Finding Avalon: The Quest of a Chaosbringer Volume 3

Chapter 1: The Gathering of the Fallen

Before us stretched a flat, dry plain as far as the eye could see. The evening sun had dyed the landscape orange on the fifteenth floor of the dungeon. Kano and I were here on a raid.

Unlike the maze of tunnels and corridors that comprised floors 10 to 14, floor 15 was a wide-open area with no obstacles to obstruct our vision. Regardless, it definitely wasn’t the sort of place to sit and enjoy the view. From a distance, we could spy undead monsters squirming between the small hills and scattered crumbling gravestones. The corpses of hanged criminals swayed beneath leafless trees planted along the roadside against the backdrop of the bloodred evening sky, an unsettling combination.

Kano examined our surroundings and frowned, looking uncomfortable. I, um, don’t think I’d want to come here by myself...

You’d be perfectly safe at your level, but I get what you mean, I replied.

Spending time with swarms of undead monsters was about as far as you could get from a relaxing experience. But there was a gate and a sweet raiding spot on this floor, so we’d be coming down quite regularly. She’d just have to get used to it.

Bro, the wraith is coming toward us! yelped Kano.

That’s actually a ghost, one step up from a wraith, I informed her. Ghosts have more magic resistance than ordinary wraiths, but they’re still no match for us.

The thing approaching us was a white, translucent figure in the form of a human. Its main attack was Drain Touch, a skill that would drain your life force if it touched you. Physical attacks would pass right through the monster’s spirit body without inflicting damage. But they were still relatively easy to defeat using magical attacks because they moved slowly.

We’ll take it down with magic, like we planned! I said.

’Kay!

Kano had only learned the Fire Arrow skill, so we were using this as an opportunity to practice the basics of magic. Because of the skill’s slow projectile speed, enemies could easily dodge Fire Arrow if you fired it from a standing position at long range. Thus, it was necessary to increase said speed while running to boost the projectile with your own momentum or perform the skill with a throwing motion.

However, quickly firing a projectile wouldn’t increase its power. For some strange reason, there was no relation between speed and kinetic energy with magic, even when the magic involved objects with mass. One couldn’t view magical phenomena through the lens of ordinary physics. Imbuing the arrows with more mana would increase their power, though. Pumping in more mana wasn’t the most efficient way to use it and gain power, even if it could be a powerful tool in the right circumstances. You’d need to consider your current intelligence stat, total mana, and your opponent’s resistance stat in order to set your mana output to the optimal amount for the encounter. The only way to learn how to do that was to practice.

Using Automatic Activation, Kano cast Fire Arrow. A cluster of fire the size of a ping-pong ball appeared in her hand, and she flung it at the ghost. The projectile seemed to travel faster than two hundred kilometers an hour, whizzing through the air and striking one of the ghost’s legs.

I hit it! cheered Kano. Oh, but it’s not dead yet. Or, no more dead than it was to begin with, I guess.

You’ve staggered it, I said. Use that sword to finish it off.

Kano slashed the ghost with the Sword of Volgemurt in her right hand. The special one-handed sword that the seventh floor boss Volgemurt had dropped could drain HP from its target, still causing damage to opponents impervious to physical attacks. It wasn’t as strong as an elemental weapon, so we needed to attack more times to get the same amount of damage.

After Kano’s fourth slash, the ghost released a high-pitched scream and dissolved into the air. A magic gem, several centimeters across, fell to the ground.

Ooh, a big one, remarked Kano. The color’s pretty too. What’s it worth? How much?!

The going rate at the guild is six thousand yen for one, I said.

Six thousand a pop?! Hoo hoo, we’re gonna be feasting on some fancy beef in tonight’s hot pot!

Learning the value of the magic gems helped my money-minded little sister instantly recover from her fear of spooky monsters. She even looked excited to carry on the raid. The magic gems dropped by monsters on the fifteenth floor were worth much more than the gems on the previous floors. It was possible to profit even if you had to share your spoils among a large raiding party.

So, where are we gonna raid now? asked Kano.

An execution site called ‘the Gathering of the Fallen.’

An exec— Do we really have to go there...?

Long ago, a baron and all his attendant knights were executed for a crime they didn’t commit at that particular site. Even death couldn’t quell the baron’s grudge against his wrongful accusation, so he returned as an undead monster.

DEC developers had added the execution site in a DLC, making it likely that most people in this world didn’t know about it. In other words, we could have it all to ourselves. There were a few other reasons the Gathering of the Fallen was a good raiding spot.

Monsters will only spawn in a few spots there, I explained. When they spawn, they slowly crawl out from the ground. That makes it easy to get the first strike. Some people call it whack-a-mole.

Whack-a-mole? repeated Kano. Do they pop in and out like in the game?

Two kinds of monsters would spawn there, both level 16. There were skeleton knights that carried a large shield and a one-handed sword alongside corpse warriors that wielded two-handed swords. They were one level higher than the average for monsters on the fifteenth floor, but they wouldn’t be a match for Kano and me since we were level 19.

If we could also collect twelve copies of a specific item that those monsters dropped, we could place them in the center of the Gathering of the Fallen to summon a special monster called the Bloody Baron, which made things more exciting.

The Bloody Baron... I’m guessing that’s the baron that got executed? mused Kano.

Yep, I replied. He drops an item that we can trade for twenty lir at Granny’s Goods. The knights that spawn with him drop mithril alloy equipment too, but it’s usually beaten up.

Beaten up? What do we want with junk?

The knights dropped heavily dented armor or bent weapons with blunted blades. None of their drops were in good enough condition to equip, though you could melt them down and use their high mithril content to forge high-quality mithril alloy. My main objective for today’s raid was to gather dungeon coins and mithril from the execution site for equipment we could use on the twentieth floor and below.

As we marched over the gently sloping hills, blasting away any ghosts that approached with magic, the sunset sky suddenly grew dark. Thick black clouds swirled in a massive vortex above us. We had entered the DLC zone, where everything was gloomier. The shrieking wind blew through withered, lifeless vegetation. In the distance, I could spy what looked like a farm enclosed by about fifty meters of fencing. And so we had reached our destination, the execution site called the Gathering of the Fallen.

My sister and I approached the fence to examine what lay beyond. There were no buildings or structures inside, only a few small raised mounds of earth.

I don’t see any adventurers, I stated. So we should be able to keep this place all to ourselves.

For a place called the Gathering of the Fallen, the guest list looks pretty slim, said Kano. She’d probably expected more monsters inside than just the two undead we could see shuffling around.

Her intuition was half-right. Monsters would spawn in the execution site in such a way that there were two monsters inside at all times. As soon as you slew one, another emerged. But the spawning monsters would slowly dig their way out of the ground. It would be simple to kill them while they were defenseless as long as we could deal with the active monsters first.

In DEC, players had worked out a simple system for this raiding area: players would camp by each of the twelve fixed spots monsters could swarm from and would slay the undead as soon as they crawled out. Kano and I would have a slightly harder time because there were only two of us, and we’d have to race over to the monsters when they appeared. We’d be fine if we took periodic breaks to preserve stamina.

That one closest to us holding a shield is a skeleton knight, I informed Kano. The fleshier one farther back is a corpse warrior.

And you said skeleton knights can use one of the Knight skills, right? she asked.

Yep, they’ll use Shield Bash on you. That’s the one you want to watch out for. If you take a hit while the skill is active, you won’t be able to move for a few seconds.

Gotcha.

We put our things on the ground and prepared for battle, putting on the rucksacks containing the special weapons we’d brought for the occasion. Today’s raid was just a test to see how things worked out, so I wasn’t too anxious about being perfect.

I’ll take the corpse warrior, you take the skeleton.

Okay, replied Kano.

I gave the signal, and we launched toward the monsters. Kano ran faster than me, reaching her target a second sooner. The skeleton tried to block her initial attack with its shield, yet she swiftly moved into its blind spot and unleashed a slashing attack. The level difference between them was huge, so she could defeat it without a problem.

My opponent was the corpse warrior, who dragged a longsword across the ground as it walked. The longsword was wider than a single-handed sword and heavier, yet level 16 monsters were strong enough to swing weapons like this with one arm.

The corpse warrior noticed my presence from within thirty meters, then it growled and charged at me. It closed the distance between us in an instant, stopped five meters short, and swung its longsword up at me, sending sand and dust flying into the air as it dragged through the earth. Correctly judging the weapon’s trajectory, I dodged and hurled a Fire Arrow at the monster with a sidearm throw. Despite my irregular throwing posture, the Fire Arrow still reached a speed much faster than an ordinary person could throw. My attack struck the corpse warrior in its flank and was more than enough to stagger it, and that was enough. Now, it was my turn.

I closed in on the monster and activated my weapon skill before it could recover. The corpse warrior desperately tried to guard with its longsword, but it was too late.

Let this tear you in half! Slash!

I used Slash, the first weapon skill that Fighters learned. Kariya had also used this skill in his duel. Because he’d used Slash with a longsword, his reach had been longer, and the attack was more powerful at the cost of a longer activation time for the skill. But I was using Slash with the thin, lightweight sword in my right hand, allowing the activation time for the skill to be nearly instant.

The monster was too slow to protect itself entirely, and my Slash dug into its unguarded left flank. I sliced the corpse warrior perfectly in half at the waist. Both halves fell as the monster turned into a magic gem.

I looked over my shoulder and saw that the skeleton knight had become a magic gem too. Kano had finished it off instantly.

Cool. The next ones will appear in about thirty seconds, so get ready to strike them down, I said.

I see why you called it whack-a-mole! We just have to thwack them with these huge weapons, right? exclaimed Kano.

Kano drew a one-meter-long mace from her rucksack. It was a Morning Star, a kind of mace with a heavy, spiked ball attached to its handle. Ordinary people would have trouble carrying this twenty-kilogram weapon. My sister was strong enough to swing it around with one hand, although it caused her to sway a little. The mace was so massive that it could survive a little rough treatment, even though its steel wasn’t particularly strong.

The execution site was a great place to raid because you could attack your enemies when they were completely defenseless, crawling out of the ground. However, you would have to fight the monsters properly if they got out, so you needed to ensure your attacks finished them off before this happened. Heavyweight blunt weapons were better than swords for killing armored enemies quickly.

I equipped my own Morning Star and tried swinging it around with one hand. I was more than strong enough to carry the heavy weapon, but I needed to dig my feet into the ground whenever I swung it, or my body would fly. I’d need some practice to get the technique right.

While I thought about that, I saw a bony hand shoot out from the ground to my right, likely a skeleton knight.

It’s coming, bro!

Watch closely, Kano. This is what you do.

The skeleton’s hand clawed at the ground as the monster tried to unearth itself. Monsters took ten seconds to emerge, just like in the game. I raised my mace aloft and brought it down as hard as I could on my defenseless enemy.

Take this!!!

A huge cloud of dust puffed up as my weapon landed with a thud. The skeleton’s bones spread across the ground and soon melted away, leaving only a magic gem behind.

The attack didn’t put as much strain on my hands as I’d expected, perhaps because the ground was soft or my physical enhancements strengthened me more than I thought. Thanks to this, I knew I could put more power into my attack with the mace next time if I wanted. There’d be no need, though. My first attack was already enough to kill it in one blow.

These monsters had a small probability of dropping accursed entrails, the quest items needed to summon the Bloody Baron. The ones we’d killed hadn’t dropped any, though. Of course we wouldn’t be so lucky.

Wow, that was awesome! Oh, look, one’s coming out over there!

Let’s keep on killing them and see how it goes. Oh, one’s coming out for me too.

The thud of our strikes thundered over the next few hours as we ran back and forth across the decrepit execution site, slaying all the monsters that emerged.

Chapter 2: The Bloody Baron

I swung my Morning Star down hard on a corpse warrior as it tried to climb out of the ground. When the dust settled, I saw my sister gingerly retrieve a dropped item and store it in a garbage bag.

That makes twelve! she exclaimed. Now we can summon bloodstained Barry or whatever his name is.

The Bloody Baron, I corrected her. But I don’t know... The plan was to test this raiding site, not to go straight to the boss.

Inside the garbage bag were twelve chunks of flesh resembling internal organs. We’d amassed the number required for the summoning ritual after crushing a few hundred skeleton knights and corpse warriors. This raid had produced a fine result, given the low drop probability.

The chunks of flesh were far more gruesome to behold in reality than they had been in the game. Most disgustingly of all, they’d pulsate now and then. It was nearly vomit inducing. Kano was faring no better; she’d used a large branch to pick up the flesh like she would with dog poop she found on the side of the road.

If we summon him, we’d better sit and work out our strategy. But first... I gestured with my finger, and Kano turned to look at what I was pointing at.

Ooh, we’ve got company.

A desiccated hand rose from a mound of earth. The constant churn of monsters made the execution site inconvenient for a conversation. I decided that we should step outside to work out our plan.

We jumped over the boundary fence, found a nice level patch of ground, checked that no monsters were nearby, and laid our mat down. I poured some tea from the flask I’d brought along, took a sip, and let out an appreciative sigh. The gloomy DLC zone was no less eerie than before, but it’s surprising what you could get used to.

How do we summon him again? asked Kano cheerily while munching on one of her favorite Japanese snacks. We have to put these chunks of meat somewhere?

Yep, above the pattern in the center of the execution site.

At said spot was a crude, childlike drawing of a sun with a spiral inside. We could start the Bloody Baron’s summoning ritual by placing the twelve chunks of flesh we’d gathered atop that symbol.

In DEC, the summon had taken place during a cutscene. The twelve organs would pulsate in unison as they connected. Soon after, the throbbing flesh grew and expanded until it formed into a zombie. The whole scene had taken about thirty seconds to play out, and the ritual should take the same amount of time in this world.

Would we have to twiddle our thumbs and patiently watch the ritual or could we do something in the meantime?

"The Bloody Baron won’t be able to move when the ritual