Episode 25: Consecutive Battles with Monsters ○
It has been eight days since I infiltrated the Underground Labyrinth, “Heaven’s Door,” near the Royal Capital. I am currently progressing through the 21st floor.
This Underground Labyrinth initially expanded as I descended, but after the 17th floor, the floors have been roughly the same size. I can conquer about two floors a day. I don’t know how many floors there are, but on this 21st floor, an A-rank monster appeared for the first time.
Species: Basilisk
Name: None
Rank: A-
Level: 66
HP: 335/335
MP: 303/303
Attack Power: 341
Defense Power: 287
Magic Attack Power: 311
Magic Defense Power: 298
Agility: 246
Skills:
Heat Detection Lv9
Magic Eye (Petrification) Lv14
Poison Generation Lv13
Poison Resistance Lv13
Regeneration Lv3
It’s not quite as strong as the Red Dragon, but it’s a formidable foe. It looks like a giant snake, but a large yellow eye shines in the middle of its face. That must be the petrifying Magic Eye. It seems to have a skill called Heat Detection, so I’m covering my entire body with a cold film of water. Thanks to that, it doesn’t seem to have noticed my presence yet, even though I’m in a visible location.
(First, I’ll take out that eye.)
I unleash Light Magic 4th tier, “Shining Arrow.” Before the Basilisk can even react, the arrow of light pierces its large yellow eye.
“Gyaaaaaaaa!”
The monster’s scream echoes through the Underground Labyrinth. The Basilisk, its eye destroyed, turns towards me. It seems my location has been discovered. It must be because I made a sound when I moved to cast the spell.
Well, the most troublesome eye is gone, so let’s go with a straightforward approach from here… I thought, but then I saw the wound where the light arrow hit start to regenerate, emitting smoke.
(Crap!? It had a “Regeneration” skill!)
The regeneration speed doesn’t seem that fast, but there’s no doubt it will fully heal if given enough time. I can’t let it use its petrifying Magic Eye, so I have to defeat it before it fully recovers.
This time, I aimed for the yellow eye with Air Cutter, but it was blocked by the tail that moved to protect its eye. The Basilisk’s tail is torn to shreds, and green blood is flowing.
However, in that gap, the Basilisk completely coiled up, hiding its head. I can’t aim for its eye like this.
I have no choice, I’ll just have to defeat it as it is. I unleashed Lightning Magic 4th tier, “Thunder Lance.” With a roar, the lightning lance pierces the Basilisk. It’s as fast as Shining Arrow, if not faster. Moreover, it has the added effect of paralysis from the electric shock. Viva, Lightning attribute!
I couldn’t defeat it with a single blow, but thanks to the paralysis, its coil loosened, and its head is visible. I hit it with another Thunder Lance, and it stopped moving, its head charred with holes.
(Lightning Magic seems to be very useful, so I’ll focus on leveling it up along with Water Magic.)
Now that I know I can defeat A-rank monsters without any problems, I’ll try to go a little further.
On this floor, B+ to A-rank monsters appear, but so far, most of them appear alone, so I’m defeating them without much difficulty.
It might be a little tough if they appear in groups. My stats are heavily skewed towards magic, so I can easily defeat them with magic, but my physical stats are about the same as the monsters around here. If I can’t handle them with magic or if my mana runs out, it’ll be dangerous.
About three days after defeating the Basilisk, I reached the 26th floor. Until the 25th floor, there were many single monsters, but from this 26th floor, A-rank monsters started appearing in groups of two or three. Naturally, my mana consumption increased. Even though I have the Mana Auto-Recovery skill, it doesn’t recover instantly, so my progress is gradually slowing down, including rest stops. It took me a whole day to get through this 26th floor.
I’ve heard that this Underground Labyrinth, Heaven’s Door, is an unexplored Dungeon. The highest record is said to be the 31st floor. Well, I’ve just descended to the 27th floor, so if I go down four more floors, I’ll match the record. Though, I can’t make that public since I’m a Beetle.
The 27th floor started with three A-rank monsters, and after that, I was attacked every 30 minutes. It took me a whole day to finally find the stairs to the 28th floor.
By this point, the stairs were no longer a safe zone, so I was able to keep Life Detection and Magic Detection on even while sleeping.
From the 28th floor, the number of monsters appearing at once increased, and the probability of being attacked by another monster while fighting increased as well. Because of that, it took me four days to conquer just two floors.
And today, I’m finally going to challenge the 30th floor. According to the information I have, A-rank monsters will appear from here.
My level has risen to 55 by now. My attack power is a bit low, but my defense is decent, and my magic stats far exceed the Red Dragon’s, so I don’t think I’ll lose even against A-rank monsters… I think.
Species: Thunder Beetle (Mutant)
Name: None
Rank: C
Level: 55
HP: 308/308
MP: 462/462
Attack Power: 298
Defense Power: 358
Magic Attack Power: 512
Magic Defense Power: 512
Agility: 288
Skills:
Special Evolution
Language Comprehension
Chant Annulment
Item Box Lv19
Appraisal Lv18
Thought Acceleration Lv19
Life Detection Lv19
Magic Detection Lv19
Hostile Detection Lv18
Danger Detection Lv14
Auto HP Recovery Lv16
Mana Auto-Recovery Lv19
Light Magic Lv17
Water Magic Lv21
Wind Magic Lv11
Earth Magic Lv11
Lightning Magic Lv13
Space-Time Magic Lv9
Gravity Magic Lv9
Poison Generation Lv17
Paralysis Poison Generation Lv13
Sleep Poison Generation Lv13
Confusion Poison Generation Lv13
Pain Resistance Lv13
Poison Resistance Lv17
Paralysis Resistance Lv13
Sleep Resistance Lv13
Confusion Resistance Lv13
Bewitchment Resistance Lv9
Water Resistance Lv12
Lightning Resistance Lv12
Miasma Lv13
Flight Lv12
Hardening Lv11
Lightning Cloak Lv14
Titles:
Reincarnator
Skill Collector
Evolver
Giant Killer
Assassin
Kin Slayer
I’ve already been attacked by monsters twice since entering the 30th floor… and it hasn’t even been 30 minutes yet… Both times it was a group of B+ rank monsters, so it wasn’t that difficult. And finally, in the third battle, the monster of the rank I was looking for appeared.
Species: Phantom Tiger
Name: None
Rank: A+
Level: 84
HP: 411/411
MP: 503/503
Attack Power: 361
Defense Power: 298
Magic Attack Power: 501
Magic Defense Power: 472
Agility: 398
Skills:
Roar Lv19
Invisibility Lv20
Stealth Lv20
Dark Magic Lv19
Dark Resistance Lv19
Fire Resistance Lv17
Water Resistance Lv17
Lightning Resistance Lv17
Earth Resistance Lv17
Wind Resistance Lv17
Status Ailment Resistance Lv17
Hey!? This guy isn’t A-rank, he’s A+ rank! Who said that A-rank monsters would appear from the 30th floor!? Instead of A-rank, an A+ rank has appeared!
This is unexpected. Moreover, this Phantom Tiger is a terrible match for me. My main source of damage, magic, is hard to land, and its agility is insane. I can’t expect to do much damage with this. The only saving grace is that its defense is low, but it’s meaningless if my attacks don’t hit. If that’s the case, it’s obvious that I’ll eventually be defeated.
My trump card, poison, won’t be very effective because of its status ailment resistance.
Damn it! It has stealth, so it didn’t get caught by Life Detection. This is bad. This is going to be a battle against a completely superior opponent. Unfortunately, it’s already in battle mode. It seems impossible to escape.
I steeled myself and faced the Phantom Tiger.