After saying goodbye to Loki, I hurried to the dungeon again. I couldn't wait to try out the new axe. When I arrived I stormed through the upper floors. I was still getting used to my new stats and the weapon. So I needed a stronger opponent.
While running I did kill some lone goblins and kobolds, because why not. I kept going like that while occasionally taking a bite out of some monsters. To see if I could gain some abilities. Apparently, I got lucky, as I gained the Kobolt's racial trait enhanced smell.
I tried stopping at the 6th floor though. As there was a new monster there and maybe they had an ability that I wanted. As the goblins and the kobolds that I saw so far weren´t that impressive anymore.
Suddenly I got an eery feeling. I didn´t know why but I knew something was watching me. I tried to locate it with no luck so I just waited.
Then it happened I saw 3 dark claws reaching to me with a long arm that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I remembered Eina saying something about such a monster.
I believe it was a War Shadow. Its body was dark, which suited the dark environment in the dungeon on this floor. So I tried to bring some Hell Flames around me. I suddenly saw something fast-moving towards me in the corner of my eye.
I quickly swung my new battle axe through it and chopped off his arm. Now that I can see it, I can appraise it I guess...
"Ding!"
*Mutated War Shadow Lvl 2
*HP: 161/406 (it is Lvl 2 so this one had END 406 on his first level as well -> 812/2= 406 HP)
*MP: 20/150
*STR: H 210
*END: F 406
*DEX: G 301
*AGI: F 483
*MAG: I 150
*Abilities:
Advanced stealth, Sharp claws
´Damn, I guess my damage increased a lot huh.´, I thought as I saw the shadow left with 161 HP.
´Time to finish it off then'
I quickly stormed and tackled it. The monster didn't have his claws anymore. So he was basically harmless.
And time to eat...
"Ding!"
"Hell Ambrosia activated..."
"... analyzing meat quality... low-mid-class monster Mutated War Shadow detected... deciding max allowed stat transfer for low-mid quality... max 150 stats for low-mid-class being... transferring stats... successful... trying to transfer random ability... failed."
´Well, just the stats then. Maybe I´ll kill him again in the future.´, I thought while looking at my new status.
Ding!"
STATUS
Name: Cain
Age: ???
Race: Human?
Level: 1+
STR: B 869 -> EX 1699 (+830 from goblins, kobolds, War Shadow..., MAX)
END: EX 1699 (MAX)
DEX: A 903 -> EX 1699 (+ 796 from goblins, kobolds, War Shadows..., MAX)
AGI: EX 1699 (MAX)
MAG: EX 1699 (MAX)
Abilities:
Appraisal, ???, Hell Flame Affinity, Hell Flame Manipulation, Spell ~ Infernal King, Pain Immunity, Dimensional Gate Manipulation, Hell Ambrosia, Nimble hands, Poison Immunity, Enhanced smell (New!)
´Finally, time to level up..´, I thought with a smile. If Loki heard his thoughts right now, she would react that he is a monster as he got to Lvl 2 in only a couple of days.
He could go back to Loki to level up, but he didn´t feel like it. So he quickly did it himself. His goal for today was to go to the middle floors. So he had to hurry.
´Hope, can you level me up?', Cain asked.
"Ding!"
"Acknowledged..."
"Levelling..."
"Successful"
Ding!"
STATUS
Name: Cain
Age: ???
Race: Human?
Level: 2
STR: I 0
END: I 0
DEX: I0
AGI: I 0
MAG: I 0
Abilities:
Appraisal, ???, Hell Flame Affinity, Hell Flame Manipulation, Spell ~ Infernal King, Pain Immunity, Dimensional Gate Manipulation, Hell Ambrosia, Nimble hands, Poison Immunity, Enhanced Smell
After my level up, I kept going deeper and deeper in the dungeon. I even stopped trying to absorb the stats of my opponents as I just didn´t see the point anymore. I wanted to find an opponent that I could take seriously, so that I could do something else then just mindlessly hitting something. Nothing was my opponent on the upper floors and I was just hoping to experience the thrill of a hard battle again. As the last time that I fought an opponent on the same level I developed a spell. I wanted to do the same today. So I started killing orcs when I was on the 10th floor. Silverbacks on the 11th and I even killed some black wyverns on the 12th floor. Though nothing was my opponent anymore with my new stats. And so I left a trail of blood with dead scorched bodies everywhere to the entrance of the middle floors.
Every adventurer on the upper floors knew that somebody or even something had killed all of those monsters. But they just couldn´t imagine what kind of monster or person could do such a massacre.
While running, I knew that I was becoming overconfident. But that is why I am doing this, I wanted to meet an opponent that could push me to the edge. A fight where I could see how strong I really am and where I could go all out. That fight could also ground me for a little bit as I then knew if you handle opponents on that level. So I kept going down. I arrived at the entrance of the middle floors.
These floors were made out of bedrock with a more complex layout. There were tunnels everywhere. Some lead to lower floors and some were dead ends.
However, it was still the same kind of opponent on this floor, as I could kill them with ease. But I could feel that I was getting closer to a hard opponent as I did lose some HP already thanks to a Minotaur that I encountered.
The bull monster suddenly charged at me while I was massacring a group of Hellhounds on the 15th floor. Upon reaching me he suddenly headbutted me. I lost a quarter of my HP thanks to that, I didn´t lose focus though thanks to my pain immunity. And I quickly killed it. As revenge, for interrupting my trip. I started slaughtering his comrades on the 16th floor. I had a lot of fun if I said so myself.
Then I reached the 17th floor. I knew this was the place the Goliath spawned. That monster is a giant. I mean really, it is. The monster should be 7 meters tall with gray skin and white hair.
I wanted to fight it solo of course to test myself. I mean not that I knew anybody that would join me. But still...
I was shocked by its enormous size and its grey skin. So I quickly appraised it... :
"Ding!"
*Goliath Lvl 3+
*HP: 1425/1425
*MP: 910/910
*STR: A 999
*END: A 950
*DEX: C 743
*AGI: D 666
*MAG: D 601
*Abilities:
Hard Skin, Lesser Regeneration
'Finally...´, I thought.