Once everyone is past the shock of the near assassination, the excitement of the day begins to settle in. Even the strongest of them got multiple levels today. The per kill experience was equivalent to a regr boss fight, and they came in groups. While the dungeon was incredibly dangerous and difficult, the reward was worth the effort.


    With an easier day tomorrow Cain should reach level 80, and a day after that at thetest almost all of the others should have too.


    The push today was good for everyone, but they are utterly exhausted. Everyone grabs a room at one of the two Guild houses, as they''re the closest sleeping spot to the dungeon and falls asleep right after dinner.


    Morning brings muted excitement, the prospect of level 80 and the benefits thate with it have everyone excited, but it''s still quite early. All the city leaders are expecting an attack any day now, and nobody wants to be caught out trying to level up when they''re needed to defend their hometown.


    Morgan has taken the opportunity of Nathaniel being half awake to style his hair and prepare his breakfast, under the pretense of keeping him from beingte for the raid. Ghaz fully supports his sister''s conquest, and thinks it''s hrious, or maybe he''sughing at the fact she managed to give Nathaniel a Mohawk without him noticing. It''s slowly settling out into a spiky updo though, so she didn''t set it well enough.


    Once everyone is fed and ounted for Lickity forms the raid group for the day and they head out, drawing cheers from the kids at the Orphanage next door.


    Upon arriving in the Raid dungeon they find that it is very different than the predictable regr dungeonyout. In fact, this isn''t even the same basic ruined world setting as yesterday, it''s a gue Demon Realm. But there''s demons, and they look angry, so it''s time to fight.


    With the first few groups easily eliminated Caines to a set of realizations. First, this realm is a quantity over quality sort of ce. Instead of Epic Quality demons in small groups, it''s mostly pestilent Hordes. Secondly, this is both an opportunity and a conundrum.


    If Cain''s theory that the target for hispanions advancement matters, advancing V here might have unwanted side effects unless they can find the right target. On he other hand, getting the rest of the demons needed has been simple. Only two more are needed, so he needs an appropriate target for the Quest, and he needs to tell his party what''s going on.


    There a few groups ahead of them is one that looks promising. A gue Pdin. It looks rtively normal, no boils, dangling innards or anything which is a good start. There''s a squire with it that''s also a new type of Demon to Cain, which willplete the quest.


    "Everyone, gather up a second. I''ve got an ongoing quest, so when we attack that Pdin up ahead it will upgrade into a boss type monster. When we kill it, the quest will upgrade V, so it''s fairly important to me that we don''t skip this. Any objections?"


    "Go for it. V is a beast, if she can be an Epic Companion who knows how cool she will be." Kone cheers.


    Nobody speaks against the n, so they clear the first group, careful not to get their acidic bodily fluids on anyone not a Summon. Next they attack the second group and Cain records first the Squire and then the Pdin after waiting for the other targets to be killed.


    The horrific truth of the gue Pdin bes apparent after the first attack it makes. The pestilence debuff it applies spreads to all enemies within 3 meters of anyone with the debuff. The debuff is so virulent it even spreads between pulses of the Cleansing Totem Char has put out, requiring Kone and her clones to cast additional cleanses to stop the spread.


    "Melee pull back. Summons only within 5 meters of the boss." Cain calls to the group. The summons in close to the boss are dying on a regr basis, but now the party members are safe. Cain also pulls back the original V so she''s alive when the questpletes. Nemu seemed to have some input into her transformation, so that must matter.


    Hopefully the girls can''t turn V into something strange with their love of all things Fluffy.


    [Quest Complete: Configuring Epic Companion]


    [Title Earned: Loyal Companion] achieve perfect uptime for apanion between Greater and Epic upgrades to earn an additional skill.


    [Companion Item Gained: gue Eater] Two Handed Sword. gue damage done by party members heals the bearer. Damage increases with level.


    [Shared Skill Learned: Pestilence] Passive. Rapid spreading debuff. Deals gue Damage to infected targets.


    Epic doesn''t even begin to cover what they just gained. Even as prepared as their group is, they had a hard time dealing with [Pestilence]. That skill will absolutely decimate crowded enemy armies.


    V still looks pretty much the same. She''s a bit taller, the ck metal armor on her wings now has Spiked chains hanging from it, and there''s a belt made of simrly vicious looking chain. Her Horns now have Gold streaks and her ck armor has Gold trim on the solid tes. Everything about her gives the impression of power and a sense of nobility.


    "If she fights as good as she looks the rest of us probably don''t need to be here." Shovel Face the Dwarven Earth Mage jokes. But he''s a bit right. With the additional damage and toughness from Cain''s gear plus her self healing and pestilence, she could probably solo most dungeons.


    "What else did you gain besides the fancy sword and the pestilence skill?" Cain asks V once she finishes doing a spin for everyone to inspect her new appearance.


    "Just a bit of debuff resistance. Everything else stayed the same except my damage and Stat modifiers. Epic Companions truly are Epic. The two of us could almost be a dungeon boss ourselves." the Demon jokes.


    But, looking at her stats in his screen, she''s right. She''s tougher than the Epic level monsters they faced yesterday, so she could be a boss of sorts.


    "Alright, Questpleted.. Let''s try these skills out and get us some experience."