At this moment, a series of footstep approached from the other side of the catacomb passage, where his back was turned.
This footstep was light and dense, unlike the one that a skeleton would make. Immediately, his body tensed up, glaring at a certain spot against the wall.
Gradually, a feminine shadow appeared from behind the wall.
"Who are you?" Damien asked, his gaze wary as he examined the person in front of him.
She wore a clean blue peplum top with tight fitting, long white sleeves. On her neck, several pairs of buttons held her chest together, extending just slightly short of her skirt.
From her attire, as well as that silky golden hair, Damien could guess that she was an uppercity, and not just any uppercity, but a person of somewhat considerable status.
The young lady didn't answer him.
Instead, she turned her head to Damien's side, a look of shock appeared on her face when she saw the skeleton next to him.
Noticing her behavior, Damien frowned.
Inwardly, he exclaimed,' I forgot to dismiss my skeleton!'
How careless he was not to notice this detail.
However, her following words froze his thoughts.
"Necromancer?" She whispered softly.
Due to the hollowed room, her voice bounced against the wall once before entering Damien's ears.
At the same time, Damien body trembled slightly.
Some one who can recognized the skills of a [Necromancer]?
Wait, he isn't a Necromancer right now. But a skeleton summon does belong to the Necromancer class, so it isn't wrong to assume that he is a Necromancer.
'Wait.' He stopped, his eyes widened slightly as he stare at her face.
Hesitant, he asked in a cautious voice," You play [Forsaken]?"
"Hm, a little," She smiled, then introduced herself with a low bow while lifting her dirt-stained skirt.
"My name is Theresa, Theresa Astora. What is your name?"
Damien was a little startled seeing her deferential attitude. This was understandable.
Most uppercity hated the undercity to the guts and vice versa. The conflict between the two extends past decades.
As an undercity, he grew up on this fine-aged grudge.
Meanwhile, Theresa stared at Damien's purple eyes, noticing the unique trait of an undercity.
'Those purple pupil…' She noted inwardly, grasping an understanding of his origin. Only undercity folks would have these purple eyes as far as she understood.
At the same time, she saw the hesitation and conflict on Damien's face. Quickly, she adjusted her manner of approach to placate Damien reaction.
"It's okay if you wish to not tell me your name," She said with a calming smile, retreating back a step to give him some space.
Then continued walking further away with her back facing him.
Immediately, Damien could grasp her intention.
He was tad bit curious, and it wouldn't hurt to see what she has to say. So he followed right behind her with [Bone 1] by his side.
"But if we want to survive the catacombs beneath Londor's Graveyard, I'm afraid we will have to put aside our conflicts and work together."
The musty air of the catacombs made Damien's nose wrinkle as Theresa's words echoed off the stone walls.
'The words of the uppercity folks are elegant and charming as always', he thought, stepping over a loose cobblestone.
The way she speaks only made him more wary.
However, what she said is indeed true.
"Okay, I'm Damien." He nodded and spoke his name, his eyes never escaping her radiant figure.
Instantly, Theresa wore a wide smile, feeling that she has made some progress toward this strange undercity person.
As for Damien, inwardly, Theresa name pricked his mind a little.
'The famed House of Astora?', His bare foot caught on an uneven stone, forcing him to steady himself and pick up the pace.
Even in the undercity's depths, how could anyone not have heard of that esteemed house?
Not to mention, that Theresa.
Of course, Damien wasn't a person with such vain interest.
For his life's worth, he was more focused on the fact that 'she' knew of [Forsaken], than the other rumors relating to her.
After all, with the obscurity of [Forsaken], Damien is pressed to find another person who is somewhat knowledgeable about this game.
At the same time, he find it quite worth it to work together with Theresa.
If it was anyone other random passerby, he would have shrugged off the idea, but this person who can recognized his 'class' immediately?
That's different.
So the idea of working with her is well within consideration.
As they walked down the quiet and still catacombs hall, neither speak.
He noticed that she was just like him, walking down the catacombs bare feet.
Occasionally, her delicate feet would scrape against the remnant bones on the ground, but made no sound.
Theresa step was light and graceful, while his is calculated and refined. There was a strange contrast to it, but both of their movement has the same goal.
Noticing his gaze, she spoke up while looking at his feet," Walking barefoot in the catacombs is much safer. Less noise, and easier to move around," Just as she continue speaking, he stopped her.
"Also easier to feel vibration on the ground." He added.
Inwardly, his thought was different.
'It's not like I can afford boots in the undercity anyways… And it's not needed to live.'
Hearing this, Theresa view of Damien continue to grow from curiosity to appreciation.
"That's right," She agreed, glancing at his purple pupils, then at the silly looking skeleton next to him.
'I thought I was the only one that play that antique game, but it seems like there is another like me, someone who play the game despite its status.' She thought to herself.
Of course, outwardly, she maintained a calm demeanor without a change in expression.
At this moment, Damien brought up an important matter.
"We are basically a party, but who is the leader?" He said.
For a moment, a stretch of silence grew between them. However, it wasn't long before Theresa sighed with resignation.
"You already have a class, clearly, it is better to let you be party leader."
Is she under the impression that he is level ten?
That was understandable.
Normally, it is only possible to obtain a class after reaching level 10. Never has there been a case where you could obtain a class before that threshold.
That is until now.
Damien gladly accepted this role while praising her adaptable response. In the past, a conflict of interest or view would often result in devastating results for party play.
The reason is simple.
[Forsaken], does not have a party function!
Although a player can form a party with another player, it is merely through the word of mouth.
There is in fact, no actual system bound or bind restricting the player from attacking each other.
But players being players, found various way to make party play feasible without the worry of backstabbing.
'If only we can perform a binding vow…' He thought inwardly. But he knew very well, it was almost impossible at the moment.
A binding vow is a kind of ritual which requires certain sacrificial item, to which is then offered to a neutral entity.
Once completed, the involved party will be bounded by the terms agreed beforehand, with said entity bearing witnesses.
Breaking this terms and agreement would mean incurring the wraith of this entity— a consequence not even an end-game player, being lvl 200+ can endure.
The best being killed, and the worst could be account deletion.
Hence why this method was mainstream, becoming the official way of making party play somewhat feasible.
Now that Damien is officially the party leader, he quickly spat his thoughts on the table.
"Since our goal is to escape the catacombs, we must defeat that thing guarding the entrance. With our current equipment and stats, its impossible," He said, his eyes flickered upon recalling the [Boss Monster] of the Catacombs.