Chapter 38: Violent Sunbow Deluge, Underworld
The darkness beneath the root-arch rippled.
Then it split.
A descending passage revealed itself, carved not from stone but from condensed void. The walls looked like layered obsidian and bone fused together, etched with symbols that shifted and crawled when stared at too long. Cold air surged upward from below, carrying the scent of decay, ash, and something ancient beyond death.
The group looked at it, feeling a chill crawling up their spine and cold seeping into their bodies.
"Before we go in, let’s prepare more," Axir said as he looked at the group.
Siddha blinked. "Creating one more card?"
"Yep." Axir smiled and took out a Card Constructor. "This is the first card constructor that I got, and it’s perfect for the idea I have."
[Card Constructor] —Fill the slots with required catalysts and create a card. Slot 1: Random Weapon. Slot 2: Random Fire-attributed resource. Slot 3: Random Material of a Tier-3 or higher.
"First, a weapon." Axir slotted in a Prime-1 Epic weapon, a bow.
Clearing seven level 50 Elite dungeons meant they had acquired seven Tier-5 Equipment sets of Legendary, and other dropped rewards.
And by killing monsters in Kagara Ruins, they also dropped items and materials. They got one set only, which Axir equipped, bolstering his stats crazily as Prime-tier items had percentage-based stat boosts, and that too quite high.
Everyone was equipping two or three items of Prime-1 or Prime-2 that dropped from monster hunting and chest opening in Kagara Ruins, boosting their stats significantly.
In the random Fire-attributed resource, Axir added Sunborn Tejas Flower, and in slot 3 for a random Material of Tier-3 or higher, he added a Prime 2.0 ore called Deathbuzz Silverite Ore that the group had found and farmed in Kagara Ruins. They didn’t get much, since they didn’t want to waste time farming that and wanted to finish this quest before gameplay time ended.
"This will be stronger than the previous card." Ling blinked.
"For keywords..." Siddha’s eyes glinted. "You want to add projectiles, so you can use this card with the other card."
"That will be broken." James grinned.
Robin laughed. "I can’t wait to see it. Come on, little brother, do it."
Axir chuckled and added the words.
"First keyword—Projectiles, as we want this card to have projectile-type attacks."
"Second keyword—Infinite, as we want as many projectiles as possible in one activation of the card."
"And third keyword—Rain, as this word will influence the second keyword to make more projectiles since Infinite can apply to many things in many ways, but we want projectiles as if it’s raining."
Everyone nodded, understanding the logic.
"And here we go."
The card constructor glimmered and turned into sparks before the sparks gathered to form an exotic card with violet flames.
Everyone eagerly inspected it.
[ Violent Sunbow Deluge ]
Card Type: Active
Card Quality: Prime-1
Cost: 10% of Mana.
Effect:
—> Upon activation, the card manifests a spectral bow formed of violet sunfire above the target, and rains down 10 arrows every second for five seconds. +10 arrows per second for an extra 10% of Mana spent when activating this card.
—> Each arrow deals damage equal to 50% of the user’s base Arcane and Agility. If the target is affected by a flame-based or death-based debuff, all arrows will home towards the target and reduce their omni-defense, as long as the target is not 100 meters away from the spectral bow in the sky.
—> If the target is struck by 200 arrows, their omni-defense is reduced by 100%.
—> You can switch the targets within the range as long as the targets have flame-based or death-based debuffs.
"So that’s 50 arrows for 10% Mana, dealing a total of 2500% Arcane and Agility damage over five seconds." Axir’s eyes glinted as he calculated. "For me, that’s 13,750 damage over five seconds as I have Agility and Arcane both at 275, but this damage doesn’t ignore defense, though it reduces omni-defenses. And for an extra 10% Mana cost, we get 50 arrows more, so that’s double the damage."
Everyone’s eyes flickered.
"With Sunlit Motion Engine..." Robin gulped.
"Yeah, that’s going to be crazy," Ling mumbled. "Sunlit Motion Engine clearly states that it will double the projectiles of the next card for 500 Sunlit Fuel. If you use the card with 50% Mana spent, then that’s 500 arrows!"
Siddha chuckled. "It seems we are ready to commence slaughter in the next area."
"That’s insane..."
"This makes me want to create a bunch of cards and experiment." James laughed.
Axir grinned. "We all visited the area of Elite Dungeons, so when they refresh tomorrow, teleport there and farm them. Although you should know that Card Constructor only drops at 100% when an Elite Dungeon or higher is cleared for the first time. Afterward, it has a 50% drop chance in Elite Dungeons, 70% drop in Champion Dungeons, and 100% drop chance in Exalted Dungeons."
"What? That’s a bummer." Robin clicked his tongue.
"50% isn’t that bad, right?" Aunt Kira blinked.
"Depends on luck, I suppose." Maria nodded. "Unless the game has a pity system where it guarantees a drop after some failures."
"It is what it is, and don’t worry. There are multiple ways to get Card Constructor." Axir shrugged and grinned. "But with me, we can gather a bunch of Card Constructors because I know the location of many Elite and higher Dungeons. But for now, let’s go. We shouldn’t waste more time."
The group moved into the mysterious passage.
The descent ended without warning.
One moment, the world was falling away beneath them. Next, their boots met solid ground.
They stood on the edge of a colossal cliff.
Below them stretched the Underworld.
A sea of darkness rolled endlessly, layered in fog and drifting embers of pale violet light. Jagged landmasses floated in the distance like shattered continents, chained together by massive black roots that pulsed faintly, as if the world itself possessed veins.
Ahead of them, rooted at the base of the cliff, rose a forest.
It was not green.
Trees towered like spires of obsidian and bone, their trunks split and hollow, glowing from within with deathfire veins. Leaves resembled thin blades of black crystal, clinking softly against one another despite the absence of wind. Between the trees, ghostly flowers bloomed, pale white petals tinged with violet, releasing faint trails of Death Aura into the air.
[You have entered the level 300 - ??? Hidden Area—The Underworld]
Hidden Areas were not like Secret Areas. Hidden Areas were places that required players to fulfill some conditions before being able to enter, which, for this, was accumulating 1000 Death Aura from Kagara Ruins.
’This was no such hidden area as this before.’ Axir’s eyes glinted. ’Interesting.’