Chapter 17 - Crushing Bugs

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[Treasure Chest Mimic: Lv6] [Rank: E+] [State: Shocked]

I knew it! That suspicious chest was actually a Mimic!, it was so obvious… like, a shiny treasure chest sitting right in front of us in the middle of nowhere? How's that not weird? Especially because we had not found any treasure chest yet, so it was even rarer. I mean, some naïve guy might have thought he was finally getting lucky, go near the treasure, open it, and get eaten instantly. But not us, of course… heh.

The creature was terribly shocked, but I showed no mercy as I siphoned its Mana and Lifeforce while firing Dark Spheres from nearby. The chest-like shell easily cracked against my darkness, and it splattered all over the ground. The creature's true body was like that of a mass of tentacles with a large jaw attached to it.

Partner went ahead and impaled it several times with her spear, filling it with venom with each thrust. The creature tried to grab her legs, but I sliced apart its tentacles until it gave up and died. I can't help but admit it looked disgusting.

Ding!

[You've gained 400 EXP]

[Your Level has increased to Level 7!]

[The Levels of [Shadow Sneak: Lv1], [Stealth: Lv2], and [Dark Gale: Lv2], Skills have increased]

Oh boy, that was a lot of EXP. I guess it really was a treasure.

[Name: [Maria Fuentes Belles]

[Race: [Dark Ghost]

[Level: [7/12]

[EXP: [70/800]

[Rank: [F+]

[Status: [Strengthened, Cursed]

[HP: [70/70]

[MP: [290/290]{+120}

[Attack: [56]

[Defense: [52]

[Magic: [295]{+58}

[Agility: [70]{+30}

Characteristic Skills:

[Unique Skill: Supreme Magic]

[Unique Skill: Mana Siphon]

[Unique Skill: System]

[Unique Skill: Goddess] (Sealed)

[Undead: Lv--]

[Dark Element: Lv--]

[Death Element: Lv--]

[Fiend Language: Lv2]

[Shadow Sneak: Lv2]

Resistance Skills:

[Status Effect Immunity: Lv--]

[Magic Damage Resistance: Lv3]

[Darkness Resistance: Lv1]

[Fear Resistance: Lv1]

Normal Skills:

[Ghost Touch: Lv3]

[Lesser Curse: Lv3]

[Life Drain: Lv3]

[Possession: Lv2]

[Dark Sphere: Lv4]

[Fake Life: Lv3]

[Stealth: Lv3]

[Dark Gale: Lv3]

Title Skills:

[The Dark Witch: Lv--]

[Bringer of Misfortune: Lv2]

Looking at my stats, I noticed they had increased quite a lot once more. Each level feels… I don't know how to say it… Erm, "delicious" in a way. It just gives me a nice full feeling. As if with each level, my soul grows stronger.

Partner also grew stronger, and she managed to reach Level 7 just like me, but her level cap is 10 instead of 12, so she'll most likely evolve before me… Hey, that's kind of not fair! Maybe my evolution is even rarer than hers?

Well, anyway, this thing dropped some loot, just as if it were a treasure chest, I picked everything up.

[You've acquired the following Items]

[Dark Steel Helmet (E-Grade): Lv6] x1

[Dark Steel Chest Armor (E-Grade): Lv4] x1

[Treasure Chest Mimic's Shattered Shell (E-Grade)] x6

[Treasure Chest Mimic's Slippery Tongue (E-Grade)] x1

[Treasure Chest Mimic Disgusting Flesh and Blood (E-Grade)] x10

"Ooh! Lookie, Partner! These are ideal for you!"

*Rattle?*

Partner admired the armor pieces, her glowing red lights shining from within her empty sockets. The armor looked nice, but I already had my witch hat, and even though I wanted the chest armor, it would get in the way of my sneaky way of fighting, so I gave it all to Partner to reinforce her defensive prowess.

She quickly equipped everything and looked pretty nice! The dark metallic helmet and the chest armor made her look more fearful, like a true Skeleton Soldier you would find in a dungeon.

"You're looking so cool!"

*Rattle!*

Partner seemed happy with her new equipment, and her defensive power strengthened.

After this little fight, we sneaked onto Floor 6, only to find… Eh? Nothing?

There was nothing on floor 6, so we slowly crawled to Floor 7.

But this kept up for a while as there was nothing on Floor 7, nor 8, nor 9, nor 10…

What is going on? Where were all the monsters?

Mmm… Maybe something is going on in the Dungeon? I guess because it is new, monsters are just beginning to emerge.

However, that ended relatively quickly, as, at Floor 11, we finally found a critter to kill and get some EXP.

In fact… a lot!

There were dozens after dozens of kitten-sized bugs.

They looked like beetles and were either blue-colored, red-colored, or yellow-colored.

[Blue Beetle Soldier: Lv4] [Rank: F] [State: Eating]

[Red Beetle Warrior: Lv6] [Rank: F+] [State: Eating]

[Yellow Beetle Scout: Lv3] [Rank: F+] [State: Eating]

They were crawling through the floor, the ceiling, and everywhere!

Are there a hundred?!

And we also saw several carcasses of monsters which they were devouring in front of us… It seems that they had been hunting the monsters on the previous floors.

Whew.

By using [Shadow Sneak] and [Stealth], I was able to sneak through them quickly, and they also had terrible detection abilities, which made my job even easier. I began absorbing their Mana and Life while sneaking around which began to weaken them in masse.

Partner rushed right away from the staircase at my signal as she began to slaughter dozens of weakened and sickly beetles with her foot, claws, and spear.

It was a bug massacre.

CLASH! SPLAT! CRUSH! BOOM!

I began to fire some Dark Spheres and Dark Gales, allowing for a miserable death that the bugs didn't expect. I guess they would be overwhelming in numbers against single monsters that were not as amazing as us, but we are a dream team, so we massacred them. And there were so many that I was able to absorb their Mana and Life constantly, so it was an easy job.

Even if some of the red ones fired fireballs at me, I easily evaded, or Partner took the hits for me while I sliced them into nothing with [Dark Gale]. Each individual EXP was very low, but when we killed dozens after dozens, well, that became a LOT of EXP.

At the end of the whole ordeal, we had leveled up more than once, but Partner was covered in bug carcasses and bug juice…

Ding!

[Calculating EXP…]

[You've gained 2650 EXP]

[Your level has increased to Level 8!]

[Your level has increased to Level 9!]

[Your level has increased to Level 10!]

Level up frenzy…

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