Evan D. Sherden, Strengthened. (2)
There were two possible ways to approach something that was hidden well out of sight. The first approach consisted of attempting to locate the exact location where the said object was hidden. This would mean moving around, breaking down walls, or entering secret passages to confirm. The second one focused on luring it out.
"An offering is the Dungeon's way of calling them out."
"I don't know who created this dungeon, but this sure is nasty."
Shine shuddered at the sight of the corpses strewn out on the floor, the Maze rats scurrying about for fear that they would get stepped on. By now, he was used to blood and gore, for he had lost count of the number of monsters he had slain, but for some reason, the traps always made him feel uneasy. Especially the traps that didn't kill its prey right away, but rather caused a slow and painful death as the victims struggled against the agony of having their life sucked out of them.
Evan joined him. "Shine, do you know how emotion can be transformed into energy?"
"How is that related to this trap?"
"It has just about everything to do with the Dungeon as well as the traps in it. Think about all kinds of treasures one might find along with the dangerous monsters lurking around in the deep crevices of the Dungeon. Don't you think it presents a convenient place to draw human emotions to their extreme limits?"
It was. Shine was nodding his head, convinced when Raihan stepped in from the side. His impression had turned nasty.
"Master, isn't that related to the Mahwa tribe? I've heard tales where they thrive on sucking out the souls of humans."
"It is similar to that, but not quite the same. The fact remains that they grow stronger not only for the spirits but also for the emotions possessed by human beings. It hasn't yet been discovered as to how they can harness power from a formless emotion that has been sucked out of a living being."
"I remember what I had been taught in the priest's classes. Honestly, though, I didn't pay any attention to what was being discussed. I found the whole topic disgusting and inhumane."
Evan continued, smiling at Raihan, who was scratching his head with embarrassment.
"The Dungeon has been optimized for the maximum exploitation of human emotions. The desire for treasure, the fear of monsters, the despair of suffering, hope, and the determination to fight are just a few of those emotions that we go through daily. That's why we often say this when we argue against those who claim that Gods have created Dungeons."
When no one spoke, Evan ploughed on with a faint smile.
"The Dungeon is rather nothing other than a factory created by the Devil himself to efficiently extract human emotions and use them to his advantage. That is precisely why we have the Gods looking over us, guiding us, as we make our way up each floor slaying the monsters to restore the Dungeon into a sanctuary rather than a feared place."
"So… What is it exactly, Master?"
Evan simply smiled and shrugged. "I don't know."
"So, a Dungeon is a specialized place to amplify human emotions, whether positive or negative. Now that you understand that, don't you think it's natural that you have to sacrifice a trap as a device to summon the Hidden Boss Battle Room?"
"I am just glad to know this was not a creation of God."
Evan nodded, confirming that the trap had stopped working.
"Okay, time for us to move on to the next place."
Evan, who had only now figured out their location on the map, rushed to clear the floor with the rest of the team. They found hidden achievements, disfigured most traps, and activated a few of them from time to time, pushing monsters around them to meet the Hidden Boss Battle Room's summoning conditions.
"Move, quickly!"
"No way, there are way too many traps! How do we find them all and destroy them without harming ourselves?"
What was particularly surprising was Evan's ability to detect and throw with the skills he had upgraded over the past half-year.
While leading the party and making a count of all the achievements, Evan kept tossing beads around him, which they scattered on the floor. Each bead had the potential to destroy either traps or monsters.
"I missed more than half."
"I didn't notice anything close to 30 per cent either."
"I've made up my mind," Arisha muttered to herself, the adrenaline pumping inside her due to this sort of adventure she had never before felt while exploring even when she had cleared previous floors. At that moment, another trap was broken.
"I refuse to enter the dungeon without Evan from this moment onwards."
"Why are you giving up so easily? We need to work together as a team to come up with ideas on how to combine our individual strengths and defeat the monsters!"
"I value efficiency."
"What if we were forced to enter without Master Evan?"
In response to Shine, Arisha sneered at him, as if she had expected this question to be posed to her at one point or another.
"I've been thinking about that too, but since I'm Evan's fiancé, I doubt I would ever actually agree to be separated from him no matter how bad the situation gets."
"Miss Arisha, don't you think that you're speaking too confidently? From the way you speak, one might think the two of you are already married."
"Yeah, please respect Master Evan's will."
"Yes, respect mine. Lua, I'm not getting engaged to you, either, so please refrain from spouting anything weird in the future."
Evan stopped for a moment to signal to Arisha. There was a Floor Master battle room in front of them.
"Are we already in the battle room?"
"Yes. I've calculated, and I have come to the conclusion that they are about eight in there. It's a good number to take on."
Hunting the entirety of floor masters on the 10th floor was considered the basic condition for a battle with the Hidden Boss. To summon the Hidden Boss Battle Room, they needed to offer sacrifices and mana stones obtained from the previous floor masters.
"The monsters which we have been dealing with ever since we crossed the threshold of the sixth floor have been vast. Given that strong elite players are abundant, we will face trouble if we don't operate as a team. I suggest we practice first and talk about who wants to be in charge of what before we decide to enter into the Dungeon's deepest trails."
"Evan," Arisha spoke coolly. "We were in a trap room with thirty elites."
"True, I am not denying that."
"But you claimed that elite monsters only appear from the 13th floor."
"We fought because it was such a small room that you couldn't throw beads, but it got over sooner than we had hoped it would."
Evan was silent for a moment but then addressed them all, declaring briskly with an air of newfound confidence.
"Let's just get right into it!"
When they entered the Floor Master battle room by offering a mana stone, they were greeted by a trio of elite bats, a pair of saw rabbits that had sharp saws instead of their front tooth, and about five maze rats that were as huge as an adult male torso.
And right after they appeared, all of them were bludgeoned to death with the aid of the combined forces of Evan's Bead, Shine's dagger, Belois ice and flames, and Arisha's rapier.
"We didn't need to be tactical."
Evan looked lonely as he glanced down at the corpse of a giant rabbit.
"Yes, sir. I knew it from the beginning."
Shine stabbed the scimitar into the rabbit's fleshy parts to draw its blood and handed the mana stone to Evan.
Evan murmured when he took the mana stone.
"No, I'm sure the Dungeon has weakened completely."
"I'm sure you would regret that statement you just made when we take on the Hidden Boss. Come on, let's go to the next section."
"No, I'm really surprised at how easily they died. It's not possible for it to be this simple."
"But it wasn't that easy for me. I need to work harder."
Meanwhile, Arisha had retired to one corner of the room, looking gloomy and counting the number of holes in the wings of the bat she had just killed. She looked as though she had it harder than the others and struggled a great deal more than them.
Shine made his way towards her and punctured its body with his scimitar, which immediately caused it to seep out inky dark blood.
"You too, Miss Arisha, if you get special training from Master Evan, it'll be solved soon. Of course, we're Rookies, and we will be in the upper level because we are senior to you. Phew."
"Can I hit you, Shine…"
Arisha seemed to be quite hurt upon hearing this. It must have wounded her pride greatly, for she looked away quickly, averting her eyes elsewhere. Evan thought that Arisha had performed considerably well on this floor.
Just the sight of a gigantic bat being smashed to death with just one single movement of her rapier was something to marvel at. Not to mention how she had located the key attack spots and dodged every time it surged forward to hit her like she was a pro.
'No need to mention Shine and Lua. Our offence was so superior that Raihan didn't have to step up. This can't be called a battle. It's just one-sided violence. Nothing to be proud of.'
Ordinary people went through minimal training or adventure before entering the Dungeon. They knew that the Dungeon was the kind of place where one could easily lose their life if they were even the slightest bit careless, which forced them to acquire skills to survive.
And roughly, it is about level 15 and main skill level 6 that make people think about challenging dungeons. It was the standard for beginners who could somehow successfully clear the Dungeon even while going through a death crisis.
"But for those who enter the dungeon with a high level of existence and skill, the initial levels are often fairly easy to pass."
Those who aspired to be even stronger entered the Dungeons if they felt as though their levels were enough. However, most of them chose not to enter, even when their levels were significantly higher than those required to enter. One of the most prominent warriors in this context went by Mikhail D. Airlock, leader of the Knights. His existence level must have been over 100. In addition to his impeccable stats, the techniques of martial arts and swordsmanship which he had mastered over the course of his life must have been harmonized by now to enable him to cover almost 30 floors without any difficulty single-handedly.
'What floor is Mikhail on? I think I vaguely remember him enticing me to join the mercenary. I think he must be close to the front line.'
It was said that monsters' strength and the risk of traps were not of the same category and hence can't be compared with each other. However, as the existence level increased, they became immune to any harm and traps.
Moreover, as they scaled up the levels, they noticed the change in their body and skillsets that grew stronger with each floor they cleared.
"The existence level can't be that high. Was the skill training a little too intense?"
"No, the stats would still be higher regardless of that."
"It's strange."
"It's not that strange."
It could be relatively easy to kill a regular monster or an elite. The dream was expected to get at least this much done. However, the fact that they had managed to kill the bosses on the 10th floor with such ease was indeed a strange phenomenon.
"Of course, I believed that this team had the potential to break through even the 70th floor without any delay," Evan said with a hint of embarrassment in his voice.
Yet still, it was another level of achievement to be capable of proceeding into the Dungeon smoothing and killing the boss simultaneously with just a single stroke of the blade.
"I'd like to go into the next room alone, Master." This time, it was Belois who spoke.
"Well, I'm not sure if you're ready for that yet… Alright, give it a shot."
And so she tried. Belois managed to clear the floor master entirely with the aid of only four FoxFires. It barely took her a minute to get the task done.
After clearing the battle room, Belois smiled, evidently satisfied with herself. Upon seeing this, Shine and the others expressed their wishes to take the next lead.
"I'll do the next, Master!"
"Me too."
"Master, when should I use the shield?"
Evan thought to himself how cocky they had become. He pouted as he realized his expectations had changed from what they had been initially. Death signs were everywhere, threatening Evan wherever he went. This was why he had bothered even putting up this dream team, after all. Who knew that their skills would evolve immensely in the process of overcoming strong, elite monsters?
'… where did all that go? It isn't the Yo-Ma Great War series, I know! I know everything, but it's not like this!'
"Hidden Bosses will be different than anything you've encountered before. Get ready."
Even as he said this, several of the members rolled their eyes as if they had expected anything else from one of the most feared creatures from the Dungeon.
An hour later, almost two and a half hours after arriving at the 10th floor, they came face to face with the Hidden Boss Battle Room.