The First Legendary Beast Master

The guards were highly entertaining, and they had nearly as many tall tales as the sailors did after their recent deployment. Karl and the others only ended up heading to their room near midnight, with plans to go to the Dungeon after breakfast.

Waking up late meant that the tavern was quiet as they ate, but the streets were still busy as they headed out to the Dungeon to try their luck. Fortunately, it wasn't a long walk, and there was no lineup to enter.

All they had to do was let the guards check their Ranks as they passed by so that nobody took on a stupid bet and got themselves killed. Or, dragged someone unwilling and under Rank into the dungeon to kill them and dispose of the body, Karl assumed.

Karl led them into the entrance, then called out the whole team, including the Bodyguards and the Guardian.

Thor sighed as he could finally stretch his Cerro body, and Hawk flapped up into the air.

[This is nice. Human bodies just aren't the same.] Thor informed them.

[Sorry about that. I will try to come here as much as possible, so everyone can be themselves for a while.]

Rae snorted in amusement. [Speaking of being ourselves, Cara has pulled the first group of Ogres. We should likely go save them from her.]

That was a good description of the situation. Cara wasn't even trying to kill them, she had Disintegrated their feet and was in the process of turning their pockets inside out.

[Skill: Pilfer] Successful. 8 silver coins obtained.

[Skill: Pilfer] Successful. Fire Opal obtained.

Well, that was unexpected. You really could loot them while they were alive. The Void Badger had become a menace to Ogre Society.

But more importantly, they still gave a reward of coins that was split between the group members when they died, and a few Common Grade items dropped beside their bodies.

They might be good for raw materials, if Karl wanted to practice his Rune work. But not much more than that.

Karl realized a second later that the humans had been left behind. The beasts and the summons had all gone ahead to pick a fight with the second group, following Thor's exuberant charge.

Ophelia looked like she was going to chase them as Hawk began to bombard another group, pulling them to where Rae was watching the fun with her Golems.

"Don't hurry. They've been cooped up in their space for days. Let them burn off some energy." Karl advised.

Ophelia snorted in amusement and gave Karl an 'and I haven't?' sort of look.

She was a berserker, and yet that insufferable spider had forced her to wear a dress. The fact that it actually looked good on her Werebear form only made the indignity worse.

Karl took out his bow and followed as Ophelia headed in the other direction, transforming into Dire Bear form before raging and expanding to tower over the hapless Ogres.

[Don't engage the bosses. We will clear out everything else first, then do them as a group.] Karl warned, focusing on Cara and Rae, who were most likely to get curious and attack them.

Once he had warned the excited beasts, a single [Smite] upgraded shot with his bow sent a glowing golden arrow into the eye of a wounded Ogre, and its head simply exploded in a flash of light.

If Karl had realized that skill was so overpowered, he would have started using it as soon as he got it.

But his bow was feeling a bit lacklustre now that he had experience with his abilities to upgrade others. It was also limiting his attack power, and if he wasn't careful, he would break it.

This was already a completed item, he couldn't mess with it any further, so he would have to purchase a high quality nonmagical bow somewhere to upgrade. Or have Lotus make him a new one.

However, that wasn't the only weapon he had.

The Maul might be falling behind a bit, but the skill stacking ability was as good as ever. As long as he didn't push it too hard, either.
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He really was outgrowing his weapons, Karl realized.

The weapon was quickly reaching its limits as a Commander Rank weapon, and he had been pushing his luck using it with Overlord Ranked skills, even when at Commander Rank himself.

However, it was the Blade of Champions that really stood out.

It was overflowing with power from all the absorbed energy that it hadn't been able to transfer, as Karl wasn't using it, and with the Haint Claw on his hand, it glowed with an eerie pale green light.

Karl charged forward to join Ophelia and used a [Disintegrate] covered [Rend] to attack the neck of one of the Ogres.

The head came cleanly away, and Karl paused to look at his blade in shock.

{Blade of Champions}

{Grade} Artifact

{Effects} Each kill cumulatively increases the User's strength and skill power. Harvests Life energy to transfer to the Champion. Life Steal on Hit.

Karl didn't remember the description saying all that before. But the power that it had stored was beginning to flow into him even as he cut down the Ogres at a walking pace.

Of course, he couldn't go too overboard, as Ophelia was venting her frustrations beside him, and he didn't want to steal her kills. But the already exaggerated abilities from the Packmaster Class and the [Bestial Champion] skill that came with it were becoming ridiculously overpowered now.

Overhead, even Dana was holding back, only using some basic blade attacks, while practising her form, and letting the Golems herd the monsters to Ophelia.

The Berserker needed the release more than anyone.

By Karl's calculations, his fully buffed combat power was well into the Overlord Ranks now, but his base power was still lagging, and the beast spaces were still making their steady upwards climb.

Whether it was Karl's side of the battle with Ophelia, Dana and Tessa, or the beasts' side, which had been joined by Lotus, this dungeon was more of a massacre than a fight.

If he was being honest, just the summoned creatures could likely clear the dungeon on their own. Maybe not the bosses, but that remained to be seen, as the Bodyguards had gained [Life Leech] when Karl had learned the skill.

Lotus was mostly just a cheerleader at this point, and Remi didn't even have her healing totems out. Just the poison fireball ones.

But Tessa was only casting buffs on Karl and Ophelia, as they both had life steal as well, and they were gaining much more than they were taking in damage.

"Guys, come back this way. We need to do this boss before we can go to the other stuff." Lotus shouted from across the dungeon.

"Well, I guess it's showtime." Karl informed the others.

Ophelia snorted in amusement, then huffed when she remembered that she couldn't actually voice her thoughts in Dire Bear form like she could in Werebear form.

This had been far more enjoyable than she had expected, and it was good to get to vent her rage on the Ogres, even if they didn't put up much of a fight while she was stacked up with buffs from Karl's overpowered abilities.