I healed myself.
Bang!
I can't believe the death knight manage to dodge Ella's shot even though the distance is less than one kilometre.
"Grand magic: Blessing field"
A grand magic field that greatly buffs both defense and stamina of everyone that the caster sees as allies. The holy attribute would make both Ella's
Ello, Nunu and Mel took the position behind me while I'm in front, tanking.
"Grand magic: Undead parade"
Huh? This guy can use magic?! Grand magic at that!
All the undead we have been fighting from floor ten to floor forty nine showed up.
This is beyond absurd!
Thankfully, my own grand magic is eliminating the small fries. It drains my mana though.
"Ello, Ella, and Mel will be the ones taking care of the undeads. Nunu, support everyone with your flames!"
They all did what I said without replying. While I fight the death knight on a one-on-one
"Warstyle: First form, Impact"
Tsk. Even that is not enough to kill the death knight.
"
Unfortunately, I can't use either shock or rupture in a place like this. That will only make a hole in the ground making even more monsters attack us.
Blow by blow. Me and the death knight were focus on each other to the point we can't even look at what is happening to our underlings. My four titanium orbs will be destroyed sooner or later. Even though I have enchanted them so much they can't take the death knight's attacks consecutively.
I can only go toe-to-toe with this guy with aura and martial arts. But this is only temporary, I'll lose once I've used everything. I have can't prolong this fight!
"Sinister mist"
Black smoke escape from the death knight.
[You have been poisoned]
"Cure! Purify!"
[Poison have been neutralized]
How many spells can this guy even used? For a knight, he sure likes using cheap tricks
[You have defeated the labyrinth's mini-boss]
Mini boss? Seriously?!
I finally defeated the guy after exchanging blows for another five minutes. Seems like the kids are also done.
[A new Death knight will show up after twenty four hours]
A day? Just a day?!
I'm starting to know how strong the gambler king is. He even soloed something like this.
Sigh
We rested for a while. twelve hours. I went closer to the fallen death knight.
"Master?" (Nunu)
I'm going to use this guy then. It said earlier that another one will show up. Might as well use this guy's corpse then.
"My name is Michael Santiago. At this moment, I now open the gate to the spirit realm"
Wind howled.
"With this fallen knight's corpse. Heed my call to those who live the way of the sword"
[The Goddess of Death, Hel, is extremely excited to your plan]
"I offer a drop of my blood"
[The Master of Souls is also excited to your plan]
"And here, the Gods shall be the witness of this summoning"
The body of the death knight slowly vanish and a girl with a sword appeared. Solemn and elegant. A girl who is wearing armor clad in pitch black which greatly resemble an endless hole. Akin to what you'd see and feel from an abyss.
"I challenge you into a duel"
"There is no need for that" She replied.
What does she mean by that?
"I, Zoe, wish to serve under you"
She knelt down in all four, putting her weapon aside. As if begging someone for forgiveness.
Huh? So, she is saying there is no need for me to challenge her.
"If the spirit wants to be like that, they can just swear loyalty right after the summoning. It just means that you are good enough so there is no need for you to be tested" (Loki)
I see.
"Okay. I hope you can help me in the future then"
She nodded.
[Status information]
Name: Zoe
Class: Knight
Race: Demonic spirit (Mid class)
Sex: Female
Age: 314
Level: 86
HP: 12,000/12,000
MP: 8,000/8,000
Strength: 112
Agility: 81
Stamina: 183
Intelligence: 37
Level cap: 86
Psychological state: Happy
Status: Familiar
Abilities: None
Attributes: Demonic, anti-magic
+
Wow! Just, wow! Now I have a suitable bodyguard that can take out the trashes for me.
The kids and Zoe open up to each other faster than I expected them to be.
Now that I am taking a closer look, aren't her clothes too revealing?
I gave her a cloak so that she can cover herself in the meantime.
Day thirty seven.
We stayed in floor fifty, killing the mini boss everyday. With each passing day the fight becomes easier. And after we killed the mini boss, I'd use the energy within it and use it to empower them especially Zoe.
Fighting the death knight alone was really hard. I could've died had I made a single mistake. But now that Zoe is aiding me at the fight it became easier.
Ello and Nunu already hit their level cap.
Because of that Zoe, Ello, and Nunu would train would sometimes train.
Day thirty eight.
We went to floor fifty one. Here, the only undead monsters are death knights which are significantly weaker than the one above.
We stayed here until they can fight them by their own. Naturally, Zoe already can beat them on her own. That's a mid rank for you.
A notification pop up.
[Slave evolution commencing
Soul rank: Rare>Unique
Species rank: Legendary]
Nunu evolve suddenly. Why though. I look at him closer while he is fighting and notice something. For some reason, the soul energy is being absorb and is going into him.
I immediately look at his skill and found the source of this absurdity.
[Special skill:
Greed for love (Passive): Upon killing anyone that possess soul energy, monster or not, 4% of the total soul energy will be transferred to the skill possessor to further permanently empower himself. Gained due to the immense greed to be with the other person.
Source of the skill: Goddess of Love, Aphrodite]
HUH?!
"Goddess of Love! Explain yourself! What is this?!"
The rest were looking at me with worried eyes.
Writings started to appear on the walls. A language that only I can understand. The language from my world.
[Your kid wants to be with the princess. He needs to be stronger. I am only helping so why not?]
Do Gods seriously speak like this?!
"There are no side effects or anything bad about the skill itself, right?"
[None]
"He isn't your apostle or anything right?"
[Nope]
Phew.
Sigh. I wish she said something like this earlier.
"Master, are you okay?" (Ella)
"Yes. A certain goddess just said something, that's all"
I think I have to check all of their skills once a month to make sure no one is doing something shady, while they, knowing absolutely nothing what is happening to them..
Day forty.
We reach floor fifty six.
Here, there are a lot of undead magicians. Because of that I let Ella to use her gun so that she can snipe them. Zoe is just charging at them, evading the barrage of spells coming on her way. It looks as if she's dancing. Her swordsmanship seems to focus about parrying and swift execution. A perfect balance of defense and offense.
Because of this I let the two to do the work. While the rest, including me, were just watching them from the sidelines.
Day forty two.
We reach floor fifty seven. I wonder what's so special about this floor that made even the gambler king to back down.
The map says that it is only an open space. No narrow passages or anything.
Armies of undead greeted us. You can't even see the floor due to the vast numbers of undead.
A whole hectare compromising of a sea of undead. They don't look strong since they are just low leveled monsters but their numbers are overwhelming.
"Nunu. Go all out. Burn these walking bones into ashes!"
Sure, there's a lot of them. But his flames are more potent than ever.
In a single moment, the sea of undead became a sea of flames. Naturally, while Nunu was busy burning those bones I destroyed the ceiling. Making a hole. The undead upstairs came down the hole.
Nunu use his new skill
After several minutes. The sea of flames vanish and was replace by another wave of undead. They should be dead already though. All the undead that fell down the hole from the upper floor are dead. But the undead in this floor aren't. Weird.
"Nunu fall back for now"
His passive skill is also not working. Even undead possess soul energy. Despite destroying all of them, he didn't get to absorb any. All of them just regenerated back.
I signaled everyone to fall back. To go to the stairway.
"Phantom world: Void"
A pseudo black hole. A tiny one at that. The pseudo black hole's diameter was four meters.
It suck everything.
I was only able to keep the tiny black hole for about fifteen seconds. Despite having a larger amount of aura than before I can only do it for about fifteen seconds. At least there is progress in my growth.
The undead army vanish. For real this time.
I can see why the gambler king never reach the fifty eight floor. An army of undead that even regenerated after being bombarded by dragon flames with the holy attribute will be an impossible mission by any normal means.
[Fifty seventh floor of Hel's labyrinth have officially become a
The dark room turn into a dome. The same as the one on floor thirty.
[The Goddess of Death, Hel, is greatly interested on how you were able to pull such an impossible feat]
[The Goddess of Death, Hel, is now ordering her labyrinth to attack you at full force]
What is this? I took a look at the doorway. No undead. So they can't go here.
"Since you cheated, my daughter ordered her labyrinth that all undead will attack you, specifically" (Loki)
"I didn't cheat! It is part of what I can do!"
"Your 'Phantom World' is not considered magic. Your martial arts are okay but the other one is not"
How pathetic of her.
[Defeat the mini-bosses at floor fifty eight to floor sixty to claim the rewards. If the mini-bosses are defeated, the floor will also become a
Day forty five.
We rested here in floor fifty seven for three days. Now, it is time to get those treasures!
"This is real, right? It's not some pitiful plan to kill me, right?"
[The Goddess of Death, Hel, swears that it is the right procedures in her labyrinth]
Good.
We head for the stairs and we saw a dragon. An undead dragon.
Roar!
The undead dragon roared, causing the ground to shake.
"What should we do, master?" Zoe ask.
Hmm, I'll take care of this guy myself. My power is broken after all.
The dragon's breath was an extremely toxic poison.
"Grand magic: Kaquero"
Using the properties of both anti-magic and the holy attribute, will create soul chains that eats away any demonic attribute and therefore sealing the power of the target. An idea I got when me and Alfred were in a dungeon. Back then when we got Nunu's new body.
The soul chains absorb the toxic breath of the dead dragon and restrain it in a matter of seconds.
[You have created your own 'Grand magic'. The Goddess of Wisdom, Athena, is interested to what you will do in the future]
It's not like it is completely mine though. I got the idea of it when I was reading at Gwen's library.
-Nunu, finish it.
-Understood!
Here were only us was occupying the space here, there are a lot of free space for Nunu to turn into a dragon.
He turn into a dragon and blasted the undead dragon with his own breath.
Since I am so lazy, I ordered Mel to the be one who would create a barrier so that we don't get caught up on the recoil of Nunu's attack. This is training for her.
She looks pissed off though.
[You have defeated the mini-boss, Death dragon]
Okay, time to put the soul energy to Nunu.
I slowly made Nunu to absorb every soul energy from the mini-boss. At this point, I don't think I am going to have a hard time with the death knight at floor fifty anymore.
A treasure chest appeared in the middle of the room.
I knew that the system is made similar to a game but this kind of development is a bit funny and embarrassing for some reason.
I toss a pebble at the treasure chest.
[It is not a trap!]
Even the system got mad.
I open the chest and saw a bracelet.
[Hel's bracelet, obtained]
An artifact? What does this do?
[Effect: Mental erosion immunity]
Hey now, this is really suspicious. Is she telling me that whoever wears this will be immune to mental erosion?
"Can I assume that this artifact can negate the side effect of the blessing of the God of War, Ares, completely. That is if Alfred wears it"
[That is indeed correct]
"Completely and absolutely?"
[Yes]
This is too good to be true. What is up with those Gods?
"Can I just destroy this?"
[No]
"Will I get curse if I do that"
[Yes]
"Just for insurance, there are no side effects to this correct?"
"'There are no side effects so just get it over with!' That is what my daughter said" (Loki)
She got irritated, huh.
We went down to floor fifty nine.
Is that a lich?
"Be careful. That thing is a lich"
So it is a lich.
The lich raise its hands and summon all kinds of undead. All the undead came forward, charging towards me. So this is the effects of me using the phantom world here.
"Whoever get's to kill the lich will receive a reward, except for Nunu, you stay here with me since you already got yours. The rest of you guys know what to do, right?" I said with a smile.
The four of them charge and confronted the army of the dead.
"Say, what do you feel about the princess?"
"I..."
"Oh come on, tell me. This may be your biggest chance you know"
"I... want to be with her" He said with a flush expression.
Ah~ youth. His so honest. Well I am the one asking him after all.
"What do you want to do with her?" I ask.
Man, teasing him like this is so funny.
"Um, hug her... I guess"
Hehehe.
While we were talking here, not caring about anything else, the other four were busy with eliminating the lich.
Bang!
I turn around. The lich was eliminated. Based on their expression alone Ella seems to be the one who killed the lich.
[You have defeated the mini-boss, Lich]
I confirm who killed the lich and it was indeed Ella. I transferred the lich's soul energy to her.
[Familiar evolution: Inferior rank> Low rank.
Successful]
[Skill evolution: Necromancy> Necromancy 2
Successful
Level of undead that can be summon: 2]
Now, Ella reach Ello's level.
Another treasure chest appeared. And so I toss another pebble. It's real! I open it and saw another artifact.
[Hel's spell-book, obtained]
I think I know what exactly I am suppose to do with this. It's pretty much a book about curses. The normal route would be to give it to Mel since she is a curse user. But I have to look at the big picture over here. The best way to use this to my advantage would be 'that'.
We head to floor sixty.
Great. This time its a vampire.
Those fangs really are long. I wonder how she eat without getting those fangs in the way.
The vampire girl was dress in a dark-purplish dress which reminded me of the night. A perfect outfit for a vampire.
"I will take care of this one"
They all sat down.
These guys sure are carefree. Ever since we defeated the death knight on floor fifty again and again I become even stronger.
Based on the system, her only resistances are
"
I walk over to the vampire.
"
The vampire became my slave.
"My daughter is asking how you were able to do that when the vampire had complete magic immunity" (Loki)
"It is because the vampire does not have any soul attack resistance. The death knight on floor fifty and the lich on the previous floor as well as the other mini-bosses, all of them had high resistance against soul base attacks and manipulation. Therefore, it was easier for me to completely overpower the vampire"
[The Master of the Souls is extremely happy watching you]
[You have defeated the mini-boss, Vampire]
Since my limit of familiars are three, I decided to make her my slave instead. I took a look at her abilities and analyze each one carefully.
A knight class demon vampire. This means that this girl is one step to becoming a bishop class. Well, just looking at her resistances and power I can see why.
Unfortunately, now that she isn't part of the labyrinth, all of her resistances got erased. Her power is now only one-forth of her original power as well. Some of her skills are also gone now.
Naturally, I brainwash the vampire girl. I don't want to have another sassy girl in my group.
"Your name from now on is Jinx. Be the one to give all of my enemies bad luck"
"As you wish" She replied.
I throw another pebble on the treasure chest that appeared. After confirming it was safe, I open it.
Another artifact!
[Hel's bracelet, obtained]
Another bracelet? No helping it I guess.
[Effect: Life steal
Description- The possessor will get younger in proportion to the amount of life force that have been taken away. Only those who are under the age of twenty can be a target]
Meaning, it makes the possessor to age backwards however the price to pay is the death of somebody else. And that only those who are young can be a target. How cruel. I already know what to do with this one. I'm sure he will love it.
[Floor fifty seven to floor sixty is now a
"Now that we are done here, let's go back"
[The Gods and Goddesses have decided your level cap]
About time.
[Your level cap will be 200]
That would mean I have a lot of skills that I'll get in the future! How nice of them~.
[The Dragon God's plan is starting: Phase 1 out of 3]
I'm sorry, what?
[Your new level cap will be level 0]
[Due to the level cap being <0>, your level will now be level <0>]
[Due to the decrease in level. Several skills will be locked]
Huh? Wait, what?! So many pop ups which are negative are showing up.
[The Dragon God's plan is starting: Phase 2 out of 3]
[You are now not allowed to own skills you get via soul link]
[Existing skills that were taken will stay and be regarded as 'blessings']
So your telling me, that this douchebag, he put all this restrictions because I killed a dragon inside of a dungeon that I didn't know was innocent!?! He basically nerfed me!
[You have an additional mission]
What now?!
[New mission]
1.) Unite all the kingdoms in the world.
2.) Kill the demon king.
3.) Support this world's hero.
+
I stop. Everything just surprise me that it left me speechless.
[The Master of the Souls have given you the right to use all your skills despite your level being lower than it should be]
[The Dragon God is now facing the consequences for his actions]
Thank you, Goddess!!! I don't think I would have survive all these shocking news. At the very least someone is actually supporting me.
My knees fell to the ground. I don't even know whether it was because of the Dragon God's plans or about the support of the Master of the Souls.
"Master, are you okay"
The rest look at me worriedly.
[The Goddess of Wisdom, Athena, gives you a gift due to the sudden turn of events]
[Additional mana: 100,000]
I'm gonna cry.
But wait a moment. It says that he has three plans. So what is the other one?
"Loki, does he even have the right to do such a thing?"
"Unfortunately, yes. He is considered as a superior ranking God after all"
Ugh. I just wanna kill that guy.
The skills I'll get in the future are no more. I also can't steal other powers as well.
Now that I am level zero there are more important things I need to clarify.
"Master of the Souls? How will I make the
[The Gods and Goddesses are thinking about your question]
[They have reach a conclusion]
[You will now unlock all the available slots to fill in your capacity]
Phew.
I thought they'd say that I will have to bear with only three familiars.
Because of this, all of my plans will now be change. Argh!