"Everyone, quickly take these flints and eat them. Inhale deeply and blow out fire from your guts. Your stink breath will automatically activate, allowing you to control fire freely, but this does not mean you will endlessly spew the fire. Watch."
Zero inhaled deeply as his chest enlarged and glowed red. Then, he exhaled a flaming torrent of fire downwards at the seven pieces of the Dirt Worm as they burned alive. "The Lunar Rabbits will slice the Dirt Worms into smaller pieces, while the dragons and their partner will finish it off."
"Zero! Fifteen Dirt Worms are coming from all seven directions." M2 rushed forward, attacking the first one that came toward them.
Zero followed pursuit, but instead of using his fire breath, he shredded the Dirt Worms with his claws as many times as possible. While each group handled one Dirt Worm, Zero and M2 took care of the rest. Finally, the dragons darted in, gobbled up the broken flint, and ran back toward their group excitedly.
Lunging forward, Zero grabbed one Dirt Worm slithering over like a snake on his side out from underground. He slams downwards hard onto the floor, causing the monster to become mush. Feeling disgusted at the mushy feeling between his claws, he tried his best to wipe it out.
"What are you doing? You need to watch your back." M2 spoke; he leaped forward and diced the Dirt worm into pieces. Zero glanced up and noticed that the Dirt Worms would have attacked him from his blind spot if M2 didn't kill it.
"I got you, don't I? Plus. I can't get this awful feeling out of my fingers." Zero groaned as he slid his hands on the ground, trying his best to get the flesh of the Dirt Worm out.
More and more Dirt Worms continued to come through. Zero picked up his pace in destroying the Dirt Worms using his teeth and claws. He dove towards the side where Turnip and Terry had difficulties keeping two at bay. Turnip spewed out jets of water from his mouth, causing the Dirt Worm to fly a bit backward. Terry brandished her spear and swung it in wide arcs. Every movement she made reminded Zero of a picture-perfect artwork dancing instead of fighting.
Zero was amazed at the small blue dragon sending streams of water jets out of his mouth. He did not expect water to be replaced by fire breathe, though he did not know much about the dragon race. This was the first time I saw the young dragons in combat.
Bam! Zero's tail curled into a whip smashing the Dirt Worm into the wall. The Dirt Worm split into two. Then, from the corner of his eyes, he saw silver rush past him. Baku jumped towards the split Dirt Worm and pounced on it like a cat. Quill fired arrow after arrow behind Baku as it perfectly landed on open space, inches away from Baku.
"Hey! Are you trying to kill me?" Baku thundered.
"Maybe?" Quill chuckled, and she nocked another arrow and fired. With a zip, the arrow flew and hit squarely at the second half of the Dirt Worm that was itching over to devour Baku in one gulp.
Zero had to snatch the Dirt Worm right after she fired and squashed it completely. He noticed that once he stomped hard enough and it splattered all over the place, the Dirt Worms couldn't regenerate. On the other hand, cutting it into pieces did nothing.
Picking up the pace, Zero continued to slaughter and smash the Dirt Worms pouring continuously out the passageways. At first, they were many, but the Dirt Worms were easy for Zero and M2. They quickly dispatched two-thirds of the monsters, and the rest of the Lunar Rabbits were jumping around with daggers in hand. They kept close to the baby dragons and made fighting for them easier to kill.
Both green and bronze dragons, Kai and Val, were back-to-back slaying Dirt Worms together like old battle buddies. Even their companions, Leona and Ponza, were in sync. They continuously blew fire in figure eight as they burned the Dirt Worms around them. The wild crackle of fire spread among the group of dragons as the Dirt Worms were burnt alive.
If anyone had come in and seen what was going on, they would've thought they had come down to hell because of the burning inferno that surrounded them. The hot air, the black smoke, and the screeches from the dying Dirt Worms almost sound human.
This allowed both the baby dragon and its partners to grow quickly in their level. For the next four hours, Zero's group continually slayed Dirt Worm while exploring the winding passages of the Red Dungeon.
"This is so cool!" Valiant squealed in delight. "I gain twenty levels!"
"Me too. Me too."
The other dragons and their companions excitedly chattered among themselves, happy with their increase in levels.
On the other hand, Zero did not receive even 10% experience points from continuously slaughtering the Dirt Worms. Instead, he progressively stepped deeper into the cave and switched to his human form.
The number of Dirt Worms that the dragons and their partner could handle slowly increased from two to three to four. He suspected that these monsters were only level 100. So instead, he used this time to sharpen his skills as a human using his Kamori.
"Are we going to stay here longer?" Valiant asked, thrilled that he was leveling up so quickly.
"No. We're going to the lower floors." Zero jumped the open hole downwards and landed on soft, bouncy moss. He glanced up and noticed everyone was peering down worriedly.
M2 followed closely behind and landed perfectly on all floors.
"Come on down. There is a way to scale up on the side, so you'll not be trapped here."
"But the monsters are going to be stronger."
"So?" Zero asked unashamedly at his answer. "There is no point in staying at the first level any longer. You will be taking down five of them faster at this rate. Plus, I will need the Lunar Rabbits' help for a while."
The other dragons regrettable grumbled. Then, they each jumped off the giant hole and onto the bouncy floor.
"Your power is at its peak; slaying the monsters in your dragon form is much faster than in your human form." Zero replied. "Take advantage of this opportunity now; even if you die, you should be able to take the higher-level zones. So we'll rest here for a moment and head in deeper."
None of the players wanted to die so quickly or give up the opportunity to trek through the higher levels. They rested up for a moment, eating food and replenishing their magic. Then, zero started mixing, draining, and creating new concoctions using his herbology skill. He had been busy looking around the dimly lit cave for any new plants he could use and catalog into the book he had been secretly creating as a hobby. These were when his scribe skill would come in handy, jotting down new information on his findings.
Everyone stared at Zero worriedly as they saw him create weird concoctions that made him look like a mad scientist. Several small explosions enveloped Zero as he took extra steps that people normally did not do.
You have learned Alchemy skills. You will now be able to brew up a new concoction using herbal skills.
You have learned the Poison creation skill. After countless failures, the majority of the failures are turned into positions.
Your skill in identifying new plants and animals has increased to the point where you intuitively know when a plant or animal's parts are dangerous to mix.
Zero continually walked forward while everyone followed closely behind, nervously wondering what would happen next.
"You have quite a fascinating skill," M2 replied. He was staring at Zero's green glowing juice that look sickly and dangerous. "I didn't know there were so many different items you could combine such plants. Have you tried out your creations yet?"
"Yes. My friend helps me test them out." Zero smirked. He couldn't help contain the different flavorful expressions that Zeraph gave when he handed him new mixes.
"The effects?"
"A lot better than the potions sold on the market."
"Really? Now that's interesting. If I gave you some ingredients, would you also make some for me?"
"Sure. However, it comes with a price. So what do you want?"
"I don't mind. I like some health potions that restore up to 50% of my health. But, unfortunately, finding high-level potions around that level is rare. So can you do it?"
"That's a little difficult. I haven't been able to create something that high yet with my skill. The highest that I can go right now is 30%." Zero pulled out a small condensed glass bottle the size of half his pinky.
"You're saying all your potions are that small in size and it heals 30%?"
Zero nodded.
"I could carry 100 of those without even weighing me down. So that's quite an achievement."
"I do. I carry them in my clothes for easier access. They don't break as easily, especially these glasses, though a strong impact like a level 200 or higher would break it apart. They are mixed with rainbow turtle shells with normal glass to fortify them. Even if it breaks, the liquid absorbs automatically into the skin and heals you. Though the glass shards can be a problem, they break into a fine dust so far."
"What ingredients do I need to make 100 of those?"
"Just bring me 100 rainbow turtle shells with fine glass. For the potions, I have enough for it to make quite a bit."
"Tch. I was hoping you would tell me the ingredients for it."
"The ingredients are not the only thing you have to worry about. The preparation is another beast in itself."