As we head down the tunnel, I wonder if Ambrosia's offer is still on the table. Thinking of the pleasure I was offered a couple of moments ago, I fail to notice that we have already reached the chamber below the Commander’s Inn. There are a bunch of adventurers here. It feels like we are right back where we started, only far fewer of us. We climb up the stone staircase that leads to the main hall of the guild. There, we hear a ruckus taking place near the center of the main hall. This piques our interest and we decide to head there.
While I do so, I ask myself what was the reason for this medial quest. Maybe to see who's capable enough to venture deeper into the tunnels, I guess. Yet, thining our forces doesn't make sense, no matter how useless some adventurers are. Well, as this optional quest progresses, I'll find out eventually.
As reach the epicenter of turmoil, we see the leader of our previous party, Alexander, bullying and trying to hit a blonde girl that
I select yes.A newparty member has joined your party, my NCI informs me.Now, I can see her stats, level, and HP. She's about the same level as me and has the same HP, but as a wizard, she has a bigger Spell Inventory than me.After finishing with introductions we are gathered to the main hall where the leader of the expedition gives us a detailed briefing. The leader, to my surprise, isn't an Emissary or any other type of Player, but an NPC with an artificer class. This must be some kind of rare class for this world as I haven't seen anyone else so far. On the other hand, I haven't been long enough in the real world and it's the first time that I visit such an enormous city, so I might be wrong.The artificer demands the leaders of each party to come near him."Go!" Ambrosia orders me.I'm surprised at her reaction. Does she actually want me to be the leader or is this some kind of mocking of my previous actions?
"The zombies are already dead," Elektra tells me. "You have to slice them in pieces or incinerate them if you are to take them out for good."She turns andpowers up, then casts a Fire Bolt that incinerates the body of the zombie. The stench is unbearable, like burning rotten meat. If I didn't have Vampire Ancestry, I would probably vomit at the smell, the way several others around me already are.Alexander's team is doing great so far, each having killed at least two zombies, as they penetrate deeper into the dungeon in a bloody frenzy. I know I can do better. I have to if I want to give that son of a bitch a lesson.Ambrosia and I decide to charge out into the darkness, Elektra right behind us. My team and other adventurers attack the zombie mob en masse, my sword slashing rotten flesh again and again, leaving dismembered bodies behind us in a bloody trail. The place soon becomes a perfect pandemonium of death and I fail to notice a lurching zombie from t
It pisses me off having to work with Alexander. Besides Zoe, most of his team are low-level wizards who act like they have been born blessed. Half of them couldn't cast a Fire Bolt to save their lives. All in all, their Threat Levels are between 3 and 4 while the toughest oftheir group who looks like a tank masquerading as a wizard, has a Threat Level 5. I am pretty sure he too can't cast a Fire Bolt, given he is carrying around a cursed battle axe and a large wooden shield. I have to give a few of them credit though. Underneath their wizard robes, I notice a few of them have been holding what looks like powder bombs. Alchemic in origin, but I have the feeling they could do some heavy damage against the horde."Take this," Zoe insists, handing one of the bombs over to me."Won't this bring down the tunnels?" I say slightly worrying what ten, twenty, maybe even one hundred minor explosions would do to the old tunnels. It was bad enough the wizards were slinging Fi
Going deeper into the tunnels, we find stronger undead, zombies and skeletons mainly with ranging Threat Levels between 3 and 5. This battle I can tell is going to be fierce. Elektra shoots one Fire Bolt after the other, leading more zombies and skeletons to their permanent deaths. To my surprise, Alexander and his team cast Firebals and use the bombs, blasting away several zombies like it's nothing, and decrease the undead horde’s HP considerably, making them easy prey for my sword and my vampire aide.The undead horde is hard to destroy or even penetrate with our current arsenal. More and more undead approach me, but I keep my composure and Ambrosia does the same. We have to keep the line intact, otherwise, everything will be lost. I strengthen my grip on my sword and when the zombie-shufflers charge me, I swing it fast, hitting several of them. When I have the opportunity, I blast them away using Fire Bolt. Ambrosia on the other hand jumps left and right and wreaks h
The two undead assassins give me a sinister smile as more of their kind gather behind them. Fighting two of them took all my wits tohold my ground. It will be impossible for me to fight five of them and I get the feeling that this will be game over for now. I'm ready to quit, thinking once more how broken the difficulty level of this game is. My body protests, telling me I should fight to the bitter end. Could it be that if someone dies in the real world, instead of respawning, all that awaits is oblivion? Terror gnaws at me, not wanting to believe that a game over is a permanent state here."Do not fret pet!" The voice of Ambrosia whispers to me from over my shoulder."I will protect you," sexy Elektra says as a Fire Bolt flies and hits an undead assassin in the torso, decreasing his HP by 10%.I'm relieved now that my seductive aides are by my side and battle-ready. We should finish them off quickly before they cut us off from the rest of the adventurers
She's right and we quickly make our retreat, leaving the innumerable undead behind. Connecting with the others, I see that Zoe is still alive, though I'm not that thankful seeing Alexander right beside her and in full health. But I can't say the same for the rest of the adventurers. This battle has left us weakened and the damage we sustained is enormous. I don't have a clear view of our army, but I think we lost at least a third of our total forces. Half of what remains is barely holding. This mission is a failure and we'll be lucky if we get out with our lives.The rearguard has exchanged positions with us, so we can catch our breaths and retreat organized. But most of my fellow adventurers are in a panic, and I can hear their piercing screams from all over the place. Their faces are desperate and terrified. It seems all hope has abandoned us."Please, someone help me," a brunette girl holding one of our fellow adventurers pleads."Please, help me, I can't see
To my surprise, Ι quickly find out that the approaching duο is none other than the Black Knight and his sorcerer sidekick we met earlier in The Commander's Inn. Each has leveled up by one Threat Level, but their HP is down to 60%. For some reason, our great leader had decided that it would be an excellent idea to split our forces and have the strongest of adventurers invade from other entrances. I have no clue who decided this man was to be the commander of this expedition, but common sense says that you should have all your forces concentrated, instead of splitting them like sprinkles of light in the darkness, then have them invade such an enormous underground tunnel system."I thought we were the only people who survived," the Black Knight booms at us in a harsh, reverberating voice as he takes his enormous, two-handed sword from his shoulder and places it in front of him with the point of his blade touching the hard brick floor, penetrating it an inch or two.<
When I accepted this quest, I thought that we would have a carte blanche and we would be able to penetrate the underground as we deemed necessary. But all I've been doing is following orders which I must obey. I'm an adventurer, not a soldier. I'm not pleased and it seems my team isn't either. I can't say that I'm not happy with how the plot is developing though. In fact, it's interesting and soon everything will unravel. I can't help but feel excited. Standing at the front of death's door… in front of the complete unknown. I've never experienced this kind of looming anxiety before. Despite my worries, I'm thrilled to be down here.My goal for now is to gather as much information as possible and level up the faster. I'm sure this battle will make me stronger."We need to talk," I tell Alexander as I grab him by his wrist and bring him closer to me so that neither our leader nor the Black Knight will hear us.Alexander pulls his hand and releases his wrist