Khayi Sala was a man of short stature with a bald head and white goatee. His callus hands told tales of his lifelong military service, possibly reaching its end soon.
He was personally appointed to be the empire's border as a Captain by the emperor himself over 10 long years ago. From atop the grand stone walls of the fortress, he stood, with his hands behind his back. Surveying the cursed forest before him with his beady eyes, making sure not to miss the smallest detail.
The sky went black and the clouds rushed past him through the sky as if running from a predator, a shockwave of mana smashed into not just him but the entire fortress. He was thrown onto his back from the sudden mana surge.
"Commander emergency!"
'Yes, I can see that you idiot' he thought as he rubbed his back to try and massage away the pain.
Despite his rude remarks in his head the man's military training showed as he quickly turned towards his soldier with a blank expression as if it was any other day "What seems to be the problem Charles". He said in a sarcastic tone while stealthy rubbing his sore backside.
"Captain Khayi Sala sir, a huge mana surge was detected and has caused a wave of beasts to flee from the forest! The mages say this is the biggest monster surge ever recorded and is currently heading towards our position!". Panic was heard in his voice.
Realizing the seriousness of the situation the Captain got a grip of himself and bellowed out towards his men standing at attention "Stand tall and strong men for we are the empire's first and best line of defense! Let no monsters pass our swords and forsaken those we swore to protect!"
"AYE!" The men respond in unison raising their swords to the sky.
Meanwhile, Alice and Xia were taking a leisurely walk through the dungeon. Completely oblivious to the destruction they had indirectly caused.
Xia surveyed the first floor of the cursed forest dungeon he had just entered. Upon going through the entrance the pair seemed to be teleported onto a stone slab. In front of them lies a beautiful lake surrounded by grassland.
The area was around 10km2 in size and had an artificial blue sky that seemed to mimic the outside. With Xia's enhanced eyesight he could see the walls of the dungeon in the distance. They were massive white walls that extended up to the sky.
Although it's still the first floor, Xia and Alice wasted no time and walked to the other side of the dungeon. It took around half an hour to reach the other end where a staircase embedded in the white wall led down to the next floor.
On the way, they had encountered some weaker goblins than the one Xia had killed in the cursed forest. Some small green snakes hid in the grasslands. Oh, and of course there were slimes. Little blue balls of water with a crystal in the middle.
Nothing worth mentioning. Anything that got too close died quickly and was then revived as skeletons by Xia to then hunt down more enemies. Quite an efficient hunting strategy.
The next 9 floors were all exactly the same as the first floor with just slightly stronger monsters, for example, the green snakes started to become poisons and longer. The goblins had better-made weapons and some even had skills. The slimes, uh well they stayed the same really. Maybe a little bigger?
Talking of the slimes, when they were raised by Xia's undead skill they evolved into beings called 'Ooze'. They become masses of black goo with rotting bones inside. Alice was a little spooked by them at first but later found them kinda cute in a way?
Anyways every 10 floors there seems to be a mini-boss. For the 10th floor, the boss was a goblin king. He was just a goblin but around 2 meters tall with a rusty axe resting on his shoulder.
Alice actually wanted to try to defeat him so Xia stood back and watched. She seemed nervous at the start but when she managed to catch the battle axe with her bare hand without it being able to go through her flesh she relaxed and thoroughly tested her new strength on the poor goblin king.
It struggled till the bitter end but was defeated by its head being exploded with a simple punch from Alice. She seemed rather happy, maybe she learned a new skill?
Anyways a chest appeared once the goblin was slain and inside were some simple clothes with a bit of leather padding on the outside. It was basically just a cotton shirt with leather pads poorly attached.
Although I personally thought nothing of it Alice was brought to tears and started to take off her rags and change into the leather armor. Right in front of me…
Well, that was some fanservice although she's still a little too bony for me to call her attractive. She turned around with the new armor on with a mischievous look. Her light pink and black hair swooshed as she twirled around on her foot to meet Xia's eyes. (Her hair was originally a light pink color but after being 'blessed' by the dark spirit half of her hair turned black).
If Nightwalkers could blush then I would be doing it. Anyways moving swiftly on. The next 10 floors were more forestry compared to the grasslands of the first 10 floors. It has taken 2 full days at this point to get to the 20th floor's mini-boss room. These floors were massive and one had to walk from one end to the other before being able to get to the next floor.
This time the boss was an orc king. As you guessed it this floor was mainly occupied by orcs. Again Alice stepped forward to fight the boss. Quite the battle junkie I see.
Still just using her bare hands Alice was able to overwhelm an orc king in strength. Yea that's level 320 base stats for you.
After a few minutes of playing around with the poor orc such as making it do an arm wrestle with her and losing, she finally killed it with a well-placed kick to the chest, exploding his heart on contact. Ouch.
The reward for this floor you ask? An enchanted wooden club. I let Alice keep it because a Nightwalker using a club would look stupid!
After a short rest, the adventure continues, there are still 80 floors to go after all…
[Name: Alice] (Leader)
[Race: Human]
[Dragon Slayer -> Goblin King Killer + Orc King Bully]
[Level: 320 -> 330]
[STR: 130, DEX:156, CON: 88, INT: 141, WIS: 124]
[Name: Xia]
[Race: Nightwalker]
[Dragon Slayer, Cursed Forest Overlord]
[Level: 480 -> 481]
[STR:1000374, DEX: 1000374, CON: 1000374, INT: 1000374, WIS: 1000374]
(Life Force Unstable: 277 hours)