System: Level 10 achieved. Gain 5 Skill Points for the Talent Tree.
Apophis collapsed.
Everyone rushed to his side in terror. If Apophis died right here from the boss's final blow, there was a very good chance that this would cause the quest to fail!
But Chocolate breathed a sigh of relief as she realized he still had a few HP left. She cast a healing spell with her tiny bit of regenerated Energy.
Apophis stood up. "Wow," he said with a grin, "that was close! My HP almost went below 99%!"
His joke defused the tense atmosphere, and everyone cheered.
Finally, it was done! The boss was dead, and they were all alive!
Ceasar reached out his hand to help Apophis up. "Haha, don't pat yourself on the back too much! Looks to me like the boss glitched out and threw himself out the window!"
Once everyone had recovered from the intense fight, the team descended the tower, coming at last to the boss's corpse.
Now it was time to share the loot. In "Horus," most monsters only gave EXP when they died. Only bosses and NPCs could be counted on to drop items.
The loot was excellent, as the game gave huge bonuses to the first clears of Nightmare Dungeons.
There were fifteen pieces of loot in total: eight Rare items, five Epic items, and two Legendary items.
Out of the pile, only two interested Apophis.
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╟─╼EQUIPMENT
║ ╰╼[Name] : Zetark Nobility Uniform
║ ╰╼[Class] : Esper
║ ╰╼[Quality] : Epic
║ ╰╼[Passive Effect (1)] : Increases your base Energy by 50%.
║ ╰╼[Passive Effect (2)] : Your Energy recharges 30% faster while in combat.
║ ╰╼[Owner] : Lord Enel
║ ╰╼[Summary] : Uniform worn by the Zetark Nobility during war. Despite its light appearance, it functions as a full set of power armor. Reinforces the user's own cosmic energy reserves.
╚══════════════╛
╔══════════════╕
╟─╼EQUIPMENT
║ ╰╼[Name] : God Tzeentch's Rings of Power
║ ╰╼[Class] : Esper
║ ╰╼[Quality] : Legendary
║ ╰╼[Passive Effect (1)] : Corrupts your cosmic energy and gradually shifts your alignment toward Evil.
║ ╰╼[Passive Effect (2)] : Grants access to the unique [Tzeentch] talent tree.
║ ╰╼[Passive Effect (3)] : Increases the effectiveness of all your Skills by 1 level.
║ ╰╼[Creator] : Tzeentch
║ ╰╼[Summary] : The power ring of Lord Enel, bestowed by the god Tzeentch himself. After its owner's defeat, its dark control effect was broken… but vestiges of it still remain.
╚══════════════╛
It was exceptional loot for this point in the game. Everyone was delighted, especially White, who happily claimed a set of Epic armor and a Legendary weapon called [Bow of the God Tzeentch].
Of course, the party had two Espers: Apophis and Chocolate.
This raised a slight issue. While Apophis had given great Skill Books to everyone else in the party, the only one he had been able to offer Chocolate had been an Esper Skill Book which was completely useless to her. It was an extremely situational Skill Book which was useless to anyone who didn't already have several other specific Talent Tree Skills.
In fact, the only reason Apophis still had this Skill Book was because he knew it would never be useful to him!
Though Chocolate had been resentful of Apophis accepting the goddess's quest, she'd been more willing than the others to follow Apophis anyway, and his willingness to give out these Skill Books had been the final factor to win Chocolate's loyalty for the Dungeon.
However, that also meant that Apophis hadn't given Chocolate anything of value like he had the others. Otherwise, he would have simply said, "I'm taking these items, and you can consider this to be paying me back for the Skill Book I gave you!"
But in truth, Chocolate had been a vital member of the party during the Dungeon. If she hadn't been so skilled, the party would have wiped several times and would have had no chance of beating Lord Enel.
So, though Apophis longed for these Esper drops, he didn't want to just claim them by right as the party leader when Chocolate deserved a reward as well.
Therefore, since Apophis didn't think he had enough money simply to give Chocolate what her share of the Esper items were worth, Apophis decided to rely on the loot distribution mechanic.
It was a simple system. When an item dropped in a party, everyone could choose to select either "need," "greed," or "pass." The item would be randomly distributed between everyone who didn't select "pass," with a much higher bias towards those who had selected "need."
Apophis clicked on "need" for these two items…
And, surprisingly, Chocolate chose "greed," accepting less of a chance to receive the Esper items!
"I might miss the opportunity," she said, "but it's without a doubt thanks to you that I could beat a Nightmare Dungeon in the first place! Without you, I'd never have succeeded at a Rank X quest, so thank you very much! Only, promise to call me if you want to do another Dungeon!"
Apophis smiled as the system granted both items to him. "I don't know what to say, except… thank you."
Ceasar spoke up. "Honestly, I didn't think we had a chance! I only followed along because of our contract. But you've shown me that the man with the greatest will always triumphs! The Renovatio Imperii guild is wide open to you, my friend!"
This rush of treasure, levels, skills, and new allies made Apophis feel like he had quite a comfortable lead over most other players!
Even still, he couldn't stop thinking about the strangeness of this Dungeon. What did all this god and goddess business mean, and why was it all so new to him?
Only time would tell.