DanMachi 22

Our exploration of the dungeon continued onward, we mainly focused on attacking and clearing the Black Rhinos on the 51st floor. They gave a good amount of experience and could be found in large groups. After a few hours of farming, they completely disappeared from the floor. [Celestial Eyes] couldn't find a single one in a range of 250 kilometers around us, and when we teleported to another part of the dungeon, they just vanished into thin air. It was as if the dungeon knew they were too weak to pose any real threats and just de-spawned them all at our immediate locations. I even scanned multiple floors up and down and didn't find a single one lingering around.

Suspicious, the dungeon was really suspicious. Someone, like a dungeon master, might be controlling it, or the dungeon itself was alive. The dungeon was strange, and I have no idea what purpose it had. It was created way before the first gods descended the plane, but it somehow had ties to the primordial god of the sky, Ouranos. Who is, somehow, sealing it using all of his divinity.

Why? No one knows. The only clue we have is that something resides deep within, that needs his full attention. What mysteries the lower floors hide, no one, except Ouranos, has a clue. It might be a crazy god, or it might be just an overpowered creature whose essence is birthing these monsters, we won't find out till we reach the bottom floor.

I do however know, that the lowest anyone has ever gone was the 59th floor and that floor should have a cold climate. Although, those flower demi spirits should have already terraformed a large area around one of the stairs. We will have to clear them out if we go down that road. While exploring the 51st floor we found multiple stairs that descended and a few that ascended, knowing that the dungeon floors exponentially increase in size the lower you go. We could actually end up on the complete opposite side of the 59th floor when we get there, if we do, I won't really care about it. The place is too large to try to find a single monster den.

Actually, I had a theory about the Monster Rexes. Considering the size of the dungeon floors double on each level, there is a possibility that there are multiple Boss monsters and Boss rooms scattered around the dungeon floors, but because of its sheer size no one has found them yet.

You might be thinking that stupid, but as I have fully mapped out the first few floors, I concluded that with each floor you descend the radius of the floor doubles in size. As the first floor has a 1-kilometer radius, and a total of 3 square-kilometer area, and the second one had a 2-kilometer radius and a 13 square-kilometer area.

Going by the same logic, the 17th floor, the first one with a Monster Rex, should have a 65,536-kilometer radius and a 13 billion square kilometers area. I didn't have and will not have time to fully map it out. But there is no way most of Monster Rex's floors would be empty. So one of my future plans for this world was to farm them to gather unique resources.

[Quest: [Dungeon diving 52] Completed 52 WP(x8) Received]

As we didn't have any hunting targets on the previous floor, we descended to the 52nd. The walls of this floor didn't change, and similar to the last floor it was a labyrinth, but housed totally different types of monsters.

The Venom Scorpions, as their unimaginative name suggests, were highly venomous scorpions, the size of a larger car. Their stingers were the size of an arm and could deliver a few liters of venom upon piercing a target.

Similar to mundane spiders they had eight legs, with two sharp claws on the end of them. Two large pincers were placed just before their turtle-like maw. The combination of pincers, trying to keep you in place, while their stingers attacked you with an almost undodgeable speed, was truly hard to fight for most adventurers. Their carapace was hard and could tank a few hits of mundane swords, but was easily cut through with Oliva's. Their weakness was similar to the other insectoids we fought in the dungeon, their defensive shells mean nothing when there is a large gap between them. Allowing us to cut off their limbs and quickly execute them.

Thunder Snakes were the only magical creatures on these floors and could coat their bodies in lightning, creating a lightning armor that shocked anyone who touched them, while at the same time boosting their movement speed in the process. Their main attack method was casting lightning spells, lightning bolts, chain lightning, or lightning balls. With my ability to interrupt spells, they will be my main farming targets.

The Silver Worm, contrary to its name, was actually a 30-meter-long silver snake with a maw that could unhinge and fit a double-decker bus. They weren't fast or especially strong, but their high vitality and abnormally large resistance, both to magic and physical damage made up for it. They were an easy target for both of us and provided us with ample experience and excelia.

The only monster that didn't spawn on this floor, but had a huge presence in it, was the Valgang Dragon. They were large red-colored dragons about ten meters in size. Their wing spawns were about twenty meters and totally ignored the laws of aerodynamics, by providing enough lift to let the monsters fly. They lived on the fifty-eight floor and could detect movements all the way up to the fifty-second floor. Their answer to those movements was to shoot a highly concentrated fire breath that could blast through the floors between them and their targets, and roast them alive. Somehow the Valgang Dragons destructive actions seemed to be ignored by the dungeon.

The good thing about these dragons was that they created a fast way to the lower floors, but no one was brave enough to descend using them. Yes, I could use [Celestial Eyes] and [Void Step] to descend even further and if no shots came our way, that's what I was planning on doing. The labyrinth is fun and all, but it limits our mobility too much and increases the chances one of us will be wounded, and with poisonous enemies running around I don't want to leave it up to chance. Additionally, the confined space makes accidentally damaging the walls of the labyrinth easier, and provoking the dungeon isn't the smartest idea.

While I was waiting for the first shot from a Valgang Dragon, we let loose, massacring anything we came across. After our fifth group of monsters, the shot finally came. I kept an eye on the floors below us and the moment I noticed the ground start melting, I used [Void Step] and moved both me and Olive out of the way.

The ground started to shine brightly, as the beam of fire connected to the ceiling of the floor below it. It went from stone to molten lava in barely a moment. It slowly melted away everything in its path, giving space for a column of crimson flames that didn't stop for tens of meters more. When the flame finally winked out, I picked up Olive in a princess carry and jumped down the still-glowing hole. Coating my feet with mana I shielded them from the heat and used [Void Step] off the wall to increase the speed of our descent. Stopping on each floor for only a moment, to pick up the quest reward.

[Quest: [Dungeon diving 53] Completed 53 WP(x8) Received]

[Quest: [Dungeon diving 54] Completed 54 WP(x8) Received]

[Quest: [Dungeon diving 55] Completed 55 WP(x8) Received]

[Quest: [Dungeon diving 56] Completed 56 WP(x8) Received]

[Quest: [Dungeon diving 57] Completed 57 WP(x8) Received]

My feet dig into the wall as the last stretch of our way starts to shrink to barely a few centimeters, [Void Step] together with my perception allows me to see through the small gap and teleport outside of the swiftly closing tunnel. I teleport out of the already closed-up hole while maintaining my full momentum and appear about a kilometer up in the air over a literal hell.

[Quest: [Dungeon diving 58] Completed 58 WP(x8) Received]

The temperature difference between this floor and the last one was around 100 Celsius, making my temperature enchantments work overtime. Everywhere you could see, an ocean of lava could be found, with an occasional island of black obsidian floating around.

The bad part was, that we were heading sideways and will hit a pool of lava - Or is called magma? I'm not sure which terminology would be correct in this situation. Magma is called lava when it surfaces, but the dungeon is underground, so technically it never surfaces. - Whatever, in a few seconds we will fall into it.

Now the good part, even if I don't have a flight spell – added to the list of spells I need to create – we can easily survive a fall at terminal velocity. Both mine and Olivia's maximum movement speeds have long since exceeded 200 km/h. With mine, in my High-Elf form sitting at around 360 km/h. While Olivia's with her movement speed build stood at an astounding 685 km/h.

Running the calculations through my head, we had about 15 seconds before we hit the lava pool. I couldn't focus on the screaming Olivia in my arms, and simultaneous cast [Celestial Eyes] and [Alter Orb]. The first one to allow me to quickly locate a safe place to land, and the second to send out multiple condensed rays of ice to freeze the lava under us. I kept the spell running, and even overcharged it as much as I could so the solidified block of lava under us could serve as a foothold for even a second. The ice beam hitting the rock caused a small explosion of gas, blocking my view.

'Fuck.' I curse inwardly, not wanting the already panicking Olivia to freak out even more.

Casting another [Celestial Eyes] while keeping the first one running. I focus on the foothold under us. The mental strain from using two of these high-focus required spells in tandem starts to show. The amount of attention required for my next move forces me to activate [Focus]. The strains disappear, and my brain starts working in overdrive, as my feet touch the ground, all kinetic energy moves from my body to the floating mass of rock, it pushes it down hard, cracking it in the process and pushing it 10 meters under. Because of the force of our impact, the newly created floating block of stone displaces the liquid lava under it and a wall of lava forms all around us. Thankfully, under [Focus]'s assistance even that one second of foothold was enough for me to use [Void Step] and teleport out of the extremely hot shower.

Shutting down all my spell I look around, trying to spot any monsters nearby. A disheveled Olivia, still in my arms, pulls my shirt and gives me a death glare.

"Hey." I say looking at her with an awkward smile.

"Hey! To you too, you idiot!" she shouts, while I cast two [Mistilteinn]'s incinerating the approaching dragons. "Was jumping down to a pit of lava necessary?!?" Her shout continues.

"Not really, but it made the descent a lot more interesting." I say with a smile. She extracts herself from my embrace and fixes her clothes.

"You're sleeping on the sofa for a week!" She declares and swings her blade creating a wave of destruction and killing half a dozen dragons that were alerted of our little fight.

"Sorry, it was one of the fastest ways down, and to be honest we did get down safely. Even if we fell into the lava the enchantments and our armor would have held on a few seconds and those would have been enough for us to get out of there." I point it out, to which she sighs and swings her sword again, decimating another wave of approaching monsters.

"I know, I believe in you." She says with a sigh. "Even if you do stupid things, you wouldn't endanger my life." She says while looking away shyly. "But I would have appreciated a memo before you picked me up and jumped with me into a pit of lava." She says crossing her arms, then uncrossing them to swing at the approaching wave of dragons, killing them all in one fell swoop.

We had a little fight, but thanks to my charm, we quickly made up. My sofa sentence was lifted, but I was under probation. I was threatened with losing my snu-snu rights for a month if I got in any trouble again this week. Considering it's Wednesday and I already screwed up twice, it will be a hard task. I'll have to move the plan for Haruhime's rescue to the next week.

Honestly, the 58th floor was awesome for farming experience. You only had to dodge a few stray fire breaths and an occasional claw or tail swipe, but rarely did the monsters get sufficiently close enough to even attempt that.

The max level we could reach here was 79 and we probably would have stayed here till then, only if the heat and the constant onslaught of monsters didn't tire us out so fast. As the excelia accumulated and raised our stats, we were both surprised by a Library system notification. One that I've only seen once since I started my journey.

[Total attribute points exceeds 1,000 points.]

[Tier of your being has increased to 2.]

That was good to hear, but it did half the maximum WP we could accumulate from descending the dungeon. Now I wonder what the requirements for Tier 3 and up were. Were they stat-based like the last one or did they require something else? Only time would tell. After spending a few hours on this floor, even if our stamina wasn't running low, our mental capacities suffered and we started to make mistakes so we decided to call it a day, and [Void Step]ed home.

Checking on our falna status I find it already at halfway to level five, we could actually level up right now but it would be a waste of attribute points. We are gaining excelia at an unbelievable rate, but considering that we are fighting hundreds of monsters a level or two ahead of us, the gains are understandable.

[Falna Status] (Andrew)

Level: 4

Strength: 1,500 (SSS) > 981 (S)

Endurance: 1,500 (SSS) > 998 (S)

Dexterity: 1,500 (SSS) > 992 (S)

Agility: 1,500 (SSS) > 977 (S)

Magic: 1,500 (SSS) > 1,500 (SSS)

D.A.:

[Mage G>C] [Spirit Healing I>D] [Magic Resistance I]

Magic:

[Void Step G>D] [Mistilteinn E>D] [Celestial Eyes G>E] [Alter Orb H>F] [Gate H>F] [Celestial Forge I>G] [Clean I>F] [Infuse I>G] [Svalinn I]

Skills:

[Sage's Wisdom] [Mana's Blessing] [Magic Penetration]

[Falna Status] (Olivia)

Level: 4

Strength: 1,500 (SSS) > 1,002 (SS)

Endurance: 1,500 (SSS) > 985 (S)

Dexterity: 1,500 (SSS) > 658 (C)

Agility: 1,500 (SSS) > 1,058 (SS)

Magic: 1,500 (SSS) > 780 (B)

D.A.:

[Swordsman D>B] [Chain Attack I>F] [Crush I>G]

Magic:

[Icicles E>D] [Void Step F>C] [Clean I>F] [Infuse I>E]

Skills:

[Heart's Desire] [Sacred Dance] [True Cut]

Olivia was still struggling with gaining magical excelia, but her progress was better than previously. [Infuse] and [Void Step] provided her with some basic magical excelia gain, but I'll have to create a few spells for increasing it. The plans for the next day were to laze around and use some of the loot to create a weapon for me, and to start creating some stronger spells for the future. I already had plans on what kind of spells would complement our abilities.

After arriving home, we took a bath and went straight to bed, none of us were in a mood or had any spare energy for anything else. The constant stress and the need to be vigilant in the dungeon really did tire us out. Even if the monsters we were facing could be dispatched with a single spell or single swipe of the blade, a single mistake could cost us our lives, well, three mistakes, if you count the shield enchantment, or four for me if you count my [Blessed by Death] title.

After waking up we had a nice breakfast with all of the Hestia familia. The early meal concluded with, Hestia and Lili pulling the startled Olive to the side for an all-girl outing.

Their plans to leave were quite welcome because I planned on creating a few accessories with a special enchantment. It had to be practical and at the same time beautiful, only the best for my girl. I was planning on heavily enchanting them, to provide any and all kinds of protections, so a mixture of heavily enchantable materials will be needed. I didn't want a repeat of the pendant incident to happen, especially, if we were wearing them.

So today's tasks were the following, fix [Celestial Forge] so it doesn't leak heat and melt its surroundings, additionally, fix its ability to manipulate matter inside of it, so it's not so heavily reliant on casters mental capacities. Create a flight spell that would allow continuous flight for a longer time. Upgrade [Void Step] so it doesn't need a foothold for teleportation. Upgrade [Infusion] allowing it more flexibility. Create an area of effect damage over time aura for both of us. And lastly, I might as well upgrade [Mistilteinn] and morph it into something more powerful. Then finish all my today tasks by forging a sword for myself, as I can't fully rely only on [Mistilteinn] anymore.

It will be an eventful day, and I could barely hold my excitement, especially because of all the ideas I had for our spells. The books Riveria lent to me had a few additional runes that could allow me to upgrade all of our spells, providing them with more flexibility and overall power. I'll have to go to the Elven Kingdom with her and acquire every single book they have on magic. In the event they won't allow it, I'll just take it by force.

With the meal finished I moved to a quiet corner of the backyard, removed my notebook from my inventory, and started working on my tasks.