Chapter 56. What It Means to Climb the First Dungeon (3)
I didn"t expect an overwhelming victory, but I at least expected them to be strong enough to be considered elites. In truth, they were only slightly better than ordinary explorers. Ellos was the only one strong enough to be called an elite. Shuna had high defense and was pa.s.sionate, but she was lacking in all other aspects, and Palludia… Well, I didn"t really know how to judge a priestess" ability.
However, the explorers from Pilos continent, Luka continent"s rapier warrior, and Paul, who had died, were extremely lacking. They acted like they were playing a game, waiting for the right time to strike, and backing out right after to avoid danger.
It might have been necessary to survive until now, but with over 30 percent of the party members acting that way, it was only obvious that the Floor Master would make use of the openings they created. As a result, they all died.
If I remembered correctly, didn"t they say they were fighting the demon race that invaded their continent? How could they be so full of leisure? Why weren"t they more desperate to survive? Not to mention, they were explorers of the First Dungeon, not the Third or Fourth. They should be their continent"s best in terms of potential! I really could not understand.
It was one thing to be lacking in ability, but they were also lacking in their mindset. At least Paul was a bit more fierce. Although he died right away from being overzealous, he was much better than the ones attacking occasionally, or the ones only using skills when their mana allowed it.
Another thing I didn"t like was that everyone expected defeat before we even challenged the Floor Master. However, I let that one slide. What was important was that it annoyed me and made me want to vent this frustration with action.
This is what a real warrior would do!
"Peika, make a path for me!"
[Okay, Master! Eit!]
Over 20 percent of my mana drained out of me in an instant, as Peika put her hands out and let out a cute shout. Immediately afterwards, a laser-like lightning thicker than her own body shot out toward the ghoul, destroying all zombies in its path. Numerous messages of me receiving gold rang out, but I ignored them.
"I made the path, so everyone take care. Peika, you come to me!"
[Okay!]
"We"ll follow Shin"s orders. Miss Shuna, let"s go."
"B-But, if we just leave everything to Crown Prince-nim, it won"t be a raid!"
"This isn"t a raid, Miss Shuna."
Ellos said with a hint of bitterness.
"It"s a fight for our continents" survival."
After absorbing Peika, my Black Earthen Spear flickered with threatening sparks. I ignored the zombies running towards me. I knew they wouldn"t hinder me in the slightest.
"Guooo…"
"Hey, Giant Ghoul. It"s a great day to die, isn"t it?"
When I stopped the Giant Ghoul from chasing after Ellos and the others, who were running back, he glared at me as if he was extremely annoyed. However, he wasn"t scary in the slightest. While taking care of the zombies, I had already learned its movement patterns.
"I"m starting."
I didn"t plan on using Talaria. I didn"t need to use it. The spear in my hand and Peika. Just the two of them would be enough.
"Guoooooo!"
"Haat!"
I jumped to the side and dodged his claws easily. At the same time, I stabbed my spear into the back of his hand. He was certainly different from the ordinary ghouls, as his defense was overwhelmingly stronger. My spear could only stab into his skin lightly. It was within my expectations. I stabbed with my spear a few more times. As a result, the spear broke through his skin and blood spurted out.
"Kuaaaaaaa!"
"Haa! It"s going to sting a little!"
In truth, stabbing consecutively was hard to do with a spear, and would have been hard even if I had a sword. I didn"t know about others, but my stabbing movement concentrated my body"s energy into one point and thrust out. If an ordinary person did such movements consecutively, their muscles and bones would shatter.
However, it was a different story for explorers like myself, whose bodies could grow endlessly. We could protect and strengthen our bodies with the power of mana. Even among dungeon explorers, I, who compressed my bones, muscles, and skin, could easily perform consecutive stabs. I could even do it as I cooked myself some pork belly to eat.
This was what it meant to truly become strong. It was not using the same techniques as always, just with increased strength and dexterity. It was using techniques that could only be done with increased strength and dexterity!
"Kuaaaa!"
The enraged Giant Ghoul failed in trying to kick me. Then, he swung his claws at me. The attack swiped up from below and even had a wide range, making it hard to avoid. However, it also served as a good chance. A good chance for me to dig into his chest.
Because of his swiping movement, his face and chest were both lowered to the point where they were within my reach without me having to jump.
"Haaaap!"
Another consecutive stabbing. Using the time it would take for his claws to reach me, I stabbed my spear into his face multiple times. Every time my spear collided with his face, it burned with a frightening sound from my Spirit Aura. After receiving a huge injury, the Giant Ghoul became startled and stepped backwards, trying to stomp on me.
"Kuaaaaa!"
"I"m not done yet!"
I concentrated my energy on the Black Earthen Spear. Mana flowed into it following Peruta Circuit"s pathway. In addition, the body"s pure strength that I could control also flowed into it. Gathering in the tip of Black Earthen Spear, they both became concentrated at a single point. This process, which would have taken a longer time without the blessing of a skill, only took an instant to complete, as if a G.o.d"s power had guided it.
As always, a radiant white light spiraled out. Together with Spirit Aura, it became a spiral of white lightning. My Black Earthen Spear took the form of Zeus" lightning, as it radiated out with a brilliant white light. The Giant Ghoul was clearly uncomfortable. Undead monsters were naturally weak to light. It wanted to stomp and kill me, but Heroic Strike only took a moment to complete.
"Heroic Strike!"
"Kuaaaaaa!"
I shot my spear out with all my strength. It pierced the same area on his face that I had attacked before. At the same time, his wild thrashing stopped. All the zombies stopped their movements as well. In that instant, a cold silence hung in the graveyard.
"Is he dead?"
Ellos whispered quietly. I believed he was dead, but Ellos" words made me raise my guard. As if to answer my suspicion, the Giant Ghoul got up after a bit of struggle. "Ba-Dum." The sound of a heartbeat rang out from a place I couldn"t point out. In the next moment, the injuries he received on his face and in other places were disappearing. It was as if time was flowing backwards.
[Giant Ghoul uses "Diehard"! He completely recovers from all injuries, and regains 50 percent of his max HP!]
"Guooooo!"
"You sure sound excited!"
"d.a.m.n it, I thought we won!"
"So even with Crown Prince, this is how far we go…"
"Kuk, but it was still a good experience. Who knew we"d go so far on our first try?"
"Just knowing that skill exists is a great help. We"ll have to find a way to stop it from being used next time."
The party members started talking helplessly again. It made me depressed just listening to them. However, I still had some moves left in me. I didn"t plan on giving up in the slightest.
"Palludia, do you have attack chants, too?"
"I-I do! Orc… Are you going for it?"
"Don"t call me Orc."
Lightly answering her, I tapped on my chest where my pocket watch was always hanging.
"Have you seen an orc this strong and cool?"
Although it was embarra.s.sing, I had to exaggerate a bit to lighten up this depressing mood of death and defeat. Confirming that the cooldown time on my Double Potion had ended, I gulped down another Double Potion. The Black Earthen Spear had pierced through his head and flown to some unknown area of the graveyard, but I didn"t necessarily need Black Earthen Spear right now.
"Palludia, attack him however you can! This goes for the archers too! Close-range damage dealers, stay back and protect them!"
At my command, Palludia nodded her head and began to chant. Baruela and the elf archer both seemed to be using a skill as they mumbled something and aimed their bows at the Giant Ghoul. Meanwhile, the fully recovered Giant Ghoul charged towards me as he glared angrily. How annoying. If he was smaller, I would have smacked him away. It was truly a shame.
"Don"t think you"re the only one with skills."
"I was going to end it with a bang, but you ruined my plan with that cheaty skill! I won"t forgive you for that!" I could use my spear again like an adult, but I wanted to let this ghoul understand the depressing feeling I had. With a deep breath, I shouted.
"Uwaaaaaak!"
[You used Orc Lord"s Warcry! All party members are cleansed of negative status effects. All party members" attack power increases by 50 percent for the duration. All party members become super-armored, unfazed by enemy attacks.]
"W-What!?"
"This is Orc Lord"s Warcry!"
"I, I"ve heard of it before. That Crown Prince uses Floor Masters" skills…"
"GUOOOOOOO!"
The Giant Ghoul roared as it faced me, then swung his claws at me. I shouted before he could reach me.
"Dragon Skin!"
"Kak!"
The Giant Ghoul howled. His claws had hit my chest and shattered. As expected, Dragon Skin worked even against Floor Masters! I lifted my hand, which was slower because of Dragon Skin, and tightly gripped the Giant Ghoul"s arm. Now that it was within my grasp, I would not let go.
"Kuooooo!"
"You"re dead. You ever hear of pay to win? This is skill to win! Everyone, he can"t move, so attack!"
"O, O Mitarus! Use your subject"s body and bring down the iron mace on thy enemy who disrupts the world"s justice!"
"Sniping Shot!"
"Arrow Bomb!"
The three girls" attacks bombarded the Giant Ghoul. Although he shook his body in an attempt to dodge them, his resistance subsided when I grabbed another one of his claws and broke it. Immediately afterwards, a silver mace appeared in the air. A sharp arrow and an arrow imbued with black aura flew toward the Giant Ghoul, and all three weapons struck the Giant Ghoul. The black aura arrow even exploded upon contact, leaving behind a black trace on his face.
The Giant Ghoul screamed and used his free hand to scour the ground below. I realized he was looking for zombies to eat. Ellos seemed to have noticed it as well.
"Kill the zombies near his hands!"
"Understood!"
The elf archer and Baruela crazily shot their arrows the moment Ellos" words left his mouth. The zombies rising from the ground fell and crumbled. Unable to recover his wounds, the Giant Ghoul let out an angry roar.
"KIAAAAAA!"
"As always, the final blow should be done by the main character!"
I jumped on his arm. "Uwoah." I was extremely slow from Dragon Skin"s effect. Even so, I focused and tightly gripped on his body, crawling slowly toward his face. Although I thought it looked a bit unsightly, I didn"t pay any attention to it.
After the short, yet long, climb, I stood on the Giant Ghoul"s shoulder. Although it struggled, trying to make me fall, I tightly grabbed onto his ear. Then, I shouted.
"Dark Thunder Explosion!"
Chapter 57. What It Means to Climb the First Dungeon (4)
"Huk, he can even use that skill!"
"Just what is a Hero?"
"Look, the ghoul!"
Dark Thunder Explosion attacked all targets in its area of effect. Even though the Giant Ghoul was huge, his entire body was within Dark Thunder Explosion"s range. He had essentially received the entire force of the attack, which would usually be spread out across dozens of enemies. Plus, at the same time I used the skill, I punched my fist in his head.
"Die! Die! Die!"
"Kuaaaaaaaak!"
By the time Dark Thunder Explosion came to an end, the Giant Ghoul looked no different than before he used Diehard. I wasn"t done yet. I called Peika. Since I had canceled Spirit Aura after throwing the spear, she answered immediately to my call.
"Peika, come inside my gauntlet!"
[Uu, you"re using that again?]
"Please, Peika."
[Okay… But you have to listen to one wish, Master!]
With a bit of complaint, Peika infused herself into my gauntlet. Thinking that her wish was probably for me to play with her later, I shouted.
"Thunder Beast!"
Seeing lightning shoot out from my body, Ellos seemed exhausted as he said, "I"m too tired to even be surprised."
Of course, I didn"t pay him any attention. I simply put my first through the Giant Ghoul"s uselessly large head.
Not long afterwards, he collapsed. He was burnt to a crisp, but let out a disgusting smell that anyone would run away from.
[You became level 26 and obtained the qualification to climb to the 26th floor.]
[You obtained 5 bonus stats.]
[30,000 gold is distributed evenly among party members. You received 4,286 gold.]
[Rewards will be distributed in order of contribution.]
[Kang Shin-nim"s contribution is the highest. Choose your reward.]
[1. Giant Ghoul"s Pants
2. Double Potion
3. 10,000 Gold
4. Skin Strengthening Elixir
5. Giant Ghoul"s Boots
6. Rotten Ebony Staff
7. Giant Ghoul"s Shoulder Blade]
Hoping that Giant Ghoul"s Shoulder Blade wasn"t part of the set equipment, I chose the Skin Strengthening Elixir. I was glad it wasn"t like the Muscle Strengthening Elixir, where it would only appear with 2 people. Since the Skin Strengthening Elixir came out this time, I suspected one of the Floor Masters would soon have Bone Strengthening Elixirs.
While I was picking my reward, the party members were going crazy.
"We did it!"
"I can"t believe we cleared it on our first try. This is a miracle!"
"Crown Prince-nim, you really are amazing… you single handedly brought us victory."
"I can"t help but be jealous. Just 4 years ago, he couldn"t even advance to the 6th floor as he lacked mana…"
"He"s a Hero. This is his destiny."
I got annoyed, as it felt like she was saying I got stronger only because I was a Hero. I didn"t even know what a Hero was! When I snapped my head at them, they all looked away, pretending not to have said anything.
I smirked and swallowed the Skin Strengthening Elixir. I wasn"t planning on continuing with them anyways, and I only knew them through Ellos and Palludia. I wasn"t motivated to argue with them in the slightest.
[By consuming the Skin Strengthening Elixir, your skin becomes tougher and more resilient. Const.i.tution and Charm both increase by 1.]
Since my defense went up, it made sense that const.i.tution went up, but why did charm go up as well? Could this Skin Strengthening Elixir be used as a beauty product? Mother would go crazy if she knew. Alright, I"ll let father grind them. It was his wife becoming more beautiful, so I"m sure he"d do it on his own. Yua? My Yua"s skin was and would always be perfect!
I turned around. Perhaps it was coincidental, but all the party members were staring at me. It seemed they already finished choosing their rewards.
"Crown Prince-nim, thank you. I"ll be going ahead."
With just that, the surviving member from the Pilos continent"s party left. I was slightly lost for words at his lightning fast exit, but I wasn"t concerned with him.
Ellos approached me, handing me my Black Earthen Spear that he likely picked up while I was busy.
"Friend, we won because of you. Just like 4 years ago."
"No, you could have won without me, though most people would have been kicked out of the dungeon in the process."
"… I"m going to fight him again. I have to help Paul get through."
"I won"t help you with that. I joined this party to raid with you, not to help you pa.s.s through… I only helped today because I didn"t want to see people dying in front of me for no reason."
"Of course."
Ellos smiled bitterly. He"d made only one miscalculation, and that was my strength. He must be thinking our difference in ability made this laughable result.
However, I thought differently. I didn"t like the mindsets they had showed since the beginning. In att.i.tude during battle or anything else, they could not even compare to Ren, not even Ellos.
"Why is everyone so conservative? It"s not like they"ll really die, so why can"t they be a little more daring? I"ve realized this as I watched different dungeon explorers, but that"s just how you guys looked today. Like people that didn"t want to advance to higher floors."
At my words, the people remaining flinched slightly. What, was that true? My mouth half-opened from the shock. Of course, Ellos was the only one who would answer my suspicions.
"In truth… you might be right. After becoming dungeon explorers, they receive the highest treatment from their respective countries. Although it is to be used as tools for battle against the invaders, the good treatment comes before that. After reaching a certain level… that is, after becoming Silver rank, they"re treated almost like royalty. Until they"re sent to the battlefield, that is."
"So?"
"When their level goes up, their countries would treat them better, but they would also be sent to more dangerous places… All dungeon explorers want to avoid that to a certain extent, and this sentiment might have been reflected as being conservative in Floor Master battles. If they died in the process, they would be safer and they can use the excuse that they did their best, while fully enjoying the benefits of being a dungeon explorer. It"s probably the same in other worlds. For dungeon explorers, their initial ambition of wanting to protect their worlds becomes fainter as they climb…"
After hearing this, I remembered. At the 5th and 10th floors, the explorers were happy and excited at the prospect of advancing forward.
But starting from the 15th floor, people were more surprised and shocked than happy. Perhaps that party leader from my first Dark Ratman raid wanted to lead the party to its death on purpose.
In the one raid party I had on the 20th floor, the party members became angry at Ren for making their friends die. They should have been happy first, or thanked me for my work.
In other words, they might not have been happy to advance past the 20th floor. Of course, that wasn"t to say they weren"t happy in the slightest, but they must have felt equal or greater pressure from having to advance onward. It was absurd.
"Stupid! That weakness of theirs is going to lead to their deaths one day! That"s simply in the present!"
"… I know. I know full well."
Why dungeon explorers didn"t adventure. I finally understood a bit of what Loretta and I talked about. These so-called First Dungeon explorers! Even if they were chosen by other explorers and not by the dungeon itself, how could they be so shameful!?
"But not everyone is like that, Shin! I hope you aren"t too disillusioned about dungeon explorers."
"I know. If the dungeon only had people like them, their worlds would have been ruined already! … And I don"t think you"re someone like that either."
"Thanks, but in truth, I"m not that different. Both in terms of ability and bravery, I"m no match for you. I learned a lot from you today. 4 years ago, I came to admire you and aspired to become like you. I remembered that feeling today."
I hesitated. Ellos" eyes were sincere. At least in my eyes, his willpower was there.
"Orc… Kang Shin! I, I"m the same. Don"t misunderstand! I"m only trying to grow stronger so I can fight the demon race!"
"Yeah, Palludia, I know. You were a lot different than 4 years ago. Your performance today was dazzling."
"Hiik!"
I meant to compliment her, but Palludia let out a strange squeal and shrunk back with a bright red face. She really was weird. Shuna was standing next to her stealing glances at me from behind her shield. I didn"t know why, so I just let her be. Instead, I looked at Ellos.
"Ellos, how about you come with me for a little while? Climb the dungeon with me."
Of course, I didn"t mean I"d continue with him forever. It was just temporary, until he learned something from me. However, in a way, I already knew how he would respond. It was better to say I was going out of my way to sever the lingering attachment he would have.
As expected, Ellos shook his head.
"Sorry, Shin. But I have to lead my party members."
"I see. Well, you are a leader before you are a warrior."
That was enough. Ellos didn"t need to change drastically. Rather, it was his party members that had to change. Both Paul and Baruela had the right mindset. It was their skills that were lacking. But there wasn"t much they could do about it. They could only keep working hard. If that wasn"t enough, although it was a bit cruel, that was the extent of their talent.
"You"re not going to change your party, right?"
"Yeah. I want to keep going with them until the end. I believe I can."
"Then that"s good enough. Good luck. You"ll all need to change a lot. I"m off."
"Yeah, thanks. I"ll contact you again. Today was a great experience."
"Kang Shin, wait!"
After saying my goodbye to Ellos and even turning to Baruela and bowing goodbye to her, I wanted to return to the dungeon I came from, but Palludia grabbed onto me. When I looked at her, she seemed to be lost for words as she her lips trembled without making a sound.
When I urged her on with my gaze, she finally managed to open her mouth.
"R-Resi… Residential Area, have you been there?"
"Not yet."
"I-If you come… contact me."
"Hm? Why?"
"Just do it!"
For some reason, Palludia looked like she was about to cry. Plus, her face was bright red like it was about to blow up. She looked dejected, yet also happy. I didn"t know what her face was trying to say. Next to her, Shuna glanced back and forth between my face and Palludia"s as if she knew what Palludia meant.
"Ludia! You… how…?"
"Shuna, be quiet! I have no other choice!"
"But that"s not what you said before! Liar! Just admit that you just fell in lo… ooop! Ooop!"
Palludia covered Shuna"s mouth with her hands, and dealt a knee kick to her waist. With her high defense, Shuna didn"t seem to be in pain, but seeing two grown-up women in such an active posture made me feel slightly embarra.s.sed.
"I"ll contact you. Can I go now?"
"H-Hurry up and leave!"
"Crown Prince-niiim!"
I turned my eyes away from Shuna, who was trying to tell me something even as Palludia was trying to stop her. My eyes then met the elf archer"s, who gave me a respectful bow. I still didn"t know why she was acting that way. Then I left the party.
Although a lot of confusing things had happened, the raid had finished successfully.