'You two aren't close to evolving, are you?'
[Four-Armed Abyssal Ogre Level: 16.
Level necessary before Evolution: 40.
Two-Headed Abyssal Wolf Level: 13.
Level necessary before Evolution: 35.
]
'Huh? You can tell me that?'
Mark was obviously frustrated.
The System only answered questions when they were clearly formulated.
It also didn't answer every question.
Sometimes it wouldn't answer.
Sometimes it would say that particular pieces of information were unavailable.
'I've been letting you two grind for a long time and you're not even halfway there. I guess the stronger a Monster is, the harder it'll be for it to Evolve. Light, come here.'
The Abyssal Dark Wolf walked up to its Lord.
It was smaller than Abyssal Black Wolves, and its pelt was dark as night.
The red slits near its eyes were easy to miss.
'Show me the Status of my Guards. Oh, except Cer.'
[ Name: Light
Species & Level: Abyssal Dark Wolf Lv1 (0/300Exp)
HP: 200/200
Endurance: 200/200
Stats: Strength: 18
Agility: 38
Sense: 45
Vigor: 20
Endurance: 20
Stealth: 48
Skill(s): Acute Senses.
Fade Into The Darkness.
Sneak Attack.
]
Light's Passive Skill "Fade Into The Darkness" made him practically invisible when hiding in shadows.
His "Sneak Attack" Passive Skill multiplied the damage from attacks by 2 if Light is not noticed by the enemy before attacking.
The two Passive Skills made a killer combo.
'High Sense Stat, high Agility, and a Stealth Stat... Pretty impressive.'
[ Name: Sin
Species & Level: Four-Armed Abyssal Ogre Lv16 (2350/4500Exp)
HP: 960/960
Endurance: 360/360
Mana Points: 260/260
Stats: Strength: 66
Agility: 36
Sense: 26
Vigor: 96
Endurance: 36
Mana: 26
Skill(s): Self-Healing.
]
'You're Level 16, so you gained 16 Stat Points on every Stat... Still, high Strength Stat and a very high Vigor Stat. You can even heal yourself. You guys go level up some more. Once Light reaches Level 10, we're paying a visit to that Boss Monster.'
The three Abyssal Monsters obeyed.
'How strong is this Floor's Guardian?'
[A particular Floor's Guardian is strong enough to keep the Monsters from that particular Floor inside of it.]
[It is also strong enough to keep the weaker Monsters from the Floor above it on that Floor.]
'So it won't let us go above, and it won't let them go below... It's stronger than the Monsters here, but that doesn't tell me much. All my Guards are stronger than those here. What is its Rank?'
[That information is unavailable.]
'I guess I'll level up a bit too then.
...
Sometime later,
'Crazy how many more Experience Points I need to Level Up than them...'
Mark had reached Level 12.
Sin was Level 20, Cer was Level 18 and Light was Level 11.
He found the difference between the quantity of Experience Points needed to Level Up ridiculous.
But it was obvious, the Dungeon, or rather, Mark's System, wasn't centered about Leveling Up.
To reach Level 13, he needed more than 72.000 Experience Points. When defeating even an Orc only gives out 140 Experience Points, there was only one thing to do.
And that is, to Evolve as soon as possible.
'This should be enough. I never even went in the Guardian's direction, so I don't know what the area looks like. Hope I can escape if it's too strong...'
Mark made his way towards the location of the Boss Monster.
The end of the corridor.
Huge doors stood in front of him.
At least six meters high.
'Open it.'
Sin stepped forward and used two of his strong arms to push it open.
The Four-Armed Abyssal Ogre had found that having two empty hands and two armed ones felt best.
Of course, Sin didn't tell Mark about it.
He had just thrown away two of the four weapons Mark had given him.
'I'll trust your judgment, Sin.'
The doors were heavy.
It was obvious they hadn't been opened in a long time.
The group entered a large and dark room.
At the center of it, a torch hung from the ceiling.
It emitted just enough light to partially see one's surroundings.
Mark could see pretty clearly though, thanks to his "Demon Senses[D]" Passive Skill.
On the other side of the room, was another set of huge doors.
Under the hanging torch, nine Monsters were sitting on the ground, munching on the bodies of dead Gray Wolves.
They were Orcs.
Behind them, a big wooden throne was occupied by a tenth Monster.
It was twice as big as the other Orcs.
Its body was covered by armor made of iron.
On the ground were its weapons.
To its right, a big war hammer.
To its left, a wooden staff.
The Monster still hadn't noticed Mark.
'What is it?'
[Tenth Floor's Guardian.]
'Rank?'
[That information is unavailable.]
'It's about four meters tall. Even bigger than Sin...'
Mark had previously ordered his Guards not to move without his permission, so they were waiting for further orders.
'Light. It's a dark room, so always stay hidden. Only start attacking after we do. Let's aim for those Orcs first.'
Light moved towards the room's edges, where it was darkest, and slowly approached the enemies.
'Sin. You wait until we take out those Orcs. After that, it's a 1-on-1 between you and the Guardian while we assist you from afar.'
Sin readied his Iron Maces and took a couple of steps forward.
'You're probably the only one who can fight that thing head-on'
Mark did not worry about the Underling though, as his Health Points stood at 1000.
Sin also had the Ogres' "Self-Healing" Passive Skill.
'Cer. Take out those Orcs.'
The Two-Headed Abyssal Wolf immediately opened its two mouths.
In front of its sharp fangs, balls of raging flames appeared.
It was his "Abyssal Bomb" Magic Skill.
They were fired.
At the same time, Mark opened his mouth too.
A ball made up of some kind of black liquid appeared.
He shot it towards the Guardian.
The three attacks landed at the same time.
Two Orcs started screaming in pain as their stomachs were burnt.
The Guardian, on the other side, was indifferent to Mark's attack, as its chest was splashed by a black liquid.
'Mmm... It probably has high HP. It'll take a while for this to show any effet...'
It was Mark's "Corrupting Bomb[E]" Magic Skill, the Evolved version of his "Venomous Bomb[E]".
Out of nowhere, claws slashed an Orc's throat.
Before he was noticed, Light moved back into the darkness.
The Guardian stood up.
It grabbed its wooden staff.
'Now that it's standing... The Guardian is taller than I thought...'
As Sin started sprinting towards it, the Boss Monster pointed its staff.
A Fire Ball appeared in front of it.
'So it has Magic Skills...' Mark thought as he shot another black ball towards the enemy.
The Guardian's Fire Ball flew in the air and landed on Sin's extended arms.
His two hands were immediately scorched.
But the next instant, they started regenerating.
Sin was only a dozen meters away from the Guardian.
The Monster growled loudly, and the rest of the Orcs sprinted towards it.
In an instant, six Orcs positioned themselves in front of the Guardian.
Since the Boss Monster was twice as big as the Orcs, it continued shooting Fire Balls at Sin.
'Sin, dodge while getting closer. Light, attack the Guardian from behind. Cer, continue attacking the Orcs.' Mark ordered as he started shooting successive Fire Bombs at the Orcs.
Even though he was trying his best to dodge, Sin was not agile enough and the attacks usually grazed him or burnt his skin.
Twenty seconds later, the six remaining Orcs died from Cer and Mark's successive Magic Attacks.
Shallow scars could be seen on the Guardian's unprotected and yet tough nape.
Light was not powerful enough to properly damage even the bodyparts not covered by armor.
Sin swung both of his two Iron Maces.
The attacks landed on the Guardian's defensively raised right arm.
Punch-
Sin's whole body was pushed back.
Mark switched back to using his "Corrupting Bomb" Magic Skill on the Guardian.
'Gotta poison and paralyze him as quickly as possible!'
Two Abyssal Bombs hit the Guardian's shoulders.
While it didn't deal much damage, the attack blew away the Monster's shoulder armor.
Light did not miss the opportunity and sank his fangs into the Guardian's left shoulder.
The latter instantly let go of its wooden staff.
More black liquid splashed the Guardian's body.
The Boss Monster grabbed Light with both its hands and threw him down.
Light's body bounced off the ground with great force.
The wolf cried in pain.
A moment later, the Guardian coughed up drops of black blood.
'All these Corrupting Bombs and it's only at this stage...'
A Monster coughing up black blood was the first sign that Corrupting Bomb was working and damaging that Monster.
Its blood was not originally black.
It was the Magic Skill's effect.
It corrupted the enemy's blood, and eventually, its internal organs.
'Everyone's Health Points?'
[ Your HP: 270/270
Sin: 830/1000 (Healing.).
Light: 140/310.
Cer: 580/580.
]
'Light lost that much?! Light, stay hidden in the darkness. Only attack using your claws. Don't let the Guardian touch you.'
The Abyssal Dark Wolf quickly got up and ran away.
The center of the room was where it was brightest, and where the Guardian stood.
Sin swung his weapons.
The Guardian used its strong arms to counter.
The difference in size was obvious.
It was enough to make Mark doubt the probability of success.
'Still, the Orcs are gone. It's just him. Cer, stay next to the walls. Go towards the other side of the room. From there, you can attack without worrying about Sin.' Mark ordered as he flapped the wings he had strengthened many times using Merging Bones.
The ceiling was about 10 meters high.
Mark flew towards Sin and landed behind the Guardian.
He kept his wings spread wide, ready to fly away if necessary.
While Sin was swinging his weapons, Mark used his "Infernal Breath" Magic Skill.
A powerful stream of red fire exited his mouth.
'Sin, keep it occupied.'
The Four-Armed Abyssal Ogre started swinging its weapons and using its unarmed hands to punch and grab the Guardian.
Cer arrived at the other side of the room and started shooting Abyssal Bombs.
He could shoot them faster now.
Even though Mark was between Cer and the Guardian, Mark's body was very small compared to Sin's, which made aiming safely a lot easier.
A couple of seconds later, the armor on the Guardian's back had completely melted.
The Boss Monster's armor fell to the ground.
For the first time, the Guardian shouted in pain.
The attacks were now hitting its back directly.
It turned around suddenly, leaving its back to Sin.
'These attacks sting more now, don't they?' Mark thought as he flew away.
The Guardian shot Fire Balls at him, but Mark easily dodged.
'Good thing I practiced this a lot.'
An Abyssal Bomb exploded on the Guardian's face while iron maces hit its sides.
The Boss Monster grabbed its staff with both hands and swung it with all its strength at Sin's stomach.
The latter was launched away as he threw up blood.
Light slashed the Boss Monster's bare back.
The Guardian understood that it was surrounded.
Sin from the front, Cer from the back, Mark and Light from the sides.
It shot multiple Fire Balls at the numerous enemies before throwing away the wooden staff.
'Does this mean it's getting serious..?'
With its war hammer in hand, the Guardian ran towards Sin.
Cer, who had run out of Mana Points, started running towards the Guardian.
More black liquid fell on its body.
It was basically covered by it.
'Shooting towards wounds makes the Skill's effect stronger, but... It only has small shallow wounds...'
The Guardian raised its weapon above its head with both arms.
Sin defensively raised his four arms.
He knew that he was not strong enough to take a hit from the huge Monster, so he also quickly stepped back.
Cer sneakily sank his fangs into the Guardian's side.
Even though the Guardian could not use all of its strength due to the Cer's surprise attack, the war hammer was slammed down with great strength.
Four red arms spun in the air as massive amounts of blood spurted.
Both Sin and Cer quickly jumped away.
'Too bad Sin's arms aren't covered by armor...'
The Guardian turned towards Cer, but it didn't move.
Blugh-
Instead, it bent its body and threw up lots of black blood.
Light slashed its bent back twice and quickly stepped away.
Mark flew towards it and did the same, except that thanks to his "Fire Claws[E]" Skill ,he could deal more damage.
'Gotta conserve those Mana Points...'
Sin and Cer did not attack, as one needed to recover Health Points, while the other needed Mana Points.
Mark landed right next to the Guardian and used his "Infernal Breath[E+]" Skill.
The Guardian's whole body was being torched.
It raised one of its fingers ever so slightly.
Mark noticed and flew away.
A Fire Bullet was launched from that finger.
'Shit!'
It penetrated Mark's right wing.
Having lost his balance, Mark immediately fell to the ground.
[You have lost 10 Health Points.]
'Stupid weak skeleton body...'
The next instant, the Guardian stood up.
It was good news, but at the same time, the sight troubled Mark.
A river of black blood was flowing down the Guardian's eyes.