[Possession]
Yurei immediately tried to possess Rio. If he couldn't incapacitate him in time, those bastards would either escape or attack alongside Rio to destroy his spiritual body.
The guild master also knew that, so he took the best course of action.
"Holy barrier! Now!"
With his shout, the party members with the skill deployed a barrier around the guild master.
Immediately, Yurei retreated to a safe distance.
"I thought you were a brave man, but you turned out to be a coward instead, Guild Master!"
The spirit taunted the old veteran, but the latter just shrugged.
"I can't underestimate you, Axel. I have to make sure to put you down completely. I can't take chances, you see."
Rio wasn't a fool who believed in lofty ideas and "the virtue of battling fairly". To him, as long as the result was fair, any method of battle was fine.
Yurei himself knew that... Yet he had been hoping that the old Hunter would show naivety for once.
"Tsk... I can't win like this."
The spirit gritted its teeth(?) before suddenly retreating.
"Where are you going?!"
Rio dashed behind him, and so did his party members. It seemed that they had no intention of letting Yurei escape.
And that was what Yurei had hoped for!
[
2. { Evolution III ( Class Quest/ Mandatory ) }:
Difficulty: C
Time Limit: 7 days 21 Hours 3 Minutes remaining
You have achieved a new body, but that is only the first step. You have to become stronger, you have to become fiercer. You have to become complete. Only then can you understand the true worth of your existence.
Hunt down the monsters on the lower floors of the Death Flower dungeon.
Clear Conditions: Kill Skeleton Warriors (0/1000); Skeleton Archers (0/500), Undead Mages (0/20) and the Lich King (0/1) on Sixth Four.
Clear Rewards: Understanding Rate + 40%; Level + 20
Failure Conditions: Dying / Time running out
Failure Penalty: Instant Death
*Warning, during the quest, the dungeon's difficulty from Floor Five and below will be increased by tenfold
]
If his quest data was right, then the sixth floor had undead mages... Mages who could use the power of death.
"And if that power attacks the barrier enough times then..."
The barrier would get destroyed. Yurei was betting on the floor monsters to help him out.
Of course, there was a high chance that his enemies already knew about the undead monsters but...
"They wouldn't know the strength increase of the monsters and would get caught off guard."
After all, most of the stronger monsters on both floor four and floor five were yet to be spawned.
Yurei moved through the trees and soon gained distance from his pursuers. But he deliberately slowed down to get them to catch up to him after a few moments of staying ahead.
Soon, all of them reached the teleportation stone. Without hesitation, Yurei used the stone to directly teleport to floor six.
Rio and the group arrived at the stone just a few moments after Yurei had teleported.
"Damn it, where is he going?"
Rio hissed as he watched Axel disappear into the bright light.
"Probably the sixth floor, Guild Master. There are undead monsters on that floor... So maybe he wants to increase his power?"
One of the party members suggested. Rio glanced at the guy once before nodding. It made sense logically... But something in his heart was warning him.
"Say... Weren't the monsters on the fourth floor really strong?"
Rio asked his comrades, who just looked at each other in confusion.
Then one of the mages spoke up.
"Um... We killed all the goblins with ranged attacks or sword skills, remember? We have no idea whether their base strength has increased or not."
"I see... Tsk. Don't put your guard down, we're heading to the sixth floor."
Rio warned with a grim tone before activating the stone again.
"But he didn't seem that strong, did he?"
Someone asked from behind, causing Rio to tense up.
"He single-handedly took down two floors in record time... If we underestimate him too much, we'll be crushed."
--------------------------------
"Come on, where are the undead mages?!"
Yurei howled as he moved through the broken buildings on the sixth floor. The theme of the floor was a ghost city... Full of undead creatures.
"Tsk... Rio and the others will catch up to me soon... !"
He was yet to find one single undead mage. The whole floor was crawling with skeleton warriors and skeleton archers, but no undead mage was seen.
"There should be one around here... Come on... !"
Behind him, he could hear the buildings collapsing under Rio's might. There weren't any enemies holding them back either, as Yurei made sure to wipe out all the skeleton warriors he found.
Just to make sure that Rio and the others wouldn't catch up to his plan.
And that now was biting him back. If he didn't reach two or more undead mages soon, then...
"There it is!"
Thankfully, he found one just in time. The spirit dashed towards the mage in his invisible state and possessed the body.
His senses soon became stable as he looked at the surroundings through the undead mage's eyes.
"So skeletons can't see colours? Wait... I can see the mana particles? Is this what mages observe daily?"
Yurei murmured, surprised. The ghouls and the zombies on floor three didn't have any magical capabilities, so he couldn't check this out. And both types of undead had eyes... So they saw the world in full colour.
"Well, whatever. Let's focus on what I have to do now..."
The spirit turned around and dashed towards the centre of the city, where the boss room was.
The Lich King was a mage-type boss monster, so the chances of the mages being stationed inside the tower where the king resided were high. Soon, this hypothesis of his proved to be correct, as he met with two Undead Mages right outside the tower.
Hoping for the best, Yurei approached them and spoke up.
"His Majesty has summoned me."
Both mages turned towards him and stared at him with hollow eyes. For a moment, Yurei panicked. If the mages didn't understand what he was saying, then his plan would fall apart.
Thankfully, they seemed to be sentient enough to reply. Their skeletal face didn't move as they retorted telepathically.
"We haven't heard of such a summon."
"There are intruders in the city, and a few of them have holy barriers! We need to let His Majesty know about this fast!"
Yurei faked urgency and tried to pressure them into opening the tower gate, but the mages didn't budge.
"We already know of the intruders. However, they aren't so strong that His Majesty needs to step in."
"You don't understand! I have seen them, His Majesty had sent me to check in on the situation!"
"We never saw you leave the tower, though."
"That..."
Yurei was dumbfounded. Why the hell were these monsters so intelligent?
However, he wasn't going to let his plan fail here.
So...
He quickly ascended from the body he was in and took control of one of the two mages guarding the door. Then, he spoke up.
"I think I remember him."
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"His Majesty had summoned him before... You don't remember? Well, His Majesty had sent him outside using his magic."
"Ah-"
Yes, that would make sense.
"Let's step aside and let him do his job."
"Alright... Fine. Hey, you. You can go."
The mage whose body was occupied until moments ago was still confused. Not letting it sober up, Yurei once again possessed its body.
The guard mage wouldn't be able to do much damage before Rio and the others reached the tower.
"Thanks."
With that, Yurei had successfully infiltrated the tower of the Lich King.