433 Hard Mode

The Four Beauties party have cleared out the Dark Underground and gotten first clear of the Dungeon! +150% exp!｣ 

｢Cario Continent International Announcement 

The Four Beauties party have cleared out the Dark Underground and gotten first clear of the Dungeon! +150% exp!｣ 

Eva's lips twitched. What the hell, who gave them the name 'Four Beauties'? Why was the system recognizing them by such a bizarre name? Shouldn't this accolade have gone to Umbra? 

Well, it would be a lie if she said that she wasn't flattered, nevertheless it was extremely weird. How was Eva supposed to know that this was the public name of their group on the internet and among players and NPCs? 

Even the AI itself had become aware of this, yet Eva continued to be ignorant because she was no longer a social media nut. She had been something like that in her youth and in the previous timeline, but all of that came to an end after the event with Draco. 

She was surprised that clearing a Rank 3 dungeon for the first time warranted both a regional and continental announcement, but she understood. Similar to the time Draco had shocked the world by fighting as if he was Rank 2 when he was merely at Rank 0, she had completed a Rank 3 dungeon when everyone was still trying hard to get to Rank 2. 

If she had done it alone, she might have even gotten a system-wide announcement too. However, Eva was more than happy about the experience provided them by the system as a reward. 

Since it was a one-time thing, they should use it wisely. Coupled with what Eva got from before, she now had gained a total of 18% experience! 

… 

The 5% exp gain rate for a Divine Class at Rank 2 was no joke, huh? 

As for Hikari and co, they graciously got 366% experience each. None of them had any limitations on their experience gain, therefore they could enjoy the full package despite being OP as well. This was the AI showing its usual favoritism to NPCs, which seemed unfair on the surface, but became fair when one thought of the fact that NPCs were limited to one life. 

Roma went to level 103, 66% from level 100, 0%, giving her 3 stat points. 

Zaine went to level 103, 66% from level 100, 0%, giving her 3 stat points. 

Eva went to level 50, 19% from level 50, 1%, giving her 0 stat points. 

Hikari went to level 103, 66% from level 100, 0%, giving her 3 stat points. 

At Rank 3, they only gained 1 stat point per level, which was the equivalent of what players earned at Rank 2. At a point, leveling up became less of a means to gain stat points and was more a way to reduce level suppression and increase Combat Rank. 

They exited the dungeon and the other ladies turned to Eva inquiringly in order to find out what exactly they were going to do next. Eva smiled at them. 

"Who is up for another round?" 

The three shared uncertain looks. 

"Erm, what? I thought these dungeons could only be completed once?" Zaine asked with a raised eyebrow. 

Eva slapped her head as she had forgotten that NPCs usually could not enter or interact with Area Dungeons as they were meant for players, so of course they'd have no idea of the various options. 

Eva briefly went over these options to were telling them: "And so, we'll do the dungeon on the hard and then the hell mode next. Both of them are going to be more strenuous than this one had been, so be ready." 

The other three beauties nodded in understanding. It had taken them less than 30 minutes for the normal mode, so Eva speculated that they'd need about 3 hours for the hard and 12 for the hell mode despite their overpoweredness. 

The three NPC wives were a bit skeptical as to how hard the difficulty would climb, but their mouths dropped when they met three monsters in the same small cavern where only one Rancid Giantworm had been sleeping last time. 

｢Name: Kobold Elite Swordsman – Captain Rank monster 

Level: 118 

HP: 12,000,000/12,000,000｣ 

｢Name: Kobold Elite Axeman – Captain Rank monster 

Level: 122 

HP: 18,000,000/18,000,000｣ 

｢Name: Kobold Elite Spearman – Captain Rank monster 

Level: 124 

HP: 22,000,000/22,000,000｣ 

The three were seated around a campfire, lazily chatting in their guttural language while munching on some grilled rats and critters found underground. Despite being silent, they immediately spotted Eva and co due to their high skill and training. 

"From here on, I'll be assisting you two with fighting." Eva said calmly. 

She could no longer afford to cross her arms and stand back while Zaine and Roma doing everything. Hikari quickly cast White Light Blessing on the trio, amplifying their power comprehensively. 

Roma summoned Dark Hands to bind the foes while Zaine shot out great amounts of Lightning to assault the trapped enemies. The Dark Hands were a step above the Necrotic Hands, and escaping their reach had been impossible for even a Major Rank boss, much less these Captain Rank scrubs. 

The skill descriptions stated that their hands would rip foes apart, and they lived up to the flavor text, as they grabbed different limbs and pulled them apart menacingly. 

Howling in pain, they prepared to use their skills to break free and counterattack when they were hit with Roma's Silence skill. 

｢Silence – Active skill 

Effect: Place a curse of silence on an enemy which prevents them from using any skill or spell and removes all buffs and as well as positive characteristics. 

Duration: 1.5 minutes 

Cooldown: 3 minutes｣ 

Unfortunately, since it was single target, Roma had to cast Mirage on the axeman while Zaine had used hers on the swordsman. The spearman was the one hit with Silence, and Eva dealt with him. 

She raised her hand and lightly moved them like she was leading an orchestra. From the walls, many spikes emerged that pierced through the body of the spearman without pause. 

The Kobold screamed in utter agony, but was soon silenced forever when most of his body had been perforated. Eva flung his body aside with a hand made of earth and checked up on Roma and Zaine's quarries. 

Zaine was currently, streaming a constant flow of caustic lighting into the swordsman, steadily draining his health as he twitched and shuddered in pain, while Roma had an expression of light ecstasy as she plunged her own hand into the chest of the axeman, activating her Life Drain skill. 

｢Life Drain – Active skill 

Effect: When in physical contact with any enemy, drain their life at a rate of 1% per second and restore yours by the same amount. If at full health, drained life is converted into stat points for END. 

Cooldown: None｣ 

Since Roma was, as a matter of fact, at full health, all the plentiful HP of the axeman was converted into Endurance points for her. It was at a rate of 100,000 HP:0.0001 END. 

A pretty shitty conversion rate, but it was something. The more Roma absorbed, the freer stats she would be getting within a system in which stat points were treated like gold. 

After draining her target into a dry husk, Roma pulled out its heart and drank the fresh blood from it, even going so far as to lick her lips. When she noticed the other three looking at her with strange expressions, she paused and hastily wiped the blood from her mouth. 

"Erm… I kinda got too into the mood hehe…" 

The other three shook their head and accepted it as it was. As a Mystic Witch, Roma was already bizarre enough by being so beautiful and gentle. The common conception of her race would be of ugly old hags that ate babies for breakfast, so this was nothing frankly. 

From then on, the squad of four continued to blaze through the dungeon with some level of ease, though they frequently had to take breaks for their skill cooldowns to elapse. Unlike before where they largely didn't even bother to use skills, they were using them frequently now. 

Eventually, they reached the boss room to be met by a group of 5 Elite Kobolds, 4 Royal Guards wielding a spear, axe, sword, and bow, and the same Kobold King from before, only he had grown to double their size and his armor had clearly received an upgrade as did his sword. 

In this fight, the squad of beauties really had to use their skills wantonly in order to remain unscathed. Hikari was even forced to use White Barrier a few times to protect Roma or Eva. 

Still, they eventually triumphed and gained 423% experience to share amongst themselves. Eva got 5% experience after her horrid conversion, while Hikari, Roma, and Zaine received 105%. 

｢Congratulations on completing: Dark Underground hard mode 

Time elapsed: 3:01:22 

Enemies killed: 58 

Team Deaths: 0 

Team Members: 4/20 

Assessment: SS+ 

Reward: 

3 Epic Treasure Chest 

20,000 Platinum｣ 

Ironically, although perhaps it was on purpose, but the AI gave them the same rating and reward. Eva was a lot less attached to such stuff compared to Draco, but she couldn't help but feel her chest clot with blood, as she managed to swallow it back down. 

Her intuition told her that if they would have managed to beat it before the 3-hour mark, they might have gotten the full SSS assessment. 

Boundless was a game known for its hellish grinding and slow level growth, but this was ridiculous! Eva was fighting above her goddamn Rank, yet she barely gained enough exp to climb a single level! 

It wasn't like she could push away Zaine and co too, because they needed her training until Draco came back. Otherwise, their plan to stun him would fall by the wayside. 

Zaine rubbed Eva's back with a sympathetic expression and led the pained Celestial Maiden out of the dungeon towards the rest. Eva almost rejected continuing, but Zaine managed to coax her into it, saying that this was the last one and that all of them would like to see how difficult it would get. 

Taking a deep breath, Eva led them into the hell mode of the dungeon, where she speculated that they would take 12 hours to complete it at the minimum. Upon reaching the first cavern, the squad was rendered speechless at the sight of five Elite Kobolds and three Rancid Giantworms battling it out in the tunnels. 

The moment they saw them though, all aggro transferred to the ladies and they were forced into a tough fight from the get-go. If all of them didn't have elemental properties/attacks that were super effective against their foes, this fight would not be so manageable. 

As it were, Eva had to tank all the attacks with a White Barrier from Hikari as well as abusing her new Divine Skill to the max. If her mana pool wasn't so outrageous, she would likely have been tapped out before killing 2 enemies. 

Eva was clever enough to focus on defense by making earth walls and barriers with the abundant earth element around her, minimizing her mana cost and maximizing her utility. 

As such, Zaine and Roma could lay down the hurt with their skills, Zaine mixing her Ultra Telekinesis with her Lightning Control, and Roma using her various skill like Chimera Summoning and Chaos Spirit. 

Since Roma created the Perfect Control passive skill, she could now instant cast all her Mystic Arts without the need for chanting, making her a vile witch that spammed attacks crazily. 

However, Hikari had to shatter a top-grade crystal and convert the energy down for Roma so that she had the necessary fuel for her spells, since Roma was unable to use mana outside of her objective skills. 

After the battle was won, the four sat down by the side to rest. Zaine, Roma, and Hikari were sweating from the intensity of the fight while Eva casually folded her arms and shared some tips and tricks with them about the battle. 

Hikari could have used her White Light Healing to restore their stamina, but Eva told her there was no rush. It was important to take their time and rest normally in this challenge.