Five manipulated his interface and quickly, he opened his own character window. "If I cannot do anything about the dungeon... What about myself?"
He was still level 10. After founding his dungeon, he did not bother leveling up since it was not necessary. Increasing his level would only be relevant later as he would need more floors to accommodate more monsters.
And so, as a level 10 player, he was helpless in fighting the beasts but if he could level up, he might become relevant and be able to turn the tides!
Five quickly selected the option to level up. He was frustrated at the idea of not being able to do anything and pressed the button in rage but to his surprise, the following system prompt came in:
[System prompt: Congratulations Player Five. You have reached level 11. You are awarded 1 free stat point.]
His eyes shone, he might be able to participate in the fight after all. Leveling up to level 11 cost him 10000 DP and leveling up to level 12 would cost him 20000 DP. It was becoming more and more expensive but thanks to the death of the beasts, he already replenished his DP.
However, Five did not blindly level up as much as possible. He knew that at most, he would reach level 18 but even at that level, how much would he be able to contribute in the fight?
As such, knowing that he could now modify his own character, Five started browsing through the dungeon shop. He did not bother to look at the monsters and went directly to the section dedicated to skills!
There was a wide selection of skills for several different class but as a dungeon master, Five was able to learn any of them. But at the moment, Five did not know which one would make the best choice: A physical skill where he could use things he learned as an assassin to kill the beasts? Or magical skills to help the monsters while staying at a safe distance?
He was overwhelmed by the choices. But in the end, he settled on the skill he believed was the most appropriate not for this situation but for the dungeon as a whole. The dungeon shop was a huge cheat that could allow him to even purchase skills meant for higher level players, but he could not change the rules of the game, if he did not have enough mana, he would not be able to cast the skills.
And so, Five quickly spent his DP to level up to level 15 before spending 300000 DP to purchase just one skill from the dungeon shop. He did not hesitate to activate the skill book and learn the skill, but he could not cast it yet.
But as he leveled up, Five spent all his free stat points into Intelligence which increased his mana pool. Now, he was able to cast his skill once but just that one time would be able to turn the tides!
...
On the grassy plain, Dreidus was leading Lyra and the three harpies to the center. "You three, you better be careful. Help the Death Knights as they fight the beasts and try to stay in the air most of the time. If something was to happen to you, I will have to face master's wrath!" said Dreidus to the harpies.
Ariel nodded, "Don't worry, we will do our best! We are not just freeloaders. You will see, we will contribute enough for Master to acknowledge us!"
The harpies quickly flapped their wings before disappearing from view in the dark sky.
"Anken! Krishaw! You two will protect Lyra... Make sure nothing happens to her," ordered Dreidus. Out of nowhere, the two living corpses appeared and stood behind Lyra like two bodyguards.
"What about you? Will you be fine alone against that Tiger? He looked really agile and fast..." said Lyra.
Dreidus stayed silent for a moment before answering, "Don't worry! I will use another version of my battle form... Remember to use yours and be careful!"
Just as he finished his sentence, swift shadows started to appear at the entrance of the grassy plain.
...
Apes, Forest Tigers, and Cobras swiftly stepped onto the grassy plains and charged at the nearest monsters. Under the command of Dreidus, the Death Knights started to retreat and gathered in one single formation. They slowly baited the beasts further from the entrance.
The two beast kings appeared at the entrance and watched with confused expressions as the monsters were retreating. They did not understand what was happening until suddenly, all the Death Knights moved and charged towards the beasts.
Just one second ago, they looked like a messy group of riders, running away from danger and yet, with just one swift command from Dreidus, the Death Knights arranged themselves into a perfect formation and swiftly turned to charge at the beasts. The Death Knights emotionlessly lowered their spears, ready to skewer any beasts they might encounter.
"Roarr!" The Forest Tiger King loudly roared to warn its kin to avoid the attack but it was too late. The Death Knights were picking up speed; the grassy plain was the perfect environment for a charge like this!
Th2 kings roared in rage and charged towards the monsters; they needed to avenge their kin!
However, as they were charging towards the beasts, they suddenly detected two powerful auras on the side!
"F*ck off! I don't have time to play with you!" loudly roared the Forest Tiger King in the beast language. He knew he would be intercepted by these powerful monsters if he continued in a straight line and so, he swiftly jumped and charged towards the weakest of the two auras.
The Beast Kings were very sensitive to the aura of the monsters and could easily tell which one was the strongest. It was the habit of the Forest Tiger King to always take down the weakest one first. In this case, it jumped and charged towards a woman surrounded by a white halo. Her hair was completely white as her eyes' pupils were disappearing. Her arms and lower body were turning transparent as she slowly started to levitate.
"Kriiii!"
The Banshee Queen let out a piercing scream as more white particles gathered around its arm. It was clearly the casting of a skill.
But the Forest Tiger King was fast! Extremely fast! It quickly closed the gap between him and the Banshee Queen! However, in his way, stood the two living corpses who swung their axes at the Forest Tiger King.
The latter roared as it crouched to dodge the first ax and jump to avoid the second one. It did not bother to attack the living corpses and quickly went past them. After having turned into living corpses, Anken and Krishaw became slightly weaker and lost a lot of dexterity, they were not as fast and agile as before and could not stop the Forest Tiger King.
It was about to jump at the Banshee Queen when suddenly, his instincts alerted him; something was about to hit him if he jumped! The Forest Tiger King could only grind his teeth as he was forced to jump on the side to avoid the strike.
It jumped on the left and a few moments later, a fiery sword struck the spot it was about to jump from.
"Don't attack her... I'll be your opponent!"
The Forest Tiger King frowned as it looked at the newcomer, it was the other powerful monster that displayed its aura. In front of him, a tall skeleton, wearing a full body armor was slowly raising back the fiery sword while looking at him with contempt.
Wild orange flames were covering its entire body and were leaking out of the armor. In the skeleton's other hand, it was holding a large oval shield which was also lighting up with the orange flames. The skeleton had a devilish look as if, it walked straight out of hell.
This was Dreidus' battle form. This time, he was using the power from the dungeon core to improve its defense and physical abilities. He was supposed to face the Forest Tiger King and knew that its greatest strength was the speed and agility it possessed. If Dreidus fought as a mage, he would not hold for more than one minute but now, as he was fully armored, his chances of winning increased considerably.
Dreidus knew that the biggest weakest of agility type beasts was that they typically dealt less damage per hit and so, with a good enough defense, he would be able to hold on his own. Despite the appearances, Dreidus actually had some experiences as a knight. As a necromancer, he could enter the mind of undead monsters and take control of them. At some point, he naturally tried to control monsters like Death Knights.
With the Forest Tiger King distracted by Dreidus, Lyra flew towards the Ape King with the two living corpses. She did not need to exchange any word with Dreidus as they were already telepathically linked through [Dead Mind]
"Do your best Lyra... I will coordinate the living corpses..."
With the bosses entangled with each other, the Death Knights were free to charge into the pack of beasts. With the momentum they had, they easily pierced several beasts before being forced to stop.
The charge was effective and took out a good portion of the beasts but unfortunately, as soon as they were brought to a stop, the Death Knights were immediately assaulted by the beasts. The Forest Tigers jumped and pushed the Knights off their horses while the Cobras would wrap around the horses' legs, causing them to fall down.
Although the charge was effective, the Death Knights were lacking something essential: there were too few of them! Five never expected to use the Death knights so soon and as it turned out, he only summoned 25 of them. If there were more, the battle would have already come to an end.
The Death Knights were now being ruthlessly attacked by the beasts but at that moment, thin wind blades showered from the dark sky, slicing the throat of several beasts.