Chapter 547: Ghost (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 547: Ghost (5)
The Scales of Greed.
If you had a high enough resistance stat already, it was a powerful active skill that granted its user what amounted to magical immunity. It even had an additional effect on top of that.
[Bellarios will gain additional Physical Resistance relative to the magical damage nullified by this skill.]
The skill didn't just stop at blocking magical damage but even raised the user's Physical Resistance. Put simply, Bellarios was a creature whose scales grew stronger and stronger the more magic you threw at them. They truly lived up to their name.
Unfortunately for this Bellarios, however, it had encountered the wrong group of people today.
Because adventurers got stronger the greedier they got too.
That was why there was even a saying that what adventurers desired most was desire itself.
Ah, by the way, I made that up right now.
"Behel—aaah!" I charged, letting my greed drive me forward.
Essence, essence, essence, essence. Please drop an essence!
If I were to look in a mirror right now, I was sure I'd probably see a feverish glint in my eyes. It had been so long since I'd been this excited by the sight of a monster. But how could I be calm? I had suffered a ton thanks to my weakness to magic damage. Obtaining this skill would solve all those problems.
But first, this guy.
The goat-headed blacksmith got in my way.
I swung my hammer at the Hellsmith's head.
Bang!
The blow knocked his chin to the side a bit, but the sturdy rank-three monster otherwise barely budged. Instead, it retaliated immediately.
[Hellsmith has cast Pounding. The flames deep within the earth awaken.]
The earth split and fire erupted from the cracks.
When our chieftain used it, it was more of a time-sensitive buff skill meant for stacking, but this goat seemed to be able to keep it active at all times. The skills you obtained through essences were usually less powerful than the originals used by the monsters they came from, so that was to be expected.
[The damage dealt by all Fire-type skills has significantly increased. Hellsmith's Physique stats rise significantly in proportion to its Fire Sensitivity level. Its surroundings will constantly catch fire.]
Red and blue flames leaped up to cover its body, but the continuous damage was bearable. After all, adventurers lived and died by their equipment.
Oh, and I didn't make that saying up, by the way.
[You have activated the Orb of Fire. All Fire-type damage within a radius of 15 yards will be reduced by 50%.]
The damage I was taking decreased significantly after Orb of Fire was activated. This effect also shielded all the melee fighters around me.
[Versyl Gowland has cast the rank-eight support spell Cold Blood. Your Fire Resistance has significantly increased.]
When Versyl cast Cold Blood on me on top of that, the damage decreased to the point that I could practically ignore it.
"Attack!"
Amelia unleashed her aura and Missha swung her ice-covered longsword.
[Ainar Fenelin has cast Trident.]
Ainar, meanwhile, used her newly acquired skill in live combat for the first time.
Swish!
The spear lunged forward with the speed of a flying arrow, and as it did, two translucent spears appeared on either side of it. Typically, the additional spears would have flown at two adjacent enemies next to her target.
But it's a rank-three essence, so it would be pretty sad if that was all it could do.
Although Trident was technically an Area of Effect skill, it was actually stronger when used against a single opponent.
[There are no additional enemies around the target. All attacks will land on the original target.]
Three spears struck the goat-headed monster. Since the blow didn't register as hitting the same spot as with Repeated Slash, her other skills didn't activate. However, that didn't mean the attack was weak.
All damage using spears increases by 1,200%.
With just this one line of text, this attack allowed her to do more damage than her combination of rank-four and lower essences ever did.
Stab!
As the spear sank into the monster's body and was ripped back out, the spear-sized holes it left behind began to spurt out blood.
However, that didn't last long.
[Hellsmith has cast Patch.]
The wounded areas glowed magma-red before a silver film crept over them, sealing them. After instantly healing its injuries, Hellsmith let out a roar before casting another one of its main skills.
[Hellsmith has cast Hellfire.]
Hellfire was such a great attack skill that I'd once designed an entire build centered around it.
Bang! Boom! Fwoosh!
It was like a volcanic eruption. The bag of lava on its back suddenly exploded, gushing red liquid everywhere.
[Bellarios has cast Calamity.]
Then the raid officially began as Bellarios joined the battle. Calamity was a pretty unique skill, especially in that it applied an effect to the battle map itself.
[Field Effect – Storm is now active.]
Whenever the skill was turned on, a random field effect was activated.
Whoosh!
Powerful winds began to blow and gray clouds gathered and swirled overhead. Our field of vision dropped considerably as a result, but that was only a secondary side effect.
[The activation rate of all skills has decreased by 50%.]
The real issue was that if someone tried to use a skill in this storm, it wouldn't work half the time.
This is a bit of a problem. We're starting with a storm.
I was still grateful that we weren't in Dragon's Mountain, though. That place had a field effect of its own, which made any additional field effects that much more difficult to handle.
"Deal with the Hellsmith first!" I ordered, and the long-rangers began to fire off the attacks they prepared. The joint spells the wizards had been casting for the past few minutes were unleashed and they rained down on our target while avoiding the melee warriors.
[Bellarios has cast Dragon's Orb. The resource usage of all characters in the area has increased by 12x.]
A divine yellow light flashed in the raging storm.
Yeah, I was waiting for this skill to come into play.
From what I can remember, it activates when the user has used up a set amount of their own resources.
Dragon's Orb was a peculiar skill that was as unique as Calamity. It increased resource usage twelve times over, and the user replenished as much MP as the creatures around it wasted. In other words, it was an incredibly overpowered skill.
But it's a rank-three essence, so it would be pretty sad if that was all it could do.
Although Trident was technically an Area of Effect skill, it was actually stronger when used against a single opponent.
[There are no additional enemies around the target. All attacks will land on the original target.]
Three spears struck the goat-headed monster. Since the blow didn't register as hitting the same spot as with Repeated Slash, her other skills didn't activate. However, that didn't mean the attack was weak.
All damage using spears increases by 1,200%.
With just this one line of text, this attack allowed her to do more damage than her combination of rank-four and lower essences ever did.
Stab!
As the spear sank into the monster's body and was ripped back out, the spear-sized holes it left behind began to spurt out blood.
However, that didn't last long.
[Hellsmith has cast Patch.]
The wounded areas glowed magma-red before a silver film crept over them, sealing them. After instantly healing its injuries, Hellsmith let out a roar before casting another one of its main skills.
[Hellsmith has cast Hellfire.]
Hellfire was such a great attack skill that I'd once designed an entire build centered around it.
Bang! Boom! Fwoosh!
It was like a volcanic eruption. The bag of lava on its back suddenly exploded, gushing red liquid everywhere.
[Bellarios has cast Calamity.]
Then the raid officially began as Bellarios joined the battle. Calamity was a pretty unique skill, especially in that it applied an effect to the battle map itself.
[Field Effect – Storm is now active.]
Whenever the skill was turned on, a random field effect was activated.
Whoosh!
Powerful winds began to blow and gray clouds gathered and swirled overhead. Our field of vision dropped considerably as a result, but that was only a secondary side effect.
[The activation rate of all skills has decreased by 50%.]
The real issue was that if someone tried to use a skill in this storm, it wouldn't work half the time.
This is a bit of a problem. We're starting with a storm.
I was still grateful that we weren't in Dragon's Mountain, though. That place had a field effect of its own, which made any additional field effects that much more difficult to handle.
"Deal with the Hellsmith first!" I ordered, and the long-rangers began to fire off the attacks they prepared. The joint spells the wizards had been casting for the past few minutes were unleashed and they rained down on our target while avoiding the melee warriors.
[Bellarios has cast Dragon's Orb. The resource usage of all characters in the area has increased by 12x.]
A divine yellow light flashed in the raging storm.
Yeah, I was waiting for this skill to come into play.
From what I can remember, it activates when the user has used up a set amount of their own resources.
Dragon's Orb was a peculiar skill that was as unique as Calamity. It increased resource usage twelve times over, and the user replenished as much MP as the creatures around it wasted. In other words, it was an incredibly overpowered skill.
Of course, it only looked that way on the outside. This skill had a fatal flaw.
[Hellsmith has cast Patch.]
[Dragon's Orb has increased resource usage by 12x.]
[Field Effect – Storm has caused the skill to fail.]
[Dragon's Orb has stolen the wasted resource.]
Like Calamity, Dragon's Orb didn't differentiate between allies and enemies.
Since it was an interesting mechanic, I had designed a character around this skill before as well. It was a solo-carry build where I'd use Dragon's Orb to steal all of my allies' resources so I could super-power my attacks and do unbelievable levels of damage. Well, even then, it was only as strong as Erwen's Fusion, so I used it for fun a few times and then abandoned it.
Anyway.
"Don't stop!"
We ignored the storm and resource tax and continued to bombard Hellsmith.
[Field Effect – Earthquake is now active. All movement-related abilities have been sealed.]
Bellarios used the MP it had recovered to cast Calamity again, but we were still able to accomplish our initial goal regardless.
[You have killed a Hellsmith. EXP +7]
The goat, which had had its MP drained and even had its skills blocked by its own ally, died like a dog.
Shine!
Its body turned into flecks of light and disappeared, and our reward dropped.
Thud.
It was a rank-three mana stone.
I had my hopes up a bit since this is our first time killing one, but...
We didn't end up getting an essence. That was a bit of a shame, but I didn't linger too long on it. We still had the main course to get through.
And this is honestly better.
If Beginner's Luck had been activated now, it only would've made me more nervous. Gacha required sacrifices, after all.
"One down, one more to go, huh?"
"You know what to do, right? Wizards, please only use support spells from here on out! No offensive magic!"
Once Hellsmith was dealt with, we focused all our attention on Bellarios. The wizards stopped attacking and switched to a support role, and the long-rangers let their attacks fly at the hovering dragon.
"It's coming down!"
Whenever it swooped down from the air, our melee fighters took advantage of the opening and swung their weapons at its thick hide.
[Bellarios has cast Wandering Wave.]
[Bellarios has cast Breath of Death.]
[Bellarios has cast Shatter.]
The longer the battle dragged on, the more mangled its scales became.
[Bellarios has cast Calamity.]
[Field Effect – Drought is now active. All buffs have been removed, and all curses are now amplified.]
It had just cast its third Calamity when—
Swish!
—Erwen let an arrow fly and hit the beast dead on in the middle of its forehead, instantly ending the battle.
Of course, it only looked that way on the outside. This skill had a fatal flaw.
[Hellsmith has cast Patch.]
[Dragon's Orb has increased resource usage by 12x.]
[Field Effect – Storm has caused the skill to fail.]
[Dragon's Orb has stolen the wasted resource.]
Like Calamity, Dragon's Orb didn't differentiate between allies and enemies.
Since it was an interesting mechanic, I had designed a character around this skill before as well. It was a solo-carry build where I'd use Dragon's Orb to steal all of my allies' resources so I could super-power my attacks and do unbelievable levels of damage. Well, even then, it was only as strong as Erwen's Fusion, so I used it for fun a few times and then abandoned it.
Anyway.
"Don't stop!"
We ignored the storm and resource tax and continued to bombard Hellsmith.
[Field Effect – Earthquake is now active. All movement-related abilities have been sealed.]
Bellarios used the MP it had recovered to cast Calamity again, but we were still able to accomplish our initial goal regardless.
[You have killed a Hellsmith. EXP +7]
The goat, which had had its MP drained and even had its skills blocked by its own ally, died like a dog.
Shine!
Its body turned into flecks of light and disappeared, and our reward dropped.
Thud.
It was a rank-three mana stone.
I had my hopes up a bit since this is our first time killing one, but...
We didn't end up getting an essence. That was a bit of a shame, but I didn't linger too long on it. We still had the main course to get through.
And this is honestly better.
If Beginner's Luck had been activated now, it only would've made me more nervous. Gacha required sacrifices, after all.
"One down, one more to go, huh?"
"You know what to do, right? Wizards, please only use support spells from here on out! No offensive magic!"
Once Hellsmith was dealt with, we focused all our attention on Bellarios. The wizards stopped attacking and switched to a support role, and the long-rangers let their attacks fly at the hovering dragon.
"It's coming down!"
Whenever it swooped down from the air, our melee fighters took advantage of the opening and swung their weapons at its thick hide.
[Bellarios has cast Wandering Wave.]
[Bellarios has cast Breath of Death.]
[Bellarios has cast Shatter.]
The longer the battle dragged on, the more mangled its scales became.
[Bellarios has cast Calamity.]
[Field Effect – Drought is now active. All buffs have been removed, and all curses are now amplified.]
It had just cast its third Calamity when—
Swish!
—Erwen let an arrow fly and hit the beast dead on in the middle of its forehead, instantly ending the battle.
What was that, ten minutes?
While I was running the mental math, my eyes were laser-focused on the Bellarios as it began to fade.
[You have killed a Bellarios. EXP +7]
As its body disappeared, the flecks of light floating into the air promptly aggregated into a mana stone that fell to the ground.
Whump.
None of the adventurers paid it any mind, though.
[No. 9999: Beginner's Luck has been activated.]
Not when an essence had dropped.
The problem was...
...It's yellow.
It wasn't Scales of Greed.
The yellow essence was the one with the active skill Shatter attached. It was a long-range attack that had an amplified effect when used in melee range. An unavoidable insta-hit skill.
"Ugh... That's a shame. It's yellow. That's not the one you were after, right?"
"Hah... So what do we do with this essence? I feel like a lot of people are going to want it..."
While everyone was focused on the essence, Amelia came up to me, still wiping the blood off her shortsword. "Yandel, are you all right? It looked like you took a bit of a beating."
"Ah, we're all good. My equipment's fine."
She went quiet.
I'd barely been injured in my fight against Milayel, a rank-two monster and a Guardian of the Rift to boot, but I ended up getting sort of roughed up during this fight against Bellarios. Because Shatter dealt damage by firing off a wave of destruction at a set area, it was impossible to guard against it.
Shaaa.
However, since they were just minor wounds, a simple heal had me back on my feet in a second.
"As long as you're fine. So, what are you going to do with the essence?"
"Ah, that..."
Once I was back to normal, I set to tackling our latest problem.
Why did it have to be Shatter, of all things?
The skill itself wasn't bad. It was guaranteed to hit, instantaneous, and impossible to guard against. It dealt a pretty decent amount of damage, and the MP used and cooldown times were both low to boot.
However, it's hard to make it any stronger than it already is.
Despite everything it had going for it, the skill had the fatal flaw of not meshing all that well with other skills. It didn't matter how you designed your build around it—there was little room for growth.
"I've decided."
As such, it didn't take long for me to decide who would get this essence.
"Auyen Rockrobe," I called out to our clan's sole noncombatant, the navigator.
"...Yes?"
"You'll take this one."
"...Eh?"
"Why do you sound so surprised?"
"B-But... this isn't an essence related to navigation...?"
Ah, so that was why he didn't say anything when we discarded that rank-three essence earlier.
I smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Even if you're a navigator, you're still a member of our clan. You should at least have one essence you can use to defend yourself."
What was that, ten minutes?
While I was running the mental math, my eyes were laser-focused on the Bellarios as it began to fade.
[You have killed a Bellarios. EXP +7]
As its body disappeared, the flecks of light floating into the air promptly aggregated into a mana stone that fell to the ground.
Whump.
None of the adventurers paid it any mind, though.
[No. 9999: Beginner's Luck has been activated.]
Not when an essence had dropped.
The problem was...
...It's yellow.
It wasn't Scales of Greed.
The yellow essence was the one with the active skill Shatter attached. It was a long-range attack that had an amplified effect when used in melee range. An unavoidable insta-hit skill.
"Ugh... That's a shame. It's yellow. That's not the one you were after, right?"
"Hah... So what do we do with this essence? I feel like a lot of people are going to want it..."
While everyone was focused on the essence, Amelia came up to me, still wiping the blood off her shortsword. "Yandel, are you all right? It looked like you took a bit of a beating."
"Ah, we're all good. My equipment's fine."
She went quiet.
I'd barely been injured in my fight against Milayel, a rank-two monster and a Guardian of the Rift to boot, but I ended up getting sort of roughed up during this fight against Bellarios. Because Shatter dealt damage by firing off a wave of destruction at a set area, it was impossible to guard against it.
Shaaa.
However, since they were just minor wounds, a simple heal had me back on my feet in a second.
"As long as you're fine. So, what are you going to do with the essence?"
"Ah, that..."
Once I was back to normal, I set to tackling our latest problem.
Why did it have to be Shatter, of all things?
The skill itself wasn't bad. It was guaranteed to hit, instantaneous, and impossible to guard against. It dealt a pretty decent amount of damage, and the MP used and cooldown times were both low to boot.
However, it's hard to make it any stronger than it already is.
Despite everything it had going for it, the skill had the fatal flaw of not meshing all that well with other skills. It didn't matter how you designed your build around it—there was little room for growth.
"I've decided."
As such, it didn't take long for me to decide who would get this essence.
"Auyen Rockrobe," I called out to our clan's sole noncombatant, the navigator.
"...Yes?"
"You'll take this one."
"...Eh?"
"Why do you sound so surprised?"
"B-But... this isn't an essence related to navigation...?"
Ah, so that was why he didn't say anything when we discarded that rank-three essence earlier.
I smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Even if you're a navigator, you're still a member of our clan. You should at least have one essence you can use to defend yourself."
I'd been planning on giving him an essence pretty soon anyway, and since this was an essence that would perform about the same no matter who I gave it to, I figured our noncombatant Auyen would be able to use it as effectively as anyone else.
And the passive skill Circulation Loop can bring up his base stats too.
However, it seemed he still couldn't believe it.
"Uh, um..." Auyen kept opening and closing his mouth in obvious shock. "Th-thank you. Thank you... Really... Thank you so much..."
For some reason, our navigator started to cry.
[The essence of Bellarios has sunk deep into Auyen Rockrobe's soul.]
Huh? Why was he crying all of a sudden?
While I stood there struggling to process this turn of events, Amelia came up next to me. "If I had to guess, years of pent-up frustration finally caught up to him. From what he's told me, it seemed he was usually ignored or taken for granted by his old clan. Most navigators are."
...Really? I didn't know that.
"And then, when you gave him an essence so he could protect himself, those emotions boiled over. This is probably the first time he's ever officially been recognized as part of a group."
Hmm, I still couldn't fully understand where he was coming from despite the explanation. All this just because he had gone through some stuff in the past?
I lost interest and cleared my throat. "Ahem..."
"Oho! Bjorn is flustered!"
Hey, that wasn't it.
And what's with that smug smile Amelia's wearing?
I didn't want to encourage any misunderstandings, so I quickly changed the subject. "You can all take a break now!"
With that, I gave the group some time off. I'd just sat down myself when Erwen approached me.
"Mister, are you resting?"
"Yeah. What is it?"
"I'm curious about something."
Curious about something? "Speak."
"Why didn't you let me do my thing in this battle? If we beat one of them at the very start, things would've been much easier."
"Oh, that?"
She wasn't wrong. If we used Erwen's signature move, we would've been able to beat the two rank-three monsters much more quickly. Dicloe's dark orbs would have quickly dealt with the Hellsmith, and Concentrated Fire would've killed Bellarios in one shot.
"There's still plenty of daylight."
"Pardon?"
But after using her ultimate, Erwen wouldn't be able to fight for quite a while. Currently, it was only five in the afternoon. If a high-powered member of our group, Erwen, were knocked out of commission this early, the total number of monsters we'd be able to hunt today would decrease significantly.
All right, I think that's enough of a break...
A while later, I got up and ordered everyone to circle up again, and then we got into formation and went back to summoning monsters. We ran through our usual hunting routine until eleven at night and ended the day after setting up camp.
"Eat up! We didn't put as many vegetables in there today!"
The following day, I woke up, ate breakfast, and once again began my morning routine.
All right, the food today was pretty good.
"We have about sixty days' worth of food for thirty-eight people."
Our inventory looked fine.
"We found evidence of an odd stat in Ms. Fenelin's body. It might relate to Hipramajent's passive ability."
And like always, the research team didn't have any results for me yet.
Yeah, it was all business as usual this morning... Except for one thing.
"Yandel, we need to talk."
I'd just digested breakfast when Amelia, head of night watch, called me over. She then hesitated a bit before saying, "There have been too many identical reports to write this off as someone seeing things."
"What did they see?"
"Just to let you know, when I took a look, I couldn't find anything."
"Okay, so what did they see?"
Amelia glanced around and then leaned in close, her voice dropping. "Some people are saying... that they saw a ghost in the middle of the night."
...A ghost?
I'd been planning on giving him an essence pretty soon anyway, and since this was an essence that would perform about the same no matter who I gave it to, I figured our noncombatant Auyen would be able to use it as effectively as anyone else.
And the passive skill Circulation Loop can bring up his base stats too.
However, it seemed he still couldn't believe it.
"Uh, um..." Auyen kept opening and closing his mouth in obvious shock. "Th-thank you. Thank you... Really... Thank you so much..."
For some reason, our navigator started to cry.
[The essence of Bellarios has sunk deep into Auyen Rockrobe's soul.]
Huh? Why was he crying all of a sudden?
While I stood there struggling to process this turn of events, Amelia came up next to me. "If I had to guess, years of pent-up frustration finally caught up to him. From what he's told me, it seemed he was usually ignored or taken for granted by his old clan. Most navigators are."
...Really? I didn't know that.
"And then, when you gave him an essence so he could protect himself, those emotions boiled over. This is probably the first time he's ever officially been recognized as part of a group."
Hmm, I still couldn't fully understand where he was coming from despite the explanation. All this just because he had gone through some stuff in the past?
I lost interest and cleared my throat. "Ahem..."
"Oho! Bjorn is flustered!"
Hey, that wasn't it.
And what's with that smug smile Amelia's wearing?
I didn't want to encourage any misunderstandings, so I quickly changed the subject. "You can all take a break now!"
With that, I gave the group some time off. I'd just sat down myself when Erwen approached me.
"Mister, are you resting?"
"Yeah. What is it?"
"I'm curious about something."
Curious about something? "Speak."
"Why didn't you let me do my thing in this battle? If we beat one of them at the very start, things would've been much easier."
"Oh, that?"
She wasn't wrong. If we used Erwen's signature move, we would've been able to beat the two rank-three monsters much more quickly. Dicloe's dark orbs would have quickly dealt with the Hellsmith, and Concentrated Fire would've killed Bellarios in one shot.
"There's still plenty of daylight."
"Pardon?"
But after using her ultimate, Erwen wouldn't be able to fight for quite a while. Currently, it was only five in the afternoon. If a high-powered member of our group, Erwen, were knocked out of commission this early, the total number of monsters we'd be able to hunt today would decrease significantly.
All right, I think that's enough of a break...
A while later, I got up and ordered everyone to circle up again, and then we got into formation and went back to summoning monsters. We ran through our usual hunting routine until eleven at night and ended the day after setting up camp.
"Eat up! We didn't put as many vegetables in there today!"
The following day, I woke up, ate breakfast, and once again began my morning routine.
All right, the food today was pretty good.
"We have about sixty days' worth of food for thirty-eight people."
Our inventory looked fine.
"We found evidence of an odd stat in Ms. Fenelin's body. It might relate to Hipramajent's passive ability."
And like always, the research team didn't have any results for me yet.
Yeah, it was all business as usual this morning... Except for one thing.
"Yandel, we need to talk."
I'd just digested breakfast when Amelia, head of night watch, called me over. She then hesitated a bit before saying, "There have been too many identical reports to write this off as someone seeing things."
"What did they see?"
"Just to let you know, when I took a look, I couldn't find anything."
"Okay, so what did they see?"
Amelia glanced around and then leaned in close, her voice dropping. "Some people are saying... that they saw a ghost in the middle of the night."
...A ghost?