Chapitre 32: 031 Causally Finding a Dungeon
Since there now was a third-wheel following them around Mercury was a little depressed and sent a private message to James, [- Don't call me Mercury while around other people, only you know me as Mercury. Be sure to call me Reaper! -]
James looked at Mercury, she felt an unusual gaze from James. She turned around and had a serious look. He knew she was serious. [- Alright, I will call you Reaper while around other people. But why the secrecy? -]
[- Simple, I have a reputation as Reaper, while I might mess with you by teasing you that doesn't mean I will stop my typical actions. Just as we willed Scarlet and her group I also plan to fight others in the future. With or without your help. As for the name Mercury, that is only between you and myself -] She winked at James then turned around and continued down the cave's tunnel.
Talon paid no attention to the two as he kept an eye out for anything interesting along their path. He would occasionally look behind him to make sure nothing and no one was following them.
They walked for 30 minutes before they found anything. They found a large circular chamber. It was 30 meters wide and 60 meters tall. In the center was a small hole in the ground with a timer above it. James used his identity skill to examine what they found.
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Devil's Ivy Plant Bed
Time Left: -----
Requires a seed to grow.
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James explained what he saw. "Looks like the Devil's Ivy came from here at some point. It is a plant bed dedicated to the Ivy. It looks like it is a respawnable boss; we may be able to farm it in the future."
"How long until it respawns?" Talon wanted in on the next fight.
"It doesn't say, it needs a seed first." replied James.
"A seed? We got two of them from Ivy's corpse!" Mercury was excited; the boss fight was a chance to get excellent experience points and potential loot!
James linked the description of his seed to the party chat.
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Name: Devil's Ivy Seed
Grade: Unique
Function: A seed to grow a Devil's Ivy in 144 hours of time; using a fertilizer speeds up the growing process.
Character bound.
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Talon was envious, "You two found a jackpot, you can respawn a boss and have exclusive rights to the battle. You already entered the leaderboards; with this you pretty much cement your position at the top. That is until you out level the boss."
James and Mercury both pulled up the leaderboards to see where they stood. They knew that they would be on it now but did not know their current positions.
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Reaper (Apostle of Apollo) - Level 24
Blaise (Spell Weaver) - Level 23
Author (Guardian) - Level 23
Alexander (Swords Master) - Level 23
Talon - (Archer) - Level 22
Tempest - (Fire Mage) - Level 22
Hardy - (Earth Mage) - Level 22
Rend - (Assassin) - Level 22
Jack - (Archer) - Level 22
Violet - (Priestess) - Level 21
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"Haha! You knocked off Scarlet from the leaderboards, Blaise! I'm sure she is livid!" Mercury almost fell to the ground while laughing.
"You two even passed myself after you killed that BOSS. Now that you can kill it again you will continue to climb in levels." Talon was very jealous.
Seeing that Talon was green, Mercury landed the final blow. "We each have a seed, if we can find another place to grow one we can kill two in a short period of time! Aren't you jealous!
"What! Blaise, you have to let me join you for the next kill!" Talon was nearly begging.
"I'll think about it!" James had spent too long with Mercury; he had actually teased Talon!
They all laughed, both Mercury and James knew they owed Talon for their survival against the Centurion. They would include him on a kill or two.
Mercury was curious, "Should we plant a seed now?" She asked James, she knew he would have a logical answer.
"I don't think it is the right time; Scarlet might drag her guild and/or the other top guilds here to look for us. They might find the boss or even sabotage us while they are killing it. We should wait until things cool down for us.", Mercury agreed to James's logic.
"Alright! We will save them for later! Let's move on, we have more to explore!" Mercury turned to move deeper into the cave; Talon and James followed closely behind.
It did not take long for them to find something new; they ran into a three-way intersection. One tunnel went straight ahead and the other two went off diagonally; one on the left side and the other on the right side of the forward path.
"Looks like we have some choices to pick from." Talon took the initiative. "Do we go left, right, or forward?"
They both looked toward James, it seemed like it somehow became the leader of the group.
James looked at all the possible directions that they could go. At first he could not make up his mind. There was no distinction between the three pathways, that was until he activated his Magical Eyes. Mercury saw his eyes change color as eagerly waited while Talon was confused as to why James's eyes changed color.
James took a few minutes to look at the three tunnels. The one on the left only had a small blimp of magic and mana. The center tunnel had so much magic and mana that it was nearly blinding. The right tunnel had a moderate amount of magic and mana. He then described what he saw to his two teammates.
"I think we should check all three tunnels. They have different aspects and that is interesting." Mercury established her opinion.
Talon agreed, "That is a good idea, we should start with the path with the smallest magical signature then work our way up."
After hearing their ideas James started walking down the left-most path. The tunnel waved and turned left and right. There were no signs of traps or monsters, it was nerve inducing.
"I can't imagine this cave system truly being safe, Blaise do monsters have magical signatures?" Talon was curious.
James didn't even take a second to think before responding to Talon, he was too busy looking for traps. "Well, some do and some don't. The chances there are anything in the tunnels is small considering a BOSS used to make its home here."
They continued to follow the path until the reached a small room. Its appearance was much different from the rest of the cave. It had chiseled walls, floor, and ceiling. There was one other doorway but it collapsed.
Across from the collapsed door was a chest, it glinted with a silver-like shine.
"A treasure chest!" shouted Mercury. She ran over to it and left the boys in the dust.
Talon followed her over but James just stood in the same place and examined the chest with his identify skill.
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Silver Chest
Quality: Rare
Cannot be lock picked, must be opened with a silver key.
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"Damn! I can't lockpick it! We will have to return once we get a silver key." Talon was clueless about the rewards that Mercury and James got from the Ivy boss.
* Click *
The sound of the tumblers in the chest's lock rang out, Talon spun around so quickly he almost got dizzy.
It was James's turn to be amused. "We already have a key, the Devil's Ivy dropped it. Sorry for you though! We won't be sharing the spoils with you!" James was laughing.
Mercury also started laughing as she slowly opened the chest, "Don't forget Blaise, we agreed that I would get the items in the chest since you got the bulk of the loot from the Ivy plant."
James feigned heartbreak, "Mercury, you can't do this to me! I thought we had something special!"
Mercury laughed even harder seeing James put on his act. "Nice try! You can't fool me!"
* Ding *
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Party leader looted a Silver Chest!
Loot Style: Party Leader Distribution
50 Silver coins
11 Stocks of Devil's Root
6 Poison Devil Thorns
3 Water Vine Leaves
1 Recipe for Anti-Venom Potion
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James saw the item names and teased Mercury, "There is no problem with you keeping the loot this time! Haha!" Even though he was a little envious of the recipe he knew that only an Alchemist could find it useful.
"You laugh now but who knows, it might come in handy later!" She felt like tackling James but held back since Talon was with them.
"Now, now you two. We should check out the right tunnel now." Talon stepped in so they would not spend too much time playing around.
** Back in the Canyon **
There were two distinct groups walking together. One group wore armor and robes with a sword through the letter 'S' and the other group wore emblems of two daggers in an 'X' shape. They were Solemn Sword and Oblivion; the two guilds came together to hunt down James and Mercury.
"So this is where those two killed your platoon?" Rend asked.
"Yes, they laid a trap at the entrance and lured us into it." Scarlet was still fuming about the embarrassment.
"Don't worry we will get some revenge today. According to the game's map there is no exit to this canyon. They should still be inside since this debris wall blocks the entrance." Tempest also could not wait to get some revenge.
Rend and Tempest commanded their guild members to clear away the fallen rocks and boulders that filled the canyon's entrance. After they finished they bth commanded a small team to stay behind to make sure
Each of the guilds brought 200 players to hunt down the people who not only killed the first ever boss but also took over the leaderboards. They had to get footage of the two dying by their guild's hands so that they could gain popularity once again.
*** Back in the Cave ***
All three members of the small team were oblivious that they were the target of an active manhunt, especially one that was already so close to them.
They continued all the way back to the three with the three tunnels. Instead of waiting around or taking time to think they instantly headed deeper into the right tunnel.
Just like the last tunnel, there were no signs of monsters or traps. So the trio continued through the tunnel without interruption.
At the end of the tunnel they once again found a functioning room. This one was in much better condition; there was no dust to be seen. It was as if it was recently cleaned. Coming from the tunnel there were two large doors. One on the left and one on the right. The door on the left was just like the one from the left tunnel, it had collapsed and was filled with rocks, boulders, clay and sand. While the door on the right side of the room was fully intact. It was big enough for a giant to walk through. The door's lock was filled with magic; it had a few item slots carved into it.
"The magic from this room is coming from the door and what is behind it." James had used his Magical Eyes to verify his thoughts.
"My identity is not as good as yours. Blaise, could you check the door with your ability?" asked Mercury.
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Door to the City of Ruin, home of the remaining Centurions.
Required items to open:
Ancient Key
Bone Shard from a Ravager.
Token of Passage (Satiated)
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"It appears to be a door to a Centurion city called the City of Ruin." James continued on to explain the three items needed to unlock the door.
Mercury looked at her inventory, "I'm holding on to the Ancient Key that we got from the Devil's Ivy. That means we only need to find two more items to enter."
Talon was worried, "I don't know if I want to enter that city just yet. It has at least one BOSS monster. I would not be surprised if it has more; if that Centurion we ran into was the leader of the city he would have just sent a minion to fetch the cure."
Both James and Mercury thought that Talon was on to something, "I agree, for now we have one more tunnel to check. Let's go!" Mercury grabbed and dragged James by his arm back down the tunnel.
This tunnel was longer than the other two. Unlike the two other tunnels, this tunnel was brightly lit up with torches. Not only that, the tunnel started to change from smooth rock to chiseled stone long before they reached the end.
** Back in the Canyon **
Four scouts appeared before the platoon leaders of the two guilds. "We found the end of the canyon. It looks like a huge battle was fought there, there is also a very large creature next to a cave entrance. We did not get close enough to find anything about it."
"Good job, take a break." praised Rend.
Tempest made a quick assumption, "That must be where Blaise and Reaper found the boss."
"We will study the battle field and the large monster once we get there." Rend then commanded the troops to march.
Rend, Scarlet, and Tempest looked over the Canyon Lake zone and were speechless. There were numerous holes, crater, withered vines, rocks of all sizes, and various other battle scars littered all over the field.
"Just what did those two go through? It looks as if a group our size battled here. How did two people and a boss cause this much damage.?" Tempest spoke out first.
"That is a boss creature over there, it does not have a red emblem. It must be a friendly creature; those two are not so special after all. They used the help of another boss to kill the one from the announcements." Scarlet scoffed. She then went to approach it.
Rend left that something was off about everything about this. His identity skill was higher than Scarlet's so he examined the boss as well.
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Centurion Hunter
Grade: Silver Boss
Level: 40
Hp: 150,000/150,000
Status: sleeping
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"Scarlet stay away from that boss." Warned Rend.
Tempest noted both Rend's tone of voice and the look on his face. He commanded his platoon to prepare for battle.
"Hey! We are looking for two people. Have you seen a girl in a black dress and a mage lately?"
* Rumble *
The boss instantly broke out of its slumber with the mention of the two tricksters that ruined his chance to save his wife. He had just fallen asleep after tiring himself out of his fit of anger after losing those three.
It talked in a deep and brooding voice, "Behr bei jeer lue ceur'de huq nue serf merl fantcur jer duer!"
"Sorry? I can't understand you." Scarlet tried to put on a nice voice hoping the creature would have a good reaction.
"Where are those three bastards! They killed my prey before I got here! I want revenge!" He was pissed. How dare this human bring up those who he hates.
They all noticed the BOSS's emblem changed from blue to blood red. Rend also saw that it jumped from a silver grade to a gold one and the HP tripled!
"Scarlet, RUN!" Rend commanded. "Everyone gets into battle positions! Tanks prepare to intercept!"
Tempest made the same commands as Rend. Scarlet had just made it past a thick wall of tanks and breathed a sigh of relief.
* Ding, you have died. Respawning at your respawn location now. *
The Centurion Hunter had not only shot her dead but also cleaved a third of the tanks in half before anyone could react. It's eyes glowed a blood red; they could feel its hatred.
Rend, Tempest, and their remaining force's faces all turned white as a sheet. "RETREAT!"
It was unknown who made the command. No one cared if it was their commanders or just a random platoon member. It was the right thing to do.
The Centurion went on a killing spree. While it could not find those three specific people, he could however kill everyone currently present.
Very soon hundreds of players died, there were no survivors. Among those who died must have been a traitor of their guild. Shortly after their platoon wipe a video was anonymously posted on the forums. It showed the gruesome annihilation of two top guilds.
The video caused huge ripples in the opinions of the average players. The top guilds were upset, especially the two guilds who were wiped out. Alexander had a stern talking to Tempest, who once again did not follow his command to avoid conflict with Blaise and Reaper.
Scarlet believed that she would never live down the humiliation she suffered today. She also promised to herself that she would find the one who posted the video on the forums. The very first clip of the video was her in the spotlight. More specifically, her getting absolutely destroyed by a single arrow.
*** Back in the Cave ***
As the trio made their way into the final room of the cave they all received a notification.
* Ding *
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Your party has found the missing Temple of Ivok!
The dungeon, Temple of Ivok, has been found. Since you have found the dungeon before the Gods announced its existence you have gained the right to enter it prematurely! Good luck adventurers!
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**** ( Announcement ) ****
The party of Blaise, Reaper, and Talon has found the Temple of Ivok, a level 35 dungeon!
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État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone