Behind one of the rock walls, sat Katsuya as he planned how he would fight against the Ice statue.
"When comparing my strength to that thing, I'm way weaker. If it landed a hit on me while I block, I'll barely survive. If I can manage to step in a puddle of gleaming water everytime I take damage, I'll be healed. If it hits me a second time before I have a chance to step in the water, I'll be killed."
Katsuya began losing hope the more he thought about fighting the it. He knew his strength wasn't near enough to match the monster's.
As he was just about to give up on his plan, he remembered that he had gotten a skill when the water revived him.
"That's right. Sora, show me my skill list."
A screen appeared before his eyes.
{Skills: Medium Hp Regenaration, Monster, Adapt, No other skills}
He stared intensely at the 'Adapt' skill and a description came into view.
{Adapt: When facing an opponent that has an advantage over you, this skill activates,permanently increasing your stats every second. Every second adds + 5% Hp
+ 4%Mp + 5% Atk + 1% Endurance. Stats stop increasing when the fight is over, you retreat or the enemy retreats. You will take 50% less damage.}
"This makes things easier. If I can survive long enough, I can eventually match its strength. Using the gleaming water to keep me alive, I should be able to last."
Katsuya had a talent for quickly coming up with plans. That was one thing he took pride in.
"Time to go."
He pulled the dagger from his pocket as he stepped out from behind the wall, walking towards the Ice statue.
One step, then another. Each step he took led him closer to the creature wich he feared. Even so, he was not about to give up.
The creature noticed him and began slowly walking towards him as its joints made a cracking noise.
"Monster, activate."
[You skill 'Monster' has been activated]
With great force, he threw his dagger through the air which shot into its leg.
(Ice Statue: Hp: 508/750)
Katsuya had thrown the dagger with all his might but was surprised to see it had caused the creatures Hp to lower so much.
"Did I underestimate my own strength?" He thought to himself.
As the creature began approaching, Katsuya realized it was moving as fast as a bike. The creature swung it arm through the air. Katsuya crossed his arms, gaurding his torso as he was struck. He flew through the air before crashing through a wall of rocks. The ruble piled on top of him as he laid there in pain.
[Your skill 'Adapt' has activated]
"I blocked...but still almost died. That thing hits like a train."
Still In pain, Katsuya stood up, covered in dust from the wall.
Once again, the creature ran towards him with no sign of getting slower.
Katsuya stepped forward as the statue swung its arm at him. He ran forward and slid in between its legs.
"That's one advantage for me, you have big openings."
He slammed his fist against the creature's leg, shattering it.
The Ice statue fell backwards as Katsuya jumped out of the way to avoid getting hit.
He felt his foot step into a puddle of wetness. Katsuya looked down realized what it was. He had stepped in a puddle ofgleamin water and his health was completly healed.
(Katsuya: Hp: 294/294)
"I almost forgot about this. Good thing I stepped in it."
Katsuya had let his gaurd down, givivng the creature a chance him.
He felt a giant cold hand wrap around him, squeezing tightly.
The creature swung Katsuya through the air, slamming him against the floor. The statue released its grip, assuming Katsuya was dead as he laid still.
After waiting for about five seconds, the statue turned around and slowly began crawling towards the giant pair of doors.
Katsuya jumped to his feet, talking under his breath.
"Oh, you thought you killed me, huh."
(Katsuya: Hp: 4/448)
He ran forward, taking this opportunity as the creature had its back to him.
Katsuya took a leap, then swung his fist through the air with great force.
It slammed into the creatures back as its body completely shattered.
(Ice Statue: Hp: 0/750)
['Monster' has been deactivated]
['Adapt' had deactivated]
[Leveled up]
Katsuya stood still, panting. He was surprised to see that his 'Adapt' skills effectiveness.
His dagger laid on the floor, surrounded by shreds of ice that were once a part of the creature's body.
He walked over, kneeling down as he picked it up.
"Almost forgot I had this. Also, didn't I just level up. That means it's time for my stat check."
(Katsuya: Class: Unspecialized
Level: 6/8
Hp: 866
Intelligence: 117
Mp: 267
Atk: 214
Speed: 32
Endurance: 187
Exp: 295/600)
"With these stats, I'm barely C-rank. It's still a lot better than what they were before."
He turned his head and stared at the giant pair of red doors.
"But, can I solo the boss? Probably not."
It would usually take around 6 D-rank adventurers to take on a D-rank boss with a 60% chance of winning. Not all D-rank bosses were on the same level of power. Some can even be powerful enough that it needs 12 or more D-rankers to deal with. Katsuya was now on the level of a C-ranker, which meant in theory that he was equal to two D-rank adventurers. He had gotten stronger than when he first came to the dungeon but, he was still not strong enough to take on the boss alone. His chances of winning would be 20%, assuming that the boss was in the lower powerscale of D-rank.
He let out a sigh as he turned around.
"I'll wait to fight the boss. I'll go home and come back some other time. I need rest."
Katsuya began walking away with slight disappointment that he was still not ready to fight the boss.
--------------------------------
(Home)
Next Morning….Katsuya laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
On his way home yesterday, he had stopped by some place to sell the gold coins he had found, in hope of getting money to pay his mother and sisters medical bill. To his disappointment, he only received $14,916 for his 11 gold coins. It was only enough to pay one of the bills.
Katsuya stood up out of bed and went to the living room to check the morning news.
One the screen, it talked about a newly introduced ranke.
{A new rank has been added to the adventurer system.
'Legendary' rank will require an overall of 2,000,000 or higher.}
"They're adding a new rank? I remember when there were only four ranks. D, all the way to A."
Ring!
Ring!
Ring!
He turned his head, following the ringing sound until he figured out it was coming from his phone.
"I bet it's Jill."
He picked it up and looked at the screen. Sure enough, it was.
{Caller: Jill}
{Answer/Decline}
He tapped on the 'Answer' button then held the phone up to his ear.
"Hello."
"Hey Katsuya. Why haven't you called lately?" Jill asked.
Katsuya wore a confused expression on his face as he answered her question.
"Lately? It's only been a day since we last talked."
Jill reassured him that he was wrong.
"A day? It's been almost a whole week."
Katsuya didn't know how that could be possible when he knew that he saw her yesterday at the funeral. He remembered an article he once read about dungeons. It explained how certain dungeons had a strange effect on time. You could spend an hour in one and a day would have already passed on the outside. This is only true for a few select dungeons. However, the majority of didn't have this effect.
Katsuya replied, trying to act normal by lying.
"That's right. How could I forget. It must've slipped my mind. Ha, silly me."
Jill was concerned as she thought he was beginning to get memory problems.
"Maybe you should see a doctor. Anyways, getting to the reason why I called. Have you come up with an answer?"
"Answer? What do you mean?" Katsuya asked as he did not remember her asking him any questions.
"When we met up at that cafe by your house, I asked you about joining my party. I also told you how I already recruited a couple members.
"That's right. I forgot all about that. So why do you ask?" Katsuya replied.
"Today, we are going to a dungeon with a couple people. two D-rankers and One C-ranker."
"Really? What's the dungeon ranking?" Katsuya asked.
Jill had gotten quiet. After some time, she replied.
"....It's...D-rank. The same one where my father died."
Katsuya was shocked. Not because of the dungeon ranking, but because she had decided to go back to the very place Genzo had lost his life.
Katsuya then replied.
"Meet me at the cafe. I'll go with you guys."
Jill had begun to feel as if she was forcing him to go against his will.
"It's okay if you don't want to go. I won't force you. After all, you're not very strong. I wouldn't want you to get hurt."
"No, it's fine. I'll still go." He insisted.
"Okay, I'll meet you at the caffe."
Katsuya hung up the phone.
He wondered if Jill was going to clear the dungeon because she felt that it would avenge her father's death.
Katsuya knew that the risk was low since it was only a D-rank dungeon but, he still wanted to go in case of the off chance that they can't handle the boss. Also, he remembered Genzo's words, telling him to take care of Jill.
Katsuya let out a sigh as he walked over to the front door, putting on his coat.
"I guess I'll be clearing it sooner than I expected."
Out the door he walked, shutting it behind.
--------------------------------
(Honorary Cafe)
As Katsuya approached, he immediately noticed Jill.
She was standing by the entrance, along with two men. One of the men wore all black clothing and a black mask that covered his entire face. The other man wore normal clothing such as blue pants and a black jacket. What made him stand out were the two revolvers that were holstered on both of his hips.
"Those must be the other adventurers." Katsuya thought to himself.
Jill noticed him approaching and met him half way as the men followed behind.
"You actually came,I'm surprised." said Jill.
"Did you think I wasn't going to show up?" Katsuya asked.
"I mean, I assumed you were the type to back away last minute. Sorry for doubting you."
"It's fine. Anyway, don't you think you should introduce me to the rest of our party?" Katsuya replied as he glanced over to one of the men, only to see him staring back.
"Oh, yeah."
She turned and pointed at each man as she introduced them.
"The one with the mask is Cole. The one with the guns is Dan. They're both D-rankers trying to level up."
"Where's the C-ranker?" Katsuya asked.
Jill replied as she seemed worried.
"Well...He said he wanted to check out the dungeon before we went raiding. He never called back."
Immediately, Katsuya was sure he knew the reason. He just assumed it was because of the way time worked in that specific dungeon.
Jill shook her head.
"I'm sure he's fine. He's C-rank after all, equal to a D-rank duo."
Cole, the man wearing the mask, put his hand on her shoulder as he spoke.
"Shouldn't we get going?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Jill replied.
She looked ahead and spoke.
"Well, let's go."
--------------------------------
(D-rank Dungeon)
After arriving they went in and walked through-out the cave\dungeon.
Two hours had already passed as their footsteps echoed in the tunnel they were walking in.
Their whole time there, they haven't come across any monsters.
Cole then pointed it out.
"We've been walking a while already. It's weird to think that we haven't come across any monsters."
"Yes, it is. Last time I was here, I fought goblins." said Jill.
Katsuya felt guilty as he thought about how he came here and made it all the way to the boss room.
"Maybe I should've left some monsters alive." He thought to himself.
They arrived at an open big area. It was cold as if it were winter.
There were rock walls all around and up ahead was a pair of giant red doors.
Cole walked over and kneeled down to examine a broken wall.
"It looks like a fight took place here. This wall was destroyed and there are shards of ice everywhere. I can only assume that the Ice belongs to the monsters because of the coldness here."
Dan, the man with the holstered guns walked over and stood next to Cole.
"Track, activate."
His eyes began glowing green as he stared at the broken wall.
Cole Kneeled down and also examined the wall.
"Interesting."
"What is it?" Jill asked.
Cole had a specific skill called 'Track' that allows him to see fingerprints, footsprints, ect as long as they haven't been there for more than a month.
He then replied.
"Well, I see footprints. Which means someone has been here before us."
A sweat ran down Katsuya's cheek as he thought to himself.
"Crap...did they find me out."
"But who could it have been?" Jill asked.
"I don't know. It might've been some other adventurers that didn't clear the whole dungeon." Cole replied.
Katsuya felt relieved to hear that they had not figured out that he was the one who had been here before them.
Jill looked up ahead at the giant red doors.
"Well, I guess there's only one thing left to do...clear the boss room."
Dan placed his hand on the handle to his gun as they walked up to the doors
Jill placed her hands on them and began pushing. After putting in all her effort, she got tired and gave up.
"We're going to have to push the doors together if we want to get them open."
Cole walked over and placed his hand on the door.
"Stand back."
Jill, Katsuya and Dan all listened and took a couple steps back.
Quickly and firmly, Cole shoved the doors open.
They all noticed the size of the room as they walked in. It was massive with a wide area to fight. The room had a nice blue color and the temperature was cold.
Up ahead, was a humanoid creature made entirely out of ice that sat on a throne, also made of ice.
The creature had glowing blue eyes and ice horns that stuck out of its head.
That wasn't all that was in the room. There were two other humanoid creatures made of Ice that each stood on one side of the throne.
They were different from the "Ice statues" that Katsuya had fought before.
These ones were called "Ice men"
They stood around the same height as humans but were stronger than any other D-rank monsters.
They appeared to be around the size of Katsuya.
"I guess those two are mini bosses." He thought to himself.
The two creatures began running towards them while the one sitting on the throne didn't move an inch.
"Here they come!" Dan shouted as he pulled out his two revolvers.
['Sora' has added a new quest: Defeat the two Ice men]
[Prize: level capacity +5]
"I'll handle one of them. You three handle the other one." said Cole as he ran off towards one of the creatures.
As one of the creatures began approaching, Dan aimed his guns at it.
One shot, then another.
(Iceman: Hp: 400/1,000)
Before Katsuya knew it, twelve rounds had already been fired as the creature did not stop.
The Iceman swung it arm at Cole but missed as he rolled out of the way.
He then began running back towards Katsuya and Jill as he shouted.
"I need time to reload! Hold it off for me!"
"R-right!" Jill replied.
The creature began getting closer as she held out her palm in its direction then chanted.
"Blazing Fire: Fireball!"
A bright hot ball of fire shot at the creature, hitting its chest area.
In reaction to the creature's body, the fire created steam. Covering the area around
(Iceman: Hp: 312/1,000)
"I think I got him!" Jill shouted.
As the steam began to clear, She was surprised at what she saw.
The iceman was still standing.
"What?! I was sure that would've melted it."
The creature sprung forward towards her. It swung its arm through the air when suddenly, a black colored dagger shot through the air, shattering the creatures entire body.
Ice scattered all around. Jill was surprised as she was unsure who had thrown the dagger.
She noticed Katsuya walking over to retrieve the blade.
"I leveled up from that." He thought to himself.
Dan shouted as he had just finished reloading his guns.
"I'm done!"
As he came back towards them, he was confused as there was no sign of the creature they were just fighting.
"W-where's it at?" He asked.
"We finished it." said Jill
After grabbing his dagger off the floor, Katsuya turned his head and saw Cole who was struggling against the other iceman.
"Here I go again." Katsuya said under his breath.
He tightly gripped his blade as he threw it through the air.
It flew at an amazing speed as it stabbed into the creatures face, shattering it.
To Cole, it looked as if the creature's head had just suddenly exploded.
Shards of ice flew all around.
[Leveled up]
[Quest Complete]
[Level capacity +5]
[Leveled up]
A thought crossed Katsuya's mind.
"At this rate, I might become an archer class if I just keep throwing my dagger. At least I leveled up twice in one go."
"Everyone, regroup!" Jill shouted.
Both Katsuya and Cole ran over to Jill and Dan.
She then continued talking.
"Okay, now that just leaves the boss. We need to Fight as a team. Also be cautious. It is a boss after all."
They all turned their heads, looking at the iceman that sat in the throne.
After being challenged by the look of their eyes, it then stood up.
"Get ready, i think it's going to start coming this way." Said Dan.
Katsuya stared at the creature, knowing it was about to be a tough fight.
(Ice Demon: Hp: 15,000)