"In the fifth room, I fought against a mini-boss named Fibula. Then, at the tenth room, I fought against someone named Tibia." Though the two mini-bosses Valyr fought against did not pose too much difficulty to him, having access to incredibly destructive moves, the names of the mini-bosses remained lingering in his mind, prompting him to wonder what the name of the final mini-boss would be. "If that's the naming pattern for the mini-bosses in this dungeon, then that means I would be facing against someone named Femur at the final room?"
"If that's the case, I'd probably just laugh out of disbelief." Bitterly smiling at the thought that there was a chance the final mini-boss he would fight against would be named after the largest bone in the human body, Valyr proceeded to discard all tangential thoughts in his mind as he focused on what was up ahead, sending out wave after wave of magic attacks once more to clear out the path before him.
"By now, I've more or less gotten used to fighting with magic," muttered Valyr to himself, assessing his control and mastery over magic by how he had handled the dungeons so far. "Though, it would take a while to really make sure that using magic as my main method of fighting is ingrained within me."
"Of course, that's a problem up to future me to solve."
"Let's see how many Skill Keys I've gotten so far…" Continuing to move through the pathways that made up the 14th room of the Rare Abyss, Valyr commanded the system to bring up a notification screen in front of him, allowing him to tally the number of Skill Keys he had gained from the run so far. "7 Uncommon grade Skill Keys and 3 Rare grade Skill Keys…"
"Definitely not the best drop rate to obtain in a dungeon with a total of 15 rooms, but at the very least I'm done farming keys to evolve my skills." Briefly thinking about how his Skill Key drops were on the unluckier side of the spectrum, the young man swiftly shifted his perspective over the matter to something more optimistic, psyching himself up with the fact that he was now free to focus his entire attention on the quest he had received.
"[Crimson Blade Torrent]!"
Arriving at the final junction of the 14th room, which was only a slightly larger space when compared to the pathways he had been traversing so far, Valyr went ahead and unleashed one of his highly destructive skills on the magic side of things, sending out a barrage of blades made out of crimson flames towards the skeletons within the space.
However, unlike his earlier activations of the same skill, the crimson flames propelling the blades this time around contained a tinge of orange to it, causing not only the heat of the flames to be far more intense than what it previously was, but also the level of destructiveness of the flames.
Of course, this option was only unlocked once Valyr had evolved [Basic Crimson Flame Manipulation] to the next grade, which had given him access to what was aptly called Orange Crimson Flames.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
With his INT stat being buffed by the spells and skills he had cast on himself, as well as the attacks being propelled by a higher tier of crimson flame, it did not take long for the group of Skeleton Mages within the space to disappear from Valyr's sight, eventually leaving an empty space for the young man to explore about a minute or so later.
"Before I head to the final room, gotta check if the parchment is here." With the skeletons now gone from the space, Valyr proceeded to head to the center of the room before pushing all of his senses to their utmost limits, making sure to not miss even a single corner in search for the third runic parchment.
Due to the fact that the crimson flames had not left any pile of ashes for Valyr to sweep up with Wind-attribute magic, it did not take long for Valyr to come to the conclusion once more that the parchment could not be found within the room he was in, even after bringing the large runic parchment out.
"Well, it's not like checking every room for signs of the parchment was useless." Placing the large runic parchment back into his spatial bracelet, Valyr looked at the door-shaped energy barrier a few meters away from him before taking in a deep breath, briefly wondering to himself as to how the third runic parchment would show itself to him.
After all, the second runic parchment only appeared once he brought the first runic parchment out.
Determined to end the fight against the mini-boss as quickly as possible, Valyr swiftly passed through the dark gray barrier, only to be greeted once more by the mini-boss as he appeared in the room where it resided.
"Another foolhardy challenger appears before me once more." At the very moment he appeared in the final room of the dungeon, the mini-boss, which looked to be a skeleton a couple of heads taller than the mini-bosses he fought against, began to speak, its voice accompanied with the sound of its bones faintly rattling.
"Of course, the outcome shall be the same as always."
"[Greater Analysis]." Ignoring the monologue the mini-boss recited at the very moment he appeared, as if to instill a bit of fear into the young man, Valyr went ahead and activated his newly improved identification skill to see what kind of enemy he was up against, only to be left at a slight loss for words as the enemy's class stood out to him.
"Demilich…"
As far as he knew, once a skeleton had gained a considerable level of sentience and had impressive control over the art of magic, they would transition into a being that transcended Skeleton Archmages, which were considered the pinnacle of skeletons who pursued magic. From that point onward, they would become a being that was considered immortal, though they lacked a certain something that truly made them immortal.
Those beings were called Demiliches.
"I don't even know what to say anymore…" However, what stood out even more to him was not the enemy's class, but instead the enemy's name. He only thought of it possibly happening due to how the two previous mini-bosses were named, but now that the screen before him confirmed his speculations, only one thought popped up in his mind.
'The heavens are really fucking with me this time around.'
Ding!
[Demilich Femur (Mythic Elite)] (Level 50 Mini-boss)
Class: Demilich
HP: 21,096/21,096
MP: 23,520/23,520
Stats: 293 VIT, 490 STR, 333 AGI, 150 DEX, 490 INT, 320 WIS, 208 PER, 125 LUK
Skills: [Advanced Spellcasting], [Advanced Incantation], [Advanced Mana Affinity], [Intermediate Death Affinity], [Basic Life Affinity], [Basic Longevity]…
Remarks: Pretty great with magic to the point they're considered immortal. Pretty great with magic to the point they're considered scary on the battlefield. Pretty great with magic, alright… but still considered a pile of bones.
