23 Reaching the Final Floor!

After resting in the boss room where he killed the Spider Matriarch, Sam felt he was now in a good state to challenge the second floor of the dungeon.

He arrived at the second floor, and what he was met with was a blue bolt charging toward him from the get-go.

Sam sidestepped just in the nick of time and looked forward to seeing a hooded figure with a shadowy aura surrounding him. He was wielding a staff with two hands and stared at Sam with blue lights flashing from his eyes.

"Undead!"

Which meant Sam would have to face the necromancer controlling the undead as the boss. Undeads aren't rare, but not common either. Usually, high-ranking mages who decide to learn the dark arts of Necromancy command the undead, and the necromancers themselves lose their mind in madness as the dark magic corrupts their brain.

Sam had dealt with a few undead himself later in his life and initially was terrified at the idea of killing dead corpses who were reanimated to the necromancer's will. But soon, he had to steel himself believing that the undead he is facing is long dead, and killing them would be beneficial for them.

The undead may take a class, and either become a sword-wielder, magic user, or a healer that uses poisons to heal their undead fellows. The one Sam is facing is an undead mage, which shouldn't be too difficult to fight, but Sam may not be able to handle a horde of undead zombies with different classes.

"Take this!"

Sam charges at the undead mage and slashes the head of the mage with a single motion, the head falls off but the mage still continues to chant. Sam then remembered how to defeat the undead, by crushing the head or killing the heart that is running on magic. Sam dodged the mage's bolt and rolled near the head he had just cut off.

STOMP!

He stomped the head, crushing it into a mush. Smoke began to cover the undead's body and it dropped to the ground with a loud thud.

Sam continued on ahead, making sure to check every inch in search of treasure.

Soon, he came into a room, similar to the one downstairs made by the Prince.

'This could be another study!'

He opened the door once again with all his might, and soon he visits a bed chamber of sorts.

It was huge, it contained a bed covered in dust, a carpet also in dire straits, and a desk with a single note next to a pot of ink.

Sam walked towards the desk first and picked up the note. This was similar to the diary note from the first floor, and this must be a continuation of that.

"I don't know why I am writing such a note, maybe out of frustration, maybe out of anger.

I returned to my Kingdom with a newfound goal, to make my father acknowledge my marriage with my wife, but I did not know how to tell my father that I, his son, would fall in love with a dragon, a species he grew up to hate.

Lissandra was in a deep sleep, stating that I would wake her up when I am done with this, so I had ample time at hand to do this. For the first few months, I aided my father to first make him see the positive in me before I could break the news. From military campaigns to aiding diplomacy between the rest of the kingdoms, I saw my father trust me in delicate situations.

But I grew depressed, wanting to stay with my wife. Maybe that was my mistake, for when I went to my father and announced my love for her, he grew angry, upset that his only son could be like this. He locked me up and began a search for Lissandra.

I tried to escape, but the men guarding me were all masters. My escape would be futile.

Then, I heard the news. They found her, and during the battle, I couldn't sit still. My father needed the men guarding me so I was left alone in the cell with no one to stop me from escaping.

When I arrived back at the cave, I witnessed something that I could never forget. My father, standing above the head of a large green dragon with a sword in hand celebrating his victory. I watched dumbfounded and secretly hid away while in a state of shock. I've shed so many tears for her, there is no more water stored in my eyes.

Then, I remembered something. Dragon's blood. Next to me right now is a pot of dragon blood that I had stored from Lissandra's corpse. It was a myth that I learned as a kid that a dragon's blood could make a commoner into a master instantly. But Lissandra during our night talks confirmed it to me when we were still together. There is but a catch, the user would eventually lose his mind and become a crazed maniac for the rest of their life.

I will drink this, even though I know it will kill me. I can't live without Lissandra, and I want revenge. My father thinks I'll return to him, and he is right. But not in the way he thinks I'll return.

If you find this note, know that I did this for love and that Lissandra and I will be together in whatever heaven exists."

The note ends there. Sam began to wonder, what happened to his kingdom? Sam wasn't well-versed in the Other World's history, or even how the world works for that matter.

Adventurers and mercenaries usually tend to stay in the region they began in, which for Sam was not in this region at all. He doesn't even know where the region he started in was at the moment from his present location.

Sam placed the note back on the table and continued forward into the cave.

The floor itself was not as much of a maze as some of the caves Sam had visited in the past, but nevertheless, it was rather tricky to navigate as going into a dead end could lead to you losing your life.

Sounds of bones rattling stopped Sam in his track and as he turned he spots a skeleton figure wielding an axe charging at him.

He dodges to the left and swings his weapon at the skeleton. The skeleton's body split in half, but quickly after he begins to rebuild itself in front of Sam.

Skeletons need their heads to be crushed in order to permanently kill them, similar to those zombies in tv shows.

Sam who saw the skeleton rise from the ground slammed his great axe on the head of the skeleton, and soon fire began to spout out of the axe causing the skeleton to burst into flames and turn into ash.

'… So overpowered!'

Sam was glad that he had this weapon early in his journey, as it would make situations much easier to deal with.

He continued through the cave, making turns and guessing which one was in the right direction and which one wasn't.

Soon, however, Sam made it to a dead end.

'Shit.'

But Sam wasn't worried, he turned around and saw two undead mages and three undead rogues who were each wielding dual daggers come at him with all their might.

The undead mages cast frostbolt to slow Sam down but Sam rolled and pushed past the rogues who were swinging at him.

Sam was now in the middle of the undead group who were circling him, and he quickly cast <Whirlwind>!

SHUAAAA!

The Crimson Fire Greataxe began to spout fire while Sam was spinning around rapidly causing all the skeletons to burn in the flame.

Soon, Sam's surrounding air was filled with dust, or should I say ash, of the skeletons that were now burnt.

[[DING! You have leveled up!]]

Sam coughed and waved his hand to remove the dust that was covering his nose before treading forward and returning to the right path to the boss room.

After a while of walking and killing any skeletons that were in his way, Sam finally made it into the boss room.

It was quiet, similar to that of the boss room downstairs, but that soon changed when a dark shadowy figure began to rise up from the ground like a ghost.

It was wearing a hood, and its fingers were human-like, albeit extremely old.

'Necromancer!'

Sam gripped his great axe and without hesitation charged at the Necromancer, not giving it any chance to summon a bunch of undead to attack Sam.

However, when the axe reached the Necromancer, he teleported away and traveled behind Sam near the entrance.

"SHUAAAA!"

The Necromancer raised his staff and began chanting. Sam recognized it as the Necromancer summoning his peons, so he began charging again at full speed to stop the spell.

Since the Necromancer was in mid-spell, Sam's attack hit, which damaged the Necromancer, but the Necromancer was already done with the spell and Sam was too late.

"GRAAAAAH!"

A large giant began to appear behind Sam, it was an undead Giant, but unlike the low-level undead whos bodies were skeleton and easy to deal with, this Giant was flesh and bone meaning it was definitely higher level than what Sam had dealt with before.

Sam raised his great axe and began to channel fireballs to hit the undead Giant, but it was futile as it didn't do any damage.

'I guess the only way to win this is to kill the Necromancer!'

Sam turned around and with a swift motion swung the weapon at the Necromancer who teleported away right before the swing hit.

"RAHHHHH!"

The ground was shaking, and Sam rolled away instinctively as he saw the undead Giant try to flatten him with a jump.

'Crap!'

Sam didn't expect that attack and saw that the Necromancer was now behind the undead Giant and is using it as cover to stop Sam from attacking it.

He needed a plan, but Sam couldn't think of one as the Giant didn't give Sam time to breathe as he jumped again but this time with its torso slamming into the ground.

Sam jumped up and backrolled away once more, but saw this as an opportunity as the undead Giant was now on the ground.

He looked at the Necromancer who was summoning more peons once again to deal with Sam and charged once again with full force.

SLAM!

The great axe hit the Necromancer's torso, slicing it in half and causing black ooze to spout out.

It wasn't dead, however, and the undead Giant that was once on the ground saw that Sam nearly killed its master and was soon enraged.

Sam raised his great axe and with fire now covering the blade chopped the Necromancer's head causing it to burn and soon turn into ash.

The giant that was charging soon began to dissolve into ash in front of Sam and soon he was standing in ash as if it was sand.

[[You have levelled up!]]

[[DING! You have gained skill: Summon!]]

Sam raised his eyebrow as he saw a new skill and quickly checked what it was.

[[Summon: You may summon a single entity from the spiritual realm to be your pet!]]

'What? I am now a summoner?'

In his previous life, summoners were people who summoned pets that could attack for them and support them during combat. They were extremely useful in either doing damage to the enemy or buffing the summoner and its party. They were coveted by many adventuring parties who needed that buff that would help secure their victory against many different foes.

Sam smiled and decided not to summon them here, but rather when he is back in the village. He turned around and saw the stairs appear at the end of the boss room.

He quickly walked towards the boss room, not resting at all, and heading to the final floor.

As he reached the final floor, he was kinda shocked to see it wasn't similar to the previous floors that he just cleared.

It was similar to that of a home, albeit destroyed. Everything was covered in dust, and the chairs and tables were destroyed and pushed aside.

There were three rooms, one room already opened and Sam walked in to see that it was just a toilet.

The other room opposite it was closed, but Sam recognized it as another study like the rooms below.

He opened it with his full strength once more and was greeted with a destroyed room.

He saw that there was a note on the floor, but the writing was extremely rushed and even drops of what looked to be red blobs were covering the words.

But nevertheless, Sam could read it.

"To whoever reads this, I can't write for any longer.

I drank the blood of my beloved, and I feel like my entire being is changing before me.

The memories that I once treasured are slowly being faded out of existence, and I fear that I soon might become something that won't be me.

After I drank the blood, I returned home and confronted my father but this time with the almighty power I gained from it.

It was exhilarating, and my father who saw me looked at me with disappointment and anger, but I did not care.

How dare he, how dare he kill… kill… her.

I toppled the entire capital to the ground and murdered my father with my claw.

But in the end, I felt… empty.

After doing the deed, I returned to the cave and began writing this note…

I have locked myself in her sleeping room, the key is in this room somewhere.

If you find this note, I am dead. But not my body, who is sleeping in that room.

Do as you wish, but do not let me escape my prison.

Prince… I forgo-"

The note ends there.

Sam read the note and ran out of the room to see the large door that was straight ahead in the corridor.

'The Dragonifed Prince is in that room huh…'

Sam questioned if he could fight such a terrible beast, but as he was having thoughts like that he was interrupted by the system.

[[DING! This is the final boss room. Clear this, and you shall gain the reward given to you by the system]]

"Isn't he too strong for me?"

[[DING! Go and find out.]]

Sam clicked his tongue and returned back to the study and began searching the room for the key.

After a long while of picking up debris, he found it. It was a large key, the same size as his great axe, and with two hands he carried it to the entrance of the door.

Soon, Sam spotted a large keyhole appear and he placed the key into it.

Click!

The door opened, and as if it was controlled by magic it opened by itself.

Sam saw a human figure resting on what looked to be a throne.

It was wearing black armor, and in the middle of that armor was a red gem that shone brightly.

"You who have entered my den."

A deep and enchanting voice reached Sam's ears, which caused Sam to ready his weapon.

"Why have you come here? What has tempted you to do so?"

Sam didn't know how to answer that question, what could he say? Oh, the system told me to come!

"Never mind, it seems you do not know why from the looks of it. Very well."

The figure stood up and walked a few steps away from the chair.

Soon, his eyes began to glow red and a large black tail spouted out of the back of the figure.

"To awaken my slumber is something no dragon can forgive. Ready yourself human!"

A loud roar stunned Sam, but he shook his head and held his great axe in a defensive position, expecting an unexpected attack.

Let the battle begin!

**

Meanwhile, on Earth.

In a secret location, which was guarded by soldiers from the United Earth Army.

Political figures with lots of power began to arrive in the building incognito, and soon a hall similar to that of a university lecture hall was filled with people who each have the power to start a war if they wanted to do so.

"Do you know why we were summoned here?"

"I don't know, but if the president used a red alert to summon us it means it is something extremely important!"

Murmurings of what was going on were loud, but soon they quieted down when they saw the President of the United Earth.

It was an elderly person who was wearing a Chinese tunic suit.

He walked towards the podium, and despite being an elderly figure with a walking cane, each step was powerful and his body stood straight.

"Gentlemen, there has been not a single moment in this world's history that we have called every powerful figure into a single room. But this information I am about to share with you is extremely important and it must never leave this room, or else you shall face death under the United Earth law!"

Silence, each person had a serious expression on their face.

"A few nights ago, we discovered something important to this world's survival!

This 'thing' could improve all the resource crises we have been facing for the past fifty years!

What we have discovered… is a portal to another world!"