Cipher bent down to examine her legs. Though clad in golden greaves, she couldn't help but notice the contrast between her slender, pale calves and her somewhat plump thighs. The thigh guard on her left leg seemed a little too tight, leaving a faint indentation on her skin.
In short, her legs balanced aesthetic appeal with raw power—perhaps that was why she'd been able to kick a skeleton's skull clean off.
Speaking of kicks, Cipher suddenly recalled a move from an anime she'd watched in her previous life: "Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"
Now she wondered, if she activated Divine Speed, could she replicate a similar technique? At such extreme velocity, her kick might shatter a person's entire body.
Ugh~ Just imagining that scene makes me queasy.
Cipher shook her head, refocusing on the battlefield. Aria and Douglas were still fighting fiercely. Beneath Aria's feet, the ashes from her Divine Smite had piled into a small mound, emitting a peculiar charred stench that mingled with the pervasive stench of decay in the air.
Cipher couldn't help but pout, her brow furrowing in disgust. "Ugh, this is awful! It's like someone sprinkled bone ash into a pot of salted fish stewed with stinky socks. I'm going to throw up!"
She glanced at the other three, but their expressions remained unchanged. She wondered if they'd simply grown accustomed to the stench, or if her sensitive nose was making her suffer more.
Just then, two lone skeletons shambled toward her and Feidric. Without hesitation, Cipher pinched her nose and lunged forward. This time, instead of a spinning kick, she delivered a powerful, straight kick with her leg raised high. The speed of her swing generated a sharp whoosh of air.
Unlike her previous haphazard kicks, this one was carefully aimed, like kicking a soccer ball. The skull she booted hurtled through the air, striking the second skeleton's chest with a sickening crack. The force of the impact shattered the second skeleton into pieces.
Its ribcage crumbled completely, limbs flying in four different directions. The skull bounced across the floor several times. The "soccer ball" Cipher had kicked, still carrying tremendous momentum after piercing the first skeleton, slammed into the opposite wall with a resounding thud.
After dealing with the last three stragglers, Aria and Douglas swiftly cleared out the remaining skeletons with resounding cries of "Divine Smite." Aria sheathed the Sword in the Stone, wiped the sweat from her brow, and gasped, "If that's all, I guess this quest is practically finished, right?"
By conservative estimates, Aria had unleashed at least ten Divine Smites during the battle, leaving her utterly drained. In stark contrast, Douglas, who had relentlessly swung his Great Axe, showed no signs of fatigue whatsoever.
At that moment, Feidric beckoned Douglas over, and the two whispered briefly. Cipher, however, had no intention of eavesdropping. She rubbed her small hands together, her tail swaying gently behind her, her eyes fixed on the Stone Coffin at the center of the hall with barely contained curiosity.
The burial goods of the tomb's master... Since their former owner was long dead, these items were unclaimed. Finders keepers, right?
After all their hard work exploring this place and slaying countless monsters, it was finally time to open the "treasure chest" and claim their rewards, right?
Seeing Cipher's eagerness, Aria couldn't help but say, "Wait, isn't it a bit disrespectful to open someone else's coffin without permission?"
Cipher shrugged nonchalantly. "What's the harm? The coffin's owner certainly won't mind. We can just close it back up afterward."
Aria blinked in confusion. "Uh... uh?"
Aria was momentarily stunned. Her first thought was, Sister Cipher's logic actually makes sense, but then she realized something felt off.
While Aria hesitated, Cipher placed her hands on the edge of the Stone Coffin. Perhaps she had underestimated her own strength, or perhaps the coffin wasn't as heavy as she had imagined. Either way, she pushed it open with surprising ease, barely exerting herself.
With a grating sound of stone against stone, Cipher pried the coffin open just enough to reveal its contents. Before her lay a skeleton clad in a gray robe, its arms crossed peacefully over its chest, radiating an eerie tranquility.
Cipher immediately noticed a discrepancy. Feidric had said this place was saturated with Negative Energy, so why had all the surrounding skeletons come to life, yet the one in the coffin remained so still?
Especially since others had clearly been here recently. Cipher glanced at the zombie Douglas had slain nearby. Even that intruder had been reanimated. She had expected the coffin's occupant to lunge out and attack her the moment she opened it.
Just then, Feidric approached. After a quick glance at the skeleton in the coffin, he stated confidently, "The master of this tomb was a Necromancer in life. He used a special technique to insulate his corpse, preventing Negative Energy from affecting it. He likely did this to prevent himself from being resurrected as undead after death."
Feidric's gaze swept across the coffin's interior. Aside from the skeleton itself, there was little else inside—only a dust-covered book. He reached for it, and with a single movement, sent a cloud of dust billowing into the air. Cipher frowned and retreated several steps, coughing.
Even so, Cipher's nose began to itch, and she sneezed several times in a row.
"Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!"
Feidric casually flipped through the book in his hands. "It's a diary," he said.
Cipher waited a moment, then, seeing that Feidric had nothing more to add, she asked, "That's it? Just a diary?"
Is this Necromancer really that poor? she wondered. Normally, a mage's tomb would contain at least some magic items or scrolls, right?
Feidric was equally puzzled. Even without magic items or scrolls, any proper mage should possess a Magic Book. These served as a mage's personal study notes, documenting their lifelong pursuit of knowledge. After all, a mage never stops learning, so they need something to record their progress.
Feidric himself had a Magic Book filled with all the spells he had mastered, along with his unique interpretations of each. He viewed each spell as a complex mathematical problem, believing that different mages might find different solutions.
As Feidric continued leafing through the diary, Cipher suddenly noticed that Douglas had vanished without a trace.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the trap zone, the three thieves emerged. Seeing all the traps triggered but no corpses in sight, Rat, the thief known for his timidity, grew visibly apprehensive. "L-Leader," he stammered, "aren't these adventurers a bit too strong for us? Maybe we should reconsider messing with them?"
The Thief Captain slapped Rat across the head. "What nonsense! If they were truly skilled, they wouldn't have triggered so many traps. They must have used some trick—maybe sending an animal ahead to set them off."
"But... but that doesn't make sense," Rat protested. "If it was an animal, I would have seen blood."
The Thief Captain slapped him again. "That was just an example, you idiot! What if the animal was summoned by a Mage? It would vanish upon death!"
Rat's fear intensified. "A... a Mage? Then we really can't afford to cross them!"
The Thief Captain glared at his men, exasperated. "What kind of powerful Mage would come to a backwater like this? He probably can't even pronounce his spells properly. Let's just take him down in one swift move."
Suddenly, a conspicuous white glow emanated from the corner ahead. "Who's there?!" the Thief Captain barked.
Douglas stepped out, radiating light like a living lightbulb. He shrugged apologetically. "Ah, too bad. I was hoping to ambush you, but you spotted me first?"
The Thief Captain's lip twitched. Seriously? A walking lightbulb trying to ambush us in a pitch-black underground tomb?
Douglas was clearly joking, but his expression quickly turned serious. "I overheard you discussing my companion. Do you have... plans for her?"
Feidric had already deduced that someone had been here before them. The zombie in the main tomb chamber looked freshly reanimated, and none of the traps in the zone had been triggered. It was easy to conclude: thieves.
Feidric immediately realized that the Zombie's accomplices were likely lurking near the tomb entrance and might have already slipped inside behind them. After all, he knew exactly what kind of people thieves were.
As he pondered this, he stole a glance at Cipher and silently added, "Except for this Catgirl."
Their battle had just ended. Aria, exhausted from repeatedly using Divine Smite, had depleted much of her stamina. Given Cipher's near-vomiting reaction to the corpses earlier, Feidric wouldn't dare ask her to deal with the trailing thieves. That left only Douglas.
In the stone corridor, the Thief Captain, after hearing Douglas's words, suddenly shouted, "He's one of those adventurers! Get him!"
Rat, previously the most timid of the group, now moved with surprising speed. He reached into his backpack, grabbed a handful of dust, and flung it at Douglas's eyes.
The Thief Captain pulled out a blowgun-like device, took a deep breath, and exhaled a cloud of green gas toward Douglas.
A highly potent anesthetic poison!
Thieves weren't skilled in direct combat, but they excelled at underhanded tactics. While dirt and poison gas were ineffective against the undead, they were practically guaranteed to work on humans.
The stone corridor was relatively enclosed, with minimal air circulation. The gas would linger stubbornly, and Douglas's nearly two-meter-long axe would be difficult to wield in such a cramped space. Strategically, he was at a clear disadvantage.
"This anesthetic can knock out a bear in seconds..." the Thief Captain chuckled, confident that Douglas would soon be immobilized, allowing him to casually slit his throat.
But the next moment, Douglas slowly walked out of the gas cloud, rubbing his nose. As he exhaled slowly, the Thief Captain could clearly see that the breath he expelled was still faintly green.
Completely ineffective!
Douglas possessed the Blessing of the God of War, rendering him immune to all poisons and diseases. A true follower of the God of War should die honorably on the battlefield, locked in mortal combat, never falling prey to the treacherous schemes of petty villains.
As he strode forward, Douglas raised his arms and bellowed, "Invincible God of War, grant me your divine blessing!"
In the next instant, a golden beam descended from the heavens, piercing through layers of earth to envelop Douglas in divine light. It was the 2nd-level divine spell, Bear's Might.
Since the narrow terrain prevented him from wielding his Great Axe, Douglas abandoned it. He surged forward, his metal-clad right hand clenched into a fist like an iron hammer, and swung with devastating force at the Thief Captain's temple before the man could react. But Douglas wasn't finished.
Keeping his fist pressed against the thief's skull, Douglas slammed his head against the adjacent stone wall with a sickening thud. The captain's skull shattered like a watermelon underfoot, brain matter splattering across the stone.
-
Douglas's Character Sheet (For Reference Only):
Name: Douglas
Gender: Male
Class: Priest (War Domain, Level 6)
Grace: 8 (A special resource priests expend when casting divine spells. It refreshes daily. Casting a 1st-level divine spell costs 1 Grace, a 2nd-level spell costs 2 Grace, a 3rd-level spell costs 3 Grace, and so on. This means Douglas can cast two 3rd-level spells or four 2nd-level spells per day before his spellcasting ability is exhausted.)
(Note: A normal priest would have significantly more Grace than Douglas.)
Attributes:
Strength: 17 + 2 (the +2 is due to the divine spell Bear's Might) Dexterity: 13 Constitution: 15 Intelligence: 9 Perception: 15 Charisma: 9
(Normally, Perception is a priest's primary attribute. The higher one's Perception, the stronger their connection to the divine, allowing them to draw more power from their god.)
War Domain Priest Class Skills: Steel Tempering, Mastery of Team Tactics, Mastery of Great Weapons
Known Divine Spells:
First-Level: Detect Good and Evil, Cure Wounds, Divine Shield Second-Level: Calm Emotions, Bear's Might
Third-Level: Spiritual Weapon, Spiritual Guardian
Douglas's Unique Ability: Blessing of the God of War