Sprinting over to the boss’s corpse I slice its belly open letting its organs spill out. They were steaming but had now quickly frozen over. After a couple seconds, I find the stomach and slice it open. Acid spilled everywhere and froze into a sickly waterfall. Busting it open further, I found nothing, just a few small bones.
That couldn’t have been her… maybe she was stuck in it’s throat. It did seem agitated.
Reaching for the part of its neck that was already partially cut open, I wedge my sword in between the skin and the ice behind it.
What is all of that? Did its saliva freeze over?
Investigating further I hurriedly cut the skin all the way around its neck and through its spine until its head fell off unceremoniously.
Inside, I found a dome of ice and a fuzzy image of something inside, making my heart race faster.
That’s got to be it!
Looking around hurriedly for something to break it open I make my swords disappear and run over to grab a large rock from the pile nearby. After rummaging for a second I found one about as big as my head and grabbed it.
She’s probably suffocating.
Heaving the rock over my head I swung it into the ice, my shoulders burning all the while.
Whack!
Clink!
Crash!
After a few more hits a large chunk of ice exploded and skidded across the ground freeing the side of her head.
Almost there. Just try not to break her nose.
I carefully chipped the ice off of her blue face so she could breathe again.
C’mon, c’mon!
Bringing my shaking hand below her nose I could feel a weak exhale.
‘Kay… right, I probably would’ve gotten a notification if the contract was broken.
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding and got rid of the rest of the ice around her and she lifelessly rolled out of the ball she was frozen in.
Better work on the boss.
[You have twenty-five minutes remaining before the dungeon re-makes itself and destroys you before you can exit.]
Definitely one of the weaker dungeons. I think that’s the shortest time it can give you. Simpler it is the less time it needs to remake itself and all that.
Letting out a breath, I take a look around the dungeon.
Probably wouldn’t have been able to kill the boss if Drifa wasn’t involved…
I grit my jaw
Maybe I should do some training with her so she’s spazzing a bit less… I don’t really want to, but it’s worth a shot. She’d probably die pretty quick in a boss fight otherwise.
I snorted.
Probably would’ve if she didn’t… well freeze a two-foot ball of ice around herself somehow.
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I sat in silence for a bit.
Right… I should check my notifications… or not. I’ll wait till I have more time. I don’t know how many I have and I’ve wasted enough time as is sitting here.
Pulling myself together I start deconstructing the monster. Skinning it, de-boning it, de-clawing it, and removing some of the valuable organs and meat and storing it in my boz. Looking at the wall and the floor and I found two metal buckets.
Probably worth something.
Walking over, I grabbed them and stored them in my backpack.
Pulling out my tarp sled thing I place Drifa in it and drag her over to the chest by the door.
I wonder what’s in there.
It was made of wood with some copper edging. Its lock was the same as the boss door with a snarling rabbit head and teeth handles.
I quickly opened it.
CrEAk!
The bottom of the chest was littered with coppers… so not actually worth a whole lot, but it was something. Resting on the copper, there was a small clear gem, a cheap-looking white box labelled with a green cross, a small scroll, and some large leather boots.
Dad said that dungeon items usually have some sort of magical property. The thing that makes them different from an artifact is that they only function if you’ve been in a dungeon or near an excessive amount of corrupt energy recently. Or, depending on the magical object, they run out of charge’s.
Scooping up the items I place them in my box and backpack to look at later.
Grabbing the strings of my makeshift sled I take one last look before heading out. The boss’s dismantled body was in the corner, icicles were littering the ground and blood smeared across the place… but everything was starting to dissolve.
> [Five minutes remaining until the dungeon is reset. It is recommended that user Ismund exits.]
It’ll be good to leave.
Turning towards the rotting wooden door that had appeared after I killed the boss, I head out.
I let out a sigh of content.
Finally… done.
As I arrive on the other side I’m met with the bright light of the sun reflecting off of all the snow around me.
That stings.
I take a quick glance around myself to get my bearings again. Behind me was the igloo I had entered to access the dungeon earlier… And it looked like there had been more snow, but it was hard to tell seeing as there weren’t many landmarks right next to me. A little further ahead you could see the tree line again.
Dropping the bag I was pulling I sit down and take my backpack off.
Okay… what to do.
I glance at Drifa who was face down in the bag.
She’ll wake up given enough time. I’ll let her try to remove that big tooth in her back herself.
Reaching up with my right arm, the one that wasn’t cut horribly with frozen blood, I start assembling my tent. After finishing that I take the pile of toothpicks from my inventory and then light them on fire.
Hopefully, I have enough I don’t have to chop down a tree for wood or something…
I turned back toward the bright flames that were licking across my toothpicks.
Maybe my hair and clothes will melt.
I take a look at them.
Well… there isn’t really a shirt left per se…
Reaching into my inventory I don my only other shirt.
That kick bruised me… well… I should just be glad it didn’t break my ribs or anything.
I looked back towards Drifa.
She did save the fight kind of… not that it was very intentional. Well, I’m not using the tent now. Best to be efficient. Plus, that way if she wakes up she might not talk to me right away.
Walking over to her I slid the tarp she was lying in into the small tent I had.
There.
Sitting next to the bag beside me I sort through the items I got from the fight. Before I could a notification flashed in my vision.
> [Will user Ismund open notifications?]
Right, show me.
> [Body:D+ (409/500)-> (510/500)]
>
> […Processing…][Body:C- (10/1,000)]
Woah… I’ve been working my whole life to tip that over the edge. Hopefully, that picks up from the dungeon diving,… otherwise that’ll take a while.
[Choose one Body Skill or wait for either Mind or Soul tier up and combine them.]
I think that’d take too long considering where they’re at. Probably a big upgrade, but I don’t want to stunt myself and accidentally kill myself from it.
> [User Ismund will gain one of the following.]
>
>
>
> [Unerring accuracy (C): “If it bleeds, I can kill it”]
>
> [Heavy Blow (C): “With enough force, anything can be crushed”]
>
> [Thick Skin (C): “No, you take yourself too seriously”]
>
>
>
> [Choose now. No other information can be accessed.]
I paused in thought.
That’s not much of a description… and it may’ve been helpful if I could look at my items first.
Sure enough, the window I was looking at couldn’t be closed and it was too big and intrusive to really look at anything around me. Sighing, I went through the options one by one.
[Unerring Accuracy] sounds pretty straightforward. Probably has to do with killing the creature before or it bleeding or something. Same thing with [Heavy Blow], Probably means I can hit things harder… [Thick Skin] is a tricky one. I’m pretty confident about what it’ll do, and I don’t take a hit as well as I could. It probably has some drawbacks like a reduced range of movement, and that’s a large chunk of what I have going for me… I could change my build. I’m still pretty early on. I’d consider it more if I had somebody who could teach me a different fighting style, but that’s not the case and I think it’s too risky otherwise. I don’t hit very hard either, but the swords are sharp and I don’t see myself losing them. Given enough time I might get something that makes that impossible to lose or something.
Give me [Unerring Accuracy.]
> [Unerring Accuracy (C): If you cut any being and it bleeds or has some sort of life-giving substance that circulates around its body like blood you will be given the ability to see the places where it is most vulnerable. If it doesn’t bleed, your ability is not only futile but reversed.]
> [“If it bleeds, I can kill it”- Enzo Antiphonus, The Blood King]
That’s pretty good.
I let out a snort.
It’d be even better if the drawback wasn’t so big. Ah well, an upgrade is an upgrade, right? Closer to killing The Five and getting revenge.
Unfocusing my eyes again I look at my other notifications.
> [Mind:D (251/500)->(258/500)[Soul:D (296/500)->(297/500)
>
>
> [You’ve earned the achievement [First Dungeon], way to go!]
>
> [First Dungeon: Congratulations, You’ve completed your first dungeon! Since you’re now committed to removing all monsters from this plane of existence. As a Hunter your active title will be visible to all other Hunters. The exception is a hidden Title, however, other hunters will know that it’s hidden. You can now also view other Hunter’s titles and names via the System. You can also Identify known objects. Unkowns will have [???] labelled above them. More question marks mean that they are more complicated, powerful, or more confusing to you. You are no longer able to have all Titles active at once.You may now create parties. In a party you may access the health information of the other party members within twenty feet. Additional effects may be added once you've purged five more Dungeons.]
Ah, Information overload, but sure, yeah, whatever you say. I’m going to look at my Items now.