Author's note
Hi. So I decided to change Anor Londo from a city to a country and have gone back and updated the last chapter to fit the new change. Also it's from Dark Souls if you're curious. Never played the games but I do know the lore(Thank you Vaatividya). Anor Londo(and few other things) will be the only thing I'll take from the game though so you don't need to worry about the lore. I also changed the names of the new job and skill because the last name was just silly.
Chapter 9: In The Sunken City
The mission is to clear a C Gate dungeon. Romeo is on the train towards the mission location where he'll meet his partner.
He's currently finishing his book on Anor Londo. Apparently, despite the glamorous reputation, the country was on the verge of decline due to its resources depleting from overharvesting. Invasion wasn't an option due to an alliance system that would ensure Anor Londo demise so the government looked into other means of replenishing its resources or new resources it could harness. One of these attempts led them to study a force known as Abyss. This would cause Anor Londo's doom as the Abyss' corrupting nature began to tear the country apart, starting with a prosperous coastal city named Oolacile. The city was sunk into a lake in an attempt to seal the Abyss but it did not work. Eventually, Anor Londo was lost, consumed by the Abyss, only ruins remained.
Romeo closed the book, finding this story a bit heavy for him.
Romeo gets off the train. Taking a deep breath, he heads off to meet his partner who was already at the Gate.
He arrived at the Gate and saw his partner: a purple colored hair girl with chestnut colored eyes. She's a head taller than Romeo and is dressed in a red dress with armor covers on her breast, wrists and skirt area. She also wears metal armor leggings and carries a sword on her side.
She looks upset. Romeo walks up and greets her.
"About time you show up." She growls. "I knew I shouldn't have expected much from a guild like Fairy Tails."
Romeo was on time according to the appointment.
"I'm sorry for being late." Romeo frowns. He was angry but tried to remain calm. "My name is Romeo."
"Just call me Maya." Maya said, annoyed. "You don't look strong, why would they send someone like you for a mission like this?"
"Well I'm sorry for not meeting your standard." Romeo said sarcastically, showing less restraint now. "But you're the one who asked for someone like me."
"I wanted a girl my age." Maya snaps. "The guild master basically forced me to go with a boy. Now I'm stuck with some weaklings like you who don't even have proper battle gear. Do you even have a decent weapon? Can you even use magic?"
Romeo pulls out his scorpion and knight slayer blades, then coated them in fire.
"This answer your question?"
Maya inspected the weapons and fire for a bit.
"Well, at least you're not completely useless." Maya deadpan. "And you're not the worst thing to look at compared to other boys, so I guess I should just thank my luck and appreciate that I didn't get anything worse."
Romeo sighs, taking what he can get. The two enter the Gate.
They appear inside a forested area. It was wet, damped, like they're in a swamp. The two travel around in silence.
After a while, Romeo decides to converse, trying to find a way to build up a positive image.
"Any details on this mission? Are we the first to come in or was there another team before us?"
"Did you not learn the details?" Maya growls. "How incompetent can you boys be?"
Romeo is stunned, then frowned, but remains calm.
"I got here as fast as I could." He explains. "There wasn't any briefing on the details of this Gate before I got here."
Maya sigh, annoyed.
"There was another team before us. It was a team of four consisting of B-rank mages. They entered this Gate the other day but haven't returned yet. Our mission is to clear this place as fast as we can but if we could, then identify the status of the last team and save them if possible."
"I see. " Romeo nods. "Thank you. I hope the other team is ok"
"Whatever." Maya scoffs. "I'm sure they're alright."
Romeo decides to ask the question that's been bugging him.
"You seem to have something against boys. If you don't mind me asking, why is that?"
Maya is taken aback. She then glares at Romeo's direction and starts yelling.
" 'Why' you ask? Well it's simple, all you boys can do is bully and pick on weak girls and when that girl suddenly become stronger than you, you either becomes cowards who could only hide from her, scums who tries to wins favors with flattery, or pathetic trash who can only complain about how unfair it is that she got powers and you don't."
Maya breathed heavily. Romeo listens in silence. He realized that the two of them have more in common than he thought.
Before Romeo could try to reach out, something rushes towards them from behind the trees. A group of giant, red, mushroom-like creatures attack them.
Fungi Spawns
1,000 hp
100 damage
Weak against fire
Summoning his blades and coating them in fire, Romeo kills many of them with ease. However, he was outclassed by Maya, who summoned a torrent of fire with a swing of her sword, killing most of the enemies. Whatever was left was killed with Maya's blade up close. Romeo has to admit, Maya definitely has better skills with a sword than he does. While his style is more rigid and inelegant like a soldier, hers is more fluid and has grace like a dancer. Maya also shows more expertise in wielding a blade, suggesting that she has more experience with it.
"You're really good." Romeo complement. "I mean wow, the only people I could think of that have better fire or sword skills than that are Natsu and Erza, respectively."
"Thanks for stating the obvious." Maya smugs. "Well at least you won't get yourself killed without me around."
Romeo's brows furrowed. "Just take the compliment." The two stay silent and keep moving.
They enter a village area infested with skeletons and some rat-type enemies. Romeo gained 2 levels from this confrontation.
The two stopped outside the boss area, a broken down building that now resembled an arena, and decided to take a break. Romeo decides to check on all his stats.
Player
Romeo Conbolt
Money:80,000 jewels
Level:28 (exp for level up: 10,000/50,000)
Job: Master of All Crafts
Undead Master
Str:85
-Lifting:850
-Striking/damage:910
-Stamina:950
Spd:87
-Travel/perception:920
-Combat/reaction:960
-Agility/reflex:950
Vit:91
-Health:200,000/200,000hp (regen 200 hp/second)
-Durability/defense:1,000
-Endurance/resistance:1,010
Int:91
-Learning/combat:1,000
-Wisdom/deduction:1,020
-Mana: 125,000/150,000mp (regen 200mp/second)
Ins:85
-Senses:900
-Charm/charisma:950
-Luck:930
Abilities:
Passive:
-Health regeneration: regenerate your hp based on your vitality.
-Mana regeneration: regenerate your mp based on your intelligence.
-Item box: a storage area where items you put in won't be affected by time.
-Will of the survivor: if your hp gets below 30%, increase all your stats by 1000%.
-Swordsmanship: you can wield a blade with the expertise of a trained swordsman.
-Duel wielding: you can wield weapons in both hands for combat.
-Nocturnal eyes: you can see in the dark.
-Magic understanding and control: you gain a level of understanding and control of your own magic that only a rare few can reach. Your mp requirements for skills are reduced by half.
Active:
-Dash: cost 50mp to activate and 5mp for every minute it's used. Increase your speed by 50%.
-Assess: cost 5mp. Allow you to view information of your enemy or an item.
-Weapon recall: cost 5mp. You can summon your weapons to your hand anytime you like.
-Fatal strike: cost 100mp. Land a critical strike that deals significant damage to your enemy.
-Weapon reinforcement: increase your weapons' toughness. The toughness increases depending on how much mp was used.
-Serpent scales: cost 150mp to activate and 15mp for every minute it's used. Create a snake-like scale body cover that increases 50% of your defense.
-Fatal slash: cost 100mp. Land a critical slash that deals significant damage to your enemy.
-Undead Summons: you can summon souls of your fallen enemy to serve you. Job perks: due to your job rank, you won't lose mp when summoning the spirits.
Blessings:
The Honored One: you exude an aura of power. Increase others' affection for you.
A Perfect Body: a body that's built to thrive in all types of situations. You're now immune to all forms of negative physical status effects.(You can still feel some effects of the attack.)
A True Hero's Heart: you're capable of staying true to your heroic values even in a world that actively corrupts it. You're now immune to all forms of emotional attacks and manipulation.(You can still feel some effects of the attack.)
A True King's Mind: you're able to take charge and make tough decisions in difficult situations without succumbing to the pressure. You're now immune to all forms of mental illness, attacks and manipulation.(You can still feel some effects of the attack.)
A True Saint's Soul: your soul will always remain pure. You're now immune to all forms of soul corruption, attacks and manipulation.(You can still feel some effects of the attack.)
Chosen by The Spark Of Black: While the Spark Of Black doesn't favor who to bless, if you've proven your worth to the Spark, it will reward you fittingly. When your hp dropped below 10%, your chances of landing a Black Flash increase dramatically.
Burdens:
Burden of secrecy: you cannot reveal your power as well as Bladewolfe's existence to anyone. This will also prevent anyone from extracting this information.
Achievements:
Lightning In A Bottle: successfully landing a black flash for the first time. Gain magic understanding
Against the Odds: defeat an enemy that completely out classes you. Gain Master of All Crafts
Lightning Strikes Twice: Landing Black Flash on two separate occasions. Gain Blessing Of The Spark Of Black
Invincible would be the best word to describe Romeo's feeling right now, though he knows better than to let it get to his head. He looks to check on Maya and she hasn't broken a single sweat yet. Deciding now is the best time to ease the tension between them, Romeo shares his thoughts.
"You know, I understand what it's like to be picked on than you think."
Maya looks shocked, but then frowns. "Is this your pathetic attempt at winning me over? What could you possibly know about what that's like?"
Romeo just stares at her for a moment, then he takes a deep breath, closing his eyes.
"The confusion you felt when others your age just decided to hack at you for seemingly no reason. The only explanation you're given is that you're weak compared to them."
Maya looks shocked. Romeo keeps going.
"The humiliation of being publicly ostracized for something you can't control. The frustration stemming from your powerlessness against your assailant. The pain of seeing those you love suffering because of how weak you are. And the hopelessness of trying to change it. I went through that for most of my childhood. I only recently had an awakening and I guess I should count myself lucky that most people I know were happy that I did."
"What's your point?" Maya cuts in.
"I'm just trying to connect to you. But I guess the point I'm trying to make would be that don't judge others when you know nothing about them. Yes, what you went through was painful, but that doesn't mean you get to make assumptions about everyone you meet based on your experience alone. You should try to understand them first."
"Don't try and lecture me." Maya snaps, though her words lost some of the venoms from before. "So you know what it's like to be picked on. So what? That doesn't give you the right to tell me what to do."
Maya gets up and enters the boss area. "Let's get this over with so we can leave."
Romeo sighs, opening his eyes, and follows her.
Fogs cover the entire arena. Inside, grass and moss grows all over what's left of the structure.
The duo was stunted. Terrified by the sight they saw.
In the middle of the arena, stands a giant knight in black armor. His body oozes a black substance and his aura was akin to darkness itself. But that's not why the two were scared.
Also in the arena, stands a red haired woman wielding a knife. She wears shredded legging armor and is barely covered on her top half. She has a sadistic smile on her face and surrounding her were three corpses.
"Who is she?" Romeo whispered. "Is she a member of the last team?"
"I-I-I think she matched the description of one of them." Maya barely gets outs.
"Ah. New toys." The woman cooed, noticing the duo. "I hope you don't break as easily as my friends here."
Both the knight and the woman charge at the two. Romeo blocks the knight while Maya fights the woman.
Artorias
Strongest knight of Anor Londo. Lost himself to the Abyss and is now nothing more but a mindless beast.
500,000hp
15,000 damage
Nora Vermilion
Former mage of an independant team. Affected by the Abyss, she gives in to her darkest desire and becomes a sadistic killer.
100,000hp
500 damage
"Come on girl." Nora taunts. "I know you can do better than that. Dance with me."
Nora screams, unleashes a wave of red energy.
You're paralyzed from the enemy's murderous intent.
Blessing: A True King's Mind activates.
You're no longer paralyzed.
Maya froze, terrified. She cries, barely refraining from wetting herself. This left her open for a stab through her guts which immobilized her.
"Please stop." Maya whimpers, clutching her stomach, trying to stop the bleeding. "Don't kill me."
"Aww." Nora cooed sickly. "Giving up already? That's lame. Let's see if your scream is fun at least."
Nora swings her knife but before it could hit Maya, she was gone. Looking over, she sees Romeo holding onto Maya at a further distance.
"So you can still move?" Nora smiles gleefully. "Then you should be fun to dance with."
Nora rushed forwards. Romeo sends a wave of fire at her. She dodge the wave and covers her knife with lightning and the same form of red energy from earlier. Romeo clashes her blade with his stinger blade. The blades slip past each other, and cut both of them.
-700hp
You've been affected by a shock and bleeding effect.
Blessing: A Perfect Body activates.
You're no longer affected by the effects.
Just as Romeo recovers, a slash strike on his back, causing immeasurable pain.
-18,000hp
Romeo looked over and saw Artorias. He stands up, ready to fight, only for another slash from Nora to go at him. This time, he managed to block the attack completely though he got pushed back a little.
"She's not affected by my sword!" Romeo thought, panicked. Maya can't move and he's fighting two dangerous enemies at once. He could easily handle Nora by herself and can beat Artorias though that would be a tough fight.
"How did you manage to work with him?" Romeo asked, trying to gain information.
"It's strange." Nora put her hand to her chin, Artorias just stood there. "My team and I were clearing the dungeon. We were traveling through the forest when I had these thoughts, these urges, begging me to kill my friends. I ignored them at first, but once we entered the arena, I just got loose. I attacked the team leader, shocking my other teammates. We fought for a bit, then I learned how to paralyzed with fear. Big guy then charged at us but instead of striking me, he opted to immobilize my team instead. I spent the next few days torturing them after that. They finally died yesterday. I was bored so I hope you will be a better entertainment."
Nora laughs, Romeo is silent, Artorias just stands there. Artorias and Nora then both charged at Romeo.
Their attacks were fierce, their speed was blinding. Romeo barely keeps up, even with dash. Romeo knows he has to separate both of them but he's not sure how. Romeo looks over to check on Maya who's still suffering from her wounds, so she won't be able to help.
An idea suddenly came to him. He looks over and sees the corpses of Nora's team still there. He hasn't used this ability yet but now is as good a time as any to try it out.
Please create a verbal command to use Undead Summon.
"Shit, uh." Romeo thought for a short moment, then screamed "Rise up".
Command saved. You can summon 20 servants. Searching for potential undead servants. *Please note that chances of successfully summoning a servant depends on your INT stats, the level of the corpse, and the time passed from moment of death. You also only have three tries per corpse.*
Servants found.
Summons succeed
Servants: 3/20
All three of the corpses in the arena have dark mist oozing out of them. The mist then transforms into black phantom versions of the corpses if they weren't injured or decomposed. A large man in moderate armor carrying a great sword, a woman who dressed in a large robe, and a slender man dressed like a thief carrying a dagger.
Nora looks at the new/old fighters and begins to laugh maniacally. "So you come back just to die again? I'll happily help you with that."
The spirits charge at Nora, who charges back, with the two men fighting up close while the woman shoots fire blasts at Nora.
Romeo now turns his complete attention to Artorias. Even by himself Artorias is a force to be reckoned with. Artorias' attacks are so strong and heavy that even with reinforcement and fatal slash Romeo still gets pushed back when they clash, fearing his blade breaking which thankfully is not. Fortunately their speed difference is not too large that Romeo can keep up with dash. Artorias' armor is also not a big issue thanks to the knight slayer blade, but the problem is landing a good hit without getting hit himself. Romeo suddenly feels weak.
Warning, MP reaches dangerously low levels. 15,000/150,000mp
Romeo is shocks, then baffled.
Restoring servants that were destroyed in combat will cost mp.
Romeo looks at Nora's direction. All three of his summons were constantly destroyed and reformed. Great, now he's on a time limit. Should he try getting his hp low enough to activate his blessings? No, it's too risky and he isn't at that point of desperation. Yet. He needs to find a way to kill one of them first, and fast. Artorias is too strong for him to fight by himself so he decides to switch targets.
Mentally giving the order, Romeo and his summons switch places. Romeo is aware that Artorias will plow through his mp if he doesn't act quickly so he rushes at Nora, going for the kill shot.
"Never expect you to have it in you." Nora taunts, blocking and knocking his swords away. "To be so willing to kill another human. Especially for your age, one can't help but wonder what led you to where you are now? But I guess that doesn't matter, you're too weak to act on it anyway."
"Are you sure about that?" Romeo smirk. Using one hand, he grabs onto Nora's hand that has the knife. He then simultaneously pulls Nora towards him while launching himself at her. Summoning his blade, which materializes in his other hand in a flash of light, Romeo uses fatal slash, which decapitates Nora, killing her before she could even react. Romeo then quickly screams "Rise up", summoning her back as a servant. If he doesn't lose any mp for summoning spirits, he might as well use it whenever he can.
5,000/150,000mp
Romeo, now with more help on hand, ordered all his servants back to his position. Giving mental orders, Romeo instructs the two male summons to restrain Artorias's movement while Nora and the other female summons distract him.
Artorias charges at them. The summons execute their order. The female mage blasts a large ball of fire which covers Artorias's field of vision. As he recovers, Nora swings her blade at Artorias who blocked it with his own blade. The two male summons then grab both of Artorias' arms and lock him in place. Just as Artorias breaks free of his restraints, Romeo rushes in. Knight slayer in hand, Romeo channeled a large amount of mp into the blade, ready for a fatal strike, aiming for the head.
The attack completely pierce through Artorias' helmet and rips through the other side. Romeo pulls his arm back, surprised by the result. He's still glad regardless.
You've leveled up
+1 Artorias' sword
+1 Artorias' chest plate
+1 Artorias' legging armor
+1 Artorias' damage helmet
+1 Artorias' final letter
Player
Romeo Conbolt
Money:80,000 jewels
Level:38 (exp for level up: 50,000/200,000)
Job: Master of All Crafts
Undead Master
Str:95
-Lifting:1000
-Striking/damage:1050
-Stamina:1130
Spd:97
-Travel/perception:1120
-Combat/reaction:1150
-Agility/reflex:1200
Vit:101
-Health:190,000/500,000hp (regen 500 hp/second)
-Durability/defense:1,200
-Endurance/resistance:1,250
Int:101
-Learning/combat:1,200
-Wisdom/deduction:1,250
-Mana: 8,000/470,000mp (regen 500mp/second)
Ins:95
-Senses:1080
-Charm/charisma:1150
-Luck:1130
Romeo is a bit bummed he didn't get any skills, but he's still happy with the result he got.
"You killed them." Maya spoke weakly, reminding Romeo of her presence which he'd forgotten during all the chaos. Romeo hurries over to check on Maya. Aside from the wound on her belly, she's mostly fine. That said, Romeo still has to find a way to save her.
Opening his inventory, looking for something that could help Maya, Romeo finds a certain advance healing potion.
"Gotta thank Sylvia for this later." Romeo smiles. Pulling the potion from his inventory, Romeo approaches Maya and offers it to her.
"Drink this. It should help with your wound."
Maya is too weak now to even move, so Romeo has to help her drink it. Romeo opens and positions the bottle at Maya's mouth, who opens it weakly. Romeo then poured the content down Maya's throat.
Maya finds the taste to be both bitter and sweet. But the potion works. She feels her wounds on her stomach closing, then the pain beginning to numb. After a few minutes, and the whole bottle emptied, Maya now has enough strength to stand, but her wound isn't fully healed yet, so Romeo has to support her. They make their way towards the exit with the spirits following them.
After a moment of silence, Maya spoke up.
"Where did you find that potion?"
"Oh uh. I found it in one of the enemies from earlier when you weren't looking." Romeo lied.
"And you didn't let me know." Maya stares at Romeo.
"Haha." Romeo laughs awkwardly. "Well, you weren't exactly friendly enough for me to share something like that I guess."
Maya sigh.
"You're right. Sorry for my attitude earlier. And thanks for saving me."
Romeo smiles.
"No problem. And don't worry, like I said, I know how it feels to be the one picked on, so I can kinda get where you're coming from. Just try not to make such haste assumptions in the future alright?"
Maya nods, her heart beating fast and her face reddens a little.
The two exit the dungeon. Romeo has to release his summons since he couldn't get them through the portal. He's not planning to keep them anyway, he just wanted to release them in his world. Having ghost warriors to aid in combat is great, but it doesn't feel right using human mage for it. Besides, he can't store them anywhere and they stick out like a sore thumb.
After checking on Maya's injury, which should heal by the next morning, the two turn in their report, with slight changes so as to make the last team's death seem more heroic, now instead of being killed by one of the teammates the whole team was killed by the boss. Maya doesn't want to, but Romeo argues that it's to help lessen the pain for the families of the team so she relent.
They earned a large reward for their efforts. The two decide to stay at the town for the night to let Maya heal completely. They booked a room at a local motel. They had to share a double bed room since all other rooms were booked. Romeo doesn't care but Maya seems weirdly glad about it.
Late at night, Romeo and Maya are sleeping on separate beds. Suddenly,
"AHHHH" Maya jolts up, screaming.
"What's wrong?" Romeo also jolts up, ready to fight. Once things calm down a little, he looks over at Maya's bed.
Maya was breathing heavily, sweat running down her face like she just walked through a rainstorm, fears present in her eyes as well as tears.
"Nightmares?" Romeo walks over and sits on the bedside, placing a hand on her shoulder as comfort.
Maya nods, grabbing onto his hand.
"Could you, maybe, sleep on my bed with me tonight?" Maya pleads, looking at Romeo. "Please?"
"Alright." Romeo nods, offering a comforting smile.
Romeo gets on Maya's bed, and the two fall asleep. Maya hugs Romeo and refuses to let him go for the rest of the night.
Author's note
Here we go. Sorry for the late update. Lunar New Year is this week and I have more work to do than expected. But still, this is a pretty big one so I hope you enjoy it. And yes, I am basically making Romeo essentially Sung Jin Woo. I never said anything about not taking from the Solo Leveling but I won't be copying the story completely either.
Also chapter 9. For those waiting for Child Of The Star, just one more chapter and you'll get a new update.