With a thought I activated [Water domain].
A dome of golden-blue water enclosed everything within 5m radius, both the Dark Trackers and my bony, hideous self.
However, the only ones with problems were the shadow like creatures, I was not a true lich, after all.
Holy water burned Dark Trackers’ bodies.
It was as if these abominations were placed on a grill and slowly cooked.
Wherever they moved, it was the same.
Panic struck their hearts, or whatever they had, and began to quickly spread.
Middle-ranked Dark Tracker: Useless wretches! You can’t even take a little burn! Don’t you worry, I’ll punish you accordingly later! Hmph, to think I’ll have to finish this lich off by myself!
When I heard the word “lich” it was time to end this prank.
Taking the [Halloween Lich Mask] off, I showed my true countenance.
Middle-ranked Dark Tracker: Y-You! You’re not a lich!
Pocketing all my gains, I revealed an insidious smile.
Icicle: Of course I’m not, jokes on you.
Middle-ranked Dark Tracker: Preposterous! Outrageous! You dared to trick my underlings and make your way here only to ambush us like this?!
Oh come on, you’re blaming me now?
Icicle: Not really. All I wanted to do was to rob you. I don’t care about your puny existences. But, since you’ve made the move to ROB ME, now I’m really pissed off~.
Middle-ranked Dark Tracker: Hmph, miserable human wretch, I’ll dispose of you and take over all your treasures!
He’s angry, good.
Now all I need to do is somehow sidestep his attack and proceed with my high risk high reward plan.
Middle-ranked Dark Tracker’s body moved and then turned into a blur.
I couldn’t follow his movements with my eyes, so I had to rely on [Sense presence].
While all the lowly ranked Dark Trackers were immobilized, their leader was currently encircling me all by himself.
Countless afterimages appeared one after the other.
I was thinking of destroying the [Dark Moon’s Lantern] floating nearby, but what would it do?
Will it kill all of the Dark Trackers or make them scatter into nearby shadows?
Can I even destroy this object?
As these questions in my mind we raised, suddenly one of the afterimages seemed to shudder.
A dark claw-like hand extended from it.
Based on my [Sense presence], it was filled with dark mana, constantly revolving around the whole arm.
The vibrations in the air let out a high-pitched buzzing
I didn’t even have time to wonder what the sound was for when…
*bang*
My back was hit.
That goddamn overpowered thing actually did 5000 damage!
What the hell?!
How is one supposed to defend from those guys?!
Curse you, Likaan! That curse of yours is making me take twice the damage!
This was not the time to be hesitating.
I only had 16000 mana left, I had to make do.
Using [Water step], I pivoted on my right leg, turned around and grabbed the claw-like hand that struck against my back.
This had better work!
Icicle: [CURE POISON]!!!
Although I could only faintly grab this creature’s hand thanks to the light element covering my body, I ended up sacrificing all of my mana on that move.
Perceiving the holy water entering Middle-ranked Dark Tracker’s body, I felt somewhat relieved.
Incorporeal creature let out a painful, miserable cry followed by constant insults and shrieks.
Damn it, it’s not enough!
And here I was, hopeful.
Middle-ranked Dark Tracker: *huff* *huff* You goddamn Priest! I’ll desecrate your corpse making sure that you can’t gain peace even in the afterlife!
A second razor sharp hand emerged from the blurry shadow, reaching for my throat.
Icicle: *NOW Eshel, refill my mana!*
I felt a surge of energy roiling inside my body, I immediately cast another spell – [Aqua strangle].
Streaks of holy water were entangling themselves around Dark Tracker’s seemingly intangible body.
Middle-ranked Dark Tracker: What is this? Hmph, such a joke ability is supposed to hold me down?
With a wave of his upper limb the entire spell dispersed, creating water vapour.
Goddamnit, even when my skills are empowered by [Water domain] this Dark Tracker is too strong!
Argh! I have to go for the kill, all or nothing!
Casting [Three-staged shower], the bubble managed to last for a mere second before the leader of the shadows got rid of it as easily as of the previous spell.
Middle-ranked Dark Tracker: Petty tricks. I’ve had enough! [Odor of deat-
While it was still in the middle of casting, I closed in with [Water step].
[Three-staged shower] wasn’t supposed to hurt the Dark Tracker, but distract it!
When its guard was off and the spell it cast still underway, I placed my hand on the middle of its body.
I have no idea if these creatures have hearts, byt this should be the focal point to spread the energy inside them.
Icicle: [Cure poison]!
What surprised was that in the last ditch effort, Dark Tracker used his sharp hand leaving a deep gush on my chest.
Dumping all 40 000 of my mana, a feeling of dizziness overwhelmed me.
The only thing I remember before the darkness swallowed me was calling out: “Tyxx…”
…
Ugh… I feel sore all over.
Slowly opening my eyes despite the added pain it causes, I am relieved to see a friendly face.
Tyxx: Master, are you awake?
Seeing a familiar face, I was relieved.
Icicle: Mm, what happened?
Feeling the cold ground below me, I gradually begin to remember the battle.
Tyxx: You’ve dealt a killing blow to the leader of [Lowly Dark Trackers] and passed out. I heard you calling me before you did though, so taking it as permission, I summoned myself and got rid of its underlings.
So that bastard is dead. Good.
Looking over Tyxx he was badly beaten up.
Hints of blood marred his entire body.
Icicle: You seem to be in bad shape, Tyxx.
Tyxx: Hahaha, from my point of view, you’re in a much worse condition than I am, boss.
It’s true. Although I have no serious external injuries, the internal ones are quite severe.
The deep wound from before seemed to close, stabilizing my critical condition.
All of my organs are strained, refilling forty thousand of my mana right after using twenty five thousand, only to dump it all again caused my entire body to be wrecked and extremely exhausted.
I can only guess, but that’s most likely the reason why the game made me pass out.
What are these?
Wow AI, you actually didn’t want to reward me!
I thought we had a connection *sniffle*.
Wait, what? No experience for killing that goddamn shadow?!
It was a boss monster for sure!
And if by chance it wasn’t, then what the hell can you even call it?!
Did I just see this correctly?!
I was scammed in the broad daylight!
No experience, I could swallow that.
No fame? Who cares. I’m a Player Killer either way, it would cause me to be relieved of the status and lose the damage and health recovery that comes with it.
Household prestige hurts. This could actually be really useful, I could build public trust with that, increasing the future sales of the items.
All of that is somehow tolerable… but!
How the hell am I supposed to not get paid at all and receive no items for this outrageous task?!
You fuckers from the church, I was already on bad terms with you, now you’re going to get it!
Even if I were to be merciful with you, what could I get?
You sure as hell wouldn’t recognize my deed even if I brought these lanterns as proof!
Hell, even if I brought the heads of these abominations… wait, do they even have heads?
Doesn’t matter, either way, I ended up with jack shit!
Hmph, don’t worry little church guys, I’ll rob your ancestors’ tombs so thoroughly that not even one piece of copper will be left behind!
Eshel: *Hahahahaha, you’re such an ingenious yet ridiculously stupid brat! To think you would use [Cure poison], one of the very few skills that you can grasp to exterminate shadows! Hahaha!*
Thanks for the complement, special case Icicle returns to play.
Eshel: *Not only did you use the densest concentration of holy energy to battle its greatest enemy – the darkness, the damage was multiplied by your affinity for water, damage done by natural light versus dark struggle and then multiplied once again by your current [Let’s paint the whole world red!] title! This is simply too much for this old man’s eyes!*
Icicle: *I’m glad you’re happy and all, but what about my reward? I’ve been ripped off on this goddamn quest too! No experience from monsters, none from the quest! Rigged as shit game!*
Eshel: *Heheheh, don’t worry, if you can grasp what I want to teach you, then you won’t even feel like this was a waste of time.*
Icicle: *Hmph, now you owe me two techniques!*
Eshel: *Like I said, fear not. If you don’t die during the learning process, then you’ll become really formidable. On the other hand, if you can’t grasp these techniques at the first try, well, all it means is that they simply weren’t meant for you.*
This little, didn’t he just call me a worthless trash?
Icicle: *What you want to say is that if I can’t learn them at the first try then I’m a trash that’s not worthy of teaching?*
Eshel; *Who knows… You had better focus on your situation right now, though. There’s not much time yet you’re dawdling around.*
I was so engrossed in being furious with those holy bastards that I almost forgot that there was still more treasure to ransack!
Still lying on the floor, I turned my head towards Tyxx.
Icicle: Tyxx…! What of the treasures?!
Tyxx: Well, I had looked everywhere. There hasn’t really been anything except those.
In Tyxx’s large hands there were my “bargaining chips” that is [Ethereal’s ring] and [Celestial Sword’s Scabbard], a few black “medicinal pills” that I wouldn’t take even if I was terminally ill, two keys made of white bone-like substance with dark engravings, gross arrow covered with grime and a strange necklace.
This necklace had a dark, black stone shaped like hexagon, only somewhat polished. Golden chain threaded through it, making it possible to wear it around the neck.
In other words, nothing you would wear while going on a date.
As for the other items…
That arrow… whatever it is, I’ll pass.
From my experience in games, one of the keys is supposed to open Dark Trackers’ treasury.
The second one? Hmm… it will most likely unlock the entrance to the third floor.
Strange necklace… what could it be? Something like a voice messenger?
Maybe a hint to finding these Dark Trackers’ master or something?
Yes, I know, I know, I can use [Observe] on these items.
You guys are so mean, you won’t even let me have my fun guessing…
Tyxx: Master? You look thoughtful, did anything happen? Are you sure you’re not hurt? That wound of yours was pretty nasty.
Icicle: I’m fine. Hand these items over to me. I don’t want to move, I’m still sore all over. *cough*
Even light coughing felt like I was about to spit my lungs out.
Taking the items from Tyxx I began preparing myself to roll on my back and have them sitting on my chest.
God this was going to hurt…
That’s when I noticed that Nyu was comfortably sleeping on the right side of my stomach.
So she does move from my shoulder…
Wait, how the hell can she still be asleep?
Can anything even disturb the peace of that furball?
Damn, if only I could fall asleep like that, what a glorious ability!
I hope she can teach me that.
Icicle: Tyxx, gather the [Dark Moon’s Lanterns], we’ll get whatever we can from this stinking place!
Tyxx: Right away, boss.
Icicle: Wait a second.
Tyxx: What is it?
Icicle: How much time has passed?
Tyxx: Around six hours since we came here, why?
Six hours?
Dear Jesus, then it will be around dawn outside.
Ugh, Saress will be mad again.
Icicle: That’s all Tyxx, go and gather those pumpkins, I’ll check out the loot.
Nodding solemnly, my minotaur dashed off.
Sighing inwardly and still feeling astounded both by Tyxx’s rampage and Nyu’s recent teasing episode, I looked the items over.
Strange, very strange.
Whatever, I’ll take those.
If anything, I can make Quan suffer if she starts rioting.
That poison of hers during the tournament was really nasty.
Maybe Rapid Fire can use that.
Sounds pretty good, but it’s only a one time use item.
If it was a skill, yeah, then it would be pretty broken.
Five minute sealing shot from your bow… just think of that!
So this one is for the entrance, huh?
Pretty neat.
Wow, thanks for the explanation, game.
How about showing me where the hell that vault is, hm?
Heh, at least I was right about those keys.
Just when I was wondering about the location of the vault, the map that popped up in Mage Guild’s underground appeared right in front of my face.
Hahaha, I love this [Mastermind] subclass.
It has to be its hidden perk.
When you gather sufficient information it shows you the way, or something like that.
Even the entrance is marked with the red dot!
Wait, what?!
The entrance to the 3rd floor is located near the exit to the 1st?
That’s where I came from!
You sneaky shadowy bastards!
Whatever, I still need to recover.
Not like I can vent my anger on the dead anyways…
So it’s sealed, huh?
Good, if someone decided to rob me he or she would be in the same position as I am unable to gain anything.
Still, that’s a great bargaining chip.
If Acquare’s sister the [Celestial Blue Fire Empress] takes liking to it, I can haggle for her secret skills!
I don’t want to piss off these Ethereals, if they’re really comparable or even stronger than dragons and can use various types of magic, these creatures would be a pain in the ass to deal with.
What the hell?!
I cannot see through the item I know the name of?
Even [Ethereal’s Ring] is showing most of its secrets to me, how the hell can this scabbard have question marks all over?
And that description… it’s fishy!
I can’t even ask Acquare if this item really is that powerful!
Who knows, maybe she would try to greedily take it away from me…
Hahaha!
Like hell I’m afraid of a deity.
Whatever, I won’t take any chances.
This scabbard can be a bargaining chip for yet another overpowered skill or item!
Hmm… at least I know that it’s something valuable.
Let’s pocket all of it for now.
Although these set items seem quite good, all of them are meant for dark element creatures and players, not to mention they’re all [Legendary].
I can’t wear that shit!
Am I supposed to be going on adventures naked?
The world is sometimes so unfair…
*sigh* I won’t let this stop me though.
Even if I have to craft the equipment myself, I’ll do it!
…
I was still recovering, when I spotted another window.
It wasn’t the map but a message.
Seeing this message, I didn’t know what to think.
Mika apologized, ok, but what of it?
Am I supposed to say “Nothing happened, don’t worry about it.”?
This would only make her think that she’s free to do whatever she wants.
Closing the message, I didn’t pay it any further attention.
After fifteen minutes of lying on the cold ground, my intestines seemed to have recovered a little.
Fighting through the paralyzing pain moving through my body like electricity, I managed to shakily stand up.
Tyxx was already back and handed over 19 [Dark Moon’s Lanterns] to me.
I know of its name yet there’s no info, so the only thing I can do is to take them back to the dungeon.
Maybe my undead can profit from these pumpkins.
Looking at the map, I took Tyxx to the vault.
The treasury was located right where the Middle-ranked Dark Tracker came from.
Approaching the wall that didn’t seem to hide anything, I took out the [Skeleton Treasure Trove Key].
It started vibrating, then the wall seemed to turn illusory and revealed a keyhole.
Holy shit this is some advanced technology!
Oh wait, it’s magic.
Inserting the key, I turned it.
The lock clicked and the walls which didn’t budge earlier moved aside with a scraping sound.
As the walls before in front of me parted as if I was Moses, I saw a grand sight…
Rebirth Online World 