Chapter 38 - Stage 9
The next morning Meurig awakened, fully prepared for the day. He had gotten a good night's rest and all of his fatigue went away. Yuki on the other hand was still dead asleep as he laid on his stomach.
"Get up, don't you wanna finish this dungeon soon?" Meurig said as he began to shake. Yuki in hopes of waking him up.
"I will make you unleash your true power," Yuki mumbled half asleep.
Meurig grabbed Yuki by the collar and began dragging him across the stage floor until he finally woke up.
"What was that for?!" Yuki spoke in protest.
"It's not my fault a certain idiot overdid a little 'practice'," Meurig mocked Yuki.
"Well at least I'm not lazy," Yuki rebudled.
"We don't have time to argue, get yourself ready and let's enter the next stage," Meurig said as he calmed himself down.
Yuki stretched for a few minutes and began heading towards the gateway and Meurig followed suit.
[Save point reached]
[If you would like to move to the 9th stage of the dungeon, please step forward]
[Stage 9 difficulty: level 5]
"Let's give it our all!" Yuki said to motivate the two man team.
"Yeah!" Meurig repied.
Once again, Yuki stepped through the white light and the new stage became visible. The terrain was a graveyard which was very similar to the first stage, however, this one was much larger.
In the sky was a levitating figure wearing a dark cloak with a hood. The figure was holding a large scythe. It also had a skull for a face.
"I should've guessed it was something like this," Yuki said.
[The ruler of souls: Grim Reaper Calypso]
"Should I attack him first?" Meurig asked.
"Nope, we aren't going to waste time here. I have a better idea," Yuki replied.
[Open inventory]
Yuki proceeded to pull out 6 attack boost potions.
"Drink up!" Yuki said cheerfully to Meurig.
"Seriously?" Meurig replied.
"I'm being dead serious, I want you to take a lead on this stage. Of course, I'll come in at the end to tap the enemy so the exp share will be activated but other than that, he's all yours," Yuki explained.
"Thanks, I won't disappoint," Meurig replied as he began to drink the capsules of attack potions as quickly as he possibly could.
He began to run as quickly as he could towards Calypso.
"All I'll need is one clean hit on him and we can proceed to the last stage. I'll win this for the both of us!" Meurig said to himself.
Before the shadowy figure could even touch him, Calypso activated his stage ability.
[Soul Switch]
Instantly, Meurig's body fell to the ground. However something was off. Meurig could see his own body fall to the ground. For some odd reason, Meurig couldn't move and he felt shorter.
As Meurig pieced together everything that was happening, Calypso went in to attack Meurig's unresponsive body. He lifted his scythe high in the air and began to bring it down at Meurig's neck. Just then , Yuki came rushing with "Lucky Sword" and blocked Calypso's attack.
After exactly 5 seconds of confusion, Meurig was facing the ground.
"Get away from him Yuki! His ability is to switch people's bodies with objects. I'll need to find an opening, so cover for me while his ability is active. It looks like he can only keep it active for about 5 seconds," Meurig explained.
"Got it! Once you regain your body, give it all you have. Don't worry, I'll create an opening for you to attack," Yuki replied.
Meurig began to rush towards Calypso. Knowing that his ability still needs to recharge before it can be used again Calypso began attacking with his scythe, making sure to not give Meurig a chance to counter. Yuki tried to interfere however, Calypso easily avoided all of the attacks while focusing on Meurig.
[Soul Switch]
Calypso once again activated his ability, and made Meurig switch bodies with the gravestone.
"Don't worry," Yuki said as Meurig's body fell to the ground.
Calypso continued to make attempts at decapitating Meurig's head. However, each attempt was easily stopped by Yuki. After exactly 5 seconds had passed, Meurig returned to his body. As he began to get up, he prepared to finish the fight off.
"Yuki, give me an opening now!" Meurig shouted.
"You got it!" Yuki replied as he gave a thumbs up to Meurig.
Yuki swung "Lucky Sword" at Calypso's scythe. Even though Calypso tried to gain control over the fight once more, Yuki didn't let up.
"Now's your chance! Give it all you got!" Yuki yelled to Meurig.
With all the power and determination Meurig had, he put everything into his fists. He clenched his teeth and punched Calypso right in the ribs. Both Yuki and Meurig could hear bones cracking. Meurig smiled at Yuki midair and continued to plummet himself into Calypso. Meurig made his enemy fly and crash into the stage walls. Calypso's body made a dent in the wall.
"Nice!" Yuki said as he high fived Meurig.
"Thank you for allowing me to prove myself," Meurig said as he smiled.
[+40000 exp to Yuki kaito]
[+40000 exp to Meurig]
[Player: Yuki Kaito]
[Level 6: 34200/70000]
[Player: Meurig]
[Level 5: 35000/60000]
[New skill unlocked: Faker]
[Faker: Ability to hide or augment any personal information]
[Item drop: Scythe dagger]
Yuki double tapped on the silver dagger which had an abnormally long blade.
[Rank: D]
[Attack: 45]
[Description: Power: When a critical hit is landed on the enemy, the dagger makes contact with the target's soul for a few seconds, causing them to get nauseous and confused. Greed often leads to the corruption of a person's soul. While most are greedy for money, Calypso on the other hand was greedy to live. He enjoyed the simple things in life and didn't want to let go of it. Even after the death, Calypso's soul resisted moving on to the after life. The gods cursed him for his betrayal and made him be a servant of death in turn being responsible to lead souls into the afterlife. Never being able to enjoy life once again, Calypso began taking out his anger on the souls of the dead. Once the gods found out about his injustice, they cast him away in the dungeon.]
"I thought there were no gods?" Meurig asked after looking over Yuki's shoulder to analyze the description.
"There aren't, all the descriptions are made up by Zero to make this world seem more interesting," Yuki replied.