Chapter 320: Musphelites (1/2)

Everyone in the party understood the significance of a B-rank spell, and this, Li had even almost slightly started to forget. The power level of this world was so low that ordinarily, even a C-rank spell was a feat worthy of praise where to Li, it was useless unless it had niche, good effects. ;

B-rank was the minimum of what Li considered routinely usable, and here, it was already in the realm of myth. ;

Regardless, that just reassured Li more that the lives of this party would be safe so long as he was around. ;

”Haha, that's my lad!” said Old Thane as he beat his wooden ċhėst plate armor with a fist. ”Casting mythical spells with utter ease. I say without my guidance, he would never have grown like this!”

”Sometimes, I think you take me for granted,” said Li. ;

He mentally rolled his eyes at Old Thane and continued on seriously: ”This should be enough to get us all through. Again, I will allow you all to fight and grow stronger, but if a situation ever becomes too dangerous, then I will intervene,” ;

Li put his hand in front of the Spiral Door's warped pattern of space. He felt the cold emanating from it. ”Now then, this Spiral Door is what is called 'Corrupted'. Means that very likely, there's a dark force within it. The same kind of dark force that led the orcs against Riviera.

However, all of you are near me, so you should not fear any madness from such influence. And though there is a dark force within, it does not mean that the dungeon is any much stronger.”

Li knew of dungeons corrupted by eldritch forces. It happened often during the final expansion when the Old Ones were introduced fully. Corruption, however, as he had said, did not change the difficulty of a dungeon much, raising its potential level by 10 at max, potentially.

What made it problematic was that there were more status effects and potentially more annoying enemies to deal with, with eldritch madness being a severe status that dealt massive physical and mental damage, but with the proper preparations, a corrupted dungeon was not much more difficult than its uncorrupted counterpart. ;

Of course, eldritch madness was an extremely dangerous status effect regardless, functioning by exposure effect to any eldritch influences, presences, or attacks, with enough accumulated exposure reaching a breaking point that dealt massive damage.

It was not uncommon for higher tier eldritch entities to manage to deal 60% of a player's maximum health in raw, pure damage if they managed to stack the madness to trigger. However, Li's very presence would negate this madness, so there should not be much of an issue navigating this dungeon. ;

Li pressed his hand to the spiral spatial distortion, felt resistance, then pushed further, shattering the space as if it was made of glass. The shattered pieces of space colored with the supposed images of the Gigant forestscape behind it broke apart to reveal the true reality: fire.

”The living armor will protect you from the heat,” said Li. ”Come on. No cold feet now.”

”Fire! Go! Go!” said Tia with a toothy smile, evidently far more positively disposed to fire than cold. ;

Li smiled at her and, taking her hand, took the first steps into the Gigant dungeon. As he did so, the others followed behind, with Zagan taking up the role of a rear guard.

When everyone entered, the shattered space patched back up, sealing them all shut in the dungeon. Now, there was no exiting this place until they found a proper exit point. ;

”Gods, the heat,” said Mason. ”With the air, the heavy air, it is hard to breathe.” ;

”It is not too bad, brother. Try to breathe through the armor, if I am making any sense,” said Mercer.

Li nodded to Mercer. The younger sibling had caught on quick. With their own physical abilities, they would have suffered greatly under this heat. It was the living armor enhancing their very cells that allowed them to survive, and so relying upon it like a ventilator was the best way to function. ;

Zagan sniffed the air and his crimson eyes narrowed in recognition. ;

Li came to the same conclusion quickly. ;

”This is Hellfire,” said Li. ”Not black Hellfire, thankfully, or else it would be too much for most of you here, but still, far more dangerous than normal flame regardless.”

”Demons, then,” said Mason, almost in a whisper. He gripped his longsword tightly in both hands. ”If it is demons I must strike down, then I will do so gladly. With all my might.” ;