The skeletons made short work of any statues blocking their journey to the first pyramid. It was a one-sided slaughter.
[35 Exp] [35 Exp] [35 Exp] [35 Exp]
[Soul stone] (empty) x 4
[Helvetian Ring] x 2
The skeletons continued to hunt the weaker level three statues while Jay marched towards the first pyramid with renewed determination.
Before Jay could even reach the first two sets of guards, the skeletons had already decimated them; they descended on the statues like a shadow of death, leaving a path of rubble in their wake.
None were spared and there was no mercy. The statues may as well have bowed down and offered their necks on a chopping block.
Finally they got to the pillars in front of the pyramid with the same three guards. The spear statue in the middle was still wearing its strange black helmet, but it would be useless against these barbaric skeletons.
Again it happened: Before Jay even got there the skeletons had killed the two swordsmen statues at the sides and then made short work of the spearman statue. It was like they were clearing a path for their king.
[35 Exp][35 Exp][40 Exp]
[Soul stone] (empty) x 3
[Helvetian Ring] x 1
Previously, the dungeon had felt like a slow, tiresome grind, but it now felt like a massacre. Jay was pleased seeing how much stronger he and his minions had become.
The lower level statues simply had no hope; they barely got to swing their weapons before they broke down and crumbled into dust before the assault of the undead.
As for landing a hit on the skeletons? The statues might as well be dreaming.
While walking, Jay recalled how there was actually no way to get to Sedulus through the front of the pyramid. The first time, he had escaped a jail cell, walked through a series of passages and passed through moving walls, so he knew he would have to go through the back entrance.
As he walked around the side of the pyramid, the skeletons continued their rampage with no restraint or hesitation.
[35 Exp][35 Exp][35 Exp][35 Exp][35 Exp][35 Exp]
[Soul stone] (empty) x 6
[Helvetian Ring] x4
The statues in this part of the dungeon fell one after another with little resistance.
Jay didn’t mind walking around the side of the pyramid, since he still needed to collect about thirty soul stones, but this was an easy task now, and the quest would be over in no time.
Finally, he reached the back and found the familiar passageway into Sedulus’s tomb.
Before entering, Jay checked how many soul stones he still needed.
[Soulstone: 489/500]
“Argh, come on.” he said, frowning slightly.
More exp notifications popped up, and Dark came running back with two more soul stones.
Jay decided to practice his mana sense ability while he waited, trying to expand it as far as possible. He managed to activate it again, and slowly began walking around.
It did drain his mana rapidly, but he didn’t care at this moment since he wasn’t going to need it anyway. He simply wanted to train until he actually acquired the skill.
Meanwhile, Dark continued to return with rings and soul stones until Jay finally had enough.
Thankfully it didn’t take too long since the skeletons were conducting a one-sided slaughter.
[Soulstone: 501/500]
“Huh? I have… an extra soul stone? Wait… so I can get more than the quest requires?” he raised a brow.
Jay's eyes gleamed for a moment, realising this meant that there would probably be extra rewards if he got another one hundred, or even five hundred soul stones.
He seriously considered doing it for a moment, but with a sigh, he decided to just take the reward; he was already beginning to feel overwhelmed with everything he needed to do, while there would always be more quests in the future.
Jay entered Sedulus’s lair with resolve, fixated on finishing the quest and getting his rewards: three new skills and an ancient helvetian spear.
Entering the darkness, he found the tall, slender statue once more, sitting silently at the head of the table.
It seemed like Sedulus hadn’t moved an inch since the last time Jay was here, and for a moment he feared that she had died somehow.
Jay didn’t really care if she was in a deep trance or sleep or whatever else a statue could do - he had a quest to turn in and he wanted his rewards,
“Sedulus?” he called.
No response.
“Hello, Sedulus?” he said a little more loudly.
Still no response; Jay started to panic.
“If she reset after I left the dungeon, I am going to lose my fucking mind…” he thought, gritting his teeth.
At this point he wanted to start shaking the statue.
“Young one. Jay. Hello.” the old voice sounded once more.
Jay's clenched jaw instantly relaxed and a smile soon came over his face, he was instantly relieved.
“I have finished your quest.” he smiled, “five-hundred soul stones, two large soul stones, and three greater soul stones.”
“Also, I have one soul stone with a soul still in it. I’ll throw that in if you can sweeten the deal a little.” he winked.
“A soul… still in a soul stone?”
“Yep.” Jay said.
A moment of silence passed. It seemed the statue was deep in thought.
The statue still hadn’t moved yet, and to Jay it felt like he was talking to a wall.
“Break it.” the statue said.
“Oh… and you will add more to my rewards?”
“Yes. Free their soul.”
“Sure thing” he nodded.
Jay took the soul stone out, but before he went to smash it, he had an idea. He used his mana sense ability and concentrated it around the soul stone in his hand.
Next, he equipped one of his hammers and smashed it down while maintaining his concentration.
A crack in the stone let something out. It wasn’t visible but he could feel it.
It was tangible and almost acted like a bubble, trying to push to the surface of Jay’s mana and escape, but Jay just added more mana and pushed it back down.
“So this is a soul…” he thought, squinting as if he was trying to see anything.
Somehow, the soul became stronger as it pushed back against his mana. It seemed that the more mana he added to block it, the stronger it got.
[Soul Sense level 1 - Acquired]
Jay ignored the notification and continued to try to trap it, but his mana was burning away like paper at this point, and he couldn’t do anything to keep it contained any longer.
Jay felt light-headed as his mana got low and lost concentration for a moment. This was the opportunity the soul needed.
The soul suddenly shot off somewhere out of his mana sense range. All the pressure it built up against Jays mana had suddenly propelled it away at a high speed when the mana-wall went down.
“Hmm. Well, that won’t happen again for a while, but at least I got something out of it.” he thought as he went to check his notification.
