19 Going Deeper.
The 21st floor was another reiteration of the previous floor. Except other than the LizardMan, there were a fair bit of other monsters. They were mainly Mudbeetles and vouivres.
The vouivres were a 'female' humanoid dragon monster. It has a red stone on its forehead known as the Vouivre's Tear.
They were essentially dragonic harpies. They even got the screaming, and screeching part as well.
[Vouivre-Lvl2]
HP: 450
MP: -
Magic was always the best way to deal with flying targets. And their bigger size only made it easier to debilitate them, or just straight-up exterminate them.
The Mudbeetles on the other hand was, as you would assume. A decent-sized beetle monster, one that walks on two legs. It had an all-rounder build, focusing equally on all attributes. One that would fail horribly when you are outclassed by your opponent.
Otherwise, you would be their literal nightmare.
[MudBeetle-Lv2]
HP: 650
MP: -
As always, the insect monsters were the most troublesome to deal with in groups. I could see them form a faint structure of a command line when fighting. They would not fumble around, unlike other monsters that when in groups would just storm you. After figuring
that out, they only provided a minor challenge.
The highlight of the 21st floor was most definitely this humongous mammoth appearing monster. It reached a massive seven or eight meters in height.
[MammothFool-Lvl3]
HP: 1000
MP: -
It was a sturdy and strong, yet massively slow creature. It was the perfect definition of a tank class.
It was hilariously easy to poke at it and dodge its slow counterattacks. Although that got a bit boring real quick, so I just terminated it.
The 22nd and 23rd floors are when things started to get tough, Deadly Hornets started to get into the mix.
[DeadlyHornet-Lvl3]
HP: 700
MP: -
It was a large bee monster with a stinger powerful enough to pierce heavy armor and kill a level 2 adventurer in one thrust according to the guild manual I read. They were sort of like the gatekeeper to the deeper floor. As it is a powerful monster that is largely responsible for preventing third-tier and even second-tier adventurers from proceeding.
They were much sturdier than you would be led to believe. They were erratic and much more nimble and agile than the flying monsters I was used to. Their movements were also brusque and sharp. It was a major pain in the ass to fight them.
I employed a makeshift wind barrier around me, and my reaction speed made sure I wouldn't get too hurt. They still got some hits, yet they were largely inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.
I could make the wind cloak around me thicker, but that would use up too much magic power, and potentially leave me in a vulnerable state. I preferred having some of my reserves for emergency use as a sort of panic button to press.
No-chant magic was extremely potent in that regard.
Oftentimes I find myself leaning towards magic during fights. Not that my swordsmanship is decaying or anything of the sort. It was just a very efficient manner of fighting.
My mage Development ability made it even better. It was a non-negligible difference.
The way Deadly Hornets were dealt with was a classic one. I would drag them to the ground by any means necessary. Either with some wind spells like how I used to do it, but it became a bit harder to just make them stumble with some minor magic usage.
Or I would fire magic projectiles at their wings, which proved to be the better option.
Even then, they would still struggle and try to land a hit on me in however shape or form. If they didn't already die from the magic itself.
They did indeed have a way to walk on the ground, much like normal bees. They would lunge at me with mediocre speed. Yet, it was but a foolish endeavor. Only exposing themselves to the pointy end of my sword.
It was a rigged game from the start for them.
The 24th floor was something like the hell difficulty of the previous floors in the great tree labyrinth. It was filled with all sorts of poisonous monsters that would end up infecting you, either with a bite, gaz, or even contact.
Thankfully I had a lot of antidotes on hand. If I couldn't find the corresponding one, I would only pop in a potion and it would help me top up.
That's just one of the boons of my body, I do take damage. But it wouldn't affect my overall performance. I think it would take some truly special concoction to affect me that way.
Be that as it may, I didn't bank on it and still used up the antidotes normally. Many great beings that thought themselves invulnerable or invincible perished in truly embarrassing ways. Only due to their hubris.
One cannot be too cautious in the face of death.
'Constant vigilance!' As a certain one-eyed wizard would say.
The variety of monsters on this floor was much more than any other for me. All kinds of atrocities would jump you. From Trolls to weird rabbits and even mutated insect-like Hobgoblins. None of them was too strong to deal with or deserved highlighting.
I also didn't meet Green Dragons nor Blood hives. I was told they were the 'bosses' of the tree labyrinth so to speak.
In a way almost made me question if the dungeon couldn't somehow read my mind. I could see a Blood hive forming straight from the wooden dungeon wall once I stepped into an alleyway.
[BloodHive-Lvl4]
HP: 1800
MP: 500
The blood hive was a massive hive-like monster. Its shape was similar to a pinecone and was purple. It was levitating using what I could only assume to be magic. It had no semblance of any part that may be linked to wings or anything like that.
It has somewhat merged with the dungeon wall, and the small hole on its body only added to its creepiness meter. Much like how I read, it immediately starts spewing some honey-like sticky substance. It was hard at first to avoid it the first, only because it was not apparent where its 'mouth' was.
It had no other special attacks or other means of attack for that matter. It just sat there menacingly above me.
I only understood why when I heard the massive buzzing sounds coming from the hole it came out.
My eyes widened when I could see a ridiculous amount of BattleHornets come in. I knew what I had coming, but the numbers were in the thirties at least, forties most likely.
I'm positive this number was not normal by any means.
My surprise didn't last long, however. I took a magic potion to fill my reserves up to full and backed up.
I proceeded to magically nuke the entire area up using a combination of steam and earth magic. The result was much more impressive than I thought. The entire dungeon floor and walls were decimated alongside the monsters. The magic stones and any potential monster drops were decimated as well, unfortunately. Tho there was a sign of another hole in the walls. Maybe there was another Blood Hive monster?
'What are the chances?' I shook my head.
I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard a ridiculously loud earth-shaking roar.
'I don't like where this is going.'
--------------------------------
[Status]:
Akagi Ken
Level:2
HP: 740
MP: 450
STR: 58--->60
VIT: 52--->56
DEX: 56--->59
WIS: 59--->62
Unallocated Stat points: 107
Valis: ~4mil
-Strength: S940--->EX1050
-Endurance: C680--->A800
-Dexterity: A850--->S930
-Agility: A850--->S930
-Magic: S980--->EX1260
Skills: Gamers Mind - Gamers Body - Instinct - Mind's Eye (True)- Mage- One-Handed-Sword Mastery- Smithing.
Magic : Ele magic - Non-Ele magic - Inventory.
[One-Handed-Sword Mastery: Lvl74-->76.]
[Elemental Magic: Lvl70--->73.]
[No-Ele-Magic: Lvl44-->45]
If you feel like supporting, or reading up to 10chs ahead: patr3on.com/MunirSM
