Chapter 206. The Qualification of an Explorer (3)
From the 61st floor, bat type monsters started to appear. Although the dungeon never made sense in terms of what monsters showed up, bats were still completely outside of my expectation. I certainly couldn"t be blamed for thinking that they"d just be too weak.
Of course, they weren"t the small bats found on Earth. They were giant bats with blade-like claws and razor-sharp wings that shot out auras. Their high agility and attack power made them more difficult than I imagined.
From the 63rd floor, blood-sucking bats appeared. As they constantly tried to stab their fangs between my armor gaps, I grew more and more irritated. If I could meet their eyes, I was confident I could petrify them. Unfortunately, unless I used Divine Speed, they could move faster than I could turn my head.
In most situations, I just used Sharana"s power and cut the ones blocking my path as I rushed forward. That said, when they shot blade-like auras or tried to bite my neck, I couldn"t help but flinch slightly. Though I looked down on them, thinking that the dungeon had run out of its repertoire, that wasn"t it at all. In fact, it was much harder than the 59th floor, which had both golems and mimics.
Regardless, the First Dungeon was no longer a place that could make me invest more than a few hours. By now, I realized that I had long surpa.s.sed the standard of the First Dungeon. Although it wasn"t a walk in the park, it was still smooth-sailing. If I were troubled by this much, I would be too embarra.s.sed to raise my head in front of my guild members.
Unlike the bats, Giant Ghouls, which started appearing from Beyond"s 11th floor, were powerful and tough, albeit extremely slow. As a result, I ended up fighting agile enemies in the First Dungeon, and slow and tough enemies in Beyond. With Giant Ghouls using Diehard when their HP got low, I learned to estimate my opponent"s remaining HP and to deal an instant-kill final blow.
However, when I reached Beyond"s 13th floor after sailing through the First Dungeon and Beyond"s previous floors, I finally ran into a troublesome situation. A countless number of Skeleton Knights had appeared on top of their skeleton mounts. On the 30th floor, they had commanded their skeleton armies rather than showing off their own strength. In Beyond, however, they were obviously different. When there was only one knight, he would lead the army as its commander, but when there was a swarm of knights, their destructive power would become their main force.
[Kill the living human!]
[Destroy his brain and burst his heart!]
[Kuooooooo!]
[Charge! Charge! Lead him to death!]
The army of Skeleton Knights wiped all traces of smiles off my face. When they used Undead Roar, which decreased all living being"s speed to 5%, I was helpless. I could only be thankful that Undead Roar didn"t stack like Orc Lord"s Warcry. I didn"t even want to imagine what my speed is like decreased further.
[Human, give me your head!]
"Like I will! Divine Speed!"
When Undead Roar hit me, there were only three things I could do. First, I could use Divine Speed to recover my speed to half, then dodge their charges. Second, I could use Dragon Skin and endure their attacks for the duration. Third, I could use Frozen Roar to nullify Undead Roar.
Once I got used to them, I learned to shoot bolts imbued with explosive magic to prevent them from screaming. Sharana, Ruyue, and Peika also helped to shut them up. Without Undead Roar, the Skeleton Knights weren"t so terrible.
What was more dreadful was the special field property of Beyond"s 13th floor. When I dodged the Skeleton Knights" charge, they continued all the way until they hit the wall. The moment they collided, however, they split into two. In other words, when they charged toward me, I had to face them directly. Otherwise, they only grew in numbers. Just out of curiosity, I tried colliding into the wall too. As expected, I didn"t split, and only my nose hurt.
As I said before, I was able to break through Beyond"s 13th floor within 4 days. Although I almost died a few times, as I had already gotten used to such situations, I didn"t flinch at all.
But when I thought about it more seriously, dying even once in Beyond meant that I would be throwing away a month"s worth of time. With how close Earth was to ruin, I couldn"t help but shudder at the thought.
With the 13th floor being how it was, I was worried what combination of Giant Ghouls and Skeleton Knights would greet me on the 14th floor. Of course, before that, breaking through the First Dungeon"s 64th floor was first.
Loretta repeatedly told me to be extra careful on the 64th floor, but I knew she was worrying about me too much recently. It seemed she hasn"t fully understood my capabilities yet.
As I had the confidence to instantly cut down bats that were twice as strong as the ones on the 63rd floor, I brushed aside her worries and climbed up to the 64th floor.
That happened last night. Today, I planned on fully breaking through the 64th floor along with Lotte.
"Whew, let"s get these bat level over with and go greet the new members… Eh?"
The 64th floor had a completely different atmosphere than the 63rd floor. More specifically, the pathway was narrower and even the color seemed different. It was the type of grim atmosphere that made one"s heart thump.
"I can"t calm down."
Lotte, who was in her human form, expressed her displeasure. With a bitter smile, I replied.
"It looks like this place is causing some mental status effect. I guess it isn"t too strange. It"s the First Dungeon after all."
"Hero, I can"t stay here any longer."
Although I thought Lotte could easily endure feeling slightly uncomfortable, Lotte reacted strongly. Her cheeks were flushed.
"What"s wrong, Lotte? Are you okay?"
"Hero, don"t come close. Rather, take me to the Residential Area, no, the resort area now."
"Y-Yeah, got it."
"Hurry. If I stay here any longer, I"ll end up pouncing on Hero."
"What? Is it a magic that causes hostility between allies? d.a.m.n, it"s a trap for parties! Let"s hurry back!"
I grabbed Lotte"s arm to take her to the Residential Area. However, in the next moment, she took hold of my other arm. With a feeling of uneasiness sweeping over me, I looked up. Lotte"s pupils were slightly loose.
"I can"t hold on any longer, Hero. Forgive me."
"Forgive you? For what…?"
"Female wyverns become three times stronger when they"re mating… Be careful so that your bones don"t break."
"Mating!?"
The moment I heard that word, I acted extremely swiftly. I immediately used Divine Speed, grabbed Lotte, and rushed to the resort area. Afterwards, in case the effect still lingered, I put her down and distanced myself. All these had only taken three seconds.
"Huh? H-Hero?"
"Lotte, are you okay?"
Lotte looked around with a blank expression as if she"d just woken up from sleep. As she looked okay, I started walking up to her. Once Lotte saw me, she nodded in relief and spoke.
"I"m fine, so let"s hurry back to the dungeon, Hero."
"You"re not fine at all!"
I immediately halted and went back about a hundred steps. Lotte smacked her lips as if it was a shame.
"If I wasn"t afraid of monsters that would attack us when we let our guard down, I would have done it there."
"I"m a human, and you"re a wyvern!"
"What are you talking about, Hero? No matter what seed I accept, I can give birth to a wyvern, so don"t worry."
"That makes me worry even more!"
"But I chose Hero and abandoned all wyverns. So Hero has to take responsibility and guarantee that I leave behind my offspring."
"Let"s talk about this later, okay!?"
It seemed I needed to find a strong and cool male wyvern. I threw Lotte in the resort area and quickly returned to the dungeon. Of course, I didn"t forget to run back to the 63rd Floor Shop and flick Loretta"s forehead.
"You should have told me there was a trap like this!"
Loretta rubbed her forehead and retorted as if she"d been wronged.
"But it"s normally forbidden for us to say anything about the next floor! It"s the customers" responsibility to check if there are new items in the Floor Shop and to prepare for the next floor! Because I"ve been favoring Shin-nim recently, other administrative guild masters are watching with their eyes open… It"s not like I wanted to put Shin-nim"s chast.i.ty at risk!"
Loretta was tearing up. Now that she mentioned it, she was right. It was just that I had gotten too used to Loretta taking care of me on her own. I"d forgotten to do what explorers were supposed to do.
It was my fault. I lowered my head.
"Sorry, it"s all my fault. I"ve just been too used to Loretta taking care of me. I"ll be sure to check things over at the Floor Shops from now. And if Loretta wants a reward for all the trouble I caused…"
Loretta immediately rejoiced, as she silently shifted her hair and push her cheeks toward me. Her long ears were happily flapping as if they were doing jumping ropes. Loretta sure was cute.
After giving her a reward, I climbed back up to the 64th floor after obtaining all necessary information. It turned out that the 64th floor had succubi. I immediately remembered the Blood Succubus that had almost killed me.
The moment I stepped into the 64th floor, there was an attempted charm magic. Immediately afterward, more succubi arrived, using charm magic while displaying their alluring bodies. It seemed Lotte and I escaped last time before they managed to come.
"Handsome human."
"Come to me."
"Such brilliant mana light. What a lovable human."
Of course, with Absolute Soul, neither the floor"s charming property nor the succubi"s magic could affect me. If they did work, the extent would only be making them look slightly more attractive. In other words, I didn"t need charm resistance items at all. I didn"t need to bring Lotte here in the first place.
That said, the succubi on the 64th floor weren"t as weak as Blood Succubus. When they realized their charm had no effect, they attacked me in various ways. They could use strong status effect magic and had a pa.s.sive magic that absorbed their enemy"s mana and health. They were skilled in elemental magic, and could even attack physically with their nails that elongated.
"Charm doesn"t work!"
"Let"s take him by force!"
"As if I"ll let you!"
In the past, I would have had trouble with a group of highly intelligent enemies attacking me. No matter how good my armor was or how strong my attacks were, I couldn"t beat dozens or hundreds of enemies without being hurt.
However, that was in the past.
"Look at my eyes!"
"Kyaak, his eyes…!"
"The Evil Eyes…!"
The succubi all turned to stone. The Evil Eyes of Petrification were finally showing their strength! The 56th through 60th floor had monsters that didn"t have eyes, so I couldn"t use them well. In Beyond, they could only slow down the Giant Ghouls or Skeleton Knights. I was happy to finally see Evil Eyes doing so well.
Though I had to pour mana into the Evil Eyes to break through the succubi"s high mana resistance, that wasn"t a problem at all. Once the succubi turned into stone, they easily crumbled with a single crossbow bolt.
As I charged through the 64th floor like a tank, I petrified all succubi and shattered them. Regardless of what they tried, they were all useless!
"Come here, girls!"
"Kyaaaak!"
"Everyone run! That man is a rose bearing poison!"
"COME!"
[You used Provoke! All enemies attack you reluctantly!]
"M-My body is acting on its own!"
"No!"
As more and more succubi screamed unable to resist me, I began to feel weird. It was almost as if I was the bad guy…
"Well, I"m sure I"m just imagining it."
Just like that, I broke through the 64th floor in 40 minutes. When I asked Father later, he said he continuously recited the army"s Buddhist heart sutra and broke through in 4 days. As I hadn"t gone to the army to learn the Buddhist heart sutra, I was glad that I had the Evil Eyes.
Author"s note:
The 60th Floor Master"s skill will have a chance to appear soon ^^