Chương 101: Level 4
The publication of Isaac's deeds, his crime and his respective punishment caused a huge uproar in Orario. Thanks to how well-connected the Guild was, very quickly, the vast majority of citizens got to know about it.
"Can you believe it? Evilus was still around! What if there are even more of them that we don't know about yet, hiding in the shadows!?"
Fears like these gripped the hearts of those people which had survived the dark times that had befallen the city a few years ago. The traumatic experiences of back then resurfaced, making many citizens break down in tears. They had been completely helpless back then, nothing more than a burden. Was that time about to repeat itself?
Regarding Isaac's fate, most were in favour of the decision that the deities had made. But of course, there were also those that were of different opinions. Outcries to free the young hero from his unjust imprisonment were heard in many parts of the city, while a nearly equal number of people made known that they thought the sentence was far too merciful for such a sacrilegious crime.
Those who had looked forward to killing some deities themselves quickly changed their plans and continued to lay low, as they most definitely wouldn't be able to escape the harshest of punishments that there were should they go through with them. Only if they were ready to embrace death would they even think of ending a god's mortal life. Isaac's circumstances were quite the successful deterrent.
All of these things aside, the most major impact that this matter had had was that 'Isaac Blackshaw' was now a household name. Almost everybody had heard of the deity slayer, the one who had protected the city from Evilus' resurgence. While he had been moderately famous in some small circles even before this, the ordinary people now began to pay attention to him.
"You say that he is in a relationship with the Sword Princess? Damn it, I'm too jealous! Still, only an outstanding young man such as him could ever potentially be worthy of her…"
Remarks like these were the most generous, and relatively rare. Most citizens just didn't care about an issue as irrelevant as this relationship. Only a few were fully opposed to it, as in their eyes, Ais had been an untouchable goddess ever since her rise to fame - to have her image sullied by the presence of a man at her side unsettled them. But as they had already been opposing Isaac before this… well, nothing changed on their end.
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An especially dark expression hung upon Vidar's face while he read through the latest intelligence reports. Finally, he couldn't help but sigh and rub his forehead, trying to ease the slight headache that had crept up on him.
'I can't believe Petbe underestimated him this much. From what I've heard from both the escaping remnants of her forces and what has trickled down the grapevine from Heaven, she only had a few Level 4 guards at her residence. It's no wonder that she got kidnapped. Still, I have to admit that this Blackshaw brat is especially smart. He could pose a danger to me if I lower my guard too much. I should at least keep a Level 5 close to me at all times. Thankfully, he won't have an opportunity to grow for some time.'
Without speaking a word, the tough-looking middle-aged god looked at the ever-expressionless Esja for a moment, then he shook his head.
'I should leave hunting the Blackshaw brat's students to someone else. After all, they aren't strong enough to even resist a single one of my Executives. It's just a shame that ever since they have been attacked, they have been turtling up in the Twilight Manor.'
With that thought in mind, Vidar cleared his throat.
"Esja, station more of our men around Babel and the Twilight Manor. As soon as the students show up and there is a chance, have them eliminated. As for you, from now on until the release of the Blackshaw brat, you shall focus on improving your strength in the dungeon. After that, you shall be my private bodyguard until further notice."
Without saying a word, the Vidar Familia's Captain nodded and disappeared from her god's side. Not even for a moment did Vidar think of releasing Ivan from his house arrest. After all, the youngster had behaved far too cowardly for his god's taste.
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Attentively, Ais stood in a very remote area of the 17th floor of the dungeon and observed her surroundings. She didn't expect any adventurers to have made it this far from the regular routes, but she still kept an eye out, just in case.
Of course, she wouldn't even need to be this careful had she been alone, but she wasn't this time. Isaac's students, save for Lefiya and Quinn, were also here. Ais had brought all of them from the base to a training courtyard in the morning, after which she had asked them to never speak of what they were about to do to anyone that wasn't present. If they were asked about what they had done all day, they were to reply that they had been training in his courtyard all this time.
During the first few hours, she had teleported Quinn to a floor that he could deal with, so that the young cat boy could grow stronger and catch up with his fellow students. She did her best to give him bits of advice whenever she could. After that, she had brought everyone else to the 17th floor, leaving only her Elven friend behind so she and Quinn could do some close combat training.
It had been Ais who had proposed this kind of arrangement to Isaac, who had originally planned to reduce his own training time in order to accompany his students. Ais didn't want him to have to slow down his pace even further, though, so she asked him if he would be fine with only having Tiona as a bodyguard while she 'took care of the kids' for him in the meantime, until this mess was dealt with.
'It should be about time now… I hope Tiona will behave. If she won't… hmph!'
Ais couldn't help pouting as she thought about her jubilant Amazoness friend. Even though she had originally been fine with the idea of her close friend's love not being unrequited, ever since Isaac had made it clear that he wasn't interested in Tiona at all, Ais had grown considerably less fond of such a development.
She didn't let herself get distracted by thoughts like these for long. Soon, she focused on observing the students yet again. They were still unceasingly growing more proficient at facing the various monster species on this floor. Whenever one that they couldn't deal with appeared or a Monster Party occurred, Ais swiftly eliminated the threat.
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Shortly after 1 p.m., Isaac, accompanied by a certain chipper Amazoness, teleported to the 41st floor, to exactly the spot where he had been forced to stop his monster slaying endeavours yesterday. He had obediently eaten his prison food and returned the tray to the hoistway, just so nobody would grow suspicious. If he had refused to eat anything, people might grow worried and check on him in his cell, after all. Thankfully, the food hadn't been anything bad, just some day-old bread. If it had been something that he wouldn't have been able to stomach, then he would have just incinerated it or put it into his inventory so that he could dispose of it later.
"So, it's just the two of us here today…~"
Completely ignoring the various monsters in their surroundings, Tiona walked closer to Isaac and gazed at him with a teasing and slightly seductive expression on her face.
For a moment, Isaac was speechless, then he turned around and quickly disposed of every monster that stood in his way, continuing his search for a staircase leading to the 42nd floor.
"Remember, we're not here to play around."
His words made Tiona frown unhappily, but then she heaved a reluctant sigh and followed after him, further into the dungeon. She had just been kidding, as even she wouldn't disregard the potential dangers of their environment just to 'have some fun' - at least not under normal circumstances. While irregularities would almost never appear in the dungeon, when they did, they often proved deadly. So, in order to live a bit longer, it was paramount to get one's head out of the clouds.
Earlier today, Ais had teleported all of the familia's Executives and above to the staircase that they usually used to reach the 58th floor. They would meet again in the early evening, at the same spot, so she could bring them back home. In the meantime, they would all have the opportunity to grow stronger.
When Isaac and Tiona arrived on the 43rd floor, about half an hour had passed. As there were no new monster species to research on the way, they just sped by all enemies that they encountered, with Isaac taking out only the ones that stood directly in their way - which still amounted to a shocking number. Still, by now, he only occasionally glanced at his monster slaying quests. He had slowly started to develop a habit of 'taking inventory' of all that he had achieved and amassed during the day in the evenings.
Having made it back to the first half of the Desolate Frontier, which stretched from the 43rd to the 46th floor, a motivated smile flashed across Isaac's lips. He took a deep breath and enjoyed the markedly lower temperatures here. After the hell-like landscape that he had been traversing just a floor prior, this husk of a burnt out massive tree that he was now confronted with was like a ray of sunshine in the darkness. Although the heat from before hadn't managed to harm him in any way, it was still slightly annoying, like a very minor itch that just wouldn't go away. It could be ignored, and after a while, one would forget that it even existed - but when it actually disappeared for good, it felt extremely liberating.
According to what he had taken note of back during the expedition, there should be seven new monster species to 'observe' on these floors. Yet again, a slight smile played across his lips. If he wasn't wrong, then they should be more than enough to allow him to reach a certain milestone.
Without further ado, Isaac rushed into the labyrinthian caves, detecting the presence of every monster far before he even came across it - Eyes of Hermes be blessed. Of course, he didn't forget to restrict his strength to the exact same stats as the various opponents that he encountered, as elsewise, he wouldn't even get a chance to research them before they died in the blink of an eye.
The weakest of the new additions were the Red Devils. Their names might have sounded imposing, but all in all, they were just stronger versions of the Imps that he had faced before. They still mainly relied on their huge numbers, their Agility - which could reach up to F-300 / 11,850 - and sneak attacks, but now, they could use fire enchant type Magic on their stone daggers and claws as well, which did provide a little bit of added challenge. Still, for veterans who had made it all the way here, they were far too easy to deal with.
Next in line was the species that was by far the most numerous one on these floors, the Flame Rocks. They were stone golems with flame-like cores. Although they were considered to be relatively small, they were still about two meters tall. When huge groups of them swarmed an enemy, they could bury them beneath their weight alone easily. As probably already expected, their Endurance could reach up to F-350 / 12,250… but their Magic could as well. Once the damage that they had suffered exceeded a certain point, as a last resort, they would ignite their flame-like cores to produce a huge explosion, whose might could easily reduce inattentive adventurers to a bloody pulp, or even ashes and bone fragments.
The easiest way to avoid this fate was to simply distance oneself a bit, as the signs of the impending detonation were extremely conspicuous. During expeditions, these golems were usually taken care of as quickly as possible, because if they got enough time to use their self-destruction Magic, the ones holding up the frontline would be heavily burdened. Thankfully, if they were killed before they oh-so-graciously deleted themselves, they would drop their flame-like cores. These crimson-coloured rocks were also called 'Kaenseki' and would explode if they were exposed to high enough temperatures. They could be used as impromptu grenades if used in tandem with fire, and quite a few blacksmiths were interested in researching what other potential uses they could have.
A bit more rare were the Fallen Meliae. They looked like humanoid tree nymphs of legend - that is, if those had been exposed to a forest fire. Their hair was ashen grey, and their bodies were clearly carbonized in a lot of places. A fiery glow could be seen emanating from within, just like embers in an almost extinguished fire. Their eye sockets didn't contain eyeballs - instead, they were replaced by small balls of fire.
Amusingly, they looked like they were on their last legs even when they were in the most optimal of conditions, and their physical bodies truly could barely take any damage before they crumbled. Their main mode of attack was magical in nature, which was also reflected in their stats - Magic could reach up to E-400 / 12,650. Their control over fire was simply outstanding, they could even combine their attacks into more powerful ones.
Thankfully, due to Isaac's ability to sense the mana in an extremely wide area, he didn't need to worry about these abilities at all. Whenever a Magic was cast, he would instantly notice it. He even tested his Magic interruption theory on them, and quickly got results. Even just slightly messing with the mana that fell under the control of his enemies would enable him to either completely snuff out their attacks or to make them explode in their faces. He hadn't yet succeeded in manipulating the Magics' more finer details, but it was a good start. Still, should he face someone who had also dabbled in Mana Cultivation, Isaac was certain that what he had achieved so far would amount to nothing more than a cheap parlor trick.
Fourth on the list were the Burnt Treants. As the name implied, they were literally just mostly carbonized Treants. They were far stronger than their weaker brethren, obviously, but that was it. Just like their regular versions, they had a lot of variations with differing abilities, so researching every single one of them fully would be a long-term project. They were still somewhat weak to fire, but not nearly as much as before - after all, they had already almost succumbed to a red-hot death, what was a little more of that familiar pain? Their various stats could reach up to E-450 / 13,050.
Although they were basically just reskins, they did finally enable Isaac to arrive at the point that he had been looking forward to.
[ All stats have reached the post-update maximum.
Quest 'Reach the Level 3 stat limit.' completed. 3000 AP rewarded. ]
With a smirk, Isaac chose to go through with the update and to rank himself up to Level 4 as well. The qualifications to advance in Level were far too easily acquired, so much so that he had honestly stopped paying attention to them entirely. As soon as he killed a monster whose stats - without the Divine Being-buff being taken into account - were higher than his own by about 200, he was already golden. What other adventurers had to slave away at for months on end was achieved effortlessly. Well, to be honest, he did put in the effort, he just found it to be easy - it was a matter of perspective.
[ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]
[ Familia: Loki Familia ]
[ Affiliation: None ]
[ Race: God ]
[ Divinity: None ]
[ Arcanum: None ]
[ Level: 3 -> 4 ]
[ Age: Unable to measure ]
[ Charisma: 34 ]
[ Divine Energy: 23271 -> 31547 ]
[ Stats ]
[ Strength: SSS-1211 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (15750 x 2.003) ]
[ Endurance: SSS-1205 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (15750 x 2.003) ]
[ Dexterity: SSS-1222 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (15750 x 2.003) ]
[ Agility: SSS-1208 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (15750 x 2.003) ]
[ Magic: SSS-1217 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (15750 x 2.003) ]
[ Magic ]
[ Anemoi Steps ]
[ Eyes of Hermes ]
[ Skills ]
[ Divine Being ]
[ Reverential Resonance ]
[ Development Abilities ]
[ Huntsman: F ]
[ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment: G -> F ]
[ Hunter: H ]
[ Experienced Hunter: I ]
[ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Archer, Mage, Spirit Healing, Swordsman ]
Isaac had prepared himself as well as he could and, although he was tempted to just relax and let his Divine Energy run rampant, he was careful to not let any of it leak at all. Now that he had done so a few times, he had become far more proficient at it - unless he truly wanted to gain the dungeon's attention, there was simply no way for him to slip up in regards to Divine Energy or Divine Aura anymore.
Of course, like all the times before, he chose this Level's Hunter-series Development-Ability. Three of his plans relied upon them, and only the short-term one - faster excelia gain - had come into play so far. As for the other two, they were still a long while off.
With a refreshed sigh, Isaac didn't bask in the post-rank up euphoria for long and instead continued his research on his poor victi--- ahem, the horrific monstrosities inhabiting these floors. Although he wouldn't gain any more excelia for a short while, thanks to the boost in every single aspect of his vessel's being that the rise to a higher Level had provided, unraveling the mysteries of new specimens was always something that he looked forward to. He also needed to continue racking up Level 4 monster kills to unlock the next Hunter-series Development Ability.
'Come to think of it, the Guild should be keeping records of all the monster species and the best strategies to fight them. While I don't doubt that the ones regarding weaker monsters are pretty solid by now, the ones concerning the monsters from the Deep Floors shouldn't have been fully figured out yet. I wonder if I should provide them with the information that I gained so far? Alternatively, if they won't want what I have gathered until now, once I surpass the previous floor record, they should be desperate for my insights.'
Even though he was patiently dismemberin--- researching the monsters, Isaac still had plenty of focus to spare on some of his minor plans for the future.
The fifth and sixth new monster species which he encountered were actually both quite interesting, as they excelled at camouflage. They also achieved this in different ways.
The former, the Ashen Ghosts, were essentially just scaled-up versions of chameleons. They relied mostly on Agility - which could reach up to D-500 / 13,450 - and attacked with their tongues. In an environment like this, where the lighting was far from ideal, they had an easy time picking off unsuspecting adventurers. Sadly, they couldn't hide from the Eyes of Hermes.
As for the latter, they were a bit more difficult to deal with. Their name was 'Black Goo', and that was almost literally what they were. They were slimes that were entirely black due to the huge amounts of charcoal that they had absorbed over their lifetimes. Their very essence were small cores, which they could hide anywhere within their bodies - each individual had a single core. They could manipulate their bodies to cling to the walls, ceiling and ground and look just like a part of the surrounding caves, similar to some mimics which Isaac had seen in his old world's video games.
The moment that anyone stepped into the Black Goos' traps, they would collapse upon them from all sides and start to digest them. Their bodies were relatively resistant to most physical attacks because they relied mainly on Endurance, which could reach up to D-525 / 13,650. This enabled them to disregard most of their preys' struggles.
Usually, adventurers would let their party's mages use wide-area attacks to somehow get rid of the Goos' cores. Isaac both didn't have that much mana to waste or a need to follow this path at all. By using his mana to sense the insides of the Black Goos' bodies, he could easily locate their cores. In that process, he also found out that they were far more likely to hide them in the most remote corners that they could find, which made sense - after all, they were living beings and had to have at least some sort of life preservation instincts. After multiple encounters, Isaac came up with a rule of thumb - the cores were generally in the area located the farthest away from where the respective Goo's attack began.
The last new monster species was yet another reskin, which made Isaac sigh in disappointment. He had originally expected for them to at least showcase some new abilities, but that hadn't been the case. Although the Shadow Fiends - the higher Level, blood-coloured versions of War Shadows - had by far the highest stats on these floors, with all of them but Magic reaching up to D-550 / 13,850, even their regular versions had been a let-down to him back when he had encountered them. On the bright side, as they could recover from ridiculous amounts of damage before their bodies dissipated, he didn't need to waste much time on seeking out too many of them - the first group of twenty plus individuals which he stumbled across was far more than enough to end his research on their species.
'Come to think of it, Tiona has been behaving quite well today…'
Usually, Ais would have to at least hold her back once or twice every hour, but until now, she had yet to charge at him like a brainless homing-missile of lust. Positively surprised by this development, Isaac shot a glance at his Amazoness bodyguard. Even though Tiona tried to keep up a bright smile all the while, he could still occasionally see a glimpse of desire flashing in her eyes.
When he was about to compliment her for the hard work she had put in, as he had been told about just how strong an Amazoness' primal urges were and he truly respected her effort, he suddenly froze in his tracks.
'Phew, that was a close one! I bet she would lose control if I were to be too nice to her right now.'
Shooting her another glance - this time a slightly wary one - Isaac finally led the way down a staircase leading to the 47th floor.
'I guess I could pull an all-nighter to finally get this all over with. I wonder what the others would say if I make it to the 59th floor before them?'
After taking note of the current time, a chuckle escaped his lips as he finally stepped into the latter half of the Desolate Frontier. Only two and a half hours had passed, it was about 4 p.m.. Now that he finally could focus entirely on delving deeper, he approached the secrets hidden in the unexplored depths at a breakneck pace.
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
Shiro_the_Hero
Shiro_the_Hero As always, I sprinkled in some ability-development and knowledge in between the monster information - I know some of you don't enjoy it much (if at all), but I hope that made it bearable :)
On the bright side, there aren't too many more floors to go until... well, you'll see~ I hope you enjoyed the chapter \o/
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Check out my novel series "Reincarnation Cycle's Unfortunate Bug" on Amazon:
-> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYHGRR8M/ <-
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sh1ro
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Shameless self-promotion aside, I hope you have a wonderful, fantastic day!! o/
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