Chapter 26: Chapter 24 - Dungeon(2)
{Entering the dungeon now! Team Created! FLOOR 1: GEKKO GROTTO}
"Be alert, this may be the weakest floor, but it's still an E-ranked dungeon."
"What are the highest levels on the floor?"
"The boss should be around level 5"
I nod to him and unsheathe my new sword. It feels light in my hands, the sharpness is like nothing I've seen before.
"To clear the floor and advance, we need to kill every monster on the floor first." He takes out a round device, there are two blue dots and multiple red spots. I'm guessing all the red spots are enemies and we're the blue spots but what is that thing?
"What's that?"
"It's a map." What?
Before I have a chance to ask him to explain how that's a map one of the red dots gets a bit too close to the blue ones. We both stiffen and raise our swords. As I concentrate I finally look around my surroundings I spot a gekko not too far away from us.
The air was thick with the musky scent of damp earth, and the faint glow of bio-luminescent fungi illuminated the cavern walls. Our boots sunk ever so slightly into the ground before stopping.
Without a word, Ray and I stepped forward to face the Gekko. The Gekkos now doubled and there was one coming from behind. I took the one in the back while Ray went after the one right in front of us. We were almost back to back. In front of me, a small but agile gecko ran at me. It stood vertically around half a meter, horizontally, two meters. It's scales reflect the artificial light created by the dungeon, at least, I think it's artificial.
With a swift and practiced motion, I lunge forward, my blade slicing through the air with precision, power and intent. Unfortunately, the gecko darted and dodged, its movements quick and erratic. I predicted its movements and aimed for where the Gekko would be in a second. It seemed to anticipate my prediction and shifted accordingly. Even though it dodged I still managed to graze it.
My eyes widen, I only grazed the leg of the Gekko and yet, there's a cut. Not shallow but neither deep. My body moves and I aim to kill always aiming to cut off a piece of the monster in front of me. The Gekko, when in pain, follows its instinct and launches attacks while forgetting about defence. I manage to kill the creature but not without receiving minor cuts and some head trauma. As a last-ditch effort, the Gekko throws itself at me and even though I dodged the tail hit my head and threw me to the floor leaving me dazed while the Gekko took its last breath.
Breathing heavily, I get to my feet with a grin of satisfaction before sheathing my sword. While this isn't the first time I've killed a monster, it's the first time doing it in a dungeon. Roaming monsters and Dungeon monsters are different types of beasts... Literally and Figuratively. The battle had been swift and decisive, a testament to both experience and intelligence.
After catching my breath I look back at Ray only to find him not even winded. He is looking at me scrutinizingly like he finished his battle ages ago. How strong is he?! And why did he even need my help?!?!
"What level are you?"
"None of your business"
That means it's high, a lot higher than me and a lot higher than it should be. Noble, dungeons, probably in line for heir if they gave him a test like this. He should be close to... yeah, I don't even know.
Due to the smell of blood, we both hear more Geckos coming toward us. We don't say a word as the swords are once again raised.
With a shout of defiance, I abandon all sense of reason and throw myself at the closest Gekko, my sword slicing through the air as an unnerving smile blooms onto my face. Geckos leaped and darted around me, their claws slashing at my flesh as I return the favour threefold. I fight with all my might, each clash a challenge but not enough to push me to my limit.
One by one, the geckos fell before me, but for every foe I dispatched, two more seemed to take its place. The battle raged on, exhaustion beginning to take its toll. As my stamina decreases the amount of blood covering me increases, most of it not my own.
Finally, after what feels like an eternity of combat, the last gecko lay at my feet, with a final scream I thrust my sword into the head as it goes through the monster and into the ground. My knee gives up as I kneel in front of the monster. This feels like a moment in a manga.
Taking a few deep breaths I pick myself up along with my sword.
"Fuck!" It looks like this victory came at a cost. My arm throbbed with pain, and blood trickled from numerous minor wounds. Due to my increased constitution, I don't think I'm badly injured, just a bit of pain from going against half a horde.
With a weary sigh, I leaned on my sword for support, knowing that I had emerged victorious. I look behind me, I haven't heard anything from behind me. If my eyes could fall to the ground it would, behind me is Ray. While is breathing is a bit heavier than usual, that's it! A few scratches and that's it! There's nothing else to make me think he even went through a huge battle only a few moments ago.
There's a hill of mountains next to him, I look in front and see he defeated more monsters than me. Guess those stats mean something.
"You look like shit."
"First time fighting a damn horde" I don't scream back, this is only the first floor! How the fuck am I this messed up on the first floor?! Once again, as if reading my mind the idiot speaks.
"You didn't think we were going to clear the entire dungeon in a week right?"
"I expected it." I have two weeks and some until my duel with Dina. I'd rather not miss it as the girl has a way of getting on my nerves.
"Hah, it takes months sometimes years. This is a lower ranked dungeon so it shouldn't take too long and thanks to the the Timelator I put on the dungeon we have more than that."
"A timelator? I've never heard of something like that."
Uh, yeah, it's... it's a family heirloom." Wow! He's a bad liar, it's not something his family knows about based on his reaction. If no one knows about it why would he show it to me?
"How many more monsters are still on the floor?"
"We cleared most of them in that horde so there shouldn't be too many." He takes out his map thing and stares in mild confusion.
"What?"
"There's only three left... There aren't as many monsters here as I expected."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"Not always, if there are fewer monsters it usually means the dungeon is running out of energy or the Floor Boss is going to be Enhanced"
"Ah, enhanced huh? That still won't be much of a problem since we're both over level 10."
"Let's hope so."
I should see how far I've gotten before biting off more than I can choose.
Status
...
...
What? Oi, Status!!
...
Why isn't my- 48 hours? Eva is offline for 2 days... That means I have to do everything manually... I haven't been getting any notifications either.
I look to the side and see a bell icon.
{99+}
I have to read all that?! Fuck me. It doesn't work with my mind...
"Status." I whisper as softly as I possibly can.
"You say something?"
===============
Name: [Seth]
Title: THE GLORY OF INARI (Blessing unavailable)
Level: [10]
Experience: [0/50 000]
System restore: [6/10]
Experience: [3991.5/16 000]
Ability: [Passive Collector - CON - MANA - STR - DEX - INT-CHR]
Currency: [0]
Guild ID - [72 168 credits|
Savings - 8 962 credits
Status: [Physical: Tired/Mental: Anxious]
Health Points: [117/117]
Mana Points: [66.72/66.72]
Strength: [21.47]
Dexterity: [21.34]
Constitution: [22.14]
Intelligence: [21.42]
Wisdom: [20]
Charisma: [11.12]
Mana: [21.44]
SP: [10]
Skills:
[Combat - Due to having multiple skills related to close combat weapons an enhanced skill which allows you to wield all types of weapons in close combat has been created. 4/10]
[Ranged Combat - Due to having multiple skills related to ranged combat weapons an enhanced skill which allows you to wield all types of weapons in ranged combat has been created. 3/10]
[Cooking - You have been able to cook for yourself and only been poisoned a few times. 6/10]
[Survival - You can create a fire, hunt for food, etc. 4/10]
[Reading - You read and understand fast. 5/10]
[Comprehension - You can understand difficult concepts which are foreign to your previous self. 6/10]
[Parkour - You move weirdly. 3/10]
[Emotionless - You can control your emotional state and be eternally calm. 4/10]
[Mana Manipulation - You can circulate mana within your body to create various effects. The potency of these effects increases along with proficiency in this skill. 1/10.
Sub Skills available - Enhance. Barrier. Mana Blade. Infusion. Aura. Heal. Absorb. Mana bullet. Expel
Sub Skills Learned - Absorb. Enhance]
[Bullshitter - Your lie is so natural, no different from breathing. - 2/10]
[Manipulator - You can convince others that you are right. Heavily relies on charisma. - 1/10]
SP : [20]
Inventory: [Unlock: Level 25]
[6/20]
Quests:
[Daily]
[Special]
Shop: [Unlock: Level 50]
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone