NOVEL WEB V1 Chapter 66: Fiend 2
- 1st Person POV (MC)
-Present Time-
It smelled like burnt rubber, my face recoiled from the stench as we came closer to this figure.
On closer look... I gasped in shock. I know it’s just a game but how realistic this visual is, still unnerved parts of my mind.
This figure is a corpse that has been severely burned in a kneeling position. Blackened and charred from bottom to top, not even facial features survived. This body also has several red embers glowing on its surface as if it is a dying bonfire.
Me and Siegfried looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders not knowing a clue on what to do with this discovery...
“Uhm... Should I try to set this alight?”
I swirled my hand around this corpse in an exaggerated manner while also shrugging my shoulder as Siegfried replied...
“Don’t know? Try it???” -Siegfried-
“Okay... [Flame Wave]”
Within a fraction of a second...
*FWOOOOOOOOSHHHHHHH*
At first, it was a sudden wave of curling orange fires like how this {Spell} visual effect but when it comes close to the corpse. It completely engulfed the corpse in dark red flames creating a vortex of heat as simultaneously we heard an ear-piercing scream coming from this...
(“Oh no... No no no... Thank you very much, nope nope!”)
Immediately, my P.O.V. changed from quite close to this thing and now a few paces away as I internally cast a {Spell}.
While Siegfried already mutates his legs into a digitigrade form leaping far back. Take care not to get caught by this abnormal flame.
As soon as that ear-piercing scream ended, I saw the shadows of a kneeling figure amidst the flickering flames begin to twitch and move. Standing up from its kneeling position then...
The flames on those sconces burned with such intensity that it brightened this whole place.
A name appeared in the top right corner of my vision I heard a faint battle background music indicating we were entering combat.
(“The Cinder Lord. Huh... Fitting name?”)
We do not know if it’s {Skill} or {Spell} yet so I’m sticking to the good ol’ prismatic skin suit and five fragments encircling me. Siegfried did his half-and-half morph where his lower body is Speed while his upper body is Strength.
Crescent bone blades ran along his forearms as he clenched his palms the knuckleduster glowed where in turn, frosty blue mist began to come out from his hands and those bone blades imbuing it with Water element.
With that, I officially started the battle with a simple barrage of [Ice Bolt] coming from me and my fragments.
The Cinder Lord was still engulfed in flames as those icicles managed to pierce through dealing some damage.
Siegfried readied himself by crouching, like someone who was preparing for a sprint. Then...
In a split second, his figure blurred leaving behind billowing dust and cracked ground. Before long, he instantly beside Cinder Lord and slashes him several times to the body at incredible speed.
Each time he’s within the boss’ melee range, Siegfried’s HP continuously decreases as the scorch marks visual effect appears on him then...
An icon similar to [Burn] de-buff with deeper colours and a reddish tint in its border appeared below Siegfried’s {Status} in the party system strangely it has numerical numbers from 1 to 2 to 3 then to 4...
Which unnerved me, regarding what mechanic this boss will introduce. I had an ominous hunch that I should not let it increase too high.
A bit worried about that, I commanded one of the fragments to cast [Cure] which reduces that [Burn] stacks by half as 8 turned into 4 instead of removing it entirely...
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!” -Cinder Lord-
It shrieks as the flames surrounding it expand and correspond with it, fire in Siegfried flickers in and out.
Then...
*FWOOOSHHHHHHHHHH* *CRACKLE* *CRACKLE*
“AGGHHH!!!!” -Siegfried-
He burst into flames like a bonfire and understandably he shrieked in pain, rolling on the ground to douse them immediately, I commanded my fragments to focus on healing him as he took immense damage while I turned off the prismatic sheen as I wanted to regain my MP...
It seems his [Burn] stacks reset into 1 after that, still taking chip damage but not as deadly as when it reaches 4 or more.
Siegfried’s knuckleduster glowed in shining golden radiance as his {Status} added [Regen] icon buff helping in counteracting with [Burn].
(“Hmmm... [Cure] halves the stack number so I guess the challenge is to manage [Burn] stacks while whittling the boss down.”)
Clapping my hands together, I aimed it towards Cinder Lord as I uttered the keywords.
“[Frost Nova]”
While the cast bar was filled, visual effects of frosty mist coalescent around me and miniscule icicles began to grow near my legs.
Before long, a trail of icicles jetted towards Cinder Lord as it made contact with the boss...
*CRACKLE* *CRACKLE* *CRACCKKKK* *BAM!!*
Blocks of icicle spikes, jagged and sharp at the edges while coiling with extremely cold mist dealing a massive chunk of damage to its HP.
Confirming that, Cinder Lord has a weakness to the Water element...
There’s a loud hiss and steam as those icicles melt... While Siegfried took that chance to parkour over the jagged ice, slashing several times with his frosty bone blades.
Following suit, while my hands still clapped. I raised it as I uttered another keyword.
“[Artic Spire]”
As soon as the cast bar is filled, a spire made from crystal clear ice suddenly appeared engulfing Cinder Lord before shattering apart then appearing several times intending to impale the boss. But because it’s a boss, it will not get impaled nor flung up rather Cinder Lord maintain its position and melts several incoming jagged icicle spikes.
Our constant DPS and occasional burst managed to reduce Cinder Lord’s HP to half as the fire around it began to dwindle...
But...
*FWOOOOSHHHH*
Every flame on the sconces brightened to a frightening degree as the temperature of the room increased from fairly comfortable to a little bit of heat.
Though...
Glancing my eyes at Siegfried, I think it’s probably due to my {Trait} nullifying it as he is drenched with sweat and marred by scorched marks resulting in a rapid increase in [Burn] stacks from 2 to 4 to 6 to 8 to 10 in rapid succession...
That also includes me so I assigned four of my fragments to Siegfried and one for me. Thankfully, I can freely order my fragments to do creative stuff such as making them cast [Cure] subsequently in timed intervals...
“<Mana Siphon>”
By targeting five fragments, I shared my MP with them since if they ‘crumbled’ I needed to redo the initial command and animation lock of creating them.
As a result, it helps Siegfried maintain his [Burn] stacks to 1. I have high resistance to magic damage so I do not mind getting 3 to 4 even 5 stacks...
The boss at the moment cannot be injured since Siegfried tried to slash multiple times resulting in blackened ash splashes and re-materialized into the Cinder Lord...
...
...
...
The surrounding bright sconces settle and its flames slough off, hovering in the air a few times then at intense speed launches itself towards Cinder Lord reigniting its flames.
The figure within that flickering fire clutches its head and then crumples to the ground before emitting another ear-piercing shriek...
“AAAAAAAAAAA... IT BURNSSSS!!! QUELLED IT DOWN!!!!!” -Cinder Lord-
It’s hoarse as if speaking from a parched throat and desperation echoes throughout the basement as Siegfried and I are engulfed in blazing hot flames simultaneously like bright bonfires.
It feels hot as if I’m extending my hand in front of an open oven as my view is engulfed in red orange hue before fading into my normal vision.
Glancing down, I checked my {Status} to see just a smidge of damage taken compared to Siegfried. But he has a passive regeneration effect from his {Trait} and enchanted weapon so he’s healed back to full.
(“Haaa... We survived that.”)
Meanwhile, my fragments continue to cast subsequent [Cure] and our [Burn] stacks also increased even though I’m far away from Cinder Lord...
“Burst it down! Let’s goooo!!!!” -Siegfried-
I agree with his plan, as I began to cast an 8th Tier {Spell}...
“[Glacial Claw]”
Crackling ice grew on my shoulders before sloughing to the ground making thin icy sheets as the frosty mist began to permeate around. The surrounding temperature significantly drops creating tiny ice crystals hovering in the air while the cast bar is being filled...
(“This is an Elementalist {Spell} so I hope it does the job!”)
I mean, Elementalist is ‘THE META’ magic DPS in the game after all...
Siegfried has turned his ‘weapon’ into the shape of a bone lance still coated by blue mist and ice crystals as he performed several pin-pointed jabs emitting a satisfying crunching noise of *Critical Hits* while the boss’ HP continues to dwindle...
Akin to its last frantic action, the boss just spammed <Hellish Ignition> {Skill} over and over dealing fire damage based on our [Burn] stacks which is negligible as I ordered one of my fragments to cast [Sanctuary]. Giving off a silvery gossamer of starlight that constantly restored our HP.
Then...
*CRACK* *CRACK* *CRACK*
Several spires of ice grew around the blazing boss like a rising claw that slowly clenches engulfing Cinder Lord in icicles before melting with a loud hiss, I can see the boss’ HP has dropped to 0 resulting in its flame dimming...
“Ah...” -Cinder Lord-
It’s a relieved sigh instead of pain as if Cinder Lord’s constant searing torture has been ended. The constantly flickering flames around it disperse leaving behind crackling embers before it too quelled...
Its corpse-like body knelt once more atop the magic circle just like when we first met Cinder Lord...
The heated temperatures dwindle resulting in a more comfortable and humid basement as the boss battle music ceases.
“Fiuf... Done!” -Siegfried-
Siegfried gave a thumb up towards me as I replied with the same gesture. Then a notification noise pinged us showing that we completed the Quest and had been rewarded with The Lord’s vault key.
--
After the defeat of Cinder Lord, we looked at each other showing off our respective keys as we began to search the basement in hopes of finding a door or gateway to the Lord’s Vault for our reward.
“I think I found it!”
In front of me is a metal gate akin to many others in this basement but from beyond there I can see glimmering gold coins in a pile and several well-decorated chests unopened, looking quite tantalising for us to open.
Siegfried already scoots over to me looking at the same metal gate as I put my key in and turned it sideways.
It clicked as the gate opened with a creak and I stepped through. Before Siegfried can pass though, the gate closes nearly instantly slammer in front of his face and the key that I have crumbled indicates it has done its uses. Siegfried did the same and the gate performed similarly as his key also crumbled.
Shrugging my shoulders together, I waved in mid-air while uttering keywords. In doing so, a pulsing wave echoes from me encompassing the whole place as several bricks on the floors and walls brightened including magic circles.
I gave a knowing look to Siegfried, who already knew what I cast as he did the usual of doing matrix movements after transforming his legs to digitigrade form and launched himself forward avoiding all the traps until he reached the pile of gold and chests.
Meanwhile, I simply focused on staring at a location I wanted and mentally said the words in my mind as my point of view in a snap, changed to just right in front of the gold pile.
“Cheater.” -Siegfried-
I chuckled as we touched the gold pile and a panel appeared listing what we get from the Lord’s Vault. I assume it would be different per player as I get several spell books in varying Tiers but! The majority of them are related to someway of Fire-based {Spell}.
(“Huh? Peculiar...”)
The {Spell} name has a fiendish theme on it... Oh well, I’ll experiment later on the difference.
My eyes glanced at a piece of equipment within the inventory as I took a closer look.
-System-
[Infernal Ring (Legendary)]
Description: A black onyx and gold ring previously worn by a Lord whose magic in fire was second to none. A myriad of cracks can be seen within the gold ring seeming to glow with a reddish hue. Wearing this ring Significantly increases the wearer's Fire {Spell} damage but Significantly reduces the wearer's water {Spell} damage. In addition, Ignores the enemy's magic damage resistance against Fire element {Spell}. Dealing damage with Fire element {Spell} will inflict [Hellish Burn] that is stackable.
-System-
(“It is a good ring to have for a Fire-focused Elementalist but I’m a user of diverse elements so it won’t fit me. I’ll probably sell this. It will fetch a high price knowing many Elementalists would get this ring.”)
Hmmm... Legendary Rarity eh?
I clicked on the rarity as a panel appeared to describe what that means.
I see... I see...
A legendary type of rarity is an object that provides powerful effects. Far more than what players can make since whatever they make would be in the Unique category.
It bumped up the pricing of this ring in my head to a tremendous degree. How lucky of me to get this powerful ring! I would be so rich...
Since we’re in a relatively safe area aside from the numerous traps, I take my time to check the other notifications regarding my LV. Not much, but I do have my LV increase from 90 to 92 which is good...
“Heh, got some good stuff. Wanna go back grinding?” -Siegfried-
The berserker smirked while waving his right thumb towards the exit of this place.
“Yeah, 8 more levels to go!”
I nodded in agreement as he deftly avoided all the glowing traps since the duration of that {Spell} has been greatly lengthened due to my current <Celestial State>.
Without further ado, I simply [Warp] myself away and left this place leading towards higher levelled mobs for a large time sink of grinding.
-5 to 6 hours of grinding session-
“Haaaaaaaaa...”
I sat cross-legged on a solid dry ground leaning at the nearby petrified tree after that gruelling session as Siegfried was still high on energy doing his warm-ups and stretching nearby while I was catching my breath.
It’s super intense! He has a lot of SP compared to me understandably...
Our strategy is bait and cull, Siegfried taunted a lot of monsters together while I over-buffed myself with [Magic Boost] to burst all the monsters that he baited. Any remnants left will be finished by Siegfried as we rinse and repeat until finally reach LV 100.
“LV100 woohoo!!!”
I cheered as Siegfried gave a small smile and a chuckle. There are a lot of red dots appearing in my system but I ignored them for now as we discussed what are we going to do next.
After teleporting to Lowlight, we hang out for a bit in the adventurers guild reporting the completion of Adventurer’s Quest and sitting on one of their comfortable sofas.
Our topics changed from discussing what to do and instead random things he did in his teenage years as I too spilled some of my younger foolish times earning a good laugh or two.
I can see why Siegfried would be a rambunctious teenager, if not for his coach he could be one of the school bullies.
I’m the one who’s a nerd doing extracurricular activities in Biology Lab and Chemistry Lab trying all sorts of things that warranted a teacher’s warning even leading to uh... temporarily watched in the lab. My eyes looked at the time in the system noticing how long time had passed as we talked about these.
“Gosh, it's already this long. What are you going to do?”
I asked the berserker after realising that the topic had gone off-course for an hour or two. He rubbed his chin for a bit then spoke...
“Hm. I think I’m going to try finding out my Rebirth Quest. But gonna log out, it’s already late.” -Siegfried-
“Yeah, I didn’t notice it’s already this long! I’m going to do the same after doing my household stuff...”
The berserker nods before giving a small hand wave as goodbyes and vanishes in blue cubes signifying logging out.
While I’m going to teleport towards My Home my view changes into the all-familiar mini biomes here and there.
A multitude of stout and rotund golems doing their assigned duties.
Then in the corner of my eyes, I can see Gaia galloping towards me. The vegetation in his antlers rustles leaving behind a trail of falling flower petals and leaves.
I also noticed that in places where he gallops a patch of wildflowers blooms and the grass grows thicker. An amazing visual effects, embodying that Gaia is a Divine Beast aside from his cute behaviour.
“Master! You’re back.” -Gaia-
Arriving in front of me, he leaned his head down with an anticipatory tone as I knew what he wanted. I extended my hand to give a hefty ruffle on his head earning a satisfied bellow from Gaia.
I then followed the usual path leading to the centre of My Home as I wanted to have a nice place to chill before checking everything I got upon reaching LV100.
...
...
...
Hmmmm...
(“Is it me or does it take longer to reach the centre?”)
It is a good 15 minutes of walking instead of the usual 1-2 minutes until I finally see the temple and climb its stairs.
*GASP*
My eyes go wide and I let out a surprised gasp, taking in what’s going on in the centre of My Temple.
(“Where is the pedestal!!????”)