It’s been several days since we first entered Erocdrah, now leaving us on floor nine. After talking with my vassals I found out a few more things about my skill; vassals created from corpses- at least- do not retain the memories of their previous lives, but seem to retain their knowledge; Reverie was easily able to navigate through the dungeon without really knowing how she was doing it or knew the places we passed.
However while alot of time has passed and we’ve fought a good amount of creatures, all the monsters on this floor are around level fifty, with the levels only slightly increasing as we made our way further down. As such I had stopped leveling rapidly and was stuck around 60 along with Flysa and my two vassals.
On another note I created armor and weapons for my vassals, but didn’t use overload regalia on them as I didn’t have the best materials. Reverie got full body armor made out of layered iron bear pelts reinforced with transmutation and two Patas*- constructed from monster bones- that she wielded with high dexterity. Choco on the other hand got a staff like a proper mage made of the tusks of some giant boar creature; her staff of course being two meters tall in comparison and fully capable of being wielded as a blunt weapon. Not that she’s had the chance to do that… We’ve been ripping apart monsters at a rapid pace, and Flysa’s inventory has yet to show any signs of getting full.
Which reminds me, we found out some things about her new skills. [Endless Stomach] basically allows her to eat however much she wants and turns it into weightless biomass that she can use with her [Shapeshifter] ability. Another thing we found out is any material she can digest she can mimic. This includes the metal pelts of some creatures we defeat, but she needs enough material to actually transform her body. Currently her skin and bones are imbued with shiny black enchanted steel, her nails have been extended to claws, and her hair has gained a dark silver luster.
Right now the claws and teeth of our enemies are useless against her, and even if they were she has enough biomass to instantly heal any lost material; and that’s if it isn’t a simple cut which she can just reconnect.
On the other hand I have barely had any improvements to my physical constitution, though Jack has been teaching me how to properly hold a stance, walk, move, punch, kick, breathe, etcetera. Although it got tiring quickly I resolutely put up with it in order to strengthen myself. Flysa and my two vassals also joined the training, though due to different body structures Jack had to change his teaching style. After a day passed he forbid me and Flysa from using Raphael and Appoloin and taught us how to use our aura’s to produce condensed blades and plates just above our skin.
Currently I earned the trait [Martial Mastery (Advanced)] and upgraded [Aura Manipulation] to (Legendary). According to Jack there was seven advanced levels of traits and two lesser; counting the base trait it brought the total levels to ten, which from weakest to strongest were (Weak), (Lesser), no change, (Greater), (High), (Advanced), (Epic), (Legendary), (Mythical), and lastly (Divine).
Besides that Choco has been advancing her elemental summoning, able to summon 12 B-rank elementals at any given time and earning the trait [Summoner(Greater)] along with [Pyromancer(Greater)]
Reverie on the otherhand gained the trait [Warrior(Greater)] and leveled up her [Monstrous Body] to (Advanced). She has proven to be quite capable of manipulating the battlefield, and I’ve left her and Choco to make their own decisions in their support role. Umu, if I had to go by Rpg terms Flysa would be the tank, me and Reverie would be the damage dealers and Choco would be the mage. Flysa can still use her healing magic, but I would like to have a dedicated healer on the team as well as a crowd-control character.
Unfortunately I haven’t seen any creatures that would meet my specifications for these two types. I have the innate feeling that my thoughts only affect the outcome, but not the input for my (Create Vassal). Say I take a water mob and try to turn it into a pyromancer; likely won’t work.
The only things around here are pure-destructive mobs, not caring about healing besides their own regeneration, and definitely not distributing buffs and debuffs. Apparently this is the scheme for the first ten floors, which is grating on my nerves. Ten floors! Way too much repetitiveness!
Luckily later floors seem to be split into different themes every two floors with sub-bosses interspacing them. There are also things such as floor-bosses in this dungeon, which roam around randomly. Unfortunately for most people they could only run or get wiped out by a floor boss due to the fact they were equal in strength to bosses several floors lower than them, often surpassing the bosses of the floors they existed on.
And it seems things are going to get exciting~
“*GRRUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!*” The giant behemoth roared and instantly charged us. Three different heads emerge from its neck like a cerberus, one wolf, one bear and one large cat head. Probably a puma. Its entire body was covered in dark, steel-bristle like fur.
““No weapons still?”” I asked Jack behind us with a grin on both my faces.
“Correct. Do your best.” he answered and melded into the background.
The behemoth was barrel chested and had eight limbs- four bear-like arms and four cat-like legs. Fire occasionally spewed out between bristles of fur showing that it had ample magic. It’s aura is also quite large, a bit more than Flysa’s at full power.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
Speaking of which I should ask Jack what the average amount of Mp for a person is… ““Oops.”” I hurriedly jumped to the side as a wave of mana poured from beasts swung arm, gouging out several meters in the cave-like surroundings. “Choco! Take out its eyes if you can!” “Reverie and Flysa aim for the joints and cripple this thing!” I yelled out with my two heads before charging close to the behemoth.
Not taking chances I used mana from my first two tails to create about half a dozen overloaded illusions of me which danced around the behemoth and attacked the thinnest parts of its fur- which turned out to be useless due to the illusions being only slightly capable of penetrating its aura layer, much less breaking through its steel fur.
However they were good as a distraction. In the meantime I also overloaded my three companions, my first tails mp rapidly draining. I probably only had enough mana in it to last a few minutes even after disabling the power going to my illusions. Grunting in annoyance I loaded my arm with kinetic magic and kicked its giant ankle.
*BOOMCRK! Smiling at the sound of cracking bone and a roar of pain I dashed away from the beast just as a jet of flames erupted from its leg, turning the ground a glowing red. Unfortunately the bone was merely cracked and dented, not shattered and unusable. Truly a testament to how damn hard the beast's flesh is. I plucked a strand of steel fur out of my foot. The damn thing pierced through my boot… I quickly used transmutation to fix the hole. Meanwhile the behemoth was busy rampaging around while trying to crush Flysa and Reverie underneath it. A few fire elementals clung to its body, though they didn’t seem to be doing any damage.
Its eyes also seemed perfectly fine even after a fireball crashed into the iris of the bear head. ““Choco! Command your elementals to cover its eyes!””
“Hai master!” She smiled with something to do and the flying elementals flew up to the bears multiple heads and clung to their eyes.
Roaring in frustration the behemoth struggled to tear off the incorporeal elementals giving some time for Flysa to attack the same joint I attacked earlier, followed by Reverie severing the tendons to the best of her ability.
Now visibly limping a pulse of mana burst outward from the behemoth, shredding some of Choco’s elementals and throwing Reverie and Flysa several meters. Focusing I gathered massive amounts of mana between my hands and remembered a specific trait of kitsunes. The condensed ball burst into pale purple-orange flames and the next instant later I threw it- filled with kinetic magic- directly at where I assumed the beast’s heart to be.
The instant it left my hand the ball accelerated and with a sonic boom and pierced the behemoths chest, causing it to roar in pain as metallic blood poured from the burning wound. Instead of cauterizing it the fox-fire appears to be spreading to even the blood.
Mana gathered around the beast’s heads and it let out an ear-piercing roar, in the next instant my vision blacked out and my connection to my body was dwindling. The feelings through the grounds vibrations seemed dull and far away, but I felt the behemoth approaching with its heavy steps. Growling I flushed mana through my systems and regained my awareness in time to find the behemoth swinging its four mana filled arms towards me and Choco.
I gripped my mana and thrust my palm forward, creating a dome shield that slammed into the behemoths wave. The ground buckled under the impact and the air roared in pain as the opposing mana forces grappled with eachother, shattering in the next instant and producing a shockwave that I grit my teeth through.
Glancing around i noticed the other three were still out of it, Flysa seemingly melting in her clothes. Glaring at the behemoth- blood still pouring from its chest- I gathered mana in my legs and jumped at the behemoth, shattering the ground underneath me and diving into the behemoth’s chest wound, who in turn roared in pain and surprise. Blood and foxfire surrounded my body and started burning away my clothes. The beast’s aura also pressed down on me, and i bolstered my own and pushed outwards, forcibly expanding the wound and causing a shriek of pain as the behemoth clutched its chest. Activating kinetic magic I sent out several shockwaves, causing the muscles and organs to be torn to shreds.
Slowly I felt the behemoth losing control of itself and I slammed my hands into the wall of meat, then tore off huge chunks as I burrowed further into the body. Using magic to create a bubble of air in the swaths of thick blood I continued till i hit the spine, yet even then the behemoth didn’t die. Slamming my hands into the spine I felt the mana in my body reaching less then one quarter of capacity. Let’s see if you can survive this you damn beast! Gathering as much mana as possible- to the point where the blood around me started glowing blue- I fire it from my palms directly into the spine. Instantly the blood submerging me was blown away along with pulverized bits of bone and flesh. I felt a silent scream from the behemoth as it collapsed under itself. Gritting my teeth I used the last vestiges of my mana to barely jump out of the wound, then landed on the behemoths steel fur as it slammed into the ground, several strands puncturing multiple parts of my body.
Damn beast. Growling I tried my best to shake off my aching body and rolled over, pulling several strands out its hair of my body. Dimly I felt the mana in my third tail, since I hadn’t used any today it was fully regenerated. Smiling grasped a few strands of my hair and ripped them out of my head, pouring them full of mana and slamming them into the beast. My whole body lurched as mana started rapidly draining from my body and tail.
Gritting my teeth I limited the flow of mana to my regeneration rate, then manually tried to accelerate my cores and focused all mana in my body into the third tails’. Howling silently in pain I continued to pour in mana as several bolts of pain pierced my body in the place of my cores.
Gradually I felt them painfully expanding, and even more cores being formed around my body as I demanded it to produce more mana- all the while focusing on the image of my new companion. It hurts. Desperately I wished for help and comfort, only to be denied. Like a breaking dam I felt liquid plasma pour through nerves dying both my visions white. Damn it, you better be sharing this pain! I silently screamed at the behemoth as my mind gradually reached its limits.
Then all of a sudden the pain stopped and my body collapsed onto something soft and fluffy. Gently a foreign female voice rose in my head echoing as if there were multiple overlapping, “Rest now my mate, I will protect you.”
----------------------------------------
End of Arc 2
Next arc: The dungeon Erocdrah