After a few minutes of sufficient rest, Hecate restarted her grindfest.

As she walked in the path, she continuously clashed against various high-leveled undeads. But this time, she replaced her garment with Black Phantom's cloak, the +7 Cloak of the Fallen, and her face has been hidden by Black Phantom's mask, the +7 Mask of Serenity.

The cloak's effect would ensure her to survive any fatal injuries with just one HP left, for 7 times per day. Not only that, it also grants her a lot of bonus stats, as well as +25% MP regeneration. It was a powerful epic-grade equipment that makes Hecate more versatile.

And, the main reason why she changed to this cloak was the anti-knockback effect. After all, knockback in this place was fatal. If she got thrown off from the path and fall to the ravine, then it will be a sure game over.

However, it also has the demerit of halting HP regeneration and the increase of 50% EXP penalty in case she died while wearing this cloak. And by breaking the Lunar Set effect¹Lunar Wand + Lunar Cape (Chapter ℙ006), she loses her +10% Max MP and +40% MATK.

"Mystical Amplification! --- CYCLONIC STORM!" (distorted voice)

Hecate's spell blasted the surrounding undeads, along with their arrows and spells once more.

 

WHOOOOOSSSSHHH!!

-148.500  -147.600  -148.200  -148.300  -148.800

 

Some of the enemies were blasted from the pathway and fell off to the ravine. It's a pity that their loot also disappeared along with their bodies.

'The difference in loss is only 3% MP, it doesn't really matter. But, the loss of MATK 40% is quite detrimental ... Though, it can still be compensated by casting MA first. It's a little troublesome, but I have no choice.'

She could only sigh. But she had to do this to increase her survivability.

Meanwhile, the mask can perfectly conceal her face and voice. So if somehow there are people who saw her wearing Black Phantom's clothes, they won't be able to recognize her as Hecate.

To add more precaution, Hecate also opened the minimap with a transparency setting of 97%. A hotkey slot of Crime Scroll also ready to be used anytime. If a green dot which symbolized Players appears in her minimap, she can immediately activate the scroll to hide her name.

— Being a crime loli is hard!

And thus, the grindfest continues...

♦♦♦

 

As she continued the descending road, Hecate encountered a few of Wraith Deads and Banshee Masters. Their appearance was even more horrible to look at, compared to the Wraiths and Banshees on the previous floor.

Not only their appearance, but their skills also more frightening.

Looking at the notification window, Hecate's expression turned sour.

Due to the nature of the place, there was a lack of foothold on which Hecate could be used to dodge.

A wrong step can make her slip and fall from the path to the ravine below. Therefore, it couldn't be helped that there were several attacks that couldn't be avoided. If it was a magic attack, it wouldn't be a problem since her INT stat gave a very high MDEF. But, the same can't be applied to physical attacks due to her low DEF.

One life has been used!

"Ugh! This is bad...! WATER VAPOR!"

Realized the current unfavorable situation, Hecate firmly crushed a bottle filled with high-grade Holy Water to create a 3 meter long mist. In that instant, the surrounding enemies hurriedly backed off, as if they were repelled by the mist. It can be seen that the holy mist has a deterrent effect on those undeads.

For now, she had no longer to worry about physical attack.

Hecate quickly drank a Hi-Potion to recover her HP. But she wasn't done yet.

"Now it's my turn to attack! Mystical Amplification! --- TIDAL WAVE!"

The moment she finished the casting, the holy mist condensed and became a bulb of water, which expanded rapidly and eventually burst out to sweep the enemies.

Normally, it would be impossible to use Tidal Wave spell in the current area. The stone path was not that huge, there was no walls to contain the water and there are the endless ravine below the stone path. The water will just flows there and be wasted. But now, Hecate can use her new ability to control mana to change the shape of the water conjured by the spell.

"Eat my Water Dragon! You lowlifes!"

The bulb of water morphed the shape under Hecate's mental induction. But...

Rather than a dragon, it was more resembling of an eel!

'Err... This must be because my mana control skill is still level 1... Well, it's okay. The control is not smooth yet. But with practice, I believe I can do better next time.'

With that in mind, Hecate got a new goal to add to her to-do list. But for now, she had to shift her attention to the enemies in front of her.

"GO! MY WATER EEL!"

The water eel simply lunged to the enemies and 'eat' anything that stood on its path. Even if it was just an eel, but this eel was a bulb of water containing holy power, which was the bane of the undead.

WHURRRR! BLUB! BLUB! BLUB!   

-72.500 -72.340  -71.900  -72.130...

Those undeads who got 'eaten' by the eel were quickly dissolved and purified, leaving only the lootable items. Two minutes later, all the enemies has been digested by the eel. Hecate simply stopped supplying MP and the eel quickly evaporated, leaving only the loot.

Looking at the scattered loot items in front of her, Hecate sighed in relief.

That was so close.

If it was not because of Black Phantom's cloak, she would have died there. Fortunately, she took a measure and changed her equipment beforehand.

"It seems I have overestimating myself too much."

Hecate shook her head with a sigh. She was confident of her ability to judge the strength of others, as well as herself. This was why when facing adversaries, she knows when to advance, and when to retreat.

She was also aware of her exceptional reaction ability. This ability was probably gained due to Elixir. The Elixir that cured her real body from any injuries and diseases. But, that was not all it can do. Since the Elixir fixed her real body from disease, perhaps it also fixed every imperfect part of her body to perfection, including her nerves and brain tissues.

However, she miscalculated about the terrain disadvantage. It is not difficult to dodge enemy attacks, but the condition is that there is a place to dodge. In the place where foothold is limited, she can only utilize half of her abilities.

While busy collecting the loot, Hecate continued to reflecting her mistakes.

• Water Vapor used: 35/50
• Tidal Wave used: 1/30

♦♦♦

 

Hecate spent about two hours before reaching the lowest reachable area of the B3F.

In that two hours, she successfully leveled up once and upgraded her Precision Mana Control skill to Lv3.

Now she can control the shape of her spell to some extent, better than before. Like changing the shape of the fire from Firebolt spells to birds, or shaping Tidal Wave spell to make a water hydra, and many more.

Not far from her location, Hecate can see an altar that can teleport her to B4F.

She can speculate that the next area would be related to the endless ravine below. However, when she walked towards the altar, she was repelled. Something made her unable to approach the altar any further.

Looking at the notification below, Hecate frowned.

"Dark power... Is this talking about those Reapers? Do I have to kill the two of them first?"

Most likely, those two Reapers acts as a Gatekeeper or something along those lines. Without defeating both of them, nobody can proceed further to the 4BF. If that was the case, then it make sense why they didn't chase the Players and continue to stay within their territory.

But either way, Hecate didn't plan to move now, since she had almost used her spells for today.

It was because of this limited arsenal that she didn't challenge the Reapers, and also avoided the route that has Ghoul Slaughter in it.

The most important spell, Water Vapor, has been used up. Without it, she would have been bombarded by the undeads. Other spells and scrolls also almost exhausted.

"Well, I guess this is it."

As Hecate cleaned the last monsters on the altar, Hecate relaxed.

But suddenly, she sensed a bad feeling in her heart.

Her vision suddenly turned red due to the warning from the Fortune Instinct. However, before she could react, something suddenly hit her from behind.

SWIIISH!! PAAAK!! 

-44.300!

"GAAHHK...!!"

Severe pain suddenly overwhelmed Hecate's mind.

Hecate has set her Pain Receptors at 100%, completely different than most players. She did this to increase the skin sensitivity to feel the friction of air, which also affects her swiftness response during movement. But this also meant the pain she received just now was the same as the pain of being cut in real life.

Of course, not just anyone can set their Pain Receptors to 100%.

During the entire login time, the game will monitor the player's brainwave and heart rate. This data will be used to calculate the upper limit of Pain Receptors that the player can set. Players with strong mind and body, without any health problem can set theirs to 100%. Meanwhile players with health issue will have lower limit.

However, even if the players have 100% upper limit, few will chose to do so. Most players who play this game mainly chose their Pain Receptors at 'recommended' option, which was only 10% or below. 

Only the extremist will dare to set their Pain Receptors to 100%.

'Wha!!? I got ambushed? But there's nothing appeared in the minimap? Don't tell me...'

Hecate immediately turn around and jumped backward from her position. As she jumped, she quickly activated a skill.

"SAFETY WALL!"

FWOOSSH!!

In that instant, a red-colored barrier with the shape of a dome appeared, protecting Hecate.

The barrier can block any attacks up to 10.000 damage. But compared to the damage Hecate was received just now, it probably can only defend her just once before it shatters.

'Well, I didn't take any Safety Wall-related support skills. Of course this wall would be fragile.'

Hecate took another Hi-Potion and drank it.

'But blocking once is enough! If they dare to attack, then...'

At the same time, her eyes looked at the surrounding area, searching for the enemy.

It didn't take a long for Hecate to find the supposed enemy. In a pillar not far from her position, a figure that observing her can be seen very clearly. It was an undead with skeletal figure. But unlike regular skeleton, it has flesh and muscles, indicates that it was a ghoul.

Not only that, it has a trace of wisdom.

The Ghoul Slaughter!

Considering it has one of the strongest DPS skill, Assassinate, it can be concluded that it belonged to Assassin, or Shadow Assassin Jobclass. Then, the reason why it didn't appear on the minimap, most likely due the skill Presence Concealment.

The moment Hecate realized who was the enemy, her first response was...

Grappling Hook activate!

--PSHAAW!

"Hasta la Vista, BABY!"

Prompt retreat!

Without hesitation, she immediately run away from the enemy.