The dungeon hadn't changed one bit since yesterday. No new exploit had joined the wall of fame.

I would go through the first few floors of the dungeon a lot quicker than yesterday, knowing the route far better now than just reading it off the map. It would be a long time until I would be able to descend the dungeon without repeating the same fights again and again.

It was still a good learning experience, plus the loot was more than enough for my plans at the moment. In fact, the second floor panned out to be a near-exact re-run of what happened yesterday. Sure the patrols were in different places, but they were all quickly taken care of compared to the Brute.

The same could be said of the camp. The elite, once again had no chance to do anything. My mana bolts had become even more potent since yesterday with my newfound focus.

That being the case, they ripped through the camp without any effort. The dungeon recognizing that only gave me copper coins as a reward, there wasn't anything that needed improving on the second floor. The beasts were too easily overcome.

The elite squad of the third floor proved a little more complicated. I once again took out the two reed masters before focusing on the others. One had reacted quicker than the others and decided that the best way to deal with the enemy was to activate Charge.

This time in much closer quarters than the previous attack. It nearly took me down for the count. It was only quick reflexes that allowed me to dodge out of the way. With a knot in my stomach with how close it had come, I took it out with a mana blade and turned to the others.

I was glad none of the Elites were smart enough to grab one of the reed pipes while I was distracted. They did come attacking with their weapons drawn, which again were useless under my barrage.

The dungeon decided to be a little more generous with its rewards. It rewarded me with some boots that would slightly increase my speed. They were also quite comfy, so after replacing my shoes, I prepared for the brutes.

I got lucky with my first few encounters. They were only against the small groups of elites that had replaced the Rabbid satyrs completely. Each group went down as smoothly as the bosses on the previous floor—each dying with their long-range support, not even being able to take one shot at me.

The first Brute I faced came around just as I was picking up the loot from the last encounter—a nice cudgel and a reed pipe to add to my growing collection.

The Brutes soundless roars and loud hooves were the only things that alerted me to its presence. Even then, I was nearly too slow. Turning quickly, I came face to chest with the beast.

I was glad it wasn't totally anatomically correct. Otherwise, I would be having a much worse day. Coming face to swinging phallus would have been much more disturbing and might have been the end of me. As it was, I barely backed up in time to avoid its first few swings. A few mana bolts once again doing nothing but enraging it further,

That would not be ideal. A basic cantrip simply wouldn't cut it for the Brute. It also wasn't being as kind as the enemy I had faced the day before. After its initial roar, it didn't decide to open its mouth again. Its swings seemingly far more coordinated than last time. Of course, at that time, I hadn't been within breathing distance of the beast. This time I wasn't granted that luxury. There was little space to move around where the creature wasn't in the way. It had caught me in a less than ideal location.

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Each move had no effect. I tried to combine a few of the basic spells. No matter what, they weren't doing any damage.

Now that tactic that had served me well in the past fight was useless, making my attacks too weak to cause significant damage to its internals. The fight was becoming more and more difficult. The beasts still hadn't used any skills. Without the handicap of the overflowing wound, it would be a lethal attack if it landed a blow with its rampage active.

I was stuck. My mana certainly wasn't replenishing fast enough to turn into a true war of attrition. I needed to change up the tactics. Looking around, I focused on the ram's horn on the top of the brutes head. I had already attacked it a few times, causing no small amount of pain to the Brute. This time, however, I was aiming for something a little different. Multiple blades lashed out simultaneously, slicing one after the other in the same place on one of the horns.

One volley wasn't enough, it would take a few more, but a noticeable cut had appeared on its horn. It would only take a few more volleys for me to try a whole new method of attack.

It would probably be my only chance before I would have to resort to the armory within my storage ring.

The Brute was still too slow to hit me, and I had managed to move it much further down the tunnels to decrease the likelihood of running into another patrol, which would surely spell out my doom.

It took three more volleys for the horn to be finally displaced, tearing off the top of the Satyrs head, it made to roar once again, yet before it could so much as move, there was a horn running through its face.

I was surprised with just how much piercing power the horn had. It had truly been a gamble whether or not my mage hand would have the strength to cause any major damage even with a weapon.

It seemed my worries were unfounded. With the added strength from an empowered mage hand, the improvised weapon had been incredibly useful.

I could only imagine the havoc this horn would be able to cause on the other creatures throughout the fourth floor.

The brutes on the fifth floor had armor covering their whole body, so the chances of it being replicable were slim, even so for the moment, I would be the king of the floor. The horn luckily hadn't faded away with the Brute, it seemed the dungeon had deemed that my loot from the Brute as nothing else of the creature was left behind.

It did seem to brighten as the Brute disappeared. All evidence of the damage I had caused seemed to disappear, which was certainly handy. Even a little bit more durability with my new weapon would mean an extra brute I could kill.

Now was my time to go hunting.

I managed to take down two more brutes without them even realizing I was here. The acceleration I could achieve with the empowered mage hands was far more than I expected. It was almost a shame how quickly I killed these two compared to their brother.

Of course, the roving bands of Elites were still easily dealt with, even with their newfound armor. I didn't even need to use my new superweapon to take them down.

A barrage of basic magical attacks was still more than enough to do the job.

Viewing into the campfire once again, the last of the first five floors, the fifths floor boss room was an entirely different beast to these basic campfires.

Compared to the two previous campfires, this one was far more terrifying as well.

In seemingly random directions, pacing around the campfire was three fully armored Elites with Reed pipes, fully capable of both close and long-range combat. Two Brutes were sitting on logs, staring into the fire. They were slightly larger than their patrolling brothers, and they had one more skill than them. These brutes would not have a simple soundless roar to accompany them. Each of their roars would be a deadly weapon that would injure me and empower the Elites around them.

None of that would be able to give me too much pause if it weren't for the figure facing away from the campfire, seemingly chanting towards a tree with a dark symbol carved on the trunk.

While the symbol was meaningless and only a bit of theatre from the dungeon, it was still a scary sight.

My efforts yesterday had renewed my confidence in fighting the boss of the fourth floor. I still couldn't stop the nerves from settling in.

I would be facing the first monster capable of fighting me on my playing field.

The place I imagined I would falter yesterday. I wonder if my newfound revelations would be able to get me past without the use of any fancy equipment.

Now it was time to fight.