Chapter 50 – Blending In.

“Don’t tell me, this one is empty too?”

“Well, do you see any zombies around?”

“Why did we bother hiring a priest if there aren’t any zombies!”

“I don’t know, but you reckon he will give us a discount?”

Three adventurers looked at a man wearing priestly garb. He appeared to be in his thirties and was shaking his head while smiling.

“You won’t get a discount just because someone got to the treasure faster.”

The priest responded with a chuckle, causing the adventurers to slump their shoulders and sigh. He then moved towards the underground crypt they were trying to clear out, his hand brushing against the walls. The man closed his eyes and recited a prayer. Soon, the wall was covered in a golden sheen which quickly vanished.

“This divinity… how is it so pure? Was a High-Cardinal in this crypt? But that just makes no sense…”

While the adventurers and the priest were fumbling around in an empty catacomb, the being responsible was making his way down a flight of stairs. The seventh floor had been altered by his doing, and now that the mist had thinned, it was too dangerous to stick around.

“Finally, some hard ground under my feet.”

Rusty’s bronze feet clanked against the stone steps as he descended deeper into the dungeon. The change in environment was a welcome relief from the damp, swampy terrain above. The walls here were smoother, intricately carved with depictions of ancient battles and scenes of worship. Torches with blue flames lined the walls of this staircase that descended for quite some time.

As he moved, his mind was busy calculating his next move. He had spent quite some time grinding on the undead zombies and exploring crypts. From them, he had managed to unearth some accessories. Most of them were gold-tinted junk, but he had found two that weren’t awful. One was a ring that increased his mana regeneration probably by five percent. It didn’t seem like much, but every bit added up. The second one was something new; it added a flat amount of stats to his own.

It only added two points of strength, but it was better than nothing. Once equipped, it appeared under his chest armor, stuck to the top area near his metallic neck. If he removed his helmet and held it at the right angle, he could clearly see it there. It seemed to be glued to his bronze body, and when he poked it, the item wouldn’t move. Thanks to this effect, it was clear that these accessories would be hard to remove, but he wasn’t sure what would happen if his body part was damaged.

‘I don’t think I’ll be able to repair these accessories, they aren’t part of my body.’

Rusty assumed that if his gauntlet holding the mana regeneration ring were to be crushed, the ring would be destroyed with it. While he could restore his bronze body, he wasn’t sure about other items. It was possible for him to wield weapons dropped by other monsters, but repairing them was also impossible. At most, he could store them in his inventory for later. It seemed that unless he had created the weapon within the forge himself, he was unable to repair it.

After continuing his descent, the stone steps gave way to a vast underground area. The ceiling was quite high, and the swamp was replaced by decrepit temples. He could see large crumbled walls, statues with missing limbs, and more dead-looking trees. This area seemed quite vast and had a lot of open space, something he wasn’t too keen on.

The wide-open area was a stark contrast to the cramped, mist-filled swamp he had navigated before. Rusty had to move with caution as there weren’t many places to hide here. There were crumbled walls didn’t seem to provide much cover from the roaming monster or adventurers. To make things worse, once he took a few steps he heard some sounds from afar, someone was approaching him fast.

‘I need to hide… but where?”

The wide-open area was a stark contrast to the cramped, mist-filled swamp he had navigated before. Rusty had to move with caution, as there weren’t many places to hide here. The crumbled walls didn’t seem to provide much cover from roaming monsters or adventurers. To make things worse, after taking a few steps, he heard sounds from afar—someone was approaching fast.

‘I need to hide… but where?’

Rusty wasn’t far from the stairs leading to the seventh level. This area looked like a run-down church with a row of torches leading up to his location. On the ground, there were destroyed wooden benches. For a moment, he considered digging himself under the wood, but there wasn’t enough time. To the sides, there were some windows he could possibly squeeze through and some thicker columns he could hide behind.

‘Wait… what about that skill I just learned? I could probably use that!’

His level had progressed further, and he was now level nine. This had allowed him to gain a brand-new skill, which worked in a mysterious way. It had a drawback and a requirement, but luckily, this place fulfilled that requirement. Rusty quickly moved toward one of the columns in the corner with the least amount of light. Once there, he went down to his knees in an attempt to minimize his body size. He needed to ensure he was in a darkened area. Then, right before the footsteps reached the ruined church, he vanished from sight.

Rusty looked at the skill description as his body blended with the darkness around him. This skill required areas devoid of light or ones bathed in it. As long as he didn’t move a muscle, his body would be surrounded by either the darkness or light elements. This would, for some reason, make his body hard to see. It didn’t seem to have any combat purposes, but for hiding his presence, it was quite potent.

It had a different effect depending on the element he used to meld with. If he did it in darkened areas where the darkness element was prevalent, his body would be surrounded by a shadowy haze, allowing him to blend in with the environment and become perfectly invisible. He wasn’t aware of how it worked with the element of light just yet, as within the swamp, he hadn’t found areas that met the skill’s requirements.