Universe Tales: Virtual Log of the Fallen One

Chapter 62: Maria's Trial and a New Companion

Maria went around the area with Ash and Lilah. The trio completely decimated the monsters that they found in record time.

Although Ash was weakened, all of his unique skills and vampire magic were a great help to Maria. It wasn't long before Maria hit level 40 and Lilah herself had advanced to level 50.

"Master, I can undergo an evolution now!"

"[Status: Lilah]."

[Lilah Lv. 50 Fallen Faerie

Rank: A

HP: 11,000/11,000

MP: 18,500/18,500

SP: 700/700

EXP: 75,000/75,000 (MAX)

ATK: 702

DEF: 990

M.ATK: 740

M.DEF: 1,180

STR: 390

AGI: 460

VIT: 550

INT: 925

LCK: 5

Growth Potential: 100

Satisfaction: 99/100

Favor: 100/100

Evolution: Possible

Requirements: Reach Lv. 50]

[Evolution Requirement has been met! Would you like to evolve your pet? YES/NO]

"Yes, sa~"

Maria quickly clicked the [YES] and another message window appeared in front of her.

[Fallen Faerie's Plight

Evolution should be simple, but not for the Fallen. Your pet needs to complete the following trials to advance her race.

Trial of Darkness: Defeat a creature with a dark core and assimilate it to your pet (0/1)

Trial of Shadows: Defeat a creature with a demon core and assimilate it with your pet (0/1)

Time Limit: 30 days

Penalty: -10 levels for Pet: Lilah

Rewards: Lilah's Evolution, Unique Pet Skillbook x1, Evolution Crystal x1]

"It's another monster hunting quest, yay! Let's get going, Ash~"

"Y-yes, Milady..." Ash said hesitantly.

Seeing his hesitation, Maria began to pout.

"What? You don't want to?"

"N-no, it's just... you need a dark core and a demon core... we could easily get a fused core of both dark and demonic if we defeat a vampire that's count-ranked or above."

"Oh, really?! You mean, a high-ranked vampire like yourself?!"

"Yeswait! I don't mean that you can hunt me!" Ash said in a fluster when he noticed Maria inching closer to him with her scythe at the ready.

"Hihihi~ I'm just kidding! Anyway, I think it'd be better if we just go and find a way to your world then, Ash. We're going to be attacking all the people who have wronged you back then so we're bound to fight against a high-ranked vampire. This way, we can kill 2 birds with 1 stone!"

"Y-yes... but didn't you say that we should strengthen ourselves first?"

"Of course, look here, I have this skill book that I can use, but I was a little afraid of using it before because I was worried I wasn't strong enough! But now that I have you, I'm sure I can pass the trial to learn the skill!"

"Okayoh, isn't that a legacy skill book?"

Maria didn't bother replying to Ash and instead opened up the [Dark Ray] skill book. The same black ray of light shown down on Maria and Death's Apparition immediately appeared before her.

"Child, would you like to take the trial to learn this skill?"

"Hello, Mr. Death! Before I go and take this trial, I'd like to ask! Am I allowed to bring in my companions with me?"

Death's apparition eyed both Lilah and Ash before responding, "You can bring the fairy, my child, but the Vampire...he is not your familiar nor is he your champion or subordinate. He cannot be brought into the trials."

"Huh? So, how do I make him my subordinate?"

"You may form a contract or pact with him," Death's Apparition replied.

"What's the difference?"

The apparition immediately began explaining to Maria the differences and she soon got the gist of things. Contracts were used to form temporary bonds with a person and make them your subordinate while Pacts were used to form a permanent bond which makes the person she was forming a pact with her Champion or Familiar.

If they were monsters, forming a pact would make them her Familiar while an NPC like Ash would become her Champion instead.

Death also taught Maria how to form a Pact and a Contract. Once she learned how to use the Pact, she immediately walked over to Ash and declared, "You're forming a Pact with me, now!"

"M-Milady?!"

"Hurry up, we're forming a Pact, I don't care what you say, you're going to become my Champion."

"Eh?!"

Maria started forming the magic circle for the Pact on the ground where she was standing. Once she was finished, she immediately pulled Ash into the magic circle with her.

"Alright... now what do we do?" Maria turned to Death's Apparition and asked.

"Speak thy words and the pact shall be formed."

"What worohh!" A message window soon popped up in front of Maria.

[A Pact Formation has been detected. Scanning for requirements ... ... ...]

[Scan complete! Pact Master: Maria Lv. 40 Fallen Angel, Pact Champion: Ash Garm Lv. 65 Vampire Duke ... ... ... Requirements have been met!]

[Please say the following ... ... ... ...]

"Ahem, ahem..." Maria cleared her throat and began saying some cringe-worthy words.

"Almighty Death, lord of the dark and the forbidden, I beseech thee, please bear witness to"

Once she was finished, Maria started blushing furiously in embarrassment.

'Phew, good thing none of my friends are around or else they'd be hounding me for days on end...'

She looked up and saw that Ash was standing stock-still with a conflicted look on his face.

"Hey! Hurry up already! Don't you wanna help me get stronger so we can hurry up and get your revenge?"

"Y-yes...but..."

"But what? You're not happy with forming a pact with me?!"

"N-No Milady, if you're fine with it...then please wait a moment."

Ash immediately began reciting the same words Maria had just recited earlier, except there were some differences to his chant. Once he finished his words, the magic circle under the two began to glow in an ominous red light.

It continued to glow like that and Maria was beginning to grow confused when nothing happened after a few seconds had passed.

"Is that it? Are we done?"

"N-No, Milady...we still have to seal the Pact."

"Seal?"

"Y-yes..."

"Ohh... what, do you have to seal it with a kiss or something?" Maria joked.

"Y-yes...Milady."

"Hah?"

"It's alright! A simple kiss on the hand will immediately count as sealing the Pact!"

"Ugh, I'm not letting YOU kiss my hand! The last time I let something similar happen, you started groping me!"

"..." Ash's face immediately turned black at her words.

"Hmm... oh, here, kiss my feet," Maria said as she offered Ash her foot.

Ash's face turned even darker at her words. Maria saw his expression and thought that the vampire didn't want to bend down to kiss her feet, so she instead levitated a little in the air and brought her foot right up to his face.

"Here~"

"...M-Milady..."

"Hurry up, idiot!"

"..."

"Gosh, you're so demanding!" Maria said with a pout. She immediately unequipped her boots and her dainty bare legs were now present in front of Ash. She raised her foot to Ash's face again and gestured at him to kiss her foot already.

"..."

"Still don't want it?"

Ash only sighed in defeat and carefully held onto Maria's foot and kissed it. The magic formation below them began glowing even more intensely and a small magic circle began forming on Maria's thigh.

[Pact completed! Ash Garm Lv. 65 Vampire Duke has now become your Champion!]

"Heeeh~? Now I'm getting tattoos everywhere! Daddy's not going to like this!"

Maria already had a magic circle marking her pact with Lilah on her hand which she covered up with her gloves, but now she had one on her inner thigh area. It was a little unbecoming of her, but it wasn't like she had any control over where it appeared. The only respite she had was that all her new tattoos were able to be easily hidden away from sight by her equipment.

She was just about to take back her leg but noticed a prickling feeling on her foot. Maria looked down and saw her vampire biting down onto her dainty foot and sucking up her blood. She immediately kicked Ash's face with her other leg and sent the perverted vampire flying.

"Hey pervert! Who permitted you to suck my blood?!"

"W-wait, Mistress, it wasn't my fault! You offered your leg to me!"

"I offered what?! I only permitted you to kiss it, not suck on it! Bastard looks like you need some disciplining!" Maria bellowed and readied her scythe.

"Mistress, please wait! Aren't we supposed to be heading into Lord Death's trial now?"

"...Hmph, don't think I'll forget about this..." Maria glowered at him. She immediately reequipped her boots and turned her attention towards Death's Apparition.

"Okay, Mr. Death, he's now my Champion so can we head in now?"

"Yes you may, child..." The apparition began to spin around in place and a black portal soon appeared in its place.

"Alright, let's get going. Pervert vampire, you better work twice as hard later! I already let you suck my blood!"

"Yes, Mistress..."

Lilah landed on Maria's shoulder and along with her master, disappeared into the portal. Ash quickly tidied up his clothes before following after the two.

******

When Maria exited from the portal she immediately looked around and saw that she was in a field full of skeletons.

"Hm?"

*DING*

[Death's First Trial

The dead have longed and thirsted for the aura of the living! They have suddenly detected your life energy and are now craving for it. You can run or hide, but the dead will find you!

Survive in this wasteland of death for 3 days and you will have successfully passed the trial!

Remaining Time: 71 hours 59 minutes 50 seconds]

"All we have to do is survive? That's easy!"

Before Maria could continue being happy with herself, all of the scattered skeletons on the field she was in began to stir and soon they all stood up from their spot. One by one the skeletons eyed her, the ghost flames burning in their eyes focused on Maria and this caused a chill to run up and down her spine.

"Eheheh~ take it easy boys...there's only one of me and a lot of you..."

Maria said as she slowly backed away before she bumped into Ash.

"Ash, what're you doing? Back away slowly, right now!"

"M-Mistress... I don't think I can..."

"Huh?" Maria immediately turned around and saw a sea of skeletons staring back at her. She began looking around before a realization hit her.

"Oh! We're surrounded!"

"..." Ash silently facepalmed. His mistress was cute, but this was hardly the time to act cute.

"Master, I don't think this is the time to be sounding so happy..." Lilah quipped up.

"Hahaha~ we'll see about that!"

Maria quickly flew up into the air and began casting [Ruin]. A few bone arrows flew at her, but she deftly dodged every single one of them and finished her chant. She immediately sent her spell into the crowd of skeletons and erased a large batch of them

[1,000 Exp Gained!]

[1,000 Exp Gained!]

[1,000 Exp Gained!]

[1,000 Exp Gained!]

[1,000 Exp ...]

[1,000 ...]

...

...

...

A long stream of message windows appeared in front of her, but Maria quickly went to her [Log] and muted all incoming messages and notifications. She swung her Scythe-form Calamity and sent a large wave of dark energy at the skeletons below her, once again erasing a large patch of them.

"Get to work Ash!"

"Yes, Mistress..."

At her words, Ash immediately burst into a large swarm of bats and swept across the skeletons around them. Maria lowered her altitude until she was only a few feet above the ground. The skeletons at the farther end of the horde had spotted her in the sky and had begun shooting way too many bone arrows at her.

She didn't want to be struck by any of the arrows so she wisely chose to descend. The bone arrows from the back of the horde continued flying towards her party's general location, but most of them were blocked by the [Barrier] Maria created.

Lilah was going around sending small bolts of magic at every skeleton around. Her damage was high enough to easily destroy one skeleton. Maria noticed a small peculiarity when they destroyed a skeleton. Black smog was flowing out of the broken skeletal remains and began lingering in the air around them. A few minutes into the fight, Maria and Lilah felt a bit worn out.

"This is odd...how come I feel tired already?"

Maria immediately checked her [Log] and saw the reason why she had grown sluggish.

[You have been affected by the undead's [Death Aura], resource and stamina depletion has increased by 50%]

"Mistress, the undead's [Death Aura] has accumulated too much in this area. I'm afraid we have to relocate."

"A-Alright...Hey, how come you aren't affected?"

"Mistress, I'm a vampire. Technically, I'm also an undead..."

"Ah, so that makes you my enemy?"

"...Please don't joke around Mistress..."

"Ehehe, let's go then. We'll follow behind you Ash, please open up a path."

"Yes."

Ash once more turned into a swarm of bats and he rushed into the horde of skeletons and began carving a path for his Mistress.

"Phew...I'm glad I brought Ash. He's perverted, but at least he's useful!"

"[Status: Ash Garm]"

[Ash Garm Lv. 65

HP: 77,500/77,500

MP: 16,000/16,000

SP: 2,500/2,500

EXP: 431,000/6,500,000

Race: Vampire

Rank: Duke

Titles: Lord of Blood, Species Eradicator A, Blood Father, Head of the Garm House, The Progenitor's Right Hand, The Knowledgeable One, World Traveler, Maria's Champion, Pervert

ATK: 2,250

DEF: 3,875

M.ATK: 400

M.DEF: 2,000

STR: 450

AGI: 500

VIT: 1,550

INT: 800

LCK: 7

FAV: Intimate (100,000)

Skills:

[Blood Wave Lv. MAX

Rank: A

Sends a wave of blood magic at an enemy, dealing 10,000+(INT*2.0) M.DMG in an area 10 meters in front of the caster. Restores caster's HP by 10% of damage dealt

HP Cost: 20% of Total HP

MP Cost: 2,500 MP

Cooldown: 5 minutes]

[Red Ray Lv. 5 (55,650/500,000)

Rank: S

Blasts a target with a concentrated beam of flame and blood energy, dealing 100,000+(INT*2.0+STR*2.5) DMG which penetrates 50% of the enemy's DEF and Burns the target for 30 seconds, dealing 10% of initial DMG dealt per second.

HP Cost: 50% of Total HP

MP Cost: 10,000(INT*1.5) MP

Cooldown: 5 minutes]

[Predator of the Night Lv. MAX

Rank: B

Transforms into a swarm of bats, each bat deals (STR*0.1) DMG/second and heals caster by 10% of total DMG dealt. Randomly inflicts Bleed or Poison on targets for 10 seconds and ignores 20% of the target's DEF.

MP Cost: 1,000 MP/Transformation

Duration: 10MP/Second

Cooldown: 5 seconds/Transformation]

[Blood Bank Lv. 3

Rank: A

Converts HP into MP at a ratio of 7:1

Cooldown: 30 Seconds]

[Vampiric Aura Lv. MAX

Provides allies with a 20% life steal aura

Area of Effect: 10 meters around the caster]

[Champion's Duty Lv. 1 (0/100,000)

Rank: S

Teleports to the Pact Master's side regardless of distance

MP Cost: 10,000 MP

Cooldown: 7 days]

[...]

[...]

[...]

Maria was surprised to see the updated [Status] menu and [Skill] menu. All of Ash's stats were refreshed and the [Weakened] status was no longer there. She was especially astonished to see the long list of skills that Ash had at his disposal.

"Well, well, it looks like Ash's stats are all back to normal! There's no weakened status anymore! With all those skills, he seems much more useful than before, but what's with that favorability? Intimate? When did we become intimate?"

Maria clicked on the FAV stat and another message window opened up.

*DING*

[Max Level of Affection has been reached: Intimate

Possible Marriage Partner: Ash Garm]

"..."

Maria eyed the message window disdainfully and quickly dismissed it.

"Perverted Vampire."

"Is something wrong, Mistress?"

Ash asked as he suddenly appeared next to Maria. Maria only eyed him scornfully before asking, "Are you done carving out a path for me and Lilah?"

"Follow me, Mistress..."

"This black aura is annoying. Let's hurry out of here."

"Yes."

Maria, Lilah, and Ash started moving around the battlefield full of skeletons. All of the monsters were very weak with only a few variations within their ranks which were stronger than the normal skeleton, the only thing they had going for them was their absurd numbers that seemed to be limitless.

After a few hours of fighting and roaming around, Maria still couldn't see the end to the sea of skeletons. The party couldn't even catch a break since the skeletons kept on swarming at them from all directions.

If it wasn't for Calamity's [Reaper's Guile], Ash's [Vampiric Aura], and Maria's [Angel of Death] title, the group would have long since spent all of their resources. Not even potions would have helped in their situation. They were constantly using their spells and skills which drained their MP and SP like a water faucet while also taking damage that depleted their HP.

Maria's sustainability in these types of situations where she had to face a multitude of enemies was an advantage she had in this trial, every monster around her was a source of HP, MP, and EXP. As long as she could kill something, she'd be able to maintain her life. Ash's [Blood Bank] helped him sustain his MP bar so he could keep using his skills and spells which had effects that could also fill up his HP bar.

The only problem was the party's SP consumption. The only way to restore SP was to sit down and take a break which was something the party didn't have the leisure of doing inside this chaotic battlefield where swarms of skeletons kept on attacking them from all directions.

They did try taking turns resting, but the recovery was always interrupted. Maria, Ash, and Lilah continued roaming around the desolate battlefield and soon they found a large mound of piled up boulders.

Maria saw an opening and also noticed that the deathly aura emitted by the skeletons wasn't present inside the large mound of boulders. This could only mean that there weren't any skeletons inside the mound of boulders.

"Ash, Lilah, we're heading straight for those boulders! I can't feel the undead's [Death Aura] inside that mound so it could be a safe zone, maybe!"

"What happens if there's an even stronger monster waiting inside, Master?" Lilah asked cautiously.

"That could be the case, but it's better than staying out here and being swarmed by all these skeletons! Also, if it's a boss, I say bring it on!"

"Let's go, my Mistress. I'll protect you when we are inside..."

"I'll count on you then Ash, let's go Lilah, with Ash tanking the monsters for us, we can just sit at that back and cheer him on!"

"Alright, Master!"

"..." Ash's face darkened when he heard his Mistress' heartless words. However, he didn't back down from the task Maria gave to him and began carving a path towards the large mound of boulders.

When they reached the opening that Maria saw, the party had to fly up a little to reach it. Once they walked into the opening a message window appeared in front of Maria.

[You have entered the dungeon: Greed's Heart

WARNING: Please proceed with caution!]

"Oh! It's a dungeon~ alright pervert, let's go!" Maria pointed forwards and commanded.

"P-Pervert?!" Ash said in shock.

Maria only looked at the dumbfounded vampire and gestured for him to quickly head into the dark dungeon. Ash could only sigh dejectedly and walk into the dungeon. Maria happily followed after him while Lilah created a light source for the party and sat down on her Master's shoulder.

"Hmhmhm~ I hope the boss at the end is strong~"