CHAPTER 187 - MINE-BLOWING COMBAT ARC
🙞❤︎🙜
Though I really wanted to relax and have fun by leveling up my Foraging, Fishing, and Hunting like the kids were doing today, I needed to prepare myself for the World Boss Event by leveling up my combat stats.
[Violet
Level 42
HP: 4,200/4,200
MP: 35/35
Strength: 30/99
Attack: 33/99
Archery: 42/99
Magic: 11/99]
I was basically still newbie-level!
My Battle Rating, sometimes also called Battle Ranking, or BR for short, was abysmal. It was literally on the same level as an insect.
[Violet
Level 42
HP: 4,200/4,200
BR: 202]
Taking the elevator up to level 95, I quickly drank a [Strength Potion] and ran to the ladder, which was a safe zone.
[Insectoids:
A strange insect-like creature that seems to be made of blue crystal.]
This floor was full of [Insectoids] that had leveled up since last year when I had gotten lost here. I suspect that the cause was the coming of the Demon Monarch which has raised the qi level nearby.
[Insectoids:
Type: Melee
Element: None
BR: 296]
With Mr. Bear in [Attack Mode] beside me, I placed a [Potato Cannon] down in front of us and loaded it with explosive potatoes. The noise it made when I set it off made all the spiders come running to me.
While the cannon gave me Archery exp and Mr. Bear cast [Fireball] and gave me Magic exp, the combat screen showed me the Melee skills I could use, and I swung my blade with practiced ease though I wouldn’t call it mastery just yet.
[Sword Skills:
Thrust
Slash
Blade Flurry]
In time, I should be able to learn more advanced skills, but this was good enough for now. What I needed wasn’t more skills, but, rather, to master the basic skills and increase my speed and stamina.
[Slash:
Swing an energy-infused sword in a powerful arc, dealing damage to an enemy. This ability has a small chance to knock back or stun the target.
Cooldown: 5 seconds]
The System guided my movements and I tried to put my weight behind it as I planted my feet apart and swung my sword down on an [Insectoid] with as much force as I could. Though it looked like it was made of crystal, its body felt like flesh as my sword cut off one of its front legs.
Mr. Bear, seeing that this particular mob was my target, didn’t need a command for me to tell him to hit it with a [Fireball].
The ladder area was quite a good cheat since the shield around it blocked the monster’s attack.
[Mandible Smash:
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
The insectoid delivers a quick snap with its mandibles, dealing significant damage in a rapid attack.]
The monster struck, but it was bounced back by an invisible force field.
In the game, the player’s avatar wasn't shown going up or down ladders. Instead, when a player clicked on a ladder, they simply reappeared on the level below or above it, depending on whether they selected the up or down button.
In real life, the Chitinous Cavern used to be a mine before it was infested by aggressive monsters. The shield around the ladders must have been put there by the Mines’ original owners to protect the workers. I theorized that they had tried to clear the caverns, but had obviously failed. Nonetheless, they left behind these few safe, shielded areas that I was now taking advantage of.
Wasting no time, I lunged forward, piercing the monster with the tip of my sword.
[Thrust:
Lunge forward with the mana-infused sword, dealing damage to an enemy. This ability can break through enemy shields or armor, dealing a large amount of damage.
Cooldown: 5 seconds]
The [Insectoid’s] HP bar was half empty, and I finished it off with my strongest sword skill.
[Blade Flurry:
Slash the enemy with a flurry of quick and powerful strikes. This ability is often used as a finishing move, as it can deal a large amount of damage in a short period of time.
Cooldown: 30 seconds]
Slashing diagonally at the enemy, my blade flashed with blue light as it cut deeply into the [Insectoid’s] side. The second diagonal slash hit the other side, and the last stroke, a vertical slash, finished it off, almost bisecting it.
My heart was pounding from the adrenaline as another monster rushed towards me and I dealt with it the same way. The [Potato Cannon] continued to fire, killing off the weaker ones before they reached me, and giving me a good amount of Archery exp in the process. However, since Mr. Bear wasn’t that high-level, the Magic exp from his spells was negligible.
When I had fought these monsters before, they didn’t have any skills, but now some of them could use [Mandible Smash] and, shockingly, [Metamorphosis].
[Metamorphosis:
The monster transforms into a more powerful form temporarily, increasing its speed and strength.]
“What?! How come these trash mobs have a sick skill like that?” I said to Mr. Bear. “It’s so unfair when monsters have cooler skills than players!”
After killing a few more [Insectoids], I switched to a regular sword that didn’t have [Bone Melting Powder] on it.
“Ah! There’s no difference!” I complained out loud to no one in particular.
The mobs here were simply too low-level for me to really check the [Poison] effect since I killed them too fast. Therefore, the next time an [Insectoid] came up to me, I used the poisoned sword on it a few times without using a skill. The mob did get the [Poison] status after I hit it three times with my sword, but it bled out and died before the [Poison] had any real effect.
Since the [Bone Melting Powder] didn’t seem to be helping me, and I couldn’t test on stronger monsters because I wasn’t feeling suicidal, I decided to put it out of my mind. It was better to concentrate on training Melee.
Half an hour later, my arms were getting tired, so I took a break and drank some water while I rested on a folding chair. It was quite funny to see the [Insectoids’] futile efforts to attack me through the barrier.
“Let’s work hard,” I said to Mr. Bear when I felt ready to continue.
I killed monsters there until noon when I took another break to eat my lunch before continuing my training until I was too tired to continue. When it was time for me to leave, I took out [Staircases] from my inventory and set them down on the ground in front of me.
[Staircase:
A one-use item that instantly creates a way down a floor of the Chitinous Mines.]
I had unthinkingly used these items a lot last year since I was in a pinch, but these days, I thought it was pretty weird to have an item that makes temporary staircases when placed on solid ground. I’d tried to use a [Staircase] outside of the Mines, but the System wouldn’t let me put them down anywhere else.
Sighing at the thought of what could have been, I put Mr. Bear in [Guard Mode] and climbed up to sit on his shoulders so that he could run down the staircases down to the lowest level where the portal back to my [Ranch House] was located. I was pretty sure that [Staircases] were also a safe spot, but I lived by the motto that discretion was the better part of valor, so I took no chances and had my puppet run as fast as he could. We weren’t attacked.
Once we were on the bottom floor, I relaxed and went to harvest the [Mushroom Cave] and [Mini Hydroponic Farm] before returning to my home.
The next day, I switched to an [Aurite Battle Axe] and wreaked havoc on the [Insectoids]. Somehow, possibly because I used an axe to Woodcut a lot, this was the weapon that I was most comfortable with. The chopping movements just felt more natural to me. Unfortunately, though the axe was great, and I still trained it to master its skills, it was slower than the sword, which meant I got less exp, so I didn’t use it as my primary training weapon.
[Aurite Battle Axe:
This two-handed war axe was crafted from Aurite, a legendary metal known for its near-indestructibility and exceptional sharpness. A slow but remarkably powerful weapon.]
My axe skills were basic, but effective.
[Battle Axe Skills:
Slash
Chop
Frenzy]
The [Slash] and [Chop] skills were the usual energy-infused strikes, but [Frenzy] was a lot more powerful and could hit more than one enemy, though it was exhausting to use.
[Frenzy:
Unleash a whirlwind of destruction by swinging the battle axe in wide, powerful arcs that will send your enemies reeling.
Cooldown: 35 seconds]
In fact, the heavy axe was overall more tiring to train with compared to the sword.
“Mr. Bear, you never get tired, but I do.” Sinking into a chair, I ignored the [Insectoids] around me and took off my helmet to wipe my sweaty face with a handkerchief.
Was it time for me to leave?
Yes, I decided. These monsters were low-level, yet I shouldn’t be careless by staying until I was too tired to fight them properly.
“It’s cool, Mr. Bear. We’ll come back tomorrow and kill more of them!”
I put my helmet back on and killed off the remaining monsters before putting down the [Staircases] and making my way back home.