[ Congratulations to Player Ace for being the first player to discover a Secret Area. +10 stat points. ]
"What? There are secret areas as well?"
"But what are those?"
"Ask the game."
"Interesting. So the Secret Areas are one-time stuff. Once you defeat its final boss, it will disappear."
"Damn, then they must have good rewards, right?"
"Ask that player Ace."
…
Soon, everyone found themselves in a dimly lit hall of a mansion.
"Secret area?" Aoi blinked.
"This shit sounds scary." Kazuo looked around.
Whoooooooooo~
Uhhu uhuu uhuu~
Whaaaaaaaaaa~
Strange sounds were flowing around as if carried by the wind.
"Damn, what do we do here?" Yuta muttered.
"Let's look around the hall first. There might be some treasure chests," Axir said as he looked at the only door in the hall that wasn't visible due to the darkness. "I'll go there."
Everyone was already looking around, so upon hearing Axir's words, they began exploring.
Axir went straight towards the door while acting as if he was exploring and opened it before entering.
There was only one thing in this hall, and it was in this room.
Clearing his throat, Axir shouted. "I found something!"
"As expected of my goat! Woohoo!" Kazuo cheered as he arrived first and saw the treasure chest in the room.
The others also arrived.
"I'm opening it." Axir opened the chest by touching its keyhole.
The game's treasure chest opening had two functions. If a player was alone and opened the chest, its content would directly enter the Inventory.
But if there were multiple players around the chest, the items would have to be picked up from the chest or outside the chest in case the items dropped out due to their size.
This treasure chest only had one reward. A card that was resting in the middle, while faintly glowing.
"Holy, it's a card!"
"A 4-star card!"
"Dayum!"
Everyone inspected the card while Axir grabbed it and smiled.
'Look at it carefully, fools. And dance for me.'
[ Airbending Boots ]
-Type: Artifact-card
-Card Quality: Rare
-Effect:
—> Summon ethereal boots that allow you to step on the air and move freely without any mana cost.
—> Your movement speed while in the air can be boosted by using Mana. 5% mana capacity locked for 10% increase.
"Wait, artifact-type?" Jason raised his eyebrows. "So there are such types of cards. It costs no mana to move around on air."
"Sick! Artifact cards sound dope." Kazuo looked at Axir while grinning. "Congratulations, boss."
Yuta stood behind him and whispered. "If I lick his ass more, he'll give me the Rocket Wings since he doesn't need them anymore."
"Hey!"
"Suck it!"
"Fools." Lexi rolled her eyes.
"Well, I'll see how I perform with Airbending Boots. If it's better, then I might give away Rocket Wings." Axir chuckled.
Everyone's eyes lit up.
"Anyway, let's continue looking around." Axir walked out quickly. "There's nothing in the hall anymore, I think, since we already got the card. Let's move up."
"Of course, if anyone wants to inspect around, they are free to do so."
"I'll do a quick search." Jason quickly moved.
Higher stats mean that simple work was also done faster.
The group climbed the stairs and arrived on the first-floor hall with two corridors.
The other part of the mansion on this floor was broken and hanging in pitch black darkness, from where a strange wailing sound and other sounds rang.
"Why did they have to make this so scary?" Aoi whispered.
"Let's move together." Lexi nodded.
"Where do we go first? There are two corridors."
Axir pointed at one and began moving. "Let's check there first."
As the group moved and entered the corridor, the dim lights suddenly flickered.
Shadows moved, and wailing increased.
Thud…Thud…
From the darkness, a monster emerged, standing on its two legs like a werewolf, but it had a rat's head with a long nose and muscled, furry arms with big claws.
Its fur was spiked and had crimson dots that glowed.
[You have encountered a level 50 Elite Monster—Dark Assaulter Kroog.]
[Dark Assaulter Kroog]
Level: 50
Power level: 32,300
Vitality: 2000
Mana: 1000
Constituion: 200
Agility: 200
Perception: 100
Arcane: 150
"Prepare for combat!" Axir vanished from his spot as he commanded, using Librated Drift to appear before the monster while swinging his fist in a motion as if he were swinging a baseball bat.
He had to act fast because this monster was going to act fast by targetting weakest of the group, and nobody had the power to defend, so they would die.
And he needed them alive to die for something better than dying for nothing against this monster.
Mid-motion, he summoned the Roaring Impact Bat, and the moment he gripped it, he exerted his strength further, just 0.2 seconds before it was going to hit the monster.
[ Roaring Impact Bat ]
- Attack: 100 + (100 % Constitution + Agility)
- Cost: 10 Mana per successful hit
—> Upon impact, unleash an outward blast with a powerful pushing force and stagger or stun the enemy.
BOOOM!
Dark Assaulter Kroog slammed into the left side corridor wall five meters away, staggered.
Axir appeared in front of it again, using Librated Drift before it could move. Another card was used as well. 2-star card, Weapon Damage Enchant, from Weapon Enchanter deck.
BOOOM!
"Holy crap!"
"Way go to, guild master!"
"Hit if you want Experience." Axir changed his position and…
BOOOM!
Dark Assaulter was flung towards the group as they quickly dodged.
"Bro!"
"Hahaha, let's go!"
Everyone started hitting it while Axir arrived on top of it and slammed down with a hit again.
Roaring Impact Bat was a nightmare for a solo monster. Axir could keep it stun-locked as long as the monster didn't have a stun immunity skill, exterior armor that negates control, or something else.
This monster clearly didn't have anything to get out of Roaring Impact Bat's effect, so it was shortly killed by constant hits from everyone.
Except for Axir, everyone leveled up once, reaching level 31.
"Wait, what? Just 1 level increase for killing a level 50 Elite?" Selena frowned. "That's strange."
"Not strange." Axir wryly smiled. "Leveling is harder after level 30. Apparently, bonus experience will only apply if the level difference is more than 20 after you reach level 30. Before that, we were getting bonus experience at ten level difference."
"Damn, so as level 30, we need to kill level 51 or higher for bonus experience? Crazy." Yuta clicked his tongue.
"It is what it is. Fortunately, we have Axir with us." Aoi grinned.
"CARD!" Kazuo shouted as he saw a card floating as the Dark Assaulter's body disappeared.
"Holy shit. Could it be that secret area's elite monsters drop cards guarantees?" Yuta blinked.
[ Secret Area's Elite or higher monsters drop cards guaranteed. But once killed, those monsters don't spawn. Once the Secret Area is cleared, it disappears forever. ]
"Yo, y'all saw that?"
"What?"
Yuta shared the system notification he got and got information about the Secret Area.
"Interesting. So this area must have good rewards."
"This card is powerful." Selena raised her eyebrows.
"Bro, this card is making me wet." Kazuo looked like a hungry ghost as he read the card's details. "So if all claws hit, the debuffs last for 25 seconds?"
[ Dark Rend Claws ]
Card Quality: 4-star
Cost: 100 Mana.
Effect:
—> Unleash a one-meter-long five-clawed projectile. Each claw deals damage equal to 100% Arcane stat, totaling 500% if all five claws hit a single target. Inflict Bleed, Heal Reduction, and Drain for 5 seconds per claw struck.
"Should….one of us have it?" Jason hesitantly spoke. "Of course, since this secret area was discovered by Axir, and we only managed to defeat this monster. Because of his deck, it's up to him to decide."