The enormous rhino creature charges at me on all fours glowing red from its berserker skill. It's covered in black armor along with shining body-hardening crystals from its second skill.
I grit my teeth and grip my wind-imbued daggers to match its energy, it's time to finally test these blades out. I take a deep breath while focusing my mana deep within the dual daggers.
It's much easier to control mana with my All-Seeing Eye active, plus all the practice I've gotten from charging up my fire-imbued sword helps a lot. The mana mixed with dense wind energy begins to swirl around inside blades as they glow with white light. Just like my long sword, these weapons have an ego of their own as well. They want to fly, their natural instinct is to release the immense winds within them.
The twin blades erupt with energy. I thrust them downwards to the sides of my body, forcing the wind magic to slice into the ground on either side of me. The brutal force of the attack blows dirt and stone in all directions as I fly up into the air. With minor corrections from my own wind summoning, I use this boost of speed to hurdle myself toward the approaching monster.
The beast grunts, raising its massive horn in the air as I fall down at it with blinding speed. Layers of dense wind cover my body, along with both my blades. Focusing straight ahead, aiming my attack directly at the creature before me, I let out a yell and release a dazzling wave of silver light.
A crescent of shimmering wind energy leaves both my daggers to form a single attack. It glistens and shines, making the dense pocket of wind magic look like a shining silver sword flying through the air.
*SHINGGGG*
My laser focus doesn't budge for even a second. With both eyes locked on the charging beast, I watch my new blades' first attack slice the monster in two like a hot wire melting through foam.
I land on the ground with a loud thud cracking the ground in front of the fallen beast.
It didn't stand a chance….
Grinning while twirling my still glowing blades, I admire my work as the two halves of a massive monster settle and its blood soaks into the dry ground. The red glow of its berserker skill dissipates as I watch its mass disappear over the next minute or so.
It drops a heavy mana crystal, but nothing else. I toss it into my item storage and begin wandering deeper into the dungeon.
"Well… That was a disappointment. At least I have a better feel for my new blades now."
Sophie said there were 3 tiers of monsters in this dungeon. The regular mobs, the mutants, and the Titans.
Using enemy detection, I begin to locate and obliterate every stray monster in my path. The rhinos mostly travel alone, but the deeper I venture in, the more likely they are to travel in groups. In just under 2 hours I travel 10km into the dungeon and defeat 14 monsters. So far, all they drop are mana crystals, nothing else.
I continue onward until a much higher level pops up on my enemy detection radar.
[800m]
[Lv. 377]
[Lv. 313]
[Lv. 312]
[Lv. 310]
"Looks like I found my first mutant."
With an eager grin plastered across my face, I start air-stepping in the direction of the 4 newly spotted monsters. I'll finally get some real action.
A few minutes later the groups of creatures come into full view as I climb over a small desolate hill. I see 3 similar monsters to the ones I've been fighting, the lower-level beasts are the first to charge. Immediately, they begin sprinting toward me. A dust cloud forms and the ground shakes, but I match their attack and lunge in to begin our battle.
The 3 disposable pawns are taken out in an instant. As the dust clears, I see a pair of glowing red eyes approach. I use Appraisal on the level 377 mutant in front of me to gauge the strength of my opponent.
_____________________
Active Items:
[Rhino Commander's Ironclad Armor Set] +1100 Defense
[Rhino Commander's Crushing Horn] +900 Strength
[Rhino Commander's Battle Axe] +500 Strength
[Rhino Commander's Battle Axe] +500 Strength
Active Skills:
Berserker
Body Hardening [Special Grade]
Extreme Strength
_____________________
*THUDDD*
*THUDDD*
*THUDDD*
A 5m tall humanoid creature glows a red and golden light, similar to my own. It has a body just like a High Ogre, quick and agile looking, but still bulky and strong. Its tough hide is that of a rhinoceros and its head matches the theme. A massive horn juts out right below its eyes.
It carries two silver axes, one in each hand. They're both larger than my entire body and the monster swings them around with ease. The beast lets out a roar releasing a murderous aura while glaring down at me. This mutant half-man half-rhino is ready to battle. Luckily, so am I.
Without hesitation, I make my move. Charging up my daggers, I let out an attack powerful enough to slice its minions in two. The shimmering crescent of energy flies through the air toward the monster's open neck. It raises both axes and deflects my attack with a loud grunt and a roar as the wave of wind spirals up into the air.
It turns to me and launches an attack of its own.
With axes held steady, and body-hardening crystals covering its vital points, the monster makes its move.
*CLANGGGG*
I catch its two shining twin axes with my own in mid-air. I grit my teeth and use all the strength and wind magic in my arsenal to push the monster's attack away, but it's no use… The two massive blades slowly sink down toward me as the beast overpowers my defense with brute strength.
Erupting into flames, I try to push back using every buff and skill I have. The silver axes come closer and closer. I let out a sigh and a grunt, realizing I'll have to fight with my head.
"Dungeon Walker."
Instantly, I vanish from beneath the monster's weapons and appear behind it releasing a full-powered wind attack from my daggers.
Completely caught off guard, the mutant creature takes an unexpected wind slash to the back. It lets out an angry and confused roar as black fragments of body hardening crystals shatter into the air and a bloody gash opens up between a gap in its armor.
I smirk while teleporting to its opposite side as it angrily turns around with axes ready to strike at me again. Another shimmering crest of wind magic comes flying out of my twin daggers, hitting the clueless monster in another armor gap. It lets out a roar as black crystals shatter into the air and red blood trickles down its sides.
The beast turns again, immediately spotting me after the attack. I teleport to its blind spot to release another brutal strike. Over and over, I let out powerful attacks with my new blades. This monster isn't dumb, and it's the furthest thing from weak… I'm just a lot faster and much more agile. It doesn't stand a chance against my quickness and teleportation skill.
Over half a dozen wind slashes later, the monster begins to slow down even more. It begins having trouble holding its axes steady and its breaths become audible between grunts of pain. Another half dozen wind slashes later and it falls to its knees.
I stand 10m in front of the mutant humanoid rhino and point both my blades at the thoroughly defeated monster. Concentrating mana and wind magic into the center of both blades I slowly bring them toward each other until they meet with a light metallic clink.
The blades merge into one heavy dagger, and I charge up the final attack.
Glowing bright white, I take a deep breath in and out before bringing the blade across my body to release a ripple of glimmering silver energy.
In the blink of an eye, the attack soars through the air and slices through the bloodied mutant's neck with ease.
*THUDDD*
Its head falls to the floor as I power down my skills and twirl my dagger around my right hand.
[Level Up]
I patiently wait for the monster to dissolve, but it drops nothing but a mana crystal behind. I pick up the stone with a bit of disappointment and throw it in my item storage. While activating enemy detection again, I continue my trek deeper into this never-ending dungeon.
That gave me a little rush, but still, there's been no opponents worth my time.
Just over 2 more hours go by… I travel another 15km in and fight 6 more mutants along with their underlings. I've gained 4 more levels, bringing me to 357, but the only loot drops so far have been mana crystals.
The further in I travel, the tougher these mutants get, but they're still no match at all for me. I'm hoping to find one of these so-called un-killable "Titans" but I haven't had any luck.
My enemy detection skill is even acting up. Every time I try to scan for more enemies, weird chunks of dungeon space don't show up on my mind's eye radar. It's like they don't exist, or are being blocked from detection. I've experienced weird dungeon phenomena before, but usually, there is a good explanation. This just makes no sense.
I keep walking up and down the rising and falling hills hoping to come across an enemy that will put up a good fight… or even one of these mutants to drop one of those strengthening fragments. For all the hype this dungeon received, it's been a pretty boring experience so far.
Letting out a long sigh, I continue onward.
"The deeper I go, the higher the chance I'll find one of these things right? …. right?"
The hills keep bending up and down as I follow the horizon line in front of me. I'm not too worried about getting lost or going too far in, I can just Dungeon Walk back to the entrance at any time.
Another hour goes by. No more mutants or regular mobs attack me at all. The air has a unique mana consistency to it now, similar to a dungeon break. If I concentrate hard enough, it almost sounds like the dungeon around me is humming….
The eerie sensation of being watched comes over me suddenly. Even with my All-Seeing Eye activated, I can't sense the presence of anything nearby.
"This is odd…"
I look around, but there's nothing in sight…
I clench my jaw and reach into my item box to grab my sword. Switching my dagger to my left hand, I grip both weapons tightly and get ready for a fight.
Something is definitely nearby.
Erupting into flames and scanning every bit of dungeon space around me I prepare for the worst. Maybe it's like one of those giant Cyclops? Or a Minotaur creature? It could even be an even more mutated form of the Rhino monsters I've been facing. All I know is they're apparently really big and really scary. The anticipation is killing me!
Then, I see it…
Coming up from behind a hill in the distance, an impossibly huge figure walks toward me. It appears out of nowhere. My enemy detection skill didn't see it coming at all, but it's definitely here now.
I crane my neck up to the sky as the shadow of a humanoid monster casts its presence over me.
It's easily 30m tall, and completely void of any defining feature. A black mass of energy in the shape of human approaches without making a sound… Looking into any part of its body feels like I'm staring into the abyss. Its giant feet crack the ground as it approaches, but the dirt and rock that fly off in all directions are eerily silent.
Its long legs move slowly, but it covers a lot of ground with every step. The humming sensation of dense mana in the air increases dramatically as the Titan rhythmically swings its long jet-black arms back and forth while walking straight toward me. The monster is carving out a valley of destruction behind it, throwing massive chunks of earth and stone into the air like it's kicking up dust.
How did I not sense it coming? What is this thing, and how is this possible…? I gulp, gripping my weapons and charging them both up to glow with white and red light.
Activating Inspect, Appraisal, and Enemy Detection, the skills finally get a reading on this creature as it comes within range.
[250m]
_____________________
[Lv. 400]
Active Items:
[NONE]
Active Skills:
[NONE]
Buffs:
[Titan's Domain] Hidden Ability
_____________________
"So this… is a Titan…"