“Is there a reason why there are no elves around?”
“... They only come in the afternoon, they can only enter in the afternoon while we can only enter in the morning.”
The hammer kid was well-informed, or perhaps that was common knowledge in the area. They could avoid conflicts with the elves that way outside the dungeon, but not inside the dungeon, which was the important part.
“I guess people around here don’t mind if fights break out inside and people die. They can always just turn their eyes and think that it was the monsters who did it.”
Those three didn’t say anything, nor did they react, surprised at my words. Still, I shouldn’t have said it, even if it was true. In any case, we waited for twenty minutes before the name of the part was called. It made me cringe moving after hearing that name, but it couldn’t be helped. I recalled that when I was a teen, I thought that it was acceptable to say to others that I liked to watch people… recalling that makes me feel like burying my head in the ground.
Everyone raised their guard as we approached the dungeon. The images on the entrance were hard to tell what they were. They had rough and incomplete shapes, but it looked like the images of two reptiles fighting each other. One didn’t have to be a genius, they are the image of dragons… but they only appear in Rank A or Draconic ranked dungeons. The dungeons needed at least fifty floors for them to be able to sustain those creatures…
Based on what I heard, the entrance of the dungeons becomes complete as the exploration of the place continues… it will only be completed once the dungeon is cleared for the first time. Regardless, we got inside after going down a bit. The stairs weren’t there, just a short slope.
When we finally reached the first floor, I could see a bit of heat coming out from the walls and the floor in the form of a bit of steam. That would be really bad if the first floor was like that. Soon things would become pretty hot, not in a nice way.
I could use my new bow and make things more refreshing, but my gloves and boots were already enchanted with ice and earth effects. That made them more durable and made me deal with heat easily. The question was if those kids would be able to handle it.
“The first enemies are the Fire Wolves. They can use magic to envelop their bodies with flames. Your goal is to weaken them as much as possible for us in the front to finish them off. And remember…”
“I get it. My arrows won’t find your back. How many of them will show up?”
“Two, and then four on the fourth floor, and then six on the seventh.”
As expected of a dungeon of at least Abyssal level… Speaking of such titles, I wondered why they had the same name as one of the types of creatures that lived in this world. Perhaps the final boss of abyssal dungeons could be those creatures. My knowledge about them wasn’t that vast… truth be told, I didn’t even know how they looked. Albert never met them.
The hammer kid and the spear kid moved to the sides to give me a free view of the path ahead. The corridor was five meters long, so it was pretty good for full parties. In any case, the next party would arrive in ten minutes, so we had to get moving.
The hammer kid took the lead without checking a map even once, and I imagined that he had already memorized the layout of the first floor. Before long, they stopped when we heard the growling of some creature ahead. Eventually, we heard the footsteps of the wolves approaching.
When the silhouettes of the wolves appeared, I fired my arrows in quick succession. I could have waited a bit more and hit their eyes, but I was satisfied with slowing them down and hitting their faces. They began to shake since the enchanted arrows began to freeze their bodies. Still, I was a bit surprised that the arrows didn’t pierce their face that much.
Without hesitation, those two stepped forward and then attacked the monsters with their weapons. The hammer kid tried to smash the head of his target with all his might. His first hit made a gross sound echo in the room, but he was a bit slow swinging the weapon again. Hopefully, he had unlocked the Strength parameter and he would be able to feel less bothered by the weight of the weapon.
The other kid stabbed the eyes of the other monster and blinded it, but he was a bit lacking when it came to power. I readied the other two arrows to fire them in care. The monsters began to use their magic to envelop themselves in fire, but they fell around twenty seconds later.
You received 20 experience points.
You received 20 experience points.
It was a pretty decent chunk of experience for the first section of the dungeon, but it also meant that things would get harder and deeper as we went. Still, I didn’t mind, since I wasn’t going to clear the dungeon in a single run. I recovered my arrows and then those two worked fast getting the fur on the back of the monsters. It was the best part since the flames concentrated there when they used their magic.
‘I guess their strength parameter is higher than mine… they probably have another class that grants them either strength or speed.’
There was also the possibility that they worked doing a job similar to that… either way, we finished the job fast and soon moved on.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
The fights on the first floor didn’t take much of us… things got even easier when I hit the monsters in their eyes, since it made them suffer more damage. At the same time, I wondered if the girl was fine like that… the amount of experience she was earning was minimal. I couldn’t tell when she was looking at me, but she always had some arrows in hand.
We walked in a straight line toward the end of the floor, so after we got rid of two fire wolves guarding the entrance to it, I finally received that notification.
You completed a trial. Please choose between the classes: Spearman, Assassin, and Mage.
I didn’t know the classes available, so I couldn’t make my choice as fast as usual. In any case, it seemed a bit odd… Spearman and Assassin, by my knowledge, should be above the Warrior and Rogue classes, so why the first initial magic class here? It wasn’t like the dungeons made sense all the time, though.
Regardless, I didn’t have the magic parameter, so getting the mage class would be a waste of time since the damage would be minimal. The Spearman class seemed the best option, since it would increase my dexterity. However, all the skills would be useless in my hand without a spear…
The same thing could be said about Assassin class. It would improve my movement speed, but the skills would be a waste… or perhaps not. I could try to combine them with my archery skills. However, I was so eager for another boost in my dexterity…
“What is wrong? Hurry up.”
I made my choice after hearing that… It was a bit annoying, but it was the cost of doing things that I hadn’t originally planned.
You obtained the Assassin class.
You improved the Movement Speed parameter.
You unlocked the Aptitude: Shadow Mastery
You unlocked the skill: Silent Strike.
You unlocked the skill: Magic Smoke Bomb.
Shadow Mastery: Gain 10 points of experience per successful use of stealth or assassination attacks.
Silent Strike: Execute a precise, deadly attack from stealth, dealing critical damage added to your dexterity and strength and inflicting a bleeding effect for 5 seconds. Cost: 20 stamina.
Magic Smoke Bomb: Throw a magic smoke bomb that creates a cloud of obscuring smoke, reducing the accuracy of enemies within the area and allowing you to reposition or escape
Cost: 30 mana
Neither of those classes was something that I had planned to obtain, so I made my choice without considering it for a while… I made a mental note to check my papers to analyze all the combat classes again and then give them a score based on how they would be useful to me, which would help me make my choice without regretting it later.
I checked the surroundings of the next floor, but I didn’t find much difference compared to the first. The only difference was that we began to fill a map as we went.
“Is it the first time you guys have been on this floor?”
“Yes, stop wasting time with pointless questions.”
The hammer kid sure didn’t like the fact that it sounded like I was questioning their skill. I just shrugged. Still, it was a fact that perhaps they were aiming too high for only the second run of their party in the dungeon. That was soon proved when they began to slow down on skinning the monsters and I heard the footsteps of a party approaching us. The girl looked at me in confusion, but soon she saw the party approaching.
“Tsk, what is this?”
The party that approached was a full party of six… they all looked pretty rough around the edges. Six muscular men with big weapons. My first desire was to ask if they were using those weapons to compensate for something, but I knew it better than being a moron right at such a moment.
“Just a bunch of kids, huh? Now, what are you going to do about this?”
The leader of the party was a black-haired man with some sword scars on his face. It was pretty amazing that he got in the head so many times with swords and he was still alive to tell the tale. Regardless, that was indeed a troublesome situation for us. We slowed down a bit and thanks to it, the next party reached us… since they had six people, it couldn’t be helped, but the fact was that they either would have to wait or we would have to let them pass. Kill steal was forbidden, but they couldn’t just ignore us and pass without our permission.
“... You guys can go ahead.”
“Good choice.”
The hammer kid showed a difficult expression while looking away… they were veterans and we were newbies. It would be better if our group didn’t get bad fame or get on the bad side of people like that. Nothing good would come out of it.
“We can follow them from behind and reach deeper floors without getting tired or getting hurt, then we can enter the queue to face the boss.”
“That isn’t a good idea… we need more battle experience to face the boss of those creatures.”
Rebecca dismissed the idea of the spear kid. She had a point. It was also the first time I heard her voice and she sounded confident in her opinion. The other two went silent and considered what she said.
“... Do you have experience in this kind of place? An abyssal dungeon.”
“Yeah, more or less.”
The hammer kid looked at me and asked that. My experience wasn’t exactly regular since we had the dungeon for ourselves and then we were attacked by assassins, though. In any case, we knew a thing or two.
“We don’t have to hurry if you want my opinion. Filling the map and finding the monsters along the way will work better to build our strength. Besides, most parties will rest at night and then more enemies will be available to us. A lot of them will probably leave during the afternoon and in the evening as well.”
The hammer kid nodded while holding his chin… people rarely entered the dungeon at night, so what I said made sense. The group was also getting decent experience, so it was another reason for us to take our time.