21 Chapter 21 (1/2)
Demon Hounds are not to be taken too lightly. Even with my high HP, defense and level, dying is a very high percentage outcome whenever you try to kill or not. I was quite sure that I died countless of times in the past just to bypass them. They total of 30 Demon Hounds in the hallway, but that is only the first guards, the battle is still nowhere near for any typical player without any sort of plan to follow.
In my case, players will call me reckless in soloing the dungeon which is also equivalent to suicide task in early in the game even with a high level. They don't dare do the solo dungeon battles. With a high risk of dying, they also don't want their dropped equipment to disappear inside the dungeon especially the one time opened dungeon where you can only enter and clear it once.
I did not let the Demon Hounds get near to me and quickly uses a skill of Earth Splitter. This time, I am not shouting any unnecessary shouts and only focuses on the enemies. This is no longer the same easy battles. If I can't beat the boss here, might as well give up further in the game.
The numbers of the Demon Hounds are quickly dwindling but my health are also slowly draining. I changed my weapon into a spear and use it jump back away from the Demon Hounds by sticking it to the ground and use its force to forcefully oull back and casts healing spells. By now, the manager capacity of mine is much bigger than usual and my recovery speed is somewhat abnormal too. I have no problem in terms of mana but the cool downs are problem.
One of the most trouble that soloist players have are the long cool downs that their skills have. Magic Knights have the highest damage in terms of Magical AOE skills but also have the longest cool downs in the game that is why the Magicians are on the rescue which has a normal Magical skills with a few AOE skills and has a fast cool down. There are no tricks available to reduce the cool down except if the system revamped it up.
After casting the healing skill, I did not return immediately and struck my hands into the ground to produce another series of Ice Prison. Demon Hounds are intelligent monsters and if they have experienced an attack, they can dodge it which is why the Reality system works so that casting spells are not always the same. You can use your own style in terms of casting. You can choose to pose like a badass and use strong skills or look like a cool hero casting elegant skills, its all your choices.
Ice prison once again encased the remaining Demon Hounds and I didn't wait for them to move. I cast another AOE skill which is the shocking lightning. Since most demon hounds have over a few hundred of HP left, the damage that occurred their heads are enough to drain all of their HP down.
My weapon proficiency have risen helping me obtain a few AP with me to learn some skills later on which is thanks to the title I have, Death's Favorite. The exp bar barely moved at all. Even with the effects of Memento Mori, the experience points that the Demon Hounds give are too small, also accompanied by the low leveling speed that the Versatile Classes have that is why, Lesser Purgatory is a bad dungeon for leveling purposes. Lesser Dungeon's purpose is to earn prestige in getting first clears, lowest amount of clear time and loot.
Lesser Purgatory might be lacking in terms of Exp points but they don't lack treasures, instead, they drop often. I looked into the ground and different drops appear. There are some drops that came from the Demon Hounds that are ingredients in alchemy and blacksmithing while some are too worthless to have. Also, equipments are also here though I don't see any equipment that can replace my equips. I also didn't manage to find a good helm to use.
After making sure that everything is done, I put all of the equipment into the stash. Apparently, the weapons I obtained are the same as those weapons that are dropped by the five players earlier and since my weapon can't devour them since they don't differ earlier, I have to stash them and earn some money later on.
I proceeded once more to deeper into the area. There are different monsters appearing but most of them are easy to deal with and they don't really pose too much danger. They don't really have the same danger quality that the Demon Hounds possess.
My progress is not that slow when I was walking around but when I checked, I have only covered 36% of the dungeon. I have been inside the dungeon for 53 minutes already so this amount covered was already too slow and from the looks of it, there are still some areas I have yet to explore. However, I did not care much. I prefer to clear the Abyss mode than normal but since I can't skip the quest, I should comply.
Wandering around the corridors, I finally arrived on the first boss. Lesser Purgatory contains three bosses. All three are hard to kill and they are too strong against level 15 below. Those who have reached level 16 above can hold it down now. Since it is a boss battle now, I decided to open my skill panel.
After using a few magic a lot of times, my Staff have risen a lot of points helping me to earn Magician AP. I have 7 Magician AP right now and I decided to pay for two skills. Muddy Waters for 3 points and Frigid Wind for 4 points. Muddy Waters is for slowing the boss. The first boss can move so fast that it is hard to beat and frigid wind can help slow the boss further. These skills only do slow debuff and do not procure any damage points to enemies but they can slow the enemies, slow their attacks and lower their damage that can be inflicted. I also go to the Gunslinger skill panel and as I look, I have 3 AP available. I quickly learned the easy to use skill, Bullet Barrage which has a high crit damagebut low damage if the crit didn't activate. I didn't just learn it without something that can ensure critical. I also opened the skill panel for the Paladin. I did not use the spear too much but due to the successful way of using the spear earlier, I managed to get a good AP. I got 2 AP on Paladin. I wanted to learn the Reflect Shield but it needs 5 AP so I just decided to learn the Critical Aura that ensures any attack to get a critical hit for 10 seconds, perfect for the Bullet Barrage.
After everything is done, I changed the weapon into Guns. The Magic Sword was divided into two and it formed into two pistols. I feel epic just by wielding it. Staring at the door, I knew which boss is the first. This guy is too fast that is why the Frigid Wind and Muddy Waters are going to be really useful.
I have no intention to die just yet. This is the third boss battle if you include the Gate Guardian in this lifetime. I have no intention to fail this. Dying here means I need to quit the game. That is my dedication for me to push forward.
I push the door open and the same nasty air escaped as I entered the boss room. Inside, I saw the sleeping boss. I knew that he will awaken once I enter the dungeon.
”Orthrus”
Level 20
Boss
HP: 1,500,000/1,500,000