Chapter 306 Here we go again.
Lone drove Dave, all the way to the hotel he was staying at. Dave got out from the purple Lambo, turning to Lone he asked. "I'll be helping Ralph do his legacy quest, want to join?"
"Yeah, I could use the level ups," Zoe replied.
"Good, see you in-game then. Ralph's waiting in Urburg."
"Okay. I'll head home now. I'll log in as soon as I can." Zoe waved to Dave and pressed on the accelerator. Zoe left the hotel driving like the usual, a speedo-maniac.
Dave shook his head and entered the hotel. That girl's habits were never going to change. He took the elevator and got into his room then logged into the game.
He found himself back at the entrance to Ramsha's cave. He had logged out from here when Sam spoke to him.
Dave opened his management panel and used his dial option, calling Ralph.
"Hey, man. Where you at?" Ralph asked.
"I'm in the underworld. So what should we do to start your quest," Dave replied.
"I already began the first part. I needed to identify the Tengu Mask you gave me," Ralph said.
"Yeah, and what did you get?"
"Well, it's a piece of swordmaster equipment. It says that I need to wear this where the previous owner perished." Ralph said.
"Ah, shit. That might be a bit tough." Dave said.
"Why is that?" Ralph asked.
"Yeah, the owner used to live inside a dungeon. It's called the Storm Labyrinth."
"Never heard of it, man," Ralph said after a pause.
"Yeah, because it's in the Underworld. And believe me, we don't want to fight the bosses there. At least not at our current levels."
"They are that strong?"
"Brokenly strong man."
"Damn, I thought I could get a legacy as well. Bummer, let's grind some exp then."
"No, you didn't understand. What I meant was, the bosses were strong, but we can get to the tengu temple before facing the bosses." Dave said.
"You should have said that before man, I almost lost hope in the legacy upgrade."
"Alright, let's wait for the team, and we can go together," Dave said.
"Team?"
"Yeah, I think this dungeon will be quite interesting for the guys. Call Mercy. I'll contact TNT."
"What about Tess and Lone?"
"I already told lone to join in. And Fortress' going to call Tess on his own."
Dave teleported to Urburg and waited for everyone to gather. They needed his teleportation scrolls to be able to enter the Underworld. And they also needed to be in his company. If the undead see living players in their domain, their faith and outcome would be apparent to anyone.
When Dave appeared in Urburg, he saw Ralph and Mercy chatting together. A bit too close for what seemed to be a casual talk. Dave coughed announcing his presence. Like a cat with its tail stepped on, Mercy yelped and regained her composure almost instantly.
"Where are the others?" Dave asked.
"Don't know, they haven't arrived yet," Ralph said he was scratching his head. It was quite uncommon to see the big oaf blushing.
"I'm here!" A shrill voice sounded from behind Dave.
Looking back, the infamous priest Pussy-Flanker was leading Fortress and Perfect Shot.
"Where is Tess?" Dave asked.
"Hey, where's our welcome?" Flanker protested.
Dave ignored the priest and asked Fortress," Where's your girl, man?"
"She said she had something important to do. She can't quest with us this time."
"Yeah, probably stuffing himself up, man you should get yourself a real girl," Flanker said, shaking his head.
Perfect spoke to Dave saying, "So, we're going to the underworld now?"
"Yep," Dave said.
"And you don't have a problem with that? I mean I could send the footage from the Underworld to pops."
"You can do whatever you want, but I suppose you'll still want to venture with me later in the underworld."
Perfect smiled, he knew that the moment something from the underworld was released without Dave's consent, he will ban him from going to the hell for a long time, or until the Undead expansion was public. And that might take a long time. And who would want to be Skelly's enemy?
"Don't worry about it. I won't release anything. I'd rather get the EXP and drops," Perfect said.
"Helooooo!" Lone's voice sounded from the teleportation gate. She had just arrived.
"Awn, everyone is here, but where's Tess?" Lone asked.
Fortress went to brief lone while Dave asked Ralph, "Where are the NPCs you said were here?" he didn't see a soul moving about in Urburg.
"They're probably hiding in the ruins of Urburg. The dragon flew above Urburg a few moments before you arrived." Ralph said.
"It did? Why didn't it attack?" Dave asked.
"I don't know. There is something here that makes the dragon unable to see this city," Ralph said.
"That's good news. If we rebuild this place, we had to make sure it's safe to live in," Dave said.
"Are you going to check up on the NPCs?" Ralph asked.
"No, not now we have a quest to do. Everyone, take one of these," Dave said as he handed them teleportation scrolls to the Red Fortress.
When the players had the scrolls, Dave tore his saying, "Stay close to me when we are in the Red Fortress.
Dave's avatar disappeared from Urburg and appeared in the Red Fortress.
Undead filled the red fortress to the brim. Most were doing guard duty, and the rest were training in the large courtyard. When Dave appeared, the undead near the teleportation gate saluted him. But the moment the 'human' players showed up, the undead pulled out their weapons.
"Calm down. They are with me," Dave said, calming the undead.
Gale and Orn appeared immediately in front of Dave, "Commander, what is the meaning of this?" one of them asked.
"They are my friends. I need them to aid me in a dungeon battle."
"Your regiment should be more than capable of handling whatever fiend that tries to harm you," Gale said.
"Not these two, Gale. I'm going into the domain of Raijin and Fujin, the storm brothers. You can ask Gashadokuro about them." Dave said.
A loud clattering of bones sounded above Dave, looking up, a transparent skeleton became visible. It was the Gashadokuro.
"Aie, what the draugr speaks is the truth, Lord Raijin and Fujin are of the strongest entities living in this underworld. The undead fear not, but they should still respect absolute power," the Gashadokuro said. He was once a prisoner of the two storm brothers, and he knows about them the most.
"If they are that strong, then we should slay them and offer their heads to our king," Orn said.
The Gashadokuro said addressing Orn, "These two, each of them is as strong, if not stronger than the Undead King and the Ash King combined. They used to be gods, do not fight what you cannot defeat young draugr."
"None is stronger than our Undead King!" Orn replied, his belief in the Undead king was unquestionable.
"Do not let your pride blind you." The Gashadokuro said.
Orn grimaced, he was getting angry, he placed his hand on his sword pommel.
Dave frowned, it seemed that there was going to be a fight. Even his party members were getting anxious.
A shadow materialized next to Orn and grabbed his shoulder "Orn, calm down. His majesty, the king, is powerful, but he is not a god."
"Lord Samael, did you head what this one was saying!" Orn said.
"I heard. And I agree, Gashadokuro is the oldest among us all and probably the wisest. He knows what he is saying."
"But!"
"No, Orn. We do not go by singular strength. If Raijin and Fujin are powerful enough to take on the king, they cannot defeat all of us. We are a legion, remember that."
"Right, I forgot that. Excuse my rudeness, lord Samael." Orn removed his hand from his word, and the situation diffused instantly.
"You are a wise one, young ghoul," Gashadokuro said.
"Thank you kindly, old one," Samael said and turned to Dave.
"You brought your living friends with you, Kis'Shtiengbrah."
"Yeah. I was heading to the Storm Labyrinth. Em, by the way, Samael, do you know of any hydras living in the Underworld?" Dave asked.
"Hydras? I don't believe I've seen one here before. You should ask Dothra. He knows most about magical creatures, being one himself," Samael smiled.
"Dothra? Who is he?" Dave asked.
"He is the strongest abyssal knight, one I don't ever want to face in battle, but also the gentlest. Ask for an audience with him. He would love to meet you, Kis'Shtiengbrah," Samael said.
A notification appeared in front of Dave.
***
You have been granted an audience with Dothra The Beast.
You can ask the Death Knights guarding the Bone Palace for direction to his abode.
***
"Thanks," Dave replied. Turning to his friends, Dave said, "Let's get moving."
The party left the red fortress. Surprisingly, Flanker was very quiet the whole time.
"What's wrong, Flanker. You are awfully calm." Ralph asked.
"Yeah, having all of those undead stare at you is not my idea of fun man." Flanker said.
Ralph laughed, "At least a part of your name is right, Pussy."
Dave snorted at Ralph's comment.
"Listen up. This dungeon is a real pain the ass. We'll go in for Ralph's quest but forget about attempting the boss fight. It's a total suicide," Dave said.
"Yeah. I've been there. We lasted fifteen seconds," Lone said, she even faked shuddering.
"Huh, that strong? Now I'm tempted to see the boss," Ralph said.
"Yeah, if you want to go visit the Limbo, that's the best way to go," Zoe said.
"Limbo, what's that?" Flanker asked.
Dave shook his head while Fortress replied, "You should read the patch notes you, idiot. Dead players get sent to limbo to regain their lost EXP."
"What is it like in the Limbo?" Dave asked he was interested.
"I haven't died yet to go and visit, but I heard that everyone that went there was teleported to somewhere different. Now with the death of the players from the raid we can probably get more info about Limbo," Perfect said.
"Alright, let's hope we don't visit it anytime soon, Tiny, you're up," Dave said as he picked Tiny from his inventory.
"What's that?" Lone asked as she was gazing at the black slime blob in Dave's hand.
"This is a grave lord. He is quite scary," Dave said.
"That? Fearsome? Man, you should get real. That doesn't look any different from a level 10 slime," Flanker said.
"Tiny, get us some dunlords," Dave said, ignoring Flanker and throwing Tiny in the air.
"Why'd you do that?!" Lone shouted, she feared for the little slime to hurt itself from the fall.
Tiny wobbled in the air and transformed into its bulky form. Bones upon muscles made its body, and demon horns grew from its skull. This was his new form after consuming Lakhbar. The armored giant dropped to its feet and swung his arms wide open. Chains materialized from his arms hanged to them were golden sarcophagi.
The sarcophagi opened, letting out six dunlords.
"Oh, that's Spincer! I missed you!" Lone said as she went toward the nearest dunlord.
Dave was surprised at how Lone recognized Spincer from the rest of the dunlords. They all looked the same. Only for him, he could see the 'named' undead. But Lone managed to correctly tell which one was Spincer, the dunlord that she rode on while they first ventured to the Storm Labyrinth.
"Everyone, take a dunlord and follow after me," Dave said as he crouched, placing a palm on the ground. Black sigils spread from under his palm and after a brief moment, Grumpy was summoned to Dave's presence.
Dave hopped on grumpy and called Tiny back into his side bag.
"Let's go," Dave said and led the party toward the Storm Labyrinth.