The rope ladder, dubbed Stan Lee was unsure of his existence. He was unsure if he wasn't an old man or a ladder but that didn't really matter. What mattered was the person who used him. That horrible individual plumbed his depths.
The individual was effortlessly tearing apart two massive deer while muttering under his breath about how they were supposed to be fluffy, cute and nice. His muttering was finally stopped by a rather large hunk of intestinal tract scratching into his face and slowly sliding off.
Emmanuel stood over the corpses, or what was left of the corpses of the two Lockwood deer. He was underwhelmed by their performance. They were slow, way too slow, and when one snuck up on him from behind, it didn't hit very hard. In fact, its antler s, which looked like they could pierce his skin, just bounced off. So, in the end, the fight was rather boring. The first deer fell rather easily when it foolishly charged him and he was able to separate its head from its body.
The second deer, realizing his companion's mistake, tried to make some distance from Emmanuel. It had enough time for droplets to start forming around its antlers. But seeing the writing on the wall, he quickly rushed over and dealt with the thing. It didn't even seem to move or otherwise react when he liberated its head from its body.
*Ding*
You have defeated a level 13 Lockwood deer
you have gained Xp
*Ding*
You have defeated a level 13 Lockwood deer
you have gained Xp
*Ding*
Your skill Iron Skin has reached level 2
*Ding*
Your skill swordsmanship has reached level 2
*Ding*
Your skill swordsmanship has reached level 3
*Ding*
Your skill swordsmanship has reached level 4
The XP he got from the deers was surprising. He got significant amounts but he still felt that the next level was quite a ways away. To compare it to when he was in the G-rank, the amount of XP he would need to level up was a magnitude larger. However, the higher ranked monsters also gave him significantly more XP. Still, it didn't counteract the increase in the XP demand.
Pushing the thoughts of XP and level growth from out of his mind, he instead focused on the good news. His skills. His level in Iron Skin was unsurprising. After all, he was able to resist the deer's futile attempts to turn him into a shish kebab.
His skill in swordsmanship was unexpected but welcome. The skill level was impressive for what he thought were some menial tasks. But then again he did have an OP growth rate. However, he suspected a different culprit. The skill seemed to be directly proportional to how he wielded the blade, augmenting his abilities. His skill almost seemed like a baseline but he couldn't be fully sure of that fact.
After all, he was no slouch at the art of swordplay. So he suspected that the skill was just catching up to his actual level of proficiency.
Loitering around the same section of the dungeon would get him nowhere; it was time to move on. He gave one last suspicious glance around his surroundings, cursed the wretched old ladder, then turned away as he chuckled to himself and continued down the hallway.
The greenery was a blessing and a curse. At times he could hear the deer’s footsteps far more easily when they occasionally snapped a branch. However, it also did an admirable job concealing their presence.
He was looking around hoping to find another one of the blue buggers and hopefully get something out of the fight. And then he got pelted. It turns out that being hit with high-pressure water at short range can hurt a lot. Although he was certain no blood was drawn, he knew that he would at least have some rather impressive welts for the next couple of days.
Wheeling around he spotted a blue deer. Taking a deep breath he pushed his Mana into his blade and split the thing like a hot dog. The two sides of the deer seemed to stick together for a moment. then they toppled apart making a rather satisfying squelching as they hit the lush floor of the tunnel.
*Ding*
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You have defeated a level 13 Lockwood dear
you have gained Xp
*Ding*
Your skill iron skin has reached level 3
*Ding*
Your skill swordsmanship has reached level 5
He clicked his tongue in annoyance at the lack of skill level in splitting strike. But, alas, he had to continue his little walk. He did so, until he was rudely interrupted by some rustling behind him. But this time he knew. This time he was ready.
As the water pellets hit his back he activated kinetic absorption. To his chagrin, the bolts still hit hard. It seems that the skill wasn't of a high enough level to absorb the entirety of the impact. In addition, his Mana was now quite low. The skill consumed significantly more than he expected. Not to the point that he was crippled -- just enough to be wary of.
He broke out of his inner musing by once again being pelted. Cursing himself for his hubris, he quickly leaped over to the deer. Releasing the kinetic energy absorbed by its bullets, he firmly shoved his sword through its skull and all the way through its brain to the other side.
When he pulled his sword out from its bony sheath it made a rather annoying scraping and squelching sound. When it exited, blood poured out and began to coat his arms.
*Ding*
Your skill iron skin has reached level 4
The notification felt a little bit on the nose. But instead of thinking about the system's sentience, he instead decided to continue.
He killed one deer, then two deer, then blue deer but no red deer, unfortunately. Luckily for him, it seemed like the dungeon -- at least so far -- contained no traps. After several fights, he felt as if the dungeon was quite easy. His fear began to dissipate. Now he wasn't worried about the boss considering its minions were such great bags of XP.
*Ding*
You have reached level 12. Your stats have been increased and you have 4 status points to assign
The rush of energy from the level-up reinvigorated his mood. He decided to hold off on the stats and instead continue to delve deeper into the dungeon. Which, at this point, was starting to become repetitive. He continued to encounter solitary deer and sometimes a pair of deer.
The snap of broken twigs broke his mental focus and brought him back to the real world. The sound, of course, alerted him and, of course, it was a carbon copy Lockwood deer standing right in front of him. The deer, upon realizing it had been spotted, started to gather water around its antlers.
Realizing that the deer was too far away to reach in time he readied kinetic absorption to at least alleviate the blow. But instead of being hit in the front, he felt two rather sharp points smash into his back.
Unlike the ones before it, this deer's antlers sunk deep into the meaty flesh of his back. The deer continued to charge forward and its antlers sunk even deeper. The deer then lifted its head and with it Emmanuel's feet off the ground.
In response, he tried to cut off one of its antlers to hopefully allow him enough wiggle room to escape. Unfortunately, he was dangling in the air, which of course didn't provide the best angle for an attack. As a result his sword just pinged off the side of one of the deer’s antlers, only leaving a little scratch.
To make matters worse, while he was trying to get free the other deer wasn't sitting idle. With a whoosh, the first deer shot a bolt of water through Emmanuel’s left calf leaving a coin-sized hole in it.
However surprising the effect of the magic was, it didn't faze him. He quickly imbued his blade with as much Mana as he could and sliced through the antler. This time, luckily, the antler gave way and he was free from the deer's clutches.
Looking back at his former captor, he noted that it resembled a very famous deer with a mortified expression. But he couldn't dwell on the deer's human-like emotions because another one of the blue bastards appeared to his left. This one was a little bit bigger and a bit more toned than the rest.
Emmanuel was once again awakened from his gaze on the battlefield by a splitting pain, this time in his right bicep. Once again cursing himself and promising vengeance, he turned, noticing yet another deer gathering water around its antlers. Briefly discarding the information, he moved towards the closer of the two range deer.
As he was lifting his sword to land a blow, yet another deer appeared. However, this one was different; it was larger than even the jacked deer. Its antlers were significantly bigger and looked like great trees. Around its magnificent antlers swirled dark clouds.
His brief distraction allowed the deer he was leaping towards to dodge out of the way and avoid his slash. Grunting in annoyance, he spun around trying to find the range deer. Then, out of nowhere, he felt pain, electric, sizzling pain. It took him a few moments to realize what had happened. The deer with the big antlers had formed a small cloud above his head that released a lightning bolt.
He of course did not notice the cloud that slowly formed above his own head as he was charging his adversary. Nor did he notice the lightning bolt that made contact with his skull. He only noticed when that lightning bolt shocked him, sprawling him to the floor.
He jittered in place for a few seconds before he was once again pelted with pain. Another bolt of lightning struck his back, sending pulses of electricity through his veins. Yet, just as he was about to get up to keep fighting, another bolt hit him, and another, and another. Eventually, the water bolts started to join their electron brothers. As he was beaten from range, all he could do in response was grit his teeth and activate kinetic absorption hoping that it would alleviate the damage enough to keep him alive.
Slowly but surely the attacks started to fade, giving him enough time to stand up and look around. And what he saw enraged him: Their arrogance, their unwillingness to fight him, their unwillingness to finish him.
Something snapped in him then. The cage that he had erected within his heart buckled, and his vision turned red. He took a shallow breath, trying to calm his rage. But the beast would not listen. Lightning struck him once more. This time, something changed.
instead of searing pain, he was as if his cells gobbled up the energy, and when they were full they pushed the remainder down into the ground. He snarled and let out a bestial scream. He lunged towards the large deer his sword high and coursing with electricity, ready.