While shaking her head, Elysia jogged to catch up with Sereia following close behind. Sereia kept her head on a swivel in case something jumped out at them, but nothing did by the time they reached the mausoleum.

  This time one wall was missing, revealing impenetrable darkness beyond. Sereia raised her hand to stop them in case it was a trap, but Elysia and Ione entered without glancing back at her. Not wanting to be left behind, she followed.

  Torches lit up the small room leading to descending steps, which she knew led to the lich’s lair. At least, that’s what she assumed. The dungeon had a few differences but mostly followed the same overall design.

  Her eyes scanned the room as she sent a series of images to her family of her previous visit to the mausoleum. She would have explained it out loud, but she didn’t want to risk alerting the lich. Maybe it would adjust its tactics if it knew she had faced it before.

  Her caution could be pointless. There was a chance the lich remembered their previous battle, not that her previous tactics or lack thereof would teach the lich anything. It was blind luck she beat it last time. This time, she had her family and much more potent lightning at her disposal.

  At the thought of her lightning, she siphoned off a few more strands. This time, she barely received a headache, giving her hope she might be able to replenish her lightning while fighting in the future. Not that she would take the risk if she didn’t have to.

  The mastermind of their previous strategy, Sereia frowned as she went over the images her sister sent her. With the level difference between then and now, it didn’t provide much worth. Other than telling her the lich could use some sort of death magic or void magic—she wasn’t sure which one.

  It was a miracle Elysia survived, but it wouldn’t be a miracle this time. She had her super-powerful mermaid sister to help this time and, as much as she would like to ignore the annoying feline, Ione was powerful in her own right.

  Before the trio ventured farther, Sereia sent a series of images warning them of potential traps on the steps. Just because there weren’t any last time, that didn’t mean they were in the clear. It was too perfect of a setup to not have traps. Besides, from what Elysia told her, the lich welcomed her in the last time, but not so much this time.

  As the one with the most sensitive senses, Ione took the lead with the twins walking side-by-side behind her. Right away Sereia’s warning proved useful as the first step had several pressure plates.

  This wasn’t an isolated occurrence, either. Seemingly random steps had the same pressure pads. One even had a tripwire. Even if it didn’t trigger something, it wouldn’t be a fun descent while bouncing off steps and probably triggering other traps.

  Of course, Ione spotted every trap well ahead of time. With their improved senses, all three of them had no problem navigating the stairs, even with the lack of torches along the stairs like her previous descent.

  Unfortunately, like her previous descent, the journey down the narrow tunnel took forever. At least to the trio as they had to dodge numerous traps, which only slowed them down.

  Finally, they reached a stone door that hung open. Of course, Elysia knew that was only a temporary condition. The moment they stepped inside, it would seal shut if her previous delve was any sign.

  They glanced at one another, then as one, they stepped inside to find a familiar crypt, though larger than her previous visit.

  As they expected, the entrance sealed shut, leaving them trapped. Elysia wondered if she could blast through the wall with her divine lightning. It was not really worth a try, but if they were desperate, it might work. Of course, it would be much more practical to aim the divine lightning at the lich instead. Hopefully, it didn’t come to that.

  Stone ground against stone as the lid of the sarcophagus slid away, only for nothing to come out, causing the trio to frown.

  Where was the lich? They approached the sarcophagus to find a dark tunnel inside, just like Elysia showed in her images.

  A bright flash caused all three to jump, then spin toward the source, only to find a closed chest big enough to fit Elysia and Sereia inside together.

  As they stared at the chest, confused, Elysia received a ding, but like all others since her evolution, she ignored it. Then she forgot about its existence as her sister turned toward her. “This ever happen before?”

  Elysia shook her head. “No, usually there was a boss at the end that I had to kill. Then I received some mana crystals and possibly a skill crystal.”

  While eying the chest Sereia asked, “How do you receive the crystals?”

  “They just appear next to the dungeon boss’s body.”

  A suspicious frown formed as Sereia stared at the chest. She approached it and inspected it from every angle, but as far as she could tell, it was a regular chest. There wasn’t even the warmth she attributed to mana radiating off it.

  All evidence indicated it was a regular chest. Yet something told her it wasn’t. The thing was, she knew it wasn’t a regular chest as it appeared out of nowhere. Maybe they received a special reward for a complete clear or something.

  Despite not believing her own words, Sereia broke the silence. “Maybe higher-level dungeons give treasure chests.”

  Seeing her sister’s suspicion, Elysia’s eyes narrowed on the chest. She waved Sereia back, then retreated to the other side of the twenty-meter-wide room. Ione followed them without prompting.

  Now hopefully at a safe distance, Elysia sent a single-strand lightning bolt at the chest. She easily struck it from range because of its partial metal construction. When the light cleared, the chest remained the same. In fact, there wasn’t even a scorch mark from her lightning.

  “Maybe it really was just a reward chest,” commented Elysia, though Sereia continued to stare at the chest with suspicion, having played way too many games. Though, to be fair, many of those games included randomly appearing reward chests, easing her suspicion slightly.

  Still, something about the chest unnerved her, and going by Ione’s staring, she wasn’t alone. Even Elysia felt something was off, though she couldn’t pinpoint it.

  As Sereia turned her gaze away from the chest and back to her sister, her eyes landed on the coiled whip strapped to her twin’s hip. “You know how to use that?”

  Elysia averted her gaze. “No.”

  With a smug smile, Sereia extended her hand while making a ‘give me’ gesture only for Elysia to stare at her with a raised brow. “Father never taught us how to use a whip. We weren’t some rancher family.”

  While continuing to make grabby gestures, Sereia commented, “Of course he didn’t. If he did, he would have taught both of us, as was his way.”

  “Then how?”

  Sereia’s face went blank. “Experimentation.”

  It clicked a moment later, causing Elysia’s face to redden, but only for a few core pulses.

  With a shrug, trying to hide her embarrassment, Elysia slipped the whip out of its holder, then handed it to her twin, handle first.

  Sereia swirled the whip, trying to get a handle on it, giving it a few flicks, each time cracking with deadly force. “I like it.”

  As an experiment, she sent her water magic into the whip, causing it to turn bluish-green with water, vapor wafting off its entire length as she cracked it a few more times.

  Satisfied with her tests, she approached the chest, stopping several meters away. She squared her shoulders, eyes locked on the latch. With almost inhuman precision, she flicked the whip forward, hitting the bottom of the latch. The latch flipped upward; however, the chest remained closed. Another flick solved that. The chest lid lifted open with a groan of old hinges.

  The trio stared at the chest, expecting something to happen, but nothing did after dozens of core pulses.

  Sereia stared at the chest, questioning the feeling she received from it. Her instincts screamed at her something wasn’t right, but all evidence showed it was just a simple chest. A glance at Ione told her the feline was just as confused.

  Deciding she had enough of the suspicion, Elysia approached the chest. If it was trapped, it would have triggered by now.

  She looked inside, only to freeze and jump back. However, she was far too slow as the chest suddenly came to life and swallowed her whole.

  Panic shooting through her, Elysia grasped at all her threads at once and released them outward, uncaring about the consequences. Her ears popped as the previously dark insides of the chest turned blindingly bright.

  A moment later, she flew through the air, the smell of smoke filling her nostrils as she impacted the wall of the crypt with a crunch.

  With her mind momentarily blank, it took her several seconds to regain awareness of her surroundings. When she did, she found the previously pristine crypt covered with guts and wood shrapnel.

  As she climbed to her feet, brushing off some shrapnel, her eyes met her sister and bond. Both practically screamed ‘I told you so’ with their eyes.

  With a sigh, she approached the epicenter of the explosion, only to find a piece of paper with a few words in bold print.

  Check your notifications. This is your final warning.

  Despite not wanting to, Elysia followed the command, teeth clenching as she read the most recent notification.

  Open the chest within 30 seconds for bonus rewards or the chest will turn into a mimic.

  16

  Elysia gritted her teeth but continued to read the notifications first, checking her kill and level-up notifications.

  Killed Zombie Level 100 x 1211.

  Huh, they were all the same level. She remembered the last time she entered the dungeon, the levels varied a little. Though the gap between level 5 and 6 was nothing compared to 100 and 101, at least in the experience required.

  Level up! Level 2 Path of Divine Lightning Control.

  Level up! Level 3 Path of Divine Lightning Control.

  Insane how over a thousand zombie kills only got her two levels, though, to be fair, it was hardly a challenge to kill them. Maybe if she killed them in a more challenging way, she would get more experience. There was no telling if struggling granted more experience. Definitely not something she wanted to test.

  She would take a few easy levels with little danger over a bunch while barely escaping with her life. Her time delving alone was fruitful, but she’d rather avoid danger like that again. Then her core pulsed in anticipation of the next challenge, contradicting her thoughts.

  To put her contrasting thoughts and body out of her mind, she moved on to the next series of notifications.

  Killed Lich Level 121.

  Level up! Level 4 Path of Divine Lightning Control.

  No split experience? Maybe their bond counted them as one, giving them all the full amount. If that was true, bonds were broken. Not that she would complain about gaining an advantage. What Ione hunted down must have been the lich.

  Could she have skipped the boss fight last time if she killed the Lich in the cemetery? Probably not. There was no way she could have kept up with the lich, especially if it had the support of the skeletons. The best outcome of her first delve was the lich inviting her down to its lair, and even then, she was incredibly lucky, killing it the first time.

  In fact, if she hadn’t leveled up from the kill, she probably would’ve died. Just like several other times. It looked like level-up saves wouldn’t be a common occurrence anymore. Not that she wanted to rely on level-ups saving her.

  Elysia glanced at her family, who were both staring at her with judgment in their eyes. Before dealing with the remaining notifications, most likely involving plenty of snark, Elysia waved toward the stone coffin. “As you probably guessed, the exit is through the coffin. It will drop you into an underground lake connected to the harbor Dad docked his boat at. I’m going to stay here for a little while to deal with some system stuff.”

  Instead of following Elysia’s direction, Sereia leaned against the coffin with Ione laying nearby. Both avoided the still gut-covered lightning elemental. Neither seemed in any hurry to leave, causing Elysia to groan in annoyance. She wanted some privacy when she dealt with the system’s sass.

  If they weren’t going to leave. They could at least help her out. Elysia stared at Sereia until her twin met her eyes. “Could you please wash the guts away?” Eyes widening, she quickly added, “Please don’t spray me too hard.”

  Grossed out by the smell Sereia swirled her hand, manifesting a shower of water, spraying away the guts from both Elysia and the floor. When she gathered it in a corner, her water flashed a deeper shade of green before evaporating, taking the guts and wood fragments with it.

  Elysia stared at the corner with interest. Sereia’s water must have some sort of acidic quality to it. It was really handy for cleaning things. Kind of ironic since her twin wasn’t known for her cleanliness, not that she could say she was the tidiest person, either.

  Since they didn’t seem like they would leave, Elysia released a sigh, then with great reluctance, she read through the next list of notifications.

  Achievement! Perfect clear.

  “Nice job! You killed every enemy in the dungeon without taking any damage!”

  Reward: 20 Attribute points, Bonus Experience.

  In an instant, warmth flooded her body, announcing a level-up, which she confirmed with a glance.

  Level up! Level 5 Path of Divine Lightning Control.

  As the warmth faded, Elysia stared at the achievement notification, confused. That had to be the nicest achievement quote she ever received. Did the system get spanked? No way, it was just lulling her into making some unforgivable in its eyes mistake. The system wasn’t capable of being nice.

  Achievement! Boss assassination.

  “Nice job! You killed the dungeon boss before reaching the boss room!”

  Reward: 10 Attribute points.

  Elysia’s frown only deepened. Why did the quotes sound a little neutered? They followed the same template with no personality injection. No way would she feel sorry for the asshole system, but she almost would rather have a little snark as long as it wasn’t overboard than the generic quotes.

  She shook her head, trying to erase the absurd thoughts. Was she so used to the system’s verbal abuse that she actually preferred it over some generic, almost robotic quotes? Its absence almost made her feel abandoned. No, if the snarky system wanted to leave her alone, she wouldn’t complain.

  Still, despite the seemingly different system, she learned her lesson from the mimic. She would read every notification. Speaking of the mimic, why didn’t she receive a kill notification from it? Did it not count as a kill somehow? It was very much dead, but maybe the system’s interference made it so it didn’t count as a kill. Oh well, with how easily it died, it probably wouldn’t have given her much experience, anyway.

  Another thought came to her, causing her to scan the room, but aside from her family and the coffin, it was empty. Why didn’t they receive any crystals? Did Ione leave them behind? No, she would have noticed when they reached Ione. Did that mean the dungeon wasn’t completed?

  She received achievements for the completion, though. Something screwy was going on here.

  Most likely, whatever happened to their crystal reward had a link to her changed system. Not that she had any proof. It just felt like they were linked. While it wasn’t the end of the world if she didn’t receive any crystals, it was weird.

  She put off her thoughts in favor of checking the final notification, which turned out to be just as generic.

  Achievement! Boss assassination.

  “Nice job! You reached the boss room without triggering a single trap!”

  Reward: 10 Attribute points.

  Whatever, she wouldn’t pass up on easy attribute points. Actually, maybe she would. They were a pain to spend after all. Speaking of spending, it might be a good time to dump some attribute points. She doubted anyone would interrupt them hidden in a boss room.

  After sending another glance at her family, finding both staring off into space, maybe looking at their own system, Elysia opened her status.

  Status:

  Name: Elysia Arashi

  Race: Level 5 Divine Sparked Lightning Elemental.

  Class: Level 5 Path of Divine Lightning Control.

  Charge: 17351/17379

  Attributes:

  Available Points: 200

  Strength: T2-12

  Dexterity: T2-41

  Endurance: T2-12

  Intelligence: T2-41

  Perception: T2-41

  Proficiencies:

  Novice Spear Level 8.

  Novice Throwing Knives Level 5.

  Affinities:

  Tier 10 Level 1 (6) Lightning.

  Tier 5 Level 1 Divine Lightning.

  Resistances:

  Death Resistance Level 1

  Water Resistance Level 1.

  Poison Resistance Level 2.

  Mental Resistance Level 5.

  Bonus

  +70% (100%) Damage with Lightning.

  +10% Damage to undead.

  +10% Damage to Arthropod.

  +15% Damage to Ladybugs.

  Solo Adventuring +10% Solo Experience, -20% Group Experience.

  Skills

  A Moment In Time.

  Bonds

  Sereia.

  Umbra.

  Ione.

  Upon looking at her available attribute points, she cringed. This won’t be pleasant. Should she save some for later? No, she may as well get it over with. Who knew if she would have another opportunity? Though she found it hard to believe she couldn’t find time while lazing around on Umbra.

  A groan escaped her. She was just finding excuses to procrastinate.

 

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