Everlast Online

After some time Liz finally made it to the bottom of the cavern where the boss was.

Liz had not been in too many dungeons, but this one was excessively large - the largest she had ever seen. Just walking down to the bottom, without any enemies beyond the random stragglers, took her more than half an hour. This was of course in part to the little legs of the [Abandoned Doll] race, but nonetheless it was still a large dungeon.

Liz arrived to see Eren, Gloria, her undead and a number of her puppets waiting outside of the boss door. Though calling it a door was an overstatement - it was more like a curtain draped over the entrance to a cavern.

"These berks really are idiots." Liz sighed as she looked over the waves of undead she had created. She couldn't believe that only a few hours ago she had been worried about having lost her army because she now had so many summons at her service that her previous army seemed more like a small gathering - at least compared to her current legions. "Let's go give the boss our greetings then, as thanks for all the precious materials they've graciously offered us."

Liz strode confidently through the curtain into the boss room, her undead filing in behind her.

The boss's cave was large, just smaller than the cavern that they had just passed through to get here - unnerving Liz greatly.

Looking around it was dark, only illuminated by flames running along the side; being an undead this was fine, but still uncomfortable. Up above, stomping was heard, heading closer as the walls of the cavern began to shake. Suddenly, the stomping and shaking came to a stop as Liz's [Soul Sight] skill noticed something large and above them, quickly descending.

Moments later a giant monster crashed into the floor, the cavern rippling with fractures from the impact and dust kicking up everywhere; completely obscuring Liz's view.

At first Liz wasn't panicked, but that quickly changed as the enemy soul within the dust cloud moved at speeds faster than she, or anyone else, could react. In an instant she felt an impact, an impact that sent her flying through the air as [Voodooism] put in work it hadn't in a while. One skeleton mage collapsed into a pile of bones, another Archer quickly followed as Liz crashed into the wall - her plush body somehow creating a metre deep dent.

The dust had cleared at the force of the impact, revealing the true form of the boss.

"RAAAAAAH!" It screamed, raising all 4 of its arms as they crashed down onto the floor in rage, further destabilising the cavern as it looked close to collapsing. As it moved again a quest appeared in front of Liz:

(A/N: Not a dungeon quest, just part of this dungeon to keep things fresh)

Pretty lacklustre rewards, but I hardly have a choice. Liz thought, pulling herself from the hole she was in as the [Idealised Berk] went on a rampage. This might be hard, given only 5 minutes after all.

Liz looked at the boss's level as her undead let out volleys of spells and arrows, Liz having already given her melee based undead to stay back for now due to the monster's impossibly high STR.

[Idealised Berk (150) (Boss)]

The boss was large, easily 2 stories high, with incredibly burly muscles. Thick black hair grew over his greyish skin that seemed to blend into the cavernous walls - almost like a natural camouflage - not that it helped to hide the hulking monster. Due to its size, bulging muscles and finally, 4 dangerous-looking arms the [Idealised Berk] was not a monster that could possibly be hidden, not to mention the temper it had as it screamed and roared in anger at any attack that landed upon it.

With its level and size, Liz would surely struggle to kill the [Idealised Berk].

Shit. Liz sighed internally, the boss being at the highest possible level for the dungeon. Liz and her guardians were not yet at that level.

Liz herself was at level 107 while Gloria was slowly approaching 100 at level 93. Eren had seen the most growth, but only because she was massively underleveled for the dungeon they were in. She had gone from level 1 to 48 and then further from level 48 to level 78. 

Her list of skills grew rapidly, with 3 more following - including the bonus higher ability skill at level 50.

[Resentful Fury (1) (A+): Create an aura that spreads the user's resentment to anything it touches. For allies this results in a +150% buff to all abilities. For enemies this results in a {Madness} debuff. Range of aura scales with UNH and skill level. Effects of aura last for 1 minute when not in direct contact. Aura drains user's mana during use]

This skill was already in effect during the fight as a volatile energy enveloped Liz's undead, its source rippling out from the backlines. The effect on the undead was clear as their previously green eyes burned a hellish red and their attacks became both stronger and faster - though Liz did notice her control over them was lessened. They were not freed from her control entirely, they were just no longer blindly loyal. Of course this disappeared so long as the effect did.

Her other skills:

[Wound Aggravation (1) (C+): Worsens all healing abilities on a targeted enemy, be that internal or external. Reduction of healing abilities scales with UNH and skill level]

and,

[Cursed Flame Arrow (1) (D): Fire an arrow of cursed flame. Has the chance to inflict {Pain} debuff upon contact. Power of flame and debuff scale with INT, UNH and skill level]

The [Fallen Saintess] was an incredibly powerful class, mostly because the [Saintess] was similarly powerful. As a result the skills Eren could learn were incredibly powerful, even if they were simply the reverse of typical [Saintess] skills such as [Wound Aggravation] being the reverse of [Blessing of Regeneration] or [Cursed Flame] being the reverse of [Holy Flame].

All of Eren's skills were helping with the boss battle as purplish cursed fire rained down in tandem with unholy blades - all while the [Idealised Berk] became more and more sickly and Liz's undead became that much more powerful.

The only downside seemed to be the heavy drain that Eren's skills caused. There were often times her skill effects would vanish instantly due to insufficient energy. Liz was just glad that Eren seemed to be prioritising healing her undead though; since they were no longer renewable.

Eren was putting in work, but Gloria was in no way slacking either as she used [Ouroboros's Fang] to cut deep into the boss monster's flesh. Due to the monster's size, it had a lot of blood, allowing for the weapon's [Blood Seeker] skill to get to work; what's more with Gloria's [One-On-One] skill the boss regularly stopped smashing his way through undead to rush straight at Gloria who always managed to parry the giant's blow thanks to her [Demise Blade] skill close to reaching 100%, making her swordsmanship nearly perfect.

Even her level 90 skill [Demise Burst (1) (B)] was being put to good use. With blasts of energy bursting like a shotgun with each of Gloria's attacks, latching onto the [Idealised Berk]'s body and slowly corroding at its skin. 

It was really only Liz who was currently not doing anything, as she finally dropped back into the arena from the wall she had been trapped in. Eren nodded at her, not healing her as she knew Liz's skill had prevented any damage, and Liz turned back to the fight; activating [Lonely Toy] to remove the senses of the boss.

However, the skill did not take effect on the boss, the [Idealised Berk] having resisted, but noticing the skill. His aggro quickly turned to Liz, only drawn away as Gloria once again activated [One-On-One] to bring it back to her as the main tank in the party.

Liz shook off her disappointment at her skill failing and took advantage of the fixed aggro, having her melee undead, who had been sidelined, charge at the boss and begin climbing its gargantuan body. With Gloria's skill active, the boss did not even stop to remove the swarm of undead who had begun to dig into its flesh - like a swarm of ants taking down an elephant, with more and more blood began to leak from the monster.

Once the [Idealised Berk] clashed with Gloria and broke from its trance, it jumped backwards onto the ground, causing more and more fractures while rolling around to crush Liz's undead. The timer ticked down, but Liz's undead stayed strong - with a mixture of fast movement and Eren's healing skills, many of the undead would survive long enough to reach a safe position on the brutes body before it fully turned over. From there they would continue ripping into the boss's flesh as more and more blood flooded from the boss monster.

It was here that Liz saw an amazing opportunity. 

Liz pulled out the [Book of Damned Souls] and made use of a summoning spell she was quite excited about. The blood rushing from the boss had just barely reached the requirements and so began to move, swirling and condensing into a large core as more blood gathered around it - until finally the desire creature was formed:

It's a little smaller than the one that the cultists used. Liz thought as she looked upon the growing mass of blood. But it's still impressive.

The blood golem took the boss monster in a hold, its liquid body washing over it and flooding through any hole it could find until the monster looked ready to burst. The fight was over at this point as the giant was not smart enough to find any way out of the blood golem's hold - slowly drowning in its own animated blood.

The quest was accomplished and the [Idealised Berk]'s body fell limp. As the body looked like it would explode, Liz ordered the golem to pull back, the waves of blood rushing out of the monster and condensing further into a similar size to Eren. It was much smaller, but incredibly dense and physically powerful - making Liz even more glad she had summoned one.

"I'll give you a name." Liz decided, realising the blood golem was exceptionally smarter than what the cultists had created, "I'll call you: Garnet."

Liz decided the name based on the golem's colour when fully condensed as it seemed less crimson-red than when it was at full size. A piece of Liz's soul left her and entered Garnet, shaping the condensed form of the golem further, making it seem much more feminine in shape as it offered a bow to a master it could now more easily recognise.

"Now, onto the boss." Liz muttered, walking forward to see it. She had lost a large number of undead to the boss, not enough to worry her, especially with the berk's spawn rate in the {Savage Cavern}, but nonetheless she didn't know how best to use the boss. 

On one hand, she could try and use it for summoning, see if there was some kind of bonus for using a larger corpse, or she could completely fill up her [Bone Armour]. Liz sighed as she pulled out her [Book of Damned Souls], she didn't even know why she considered it.

With [Voodooist], there was little use for defence-type skills. Even if she accidentally wasted the body she would prefer to have the possibility of a new undead; and a new undead she made.

As once again the black magic circle burned brightly below the corpse until finally a new undead was created - thought it didn't seem all that new:

[Undead Giant]

[Abilities: {Enhanced STR}, {Super Enhanced END}]

[General Rank Estimation: C]

[Not smart or fast and in most cases fairly average, but their physical ability is nothing to scoff at. With their increased size granting massive strength and endurance boost, undead giants make for perfect vanguards, siege breakers or even simple sandbags for your armies advance. Any good necromancer's legion will have a number of these giant bruisers]

[Ingredients: {1 Giant Corpse}, {Mana}]

[Reduced Ingredients: {100 Corpses}, {Mana}]

(A/N: Giant means 2 stories minimum. Also plan on retconning how [Create Undead] works)

The ingredients seem pretty basic, definitely glad to have it. Liz thought as her attention turned from the book to her giant, looking up at the hulking monster. She now had 2 giant-type monsters; 3 if she included her rock golems that could be summoned through her skill. That reminds me, I need to evolve that to see if I can get another undead type.

Liz smiled as she absorbed almost all of her undead into the [Book of Damned Souls] using [Final Will and Testament]. The few who remained would be left to guard the [Savage Caverns] and cull any berks that appeared so that they could be turned into undead for Liz to use. By stationing one of her puppets in the dungeon she could essentially have a supply chain of basic undead constantly running.

It was a perfect plan.

She had decided to leave Dill as the one in charge of organisation, along with a number of unnamed dullahan and around a hundred of each of the lesser undead to allow for ease of killing. She hardly needed them, considering the amount she had collected from a single dungeon.

Liz gave her order, having all undead still present follow Dill unconditionally, and spread them through the dungeon such that they could collect corpses to bring back to the puppet Liz was leaving behind.

Gloria had opened the dungeon reward, a chest that had appeared after the boss's death, but it was nothing all that special - just an item that Liz would most likely sell as it had little purpose for Liz or her undead.

They prepared to leave, taking the warp that had appeared to quickly exit the dungeon, but Liz stopped herself as she considered something else. 

Why is this boss room so damn big? Liz thought, looking up and stopping both Gloria and Eren.

The boss had come from somewhere, but where exactly? Just above?

It was almost hinting at the existence of a hidden room - and Liz was more than familiar with hidden rooms in dungeons.

The little necromancer pulled out her book once again, finding the name [Garnet] recorded in the book and summoning her back into Galdrash. She appeared in her condensed and vaguely feminine form with another small bow. 

"I want to go up. Can you take me?" Liz asked, Garnet - unable to speak - didn't respond and instead grabbed Liz by the waist and extended her hand up to a ridge in the wall. Like this, she and Liz ascended higher into the cavern until they reached a bridge where they could wait, "Can you go bring Gloria and Eren for me?"

Garnet immediately jumped down to go collect her superiors. Liz was even more glad she now had a blood golem, not entirely realising that the only reason it was smart enough to traverse up the cavern was its name.

Blood golems were good at manipulating their bodies, but not to this extent. It was the naming that furthered Garnet's mind that allowed to be creative and think beyond her basic instincts of grow, shrink, crush, drown. This was what having a soul did for a soulless being; it gave them a grasp of freedom.

Liz looked around, patiently waiting and immediately noticed an opening deeper into the cave. She became excited and as soon as the trio of women returned, Liz rushed off into the dark - her entourage following closely behind.

The hidden secret that Liz had come across was not as spectacular as her first, she did not gain a world quest or a special class. But instead she gained both an interesting item and some lore:

[Experiment Logs {Berks} (C-)]

It was a dirty book that, like other books Liz had found within a dungeon, was mostly illegible. However, Liz found some pages of interest: The last few.

It is with great pleasure that I am able to write my final entry in this log.

As you readers should know, I have been experimenting upon a race of monsters named {Berks}. These creatures first took my interest due to their similarities to superior races such as humans and their variants.

As previously documented, I have discovered the reason for these similarities: They are human. A simple and unevolved variant. Perhaps the very origin of the race itself.

It was this lack of evolution that drew me to them; the potential I saw in them. If I could only guide their evolution I would surely have an army of subservient and powerful humanoids that could be sold at my will through monopolisation of the method. And now I have succeeded: The {Idealised Berk}.

It is strong, durable and fast - but lacks the intelligence to defy me. So long as I keep the brute fed, it will never betray me.

I am its father; its creator; ITS GOD!

My name will go down in history as one of the greatest men alive; nothing shall stop me and I will certainly become a revered figure as I parade my legions of berks through the streets of any country that dares to defy me.

Then the book ended. There was no quest, no reward. Nothing.

Liz had simply found the source of the [Idealised Berk] and for the remnants of what seemed to be metal and glass, the remnants of what had created it. She would likely never know anything more and so decided to leave. Not unhappy, but wishing for more.

She did not notice at the time, but her [Apothecary] skill had increased past 90%.