Sorry for the late chapter, I had exams so...
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Exiting the gate, we stepped onto the next floor. A narrow tunnel is what welcomed us ahead. After we moved a few steps ahead, the gate shut itself. I turned around to observe the gate, trying to look for something that might open the gate.
I found none.
Expect the intricate and ancient-looking carvings, this side of the gate had nothing apparent unlocking system. Well, this is a no-return type dungeon. Meaning, once you've passed through a gate, there's no way back. In his book, he spoke of that this dungeon was not supposed to be vanquished, or something along those lines.
*CLACK* * CREAK*
"Huh? Wha? Is-is the door opening? Again?"
Multiple possibilities played in my mind, mostly worst.
Taken aback by the sudden turn of events, I quickly looked towards Rina, who was staring at the gate with widened eyes., our eyes met and her agape face turned into... a smug?
"Yup! I opened it" She grinned.
"Is that so, care to explain further?" I raised my brows as I felt a bit relieved.
"Uhh... I am not too sure myself," She furrowed her brows and tittered, "Well, I could see that glowing ball where I put my hand earlier from here by my mana eye. Yup it seems, I can somewhat see through walls. Anyway, then I used my psychokinesis to push some mana into it and then it started to open!" she shrugged, "Not gonna lie, I neveer~ expected it to work! Aren't I a genius?"
"Yeah, you really are a genius, I mean seriously! You found a way to bypass a fucking restriction set by whoever made this dungeon. That's a pretty big deal, good job!" I praised her while astonished by the potential uses of her skill.
With this, we have a way to retreat if the monsters or Devil's minions happen to be too dangerous to deal with.
.
.
.
Passing down the narrow, rocky, and uneven slope, we finally reached leveled ground. Rina and I were riding on Fena's back, firmly grabbing Rina's waist, I looked ahead. Bron and Yelo were sprinting ahead of us to warn us of the danger. While Emy sprinted a little behind us.
.
.
.
We have been speeding along the way for about 4 hours. Well, we did stopped in between for quite a few times. The newly added Cheetah had glaringly low stamina. Her speed was impressive, no doubt about that, but just like any other Cheetah of my previous world, she gets tired too quickly.
That was the case with Bron and Yelo too, but now, their stamina has increased by many folds. After killing that giant spider I noticed that their top speed too has significantly increased. I guess the cheetahs will surpass Fena in terms of speed in little to no time.
After speeding for a couple of more hours, the narrow tunnel came to an end at a T-junction, the way ahead splitting left and right at ninety degrees. Rather than stepping directly into the adjoining passageway, Bron leaned down to peek her head out. She looked both sides and found no problem in either of the paths. She was already becoming cautious enough to this kind of thing on her own, I was impressed. We took the left passage, no particular reason.
Another Kilometre or so, a three-way junction, we went to the right. As we moved further, the appearance of these two and three way turns increased. We tried to follow a path that seemed to take us forward, but if this floor was a type of a maze, then we could only hope to be going straight.
After dashing through these paths for about 3 more hours. Suddenly Rina told to halt.
Apparently she had sensed "Lifeforms" through her Mana-eye.
Tough I felt it too that - there was some kind of activity ahead of us.
Is it because of level-ups or because of constant vigilance that I feel like my senses have improved...
Anyway.
There is a single turn to the left, it is bent to a ninety degrees, and ahead of that turn, are those monsters.
"How many?" I whispered.
"Four... they are on the other side of the turn. About five to six feet in height."
"Some more characteristics that you can see?" I asked.
She narrowed her eyes, "I can't make out much but looks like they have a tail and the head seems too large. Well, at least that's how their silhouettes look to me."
Although, it doesn't let her see that clearly through the walls, at least her Mana-eye skill let's her see through them.There is a lot of "noise" in-between, but it's still better than nothing.
Rina and I came down from Fena's back and proceeded to move slowly to see what kind of monsters dwell on this floor. We can't have them notice us first, so, we had to tread stealthily.
I peeked from the wall...
"*SNIFF* *Sniffff* gruiiuiyoioiiiiiiieeee??"
"Worfff afrrgfff"
About twenty metres from my position, they stood.
"kahahhappiiinciposh"
They are searching for something...
'Us?'
High-pitched voice. Disproportionately large heads, about the same size as their body with that big horrid human face. Their face resembled that of bald middle-aged man with a large pointed nose and a long sharp chin. Countless canines and a disgustingly long tongue peeked from their mouth. Thin, long limbs and a protruded belly. A muscular tail. Not to mention those long claws. Whatever these big-headed monsters are, they are disgusting...
I think their skin is a lot tougher than those Arachnes. Strength wise too they are going to be greater than those, but that's a given. This is the next floor afterall. At present, I don't know if these creatures have some special kind of skill or not.
'Oh well, these too have the soul stone, so it doesn't matter how strong they are or how many skills they have... They are just going to get DISINTEGRATED.'
The soul stone is located just above their protruded belly.
*snifffff**SNIFF* *Sniffff*
They sniffed the air and moved towards here as they did.
'Can they smell us? I guess they can.'
"ShArfff!!!!"
One of them noticed my half peeking head, our eyes made contact.
"WUOIIOIIOIOrffff sssllluuuurrrrrppppp"
It's telling its companions that it found something, huh.
It pointed its fingers towards me while slurping to show its friend my location. Possibly judging me, its FOOD. The others also noticed as they moved toward us.
They aren't wary...
'Now that they have found me, I guess, I should do the job too.''
Gesturing for Rina to come out of cover, I raised my right arm towards them - to aim. The wall was hindering my view, that's why I had to come out of it, as well.
'Hm?'
'I thought that they were in my range, but it seems not...'
The upgrade, Aim Assist, has already been activated. Activating it only needs a mental command. It shows the spot where my skill would connect precisely. It is a circular target icon. It turns Red when the target is in range but currently, it's Grey, meaning the target is out of range.
'No matter, just a few steps more....'
"Weeehehehe~~ uoiuiuiuio~"
"KHIEEHDI~~HIDKKKI~~"
They jeered at me while stepping here. Possibly excited about the amusing prey that's in the view. They aren't rushing, possibly believing that we are just another helpless and weak Human. That they can kill me any time, that's what they believe, that's what the monsters of this dungeon always believe. They aren't wary of my arm that's aimed towards them, possibly believing that it is a plea -- "Please don't come close to me."- "Please don't kill me." That's what they must be thinking... These mocking expressions. They kind of remind me of that bitch goddess.
"WHIHIHIHIH UHUUHUH UHHUAH AHHA HAA~"
"gehehe~geh~geh~"
"geh~geh~gay~"
*step* *step* *step* *step*
One finally entered my range... I adjusted my arm so that the target icon is exactly at the soul stone.
"
*Thud*
It slumped down.
"GHIHI hihihhuhuhuhu HUHHUAHAHHAHAA~"
"HIHIHIHUH UUHUHUHHUA HAHHAHAA~"
"MAAHAHHAH HIHUHU UHUHUH HUAHAH HAHAA~"
Seeing one of the big-headed monsters that dropped lifelessly on the ground on its face, the others started to cackle maniacally. Just like when a kid falls, and his friends laugh at him. These monsters are quite expressive.
'Quite the nasty bunch they are...'
I stepped forward.
"
"
"Worff???"
The last one got confused. Its expression looks like it's thinking - "why are these guys dropping on the floor?"
*Thud*
'Huh?'
'This fucking idiot!!'
It dropped to the ground on its face, before coming into my range. This bastard, it thinks that all its mates are playing a Game, "Playing dead"?
Argh, if it had to fall down, it should've fall with head facing up! It would've been easier to aim at the soul-stone then. Well, this will require Rina's help...
'....Hmm?'
It peeked at its 'friends' and surged from the ground.
"HUEHUEHUE~~~"
It laughed and charged at us.
*Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap**Tap* *Tap*
"So, the idea to seize the whole meal when its friends are fooling around came to him, ugh!" Rina said in a slightly amused, and slightly disgusted tone.
"
*Thud*
It slupped down and died.
I am sure that despite their low intelligence and disgusting appearance they must be strong. At least stronger than those Arachnes, at least strong enough to kill me, whose DEF stat is 0, in one hit.
It was good that they didn't see Fena, otherwise, instead of enjoying their prey, their goal would've switched to killing the enemy.
They underestimated and died.
Just like that first Arachne, these too had this - gleeful expression. The monsters of this dungeon seem to savor their prey.
Just what are these creatures...? Shouldn't they just do the job for what they were created for? Shouldn't they just kill those who enter and be done with it? What's the purpose of giving these creatures these kinds of emotions and expression? And why do these monster have human like faces... Did the person who created this dungeon aim to defeat psychologically first?
I sighed, 'There is no point in thinking about that, we just need to survive and get out of this place.'
"Am I going to play these dead monsters again?" Rina laughed nervously with her eyes closed.
"Firstly, you won't be the only one, Fena and the Cheetahs will be joining you on that. Secondly, it is not called playing, call it gauging the enemy or experimenting or whatever. Anything but playing!"
.
.
.
*TING*
It took them nearly 15 minutes to disintegrate completely.
My level jumped from 1217 to 1233. And Rina's 1145 to 1166. We didn't get any new skills or any new upgrades. Well, Rina's skill get level-ups after every hundred levels while mine levels up rarely.
I think that my skills might level up at level 1500 or 2000. That too isn't set in stone. The previous level up might be the final level up for all I know.
'Sigh, I always get a bit frustrated when I think this might be the limit of my skill's power.'
"Let's move, Ren," Rina trotted ahead.
'That's the shitty growth rate the Goddess was talking about, huh.'
".....Yeah," I replied.
From this point on, we have to walk all the way. We can't ride on Fena as we have to stay prepared for any attacks. As from the first encounter, the density of the monster will increase continuously. However, it will start to decrease once again when we reach near the Boss room on this floor.
In other words, the density of monsters is maximum in the middle of the floor and lowest near the Boss Rooms. This pattern is definitely caused by that emerald Ward-stone embedded above the Gate of the boss rooms, whose function is to keep the Boss monster inside its room.
*growwWL*
Her face turns faint red yet again.
"I am not hungry, I promise... It's just my stomach's habit to growl after every three hours or s-"
"You say that every time." I quipped.
"Shut up", she muttered, barely audible.
"Hmm?"
"Nothing!"