He took out a crystal from the storage. It had a deeper blue color and was radiating a more luminous light, it was the crystal that he acquired on this 11th floor. As he bit on the crystal, he felt a calmness spread across his mind, and with a speed multiple times higher than before he could feel the reservoir being refilled.
The fights quickly became tougher as the monsters started to attack in groups and this time the environment too supported group attacks. Unlike the maze, he could be attacked from anywhere and the monsters would briefly retreat after attacking only to attack him from another side. With them attacking him from multiple venues it was overwhelming to keep track of each of them.
The bright color of the barrier quickly started fading, taking upon shades of white. Before it could disappear he focused on the path that had appeared within his reservoir and willed the energy to flow into it. Soon, the color started returning even though it was still withstanding attacks from all sides.
He threw another knife, wishing he had a bigger weapon. Slightly twisting its body, the monster again dodged the attack. He wanted to curse but did not have time to. He hated their abnormal dodging ability. Quickly closing in, it started bashing the barrier, screaming but still not stopping as its hands quickly started burning. He wished he could control the fire then he would have made it spread through its arm and head straight towards its head.
The constant screaming made him uncomfortable and seeing the physical attacks accomplishing naught, he slowly changed his approach. He rushed at a monster. It tried retreating but threw a knife not allowing it to slip away. It was forced against the tree unable to run away with a massive grouping of roots blocking its way. Other monsters became even more active, their attacks becoming aggressive seemingly wanting to divert his attention.
The barrier touched it, then as he neared even further it started spreading across its body, and then he heard a scream unlike never before. As his mind was processing his hands moved, with the smooth mechanical movement that was obtained after repeatedly performing a movement thousands of times, and slit its throat. Turning, he pulled another one stabbing while a flame appeared shooting for the ones that were retreating. One of them struck it, reflexively. It exploded and the sparks spread shooting for their targets. Some hit their target, others struck the moss lighting it on fire as they successfully dodged the sparks. Not letting the flow stagnate he rushed them until he killed every last one of them.
Taking in a long breath he moved on to the next task while placing another crystal into his mouth. Squatting, he started ripping the moss, creating a circle around the fire devoid of any burnable material to stop the spread of fire. Finished with the task he moved on to creating a weapon for himself.
Grabbing his knife he started sawing the side of a tree cutting a fat piece with a length that was bigger than a meter. Using a knife he started cutting away the excess wood. It was a task that should have been difficult, and though it was time-consuming, physically it was more of an annoyance than difficult as the knife moved smoothly. Even if he encountered any disturbance in his motion, just a slight push with increased power and the knife would again cut through the wood. It felt more like he was cutting through butter than wood. By the end of it, a rectangular block of wood remained. He started cutting away one of the ends, rounding it until it was comfortable to grip. Afterward, he carved the other end of the block into a pointed shape while the space in between remained in its blocky form, though he did make the corners even sharper. Smoothing out the hilt he placed it in the storage for now. Taking out another knife, he readied himself for another fight.
His focus was mainly on the barrier. The Spark spell worked well for now and though there were some things he wanted to improve they were a lesser priority than the barrier for now. He again connected to the spell module of Cloak of Fire but when he sensed the headache-inducing mechanism all of whom he did not understand the quickly came out to the real world. Instead, he tried to find another path to achieve the result possible.
He tried improving his ability to sense the energy. The reservoir was a concentrated mass of all of his energy which allowed him the ability to sense it without any problem but as soon as the energy left the reservoir and moved into the path the density decreased and his senses could no longer pick it up.
Taking out his self-made block of wood which he called a spear, he thrust it into the barrier using it to dry up the wood. It only slightly used the energy so he willed the energy to move into the path. He tried to sense the energy.
It got burnt in some areas but he was satisfied with the finished product. As he stabbed the empty air and swung it around he again confirmed that his physical strength had achieved an abnormal jump. The solid block of wood should have been heavy and uncomfortable to wield but he felt no such problems. He could feel a slight weight in his hands but it was not noticeable.
The fights continued. The intervals between encounters sometimes decreased and sometimes they increased thereby forcing him to shift most of his focus upon his surroundings while he scheduled some time to sense the energy and practice with the spells whenever he could.
He killed and killed but the connection never came just like on the last floor. The pressure kept on increasing with time as each fight exhausted him, sucking out his energy slowly. The next fight would always be more difficult than the previous one. While he became exhausted the monsters came at him in their top form. It dragged his skills to a higher level became it he wanted to survive he had to control the wastage of his energy.
The pitch-black darkness, the trees, the forest roots, and the echoing sounds all of them added up to create an environment that was a gold mine for ambushing. Sometimes he ambushed but the massive numbers advantage and the environment combined to make sure he was on the receiving end of the ambushes most of the time.
The time passed without him feeling an ounce of hunger or thirst. He kept on training and as the time piled up the results started showing. His senses became attuned to the energy slowly being able to trace it as it moved into the barrier keeping it from dispersing.
He created an image within his mind and imposed it upon the energy as it moved into the path but all that it accomplished was the disintegration of the barrier. He was stumped and he suddenly punched the ground not knowing what he should do. He threw himself on the ground and smacked repeatedly. Negative thoughts poured into his head and for the moment he was caught in a downward spiral. It was difficult to come back up. It was difficult to see his efforts without any result especially when every second he spent on it was difficult to earn.
He picked up the spear, having rested for some time. The wound he had burnt, he felt restriction from those areas. He moved left into one of the paths that had clear visibility. He crossed the tree moving towards another path that was clear when he spun.
The spear slammed into its head sending it flying but it was not alone. The other monster leaped at him, diverting his strikes by letting its companion take the hits. It closed in its mouth opening. Instinctively his hand moved and pain overcame him. Needle-like teeth bit onto his. Releasing the spear a knife appeared in his hand stabbing at its head. It tried dodging but his bitten arm grabbed its neck and the knife struck.
He spun, jumping back, sidestepping, it was a dance for life and death as he played along with the monsters. Quick, agile, deadly. Their inhuman movement ability combined with their instincts made it a big challenge to get rid of them.
His knives flew, momentarily forcing them back. He picked up the spear, throwing it at the one nearest to him. He was behind the flying spear and while it dodge the spear his knife flew, it sacrificed its arm and tried to turn to start running but with a jump, he covered the remaining distance. Its pointed nails cut wounds in his stomach but he cut off its neck.
He spun, his hand moved but the knife struck the insides of a palm. The palm closed. Others were closing in. He closed in, the spear blocking its strike. His arm appeared to be going for the neck. It bit in response and his direction changed, his fingers stabbing into its eye going as deep as possible. Its grip momentarily loosened and putting in full force its hand was cut in half. The knife kept on moving, cutting its neck that barely remained connected.
His head moved. They were jumping upon him, blade-like nails coming closer. A flame appeared and sped, crashed and one of them immediately lit up on fire. He barely moved his arm, the pointed teeth bit onto his shoulder and the nails pierced into his flesh, even more of them were rushing at him.
He bit on the crystal, the pain was still unbearable after all this time. No matter how much he experienced it.
His other hand moved to stab it but it let go and he picked up the spear making a wide swing.
An encounter could not continue for long. It was a self-imposed rule that he always followed. The longer a fight continued the bigger the chances of some event occurring that could cause the messy fights to become even more messier and dangerous.
The fights kept on going and his body kept on taking damage. Each fight added a new wound to his body that had to be burnt to keep the red liquid of life inside. Slowly his whole body was burnt but the fights continued.
It was difficult. His body was tired and broken and burnt so much that it was difficult to even move properly. His mental strength, too, was exhausted from the tense situations and the usage of spells but the real challenge was only now starting just like on the 10th floor.
Slowly the positions change. His body becoming more and more damaged caused it to be unable to compete with the monsters. He became the prey. Now his body was slow. His reactions were lagging behind his thoughts. The strength behind his attacks was not quick enough and powerful enough to cause substantial damage. But the real war was only now starting.
His eyelids seemed to weigh tons. Even during the fighting, he started being unable to keep up his attention. The dark forest became even more sinister as he limped away, half-awake even though he had just ended a fight.
Sitting with his back to the tree he bit on the hilt of the dagger and burnt the new wounds. The taste of iron was conveyed to him as his tongue moved on the teeth. He bit on the crystal with even greater force despite it. The pain made it impossible to keep quiet otherwise.
Everything became hazy and he was out for a brief second, then the wind blew and he stood up with lightning speed. His hands took out the crystal looking at it. It fully healed the body, from what he understood. Sometimes he brought it closer to his mouth but then pushed it away. Closer, further. It kept on repeating. In the end, he decided to not take it for now. He had been able to clear the 10th floor so he should be able to clear this similarly lengthy forest. If not then he could always take the elixir.