Volume 3 - CH 3

Luce and I started heading toward the Phantasmal Beast Tower we heard about from Celt.

Stopping by a village on the way, we proceeded deeper into the forest.

A large rainbow colored swirl was hanging in the air in front of a cliff wall.

“So it’s still here….”

I sighed in relief.

“Do these tend to get cleared that fast? Phantasmal Dungeons like these…. I haven’t even heard of them before this….”

“It took us more time to get here than I thought.”

The preparations and getting here took an entire day.

When it was just a game, high level players would descend on it like an avalanche within five minutes of it opening, then cause it to disappear within another few minutes sometimes.

Well, that possibility obviously doesn’t apply here in this world, but….it’s better to be sure and move as fast as possible.

It was said that the adventurer’s guild is trying to hide its existence.

The Guild must be thinking of gathering up a group of adventurers and monopolizing the profits from it.

There is a high chance that the monsters are already being overfarmed.

If it’s happening with the Guild’s blessing, then we should do our best to stay away from that.

That must be one of the reasons Celt did not come with us too.

However, they only hid the fact that it was found; they did not forbid anyone from entering.

Even if they find us, we aren’t doing anything questionable.

It wouldn’t be good to catch some people’s eye like that, but it’s still one of the very few chances to get the [Reaper Assassin] Skill Book.

No way we could let this chance go.

Luce and I entered the purplish swirl right away, which then transported us into the Dungeon.

【〈Phantasmal Beast Tower〉:《Recommended Level: 80》】

Simply made ochre color walls and floor continued into the distance.

There were also some statues of monsters around.

One of them had the face of a lion and large wings on its back.

It was made in the appearance of a Chimera.

“We’ve heard it was 【Lv：80】, but it really is quite high.”

Luce gulped.

“Yeah, like I said before….we won’t be going too deep. We will run away from dangerous monsters, stay out of suspicious places, and won’t overextend by chasing after monsters.”

That being said, the Recommended Level only applies to the Dream Lord.

The monsters that normally appear are one step lower.

We already managed to take down a 【Lv：85】 Skull Lord, so it’s not like we entered a particularly dangerous place.

We could start working on actually clearing the place, but there is no reason to do that with a Phantasmal Dungeon either.

Since even without going for the dangerous Dream Lord, if we keep hunting monsters for sweet drop items, the Dungeon will disappear sooner or later.

There are a few reasons why it would be a good idea to take it down, but there are many more why it would be counterproductive.

“There are windows here….even though we are inside a Dungeon….”

There were large holes in the wall to serve as windows.

Their edges were carved in the shape of lions.

If you looked outside, you could see a pretty blue sky.

Luce walked closer to a window and gazed outside.

“I can’t see the bottom….we are crazy high up…. H-how does this even work? Is there a tower somewhere else in the world or something….?”

I walked closer to Luce.

“Everything is a dream of Alzaroth in the end. The sky, the clouds; everything is like a Dungeon.”

“I see….”

“You shouldn’t look down too much. We have no idea what could happen if someone were to fall down.”

“T-that’s true….”

Luce shivered, then slowly stepped away from the window.

“Well then….let’s start the Grim Reaper hunt.”

I clapped my hands together.

Our objective this time is to hunt only the Grim Reapers, who could potentially drop the Skill Book for the [Reaper Assassin] Skill Tree.

It didn’t take too long to find our first Grim Reaper.

Maybe a single hour, if that.

We were able to find a Grim Reaper after punting away a stone Gargoyle with [Shield Bash] and running away.

There was a chance that this Phantasmal Beast Tower wouldn’t have Grim Reapers, so when one appeared, I was relieved.

Within its bluish, half-transparent spectral body, a creepy smiling mask could be seen.

A floating white glove was holding tightly onto a large scythe.

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Monster: Grim Reaper

Level: 66

HP: 166/166

MP: 66/66

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“KEKEH….KEKEKEH…..!”

A Grim Reaper…..

It’s a troublesome monster with high evasion capabilities and high Attack power.

It can attack with its [Dragon Reaper] Skill that has a high chance of dealing critical damage, so even if we should be able to win on paper, it’s not an opponent that we should let our guard down with.

Other than that, it also has a way of avoiding physical attacks with its [Spectral Permeation] Skill, and has some kind of movement inhibiting magic Skill.

It may be a rare monster with nice drops, but more parties than not tend to decide to avoid it after thinking over the risks and how suitable their Classes are to deal with it, even if they suddenly come across it.

However, I of course am well aware of the Grim Reaper’s weaknesses and how it tends to move.

“There it is! It’s the Skill Book! Don’t let it get away!”

“Yess! Elma-san!”

“GEH…..!?”

It seems even the Grim Reaper got confused by the sight of us suddenly charging at it.

However, it brandished its scythe right away, then swung it in a large arc.

It was the Grim Reaper’s Skill….the [Funeral Dance]’s opening movements.

“I will break the activation of the [Funeral Dance] with [Shield Bash]!”

I brandished my large shield and bashed it into the Grim Reaper’s body.

“GOH……!”

The Grim Reaper slammed into the wall.

It flew with a much larger momentum than I expected.

“This Corpse General’s Shield is indeed really powerful.”

The [Funeral Dance] is a powerful Skill, but it’s also a weak point of the Grim Reaper for a few seconds.

While it’s under the effect of the [Funeral Dance]’s super armor, it can’t use [Spectral Permeation] to avoid physical attacks.

A moment before the Grim Reaper could regain its balance, Luce arrived right next to it while standing on the wall, then started spinning quickly.

“[Stunt Barrage]!”

“KEH, KEH…..!”

After taking one hit, the Grim Reaper regained its balance immediately, then used its scythe to block Luce’s knife.

However, during that time I took the opportunity to get behind it.

With its posture not completely at the ready yet, I was able to hit it in the back from its blind spot with my Mythril Sword.

“GEH!”

The Grim Reaper’s spectral body was torn apart, then it disappeared altogether.

A crack ran through its mask, then fell to the ground together with its gloves and scythe.

【You have gained 2899 experience points.】

I returned my sword to its sheath as the experience gain message rang out in my head.

“Well done, Elma-san!”

“To not let it use the [Spectral Permeation] it’s best to take advantage of a weak point in its other Skills, or strike it from a blind spot after all.”

It’s good that I could hit it with its super armor from the [Funeral Dance] on, letting us pile our attacks on it.

If it manages to use [Spectral Permeation] to move with caution it could drag out the battle by a lot, which makes it necessary to watch out for possible critical hits, making the fight quite difficult as a result.

“Please….let this one drop a Skill Book….!”

Luce prayed by putting her hands together.

“…..no, it seems it didn’t work.”

I shook my head and walked closer to the Grim Reaper’s remains.

Its mask already crumbled away, leaving only its scythe still present.

I picked up the scythe.

“It’s better than not getting anything, but…..it’s not quite what we were looking for.”

Though it’s understandable, since weapons have a much higher chance of dropping than Skill Books.

I did not think it would end with only a single Grim Reaper to begin with.

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〈Soul Reaper Scythe〉《Recommended Level: 60》

【Attack:＋18】

【Market Value: 15 million gold】

A Grim Reaper’s scythe that reaps the life of the living.

It has a slightly increased chance to deal critical damage and has the ability to decrease the opponent’s MP on hit.

――――――――――――――――――――

It’s one of the stronger scythes.

Its Attack bonus is somewhat on the lower side, but the two extra effects it has are pretty powerful.

….well, we have no plans on ever using it, so we’ll just sell it and that’s that.

“Uuh…..it was a miss…..”

Looking at the Soul Reaper Scythe, Luce whispered in a sad tone.

“It’s not like 15 million gold is not an absurdly large sum either though!?”

Luce’s senses were still numb.

The Grim Reaper is a rare monster to begin with, so the chances of it dropping an item are pretty high. Even so, it’s more likely to see it not dropping even a weapon normally.