"Earth Wall!"
Mud walls rose up around me. This of course was all made using my [Cloning] skill. I didn't have to shout, but in this world saying out the skill name or magic spell is required in order to activate it. Only special individuals or unique skills can bypass this requirement. Since this dungeon is open to the public, I need to start being more careful. Even though it's super cringey… anything I do that's eye-catchy should be accompanied by a shout.
The mud walls surrounded me leaving only had two openings that the lizardmen could enter. One of the mistakes I made during my fight with the cockroach army back then, was blindly rushing in aiming for the Queen. I got surrounded as a result. I still believe that aiming for the healers and support units is the right way to start a battle, but in this case, there were no such units. My only opponents were 100+ lizardmen.
The first batch of lizardmen entered my self-made arena. I leaped to the side to avoid the incoming claw slash. With my Blood Bane imitation, I slashed at the lizardman who attacked me.
*Ching*
My attack was blocked by its arm and only left a white scratch on its scales.
"Tch. Tough bastard."
Using the momentum from the recoil of the deflected attack, I swung the real Blood Bane diagonally upwards. Blood spurted out of the small slash wound that appeared on the lizardman's arms.
"Shhhaaa!"
The lizardman shouted and his body started to glow with a green light. The wound on its arms started to close up and heal.
"Ugh! You guys even have a regenerative skill?"
I jumped back as another lizardman swiped its tail towards me. More and more lizardmen began pouring into my arena. My initial plan was to slowly kill them off but because of their tough scales and regenerative skill, that plan has gone out the window.
"No wait. I still have that skill."
I riled up my mana and controlled it to surround my shortswords. [Mana Coating], a skill I got from Albert. His original skill was called [Sharpen], I think and it increased his sword damage.
"Let's see what my version can do."
Four lizardmen were now running towards me. Waiting for them to get closer, I prepared my stance.
"Whirlwind!"
I tried to copy the skill that Dawn used. But really I was just spinning around with my swords extended out. The three closest lizardmen had no time to react and my shortswords easily cut through their scales leaving a deep slash wound. The last one raised its arms to defend but they were only chopped off instead.
"Haha! It works! Ah but the MP drain is a little taxing."
I separated some mud to dissolve the downed lizardmen while I rushed towards the other lizardmen in my arena. I continued slashing and dodging while fighting. When a lizardman snuck up behind me to attack, I was going to turn and block before counterattacking. But the swamp terrain caused me to slip and fall to the ground. Thankfully, this caused the lizardman's attack to miss and I quickly rolled away getting dirty in the process.
"Shit. No wonder this dungeon is so unpopular."
Large amounts of monsters with regenerative skills, plus a dark environment with unsolid footing. The lack of light wasn't a problem for me because of [Sensing], but the muddy ground was troublesome. I observed the lizardmen's feet to see how they are dealing with it and saw that they had webbing which gave them a wider area to stand on.
I used [Shapeshift] to mimic them and found it much easier to move around. In this way, I continued to fight the lizardmen.
###
"Haa… To think they would climb over the walls…"
After an hour or two of fighting I was sitting on the ground resting. Around me were corpses of lizardmen that were starting to evaporate. Magic crystals and green orbs were lying around, and some of my mud was dissolving bodies for mana.
During my fight with the lizardmen, I avoided using my mud too much and focused solely on honing my sword skills. As I used Blood Bane to cut apart the lizardmen, I noticed my HP rise by a small amount thanks to the [Blood Suck] skill on it. I gave up using dual sword style and just used Blood Bane from that point on.
"I used [Dissolve] on some living lizardman but I didn't get their regeneration skill. Tsk cheapskates."
The lizardmen were quite agile. I found myself in tricky situations multiple times and got hit more than I wanted to. But thanks to my skills, mud body, and reflexes, I avoided taking any real damage. Most importantly, none of the hits affected my original body. Taking note from that last time when the Cockroach Knight stabbed my shoulder, I always used [Sensing] to monitor the battle arena. When I found some lizardmen about to jump off my walls, I rashly reacted by detonating the part they were standing on. It's dangerous for the opponent to have the high ground after all.
Thinking back, I could have probably dealt with it in a better way such as controlling the mud wall to restrain them. But I forgot I could do that because I had been fighting so long only using the sword.
"Not good. I should be aware of my capabilities at all times. This is a good dungeon to train so I'll do just that." I reflected on my battle.
I have not seen any other person yet which means that I should be free to do as I please here. As someone who was originally just a normal highschool girl, my combat senses and experience are still lacking.
I collected all my loot. Unfortunately, there were no items besides uncommon magic crystals. I was about to reabsorb the mud walls but then I had an idea. Expending some MP, I tried shapeshifting the walls into lizardmen. Since I'm alone right now, why not make my own party? As I made my party members, I found it getting harder to control the mud individually. In the end, I could only properly control one mud lizardman at a time while I moved around.
"My control is still lacking. Ugh, and my head is starting to hurt even though I still have lots of MP."
Looks like one lizardman is my current limit and even then, that is slightly pushing it.
"Well no pain, no gain. I shall call you Shasha."
I controlled Shasha to mimic the movements of the lizardmen I just fought. With the look and feel of an actual lizardman, no one without [Mana Sense] would be able to tell the difference.
With Shasha in the lead, I continued my exploration.
###
"… And that concludes Sergeant Hall's report."
In the royal castle of Cloud Kingdom's capital, Strife City, a man in a dark purple robe was kneeling on one knee to a golden haired princess.
"Tch. Primary Cult…"
The first princess of the Cloud Kingdom, Alisa von Cloud, bit her thumbnail as she thought about the report her subordinate, Vargas, told her. After Sergeant Hall had returned to the capital through a teleportation shrine, he immediately reported the results of his mission.
"Promote Sergeant Hall to 2nd Lieutenant. That should compensate him for the loss of his brother and subordinates. As for the Primary Cult, since brother Alexis is on his way back from the frontlines, let him deal with them."
"Yes, your Highness!" Vargas sighed in relief inwardly. He expected the princess to be furious when he heard that Primary Cult members were loitering around the place where he sent those failed hero candidates. Thankfully, she seemed to be in a rather good mood for some reason.
"Talia. You should have an agent stationed in Lam City, correct? Though it's highly unlikely for there to be survivors due to the appearance of the Dungeon Anomaly, order him to do a follow-up investigation just to be sure."
"I will do so at once, your Highness." Talia, Alisa's trusted maid, bowed and started to leave the room to carry out her orders.
"Wait, Talia. How is the Hero Aven doing?" The princess called out to her just before she left.
"He is currently training swordsmanship with the other soldiers. His speed at adapting to the usage of mana is astounding, as expected of this generation's Hero. I believe he will reach the level of the Royal Guard Captain soon enough. However, he is having difficulty conjuring the spells with his [Light Magic]." Talia reported.
"Vargas. Can you not instruct him on this?" Turning to the still kneeling Vargas, she asked this question.
"Unfortunately, only the previous heroes are capable of using [Light Magic]. We have no records on how to utilize such magic. We could ask the Magic Research department, however that will lead to exposing the fact that a new hero has appeared…"
"Hmm…" The princess pondered for a moment. "I believe I received a marriage proposal from the Crown Prince of the Beastman Kingdom? Their Magic Academy should have records of previous heroes and [Light Magic]… Make preparations for me and the Hero to go to the Beastman Kingdom. I think it's time for me to give a reply to their Crown Prince."
"Brilliant idea your Highness! You can not only train the Hero but also avoid First Prince Alexis without raising suspicions at the same time! Your genius knows no bounds." Vargas didn't hesitate to flatter the princess.
"Enough. Just do as I ordered." Though the princess reacted like this, a slight smirk had appeared on her cold expression.
###
Back in the Dark Swamp Dungeon.
"Is that a treasure chest over there?"
In the distance, I saw a chest half buried in the swamp at the base of a rotten tree.
"Shasha, could you be a good boy and open the chest for me pretty please?"
I controlled Shasha to open the chest and…
*BOOM*
"SHASHA NOOOOOOOO!"
CHAPTER END.
Name: Ruby Sen Lv. 13
Age: 17
Race: Half-Human?
Class: Half-Magical Creature
Job: - Lv. 13
HP: 11 [43%] <+1>
MP: 15 [71%] (+5)
STR: 11 (+15) <+1>
DEF: 10 (+35)
INT: 18 (+10) <+1>
WILL: 15 (+10)
SPD: 10 (+5)
<
Assimilate
Mana Manipulation
Physical Resistance
Weaponized Limbs
Foresight
Shapeshift
Mana Absorption
<
Dissolve
Body Enhancement (Active)
Mind Enhancement (Active)
Mana Release
Sensing
Camouflage
Sculpting
Detonate
Appraisal Analysis
Lesser Heal
Mana Coating
Cloning
<
Tongue Enhancement