"A dungeon expedition! It's like I'm finally on a real adventure!"
Maple had spent her meager 3,000 G on potions, just in case.
She only had forty HP, so the most basic potions were plenty.
She also had the ring the bee dropped and Meditation. Still, if she was ever in a
situation where she could take real damage, she would definitely be in trouble.
Maple decided she was as ready as she'd ever be and headed toward a dungeon she'd
read about on a forum—the Poison Dragon's Labyrinth.
"I've got Poison Resist (M), so I should be fine!"
With that, she set off from town, excited about her first dungeon crawl.
Maple headed in the opposite direction from her usual forest haunt. If this wasn't a
game and she wasn't carrying a great shield and short sword, a casual observer might
have assumed she was on her way to a picnic.
Several monsters accosted her along the way, but since they couldn't damage her, she
didn't even bother fighting them.
The monsters here seemed to be smarter than the ones in the forest, so once they
realized they couldn't harm her, they all ran away.
Nobody saw any of this, so Maple's freakish defense went unnoticed.
As she pressed on, the trees she encountered were progressively more withered while
the ground was cracked and dry. The landscape felt increasingly desolate.
She even passed by a number of bubbling swamps.
After ten more minutes, she came upon a rise in the land, like the ground had cracked
open its maw to swallow her whole.
"Is this it?"
Maple stepped inside and noticed the ceiling was much higher than she'd expected.
She would have more than enough room to use her great shield here.
As she ventured deeper, some noxious-colored slimes and lizards came slithering
along the ground and walls to swarm her.
"Hah! Take that!"
Maple stabbed a slime, but the core inside the gelatinous mass kept shifting around.
Unable to land a clean hit, her attacks did no damage. But no matter how much the
slime tackled her, it couldn't deal any damage, either.
"Hngg… this is getting me nowhere! How about this? Great Shield Smash!"
Maple raised her shield up and promptly fell directly on top of the slime, crushing it
beneath her. This wasn't a real skill or anything, so there wasn't much power behind
the move, and dropping to the ground right in front of her opponent left her badly
exposed.
But however exposed she was, none of the monsters had any attacks or poisons that
did Maple the slightest harm, so she wasn't worried.
The shield's impact didn't do much damage, but it was enough to crush the slime's
core—exactly what she needed to kill them. Slimes turned out to be the perfect prey.
"Okay! Let's dive deeper!"
Now that she'd solved her slime problem, Maple tromped onward. She'd given up on
the lizards. With Agility as low as hers, they just dodged every attack.
As she flopped on top of her shield again…
"Skill: Shield Attack acquired."
Maple quickly read the skill description. The name was sort of a dead giveaway, but it
never hurt to be sure.
Shield Attack
Attack with a shield. Power derived from STR. Knockback (S).
Condition
Defeat fifteen monsters while landing the finishing blow with a shield.
"Not too useful… but that knockback could come in handy!"
Once she was ready, Maple kept going deeper. Given that it was a poison-themed
dungeon, it was only natural for there to be all sorts of poisonous monsters… and
traps.
Eventually, Maple reached a wide-open area. She'd been squeezing down narrow
passages this whole time, so it immediately felt like she had entered a room. There
were some flowers growing in the center—a nice little patch of color in the otherwise
monotonous dungeon.
A few small purple flowers swaying side to side caught her attention.
"Those are cute… I wonder if they're an item?"
She moved closer, knelt down, and poked one with her finger. In response, the purple
flower balled up like a bud and released a purple mist. This seemed to cause a chain
reaction as all the flowers did the same thing. The mist was clearly poisonous.
"Whoa?!" Maple yelped. The whole room was becoming more purple by the minute.
She got up and ran away.
She was quite a ways down the next corridor before she finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Th-that was close… I guess it makes sense that there would be traps."
Once she'd settled down, Maple started walking again—but the next open room
contained a swamp that was clearly bad news. Some sort of gas was bubbling up from
its murky depths.
"That's obviously poisonous. You can't fool me!"
Maple quickly decided to give it a wide berth as she moved past—when something
flew out of the swamp and scored a clean hit on the back of her head!
"Augh! Wh-what was that?!"
After a moment scanning the area, Maple found what looked like a flying fish hopping
around her feet.
"I-is this…?"
She glanced back at the poison swamp. This time she spotted a fish hopping out.
"That almost gave me a heart attack…," she groaned, carefully smashing the fish at her
feet with her shield. She left the other fish in peace and continued on her way.
Avoiding monsters and traps while having a good time with all the slimes she
encountered, Maple finally reached the end of the dungeon.
The double doors in front of her were three times her height.
She had to put her back into it to pry them open.
The unoiled hinges let out a shrill screech as they parted to reveal the room beyond.
There were patches of poison marsh dotting the ground, and the air itself was tinted
purple.
As Maple tentatively stepped inside…
…the doors slammed shut behind her.
"Eep?!"
But the sound of her yelp was drowned out by the roar of the dragon rising from the
swamp—and this wasn't just any dragon.
Its rotting, fetid flesh sloughed away, revealing the bones underneath. The monster
had three long necks. Several eyes were missing, leaving only yawning gaps. When the
dragon roared, it belched purple mist. The undead dragon from the poison swamp was
far more intimidating than any monsters she'd met on the way.
"Th-this is the poison dragon?!"
Maple's alarm didn't seem to matter much to the dragon. It simply opened its three
mouths and unleashed a torrent of toxic liquid at her. She raised her shield to protect
herself, but the powerful poison-breath attack instantly enveloped her.
She'd closed her eyes, but upon hearing poison dripping on the ground around her,
she opened them again. Maple herself was unharmed, but her gear was not so lucky.
"M-my shield and sword…"
They were deteriorating, dissolving—and no longer remotely useful. Fortunately, she
had a glove on over her ring, so that was safe.
But…
Maple's shield had provided +28 to her VIT, and thanks to the effects of Absolute
Defense and Giant Killing, that number had been quadrupled—meaning she'd just lost
112 points of defense.
And that meant the poison dragon's breath could hurt her.
As things stood, each breath attack would deal three damage. And the first attack had
already taken one HP from her.
Just thirteen more attacks and she was dead.
"Okay… focus! Meditate!"
Maple calmed herself, closed her eyes, and concentrated.
This time, she'd have to do it while enduring the pain of being attacked. Meditation's
effect would only be active for however long she remained focused.
She had the ring and the Meditation skill, as well as the potions she'd purchased.
Maple's goal was to use all of these in conjunction in an attempt to raise her Poison
Resist. That was her only shot at winning.
While using Meditation, the pain and fear lessened. The sensations faded away, like
her physical form was growing intangible.
This helped her persevere. Each time her HP fell below 20 percent, she drank a potion.
Over and over.
Her healing couldn't keep pace with the sheer amount of damage. She would either
run out of potions or gain the resistance she needed.
The outcome rested solely on which came first.
After she steeped in poison for quite some time, a voice echoed in her mind.
"Skill: Poison Resist (M) has evolved to Poison Resist (L)."
That's what Maple had been waiting for—but it was not cause for celebration.
Her skin was still burning.
The resist still wasn't strong enough.
Maple wasn't sure if the skill could evolve again, but she had to gamble on that chance.
Just as she drank her final potion…
"Ha-ha… I did it!"
The voice in her mind had announced that she'd acquired Poison Nullification.
Now the breath attacks almost felt pleasant.
But she couldn't just kick back and relax. As her HP recovered, Maple had to think.
Why? Because her weapon had been destroyed. How could she defeat this dragon? Its
attacks couldn't harm her. But her attacks did no damage, either.
This was going nowhere.
Unless she died or defeated it, there was no way to leave the room. She could escape
by logging out, but she'd gone to great pains to get this far; she wanted something to
show for it. The developers most likely had not accounted for this particular stalemate.
"Hngg… Welp, I've just gotta start trying things! It's not like I have school tomorrow!"
Thankfully, it was the weekend. Maple could spend as much time here as she liked.
After a long process of trial and error, she finally hit upon a wild idea.
"The dragon flesh is all ragged and torn up… and since I can nullify poison, I bet I could
eat it!"
She waded through the poison breath until she was right up next to the dragon.
And placed her palms together.
"…Bon appe tit, I guess."
She took a bite of the dragon's back.
"Urgh… that's not very tasty," Maple said, making a face.
She experimented for a few moments and quickly confirmed that any flesh she
swallowed would not regenerate. But if she merely tore some off with her teeth, those
bits would eventually reappear—like a video rewinding. And of course, that did no
damage.
"I guess I have to eat it…"
The poison dragon's flesh was slightly bitter. It reminded Maple of the green peppers
she'd always detested.
But if she had to eat it to get out of the room, then she wasn't going to stop, even if it
meant holding her nose and biting back tears.
The one thing in Maple's favor was the fact that this game had no mechanic that made
her feel full. Players could taste things, but no matter how much they ate, they'd never
be stuffed.
"Munch, munch… Oh, Mr. Dragon! Thanks for breathing on me! Chew, chew. That adds
a nice bit of spice. Kinda helps hide the green pepperiness."
She steadily worked toward the torso. After nearly five hours of eating, there was
nothing left but bones.
Maple looked around, wondering if she should get started on the leftover tail only for
all the bones to fall onto the ground as the whole thing stopped moving. Light
appeared all around the dragon's corpse right before it vanished.
Having chewed all the way through a hole in the system's logic, Maple had finally
defeated the dragon.
Where the dragon had been moments before, a glowing magic circle suddenly
appeared—along with a treasure chest.
"Skill: Hydra Eater acquired. Subsequently, Poison Nullification has evolved to Hydra."
"You are now level eighteen."
Maple first spent her twenty new stat points on VIT.
Her base stat for VIT was now 150.
"Okay! I have even more defense!"
Next, she checked out her new skills. Maple had never expected there to be one called
Hydra Eater.
Hydra Eater
Nullifies poison and paralysis status effects.
Condition
Defeat a poison dragon with HP Drain.
Apparently, eating monsters counted as an HP Drain. It seemed highly unlikely anyone
but Maple had ever even tried this.
Technically, eating food did help HP recover a little.
That said, this was clearly not how the developers had intended for players to acquire
the skill. The expected method was likely much, much easier. No one would subject
themselves to eating a rotting dragon piece by piece if they had a choice.
Hydra
Allows free use of the poison dragon's power.
Grants the use of poison magic at the cost of MP.
Condition
Defeat a poison dragon with HP Drain after acquiring Poison Nullification.
Maple shivered with excitement.
"I finally have a decent way to attack! And poison? That's perfect for me!"
All she had to do was apply the status effect and wait. A very effective technique for a
defense build.
"MP could be a problem… but I still want to spend all my points on VIT…"
She pondered this for a while but then remembered the treasure chest and put other
thoughts aside.
The treasure chest was quite large. Nine feet wide, six feet deep, and three feet tall.
This was Maple's first treasure chest, and she gulped with anticipation. A wave of
nervous excitement shot through her.
She slowly lifted the lid and peered inside.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Maple was so excited, her voice shot up.
Inside was a great shield. It was mostly black, with decorative red flourishes and a
large red crystal embedded in the center.
There was also a set of armor, clearly designed to pair with the shield. It had an
imposing gleam and a rose relief that wasn't too garish but still drew the eye.
Last was a pitch-black short sword, with a beautiful glittering garnet embedded in the
scabbard.
"This… is… perfect! Ugh, it looks so cool!"
Maple quickly picked them up and read the descriptions.
Unique Series
One-of-a-kind equipment exclusive to the first player to solo a dungeon boss on their
first attempt.
Only one per dungeon. This equipment may not be gifted.
Night's Facsimile
[VIT +20] [Destructive Growth]
Skill Slot: Empty
Black Rose Armor
[VIT +25] [Destructive Growth]
Skill Slot: Empty
New Moon
[VIT +15] [Destructive Growth]
Skill Slot: Empty
This armor was only for Maple. Even the short sword buffed VIT, throwing any idea of
attacking out the window. If anyone besides Maple even tried to use this, they'd never
be able to take advantage of it.
"I'll have to look up skill slots and Destructive Growth when I get back!"
Maple carefully put all three pieces into her inventory and stepped into the magic
circle, which instantly transported her back to town.
As soon as she arrived, Maple spent her few remaining coins on a room for the night.
The game's inns allowed you to sleep in-game, but that wasn't Maple's goal today.
"First, I have to look those up."
Destructive Growth
When destroyed, this equipment is restored to its original form, growing stronger
based on the damage taken.
The repairs happen instantly and are not influenced by stats at the moment of
destruction.
Skill Slot
You can sacrifice one of your skills, attaching it to a weapon.
Skills attached this way can never be recovered.
The attached skills can be activated five times per day at zero MP cost.
Additional usages beyond that require the standard MP.
You unlock one slot every fifteen levels.
"Heh-heh… these sound cool! And powerful!"
Certain she'd get more slots in the future, Maple didn't hesitate to pair Hydra with her
short sword, New Moon. She wouldn't have to worry about her MP anymore.
"And now, the moment I've been waiting for—time to equip everything!"
Maple donned all her new gear and checked herself out in the mirror. She looked much
more formidable than she had in her starter loadout, so Maple was thoroughly satisfied.
"Yessssssssssss! I look so good!"
She spent upward of an hour posing in the mirror. You know, getting used to her new
equipment.
"Heh-heh-heh… Time to hit the town!"
Maple was acting like she was all dressed up with places to go, but she couldn't quite
shake her nervousness.
And she was right to be nervous. This gear set drew even more attention than most
top players—the aura radiating off it turned every head. Maple just failed to notice the
majority of the looks she received.
It was getting pretty late, but Maple wanted to do one last hunt, so she set off once
more.