Chapter 2017: Low Effort Karl

Karl smiled as he saw the final boss for their Plague Demon outing.

It was what the System called a [Plague Demon Dragon], a form of sub-dragon turned by the Plague Toxins, not a true demon. But it was something new for his collection, and he didn’t know what it was going to do.

The new experience alone should be worth it, even if dragons usually fought in a predictable way.

Of course the majority of the battle would depend on what skills it had, but the rest of the group looked just as perplexed as Karl. If nobody knew what to expect, they were going to have an interesting time.

Carnage didn’t mind.

His constructs didn’t gain all the bonuses that Oathbreaker did, like memories of his other incarnations, as limited as they might be.

But that didn’t mean that they didn’t all share a personality.

The two demons were already eagerly awaiting the chance to fight something new, especially as they weren’t getting any input from Karl on what it would do. That made things so much better from their viewpoint, and even Hawk was interested to see what a Plague Demon Dragon would do.

"Well, there’s only one way to find out.

The breath weapon is almost certainly toxic, so spread out and don’t all get caught in it. Other than that, it should still fight like any other dragon, I suppose." Karl noted.

"Yeah, there is only one way to know. Carnage, lead the way."

The two demons whooped with joy and ran in with their axes high, then vaulted over a tail strike with surprising agility for a demon so burly.

Once they were clear of the tail, they were close enough to attack, and the boss bled deep black dragon blood that reeked of corruption. But it didn’t burn like a corrosive toxin, create any sort of plague spawn, or toxic mist.

That was a most excellent sign.

Then the Cerro Greater Golems charged at the side of the dragon, and it turned its head to douse them both in what looked like green fire.

The toxic breath weapon ate through [Eternal Lightning] surprisingly quickly, and Karl decided that it really was some sort of flame, not toxic fog or some sort of corrosive liquid.

That was good news for him, as it meant no mess to clean up or avoid getting stuck to himself. So, Karl could focus on simply keeping Carnage healed as the pair of Demons engaged the dragon.

The fight was a simple one, beat the dragon, laugh as the Cerro pair continually failed to use it as a smashing post, and wait for the rest of the group to do enough damage to take it down.

Karl was casting a [Spatial Quake] every five seconds or so, just so that he couldn’t be said to be doing nothing.

But he was letting the ones who wanted to be the damage dealers do their thing.

Coming along on runs as the healer was really quite a cushy job, he decided.

He should do this more often. ℯℯ𝑙.

Before he knew it, the boss was already on its last sliver of health, and Carnage was celebrating an easy victory, while Hawk circled overhead, dousing the beast with Dark Flames.

The final boss fell, and a large chest appeared in the middle of the area, while a System Message appeared in the air.

{Difficulty 3 Dungeon completed}

{Calculating Group Efficiency}

That was a new one to everyone, but Karl had a strong feeling that the System was about to punk him in front of the group.

Half a second later, his concerns were confirmed.

{Overall Group Difficulty Recommendation} Rank 4

{Maximum Efficiency} Geralt ⇒ 89 Percent of Maximum Output

{Minimum Efficiency} Karl ⇒ 2 Percent of Maximum Output

The whole group turned to look at Karl, who simply shrugged. "Hey, I’m here as the healer. Obviously, I wasn’t going to be coming here to reach my peak damage output."

For a second, the group was willing to accept that.

Then, they realized that he had all those Golems out, including the Epic Golems, and the System still only counted it as two percent effort.

"Wait. You can create more Golems than that, can’t you? And you had your beast out as well. What else were you holding back?"

Karl chuckled at the Clan Leader’s demand. "Enough. That’s all everyone needs to know. But yes, I can create more constructs, and I have more beasts that didn’t come with us today."

The others accepted that answer, and that the System thought they could do a level four next time if they had a suitable healer. Though, that might also require that they had an Epic Golem to tank for them again. Having Carnage here, who had no fear of death, made the fights go incredibly smoothly.

"Well, who wants to open this?" One of the Clan Leaders asked, gesturing to the loot box.

Karl shrugged. "I’ve got good luck. I’m an avatar of the World Dragon after all."

"Go ahead. Hopefully, it doesn’t penalize you for laziness."

That made Carnage laugh.

He knew that Karl was just having fun and letting him do what he wanted, instead of jumping in and spoiling all the fights with overpowered area magic.

Karl opened the chest, and an explosion of Epic Grade items popped out, a dozen in total, with a collection of crafting materials and other miscellaneous items of lower quality.

"I will take the crafting materials if nobody minds. Then you all can split the rest."

The group did the mental math on the value, then slowly agreed. The raw materials were worth far less than the completed items, but Karl was from a Crafting Guild, and in his hands, they would actually turn into much greater value.

So, he was getting far more out of the run, but if they contested the loot, they would get far less.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you all, gentlemen. Let me know if you want to go again, Carnage seemed to enjoy himself today."