The five monsters advanced, coming into the brighter light. Three of them were new types, big bloat-bodied pig-faced bruisers. They snorted and squealed as they advanced alongside the half-born seers.

Dave inspected one of the new monsters:

***

Glutovor

Level: 410

Danger Level: Normal

Base Damage: 100,000

HP: 400,000

DN: 0

MA: 0

Skills

[Catch and Consume]: a lunging grapple attack. If the attack is successful the target has 10 seconds to escape the clutches of the glutovor before being consumed and [Executed].

[Revenge]: If the glutovor loses more than 50% of its total HP it will detonate, [Executing] itself. The detonation does 100,000 HP of flat damage to all targets within 5 meters.

Lore:

The first glutovor was created by fusing a Swine Lord to the Flesh Wall. The voraciousness of these flesh spawn have no limits, at times they even devour each other.

***

The moment Dave looked at the two half-born seers, his Health points took a hit.

[-9,900]

Two percent of his HP bar gone just like that.

Dave quickly looked away from the many-eyed monsters.

"Tess, Ralph, Mercy, kill those two!" Dave pointed at the two half-born seers, "Everyone else with me."

Dave activated [Stampede] and slammed into the lead glutovor.

[-35,880]

The knockback sent the glutovor reeling, but the attack pulled the aggro of the other two pig-faces.

Perfect and Lone shot [Breaking Shot] arrows at the glutovors, staggering them. One careened off a nearby wall and stumbled back toward Dave, its hands extended for a grab. Fortress moved up, shield raised, and blocked the grab. He bellowed and red icons manifested over all the Players' heads. Transparent pop-up notifications of the buff appeared to everyone.

***

[Rally]

+10% Critical chance to all Skills and basic attacks (Party members only).

+5% Damage to all Skills and basic attacks (Party members only).

Duration: 60 seconds.

***

"Keep the pressure on," Dave said. He switched to his Sworn Stalwart gauntlets and ignited [Aura]. Flames erupted out, searing the Flesh Wall and the glotovers. The Wall squirmed, writhing away from the heat.

Dave received a notification.

***

By repeatedly damaging the Flesh Wall you have increased the Difficulty rating of your quest.

Quest Rating SS+

***

"You should probably turn your gauntlets off, Stroke," Flanker said. He must have received a similar notification.

"Not yet!" Dave shouted.

He punched one of the glutovers in the ribs, breaking them. The glutover squealed in pain.

"Step back Fortress," Dave said.

They swapped positions and Dave slammed his tower shield into the closest pig-face. The other glutover lunged at Dave but he sidestepped the grab and used [Infernal Tornado]. The monsters staggered back as Dave spun like a top, smashing his fists into them with every spin.

.

***

Party member (Blaster) has killed half born seer, level 380.

***

***

Party member (Mercy) has killed half born seer, level 390.

***

"We're done here," Ralph said over the party chat.

"That was fast!" Fortress said.

"They're EXP bags, low health and easy to kill," Ralph said with a shrug.

"Let's give Skelly a helping hand," Ralph said to Mercy and Tess. He jumped forward, ramming his sword into a glutover that was about to grab Dave from behind. He activated [Silent Resolve] to pull the glutover's aggro onto himself, reducing the pressure on Dave. Mercy came out of stealth attacking the monster Dave was fighting from behind. She stabbed with her daggers, taking more than half of its HP in a single strike.

Tess twirled and flicked her scepter, thick smoke shot from the tip of the magical focus toward the glutover. The smoke spiraled around the monster and obscured it form view, then the smoke imploded leaving nothing behind, not a scrap or bit of flesh.

***

Your party member (Tess) has killed glutovor, level 410

***

"Good job, pumpkin," Fortress called out to Tess.

She stopped and smiled at him with adoring eyes, "You too, honey-bunny!"

Flanker grimaced, "Get a room...I'm sure yo mama's basement is free, 'Stan.'"

"Get a life, 'Pussy Canker'!" Tess shot back and turned away from the pervert priest with a disdainful sniff.

"Ooooh, so BURNED!" Fortress laughed uproariously at his friend.

Flanker's mouth opened and closed, he just couldn't come up with a timely rebuttal. Head hung low, he went to see if the others needed his help, a sadder, wiser pervert.

***

You have killed Glutovor level 410.

***

"Great," Dave stepped back and looked around. Ralph was just about to finish off the last pig-faced monsters. His sword flashed across horizontally and the suddenly headless glutovor slumped, turning into a puddle of viscous ichor.

"Loot?" Perfect asked.

"Nothing," Dave shook his head. He disabled [Aura] and removed his gauntlets, then equipped the flamberge and tower shield. The gauntlets dealt more damage, but they hurt the Flesh Wall and increased his quest difficulty.

"What's wrong with your hand, Stroke?" Perfect asked.

Dave looked at his hand. Patches of gray skin spread from the Ring of True Undeath. He inspected it but found nothing new.

"Might be a bug, anyway let's keep moving," Dave said.

"Why don't you call Alfred, if it's a bug?" Tess asked.

"Alfred and I don't get along."

The others waited as Dave drank a health potion, restoring his lost HP.

They continued down the flesh tunnel until they came to a dome shaped cavity at the end, it was like moving from an intestine into a stomach. In the middle of the slowly pulsing room a growth of purple flesh stretched between the top of the 'stomach' and the 'floor.'

"I smell a boss fight," Ralph said.

"Look over there, Skelly," Flanker said.

A vial filled with glowing green liquid was embedded in the flesh wall.

Holding his breath Dave inspected the vial.

***

Quest item: Miasmic Aether of the Necromancer's Tomb

Weight: 2Kg

A concoction of magic, rot, and death.

***

"That's what I need," Dave said.

"Let me get it for you," Mercy said.

The assassin used her [Vanish] Skill, entering stealth. She moved quickly along the wall, as far as possible from the lump of flesh, she didn't want to trigger a fight she could avoid. Reaching the vial, she tried to grab it but the item didn't budge. After several failed attempts she gave up.

"I think you have to be the one to take it, Dave."

Dave nodded, "Makes sense. It's my quest."

He followed in Mercy's footsteps, copying the assassin's movements as best he was able

"Everyone be ready, whatever is inside that lump is probably gonna show its face when I grab the vial."

Dave reached the vial and unceremoniously picked it out of the wall.

***

Quest update

You have obtained vial of Miasmic Aether of the Necromancer's Tomb.

***

Suddenly, without any intention, Dave's hand spasmed, involuntarily tightening around the vial until the glass shattered. The content spread like something alive, coating his hand in a thin film. The Ring of True Undeath flashed with black flame, then sucked the Miasmic Aether into itself, absorbing every speck of the material.

***

Your body remembers: [Undeath]

You have remembered: [Never Hunger]

Passive Skill restored and amplified!

[Never Hunger]: Your stamina regeneration, HP Regeneration, and MP regeneration have been permanently increased by 200%

[Poison Immunity]: Poisons have no effect on you. (Acid damage is reduced by 50%).

***

Dave started to panic, he'd destroyed or lost the object of his fetch-quest, the god of undeath wouldn't be able to revive the Legion! But then with an effort he calmed himself and thought rationally, he hadn't gotten any notification for failing the quest, so maybe his ring absorbing the miasmic stuff was what was supposed to happen.

A stinging pain in his hand woke him from his wandering thoughts. The gray patch on Dave's hand had darkened. It began rotting rapidly, the skin shrank around the bones and the fingernails fell out. In moments his hand had been transformed into the familiar dessicated appendage of a draugr.

Dave raised his hand, turned it over and said, "That's interesting."

"What happened?" Ralph asked.

"I got back a passive Skill from my draugr avatar," Dave said.

"The lump hasn't done anything, let's move out of here before it does." Perfect said.

"Right, let's back," Dave said.

"We could go ahead and attack it, just be proactive and all" Ralph said hopefully. It might turn out to be an EXP bag.

Dave clapped his friend on the shoulder, "I remember my promises, easy EXP when we get the Legion back, man." He raised his voice, "Let's go back to the entrance, there are two paths left to take."

Everyone followed after Dave, just as they made it halfway across the tunnel, an ear piercing screech echoed from behind them.

Dave drew his sword, "Get ready."

The cushiony floor trembled as something heavy stomped its way toward the players.

"Fortress, Ralph, tank with me, everyone else support us from the back. And don't die Flanker," Dave said.

A hulking horned humanoid came at them in strides.

"Is that an ogre?" Ralph said.

The ogre was twice the length of a man. He carried a tree sized club with spikes and rusty nails embedded in it in one hand. . His other hand was clutching at a nasty gash in his stomach. A feeble attempt to stop his festring entrails from coming out.

Dave inspected the monster.

***

Consumed Ogre

Level: 420

Base damage: 120,000-150,000

HP: 420,000/800,000

DN: 30,000

MA: 50,000

Skills

[Skull Breaker]: The Consumed Ogre's basic attacks have a 20% chance to stun targets and bleed them for 5% of their max HP (Stackable up to five times)

[Grisly Grasp]: The Consumed Ogre's entrails snare a target inflicting [Poison] status effect causing 5,000 HP of poison damage per second over 5 seconds (Stackable up to five times)

[Berserk]: For every 10% HP lost, the Consumed Ogre gains a 10% increase in base damage and attack speed.

Lore:

Ogres are brutish, ugly and dumb. Their immense strength attracted the attention of Ashkar, the Necromancer King and he decided they could be of use to him as heavy labor and when needed as heavy infantry. The Flesh Wall easily took over the mind of these simple minded creatures for its own usage. This was his first act of betrayal against its creator, the Necromancer King.

***

"Alright, let's do this," Dave said.

Flanker interrupted while looking back, "Sorry guys, more monsters coming from behind us."

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