Dungeon - Fourth Floor
Focusing on his surroundings, Haru noticed the Dungeon structure hadn't changed at all compared to the first floor.
'I can hear my footsteps again.'
He wasn't yet accustomed to this feeling, but when a monster was about to appear, Haru could clearly hear the sound of his footsteps, the noise wasn't particularly loud, yet it was enough to hold up the sword. He hadn't yet assumed a real fighting style for lack of something or someone to teach him, so for the time being, Haru had decided to reproduce the Kendo. Although it was rather complicated to 'reproduce' having only seen combat from time to time, Haru knew that it would have been the perfect technique for him, the only problem is the lack of a current teacher since it was very difficult to learn on one's own.
But he avoided thinking about it for a long time, as from the ground he could see that a group of Kobolds was raising.
'..Better finish them off quickly.'
Being able to listen to their cries of pure madness, Haru's expression didn't change in the slightest. Seeing the kobolds kick the ground to gain momentum, Haru quickly changed the direction of his sword, so that he could make the horizontal cut...
---
Killing the two monsters with the tactics he had previously used, Haru took his time to breathe. Although he could go on for probably another floor, the burden of having to continually use all these forces for a single fight was felt on the body and mind.
In addition, the monsters on the second floor were stronger than those on the first floor. Although they were the same in fact, Haru suspected the parameters in their possession would only be increased as he explored the dungeon in its depths, and although Haru couldn't imagine a difference of more than 10 parameters in each statistic, It was still a new piece of information he would need for the future.
Picking up the drops composed of magic stones and 2 kobold nails, Haru went to a different room...
---
It was so, that Haru soon found a group of 3 kobolds this time, but it didn't matter how many of them appeared, as long as he could kill one and withdraw thanks to their difference in speed, trying to stop him made no sense. However, it was starting to press Haru. Although the monsters were weaker than him, their parameters were slowly increasing, while his were always the same. He theorized that once he actually got to the 4th floor, that would be his real challenge with monsters of similar parameters, but with the stamina, he had at his disposal right now, all Haru could do was probably get to the middle-end of the 3rd floor.
'I can see why adventurers face a single powerful monster to level up generally. But if the best method is to go beyond my limits, I have no choice but to try.'
Having seen Bell Cranel's actions and what made his level rise, Haru believed he had understood only one thing about it. Defeating a powerful monster was the easiest way for adventurers. A single monster was more approachable than a party of monsters, but it was also true that Haru didn't have to level up right now. What he wanted to do was try to overcome his limits, so that his parameters would increase exponentially. In case of danger, all he had to do was assign the excilia he had gained so far, becoming stronger than the monsters he faced at that moment. It could be said he wasn't really in any danger, as the system also recommended proceeding in this way. The moment Haru thought about it in fact, the latter explained a bit how the status update worked.
[Recommended: The Host's thoughts are correct. Once the status has been updated, the Host will have the experience of an immediate force returning to him, and it is estimated that proceeding up to the 4th floor, the excilia gained will be enough to overpower any monster on the floor. Warning: If the Host is in life-threatening danger, the system has been programmed to assign parameters directly without the need for consent. Do you accept the terms related to this?]
This panel in front of him was used to communicate the intentions of the system. And it had been programmed by Gaia to help him in case of danger by any means possible. However, in this case, as Haru had imagined, updating the status was the fastest method to rescue him if he was in danger. Not possessing its own consciousness, the system was asking permission to be able to act on its own when strictly necessary, and obviously, for such a thing, the permission of its Host was necessary.
Not wasting time, Haru accepted the terms as he couldn't know what would happen, so if he had extra security of not having to be the one to ask to update the status, he would accept it without hesitation.
With these thoughts in mind, Haru set out for the next room...
---
Having now killed a total of 54 goblins and 37 kobolds, Haru was taking a break at what was the middle of the third floor. After a certain point, the groups of kobold mixed with those of goblin, creating groups of 4, 5 monsters at a time, which placed even more burden on Haru's body, but taking due rest each whenever he defeated monsters, trying not to make any noise so that no more monsters would appear, Haru somehow managed to hold on. He wasn't exhausted at a mental level, and that was enough to make Haru understand the endurance in his status wasn't essentially concentrated on stamina but much more on reducing mental fatigue, and at the level of body hardness, increasing stamina through parameters wouldn't be efficient.
'I believe it increases over time and partly to the influence of parameters, but if I find myself with a strong body that has little stamina, then I wouldn't be able to do anything.'
Although his parameters would increase faster as he was in a "dangerous" situation very easily, Haru had no intention of keeping this going for long. From that day on, he would try to reduce more and more the breaks he took during training, as this was the fastest method he knew to increase stamina.
Holding the hilt of the sword once again, Haru decided to have rested enough, proceeding to the innermost part of the 3rd floor...
---
Breathing hard, Haru wedged the tip of the sword on the ground so that he had support. His attrition war had worked for the umpteenth time, and Haru had succeeded in killing 2 goblins and 3 kobolds with relative simplicity, the problem was that his stamina would need longer and longer to allow Haru to proceed further, and even now, he needed several minutes to adjust both his heartbeat and breathing.
Although trained in fact, Haru was slowly breaking what were his previous limits, and this wasn't easy to bear at all, especially because if he wanted to continue, his body could safely continue, yet his muscles had already undergone such a level of stress that Haru thought if it was really the case to proceed any further without adding the excilia he gained to his status...
[Recommended: The Host has ample chance of reaching the fourth floor, are you sure of your choice?]
According to the system, Haru could continue, but according to him this wasn't possible with his war of attrition, but before he could seriously surrender, Haru realized what the system meant.
Although the war of attrition was no longer possible due to his lack of stamina, Haru could use the counterattack. He hadn't yet perfectly learned not to lose the balance when he was in combat.
'If I use counterattack, I should be able to consume much less stamina, I see no other way to proceed.'
Finding some strength, Haru observed that a little further ahead there were other stairs, and this could only mean the 4th floor would be right here, but he wasn't at all worried. Even if he had to lose his strength or not succeed, the system would have given him all the excilia accumulated in a single moment. Knowing therefore that he wasn't risking his life for anything, Haru walked slowly towards the entrance on the 4th floor...
---
Entering the room on the 4th floor, however, Haru had a strange feeling. Unlike usual, even though he was already in the middle of the room, the monsters hadn't yet appeared, and if there was something that Haru had been informed of when this happened, was the presence of--
Before he could continue this thought, Haru could hear a cry he had read about in the catalogue, which only confirmed his suspicions.
'...Above!'
If there was any Monster that could take by surprise an adventurer, Haru wouldn't have been able to picture the idea to a monster other than this one. The monster had four legs, scaly brown skin, a tongue flicking in and out of its mouth, and a long tail. Called the Dungeon Lizard, it secretly attacked adventurers by hiding in high places. It could achieve such a feat thanks to the presence of a sucker disk under its feet.
Having information about it, Haru knew that once its attack was carried out, it would attempt to climb up, as it was its only technique.
Successfully dodging the attack due to its speed of reaction, Haru saw how it was trying to climb immediately, but before it could happen, he didn't hesitate to attack the lizard from behind, and as soon as it understood what was happening, it tried to run with all its might towards the wall to save itself from the incoming attack, but Haru's speed was too much for the lizard, who felt the pain inflicted by the sword piercing its back.
Howling in pain, it tried to bend backward, trying to bite Haru. Nevertheless, the attempt had no success since before it could even approach his face, it was enveloped by the light that indicated it had now reached its end...
Sighing, Haru knew he had already been lucky not to meet these lizards before. They had a habit of attacking stealthily when adventurers were engaged in fighting other monsters, and this made fighting even more difficult. Before Haru could think further though, he saw that a group of 4 kobolds and 2 goblins were slowly rising from the ground...
'Looks like they're not going to give me any rest time, huh...'
That's all he thought, regaining control over the sword's hilt as he couldn't back down now...
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(Seriously from the next chapter there will be that conversation lmao, I figured it was better to give Haru some more challenging moments from the start instead of skipping this. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Ah, and also join my discord.gg/y8VBZAp)