C75: Full Clear of Dungeons pt1
-------------------------------------------------------------
The bad news for me continued on soon after being called a complete and utter retard by my own system. The subsidiary pet system informed me that my newly made construct, 2B was assimilated as a pet. They weren't dragged away or anything but their status was saved as such.
Meaning that I now have 3 pets, four if the dragon egg ever finally finishes hatching. That would be my total pet slots available, granted I wouldn't even really want anything else unless I can make some sort of super creature. Thankfully since I hadn't taken onto myself any skills from my other 'pets', the skills I got from Gerald wouldn't disappear.
Though, would it actually be retracted? Gerald's original elemental control skills were nerfed into manipulation for me. I leveled that up a bunch of times and it got subsumed by cosmology. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't matter. So fuck it, let's see what I can get from my two new cuties.
Firstly, Ludwig has regained his human form just like Gerald before him. He wields the holy blade that I bought long ago for the sake of crafting, he stole one of them from my inventory somehow. From his skills, I can see he has copies of the same skills I got from him as a reward, though his are now lower level. Probably because he is a degraded soul shard and simply absorbed the leftover energy from me to regain his power.
As such, I don't really see a need to take any skills from him except to level up my own versions of it into the next level. I still need to evolve them since a few were above level 10.
I pause in my thinking process as I realize that today is going to a 'fuck it' kind of day as I go forward with absorbing the copy skills. Leveling up a bunch of mine due to the higher grade of the pet bond skill allows me to get much more benefits from what would have only been 1 or 2 skills before. Perhaps even less since I have multiple pets.
[Detecting multiple skills with a similar base function. They are also above level 10. Fused product would also be level 10. Would the retarded Host like to fuse skills and evolve fused skills?]
My head snaps backwards as my face scrunches up. "What the fuck. I haven't even done anything. If anything, it's your fault for not showing up earlier when I originally got these skills. Regardless, why are you calling me that?"
["Too much insight"]
"There is no such thing as too much. You're just as retarded as me. Afterall, you're my system."
[Sad noises followed by head banging against the wall]
"Hmmm, yes, the math is mathing with this one. You wrote that response out yourself. Whatever, just fuse the skill and evolve it already"
[Already done. Fused skills have merged into All Weapon Mastery. All weapon mastery evolved into {Frenzied} All Weapon Mastery]
"Hmm, seems it gives a base bonus to all my weapons damage, even my guns and other ranged weapons. Combined with my previous pyromaniac titles and skills, I could totally level this up to make molotovs overpowered. Will I? No. That sounds like a hassle.
Will I grind up my echoes anyways, hmm, yes. I will. Time to see If i can reach the end of the dungeon finally. Last time I had cleared the Ailing Loran chalice, got the root chalice for it and the lower loran but i was just a bit off on high grade ritual blood, specifically the (5) version to activate this dungeon.
To this point, I could only transition back to Pthumerian and activate the Defiled chalice which uses plenty of high grade materials including the Bastards of Loran which I got from the third floor of Ailing Loran. With my current resources, I could actually summon this dungeon twice. I won't cause there is no point.
Though I do have to say that the name Cursed and defiled chalice is certainly a mouthful and not on my regular to do list. Unfortunately I can't progress in any other way in the dungeons, so I commit to the ritual.
Moments later the sulfuric scent wafts through the dream and I nearly think of outright dispelling it for the hell of it ruining my sense of smell.
Touching the glyph of the ritual, I return to the yeeyee ass dungeon. I'm presented with the same ass old dungeon as before, dark and dusty. Same old challenges as before, including but not limited to: A Short timer where I can clear rooms and kill base enemies to extend my time. Doubled enemies which do not extend timer but double all enemies excluding the floor bosses. The random minibosses present in the hallways leading up to the actual boss. Then there was the boss booster challenge.
If there is one unique factor, it is that I feel absolutely dreadful just existing here.
"Ugh" I bemoan my situation as I feel my neck is droopy. A strange sensation when you have more bones and joints in your neck than the average person. It's like telling a slinky to resist the flow of gravity after already having it flop over.
[Cursed and Defiled chalice shall increase Curse of Kos by 1% every minute. Please be wary and move quickly]
"Uuuughhhh, sure....." I groan like a zombie as I activate Seeker Instinct, my new and improved mental skill as wind surrounds me like a cloak and a wind blade shoots forward, creating a mini split in front of me, allowing me to speed forward through the slip-stream even when my head is still droopy.
I use earth manipulation to create mini pillars that jut up and open the doors for me which is certainly convenient and I get to set it up ahead of time, saving precious seconds as 'I' sense the area ahead of me to open said doors.
The first floor is pretty barren. It's a giant empty room of a few pillars, as if holding up the sky. A single shy-guy standing by a fire near the entrance. He tries to rush me upon spotting me but only finds that his neck was cut off by my saw cleaver. Yet said Saw cleaver was not in my hands directly but controlled via wind combined with a few combustion blasts to the wind to provide force to my attacks. Both it and it's challenge mode double die the same way.
The only other enemy here was a single Labyrinth Ritekeeper, and their clone of course, essentially a hag witch who is only three feet tall and covered in a cloak as they use a candle to summon fireballs to shoot at me.
Yet just like the previous keepers of the old lords, I just pushed the fire back onto them. They survived the first but under their own relentless summoning, they died under their own flames. I receive the precious time from clearing the room and rush forward as just crossing the wide and long room, I wasted a second or two.
I find the main path as well as a ladder that leads to that same main path but in reverse. I just go the normal route and quickly find the side room that holds a Watchman guarding the lever. I use the regular overkill method to blast them away. I see that while they died, they did not erupt into a pillar of blood like it happened before.
From that I could surmise that the enemies here would be much tougher, especially the double miniboss and main floor boss. This would surely escalate further as I go floor by floor. That means I'll have to manage my mana and stamina more. Hmm, maybe less so my stamina but still.
I swing on the lever before rushing back through the side path I previously saw with the ladder. Except I skip it outright and just fall without taking any fall damage. Most of the work was my silver cat reflexes but the wind coating my body helped a bit as well which put me under taking any damage.
From there I had opened the door to the main path which I had to do manually for some reason while the system introduced the miniboss I have to slay.
[Random enemy elevated to miniboss. Gravekeeper Scorpion selected. Duplicating miniboss. Both must be slain to proceed to the main floor boss. +3 seconds for reaching the hallway.]
"Hmm. okay" I comment as I accept the extra time My main weapon swaps to the Tontritus as my magic, specifically the skill I got from Gerald in the form of Storm enchantment which boost the bolt power of my weapon as I rush forward to slay the first miniboss, the clone, not that it makes any difference here since I have to kill both.
With earth manipulation, I skewer the two giant scorpions and while they do thrash around, they aren't able to hit anything with my speed and ability to just make elemental walls to block attacks. It was a pretty easy fight all things considered, even with the buffs the mini boss gets which are currently unknown to me.
I am not aware if they get modifiers or if it's just a pure strength, size and health boost. Of course I did make sure to keep a distance from both bosses as they died since that specific species has a trait which allows them to explode after death. I certainly did not want to be poisoned. Unfortunately with this fight, the first minute crossed and my curse rose as expected.
[KoS: 40% ->41%]
I simply jumped over the puddle of poison…or is it acid. I collect a few droplets for later experiments. I then open the boss arena door. It's a pretty long room with plenty of pillars lined up. Unexpectedly, it's a boss who I am already very familiar with.
The Keeper of the Old Lords.
A heartless bitch who spews fire lazily, besmirching the beauty of the elemental flame she wields with a half hearted form. Not a single sense of mastery as if she could never control it in the first place. A gift presented to a wasteless pig.
I guarantee their pain by starting the fight off with a stone monument between the legs. If there was any semblance of manhood in the case I misgendered them, it would be nullified now as there would only be a woman left. I'm very sensible about that even though I don't actually give a damn about any of it since it has no way of affecting me here in Yharnam.
I follow the (de)gendering with a heavy kick to the face or rather the face plate as the keeper uses the ash set. The kick knocks them onto their back as I stomp my foot onto their neck, keeping them pinned.
From there I take out Null and rev it up before stabbing the keeper of the old lords in the gut. The serrated blades make quick work of their internal organs. The fight only ends quicker as I allow the previous storm enchant to empower the serrated blades further as electricity flows throughout the person's body causing them to spasm until it all stops.
I casually claim my reward for the speedrun challenge which as usual is the skill shard crystals. Though I don't know if it's because this is the cursed chalice dungeon but the rewards are slightly nicer as the original 1 greater shard for getting gold in terms of time was increased to three. Then there was all the modifiers from the variety of challenges I undertook which multiplied that further. It feels very nice, seeing numbers go brrrrrt.
The loot for this floor was only a measly few ritual blood but it did have a wide variety of cursed gems so that's pretty cool. This includes a single blood chunk which im a step closer to getting a +9 weapon. Though I might have to reforge my weapon soon to make it stronger, ill be attempting to retain the current upgrades on it but no guarantees….
'Wait, retain? That gives me some ideas'
Of course I wasn't slacking just because I just beat the boss. I claimed my lantern and then proceeded down the lift to the next floor. My curse value was still increasing bit by bit as time went on. Just reaching the 2nd floor increased it to 42%. It's very mean here.
The second floor introduced a new floor scheme unlike anything in other dungeons. Granted I've only seen other Pthumerian chalices and the Ailing Loran so my vision is a bit limited.
The grand hall, as I call it, is separated into three paths at just the entrance. Firstly since the center platform of statues can be raised up to reveal the underground path which later leads back to the 2nd path in the middle which is a grand hall of 3 different layers as well. While taking the lift up brings you to the upper layer of the grand hall.
The time I was given for this floor was quite generous as it seems even with the small time challenge that I was unknowingly thrust into, I have to carefully hunt down all the enemies to save as much time as possible.
As such, I, or rather the seeker instinct, have taken to repeating my tactics from last floor with the wind cloak, wind blades or using shadows to wrap around enemies and then cut their heads off. It's not completely fool proof but it is much faster and convenient since the main hall room has a small horde of enemies which as stated, it doubled into 2 small hordes and the second horde as previously stated does not provide extra time so I definitely have to be faster to ensure they don't block my way at any point.
The system was at least generous in the time I gained for clearing the room as it moved from a +2 seconds into a +4. I know, very generous indeed. The path itself was fairly straight forward as there is one path leading forward on the upper floor and one leading forward on the bottom floor
The bottom path leads back to the area just before the statue lift which is just full of miners. Though there is a path in the opposite direction aka forward of the original path but that leads to a dead end. I find that the path at the very top, the third direction, is the most optimal. Though there are a few enemies I have to get past.
I take out the main horde before simply dashing past the copy horde as they can't follow me anymore, having lost track of me. I do have to fight an evil spirit lady or whatever this is to go down the proper hallway. Magic was the way to go with taking her down by burning her 'alive'.
I did not get the room clear and also wasted plenty of mana in this big room which means I have to be even more careful going forward, especially with the boss.
I find that a labyrinth sage is guarding the lever but I just keep my distance and have an earth pillar shoot up to slam the lever over. I'm sure it was damaged but it's not as if I'm locking it back up.
I then rush back with all my might and lift the gate.
[Labyrinth sage has been selected as the miniboss for this floor. Doubling miniboss]
"Shit" I curse as it is the worst type of boss…for anyone. Faster and hits harder than most mainstream bosses. And now I had to fight two of them at once with both being stronger than normal.
I summon gallons of water from my system before dumping them out so that I could freeze it as a secondary weapon. Manipulating something that is already there is easier than making something out of nothing. You would think this pertains to wind but having the need to gather it up and then release it in specific methods, this all increases it's costs to the point that even though it's higher level, the ice manipulation is actually the most cost effective of my magic elements, the only alternative would be fire that is already present but while there is light here, there are no torches to light said fire in this room.
The sages spawn and both stumble a bit before spotting me and rushing forward, their pickaxes poised to strike as I conjure a hydro wall in front of me with the excess water which they strike and barely get struck before I freeze it over with the ice I prepared. Both sages are half frozen but would likely not be for long.
I move quickly into decapitating them both with Null, yet only succeed in the first. The second breaks free and keeps attacking me, causing me to recoil from the blow which I feel would instantly kill me if it did. If not instantly then at least with a second follow up hit if I didn't dodge.
From the leftover ice left on the clone boss sage, im able to create needles that stab into their body to damage them up a bit as I physically chip away at them. I try to stun them a few times but either their parry timing was adjusted or just outright immune to my bullets as they barely do any damage.
I can only whittle them down but that wastes time. I get the impression I won't be able to get Gold on this floor at this rate. I should really go back and properly make use of my echoes and the brand new sub system for skills to upgrade them all.
[CoK: 45%]
"Damn" i curse again as I finally slay the sage. I get a few more seconds which tips me over the edge of gold once more. I kick the door open and find a watchdog of the old lords. A giant pitch black dog with fire in its veins. Very respectable in its state of being, even if only simplistic usage of fire. From the essence I can feel from it, its fire affinity far surpasses my own to the point of transforming its heart into a lava plume.
"Hmm, lava is it?" I think to myself which causes me to pause as various fantasies pass through my head. Only for the next thing to be the snout of the very flammable wolf dog crashing through my skull and killing me.
[YOU DIED]
-----------------------------------------------------------
Word Count = 3214