Chapter 17

“Serena.” A familiar voice rang out to us. “How nice of you to come to my humble abode yourself.”

“Reis.” Stella walked back. She gulped but she didn’t have a mental attack like last time.

“Hey! Let me go. You are the source of all this right?” Elkami shouted while struggling to break free.

“Well, why don’t you become my puppet again Serena. Or is it Stella now? He then emitted a dark aura. 3 black dogs appeared at his feet.

“No.” A short answer but full of resolution.

“I see. Well, this one will do.” He said while gripping El’s body. Black fog from the black gem rose towards Elkami.

“Argh. It hurts. Ahh. No, no, NO!!” Elkami screamed in pain. Black fog from the gem rose and seeped through her. She struggled in vain.

“No. No. Let her go!. Fire beam.” Stella cast a spell directed at Reis but that beam was blocked by his hand. The other members also tried to slam towards him but the black hounds kept spawning and distracted them.

El fainted at that moment. Surrounded by black fog, she was then put on the altar beside the gem.

“Well, it seems this black puppy doesn’t suit your tastes anymore. How about this?” He then summoned 10 undead skeletons

“A necromancer?” Iris mumbled. ”But a mage should not have the power to punch Maria’s barrier like earlier”

“I am no necromancer. I am a priest of the 11th sect of the Embinyu Church with a necromancer tome. I am the ruler of life and of death! Hahaha!!” He gave a maniacal laugh.

“Oh my, he is one heck of an evil boss alright.” Hasega commented.

“Light bless, single bless.”

“Divine blessing, Goddess buff.” Maria also buffed us.

“Now, resurrect. My puppet. Resurrection!” He said to one of his skeletons. The skeleton then grew hair, flesh and skin even his armor started to recover. Said skeleton then turned into an elven swordsman with the exception of his black eyes. He then casted the spell again on the other 7 skeletons which made 8 in total and they were resurrected the same way.

The tide of battle was now on Reis’ side. All of the elves that were resurrected were high in levels. Hasega and Fira worked together vs. 1 elf. He defended and parried all attacks from the elven swordsman while Fira spammed him with all her skills. Distracted by the fireballs, the elven swordsman’s movements were dulled and Hasega managed to block the elf’s twin swords.

Victor and Dem worked together on the other elf. Victor parried and attacked from the front while Hasega occasionally stabbed him in the back. Their battle would be the fastest to finish but they would not get out of that battle without a scratch either. Most likely they would end up in the red zone.

Hector and Arknum worked on two other elves. Hector is the defensive type of two-handed swordman while Arknum is the opposite. Their skills in battle were on par with the elves. But it seemed they were slowly losing.

Xmoon was pursuing 2 elf archers in his werewolf form. The archers shot some arrows but Xmoon managed to dodge them but it also increased his distance from them and so, the pursuit continued with him circling the corner of the battlefield.

Baran and Ragnar worked together on the remaining elves. One was an elf mage while the other was another swordsman. The two melee warriors clashed with their weapons and shields while the mages tried to support the other. As the enemy mage was attacking Ragnar and interrupting Baran’s spells and Baran also did the same. This battle was in stalemate until the melee warrior’s winner was decided.

Stella was facing Reis alone. She was on the defensive by running here and there. It was clear that she hadn’t gotten over her fear yet as she was now dodging excessively making many wasted movements. In terms of agility she topped Reis by far. But in terms of defence, Stella couldn’t scratch him either. This battle was just being prolonged until the others would come to her rescue.

As for me. I got the leftovers since Maria couldn’t move because she needed to watch the others’ health while casting healing spells to heal them. She shouldn’t be disturbed. There were 20 black dogs and 2 undead skeletons. I had a cute puppy at home. But this thing couldn’t be called cute in any way. This was definitely more scary than a Doberman (Standard police dog). Their bodies were pure black and their eyes were an intimidating red. Their teeth looked sharp (they were sharp okay) and long enough to tear 2 kilograms of my flesh and their claws were protruding with a black shine like obsidian. The skeletons didn’t fare better either. Their jaws were clanking and they had hollow eye sockets. It was like watching a horror movie.

‘Who picked a lottery to decide their enemy?’ My thoughts wandered seeing the battlefield so neatly packed into groups that prevented me from disturbing or calling others for help until I finished my enemy.

“KYAA!” I ducked as a dog jumped trying to bare their teeth at my head. I removed my shoes for added mobility and started counterattacking.

“Healing area.” I casted my spell. With this, like a poison the enemy’s HP was going to down bit by bit. I just needed to defend long enough for them to die. Group cure could also damage them while healing myself.

I decided to focus entirely on my opponents. I smacked the incoming dog with my staff, effectively sending them flying away. Good thing I added strength and dexterity earlier even with the 90% loss, that didn’t mean my stats got weaker. It just meant I was battling with a level 2 staff (Lvl 20 staff cut by 90%).

The battle continued for another 20 minutes. I smashed the last skeleton. With this only 10 black dogs were left. Maria occasionally helped me heal so I could afford to cast healing hand and expert cure on those skeletons and dogs.

On the other side, the elves were at 15 or 40% health. Xmoon had already killed one archer and now cornered his other enemy. He will be the first to finish this. Looks like I am going to be the last one to finish heck I should be grateful if I can even finish this.

#BLAAR#

A thunderstrike hit Maria and rendered her paralyzed. The battlefield then stopped to look at the caster of that thunderstrike. It was Elkami. But, her eyes were now red and her body was exuding a black fog.

‘She is being controlled!’ I thought.

“Well, my little puppets. It is about time. Destroy these insects.”

“Enigma of the thunder god! Bolt of Thor!” A magic circle appeared in the sky with a 60 seconds counter. The cooldown is already up?

The group couldn’t do anything as the counter kept ticking. Each one was preoccupied with their respective enemy. This is really bad! If that spell hits we are finished.

“Hraagh!” Suddenly a werewolf’s claw swiped El and threw her to a tree trunk. The magic circle at the last 10 seconds was interrupted and vanished.

With Maria’s healing out. The battle carried on in a precarious state.

“Thunder barrier.“ A purple orb formed enveloping Elkami. The barrier absorbed some damage and damaged the attacker. Xmoon was now bombarded by Elkami’s spells. Thunder sparks flew here and there. She was literally a lighting artillery battery!

Everyone except me was now playing more defensively since Maria was unconscious from the attack. An attack that could deal damage more than 50% of her health must be incredibly painful.

“El! What happened? Please snap out of it!” I screamed at El. Of course no one actually listened. Like that line from TV could do anything at all.

With 5 dogs still behind me, I ran to the altar where the black gem resided. After analysing the situation, I deduced that I did not have to kill Reis to complete the quest but merely destroying the gem would be enough. The gem is what corrupted the forest, Reis was merely using it.

“NO!” Reis was now panicked. He then summoned more black dogs but they were chased down by Xmoon. After understanding what I was about to do, he gave up running from El and chased down the dogs. Climbing to the altar, the black fog engulfed me. Since I am a player, I only felt a slight numbness. But I could see various status effects popping in front of me and my HP continued to decline.

You are poisoned by the black fog HP decreases by 10/sec

You are cursed all stats are reduced by 20%

You are cursed movement speed reduced by 10%

You are cursed fighting spirit is reduced by 10%

......

Without caring for any popups. I stood up and raised my staff then I stabbed the black gem with the sharp point of my staff. I stabbed the gem with all the power I could muster. The gem cracked but it was still working. The gem now released even more black fog towards me. I raised my staff again and stabbed it the second time. This time, the gem was pierced and shattered into a million pieces before disappearing with a black shockwave.

#Ting BOOM#

Quest has been completed

You have leveled up 15x

For destroying evil within the forest fame has increased by 100

Faith has increased by 20

A tinging sound effect accompanied with loud boom from the gem send all of us flying and killed all other clack creatures. The stale and creepy dark forest pulsed and back to live. The stale air from the forest was being replaced by fresh wind from the east.

“Damn it. I will kill you!” Reis cursed me. His veins seemed about to pop as his anger arose. A black aura then filled his body as he charged towards me.

“Not so fast!” Stella kicked him from behind and casted another one of her mysterious spells. ”Curtain bullet spell series #5. Master spark!” Her body then sparked with a few lightning strikes until a lighting as big as her body came out from her body and zapped Reis. Numerous small sparks came out from the lightning beam and hit their surroundings.

“Whoa. This one would put Zapdos to shame.” Hasega made an unnecessary comment as he was trying to dodge the lighting sparks that came from Stella.

After several seconds the lighting dissipated. Stella then fell unconscious while Reis staggeringly stood up. Sparks of electricity could be seen on his body.

“Damn it! I haven’t lost yet. I will kill you all”

He then drew his one handed sword. He was just playing with Stella back then! He didn’t even use his weapon! He then charged towards Ragnar and slashed his sword upwards. Ragnar was sent flying in that instant while his shield was cut in half.

‘That is too OP, he is a broken character!!’ I lost hope after seeing that scene. Ragnar HP went down from 50 percent to a mere 10 % in that instant.

Just as all hope seemed lost, a rain of light flashed and bombarded Reis. A horned Pegasus was casting holy magic from the sky. It was a combination of a unicorn and a pegasus. Said pegasus landed in front of me.

“Yggdrasil has sent us to your aid. Your whereabouts were unknown when you entered dark forest but as the root of evil was vanquished, the god could finally see you again and decided to send us to your aid.”

“Us?” I mumbled.

“Other Pegasus will arrive. It is just that I can fly faster so I arrived first. Seems like I made it in time.”

Maria then woke up with a groan and Stella also stood up again with huffing sound.

“I will retreat for now but remember this. You can run but you can’t hide. I know where you are.” Reis said his parting words before running away. He raised some skeletons to block our path and teleported away.

“What’s with him? He is a necromancer, a master in melee, able to summon an unlimited number of black dogs and now he can teleport too?” Baran asked.

“Whew. That was some encounter. He has the scent of a final boss monster.” Victor said.

“El! El!” Xmoon shouted while calling out to Elkami. We then quickly looked only to find the little fairy lying weakly on the ground. Black fog continued to rise from her body. It was like her body was evaporating into nothingness. Maria quickly cast her healing spells but to no avail.

“The corruption rate in her body is too great. With the black gem as the source of her corruption gone, her body will melt away.” The horned pegasus said “This will also be the fate of all corrupted animals in this forest. They will die. But since the source is gone, new leaves and new-borns will not be affected. They will continue their parents’ legacy.”

All of us looked down. Tears almost flowed out from my eyes while Xmoon and Maria couldn’t hold back their tears and cried. Even Baran looked down in sadness.

“Hey. I am not dead yet. I am just tired!” A cute weak sound could be heard.

“El.” Xmoon said in a low voice. He was like a prince mourning for his dead princess.

“Ahh, my HP isn’t increasing. So I am going to die huh? What happened when I was out?” She asked with her weak voice. With a sobbing sound Xmoon told her everything.

“Ahh, sorry Maria. I hit you.” “And sorry to you too Xmoon. It seems like I always bring you trouble.” She then apologized.

“No. There is nothing to forgive. You didn’t do anything wrong, you were being controlled.” Maria shouted trying to comfort El.

“And Riri. Thank you for destroying the gem in time. Mow, even if I die, I will not be ashamed in front of my god Yggdrasil. Thank you for stopping me in time.”

She then looked towards the pegasus. ”If it does not bother you, can I die in my lake? I want to see my lake one more time. If possible I want to die there as well.”

“Sure. With pleasure.” The pegasus then called out to his friends to land. 10 other pegasi landed he then said. “Everyone. She does not have many time to live. Riri, take her and ride on my back. The others may ride to other pegasi’s back. We will be back at fairy lake in half an hour. Hope she can last that long.”

After picking up and storing my staff that somehow changed to black. I gently carried Elkami with both of my hands. The horned Pegasus kneeled so that I could climb onto his back easier. After that the pegasus soared to the sky. When I looked at my back, I saw that the once dark green and creepy forest turned back into fresh green with several birds flying here and there it was a pretty sight to behold. The fairy lake looked so pretty from above if not for some craters that Stella left with her magic, the scenery would be perfect.

“El! We have arrived.” I said to Elkami.

“Thank you Riri. Pegasus.” With those last words she disintegrated until nothing was left. Other fairies then came to us giving quest rewards. Weapons and shields and armors. Rare items were given out to each of us,

Rapier of light

Durability 60/60

Attack 75

Faith +50

Str +20

Dex +50

A sword that enhances your light attributes and healing

Healing spells increased by 20%

Light spells increased by 20%

Dark resistance increased by 20%

Light resistance increased by 20%

Level restriction 40

It was such a great item. But somehow I felt hollow. When I looked at the others, I could feel a slight regret in their eyes. But they accepted the items with a smile with the exception of Xmoon as he accepted his new ring with a bitter smile. It was true that we only traveled with them for a bit but seeing my friends dying is painful. Are the people in this world already used to losing their friends? For Hasega, perhaps he was still thinking this is a game and nothing could be done about it.

“What is it? Aren’t you happy? Is the sword not good enough?” A yellow fairy asked me.

“Hey. Yggdrasil is a god right?”

“Yes. He is a god that governs nature. What about it?”

“Can’t he resurrect Elkami?”

The fairies then went silent for a moment ”Do you want to change your rewards for her live?”

“Yes.”

“But that is impossible sorry. As a god he does not use such a black technique like resurrection magic. Even god needs to respect lives and souls. We can’t just disobey such a rule.”

“I see.”

“Ahh. Wait a second.” The yellow fairy stopped. She seemed to listen to something.

“Ahh well, here. Accept this sword.” As she handed me a shiny one handed sword with blue handle.

Sword of Elkami

Attack 75

Faith +50

Str +20

Dex +50

Int +50

Wis +20

Sword imbued with a fairy soul.

Summon Elkami

Summon cost 200 mana + 5 mana/second

Level restriction 50

“Though Yggdrasil doesn’t like it, it seems Elkami herself wanted to be with you. Use it well”

Tears flowed from my eyes as I said thank you countless times to the fairies. Without delay I equipped the sword and summoned the blue fairy. The fairy appeared in front of me flapping her tiny wings energetically.

“You are alive!” I hugged her.

“Well, technically I am not alive. I just bound myself to this rapier. This way I became a summoned being.” She said.

“El! Welcome back!” Xmoon shed tears.

Everyone partied that day. Fairies from the lake came out one after another bringing delicious food and drinks. The fairies chattered with Elkami saying good byes and good luck on her journey. Most fairies had never left their lake so the group and Elkami had a lot of stories to tell them. Tantalus group started their story from the past back when they traveled to some other cities I didn’t know. Hasega and co started their story of the honey quest. Stella started telling her story from Selei City. Iris told his story of warfare at City of Acolyte. Xmoon and Elkami started their story of the Dark Forest the most recent one. Now that I think about it, I have gone on many adventures in this world haven’t I? Starting from the play in Selei, attacking Sidinia, the play in Trisia, the Honey, the battle with Iris and now the Dark Forest quest. Now I felt like a leftover. Being a shy girl I just couldn’t start a conversation. But I didn’t feel uncomfortable. Being a spectator of Hasega and Victor bragging about saving Maria, while Elkami and Baran bickered with each other. It seems like they still can’t get along well despite not being in battle.

Several weeks later we had finally reached City of Acolyte. Or we should have if we had followed the proper route. But our two guides here (Elkami and Xmoon) seemed a little bit unreliable as they kept looking left and right while pointing in different directions. It couldn’t be helped as the forest we are now in looked the same no matter how we go.

“We are completely lost.” Fira declared.

“We are not lost.” Elkami cutely defended herself.

“It is your fault for leading us in the wrong direction!” Xmoon complained.

“Your way isn’t so reliable either. You keep saying left and right every 2 minutes.”

“Umm. So, are we lost or not?” I asked them.

“Well... the forest changed.” Xmoon said.

“Now what?” Hector asked.

“We know the general direction at least. Let’s keep heading south.” Ragnar said.

After another 4 days I gained 2 levels from hunting. I put all of my leveling stats in intelligence to increase my mana pool since El has many spells that requires lot of mana. In the end, we still hadn’t found any clue about our whereabouts. Xmoon tried to scout around us while Elkami tried to get a bird eye’s view. But it was to no avail. We ended up camping in front of a cave.

Hollow cave

For being the first to discover this dungeon you get 100 fame

Doubled experience for 2 weeks

Monsters will have a higher chance of dropping good loot

“Since we got to discover this cave. Let’s not waste anything and enter.” Hasega said.

“Well, let’s go in. I won’t refuse any good loot either.” Ragnar said.

The group then went inside the cave. Since the inside was pitch black, Stella and Maria lit our surroundings with their fireball and light magic. Elkami also glowed like a lightbulb. She is pretty convenient at times like this. Well, each time she used magic she had to borrow mana from me and I had to pay 5 mana per second to keep her around. But I guess it was worth it.

In this dungeon ants roamed the cave. Giant ants that is. They were about your knees in height with around 2 meters in length. They were around lvl 80 but it was very troublesome that were they always attacked in groups of at least 6. Their exoskeletons also had some resistance against slashing damage so only Ragnar’s hammer and Victor’s heavy axes were effective against them. Lighting magic also proves efficient against them. The path was long with many forks and curves. I think it almost took us 2 days in game time to maneuver this dungeon.

Also after I opened my notification window I was notified that I had gained several level ups of skills mastery

Magic mastery is now intermediate lvl 1

Fireball is now beginner lvl 7

Single bless is now beginner lvl 8

Light blessing is now beginner lvl 9

Healing area is now intermediate lvl 1

After venturing deep into the dungeon, what we found wasn’t the queen’s hideout or boss monsters but a city. An underground city lied below the cave.

http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=350&t=3652&p=23319#p23319http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=350&t=3691&p=23531#p23531

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author note

- thanks for Obsidian for PRing my work. if you have any critics or when you see any mistakes in my fanfic please do let me kno

- critics comment and suggestions are welcome

- tell me what you think about any of my character so far

- here is our the usual. MC stat

Spoiler : Status window

Name Riri class performers

Health 2325 mana 3900 (+200)

Level 72 Race human

Fame 400

Title manager, the white rider

Job tantalus performer

Health regen/sec 7.3 mana regen/sec 23.4

Strength 83(+2) dexterity 162 (+5)

Wisdom 302 (+2) intelect 156 (+5)

Stamina 260 vitality 93

Art 64 charisma 87 (+110)

Leadership. 80(+30) charm 95(+100)

Fighting spirit 70 faith 40 (+65)

Magic resistance

Fire water

Earth wind

Thunder ice

Dark 40%(E) light 40%(E)

Unused points 0

Bonuses

all stat +10 except dex and charm

Dex +50 charm +40

Stamina +40

Magic will be reduced by 90%. unless you meet normal requirement of 300 wisdom

weapon will be reduced by 90% unless have intermediate blacksmith

Leather armor will not be penalized

iron armor will have it’s movement speed reduced by 30% and increased stamina consumption by 20%. Only if you meet the equipment requirement

movement reduced by 30% (E)

healing spell increased by 40% (E)

While riding horse the movement speed increased by 10%

Bag 1

Water canteen

Rye bread (6)

Ring of mana(E)

Ring of leadership(E)

Black Staff

Circlet of purity.

White high heel shoes

White dress of purity

Sword of Elkami

Autographed Beginner’s cloth

Beginner’s pant

Beginner’s shoes

Silver coin (10)

Gold coins (130)

Skill list

Speed reading beginner’s lvl 2

Manage beginner’s lvl 5

Magic mastery intermediate lvl 1

Acrobatic beginner lvl 7

Multitasking beginner lvl 7

Sword mastery beginner lvl 4

Ambidextrous beginner lvl 2

Bullet deflector beginner lvl 8

Sneak beginner level 2

Horseriding beginner lvl 2

Sub skill

light blessing beginner lvl 9

phoenix regen beginner lvl 7

healing hand beginner lvl 8

Healing Area intermediate lvl 1

Group cure beginner lvl 8

Expert cure beginner lvl 8

Single bless beginner lvl 8

Fireball beginner lvl 7