บท 16: Gold Dungeon Exploration

"Giiiisshaaaa!"

A purple-scaled snake jumped towards me with raging speed, its entire body was around 2 meters long, and the size of its jaws seemed oversized compared to its thin body. I was sure that it could easily eat me with it.

But the deadliest thing was the fangs with venom that it pointed at me. Even if this were a monster generated by the dungeon, I was sure as hell that the venom would kill me slowly if that thing were to bite me.

However, I quickly pointed my bat at it and hit it directly with all of my strength.

CLASH!

"Grrassshh…!"

The snake groaned in pain but it was not as affected, as it quickly tried to jump over me again.

Yeah, I am quite weak.

But I am a summoner, so my strength also lays within my summons!

SLASH!

A sudden black spear impaled the head of the snake a second after, generating an aura of darkness that began to consume the entire beast within seconds.

Somehow, the snake was still moving around for a bit before turning into black smoke and leaving some gold coins behind.

Ding!

[You gained a small amount of EXP]

[You gained +1 Skill Point]

"Phew… Master, are you okay?" asked a beautiful fairy woman with pale-white skin, bright crimson eyes, long purple hair, and large butterfly wings that shined with deep crimson and dark purple colors.

"Yeah, thanks for the help, Kireina. It is nice that I can get Experience Points even if I don't kill them. As long as I hit them once, I can also get some shared EXP."

"This should be the last room before Room 4, where the Boss is, right?" asked Ervas, who was sitting over my shoulders, he was protecting me from hits by generating barriers of Telekinesis and also healing any wounds through his Life Spirit Magic.

"Indeed… Oh, there it is. That should lead us to the Boss…" I said, pointing at the new gate that emerged out of thin air.

We had just entered the Gold Dungeon of Beginner Difficulty only five minutes ago. This place was not similar to the Tutorial Dungeon at all, as it resembled a large forest, although it was still locked within "rooms" which were open areas within the trees.

Kireina had tried to fly over the misty sky, but she said she hit an invisible barrier when she got high enough.

In this place, we found two types of monsters, Venomous Vipers and Gold Rats.

Venomous Vipers were the beasts we just killed, they came around 5 per Room, and didn't drop as much Gold (although way more than any other monster I have fought).

And then there's the rare Gold Rats. As their name implies, they are literally rats made of gold the size of a cat, they are incredibly fast ad evasive, and after a few seconds of appearing, it disappears if we can't catch it and kill it.

However, with Kireina's speed, we had been able to easily slay any rat we met.

These rats are special, as they drop large quantities of gold compared to the Snakes.

And about Kireina… she's a beast.

Her speed is amazing, her spear can literally kill anything it touches almost instantly, and her beauty is captivating, even more as she bathes in the blood of the monsters- Err, no, forget the last part.

My point is, she's an amazing summon. To be expected of a 5 Star summon!

She hasn't even used magic yet, and she's simply using her speed and spear to decimate most things.

Oh right, any Hero I summon comes with a weapon and equipment, but I think that's only from 4 Stars and above, 3 Stars might not come with a full set.

Ervas also came with his own full set of things, and he has been sitting over my shoulders while protecting me from anything while Kireina slays any monster I hit once.

His abilities are very useful, although he doesn't have the ridiculous speed and strength that Kireina does, he has a lot of utility.

Here are his stats before leveling, alongside his Skills info.

…

[Name: [Ervas Igni]

[Race: [Half-Demon]

[Stars: [★★★★]

[Element(s): [Nature], [Life]

[Weapon Type: [Staff]

[Skill Points: 0]

[Level: [01/10]

[Vitality: [250/250]

[Strength: [210]

[Magic: [320]

[Dexterity: [250]

[Skills]

[Life Spirit: Gaia (A)]

[Druid (B)]

[Telekinesis (B)]

[Locked Skills]

[Healing Touch (B) (Locked)]

[Telekinesis Beam (A) (Locked)]

[Soul Void (S) (Locked)]

[…]

[Equipment]

[Weapons: [Mystical Branch of Yggdrasil (A)]

[Body: [Squirrel-kin Tribal Clothes (B)]

[Accessory: [Veronica's Phantasmal Ring (B)]

…

He has naturally higher stats than me though… that's due to the bonuses into stats from Stars. Each Star gives a Summon 50 stats in everything… But his normal stats would be without the extra 200 he gets from 4 Stars, which would be lower than me, I think…

But thanks to Stars, he's an overpowered baby.

His Skills let him do a variety of things, and here they are:

[Life Spirit: Gaia (A)]

The user has a natural contract with the Spirit of Life, Gaia.

By spending the Summoner's Mana, the user can summon Gaia and do a variety of things.

Life Spirit Magic: The user can summon the Life Spirit Gaia and conjure a small yet useful amount of Life Attribute Spells, which can enhance an ally's stats, heal wounds, enhance natural recovery, grant natural recovery, or even summon small plants and vines to attack.

Gaia's Love: The user of this Skill is naturally gifted by the Spirit of Life, and has an easy time dealing with nature. Being able to adapt to nature's weather, to be able to survive in nature, and to be able to call upon nature for help.

Nature Charm: The user is naturally charming to any Nature-type being, and those that are tamed by him will obey the user's thorough.

The strength ad intensity of the Skills over other living beings depends on how much Mana can be drained from the Summoner alongside the user's stats.

…

[Druid (B)]

As a Druid, the user can feel plants, talk to them, and even feed them with mana to slowly tame them and convert them into strong allies.

Plant Whisper: Speak with Plants and slowly convince them to aid you, if enough Mana is given, Plants would be able to evolve into Plant Monsters and follow you around, the summoner becomes the Master of these plants.

Plant Binding Technique: Bind any plants you have tamed into your own body to carry anywhere, while being bind inside the user's body, plants can recover Vitality.

Plant Enhancement: Harness your nature's capabilities to temporarily enhance all plants you have tamed, making them stronger depending on how much Mana is drained from the summoner.

…

[Telekinesis (B)]

As someone who pushed their limits through the overuse of Mana and the No-Attribute Magic Spell "Telekinesis", you have acquired this power for yourself and can use and shape it freely.

Telepathy: You can use your Mind Capabilities and talk through your very thoughts with anyone, you can also grant the ability to talk through Telepathy to anyone that has a connection with you, such as your Summoner and your fellow Summoned Heroes.

Mind Force: Use the sheer strength of your mind force to make items float, create barriers of colorless Telekinesis energy, or attack by pushing this Telekinesis energy aggressively, with enough mastery more ways to fight and defend can surge.

Flight: Using your Telekinesis, lift your body to the air and float, spending a bit of Mana. You can also grant the [Flight] Status Effect to anyone you desire, giving them the ability to float by spending Mana.

…

As you can see, Ervas can do all of this, but he's still not as overpowered because what he can do is very limited, he cannot simply create a cannon of telekinesis and blast anything because that would drain all my Mana.

He can't heal lost limbs either, but the heal is good enough, way better than anything, and he said he's good at relocating bones and surgery as well…

Additionally, he has been taming a few plants through this forest-like dungeon, and we have a small group of five Walking Grasses following us, the only thing he can tame for now.

They are weak and can't do anything, but maybe they can grow stronger into big monsters, just like in my novel where he recruited tiny grasses that turned into giant masses of parasitic vines later on.

As long as it can evolve, it can become anything!

Anyways, he quickly equipped them inside his body through Plant Binding to bring them home when we leave the Dungeon, and we decided to advance into the next room.