Only Awakeners between Level 7 and Level 11 can enter the Skeleton Chamber dungeon.
If the dungeon were at Normal Difficulty, the regular monsters inside would be Level 11.
At Hard Difficulty, the normal monsters would be two levels higher than those in Normal Difficulty.
Since this one was Nightmare Difficulty, the normal monsters inside would be two levels higher than those in Hard Difficulty.
As for Hell Difficulty, the monsters would be three levels higher than those in Nightmare Difficulty.
These values apply only to normal monsters.
There are still other types of creatures inside a dungeon, such as elite monsters and boss monsters, and their levels and skills increase even further as the difficulty rises.
Upon entering the dungeon, they found themselves standing at the entrance of a massive cave, illuminated by flickering fire torches.
Ethan could hear eerie whispering coming from the depths of the cavern.
"I will give a brief overview of the dungeon since we have a new member with us," the leader of the raid team said.
"There are three stages to clearing this dungeon. In the first stage, we will face a swarm of normal monsters, which should not be too difficult to handle. The real challenge begins in the second and third stages," he continued.
"The second stage will have elite monsters leading a swarm of normal monsters, and in the final stage, we will have to face the boss monster, elite monsters, and normal monsters."
He looked at everyone. "Everyone understands?"
Seeing everyone nod, he nodded as well.
"Combat professions will lead. Controller professions will attack from behind while providing defense. Support professions will heal and use debuff and buff skills, and magic professions will handle ranged attacks," the leader said as he unsheathed his sword.
"Looks like he has experience raiding dungeons with teams..." Ethan followed closely behind, observing the others.
The leader of the raid team was level 10 at the peak of Tier 1, while the others were level 8 and 9.
Ethan, being level 7, was the lowest level in the team.
With a little effort, this team should be able to clear the dungeon without much trouble.
Ethan was glad he joined; he could gain experience fighting alongside a raid team and level up.
After walking for a couple of minutes, they entered the deepest part of the cave.
The whispering noises had grown from soft murmurs into a full chorus.
"Get ready," the leader said as he took his battle stance.
The sword in his hand suddenly ignited, releasing intense heat.
"Flame Swordsman..." Ethan muttered, glancing at the raid team leader.
The Flame Swordsman was a mid-grade combat class profession, just one step below the Flame Knight profession.
Suddenly, the chorus of whispering vanished as if it had never existed.
In the next few moments, they heard a crackling sound, like thousands of bones clanking together.
An army of skeletal soldiers emerged, each one standing six feet tall, wielding swords and spears, clad in armor that exposed their skeletal faces.
A grey aura surrounded them as they marched forward.
"Magic class professions use ranged attacks. Support and controller class professions use buff and debuff skills," the Flame Swordsman commanded.
In the next second, skill after skill flew out.
Long-range attacks rained down on the marching skeletal army.
Then came the buffing skills.
Ethan felt several take effect, while the skeletons were struck by waves of debuffs.
[You have received the buff Of [Sharp Will]]
[You have received the buff Of [Wooden Body]]
[All class skill effectiveness temporarily increased by 15%]
[Sense attribute temporarily increased by 15%]
[Strength attribute temporarily increased by 10%]
[Stamina attribute temporarily increased by 10%]
[Dexterity attribute temporarily increased by 10%]
"These buffs are amazing," Ethan muttered as he turned his eyes back to the scene in front of him.
The entire cave had transformed into a battlefield, and the raid team relentlessly attacked the army of skeletal soldiers.
"I guess I should do my part," Ethan said as he summoned his Undead Knights from his [Undead Graveyard].
His shadow expanded like an abyss, and seventeen figures rose from within it, revealing themselves as armored knights.
Inside their armor were undead corpses possessing the attributes of knights.
Through the slits in their helmets, their eyes glowed with pale white, corpse-like pupils.
"What the hell?"
"Are those summons?"
"That guy is a summoner?"
The others were stunned by the appearance of the Undead Knights.
Ethan gave a mental command, and in the next instant, the Undead Knights charged toward the skeletons, their black swords raised.
At the same time, Ethan activated another one of his skills.
[Mourning Rain: Skill Activated]
Dark, undead clouds manifested across the ceiling of the cave, and moments later, black raindrops began to fall.
Every skeleton touched by the rain became erratic, their motor functions deteriorating and their senses blurring.
Strangely, none of Ethan's raid teammates were affected.
"Is that a debuffing skill? The movements of these skeletons are all messed up."
Everyone suddenly felt their battle become noticeably easier.
It was not that the skeletons had become weaker.
Their attacks had simply turned ineffective and clumsy, making it far easier for the raid team to deal with them.
Ethan controlled the Undead Knights with his will, directing them to strike the disoriented skeletons.
However, even under the debuff, the skeletons' attributes were still higher than those of the Undead Knights.
His summons were weaker in direct confrontation, so Ethan opted for overwhelming numbers instead, swarming each skeleton until it was destroyed.
The strategy worked, and soon, Ethan noticed his experience beginning to rise.
[Experience increased]
[Experience increased]
[Experience increased]
When raiding dungeons as a team, contrary to what most people believed, experience was not shared among teammates.
You only gained experience corresponding to the monsters you personally killed.
The battle continued for an entire hour.
Even with buffs and debuffs applied, the skeleton army remained formidable, requiring significant effort to finally bring them down.
[You have cleared the 1st Stage of the Skeleton Chamber Dungeon]
"Phew… damn, I didn't think Nightmare difficulty would be this hard. It's on a completely different level compared to the Hard difficulty dungeon," one of the magic-class professionals said, sighing as she sat on the floor, clearly exhausted.
There were three combat-class professionals, two controller-class professionals, two magic-class professionals, two support-class professionals, and finally Ethan, making a team of ten.
Right then, one of the support-class professionals activated a recovery skill.
[You have been affected by the support skill [Field of Recovery]]
[Your wounds are rapidly healing]
[Your Spiritual Energy recovery rate has increased]
[Your Stamina is being rapidly replenished]
The entire area was suddenly drenched in a warm yellowish-white aura.
Everyone within its range felt their wounds healing, their stamina returning, and their spiritual energy regenerating at a much faster rate.
Ethan also sat down, enjoying the effects as he retrieved his Undead Knight back into his Undead Graveyard.
They had been heavily injured in the last battle, but inside his Undead Graveyard their regeneration was boosted several times.
It would only take a few minutes for them to return to peak condition.
"Are you a summoner?" one of the controller-class professionals asked.
"Yes," Ethan nodded.
"Hmm, I'm glad it was you who came along. You were really helpful..." the raid team leader said with a sigh.
"This is our first time raiding a Nightmare difficulty dungeon. I've cleared this same dungeon on Hard difficulty before, but I never imagined the gap between Hard and Nightmare would be this massive," he continued solemnly.
"Are you confident about defeating the boss?" Ethan asked.
"Yes. It'll be very hard, but we should be able to do it… I think," he chuckled.
"If you don't mind me asking, is there any specific reason you're raiding this dungeon on this difficulty?" Ethan asked.
"You see, clearing this dungeon on Nightmare or Hell difficulty rewards an all-class equipment set known as the [Skeletal Warden Set]. If someone equips the entire set, all of their attributes increase by 25%, their spiritual energy recovery increases by 50%, and they unlock a skill called [Bone Shield]..." the raid team leader explained.
"I've already reached level 10, and three of my unlocked skill slots are still empty. I'm about to attempt a solo clear on a dungeon that guarantees a skill card reward, but I'm still too weak. I need to rely on equipment like this just to have a chance at clearing a Hell difficulty dungeon," he continued.
"Even clearing Nightmare or Hell difficulty doesn't guarantee that all pieces of the set will drop at once, since it's based on chance. So until we get the entire set, we have to keep challenging this dungeon over and over."
Ethan nodded in understanding.
He had just gained a whole new perspective on how difficult it was to fill skill slots.
...
[A/N: If you enjoyed the chapter, please consider adding it to your library and supporting it with some Power Stones. Arigato!]