Dear Diary, Vienessa here
It´s a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming. On days like these, kids like me… Should be grinding up in dungeons!
Indeed, the sun shines brightly today. And our little Demon is in high spirits as well; Although with some difficulty at first, Vienessa somehow managed to convince Madeleine, sub-guild leader of the Center guild in Nikites, to allow her into a Mid-Ranked Dungeon.
Of course, she had to promise to escape immediately if she ever found herself in any kind of danger. But well, yeah, we all know how this is going to end…
Anyways, after the registration at the guild proceeded without further issues, the Demon acquired her D-Rank adventurer license. Madeleine warned her numerous times to not lose it at all costs, but the girl only listened with half an ear. She then was given a huge backpack filled with various tools, foods and other necessities by Madeleine and had to sit through a few hours of what their uses are. Vienessa slowly but surely had started to become fiddly as there seemed to always be one more thing that held her from leaving, but now she is finally standing outside the village´s gates, finished with all preparations Madeleine threw at her.
--
Vienessa, with the backpack twice her size on her back and a map in hand, walks down the paved main road leading to her destination. It already has been a few hours since her departure, the sun has reached its peak in the clear blue sky by now. To the girl´s right large trees block the view into the overgrown forest she called home until a few days ago, to her left vast fields sprawl as far as the eye can see; Wind moves the plants and creates the illusion of gentle waves drawing across this sea of yellow, until they dissipate at the paved road, at Vienessa´s feet. Then another gush of wind blows, and the crops continue dangling back and forth. Usually, the girl would be bored out of her mind already, but there´s something in the air that makes the way comfortable, so she doesn´t hurry.
Occasionally, merchants traveling via horse-drawn carriages and chatting groups of adventurers would pass her, giving her confused looks. She would approach and ask them for directions. At first, they´d be surprised to see such a young girl heading for a dangerous dungeon alone, but after she showed them her adventurer license they would be even more surprised. However, they know better than to meddle in an adventurer´s life and gave simple answers to her questions, afterward once again minding their own business.
Eventually, the young girl comes to the point on the map where a red cross is drawn;
Vienessa finds herself at the edge of the forest to her right. Stepping around the last row of trees, she finds massive, silverish-shimmering cliffs shooting out of the earth and reaching for the sky. In the distance, she makes out an especially huge stone wall, a hole-like opening seems to be leading inside:
´A gigantic stone monster with a wide open jaw ´
Or at least that´s what comes to her mind when she sees it.
Though instead of being scared, the Demon feels her blood rile, butterflies in her stomach, becoming excited for the fun to come. With dancingly elegant yet quick steps she jumps across the rocky terrain, crossing it in a matter of seconds. She lands directly in front of the mouth. Looking up at it for but a moment, she confidently walks inside where she´s swallowed by darkness.
[Information: Mana-Density has considerably risen. Entering: Mid-Rank Dungeon: Minotaur´s Den]
[Information: Due to surge in Mana, Mana-Regeneration has temporarily increased]
The darkness is but for a short moment as the Demon girl is soon greeted by the colorful light-play she remembers from her last dungeon experience. Mana is plentiful in here.
Contrary to the no-name Low-Rank dungeon though, the atmosphere… no, the pressure in this one feels different. Her guts twist, but the warnings are outdone by her overflowing excitement. Vienessa looks around and immediately realizes that this dungeon´s interior is by worlds more spacious than she initially thought. The walls seem to be covered with unnatural indentations and small cracks, clearly showing the many fights they have withstood so far. To all sides there are a great deal of ways that branch into even more paths leading somewhere entirely else, the girl´s head already hurts only imagining what kind of labyrinth this is going to be. But what stands out the most is the pungent, sickening stench which could knock out any weak nose instantly. The smell of fresh death.
´Well... That´s not what I was told.´ This should raise an unexpected difficulty, a miscalculation on her and Madeleine´s part. It should mean trouble, but the Demon´s face merely shows a grin. Yes, she´s grinning because this far exceeds anything she was hoping for. Looking around, Vienessa doesn´t hesitate in choosing a random path and starts to walk it down. With each step on the cold rock, a low echo resounds in the a little too empty corridor. Time passes, out of boredom the girl tries to catch the brilliant Mana swirling around in the air, but it simply dissipates like an illusiory flmae once it touches her hand.
Not too long and the girl enters a small chamber, she remains standing in what appears to be a dead end. “Hmm,” she scratches her head while examining the room, but there´s nothing much to see. Vienessa had not expected her exploration to end so suddenly, she imagined all routes to be as long as in the first dungeon she cleared. ´Well, I guess I found my camp.´ The Demon puts down her luggage and takes out some food Madeleine prepared and packed for her in what Humans call ´Glass Jars´. She sits down in the corner and begins shoveling it.
But Vienessa isn´t given long to enjoy her meal. Footsteps. Loud, big footsteps. In a panic to prepare, she throws the jar to the side where it shatters into thousand shards. ´Shit´. A large hand grabs around the wall before a brawn figure thrice the girl´s size reveals itself. Its deep brown fur is covered in bruises and cuts, one of its ears has a hole in it. From the right a crooked horn protrudes its forehead, the left one seems to have been lost for a long time now, only an ugly stump remains. Hot air gushes from its nose as it locks the girl into its pitch-black eyes. The monster falls down on all fours, it points its sole horn at her.
Species Minotaur – LV: 51 Stats
HP
MP
314/484
56/56 Vitality 163 Strength
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Intelligence 198
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37 Endurance 141 Agility 68
Skills
Normal
1 Characteristic
1
Active
[Charge] Passive [Minor (+) Attack Up]
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Minor (+) Attack Up
Skill
Type: Passive Explanation: Increases |Strength|. Increase is proportional to |Skill´s| Rank.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Charge
Skill
Type: Characteristic Active Explanation:
The user charges at full force, closing distance and initiating the first attack.
Cannot be used to retreat.
Specialty: Speed of the charge proportional to the user´s |Strength|.
´Fuck –! ´ Vienessa´s eyes open wide, realizing too late that the Minotaur has already begun its assault. With a kick, it storms forward with immense momentum, leaving behind deep cracks in the hard stone. The Demon tries to dodge out of the charging line, but can´t completely keep up with the forthcoming force; She manages to evade the initial attack, but the Minotaur swings its arm mid-sprint, hitting her in the stomach with full force. The girl coughs up blood and is flung through the air. Her bones give off a nasty creak as she slams against the wall and tumbles to the ground where she frantically gasps for air.
The Minotaur, seeing that it overestimated its opponent, gives off a mocking sound. Its body slightly relaxes as it approaches the barely breathing girl with euphoria it hasn´t experienced before. Receiving beating after beating from its brethren on a daily basis had taken its toll on the monster´s mind. For once, it stands at the overpowering side. It feels great, no... It feels wonderful
Or at least that´s what it thinks
“You fucking overgrown cow, acting like it´s over already?”
Vienessa, slightly having caught her breath from the heavy impact, stands up with a furious expression on her face. The sudden change in her aura wipes all thoughts of easy victory from the Minotaur´s mind. Not wasting even a moment it drops on all fours again and prepares for another charge, but the Demon won´t just stand take it again. She activates |Feeble Soul|, in the moment it takes effect the Minotaur flinches. Its eyes waver as doubt begins to form on its face. It wants to run from that alone, but the Minotaur knows well that it has to kill her now, or else she will be the one doing the killing. The monster doesn´t cancel its attack.
With a desperate cry, it once more charges at the girl. The minotaur expects her to try to dodge again, but she doesn´t move an inch: She uses her newly acquired |Enhance Cast| on |Physical Reinforcement|, which she in turn uses on herself. She feels her Mana being sucked out at an alarming rate, but in exchange an absurd amount of raw power surges within her. The |Skill| that only Mage-related Classes can acquire, it worked like she wanted.
She lifts her arms and braces herself; As the Minotaur crashes into her, she grabs its horn with one hand while her other pushes against its head. Like with the last |Charge| the impact is heavy, it pushes her back, but Vienessa remains standing. She grits her teeth and pushes against the force as the two come to a still. The Minotaur doesn´t know what to do as his most powerful attack was stopped by such a feeble-looking creature. No, not stopped, she overpowered it. The monster tries to escape the Demon´s grip, but it´s no use, her grip might be strong enough to twist steel.
Now, it´s her turn.
Releasing her own battle-cry, she hauls the Minotaur in the air without loosening her grip on its horn. When the huge body reaches its peak, she uses the same strength down to ram it into the ground, cracking up both the floor and the monster´s bones. The Minotaur wails in agony, but it´s already in the air once more. Given no time to recover, it feels the next impact with the ground, more painful than the first. Again, again and again… The cave shakes every time its body impacts with the floor.
In a last heave, the girl gathers all her strength and sends the monster against the wall to her right. “Well, how does it feel? Crashing into hard rock that is,” she asks, slightly out of breath.
But there´s no response.
Vienessa approaches the unconscious Minotaur and packs it by its throat. Then, she ramms her claws into its chest. A few seconds go by before she pulls her arm out and drops the body to the floor. A thick puddle of deep-red blood flows out from beneath.
[Enemy at least 40 levels above your own]
Experience multiplier: x4
*2044 Exp gained*
~Level UP: 10 → Level 11~
[Fixed Stats gained]
15 |Stat Points| have been gained for free distribution
As she gets the notification, the Demon finally allows herself to relax, a little too much maybe. She totters, almost losing her balance and only not falling by leaning against a wall. She takes a few deep breaths. “Dammit,” she curses “Is this all from that one hit earlier?”
She quietly laughs to herself
"Yet, I missed this. I really did.”
Satisfied with the new power she gained, Vienessa decides to rest and recover from the battle for now. Thanks to her |HP Regeneration| Skill, she feels the pain disappear from her body shortly, but it´s a different story for her MP. Even with the abundant Mana in the air, it takes hours for the girl´s MP to recover fully.
Feeling a bit better, she takes out another Jar filled with various foods and resumes doing what the Minotaur interrupted: Eating. However, unlike with the first meal, she doesn´t let her guard down one bit, listening for any other enemies that might come. Seconds turn into minutes, minutes turn into hours.
Though a bit risky, she closes her eyes.
--
At the same time, in the deepest parts of the dungeon…
*drip drip drip*. There is a serene sound of water. But where? Ah, there it is, slowly gathering on the ceiling until it gets too heavy and jumps off into the air. It falls and falls until there isn´t any space left to fall, then its fate is to disperse on the cold ground. This process repeats itself many, many times; water gathers, water falls, water gathers, water falls… A puddle forms. What do you see in there? Nothing but a clear reflection. Still, tranquil, almost hypnotizing. Timeless. But not anymore, the image suddenly distorts. The ground shakes. Footsteps; Two Minotaurs with brown shimmering fur are trampling down the long corridor, stepping into the accumulation of water before continuing without losing a single thought about it. In their hands, they carry something.
“Today good day. Much meat,” one of them says
“But…” his partner looks worried “Boss say find failure, not find eat. Fine?”
“Failure hiding somewhere. But meat, boss happy”
“If say so”
They enter an incredibly spacious den, their and their brethren´s gathering spot. Fighting, enthusiastic cheering, greedy eating, sleeping. All Minotaurs are basically doing what they want. Some eyes shortly fall on the two but lose interest immediately. Only one pair is still locked onto them.
The two Minotaurs approach the pair of eyes, they belonging to their boss who oversees them from the top of a stone pedestal. A silver-furred Minotaur even larger than the rest.
“Boss! We bring much meat!” the brown-furred Minotaur says enthusiastically and holds up the haul high in the air. But the silver Minotaur doesn´t seem too joyous. He doesn´t open his mouth to answer, only slowly leans forward and keeps glaring into his subordinate´s eyes, deep into his soul. All Minotaurs instantly stop in their actions and gather their gazes on their boss. The brown-furred Minotaur´s stupid smile vanishes, no longer able to endure he averts his gaze to the side. But the silver Minotaur grabs and turns his head, forcing the brown-furred to look into his eyes. He lets the food fall to the ground and winces in pain, a very unnatural gesture from a giant like him.
“Did I say,” the silver Minotaur leisurely begins “To bring me meat?” he asks, making sure that every single word makes it through to his subordinate´s small brain.
“N-No, boss. But–!”
“Oh?” his grip tightens “ ´But´? You had a clear, simple task. Or didn´t you listen to what I said?”
The brown Minotaur gulps “O-Of c-c-course listened!”
“Then why...” the leader of the Minotaurs stands up and lifts his subordinate with one hand. The brown Minotaur flails desperately in the air. “Why Didn´t you bring him to me? That failure. Or do you want to take his place so much?” The subordinate somehow manages to hastily shake his head. The silver Minotaur laughs to himself. Some of the Minotaur´s, not exactly sure what is going on, join him. But the leader suddenly stops and rams the brown-furred in his hand to the floor; “Then bring him here immediately you useless piece of garbage! And you too!” he turns to the other Minotaur who accompanied him “Don´t fucking waste my time. Move!”
The brown Minotaur squeaks while stumbling to his feet. They escape the den as fast as they can. The silver Minotaur crosses his arms and remains standing for a bit before lavishly sitting down once more. “Continue with what you were doing,” he waves his hand to all present, seemingly bored.
Before long the previous atmosphere returns.