บท 32: The Valley of Death Part 2

Skill Name: Wall Walking

Skill Level: MAXED

Skill Rank: C

Requirements: 100 Agility

Energy Per Second: 8

Passive: Grants the user of this skill the ability to walk on walls while moving at a speed above 99 agility. The user cannot exceed a height of 30 meters from the starting point of this skill.

Description: This skill is the prerequisite for the skill 'Air Walking'. The user's 'Energy' is only drained while wall walking, not during regular movements.

Craaaaaaash!

The body of the 'Valley Lurker' landed directly in front of Halls squirming around and trying to stand itself up. Maybe even this part was intentionally done by Izroth as well, but at this point, they would not put anything past him.

Izroth himself did not know for sure if such a thing would work, but he still thought it was worth giving it a try and the results were satisfying. He obtained a new C-ranked skill, but he was not able to name it as it already possessed a name of its own. Izroth then thought to himself, "It appears that the system has some skills that it has already defined and given a name to. Does that mean that anyone can learn those skills? Or is it just another specialty of the Combat Master class?". Izroth decided that he would look further into this when he had a chance. The skill 'Air Walking' looked interesting as well and his guess was that it required specific circumstances and higher agility to unlock.

What an amazing skill! This was the only thing going through everyone else's mind right now. Izroth landed back on the ground not long after the body of the 'Valley Lurker' crashed down. There was only one word that the party could think of to describe Izroth and it went through their minds at the same time, "Monster".

He ran up a wall and struck a target moving at high speed in midair with exact accuracy in a harsh and dark environment. Did he have night vision or echolocation to track the monster in such a precise manner?

Halls wasted no time in pushing his shield towards the body of the 'Valley Lurker'. The shield in his hand emitted a light blue aura as it slammed into the 'Valley Lurker' trying to stumble to its feet while wildly flapping its bat-like wings. Halls used a skill he recently picked up from the Amaharpe warrior class teacher, 'Shield Smash'. This skill shined the most when it was used against a target that was knocked down.

Skill Name: Shield Smash

Skill Level: 1/4

Skill Rank: B

Requirements: Level 13 Warrior, 'Shield' Equipped

Active: Deals 75% of the user attack as damage. Stuns the hit target for 1.5 seconds. The damage of this skill is tripled to 225% if the target is knocked down, and the stun duration is increased by 0.5 seconds. Increases 'Threat Level' by 75%.

Cooldown: 1 minute

Description: A shield is not only for blocking!

-265 HP!

745/2,300 HP Remaining! (Valley Lurker)

Battle Alert: Player Halls has 'Stunned' 'Valley Lurker' for 2 seconds!

Scarlet lightly tapped her spell staff on the ground as a wave of mana rushed towards the 'Valley Lurker', and just a bit later the entire body of the creature lit up on fire. "Ignite".

Skill Name: Ignite

Skill Level: 1/3

Skill Rank: C

Requirements: Level 13 Mage

Mana Cost: 100

Cast Time: Instant

Active: Deals 40% of the user magic as damage every 1 second for 5 seconds.

Cooldown: 5 seconds

-78 HP!

667/2,300 HP Remaining! (Valley Lurker)

The 'Ignite' skill Scarlet used was slowly eating away at the HP of the immobilized 'Valley Lurker'.

Izroth swung his sword at the body of the 'Valley Lurker'. As he was swinging it, a phantom formed behind his 'Nameless Blade' giving off a much more deadly aura than the sword itself. 'Phantom Strike'.

-78 HP! (Scarlet's 'Ignite')

-130 HP!

-220 HP!

239/2,300 HP Remaining! (Valley Lurker)

Another tick of Scarlet's 'Ignite' damage went off further burning the body of the creature. The 'Valley Lurker' finally had its 'Stunned' status lifted, but it was already too late as its fate was sealed.

Izroth returned his 'Nameless Blade' to its sheath, and as he did so concentrated energy began to converge at the very tip of his right index finger. He was using the skill 'Fissuring Point' to pierce through the creature.

-160 HP!

-78 HP! (Scarlet's 'Ignite')

1/2,300 HP Remaining! (Valley Lurker)

What are the chances? The Valley Lurker actually managed to survive with just 1 HP remaining. It took the chance to try to fly up into the sky and escape from the battle. But before it could do so, a wooden staff slammed against its body from out of seemingly nowhere.

-1 HP!

0/2,300 HP Remaining! (Valley Lurker)

Ding! Congratulations, you have defeated 'Valley Lurker'!

Ding! You have been awarded 700 EXP!

Loot Drop:

-6 silver coins

-1 Strange Bracelet(Quest Item)

Everyone stared blankly at the person who just finished off the 'Valley Lurker'. The one who got the killing blow on the creature was actually Luna!

There was of silence for a moment before Halls burst into a fit of laughter. "Hahaha! Luna, I think you're the first cleric I've seen kill a monster in one strike, how amazing! Hahaha, one wooden staff to slay dragons!" Halls spoke jokingly.

"Alright you, if you continue to laugh let's see if you get anymore heals from me" Luna spoke with a smile on her face.

Halls immediately halted his laughter, "Okay okay, this lowly one apologies to the mighty healer Luna" he took a bow in a comedic manner.

Luna could not help but release a light chuckle from how ridiculous Halls was behaving.

Izroth only shook his head as a slight smile formed on his face. Only someone like Halls would laugh so hard and act this way over something so trivial, but Izroth found it amusing nonetheless.

On the ground near the corpse of the 'Valley Lurker', something was constantly glowing and emitting a mysterious soft light. As he was bowing in a playful way, Halls saw the light glow near the corpse and began to walk over towards it. He reached down and tried to pick it up but a system alert sounded off in his head.

System Alert: This 'Quest Item' can only be picked up by the main recipient of the quest 'Journey to the Seer'!

Halls frowned and tried once again to pick up the item but he received the same system message. "I think this item will only let you pick it up, Izroth" he said rubbing the back of his head in confusion. This was the first quest bound item that Halls had come across that only the player who personally received the quest could loot.

Izroth moved over to grab the glowing item and examined it once it was within his hands. It was a dark purple color with little bright white beads embedded into it. As Izroth held it, he could feel it giving off a warm temperature which was strange considering how cold and dark this valley was.

Item Name: Strange Bracelet(Quest Item)

Usage: This item does not always guide you to where you want to go, but rather where you need to go. Only the one fated to hold this item will discover its true purpose.

Special Note: This item belongs to a mysterious Seer that resides within the mountain regions west of Amaharpe.

As he read the usage and note on the item Izroth easily pieced things together. It was obvious that this belonged to the Seer Tererestiaa that he was supposed to retrieve some item from. But the real question was why did this 'Valley Lurker' have her bracelet? Could something have happened to the Seer before he even arrived? That would not make any sense as they still had ample time to complete the quest.

"Whatever the reason, this item has to be of some use. It's supposed to guide us to where we need to go, but not necessarily where we want to go. Does that mean this thing can help us locate the Seer?" Izroth thought to himself as he furrowed his brows.

The other members of the party were looking at Izroth and wondered what was that item that only he could pick up.

"I'm not entirely sure about this, however, I believe this item will guide us to the Seer. Or at the very least provide us with some clues as to her whereabouts. We already know that she resides at the center of this region, but we still have no idea on how to go about getting there" Izroth said while placing the 'Strange Bracelet' into his inventory. As soon as it was placed within his inventory, a band of light formed around his right wrist and it looked like an exact replica of the 'Strange Bracelet'.

Izroth could feel the band of light around his wrist giving off a warm feeling as though urging him to continue his path forward through the valley. "I'll lead the way since this bracelet seems to be pulling me in a certain direction. Halls, you can stay near the center and guard against any other potential attacks from a 'Valley Lurker'" Izroth moved into the lead position of the party.

Halls had no issues with this since he knew even if a monster attacked Izroth he would have no problem reacting in time, especially with that move he used earlier. Plus, it wasn't as though his HP was low enough to die in one or two direct hits. He remained at the center of the group staying alert for anything that may be lingering above their heads.

Luna and Scarlet continued onward with Halls standing guard next to them, making sure not to stray too far from Izroth in the lead.

After traveling forward for around 10 minutes, the band of light on Izroth's wrist began to increase in temperature. It felt as though it were trying to incinerate his wrist, but he knew that they must be close to the location that the bracelet wanted or rather needed them to be.

"It's light...!" Halls exclaimed in surprise as he noticed a crevice up ahead with a source of light coming from within. In this kind of darkness, it was hard to miss unless you were literally blind as a bat. Everyone else spotted this light as well.

The band of light grew hotter and hotter the closer it came to that crevice until it finally stopped and vanished when they arrived in front of it. It felt as if that was its way of saying 'You're here!'.

The crevice was wide enough for them to fit through one at a time.

"I should go first just in case there are monsters waiting to attack us once we enter inside" Halls said keeping his shield placed firmly before him.

"Careful", Izroth nodded believing this to be the best course of action as well and so Halls went into the crevice and for a brief moment, there was silence. Everyone was quietly waiting for Halls to say something but after 10 seconds they still did not hear anything.

"Maybe we should-" just as Scarlet was getting a bit annoyed and was about to suggest they go in after him, a voice sounded from deep within the crevice.

"Come on in guys! You have to see this!" the voice that shouted out belonged to Halls.

Izroth was the first to enter inside after Halls, followed by Luna and then Scarlet. Now that they had a source of light, Luna no longer needed to maintain her skill 'Illuminate'. Although it did not eat up much mana, you never know when even a little extra mana could save someone's life.

When they all finally exited from the crevice, a shocking sight appeared before them.

"Such a place exist...?" Luna muttered to herself. She was astounded to see the sight before her because this place was like another world of its own!