[Basic Invisibility].
Zane didn't know why the 'basic' part was necessary, but regardless, this skill was going to be incredibly useful going forward. However, while Wraiths weren't basic enemies, they weren't exactly the top of the line adversaries either. Without a doubt, this skill would have its flaws—perhaps that was why it read 'basic'—and Zane intended to find them to maximize the potential of this ability.
Narrowing his eyes, Zane headed down the crematorium-like corridor, dimly lit by the blue torches on either wall. The skeleton bodies of the Wraiths lay scattered all around him, lifeless and unmoving. Thankfully, even if one of them turned out to still be alive somehow, Zane was back at full HP and mana after casting [Devour]—part of the skill's traits.
Zane had debated carrying 'Devourable' flesh and items as portable health/mana potions of sorts, but that idea was quickly shot down as he remembered parts of monsters would automatically disintegrate to nothingness after several minutes past death.
Had it been before, Zane would've probably taken this corridor very carefully. But now, this was just like any other path to him, and if anything jumped out, he'd either kill it or run away if it was too strong. The logic was simple.
Soon, he arrived at the other end, and carried on making his way towards the center of the catacombs. On the way, he slaughtered some more Undead Knights and Wraiths, neither of which he could Devour any further since he'd already added both to his collection. He believed there was a place somewhere in his System where he'd be able to check this Compendium, but he'd been unable to find how thus far, so eventually gave up on trying.
He did, however, find something else that was quite interesting on the way—an open chamber with a rigid rectangular coffin inside. Normally, such a sight wouldn't be particularly out of place inside catacombs, but the difference here was that this wasn't just any normal catacombs—it was a Dungeon.
And inside Dungeons, there were treasure chests.
Thanks to Zane's past experience, he knew right by first glance that the tomb in this open room was a lootbox. Every Dungeon archetype had different appearances for their treasure chests, and this strangely overdecorated tomb was the norm for a catacombs-type Dungeon.
But of course, with every reward came a proportionate amount of risk. Without a doubt, there were enemies nearby, hiding in the shadows and guarding their precious loot.
The question was—would they be able to see through Zane's invisibility?
Deciding to try it out, Zane activated his [Basic Invisibility] skill with a thought in his mind, and let his mana flow throughout his body. Glancing down, he discovered that he could no longer see his hands or feet—or any other part of his body, for that matter. There were no flaws in the visuals at all—he'd been rendered completely invisible, just like the Wraiths themselves.
That was no reason to let his guard down, however. Cautiously, he stepped into the empty room, and held his breath.
Nothing happened.
The air inside the chamber was cold and felt aged—it carried a slighty 'minty' smell to it, and Zane got the feeling of several dozen small hands crawling up his bare skin. Without a doubt, the person who lay in this coffin had to be quite powerful during their living days, to be able to emit such a menacing pressure even after dying.
Too bad that was all that was left of them—a dead corpse, nothing more.
Slowly, Zane stepped closer to the coffin, and with a gentle hand, lifted the edge of the lid. Dust accumulated over thousands of years leaked out and filled the air, almost enough to make him reflexively cough a few times. Then, preparing for any unwanted surprises, he narrowed his eyes and cautiously pushed the lid with his fingers.
'Just a bit more… there.'
The lid slipped off the edge of the tomb and fell to the stone floor, causing a loud and crisp clanging sound to ring out in the air. Even more dust particles flew out of the coffin's interior, but to Zane's utter unsurprise, inside the tomb lay not a dead body—at least, not at the top of it.
Instead, the corpse was most likely buried beneath thousands of ancient coins, along with jewel-embedded golden chalices and a handful of gemstones. Gilded chains and rings lay amongst the riches, reminiscent of a successful pirate's treasure hoard.
'Looks like this is just a normal treasure lootbox, then…' Zane thought. 'I was hoping for a weapon or some artifact, but if I sell all this, then my sister's amnesia treatment…'
But then, quickly, he shook his head, and groaned.
'Ngh… what am I thinking… this isn't the time to be optimistic.'
If he wanted to sell all this, he'd need to first make it back up to the surface—to Earth.
Forget about his sister. Right now, in this cruel Dungeon, there was just one person, and one person alone he had to worry about: himself. Zane's currently personality was torn—one side was cold and empty, while the other still carried traces of his former self—his former kindness, his former love for his family. He'd need some time to blend the two together.
Without a second thought, he got to work, pulling out a special resizable Dungeon-use duffel bag out of his pocket. As a porter, he always carried some of these around for whenever the party ran into treasure like this. Prior to activation, the bags were about the size of a packet of napkins, making them easy to carry around, but after activation, they became full-size duffel bags to put things in.
Even as he did all this, no monsters came for him. Eventually, he decided that his invisibility was useless anyway since he couldn't turn the things he was holding invisible (only what he was wearing), so he turned the skill off to conserve some mana and let it passively regen. The skill also leveled up to tier II just from that short duration of it being active, and it now consumed less mana upon usage. Not a bad upgrade, but nothing too crazy either.
After about a good ten minutes of work, the entire coffin was emptied of any treasure, and all that was left inside was an old skeleton. Zane, on the other hand, now had three full-sized duffel bags' worth of golden treasure, which could probably total up to about a few dozen thousand dollars if he sold them through the right routes. Due to how common gold and the like were nowadays from Hunters finding them in Dungeons, the price had naturally gone down.
Satisfied, he swung them over his back and prepared to leave, but just at that moment, the handles on all three bags were suddenly sliced off, and Zane froze in his steps.
The cut had been accurately placed to just barely miss his fingers. It was a warning shot.
As the three treasure-filled bags simultaneously dropped to the floor with a loud thunk, Zane gave a sigh, and whispered underneath his breath.
"… So, the guard's finally decided to show up, huh?"
Slowly, he turned his body around to face the new challenger, and narrowed his eyes. The enemy had no legs, instead hovering in the air like a Wraith. However, their body structure is where their similarities end—whereas Wraiths could still be considered low-rank, commonly seen enemies, this one was clearly unique and far more powerful.
Rather than raggedy old robes, this creature wore a lavish black cloak, much like how the Grim Reaper is portrayed in folklore. In its hands were two short daggers decorated with a corroding black energy, ornamented with a devilish silver skull each at their hilts where the blade jutted out from. The skulls' eyes shone like bright red fire, much like the ones that burned from beneath the monster's thick hood, slit and narrow.
No other part of its face was visible—just those two furious, demon-like crimson eyes, contrasting with the surrounding darkness.
And Zane stared straight back at them.
This was no normal enemy; he knew that very well.
This—was a miniboss.
[Dahrka, Fallen Paladin]
[Type: Undead]
[Level: 15]
[Class: Monarch]