Surprises and Intrigue

[-120]

<Bound>

[-110]

<Bound>

[-135]

<Bound>

That was the result of Kirou's attack on the first group of murlocs. Since he was using his wires, he made it so that they tied all three murlocs together and the damage figures came as a result of cuts being made on the limbs. In this way, all three murlocs were unable to move, but it prevented Kirou from doing anything else. Not that he needed to since he was in a team.

[-130]

[-150]

Reya's 'twin shot' skill allowed her to land two attacks on one of the bound murlocs with just one attack while Navi followed up with a simple attack of her own.

[-350]

That damage figure that rose from Navi's attack caused Kirou to raise an eyebrow. He could tell that she didn't use a skill for that attack, otherwise, the damage figure would have been way more.

'Looks like I should make sure not to underestimate anyone with a major level gap. Just two of those attacks would kill me if I get hit,' was Kirou's thoughts while keeping the Murloc team bound. Navi's basic attack seemed to remind him about the possible dangers of the players in this game. The ones that aren't idiots, at least. Kirou also took the time to look over the stats of the creatures he has bound in his wires.

Monster: Riverbed Murloc Warrior

Level: 15

HP: 7390/7500

Skills: Charge, Water Slash, Stunning Blow

Monster: Riverbed Murloc Archer

Level: 15

HP: 5830/6300

Skills: Arrow Rain, Frost Arrow, Penetrating Arrow

Monster: Riverbed Murloc Mage

Level: 15

HP: 5485/5900

Skills: Frost Arrow, Water Ball, Staff Blow

Besides the Riverbed Murloc Warrior with a seemingly water-based sword technique, both the Murloc Mage and Archer can use the Frost Arrow skill as a ranged attack. While Kirou had no idea how the two would go about using said skill, he had no plans on finding out just yet. And it seems like his party members agreed with his thoughts since they both decided to target the mage and archer first.

"Let's take out the mage first. None of us has a strong magic defense so it's best we take down the one who'll give the most trouble first." After saying this, Kirou willed the chain wrapped around his waist to target the mage's head.

Seeing it for the first time caused both women to momentarily gawk before remembering that they are currently in combat. Afterward, they both aimed their attacks at the Murloc mage. While Reya attacked from a distance with her short bow, Navi went up close. While she couldn't get behind the Murloc mage's back since all three murlocs were tied together, that didn't stop her from targetting the soft areas within reach. Navi made sure to aim for the eyes and neck with her attacks, and unlike before, she made sure to use a few skills with her attacks.

<Critical>

[-320]

<Stun>

[-110]

[-130]

<Critical>

[-1720]

<Blind>

<Critical>

[- 2400]

...

In the short time that the attacks were focused on the Murloc mage, it was hit with a few status effects before it died to the onslaught of attacks. With its death, Kirou loosened the wires around its corpse and allowed it to fall while he went ahead and tightened his hold on the remaining two.

They too followed in the Murloc mage's footsteps as they were bombarded with attacks that dealt heavy damages and had given them many status effects. It only took two minutes after the Murloc mage died for its teammates to join it and with that three corpses were now lying on the floor.

Kirou did not attempt in approaching the corpses but instead targetted another group of murlocs in the room. Both women knew what he was thinking and they joined him. Like that, the trio spent the next fifteen or so minutes clearing out the teams of Murloc in the current room. By the end of it, they were left with over thirty corpses to be looted.

Kirou then turned to the ladies before opening his mouth, "Ok, ladies. How are we gonna do this?"

Reya adopted a thoughtful expression on her face while Navi raised an eyebrow before speaking, "What do you mean by that, Kirou?"

"Just as it sounds, Ms. Navi," said Kirou with a nonchalant attitude. It's as if he didn't care how this discussion would turn out. "There are roughly thirty corpses here. I normally play alone so I don't really know how you guys in teams usually split this. Do you split it by kills, by corpses, or by loot?"

Hearing his question, Navi looked at Kirou with a peculiar gaze before turning to Reya, "Young Miss, how do you want to play this?"

Kirou also turned his gaze to Reya after hearing Navi's question. Seeing that both players with staring at her, Reya released a sigh before speaking to Kirou, "Why don't you loot the corpses first, Mr. Wolf? Putting aside any potential equipment drops, let's split the materials 6:4 where both Sister Navi and I will take 6."

Hearing her words caused Navi to do a double-take at Reya. She was wondering why Reya would make such an arrangement in favor of Kirou. She went closer to Reya and started to whisper, "Young Miss, why use such a method? Don't you know how valuable materials are? What if there is only one good quality material or above in the lot that is looted? Do we take it or give it to him?"

Reya looked a Navi with a weird expression on her face. Before Navi could say anything further, Reya whispered back some words towards her, "You'll see why I went with this arrangement in a bit."

Navi was understandably bewildered but she decided to keep her thoughts to herself and turned around to see Kirou taking out some tools from his inventory and started to dismantle the corpses. She was given quite a surprise by his actions but that was only just the beginning.

*****************

Thirty corpses have been looted and the spoils have been split between the trio. Navi was currently in shock. The reason for this stems from the quality of the loot currently sitting in her inventory. It was then she remembered Reya's words before all this began.

'You'll see why I went with this arrangement in a bit.'

It was only now she realized why Reya went with this arrangement. Looking at the piles of excellent quality materials in her inventory that was harvested from those murlocs, Navi would have been fine with giving away all the equipment they obtained to gain more of those materials. Unfortunately for her, the only things they received from those murlocs besides the materials were a bow and an arrow crafting recipe.

Weapon: Murloc Crossbow

Weapon Level: 15

Weapon Type: Uncommon

Weapon Attack: 10-30

+15 attack

+10% chance of landing an armor-penetrating attack

Description: This is a weapon made by Riverbed Murlocs using materials found in their surroundings. Surprisingly, the materials used to make the crossbow were of good quality and the maker knew what he was doing.

Recipe: Beginner Frost Arrow

Required Level: 10

Recipe Grade: Uncommon

Description: This is a recipe for making frost arrows. This is just a recipe for the beginner version so it is advised to search for the other two to craft stronger arrows.

Looking at the loot, Reya had a smile on her face while heading deeper into the dungeon. Kirou himself showed no interest in either item when they appeared. As for Navi, she was currently brainstorming ways in which she can invite Kirou to her guild.

The party was currently at a crossroads within the dungeon. Look at their respective map, none of the three had any idea what they would face on either path so they started staring at each other.

"Which way?" asked Kirou while looking at both elf ladies. To him, it mattered not where they went but he had no plans on deciding for others, especially when there was a higher leveled player in the party.

Navi gave Kirou a curious glance before turning to Reya and speaking, "You decide, young miss."

Having both of her teammates leaving the decision in her hands, once again, Reya turned left and went down that path. Both Navi and Kirou followed behind her, with Navi sending curious glances at Kirou while Kirou had a nonchalant vibe emanating from him.

**************

The trio was currently locked in battle with a dozen elite murlocs. They were blocking the party's advance towards a large door behind them. There was even another type of Murloc with the group as well, a healer.

Monster: Riverbed Murloc Warrior (Elite)

Level: 17

HP: 8100

Skills: Charge, Water Slash, Stunning Blow, Water Armor

Monster: Riverbed Murloc Archer (Elite)

Level: 17

HP: 7000

Skills: Arrow Rain, Frost Arrow, Penetrating Arrow, Water Armor

Monster: Riverbed Murloc Mage (Elite)

Level: 17

HP: 6600

Skills: Frost Arrow, Water Ball, Staff Blow, Water Armor

Monster: Riverbed Murloc Shaman (Elite)

Level: 17

HP: 6300

Skills: Holy Water, Frost Ray, Water Prison, Water Armor

These elites were given an extra skill, 'Water Armor.' This skill effectively doubled the defensive stat for all the murlocs present and prevented Kirou's wires from working as they should.

Unlike before where Kirou was able to bind the lot with his wires before the other two joined the battle, this time Kirou was equipped with his tonfas. He made sure to deal significant damage to each Murloc with his charged attacks, which guaranteed that all their rage was locked unto him before he started leading them around the room. He also made sure to avoid the areas where Reya was sniping from.

This battle went on for an hour. The reason for this was because of the Murloc Shaman. While there was only one in the group, the other murlocs made sure to protect him at the cost of their lives, which took quite a while to end since the shaman was right behind them dropping Holy Water on them, which significantly healed them back up.

That kept going on for a full forty minutes before Kirou got sick and tired of its presence. Kirou immediately jumped back into an area darker than the rest and his body disappeared immediately. With the combination of both shadow camouflage and shadow teleportation, Kirou appeared right behind the Murloc Shaman and cycled through a few of his skills which all ended up being critical hits. By the end of it, the Murloc Shaman died and the rest never realized until it was too late. Following that, Kirou kept up his slaughter while remaining in the camouflaged state.

When all the murlocs died and Kirou finally reappeared, both Navi and Reya were looking at him in a very bewildered gaze. Apparently, the act of killing while remaining invisible spooked both women.

Seeing their reactions, a wry smile formed on Kirou's lips as he spoke, "It's only in this environment that I can pull it off, so stop looking at me like that."

Even though he said that both women still held a skeptical gaze locked on Kirou. Kirou himself could only shake his head before proceeding to loot all the corpses. He spent five minutes doing this and by the time he was done, another set of materials was distributed to the party according to the previous arrangement. As for the few pieces of equipment that were looted, Kirou gave them to Reya without giving them a single glance. Apparently, he didn't care for any loot from the dungeon so far.

Now standing in front of the huge door, the trio didn't immediately enter and instead opted to sit down. They began recovering any health they were missing while making sure to check on their gear.

In Kirou's case, he took out his hammer and anvil and started crafting some bullets for his gunblade tonfas. Seeing his actions, both Navi and Reya went over to watch him work.

Sensing both ladies approach him, Kirou never took his eyes off of his work but he did speak, "Some caught your interest, ladies?"

Navi kept quiet, unsure of how to answer but Reya spoke up instead, "That looks interesting. What are you making now?"

Kirou didn't answer immediately. Instead, he kept hammering a few more times before his hands finally stopped. When they did, Kirou showed the item he created to both women. Seeing that they had no idea what it was, Kirou decided to explain.

"Remember the weapon I was using during the last fight?" asked Kirou and both women gave a nod. Kirou then pointed to the object in his hand and said, "This is the ammo or the shell of the ammo if I am to be specific."

Both women nodded in understanding but still looked at the object in Kirou's hand. Kirou then took out one of the tonfas and inserted the 'ammo' into the chamber and fired off a shot.

"On its own, that one piece can fire off a dozen shots before I have to refill it. As for the charged shots, however, I'll have to create a new shell since they keep getting destroyed after each one." Kirou said this while demonstrating the charged shot. He then showed both women that the shell is no longer present in the tonfa.

"Isn't there some way to make a shell that can withstand the charged shot? With how powerful it is, it seems like a waste to be having to remake the shell so much," said Navi. She was looking at this from an economic point of view. It seems like her nature as a secretary has been deeply ingrained into her being.

Kirou gave her curious gaze before speaking, "Of course there is. It's just that I lack the materials at the moment to make it so I'm using substitutes in the meantime. It also allows me to experiment to see if I can create a proper casing using cheaper materials, but I need to get the ratios right for that to happen."

After saying his piece, Kirou sat back down and started creating another shell. He did this for a few minutes and ended up creating a few more, after which, he got up and approached the door.

"You ladies ready to continue?" asked Kirou while smiling at both women.

Both women approached the door and Reya was the one who spoke, "Let's go."