Afterlife Dream

After the crazed laughter subsided, a soft female voice spoke to us.

"My name is Shi Ran, I am the youngest daughter of the Second Prince of the Ming Kingdom. My esteemed father rebelled against Royal Uncle, prompting Royal Uncle to give chase and follow us all the way to the Buddhist Temple.

Royal Uncle's grudge ran deep. In his bloodlust, he no longer saw his brother, his nephews, and his nieces. He did not even spare me."

A round of sobbing sounds accompanied by crazed laughter rang out from a faraway distance. I clenched my fists when I heard the sinister noises drawing closer to us. My eyes darted around in panic. I almost expected a bunch of bloody ghosts to suddenly materialize before our eyes and scared us to death. It did not happen. Instead, a gust of wind blew and sent chills down our spine. Then, the narration continued.

"Esteemed Father died violently. His resentment prompted him to sell his soul to the Dark Fairy so that he could go back to the land of the living and exact his revenge in five years. In exchange for that, all of us must stay here and serve the Dark Fairy.

Adventurers, my father was not a bad person. He used to be a loyal subject to the Ming Kingdom and a doting father to his children. His hatred changed him. I do not wish to see him go down this road of revenge. Please help us so we can all depart the living realm and go to the Underworld. We have to re-enter the reincarnation cycle."

"The Dark Fairy resided on the topmost floor of the Cursed Tower. Please ascend the floors one by one, defeat her subordinates and lastly defeat her. Our souls shall be released once the Dark Fairy was defeated.

Adventurers, I rely on you. Please... please help us all..."

I turned to look at ZhaoYun. "So you didn't lie when you told us that horror story back then."

ZhaoYun raised an eyebrow at me. "Do you think I am an online fantasy novel writer? How could I just make up such a story in a short time? Of course it was the actual background story for this raid instance!"

After Princess Shi Ran finished her narration, the game's mechanical voice spoke up to give us the instruction for the raid.

"Dear Adventurers, the Cursed Tower consists of five levels. Please clear the first four levels to complete the raid. You have ten minutes to complete each level. The Dark Fairy is in the fifth level should you decide to continue with the next raid instance."

The six of us made our way inside the Cursed Temple. The ground floor was full of tormented souls who possibly sold themselves to the Dark Fairy for various reasons. Some souls were sitting on the wooden floor while mumbling something incoherent. Some souls were talking to themselves. Some others were talking to invisible conversation partners.

"Whaddaya mean you don't have the money? Quickly hand me the money now!!"

"You heartless, heartless man... you left us for a rich mistress. What should I do with our three children? Wuwuwu..."

"One orange, two oranges, three oranges..."

We slowly made our way to the end of the hall to reach the staircase.

"ARE YOU SEEKING DEATH?? COME AT ME IF YOU DARE!"

I tightened my grip on my Dark Moon Staff but then quickly loosened it again. It was only a violent soul who started to slash around in the room, apparently fighting an imaginary opponent.

The second floor was filled with a bunch of ghost samurais who lunged at us as soon as we put one foot on the second floor.

"Spread! Spread!" ZhaoYun shouted while he was blocking attacks by seven samurais at once.

I spread my wings and flew to the end of the floor before I landed on the floor.

"Purification!" I shouted, casting the protective shield around me. The ghosts screeched in pain. I landed one skill after another, contributing as much as I could before the timer ran out.

The mobs were of melee type, so they had high physical defense but low magical defense attributes.

"Use more magical attacks!" I shouted across the hall.

"Roger that!!!" DragonTalon screamed. Before long, numerous Fire Dragons soared around the room and burned the ghost samurais with a bright blue flame.

We finished just as the timer hit two minutes. It was not too bad. Not long after all the ghost samurais disappeared, the staircase to the next floor appeared and the countdown for the next floor began without delay.

"GOGOGOGOGO!!!" HellWitch shouted, rushing us to the second floor.

"Next floor is ranged monsters," ZhaoYun told us while we were climbing the staircase.

"Goddamnit, must they make us exercise in between floors??" DragonTalon complained. "You must be kidding me. Oh my God."

"DUCK!!!"

HellWitch forced me to the floor as soon as we arrived. I turned around and saw a throwing knife being dislodged at the wall behind me, just at the position where my head was.

...

The hell?

The ranged monsters were a bunch of female ninjas that were throwing stars and knives at us as soon as they caught intruders in sight. Their physical and magical defense were both average. The only troublesome thing was their heavenly speed as they bounced off the floors, walls, and ceilings without being hindered by gravity.

Incredulous about the enemies that she was facing, Livina quickly complained. "How the hell can they do that? Take or give, I am also a ninja but I can not do all of that!"

ZhaoYun cackled. "Well they are dead, you know. Maybe your ghost will be able to do the same."

Livina rolled with her eyes and made do with her not-dead ninja skills.

After all the monsters died, we headed toward the third level but HellWitch and ZhaoYun simultaneously spread their arms to hold us back.

"The next floor is full of ghost bowmen," HellWitch explained. "We have to use some strategy to complete this floor safely. Melees will stand at the front side and spread the shields for cover, and the others stand behind the melees to attack, how does that sound?"

We all agreed unanimously.

Similar to the previous floors, the monsters reacted as soon as one toe appeared at the top of the stairs. While on the previous floor I was almost hit by a single throwing knife, on this floor all the ghost bowmen held their bows in a ready-to-shoot position. The loud sound of arrows leaving their bows was only less threatening than the arrows themselves. Thankfully, ZhaoYun and HellWitch already put up their shields and efficiently blocked all the arrows. From behind them, Livina and Lazarus kept shooting stars and arrows at our enemies. DragonTalon sent roaring fire dragons to scorch the ghosts. I, unfortunately, did not get to shine much in this stage. Holy Arrow was the only skill I could use, and the damage was not much.

Finally, we arrived at the last floor. So far we had Warriors on the first floor, Ninjas on the second floor, and Bowmen on the third floor. It thus did not come off as a surprise to have mages for the last floor.

ZhaoYun put an arm around my shoulder as we slowly climbed the stairs. "Well, well, Antares. We will be in your good care for this last floor."

"What do you mean?"

"This is where your Purification skill is very useful."

There were no magicians at all on the fourth floor but a lot of possessed monks with green glowing eyes. The monks had only one single attack. When they started praying, the prayers took the form of actual words that shot at us.

Taking ZhaoYun's advice, I cast Purification as soon as I landed at the top of the staircase. The golden dome spread around us like a magical barrier. The words of prayers dispersed into black smoke as soon as they touched the dome surface.

Without leaving the dome, my party mates were able to attack the monks without sustaining a single damage.

"This one is easy," I commented.

"Because you are here," Lazarus said with a grin. "Without a High Priest, this floor is supposed to be quite hurtful."

I grinned back at him. "Glad to be of service."

After all the monks disappeared, the level 80 precursor raid ended. Princess Shi Ran NPC appeared in front of a double door to lead the path to the level 90 raid. She was a beautiful young woman with a pair of sad eyes and a gentle bearing.

"Okay then, good job everyone," ZhaoYun praised. "We will all collect here today at 16.00. Until then, rest well."

It was good to have some extra time for the raid. I planned to go beyond the map barrier and investigate a little.

After crossing the map barrier, I found myself in the eerie universe with a bunch of portals and brick bridges again. To my surprise, I was not the only one there. Aurendiria and Cecilia were also there.

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