#Ting

You have discovered Dark City

Fame increased by 150

“Whew. Fame gets increased again and again lately. And mine is now in the hundreds. We must be pretty lucky.” Victor said while whistling.

True to its name, this city had the aura of a dark city in movies. Oil lamps shone dimly at the corners of the streets giving only enough light to walk.

“Ahh, by the way El you seem weaker than before.” Baran said.

“Well, I have to restrain myself from using buffs and strong magic. Riri doesn’t have mana pool as large as me.” Her words hurt my heart. Well, after seeing her status window somehow I could understand her feeling of being restrained in mana and health. Summoned beings after all have lower health and she has to use my mana for her spells.

Status windowNameElkamiclassmageHealth1000manaN/AHealth regen/sec5mana regen/sec5Strength50)dexterity300Wisdom400intelect750)Stamina160vitality40fighting spirit120Magic Resistancefire10%water10%earth15%wind20%thunder50%ice20%light35%dark20%50Bonuses

A summoned being

Requires mana to be sustained in this world

mana is provided by user

Bound to sword of Elkami

If the summoned being dies, it can be recalled back in 24 hours

][tr]bag 1skillssubskilllockedMagic mastery advanced lvl 5

Thunder mastery advanced lvl 1

Darkness mastery intermediate lvl 1

Flight grandmaster maxed out

Spell Caster advanced lvl 1

]bag 1skillssubskilllockedThunder Barrier advanced lvl 6

Thunder Strike advanced lvl 8

Thunder Shower advanced lvl 1

Thunder Ball advanced lvl 2

Lightning Ball advanced lvl 9

Enigma of lightning god Zeus Strike intermediate lvl 7

Enigma of lightning god Thor Hammer intermediate lvl 3

Enigma of lightning god Zeus bolt Shower intermediate lvl 2

Enigma of lightning god Bolt of Thor intermediate lvl 5

Lightning Bolt intermediate lvl 6

Mana Bolt intermediate lvl 6

Lightning Charge advanced lvl 4

Lightning Pulse advanced lvl 5

Lightning Strike advanced lvl 2

Lighting Flash advanced lvl 1

Lightning Storm advanced lvl 2

Shadow Ball beginner lvl 2

Dark Lightning beginner lvl 3

‘She is a living dynamo! Her magic is totally lightning based. A living power plant!’ My thoughts screamed at her magic list. Some of her normal magic could cost 1000 to 2000 mana each while the enigma series cost around 10.000 mana each spell not to mention her spells were mostly at the advanced level. Now I know why mages preferred a larger mana pool to mana regen. Even with 300 points in wisdom, they would need to wait 1 or 2 minutes to get their mana back for each spell, the battle would be over before they could cast their 3rd spell and their damage would suck as well since damaging spells relied on intelligence rather than wisdom like healing ones.

Fortunately she had thunder mastery which decreased her spell mana cost. As a drastic measure, she also could decrease the mana cost of her spells at the cost of spell damage. This way she could decrease her mana cost to 70%, while it has an impact on her spell damage, at least I would still have some spare mana to cast my buff and healing spells.

She gained a darkness mastery due to her encounter with black fog. Her race had changed too. She seemed pretty down when I mentioned her race. It was like a family shame. She personally asked me not to leak this information. It seems the black fog corruption had seeped down to her soul. Mana reliant creatures such as fairies are weak to the influence of this kind of corruption.

“Halt!’ A human and an elf guard stopped us. “Please write your names here and you need to pay 1 gold for taxes for each person except merchants with a carriage.”

I quickly unsummoned El for a reduced amount of taxes. After seeing cookie cutter quests, 1 gold somehow seemed valuable to me. Then we wrote our names on some piece of paper and paid the tax. Ragnar paid for Xmoon and the others paid for themselves.

“Ah, you guys are humans right? And a werebeast. You may pass. Don’t cause a ruckus and don’t put your noses where they do not belong.” The guards made a small threat.

“Is that attitude normal in the human world?” Xmoon asked Iris.

“Nope!“ A short but clear answer from Iris.

“So, what’s with that attitude?”

“Just as they said. Don’t put our noses where they do not belong.” Iris simply answered. Ragnar and co. seemed to understand but El, Xmoon, Hasega, Fira, Dem, Victor and I had a big question mark on our heads.

“Simply put, they will act hostile against curious cats.” Stella answered our question “So, let’s just ask for directions and escape this city.”

After that we went to the marketplace and sold our loot. Apparently loot from ants is low in price here so we decided to hold unto them and sell them somewhere else. This ants’ loot is supposed to fetch quite a high price since some of them are useful for alchemists. The town looked calm and lonely.

“Umm, excuse me. How many people live here?” I asked the old woman who happened to be a merchant.

“Around 15.000 I think. Why do you ask girl? Her voice is tender and warm.

“I see. It is kind of quiet.”

“Well, most of us work at night. Noon or night don’t matter here but that’s how things go around here. Thank you for your patronage girl.”

“Let’s head into the inn and rest. We will ask for directions tomorrow okay?” Ragnar said.

We then went to the inn which cost 2 gold per night and per room. Hell it is expensive. After that we scattered to collect some information in town asking here and there. We found some NPC adventurers selling the ant’s nest layout. Another way out (It seems the ant’s nest isn’t the main route to this city) and most importantly the path to Acolyte city.

With all the information gathered, we gathered back at the inn. It seems 8 out of 11 who departed got the same information. There were still 5 days left for that bonus exp and loot. The players in the group did not want to miss it so we decided to stay here until the duration of the bonus or the boss monsters in this area are depleted. Iris assured everyone that they set a rebirth point here so even if we died, we will just respawn here in 4 days.

And so it was agreed that the natives or NPCs stayed at inn while the others went to the dungeon. The ants here were around lvl 70 and over 100 for soldier ants. El’s and Baran ‘s magic managed to exterminate most of them. But since we also needed the exp, Baran held back his magic that is until we arrived at the mating chamber where female and male ants gathered. They had wings and were as large as a horse so we couldn’t do anything with them flying around so El and Baran did all the work of bringing them down.

All went well until the boss monster appeared: the Queen ant. This slimy boss monster laid an Egg every 20 seconds and the egg hatched after 30 seconds. The hatchling varied between worker, soldier, males and females. The queen itself was very slow and didn’t prove much of a threat, it was only that every time a sword slashed at her body, the wound is exuded acidic blood which rapidly decreased a sword’s durability. Plus the blood that splattered also dealt some poison damage. My fireball and El spells were quite handy in this situation, her body was quite weak against thunder attacks so Baran and El were giving their best. Unlike the workers and soldiers which had a hard exoskeleton, the queen had soft and jellylike body so, even though their swords durability would get depleted, Iris and Hasega had no choice but to slash at the queen’s belly. Victor’s axes, though not as effective as Ragnar’s hammer it could deal some damage on worker ants. Baran was focused on the soldier ants that had been popping out. Since Maria was not here, I was in charge of the group’s health, sometimes smacking fireballs on the eggs the queen had been laying.

After 2 hours of continuous fighting, our equipment was nearing its end. But we got some nice loot and exp. I gained around 15 levels in total for this dungeon raid, most of my exp came from Elkami destroying things. She was a summoned being so her exp mostly went to me.

The experience and loot bonus finally ended. We packed everything up and went through the town entrance after greeting the guards. Unexpectedly the guards were nice to us. I guess this town just didn’t like any outsiders inside. Somehow I was amazed that this solemn but peaceful town could live with so many races inside. There were dwarfs, elves, celestials and humans. Demons and beastmen also exist within this town but all of them were friendly with each other. It was kind of wonderful. I wonder if the world above and the real ones could become as peaceful as this town.

Enough with the flashbacks. Right now we have reached City of Acolyte.

“W-W-What is this?” Iris looked at the scenery. The town was in chaos. No, it was literally annihilated. It was not a town anymore but ruins. The city walls were destroyed to the last stone and every house was crushed and burned to the ground. Smoke could still be seen coming from the rubble of the houses.

“Someone attacked this town again?” Victor asked.

“No! The damage is too big in magnitude. If someone wanted to conquer this town, they just needed to destroy the city gates or a part of the wall. Destroying the town until it becomes like this brings no profit.” Iris claimed.

“Then, someone who has a grudge against this city?” Fira asked.

“Very unlikely. If someone does have a grudge, they most likely just assassinate the count who is the head of the city. Doing something like this costs too much.” Ragnar replied.

“Umm, let’s look for survivors” I suggested.

In the end after turning every stone and yelling we only found 2 unconscious almost dead warriors. Without delay, Maria healed them. When they opened their eyes, they begun to speak.

“We were attacked. By monsters. They numbered in the millions. The city was lost without much of a fight. Everyone was killed. Undead, bandits, bugs, animals, everything came to attack us. #cough cough# thanks for saving us.” We then looked at Xmoon and Elkami.

“Why are you looking at me?”

“Well, he said monsters. Perhaps you know something.” Hasega said in the most polite way possible

“Ahh, you are a werebeast?” Another soldier said.

“Hey, we do hate humans. But I did not participate in attacking your town okay. They are the proof.” He said while pointing at us. “And I haven’t been messaged by anyone that we were going to attack some village either.”

“Ahh, he is not the one. The monsters that attacked us had a darker aura. It was not just dark aligned but it was completely evil.” He said.

“I see. So, where is this Army headed to?” Hector asked. If such a dangerous army was ravaging cities like this, the other towns must receive a warning. And if possible reinforcements from other towns. But the answers from the soldier made our face go pale.

“They are heading south. I guess they are heading towards Trisia.”

“When? When did the Army move?” Ragnar lost his cool and grabbed the soldier.

“A-A-around 3 days ago.”

“Damn it. Hey! Arknum. Call some foreigners from our group. Warn them!”

“Umm, foreigners from our group. Ahh will Reiner be okay?” Arknum stuttered in panic.

“Anyone! Hurry it up damn it!”

*Hello? Reiner! Are you in Trisia right now?*

“Yes I am. Hello Arknum. What is it? What is taking you so long to return?*

“Umm, what should I say to him?” Arknum asked in a dumb voice.

“Tell them to make preparations to escape and warn Count Ignis about the attack!”

*Ahh, Ragnar ordered our group to escape from Trisia since there will be a massive attack by an unknown monster army. And warn the count too about the incoming attack.*

*Umm, well, we can’t do that right now. I have no problem with the second order. But the first one is a little bit difficult. The city gates are blocked. Well, there are a few minor monster skirmishes. But due to the increased danger, no one is allowed to leave the town except real warriors. And even if they could, they are tasked with killing the surrounding mobs* Reiner replied. This time he sounded worried.

“Ragnar? Some monsters have arrived there. The city gates are blocked so no one can escape.” Arknum reported in a simpler sentence.

“What? They have reached there already?”

“Must be the scouting party.” The soldier replied. All of us then looked towards him.” When they first attacked, there were some mosquitos as big as a dog and dragonflies as big as a human. They also prevented us from escaping. At first we only thought it to be some random monsters’ assault. But we were wrong.”

“Then, that means we can’t get any reinforcement either? The town is besieged!” Iris yelled.

“No. It would be too late even for that. There is only about 1 more week for the main army to arrive. What kind of army can reach Trisia in a week?” Ragnar asked.

“No more time to waste then. Let’s run straight to Trisia!” Hector shouted.

“We could clash with the main army too. Besides, by foot we would need 1 week to get there. We might not even make it.” Stella said.

“Umm, we could use the portal.” All of us then looked at Maria.

“What portal?” Ragnar asked.

“If Trisia has a church, then from the church here, I think I can teleport us there.”

“But the church here is..” Fira asked.

“The portal in this city church is in an underground chamber. It might be okay.”

“Alright. Get moving everyone!” Ragnar shouted. ”And Arknum. Tell Count Ignis to prepare for a full assault. Tell them to equip every man and woman with weapons. Even children if you have to.”

“Roger.” Arknum then made the voice call to Reiner.

We then dug in the remains of the church. True to her words, there was a chamber underground. It was a simple square room with a single magic circle in it. Ragnar bickered about how Maria and the others should not come and only players should come. But it seems like no one actually listened to him this time. Ragnar can’t argue back since he also stood firm on returning so he was losing this debate.

“Is this it?” Hector asked.

“Yes. Umm, I think its powered off. We need someone on the outside to power it.”

“That means the person on the outside will be left behind?”

“Yes.” She replied.

“Well, since I am a mage guess I am out. I will try to catch up.“ Baran said.

“Umm, hold up.” I interrupted. “Maria, can Elkami be outside? She is a summoned being. I can just summon her again right?”

“Well, that hasn’t been tried before. Let’s try. We can’t leave anyone behind anyway” Maria said.

“Hey you two. Do you want to come along with us?” Ragnar said to the two other soldiers that followed us to the chamber.

“Yes. This is our home we have nowhere else to go. We will get our revenge against those monsters.“ Both of them replied.

“Well, come in then.” Hector said.”

We sent 2 or 3 people at a time until it is only Maria, me and Elkami left.

‘Hope nothing goes wrong this time!’ I prayed in my heart.

“All right. I have sent the proper command for the spells. You only need to power it. Channel your mana through that marking and we will set off.” Maria commanded.

A bright light then enveloped our bodies. My vision went blurry and my head got dizzy. It felt like I was spinning around with no proper holding. After a minute in that crazy vortex, my vision went bright again as my head fell first to the ground.

You have taken 5 damage

You are dizzy. Vision will be blurred and your center of gravity will be unstable for a period of 20 seconds.

“Ouch.” I watched the scenery spinning and spinning until the counter stopped and the scenery went back to normal. Maria was still besides me and the other members were fine.

“I guess it wasn’t such a smooth ride. Maybe because it was not powered by a cleric.“ Maria made a comment.

“Summon Elkami!” I said and the cute fairy popped up in front of me.

“Alright. Everyone is safe and sound. And we jumped to the correct place this time. It is the church of Trisia. Let’s meet with everyone.” Ragnar commanded.

Reiner, Itsa, Lucy, Lucky and the other team members were safe and sound. They received no casualties when escaping City of Acolyte that time. We could see the soldiers running here and there with their equipment. The town was in a rush to prepare for the incoming attack, Reiner had already warned the count and he was preparing for the assault. Ballistae were build. Trebuchets were stacked at the top of the wall here and there. Some soldiers could also be seen boiling oil.

“Ragnar. I have warned the count.” Reiner reported. “But he said he wants to meet you directly.”

“Alright. Bring us to them.” Ragnar commanded.

20 minutes later. At the count’s mansion.

“Welcome Ragnar and the others.”

“Count Ignis. I think we need to prepare more than just this.” Ragnar answered.

“Yes. Reiner has already warned me. We are preparing 3 times more than usual for this battle. It will be piece of cake.” The count spoke lazily.

“No your highness!” The soldiers that were with us screamed.

“And who are you?”

“My mate here and I are soldiers from city of Acolyte. We are the only survivors from that city. please your highness. We must prepare more than this. Arm everyone and give them basic military training!”

“City of Acolyte? That city was decimated?” The count now lost his cool and started to panic.

“Yes. Every last man, woman and child. We are alive through sheer luck.”

“Is this true?” He then turned to Ragnar. It seemed he has some doubt about those soldiers.

“We have seen City of Acolyte. There were no stones left unturned. Every wall was destroyed. Every house was burned and crushed. It has practically been levelled to the ground.” Ragnar answered.

“How? A tribe of monsters? Even werewolves should not be capable of doing that.”

“The army is composed of many kinds of evil creatures. Those mosquitos and dragonflies outside are two of them. They were besieging us!”

“What!? They are not just migrating here?” The count now jumped from his chair. He then went thinking again. This time with a serious expression. ”So, you are suggesting to train everyone here and forcefully recruit them into the army? But They are rumoured to arrive here in 1 week. Will the training be enough? Panic might spread around and that would be worse than the army just attacking.”

“BUT THE ENEMIES NUMBER IN THE MILLIONS!” The soldier finally shouted losing his calm. Everyone then turned towards him while some soldiers rushed in to see what happened. With a gesture, the count signalled said soldiers to return to their post.

“First you are telling me there was an attack and now you are saying it there were millions. Ragnar, even if this is coming from you, I still find it hard to believe.” He said.

“Though we did not see it directly. There was no harm in being too prepared. No, I believe there is no such thing as being too prepared to begin with. We should mobilize everyone.” Ragnar said.

The room then went silent. For 2 whole minutes no one raised a voice. The count finally said. ”You are my friend Ragnar. I will believe in your decision this time. Let’s forcefully recruit everyone. Fan, ask the bishop here to ask the other churches for reinforcements. Since they have portals, they might make it in time.”

Then everyone from the poor to nobility were drafted. Ragnar begged them on his knees to participate in military training in the barracks. Ragnar promised them they would fight at the back of the army, but they must be able to fight or they will die a dog’s death. With such a famous man begging, no one could refuse. The nobles then reluctantly followed the military training. Whines could be heard here and there in the nobility’s camp, the count even made a nobility battalion. This group all consisted of nobility and they were assured they could stay behind. But they still had be capable of fighting. The count also forcefully took some of their belongings as funds for the war with promise that the nobility would get a raise in rank, they had no choice but to give some of their wealth away.

Other lower class residents were easier to persuade. With money and a little forceful method, they were easier to recruit. Peasants, women and men trained together in a makeshift training camp since the usual barracks and training grounds couldn’t hold the army any longer. They practiced in the afternoon and slept at their own homes at night.

Only blacksmiths, alchemists and enchanters did not have military training. With the sudden raise in the number of soldiers, they were forced to make weapons, potions and enchanting the weapons without payments for their work (It means they got materials for crafting but got no money for their labor)

Some other blacksmiths and crafters also helped build more siege weapons such as ballistae and trebuchets. Cooks helped make stew to raise morale while also receiving some training. Even soldiers went and hunted in the fields for food. Since most people were recruited as soldiers, there was a lack of food, blacksmith materials such as ores and wood and other things.

5 days passed without us realizing it. The monsters around the city had increased in numbers, hunting and gathering ores was more difficult now. 10.000 paladins had arrived via the church portals with 3000 priests. The portals kept shining with 3 or 5 peoples showing up one after the other without stopping. The church claimed this was all they could muster in such short notice. The church promised to send more, even foreigners and ordinary soldiers from towns if they had to.

Spies had reported the enemy numbers. Some estimated it to be 3 million while others simply reported it was ‘Uncountable’. Seeing this number, even the arrogant nobles now trained with their utmost potential like their lives depended on it. Some even giving away all their money to the count for war funds. Some tried to escape, but it was too late. The enemies were almost at their doorstep.

Maria would now prepare her ultimate magic. Magic that everyone was after. Magic that drove Iris to conquer City of Acolyte. Everyone was getting ready. I spend my points from leveling up 15 times in the labyrinth. With Stella’s advice I put them in both dexterity and intelligence and a little in strength. With the addition of another 13 times level up from killing monsters around the city, I forgot to mentioned, I hit lvl 100 with several other skill levels. Almost all of my skills had reached intermediate now. Only speed reading, sneak, horse-riding and manage still stuck at their beginner levels. It was literally killing 24/7 for 5 days without stopping. But even with that, this ‘scout group’ didn’t seem to dwindle. I also bought some rings to increase my stats. 4 rings that increased vitality and strength, 4 rings that enhanced my magic further, a necklace and a pair of earrings. Some other Tantalus members also squandered all their money while making Lucky work his ass off by making armor from their loot. All of my money was gone with the buying of these accessories.

Earring of faith and wisdom

Faith +40 wis +20

Level restriction 60

Necklace of vitality

Vit +30

Str +20

Level restriction 80

Ring of vitality x4

Health +200

Vit +30

Str +20

Level restriction 80

Ring of intelligence x4

Mana +200

Int +30

Wis +20

Level restriction 80

We managed to gather 100.000 soldiers. Against an uncountable amount of enemies.

http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=350&t=3669http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=350&t=3728

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author note

- college is about to come. i might have a hiatus after chapter 30 to focus on my study

- I didn't quite like tha pet system in RR so i changed it.

1st of all, EL need mana to sustain this is substracted from Riri mana regen.

2nd is all exp that El kills went to Riri so she can not get stronger than she currrently has unless a special condition were met

3rd, she doesn't have her own mana pool and need to leech of Riri for it.- our MC stat

Spoiler : Status window

Name Riri class performers

Health 6075(+800) mana 9275 (+1000)

Level 100 Race human

Fame 400

Title manager, the white rider

Job tantalus performer

Health regen/sec 19.5 mana regen/sec 40.4

Strength 93(+102) dexterity 272 (+5)

Wisdom 302 (+102) intelect 246 (+125)

Stamina 260 vitality 93 (+150)

Art 64 charisma 87 (+110)

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

Fighting spirit 70 faith 40 (+105)

Magic resistance

Fire water

Earth wind

Thunder ice

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

Unused points

Bonuses

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

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

Earing of faith and wisdom

Necklace of vitality

Ring of vitalityx4

Ring of inteligence x4

Skill list

Speed reading beginner’s lvl 2

Manage beginner’s lvl 5

Magic mastery intermediate lvl 6

Acrobatic intermediate lvl 2

Multitasking intermediate lvl 1

Sword mastery intermediate lvl 4

Ambidextrous beginner lvl 2

Bullet deflector intermediate lvl 5

Sneak beginner level 2

Horseriding beginner lvl 6

Sub skill

light blessing intermediate lvl 3

phoenix regen intermediate lvl 2

healing hand intermediate lvl 5

Healing Area intermediate lvl 7

Group cure intermediate lvl 4

Expert cure intermediate lvl 4

Single bless intermediate lvl 7

Fireball intermediate lvl 4