Chapter 4: Dungeon diving
Shinji left his house early morning, taking the opportunity to increase his vitality and dexterity by running to the dungeon.
He'd reached level 21 already and while his original plan may have been to steamroll the dungeon with overwhelming strength, it didn't seem feasible with the rate at which his level grew.
He'd be hard-pressed to earn more levels unless he dropped everything to just go around beating people up left and right for the remaining days.
It just wasn't worth it. Skills were more important.
Besides, he'd like to think his current roster counted as overkill enough. He had quite a versatile array of means to fight with.
Weapons, passive and active enhancement skills, offensive and defensive magic, close and long-range attacks. All in all a solid foundation for someone who'd been dropped here 3 days ago.
His ruminations soon stopped as he spotted the entrance to the dungeon. An old, dilapidated warehouse with no soul inside as far as he could tell.
The area around it appeared barren except for minute traces of blood seeping deep within the cracked earth. He doubted he'd have noticed if not strictly searching with the help of observe.
Shinji cast observe on the building.
[Instant Dungeon - Lvl 20]
[Description - A cursed warehouse built upon the desecrated graves of countless martyrs who have risen back with a hatred for the living.]
[Enter? Y/N]
A zombie dungeon? This would be easier than he thought. But luck favours the prepared, after all.
Shinji made a last-minute mental checklist of all the items he'd stocked up on for the day. A bow and arrows, a sword, knives, a bat, a metal pipe, and more. He'd sort of gotten into the habit of grabbing anything not bolted to the ground from day 1...
He dismissed the thought, equipping the protective gear he'd borrowed from the kendo dojo.
[Chest plate(Uncommon)]
[ + 5 VIT ]
[ + 15% Defense ]
[ – 2 DEX ]
[Gloves(Uncommon]
[ + 3 DEX ]
[ + 5% Defense]
Equipping gear was easy with a nifty little quick equip feature of the inventory. Even better though, he didn't have to physically wear them to receive their effects.
Depending on the item, it could vary from intangible to merely invisible. Because it wouldn't make much sense to get cut even though you have steel protecting a certain part, would it?
Anyhow, the whole thing was user-friendly.
Shinji went ahead and confirmed the dungeon prompt.
The world shattered like glass. The sky reflected a kaleidoscope of colours. The ground withered away. The air permeated with dark miasma.
He found himself standing in a post-apocalyptic hell.
The warehouse seemed larger and he could now hear a lot of groans and the shuffling of numerous bodies from inside it.
Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the gigantic door slowly, careful not to alert the zombies. It was wishful thinking that such a large movement wouldn't attract anything, but he didn't care. Better than swinging it open and ending up facing a horde.
He slipped past the small opening he'd made and tightly clung the hilt of a sword he'd borrowed from...somewhere.
[Steel Sword(Common]
[A steel sword made by a local smith. It is of average quality. ]
He had to narrow his eyes at the darkness that greeted him. Not much could be seen without the light coming in from the entrance. But that didn't deter his other senses.
Now that he was inside, he could deduce that the sounds he'd heard from outside were a bit further away than he'd thought. More specifically, they were right above him.
The warehouse featured metal staircases on either side that connected at the very back and the middle.
His luck ran out though, as the few zombies on the ground finally noticed the live human.
They rushed at him at him teeth barred and arms outstretched, but their speed still fell into the category of power walking at best.
So Shinji didn't fancy turning his back away from the walls in this dark place. Even if the possibility of a fucking slow-ass zombie sneaking up on him was slim.
He curiously observed the trio of zombies that were putting their all in dragging their stiff legs forward.
[Civilian zombie - Lvl 5]
[HP: 63/63 MP: N/A]
[A corpse reanimated by a necromancer. It will not die until its brain is destroyed.]
[Civilian zombie - Lvl 4]
[HP: 56/56 MP: N/A]
[Civilian zombie - Lv 4]
[HP: 51/51 MP: N/A]
Easy pickings were all he could see.
Shinji summoned a bright ball of mana on his left hand to deal with the dark as he activated his skills and swung his sword.
[Iaido footwork activated!]
[Critical hit!]
He was at its side within the blink of an eye and a zombie's whole arm flew off with a spurt of blood. It quickly lost its balance and tripped over backwards.
The rest turned to him with low growls. One of them tried to jump on him by throwing itself but barely managed to graze his shoes with its hands.
Shinji kicked its face back and decapitated it with one slash, skewering the falling head with the tip of his sword.
The zombie ceased all activity and he got a message confirming its undeath.
[Zombie felled!]
[Iaido swordsmanship has reached level 6!]
"The fuck?" He reeled back in surprise.
A single zombie was worth more EXP than a whole day of beating up kids?
He almost felt bad for them, but the joy of seeing his skills and level climbing up twice as fast overpowered whatever sympathy was left.
Excited, he dodged the third zombie ambling towards him, sweeping its legs from under so it fell right on the armless zombie still trying to get up.
He battered the zombie with its comrade's head attached to his sword before flinging the rotting thing off and stabbing the two zombies right as their heads lined up.
[Level up!]
As expected of a dungeon. Double EXP was awesome.
"Here comes the party-poopers."
A horde came out of the shadows. One too big for his taste. He would have trouble maneuvering in between them even with his speed.
Which is why–
"Mana bolt."
He started blasting, shoving the sword back into his inventory to free his other hand.
Dexterity increased his accuracy with all things, but he found it hard to hit their heads at this distance. They were in a large group though, so all he had to was aim in their general direction.
Limbs and blood flew freely, torsos bore holes, and their momentum stopped with the first zombie to fall. The rotting corpses stumbled and tripped like dominoes, piling up on top of each other with each passing moment.
[Zombie felled!] x6
[Level up!]
Seeing as they were all prepped up, Shinji jumped back and started charging a giant spiral mana ball.
Seconds passed and some zombies managed to free themselves by detaching their limbs, making their way towards the bright source of magic.
"And done!"
The zombie at the forefront collided with the rotating ball of death, having its rotting skin stripped off bit by bit as it flew back into the zombie pyramid. A shower of gore descended as the magical nuke imploded, taking every zombie in the vicinity down for the count.
Shinji protected himself with a mana shield, ensuring he was in pristine condition.
[Level up!] x2
He didn't have time for respite as zombies dropped like flies from above. The big flash and noise had safely attracted everyone's attention here. The staircase zombies jumped down uncaringly, looking for the source even as their legs broke and they were forced to crawl like worms.
With a quick burst of speed, he flashed forward, reaping the heads of the immobilised zombies like grass with his sword.
[Skill gained: (Flash Step)]
[Flash step(Active) - Lvl 1 - Allows the user to move faster than the eye can follow.]
[Range: 10 m]
[Cost: 10 MP]
Shinji only briefly glanced at the notification before employing the new skill to kill the zombies faster. But as soon as he used it, he tripped.
Ragdolling into the metal wall of the warehouse, he left a deep imprint.
"Ouch...at least give me a warning if it's this hazardous."
He grumbled at the inconsiderate system, rubbing his back. The last zombies had been obliterated by his flying self, giving him time to take a breather.
Thankfully, the nasty parts didn't penetrate his shield before it broke against the wall.
But his HP went down a little.
[HP: 2225/2250]
He took out the pancakes he still had inside his inventory and bit down on them.
[Pancake]
[Recovers 5HP/min]
[Duration: 2 Minutes]
Shinji waited for the bar to fill up, scoping out the remaining zombies in the meantime. He spotted the stragglers just standing around at the back of the warehouse, clawing at the walls. There were also other zombies on top.
He stood up while readying a mana ball.
The watermelon-sized ball struck the metal platform the zombies were standing on, dropping them right on the empty heads of their dazed friends.
He doubled tapped the buried corpses, stopping just as the final level-up set in.
[Level up!]
Dusting his shoulders, the triumphant young man walked back to the entrance.
"Strange, I could have sworn there would be a boss encounter today, and where is my loot? Will I only get everything after exiting–"
[Warning! The boss monster is spawning! Please get ready!]
"...Of course."
He vanished with flash step as the ground cracked under him, reappearing a distance away from the spot he was just at.
A giant hand tore its way out of the fiery hole that emerged there, accompanied by an ear-piercing and unnatural roar.
The creature pulled itself up disturbingly fast, its deformed head peeking over the destroyed earth to stare directly at him with beady black eyes that promised a world of pain.
It was a grey abomination of monstrous size with red lines running across its body.
[Zombie Boss - Lvl 26]
[HP: 22,350 MP: 120]
[A legion of zombies reanimated and fused through flesh magic by a necromancer. It's here to bring hell upon the enemy intruding on its master's territory.]
"Good god, you're one ugly motherfucker..."
"RAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHH!!!"
The giant didn't take kindly to his words, rushing at him even as its legs were still stuck inside the hole.
Needless to say, it dragged along its feet while moving effortlessly with its fingers grabbing and digging through the dirt, intending to crush the little human that dared to insult it after being caught trespassing.
Shinji didn't stay idle upon noting the monster's unexpected action. It moved with swiftness far beyond what its lumbering form would suggest, forcing him to run around in a circle while weaving and dodging the rocks it began throwing once its initial charge failed.
Seeing as the human was untouched by his assault, the monster had enough and stood up to its full height of 15 meters on deformed stumps of flesh that could barely be called legs.
Shinji had a bad feeling as he watched it rearing its arms back. He could practically hear his instincts screaming 'run!' at him, but the destroyed terrain had blocked all possible escape routes and he couldn't just fly yet.
"Fuck it! The best defence is a good offence!"
Two jagged, lightning-like constructs of mana hit the giant zombie's fists that were almost brought down with the wrath of Zeus.
It growled with such fury at being denied the destruction it wanted to cause that the very air vibrated with thick, tangible hatred.
Shinji didn't want to give it a single second to initiate that attack it was planning, pelting its head with balls of magic just enough to sting but not truly hurt it.
The abomination was forced to swat away the constant annoyances, unable to counterattack.
It gradually stumbled back more and more, losing its balance as a particularly strong hit sneaked its way inside the weak but annoying attacks.
"ROoooaaaaaaarrrRRR!!!"
The fused legion wailed in agony and unwillingness, falling on one knee as Shinji flash stepped behind and cut its tendons.
It turned around with a ferocious backhand, attempting to crush the human with a full-on bear hug by throwing itself at him when that failed.
It didn't even get to touch the ground before getting countered with an explosion of blue magic gliding along its makeshift maw, imploding from within the wretched creature in the blink of an eye.
The surroundings were immediately painted with viscous, black blood. Including the culprit of this whole ordeal.
[Boss felled!]
[Dungeon cleared!]
[Level up!] x4
[Loot dropped!]
[Quest completed!]
[Claim rewards? Y/N]
"Fuuuuuuck. All that effort...for nothing..."
Shinji looked at his drenched clothes, feeling defeated.
Wiping away the blood gloomily, he brought up the loot he'd earned this time to take his mind off his miserable state.
"Let's see...submit quest and open inventory."
[Quest submitted: Only the strong get to choose]
[New title!]
[Amateur gamer: Increases ALL EXP gain by 25%]
[Level up!]x5
[Received 10 skill points!]
[Now calculating dungeon rewards....]
[Clear rank: S]
[New title!]
[Zombie Slayer (Advanced): Increases damage by 30% against zombies. Decreases damage taken by 30% from zombies. Increases all stats by 5% against zombies.]
[Loot dropped: (Rotten flesh)x7, (Bone)x5, (Health potion: Small)x2, (Mana potion: small), (Skill book: Life drain)]
Equipping his new gamer title, Shinji pulled out the items and cast observe on them one by one.
[Rotten flesh]
-Ingredient
Can be consumed.
He threw the flesh back in immediately, his hoarding instincts telling him it would prove useful eventually, even though it almost made him puke.
The bone was also an ingredient, except it couldn't be consumed. The mana and health potion were nothing to scoff at either as they recovered 25% of his HP and MP. They could be life savers if used at the right time, or timesavers once he got his hands on a batch.
Next, he took out the skill book excitedly. This was something he recognized.
[Life drain(Active): Lvl - 1 - Technique possessed by some middle rank or above undead. This technique manipulates life force. The technique absorbs the target's life force and adds it to the user's.]
He always felt like this skill had untapped potential, but it was just thrown aside by Ji Han. Now he had the opportunity to test it out for himself.
Approaching a random zombie corpse, Shinji cast the skill on it. A sickly green light left his hand, eroding the corpse at a fairly visible rate. The body scattered into ashes as he absorbed all of its vitality.
He checked his status for any changes, and sure enough. His health pool increased by approximately 1% of the zombie's original HP bar. But his maximum HP was still the same. It was sort of like an overcharge effect.
This was pretty amazing in itself, a bigger health bar meant more survivability. Sure, there were bullshit abilities like Yuyuko's insta-kill in this world, but who knows how it would evolve in the future.
That said, he absorbed the rest of the corpses, ending up with an additional amount close to his current HP.
However, the system issued a warning when the extra numbers surpassed his max HP.
[Warning! Any further increase in life force would be detrimental! Please increase vitality before proceeding or a penalty of vitality loss will be incurred!]
"What, so I can only have double the HP?"
That put a damper on his mood. Okay, he was beginning to see why Ji Han shelved this particular skill, but he wasn't' Ji Han and it was still useful at this stage.
He sighed. His path would be different.
...
Sanae's cute face flashed to the forefront of his mind as Shinji walked back leisurely. It seemed like she had a small crush on him with all those affection gains. Is that normal or was it simply the case of a socially stunted girl having her feelings reciprocated for the first time?
In any case, it would be a waste to let go of this silly girl now that she triggered this affection system and was the highest on the list. He could admit that Sanae wasn't even close to being one of his favourite characters from Touhou in the past, but that was back then.
She seemed so enthusiastic here that it was hard not to like her. That and his inner dating sim gamer self was urging him to max out her affection. He might get a perk on top of having a girlfriend. It was nothing but a win-win.
"Oh, hey!" The girl in question called out to him.
She was standing broom in one hand and the other waving at him happily. Her movements inevitably revealed her mid-riff which she didn't seem to notice or mind.
He flashed a thumbs up at her, confusing the poor lass, but she let it go in favour of rushing down the stairs and greeting him.
"Hi, Sanae."
"Hello! What are you doing here?" She said, smiling politely.
"Honestly, I just came to see you." Shinji shrugged.
"M-me? Why are you looking for me?"
Shinji raised an eyebrow sceptically at her. "I thought we were friends?"
"I-I mean, we are, but... is that all?" She asked weakly.
Shinji sighed at her unconfident appearance. It was gonna take a while to fix this problem for her.
"Yes, Sanae. That is all...really. Do I need a reason to meet you? "
"But! But why? You have friends. Your classmates were worried about you too. Shouldn't you be hanging out with them rather than me?"
"That's...nice of them. I'll be sure to thank them later. But to tell you the truth, you're my only real friend right now."
Sanae looked shocked at that.
"Why is that?" She asked, genuinely interested.
Shinji chuckled. "They're not like us. You know that."
The girl was taken aback.
"You know?!"
"About the goddesses living in this shrine? Or your powers as a priestess? Yes."
She shut her eyes, Lady Kanako's voice playing back inside her head as she heard those words.
But her will remained firm.
Her expression brightened up considerably as she opened them again, seeming a lot more confident.
"But still! That's not a reason to ignore them!" She scolded him.
Surprised at her sudden outburst, Shinji still answered honestly.
"I'm not doing it on purpose, you know? I just can't feel a real connection with them like I do to you. It's hard to when I can never confide in them fully."
"R-really? Is that how you feel?"
He smiled at her blushing face. "Really."
"W-well, in that case..."
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