Following the oddly invasive prompt, hundreds of ames were suddenly projected all around him. The high-resolution white texts were etched in a blue background and slowly around him like a multitude of po a siar.
As if sieving through puzzle pieces, Daisuke began filtering through the seemingly endless assortment of produ and bat csses—from an architect, carpenter, stonemason, and bcksmith, to a warrior, mage, healer, and assassin.
But those were the on csses. The more bizarre and unfamiliar ones sisted of choices such as a fortueller, cartographer, journalist, and rancher, and for batants: anti-padin, sdrel, riest, and pguemancer.
While perusing the options, Daisuke deduced that his missed opportunity to select a css during the character creation s was now presenting itself upon achieving a level where pyers typically had the ce to ge or enhaheir css at a higher level.
Finally, a css stood out amongst the rest.
DING!
[Are you sure you would like to assume the bat css, ?Dual Bder??]
Yes.
[Your choice will be irreversible upon firmation. Are you certain this is the css you desire?]
Daisuke hesitated for a moment.
Yes.
DING!
[gratutions! The bat css ?Dual Bder? has been acquired.]
[In aowledgment of your exceptional skill and iy against a vastly superior foe, additional options will be incorporated into your css description to reflect your outstanding performance.]
[Dual Bder]
[Rank: Epic
Casting defeo the wind, a sed bde is brandished to enable swift attacks atuated with a varied range of attack patterns and agile maneuvers.
Skill Effect:
?? If a Lightning Bead is present within the iory, there is a 20% ce of activating the passive skill ?Lightning Edge?, which doubles the cutting-edge of any sword ger-type ons being wielded.
?? While the ?Lightning Edge? skill is active, there is a 5% ce of inflig ?Paralysis?, which be stacked with the same effe other equipment.
?? Whehe ?Lightning Edge? skill is activated, the bdes in use will be automatically sharpened and durability will be reduced by 0.2%.
?? A sharper bde is likely to cut deeper. There is an 8% ce ering ?Bleed?, which be stacked with the same effe other equipment.]
[Lightning Edge]
[Electricity discharged from the Lightning Bead envelopes the bde. The voltage enhahe sharpness of the on and introduces a yer of Elemental Damage to one’s Physical Attacks.
Skill Duration: 25 Seds
Skill Cooldown: 1 Minute
Skill Requirement: 2 Bded ons Equipped]
“Are you three alright?” asked Daisuke wherio shuffled toward him.
“More or less,” uttered Rexar.
Elena nodded.
“Still a bit light-headed,” responded Milo, his arms draped around his friends’ shoulders for support.
“That’s not really surprising,” replied Daisuke. “You may be healed, but a potio restore blood loss or fatigue.”
"That reality is painfully clear to me at the moment," Milo murmured ba response.
The cavern still echoed with the lingering impact of the battle. The dust settled to reveal the remnants of the ondefeatable golem, shattered and lifeless, and Verterly defeated and nearih’s cold embrace.
The man coughed as his enemies verged on his location, the ey of his lower half buried beh rge rocks and rubble. Despite the excruciating pain surging through his body, he felt irritated when he spied a tinge of pity in Elena’s eyes as she stood stock of his predit.
“He’s iy bad shape,” said Milo as his gaze copied Elena’s. “I perform first-aid, but we’ll o take him to a priest to get fully healed—”
“Are you out of your mind?” Rexar s his friend who had evidently lost some of his marbles after being spped around by the demons.
Vernie heaved a bloody grin. “This is the reason,” he murmured between coughing, “why your kind is always on the receiving end of misfortune; you’re all a bunch of fools.”
Peeved by the remark, Rexar angrily moved in to drive his heel into the man’s face. But Daisuke lifted his arm to block him before shifting his gaze back to the dying vilin. “Here’s the deal.”
Vernie listened.
“If you tell us about this pce, the demons, and who you work for… we’ll help you.”
“Wait, what?! Are you being seriht now?” Rexar shed out again, but when Daisuke shot him a serious pair of eyes, he took a step ba fear.
Elena and Milo watched meekly as he hissed his teeth and turned away. In the distance, he aggressively kicked a rock like a small child throwing a tantrum.
As for Vernie, he didn’t o sider the offer. He tried spitting into the face of the man who was single-handedly responsible for his downfall, but he ended up coughing up blood instead. Then he sighed. “Shit. This really isn’t how I envisioned my final moments would be when I die.”
“…I’m still waiting,” urged Daisuke.
Vernie allowed what seemed like a mix between a chuckle and a ugh, and his entire body jerked. “Oh. You were being serious?”
Daisuke’s eyebrows furrowed.
“You morons evidently have never been a part of a secret society before,” scoffed Vernie. “If I talk, I’ll be tortured and killed. So what’s the point of being treated here?”
“And you don’t think I’ll torture you?”
“You don’t have the balls,” responded Verh a challenging gaze.
“…”
“…”
“That’s what I thought,” the man tinued in an uone, his eyes fluttering close. “So do me a favor… and go fuck yourself.”
Daisuke clicked his tongue when the ma still and silent, while Elena hung her head in a mixture of emotions.
“…He’s gone,” uttered Milo in a rueful tone. “He’s lost too much blood. We could’ve saved him had we acted—”
When Rexar noticed Vernie’s passing, his roar of frustration drowned out Milo’s final set of words. The infuriated Wolfkin turned his attention to Daisuke, but he wasn’t fident enough to front him. Needing an outlet for his rage, Rexar began defiling the corpse with a series of stomps and kicks.
The unpleasant sounds pierced the deafening silence of the room unceremoniously. Elena and Milo hung their heads; their anger long since ged to sorrow, and they shivered as Rexar’s mindless rampage endured.
Before they could succumb to the tears burning the back of their eyes, Daisuke called out to them with a hint ency. “Split up and search the chamber. Be careful of traps.”
The duo nodded and quickly disposed themselves to the task. At the same time, Daisuke passed a fleeting g Rexar who was still engrossed in his unsavory act of revenge.
But he couldn’t find it within himself to put a stop to it—after all, although his reasoning was sound, he had selfishly stolerio’s ce of exag vengean the man who had decimated their vilge.
Knowing that anything of importance would likely be hidden, Daisuke activated the Eye of Verity. Vernie was an Enter, he thought to himself, deep in ption. His ability to take over the golem after whatshisface died suggests he had some kind of power to trol demons. The real question is: where exactly did the demons inate from?
The chamber branched off into three different rooms: a pair of bedchambers that boasted a splendor that rivaled what the main hall looked like prior to the devastation, and a small kit that was in desperate need of ing.
Elena and Milo didn’t find anything particurly hy in these rooms. And after rep back to Daisuke, they both went to give Rexar some desperately needed moral support.
Instead of fumbling around, even if he was blessed with the Eye of Verity, Daisuke paused and cupped his in ption. On their way into the cave, they had seekin engaged in manual bor—they were being forced to mihe preaterials sleeping within the mountain.
On their way to the main hall, Daisuke remembered seeing a few wheelbarrows taining said materials that were already ed and prepped for ste.
He didn’t recall seeing any wheel tracks or blemishes on the plush carpet inside of the main hall. And he highly doubted Vernie and whatshisface would have tolerated traffic through their private chambers.
Which means the passage to the ste chamber should be situated withiuhat divides the main hall from the work area.
As the revetion dawned in Daisuke’s mind, he pressed his hand against a se of the wall that exuded a traana invisible to the naked eye.
But, as opposed to the meical click he heard from the bookshelf at Reginald’s mansion, a se of the wall simply fell away like a puzzle being done in reverse.
“Th-This is…”
“Figured they would want to keep this hidden.”
“…”
Elena and Milo stepped forward curiously. Rexar wore an indifferent expression. Before them was an expansive chamber yered with cobblestones. Red and gold embroideries hung from the walls, and iween them were mps illuminated by Mana Crystals.
A finely weaved fl remi of a spider web spanned all four ers of the room. The hundreds of pounds worth of Mana Crystals, ores, and other preaterials formed a slight iion in the middle, ah it was a dark, gaping hole.
