Chương 215: Eight Star Dragon Generals (I)
Oct. 24, 2054. Saturday. 3:46 PM
Zero's group finally made it to the 39th floor. The climb through the spiritual world took a lot longer than they anticipated. Even though they had carefully pushed through, trying their best not to die, at most, the highest number of deaths was around five at minimum. This caused an average of losing fifteen levels in total, but it was the experience points gained through the spiritual world that helped them. It was three times higher than the normal world.
If one stayed alive long enough, the three levels, they had lost easily returned. However, even though the fight was difficult, the young dragons and their companions persevered. Their demeanor and fighting style became tighter, faster, and more robust at every level they handled.
One pair of dragons and their companion could now take on four to five mummies by themselves and keep their aura armor on for longer. What caused their delay in moving through the
dungeons were the swarms of powerful mobs that would attack them in waves.
They were in front of the entrance to the 40th floor, attempting to clear out the large mob of varieties of mummies that blocked the way. Every single one of his party members was still alive and pushing forward. The narrow hallway had opened into a large clearing that allowed more movement for the dragons and their companions.
The thundering clashes of dragon's roar and their companions' swords clashed against their enemies. They tore, devoured, and fought in an attempt to stay alive.
"Move!" Valiant yelled. He grinds his claws into the ground, springing forward with his claws outstretched. With a swipe of his hands, the Soldier's mummies unfurled onto the ground.
"Zero, another swarm is coming!" Reed yelled. She pulled her sword back from the magician mummy in the middle of casting. She interrupted just in time before the magician could decimate their group.
"I'm on it!" Zero sprinted forward in his dragon form. His muscles tightened and loosened, giving him the burst of energy that he needed.
Zero moved before the large group of mummy soldiers and swung his sword like a bat. The first front row of mummies clashed and fell onto the ground. Black energy dissipated from their body and disappeared into nothingness.
Agnis dashed forward, her arrows shooting far from behind him, backing him up. She did not let a single one past Zero and kept the far-ranged mummies from pushing past him.
This allowed Zero to fight with an even footing, with the large mummies swarming on all sides. He slashed and danced, doing a guerrilla-like fight.
There were three types of mummies mixed in the swarm. The first was a magician type named Mummy Magician that cast magic from behind, the second were soldier types with a spear and a shield named Mummy Soldiers, but out of them all were the third type that was heavy set with powerful attacks called Bombers.
A lumbering Bomber ran forward towards Zero, and the surrounding mummies split ways allowing the Bomber to rush head first towards Zero. Then, alarmed to see a heavy-set mummy running towards him full speed, he twisted around and bolted towards the right towards the wall.
Using the momentum, his feet pushed off the wall, and his sword dashed forward into a horizontal slash, cutting into the Bomber's fat that bulged out of its stomach. Guts spilled out, causing the Bomber to stumble forward. Zero used this chance to lop off its head. The adrenaline was running to the max, giving Zero the extra boost of energy that he needed.
Time felt like it was going slow; the enemy sword slid downward in front of him by a hair width. He jumped backward in time before he could be cut in half.
Dancing around on light feet, he moved gracefully around his opponent. His sword struck in a flurry of continuous strikes that became blurry for the eye to follow. Black flame burst off from his blades, creating an eerie fire.
Zero took care of the swarm, with Agnis backing him up from behind. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he went through the final mummy that stood against him.
He felt a surge of energy being replenished and his aura around him becoming brighter. His aura was getting brighter, and the surge of energy was the sign that he had leveled up. There were no messages that popped up on the screen telling him that this was a game world.
There was a vast difference between the physical and spiritual worlds in the game of Growth. He noticed that the leveling-up system was different but still had the same concept of allowing one to grow. Everything in the spiritual world was based on one's will and belief to draw upon the limited power in their body.
"Not too shabby." Zeraph finished off another Bomber by himself. The Bomber disappeared into the black mist, leaving nothing behind.
"I'm not sure if I'm glad that's over or worried about our next fight." Then, zero's black sword Kamori disappeared into thin air.
"It's not too bad, you know. We have eleven levels left to go before we complete this dungeon."
"The next one is a boss dungeon. The first one on the tenth and twenty floors was not hard. We flew past those two as if it was nothing, though now, on the third, we had some problems; it did not give us too much of a problem." Zero bit his lips and glanced over towards the door to the next level. "The fourth…we died three times trying to beat that Baphomet. So what the heck is a Baphomet doing here in this Pyramid?"
"Does it matter? It's not like it's going to eat you."
"It did." Zero scowled. "I couldn't change into my dragon form once throughout this whole Raid. I don't understand how the others are so easily hopping back and forth from human to dragon so quickly. Shouldn't I be able to do something like that?"
"I don't know. I'm not a dragon." Zeraph shrugged away his question.
"For once, a little helpful advice would be great."
"If I gave you something halfheartedly, you would probably kick my ass."
"I would."
"See. You didn't deny it a single bit."
"Yea. Yea. I know." Zero kicked the pebble on the ground, frustrated. He was still determining why he couldn't change into his dragon form like the others. Was it because he always died as a human and not once changed into his dragon form? Though nowadays, no messages state he could not change from one to another. At every turn, he was caught up in a tight situation with no space to turn big. In all honesty, if he did change, he would surely get stuck in the corridor.
The other dragons were small enough to fit through without much problem. Maybe it was because he unconsciously thought that the space was too small that he did not change. Even in the spiritual world, the size of the building was the same. It was narrow and difficult to move too much when over eighty dragons and their companions were together in one area.
"Don't worry too much. You are doing outstanding in your human form. What was it? You said you had only half your power when fighting to this point?"
Zero nodded. "That other half would be greatly useful as we get deeper into the dungeon. The last eleven probably won't be a walk in the park anymore."
"I wouldn't say it's a walk in the park, to begin with." Zeraph chuckled. "Have you seen how tired the others look? Compared to them, you could go for another round."
Turning towards the young dragons sprawled on the ground, Zero noticed that all of them were panting with heavy breath. They had difficulty standing up and instead stayed on the ground, exhausted.
"I guess so. Ten-minute break before we go fight the level forty boss?"
"That would be good." Zeraph nodded. While he was in the dungeon, he sat on the ground and took some herbs that Zero had personally concocted. They were plants that grew inside the dungeon. Even his herbal skill to mix new medicine was possible. He found out that the plants in the spiritual world were three times more potent than the natural ones, giving benefits that he did not suspect.
Still, even though there weren't many plants that grew throughout the dungeon, he procured enough to give at least three to each player. This was enough to last for three whole days by just eating one.
"You're eating what I made. I thought you wouldn't." Zero gave him a sly grin.
"I didn't say I wouldn't use it." Zeraph stopped eating and glared at him.
"But you were complaining about it when I gave you some."
"It's not complaining. It's observing the low quality that you gave me in the first place. "These
are better quality that I would like more of. Plus, I don't like to waste anything."
"Uh huh, sure~" Zero knew that Zeraph was being stubborn. Lately, Zeraph was asking for more herbal concoctions he was brewing together. Finally, he was able to make some pills that would temporarily boost a single status or more. So far, he could create pills that could give up to three status bonuses, but this required higher-level ingredients that he needed to procure himself.
Zeraph waved him off and turned around. He leaned back and closed his eyes.
Valiant came over with Reed beside him. They sat in front of Zero, exhausted. "Hey, Captain."
"Captain?" Zero cocked his head confused.
"That's what we all decided to call you from now on."
"Pass."
"But Captain~" Valiant chided with a low helpless tone of denial of Zero's words.
"Yes, Captain." Zeraph chuckled. "You should be honored, captain."
"Not you too." Zero groaned.
"Anyways, Captain, have you heard any news from team two that has been conquering the other
side?
"None so far that I know of. The last time we heard from them was on the 35th floor if I remember correctly.
"That's better than I thought." Valiant crossed his claws over each other, sitting on his hind legs, and puffed out a gust of smoke out of his nose. "I was hoping they could push through faster and
catch up to us."
"True, although we should worry about our side first."
"Yea, I know the Captain. Unfortunately, though, I've heard strange rumors from our group."
"Rumors?" Zero turned towards Valiant confused.
"There are strange rumors of shadows appearing on the same level as us. I know there aren't ghosts on these levels because we are one ourselves, but these shadows were like ghosts that you see in movies. One went through me but didn't harm me at all." Valiant shuddered. "All I felt was a flashing hot air that struck my core, and following after, I felt regretful for dying. I never felt such remorse until then."
"Regretful? Ghost? Are you sure?" Zero pulled up one of his legs, wrapped his hand around it, and leaned forward.
"Yep, Captain. I thought you're supposed to get chills running up and down one's spine, not shuddering hot flames that burn one's body." Valiant pulled Reed over to his side and brought her forward. He pulled her down onto the ground and pulled back a few clothes above her shoulder.
"Kyaaaaaaah!" Reed screamed in a high-pitched voice. She turned around and slapped the crap out of Valiant, throwing his head backward at an awkward angle. "You beast!"
"Ow, Reed. You're my girlfriend. How can you do this to me." Valiant complained of pain. He tilted his head to the side, bringing his hand to his face.
"That doesn't mean take advantage of me!"
"I was only showing him the burn mark. I wasn't going to strip you!"
"You could've asked!" Reed fumed. She clasped her clothes in embarrassment and outrage at being handled roughly by Valiant. "If you do that again, I'm going to punch the crap out of you!"
"You already do that every day." Valiant rolled his eyes and flicked his tongue out.
Zero couldn't help but feel a bit out of place at their lover's quarrel. He felt he saw something that he shouldn't have. "Ahem!" He coughed to get their attention.
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