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The shortest sleep he would ever get. He wakes up, thrusting up from the floor. To his dismay, the door opened too early beyond the planned calculations. The terror coming from the door prevails, storming out in berserk behavior. The death toll increased exponentially since the dealing with the Suited Man And the Veschwarz. Adding more pessimism, at least a hundred have already perished.

Kilian at the campsite, seeing no one there, already departed from their resting beds. He runs towards the direction of the dungeon’s entrance. The feeling of the burned souls came flying through the midnight sky as he sprinted through the pathway. Bracing himself against the incoming company, “DK!” He commanded, summoning his black sword to his hand, to give one thrust strike to the floor. Smoke travels around each slash he gestures. In the end leaves a whiff of soot, bringing rampant coughs to the frontline. They all went down into the fold, missing their chance to dodge in any direction. Kilian walks around the sleeping dark clouds, leaving them succumbing to the chemical-like smell.

||+40 XP (20 Kills)||

The whole outskirts of the dungeon are filled with river flows filled with molten lava and are blocked by the magnitudes of contrasting elements while dealing with the extra security in the scene. Fair enough to the men. More steel-spirited compared to the first invasion.

“We aren’t looking too good! If we don’t charge in now, the whole sidelines will be pushed back.” Ivermi pointed in the same direction Kilian saw earlier.

“Yes! Do it now! Now or never.” Kilian commended while wondering if no one would wake him up leaving him all alone. Amid the doubts, he continues and joins the chaos masquerade. Able to fly, he scans around the entrance, figuring out a way for them to intrude. Roaring fireball projectiles come fully armed, directing their focus to him. No hesitation, the cannons went off, pumping repetitively, not willing to tire itself till any air intruders concede or perish.

“Air balls above!” Kilian screamed, cutting one before quickly descending to the ground over a group of mobs, adding weight to the soles of his boots seconds before landing. A violent aura crushes through the skull, shattering the helmet plate. The energy transfers into the scalp entering through the skull and expanding itself. Kilian backflipped away as the qi exploded through its sockets. He observes it forcing itself out and manipulates the body’s movement to exterminate the mobs nearby.

||+16 XP (8 Kills)||

He ran through the decomposing corpses, aiming straight at the tall door while looking over his shoulders. “Detsu!”

“Kilian! Get in Here!” He zapped Kilian’s back as a boost, speeding him through the doors. A loud creaking vibrates his ears once Kilian passes the doors. They're closing! “Everyone!! Hurry! The doors are about to close!!” He vocalizes through the swipe of his sword, summoning electricity. With the strands of bolt, his voice travels among the area communicating with all allies.

They all removed the focus from dealing with the mobs, broke out of the hurdle, and barged themselves through the crowd, aiming at the door. Detsu zapped their backs, speeding them beyond their control through the entrance. Rolling along the dust of the pathway, they all come crashing to the floor all at once. Selina flew in, casting a cushioned drop, force-stopping the incoming from rolling much further.

Roland came last with Ivermi and Vivien hanging on one of his arms. The grimoire dances while hovering over him until drop-kicking the three to the crowd. Then absorbs one of the cannon’s blasts, imprinting it on the empty pages. Closing it up and opening the pages again, freely meteor showered across the dungeon’s perimeter, shutting off the dungeon’s entire front defense system. The grimoire dissipates into thin air, returning to Roland’s inner pockets.

||Cannons in the area 15/15 -> 0/15||

||Kilian -> LV 2: 648/20,000

Roland -> LV 2: 1021/20,000

Selina -> LV 2: 1710/20,000||

||Automatic Documentation Updating…

New Documentation

• Enter the Jinsu Dungeon (Dungeon 14)

Completed Documentation

• Run through the entrance.

||

Inside the dungeon looks like a military base blended into a decent town, matching the details from the documents Roland read. The appearance appears reminiscent of Cloudburn, specifically the first district when walking past the gate. Immediately they are surrounded. The skeletal mobs from outside appear again, peeking from the walls and buildings. “I wished I hadn't slept. My head fucking hurts that no ice cold can cool it off.” Kilian grunted through his words and began running to the swarm of berserk and maniac skeletal creatures. Upon striking first up close, he glares past the hollow darkness coming from each of their skulls.

Vessa followed up with the stinger of hers, carving through the multiple rusted metals in the blade. Shattering it all into bits followed up with a slash with her upper two legs. Her mandibles then felt itchy. She grabbed the last one, biting through the skull, pulling it aggressively from the skeletal body, ripping the spine. Grossing others out, she munches, bones getting crunched in her so-called dinner feast. By the time she finishes her moment, others have already progressed a bit through the first wave.

“How many more here!” Vivien cries while spraining her arms as she tries to cut through the ribs. “Ow! Shit!” She grunted as the skeleton cut her shoulder.

BUMP!

A black-gloved fist, punched through the center of the ribcage, bricking it in contact with the punch. By the blink, the skeleton vanished, leaving Vivien’s hand gripping the end of her foldable fan. What in the world! She turns to her left, catching sight of a suited individual on top of the fragmented bones. “Vivian?”

The individual stood up, veering in Vivien’s direction, showing off a glimpse of the robust figure as the coat flaps upward momentarily. “Saved you once again,” Vivian said.

“Oh come on! I was having it this time.” Vivien expressing dissapointment, almost pouting back at her.

“Hey, cheer up! You get the opportunity,” Vivian cheerfully replied, reaching for her arm. Pulling her into the chaos ahead. Running up with Kilian and Selina, thrusting Vivien beside them. “You look terribly shit.”

“Save the compliments later. Come join us, you two,” Kilian said.

“Oh, way ahead of you!” Vivian leaps up high, attracting and activating the remaining part of the defense system, immediately firing back at her. Reacting quickly as bliss, she kicked one directly to the upcoming wave, crawling out from the ground. Wrecking multiple tents and stone-built residential buildings. Below, everyone realizes that typical protocol isn’t gonna work dealing with the abundant skeletal creatures, so they break off without mentioning who is going where.

|| Discovered: Slaying Skeletal Party Base

Mob Count: 950+

Rewards once cleared: +1 Memory Piece Reveal, +1500 XP, +200 Silver

Dungeon Number: 14||

Memory Piece Reveal? Kilian considered that thought. Finally, a lead? Selina revealed she also has that reward listed. To figure this dungeon was the fourteenth, wasn’t news as the map is already clear what number it was. But what concerns everyone present, participating in the attack is how close it was stationed near Jinsu. Probably fifty miles at most from the northmost border. Originally they were planning to train themselves while dealing with the worst waves in more northern areas of the continent, mainly near Stiocor. However, after returning to Jinsu, a potential leak relating to the beginning events of the Jinsu Raid at least a month ago correlates to Dungeon fourteen.

While distracted from his ambition, Kilian was snapped back when DK moved on its own. DK boosted with its qi, sending Kilian hovering midair and both struck through the tent, crashing to the surprise of a few skeletal who were sleeping under. With the weight coming from the two, Kilian crushed them with his solid back and behind, landing directly above them while mysteriously suffocating them.

“Ouch!”

<< You wake up now?!>>

“Now I am, thanks!”

<< Come on, get up. No time to think of second thoughts. Save that for the end. Move it! >>

||+10 XP||

Kilian lifted himself from the collapsed tent, finding the fabric to leave a whole dent of the skulls imprinted on the material. Am I that warm?! He feels his warm face where he can hear the burbling roaring noise close to the boiling hot bubbles at the hot spring. Biting within his lips, then refocusing back on the objective. He scrambled back to trouble when a pillar-shaped blast erupted in the distance, covered in smoke and shooting lightning bolts around its aerial reach.

<< What did I say? Hurry! >>

While running, he repetitively deflects multiple strands of electricity ruthlessly striking anything in its way, including open space. Fitting for a mindless creature. While reaching close to the smoke pillar, he heard the fast-paced footsteps, rumbling behind him. Watching his steps, he nudged to the left, witnessing a long-haired tank-top tall figure, fairly toned, and wearing heavy pants held by a heavy-duty belt equipped with various tactical weapons. “What an unexpected reunion, General,” the familiar raspy voice reached Kilian's ears.

Eyes raised, “Zikham?! You changed.”

||The Smoke Pillar of 14 HP: 15,000/15,000||

Kilian and Zikham simultaneously strike back the upcoming electricity, now turning purple. Subsequent follow-up strikes and the two absorbed the barrage of bolts while resuming the conversation. “Bizzare isn’t it? Even though it’s only been a month. Sucks us four weren’t at Jinsu during your return,” Zikham replied, pointing upwards to the near pinnacle of the smoked pillar and thrusting one humongous slash, inches pierced through the smoke. Damn!

“No issue and are you sure that’s not a wig?” Kilian asked, succeeding Zikham’s attack with a purple blast from the tip of his blade. The uppermost part of the smoked pillar starts cutting itself loose, passing the sounds of a horn hailing in the air.

Zikham looks up while proving to Kilian it’s his legitimate hair, pulling it backward midair for a moment. “Nope. Not at all. You almost got me there because it brought me back to the time I had to wear a wig many years ago.”

“Heh, no kidding,” Kilian said, then suggesting to attack from upwards. “Hammer it?”

“Sure, thing!”

Exerting their quads, the two launch up in a blink, quickly viewing above the smoked pillar. To their luck, they were a second ahead when another round of electric bolts shot out. While viewing above, they noticed the switch of the smoked pillar followed by their two attacks, it transformed the lowered top into a ring, spinning clockwise, and creating a whirlwind using the smoke it emitted. Kilian and Zikham dashed out of the way, observing the whirlwind monstrosity reaching into the sky at troubling heights.

Zikham observes the sky upon realizing something potentially deadly is about to occur. “It’s absorbing the other clouds! If we just keep staring in awe, this thing will annihilate all of us.”

“I’m not sure if I can bring this whole thing down in one piece,” Kilian concerningly replied, while pinpointing where to begin. Looking below, he saw the entire dungeon except one spot. Despite being so high up beyond the perimeter’s defenses, the cannons from the rear defense are all squashed. Not sure who did but it’s dead.

||The Evolved Ring of Bolts HP: 17,000/17,000||

||The Smoke Pillar of 14 HP: 14,000/15,000||

||Automatic Documentation Updating…

||New Documentation

• Deal with the Smoke Pillar
• Deal with the Evolved Ring of Bolts.

Completed Documentation

• Run through the entrance.
• Enter the Jinsu Dungeon (Dungeon 14)

||

Is this trolling me? TWO?! Kilian ranting outside might be a little awkward as a blazing aura envelops his upper body and appears behind his back.

“What’s your plan?!”

Kilian’s half-red and blue eyes stared at him, “No plan. We are going all out, right now!”

Zikham glances below and then nods back, forcing levitating sparkles to generate from his forearms and shoulders, swirling around him. Until there’s enough dancing around, he extends his arms out horizontally. One flex from his right forearm creates an invisible path for a portion of the swirling particles, entering the sword’s fuller. His sword’s entire blade and guard enlarges, becoming wider than himself, with the fuller shining in bright maroon red.

His right forearm was forcefully enlarged to compensate for the weight of his sword. He gave a one-swipe-slash motion, causing an area right outside of the dungeon to shake. Kilian felt the vibration from below and a loud finger snap-like with the area to scream orange.

Burst of dazzling orange liquid, ejecting at full force carrying misty smoke visible in the air thanks to the flaming colors. A few seconds later, it stops, leaving remnants scattered across the scene, likely ruining part of the campsite. Kilian turned back, “Are you ready?”

Zikham gave the go, and Kilian went a little higher till he was around the middle of the whirlwind. DK shines his edges when Kilian lifts him upward. An echoing boom ignites after qi fills up to the tip, bursting radiant blue qi as wide as it could reach. Tripled by his height, desperate to exit away. His facial scars brighten orange at its outline. Looking like a wild beast, he roars with one breath. He sets his feet down using the air as the platform, deploying the qi directly to the whirlwind.

Too abrupt, a chunk of the blast missed the target hitting parts of the dungeon below, hopefully hitting any hidden skeletal mobs. Awkwardly few yelps. Before he could react to it, relief settles as the whirlwind dissipates into the thin air. The revolving ring is sliced in half, and debris falls to the floor around the pillar. He sees Zikham leap over the pillar. Then thrusting his sword straight down, sending him into a free fall. The speed downward, heating his entire body where it glows around him, leaving the barely part of the sword to remain visible.

||The Evolved Ring of Bolts HP: 17,000/17,000 -> 0/17,000||

Bang!

The glow spread like roots along the surface of the pillar, eventually shattering it to rubble. Stones and metal spew outwards in the form of projectiles, dangerously flying across the region. Zikham tripped over and fell along with the pillar.

Boom!

First time breaking the sound barrier, he bolted down, and Selina ran up to the collapsing pillar. Seeing her, he slammed his shin right onto Zikham, getting him away in a nick of time. Landing right onto Selina’s casting magic cushion on her chest, bracing his fall to zero. Kilian sighs in relief, gliding himself down away from the rubble.

||The Smoke Pillar of 14 HP: 14,000/15,000 -> 300/15,000 ||

Zikham jolted up, padding all the dust from his pants and putting his sword away. Kilian’s face and eyes dimmed, relaxing as he watched till the last bit of the pillar collapsed. Looking around, finding out the rest have already cleared the scene. Turning back to Zikham, his prior sword, shrunk to the bare size of a katana, slightly amazed him. “I thought you had a sword before. Now you have a katana? Good choice in my opinion.”

||The Smoke Pillar of 14 HP: 300/15,000 -> 0/15,000 ||

“A month can change a lot,” he pantingly said. “I just noticed. What happened to your face? You look toasted, and it’s terrifyingly abysmal.”

“I got adapted to it quickly. Since this is your first time, I don’t think Detsu, Benson, or Ivermi got a focused look or paid attention enough. From afar could be just makeup or some sort. You’ll get used to it if you haven’t.”

“That’s not what I’m saying. I’m talking about finding relationships. Will that scorching face get you anywhere?”

Kilian grinned and almost chuckled. “Then you go get one. I’m not retired yet. There’s so much for me to do before I can play easy.”

“Well, that part of you hasn’t changed. That’s good to know. Anyway, it seems we are clear now, taking a turn up ahead. I think everyone is over there closer to the lair,” Zikham said, pulling out a pistol. The center hole on the grip fills up maroon red as Zikham holds onto it. Zikham noticed Kilian observing it. “A pistol made for ones like us. One way to use our qi is through this.” He fired one shot at a spare building. The qi-turned bullet demolished the entire side of the building top down, revealing an open interior.

“Damn. Is this from the north?”

“Unfortunately yes.”

“Hmm…Interesting,” Kilian mumbled, leaving the scene, heading uphill. Zikham and Selina ran along.

|| +960 XP (Pillar destroyed)

Level 2: 658/20,000 -> 1,618/20,000||

||Automatic Documentation Updating…

||New Documentation

• Reach to the Lair.

Completed Documentation

• Run through the entrance.
• Enter the Jinsu Dungeon (Dungeon 14)
• Deal with the Smoke Pillar
• Deal with the Evolved Ring of Bolts.

||