From the moment that Aldrich had entered the Dungeon, it felt creepy and unnatural to him.
The difficulty of a Random-Dungeon depended upon the average Level of Dreamers. The feeling this Dungeon had been oozing out was not something any Common-Ranked could detect. Aldrich didn't know if the Dungeon would focus on his Level or his Attributes but after running into the Banshee he went for the latter.
Like a ghost, it was drifting above the ground and wearing a loose gray robe. Its white hair was blowing without the wind and the white of its eyes was intensely red because of endless weeping. Aldrich compared it to the Common Axehandle Hounds he had fought in his first Raid. And the Banshee seemed to outperform those Crawlers in ferocity and pure strength. He peeked at the Quests and an alarming thought ran to him that things weren't as smooth as the Party Leader had been assuming.
[…
Quest 1 (Party): Hunt Elite Crawler
Quest 2 (Party): Survive at least one of Boss Crawler's Skills
…]
The whole situation made Aldrich second guess his idea of accompanying a Party as a typical member. The Quests varied for solo Dreamers in a Random-Dungeon. Aldrich wasn't clear if the Quests for the remaining Party would alter if he were to end his membership. He concentrated his Divine Sense on the Party Leader's conversation to hear more.
"You didn't see him? At all? He went behind you almost immediately."
"No, I didn't. I chased after that Banshee for a few hundred meters but couldn't find it, so I just came back," Tomiko answered.
"We have been traveling in the same direction since then, and still can't see a trace of him. Even if we can't find him, there must be some signs of it," Sonu thought aloud.
Aldrich could detect the symptoms of a psychopath in Mantis during his interactions. Aldrich didn't believe that because of that, Mantis deserved death. He had been monitoring his potential patient for any odd behavior since then. He had also tracked both Tomiko and Mantis with his Divine Sense. And yes; they had gone in the same direction. Unfortunately, before he could have made any move, Tomiko returned and Mantis had gone too far.
A disturbance in his Divine Sense brought Aldrich out of his reverie. He waited to approach a sensible distance and tipped off the rest of the members.
"A group of Banshee is coming fast towards us. And I assume the Elite is with them."
"You four deal with the Common Banshees and level up as fast as you can. I am going after the Elite one and would try to keep her out of your fight."
Aldrich nodded in approval after hearing an effective approach. Sonu took a curved path to circumvent the coming Banshees. And a sizable group of Crawlers came charging towards them. A semi-transparent purple shield, as big as Seong, materialized in front of him. The Banshees, making a beeline towards him, slammed into the shield. Before it bounced them off, a similar shield came into existence behind them. Crunching sound echoed in the dark tunnel as two of the Banshees got crushed to death.
Four Banshees who saw their brethren turning to a pulp couldn't help but stop. Their eyes gained an even darker tinge of red. With a painful grunt, they opened their mouth to let out a deafening shriek. Stars seemed to twinkle in the ghastly atmosphere for a second and in the next moment blood spurted out from the four Crawler's necks. Like a graceful dancer, Tomiko had made a stroke using her Naginata. The flood of Crawlers didn't end there, and the Banshees had moved around the group of four. A sound of wail from them together would have made them lose their bearing on the spot.
"HAAA!!!"
Aldrich heard a scream of defiance from the Burmese Champion who didn't seem to like this tactic at all. Tun Bo Ag poured some water on the ground and blocked his ears using the wet soil. With a sudden jump, he went into the group of the Crawlers who let out a wailing sound at the same time. Both Tomiko and Seong had already covered their ears using their hands. Amid the fight, they couldn't see Aldrich disappearing behind them.
The Lethwei practitioner pummeled the Banshees using kicks and punches. Taking advantage, Aldrich stealthily arrived at a corner where two Crawlers were hiding. Even before they could sense his presence, a deep fear of existential crises washed over them. A fear which was more dreading and horrifying than their mother's. They were about to shriek to let others know of this unknown presence when two silvery daggers came out of their chests. The mournful voice had turned into nothing but a dying gasp.
[…
You have killed two Common Banshee
ExPs obtained: 280
You have leveled up
Warning: Attributed Points not applicable
Warning: Skill Points not applicable
…]
"I never thought the 'Record' would show mercy and reward me again for the same levels. But it's ok too."
Aldrich was a little disappointed, but he still got Experience Points, so he didn't mind it. On the other side, he could see the three Newbies were on the verge of clearing out the suicidal Banshees. Seong seemed to only create two of those shields as he kept rotating between defending and attacking. Tomiko's Naginata flowed like a brush with red ink whose each stroke signaled a dead Crawler. But the most brutal was Tun Bo Ag, who felt to Aldrich like a grinding machine. Two, three, and sometimes even four at a time, the Burmese champion bashed their heads with his own.
THUMPPP!
As the group was catching their breath, they heard a loud thump and could see a man slipping down the tunnel's wall. Before the leveled-up Dreamers could approach their leader, three pairs of legs buckled, hearing the low keening of a woman. Aldrich also felt a slight irritation and looked at the source of the noise.
A 10 ft tall, lean woman in a white gown was hovering above the ground. Its hair was blood red and its eyes, like the gown, were blurry white with no sight of pupils. The crying face of the Crawler had a ferocious expression on its face. Tiny droplets of fresh blood were dropping from its long, thorny nails.
[…
Record of High Banshee
Status: Healthy
Level: 8
HP: 456/456
SP: 440/440
MP: 760/760
Rank: Common
Attributes -->
Strength: 15
Defense: 15
Agility: 35
Vitality: 27
Perception: 25
Correspondence: 45
Active Skills →
1. Banshee's Wail
2. Illusory Gaze
Passive Skills -->
1. Ghostwalking
…]
"It's quick, don't spread out."
Aldrich heard Sonu's warning and narrowed his eyes. He wasn't afraid of the Crawler; it was the opposite. The High Banshee felt almost as strong as the Elite he had faced before. He again reminded himself to cut off from the Party as soon as he can. There would be no point in hiding his strength if something had set the difficulty of the Dungeon based on his strength as the threshold.
The group approached the fallen leader, whose wound had almost healed after consuming a Health Potion. The importance of a Healer's presence hadn't felt more crucial than now.
SCREECHHH!!!
The High Banshee cried out and lunged towards the group. Seong created a shield, but the Banshee's nails tore it off like paper. Tun Bo Ag and Tomiko were about to run towards it to gain some time, but Sonu stopped them.
"Wait, Seong would protect me. I would focus on applying a Debuff on its movements while Tomiko and Tun Bo Ag, you chip away its HP. Aldrich, try to stay away from its reach and look out for any stray Common Banshee. We don't want to shed blood because of overconfidence, do we? Let's do it then."
Both melee fighters brimmed with excitement and dashed towards the Crawler. Seong overlaid his shield with another, and Aldrich, amused at the Leader's behest, made himself distant from the fight. It was a splendid opportunity for him to analyze and think about his next creation.
"Tactical Field. Pawn, Queen, and Rook."
An illusory chessboard had materialized on the ground, covering the Crawler and the Dreamers. Brilliant blue light shined out of Sonu's eyes as he used his Skill. A mark of pawn materialized on the High Banshee's forehead. Tomiko's forehead shined with the mark of a Queen's chess piece, and everyone could see a mark of Rook on Tun Bo Ag.
The Crawler let out a heart-wrenching wail of horror and pain, seeing the Dreamers coming straight towards death. To its utter surprise, no sound waves affected either the Queen or the Rook. Aldrich, with his Divine Sense, noted that all the sound waves had gone diagonally away from the Crawler.
Tomiko thrust the Naginata towards the Crawler's forehead. As it was about to pierce it, the High Banshee became transparent. The momentum carried Tomiko forward against her will. The reappeared Crawler swung its needle-like nails viciously towards her. But its nervous system betrayed it as its hand involuntarily missed the target. Before it could again turn transparent a rain of punches, kicks, and knee strikes fell over her.
The High Banshee didn't seem to know the game of chess.