Once everyone is past the shock of the near assassination, the excitement of the day begins to settle in. Even the strongest of them got multiple levels today. The per kill experience was equivalent to a regular boss fight, and they came in groups. While the dungeon was incredibly dangerous and difficult, the reward was worth the effort.
With an easier day tomorrow Cain should reach level 80, and a day after that at the latest almost all of the others should have too.
The push today was good for everyone, but they are utterly exhausted. Everyone grabs a room at one of the two Guild houses, as they're the closest sleeping spot to the dungeon and falls asleep right after dinner.
Morning brings muted excitement, the prospect of level 80 and the benefits that come with it have everyone excited, but it's still quite early. All the city leaders are expecting an attack any day now, and nobody wants to be caught out trying to level up when they're needed to defend their hometown.
Morgan has taken the opportunity of Nathaniel being half awake to style his hair and prepare his breakfast, under the pretense of keeping him from being late for the raid. Ghaz fully supports his sister's conquest, and thinks it's hilarious, or maybe he's laughing at the fact she managed to give Nathaniel a Mohawk without him noticing. It's slowly settling out into a spiky updo though, so she didn't set it well enough.
Once everyone is fed and accounted for Lickity forms the raid group for the day and they head out, drawing cheers from the kids at the Orphanage next door.
Upon arriving in the Raid dungeon they find that it is very different than the predictable regular dungeon layout. In fact, this isn't even the same basic ruined world setting as yesterday, it's a plague Demon Realm. But there's demons, and they look angry, so it's time to fight.
With the first few groups easily eliminated Cain comes to a set of realizations. First, this realm is a quantity over quality sort of place. Instead of Epic Quality demons in small groups, it's mostly pestilent Hordes. Secondly, this is both an opportunity and a conundrum.
If Cain's theory that the target for his companions advancement matters, advancing Vala here might have unwanted side effects unless they can find the right target. On he other hand, getting the rest of the demons needed has been simple. Only two more are needed, so he needs an appropriate target for the Quest, and he needs to tell his party what's going on.
There a few groups ahead of them is one that looks promising. A Plague Paladin. It looks relatively normal, no boils, dangling innards or anything which is a good start. There's a squire with it that's also a new type of Demon to Cain, which will complete the quest.
"Everyone, gather up a second. I've got an ongoing quest, so when we attack that Paladin up ahead it will upgrade into a boss type monster. When we kill it, the quest will upgrade Vala, so it's fairly important to me that we don't skip this. Any objections?"
"Go for it. Vala is a beast, if she can become an Epic Companion who knows how cool she will be." Kone cheers.
Nobody speaks against the plan, so they clear the first group, careful not to get their acidic bodily fluids on anyone not a Summon. Next they attack the second group and Cain records first the Squire and then the Paladin after waiting for the other targets to be killed.
The horrific truth of the Plague Paladin becomes apparent after the first attack it makes. The pestilence debuff it applies spreads to all enemies within 3 meters of anyone with the debuff. The debuff is so virulent it even spreads between pulses of the Cleansing Totem Char has put out, requiring Kone and her clones to cast additional cleanses to stop the spread.
"Melee pull back. Summons only within 5 meters of the boss." Cain calls to the group. The summons in close to the boss are dying on a regular basis, but now the party members are safe. Cain also pulls back the original Vala so she's alive when the quest completes. Nemu seemed to have some input into her transformation, so that must matter.
Hopefully the girls can't turn Vala into something strange with their love of all things Fluffy.
[Quest Complete: Configuring Epic Companion]
[Title Earned: Loyal Companion] achieve perfect uptime for a companion between Greater and Epic upgrades to earn an additional skill.
[Companion Item Gained: Plague Eater] Two Handed Sword. Plague damage done by party members heals the bearer. Damage increases with level.
[Shared Skill Learned: Pestilence] Passive. Rapid spreading debuff. Deals Plague Damage to infected targets.
Epic doesn't even begin to cover what they just gained. Even as prepared as their group is, they had a hard time dealing with [Pestilence]. That skill will absolutely decimate crowded enemy armies.
Vala still looks pretty much the same. She's a bit taller, the black metal armor on her wings now has Spiked chains hanging from it, and there's a belt made of similarly vicious looking chain. Her Horns now have Gold streaks and her black armor has Gold trim on the solid plates. Everything about her gives the impression of power and a sense of nobility.
"If she fights as good as she looks the rest of us probably don't need to be here." Shovel Face the Dwarven Earth Mage jokes. But he's a bit right. With the additional damage and toughness from Cain's gear plus her self healing and pestilence, she could probably solo most dungeons.
"What else did you gain besides the fancy sword and the pestilence skill?" Cain asks Vala once she finishes doing a spin for everyone to inspect her new appearance.
"Just a bit of debuff resistance. Everything else stayed the same except my damage and Stat modifiers. Epic Companions truly are Epic. The two of us could almost be a dungeon boss ourselves." the Demon jokes.
But, looking at her stats in his screen, she's right. She's tougher than the Epic level monsters they faced yesterday, so she could be a boss of sorts.
"Alright, Quest completed. Let's try these skills out and get us some experience."
