In a secluded part of the 11th floor, Sol was alone as he crouched, scanning the area for potential traps. The guide didn’t pinpoint the exact location of where they could be, as traps, once activated, disappeared and rearmed in different locations throughout the floor.
The guide did explain what kind of traps to look out for, which was why Sol was checking the floors for grooves to avoid accidentally stepping on anything. Sol had yet to find one, so he was mostly working off what the guide said.
It was at that moment when Sol was looking at the ground that a figure appeared behind him and plunged downwards with a dagger. Sol suddenly turned around with his shield appearing from his spatial ring, completely blocking the blow. Amber appeared behind the enemy, as she had been waiting for it to appear, and stabbed downwards with her new dagger. Sol had already noticed the figure trailing behind them, waiting for them to let their guard down. That was why Sol told Amber to go invisible and wait to attack at the perfect time, and why he purposefully made it seem like he was looking for traps.
Out of its stealth, Sol used [Analysis], though he already knew what they were dealing with from the information they had read ahead of time.
Name: N/A
Race: Dead Prowler
Talents: [Stealth], [Dagger], [Instant Killer]
Level: 72
HP: 549/1400
MP: 300
Str: 80
Vit: 90 (+50)
Agi: 150 (+40)
Int: 10
Wis: 30
Talent Skills:
[Vanish] Lv 7, [Critical Eye] Lv 5
Passive Skills:
[Living Corpse] Lv MAX, [Agility Up] Lv 8, [Intermediate Dagger Mastery] Lv 8, [Invisibility] Lv 4, [Muffled Movements] Lv MAX, [Basic Throwing Mastery] Lv 8
Active Skills:
[Ground Shrink] Lv 4, [Crippling Strike] Lv 9, [Blurry Steps] Lv 5, [Backstab] Lv 8, [Disarm] Lv 4
A Dead Prowler. A stealthy assassin with most of its skills and abilities centralized on gaining the first strike that could grievously wound those who were caught unaware. But once it lost the element of stealth, it was light work to deal with them.
With daggers plunged into the Dead Prowler's back, Sol withdrew the Lipon and pulled its trigger, sending a deadly ice blade outwards.
Elemental Ice Sword
Unique
Attack: 145-175
Durability: 900/900
Skills:
[Sharpness] Lv 7, [Frost Touch] Lv 7, [Ice Shatter] Lv 7
‘It’s the same.’
Using the same elemental cartridge that the weapon came with, Sol used [Cross Slash], leaving trails of ice on the body of the Dead Prowler.
You have slain a Lv 72 Dead Prowler! Gained 270,000 Exp (200%)
Learned [Disarm] Lv 3!
Learned [Backstab] Lv 6!
[Invisibility] leveled up! (1 -> 3)
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[Disarm] Lv 3: Send a perfectly aimed attack at the opponent that forces the target to involuntarily release their weapon. Cooldown: 3 minutes.
[Backstab] Lv 6: A powerful attack committing the user's entire body. Deals 300% increased damage. Cooldown: 4 minutes.
After processing the knowledge of both skills, Sol wasn’t that amazed by either of them.
‘Backstab is okay, but it has a lot of requirements to successfully land. It really is only viable when using it as a surprise attack. Disarm is a great skill for fighting other people, but here it only works on certain undead.’
In the 11th to 19th floors, only the Dead Prowlers and one other enemy wielded weapons. This made the skill not very useful at this moment, but Sol knew that in the knight selection, it could surprise his opponents if well-timed.
‘I should level it up and keep it as a trump card. The other two skills I’ll take will be [Agility Up] and [Blurry Steps] for [Perfect Balance] and [Overpower].’
With the monster dead, Sol turned to Amber for her opinion.
“What do you think about the Dead Prowler?”
“Smart.”
Amber didn’t have to think about a response, as she already knew based on its actions. Sol nodded in agreement. The undead from the 1st to 9th floors barely had any sentience; the Skeleton Mage was the only one who could barely think, and it was just to cast the most appropriate spells; it still attacked blindly. Though they had only fought the Dead Prowler, it showed them that they would have to be on guard at all times.
“The guide also said these were the easiest enemies…”
With a party member who could detect enemies or a magic tool that had a similar function, the Dead Prowlers were rendered useless. The other enemies didn’t have such an easy way to counter and tended to be prolonged fights. The only saving grace was that these enemies tended to be solitary and roamed the floors alone, and if they did group up, it would at most be in groups of three.
With the Dead Prowler that was following them now dead, they could continue their search for the other three types of enemies that they will encounter on these coming floors.
…
Hours passed as the duo reached the end of the floor. They had fought more Dead Prowlers, Spectres, and Animated Armor but were unable to find the last enemy listed in the guide, which was Shadow Amalgamations. The Spectres provided magic-based skills improving his [Mana Efficiency] and an interesting skill called [Life Drain].
[Life Drain] Lv 6: Absorb the life force of the target. Absorption rate based on intelligence.
The other enemy, Animated Armor, helped Sol improve his [Invincible Body] as it had multiple of the skills that combined into it. It had other good skills, but Sol decided it was best to focus all his effort on improving his defense.
Checking his watch, Sol noticed it took them almost 16 hours just to reach the stairs, which amazed him how such a large structure could exist under the capital.
‘If for some reason this dungeon collapses, wouldn't a giant sinkhole appear in the city?’
It was a random thought, as Sol had never heard of such a thing happening, but theoretically, it sounded possible.
Heading down the long staircase, Sol saw a few of the parties from early today setting up camp. He did notice how the large group from before was not here.
Looking around, Sol saw the orange haired woman and decided to find out where they were.
“Hey umm, you?”
The woman chuckled. “Samantha, but most call me Sammy.”
“Nice to meet you Sammy. I’m Sol. I was wondering where that big group went.”
“Oh them? They should be by the 13th floor by now.”
“What?! How?”
Sol and Amber were by no means slow, quickly dealing with the enemies they encountered. What mostly slowed them down was checking for traps to avoid accidentally triggering corrosive gas or cave-ins.
Sammy explained, “They have just about everything in their group. Traps are easily found thanks to their trackers, and enemies don’t stand a chance when they attack as a mob. They can also move really fast thanks to their wind mages who cast spells to increase the group's speed.”
Sol felt jealous of how fast they could traverse the dungeon. Even if Sol used agility-enhancing spells like [Tailwind], they could still accidentally fall for traps as they had no good way to identify them.
“I see, thank you.”
“Yeah, no problem. If you have any other questions, you can always come to us.”
Sammy turned back to rest with her party, and Sol went with Amber to set up their camp. Sol took out his tent, but he couldn’t bring himself to set it up.
“Hey Amber. How long do you think you can go without sleeping?”