After one hour and killing thousands of Giant Bats, the group finally had the chance to approach the dungeon. Jake was a bit mentally tired but physically refreshed. He gained tons of coins and also some items. Iron gloves and boots that increased his speed and endurance by three points and even two Vampiric Daggers.
As for the girls, they obtained new robes and amulets that increased their mana and intelligence. Things were progressing favorably, but they didn't have time to waste. It was time to sit in front of the dungeon and grind Meditation even more than before.
"I will defeat most of them, but we should focus on making you level up Poison Bullet," Jake said to Louise. "The effects and damage caused by the skill will be a lot useful in a long fight."
"That is fine by me," Louise said.
"You can go play around there," Jake said to Lana.
"You can try to make fun of me, but I won't fall for it so easily," Lana said and then snorted.
She didn't know that she was already falling for Jake's jokes by acting like that. Nevertheless, Lana used Odin's Blessing and then increased Louise's magic attack. Soon, her mana was already full, and she then used the skill again just to make it level up faster, but while that worked, the bonuses of the spell didn't stack.
After hunting for so many hours, Odin's Blessing was already at level four, so it was increasing Louise's power by almost fifty percent. If she could learn one spell of the same category, but that could increase recovery instead, Jake would let her use it on him. He wouldn't ask for it, but he surely wouldn't stop her. In any case, Poison Bullet reached a level where Louise could defeat the bats with a single strike. They had to agonize for a while, but she truly only cast the spell one time.
"I am starting to feel bad about this…" Louise said with a complicated expression on her face.
Jake agreed that seeing a monster being killed by poison was pretty nasty. Still, once he recalled of how the bats looked so vicious and ugly up close, he soon forgot about that.
Eventually, some items that the group already had began to appear, but Jake confirmed that they couldn't be mastered. They could be sold, though, and someone else would be able to do that. Still, Jake was pretty unhappy with the drop rate, to the point where he put six points into luck to see if that would change anything. He didn't notice many changes since the monsters only appeared once every ten minutes.
After two hours of grinding, Jake decided that it was time to stop the grinding. They only had half an hour to clear the dungeon, after all. While he wasn't satisfied with the status points and level-ups the whole group obtained, he couldn't train too much when the target was only the boss of the second map.
"We have to leave some room for a challenge, after all," Jake thought while smirking. "Otherwise, it wouldn't be fun."
"Why are you smiling out of nowhere?" Lana asked. "That is really creepy."
"What about this?" Jake asked, and then he smirked, and he licked his lips.
"Eww…" Lana showed a disgusted expression.
Jake laughed for quite a while for the first time, and the girls frowned. Putting smiles aside, Jake never laughed about anything, not even his own jokes. It seemed that he was starting to get comfortable around them…
Without wasting any more time, the party entered the dungeon. As expected, a few bats got on their way, but they were no longer a problem. Instead of that, the group was a bit tense due to the interior of the dungeon. The walls resembled an abandoned castle with spider webs around. There were many candles illuminating the corridors of the interior. Still, they only worked to make the atmosphere eerie since they were being held by handles in the shape of skulls.
"I thought we had some time until Halloween, but I guess the game developers wanted this dungeon to celebrate it all over the year," Jake said.
"How can you joke around in a place like this?" Lana asked. "I feel like a ghost is bound to appear in those corners at any moment."
"I find this atmosphere quite exciting," Louise smiled.
"You two are too weird…" Lana frowned.
"You are the weird one. Priests should be good against ghosts and undead," Jake said.
"What kind of logic is that?" Lana frowned.
The dungeon's interior had many intersections, but the other parts were too short, and they could easily see their ends without taking them. It seemed a bit too obvious, but walking in a straight line truly was the best option.
After ten minutes, they found the last part of the dungeon, but they didn't find the boss. However, they could see the purple crystal on the other side of that place. When Jake looked above, though, he found a massive bat resting on the ceiling while its claws were stuck there. That was some crazy power the monster had in its feet.
Giant Bat King Lv 65
Health: 7250/7250
Mana: 8900/8900
Stamina: 6100/6100
Naturally, it was stronger than the ancient fire slime. That was within Jake's assumptions, but what it wasn't was the fact that the creature was awake and looking directly at them with its red, vicious eyes. A surprise attack won't be possible…
"That thing sure looks angry…" Lana frowned while she hid behind Louise.
"We probably interrupted its nap," Jake said. "Well, it doesn't matter. If anything, I am thankful for it. It is easier to fight angry enemies. Putting that aside, use those if you guys need it."
Jake said and then passed his remaining potions to the girls. While he also needed mana to use Mana Blade, he already had taken some of the leaves of the herbs. He can use those to recover his energy if the necessity arises.
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