Those Who Aspired To Become Gods : A Darker Fairy Tale Novel Chapter 16 Chapter 13: The Legendary Annunake Pt 1

"Ha...Ha...HA..HA!"

"Good follow through, but after rotating your foot always keep your feet planted...Don't lose your balance ever!"

"...Right..Got it....Ha..Ha..HA..HA!"

'I got to say this kid isn't half bad.'

I gave Noah the basic stance and a couple exercises to do and he is already showing great promise. He has some sloppy parts to his technique but after throwing punches and doing this movement thousands of times yesterday, regardless if his muscles are tired he is keeping his form pretty good....'....Perhaps I can take him to level in the dungeon with me sometime soon.'

In the coming weeks I plan on leveling in that dungeon quite a bit with the inhabitants there. I need everybody as strong and as healthy as possible if what I have planned is going to work. It's not just to conquer this dungeon but for what is going to come afterwards. I have a meeting with Lucy and hopefully the king in just three days. If I were to somehow accomplish and beat this dungeon, there are going to be thousands of demi humans fleeing from the hell they've been trapped in for the entirety of their lives.

Not only will this be hard on the demi humans who haven't set foot into the actual world before, but the other nations and kingdoms of this continent might not know how to handle something like that. To say the least the kingdoms here aren't very high level compared to the other continents. Though if a large number of high leveled demi humans appeared out of nowhere and the local human kingdoms got wiped out by them, the central continent could take notice and attack....'...That's why I need to meet with this King Asher.'

I seriously wonder just how high level these central continent nations are. I'm told the eastern continent kingdoms aren't very strong due to them acting as a sort of borderland colony to spread their interior nations power. Though....I'm hard pressed to imagine how other kingdoms could compete in levels with the clans I met in Balor's dungeon. For leveling purposes I'd assume a dungeon would be the best environment for something like that. Each of the races down there have lived and fought in a dungeon everyday of their lives and survived. They've experienced hardships in a living nightmare of an environment and continued on for centuries. These races don't seem to have high magic like I'm sure the central continent have, but these are a race of demi humans that take on giants.

'I'm truly lucky to have been given Loki's blessing....I may one day have to thank him. It really is a cheat skill.'

Spatial magic is honestly a hack in itself. In the game Divine and Conquer Online there were some teleport type skills or warp skills that classes like warlocks could use, but they had cast times or an incantation had to be said for it to work. My magic is immediate and sort of works like an emergency escape skill as well as being incredibly useful on offense. It doesn't take much mp to use either, it all depends on how far or what I am using the spatial magic towards.

It is pretty cool to see the different kinds of uses I can come up with though. To warp that wolf man from yesterday into the sky I had to simply wait until he lunged at me and I had the space he moved into open up elsewhere. To use my ability like that the person has to be either still or I can predict where they are moving. It also helps if it's closer to me.

' If I didn't have this ability I probably couldn't have taken on those 3 in that duel yesterday either.....No...I'm sure if I had to fight all of them in that environment without my spatial magic.....Yah I probably wouldn't have made it. They clearly didn't seem to care of I died out there but I feel if I killed any of them during that battle I wouldn't have been able to talk them over to my side as easily.'

"Ha...Ha...HA!"

Noah is starting to slouch more and he isn't controlling his breathing very well.

"Noah...Take a water break for a minute."

"I'm good."

I started to walk up in front of him as he did his shadow boxing and I swung my fist in front of his face and stopped an inch away from his face. He closed his eyes and fell back on his butt.

"Wha...hey!"

I reached my hand out to pick him up.

"Always keep your eyes open. If your eyes are closed you can't avoid the hit that's coming."

"Oh.....Got it!"

He took my hand and stood up.

"Now...take a water break ."

He took my advice and sat down on the porch and drank some water out of a large bucket I had gathered from a river earlier this morning. I woke up a few hours earlier and already did my morning workout and cooked everyone breakfast. Now Lily and Ari are both inside with mom learning how to read, though last time I went in there mom was just performing magic.

'Well....I guess no harm done, mom was smiling and everyone did seem to be having a good time.'

"Hmm...Oh Noah!....After you get a drink of a water you should add those stones over there again and jog around the house 100 times.."

He looked up at me with a shocked look on his face as the water then began to spill over on his chest.

"...You just said I could take a water break."

"Yah.....that's what your doing right now...and since all the water is now gone you should get started."

Noah looked back at the now empty bucket that he didn't get to finish due to my harassment. He walked over to where the rope and stones were and I think I heard him mumble something about drinking slower next time. '...Hehe...eh it's good for him.'

He needs to build up his stamina right now, if he wants to become strong enough to take care of his sister in a world like this he needs to put in the work. Hopefully he works hard and I can get a good gage at how demi human's stats progress. From what I've gathered with meeting so many from the dungeon, I've come to find that each race of demi human have their own interesting characteristics that give them a specific advantage over other races in their particular field.

Each race I met could see quite well in that pitch black environment and have survived extreme conditions for centuries. I wonder what race traits this boy has. He should be a Lycanthia race. Even his sister is among the same legendary race of Annunake that were well respected in that dungeons alliance. From what I gathered from Jiji and Pixies had said to me is that they have magic infused in their claws and teeth and were always the ones who stood on the forefront of every fight. Due to some accident that happened on floor 44 a few years ago a large number of their species was wiped out, and after the annihilation of the Elkia race many of them fled down to floor one.

Noah then had wrapped the stones around his body and just before running he hit the tree next to him in anger. Though seconds after hitting it he stopped and just looked at the tree oddly.

"Ugh.....woh huh?"

"What's the matter? Don't tell me you have hallucinations too?"

"No it's...wait what?"

Noah still looking at the tree oddly then turned and seemed confused by my question.

"Well maybe it is a little hot today. Am I really working you too hard?"

"What no it's....I just gained a skill."

"Oh....that's cool what is it?"

"Hand to hand combat!"

"Well look at that....That's great congratulations. Now you can start working on your mastery of this which will increase your abilities by quite a bit."

"Wow...so with this fighting style of yours can I take on multiple opponents at one time?!"

Noah seeming excited for once looks at me with eager eyes.

"Well yes.....though I wouldn't recommend using my particular fighting style against armed opponents. In fact Muay Thai isn't really a martial art that would probably fair well in war or weapon based combat, not to mention magic."

"Wha...then why am I learning it? I want to learn something that is going to make me stronger fast!"

"...I learned this particular martial art for a reason, I chose learning it over several other styles and would you like to know why?"

He nodded his head in anticipation.

"Well....How's about after you get your exercises for the day through and I'll tell ya."

"..."

He just looked back at me with dead eyes and didn't seem to like that I was smirking back at him. Eventually he gave up and began to run around the house with the added weight of all the stones wrapped around his body and dragging shortly behind him.

'Hmm so he gained the hand to hand combat skill after roughly.....4,000 punches and kicks....Is this average for demi humans? It took me around two or three thousand punches to receive the skill. I wonder if that's for me being a blessed being or maybe hand to hand combat is just harder for some races to attain, I think I should start training Lilly too. I really want to see the growth rates of other humans however. It would help to see if the Annunake or especially the Reiki have some sort of hand to hand combat mastery system of their own. It would be beneficial to look deeper into this.'

After receiving all of the added experience in killing the smog dragon and those fomorians, as well as healing all of those down on floor one rose my level by 12 yesterday. Killing the level 400 giants gave the most experience but even using my healing ability gave me quite a bit of experience. I guess this is one way how priests can gain levels, I really would like to see what else the humans of this world do to get stronger.

Each of those demi humans I fought yesterday showed to have several unique abilities. I never did get to see the power of an Annunake. That Reiki woman though, she showed to have exceptional skills with a sword but I'm much more interested in the other skills she used on me. Not only did it deplete my stamina and cause massive internal damage it also depleted my from my mana pool. If I had to fight someone like that without magic she would be a truly frightening opponent....Even with my magic she was incredibly dangerous.

My current level is 165. With my Demonic Awakening ability with raising all stats by 25% putting my level roughly around level 206, while my defense and strength are doubled. My stats are already quite strong for my level. I just don't know how high some of the stats of those I was fighting were, it really is hard to tell with the cheat like abilities I have. If I had to fight all three of them I would have gotten to see just how strong each of them were, but then I wouldn't have been able to put myself in a commanding role. Thinking of the skills that Reiki must have had I opened up my own skill menu to observe what I've accumulated so far.

Skill's List:

Divine Blessing of Loki:

Spatial Magic

Universal Language Acquisition

Racial/Acquired Skills:

Decaying Mist (Abysmal) (Semi-Passive) 44/150

Bite (Active) 0/50

Dark Pressure (Semi-Passive) 3/100

Death's Grip (Active) 77/150

Demonic Absorption (Passive)

Demonic Awakening (Semi-Passive)

Fire Ball (Active) 45/100

Flicker (Active) 96/100

Hide Presence (Semi-Passive) 14/100

Lightning Step (Semi-Passive) 55/150

Lord's Earth Shattering Smash (Active) 24/150

Magic Manipulation (Passive)

Sense Presence ( Semi-Passive) 92/100

Tool Creation (Passive)

Learned Skills:

Cooking Mastery: Novice Level 3

- Added Flavor (Passive Boost)

Freya's Soul Recovery: Intermediate Level 9

Hand to Hand Combat Mastery: Intermediate Level 4

- Powerful Strike (Active)

- Stunning Blow (Active)

- Quick Fists (Semi- Passive)

Negotiation: Beginner Level 1

Ingredient Identification Mastery: Intermediate Level 2

Scythe Mastery: Beginner Level 8

- Slice (Active)

- Staff Strengthening (Semi-Passive)

Combined Skills

(Decaying Mist) + (Darkness Affinity) = ( Abysmal Mist)

Seriously my Absorption ability has allowed me to acquire an odd assortment of skills. If there was anyone who could somehow view my status and skill list I'm sure I wouldn't look like a good person. Though these aren't so bad an assortment of skills so far. A few of these skills can't be increased in mastery but I have good offensive and defensive skills to use should a difficult fight come my way. With Demonic Awakening I can increase all abilities as well. With Flicker, Lightning Step, and my spatial magic I even have great evasion and emergency escape abilities as well. I also have an intimidation skill I haven't really used yet. In a world where one false move could be your end I'm lucky to have been able to acquire such skills early on.

With Abysmal Mist and Death's Grip, I haven't quite figured out the extent of their potential yet. They're truly fearsome abilities.Though when I tried to stop that Reiki girl in her tracks by just tapping into her pulse I couldn't even use it to halt her movements. Maybe it was because she was much higher level than me that the skill didn't work.

' I guess Death's Grip is not so bad to have should things get desperate. It just....doesn't feel right to use Death Magic, but maybe increasing it's mastery could be beneficial as well. Though to increase my mastery I need to continue using it...Hmm...'

Ruf!

I hear the sounds of Fenrir's footsteps trotting around the side of the house and appears to have Ari riding on top of him. She's still very small and can fit quite easily on top of him.

Her entire complexion and look has changed so dramatically it's amazing to think only a few days ago she was so close to death. Now she's even managing to take a few steps with minor assistance.

Fenrir ran up to me while Ari held tightly onto his fur. Even though Fenrir still held the form of a pup, Ari's reach only wrapped around part of his neck to hold on while riding on top of him.

"Hey....What are you two up to?"

"...Coming to see you."

Ari reached out her hand away from Fenrir to try and crawl into my lap. She has seemed to grow attached to me for the last few days. I guess who would blame her considering her circumstances.....' But it's odd. From my conversations with Noah and Lilly, they only met humans roughly a few weeks ago. They were sold into slavery together and didn't experience nearly as much torment from humans as Ari did.....And yet, Ari has warmed up to me much quicker than the other two. I'd just assume Ari would have more precautions about humans but she shows to have absolute faith in me. She just doesn't show the same signs someone who has been a slave her whole life would normally show in my opinion.

" What are Mom and Lilly doing?"

" Elyria is giving Lilly a bath. She just gave me one too so I snuck away with Fenrir when she wasn't looking. "

Now Fenrir walked up and is rubbing the side of his face against mine and trying to be playful. Thinking about it this guy and Ari seem to be quite close. Last night when I got home I saw Ari trying to walk and Fenrir catching her when she was about to fall..'..he is a pretty smart animal....Loki made this guy hmm.'

"Good boy...."

Looking down now at Ari who was looking back up at me, I noticed her hair had began to show a much lighter, silkier color than the day I met her. Her ears looked to be quite soft now too and a pleasant scent began to fill my nose.

"Hmm...well whatever shampoo that is smells nice. Did Mom make this one too?"

"...Mmhm. Elyria said she use to make some like that from her old home. It smells so good!"

'Mom is quite the clever fox. She seems to have a lot of these random concoctions or remedies from her old life as a shaman. When I first found out her level it was 52. But now it is 63, which makes me wonder what she's been doing when I'm not around. She simply says she's been training too but her growth seems too rapid for being a mere simple method. She really is mysterious, she has been teaching me to learn magic but it's much more difficult than anything I've ever tried to understand. It's strange because things come to me much quicker than before, but understanding the basic properties of magic for elements I haven't used before seems impossible for me right now. She said she is advanced in several elemental magic which baffles me. If I didn't have my absorption I wouldn't have been able to grasp this much in the short time I've been here. Magic takes decades to comprehend and perfect it seems.'

"...So...What are you two doing?"

Ari who was looking up at me began to look at the slowly jogging Noah passing around the house.

"Oh Noah is just training a bit and I was just going over my skill's list."

"Can I see?"

"Sure why not."

I activated the display version of my status thus illuminating the skill's list I had been viewing. A small skill's list screen illuminated in front of Ari sitting in my lap in a light blue glow. Her mouth was wide open and she looked curiously through my skills.

"How's the reading lessons with Elyria going?"

"...good! Diiiee..vine be less eeng!"

"Wow that's really good yes! It's pronounced Dee vine bless eeng.!"

'It's actually quite amazing how quickly she picks things up. In fact everything this little girl shows is quite something. Whether it's cooking ingredients or anything else she has quite the good memory. She also picks things up rather quickly and only needs to be taught something once or twice to remember it permanently. Which is much quicker than my two siblings ever could do. It's quite impressive actually. Noah and Lilly can both speak human language fairly decent already but still couldn't read the language real well. Ari I think is starting to quickly surpass them.'

It didn't take me very long to translate human letters of this world into my own alphabet. Even if learning new magic might be difficult learning a new language actually wasn't all that difficult for me. It's good to know that my increased intellect counts for something....

"Hey Ari want to show me your skill list?"

"Oh ok! Mmm"

She looked to be focusing hard and trying to read the letters on her status. I wonder if the letters on her status are in human language or some other language system? Within a few seconds a small pink display popped up showing Ari's skill list.

'Hmm she seems to have a few skills already. And what's that skill?'

Ari's Skill List:

Racial/Acquired Skill's

Bite 22/50

Golden Rule

Scent Tracking Level 1

Learned Skill's

Cooking Mastery Beginner Level 2

'She had 4 skills already and one had a different mastery system it seems than the other ones. And what's golden rule?'

"Look we both have Bite!"

"Hey look at that...Who do you think bites harder?"

"Hehe I dunno..."

With that she started grinning her teeth up at me while her tail started wagging back and forth. Ari's mood has become much more playful, and after talking with each other through the late nights I think she's learned it's ok to be close to me. I just figured she would be more reserved like the others but we have a good time together. She then fumbled around in my lap to read the other skills she had. This may be the first time she has been able to read her skill list but I don't know. Ari said she learned to speak some from other slaves but didn't know how to read when we met.

Her tail continued to wag back and forth and the fur of her tail has also began to show a much lighter color than the first day we met. Even her skin now is so soft, it did say after using the skill the person's skin would look more beautiful than before. I do use this skill quite a lot on Ari, everyday in fact. I wanted to see what this healing wounds that can't be seen actually is.

Freya's Soul Recovery truly is a phenomenal healing ability. It cured this girl, it helped saved that Arachnee yesterday. It even cured many of those pixies with that strange disease, though that was only possible with using one of those magic cores. Still it seems rather convenient of a skill, but it doesn't work like other healing abilities I've seen in games.

I assume most healing abilities heal outside wounds and then the rest of your body. It feels like Freya's Soul Recovery heals individuals from the inside out. I can only use Soul Recovery on one person at a time so far regardless of the amount of magic I pour out but maybe with time that can change as well. If I recall the Freya ability came from a priest from the Asher kingdom. Hopefully I can find out more about the skill when I meet with their King in a couple of days....But I have a lot to do before then. I still need to go train at the dungeon when Hjokk gets back from giving her report to Loki.

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Lilly POV:

'Where does he go everyday?'

Vali, the man who saved me and my brother only a few days ago is such a mysterious human. I've only known humans for such a short period of time but he doesn't act much like the ones I've seen.

The other humans would always get so angry whenever I couldn't understand what they were saying and would even sometimes hit me. Noah would then always have to come to my rescue but they would only hurt him much more. But...Vali and Elyria are different. They have took us in now. They've fed us, clothed us...Elyria is even teaching us how to read.

Everything is much different for Noah and I now. For the first time since I lost the rest of my family, I feel.....safe. It's all because of him. The man called Vali not only saved Noah and I but others, and he's never once asked for anything from us for it. Noah was sure it was all just an act and we might just get sold back into slavery later but I don't think so. The way he treats us....the way he treats Ari....I don't believe he would hurt us demi humans. He has such kind eyes, they just look so sad sometimes. I just want to know more about him.

I'm trying to follow the path he left with Hjokk only a short while ago. She came flying down from the sky in her bird form and they both left shortly after that. Vali leaves everyday to someplace so I snuck away while Elyria and Ari were inside and Noah was busy training.

'Ugh....this place really looks unfamiliar....Where did he go.'

I've been walking in this forest for a short time but I can't find his tracks anymore....

Snap!

'What was that!'

I heard an odd sound deep in the forest. I turned around and didn't see anything. I started to walk faster but the noises began to grow louder. I could feel eyes staring at me and the sounds slowly getting closer.

My breathing quickened and my heart started to race..'...Ugh maybe I shouldn't have come out here....Vali...Where are you?'

Snap!

"Eh!"

I started to run deep into the woods after the sound of something snapping close behind me. I ran as fast as I could, even though I had no idea where I was. I just kept running....

'Vali.....if I can just find him!'

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Vali's POV:

Arriving back at the dungeon I witnessed a scene I wasn't exactly expecting.

Hjokk arrived back at the cabin earlier and we soon went back to the dungeon to go level. I don't like the idea of taking Noah or anyone else for that matter just yet, not until I build up a good report with the inhabitants there. If relations with these races get better maybe I can take Fenrir here to level later, maybe even mom. We would need to wait till Ari is able to walk, but I think if everyone were to raise their levels some it would be beneficial for each of them. Especially in a world like this.

'If this game world works like the game I played it might be possible to try power leveling with everyone.'

In Divine and Conquer Online it wasn't rare to see some small level parties with one or two larger leveled players. Together they would take on much stronger opponents so the smaller leveled party members can increase their level quicker. There are usually penalties to the experience gained when this act happens, but it is still not a bad way to level up a player.

'Well....that's what I was planning on doing with everyone in the lower levels today anyways, I just expected a bigger turn out.'

When me and Hjokk arrived on floor 52 of the legendary grand dungeon, Malfius along with many other Reiki and pixies were waiting for me. No other races however showed up. I guess I just assumed I would be speaking to the race leaders today about some of the plans I gave to Malfius yesterday. The same red pixie leader from yesterday is here along with many other members from her race that also glowed like the others, but no other races are here. We are currently in a courtyard in the inner city on floor 52 and even though there are other races walking around they don't seem to be paying attention to us.

"Ah...Vali, you've arrived. I figured you'd bring some new odd animal with you."

"Haha hey Malfius. Yah Fenrir is back at home but I have Hjokk again with me. So are we going to meet with all the leaders to discuss what we'll be doing from here on out?"

After questioning Malfius he made a troubled face but didn't break eye contact with me. He was a very strong founded man that looked to have been through countless war, he never broke character once but he did seem to not look very pleased.

"Yes well....this is it. These are the individuals who have decided to go along with you Vali."

"....."

'I assumed after my display last night it would have been enough to make the leaders submit to my ways and hopefully make them want to believe in me. The only races I see here are Reiki and Pixies. Do they not trust humans that much?'

"But it is ok son....We will make the others come around soon. We will continue with our own plans, let me handle the other leaders for now. I will make them see the value in the Reiki way of life, I will make them see the value in you, they won't have a choice but to take notice."

He seemed confident, in fact everyone behind him who stood at attention were in an intricate formation. Each of them stood tall and proud, these were people who for centuries have fought for one single purpose. Even after failure and heartache they continued the fight to escape this prison. Many gave up and decided it was better to live out their days in this dungeon. But these few never gave up.

"....I'd be proud to fight next each of you.....Soon you are all going to escape this place!"

All the Reiki smirked and looked back at me but the pixies started talking amongst themselves and started to flicker their wings excitedly.

"...Yes...And we too would be proud to fight next to you sir Vali!"

The small red pixie started to walk up to me and Malfius. She had short crimson hair but he light surrounding her along with her dress was a bright red. The light from her bright red wings sparkled and danced with the environment she walked around. She was level 186 but she proud amongst everyone present.

"...Tha...Thank you for healing so many of our own."

"It's ok Cosmia, He doesn't mind if you hug him!"

Walking out from the other pixies I see the girl Aurora I had healed last night. After I noticed her I felt a light tug on my clothes and a small weight pressing against mine. The small pixie queen embraced my much larger body.

"Umm it's ok, just happy to help where I could."

'She seemed much different than the other race leaders. She didn't have childlike features but she did have a rather small body. But the impression I got form her was also different than the other race leaders. Even yesterday when I first saw her she didn't give me the same looks as the other races there.'

"You see Vali, not many of us were aware of your exploits just before the Alliance meeting yesterday. There are many unhealthy and wounded down on floor 1. There is also a weird disease that infected many of the pixie race not too long ago. We aren't sure how the disease first spread but once it infected the pixie it would begin to rot them from the inside out. We had never seen anything like it before."

The small pixie woman Aurora called Cosmia slowly backed away from me and then continued to look into my eyes with extreme sorrow.

"Yes...We didn't know how it spread so quickly amongst our race....so....we had to quarantine those with the symptoms as to not infect everyone else."

"So you all just sent them to floor 1 and that was that?"

"You see Vali...The pixie race aren't like the other races. They are..... each connected to one another. When one is hurt or injured, the others in the surroundings will share their life force with them."

"Yes...and when the rot started to set in amongst our race no matter how much life force we would share, the disease would win out...If we continued to live beside those that were infected....our whole race would reach annihilation. "

Malfius and Cosmia both began to explain to me the strange epidemic that struck the pixie race only a few months ago. The pixie's appear to be quite the peculiar race as if one is injured in this case sick, the surrounding pixies will share their life force or hp and mana with one another. That's quite the convenient race trait. Alone they might be weak but if they were to fight coordinately together they could have some real potential.

Cosmia looked to be quite despondent over the whole situation. She told me that her race are all family to one another, not only that but they live for one another. When they had to separate from one another made them all heartbroken. Apparently many of the pixies who weren't infected still decided to leave to floor 1 to be with some of those who were. Tanin was one of those such individuals who wasn't infected originally but left to be with Aurora.

Though I don't see him right now....Now that I think of it he was one of the pixies I didn't get to heal last night. Since none of the pixies ever really walked up to me to be healed they just danced and hugged those who were. He just happened to be one of the ones I didn't get to.

"Well.....how's about today we work on collecting as many of those odd magical cores. They are apparently the only thing to take away that odd rot and heal the pixies so lets begin there."

"Yes...I have sent a small team to floor 14. There is a good hunting spot that have many monsters with those stones in their heads or chests. We're also trying to do some trades with the other races for theirs. We should have a good number by the end of the day for you."

"That's good. I was planning on going and fighting some of the monsters on each floor and hopefully take some of the lower leveled inhabitants with me. Is it possible if some of your men can also start going to the lower floors and take groups out to level....make a priority on safety."

"...Yes that can be arranged. We each have our own training and quotas to reach but we can work something out in shifts with each of our members. Are you planning on making some of the smaller races fight alongside us against the Fomorians?"

Malfius said this while looking to those standing at attention behind him. They were all in monk attire aside from one. I didn't see her before but it's that Reiki girl I beat in the 3 on 1 duel before. She isn't in her normal black attire but she isn't in the same attire as everyone else either. She's wearing something that resembles an asian qipao but it's much longer and more elegant...'..She actually pulls off the whole exotic look.'

"Mmm I'm not sure. It might be impossible but we need everyone as healthy and high level as possible if we want all of this to work. It will just help a lot is all."

"I agree. It is going to be a joint effort to escape this cell. If we continue down the paths we have already walked we will only be met with more loss."

He seemed confident in me. After looking into his eyes I could see though that Malfius had a lot more on his mind than he was letting on. I guess I can't blame him. He looked off into the bright red sky and said with a serious face.

" If we only focus on making the best moves, we will never get the better of our enemies. When necessary, we must take those big risks in battle, and prepared to lose it all. That is the only way we will accomplish victory here."

The words of a man who's willing to fight giants with his fists....Even if I haven't made many allies in this dungeon, this person seems to be very dependable. He isn't a simple warrior who fights monsters but one who analyzes everything. I feel that I can trust him.

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Roooraghhh

Looking at the odd large beast in front of me I'm amazed this is a monster on floor 1. It's pretty big for a level 24 monster and has a mouth that opens bigger than my whole body. It looks kind of light a black eel and hovers just above the ground.

It floats just a few feet over the floor and slivers its body like a a snake throughout the dungeon. It's very quick for its large size but shouldn't pose much trouble for me. With me are Hjokk, Aurora, Tanin, and another pixie girl named Cyanna. Karma the archnee girl along with her mother Reinma also decided to join us in leveling today. There is also that Reiki woman from earlier, she eventually introduced herself as Meifeng. Even if she is a Reiki she has apparently joined the Eis Neko's but after her loss with me she promised to teach me how to use a sword.

Those shining swords are apparently only awarded to high ranking members as they are very valuable and made from a scarce material. I'm using the frost sword for now. I've told everyone here that the first time we encounter a particular monster to stay in formation but allow me to take it on. This way I can get a feel for their movements and abilities before allowing anyone else to jump in....we are training with a priority on safety. Last night one of these monsters went through the city walls and killed roughly 10 people before being taken down. I also found out after coming back to floor 1 that 3 more pixies passed away that didn't receive treatment from yesterday. Even though Soul Recovery healed their wounds and lightened their symptoms, this rotting disease is quite lethal to pixies. But it hasn't effected any other race that I'm aware of.

The reason the pixies who were infected were moved away from the healthier pixies is that due to their race trait of sharing their own life force with one another would ultimately mean the end for all of them. If one is affected by the disease the others would continuously share life force with them until they were eventually all gone. Simply sharing health and magic with one another wasn't enough to heal the strange rot.

Since the only cure we know of for this rot using magic stones, I had Malfius and many of his followers to collect these strange monster cores and to bring them to the lower floors. I also sent them to acquire any supplies, food, and old armor or weapons they weren't using. I found it odd that in a dungeon I haven't seen any of these demi humans use any form of armor.

When I asked them why this was they said they use to wear armor on some of the lower floors, but once they met with the Fomorian race armor was meaningless and only slowed you down to get eaten by those monsters. Regardless of what armor they developed it was merely ripped to shreds by their long skewer like claws.

Right now though the pixies are wearing some odd leather armor that looks to be made out of some hide of an insect monster, and the Arachnee girls are each holding large sticks with sharped horns on the tips of them. Each of these items were made by the Jiji race and I'm becoming more and more amazed at each of the races down here. I was expecting everyone to be a in a sullen and broken state living in such a place their whole lives but each of them have quite the drive to stay alive. Everyone contributes together on floor 1 and helps hunt together. Even if they aren't strong individually in fighting they work together quite well.

I've seen each of them fight already with some mongoose type monsters earlier on this floor. Even though their levels aren't very high and they aren't quite strong, they were all quite crafty. The pixies would make the arachnee and themselves invisible for a short time and then strike at the enemies flank. Whenever the monster would turn in their direction the Arachnee would then attack it from the other side with their spider legs. The Arachnee use their front spider legs almost like lances. Even though Karma's legs weren't very sharp she could still secrete a small neurotoxin that works as a paralysis on some monsters. It's not incredibly strong but it's enough to slow down an opponent long enough for everyone else to take it down.

Her mother Reinma can also produces tiny threads from her fingers that she uses to help bind the mongoose type monsters. Each race has such interesting methods and these aren't learned abilities but racial traits they were born with. It's interesting to see how they coordinate each of their abilities to take on monsters. I wonder what kind of growth these species can have if trained properly.

Even though I have seen them take on other monsters already I'm having a bit of trouble with this new type of monster. If you don't take it out before it notices your presence the beast becomes quite difficult to catch. Not that it's in anyway faster than me but it has probably one of the most incredible abilities I've seen so far from a monster.

I jumped towards the long eel like monster known as a Boden Esser swinging my sword. I'm not sure what the title means but they refer to it as the floor one devourer. Just before my sword struck the slimy hide of the eel it slithered and passed straight through the solid rock of the dungeon wall.

"Wha!...Damn!"

It was starting to get kind of annoying as anytime I got close it would phase right through the dirt or rock surrounding it and pop up somewhere else. This strange skill gave it the ability to travel freely through solid matter. It is also the same ability that gave this beast the way to enter and exit the city with ease. I didn't know just how dangerous this floor was until I started to fight this monster. It can honestly appear anywhere it wants to with such an ability and has left the residents of this floor in a pretty desperate state.

I activated my presence sense but it was hard to get a good idea of where it was with just by a 2D display in my view. It also apparently had an ability to secrete some type of toxic gas that stuns individuals giving it the opportunity to devour the victims while they are still alive.

Seeeehhh SAAAA!

Hearing the strange noise it made a small green vapor started floating into my view and I looked below the floor at something trying to bite me. The Boden monster attempted to bite my leg but my defenses were much to strong for it to penetrate.

Before it had the opportunity to flee I activated lightning step and crushed the top of its head like one of those wack a mole games you'd see in an arcade. The moment the sword blade touched the head of the monster, it splattered completely with the neck area being slowly encroached with icicles. It was a one hit kill.

"Hey I went up another level!"

Karma started to show her mom her status and everyone was now in a much less tense state now that all the enemies were killed. They had each killed several bat type monsters as well as helped take down this Boden Esser that we came across while hunting. We were using the party system with everyone here besides Hjokk and Meifeng. We were using this time to train the lower leveled people along with many other groups on this floor.

Several of the other Reiki took other groups to go out hunting. If you register everyone in your group in a party every monster you take down share the experience with everyone registered under that party. Since Hjokk and Meifeng weren't really fighting but observing this worked out well for us.

"Hmm that appears to be quite the sword you have there Vali. May I have a closer look?"

While I was looking at the drops an eel like monster would leave behind, Meifeng walked up behind me looking at the frost sword I had with me. She motioned that she wanted to observe the weapon more closely while I began to dismantle the large eel like monster in front of me.

Meifeng promised to teach me sword mastery but today she has taken more of a backseat role and just observed me. She has told me the proper way to hold my sword and basic swinging motions but other than that she hasn't said much. She may still be upset about yesterday.

Since the eel monster was stuck in the ground I had Reinma wrap her threads around it so we could pull the rest of the dead monster from the dirt.

"This seems to be quite the strong sword, it may even have some special abilities added to it."

"Yah but even though it's a legendary weapon it can't even cut the fur of a Fomorian."

"Hmm...are you sure? It definitely feels strong enough, perhaps you weren't using the sword properly."

After Meifeng said that I remembered that I still don't have the sword mastery skill yet. After raising my hand to hand combat skill, it said I wouldn't receive any penalties when holding weapons but maybe that doesn't apply if I don't even have a sword combat mastery system. I just used it essentially like a saw to see if it could cut any of the meat but it couldn't cut past the thick dark fur. A legendary and even an ancient class weapon is strong enough that kingdoms would move to acquire one. Maybe Meifeng is right and I just couldn't pull out it's true power yet. I guess I won't know until I gain a sword mastery skill of some kind.

Thinking of this I continued to dismantle each of the monsters along with the pixies and Arachnee in my party.

Even though each of them were low level they worked quite well together already and brought unique abilities to the party. Though we didn't have any Jiji with us today, I was learning more and more the benefits of having a demi human party. Many of the Jiji race who didn't go out to level are actually working in the city right now. They used the leathers from those bull like animals from yesterday's feast and made blankets and clothing out of them. Even though the material weren't that great they also used it to cover the outside of their shacks to help with ventilation.

The Jiji race don't look very strong physically but it't amazing to see the things they can make using such odd materials. I believe they are the race that is responsible for creating that big wall, maybe even those odd cannon shaped weapons. I must say out of all the races I've met down here they might be the most phenomenal. They are a race of little tinkers that have even built houses with items resembling trash and kept their homes standing.

After we collected all the monsters leather and meat we decided it was time to get back to Anfang. Amongst the drops from the monsters were just the meat, leather, mongoose claws, and some weird oil like substance that came from that eel. I gathered the hearts as well and decided I would eat them later while we prepared another meal for everyone.

Since we weren't the only party that went out hunting today, and there are more Reiki who are fighting on other floors we should be able to have enough food to feed everyone again. If not I guess it wouldn't be so bad to have Hjokk go gather some food again, but I don't think she likes being sent to collect things for me very much.

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