Chapter 928 Chapter 927: On The Prowl
Kat PoV
[Fiend Ka'Minvis killed - 6,000,000 Xp gained!]
[Quests completed x7 - 1,750,000 Xp gained!]
[100,000 Shop Points gained!]
[Level 61 - 530,788 / 2,750,000 -> Level 64 - 30,788 / 2,750,000]
[Stats:
STR : 125 -> 128
CON : 135 -> 140
AGI : 145 -> 152
DEX : 145 -> 152
CHA : 85 -> 86
WIS : 140 -> 142
INT : 140 -> 142]
A nice boost in experience after fighting Ka'Minvis, as well as a good boost in stats as well, which was always a welcome sight no matter what; any increase was a good increase at this moment, and adding more funds to my already bulging wallet was also a boon.
Not the most insane haul all things considered, but for a 'single' target - Ka'Minvis - this was better than I had expected, especially considering Tza'Orbias had been at 7,500,000 on its own, with the large additions of the Cultists and monsters that were summoned to be a nuisance to us during the fight.
It was enough to improve my level even more, and the more funds I had the better for the eventual spending spree I was going to go on when we returned to the Capital, so I was happy with it, especially since some more bonus experience was added on for our voracious appetites being slightly whetted afterwards, so I was quite content when we eventually drifted off to sleep, prepared to take on the morning with some fresh energy.
Which turned out to be an eventful one as we swiftly prepared breakfast and came together to cast a vote for the continued direction of the expedition; did we want to prepare for a little longer, or were we going to hunt down the remaining Fiend as quickly as we could now that we knew there was only one more remaining?
And what was the plan for after that?
Were we going to be sweeping through the various tunnels and grottos one last time or were we just going to call it quits and head on home now, the exhaustion from being inside the Dungeon continuing to mount day after day.
The constant battles against similar opponents, the tedious tasks of mining, harvesting and refining the things we found, the lack of real beds with soft sheets and nice pillows, the almost identical menu for food each morning and night, no real sun...
All of it was continuing to add up, and I could tell that we were all reaching that point where it was becoming a bit of a detriment to our mental states, but even then, I voted to remain a bit longer afterwards, and surprisingly everyone else also voted for that too; the desire for more materials of our own was apparently stronger than the desire for real sun and fresh air...
Which said a lot about the depths of our greed and the current situation of our mental states than anything else, and whilst it was interesting, we had also come to a conclusion on how we wanted to operate going forwards.
Specifically, if we were going to continue preparing or not, and it was another decisive vote that was of little surprise to me; everyone wanted to hunt down the remaining Fiend and get it over with now, with most of us having the sinking feeling that the Nua Fiend would be of a similar level of power as Ka'Minvis.
Strong and tricky to fight at first, but easily figured out and overwhelmed with our current collective abilities and strengths - even if they had the ability to summon and control large hordes of Undead, Ammit, Leone and I had impeccable crowd control magics on standby, and our single target were just as impeccable.
And when Jahi was added into the mix with her Light Mana, well, it just seemed unfair all things considered, but we were aware that life was never completely fair... you had to make it fair to yourself by going out and doing something about it, using your strength, willpower and intelligence to shape your life as you pleased.
Something we were more than capable of doing ourselves for quite a long time now, and something that might not change for quite a long time; the cards were stacked in our favor from the beginning, yes, but we made sure to grow the hand we were given into something that would allow us to beat most things thrown our way, and if the four of us weren't capable, well...
We knew people who had stronger, larger decks than our own, and they would take care of it for us; through obligation and love, which made it all the more likely that things would remain stacked in our favor.
Of course, I wasn't going to tempt fate like that, so I focused instead on what was happening here and now, which was primarily me lowering my other senses and focusing on my nose as I sniffed the air, Anput and I searching for that sickly sweet scent of decay as we guided everyone through the grottos and around the monsters, following the heavy stench of death and rot with no help from Cali, who invisibly drifted along with us as she continued her observation of everything from 'afar'.
The initial signs of the Nua Fiend were extremely subtle and easily missed if you weren't looking for them specifically; the few herbs around us were slightly wilted and generally on their way to becoming fertilizer, the monster population was down and steering clear of certain tunnels, the occasional sweet scent that wafted through the air...
Then it got more obvious; the grass was becoming paler and crunchier, their were corpses of monsters that had large chunks missing, the edges of which were festering and infected, while there was an unnatural silence and unnatural 'weight' to the air.
It was obvious that something was wrong, but if you weren't in the know about what it was, you wouldn't be able to place your finger on it for the life of you, and that only created a sense of unease that pervaded your mind and made sure that you were constantly on edge; adding on the random shrieks in the distance, and it was an unease that seemed to slide beneath your conscious and simply add on a vibe that made it impossible to feel comfortable and safe.
When we reached the fifth grotto from our base camp, the sudden shift from a nuanced set of signs to something that was more in your face was jarring; the monsters that were previously just dead and decaying were stumbling around and growling at one another, whilst the air was thick with the smell of death and decay, its cloying scent clinging to your nostrils and almost making you gag with how horrendous it was.
The smell of bile and rotting meat pairing with the stillness of the air was a recipe that should have never made it out of the cookbook, whilst the obvious Undead tried to claim your other senses; the sounds of their groaning and growling, as well as the wetness of their movements as their blood and flesh sloughed off to the floor, the sight of their body decomposing slowly but surely paired with their horrendous appearance, the way the smell forced itself upon your tongue...
The air itself grew heavier again, an unnatural pressure landing on your shoulders and making you conscious of each step as the mental exertion of just moving your body started to become a small, yet noticeable thing.
Everything mixed together into this unnatural concoction that we were forced to push forwards through as we sought out to go deeper into the Dungeon, following that revolting scent past the Undead and into the sixth and seventh grottos, which only grew exponentially in how utterly nauseating they were, your head sent reeling at the sensory overload that was happening whilst your mind shouted at you to turn around and walk away.
Even with a barrier of Wind Mana around us pushing the air around and cycling it into something not as disgusting we were still feeling sick to our stomachs, and as we watched the water go from crystal clear to murky green and yellow, watched as the monsters became more and more disfigured, felt as the air got thicker and heavier, that ill feeling mounted, threatening to break our wills with just how all encompassing it was.
It was claustrophobic in nature, utterly dominating each sense you had and doing its best to make you submit to it, to fall to your knees and despair at the unquestionable power of decay and death; seeing the grass, plants, and water gradually become diseased and filled with sickness of different kinds was jarring, but when we saw rocks gradually breaking down and turning into sediment, or the light crystals that illuminated each grotto gradually switch from a neutral, sterile white into a pale green and yellow, it only grew stronger within each of us.
That realization that even the world itself was decaying slowly but surely, that sheer horror that consumed your very soul as the never ending march of time was put on full display in front of us as we watched the grottos gradually become more and more inhospitable and dangerous not only to the material, but also the immaterial.
Our bodies were shown the eventual reality of what would happen to us in death, whilst our minds were allowed to peek into the magnitude of just how enormous the Domain of Decay was, each passing second doing its job to show how minutes, hours, days and more gradually led to this.
It was horrifying in a way that only the realization of just how insignificant an individual was could provide, and as the hearty, amused chuckle reverberated around the grotto, we were finally able to gaze upon the thing responsible for the horrors around us.
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