In the Burial Grounds, the group was clearing the battlefield. The monsters remained quite poor; the only piece of equipment with decent quality was dropped by Blood Raven—a Unique bow. In addition to the bow, an Exceptional-grade helmet also dropped: a Grim Helm (Note 1). Tearing open an Identify Scroll, the familiar dark-gold light shone forth.
> Rogue's Bow (Composite Bow)
> * Two-Hand Damage: 6-12
> * Required Level: 20
> * Required Strength: 25
> * Required Dexterity: 35
> * Attack Speed: Fast
> * +60% Enhanced Damage
> * +100% Damage to Undead
> * 30% Deadly Strike
> * 50% Increased Attack Speed
> * +60 to Attack Rating
> * All Resistances +10
>
Looking at the name of this bow, he wondered if it had any connection to the Rogue Encampment. He'd take it back to Kashya to see what rewards he could exchange for it.
The group quickly finished clearing the field. Suddenly, Majesty's face turned pale. "A massive aura of evil is rushing toward us—it's too fast, we can't dodge it!"
Leo looked up in the direction of Majesty's gaze. In the eastern sky, several wisps of faint green light were flying toward them. Activating Holy Shield and switching to the Cleansing aura, Leo stood in front of the two women.
The two women used various means to intercept the green light, but those wisps were incredibly agile and flew at a peculiar speed. They dodged the attacks, bypassed Leo's shield, and swiftly burrowed into the bodies of the three.
Leo fell to one knee as a sharp, corroding pain surged from the back of his left hand, spreading deep into his very soul. Once the pain finally subsided, he pulled off his glove; a green spider pattern had emerged on the back of his hand.
{Beep beep beep. Host is under a Curse state: Poison damage duration is doubled.}
Majesty looked at the pattern on her hand. "I feel an evil gaze watching us from within the pattern."
"I think I've heard of something similar. This should be a curse laid down by a powerful demon. It's a type of oath where the demon stakes everything—a fight to the death. No matter where we go from now on, this demon will be able to find us," Gerdie explained calmly, though her words were terrifying.
"Let's go. We're entering the Mausoleum. We cannot pass up any opportunity to increase our strength now." Leo originally planned to go back and turn in the quest, but plans couldn't keep up with changes. The worst-case scenario had already happened. Even thinking with his rear end, he knew that demon was Andariel; he had to exert every effort to grow stronger.
Although they had been clearing the cemetery above for a long time, they truly didn't know the situation below. Leo raised his shield and walked down into the Mausoleum.
The atmosphere inside the Mausoleum was eerie and terrifying, giving one the feeling that an undead creature might leap out from a coffin, a wooden barrel, or some unknown corner at any moment.
Fortunately, the area here wasn't very vast—it was narrower than a typical church. Leo's light radius was sufficient to illuminate the walls on all sides. Stone pillars supporting the ceiling were everywhere, and the walls and floors were built of regular large stone blocks; coffins and crypts were visible at every turn. The architectural style and the carvings on the coffins were completely different from the cemetery above, possessing a much older sense of history.
This worked out well; the narrow space made it convenient for the three of them to operate. To break the tension, Leo walked up to a coffin and flipped the lid directly; as expected, a Hungry Dead was lying inside.
[Hungry Dead, Level 37.]
It was considerably stronger than the monsters in the cemetery. It seemed the ones left in here were native monsters that didn't follow Blood Raven's commands.
As long as there were monsters, it was fine. Leo raised his short mace. The moment the Hungry Dead sat up, its head was smashed, and it tumbled back in, bursting with a large amount of gold coins.
Leo was delighted. It seemed the monsters in here were quite wealthy. He checked the coffin and found quite a few more gold coins, all of which he happily accepted.
The two women were quite speechless at Leo's money-grubbing behavior, but given their current predicament, they weren't going to be too picky.
After clearing the coffins and crypts in the first room, they entered the second. This room differed from the previous one, as it was piled high with wooden barrels.
In his past life's game, barrels were a trap; not only did they rarely drop items, but they also frequently exploded. The three hid in the first room while Gerdie used Exploding Arrows to blow the barrels open.
Several barrels exploded in succession. Fortunately, the power was low; otherwise, the tomb would have collapsed. A squad of Skeletons was blown out and came charging toward them.
[Skeleton, Level 37.]
Such a small number of Skeletons was hardly a threat; they were turned into a floor of bone shards in just a few strikes.
The three cleared their way through room by room. To Leo's surprise, he had expected a huge harvest, but the monster count was low, they hadn't even encountered a single boss, and the burial offerings in the graves were scarce.
Leo was unwilling to give up. Thinking he might as well go all the way, he decided to sweep the adjacent Crypt as well.
They arrived at the Crypt, where the monster density was noticeably higher. Upon entering, they encountered a room full of undead.
Regardless of whether there was treasure, having monsters to level up with was great. Leo was like a tiger among sheep, clearing out the skeletons and zombies in just a few moments.
Continuing to scavenge the graves, the gains here were significantly better than in the Mausoleum. While there still wasn't any high-tier equipment, many Magic items dropped, and one in particular satisfied Leo: a Mace of Excellence, which granted 5 mana per kill. Without a word, he tossed it into the Charm Space for analysis.
Though the monsters in the Crypt were more numerous, they couldn't withstand the trio's harvesting, and the area was soon cleared.
Leo stood at the deepest point, feeling somewhat confused. The mini-map showed one more room unexplored, but he couldn't find an entrance anywhere.
Recalling the game from his past life, there were indeed such cases where hidden rooms required a mechanism to enter. But where was he supposed to find a mechanism now? Unwilling to give up, he followed the mini-map's prompt and tapped on the wall in front of him; sure enough, a hollow echo came from within.
While still immersed in the rebound force from the wall, the wall before him began to slowly recede. He turned around triumphantly, only to find his sister crouching behind a candelabra, looking at him with a look of "concerned love" while holding a pull-ring in her hand.
Bonebreaker's jaw continuously opened and closed, making a sharp click-clack sound. This was its habit from when it was alive; whenever it felt anxious, it liked to bite a few gold coins, using the soft texture of the gold to calm its mood.
These past two days had been very irritating. There was a constant ruckus above, and now the noise was gradually spreading into the Crypt. Had grave robbers come to visit?
In life, it had at least been a wise monarch. Though somewhat stingy and the taxes were a bit heavy, it at least hadn't let its civilians starve to death—much better than the tyrants of neighboring lands.
It had indeed taken some treasure with it after death, but it had already given up the superior conditions of the Mausoleum to descend to the Crypt of the commoners. Even so, it couldn't escape the visit of grave robbers?
Even the secret door to the hidden room had been discovered; it seemed the ones coming this time weren't ordinary grave robbers. Thanks to the demons, it had previously been forced to lie there helplessly, but now that it had been made to stand again, it would protect its own treasure itself.
Bonebreaker signaled its subordinates to coordinate. They walked quietly to the door, forming a pocket formation, and raised their weapons high. Now, as soon as the grave robbers entered, they would taste what "King's Wisdom" truly meant.
(Note 1: The Grim Helm is the Exceptional version of the Bone Helm.)
•
Today updates!
Well it took me some days but I managed it. Also, no matter how dire your pocket was, never, ever, took welder job for couple of bucks. I'm just giving some advice here since I had to act like a blindman for three days for it. Anyway, you can found advanced chapter on my Patreon here—↓
patreon.com/EBBYRITH.
—feel free to visit it!↑