With Yai clinging to his back, Zalroth dropped from his Seraph Step platform, landing beside Nakamai as she chewed through one of the boss armoured swarmer's legs with audible metalic crunches. Nakamai reeled her head back with her teeth primed for tearing into the boss-type armoured swarmer's leg before swinging her jaw shut in anticipation; however, instead of the expected iron flavour, she was met with the bitter taste and sensation of her teeth colliding into each other as grey Hexa particles spewed away from her hands.
"I think you've eaten enough of it," Zalroth stated, lowering his raised hand as the grey Hexa particles popped around him. Nakamai narrowed her brow, her teeth rattling against each other, as she pouted at the disappearing bug leg. At seeing the rest of the boss disappear in the same manner as its leg, Nakamai pounded a fist against the floor in spite and slightly cracked it, shortly followed by the superficial damage fixing itself.
"Nuh-Uh!" Nakamai said spitefully as her onesie made bloops and blops from her flailing her arms. Zalroth raised his head slowly, blankly staring off into space as a monsoon of a feminine voice saying nuh uh plagued his mind, and he violently shivered involuntarily.
"What's wrong?" Yai asked, poking Zalroth in hopes of bringing him back to reality. He snapped back, briefly rubbed his faintly dried eyes, and sighed as another ripple of cringe washed through him.
"Just got twenty-twenty-two flashbacks," Zalroth stated with a sharp glint in his eyes. Yai joined in on the shivering, the mention of the year sturring up an equal amount of displeasure within her.
"Yeah... the twenty-twenties just sucked for everyone... except those lot on that one island," Yai retorted matter-of-factly while wagging her finger rhythmically. Zalroth rolled his eye dismissively as Zalina perched herself on his shoulder, Stella-ranked Return Ribbon in hand.
"What are the odds of finding a treasure tile in a rare dungeon arch," Zalina remarked smugly while stowing the Return Ribbon she found into Yai's gelatin hair. As Yai snagged the Return Ribbon from her hair and stored it in her Inventory, a thunderous bang erupted through the chamber, startling everyone aside from Zalroth, from a silver pirate-looking chest dropping from above and shattering the ground by the group.
"Seems a bit excessive for loot chest...," Zalina grumbled angrily, pouting while sticking her head out from Zalroth's chest pocket. The other two were concerned with Zalina's statement, but didn't allow their shock to diswade them from rushing to the dungeon boss loot chest. The duo grasped the chest, their grips strong enough to crack its frame before they pried it open. The head of the chest snapped off its hinges before the entire thing shattered into pieces from the girls' unrestrained strength, leaving the two blankly staring at the silver shards.
"I suggest you refrain from touching the loot," Zalroth suggested, making the duo pout at him.
"It wasn't intentional...," Nakamai whimpered as she went to lean into the chest, shortly followed by Yai grabbing her.
"You don't say," Yai uttered, stepping away from the chest while dragging Nakamai away to stop further damage. With Yai gesturing to it, Zalroth walked up to the silver loot chest and gazed into it with a critical eye.
[Activated Skill: Appraisal(Level: 3)]
Zalroth stared at the pop-up before him, a small smirk forming on his face at the info being divulged to him. He reached a hand into the silver loot chest, practically barren save for the seemingly lone item within.
[Thrudite(High-Quality)]
-A special dark crimson metal with Hexa absorbing/compounding properties-
"That certainly makes up for that lack of any other loot," Zalina remarked cheerfully while Yai pondered on what the metal could even be used for and Nakamai wondered when they could go back to camp to get food.
In the Iron Golem Dungeon of Preservation, a disappointed Ardentus punted the head of a massive iron golem across the boss chamber like a football, its multiple collisions dinging and reverberating through the room but nothing came to investigate the noise.
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"Good grief, how can I even count this as a win even if I beat Zalroth's time?" Ardentus said, complaining his class made dealing with the golems boringly easy as he recalled turning a bunch of golems into chunks of iron.
"I don't see why you're complaining, I didn't level up even once," Saria grumbled, dragging her feet across the floor with a solemn expression as she collected all the mid-quality iron ore chunks into her Inventory. Ardentus donned a crooked grin, finding some form of enjoyment from hearing Saria's complaints.
"Yeah, well, perhaps Zalroth figured out a way for people to level up without needing to fight," Ardentus mentioned as multiple pop-ups blocked his view of the deep blue monster core in his hand, and Saria sprinting after a rolling chunk of iron.
[Ardentus Koihouza][Level: 133]
[HP: 180][Hexa: 900]
[Class: Condense]
[Vitality: 18][Stamina: 55]
[Attack: 77][Hexa Proficiency: 150]
[Defence: 66][intelligence: 90]
[Agility: 96][Speed: 122]
[Avalible Points: 0]
[Aquired Skills x3]
[Aquired Skill Tokens x30]
[Compress Liquid Materials]
-The user can compress liquid objects into a gelatin-like state-
[Compress Gas Materials]
-The user can compress gases to act like solid materials-
[Temperature Compress]
-The user can compress objects to the point it superheats them-
"The stat's name really was changed," Ardentus remarked amusedly. Fully taking in his new skills, Ardentus closed the pop-up, turning his attention to the arch-shaped portal. He called for Saria, telling her she didn't need to collect all the loot, and asked her to hurry up otherwise he'd leave her behind.
A little later, a hearty bellow of laughter roared through the forest as Saria's complexion matched one of a tomato. Ardentus, overcome by his laughter, collapsed onto the ground before rolling around in a laughing fit as Saria barked at him to stop laughing, deeming it his fault for killing the golems so quickly.
"Was telling them how we increased our levels a bad idea?" Yai asked while glancing up at Zalroth. Zalroth shook his head and told them it wasn't, deeming Saria's anger seemed from the laughing itself rather than learning of an easier leveling method. Chronia, Kai, Aoina, and Yai turned to look at Ardentus, still laughing with the same amount of energy without losing any steam and making Saria even angrier.
"His laughing is getting, a little, annoying," Peuonie mentioned as she and Gnawraul floated behind Zalroth. Zalroth began to feel a slightly sinister glare strike the back of his head, leading him to turn his head but all he saw was Gnawraul's guard.
"I'll only say this once, now that you've found a very rare-grade monster core, you'll need to leave the forest as none matching that rarity exists in Medous Forest," Gnawraul mumbled almost incoherently with her voice laced with embarrassed anger, leading Peuonie to give a shortened translation of Gnawraul's message to the group. The humans lowered their heads, a brief moment of silence filling the air as they all mulled over their upcoming course of action.
"I believe that should wait until our camp is safer and everyone is at least level a hundred before doing that," Chronia suggested seriously.
"Indeed, but which won't take too long if Zalroth takes everyone through these dungeons at least once," Aoina added, making Ardentus sit up at her remark puzzledly.
"Huh? What about me?" Ardentus asked confusedly, knowing he could just as easily do it. Aoina cast a contentious side eye to Ardentus, making the guy flinch despite Aoina showing no signs of attacking.
"Saria," Aoina stated coldly. Aoina's single word caused Ardentus to slump his shoulders in resignation of his solo approach to things. Hearing her name being said, Saria flinched at thinking Aoina was mad at her and felt like passing out from how lightheaded the dread of Aoina's anger instilled in her. Feeling her knees give out, Saria's legs folded like paper and she swung downward, falling at the perfect angle to clonk Ardentus in the side of the head but only ended up knocking herself out from the impact. Ardentus remained unaffected by Saria's collision, at least until the unconscious Saria began drooling all over his head and making him scream like a baby.