Chapter 273: There is truth in every lie
Damon grinned, standing right behind the green barrier. "You lack maturity and good strategy." He calmly explained to the enraged creature. "You also have very bad luck and chose a very bad target. Better luck next time."
Without wasting any time with the grotesque thing, he turned slowly and walked inward to the shrine to explore it properly. After all, right from the beginning, this was the only reason he had been so patient until now.
In fact, the moment Damon saw the old man sitting outside the dungeon, he had already figured out that something was off. Everything about him might be in tatters right now but that did not mean his primordial senses were switched off.
Right from the beginning he had observed every little exchange between this guy and Kaelthorn and every little smug malicious smile that appeared on that guy’s face.
As if that was not telling enough, this old man somehow managed to completely walk down to the last and final floor of the dungeon without a single scratch on his body unlike Riven who managed to get knocked out multiple times. Now that was a real idiot. Not this guy who merely acting as one.
The elaborate dungeon layers, the special horde of poisonous beasts and the slight glint of anger that flashed past the old man’s eyes every time his followers massacred his horde were all more than enough tell tale signs.
To top it all, the guy even acted as if he was stumbling and falling into the poisonous liquid without any rhyme or reason. But Damon had to give it to him. Despite all the shoddy planning and the poor acting, he did manage to poison two C-rank experts right under their noses.
That alone spoke volumes about his skills as a poison master. If Damon were like anyone else he might have fallen for it too. But unfortunately for Ouroboros, Damon was not like anyone else.
His bloodline made him a freak who became stronger with everything he consumed and very generously this old dude had provided him with all the materials starting from the first floor of the dungeon.
From the very first mutated toad to the venomous vine-walkers, every poisonous creature that had crossed his path had unknowingly become fuel for his evolution. Damon’s poison resistance had shot through the roof in this single dungeon alone.
His poison resistance was now at a freaking A rank and then some more, something that should have been impossible for someone at level 60 from a world like earth!
It was only thanks to the genius of this man that his body was able to slowly adjust, synthesize and adapt. The longer he stayed in this dungeon, the less the poison affected him.
And now, here on the final floor, standing at the heart of the poison master’s domain, it was as if the waters welcomed him to take a nice warm bath.
Damon chuckled as he continued walking into the shrine. When he had first suspected the intentions of this old guy, he did plan on getting the hell out of here as he did not need another problem right at this moment.
This was back when the team had faced the spiders on the very first floor but before he could turn to leave, he saw the notifications pop in one after the other as he absorbed more and more blood essence.
Even though his body was wrecked his poison resistance still improved. How did this work? Wasn’t his body completely destroyed? Damon had been puzzled. But in the end he did not care. Maybe since it was changing things at the core level, it continued to work?
Or maybe it worked like how he had been steadily gaining stats and skills even though none of it reflected on his status panel and in his body’s attributes.
Throughout the floors he even tested things a couple of times to make sure the upgraded poison resistance was indeed real and not just another notification which did not translate into anything thanks to the fucked up condition of his body. Only after this he dared to step deeper into the trap.
Why? This was because Damon had already seen something like this in his last life. Well, he had not personally experienced it but it was the experience of another player who was tricked by an NPC. The man had a rare beast egg which was swindled by the NPC.
The player raged about it on the internet, on every forum he could find. In the end, someone decided to look it up for him and researched the whole thing only to find out that the quest was only partly a trick and it was partly true.
In the end the guy managed to get his beast egg back. For the life of him Damon could no remember what the guy’s egg finally hatched into but he did remember one thing that stuck with him for a long time.
The NPC bitches could never be trusted completely!
But at the same time, the quest they give had to be at least partly true.
Even though this old dude had tried to lure him into his trap, and Damon had sniffed everything out completely, a part of him couldn’t simply let it go and turn away. He kept wondering which part of the quest was true.
Could there really be a way to heal his soul here?
He couldn’t deny the small possibility and hence took the bait willingly to come down and play with the old man. Thanks to this now he found something very interesting and unique.
"This place definitely smells like some sort of legacy or heritage." Damon pondered as he walked around the shrine observing everything keenly.
Damon’s footsteps echoed lightly across the obsidian tiles as he moved deeper into the shrine. Faint green-glowing runes shimmered under his feet, flaring as he passed, but they did not resist his presence. He grinned and continued walking.
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Mass Release sponsored by Danny_Marek