How did I turn my victim into a phoenix-like hero?

Page 115

The conditions for leaving are random; it might be defeating a boss, obtaining a key, or completing a quest from a certain NPC.

You need to look at the picture first to confirm.

On the bright side, coming to this area isn't all bad.

This area has a unique hidden skill: .

The effect is to conceal one's presence and become invisible. It's not an offensive skill, but having it allows you to freely explore dungeons.

Sirocco continued forward, leading Hill through the outer gate of the castle.

In the plaza, a group of oak golems passed by, standing motionless in rows. Their log bodies looked exceptionally strong, but their wooden faces, carved with a single eye, appeared somewhat dull.

"Whoa!" Hill stepped back slightly.

"This...wait, it's not going to attack? Looking closely, it's actually kind of cute..."

"Oh, this."

Sirocco's bland explanation:

"The oak golem will only attack when you get a little closer. See that crystal stuck in its back? It looks like a gem and can actually fetch a very high price."

However, it's best to buy from the female demon shopkeeper with horns in the dungeon. Her shop is located in the mezzanine between the second and third floors, where she offers higher prices.

Hill looked at the oak golem as if it were gold lying on the roadside.

"Don't touch them. Their attack speed is not as slow as they look. These dozen or so are also linked by aggro; if you touch one, the others will all move."

"Hill has no intention of fighting them and then stripping them of their crystals to sell for money. Humph!"

Hill closed one eye and gave Sirocco a playful smile.

A simple and easy-to-understand expression of arrogance.

This eased Sirocco's mind a little.

"Let's explore the castle first. There should be more monsters like skeletons here, so don't let your guard down."

"Ok!"

Stepping on the blue brick and stone ground, we opened the castle door and entered the building.

The interior is lavishly decorated, with a pristine white marble corridor covered in red carpets, creating a striking contrast to the dilapidated exterior.

A chilling stillness pervaded the place; if Cass were here, he would probably say this place was haunted.

zizi——

A black vortex appeared in the corridor, first as a skeletal arm extended out, and finally as the entire skeleton appeared and fell onto the red carpet.

Wearing horned armor in the style of Vikings, the wearer is actually a moving skeleton, wielding a large cleaver.

A monster named "Fallen Noble Bandit Skeleton".

"elder brother!"

"Hill, keep an eye on our surroundings for me. I'm going to fight it with all my might from now on."

I don't know what level of monster this guy is, so it's better to let someone with higher agility and dexterity test it out.

The skeleton soldier swayed as it prepared to attack, but Sirocco moved faster than it.

A broadsword flashed.

A slash that swept diagonally upwards deflected the enemy's wrist, causing him to drop the cleaver and slit his chest.

"—!"

The skeleton soldier stiffened and tried to retreat, but Sirocco gave it no chance to breathe.

It swung its sword repeatedly, unleashing four, five, six, seven, or eight attacks in succession that exploded in its chest.

"——!!!"

It let out a muffled, dying scream, and the monster's white and black body collapsed into dust.

Sirocco remained motionless in the stance of wielding his broadsword, watching the massive dust collapse until the very last moment, at which point he gasped for breath.

"Haa, haa, haa...."

It was easier than expected, and the monsters showed no signs of respawning, so it seems the mobs here aren't very strong.

The opponent is a mechanical monster similar to the Maple Knight, which doesn't drop crystal cores or any other items, which is a real shame.

“Let’s go, Hill.”

"Huh? Hmm... My brother is much stronger in actual combat than in the game."

"I just have more experience than you. Hill, you've learned enough, you can be just as strong as your brother."

The two continued exploring inside the castle.

More skeleton minions appeared, their strength roughly equal to the first one. Sirocco then had Hill use them as practice targets, the two working together to fight the monsters, but Sirocco would always save the final blow for Hill.

After half an hour of exploration and half an hour of combat, Hill progressed from Lv9 to Lv10.

Wow, that was fast...

Sirocco felt envious and jealous of his sister's talent, while his own level remained unchanged.

Rooms with the "Stalker" skill are not easy to find.

The rooms are randomly distributed, and you can only explore them one by one. The exploration has led us to the third floor of the castle.

"The city lord's room should be just ahead."

The location of this room is fixed.

At the far end of the room was a large, gray-blue door, covered with intricate carvings. Combined with the quiet corridor, it gave the impression of an eerie, indescribable aura emanating from within.

"Could there be treasure?"

"It's true that there's a boss."

Hill has already been fooled once, yet he still retains his enthusiasm for the treasure... He's really bold.

The area's boss is also random, so go check it out first to see what kind of boss it is.

Hopefully it's not some kind of Valkyrie that unleashes crimson corruption, otherwise I'll never be able to get out.

Sirocco and Hill stopped in front of the door, looking at each other in bewilderment.

"Brother... are you alright? Is the BOSS room really accessible? Won't it chase after us?"

"...The boss monster would never leave the room it's guarding. Just opening the door shouldn't be a problem...."

Hill was holding his left arm, and he took a deep breath, his palms sweating as he gripped the doorknob.

He slowly pushed the door open, and the enormous door, twice his height, surprisingly began to move smoothly, opening a crack about the width of his face.

It was dark inside, but after adjusting to the light, you could still make out the scene with difficulty.

The room was much larger than the outside, at least half the size of a football field, completely defying the common sense of architectural space. In the center lay a monster with its limbs tightly bound by chains, its lying posture resembling a small hill.

Hellfire Dragon Bones

Monsters that only appear on the third floor.

It's the boss of this map.

It looks smaller than it does in the game, is it because its wings aren't spread yet, making it hard to tell...?

"Brother, can't we use to check its level and stats?"

"I didn't learn it. The low-level is easy for the person being scanned to detect, and if it's scanning a monster, it will directly draw the monster's aggro."

The main reason is that Sirocco doesn't want to waste skill slots with this low-level skill, and it's too much trouble to spend money to uninstall it.

The original plan was to wait for the price of amethyst to rise next month, and then sell them together.

"Oh, I see... Brother, look at the monster's feet."

Treasure chest.

There was a treasure chest in the arms of the Hellfire Dragon Corpse.

Sirocco knew what was inside—an item that would trigger a new dungeon quest.

"Shall we fight...?"

“No.” Sirocco rejected Hill’s proposal.

"That looks tricky. Let's explore the area first, and try to get the first. Once we're sure there's no other way to leave, then we can consider fighting the boss."

They tiptoed away from the room, and thankfully the BOSS didn't chase after them.

They groped their way to the back of the castle, where a section of the ceiling had disappeared on the first floor, and the room was overgrown with weeds.

A rectangular board, glowing with a pale purple light and engraved with strange patterns, stood prominently in the center of the room.

Portal!

Sirocco stepped forward to examine the situation.

"Ganzhou is indeed not as simple as it seems..."

After some banging and tinkering, it was discovered that the door was completely unusable.