Raised in Dungeon



"Dai Abare: Howl, Control Weather."

Eldritch said that while pointing his sword to the sky, the air around him seemed to crackle with electricity. He channeled his mana through Howl, and then a burst of bright light erupted from that sword. The mana surged with immense power, and the light shot straight up into the sky like a beacon.

As the light dissipated, the clouds in the sky began to thicken, turning black and ominous. The rumble of thunder echoed through the air, and the lightning within the dark clouds crackled and flashed with ferocity. Eldritch's control over the weather was absolute, and he had brought about this storm with his sword. The Eldritch mana conveyed through Howl, controlled the weather, turning it cloudy.

'He changed the weather?' Ivaylo thought.

Sure that Eldritch might do something that could attack them all in an instant, The Noctem Dolls were immediately alert and split up, attacking Eldritch from all directions.

"Whatever you're doing, perhaps it's your ultimate attack that you can only use once!" Adam shouted.

-GLAR

From above Adam, lightning shot at him with incredible speed and power.

"AAARRGH!!!"

And instantly, Adam was scorched, falling down surrounded by flames."

"One down."

'No way! Adam, who has the strongest physique among us, fell down in one attack?!" Norman thought.

"Mary, put the king inside your body," said Ivaylo.

"Okay..."

Just as Mary was about to become big, a lightning bolt shot toward her. It wasn't a surprise attack anymore, so Mary had the chance to dodge it.

Ivaylo looked at the black clouds in the sky and traced how far the clouds spread.

'The clouds spread quite far. It's not an exaggeration to think that this black cloud is the limit of his attack. Probably he now controls the sky and could attack everything behind it.'

Then Mary and Ralph were startled by a large hand that suddenly appeared before them. The hand-picked up the king's crystal and placed it behind Eldritch.

"What was that?!" said Ralph in surprise.

"It was the boy's hand that grew... no... its more strange than it," Mary said.

"Why do you think I told Denia to keep the crystal?" said Eldritch. And Eldritch's words made Clarissa sure of her hypothesis from earlier.

"T-That boy... Denia is the adfeqtus Reliqua who teleported all of us from the room... S-so we can assume he has an ability related to controlling the space," Clarissa said.

Since Eldritch was now convinced that Clarissa had realized it, Eldritch continued to explain.

"Denia possesses a blessing of space manipulation. His mana grants him immunity to the limits of space, allowing him to effortlessly reach and handle anything within his sight without any hindrance from a distance.

How about now? Are you guys going to give up?"

'If he has immunity to space, then running away is useless. He can take our bodies and put them back on the Eldritch as long as he sees us,' Ivaylo thought.

Norman was the fastest to get close to Eldritch. He thought the two behind Eldritch would bother him when he arrived, but he was surprised that they just stayed there.

"I'll take this as a no for an answer," Eldritch said.

Norman then heard the rumble of lightning.

'He's going to do that thunder shot again!' Norman then put his feet on the ground and moved in a zigzag.

-GLAR

Lightning once again shot, but not at Norman, but at Eldritch. The lightning shot at his sword.

And with his sword as an intermediary, Eldritch shot the lightning toward Norman.

"AAAAAARRRRGH!!!"

Norman fell, suffering the same fate as Adam.

Seeing how Eldritch's lightning attack worked, Ivaylo could now come forward, pulling out his blood-sucking needle.

Lightning shot again at Eldritch's sword, and Eldricth immediately slashed the lightning at Ivaylo; Ivaylo immediately dodged.

'It seems that the lightning power will be reduced if it's shot repeatedly and in succession. The first attack on Adam was probably the most powerful,' Ivaylo thought.

In that precise moment, the skirmish escalated into a fervent clash. Bolts of lightning incessantly struck from Eldritch's sword, illuminating the gloomy battleground. Ivaylo attempted to approach Eldritch and draw his blood, but his repeated efforts were in vain, as he could not close in on him. Eldritch, steadfast like a rock, stood his ground and did not budge even an inch. He kept attacking Ivaylo without even moving, leaving Ivaylo hopeless to take his blood.

"It's no use. I cannot take his blood without using that thing. Mary, let's do it," Ivaylo said.

"Master?! Are you serious?! In front of everyone?!"

"We have no other choice."

"Alright..." Mary replied hesitantly.

Ivaylo then muttered

"Marisa, Revenite."

That startled everyone there, including Noctem Dolls members who were watching.

Revenite, they had seen Eldritch do it before. It was a phrase used to retrieve his weapon which turned into a human.

That was when everyone knew that Mary was not Norttish but Adfeqtus Reliqua, Ivaylo's weapon.

'That girl turned out to be an adfeqtus reliqua. No wonder her mana isn't as much as the average Norttish. She must have done a lot of things to hide the light and symbolism of the Adfeqtus Reliqua,' Eldritch thought.

"That weapon... where did you get it? Which dungeon did you complete?" asked Eldritch.

"If I answer that, will you hand over the king to us?"

'He didn't answer. As far as I know, no dungeon has been completed individually; every dungeon has a finished record in every state, which means he's also one of the dungeon's oddities. Of all the dungeons I've completed, three dungeons don't give adfeqtus reliqua. It's as if the weapon was taken away before the dungeon was completed,' Eldritch thought.

"I'll ask you one more thing..." said Eldritch.

"Go ahead."

"By any chance, have you ever heard the name 'Kallen?'"

'Kallen? If I'm not mistaken, she was the name of the girl who got Arthur out of prison. What's the deal with that girl?" Ivaylo thought.

To find out Eldritch's reaction, Ivaylo answered him honestly.

"Yes, I know. One of my friends was saved by her."

Without warning, the atmosphere surrounding Eldritch shifted drastically. His once calm and composed demeanor had been replaced by an overwhelming aura of tension that seemed to radiate from every fiber of his being. With a keen intuition, Ivaylo could sense the palpable surge of murderous intent that seemed to engulf Eldritch entirely. And yet, as terrifying as this killing aura was, it was nothing compared to the sheer hatred lurking deep within Eldritch's heart. It was an intense and all-consuming hatred that Ivaylo could almost taste in the air around them.

'Looks like he has a deal with this Kallen girl,' Ivaylo thought.

"I changed my mind; I'll arrest you all."

Ivaylo immediately took out one of the plain dolls from his pocket.

"Desperate Seamstress,"

Quickly, Ivaylo sewed the plain doll.

'He is…. sewing?' thought the other-worlder that Eldritch brought. Not only her, but Eldritch's party was also confused by what he was doing.

Eldritch began to raise his sword high.

"Abare, Howl."

A huge bolt of lightning struck Eldritch's sword, but this time it was a little different; the lightning didn't stop striking his sword.

The Noctem Dolls, knowing what their leader was about to do, began to get up and attack Eldritch.

Eldritch swung his sword, and lightning struck quickly at the approaching Ralph.

-BREAK

A rock suddenly rose in front of Ralph, protecting him from the lightning shot by Eldritch. Behind her, Clarissa was seen placing her hand in the middle, surrounded by a circle of amnis.

Eldritch fired another bolt of lightning, this time at Norman, and Clarissa once again raised a rock in front of Norman, protecting him from the lightning.

"How annoying caster,"

This time lightning struck from the sky towards Clarissa.

-CLANK

It turned out there was some kind of amnis in the form of a barrier around Clarissa.

"Arara... Eldritch-boy, that caster is strong enough to withstand Howl's lightning. How about if you use me instead?" said one of Eldritch's adfeqtus reliqua.

"No, if I use your power, everyone will die."

Clarissa's mind raced as she focused all her energy on activating a third-level fire amnis, building until a massive fireball emerged, nearly as large as the one Janet had unleashed moments before. She aimed for Eldritch, summoning all of her fear and channeling it toward him. With a swift flick of her wrist, the fireball hurtled through the air towards the unsuspecting Eldritch - only for it to veer off course suddenly, curving to the left and avoiding its target with strange precision. Clarissa stood still, incredulous, her mind racing to understand what had just happened.

"Why?!" said Clarissa.

"My armor can deflect any kind of ranged attack."

It was then that Ivaylo was convinced of something,

'It's true, that armor isn't ordinary armor; it's also adfeqtus reliqua. That means he's currently using two adfeqtus reliqua at once. Is that the limit of its use?'

The Adfeqtus Reliqua had great power, and when it turned into a weapon, it would absorb mana from the user. Ivaylo thought that even if Eldritch had more than four adfeqtus reliqua, he wouldn't be able to use more than two because that would require a lot of mana.

"It's done," Ivaylo said as he finished sewing.

"Is it just me or does that puppet look like you, Master?" said Howl.

"Let's see what he can do with it," Eldritch continued.

Eldritch finally moved from where he stood.

In an instant

-WHUUSH

Eldritch was already in front of Ivaylo. Eldritch's movement was so fast that Ivaylo didn't even have time to react. Instead of using his sword, Eldritch stuck his hand on Ivaylo's neck.

-GRAB

Eldritch strangled Ivaylo with his left hand.

"Pervenire Mors!" Norman's sword extended, stabbing towards Eldritch, Eldritch casually dismissed Norman's sword with a Howl.

'He swatted it away, meaning his armor doesn't work for ranged attacks but only works for emissions or projectiles,' Norman thought.

When one finds themselves being choked, the natural impulse is to struggle and break free from their opponent's grip. For Ivaylo, however, things were a bit different. Ivaylo is using a doll's body. Wrapped tightly within a lifeless doll's body, he remained dispassionate about the physical harm inflicted upon him, even if he could feel how hurtful it was. With calculated coolness, Ivaylo retrieved a needle from his pocket and quickly plunged it into Eldritch's hand.

-Syut

The needle sucked Eldritch's blood.

"Taking my blood, huh? Does this mean the conditions for using your blessing have been completed?"

"Yups… Goodbye, Prince Eldritch; I will use your corpse very well."