Lux looked at the baby slime on his hands, who was also looking back at him with a smile.
After checking his Elysium Compendium, which had activated its Dungeon Exploration Function, Lux was able to see the difficulty level of the dungeon that they were about to challenge.
“Orc Dominion: Nightmare Mode”.
‘Sh*t,’ Lux cursed internally as he confirmed his worst fears.
The Half-Elf scanned his surroundings and found himself in what seemed to be a valley. With several trees scattered all around. In the distance, he could see a fortress-like stronghold that had a flag fluttering in the wind that depicted two axes crossed over the other.
The Dwarves who were standing beside him had pale expressions on their faces because they clearly heard a voice in their head say that they had now entered the Nightmare Difficulty of Orc Dominion.
“Um… Big Brother?” Colette asked. “I thought we were just going to challenge the Normal Mode?”
“… That was the plan,” Lux replied. “But, Eiko jumped on my hand and accidentally made me choose the wrong difficulty.”
The baby slime tilted its head innocently to the side, as if she didn’t have an idea about what she did. Lux could only pick up Eiko and put her back on top of his head before turning to face the Dwarves beside him.
“Okay, we now have two choices. The first one is to use our teleportation crystals to leave this place,” Lux said. “As you know, this is a one time consumable item. If we want another one, we need to pay ten gold coins for it.”
“Although I’m sure that we can pay for the expense, I say that we check this place out first. Just make sure to place your teleport crystal where you can reach it immediately in case of an emergency.”
The Dwarves nodded and placed the teleport stones in their pockets. They knew that they were biting off more than they could chew, but they were also very curious about what kind of Monsters they would be fighting against inside the Nightmare Mode of Orc Dominion.
“Okay, let’s go,” Lux said as he stepped forward.
The first thing he wanted to know was whether the quest had been completed or not. The Elysium Compendium could only show the locations inside the Dungeon that would activate the Hidden Quest. It didn’t know if the quest had been completed in the past or not.
“For now, follow me,” Lux ordered. “If we meet any Monsters along the way, we will first assess if we can beat them or not. The challenge rating we chose is the Nightmare Mode of a C-Ranked Dungeon. At the very least, the weakest enemy that is roaming around this area are all Rank 2 Monsters.”
The Dwarves nodded their heads in understanding. The strongest Monsters that they had fought so far were Berserked Horned Rabbits (Rank 2 Monster), and the Mutated Carbuncle (Rank 3 Peak Alpha Monster).
The Orc Dominion Instance Dungeon was not the typical dungeon where those who entered needed to challenge each floor in order to advance. This dungeon was an open world, fortress assault, type of dungeon, and the only way to beat the game was by defeating the Orc Chieftain who could be found inside the Stronghold.
In short, this dungeon was a training ground for how to raid an Orc Stronghold with an elite team of fighters.
All of the Warriors of Norria needed to undergo this trial in order to officially join the Riders of Norria, and become part of the Gweliven Border Army.
“Let’s go, Clover!” Colette raised her hand and a half-a-meter tall Carbuncle appeared beside her.
After going back to Solais, Colette had asked the Monster Breeder in their family to help hatch the egg. Right now, Clover had the strength of a Rank 1 Monster. It specialized in healing its allies, and increasing their movement speed with haste.
Once it had grown into an adult, it would be capable of becoming a mount, which would allow Colette to increase her mobility during mounted battles.
After walking for five minutes, Lux raised his hand to gesture for everyone to stop. He then made a gesture for them to crouch down and follow him to the bushes. After a while, he pointed in a direction, and the Dwarves found the reason why Lux had asked them to hide.
Two pig-like monsters, which had green skin, sauntered through the trees. They were at least two meters tall and armed with a war axe. They were regular Orc Warriors that made up the bulk of the Orc Army.
‘Orc Warriors,” Lux thought.
Each of them were Rank 2 Monsters and was a rookie’s worst nightmare if they happen to encounter them in the wild alone.
The reason why Lux was able to know their location was due to the Map that the Elysium Compendium provided. After experimenting with the compendium, Lux found out that it had a special auto-mode function that gave him access to features such as appraise, show map, show quest locations, and many more things after he merged it with his Soul Book.
Similar to a game, Lux could see a mini map at the upper right side of his vision which he could expand anytime he wanted.
Naturally, if he went to a place that he had never gone before, the map would be blank. However, because of its special function, the Elysium Compendium allowed Lux to detect enemies within a hundred meters, even if they were in an unexplored area of his map.
After making sure that there were indeed only two enemies in the immediate area, Lux glanced at the Dwarves, and they all nodded back to him.
“I’ll take the one on the left,” Lux said. “All of you handle the one on the right.”
“Okay,” Colette replied as she firmly gripped the mace in her hand. “We’re ready, Big Brother.”
Lux nodded as he summoned four of his Skeletal Fighters. He didn’t want to summon Diablo yet, because he wanted to see how his regular warriors handled facing off against a Rank 2 Monster with their current strength.
“Battlecry!” Lux activated his skill that added +100 points to physical and magical attacks. He then ordered for his Skeletal Fighters to charge at the two Orcs, giving Colette and the others ample time to prepare.
Just as expected, when the two Orcs saw the Skeletons, they immediately turned to confront them head-on.
“Now!” Colette ordered.
The blonde-haired Dwarf, as well as her side-kick, Matty, sprang into action and charged at one of the Orcs that had engaged their enemies in combat.
Both of them were nearing the Apostle Rank, so they could be considered as strong as Rank 1 Monsters. Of course, the one they were fighting against was a bonafide Rank 2 Monster, so they were taking this battle seriously.
Andy and Axel chanted their spells and waited for the perfect opportunity to use them.
Colette smashed her mace against the Orc’s Legs with a growl which didn’t look compatible with her adorable appearance. The Orc screamed in pain and was about to slash her with its weapon when a fire bullet and a water bullet hit its chest consecutively, pushing it back.
Matty took this opportunity to use his two short swords to slash at its legs, drawing blood. Unfortunately, the Orc Warrior was able to recover right away and swatted Colette and Matty away with the War Axe in his hand.
Colette blocked its blade, but she was still sent flying a few meters away due to the Orc’s incredible strength.
Matty on the other hand was able to evade the Orc’s attack, and even managed to counterattack by stabbing the Orc’s right leg.
The Orc growled in anger and back handed Matty, sending him skidding across the ground.
The Dwarf boy’s face contorted in pain because the blow almost broke his right arm. If not for the fact that Helen had given him a protective spell that mitigated the damage he received from the Orc’s attack, he might have ended up with more than just a simple break.
Clover ran in Matty’s direction and cast a healing spell on him, allowing him to recover just in time to evade the Orc’s follow up attack.
Andy and Axel followed up with their magical spells in order to give Matty enough time to distance himself from the Rank 2 Monster. The latter was quite difficult to take down due to its high strength and vitality.
It was at that moment when one of Lux’s Skeletons was smashed into pieces by the Orc that they were fighting against.
Although the Orc Warrior was wounded all over due to the four Skeleton’s teamwork, its ferocity was something that Lux admired. The three remaining Skeletons immediately felt the increasing pressure after the death of one of their comrades in battle. They found themselves being pushed back by the Orc Warrior’s powerful blows.
It was at this moment when a stone spike pierced the Orc’s shoulder, making it scream in pain.
“Spike!” Eiko shouted and fired another Earth Spike at the enemy, which embedded itself in her target’s waist.
Lux had allowed her to join the battle so he could see how Eiko fared against a Rank 2 Monster, while being flanked by his Skeletal Fighters.
The Orc then roared in anger as he swept its weapon in one mighty swing, using its skill called “Cleave”.
The Skeletal Fighters raised their shields to block the attack, but they were still sent skidding a few meters away due to the impact.
Eiko, on the other hand, took this opportunity to shoot another Earth Spike, which conveniently hit the Orc’s chest, causing it to cough blood. Wanting to continue her attack, the baby Slime teleported two meters away from the Orc’s face and unleashed one of her upgraded spells.
“Fireball!” Eiko shouted and a ball of flame materialized in front of her, which exploded in the Orc’s face, burning it to a crisp.
The Orc had been heavily injured by the Skeletal Fighters and Eiko’s earlier sneak attacks. All it needed was a finishing blow to end its life, and the baby Slime didn’t miss the opportunity to deliver the finishing blow.
A few seconds later, a green-colored beast core dropped on the ground, alongside the War Axe that the Orc was carrying.
Eiko unceremoniously ate the Beast Core, before blinking consecutively until she landed on Lux’s head with a satisfied expression on his face.
She was quite proud of her performance and decided to eat the Beast Core as her reward, which made Lux feel helpless.
‘Well, as long as she is happy, I guess it’s fine?’ Lux thought as he shifted his attention to the Orc that Colette and Matty were flanking.
After a shout that was filled with unwillingness, the Orc Finally collapsed on the ground, leaving a Beast Core and its weapon behind. Immediately after that, Colette, and Matty sat on the ground, panting for breath. Th link to the orign of this information rsts n oᴠel ꜰre.nt
It was then that the little Dwarves realized how hard it was to challenge a Rank-C Dungeon in Nightmare Mode with their current level of strength.