I reloaded the hand crossbow with the few electric bolts that I had and then fired to the inside of the monster’s mouth. I could have used the explosive ones, but I needed the parts of the beast intact in case I had to use its materials. They easily pierced the flesh inside the monster’s mouth and soon began to shake it.
The beast trembled violently for a while, suffering from both internal and external forces was bound to be nasty, after all. It didn’t have a lot of health in the first place, so soon it stopped moving and the system confirmed its death.
You received 1000 experience points.
You completed a trial. Please choose between the classes: Monk (Brawler), Dark Acolyte, and Thief.
I furrowed my eyebrows… It looked like the classes that were being offered were the types that I considered tier-one classes. Rather basic, but it wasn’t all that bad since I could upgrade the Monk class already. The only problem is that the skills hadn’t improved that much yet since I didn’t have that many chances to use them. Another one is the weird feeling that I felt like fate was trying really hard to make me become a dark acolyte.
‘Well, better to forget this and focus on something else.’
You obtained the Brawler class.
You improved the strength parameter.
You unlocked the Aptitude: Iron Will.
You unlocked the skill: CounterPunch.
You unlocked the skill: Adrenaline Surge.
Iron Will: Gain experience per successful hit while blocking or countering attacks, evading and parrying attacks. The experience will be multiplied while doing it in a sequence.
CounterPunch: A swift counter-attack that strikes back immediately after blocking an enemy's attack. Deals damage equal to your Strength, with a 20% chance to stun the enemy for 1 second. The chances of success increase with higher dexterity. Cost: 15 Stamina
Adrenaline Surge: Activate a heightened state of resilience where you gain a boost to your strength and endurance, making you cause more physical damage and receive less physical damage. Increases your strength and endurance by three points per level. Lasts 10 seconds. Cost: 10 Health, 50 Stamina.
I hope that I would have unlocked the health parameter. It was that hope that made me pick this instead of thief class that made me think that my dexterity would increase. There was a chance that it would have increased attack or movement speed as well. Regardless, it was hard to imagine that the class would be useful in this labyrinth.
I decided to use Adrenaline Surge for a moment and soon felt my body heating up. I got a bit confused since I felt full of energy in all ways out of a sudden, but soon I relaxed when the effects wore off.
‘This kind of skill is dangerous for my teenage body… Still, given that it consumes health, I will have to seal it for a while. In any case, this world sure is messed up… it is practically impossible for a person to have a clean build.’
I had sword skills, bow skills, and punching skills now for fighting. I could do a bunch of things out of combat, too. I wondered why that was the case, but I still couldn’t find an explanation. Regardless, after checking the skills for a bit, I checked my surroundings and then saw a small lake boiling and a lot of flames above and somehow underwater.
‘Well, I am a dumbass, aren’t I? How am I going to cross this place now?’
Fortunately, the answer was easy enough… with my grappling crossbow. First, though, I had to pull the body of the boss toward me and get whatever I could. The scales of the creature were quite tough. Some of them still resisted the burning oil, and they were quite sharp too… I wondered what I could make with those materials. Still, my options were only bows, crossbows, and their respective ammo.
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I tried to work in a hurry with my knife enchanted with Blood Coat and Sharpness, but it was still a long while to dismantle the boss. I wanted all the bones of the creature, after all. Given its shape, perhaps I could make something of an exoskeleton to improve my swimming speed… it would feel pretty gross wearing that, though.
‘I guess no one behind noticed the explosions… if anyone woke up after that guy, they are still pretty far behind, it seems.’
The explosions of the cannonballs didn’t cause as much chaos as those tremblings that happened from time to time. They are actually happening a lot less often than before, after all.
In any case, I finished the process after two hours of hard work. My strength had increased thanks to the Brawler class, so things were a lot easier. Once that was done, I used my grappling gun to pierce the ceiling of the chamber and then move toward it. After I reached the place, I pulled the hook and then jumped with all my might toward the rock in the middle of the chamber.
Somehow, I landed on it, but my legs began to tremble thanks to the impact and pressure on my legs. I had to wait for a bit before trying to reach the other side. I even lost ten points of health, so the fall was no joke.
‘I was considering getting the Acolyte class for simple spells, but it only comes as a dark acolyte… they shouldn’t be common and I don’t want to give more reasons for people to hunt me down. They have plenty already, kind of.’
Their reasons certainly weren’t justifiable, but they were reasons. In any case, after not so long. I used the same method to reach the next side of the chamber and then I climbed the stairs again… I wasn’t sure what I should expect there, but I wasn’t that hopeful.
When I reached the next section, I frowned a bit… the place was a lot larger than I had imagined, but it was still mostly submerged. One hundred meters away from each other, I could find some small islands where a person could set up a camp. It even had proper sand. Still, what made me frown was the fact that on the first island, I found a person resting while sitting down.
The guy got up and then waved his right hand as if he was trying to greet me… I didn’t think that my first fight in this place would be against an orc. He was unarmed, but he had these massive thick arms and insanely large fists. My crossbow was already reloaded, so perhaps I could snipe him from this distance.
“Hello, there! Do you have any alcohol with you?”
I was dumbfounded for a moment, but soon I realized that I truly should put a bolt in his chest or something. I stopped for a moment when I used identification on him.
Name: Sligo
Race: Orc
Health: 1570/1570
Regen: 25.5 per hour
Mana: 180/180
Regen: 0.5 per minute
Stamina: 890/890
Regen: 15.9 per minute
He was insanely stronger than me… with some surprise attacks, I probably could take him down, but in a direct fight, things would be too dicey. As if he couldn’t sense my hesitation, he began to run and then leaped with all his might… he crossed these one hundred meters in a single jump.
I put some distance between us and pointed my hand crossbow in his direction when he landed, but he soon raised his arms and made a troubled expression.
“Calm down, let’s not be hasty. I am not here to fight you.”
“What do you want?”
“What the hell… what is wrong with your voice? Is it cursed or something? Not even the growls of giant sea monsters make my hair stand like that.”
Sligo was the very basic definition of an orc that I read in the books. He had white hair tied up with several rings, keeping them in a single line. He didn’t look old, but I wasn’t certain how much orcs could live… they didn’t tend to live long lives since they were natural troublemakers.
I once again recalled what I read about them… The Darkhand Raiders are a group of goblin pirates, bandits, and thieves who believe in survival through plunder and pillage. They see life as one grand party, and their goal is to take as much as they can. They had goblins and ogres too, in their ranks, but the orcs were more famous for that.
“You still didn’t answer my question.”
“True, hahaha, my bad. The truth is, we have a camp ahead and we are trying to read this place, but given the rumors, this won’t be easy unless a lot of people work together. We sensed the tremors, so we figured out that some people had woken up.”
“... What kind of place is this?”
“It is an underwater labyrinth used by the Aquarians. They throw their prisoners here instead of killing them after battles or after capturing them. They are a nasty bunch, don’t you think? Who does put prisoners inside a labyrinth like this? It is too much work, it is better to kill them all and save themselves from the hassle. Hahahahaha!”
I furrowed my eyebrows after hearing that. I was rather thankful that I was alive, and that the Aquarians did that kind of thing instead. It was rather weird hearing someone saying otherwise. Considering their lifestyle, I didn’t think that orcs, goblins, and ogres were the sharpest tools in the shade, but it looked like instead of being stupid, they simply didn’t treat death like a big deal.
“The prison is called Depths of Despair, quite the fitting name, don’t you think? Those sons of a bitch managed to obtain control of a labyrinth of this level, and now they keep sending people like us here. I have to give them, they have some balls. It is extremely difficult to escape this place, but at least they don’t bother you if you manage to escape from them. Hahahaha!”
That seemed too good to be true, but Sligo didn’t seem that worried, so perhaps he met someone that escaped before. Still, considering how much of a brainiac he wasn’t, perhaps he believed all the rumors he heard. Most likely, this kind of rumor only existed to give false hope to people… it already gave me false hope. I didn’t have plans to conquer a Demonic tier dungeon, and I wasn’t equipped to pull it off solo either.
“How many people do you have here?”
“Not many. We are the few survivors of our fleet here. We only have ten people. The rest was exterminated thanks to that bastard, Hahahaha! He was strong enough to easily sink down our ships with a single strike! I thought that they didn’t make humans like that anymore! Hahahaha! I want to fight him and try to split him in two before he does the same to me!”
I didn’t want to ask who that bastard was since I had a bad feeling about it… still, for how long were those people here if he was defeated in that war that ended six months ago? I felt a bad feeling worrying if I should ask about it.