>You get 250.000 Monster Diamond
> You get Talisman: The Invisible One
> You get Hematite Gemstones (x1)
> You get Fragment of Life Miracle**(x1)!
*Congratulations! Crystallice Guild and Bain succeed defeating a Boss Monster on Dawn City Raid Mission!
**Collect three of it to gain the Secret of Legendary Recovery
The System's Quest rewards brought a triumphant grin to my face!
My Knight Application also had officially recognized my victory over the Voidwalker!
However, a thorough examination of my spoils would have to wait.
The relentless barrage of Dreadspire's crystalline projectiles continued haunt me on the way, a hail of death pursuing me through the city streets.
My goal: Dawn City's tallest building, a desperate bid for closer engagement with my relentless foe!
One prize immediately captivated my attention: the Talisman of Invisibility.
Its description promised an hour of being invisible – a potent weapon against the Dreadspire!
But first, I had to reach that skyscraper, to close the range and deploy the talisman at the optimal moment.
My pace quickened.
Despite having already annihilated the Voidwalker and his legions, the Dreadspire remained fixated on me, its lethal crystalline onslaught constantly tries to reach me.
Those constant strikes made the pavement fractured under the impact of each explosive strike of Crystal Bullet!
The Dreadspire's attacks were growing unnervingly precise, their trajectory noticeably more accurate!
There was no time for hesitation!
My gaze fixed on the distant building, only a few miles away.
Victory was within reach.
Then, fear, sudden and brutal, overwhelmed me.
A searing pain lanced through my left shoulder, a sharp object piercing my flesh, radiating agony throughout my body.
The Dreadspire had found its mark!
I tumbled, the pain intense and agonizing.
A system notification cruelly confirmed my grievous wounds, a testament to the Dreadspire's destructive power.
>Health Power: 50%
>Warning! You infected by Crystal Poison: Health Power Halved!
Agony ripped through me; a searing, unbearable pain that numbed my legs and half my torso.
Yet, adrenaline, a ferocious tide, surged through my veins, compelling me to my feet.
I sprinted, a blur against the deadly hail of crystalline bullets that whistled past my ears, closing in with terrifying speed.
I hurled myself forward, crashing through the building's entrance, collapsing into the relative safety of the lobby just as the relentless barrage ceased.
The Dreadspires, their aim thwarted by the building's cover, had fallen silent.
Gasping for air, I faltered against a wall, my muscles screaming in protest.
Three crystalline projectiles were embedded in my left shoulder, their wicked poison blooming outward, leaving a trail of agonizing, alien burns.
My system's inventory offered no solution; no remedy existed for this insidious venom.
The cure, I knew with grim determination, most likely lay only in the annihilation of its source: the Dreadspires.
Damn!
Revenge pulsed in my veins, hot and fierce!
I would defeat them, and their vile toxin!
After a moment of recuperation, I stood, surveying my surroundings.
The lobby was vast, an echoing cavern, an evidence to a once-thriving corporate giant now fallen into ruin.
Dust coated everything; the air hung heavy with the silence of abandoned power.
Only the ethereal glow of the crescent moon pierced the suffocating darkness, painting the desolate scene in shades of gray.
At least there's a light, I thought; complete blackness would have been worse.
>The Crescent Moonlight Curse effect: 29 hours remaining!
Twenty-nine agonizing hours the infernal curses lingered, a torment that refused to diminished.
My urgent need to neutralize this malevolent moonlight curses was super important since my victory on defeating the Dreadspires depended on it.
As I scanned my surrounding, I see the elevator, naturally, was defunct – a casualty of the power outage and the brutal Undead siege that had claimed Dawn City.
I traversed the deserted main lobby, my mind racing for a solution, when a familiar stink assault diverted my attention.
From the eastern minibar, a coppery stench of blood assaulted my nostrils, accompanied by a faint, sibilant respiration.
The breath, unmistakably human, sent a shiver down my spine.
A survivor?
A knight in hiding?
Since my curiosity overriding caution, I moved eastward, my suspicion confirmed with grim finality.
Scattered around the minibar, a ghastly parade of fallen knights lay in pools of their own blood.
Their pale faces, vacant eyes, spoke of a death long past, yet that whispered breath persisted.
Navigating the macabre landscape of fallen warriors, I discovered the source.
A woman, a knight, slumped against the minibar wall, her armor shattered, revealing a cascade of chestnut hair framing a pair of weary brown eyes, nearly closed in exhaustion.
Bruises and lacerations scar her body, testament to a brutal struggle.
The shallow breaths emanated from her.
Though her face bore the grim marks of hardship, its inherent beauty, strangely captivating.
Despite her ravaged state, her looks successfully arrested me.
I can say she is an adult, older than Avyanna, perhaps a few years beyond Stella, her features held a compelling grace even in the throes of exhaustion and injury.
My contemplation was shattered by the woman's sudden awareness of my presence.
Before I could offer a greeting, a gasp escaped my lips as I saw the gun clutched in her right hand.
Firearms, once commonplace in the military, were now antique.
Since the monstrous invasion, the Knight Association favored magically imbued weaponry—swords, shields, armor, bows, and arrows—all significantly more effective against both human and monstrous foes rather than modern firearms.
The sight of the woman's gun was profoundly unsettling.
To my astonishment, she wasn't aiming it at me, but at her own head?!
Her vacant gaze, framed by a face streaked with blood and tears, spoke volumes of her despair.
Whatever her intention, I reacted instantly, unleashing a lightning bolt spell that immediately paralyzed her hand, forcing the weapon from her grasp.
"What in God's name do you think you're doing?!" I roared, a mixture of sorrow and fury surging through me.
"I'd rather die by my own hand than fall to a monster," she whispered, her voice frail, yet she somehow managed to rise to meet my gaze.
"I am human. Not a monster. You're mistaken," I said soothingly.
"Human...? With those unnatural blue eyes? Impossible—"
Exhaustion overwhelmed her, and she collapsed.
I caught her before she hit the ground.
Her body burned with fever.
"End me... now..." she mumbled, her eyes half-closed.
The horror of her sad state was a mystery, but the sight of the fallen knights surrounding us painted a grim picture of the Dreadspires' and Voidwalkers' brutal efficiency.
Her survival was nothing short of miraculous.
I swiftly carried her from the blood-soaked minibar, searching for a less tainted haven.
There—a vacant sofa to the north!
Its distance from the carnage offered a sanctuary from the stench of death.
After a quick cleaning, I gently laid her down.
I provided two potent healing elixirs, and she drink them completely.
Within moments, her brown eyes flickered open, widening in astonishment.
A rapid self-assessment revealed her injuries miraculously vanished. "What...how...?" she gasped, a mixture of wonder and disbelief coloring her features.
"Rest. Compose yourself," I instructed, my gaze sweeping the room.
The immediate surrounding area remained clear of undead horrors or the deadly Deadspires' advance.
However, the lingering curse of the crescent moon still held sway for another day.
Venturing outside at this time is a suicidal decision since the Deadspires and their legions are on their prime and would swiftly obliterate me.
If I want to win this battle, the key is surviving within these walls until the Crescent Moonlight's curses finally diminished.
Amidst my though, I settled onto the sofa, allowing my breath to slow due to pain in my back. - The crystal shard lodged in my back throbbed relentlessly.
Twenty-four hours of this agony – God grant me the strength.
"Y-you're Alstair...? The one who defeated two of Dawn City's boss monsters?" Lisa, the healer, blurted, her voice laced with awe and anxiety.
"I...I saw it on the Knight Applications newsfeed," she stuttered, her gaze darting away.
Her hesitation was noticeable; fear etched itself onto her delicate features.
Despite her physical restoration, her spirit remained beaten, struggling to comprehend the wickedness of her ordeal.
"Yeah," I confirmed, my tone clipped.
"But this battle is far from concluded. A far more formidable adversary awaits – the most challenging of the three; The Dreadspire. And the cursed moonlight persists," I added, emphasizing the gravity of our situation.
Seeking to ease her distress, I shifted the conversation. "What's your name, healer?"
"L-Lisa," she whispered, her eyes still avoiding mine.
The weight of recent trauma clung to her like a shroud, obscuring her present reality.
Her gaze drifted aimlessly, a restless search across inanimate objects, until it focused on a knight's dagger resting near the sofa.
Her despair was noticeable, a bleak emptiness etched onto her features as she stared at the dagger.