Chapter 99 : Chapter 99

Chapter 99 - A New Power (3)

It had been suspicious from the moment he first saw the words ‘Encroached Spirit’.

There was no way the game company wouldn't have used a common element like a spirit.

‘But isn't it too much for even the appearance to be the same?’

Artier remembered that appearance.

In the latter half of the game, if you entered a dungeon with the modifier ‘contaminated’, five out of ten times, a spirit with that appearance would be growling and waiting for the protagonist.

‘Though now it seems to be encroached by a curse, not the contamination of a Hellmorph.’

In any case, the problem was that it was the same creature.

“Where…”

Artier ran forward as a test.

The spirit rotated its body left and right, firing black streams of water in all directions.

‘The all-out attack is the same.’

Kagagak!

Artier lightly slid to dodge the stream of water.

When he swung the rebar at the creature, a loud noise was heard, and a warning message appeared.

[The Encroached Spirit is in an incomplete spiritual state.]

[It is immune to physical attacks.]

“How can even this be the same.”

“M-master?”

Collie was quite flustered when he saw Artier’s expression rotting.

Artier hastily managed his expression and smiled.

“I think I know how to deal with it.”

“Is that so? How?”

“It’s immune to physical attacks. We just need to deal damage with magical attacks.”

Boom! Bang!

Ink-black orbs that swirled appeared near the spirit.

If one were to be hit properly, their body would likely be pierced through.

“I’ll draw its attention, so try attacking with a Water Bolt from a distance.”

“Ah, understood.”

With those words, Artier charged forward again.

CRASH! CRASH!

Perhaps because it had been a water spirit in the past, all the techniques it used were made of black water.

Artier spun the rebar and deflected the incoming water spears one by one.

Clang!

‘Ugh… my wrist hurts.’

Since it was all fiercely rotating water, the pressure was quite strong.

Artier forcibly endured the throbbing pain.

“Water Bolt!”

BOOM!

As Collie waved his staff, a refreshing water orb, different from the spirit's, was created.

When the water orbs repeatedly struck the crystal, the spirit was startled for the first time and withdrew the water it was shooting.

“It’s effective!”

“Hmm.”

‘It’s subtle.’

As water leaked out from between the cracks in the crystal, Artier immediately jumped in front of Collie.

CRAAASH!

“Uaaagh!”

“I think we just made it angrier?”

As soon as he spun the rebar like a top, a tremendous amount of water cannon flew in and swept Artier away.

“How about trapping it with an Ice Wall?”

“With a resistance that can withstand a Water Bolt, it’s out of the question!”

“Then magical attacks are impossible.”

Kuuuooo!

The spirit, seeing that Artier still hadn't fallen, was approaching them, letting out a roar that might have been a scream.

“We’ll have to use another method.”

With those words, Artier ran to the side.

As soon as he hid his body behind a nearby statue, a vicious-looking black beam split the statue in half.

‘Isn’t the water pressure insane?’

Water with strong pressure can cut even diamonds.

Even Artier didn't think of deflecting that.

The beautiful ice pillars and statues that supported the audience chamber were instantly turned into trash to be thrown away.

‘But.’

“As expected, it will look at me before Collie.”

Artier let out a hollow laugh as he watched the stream of water that was continuously being shot at him.

Even though it was minimal, the one who had dealt direct damage was Collie, but the creature was stubbornly continuing to shoot streams of water at the moving Artier.

‘If it’s according to that pattern, it’s a natural reaction.’

Artier, who had grasped the situation, immediately glanced at Collie and conveyed his thoughts.

Collie, don’t move from that spot.

Pardon? But at this rate, the master will be out of my magic range!

It’s fine, so just stay there.

Boom! Bang!

Artier, who had reached the end of the audience chamber, quickly closed the distance with the spirit.

As if it had been waiting, the creature fired a water beam.

Pssh!

Even Artier couldn't dodge all the beams coming from the front.

Blood seeped out as his shoulder was grazed, and Artier endured the pain and swung the rebar.

Clang!

The attack was nullified again this time.

But this was just a confirmation.

“Ichi Summon!”

As Artier shouted loudly, the figure of Artier who had been swinging the rebar from the front disappeared.

The spirit, feeling the presence behind it, hastily turned its crystal.

Clang! CRASH!

When the rebar and the water orb struck the black crystal, the black crystal shook violently for the first time.

“It worked.”

“Wh-what is this.”

“The creature is an incomplete spiritual body.”

An incomplete spiritual body completely nullifies physical damage.

Only attacks from the front.

…Let’s not ask how a black crystal that looks the same from the front and back has a concept of a front.

If he had known that, Artier wouldn't have bothered with the confirmation.

“Now you know what to do, right?”

“Understood.”

Artier once again circled the audience chamber.

The crystal did not react this time and began to attack Collie.

“Ice Wall!”

“It’s troublesome if you get distracted!”

Collie defended against the orbs with an ice wall, and in the meantime, the approaching Artier mercilessly swung the iron bar.

Kroooooh…

The spirit had no choice.

If it was wary of Artier, he would teleport near Collie and attack, and if it looked at Collie, it would be ambushed by Artier without defense.

Human! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!

Before long, thoughts began to spread from the spirit for the first time, and dozens of water droplets began to be shot at the two simultaneously.

“Ugh, it’s hard to block now!”

“Just hold on a little longer. Seeing it struggle, it’s almost over.”

Pat! Pat!

Artier, who jumped off a nearby wall, jumped over the large black crystal.

Dozens of water droplets flew towards the rotating Artier along with the staff.

“Let’s see its performance.”

Artier muttered so and stared at the ring on his left hand.

Then, a translucent dagger appeared in his left hand, where there had been nothing.

“Here, take this!”

Artier threw it at the creature and immediately ran behind Collie.

Thwack! Sizzle!

Kraaaaaak!

When the dagger touched the black crystal, crimson sparks erupted, and the spirit’s painful thoughts echoed.

The cracks in the crystal became clearer, and black sewage was gushing out like blood in all directions.

“It’s a much greater power than I thought.”

“It seems it was designed to have a good effect in exchange for being difficult to hit.”

Clang! CRASH!

In the end, the black crystal couldn't hold on and shattered into pieces.

[You have cleared an unknown primordial dungeon.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have acquired Imperfect Harmony (Rare).]

[You have acquired the Frozen Ancient Helm (Magic).]

“Oh…”

Artier let out a sound of admiration without realizing it.

‘As expected, when you clear a high-level dungeon, the reward is also certain.’

He had leveled up twice in this dungeon alone.

If he had his way, he would want to keep running the dungeon until he was satisfied, just like in his old gaming days.

Aaaargh! Human!

But just before he opened his inventory, a different thought echoed through the audience chamber.

“What?”

As Artier was about to spin the rebar, Collie hastily grabbed his arm.

“It’s not an enemy.”

“Not an enemy?”

“What we destroyed was the curse of the ice attribute. What was sleeping inside woke up as the curse was broken.”

Whoosh.

As soon as those words ended, a small cat made of flames appeared in front of the two.

“Human! What do you want from me! Just stop bothering me!”

The creature shrieked with tears (?) welling up in its eyes.

Hooks simultaneously appeared in the eyes of the two.

“What did we do?”

“You locked me in a curse and kept making me work. You tricked me by saying it was something fun!”

“…It seems it is mistaking us for people of the Gostera Empire.”

Artier couldn't hide his bewilderment.

How powerful was the curse of Gostera?

“We are not the ones who imprisoned you.”

First, Artier decided to clear up the misunderstanding.

“…Really?”

“Look around. The people who imprisoned you all disappeared a long time ago.”

The flaming cat looked around at those words.

And then it immediately fell into confusion.

“Where am I? Why am I underwater? I… what was I? Woo woo woo…”

The anxiously flickering flame seemed to represent its emotional state.

As if everything around it was unfamiliar, the cat couldn't keep its gaze on anything for long.

‘Looking at its appearance, is it a fire spirit?’

Artier first checked the spirit’s information window.

Lv.30 ???

Title: Low-Grade Spirit

Class: Fire Spirit

Agility: 42

Intelligence: 55

Available Skills:

Attack Skills (2) (Close)

Fire Bolt (Lv.1), Fire Wave (Lv.1), Fire Storm (Lv.1)

Support Skills (1) (Close)

Overload (Lv.1)

‘There’s no strength stat?’

At first, he thought it was a bug.

But soon, Artier could see the reason.

It was because of the spirit’s characteristic of being a spiritual body.

The fact that no physical attacks worked meant that the spirit itself could not exert any physical influence on the world.

“But why a fire spirit? This is an ice palace.”

“Wasn’t it predictable?”

“What? Why?”

“Didn’t water come out of the black crystal.”

Collie pointed to the sewage that was still pooled on the floor.

“It’s normal for ice to come out of a curse of the ice attribute. But the fact that water came out means that something inside was melting the ice.”

“Aha…”

He just thought it was a water-attribute spirit.

Artier, who understood the situation, looked at the spirit again.

Now, the creature also seemed much calmer.

“So you came to get me out?”

“Yes. We felt the curse that was binding you and came to find you.”

“You… you seem like a good human.”

The spirit circled around Artier and smiled brightly.

“You smell good, the smell of a friend!”

“Really?”

“…Master, how high is your spirit affinity for a spirit to immediately let down its guard?”

At Collie’s question, Artier silently closed his mouth.

He had a hunch.

‘Could it be because of my class?’

By the time he finished his thought, the spirit was already right in front of Artier.

“Hey. I’ve been sleeping here for too long. I want to go back to where I was originally, but I forgot how to go alone.”

“Hmm… I see.”

“So, could you help me out? In return, I’ll help you too!”

[The Nameless Spirit wants to make a contract with you.]

[If you accept, the Nameless Spirit will be added to your summon list.]

[Would you like to accept? Y/N]

Artier instinctively looked at Collie.

Collie had also grasped the situation.

“It’s alright to make a contract.”

“Is it really okay?”

“Originally, a summoner commands several summons. It would be foolish to kick away the opportunity to make a contract.”

“…”

Even though he had received permission, Artier couldn't erase his uneasy expression. This was because he could glimpse sadness in Collie’s expression.

It felt like seeing the first child who had their attention stolen away when a younger sibling was born.

‘But Collie is right. It’s not easy to make a contract with a spirit either.’

Dozens of strategies for making a contract with a spirit briefly flashed through Artier’s mind.

After looking at them all, the conclusion was the same.

It would be a foolish thing to refuse the contract here.

‘I’ll have to pay more attention to Collie from now on.’

With that thought, Artier placed his finger on Y.

[You have made a contract with the Nameless Spirit.]

[The Nameless Spirit has been added to your information window.]

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