It's been some time since we first left the house and our interaction with Michelle and her daughter Chloe; currently, we were standing at the center of the city while observing the large hill, which was actually the entrance to this city's dungeon.
"What was this dungeon called again, Yuki?" Asked Alexander curiously as he stood beside Yuki, whose large figure parted the sea of people.
"It's called the Graveyard, and it's a Rare-tier dungeon, so it's quite big and is filled with strong monsters." Replied Yuki with a nod as the two approached the large hill, passing numerous adventurers who had just exited from the dungeon.
"Big? How big? Do you know how many floors? The only dungeon I've been in was a Common-iter, so it only had five floors." Questioned Alexander with a raised eyebrow while glancing at the various adventurers as he followed Yuki.
"25 floors, which is the lower end for a Rare dungeon, though it makes up for the low amount of floors you need to traverse through with the monsters being stronger than average; however, besides the number of floors, I can't be completely sure about everything else, I usually don't even enter the fifth floor." Stated Yuki seriously, furrowing her brows while nearing the dungeon's entrance, which gave off an eerie mana.
Nodding to Yuki, we stopped before the entrance of the dungeon, which was being guarded by a few guards yet after showing them our adventurer licenses, they let us through, though I noticed some of them gave me pitying looks, which slightly weirded me out, but I didn't think much of it. So after they gave my license back, I followed Yuki as we entered the dungeon, which, I will add, didn't feel pleasant at all; the instant I stepped into the dungeon, I felt ominous, and the deeper we went, the stronger it became.
"Yuki, can you see in the dark?" Asked Alexander curiously while following Yuki down the path, which was poorly lit with mana torches.
Getting a nod from Yuki, I used [Heroes Gaze], though when I did, I saw a fog of inky blackness floating in the sky, causing me to frown as I realized where the ominous feeling originated from.
'This is the same mana I see floating around corpses; it must be death mana, though I've never seen so much of it, not to mention it's far darker.' Thought Alexander with furrowed brows as he looked around him, seeing nothing but a haze of death mana wafting through the passageway.
From what Master told me about death mana, despite all the negatives associated with it, it's not really that dangerous, though that's so long as you're strong enough to resist the aging effects it has on living beings. Given how various creatures kill every day, I'm assuming you'd need a large amount of death mana for it to be discernible by the naked eye or for a short time period. However, while I was looking at my surroundings, not paying attention to what was happening in front of me, I walked right into Yuki, and like a brick wall, she didn't even budge.
"We've officially entered the dungeon. Be careful, Alexander; the monsters here wield death mana, so any attacks are devastating for living beings like us." Stated Yuki seriously, her gaze hardening as she grasped both of her great shields from off her back and protectively held them in front of her while warily walking forward.
"Copy that, Leader." Said Alexander solemnly as he leaped onto his two feet and wielded his greatswords in each hand while closely following behind Yuki, covering her back.
Now that we were actually inside the dungeon and not just the passageway, I kept my guard up and cautiously eyed our surroundings, ensuring no monster crept on us from behind; however, while I was doing that, I was also using this as a chance to obverse the dungeon, and I didn't know whether to be impressed or unimpressed. So far, the dungeon looked very similar to the dungeon back in the forest, the only difference being that this one was much larger, and there weren't numerous holes in the wall.
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"So, what monsters am I to expect? Skeletons, zombies, dullahans, Lichs?" Asked Alexander quietly, keeping his ears perked for any sound that didn't originate from either Yuki or himself, though there was nothing besides the constant sound of faint screams and their footsteps.
"Eh, how did you know all of that? Did you already do your research on this dungeon?" questioned Yuki in slight surprise as she raised her eyebrows, though her guard didn't once waver.
"No, it's really just random knowledge I had." Replied Alexander with a shake of his head while Yuki nodded.
"Yes, all of the above, along with a few other monsters such as gargoyles, wendigos, and Death Knights, though among those, the only one I've never fought is a Death Knight. However, I have heard rumors that Death Knights are only seen on floors 21-25." Remarked Yuki lightly as they came to a crossroads, though she didn't hesitate and took a right.
"By that logic, they must be the strong monster; I hope we don't meet them any time soon." Muttered Alexander lightly, only to suddenly frown at the sound of numerous soft groans and grunts in the distance and the shuffling of feet.
"I'm no genius, but I think I've seen enough zombie movies to know what we're about to encounter." Added Alexander as he turned around and peeked from behind Yuki's massive figure, only to see a large gathering of walking corpses far in the distance.
"Yes, it's zombies, and they aren't much of a threat; they're very weak, about as strong as your average human man, though their massive numbers make them more tedious than dangerous to deal with." Said Yuki as she peered through the slits in the helmet, eyeing the tens of zombies who were walking toward them rather slowly.
'Hmm, they seem unnaturally weak to be in a Rare-tier dungeon.' Mused Alexander as he cautiously eyed the zombies.
Just as I was about to ask Yuki what to do, she suddenly yelled and clanged her shields together before charging toward them, surprising me since I wasn't expecting that, though I quickly followed after her. Once she reached the crowd of zombies, she smashed through them like a rhino; it was actually quite gruesome since they were practically like paper mache before her; their bodies were broken and crushed while blood, guts, and bone littered the ground, leaving behind a pungent scent.
"Ugh, that's fucking terrible, even worse than the centipedes." Muttered Alexander in utter disgust as he plugged his nose and followed behind Yuki, killing any zombies with a swing of his greatswords that somehow still managed to survive.
'Language, Master.' Said Zartha lightly, causing Alexander to roll his eyes while inwardly apologizing.
One thing I did notice about the zombies was they didn't have any sex, no female or male reproductive organs, and they also had brown blood, just like the centipedes from the other dungeon.
"Well, that's anti-climatic; they literally aren't even a threat." Said Alexander as he looked at the carnage Yuki had created before glancing at a single zombie that somehow managed to survive unscathed.
Watching the last remaining zombie shuffle toward me, I simply swung Zartha at him, aiming for the neck since it's widely believed you can only truly kill a zombie by either decapitating them or destroying their heads, and right after slicing through his neck, he collapsed onto the ground, though his disgusting blood stained my face.
'Oh, I'm so thankful my mouth was closed.' Thought Alexander as he quickly wiped the blood off his face.
"Oh yeah, nearly forget, the blood of zombies is very poisonous, so try not to get any on your skin-" Remarked Yuki lightly as she turned around and looked at Alexander, who was wiping the blood off, only to freeze and blankly stare at her.
"That would've been helpful to know before I was stained in its blood, don't you think, Yuki? Anyway, you don't need to worry about me. I've got a strong resistance to poison, so I'll be fine; just try to tell me something important like that before we engage in a fight." Declared Alexander blandly with a twitching expression before sighing and shaking his head as he finished cleaning his face.
"S-Sorry, I usually forget about it, given my armor, but are you sure you'll be okay? I've got an antidote just in case." Said Yuki apologetically as she quickly neared Alexander while rummaging through her space pouch.
"Trust me, Yuki, I'm fine; poison is one of the last things I'm afraid of. Now, let's continue exploring the dungeon; I'd like to at least make it to the fifth floor today since that seems to be where you usually stop." Replied Alexander with a smile while dismissively waving his hand before passing Yuki and taking the lead.
"If you say so, but let me take the lead; I know this place like the back of my hand, and I'm the tank." Remarked Yuki with a nod as she stored her space pouch away before chasing after Alexander, who stopped and let her take the lead.
With Yuki in the lead, we encountered several more hordes of zombies, each one consisting of at least one hundred or so, though from what she said, this is considered relatively small, and some of them can even reach upwards of one thousand, which isn't even really a threat when you take into account their strength, it's just tedious.