Chapter 51: Not According to Plan

Max sat in a meditative position with his eyes closed. Currently, he was attempting to improve his Mana Channeling technique one last time.

On the night of the battle, he had exerted as many as five threads to reduce his Mana expenditure as low as possible while remaining as effective as possible. The situation had forced him to do so; however, once the stress of that situation disappeared, Max suddenly found it difficult to perform the five-thread Mana Channeling.

Therefore, the two days of proper rest he had requested also greatly aided him in practicing the five-thread Mana Channeling without great stress, allowing him to perform it under normal circumstances. Now, he could daringly state that he had truly mastered the [Needle and Thread] Mana Channeling technique.

With this improved technique and his [Salvation] skill proficiency sitting at 19%, it would definitely help him heal an individual with a minimal amount of Mana expenditure. He did not need to keep the skill active until his Mana was fully expended.

Max had already practiced this with the seniors. When he healed them while they were at 0 Mana, the amount of Mana he had to spend to fully recover their Mana was 8%. This meant that, with his full reserve, he could heal them 12 times.

However, experiencing Mana drain and being poisoned by an unknown substance was a completely different scenario. Even if that were the case, the poison required an extra 4% of Mana to be healed. He still possessed the luxury to heal everyone once throughout the overall battle. If the battle extended, he might have to consume a Mana Recovery Potion one time, which would certainly grant him the ability to heal everyone one more time. Even if the battle progressed beyond a second healing, he could try a third Mana Recovery Potion and attempt to heal them.

But in the event the battle progressed beyond that, Max would do nothing but abandon the idea of killing the Boss priest and leave the Dungeon. Since they had already spent 24 hours in the Dungeon, they possessed the luxury to leave. Max was not ready to consume a fourth Mana Recovery Potion, as the backlash would be severe.

With that thought in mind, Max opened his eyes. He had already conveyed this entire scenario to the seniors. In response, they promised they would not need a second heal, stating they would barely need his help just in case.

Max did not believe this even a bit; he had already witnessed their battle and struggle. Even though they were strong for their levels, Max could not explain it, but he felt this Boss would not be simple to defeat.

Max stood up and walked toward the party, who were already standing near the door to the Boss Hall.

"Max, are you ready?" Adrien asked.

Max nodded.

"Here." Adrien took out a fancy-looking glass container. Inside it, a red liquid was dangling. "Drink this as soon as you enter the Boss Hall. Do not hesitate."

"Okay, no problem," Max said. He took the container, which he believed to be the [Rings] Elixir.

"Is everyone ready to make your names in the history books?" Adrien shouted.

"We are ready!" everyone shouted back.

Adrien pushed open a tall door made of wood and iron. Without waiting, he took a step forward and continued walking into the Hall. Max, who entered as the last person, quickly opened the lid of the container and gulped down the red liquid to its very last drop. Surprisingly, the potion provided a refreshing feeling, but the taste was bland.

As soon as the last drop was gulped down, his body suddenly started to exude a red, misty energy. This red, misty energy slowly gathered into an oval ring. It surrounded him vertically, covering him from head to toe. Similarly, another two oval rings materialized at a slant across his right and left shoulders, with these three rings intertwining.

Seeing these rings surrounding his body, Max was surprised. Although the Elixir was called Rings, he did not think the potion would create literal rings to protect him. These three rings constantly moved and shimmered.

With the Elixir working as intended, Max readied himself to support the party. He quickly looked around the Hall.

The Hall was double the size of the one they had come from. At the far end of the Hall, he noticed a tall statue with multiple arms and multiple heads, and an altar stood directly in front of it. Max took a long breath and readied himself. He had already discussed extensively what to expect and what he needed to do.

Unlike previous battles where he did not actively participate, Max wasn't much interested in the details regarding the monster and the tactics the party intended to follow. But for this battle, he required every detail; thus, he asked around about the terrain and the type of monster they were going to face.

However, the regrettable part was that the seniors themselves did not know much about it. This was due to the fact that it was their first time encountering the Boss. Everything they knew about it was heard from others, specifically their super seniors who had successfully made it this far, battled it out, and eventually failed. Although these records from multiple parties were written in detail for their juniors, they always concluded those details with three words: "Expect the unexpected."

What did that mean? He did not know what others understood from that statement. But what Max could discern was that it was impossible to defeat this Boss monster. Or rather, this Priest. Why did Max suddenly avoid the term monster? The reason was that the Priest was simply not a monster similar to the ones they had faced in the villages. The Priest was a person entirely unaffected by whatever had affected the village people.

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Max calculated that defeating the Boss Priest was nearly impossible for two main reasons. First, the Priest was not a mindless monster driven by basic instincts to bite or grab them; he was a highly dangerous, fully conscious person. Second, historical records left by seniors who had previously faced the Priest revealed that every past attempt relied on completely different types of attacks and poisons, leaving Max with no predictable pattern to plan a victory.

Thus, the Priest was not using a single poison, but rather different ones, acting as if he were conducting experiments on the adventurers who came to defeat him. Considering all these scenarios, Max came to the conclusion that the party possessed a very low chance of winning against the Priest.

It was not as if the seniors were unaware of all the things Max had listed. They knew everything, yet they still wanted to proceed. Therefore, Max did not stop them. They had asked him for a favor, and he would fulfill it without denial; the final results rested in their own hands.

The party quickly spread out and readied their attacks. Candice, the Healer, stood a short distance away from the main combat party. She would provide full support while the others exerted their full attack potential.

"Welcome, travelers. It has been a long time since I received devotees in this Temple."

Suddenly, a gentle and placid voice echoed through the Hall, and soon, a figure materialized in front of the altar. Currently, this figure was sitting on the ground with his eyes closed. The Priest wore a long black coat with silky patterns on its borders. He possessed a clean-shaven face and long hair, though his head was half-bald.

Only a second had passed after the greeting when a large sword aura cut toward the Priest's head. However, before the blade could reach the calm Priest, he disappeared from his position.

Max, who stood at the far end of the Hall, saw this and was confused by the skill. Did he move fast, or did he simply teleport?

Based on this skill alone, the tide of the battle could turn. If he moved fast, it was not a skill but rather a technique that simply utilized Mana to increase speed; this meant he would consume too much Mana and eventually slow down. However, if it was a teleportation skill, they were doomed. Given his high level, he could easily expend a very small amount of Mana to activate the skill, which would present a problem for the party.

"While I was alone, I discovered a new type of [Prize] and wanted to test it to check its effects. Luckily for me, you all arrived. What do you say? Do you want to try my new [Prize]?" the Priest's voice echoed again.

"Prize," Max muttered. Does he call his new poison a Prize?

Max was shocked. Just as the documents written by the seniors had stated, this guy possessed many new poisons and intended to test them on the adventurers.

Well, this one will go into another document, Max shook his head after hearing the Priest prepare to use them as test subjects. But the question remained: could he obtain the source of the poison? Since he was currently reading about poison, obtaining this new type of poison would provide a lot of help for him.

While everyone was on their highest alert, the Priest appeared inches away from Katerina. Lightning danced across her entire body, ready to be unleashed at any moment. When the Priest appeared before her, she moved, and the lightning moved along with her. However, before she could attack the Priest who was mere inches away, the Priest blew something from his palm into her face and disappeared once again. Katerina, who was in the midst of an attack, was shocked.

However, she did not inhale anything the Priest had blown toward her. Holding her breath, she moved away from the location. This tactic was also written in the documents, which stated that the Priest would target an individual to inflict his poison. Consequently, the seniors had practiced battling while holding their breath for very long periods. Thus, there was no issue of the poison affecting her, at least for now, or so everyone, including Max, thought.

However, the second Katerina moved away from the spot, still holding her breath and not inhaling the poison, something started to appear on her face where the Priest had blown the substance. Suddenly, Katerina began to cough violently. The strange part was not the coughing itself, but what she exuded when she did so. A dusty substance came out of her mouth every time she coughed. It was similar to blowing on bread flour, but the substance she coughed out was black.

On the outside of her face, something began to grow, resembling small fungi. Seeing this, Max became terrified. What kind of horror had this Priest inflicted upon Katerina? Meanwhile, although everyone noticed this, they did not rush to help her; instead, they remained on their toes.

Katerina started to panic as the fungi began to spread all over her body. The spores she coughed out touched her hands, causing the fungi to spread there as well. Suddenly, she clutched her throat and cried out.

Seeing this, Max could not control his agitation. The plan dictated that he would stay on his feet while the afflicted individuals crawled toward him. When he had heard this plan before entering, he was dumbfounded. How could a person affected by poison crawl toward him?

However, this plan was solely designed to keep Max's location hidden. The [Rings] Elixir was not merely an immunity Elixir. It also concealed the user's presence from the enemy, provided the user remained relatively still.

For now, however, Max couldn't see how much use the concealment would provide. The moment he activated [Salvation], the Priest would know his location. He did not think much about it, as it was simply a good addition to the Elixir to sell better price.

Max stood for a while, waiting for Katerina to move toward him, but she did not even make an effort. She simply lay on the floor and coughed.

Sigh.

With a sigh, Max took a step forward. He did not rush; he walked as if he were taking a lone midnight stroll without a single thought in his mind. He maintained this unhurried pace until the very end, finally reaching Katerina's location. Upon seeing her, Max was taken aback. It was indeed a fungi poison; the Priest must have blown spores into her face, which then spread in rapid succession.

Max slowly crouched down, placed his palm on her midsection, and activated [Salvation].

He simply opened one gate and one thread. Immediately, an ancient magical white light engulfed Katerina. Max kept the skill active until his Mana was depleted by 12%, exactly as they had planned. Once he felt it was enough, he canceled the skill. The white light dissipated, and Katerina came back into everyone's view.

"Are you okay in there, Katerina?" Adrien asked calmly.

Katerina slowly lifted herself and sat on the floor. She looked at her hands and touched her face. Everything looked normal.

"Yes, I am okay." Saying so, she stood up, looking as good as new.

"Who are you?"

Just as everyone was feeling a great sense of relief, the Priest's voice echoed. Upon hearing this question, Max instinctively knew that he had been discovered by the Priest.

Well, so much for invisibility?