Back in the dungeon, Sol proceeded to the 9th floor, the floor after the Sentient Gems. This floor was the final normal floor with regular enemies, as the final 10th floor was the boss floor of the Osuga dungeon.
Sol walked out of the stairway that led back to the 8th floor and looked around. Unlike lower floors where Sol had seen many people camping, this floor only had 4 groups. It seemed they were all packing up and getting ready to head deeper into the floor. Even though there was no light this far underground, adventurers kept a clock to keep track of time so that when they left the dungeon, their sleep schedule wasn't affected.
After giving a friendly wave to his soon-to-be roommates, Sol ventured into the floor.
‘Earth Elementals are not only the strongest normal enemy of this dungeon but also have [Physical Resistance]. I can max that skill and even if it doesn't evolve, I still gain a 50% physical damage reduction.’
Setting his plan in motion, Sol began searching for his first Earth Elemental, and it did not take long to find one. Even without [Mana Perception] to find them by their mana signature, it was easy to spot as it was essentially a huge boulder with arms and legs, each loud step it made caused the earth to shake a bit. Once within line of sight, Sol then used [Analysis] on it.
Name: N/A
Race: Earth Elemental
Talents: [Rock Solid], [Unbreakable]
Level: 39
HP: 900
MP: 100
Str: 65 (+20)
Vit: 70 (+20)
Agi: 40
Int: 10
Wis: 10
Talent Skills:
[Gaia's Favor] Lv 3, [Grit] Lv 3
Passive Skills:
[Natural Armor] Lv 5, [Strength Up] Lv 4, [Vitality Up] Lv 4, [Physical Resistance] Lv 6
Active Skills:
[Earth Hammer] Lv 7, [Rock Throw] Lv 5, [Burrow] Lv 3
Seeing the Earth Elemental's skills, Sol’s jaw dropped.
‘Not only does it have [Physical Resistance], but it also has both [Vitality Up] and [Strength Up]!’
Looking at the skills, Sol quickly arranged an order he wished to acquire them in.
‘I don't know if I have enough time to max out all the skills before I have to go. Definitely want to get [Physical Resistance] first since I'm close to reaching the max level for it. Then the attribute increasing skills, and after that, I will get one of each to see which is best to focus on next.’
Knowing this enemy is purely built against physical attacks, Sol started casting the intermediate fire spell [Explosion].
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“Flames gather and condense to one, expand outwards and blast my foes, [Explosion]!”
A small dot flashed right in front of the Earth Elemental, and before it could even react, an explosion suddenly burst forth.
BOOM
Even though the Earth Elemental easily weighed more than a ton, it flew back and smashed against the rocky wall.
Sol then checked how much health it had left and compared it to his mana supply.
Health: 654/900
Mana: 95/200
‘I only need 3-4 casts to kill it, with my mana regeneration rate, I can cast it every minute. Then I only need 4 minutes for each kill.’
Sol then did just that, dodging its attacks with his speed advantage. The Earth Elemental only had single-target attacks and very slow speed, so it wasn't very difficult to dodge, unlike the Earth Giant boss.
You have slain a Lv 39 Earth Elemental! Gained 6000 Exp (300%)
4 minutes later its body was falling to the ground, and Sol quickly used [Siphon].
[Physical Resistance] leveled up! (8 -> 9)
[Vitality Up] leveled up! (2->3)
‘Oh? I didn't know I was that close to leveling up [Physical Resistance]. Also, for the highest level enemy in the dungeon, it was pretty easy, this is the perfect floor to level up.’
Although it was easy for Sol, that was all thanks to his magic which the Earth Elemental had no resistance to. For a normal party of adventurers with a composition of tank, melee, mage, range is anything but easy. The physical damage dealers having no way to reliably deal damage have to keep the attention of the Earth Elemental while the mage waits to regain enough mana to cast a hard-hitting spell. The mage themselves is also always in danger of being on the receiving end of a rock flying towards them and critically injuring them with their pitiful amount of health.
Few people have the mobility to quickly move and deal great damage, and those that do usually have unique or legendary talents. Sol even goes a step beyond them and fights such a monster when it's 10 levels above him.
‘Looking at what I have gained so far, it's ridiculous. I originally entered the dungeon to level up, add points to wisdom and be able to heal more reliably the soldiers and adventurers at the fort when I go. But with the skills I have gained, it's more like I am training to be an unkillable tank. Not that I'm complaining.’
With the area clear, Sol then proceeded to the next area to find more Earth Elementals, and it did not take long as every passage had one or two loitering in them. In addition to that being on the deepest floor that requires parties to be around level 40, it was relatively barren. Meaning there was no issue in finding plenty of enemies to kill.
…
Hours passed as Sol searched and killed almost a hundred Earth Elementals.
THUD
You have slain a Lv 39 Earth Elemental! Gained 6000 Exp (300%)
[Natural Armor] leveled up! (Lv 7 -> 8)
“Nice! It leveled up again.”
[Natural Armor] Lv 8: Increased defense value by 80.
'This skill is insane, it gives me the same amount of defense as heavy armor without any downsides. Though it is weird it wasn't included in the guide, all the other skills were. Maybe its because it's a passive that only increases armor? But [Strength Up] and [Vitality Up] are similar to that as well.'
After thinking about it for a minute, Sol shook his head.
'Regardless of whatever the reason was, this is a great boon. I will keep leveling it up alongside the other two attribute skills. But that's for tomorrow; I should head back and set up my camp at the entrance.'
Giving one last look at where the Earth Elemental died and disappeared, he returned back to the floor entrance to rest for the next day. Sol repeated this for the next 2 days until it was time to leave the dungeon and join the border army against the Frostaxe Clan’s invasion.