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Chapter 93: Into the Catacombs (3)

"...phew." Seeing the ashes disappear into the air, Shinto let out a sigh of relieve as he turned to check his profile.

[ Player Profile ]

Player Name: Shinto

Level: 21

Rank: N/A

Class: Shadow Diviner (???-Unknown Rarity)

-Class Attribute-

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-Titles-

...

-Stats-

HP: 222/222 | MP: 204/204

Strength: 1 | Stamina: 18

Intelligence: 25 | Agility: 50

Shadow: 24 | Divinity: 14

Wisdom: 1

Stats Point: 120

Reading through his status, he saw that his level was much higher now than when he first entered the dungeon initially which was at 16.

'These rats sure gave a lot of experience...' he thought to himself. 'Well, possibly because there was quite a lot of them...' his eyes quickly turned towards the area where the rats once stood. '...though, I wonder why they suddenly rushed up like that?'

Shinto couldn't understand the sudden behaviour of the rats. The moment that they entered the dungeon's open-spaced room, they were greeted by the mischief of rats that surrounded them in almost an instant. Their attacks were going strong till the first wave died, right after, they were no longer attacking.

'...hmm, in any case, this is over for now,' Shinto continued his trail of thought as he swiftly moved his view over towards his party members.

"We finally did it!" Frey cheered. "Now, what?"

"Well... before all that mess that happened earlier," Raina said as she pointed her finger over towards the statues upfront. "We were going to check that out, right?"

"Yeah," Shinto nodded his head whilst making his way over towards the three statues that stood in place at the front of the group. From the middle, the statue was shaped as what seemed to be a mage, holding onto the staff that appeared to be casting something. Below the figure, there were small pieces of bones scattered around.

'...a mage and bones... a necromancer?' Shinto analyzed whilst turning his eyes over towards the other statue on the side of the mage. From the right side, with a sword stabbed to the ground, the figure was that of a knight. Meanwhile, on the left, the statue was nearly identical to the one before, though, the difference was that the sword was facing up.

"Two knights? And a... mage?" Raina tilted her head in question. "What does this mean?"

"A mage? That doesn't look like a mage at all," Ethaniel shrugged. "That seemed to be more like a necromancer to me."

"A-A necromancer?" Kon flinched. "T-Those people that r-raised the dead?"

"Yes. That is what a necromancer does," he replied.

"Eeekk...! Is this a necromancer's catacomb?!" Kon jumped at the reply as he quickly hugged the legs of Shinto.

"...well, from the looks of the statue, it seems so?" Shinto thought to himself.

"Catacombs of the Sanke..." Raina repeated to herself the name of the dungeon. "Does it hold meaning to anything?" she turned to Ethaniel and Shinto as she asked.

"Doesn't ring a bell," Ethaniel shrugged whilst

Shinto helplessly shook his head. "This is my first time hearing of such a name. The only similar one I can think of would be... Sankea the Undead, one of the bosses of the Sarku Pyramid."

"Sankea and Sanke... eh, they both almost sound the same," Frey shrugged. "The only difference is just that 'a' vowel..."

"I doubt those two mean the same. We're so far from Sarku that it's too farfetched to believe something from that dessert is here," Ethaniel stated.

"Yeah, you're right," Shinto said. "So, the only way to find out whatever 'Sanke' is by going through the dungeon."

"What about the other two statues? The knights or something?" Frey asked as she narrowed her eyes over towards the two figures in front of her.

"...those two? Well, if the middle is a necromancer, those two statues would be death knights," Shinto said.

"Hmm..." Hearing from Shinto, Frey analyzed the statue with its sword stabbing down to the ground as she quickly noticed small wordings below it. "...huh? Oh! There seem to have some written words here!"

"Written words?" Raina asked, as the group quickly turned towards the direction of where Frey was looking at. Quickly, they were greeted by small writings.

Take the right, and thou shall seek the guardian of Sanke.

"...the guardian of Sanke?" Shinto raised his brow.

"What about the other statue?" Ethaniel inquired as he quickly walked towards the statue with its sword facing up.

Take the left, and thou shall seek the warrior of Sanke.

"Hah? The heck does this mean?" Frey asked in a confused tone.

"...to take the left to seek the warrior of Sanke and to take the right to seek the guardian of Sanke..." Raina muttered to herself. "Perhaps it's in accordance with what those two statues represent?"

"It could be," Shinto stated. "But..." His eyes turned towards the two hallways that the open-spaced area gave way to. One was on the right while the other was on the left. "It seems we have to choose between the 'guardian' or the 'warrior'."

"So we'll miss out on one if we choose the other?" Frey questioned.

"No idea," Ethaniel said in an unsure tone. "But whatever it is, the warrior sounds the sound plan to fight against."

"...I'd very much prefer the guardian if it's in regards to endurance," Shinto said. "You know because I can heal?"

"Hah? I'd rather we go with a battle of strength since we have healing," he frowned. "Why do you want to play a battle of endurance?"

"Well, for one, we have no tank to tank against the damage the warrior might give," Shinto stated. "For two, we may or may not be below the standard level of the dungeon..."

"See? I told you we were under levelled," Raina glared. "And you said it was doable..."

"Well, yes, I said that, which is true, it is doable," Shinto quickly replied. "But, the thing is, I never expected we'd have a swarm of enemies on our tail. So, it'll be hard to keep up with the crowd."

"Bah. So you're saying we won't be fighting against a single entity?" Ethaniel asked.

"Exactly my point," Shinto said. "Especially if we were to be up against a necromancer's power, we'll be severely outnumbered. With our lack of AOEs... we'll be left sitting ducks when we use up our resources."

"What makes the guardian any different then?"

"We won't have to worry of a giant enemy swinging their sword at us which deals a load of damage..." Shinto said helplessly.

"Tch, fine," he sighed. "I guess you got a point."

"Err... question! I'm confused... what makes you think the warrior would be the one dealing a lot of damage while the guardian would be the one to tank a lot?" Frey asked.

"The class name. Warrior is more damage oriented and Guardian is more tank oriented." The two men replied almost simultaneously.

"Both are level 30 to 40 classes though..." Shinto said.

"Level 30 to 40?!" Frey shouted out with wide eyes.

"...we are definitely severely under levelled," Raina shook her head helplessly.

"This fox is only just level 12..." Kon whimpered.

The disparity between their party and the enemies was that their level was 20 levels higher than their own. Who wouldn't be worried?

"...cough. It's fine," Shinto coughed. "There's nothing to worry about-"

"F-Fine?! N-Nothing to worry?!" Frey exclaimed as she interrupted Shinto.

"You guys are overreacting!" Ethaniel scoffed. "It's the bosses that's 20 levels higher! The normal monsters should just be whatever so just chill."

"...hah?" she blinked. "...but...isn't the bosses...like, the most important?"

"We'll be able to handle the bosses," Shinto said with confidence. "Besides, since the monsters should at the very least be at our level from what I could tell by the rat monsters... we can level up before reaching the boss."

"...and...if they're not?" Kon shivered.

"We'll... manage somehow," Shinto laughed awkwardly.

"Way to bring up the motivation," Ethaniel glared at Shinto.

"Cough. In any case, our level should be enough to handle the boss and the dungeon monsters," Shinto stated. "There's no penalty in terms of fighting higher levelled enemies."

"But the stats though..." Raina mumbled.

"We can compensate that for a longer time in fighting," Shinto said. "But... there really isn't anything to worry about. In the future, this will happen a lot more frequently in boss fights."

"...hmm, I see," Raina nodded her head.

"So... we're taking the right path, right?" Frey questioned.

"Yes we are," Shinto said as the group quickly turned towards the hallway on the side of the statue which sword was faced down. In the next moment, the party quickly stepped foot into it.