! –
Are those… footsteps?
Someone's coming
Wait... one? No, two. Definitely two.
Ok, let´s try that out. I´ll have to prepare…
-- -- --
The two brown-furred Minotaurs hurry from corridor to corridor, slightly out of breath in their search for the 'failure'. It's as if he just disappeared. Worse, they have to be careful of the other Minotaur hordes. Maybe they would've been more reckless if they didn't get off on the wrong foot with their boss, but now they can't allow themselves to cause any more trouble.
As they reach a dead end, literally and figuratively, their eyes move rapidly up and down, left and right before quickly turning around and running to the next spot where the ´failure´ could be hiding.
Never have they seen this side of their boss before, probably due to the short time they spent in the horde; The Silver Minotaur´s horde. Though it was formed not long ago, it asserts dominance over all other Minotaurs of this Dungeon. Just because of its leader alone.
For Minotaurs, there are only two ways of life: If you are strong, you live comfortably and without a care in the world while if you are weak, you are ridiculed and tormented by the strong.
For that reason, the two can´t allow themselves to mess up. Not again... They´ll definitely find this bastard who´s responsible for their troubles, and they´ll definitely be the first ones to relieve their anger on him.
Before long, the now out-of-breath Minotaurs have searched almost every nook of the dungeon. They know that their boss hates waiting, but they just can´t find him anywhere.
With every passing second, their heads continue to fill with distress. But also with furry. Just a little more and their patience will find itself running at an end, their emotions will erupt like a ferocious volcano and completely eliminate all cool there's left.
Or so it seems until they step into a short, separate corridor near the entrance of the dungeon. Unlike what they are used to, this passage is as straight as a line and only leads to a sole, small room. The Minotaurs notice the reek of blood in the air as they approach the dead end. They arrive. There, in the center of the room, a twisted corpse of one of their brethren rots away. Of course the two recognize immediately whose corpse it is; it´s the one they have been searching for all along.
Their sense of danger immediately spikes. Even if there are conflicts between Minotaurs, they wouldn´t go so far as to kill each other. The two position back-to-back to cover each other’s blind spots as their eyes slowly scan the area. But there´s nothing but the deteriorating stench of the corpse: The aggressor has already long left
...Or so they think.
The Minotaurs look at each other and give a quick nod. The tension, although only partially, leaves their bodies and they approach their dead brother. Bruises of a rough beating cover its body, but as they turn him around they find a deep hole in its throat, the blood already dry: This makes it clear, the work of an outsider. Someone intruded the Dungeon.
--
The Minotaurs are deeply preoccupied with the corpse, just as Vienessa has hoped. She smirks from her hiding spot. She looks down at the Minotaurs from the ceiling like a spider on prey that was caught in its web. Turning and putting a foot against the cold stone above to find firm grip, she kicks her body away and blitzes through the air. Her victims still haven´t noticed her, she closes in for the kill and thrusts her hand into the nearest Minotaur´s back with full power.
The foreign object deeply bores inside the Minotaur's skin, forcefully tearing apart all flesh in its way. But this isn´t enough to bring it down. It cries out in pain and flails its body around, trying to rid itself of its attacker as the second Minotaur turns around. Vienessa, swung around like a fly in a raging storm, sees herself forced to abandon her attack and jumps back. Deep-red blood follows behind her hand as she pulls it out.
Species Minotaur – LV: 55 Stats
HP
MP
214/484
59/59 Vitality 189 Strength
----------------------------------------
Intelligence 241
----------------------------------------
41 Endurance 160 Agility 81
Skills
Normal
1 Characteristic
1
Active
[Charge] Passive [Intermediate (-) Attack Up] [Minor (-) Ore Body]
----------------------------------------
Minor (+) Attack Up
Skill
Type: Passive Explanation: Increases |Strength|. Increase is proportional to |Skill´s| Rank.
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|.
[Minor (-) Ore Body]
Skill
Type: Characteristic Passive Explanation: The element of earth flows throughout the |Skill Holder’s| Veins. Increase Defense and Attack.
Vienessa´s eyes light up with confidence to her surprise attack succeeding. The Minotaur's eyes light up too, but only pure hatred is reflected in the pitch black color. One of them has suffered too much damage at only the start of the battle, they can´t allow themselves to slack now. With this, they discard all unnecessary thoughts and are ready to fight. They drop to all fou…
“Not so fast!” the Demon interrupts as she holds up two bluish, prism-shaped crystals in the air;
|Artifacts| she got from Madeleine. The girl leans back into a throwing stance and: “Haaaa!” hurls the shards at her enemies. The crystals fly through the air, precise and fast like bullets. Before the Minotaurs know, they are smacked in the face by the stones. But the crystals just bounce back harmlessly and falls down.
No, not quite. Just as they are about to hit the ground, their momentum decreases. They get slower and slower, until they halt in mid-air and are pulled back towards the two monsters like magnets. A bright light shines from inside the stones as they gradually shift. From the light, a long wire appears. The material hasn't changed, yet the wires somehow move around flexibly. In the blink of an eye, they shackle the Minotaurs like a snake would a small animal, clasping them so thoroughly that it knocks out the air of their lungs. The two groaningly drop to the floor, trying to free themselves of their bounds. But even with their ridiculous strength, the item won´t budge. Their struggle is in vain.
“Huh? Are you serious?” Vienessa finds herself in disblief, rooted to the ground, as she rubs her eyes. The thought didn´t even cross her mind that |Artifacts| would be so powerful. She didn't believe in anything but her own strength after all. Maybe she should change her opinion here? Looking down at the Minotaurs, she feels like she definitely should...
After a good ten seconds pass she finally finds the way out of her dazed state and carefully approaches the monsters helplessly tumbling around on the floor. She stares down at the Minotaur who had been already injured by her surprise attack, then swings down her claws at him. Again and again
[Enemy at least 50 levels above your own]
Experience multiplier: x5
*3370 Exp gained*
Until the confirmation of its death appears.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“This is… so easy! What the heck is this?? No wonder Ma and Pa said to be careful around Humans,” Vienessa laughs to herself and rubs her wrinkled forehead. She then abruptly turns to the second Minotaur “Well then, it´s your turn now”. The monster shrieks and tries crawling away from the Demon, looking like a caterpillar in its attempt. But Vienessa quickly catches up and finishes it just as easily as the first one.
[Enemy at least 40 levels above your own]
Experience multiplier: x4
*2332 Exp gained*
“No Level-up, huh?” she finally sighs and droops her head. It´s become exponentially more difficult to level with each increase in the numbers. Just a little while ago a monster like this would've given her at least 3 levels, but now even two of them won´t do even for a single level.
--
The girl looks up at the ceiling as she likes to do when she´s in thought. She's just about to think of something important as... “Wait, what´s that?” she sees something very interesting. Bits of the ceiling have crumbled at the part where she was hiding just now. It seems a hollow passage has been revealed by her kick. Vienessa runs up the wall and parcours herself to the spot she just hid in again. She jumps and grabs for the revealed opening mid-flight:
As she pulls her body up, she notices the passage looks akin to a second floor, only much, much narrower. There´s almost no space to move and only a single path. Vienessa had to worry for a second that she wouldn´t even fit.
Furthermore, the lights from the first floor, which normally illuminate the entirety of the Dungeon, don´t seem to appear on the second floor, making it completely dark. The girl feels her way forward for a while, inching forward step by step. At times she has to make an effort to squeeze through the cold rock, at others there's so much space she can almost spread her arms. But be it as it may, the slow progress annoys her.
After what feels like an eternity, she suddenly hears a sound coming from beneath. She stops, crouches down and puts her ear against the ground; Voices, or more akin to sounds. The Demon thrusts her hand into the ground, cracking up a small opening while simultaneously catching the debris which would've fallen and alarmed the group. She looks through the hole and sees four Minotaurs.
[Bronze Minotaur: LV: 54]
[Bronze Minotaur: LV: 53]
[Bronze Minotaur: LV: 53]
[Bronze Minotaur: LV: 58]
´Where even is this?´ The cogs in Vienessa´s mind turn ´No way this passage stretches throughout the whole Dungeon? Can I go everywhere from here? Do the Minotaurs know about this second floor? But even if they did, they couldn´t possibly fit with their size…´
Vienessa takes out a red crystal which she had prepared for her earlier fight if worse came to worst. She imbues it with a slight amount of her magic before throwing it down the opening. The item lands in the center of the room with a clank, immediately catching all Minotaur´s attention. The four monsters think little if it and approach, but suddenly dense fog fumes out and engulfs the whole room.
The Minotaurs fall into panic as their sight is taken away from them completely, but Vienessa once again can only be in amazement about Humans´ |Artifacts|. ´Just as Madeleine said, although I feel how thick the fog is, I can see just fine´. The girl breaks open the hole beneath her more until she can fit through and drops herself to the ground. The Minotaurs seem to have heard the noise but aren´t able to guess her position at all.
Vienessa quickly leaps toward one of them and kicks at its legs. The Minotaur is swept from its feet and falls to the ground with a loud crash. She follows up by slamming her hand into its back, but she doesn´t manage to penetrate as deeply as she wanted.
Activating her |Enhance cast| and |Physical Reinforcement| in succession, she strikes the same spot once again and pierces through like butter to its heart, crushing it without a moment’s hesitation. The Minotaur´s life ends with him giving off a final yelp.
[Enemy at least 40 levels above your own]
Experience multiplier: x4
*2440 Exp gained*
~Level UP: 11 → Level 12~
[Fixed Stats gained]
15 |Stat Points| have been gained for free distribution
The 15 |Stat points| immediately go into strength.
Not losing a single breath, Vienessa sprints to the next Minotaur struggling around and frantically trying to get a grip on the situation. But Vienessa makes short work of its life as well without giving it any chance to resist. The same is the case for the third Minotaur:
[Enemy at least 40 levels above your own]
Experience multiplier: x4
*2416 Exp gained*
[Enemy at least 40 levels above your own]
Experience multiplier: x4
*2424 Exp gained*
Just as she comes close to her last target, the Minotaur cries a booming voice and swings around its arms in desperation to the sound of its brethren dying. And to its surprise, it works. Vienessa didn´t expect the Minotaur´s act and let her guard down, she´s hit by one of the monster´s arms and pushed back, but remains standing. Due to her reinforced |Physical Enhancement|, the strike didn´t inflict a serious wound, but what it managed to do is make the girl angry.
The Demon shows her sharp fangs, not that the Minotaur will see through the smoke screen, and lunges out for the final strike.
But without warning, the item´s effect runs out and the fog dissipates as if it never were there to begin with. The crystal shatters into a million fading pieced with a shriek sound. The Minotaur opens its eyes wide as it sees the small girl hurtling towards it.
Instantly it gets in Position for a |Charge|
“I won´t let you!” Vienessa jumps above it and drops a Puch on its head with all her momentum and strength. It looks like the Minotaur´s chin teleports to the floor and cracks it up from the impact. Before it even understands what happened Vienessa grabs it by its hoof, spins it's body around and throws it. While the Minotaur helplessly flails in the air, the girl dashes after it at full speed. In the same moment it feels the impact from crushing into a wall behind, the girl rams a hand through its front.
[Enemy at least 50 levels above your own]
Experience multiplier: x5
*3315 Exp gained*
After Vienessa confirms that all enemies are dead she quickly deactivates her active |Skills| and drops to her knee, supporting her body with her arms while huffing heavily.
[MP: 3/192]
´Damn, the drain is crazy, I wasn´t even in combat for that long. I´ll need to do something about that´
The girl looks around the room to confirm that the coast is clear before jumping up to the second floor and making her way back. She has let her other possessions for too long.
[MP: 18/207]
´That´s slightly better,´ she mumbles exhausted and shakes her head. She's only about halfway back to the first room. The girl would've liked to sit down and relax for a little, but she grits her teeth. Hving witnessed firsthand how powerful those items are, she won´t take any chances in retrieving them. If she doesn´t fetch them quickly, another Minotaur may come and take them and... that would be a disaster to say the least.
After scrambling through the tight passages for a while, she sees light flowing in through a hole in the ground. Descending it she finds herself in the previous room, her backpack is still left untouched. She sighs in relief. Grabbing her stuff, she once again ascends to the second floor where she lies everything down, including herself.
A wave of exhaustion suddenly floods down on her. Under the sense of security that no monsters will reach her up here, she decides to rest her eyes for a bit.
--
After Vienessa wakes up, the first thing she does is eat. She wasn't that hungry in quite a while. Patting her stomach and leaving behind three empty jars, she continues exploring the dungeon from the second floor. She plans on repeating the ´Minotaur hunt strategy´ she had done the day before, seeing it has worked wonders in acquiring large amounts of exp quickly.
--
After it works for a second time, Vienessa, in a sense, develops a routine: Find a room with Minotaurs, use items and surprise attacks to obtain an advantage, then win the fight by expending all MP resources and finally rest safely on the second floor and refill strength before repeating.
Calling the plan straightforward would be an understatement. It's a mundane routine. Somehow it goes well, and as they say never change a running system.
--
~Level UP: 12 → Level 13~
[Fixed Stats gained]
15 |Stat Points| have been gained for free distribution
--
After continuing her Level grind for a while, a problem she hasn´t thought about appears; Her search for enemies takes longer as she keeps finding rooms that she´s been in before. Sometimes she even finds herself going in circles for a while. Not the best use of time.
To solve that, she thinks about creating a map with which she could navigate through the second floor to all the bigger rooms on the first. With her resolve steadied, she attempts at drawing. But the task turns out to be a lot more complicated than she initially thought;
Firstly, it's still pitch black on the second floor, making it difficult to figure out when the path takes slight turns to the right or left and when it just keeps going straight forward.
The girl wishes Madeleine would've given her one of those |Everlasting Torches|, but somehow they didn't think about it. Vienessa needs to adjust the map many times over.
The second issue with mapping is that filling in the correct proportions is nearly impossible. Vienessa can only estimate the length of a corridor between two rooms, thus she can never be certain if the map is entirely accurate.
She tries counting the amount of footsteps from point to point, but it's more difficult than it appears for such long distances.
Going through much trial and error and showing patience untypical for her, she manages to draw out proportions unexpectedly close to the original though.
--
~Level UP: 13 → Level 14~
[Fixed Stats gained]
15 |Stat Points| have been gained for free distribution
~Skills~
[MP Regeneration has been obtained]
[Minor (-) HP Regeneration → Minor HP Regeneration]
--
Eventually, Vienessa realizes that her food rations are almost dried out, she is now eating the last jar of food which Madeleine prepared for her. Fortunately, Vienessa has the means to light a fire. 'Another reason to hunt Minotaurs than grinding for exp,' she thinks
After a short while, the girl notices a peculiarity that she hadn't paid attention before; The corpses of the Minotaurs she has defeated seem to disappear after a day's time. Not only their body but everything, blood included.
Eventually, she decides to 'take a day off' and sacrifice some time to observe what happens to their bodies, but the answer only left her flabbergasted; After a fixed period has passed, all defeated monsters seem to sink into the floor and be absorbed into the dungeon. At the places where this happens, the iridescent lights would appear in great numbers; there the girl would feel an increase of Mana in the air.
Anyways, the conclusion she came to is that she could only eat the Minotaurs she had defeated only recently. That's what mattered.
Not that she would've eaten an old Minotaur though. Even Demons deal badly with rotten meat.
Like in the first dungeon she cleared, Vienessa lights a fire and roasts some of the meat over it, seasoning it with various spices she still has from her mother.
´I wonder what they are doing right now… I really miss them, I´ll visit after I finish up here´
Such and similar thoughts wander through her mind while she bites into the meat. Most parts of the Minotaur are quite tough with muscles, but there are also a few spots interspersed with fine veins of fat, making it juicy yet tender.
"This was great," she decides after eating only the best parts. She has defeated enough of them, so she can allow herself to be lavish.
Not long and she's on her way to the next 'hunt'
--
~Skill~
[Ambush has been obtained]
~Title~
[Giant Killer has been obtained]
-- -- --
The Silver Minotaur´s horde is in a state of distress. No wonder, more and more hordes have been disappearing. By now, it would take an idiot to not see it was influence from an outside party.
A Bronze Minotaur can´t handle it anymore and decides to step up to its boss;
“Boss, please,” he kneels before the Silver Minotaur “Intruder strong, has killed many, many brethren already. Please help, boss”
The Silver Minotaur clicks his tongue and slowly rises to his feet, all eyes move onto the huge figure. “You really are a useless bunch,” he crosses his arms and closes his eyes for a few seconds before shaking his head “Fine, I´ll take it from here”
The gathered Minotaurs can´t believe their ears. Their boss only steps in when he deems it necessary, which rarely is the case. And still, this happens to be one of those times. Everybody rejoices at their boss´ proclamation, many faces turn into an expression of relief:
“Boss fight, intruder no problem”
“Easy victory for boss”
"Stress finally end”
“Enough," he silences his minions "Now, first of all, who has fought against them before?”
Another Minotaur steps forward “Me, boss. Managed to escape”
“Tell me,” the Silver Minotaur blows some hot air out his nose “how many of them are there and how do they fight?”
“One, boss. Look Human, young girl?”
The Silver Minotaur´s brow twitches slightly. “A young, Human girl? And you can´t handle it? Pathetic”
“But she strong. Use trick like smoke and binding and always appear from nowhere”
The Silver Minotaur´s face darkens at his subordinate's excuses. The brown-furred takes a few steps back, clearly knowing what happens to 'useless subordinates'. There is no outlast though. Their boss only falls into deep thought. The [Bronze Minotaur] tilts its head.
´So she´s an |Artifact| user? This is gonna be more interesting than I thought…”