The situation right now is...horrible.
All the exits of this cave section are blocked off by approaching swarms of monster ants. The swarm in front of me is closing in and the mana poison in my body only seems to be spreading and getting worse. Worst of all, most of my attacks are ineffective.
Urgh, how did I go from doodling on the crystal-rock walls to being attacked by a colony of ugly looking insects?
I'll deal with the poison later, right now I gotta find a way out!
Bracing myself and enduring the spreading of the mana poison I zipped through the air, trying my best to avoid the ants while scanning the area for any possible exit. As I'm looking for an escape, a new volley of glowing purple spikes rained upon me. This time instead of coming from a single direction it came from multiple angles of the steadily growing swarm. I dodged and blocked whatever I could but there were simply too many spikes from different angles. One, two, three, and four purple spikes manage to hit their mark and inject poison. Desperately, I retreated and backed up against the wall so the spikes would only come in from the front. Painfully, I plucked out the four spikes before they can inject more poison as the colony of ants surrounded me.
That...ended horribly!!
How many are there now?!?!
「Mana Sense」
「Life Form Detector」
Five hundre-no SIX HUNDRED!??!
Still climbing as well!
This is really bad.
I gotta think up a proper plan fast!
Panic welled up inside me as tides of monster ants crawled their way towards me, effectively surrounding me from the ceiling and ground with their high numbers. I used my weapons to buy time while I tried to think up a plan. The axe and hammer swung around in the area around me, temporarily clearing the space as the enchanted bow fired rapidly to buy what little time it can. Arondite emitted blue energy as it slashed out into the air and released an arc of blue light which cut into the monster ants.
The situation was getting worse and worse as the swarm slowly worked its way towards me. Arondite's energy blasts are the only thing that can reliably kill these things but the rest of my weapons can only leave minor injuries and buy time. As I continued to brandish and defend, many thoughts went through my mind.
Should I slip through the walls to escape?!
No! The walls are too thick, I'll die if I get popped out into the swarm!
Maybe I can try sweeping them with a large energy blast?
But there's too many of them!!!
They'll recover in an instant!
ARGH!!
THINK!! THINK!! THIIINK YOU STUPID LIGHTBULB!!!
The swarm of monster ants persisted with their unreasonable tenacity and made their way closer. Although the adamantite weapons were able to knock them back, it was simply delaying the inevitable. The pain from the mana poison continued to throb as I racked my brain for a way out of this grim situation. Soon, a large monster ant on the ground had managed to avoid begin hit and scambled its way closer. Just as the giant ant was about to open its disgusting mouth and leap at its prey...
*BOOM!!!*
The ant suddenly stumbles back before being washed and swept away in the tide of gold coins. The same scene repeats around me as treasures poured out from my「Dimensional Storage」, flooding the area around me. Although it could have been one of the dumbest ideas I had ever come up with, it was definitely working. In the end, that's all that matters doesn't it?
HAVE GOLD UGLY BASTARDS!!!!!
I GOT ENOUGH TREASURE TO FILL UP THIS CAVE FOUR DAMN TIMES!!!!
BLUEGHHHH!!!!!
The ants screeched angrily as I continued to spit out the treasury and interrupt their advance. I spat out luxurious furniture that piled it up in front of me to form a barricade. Other things like gold coins, gems, and other small treasures were thrown towards the swarm like a stream of water. Although the throwing power from my inventory is nothing special, the sheer mass of the countless gold coins and treasures is enough to pluck them off the walls and keep the enemies at bay.
From an outside perspective, it would look like a lightbulb vomiting out golden treasures and washing away a colony of monsters. Disgusting? I think not!
If monsters in this dungeon are disgusting why can't I be?
Wait, that means I'm on the same level as the centipedes now...
Let's not talk about this ok?
I contemplated on what to do next as I continued to pile up furniture and spat out gold coins and gems like a hose. Random ideas came and went in my head, thinking up plans before scrapping them after confirming that they wouldn't work. Getting a headache from the lack of good ideas, I quickly activated my「Arcane Mapping」skill and inspected my mind map for any way of escaping. However, this idea quickly went up in flames since only mapped the routes around my location were ones that I could already see.
Damn it!
Nothing. Nothing comes to mind!
The only ways out are the tunnels I can already see, but they're swarming with insects!
How am I gonna go out that way!?!?
ARHHH!! WHATEVER!
Quickly using my「Life Form Detector」skill, I scanned each tunnel before picking out the one with the least reactions to the skill. There are about a thousand of these things within the range of my detection and the numbers seem to be settling, the number of ants entering the area should be getting less and less. Maybe when they stop flooding in from the entrances I'll be about to rush out of one of the tunnels!
I just gotta hang on!
A few minutes!
Just a few minutes!
I can do...
th-is?
Eh?
My vision.
Why can't I see out of my... left eye?
It hurts...a throbbing pain.
Among the barricade made from luxurious furniture laid a full-length mirror decorated in gold which shined under the light of the surrounding crystals, catching my attention. Using my right eye, I stared at my reflection in the mirror.
What I saw made my heart sink. What use to be an entirely lime coloured ball of light was now half-covered in a shadowy purple colour. The purple colour got darker as you traced it back to the source which is where I was hit by the spikes.
However, the most significant change to my body was the colour of my left eye. The eye that was originally a bright white glowing colour was now pitch black and no longer emitted light. The more I stared at the pitch-black eye, the more the pain of the poison became more significant.
My control over the battle began to waver and the amount of resistance lessened noticeably. With the change of pace, the ants began to dig through and climb over the hill of gold coins. The distance between the swarm and the makeshift barricade I created grew small as the monster ants regained their former advantage.
Ah...I think my right eye is also losing vision...
It's turning grey, and everything is getting darker.
I can't think straight, I should be afraid right now but...
But... why am I so calm?
Strange.
Mmmm, I guess I've been fighting monsters every day after all.
So often that I grew resistant to fear...
Not only have I have changed into a monster physically but also mentally.
As the vision in my remaining eye got darker and darker, my resistance against the swarm of monsters also began to cease. I can hear them crawling closer, climbing out of the hill of gold coins and gems that buried them and pulling apart the barricade. My movements and thinking became more and more sluggish as if I was getting sleepier and sleepier.
I've felt like this before.
It was when I was about to die when I was still human...
Although it hurts, its a lot less scary than before.
I'm gonna...die.
Again...
Another game over huh...
What a waste of a life.
To think I would die in a place like this...
Bummer.
I didn't even get to see the world yet.
Seconds past, at this point my vision had gone completely black. The aching in my body grew more painful as the mana poison continued to quickly spread. As my will to live became weaker and weaker, new thoughts began to form in my mind.
Would I be reincarnated again if I die?
Surely there's a chance...
Hopefully, I'll be sent to a more peaceful world this time haha.
Something like my old world wouldn't be bad.
...wait.
If I do actually get another chance...I would be able to see magic again?
As if life was flashing before my eyes, I began to recall the most exciting moments of my exploration in this dungeon. Although it wasn't a very precious memory, it strangely stuck with me. Images of magic that I had previously used popped up in my mind, the majestic ethereal lights that shined away my thoughts of depression and boredom.
...I wanna use it.
One of the few things that made me happy since coming to this world.
I wanna use it one last time.
Although I couldn't see anymore, I simply wanted to savour the feeling of using it. Concentrating in my mind, I channelled my mana and activated my favourite light magic. Probably due to my lack of vision, my focus and concentration when conjuring the spell were much more precise than ever. With my「Mana Sense」I was able to feel every mana particle swirling together like a river, forming the spell in front of me.
The casting is smooth this time...
I haven't nailed it this nicely before, how nice.
「Imbue Light」
Suddenly, a speck of light penetrated the endless darkness that clouded my vision as if it was a light of hope. That speck of light quickly expanded as if it was burning away at the darkness and soon the source of it revealed itself to me. Arondite, which was floating in front of me was surrounded with brilliant white light particles.
As the light shined onto me, the pain strangely seemed to lessen and my vision began to return. My surprise continued to grow as I saw vague outlines of the monster ants, which were already very close, backing away and screaming.
What's going on?
While I'm trying to gather my thoughts, two giant ants cried out in anger and leapt towards me. Subconsciously, I swiped Arondite horizontally. The teal green blade left a beautiful light blue arc surrounded by gentle white light in the air and cleaved through the heads of the two ants. The seemingly unbreakable purple carapace that the ants bore were sliced like butter.
*SCREEEECH!!*
A moment after they were cut, the ants screeched and shrivelled in pain as light lingered on their wounds before they melted and evaporated into the air. The surrounding monster ants seemed to become discouraged after seeing the fate of their kin and began to back away from the menace that was Arondite. During this moment, I was able to recall a unique trait of light magic that I learnt from books.
No way...
Light magic's trait of repelling the properties of the dark attribute!
THESE THINGS ARE MADE FROM IT!?!?
HOLY SH*T!!
I'M NOT READY TO DIE!!!
Hurling away my acceptance of death, quickly I pulled out the book of light attribute spells and flipped it open. I continued to hold Arondite up as a repellent to buy time while I flipped through the pages and stopped at the spell I was looking for before casting it.
「Healing Light」
「Healing Light」
「HEALING LIGHT!!」
White glowing light particles made from the spell began to engulf me as the signs of the mana poison receded as if they were being washed away. In a matter of seconds, my vision returns to normal and the dark purple parts on my body return to their original brilliant lime green. With the expulsion of the poison and the effectiveness of light magic, my courage began to skyrocket as I picked up all my weapons and cast the same spell on them.
「Imbue Light」
There's no way I'm dying here, I'm gonna live damn it!