I wake up to find myself in a room similar to the one that the gate had been residing, albeit way smaller.
[DIng]
[User has entered a 'challenge dungeon', the dungeon's stats can now be displayed.]
"....."
'Sigh'
"Well, since i am already inside there is no point fighting it, so lets just see how bad the situation is."
"System, open the dungeon's stats."
[Dungeon]
[Type: Challenge]
[Name: The Dragon Palace]
[Floors: 5]
[Difficulty: !]
[Description: Made by the emperor of the fallen dragon kingdom as a way to find a worthy succesor. The original difficulty was rated as the second highest but due to the huge amount of users that perished inside the dungeon, it evolved and exceeded the maximmum difficulty given by the system. Caution is advised.]
[Note: This is a special case of a dungeon, for every 30 days that pass during this dungeon only a single day shall pass in the real world but the lifespan shall be unaffected.]
When i finished reading this i honestly wanted to break something.
The system difficulty rating has 7 levels and is given by the system to measure the difficulty of the dungeon.
From the lowest to highest it is:
Easy: a person with disabilities could clear it if he put his back into it.
intermediate: Still easy for the average person.
Normal: Ok as long you pay attention.
Hard: Very demanding, a lot of practice required.
Very hard: No longer achievable by the average person, talent required.
Impossible: Only the most talented, hardworking and resourceful people could ever hope to clear it.
Doom: Good luck.
There has never been a difficulty more than 'doom' and just in case you think i am overexaggerating then let me tell you THAT THESE COMMENDS WERE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK ABOUT THE DUNGEONS!
The first 5 are ok but things realy ramp up when it comes to impossible and doom.
And in my damn case it's AN EXCLAMATION POINT.
This damn system didn't even bother to figure out a name for it.
Ok there is still hope for me.
I don't need food or water and every floor there will be safe zone, meaning that i will at the very least not starve or be exhausted to death.
Killing monsters also has a chance to drop meterials and items, so i will probaly not run out of weapons.
I can heal myself, so getting grievously injured sin't the end of the world.
There is only one problem left.
What exactly am i fighting and how strong is it?
Although the name might be 'Dragon Palace' it is simple impossible to have only dragons as monsters, so perhaps somehing that has a bit of diluted dragon blood within it.
Honestly this doesn't narrow it down in the least bit, dragons were very emmmm 'excited' creatures to say the least so i don't think there is even a single species that doesn't have a chance to posses even a bit of dragon bloodline.
Still seeing that the difficulty is so high then there is a chance for there to be drakes and dragon lizards.
Drakes have very strong dragon bloodline but luck any sort of intelligence.
Dragon lizards are lizards with dragon bloodline.
Yes i know, how shocking but perhaps due to the similarities that they posses with dragons they can be quite strong.
I look a the door that exist at the end of the room and go forward.
I would realy like to use all the weapons that i have with me to create a similar skill to 'Art' but this is going to need a lot of time and energy.
The best plan i can come up with is to go out and see the situation, if it is managable, then i can single out a couple of monsters, kill them and bring back the corpses to use as i am trying to create the skill. If the situation is more difficult that predicted then retreat and figure out a way to procced.
This door is pretty much a decoration, even if it didn't exist monsters wouldn't be able to see inside so it is ok to open it.
The door opened without any noise whatsoever and i peeked my head outside to see the situation.
Outside of the door was a normal cave at around 20 meter tall and 30 meter in width. It was dark so i couldn't see the end of it but i presume it to be very long.
I waited for around half an hour to make sure that there wasn't something around before i took my first step out.
'Here we go Bell, this isn't that bad.'
I tried to tell myself but just as the thought crossed my mind i felt all the hairs on my body stand up.
I quicly jumped to the side but it would seem that i wasn't fast enough so i ended up getting scratched by whatever was attacking me, thankfully i had been wearing the armor or it might have caused some serious injuries.
A screech could be heard form the place i just jumped from, i turned my head and saw a bat.
No, calling this thing a bat would be idiotic, this thing is almost as tall as an adult human, with sharp nails and pointy teeth.
The worst of all is it's eyes, there are completely crimson.
'Oh shit, it's the vampire bat!'
A vampire bat is a silent assasin type of monster, it usually isn't that dangerous but it has a very special ability and that ability is to grow stronger depending on what type of blood it drinks.
Yep, this is one of the worst monsters i could have found, one wrong move and i am going back to Theresia.
I quickly pulled out the spear, i figured that this would have been the best weapon for me right now. The short swords don't have enough reach and i would end up injured and the battle hammer is far too slow.
The vampire bat didn't wait for me to make the next move it quickly swiped both his claws at me with speed that was astonishing, thankfully though i could keep up with it, albeit barely.
I took the best stance i could and pointed my spear at the incoming bat before putting all my strength into it and thrusting it forward.
The speed of the bat combined with the strength should be enough to deal fatal damage since the spear is aimed at the chest, these were the thoughts in my mind.
A good plan, it's a pity that the world is a very harsh place.
'SNAP'
The moment i heard this sound i knew something had gone horribly wrong.
I watched increadusly as the spear i had been betting all my hopes on got broken with only a single strike.
The bat seemed to pay no attention to my shock and just kept going since the strike from it's second hand wasn't intercepted at all.
I watched as the claw got closer and closer to my face, then it finaly dawned on me.
I dropped the spear, or what is left of it at least and dodge the bats strike but this time i choose to move closer.
The bat's claw passed narrowly from my face, i used my momentum to reach the bat, hugged it with as much strength i could master and used a move i had seen in my previus life, 'front suplex'.
The bat wouldn't let something like this happen so easily so it bit my shoulder mid fall.
After we fell to the ground i kept hugging it like me life depened on it and used all my mana to cast gluttonus aura.
The bat that was sucking my blood through my shoulder suddenly stopped and let out a loud screech before it started thrashing around but i used my unarmed combat skill to the very limit and took hold of it's claws.
Most of the bat's body was covered by what seemed to be very thick layer of pitch black dust, slowly but surely i felt my energy and mana coming back to me.
This is problem with gluttony, the only way to kill a creature instantly is to be way stronger than it, to affect this bat that was stronger than me i could only spend most of my mana, if it were to dodge my attack then i would be in serious trouble.
I kept hugging the bat with as much strength as i could muster but it still somehow managed to slip one of his claws and starting attacking my back.
This went on for quite a while, i heard a lot of system notifications but i couldn't pay attention to them due to the intense pain i was feeling.
Thankfully the bat finaly stopped moving, i went ahead and tried to put it in the inventory but it wouldn't work.
'This damn this is still alive!'
I stood up and took out the battle hammer which i then used to give a facial makeover to the unconscious bat.
It was after the 3rd hit that the bat got inside my inventory signaling it's doom.
After all, no alive creature could ever enter the inventory.
I put the hammer away as well as the leftovers of the spear and run as fast as humanly possible to the safe room.
One would think that i was safe since i killed the vampire bat, but the bad news is that the vampire bats almost always hunt in groups.
Just after i got inside the safe room 3 black figures apeared in my vision, 2 of them were like the bat i killed and the last one was huge, it must be at the very least 3 meter tall.
I swiped away my cold sweat and closed the door, i know that i wouldn't actualy do anything but i felt a bit safer this was.
'Shit, that was way closer than expected.'
I then started casting spells to heal my wounds, my wound were pretty serious and it would need a lot of mana to recover but it sould seem that the more powerfull the thing i absorb the more energy and mana it gives.
I took out the leftovers of the bat, after the whole battle only half of the body was left intact, still, this would be more than enough to completely heal myself and train with all my weapons until i get the skills.
There is also another thing to look forward to, the skill that i will be getting after i fully absorb this bat body.
After i though of this, i let out a sligh smile.