[Chapter Size: 2146 Words.]
Lucius POV
Dungeon, Eighteenth Floor.
...
...
The place is exactly like the anime, bright, with light emitted directly from the sky by enormous crystals. There's a landscape between the blue of the large lake in the middle of the floor and vast green vegetation around, not to mention the city built by adventurers near the center, capable of housing a few thousand. A place hard to believe exists miles below the city...
As I looked at the giant place, I furrowed my brow with a thought. I heard once on a forum that Bell's aunt, Alfia, a level 7 mage, had a spell that could destroy the entire place. I wonder if one day I'll have a spell with the power to do that; at that moment, it would surely be a monster.
Ignoring the beautiful scenery, I led the way with Riekling and headed for the city. I was tired and wanted to rent a room to sleep since on the surface, it must be nearly noon by now. As the floor darkens according to the surface time, I spent a whole night fighting on the previous floors, and I don't have infinite stamina.
Walking straight into the city, I encountered some adventurers. Besides the strange looks towards Riekling, which was a habit, and we're used to it, we passed by them, each minding their own business.
Passing through the city gate, after some guards questioned about my goblin but handing them a guild licensing letter, they let us through. Since it was daytime on the surface and this floor seemed to follow the city's rhythm, there were many people on the street at this time, as many follow the physiological schedules of the surface even here in the dungeon.
Passing through the crowd, I found an inn to rest and went in that direction. Hearing the owner's price, I couldn't help but frown. On the surface, a better inn than this would cost between 800 to 1000 valis, but here they charge 3 thousand. But with no choice, I accepted it because I wanted to sleep in a bed, and I have plenty of money and crystals.
I slept for a few hours and woke up with the city much more lively in the afternoon, so I went out to buy some supplies that I was running out of for the next few days, after a meal, of course.
Noticing the place better, it seemed more like a mercenary city as I read in other novels, and I would say that the adventurers here didn't have the best intentions. I could tell that by the looks towards Riekling as we walked through the place. There is also the entrance to Knossos on this floor, where hunters and slavers use as their passage to go between the surface and this floor without being detected.
'I've always wondered how Uranos let this be built under his nose without even discovering the entrance.' I reflected.
I bought some supplies, which were not cheap either, and headed towards the nineteenth floor. There wasn't much to do here now. I'll wait to explore this place better once Bell and Hestia are here. Meanwhile, I intend to be ready for my level-up. It's not enough to have only stats; you need to go through a challenge. Some say it's only with stats because in these challenges, there is a large amount of statistics received.
Passing by some groups of adventurers at the entrance, who were returning from the lower floors, I began to descend the stairs. On this floor, there was a wide variety of monster types, such as Bugbear, Battle Boar, Lizardman, Firebird, Vouivre, Mad Beetle, Mammoth Fool, Dark Fungus, Gun Libellula.
The scenery changed from corridors with dark stones in the intermediates to vegetation with insects as the theme for the next floors, going up to the twenty-fourth floor before entering the capital of waters. I admit to being a bit nervous since I've never set foot on this floor even after 2 years, but at the same time, I'm excited about the unknown. I've seen almost nothing about these floors, so it will be a new experience.
Entering the floor, among the roots, there were corridors with more roots from the big tree of the previous floor than the vegetation I imagined, but as I delve deeper, the roots will be replaced. The first monster that came at me was a Bugbear wandering the corridors. I advanced in combat after casting my support spells. As I dodged its claws, I cut its arm. However, unlike the floors above me, the monsters are tougher here. What should have severed its arm only made a deep cut with great difficulty. This created an opening for it to attack. It was so fast that I could barely dodge. Jumping backward, my shoulder started bleeding heavily.
"Yikes, that was dangerous... and it hurts a lot!" I said, looking at my new wound, stunned.
"HEEEEE!" Riekling shouted, concerned.
A few steps ahead, I looked back at my opponent, who was roaring and waiting for me to attack. [- Minor Heal!] I conjured, and a green aura enveloped me, mainly my open wound. My opponent started running towards me. As he noticed my delay, I raised my hand and launched fire onto him with Firebolt. Caught in the explosion, he put his paws to protect his face. Meanwhile, I ran to him, seeing the opening in his defense. When he realized, I had already cut his neck, not enough to decapitate him, but enough to kill him after a few seconds with the bleeding neck while he thrashed on the ground.
"That was harder than I thought... or maybe I was too confident and almost paid for it..." I said to myself, a bit frustrated. My wound was already healing, but the pain is not pleasant.
"If I want to keep fighting on these floors, I'll have to fight with my Firebolt magic and my lightning sword at the same time..." I thought to myself.
"Heee?" Riekling asked after picking up the magic stone.
"Not entirely well, Riekling. Look at my badass wizard king cloak all torn! 50,000 down the drain now." I said angrily, lost my cosplay here...
My little companion stared at me as if I were some kind of narcissistic idiot, but I didn't care.
We continued our journey on the floor. After encountering three more monsters, I took more care, sending bursts of firebolts on the group. Once they suffered enough damage and an opening in their defenses, I finished them off with my sword in vital points since I don't have enough power to start slicing them like meat.
Another thing I must be careful about is the speed of these monsters because it's no joke how their attacks can be vital. I even avoided advancing to the twentieth floor to not face stronger monsters at the moment.
Throughout the hours and battles, adrenaline took over me, and I didn't even realize that I spent the rest of the day on this floor without intending to descend further, until the result was productive, seeing that I gained 19 points from the system for each monster's death and 40 points for each crystal, a score I've been earning since the sixteenth floor!
So, I gained many points around the 300 monsters I encountered here, killing them in the last few hours. It wasn't my best result in a day, as the monsters were much more challenging and time-consuming on this floor after all.
Heading to the surface peacefully while killing a few more monsters than I had already done as I encountered them along my way, however, it seems that some kind of event always has to happen because in the middle of the way, I noticed an ambush when I was already in it, and a female voice was heard.
"Well, well, what a dangerous man. Did you see how he casts his magic without saying a word of incantation..." Said a seductive voice, interrupting my thoughts as I was walking and heading back to Rivira.
In the darkness between the roots, an Amazon appeared behind one of them with two other men. The Amazon was licking her lips as she looked at me and studied me and did the same with Riekling. I encountered some Raids on this floor while I was here; these groups looked at me strangely seeing the blood on my clothes and how I was alone, but each took care of their own business.
'I've been followed since Rivira, or someone liked to give my information among the groups I met on the way back to the surface.' I thought, hoping it wouldn't be too much trouble to deal with these adventurers in front of me.
"Why am I surprised by this cliché?" I said monotonously and continued talking.
"I presume you're here to kill me and take Riekling?" I asked with the same bored tone...
They didn't answer because it was too obvious; unfortunately, their efforts would result in nothing because even if they managed to kill me, Riekling would disappear if I died...
"Let me ask another question. Do you work for Dix Perdix? Perhaps you know how to get into Knossos... And if you had the key, it would be a big profit for me!" My last sentence was more like a question to myself.
The group looked at me with wide eyes at this moment. They were obviously members of the Ikelos Family, no doubt. But as my thought was heard, their eyes became cautious because, in addition to knowing information that only their family knows, I was planning to invade the place like a bloodthirsty madman, as my eyes showed an intention to kill when I said I wanted to go inside Knossos.
"Who are you!? How do you know these things?" The Amazon asked, no longer amused and a bit cautious.
'Regardless of how I know these things, I'm not as ordinary as they thought...' I laughed internally.
"It doesn't matter, Vanessa, he spent the whole day fighting here, and even though he has that fire magic, he must be almost out of mana! Let's just kill him; he's nothing more than a beginner level 02 in his physical abilities, from what we observed!" One of them spoke, and I sighed upon hearing that.
I really looked poor now, my cloak torn and bloodied after dozens of wounds on this floor. Not that I haven't suffered before, but today surpassed much more than my usual in the early moments on the intermediate floors. I'm an idiot who doesn't wear armor under my own cloak, something I'll have to change when I go to a store...
"I admit that I was even interested in Knossos for a moment, but I think I'll wait for Bell to find Wiene and wait for the xenos to attack Rivira. It will be easier that way. I'll find all the keys and eliminate everyone who knows the structure, monopolizing the path only for me and my family! HEHE!" I said while scratching my chin, making them stunned with my strange words. I laughed at the end like an ambitious businessman, thinking that maybe I can start a business with it.
"HEEE!" My companion said something like, 'How can you be a freaking capitalist!?' How he knows these terms, I don't know, I just paid attention to the group in front of us.
The group in front of me didn't know if they would be more surprised by the fact that I talked about xenos or by my intentions to eradicate their organization to open a business to enrich myself.
So, I stopped thinking out loud and looked at them with a big smile on my face, a rather evil one.
"As I don't need you, please DIE!" I said while raising both hands.
*FLAMES*
*BOOOOOM!*
*BOOOOOM!*
*BOOOOOM!*
*BOOOOOM!*
"GET AWAY!"
"AHHH! WHAT IS THIS!?"
"WHY DOESN'T HE STOP CASTING HIS MAGIC!"
"MERCY!"
*BOOOOOM!*
*BOOOOOM!*
They were three level 02 adventurers, so it was easy to eliminate them with about 240 shots in a minute of firebolt explosions. It took a while since they dodged most of the attacks, but as they were hit in front of the intense firebolt machine gun, their injuries severely restricted their mobility.
A little while later, they were dead, and the corridor was covered in flames now. Once I made sure to dispose of the bodies and tried to find the key, I was disappointed because there should have been someone to take care of the gate especially without getting involved in capture missions. After that, I returned to Rivira, a bit disappointed.
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