Chapter 5 – First Boss Battle
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Descending the stairway, I stepped into a new area. The first floor had been narrow with a long corridor continuing for the most part of it. The second floor, on the other hand, started off with a relatively wide passage. If I had to make a comparison, I’d probably label the first floor as similar to a school corridor while the second floor is more like the corridor of an art museum.
Just as before, torches are set up in equal intervals, illuminating the hallways dimly. The available space had widened, but it wasn’t as though the torches had gained in light intensity, so there were many shadows which qualified as tricky blind spots.
I walked on while holding the club in my right hand downwards. Monsters like the orc or goblins might show up, or completely different creatures might make their appearance.
I don’t hear any footsteps ahead of me, and it’s not like I can see some figures, but…something like lightning traveled through my mind, informing me of the presence of something. And thanks to that, I noticed the enemy right above my head━━━━!
“Oof, that was dangerous!”
As I dropped to the ground while rolling forward, I spotted the enemy who landed in the place I’d been standing just milliseconds ago. With a scloosh a muddy sound reached my ears.
The creature had a transparent, mucus-like body. Inside its body you could see a core-like crystal ━━━━ a slime.
As I thought, it was right of me to have chosen that skill! Without it, I’d be history now!
My ability to detect this assassin, who had tried to assault me after staying still all the time, was naturally based on a skill. It’s the skill I bought with the SP I got from defeating the orc and goblins.
Passive Skill
『Intuition』
Cost: 30 SP
Allows you to instinctively sense good opportunities during battle and approaching danger.
『Intuition』 is the passive skill I acquired on the first floor after racking my brain over and over. It’s because I thought it might come in handy inside a dungeon where you never know what might happen next. While there are many skills that only need 10 SP, I bet on this skill which demanded 30 SP, but I didn’t go wrong in this.
While backed by 『Understanding of Hand-to-Hand Combat』, I raised my club. A slime can be called a standard monster type just like goblins, but it’s a monster with conspicuously subtle differences and different weakpoints depending on the game you play.
However 『Dungeon Seekers』 was no exception to the norm as it apparently treated slimes as trash mobs. 『Intuition』 told me that this thing’s combat abilities were rather low, so I sharply swung my club down.
A splash could be heard.
Yet, my smartphone didn’t ring. Probably not enough experience points.
“Alright, time to move on.”
My voiced echoed through the dungeon.
｡ ₊°༺🫀༻°₊ ｡
I kept making my way down the straight passage while crushing enemies. Goblins, orcs, and occasionally a slime here or there. All of them were enemies I was familiar with.
『Understanding of Hand-to-Hand Combat』 seemed to be an extremely powerful skill. It allowed me to safely dispatch one enemy after the other.
Or it’s simply that they’re so weak. To an amateur’s eyes━━━though, to be accurate, I’m no amateur anymore since I do comprehend things now thanks to 『Understanding of Hand-to-Hand Combat』━━━━they seemed to fight in a way that lacked principles or styles.
My level rose by another three during those trash mob battles. At this point it was just belief, but I felt like my physical abilities had clearly improved. Or to be specific, it felt as if the orc’s club was slowly but steadily weighing less in my hand.
Also, after having acquired another 30 SP, I wanted to obtain a new skill. But, I didn’t see anything that shouted strong at me. And even if I found skills that sounded powerful going by their names, they were grayed out for me and the game’s system told me that I couldn’t acquire them.
The ones I could get were active skills like 『Slash』 or 『Guard』. Considering it in game logic, such skills are probably essential, but I have a hunch that 『Understanding of Hand-to-Hand Combat』 serves the same purpose. Just how powerful is this friggin’ skill anyway?
Oh well, I guess I’ll save up on points for now.
Along the way I ran into a space with no enemies. My sight, which had been filled with nothing but stone walls and torches until now, slowly opened up.
Come to think of it, what time is it right now? Then again, no one’s waiting for me back home anyway, so who cares.
In front of me was a dead end like I’d seen it on the first floor. Next to it were stairs allowing me to go down to the next floor.
The skill 『Intuition』 warned me of a presence down there. I felt a presence so sinister and vile as I hadn’t encountered it until now.
Beyond lay the third floor. According to the information of 『Dungeon Seekers』, this should be the last floor. I have no doubt that I’ll find the strongest enemy as of yet on that floor.
Without any fear, I went downstairs, my heart thumping in excitement and anticipation of what was down there.
｡ ₊°༺🫀༻°₊ ｡
I stepped on the third floor’s ground while tightly clasping my club.
Thus far, I had advanced through straight paths, but right now I was standing in a place similar to the interior of some temple━━━an open, big room made out of stone. The ceiling was so high that I wouldn’t be able to touch it unless I could fly.
Blue fires in iron caskets illuminated the room brighter than my LED lamp could. The walls and floor were decorated with Western-styled ornaments, giving this whole place a solemn atmosphere. The wall right next to me was adorned with candle-stands and several gray swords of the same type.
This whole room was completely different from the other floors. And the presence, whose pressure I had felt from the second floor, stood in front of my eyes.
Its nude body had a height easily surpassing four meters. Pink beads of sweat trickled down its steel muscles that were as buffed and forged as those of a bodybuilder. It had finely chiseled features and deep wrinkles had edged themselves into the skin next to its mouth.
A sharp glint, as if it was trying to shoot me to death or paralyze my body, shone inside its eyes as it was glaring at me.
It didn’t possess a weapon. But then again, its rugged and angular fists visibly appealed to surpass any weapon.
Goblins, orc, slimes, and now an ogre, huh?
I ended up smiling wryly because this was really so game-like, but compared to the first three, this one here was in a league of its own.
It raised its right hand while holding the left hand low. Raising its heels, it got ready so that it could strike me at any moment.
As I thought, this guy is different from the other enemies who had charged at me mindlessly as soon as they spotted me. But, at the same time it’s a let-down. Maybe it’s because my level has gone up, but this guy doesn’t seem that strong to me.
I threw the orc’s club without any prior warning whatsoever. Somehow. I’m just throwing stuff around, am I not? In various ways.
Seeing its enemy discard the strongest weapon, the ogre’s eyes flew wide upon. That guy foolishly missed the timing to dodge on its own accord.
The ogre thrust out its right fist, intercepting the club headed straight for its head. But, this was what I’d been aiming for. I grabbed one of the gray fake swords decorating the wall next to me and charged after powerfully kicking off the ground.
That thing’s right arm was still extended straight ahead, so I slipped past its armpit, and stabbed the sword straight ahead. Piercing its chest, the blade instantly destroyed the ogre’s heart.
After dyeing the sword crimson with its blood, the ogre turned into embers and vanished. A moment later the center of the blade cracked and the sword broke apart. But I mean, this is a metal fake sword, so it’s kinda like the ogre got stabbed with a sharp iron rod backed by superhuman strength.
Hand-to-hand combat even turns twigs and stones into weapons. The instant I had seen the ornaments around me, I had decided that I’d use them. While feeling relieved that everything worked out nicely, I reflected that I should have been a bit more careful in my approach.
Suddenly I felt a vibration at my left thigh. I guess my level has gone up again. In addition to that, a faint light rose from the center of the room where the ogre stood moments ago, drawing geometrical patterns on the ground.
I smiled wryly at this whole episode sticking to being just like a game until the very end. Once I opened Dungeon Seekers, I was shown a “Clear Complete,” which convinced me that the ogre just now must have been the boss of this dungeon.
Once I stand atop this magic circle, I’ll probably be able to leave this place.
Thinking so, I entrusted myself to the light.
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