A/N: First of all I deleted the first version of this chapter since it was shit, but also I want to say that I'm tired of these toxic people hating on every part of the story they don't like, most of those people haven't even tried writing a story like ever.
I won't bother trying to please anyone's wishes for this story only except if I don't find it good enough, if you don't like the story then just drop it and leave. I write this because fun, keep that in mind.
Now let's get to the chapter!
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I was at the entrance to the middle floor, which was on the 13th floor. The floors beyond this point are known as Cave Labyrinths for their intricate design. Monsters on the middle floors spawn in greater numbers and at a faster rate.
My backpack was getting heavier, so I decided to rest a bit before more monsters spawned. I had already dismissed the idea of feeding monsters the monster cores, recognizing it as a blatantly stupid idea.
I had killed far more monsters than the last time I visited the dungeon city of Rivira. Traveling and collecting monster cores until that floor would be impossible. My backpack would burst like a melon, and some troublesome monster would end up eating the cores.
Opening up my backpack, I decided to drop the entire collection of cores onto the floor and crush them using my abilities. I threw a couple of punches until the cores burst into pieces. With that done, the only thing remaining for me was to explore further.
Ahead of me was the entrance to the middle floors, also called Cave Labyrinth, due to their more complex cave system. The walls, floor, and ceiling were made out of bedrock, and the monster spawns were more frequent on these floors.
This makes it very hard for solo adventurers between levels 1 and 3 to navigate these floors. Even higher-level adventurers are advised to form parties if they want to go deeper. Even if an adventurer is strong, exhaustion will catch up sooner or later, and running out of energy inside the dungeon means death.
But that doesn't apply to me.
Now that my backpack was empty, I could move ahead and start grinding the middle floors. As soon as I stepped inside the Cave Labyrinth, I was greeted by numerous monster growls and red glowing eyes.
A bunch of red eyes glowed in the dark corners of the floor, as if they were waiting to ambush me. I seriously doubted that any adventurer below level 4 would be able to come out alive from this.
I wondered why the dungeon limited stronger monsters to the deeper floors instead of just spamming them on the upper floors. Either it was because of Ouranos's constant prayers, or the dungeon had some limitations.
All was quiet until the monsters started emerging from the shadows. Each of them revealed themselves to be a large group of Wyverns, Lamia Mormos, Hellhounds, Almiraj, and Minotaurs. There were about thirty of them, making the floor shake with their roars.
The most dangerous of them were the Minotaurs, but the Wyverns weren't far behind. The Almiraj were cute but could be dangerous in larger packs. And the Lamias... well, they were captivating for the average male adventurer but still just monsters.
I don't know if anyone has ever tried having relations with a monster. Now that I think about it, I wouldn't find it so strange if someone did. If someone tried, they must've lost their manhood that day.
Things got serious when a Minotaur threw its heavy axe at me. I stared at the axe for a couple of moments, wondering if this had ever happened before. I'd never heard of a Minotaur throwing one of its weapons at someone. This must be a one-in-a-million event.
I dodged the weapon with ease, but the next moment, another Minotaur behind me grabbed my right arm with a tight grip and tried to punch me. I quickly killed it by squashing its head with my ability.
The monsters quickly started poking me from the sides, one by one. I was bleeding all over but still refused to use my cloak ability. The loss of Excelia from this encounter would be a tremendous loss for my growth.
Thankfully, the monsters started going down one by one as I increased the pressure of my attacks. It was just a chaotic fight by now. Blood was leaking from practically everywhere, making it look like even the walls were bleeding.
As I smashed another Wyvern, one of its gut parts hit me directly in the face, looking quite comedic. Despite my current disgusting situation, I could imagine myself laughing like a maniac if I ever saw a video of this.
It was like something from a comedic horror movie or a scene from The Boys series, given the amount of blood and gore. The gut fell to the ground, leaving my face covered in its blood and an awful smell.
I managed to kill all the monsters eventually. The only things left on the floor were me, blood, and a bunch of monster cores. I had crushed some during the fight, but a good portion of them remained intact.
"Phew, let's check the status..."
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--- STATUS ---
Name: Niall
Race: *REDACTED*
Level: 2
Power: 22 I --> 345 F
Survivability: 13 I --> 299 G
Durability: 0 I --> 246 G
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The status growth was, to say the least, slower than last time, but that is to be expected. The higher the level, the more Excelia you'll need. Just like in any RPG game, higher levels are harder to achieve compared to the lower levels.
But I do think it's balanced. Leveling up too fast wouldn't be fun for Azathoth to watch. I guess she wants to see me in pain. Speaking of her, I need to ask her for a spatial storage ability since I need it more than ever.
Disregarding all that, I thought it was best to leave the dungeon now and return after it cools down a bit. Several monster parties like this are abnormal, and I don't want to get caught like that again.
Besides, I have flying classes starting tomorrow with Asfi. I need to learn how to fly so I can finally explore the dungeon faster than just running or walking. Or even explore the entire world. Thinking about that left me imagining seeing entire landscapes from amazing views.
SLAM
I crushed the monster that tried to ambush me from behind. It was an Almiraj with a tiny axe in its hand. I raised an eyebrow as I noticed an entire army of Almirajs standing ten meters ahead of me.
I hadn't even sensed their presence. For lower-level monsters like them, it should've been easier to sense them. But this time, the monsters had a weird look in their eyes. Their red eyes flashed as usual, but something about them looked odd.
The Almirajs just stood there like some sort of zombie army. Judging by their number, I guessed there were about 50 of them. That number is odd even for the middle floors. Fifty Almirajs in one place is crazy for the 13th floor.
I didn't give them time to form a strategy or anything. I just started blasting. The group of Almirajs exploded into black mist, but the rest stood there, still unmoving.
"What's up with you guys? Did the dungeon mess something up in your code?" My question, of course, went unanswered since, well, they were monsters.
But before I could continue killing them, a small rumbling sound started right below my feet. Not even a second later, a giant hole appeared beneath me, and I found myself falling into the darkness without a trace of an end.