The Forgotten Legacy

When he left the bustling city behind and made his way to the next E grade dungeon, he felt his worries immediately start to dissipate. He had enjoyed catching up with his friends, but constantly being surrounded by people was still something he didn’t particularly enjoy. The others had been worried for him when he told them he was leaving, but they knew what he was like and didn’t ask him to take anyone with him or to hold off, all they asked was for him to come back alive, which he planned to do. It took longer to get to the next dungeon than it had the first, but no more than a few hours. When he did get to the dungeon entrance he felt a spike of fear run through him, he had barely made it through the last one, and yeah he was stronger now than he was before, but there was a part of him that worried that if the dungeon threw something worse than robots at him he might need to reconsider his approach to these E grade dungeons.

**Welcome to the Save the Slaves (E grade) Dungeon**

This dungeon forms part of an unclaimed cluster. Current dungeons claimed in this cluster: F grade 15/15, E grade 1/5, D grade 0/1.

Note: to claim this dungeon you need a minimum of 2,000,000 TE. No rewards will be provided if dungeon claimed.

One participant located, would you like to enter the dungeon?

The moment he read the name of the dungeon he couldn’t help but immediately dislike it. The last dungeon as about fighting, killing the Prime. This one though seemed, different, more quest like, based on the name. He had nothing more to gain form just looking at the name so he accepted the prompt to enter and like before was greeted with an objective.

**Objectives of Save the Slaves dungeon**

The Hobbits of Little Grove have been captured, forced into slavery by the Corrupted. Only a few remain in the village of Little Grove, they have no hope of saving their people, unable to fight back for fear of sentencing their own to death. To complete the dungeon you must travel to the outposts of the corrupted, save the Hobbits and bring them back to Little Grove alive.

To complete dungeon 90% of Hobbits must be brought back to Little Grove alive, including the Elder.

Note: You may leave the dungeon at any time by retreating back to the entry point. Dungeon difficulty set to max until dungeon is claimed.

Shaun didn’t have high hopes for this dungeon, he was right when he guessed that this was more quest based rather than kill everything you see. The objective was clear though, save the Hobbits from the Corrupted. In the dungeon he had appeared outside of a hillside village, it looked practically deserted but he felt that there was nearly a dozen beings huddled together in one of the buildings, who he guessed was all the Hobbits that remained in the village however he also felt 6 other beings coming closer to the village from the far side. From the feeling he got he guessed that these 6 were the Corrupted, having returned for the last of the Hobbits.

Rather than wait around he made his way to the Hobbits, making sure to arrive before the Corrupted. As soon as he was outside the little house they were all huddled in he made his presence known. “I’m not one of the Corrupted, but there are a few of them on their way. Just stay inside, please, I will let you know when it is safe to come out.” He didn’t get a reply but they also didn’t leave the house either, he took that as a win.

It didn’t take long before the Corrupted came into sight, they were humanish looking but with longer limbs and claws on their hands. They also had red eyes set into pale skin that did them no favours in the looks department. He knew the moment they saw him as they stopped walking towards where the Hobbits were. “Human, you do not belong here. Leave or you shall join the others as our slaves.”

**Corrupted Ghoul – Level 72**

All 6 of the Corrupted were level 71 or 72, all below his level. He had no real information on where the outposts of these Corrupted were, otherwise he would have just killed them and been done with it. Now though, he needed to actually see if he could get them talking.

“Of course. I plan on leaving here shortly. But so I know where to avoid, do you mind pointing the way to your outposts?” Only an idiot would actually give him that information, but he figured it was worth a try.

“Smart Human, wishing to avoid us. We have 3 outposts, in those directions, avoid them or find yourself leashed. Over there in that direction is our leader and our village. To go there will be a fate worse than death. Now leave so we may take the slaves.”

That was actually easier than I expected. “Right, sure sure. I will be on my way.” Idiots.

Rather than walk towards the Corrupted he chose to walk in the opposite direction. After a few steps he activated his ring and teleported behind them, he gave them no opportunity to prepare and used every bit of his speed to cut them down one after the other. He had to admit, they were quicker than he had expected, but not quick enough to avoid him. They did seem to have some defensive measure though, they were able to spread a red mist from their bodies and the moment it came in contact with him he felt his skin start to sting and his health start to drop. He found that it was easy enough to defend against, forming a layer of hardened air around him blocked it out and gave him the ability to get in close and finish them off. Much easier than robots.

He tried to loot the bodies but every time he tried, he failed. It seemed like that was going to become a reoccurring theme with these dungeons, no loot until the dungeon is claimed. Moving back to the house that the Hobbits he decided to get as much information form them as he could as well.

“You can all come out, the Corrupted are dead.” He heard whispers from inside this time, soft enough that he couldn’t make out what was said but thankfully he didn’t need to wait long for the door to open and one of the Hobbits to step out.

“Your human. We do not see your kind around here often. Thank you for saving us from the Corrupted, we are all that is left of our village.” The Hobbit only stood to his hip but apart from that looked more or less how he expected.

“That’s fine. So, from what the Corrupted told me there is three outposts and their village. Any idea how many Hobbits they have taken as slaves? I am here to bring them all back but time is of the essence. Any information you can give me would be helpful.”

Shaun knew that this was just a dungeon and that this wasn’t real exactly but he didn’t like the idea of slaves so wanted to work fast to get this all finished up. The Hobbit didn’t provide a name and when identifying it he only got back Hobbit and that it was level 10, solidifying his belief that the Hobbits truly were harmless. Apparently, there was 1000 Hobbits in the village before they were taken, they believed that 300 Hobbits each were taken to the outpost and the last 100, including their Elder, was in the village. For him to succeed he would need to go to every outpost, liberate 300 Hobbits in each and then safely return them here before he went to the village to collect the Elder as apparently the only thing keeping all the Hobbits alive was some deal the Elder made to sacrifice his own freedom to keep his people alive.

He wasted no time moving towards the outpost that the Hobbit said to go to first. There was a dirt road that led him from Little Grove to the outpost, one that had been created when the Corrupted made their way to the Hobbits. He decided to run along the road rather than take to the air so that he would be familiar with the trail on his way back. There was trees on both sides of the road that stretched as far as his echo would go, what was odd though was that the forests were completely empty of anything living apart from the trees.

At the pace he travelled he came across the outpost in what he estimated to be 3 hours, if he was going at a Hobbits pace, he guessed it would take the better part of an entire day. It would make for a long walk back and he would need to stay with them to ensure they didn’t get themselves killed on the way to their village. The outpost itself wasn’t overly large, from what he felt it was maybe a few hundred metres across which was convenient. Focusing on how many living beings were inside he was able to differentiate between the Corrupted and the Hobbits. From his count all 300 hundred Hobbits seemed to still be alive and there was about 100 Corrupted, most of them in groups in certain hotspots of the outpost. The Hobbits were being kept in groups as well and were spread out across the area, if he tried to get them out the Corrupted would know about it fairly quickly which would put the Hobbits in the middle of a fight, so he had no choice but to deal with the Corrupted first.

His plan for going in was simple, although he was no longer a Rogue, he felt that he still had enough skill in that area to kill off a chunk of the Corrupted before they found out he was there, but he would need to be quiet about it. The entrance to the outpost was guarded by 2 Corrupted which he could easily see at the entrance. Wasting no time he teleported behind the first and cut off its head before launching himself at the second and stabbing him through the heart with a ice strike on his blade. He had killed them both before they even had time to figure out that he was there, leaving the entrance wide open for him to go through and no one being the wiser.

His first focus was to take out all the Corrupted that weren’t in groups, there was about 5 of them per cluster of Hobbit and a few more that seemed to be walking around. He took care to avoid the clusters at first, taking down each of the singular Corrupted first, they never saw him coming and he was able to dispose of them quickly and efficiently. Their levels were all in the 70’s and one on one they had no hope in avoiding him when he appeared. When he felt no more stragglers he moved to the first group of Hobbits, what he found was about 100 Hobbits all chained up through metal collars around their necks, they didn’t look hurt but neither did they look like they were anywhere close to having the energy to walk back to the village.

Usually, he wouldn’t have a chance to kill 5 Corrupted before they had an opportunity to shout for help or attack back, risking the lives of the Hobbits, but luck seemed to be on his side as they were all standing together, close enough that he would be able to deal with them all at once. He couldn’t rely on any of his flashy moves to finish them as most of them usually ended with a bang, but he did have an element that would be able to do the job.

Getting close enough to them was easy enough, he simply shifted into the air and drifted up behind them. When he turned back into solid form he immediately let loose a strong burst of ice, concentrated at the 5 Corrupted. Before they fully froze one of them attempted to let out a yell but he refused to give it a chance, moving as quickly as he could he beheaded the Corrupted before moving in to smash the others to pieces. His attack lasted all of a second but that was all he had needed to kill them. He didn’t say a word to the Hobbits, he just put his finger to his lips, indicating silence. They understood, thankfully, and didn’t make a sound. “Stay here, stay silent. I will be back when all the Corrupted are dead.”

He repeated this process two more times, repeating the same message to each of the clusters. He was surprised that none of the larger groups of Corrupted had left their positions inside three of the buildings, but it just made his job that much easier. He considered for a moment whether releasing the Hobbits now and getting them together and out of the way was the best option, but decided that leaving them where they were was the better option, this way they would get scared and make a run for it, leading to their own death.

Making his way to the first group of Corrupted, he found them in a big hall that only had one point of entry, making his life easier for what he needed to do. He planned on hitting all three of the remaining groups at once, and considering the confined space of this group he decided on his first summons. Activating his skill he used his ice element and before him appeared a large white cat that immediately froze the area around it. The cat resembled a leopard but its fur was crystallized and it had two large fangs dropping down from its mouth. It immediately started rubbing its head on his leg, and he understood that it was am Arctic Tiger. Through their link he communicated his plan, informing it to wait until he gave it the go ahead to enter the hall and kill everything inside.

He repeated this process a second time in what appeared to be a barrack of sleeping Corrupted, this time he used his lightning element, summoning his Zapian Eagle and giving it the same instruction. The third group however was more spread out in a separate building that had multiple rooms and levels. He had thankfully gotten his skill to level 20 after his fight with the Prime, and considering it had been a while he decided to summon Spike, his Flame Hound. The moment he did he gave him some head pats before he moved to a spot that was equal distant in the air to all three buildings. Once he was ready he gave the order to all three of his summons, it was time to kill.

All at once his three summons went into their respective buildings and caused absolute mayhem. He had used over 5,000 mana in each of his summons, a good portion of his total, but it was the safest way to succeeding in this dungeon. Shaun didn’t stay idle though, he alternated between each of the buildings, ensuring that none of the Corrupted had a chance to make it out and assisting his summons where needed. It took about 10 minutes before he was able to confirm that every last one of the Corrupted in the area was dead, he wasn’t getting any notifications but he was able to confirm this through his echo. His summons had all done well, none dying in the process of killing the Corrupted but neither did they have enough mana left to make it back to the village. The red mist that the Corrupted utilised had continuously drained the mana from the summons, something he would need to take into consideration in the future. After bringing all of his summons together and saying goodbye to each of them, he then got to work on freeing the Hobbits and making his way back to the village.