Chapter 206.2: Halloween Special Part 2
Adrian drank his water and collected himself before hopping inside his game pod. He went and check the patch notes first before entering Pandemonium. He found some interesting mechanics on the new Halloween event despite it only being available for a few days.
Halloween Patch Notes
Event Duration: Until November 2
-New Time Limited Dungeon: The Harrowing
Harrowing Dungeon has three areas:
1. Wheat Field
2. Forbidden Cemetery
3. Abandoned House
-All Undead summons, pets or mounts will be have twice the experience gain during The Harrowing.
-Monsters inside the three areas will drop candy that can be used to exchange some rewards from a special NPC that will be available during the event period.
-In order to go inside the special dungeon, find a giant pumpkin carving located outside any villages, towns or cities.
-All monsters in the dungeon will be scaled down to the average level of the party.
-For further details please log inside the game and experience the terror for yourself.
"I guess I have to check the dungeon by myself. The good thing is that Charon would get twice the experience from defeating one monster. I should just use Charon and Kanlaon and plow through those dungeons." Adrian stated as he finally dove into the game.
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Adrian reappeared at the Paradox Planes and he could still see Ascalor in a happy mood. He did not know why he found it obnoxious. Adrian just shook his head and left Ascalor's house and looked for the pumpkin carving outside the outskirts of the town.
Funny enough, Adrian actually found the pumpkin carving. It is a bit far from the outskirts so he had to walk quite a bit of distance. He found this enormous pumpkin patch with a giant pumpkin carving that could be seen decorating the homes during Halloween.
Beside the pumpkin patch is a black cat wearing a witch hat. Adrian walked towards the cat thinking it is just something like a prop. Adrian walked close to the black cat but then he got shocked because the cat suddenly talked.
"Do you want to enter the Harrowing Dungeon nya?" the black cat with a witch hat suddenly stated.
"OMG! A talking cat!" Adrian suddenly shouted.
"I am a witch familiar nya not a cat. If you do not want to be turned into a frog then respect me nya." The black cat with a witch hat stated.
"Okay then. Can I go inside the dungeon then?" Adrian asked.
"You can nya. You just have to go close to the Jack-o-lantern nya. Inside the dungeon, the monsters there will drop sweets nya. If you want you can exchange the candy for items in my Treat or Trick Basket. I love candies nya." The black cat with a witch hat stated as it began playing with a ball of yarn that came from nowhere.
"I guess that sums it up. I hope the dungeon is not that difficult. Well, it is scaled to my level so every monster there should be about level 101. I really need to start grinding again." Adrian stated as he walked towards the giant jack-o-lantern.
Adrian then walked towards the giant mouth of the jack-o-lantern and entered from it. Adrian disappeared in a flash of light. The jack-o-lantern though made a swallowing motion that made it look like it ate Adrian.
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Adrian found himself in a huge area filled with wheat. The uniqueness of the dungeon finally became apparent when Adrian arrived inside the dungeon.
*Sudden Quest Notification*
Find the Exit
You must find the entrance to the new area unless you want to be trapped forever in this wheat field.
Time Limit: 1 hour
Adrian immediately summoned Charon and Kanlaon. He wanted to level up Charon so that it could catch up with his other summons. Kanlaon is summoned because he deals high damage to undead but Adrian would summon the others if he needed to.
Adrian decided to fly by himself so he unfurled his wings and took to the skies. The wheat field is massive and it seems that the time of day is also different. The setting of this dungeon is currently at night which makes it more challenging for those that do not have night vision.
Due to Adrian's ability to fly, the monsters that are supposed to sprout from the ground became ineffective. The monsters that emerge from the ground would only emerge when someone stepped in the area they are buried. So by Adrian flying, he could no longer encounter these monsters.
Even though Adrian is airborne that does not mean that the first part of the dungeon will be easily passed through. Adrian is just going towards a location he saw where lights are coming from so he just headed straight to that location via flight.
A loud caw of a crow can suddenly be heard but Adrian did not pay too much attention to it. He and his soulbounds just headed towards the where the light is coming from when a flock of crows suddenly blocked their vision. The flock of crows came flying from the ground.
Adrian did not think much of it since it might be a dungeon mechanic to at least deter those who take flight. He did notice the odd nature of the crows because they look like they are watching Adrian. All the dark beady eyes of the crows could be seen looking at Adrian's general location.
Adrian also did not immediately notice that the whole area has been filled with crows. Adrian stopped for a little bit because even he thought this is strange. Usually birds would not pay attention to Adrian because normal monsters could feel a subconscious fear and would immediately fly away.
When Adrian stopped to observe the situation, the crows all looked at him and this eerie silence covered the area. The silence is broken by the sudden flapping of the crows and their ear piercing caws. The crows in the air suddenly started circling Adrian's general location.
The crows formed something like a crow storm or what you call when crows starts circling something. In this case, the center of the crow storm is Adrian and his soulbounds. He tried inspecting the crows but the strange thing is that no information would pop out.
Adrian had already wasted 20 minutes reaching his current location and he could no longer waste any time. He wanted to power through and just bash the crows. Before he moved, the some crows that are flying started to descend but they did not hit Adrian.
The crows descended to an area that is about eight to ten meters away from Adrian. He thought that the crows were killing themselves but the reality is different. The crows started becoming black flames when they descended to the ground.
The dark flames rose to a height of ten feet and it started shaping into something. Adrian who saw this could feel that this should be something like a mini-boss. The black flames died down and the figure that it concealed can now be seen perfectly.
"A scarecrow?" Adrian uttered.
The scarecrow is your typical depiction of one. Its body is made of discarded wheat stalks and is in a T pose. It also has a farmer's hat made of leather that is colored red. It has a checkered polo and a jumper. The end of the hands have worn out gloves that are dirty which indicated that is has been used.
The face of the scare crow is made using cloth made to put flour in. The sack still had traces of branding but the eyes and mouth are drawn using a black marker. The scarecrow suddenly lifted its head that is tilted down.
It surprised Adrian a little because he is still a bit shaken up by the events of his nightmare. The part where the mouth of the scarecrow suddenly ripped and it let out an inhuman laugh. A magic circle started to form below the scarecrow as its whole body started to become crows once more.
[You have resisted the fear status.]
The crows then suddenly had health bars when Adrian used his evil eye. The crows then charged towards Adrian but Kanlaon shielded him. Kanlaon took damage due to the onslaught of charging crows but it is only in the double digit value but the sheer number of the crows made the damage higher.
"Charon use Soul Siphon and apply the whole shield value towards Kanlaon." Adrian commanded via the soul link and Charon understood.
A blue sphere of light enveloped the field they are in and the health of every crow is reduced by twenty percent. Each crow had only a thousand point in health but the sheer number of the crows made the absorbed health reach fifty thousand. Charon transmitted all that barrier health towards Kanlaon who is tanking all the damage.
Adrian decided to use Vortex. A small dying star is created from Adrian's palm and he released it upwards. He snapped his finger and an explosion is heard. A giant vortex that sucked all of the crows inside of it can be seen ten meters above the ground and below it the creator of such black hole.