The Demonic Games (Disgardium Book #7): LitRPG Series by Dan Sugralinov (iphone ebook reader TXT) 📗

From now on, you can see hidden dungeon entrances, treasure troves and caches.

 

Quality of maps you create: good.

 

Alright… As I flew into another corridor, I opened the dungeon map. Hmm… Judging by the huge dark area in the center, I’d flown all around the edge of the floor in a circle. Now I had to move toward the unexplored center. Shame my ability to navigate dungeons didn’t level up with Cartography. I had to keep checking the map to stay on track.

Unlocked event achievement: Tireless Explorer of Despot’s Labyrinth

 

You are the first to have explored over 50% of Despot’s Labyrinth.

 

Attention! This achievement is an event achievement, and is active only for the duration of the Demonic Games.

 

Reward: +25 perception.

My persistence kept paying off; the next level-up came quickly.

Stealth level increased: +1. Current level: 100.

 

Stealth rank II reached!

 

Stealth, level 1

 

Rank: II.

 

Now, even enemies above your level will have a hard time detecting you. When you attack from Stealth, you remain undetected, but your chance of being detected increases by 10% with each attack.

 

I grinned in awe. I had no idea this skill that was traditionally just for rogues could be so useful to me. It made some sense; the Herald class was designed to be universal, to adapt for different kinds of gameplay and make progress in various directions. Maybe I should try doing magic sometime too?

Leaving that idea for later, I continued my exploration of the dungeon. Right behind the very next turn, a yellow circle lit up on the map — a secret entrance? Could this be the reward I was seeking? Could there be a weapon against Despot here?

I flew up to the moss-covered wall, ran a hand across it and felt ancient tile. Glancing toward the far end of the corridor where Despot was about to appear, I started pressing on stones one after another until one in the lower row gave way. The entire wall moved aside, revealing a narrow passageway into a round cavern like those I’d seen before.

I thought for a moment, then squeezed my way inside, looked around and saw a small rusty chest. I flung it open and saw a pile of coins, dirty and deformed. They glowed purple and were twisted, as if a strongman had held them in his fist and crumpled them like paper. And they were smaller and not as impressively heavy as in big Dis. I swept them all up and the zero in my in-game balance changed to almost a hundred demonic gold.

Searching the rest of the room, I cast a glance at the wall. My inner hamster Pepper squeaked with glee for the first time in the Games:

Blade of the Bloody Tide

 

Epic sword.

 

Damage: 444-666.

 

Injuries dealt by this blade cause a bleeding effect for 3 minutes, dealing 36 damage per second.

 

+180 strength.

 

+270 endurance.

 

+24% critical hit chance.

 

Only for the Demonic Games!

 

Sell price: 850 demonic gold coins.

 

Chance of loss after death lowered by 90%.

 

The two-handed sword with a worn handle encrusted with red gemstones hung on rusty chains. Its curved, serrated blade flashed crimson.

My hand reached out for the sword on its own. It had to be the weapon I needed against the boss! Although… Judging by the stats, the blade would be useless in combat against Despot, but it was still worth a try.

After half a minute or so, I came back — the sword was about as useful against the demon as a toothbrush against a mechatank. My life was hanging by a thread again after that experiment, but I had to try!

Ignoring Pepper’s shrieks, I left the epic where I’d found it. Once I solved my demon problem, I’d be sure to come back. There was no point in taking the sword just yet; if I stopped using Unarmed Combat, then I wouldn’t have Rindzin’s Ghostly Talon, whose damage was always equal to the opponent’s level. The sword was unlikely to come in handy even later on, but I could sell it or give it to my allies.

Crash, crash, crash came Despot’s steps like the swing of a huge metronome. Flying out of the cache, I put a marker on the map so I could come back, then headed for the center of the dungeon again.

I studied the labyrinth as I flew, looked closely at the walls — still no mobs of any kind, but something had changed: the closer I got to the dungeon’s heart, the less lichen was on the walls, but now there were shining delicate beetles all over. As soon as I neared them, they scurried away into the cracks in the walls. Apart from them, I saw something like an anemone with phosphorescent tentacles. A beetle glowed weakly in the transparent stomach of the creepy creature. Even here, the game designers had built an ecosystem — just like dad told me about how zones in Dis are made.

The corridors on the periphery were more reminiscent of a quarry, but now they were like gigantic intestines covered with channels, pulsating red moss and scuttling insects. The walls seemed alive and ready at any moment to close in.

Despot’s trample stopped sounding like the strikes of hammer on anvil. Now it had more of a sucking quality, as if the boss was walking through a shallow marsh.

Comparing with the map to keep my direction, I flew on and didn’t stop until I found myself in a spacious corridor. This one bent in a semi-circle around a strange wall, reddish-brown and speckled with channels that oozed slime. Red and blue vessels pulsated beneath the repulsive surface.

I focused on the wall, suspecting it was a mob or other NPC, but couldn’t see any stats. On the map, it