I headed down the tunnel and exited into a small cavern. Only about 100 feet in diameter, the cavern was small compared to the open floor design of the floor above it. I walked around the edges, concealing my presence as much as possible.
A vacuum barrier around my body stopped the noise. Small holes in the vacuum barrier only allowed me to hear and breathe. I walked on air so as not to create any vibrations.
I walked around half the cave, still not sensing anything. I thought the cave was empty. Then, I saw it: some loose rocks quivering and shaking. I wasn't touching the ground, so I didn't feel the vibrations. Yet, something was shaking the whole cave.
I lowered myself down, standing on the ground. I could feel the tremors through the floor and the wall. It was getting stronger and stronger. I waited for a minute, never moving or even blinking.
The eighth-ranked bosses down here were at the peak eighth rank, and I was only in the middle eighth. There wasn't as big a power difference between small realms. The power difference was still noticeable.
I was getting impatient, so I created a slight tremor on the opposite side of the cave. Compressed air shaped like a four-legged monster created the illusion of prey. After around ten seconds, a huge worm—a wyrm — popped out of the ground.
It wasn't the tiny earthworm you would find on Earth. It was a gigantic, meter-wide by ten-meter-long monster. Its sharp metal fangs could easily chew through rock and metal. With its natural affinity with Earth, it was the worst matchup underground.
In a cave such as this, it was virtually unstoppable. It also managed to break through the strengthened walls of the dungeon. It wasn't a regular wyrm either.
Even I could only crack the wall at most. To break through it, this worm, or rather, wyrm, was unique. It was either given special access or had a mutation that allowed it to break through. I figured the mutation was more likely.
'At least I don't have to fight it.'
My goal was to scout out the cave system, not fight. Sadly, the wyrm didn't seem to agree, as it attacked me. I wasn't sure how it detected me, but I suspected it was from the magic I cast. After realizing the footsteps were fake, it tracked the mana signal back to my position.
I dodged out of the way as the wyrm burrowed into the wall I had been leaning against. As I continued running, the wyrm continued chasing me. My camouflage was up, and I started running on condensed mana, not even air.
Unable to shake off the wyrm, I ran into the next cave. Inside was a clay cocoon. I ran past it, but as the wyrm approached, the cocoon broke, and a giant bear paw smashed the ground. The wyrm flew into the air as the rest of the monstrous bear walked out. It was a good seven meters tall.
I hid away in a corner as the wyrm and bear fought. Watching them while catching my breath gave me an idea. Initially, I had planned on fighting each of the bosses one-on-one. After defeating the mini-bosses, I would challenge the Hydra.
Now that I was thinking, I had no reason to fight the bosses alone. I escaped the Hydra in the first place because it fought one of the mini-bosses, leaving me alone. I could gather all the bosses and make them fight each other for me.
Ultimately, I would clean up the last one and go home free. The wyrm and bear were already fighting, so I had no reason not to start. I was in the best shape I would be for a while. I quickly ran through the rest of the caves, escaping all the other bosses. The caves were all in a circle connecting to the middle Hydra cave and their two neighbors.
Reaching the last cave, neighboring where I had come from, I lured the bosses to the main cave. Upon reaching the main cave, the bosses would focus on the Hydra instead of me. I lured the skeleton knight, ghost blight, tunnel wolf, and spirit ape to the cave.
It instantly became a free-for-all. The Hydra attacked each boss simultaneously, and the bosses battled amongst themselves. I needed to lure the last three bosses differently, as the bear and wyrm were fighting.
I first lured the owl boss of the last roor to the bear's. I then drew their attention to me with a massive waterfall spell. Once sufficiently annoyed, the three final mini-bosses followed me to the Hydra. Upon seeing the mayhem, they began fighting—each other and the Hydra.
I created a vantage point from the ceiling upon which I would rest and watch the chaos. The seven mini-bosses each took on a head, battling hours. By the time the monsters began fatiguing and slowing, I had fully rejuvenated myself.
The battle finally came to a stand-off, with neither side attacking. This situation seemed to have happened before. They were all in silent agreement and started returning to their respective caves.
They were all tired and running low on mana. They had also sustained many injuries, although none appeared fatal or permanent.
I couldn't let that happen. Who knew when I would get my next chance if they stopped fighting now? I was not about to spend my sixteenth birthday in this god-forsaken dungeon. Only a month or two was left until the three-year mark.
I took out the thing I had been preparing since last year. Out of my shadow storage came a long, gleaming rifle—a 50-caliber rifle made from sweat and blood. I had used my mana steel flesh to create this rifle. A one-use, high-powered shot to kill whatever I needed.
This gun had every enhancement I could think of; even the bullet was special. It was a custom adamantine-tipped lightning and fire-enhanced bullet. According to my math, it could travel Mach 5 to the target. It was more of a hand-held rail gun at this point.
The power output of a single shot would destroy the gun. Only the adamantine tip I had worked so hard for would survive. For two years, I'd condensed the millimeter bead of adamantine.
Holding the gun in my hands, I aimed in a sitting position. The scope dialed into the middle of the Hydra. One breath… two breath… three breath… pull. The safety trigger clicked. All the magic circles on the gun and bullet came to life as I poured in more than half my mana core.
Just as the gun was about to break under the strain, I pulled the actual trigger. The ambient mana went bezerk. I barely had time to react, and none of my protections survived.
A concentrated plasma, metal, and electricity beam burst through the Hydra. It left behind a small hole deep enough in the ground to see the liquid magma of the mantle. It wasn't too ridiculous; only around a millimeter hole met the mantle.
A meter-wide hole speared through the Hydra. It had also ripped the middle head to shreds. I wasn't in much better shape. My whole face was burnt, and the right arm I used to hold the gun was gone from the shoulder down. My body was already healing, but this damage was worse than when I exploded my mana core.
The agony was nothing like I had felt before. Electricity was dancing on my nerves, the constant pain rising like an angry eruption. I couldn't think. After a minute, the pain subsided enough for me to rationalize.
My right eye was burnt from the nerves to the cornea. For now, only the left side of my body was usable. If I looked in the mirror, I would look like Two-Face.
'Who's Face?'
I dragged myself up to my feet and looked down at the monsters. The Hydra was still living but extremely weakened.
The other seven bosses were fine, but they looked hesitant about what to do. The spirit ape tried approaching the Hydra, but a head immediately bit off the spirit ape's hand. After that, they all returned to their caves.
The Hydra wasn't the boss of this dungeon without reason. As I healed, I felt my mana pool empty. Fatigue, again, brought me to my knees. I lay down and shut off my brain.