บท 450: Chapter 450
The transport magic around me disappears, and I stare out at a marshland of deep swampy water, lush green trees, and flickering blue flames oddly staying lit on top of the water and not spreading to the greenery.
My eyes lock onto the one and only appraisal reading in this whole boss room, and I dungeon walk over to it without wasting a second.
The bright blue scales and glowing sharp eyes of a level 789 Blue Wyvern Boss lock onto me, and I see its mana shielding cover its entire body while it prepares to send waves of blue flames my way, but I can tell this monster is no match for me.
Using only my mana control, I take my sword from my storage, activate my buffs, and release a thin blade of flames down on the beast below me.
The crescent of flames splits it in half the long way, and even separates the marshland below, evaporating water and destroying trees for over 20 meters in all directions. The water soon flows back to its natural state as the corpse lies in two pieces on the floor.
There isn't even another sound to escape the monster's mouth; all I hear are two level-up notifications, bringing me to level 767 while I absorb its available MCP.
As the body dissolves away into the marsh, a bright blue crystal is left behind in its place, and it makes the water bubble and churn around it.
As my appraisal skill locks in a reading to find that it's a fire stone, I can't help but let out a chuckle while opening an item storage portal and letting it fall inside.
"Really? I tried to find one of these for hours... all I had to do was face the boss room."
I roll my eyes as the transport magic takes me to the next floor.
[Level Up] x82
[+1PP] x6
[+722 Mental Strength]
[+816 Strength]
[+146,110,205 MCP]
[Iron Fist][Legendary Grade]
The next 5 floors move by very quickly. I make it to level 849 without breaking a sweat, or even having to use any of my Qi.
Using dungeon walker and enemy detection, I'm able to pinpoint mobs near my level and instantly kill them, teleporting around a dungeon and clearing every monster inside it in less than 10 minutes per floor.
I try to kill in ascending order to maximize the amount of PP gains I can. Even so, the process is very quick. I've been desperately needing to bring my level up to my ability for a long time now; it feels good to go all out. The rush of constant level-ups and base stats rising is a great sensation.
One notable floor on my way up is the 33rd. It has an Elite form of Yetis that all wield Extreme Ice magic; they drop element stones every 30 or so kills. Unfortunately, my absorption skill isn't high enough in proficiency to upgrade advanced to Extreme skills yet, but based on my speedy progression here, I can tell I'll be back here soon enough.
However, on the 34th floor, I came across earth golem monsters with a skill called [Iron Fist]. It is a form of body hardening that only forms around the user's hands, and greatly increases the force, impact, and hardness of a punch in hand-to-hand combat. I absorb it, but as hand-to-hand isn't my normal fighting style, I don't plan to use it very much.
[Level Up] x67
[+1PP] x4
[+190,990,345 MCP]
After beating the 36th and 37th floors without the use of any Qi either, one-shotting everything in my path, and reaching level 916, the 38th floor comes along, and I finally face opponents that give me a hint of trouble.
Eerily familiar massive worms with circular serrated teeth come flying out of the sandy dungeon floor, somehow locking onto my mana signature wherever I fly above the surface. They're all easily 30 to 50 meters long, and over 5 meters in diameter; some even reaching close to 10.
Every monster in this 38th floor is between levels 932 and 950 and have the same 3 skills.
Body Hardening[Legendary Grade]
Extreme Stamina[Legendary Grade]
Combat Magic[Advanced Earth Summoning]
I'm very surprised when one of my full-powered mana blades doesn't make it all the way through one of their hardened skins.
With a combination of all its skills, there's a thick white glow that surrounds the monster, and it flows through the sandy dungeon region like water as it uses its earth manipulation skill to move quickly away.
I send blade after blade at it from a distance, not wanting to get too close, but despite the half a dozen deadly slashes in a single area, and its bodily fluids leaking behind it, the enormous worm creature doesn't give up.
Every chance it gets, the beast chomps its spinning teeth high in the sky to try and catch me, but my speed and agility are still far too much for it to stand any chance.
After 8 full-powered hits, the creature finally meets its end.
[Level Up]
I absorb its MCP and Extreme Stamina[Legendary Grade], testing out its capabilities, and realize it's a resource converting skill. The skill allows the user to heal their HP by 10%, converting exact MP points to HP, only following an enemy attack that lands damage. It can be used an unlimited amount of times, as long as the user gets attacked again. It cannot be used if the user has not taken any damage from any enemy.
After reading its description, the white glows and incredibly tough defenses make sense now; this is a very odd conditional skill, but one that will definitely come in handy for me in the heat of tough battles.
[Level Up] x29
[+1PP] x2
[+1015 Defense]
[+113,060,399 MCP]
It takes well over two hours to finally reach level 946, even going all out; this was one of my most troublesome dungeons to take down in this run so far. Some of the strongest worms in here took upward of 10 hits to defeat, and the spawn rate isn't very fast. Less than 20 worms are available in the dungeon at any one given time, and it takes over 30 minutes for each of them to return.
I challenge the boss room even though I'm four levels away from maximizing my efficiency. It may take another few hours if I try to grind it out perfectly.
[Level Up]
As I hit level 947 and teleport onto the 39th floor to be hit with an unexpected sweet scent of honey and a cool breeze.
Rolling hills, colorful wildlife like flowers, bushes, and trees, and endless grasslands fill my vision.
However, my moment of peace is rudely broken as I sense 9 figures in this dungeon all between levels 965 and 980. There's a 10th very far away at level 989, but it seems to be an outlier.
I teleport to the closest one with my sword ready, and I see another familiar creature staring back at me with a bull-like face, long red horns, tough skin with matted fur, wielding two massive silver axes, and red eyes filled with rage triggered by instinct on sight.
A minotaur larger than any I've ever seen runs forward at me, glowing blue, golden, and coating its skin in a metallic shimmer.
I take a look at its skill list.
Extreme Strength[Legendary Grade]
Extreme Speed[Legendary Grade]
Body Hardening[Legendary Grade]
I activate my own buffs and speed away from its incoming dual axes with haste, letting them sink into the dungeon floor and send shockwaves through the ground as I airstep up in the air to admire the pure force and power of this beast.
It's at least 8 or 9 meters tall, and bulging with muscles, layered with mana shielding higher than anything I've ever witnessed on a natural being.
The minotaurs I've faced before were 3 or 4 meters tall at most, some mutants reaching upward of 5; so this must be some evolved form.
I release a full-powered wave of flames from my blade similar to the ones that took out the worms on the floor below in a few hits, but the Minotaur takes it head-on with both of its silver axes, letting out a roar while dispersing my flames into the air, not receiving a single scratch.
I'm sure I could split this monster in two using Qi without batting an eye, but I don't have any replacement Qi pills left, so I'll try not to use any if I don't have to.
I activate phantom step while the monster charges my way with blades ready again, jumping in 3 different directions while using stealth to conceal my main body and dungeon walk to the creature's blind spot.
I use earth magic to make the earth beneath its feet grasp its legs tight in an instant, stopping its mobility, then use [Bind] to make the dark purple hand from my back manifest and grow large enough to hold the beast in place.
Once it's helplessly locked in a compromised position, I let spears of ice and earth rain down on it from above while swinging my blade over and over at point-blank range to release crescents of fire at its unprotected back.
The explosions of shielding, painful roars, and valiant effort it puts up against my restraints are impressive.
The shackles at its feet made of earth magic are destroyed, and it even manages to break free from my binding hand, but the ruthless barrage of attacks that follows is far too much for the monster to survive through.
A crater in the floor is formed as the hailstorm of ice and earth batter the monster's body, diminishing its mana shielding and destroying its armor. The faint golden glow of what seems like a ranked up buff begins to activate, but it is far too late to save this creature now. I don't stop until I hear a notification in my inner ear.
[Level Up]
"You were a tough one..."
Its mana shielding is pretty similar in basic strength to my own; it just lacks the ability to indefinitely replenish its MP and use a variety of offensive skills to the same degree.
I have to keep this in mind and stay on my toes moving forward. I'm facing seriously strong and fairly intelligent opponents now. One wrong step, and I could actually get injured; I need to always make the first move and take control of each battle before they even start.
[Level Up] x4
I defeat the other 8 minotaurs of similar level and make it to level 952, leaving only one more in this dungeon, the outlier at level 989.
I teleport near it and scan its skills.
Combat Magic [Extreme Fire Summoning]
Extreme Strength[Legendary Grade]
Extreme Speed[Special Grade]
Body Hardening[Special Grade]
The minotaur is even larger, easily over 10 meters. Its axes are over 3 times the size of my body, and left behind in its footsteps are black flames that have destroyed the meadows and rolling hills of the beautiful landscape.
I take no time admiring the beast, as I know mutants always have extra tricks up their sleeves; I have to go all out on the first move.
I use full-powered water magic to shoot plumes of its element's worst weakness all around it, while forming spears of rock and ice, manipulating them with careful use of telekinesis and mana manipulation to shower it with lethal strikes from all sides.
I'm using stealth throughout all of this, so my opponent has not even seen me yet; it is only faced with my waves of confusion, intimidation, and furious elemental attacks.
An explosive shockwave of black flames erupts from the monster as it fends off my attacks as best it can.
I dungeon walk around it at erratic angles, shooting off full-powered mana blades at a safe distance. Just feeling the heat of its flames from over 20 meters away feels like I'm plunging into the depths of a volcano.
It seems as if many of my attacks are being eaten up by its pitch-black flames before they even hit its body, but the loud roars and explosions of mana shielding after every occasional high-powered attack make me think my relentless barrage is doing something useful.
However, I wait nearly 4 times as long as the base mobs in this dungeon, but the creature isn't giving up. Its rage only seems to get stronger, and I watch an aura of red energy begin to surround its body as I sense its mana control multiplying by the second.
My eyes widen, and I immediately imbue my blade with Qi.
"That's enough... I'm not dealing with whatever you're about to unleash."
As I airstep in, charging my blade hotter and hotter with dense white Qi, the mutant's ranked up buff begins to obliterate all of the mana-based attacks I was previously throwing at it. The ice shards melt away before making contact, my water beams evaporate into thin air, and my rock spears melt to lava as it hits its outer aura.
Even my final mana blade rebounds off its wall of red aura.
However, in a single slash, my blade covered in Qi rips through its crimson veil, pushes its black flames aside, and slices right through its neck, defeating the monster before it can break through to release its full strength.
[Level Up]
Its body falls limp and its head sticks into the dirt floor upside down held up by its curved horns a few meters off the ground.
I whisper under my breath down a the corpse after the loud thud.
"That was a close one... I'll admit, you were pretty strong. You're the first pure mana being that has forced me to use Qi at my current level."
I reach level 953 and absorb its MCP, then walk over to its corpse as its body dissolves away.
A large black flaming stone is left behind.
"Another unique element stone too... this Labyrinth just keeps getting better."
It's the second-highest mana rating I've ever felt come off of a monster's loot drop, only second to the A-Class Colossal I fought with Ember out in the desert.
After admiring the hot black flames that ripple off of it, thinking of the crafts I could do with a stone like this, I throw it into my item storage for later. I slowly walk out of the massive blackened crater and open up my enemy detection skill to check if any new mobs have spawned back.
There were only 10 on the whole floor, but I will admit they were incredibly strong.
No more have spawned back in yet, so I'm all alone on the 39th floor.
I make my way over to the Boss room portal at the back of the dungeon, thinking about whether or not I should wait for these beasts to respawn to grind out a few more levels, or challenge the Boss and move up to the 40th floor right now.
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