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Chapter 448

None of my golems survived. I mean, could I really have kept one after watching them tear apart my body gleefully limb by limb as I screamed in agony. Even though it wasn’t me, and that person finally dissipated into smoke and left behind an item drop, it still left bad memories in my mind. As much as it would have been nice to flood the dungeons with my minions and wipe out everything, I wouldn’t have gained much experience.

The golems were too weak and ineffective to be useful nearby, and at a distance, I wouldn’t get experience for the battle. I might get some Monster Tamer experience since they are my monsters, but it wouldn’t help any of my other jobs. Plus, they really were dumb creatures, and even orders like pick up everything and bring it back to me is too hard, so I’d be sacrificing most of the drops for the dungeon to reabsorb.

Simply put, Monster Tamer wasn’t the cure-all ace that one might think. Even using the golems as a meat shield, while it sounds harsh, Terra can function as a considerably more effective one. We’d be more likely to get hurt trying to fight around the sluggish movements of the golems than to not use them at all. Thus, I gave them the self-destruct order I had just unlocked.

{Monster Tamer has increased to level 20.}

{You have learned the skill: Self-destruct.}

{True Hero has increased to level 12.}

{You have learned the skill: Parry.}

{Basic Magician has increased to level 25.}

{You have learned the skill: Mana Manipulation}

{For learning a basic level of controlling magic, you have unlocked Intermediate Magician.}

Of course, when I ordered them to self-destruct, I didn’t know that meant literally. The golems started exploding, and the group of us had to run from the boss room followed by booming noises. Thankfully, I had already snatched up the loot, so we were able to flee the room relatively safely.

As far as the reward for defeating my doppelganger, it was an enchanted necklace. Moderate Item Identify showed it to have a spell of shapeshifting. It was similar to what Shao could do with the fairy dust. Since it was a spell that required fairy dust, I suspected that this was a valuable necklace. I made sure to put it in my Storage for later. Not my storage ring, but a storage skill. It was another one unlocked from True Hero. Its space was proportional to my level, which meant it was always getting bigger. That was just one more of the new abilities I had gained thanks to True Hero.

By the way, I also did some tests on the 2nd job. That is to say that I equipped True Hero, selected the third job, and then swapped True Hero out for another job. I was curious about what would happen. The result was that I ended up with an ultra-expensive 2nd job. I would still lose my third job, and only have two jobs, except that I was spending 5 dp for it. However, I still preferred it this way. Once I reequipped True Hero, I got the third job back, so it was a speedy way to hot-swap things.

However good these jobs were, though, I had to remind myself that they still had disadvantages compared to their dungeon point counters. Namely, I had to keep them equipped as jobs to use them. If I already considered True Hero, Slave Master, and Dungeon Diver as necessary jobs. This didn’t give me a lot of room for leveling anything else.

This was a dilemma that seemed to only be fixable by earning more dungeon points. Well, we were on our way towards finishing the dungeon, just ten more levels to go.

Chapter 449

We continued to work on the dungeon. Every floor seemed to slow us down a little bit more. The traps, the monsters, and the difficulty all increased. The rewards were great too, making it tempting to take my time. Whatever happened to the King had already happened. He had been missing for months, so even if we did reach the bottom and find him, whether it took another two days or two weeks, I didn’t expect the outcome to change.

At least, that’s how I managed to justify my temptations. Our coffers were filling quickly, and if I had another shot at buying that dwarf Rubee, I probably could have afforded her at this point. A full dungeon like this one truly was a place filled with wealth. Perhaps, in some ways, I truly had succumbed to my temptations.

About a week and a half passed by, and we had made it down five more floors. We were now on floor 25. A normal party would have been at their weakest at this point, but numerous breaks to Chalm had left us rejuvenated and in good shape. That’s why I was confident in our current fight.

“Get him! He’s running!”

The golem was fast. Its movements were completely unlike any of the previous ones we had battled. It could leap around and even outrun us. It liked to do these kinds of hit and run tactics, and it made defeating him very difficult. We had spent the better part of a day trying to do so. The reason for this? He was made out of pure orichalcum. He was an orichalcum golem!

From what I understood, he wouldn’t dissipate into smoke, and all of that metal could be gathered, just like the rock golems that fell into pieces of rock. That meant that the level 25 boss was worth a great deal. However, he was also very slippery, using the natural traps of the dungeon to impede his own capture.

“Close off his escape!” I called out to Terra, who created walls trying to redirect the golem.

If the golem was truly boxed in, he’d barrel through one of those rock walls. Compared to earth, his orichalcum body could cut through it like butter. We had already learned this the hard way when we lost it the first time. Once he escaped, he’d hide for four or so hours and then return completely healed. This had already happened a few times and we were growing quite agitated. Well, I was at least.

There was no promise on how much orichalcum I’d get from the mine. However, this golem was a guaranteed amount, and enough to build at least a dozen weapons. I could outfit all of my girls with orichalcum weapons! At least, that was the dream.

Thus, this round, we were guiding him, but not blocking him. The route had been laid out. Our party had also separated. I even used the amulet I had recently gotten to fool the golem. It was smart. It recognized who had the most combative strength and would engage or disengage accordingly. To another party, this would have been a truly terrifying foe. To me, it was a white whale that I needed to finish off!

“I’m not greedy,” I muttered to myself. “I just need one. Two max. I’ll stop after three.”

Chapter 450

The trap worked! The golem fell right into our ambush. Lydia and Shao attacked together while Terra and Celeste restrained it. Add Miki’s confusion, and the golem finally went down before it could find a way to escape. I let out a breath of relief.

It was an entire day of work, and it had finally come to a conclusion. Mind you, the wealth accumulated would be enough to fund a small kingdom for a week, so it was by no means small. I absorbed all of the orichalcum before the dungeon could suck it back up. Dungeons usually took a long time to do that, but this particular dungeon liked to mess with me. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s rate of absorption was very high.

The six of us collapsed, breathing hard as we rested from the grueling day of fighting this monster. Even when it came to levels, we hadn’t made much progress today. That wasn’t to say the girls hadn’t evolved tremendously over the week. We all had fought the high-level mobs of this dungeon and had every fight increased by 5 or more.

Lydia’s Advanced Swordsman was at 10. That’s right, she reached 50 Swordsman and her job had reached the next tier. Scout was currently at 43. I wondered what she would get when it hit 50. Miki’s Spiritualist also hit 50, and she unlocked the job Psionic. That was now at 5. Her Intermediate Magician was also 14. Celeste’s Master Wind Magician reached 30, and her Magic Singer reached 26. Terra’s Earth Manipulator was at 60, her Mineral Appraiser reached 25, and Naturalist reached 10. Finally, Shao’s Shadow Knight was at 43, and her Pugilist was at 33. As for me, White Mage reached 40, True Hero reached 20, True Dungeon Diver reached 36, and Slave Master reached 38.

Simply put, our party had once again made substantial gains and growth. Our rate of growth was truly abnormal.

While feeling somewhat proud of my party, the group of us sauntered off to the safe room. However, the second we walked in, the girls drew their swords and the smirk on my face dissipated. There was an old man standing in the middle of the room. He was wearing a Knight’s outfit. He was one of Lord Reign’s men.

“Deek Deekson, I presume?” He asked.

While stroking my sword, I eyed him suspiciously. “And who are you?

There was only one of him. That should have put me at ease, but it actually made me more wary. He was an elderly man, and appeared frail, but that didn’t mean much.  He was on the 25th floor. That meant that the man couldn’t be simple. In fact, he almost assuredly was a powerful Knight in his own right. I had heard about stronger Knights. If you could say an average Knight was around level 40-50, then an elite Knight would be in the 70’s. Even six on one, it might not be a fight we could handle safely.

“Do not worry…” he eyed my sword disdainfully, “I’m merely here to pass on a message from my Lord. I was a bit doubtful that you were still in this dungeon. You certainly have been taking your time.”

“What message?” I demanded.

The man pulled out a letter and then handed it to me. Then, he walked over to the kiosk and put his hand on it.

“Hey! You’re leaving?”

“I’ve done my duty. I’m retired. I’m too old for this kind of drama. I only did this upon Lord Reign’s begging. I’m the only man he knew who had made it this low in the dungeon. Now that the message has been passed, I’ll be leaving.”

With that, he disappeared, using the kiosk to leave back to the first floor, presumably. As for me, I cautiously opened the letter, making sure to use Remove Curse and Poison just in case. There was a letter, and I began to read it. As my eyes moved across the page, my expression grew darker and darker.

“Master, what is it?” Lydia asked for all the girls, who had anxious looks on their faces.

I finished the letter, and then lowered, it, a look of murder on my face. “We’re heading to the surface.”

“What’s going on?” Terra asked.

“Lord Reign doesn’t know it, but he just declared war.”

“What will we do?” Miki glanced down at the letter in my hand.

“We’ll bring him a war. I had hoped to finish this dungeon first, but now that is impossible.” My hand tightened, crumpling the page in my grasp. “It’s time to end that bastard’s reign!

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