My mapping percentage of the first floor was already 30% since the time after the giant insect... There are things that looked like beetles in the far end of the passage I'm in right now... I don't know if I could fight things like that though, they're not as big as the insect earlier so I guess I could try fighting one... I lured it with a stone I threw with a decent amount of force, it seemed angry when the stone hit it's head and started to fly with it's beetle wings while lunging it's horn towards me.

I moved sideways to avoid it and slashed my sword downward near the stomach area of the beetle... Due to it's hard shell he didn't receive much damage and the sword rang a metallic sound as it collided with the beetle's shell... Regaining balance the beetle once again flew but at a much faster speed. It grazed my left arm as I clumsily moved to the side out of fear. I only saw beetles getting captured by my friends in elementary and never really participated in the act of capturing it, even when they wanted to show the beetles I always decline so I don't know where the hard and software parts of the beetles are.... The only thing I could trust is my instincts. I have no knowledge of swordsmanship nor any kind of brawl related things but games. I tried to recreate what I've seen in the games I've played so far... Tightening both my hands grip in the short sword I now engage in a way, Sora, from KH, fights the reckless way he wields the sword and his lack of defenses I copied them all...

I swung my sword down at the horn of the incoming beetle. The beetle changes direction and slams at the nearby wall... Taking this opportunity I held my sword with both hands and started slashing the beetle... I slashed at different directions and different parts of it's body. Finding the weakness it has... The shell, the horn, the legs, the body, the head... I slashed it until I could see that it was not moving and already dead...

"Haa.. Ha... Ha..."

The body didn't disappear unlike normal RPG games... It was still there... I could use this... Finding the weakest spot of this monster. I engaged myself in a scientific approach to look for the monster's weakness...

As I do not have a paper. I tried as much as I could to remember the weak points of this monster... The softest piece of the shell where the sword could penetrate... Vital points... Everything I tried to memorize it... As I knew of this things I started to kill them more easily... One to Two hits was all it needs to either neutralize or kill them on the spot.

I change my sword style to that of a normal one... Slashing enemies was way more effective like that than the one I used before... What I admired was now a thing that might as well be thrown away since it's kind of a worthless sword style... I'm an amateur but I knew that, that way of fighting is actually pretty stupid having a low guard all the time will end up killing you.

>[Sword Mastery: Short Sword Skill Acquired]

>[One-handed Sword Mastery Skill Acquired]

>[Sword Arts: Short Sword Arts Skill Acquired]

>[Analysis Skill Acquired]

I leveled up quite easily after I took this kind of fighting strategy. Killing one unknown enemy then analyzing every thing on it's body and then after finally knowing every piece of information it can give then I can fight without reserve and fear...

The beetle was called [Shard Beetle]. It's a hard enemy for those who didn't know it's weakness... Hard work produces results it's a tedious work to fiddle inside a monster's corpse but it's worthwhile after knowing it's weakness...

Everything went smoothly and I have already 80% of the map mapped in my data... I saw the ones who saved me earlier from the giant insect. I also gathered information about it since I may encounter it later in the lower floors... They had a hard time fighting [Shard Beetles] and most of them got hurt in the process... Will they even make it to the room where the artifact is?

After a while I found a new type of enemy. [Arachnid] as the name implies it's a spider like thing but at a much bigger and nastier form. It's height is about the same as a full-grown wolf... Ah! It also spits corrosive acid... It's body is soft but the monster itself is fast, making it a pain in the arse...

"Get back here you little!"

I held my sword in one hand as I held the [Shard Beetle]'s shell on my other arm... I made the beetle's shell as a shield since it's sturdy... Thankfully it can receive the [Arachnid]'s acid attacks at a certain degree.

Now I'm running after it as it already climb to the walls. Throwing a stone to throw off it's balance is a good choice but my accuracy is low and my STR parameter is still too low to reach that fast moving creature.

I was also slow... So our distance from each other are too far... I decided to let that one go since I've already collected samples of its acid earlier... I used the empty vials I purchased from the general store earlier to take some samples... I can make a few things with this if I had the right skills and items.

I accepted the fact that my race was a weak one and I had to rely on tricks... There were stones that looked a lot like the ones I've pickaxed on the mine... Old man also give me a vague image of the rocks that have a different ore...

"Hmmmm.... Is this a steel stone?"

As I pondered what was inside the medium-sized rock I took the pickaxe from my inventory and started bashing with it... After a few dozen strikes the stone cracked what inside was a two steel ores.

"Nice! I'll try looking for someone who knows smithing, and carving skill..."

I knew from experience how a person could learn skills... It is either you learn it from the book, the orb, or learn it first-hand from someone who knows the skill... I actually want to know the skill from someone who has it since it's much better that way and I'll learn the basics from my master. Learning it with magic was only secondary choice if there is no one to teach you.

"..."

I stashed the pickaxe and the ores inside my inventory and reequipped my sword and shell... Moving on I've seen that my map for the first floor was completed.

>[Cruel Heart's Labyrinth Map (1st Floor) added to the map database]

Stairs that seemed to stretch down endlessly appeared before my eyes...

"Let's go..."

I walked on slowly while staying vigilant.

×××

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Arriving at the 2nd floor of the Labyrinth dungeon I felt something different. I knew from the temperature of the room that this was not a normal floor...

The spiked ice glistened with blue light as the gem stuck on the dungeon's wall glowed.

Ice settings, huh... Water that seemed to come from the upper ground froze midway before falling to the icy surface of the frozen water.

There were two grunts that appeared on my vision... It's name was [Ice Lizard] and [Frozen Golem]. I lured the lizard but the golem came right after... So they were together, huh!

I can't use the tactic I've been using earlier... The golem blows an icy blizzard with it's breathe, I tried to block it with the shell but it started to get really cold that it hurt my skin, so I threw it at the charging lizard... The lizard then dodges to the right and ran as fast as it could to strike with its lance. As my sword got in contact with the lance, my sword got in a really bad state in just a few seconds of contact if I were to have kept it much longer my sword would have become chipped and broken in a flash. It's an opponent that I couldn't fight without weapon... I took the corrosive vial in my inventory and threw it at the lizard. By reflex the lizard destroyed the vial and the liquid then splashes all over it's body.

The lizard's skin got burned by the acid and taking this opportunity slashed through it's unguarded body. I still got 7 more vials of corrosive acid. Using it to the [Frozen Golem] would be a sound judgement since it was effective against the [Ice Lizard] but thinking like that would only mean death in my opinion... The Golem could freeze the liquid by simply blow a cold chill rendering the vials useless... My sword is in a bad shape and if I didn't sharpen it, it will break with one more swing...

Taking another [Shard Beetle Shell] from my inventory I sharpened my sword... The golems hands turned into icy shards and blasted at me full throttle... The crystallite ice grazed my cheek and as I avoided the shots more came my way... I still haven't sharpen my sword enough, prioritizing protection rather than sharpening the sword I held the shell to hide my body from the barrage of ice crystallite shards...

As the seemingly endless barrage of shards comes to an end. Fog of ice covered a portion of the room, with this as a cover I left the shell and went to another covering spot. I sharpened my blade once again as the fog cleared up the golem saw the standing beetle shell and ran towards it..

"Stupid! I'm not there!"

As if to mock the golem's low intellect I threw three vials up in the air and followed with a new shell in my arms I ran. Not knowing where to aim first the golem change it's priority to me... That was a wise decision if I say so myself... Following after a corrosive vials was thrown up in the air was not a good decision if you picked to fight without a means of protecting yourself from the acidic substance.

But I needn't care for that since the golems priority was me... I am it's sole target without the lizard helping it out it's useless on it's own. He blew a icy blizzard once again in my direction then the vials makes contact with the golem and breaks releasing the corrosive acid that dwell inside the vial. It's melted like water as it made a direct contact with the acid.

"Break!"

With my newly-sharpened sword I slashed at the golem's core inside it's melting body. As the core cracked the golem stops moving and corrosion stopped halfway.

I took the Icy spear of the [Icy Lizard] and the shattered core of the [Frozen Golem] and stashed inside my inventory. It's intriguing how to make a golem... Since in the most recent games I've played Golems were creatures made from magic and can only survive as long as the caster can supply mana into it. Since the shattered core seemed to supply the golem with magic I wanted to try it.

×××

"Hrmm... What to do with this one..."

I arrived at some part of the labyrinth... My map percentage of floor 2 was already 24% and this area won't let me in... It's another passage I found as I was looking for more rooms for the map. I knew hidden rooms are a fad for dungeons but if you don't give it a key then it's worthless... There was no sockets for keys, balls, or some kind of other mechanism... There is only symbols in the door... No... More like writings... But I couldn't understand it... Maybe learning from books or learning from a different race. I marked the area as locked door and went to the other direction.

×××

[Icy Hounds] agile monsters that group together... There are three of them... If thou left one of them alive and let them live they'll come back with six more... And now I was stupid... I left one of them and it came back with six 7 hound corpses lied motionless in the frozen ground. My HP is on the red zone... I held drank the last potion earlier... I still don't know their weakness... I was interrupted while fiddling with their corpses earlier.the corrosive vials I had numbered 3. I threw one earlier due to a desperate action but still got clawed by one of them.

"Damn it! Why'd you come back with others in tow!"

I yelled at the growling mutt at the back of the two hounds... I knew it was the hound I released earlier since it had a defining slash in its leg.

*Geho* *Geho*

I coughed lightly and saw blood in my hands. Even though it's virtual it doesn't feel like it. My warm blood that became like jelly when immersed in a cold environment. Hounds that kept on growling after having taken a decent amount of damage...

"Damn! You guys are stubborn aren't ya!"

I started speaking like the old man... Haha! I ran forward with one sword in tow on my right and three vials of corrosive acid on my left. The hounds then moved in as if to copy. My movements they moved in three different directions. Anticipating those movements I threw the vials at the right time. They jumped on me in a pincer formation with their bodies like sitting duck in the air the three vials was thrown. The vials hit and were succumbed to the acid. By the time the two first hounds landed they were already motionless. The last one with it's last will still stood and wanted to call for backup... I ran after it and stabbed my sword in it's throat. I then fiddled with their bodies and tried to find some kind of weakness... Soft tears in the muscle that could be compared to the other ones... Once I've finished fiddling with them I left them skinless and most of their tooth missing... I've stashed their furs and teeth inside my inventory hoping that they'll be useful in the future.