Final Guardian of The Spectral Phantom's Castle, Anubis - System: Rising

[Quest: Trials of The Spectral Phantom's Castle]

[Rank:???]

[Description:???]

[Objective: clear all 5 trials]

[Progress:4/5]

[Rewards:150 coins, 25 stat points & 12,500 exp]

[You have received 10 stat points for clearing the fourth trial]

Everyone steps into the next room. Without any mechanism visible whatsoever, the tablet suddenly appears from the ground. Jae-hoon is a little bit surprised and he says, "That's just straight up useful. It's also easier like that because I don't need to waste time searching for the tablet. Anyway, let's just translate it."

[Translating writings…]

[Translation complete]

"The final trial of the Spectral Phantom's Castle. Trial of Specter. There's a guardian that will be considered as the hardest and toughest boss to defeat here. Before you could reach the boss, you need to fight its minions. The total of the minions that will be fighting depends on how many people there are in a single team. For example, if there's only one person, there will be 100 that spawns. The more people, the numbers will be going up by 100 every time a new person enters. There will be no limits on how many minions will appear and how strong the boss is. One more important piece of information is how hard the boss will be. Based on how many people there are, the tougher the boss would be. But this doesn't fully affect everyone. It's solely based on strength and resilience. The higher the estimated stats, the tougher the boss would be. It's recommended to use hit and run tactics against this boss if possible. Another piece of information is that there will be at least two people sacrificed even with the most amazing tactics. So make sure to not let the sacrifices mean nothing. Good luck, the owner of the Spectral Phantom's Castle, Haveion," he reads all the information that's in the tablet in detail while looking worried because of some of the concerning information like the sacrifices.

Soo-won looks at Jae-hoon with a worried face. He decides to ask, "So? What now? Lee…. Are you sure that this is safe? I don't want anyone to be sacrificed."

Jae-hoon replies with, "Me neither. I don't want anyone to be sacrificed. I'll figure out a way for everyone to survive."

Suddenly another door that's located on the side opens up, revealing a throne room. Jae-hoon seems calm but deep down he's nervous. Especially when it comes to the sacrifices. He doesn't want anyone to die. Jae-hoon goes ahead and enters the room first. The others then follow him into the room. When everyone enters the room, the door behind them closes. Suddenly, an Anubis looking creature walks from behind the throne. The system immediately detects it and identifies the creature.

[Final Guardian of The Spectral Phantom's Castle, Anubis (replica)]

[Level 56]

[Quest started]

[Quest: Final Guardian of The Spectral Phantom's Castle]

[Rank:???]

[Description: You have reached the final trial of the Spectral Phantom's Castle]

[Objective: kill "Final Guardian of The Spectral Phantom's Castle, Anubis (replica)"]

[Progress: 0/1]

[Rewards: 75 coins, 15 stat points & 5,000 exp]

Jae-hoon looks surprised when he sees the level of the creature. In his mind he thinks, "Level 56?! What the hell?! I haven't faced off a creature with that high of a level! Can we even win against that thing?! Not to mention the minions it's going to spawn later…. To finish things off…. It's a replica! Not the real deal! What the fuck is this trial?!"

Soo-won sees the guardian and looks at Jae-hoon before asking, "You mentioned fighting minions but there's only one enemy, Lee. Are you sure this is the right trial?"

He replies with a concerned expression, "Well, captain…. Things just started…. No…. It hasn't even started yet…."

In his mind he thinks, "If there will be so many minions, then I have no choice but to increase intelligence so I would have more mana. And I'm sure magic is more effective against hordes rather than melee. I need to be cautious. Allocate all stat points to intelligence."

[Intelligence: 20 to 45]

[Your mana has increased from 800 to 1800]

[Your knowledge of magic has been increased to 45%]

He then thinks of something, "Just for precautions, right? I should buy mana recovery potions. Let's see how many coins I have. Balance."

[Balance]

[250 coins]

Jae-hoon is surprised to see how many coins he has for a moment but shrugs it off. He then thinks, "Alright then, buy 3 mana recovery potions."

[Are you sure to buy 3 Mana recovery potions?]

"Yes," he replies in his mind.

[105 coins has been deducted from your balance]

He then looks at everyone else while counting how many people there are in the team. "One…. Two…. Three…. Four…. Five…. Six…. Seven…. Eight…. There's eight of us. Which means 800 minions will spawn. Everyone. Get ready for battle."

Right when Jae-hoon said that, Anubis summons 800 minions at the same time filling the whole room with mummies.

[Spectral Mummies ×800]

[Level 13]

Jae-hoon remembers the first encounter with the goddess before receiving the system and he thinks to himself, "Great…. I got fucking PTSD again…. Fuck it! There's no other way around! It's either kill or be killed!"

"I'll provide buffs to everyone!" Yoon-jung shouts, telling everyone she will provide buffs.

"Everyone! Get ready for battle!" Soo-won shouts, telling everyone to be ready for the battle ahead. He then shouts, "Charge!"

Everyone charges at the hordes of mummies and fights them. There's only two people that stayed behind. Jae-hoon and Yoon-jung. Yoon-jung provides buffs for everyone while Jae-hoon provides long range support.

"Might try this as well. Fire Column!" Jae-hoon says, casting the Fire Column spell. Rapidly his mana decreases until there's only 300 mana left. In his mind he thinks, "Damn…. That spell took 1500 mana…. That's intense and the effects?" He looks at the area where he casted the spell and sees that the range of the spell is really big and at least 100 mummies died because of it and some around the spell got burned. He thinks again, "Very fucking effective.'

Yoon-jung looks surprised when Jae-hoon casted that spell and she hesitates at first but goes ahead and asks Jae-hoon a question, "So, Jae-hoon…. When did you learn how to cast that spell? Last time you casted a spell, it was a powerful arrow made out of fire but now you can cast a whole column made out of fire?"

Jae-hoon looks at Yoon-jung and replies calmly to raise no suspicion, "I already knew how to cast it. It's just I don't want to use it in the earlier battles. I can use it now because the situation has become dire like this." He then thinks to himself, "That was close! If I said the wrong thing, she would've been suspicious about me!"

Yoon-jung bought it and believed what he said. She replies with, "Oh, I see! So all this time, you're holding back your power! That's really amazing, Jae-hoon!"

"I know. But for the time being, let's just focus on the battle and aid our comrades. You don't want anyone to die, right?" Jae-hoon says, telling her to focus on the battle first.

She then replies with, "Yeah. Let's focus on the battle. We don't want any casualties!"

Jae-hoon smiles, feeling reassured that he managed to get her in a good mood rather than in a low mood.

[Because of special circumstances, you have unlocked special feature to coins exchange to stat points]

Jae-hoon is startled when the system notification pops up. He reads the notification and is kind of confused about what the system means. In his mind he thinks, "A special feature? Coins to stat points? How does that even work?"

As he's wondering more about this new "special feature", the system notification pops up again.

[You can exchange one coin for one stat points]

[Would you like to exchange your coins for stat points]

Jae-hoon reads the new notification and he finally understands what the system means by exchanging coins into stat points. "I don't know…. Let's check my stats first. Stats," he decides not to use it and check his stats first.

[Level:26]

[Stats]

[Strength:39]

[Agility:31]

[Intelligence:45]

[Resilience:55]

[Senses:50]

"I'm level 26 and most of my stat points prioritizes on my senses, resilience and intelligence. All I've been doing is playing safe by going far. My damage is not high because of my low strength stats and my speed is too bad for close quarter combat. My agility is too low. Before I exchange my coins, I want to see how many coins I have left," he thinks as he examines his own stats. Jae-hoon then examines the flaws that he currently has with his stats and determines that the flaws are on strength and agility stats. He finally decides to use the new special feature to exchange coins into stat points. Before he use the new feature, he checked his coins balance

[Balance]

[Coins:145]

"I have 145 coins. How much stat points do I want to exchange from coins? I'll do 70 coins," as he checked his coins balance, he finally decided to exchange 70 coins for 70 stat points.

[Are you sure to exchange 70 coins into 70 stat points?]

"Yes," he replies in his mind

[70 coins has been deducted from your balance]

[You have received 70 stat points]

"Alright now, I just need to allocate them. 31 on strength and 39 on agility," he says in his mind, allocating all the stat points.

[Strength: 39 to 70]

[Agility: 31 to 70]

"Yoon-jung-sunbae. Provides more buffs to everyone if possible. Make sure to not let them get hurt. I suggest buffs like strength enhancement and defense enhancement. You stay here, I'll join the others in the frontline," Jae-hoon tells Yoon-jung to provide everyone with more buffs if possible. He also said to specially provide strength and defense enhancement buffs.

Yoon-jung looks concerned at his request and asks, "Are you sure, Jae-hoon? It's dangerous out there. I don't want you to get hurt."

He replies to assure her, "I will be fine. If it's not for everyone, I would've died alone. But…. I managed to come this far because of everyone and I won't stand here and do nothing. I'll fight."

Yoon-jung smiles a bit and says to him, "Be careful, Jae-hoon!"

"I will," he replies. In his mind he says, "Equip Anansi's Poison Dagger"

[Anansi's Poison Dagger equipped]

After he commands the system to let him equipe the dagger, it then appears in his hand. Without hesitation, Jae-hoon runs to the front line to help everyone.

"Backup has arrived!" Jae-hoon shouts as he jumps and lands in the middle of the hordes of mummies. "Let's have fun, shall we?!" he continues. After he shouts those words, he immediately kills any mummies in sight without hesitation. This shocked everyone in the team.

Soo-won looks at him from afar and he says, "Is he really an E-rank….?"

Jae-hoon keeps fighting and one after another, he kills the mummies. "Come at me, assholes!" he shouts, provoking the mummies to attack him. Overtime, he kills more and more of the mummies and levels up a lot of times.

[You have leveled up]

[You have received 30 stat points]

"Nice! 30 stat points. Now allocate 15 to agility and strength," he says in his mind. After receiving the stat points, he immediately allocates them to agility and strength.

He keeps on fighting the mummies without rest. After a while, a new system message pops up again.

[Your stamina is dropping]

[Effect 'Fatigue' has been applied]

[Resilience will not work considering your current level]

"Shit! Fatigue is kicking in…. I'm getting tired real fast…. The only potion I have is manan recovery! I should buy a stamina recovery potion! Open shop! Buy one stamina recovery potion!" Jae-hoon thinks. After feeling the fatigue, he immediately decides to buy a stamina recovery potion.

[15 coins has been deducted from your balance]

When the potion appears in his inventory he immediately takes it out and drinks it.

[Stamina recovered]

[Effect 'Fatigue' has been removed]

[Prolonged non usage of magic restored your mana]

[Your mana has fully recovered]

"Just at the perfect time! Fire Column!" Jae-hoon thinks as he casts the Fire Column spell. After he casted the spell, most of the mummies attacking him got incinerated and some still burning.

At the back of the line, Soo-won and the others are protecting themselves easier because Jae-hoon rushed to the front line. Soo-won looks at him and says to himself, "Damn…. What a monster…."

After almost two hours of fighting, all the mummies are dead and Jae-hoon stood in the middle as the victor. Without much thought, he immediately attacks the Anubis at the front of the throne.

Soo-won sees his actions and shouts, "Lee! Don't be too reckless! Regroup first!"

Before Jae-hoon could land any hit, he got flung backwards because of the sand storm spell that the Anubis used. He landed in front of the others and hesitates to go in for another attack. He then turns around to look at the others before saying, "So, Anubis can use sand magic. And I don't have a counter for sand magic. We need to think up a plan here."

Soo-won holds his chin, thinking of a strategy before saying, "How about we do it just when you said it the first time you read the tablet for this trial? We just do a hit and run tactic like it suggested in the tablet."

Jae-hoon contemplated that suggestion before speaking up. "That's a good strategy but remember what it said on the tablet? Two people might get sacrificed. I don't want that to happen. I couldn't think of a strategy right now after I fought all those mummies," he says, telling Soo-won that strategy might work but at the cost of two people getting sacrificed.

"So what now?" Soo-won asks.

"Soo-won, you're a tanker, right?" Jae-hoon asks Soo-won.

"Yes. I'm a tanker. Do you have a plan, Lee?" Soo-won replies. Afterwards he asks if Jae-hoon had a plan or not.

Jae-hoon thinks for a while before Yoon-jung raises her hand up to suggest a strategy, "I think the best method is for Captain to distract the Anubis by using the taunt skill. And then we could attack the Anubis from all sides. Me and Jae-hoon could provide magic support and the rest of you can go for close combat," she suggests.

When Jae-hoon hears this suggestion, he immediately snaps out of his thinking state and says, "That's perfect! You're the best, Yoon-jung-sunbae!"

"Not really…," she says. "I just thought of an idea that might help us."

"That idea won't just help us. It's a whole strategy. You're good at making strategies, Yoon-jung-sunbae," Jae-hoon says, complimenting her for her strategy making skill.

"Not really. I just hope I could be of some help," she says, hoping her idea will be a great help for the team.

"Your buffs are already enough to support us and furthermore, your strategy making skill is more talented than anyone I've ever met. Great job, Yoon-jung-sunbae," he says, complimenting her once again.

"Thanks, Jae-hoon," she says while fidgeting her fingers.

"You're welcome. Now, back to the fight. Well execute this plan as soon as possible. If we want to get out of here quickly, we need to be quick too. Let's execute this strategy," Jae-hoon says, telling everyone that they need to be quick to execute the plan.

Everyone immediately goes to their respective positions, especially Soo-won who is standing right in front of the Anubis with his shield up. With a little bit of hesitation, Soo-won uses his taunt skill to distract Anubis. Meanwhile he's distracting Anubis, everyone else is already attacking Anubis.

One after another, everyone takes turns to attack. Slowly but surely, Anubis is getting injured. Most of the time it got protected by the sand magic barrier that surrounds him.

Jae-hoon looks annoyed at this and shouts, "Everyone! Get far from Anubis now!"

Everyone looks at him as he shouts and everyone does what he says including Soo-won.

"This will be the end, Anubis! Fire Column!" Jae-hoon shouts, casting his magic, clearly ending the fight. The spell hits Anubis head-on but it wasn't very effective since the sand magic barrier protecting it is blocking most of the fire. "Everyone! Charge back in! This fight isn't over yet," he shouts, signaling everyone to get back into battle. "Don't stop from attacking it!"

Everyone follows what he said and keeps attacking Anubis. Everyone is clearly eager to leave this place and go back home by killing Anubis.

"Buffs will be increased, everyone!" Yoon-jung shouts from the back of the line.

Everyone seems more motivated after hearing the news from Yoon-jung. After everyone manages to get Anubis into a vulnerable state, Jae-hoon charges in with the Anansi's Poison Dagger in his hand. He runs to Anubis and stabs it on the head.

[Critical hit applied]

[Critical hit multiplier: 100%]