After their period of rest, Ellie found a back door to the Town Hall. Jude’s level of power was now sufficient to clear out all the previous skeletons, which would make escaping the Grimwar Caves much easier. But they both decided that the risk of going forward was worth it. Ellie would get EXP and Jude could attempt to complete the ‘Cleans the Curse’ quest. This quest promised a unique class and if it was as good as Ellie’s, then it would be worth it.

Jude had wanted to play with his new but decided to wait. There was only so much time that Ellie would be able to receive combat EXP. And right now he had more than enough damage output from his . When comparing the two, was only 150% damage, but was at 800% because each weapon did 100% of the weapons damage. It was possible that would do more damage in the future, there was no guarantee that it would do so in the time he had to learn it.

In the future, having a truly long range attack did sound nice.

As they proceeded forward they found that the skeletons did not spawn in this area. What spawned now were tougher zombies. While the zombies were tougher, they were still weaker than ghouls and much slower. But with Jude’s new staff and upgraded he tore through each and every zombie they came across with relative ease. However, the spectral staffs were not proving to be as effective as the swords were. The swords could easily cut through the monsters, allowing one attack to chain to another. The staffs, however, tend to bounce off after hitting, making them harder to control and more unpredictable. But Jude kept with it as it was a good opportunity to practice a different fighting style.

The zombies being slow worked for the cumbersome spectral staff. Each time he would lose control of the staff formation he would have plenty of time to gain control before the situation got bad. After all, it only took one attack to kill a zombie with Jude’s new attack power!

After following a twisting and winding path and killing numerous zombies both Jude and Ellie had leveled.

Ellie was now Craftsman level 5, Divine Smith Level 5, making her a Level 10 human. Jude just barely got to level 11 wizard. Ellie’s levels rose quicker due to her lower level.

Name Jude Gender: Male Age: 15 Race/Echelon Human/Freeman 11 Primary Class Wizard 11 Other Classes Warrior 0 Stats HP MP Str Spi Agi Char 124 164 26 44 22 15 Job Skills Special Skills General Skills Spectral Magic V Inventory Common V (Lang) Spectral Weapons V Spectral Weapons Dymana Skinning I Spectral Objects III Party Leader Spectral Eye IV Equipment Titles Spectral Shield III Clothes (Starter Set) Skill Sage Spectral Foundations I Dark Wood Staff Source Magic I Boots of Peace Identify Belt of Verity Combat Magic I Magic Missile I Name Ellie Coper Gender: Female Age: 16 Race/Echelon Human/Peasant 10 Primary Class Divine Smith 5 Other Classes Craftsman 5 Stats HP MP Str Spi Agi Char 155 130 30 16 15 15 Job Skills Special Skills General Skills Gather Common III (Lang) Basic Craft Repair Inbue Divine Essense Equipment Titles Clothes (Starter Set) Haggler Tool Kit Bavary

Ellie’s Elite job was showing its worth. Her HP and Strength gains were quite nice and now she even had more HP than Jude did!

***

The winding path soon ended at an enormous cavern. Inside the cavern was the Grimwar Castle. The cavern seemed to be solely hollowed out for the castle. The gates were broken down. It was at this point Jude wondered if the zombies were the cultist and the skeletons were the victims. But so far, the cavern didn’t have a single undead.

Then he saw it, a strange gray creature. It was neither zombie or ghoul. Its skin was completely smooth and no hair grew on it. The teeth in its mouth were triangular like a shark and the eyes were a solid color of blood red. The features were thin and gaunt, making the limbs look elongated. Jude then saw the name of the creature and shivered. This is what really happened to the cultist…

Jude immediately attacked, sending all eight of his spectral staffs soaring toward this target. The , however, was very quick. The staffs flew in a formation like a ribbon, this made them easier to control, but also easier to dodge. And this vampire was very quick.

It quickly sprinted towards Jude and he didn’t have enough time to recall his staffs as the vampire was actually faster than the ! Its claw-like hands and shark-like teeth came bearing down on Jude, but right before they made contact a glowing hammer struck the vampire in the chest!

Holy energy poured out of the hammer into the vampire a with a burst the vampire’s chest exploded out of its back!

Ellie got a critical hit notification!

Critical hit! Instant Death!

“It seems they are quite weak to holy weapons, huh?” Ellie said.

“It seems so, great hit by the way,” Jude replied.

“Thanks!”

“We will need to come up with a strategy for dealing with these guys. If there is more than one, it will be quite troublesome.”

“You just keep using ranged attacks and I’ll hide behind your like before and they won’t see me.”

“That’s… actually a good plan.” Jude was surprised.

“Ha, ha, just keep a staff or two nearby in case there are more than I can deal with.”

“Sounds good, let’s go!”

They entered the castle this time encountering three . Like before he swung his staffs like a ribbon and the first one dodge as he expected. Then he split the ribbon formation allowing the 6 staffs he sent out to bob and weave. The confusing change allowed them to successfully hit the second vampire killing it. The third vampire then ran through the sprawled out staffs.

Jude converged the staffs as quickly as possible, but the third was too fast and only 2 hit their target. By this point, the first vampire had shown up in front of Jude. Ellie came from behind him and struck the vampire in the chest like last time. She didn’t get an instakill like last time, but she did get a crippling effect that kept the vampire from moving for a time.

The last vampire showed up striking out at Jude, but he was ready. One staff blocked the claws and the other wedged into its mouth, keeping Jude from being chewed on. This paused the long enough for the other staffs to catch up hitting it in the back!

With one last quick move, Jude finished off both .

“Ha ha! Another 2 levels!” Ellie exclaimed!

“What?! Two? How is that even possible?” Jude asked

“I guess these vampires give off more EXP,” Ellie said.

“I’m pretty sure I’m not getting any extra EXP from them. Maybe it has something to do with your Divine Smith class.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty unique.”

Jude checked Ellie’s stats and she now had almost 200 health, 5 more Str, 2 more Spi, and 1 more Agi! Divine Smith was pretty amazing, besides health and mana, Jude only got 1 Spi per level. He had thought about leveling Warrior in the past for some stat boosts, but clearly having an Advanced Class was a much better way to go. It wasn’t as good as an Elite Class, but it was the next thing up from what he had. He could only hope that the class he got from this quest was one of a higher level!

“Hold on, let me using my and see if there is a safer way to go. If we can get to the boss facing as few of these as possible, that would be nice.”

“Ha! You’re just jealous that I’m getting more EXP!”

Jude ignored the comment. 

Jude could only see so far with Ghost Commanders Eye, so once he found a couple of promising paths he then created regular and began exploring. The eye was pretty quick, about the speed of Jude sprinting so it didn’t take long before he encountered a problem.

He managed to avoid the , but then he got to an area that had normal ! They still had the gray skin but looked much more human-like. And thankfully wore clothes, unlike the . The oddest thing of all was the intelligent look in their eyes. All other spawned creatures until now that Jude had seen lacked a certain life. But these clearly had something that other spawned creatures didn’t.

Jude’s could not hear a sound, so he did not notice them chanting out their . But he did see the magic as it lashed out and destroyed his !

“We need to move quick, we may have been found out,” Jude told Ellie.

“Found out? All these things in here are just spawned creatures. Even if they see us personally, it’s not like they are going to go get their comrades and chase us down, much less if they see your Eye.” Ellie responded.

“These guys looked different and they could use magic. I have a bad feeling that they are not like other spawned creatures.”

Jude and Ellie quickly made their way through the castle that Jude had pathed out to be clear of . It didn’t take long before they were outside the door where the were.

“I’ve reported to the lord what happened,” said one gruff voice.

“What did he say?” A female asked with a voice that slithered into the ears.

“He seemed happy of course. With the blood of a fresh human, we will be able to escape this place and become true vampires in the world.” Gruff said.

“So it really is the last thing he needs to break the curse? Excellent. We have been here far too long.” Slither replied.

“Now we just need to wait. It should take them a while to get through all the . When we spot them, we should go to his lordship.” Gruff said.

“And why would we do that?” Slither asked. “If we capture them ourselves, we will reap great rewards from the lord.”

“And die in the process,” Gruff said. “Any who could make it all the way here will be very though. Their party could be a raid in size.”

“Hardly, this dungeon expels raids as it is not classified for them,” Slither said. “At most, it is a high-level party.”

“Exactly and we are forever stuck at level 10. Only our lord has been able to break past the level limitation of this dungeon. If we had our original strength then we could easily take on a whole raid party, but as it is now, we cannot—“ Gruff stopped to sniff the air. “They are here.”

Slither sniffed as well then smiled. “Yes, they are. And there is only two of them! This is our chance, let us capture them!”

Jude and Ellie had heard the entire conversation and knowing that they were found out, reviled themselves.

“So it really is just two brats,” said Gruff. “How did you two make it so far in here?”

Jude ignored Gruff and said to Ellie, “I think we should get rid of these two before we go pay a visit to their lord. What do you think?”

“Fighting the boss with two extras would be annoying. Let’s take them out!” Ellie replied.

“Hmph, don’t overestimate yourselves!” Gruff glared.

A wave of his hand and Jude’s staffs came around the corner at full speed!

“Whats this?!” Gruff hadn’t seen a like this before!

Slither had already started chanting and with a slit of her wrist, blood flowed out unnaturally. The staffs had targeted her first, but the flowing blood rose up in the air and formed a round shield. The staffs hit the blood with the same sound as a stick striking a puddle.

“!” Slither said and the blood covered staffs then broke apart!

Slither and Gruff began to quickly chant more .

Jude, on the other hand, had never used chants and didn’t know why they did either. With a wave of his staff, he said, “.”

Staffs once again surrounded and Jude could see the shock in the eyes of both Slither and Gruff. Jude hadn’t truly fought other casters before so he didn’t know that what he casually did was quite a feat. Only had short incantations and could easily be omitted. The that the vampires naturally had still required at least a short incantation. But to use without an incantation at all, that was crazy! Plus, it being such an unusual variant of .

The staffs once again few towards the female vampire. Her blood having already been expended and in the environment allowed her to quicken her cast time.

“!” She shouted.

The same shield as before formed and blocked the incoming staffs. This time the staffs, however, didn’t confront the shield with their whole might. Instead, he used the first two like spears to attempt to penetrate the shield. The others he sent around her to the male vampire. This made the female vampire have to concentrate on her own defense while still attacking the other.

“

Gruff had lost most of his health in the first encounter. But six staffs still surrounded him and began lashing out once again! Slither, seeing that she had been fooled, went on an offensive defense.

“!” Her blood shield immediately transformed into a wave of blood that rushed towards Gruff. If she could then use her she could again destroy the . Gruff as a would not be harmed by a .

If Slither could continue to corrupt the she would slowly corrupt the caster of said magic. But she had once again forgotten the uniqueness of Jude’s magic and the two staffs left behind when they struck her . The staffs were no longer obstructed with the Shield now transformed into a Wave, so they rushed forward and stabbed into her chest. One managed to stab through her heart.

Unlike other undead, a weakness is the traditional stake through the heart. The heart is where the spirit resides and is the source of their power and life. Wood is a natural conductor of spirit and mana, which is why a wooden stake is their weakness. A wooden stake in a vampire would draw out their soul, leaving behind a dead body. And a vampire’s soul without a body cannot exist in the physical plane, so they die.

Jude’s Spectral Staffs were different. While they did directly connect to the wooden staff and were imbued with the full properties of his weapon. They were Spectral in its nature, meaning that they blocked the conductive flow of wood as it was already conducting the Spectral magic.

Because of all this, a very strange thing happened to Slither. Her heart was pierced and the effect of the wood partially drew her soul out of her body. But the Spectral part of the staff then pushed it back and pinned it inside her body. It was like a car driver being pushed into the backseat and buckled in! She was inside and still alive, but she no longer had control!

The splashed both the remaining staffs and Gruff. The magic healed Gruff some and brushed away the staffs. Slither, however, crumpled to the ground and did not move.

“What did you do to her?!” Gruff asked angrily.

Jude wasn’t sure either and was shocked at the sudden turn of events.

“Gnuub tamy irb iddish, !” Gruff shouted.

Jude had been distracted by the turn of events and let Gruff get his spell off. Ellie, however, had been paying attention and like a batter at the plate, she swung her hammer. When the and hammer connected, instead of splattering, it disintegrated from the holy power of the hammer.

“!” Gruff said as multiple blood spears arose from the blood wave from earlier.

Jude had also put his spectral staffs into good use. He wasn’t sure which of the two spears had struck Slithers heart so he left both of them in her just in case. The other six began a tactic of beating and piercing. But apparently, his earlier success had been luck as Gruff was able to move and dodge away from the piercing sticks.

Ellie took care of another while Jude’s shield absorbed 2 before breaking.

“!” Gruff said.

Some blood had gotten on Jude from the last spear attack and that blood now sizzled! Searing pain shot through Jude as a debuff was applied. It was slowly ticking his health down. 

Jude had been affected by a debuff before from the . It was only after he had killed the did the debuff go away. He hoped that this debuff would go away after killing this because if it did not, he wasn’t sure if he would have enough hit points!

The fight ended after a few minutes. Jude suffered a few more stabs from but in the end, both the succumbed to the continuous beatings of his Spectral Staffs. Unfortunately, he still had the debuff!

“I’m already down to less than 60 HP and the debuff is doing 1HP per second,” Jude told Ellie.

Ellie didn’t seem as worried, “Then drink a potion. A skill like this shouldn’t last long.”

Jude did so, but still said, “I trust you, but I still want you to try and purify it.”

“What are you talking about? I’m not some priest or paladin.”

“I know, but you do have the Divine.”

“That is only for crafting! How am I supposed to use it for healing? ON PEOPLE?!”

“Flesh is just another type of craftsmanship,” Jude said. “Muscles are just like gears and pulleys, blood just like lubricant, and blood vessels are just like tubes running throughout the body. This corruption is just like a rock stuck in a cog or a chip on a sword. You are a Divine Smith. Do you really think that you are just limited to metal?”

Jude had no idea if what he said was true, but his gut feeling said that it was right.

“Alright, I will try,” Ellie said.

She took Bavary and gently tapped Jude in the places that the blood had corrupted him. The divine light started to shine brighter on the hammer. Clarity flashed through Ellie’s eyes as if she could see something she hadn’t seen before. Now with a purpose, she continued to hammer Jude. The hammering became swifter and harder, yet he felt no pain or even a jolt.

Wiping sweat off her forehead she smiled at him, “How do you feel?”

Jude felt amazing, “Really well! What did you do?”

She frowned at him, “Exactly what you told me. I applied both my skill and skill. I was able to see inside you, into your muscles until I found darkness that didn’t belong. So I hammered it out until it was gone.”

“That’s amazing!”

“Yeah, and I got a strange title too.”

“Oh, what is that?”

“Flesh Smith…”

Flesh Smith

You have gained insight into the construction of the fleshly body.

+5 Str

+5 Spi