Chapter 151 - 151

Once all the books are copied out, Cain gathered his group together to run the Demon Raid. It's a bit repetitive to keep doing it, but they're really aren't any decent quests available, and they can't leave safely with Misha below level 100. She will likely end up as a Holy Priest, which isn't much more durable, but they get a lot of self healing effects added into their skills, making them very difficult to kill without stunning them. 

A single step through the entrance portal brings the selection to count his companions as raid members and they're back in the psychedelic nightmare of a Demon Realm, looking at another feathery boss monster at the entrance. The Record Keeper.

Only this time, the dungeon has scaled way up. This thing is level 125, the cap for the Demon Raid scaling. Cain barely has time to call his summons before it's on him, forcing him into melee combat. Even when the rest of the group enters, it doesn't lose its focus and it seems immune to taunt type abilities. 

Cain decides enough is enough, he's going to buy some close combat skills when they finish and is about to Crack a joke about it when a notification pops up. 

[Priest Quest: Dark Devotion] is available. 

[Quest cannot be declined]

Objective: Obtain [Spellbook of Devotion] from Record Keeper within this instance and use one spell from within. 

"Looks like we're on an adventure early." Misha jokes while casting a long duration heal on Cain, as the Bird type Demon simply won't change targets. 

"Did you do something personal to it? A sneak attack to the tender bits?" Laura asks, amused by the Demon's odd behavior. 

"That's just the thing, it attacked me, not the other way around. Plus, I think I've been here before, in an instance that looked just like this, and that exact Demon but lower level was standing at the door." It take Cain a while to explain while he fights, not being an excellent swordsman, even with his speed incredibly boosted by the two merged demons. He's even set out all of his Totems, but the Record Keeper is so focused on him it hasn't even bothered to stomp on them. 

The strikes he does land are doing huge damage though, and the Legendary Demons, half of them Oath Breakers, half of them Primordial Shamans again, are steadily shredding it apart. Feathers and pools of blood are everywhere, but it's not giving up until the very last breath. 

"That was new and exciting. Do you think it remembers you from last time? The Oath Breakers recall things from the previous times they were Summoned." Kone suggests. 

"That would explain the attacking. I did almost all the damage to the last one personally. But hopefully nothing else in here remembers me." Cain sighs. 

[Spellbook of Devotion] obtained. Use one spell from the book to complete Quest. 

"So what sort of spells does it have for a cleric?" Cain asks as Misha is lost in the book. 

"[Purgatory] is a Holy flame in either a beam or cone. Then there is [Treasonous Thought] which sounds like mind control. And [Infernal Gateway] which either pulls an enemy through or brings a horror out to fight for me, with random chance. There are more pages, but I can't open them, only these three are available."

"Sounds live a Shadow Priest Quest Line. Maybe hanging out inside the Demon Dungeon so long is limiting our options for class progression?" Kone suggests. 

"Either way, they look like pretty good skills, and you know I've wanted to be able to deal some damage as well as heal." Misha shrugs.

"So, the Holy flame first and see what happens? The portal that sucks enemies out of existence sounds fun too."

The next group of demons they come across in this psychedelic maze are a collection of pink blob like creatures known as Mutated Imps that remind Cain of slimes. They even shift forms to gain arms to claw if they're attacked in close combat. Normally they use a weird ethereal flame attack though. 

Misha decides that the cone of Holy flames is the most appropriate way to deal with the Imps and lights them all up with a dark blue flame that is very similar to the one the Imps themselves use, only on a much grander scale. 

[Quest Completed]

[Experience Gained] 

[Bonus Experience Exceeds Threshold Due To Skill Effect] 

[Level Up] 

[Level Up]

Cain knows those notifications, the quest was supposed to take her from level 98 to 99, but the increase in experience from his skill blew her right past that and into the class change option. She will likely be stuck in there a while, so Cain orders everyone to guard the area while Misha works out her Class Options. 

[Class Options: Holy Cleric, Dark Apostle]

Misha looks at the class change screen in front of her, clearly showing she is now level 100, in amazement. She's done it, she's going to be an advanced class. First she brings up the description for Holy Cleric, seeing a generic white robed Healer appear in her interface. Extra healing, self heal based on healing done to others, less expensive healing. In short, it's all heals. 

Bringing up the description of the Dark Apostle is a whole other experience. It's almost a support mage class with a side of healing, but it looks like the Spells are based on Unholy Magic. There's new types of healing spells, standard and over time, but with a chance to grant a random buff to the target, there's the Holy Fire type attacks, the portal with a 6 hour cool down, and the mind control type Treasonous Thoughts. The next rank of abilities she can see are all increases to those basic spells. 

Misha saved a lot of her skill points, the ones she gained every level, because there simply wasn't anything relevant to her available. She didn't want to be a melee fighter, and she didn't need armor increases as a cloth equipment user, so she simply saved them. 

This new direction looks like it will be a lot of fun. 

Misha selects the Dark Apostle Class and gets a set of notifications. 

[Cleric Skills Locked] 

[Dark Apostle Skills Available] 

[Remaining Points 36]

Increased size for the portal is a single point with no Progression Path, so she buys it first.

Then it's five points to maximize the rank of the Holy Fire type [Purgatory] and another five to fill the secondary skill to increase the damage modifier it gets. Ten points gives maximum rank of both new heals, and another ten for the next skill in the tree that adds area healing to all her healing spells.

Now she's looking at a single Rank Skill that costs 5 points, called [Boon]. All it says is it gives a ten percent chance that any spell cast will grant the Dark Apostle a Boon from the Dark Gods for thirty seconds. No further elaboration. She's fairly used to trial and error with this interface, but once the Boon takes effect she will be able to clearly see what it does in the status window. 

Having bought the skill makes the next rank of abilities visible. [Warping Flames] an area type Holy Fire attack that causes [Cripple], and [Devotion] a long term mind control that loses effect if the target takes damage. Misha thinks it's likely similar to a Mage's Polymorph except it only effects the mind. But she will have to use it to see exactly. 

"Alright I am back. The Dark Apostle Class gets some attack skills, for now the fire, and new heals that cause random buffs, with extra area healing and a chance to buff myself." Misha gives the quick and dirty summary, looking eagerly to the unexplored area of the Raid dungeon. 

"Why don't we start with a couple of heal over time effects? See what we can expect for buffs before we're in combat?" Cain suggests and an aura of Dark blue energy surrounds them both. It's a much stronger heal over time than her old one, and three tics in, Cain gets a buff. 3 percent STR for 10 seconds. Just after him, Kone gets one as well, 8 percent Fire Damage done for 10 seconds. 

"Well, they're pretty random, but if it gives you something useful it could be huge." They're taking a moment to think over the implications of this ability when an octopus looking floating creature known as a Horror spawns next to Misha and takes up a defensive posture.

"I take it that's your random benefit? An angry octopus?" Kone giggles and Misha laughs, petting it's head.

They move up to engage the next group of monsters and the Horror gets two pink fireballs off before its 30 seconds expire and it vanishes without a trace. This class is definitely going to be an interesting one. 

But as they fight, Misha notices there is some stability to it. Once a Boon is in effect, further boons reset the time to thirty seconds instead of replacing it. The buffs granted by her healing stack, but only usually take effect one in ten times, so there's not usually more than one or two active on anyone unless they need an awful lot of healing. With Vala plus Kone and her healing aura, Misha only has to cast her large heals when the tanks take burst damage. 

But the fire, oh how she loves these Dark Blue Holy Flames. They're very low mana cost, with great damage output, and Cain has started keeping his mana totem from the merged Primordial Shaman active, slinging it over his shoulder with a strap like Char does.. It's not as strong as hers, but it's certainly on the strong side of average for a Mana regeneration buff.