Chapter 17: Dungeon Collapse

"Is this report true?""Yes" Gareth replied with a straightened posture.

He was currently discussing the previous situation with the higher ups.

After Michael came back alive out of the collapsed building, hostages behind him, it left quite an impression on everyone present.

And that was the same for the higher ups, they too were extremely impressed by his performance.

1 casualty and it was only the robber who had blown himself up. Not a massive loss to society by any means.

It has been a couple of days since that incident. However, they were unable to extract any information out of the remaining robber.

No one knew their intentions or why they planned on blowing themselves up. The only option they had was to wait until someone specializing in mind magic came around.

People with skills like that are a rare find, and currently none were in Vivum City.

The higher ups began talking amongst themselves, leaving Gareth standing alone awkwardly.

"We have decided to re-evaluate Michael, from this point on, only send him on emergency requests that are high profile, something his expertise warrants. Our other healers are competent enough to deal with other issues" A man with a massive gray beard suddenly declared. He was one of the few justice committee founders.

"Understood" Gareth quickly turned around and left.

After this incident, the public started painting Michael as some sort of an angel, there are pictures of him floating around from when he came out of the bank.

However that also brought some new issues.

Gareth clenched his fists as he was walking back to his car 'Saint candidate.'

It meant one became an object of reverence, like a paragon of the goddess's will, though most people knew that was bullshit.

The position gave many benefits, however in exchange, completely got rid of freedom for the to be Saint.

It was the kind of role that the public thrusts upon you, something that is tied to your name like an achievement.

And because of that, the government watched the Saint like a hawk, trying to do whatever they could in order to make him seem more holy.

'Fanatics' A lot of government officials believed in higher powers, one of them being the Goddess Sophia.

The one whose will the saint allegedly carried.

Though knowing Michael's personality, he will probably manage to avoid that position, that's what Gareth hoped anyway.

It was time to call Michael and tell him about the new arrangements, he will surely like the new schedule..

-----

It's obviously the woman.

'Why would it be the woman? Out of everyone, the man was the most suspicious, I mean just look at his eyes.'

Michael was currently watching a drama, that was mostly what he did during his time off, considering it was incredibly limited.

Your deductive skills are not great, watch, it's going to be the woma-

-Ring

'Oh fuck off, a 20 minute break since this morning? What kind of stand by position is this!' Michael exclaimed in his mind. He was being overworked, even by his standards.

Walking over to the phone he picked it up and walked outside, seemingly already dressed for work.

"Hello yes I am on my way" Michael said as he reached for the end call button.

Though a voice quickly interjected "Wait, it's me."

"Gareth? What's the occasion?" It was the first time he has received a call from him ever since he was hired.

"The higher ups have changed your role, you are now only going to be called in for more serious stuff."

Michael's eyes lit up "Does that mean I can finally watch my movies in peace?"

Though Gareth only slightly chuckled "Maybe, however on that note, you are needed at one of the sites, good luck."

Michael stared at the ended call with a blank expression, then only a few seconds later, his driver arrived.

'I hate this job..'

The drive took just a few minutes, at the speed they were going at, it was not hard to get around the city.

The city had a population of 40 million people, so to say that it wasn't spacious enough, would be a lie.

Upon arriving Michael's eyes slightly widened 'Monsters?'

There was a portal right in the middle of the street, with police surrounding it and killing off some green monsters that were coming out.

I guess this does qualify for something more serious?

'Well it's better than having to drive across the city to heal a single individual' Michael shrugged and walked up to a cop, introducing himself.

"Great, Michael, stay behind us, you will be needed if the worst case scenario happens, and as things are going, it might indeed happen" The officer explained, earning a lot of confusion from Michael.

"What's worse than a dungeon break? Monsters were already coming out."

The officer pointed at the portal, specifically the small ever expanding cracks around it.

"A dungeon break happens once the boss monster becomes too strong, however, there is one stage above that, a complete dungeon collapse"

"In the case of a collapse, all the energy of the dungeon gets absorbed into the boss monster, making it incredibly strong."

He then pointed back at Michael "That's where you come in, this will likely be a battle of attrition, so your heals will be extremely helpful"

'I see, that could indeed be a big problem' Michael noticed the cracks around the portal slowly expanding.

"I will try to be of help" However the moment those words came out of his mouth, the colors around him changed.

The hollow modern streets were suddenly enveloped in a vibrant shade, traveling for who knows how far.

And the pressure Michael felt was immense, it all came from the dungeon.

The cracks around the portal intensified and with a final stretch, shattered.

It looked anti climactic, there was no sound, no anything. However, Michael knew better than to let his guard down.

And he was right, as the next moment the Portal lit up, its former blue shade expanding in the range of the vibrance, turning the entire area into a blue domain.

Be careful, this might get a little dangerous. Sёarᴄh the Novёlƒire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

'No shit sherlock' Michael was able to feel the intensity, pulsing from the portal, as if someone, or something was walking up to it.

Michael looked around and saw the police officers with their mouths open, trying to communicate, however, no words came out, or more like he just couldn't hear it.

No one could.

The pulsing intensified, seemingly getting even closer. It made Michael's heart race even faster than before.

Was it fear? He didn't know.

Though he knew that whatever was coming, will be really strong.

A couple of seconds passed and the pulsing seemed to slow down, before finally disappearing.

As that happened, the vibrance traveled back into the portal, as if nothing ever happened.

"Everybody! Get into positions, it's coming!" One of the police officers shouted and pulled out a bow from seemingly nowhere, and so did the others.

Staffs, shields, swords, any weapon he could imagine was brought out, with all of them seamlessly getting into positions, waiting for the boss monster to come out.

This is going to be similar to a raid, however, you are the only healer, pay close attention to your allies, if they die it will be on your hands.

Michael merely nodded and stepped to the very back, preparing to heal the others.

The only item he had was the robe Rebecca had given him, though it was slightly torn already, looking like it wouldn't last that much longer.

It will have to do, for at least this one more battle.

Suddenly Michael saw a foot appear from out of the portal, it was way bigger than even 5 police officers combined.

"Troll!" One of the policemen shouted.

As you can see by its foot, trolls were just bigger and stronger goblins, the green monsters you saw earlier.

Michael took that information in and mentally prepared himself, the battle was about to begin.

Finally, the troll's fully dark green body came into full view, it looked a bit funny coming out of the small portal, as its size was many times that of anyone he had ever seen in his life.

"Fire!" Upon those words, a volley of all sorts of spells, arrows, and gunfire was launched, heading straight for the troll.

Michael stepped to the side to get a better view of the others and upon noticing the 3 tanks wielding shields, he cast Infuse as well as his very own Shield skill on them.

The battle had finally started..

The mages kept sending spells at the troll and the other ranged classes kept firing their arrows and bullets, landing right on the troll's body.

Every time their quivers or magazines ran out, a replacement materialized itself out of nowhere, allowing them to continue their onslaught of ranged fire.

The troll had no weapons, only its body, however, every single punch or kick sent shockwaves through the air.

The close range damage dealers were very cautious, only attacking once the tanks blocked a blow.

With Michael's Shield skill stacked with their already resilient bodies, the tanks were not taking any damage, and neither was anyone else.

Every time a hit was to land on one of them, an invisible barrier repelled the troll's attacks.

Though he knew this was not going to last long, all of these people had their HP in the 3000 or above range, the tanks even higher. However, the troll's HP was not even visible.

Michael guessed their levels were in the 120's, this was probably an elite team of the police force.

The battle continued on and so far there weren't any casualties. Everyone looked strong and competent so Michael was not too worried about anyone messing up.

As the troll looked like it was finally about to fall, its skin suddenly turned completely red, the same with its eyes.

One of the tanks stepped back and shouted "Phase 2!" Making everyone but the ranged damage dealers back away.

It seemed the troll had enraged, increasing its damage at the cost of sanity, not like it was very smart to begin with though.

All of the swordsmen backed off, leaving the grouped up tanks together.

Michael was going to recast Shield but remembered it increased in mana cost significantly, if he were to cast it on the tanks again, then he would have no more mana left.

That's why instead of that, he began waiting for his chance to heal them, paying close attention to their HP with his Eyes of the Healer skill.

As the troll hit one of the tank's shield's, he was pushed back a few meters, with blood dripping down from his mouth.

'That one hit, even when blocked, dealt 30% of his HP..' Michael thought with slightly widened eyes as he cast a Greater Heal on the tank, enveloping him in a golden light.

There were no external injuries, only internal, therefore they were healed in an instant, even the tank was surprised by the speed.

With that, the battle was pretty straightforward, the tanks did their best to block the troll's attacks, trying to wait out his enrage.

And it was working, the damage done by the long range dealers was starting to show, as the troll's eyes were already burnt to a crisp, only swinging his arms by instinct.

The tanks quickly rushed in and pushed it down, the close range damage dealers immediately running in and stabbing it from all directions.

Until finally its hands fell on the ground, with the troll taking rough breaths.

However even that didn't last long, as in the next moment a barrage of all kinds of projectiles landed on its body, riddling it with holes.

[ [Assist] Great Troll [Level 150] Killed! +15000 EXP ]

Michael stared at the message for a second 'Hey why did I only get 15000 EXP when I got 10000 from killing something that was level 50?'

That's normal, you got 10% of its total EXP. The others got the other 10%, when you kill a monster you can only get 20% of its EXP.

Michael looked a little puzzled 'They get 10% EXP split between all of them? Doesn't that mean they barely get anything?'

Yes, that's why it is difficult for everyone besides you to gain new skills. However don't worry, the EXP split does not apply for healers, no matter how many are in a party, all of them would get 10% of the monster's level's EXP.

'So what if there were 20 healers in a party?' Michael asked out of curiosity.

Then they all would get 10%, nothing changes, don't ask me where the EXP comes from though, I don't know myself.

'I see, well thanks for the explanation at least' With a nod he turned back to the police officers, who for some reason had wide smiles on their faces, staring right at him.

'Oh boy.. this is going to be an annoying talk...'