10 Into The Dungeon
Chapter 10: Into The Dungeon
The entrance of the dungeon is like a hallway towards a gate. We opened the gate and entered a vast circle-like hall. There are two spiral stairs, one towards the up and another towards the down. Either way, it the same go up or down; the first five floors up and down are safe. If I have to say which way is more dangerous, it would be the downward way.
Let's see which way we would go.
"Let's go downward. Is it okay with everyone?" James asked us.
Everyone agreed, and now we are going down the stairs.
As I said, there are like 20 floors downwards and upwards. To proceed to another floor, we need to use a teleporting area. The teleporting site acts like a doorway that will take us to the next floor. The teleporting area looks like a portal of purple colour. All we have to do is pass through it. Monsters cannot pass through that portal because of some unknown restriction.
We won't find any higher treats on the first five floors, so we are okay. The monsters on the lower floors are slimes, goblins, werewolves, goblin shamans, low-level golems. In some cases, we might encounter low-level orcs with a leader.
(Low-level orcs are also called low orcs.)
"Hey, for just today, we will just explore floor one, and if we have time, floor two as well," James said, and we all agreed with him.
If I consider our overall Guild ranking, we should at least go up to Floor six, and if they have experience in battle, then at least till floor eight or nine.
{The teleporting area mentioned here is the portal which is used to go to the next floor. This portal is actually special spatial magic.}
On floor-1, we will encounter some slims and nothing else. Yes, I might find some D-Grade mana crystals as well.
And soon enough, we found a group of slimes.
{Slimes are the weakest monsters ever seen in the dungeon. Most of the slimes are neutral, but some have elemental magic in them. Though they are not that harmful if one is cautious enough.}
James uses "Aggro."
{Aggro, special magic under the Earth element. It attracts/taunts the enemies to attack the tank.}
Slimes attack James. Meanwhile, Daniel was ready with his attack using "Fire blast." All the slimes were defeated. James and Daniel know what they need to do.
And yeah, I forgot to mention something about the dungeon. A floor in a dungeon doesn't mean a single floor. I mean, a single floor in a dungeon might have multiple bases inside, and we move base to base inside using in-built stairs. To make it easier, those who have already explored have created a guide for others to explore the dungeon.
In this dungeon, the highest floor reached is the 18th floor underground and the 17th floor overground. This doesn't sum up to forty floors, but overground floors can be counted, unlike underground ones. And the total sum is the estimated sum of floors.
We proceeded as per the guide and made it to the second portal (teleporting area). We all decided to enter it, and within 30 minutes, we will be back here on Floor-1.
Now we have entered Floor-2.
Floor-1 wasn't that big and easy to clear as well. So, on Floor-2, we will encounter a goblin horde (with no leader). Goblin horde won't be that much of a problem too.
Minutes later, we found a goblin horde in a cave inside the dungeon. They are still not aware of us yet.
"Let me handle this one. Since I have a sword with me, I can finish it in a minute." I said, and also, I wanted to show them that they didn't make a wrong decision in letting me join their party.
"Alright, I will come with you inside the cave. And rest of you stay low and stay behind us." James replied.
James and I took the lead and entered the cave.
James uses "Aggro" and pulls the attention of those goblins. Goblins also thought it was just one of them and attacked James immediately.
{Horde of goblins with no leader acts like those with no brain and attacks their enemy without any information. So, one with the leader will act more accordingly.}
Since James drew their attention, I used "Wind step" and sword to kill them in one go. And I picked as many mana crystals with me. Of course, I didn't take the one that belonged to the party.
"Damn!!! That was fast," Daniel said.
"Exactly, well then, let's stop and head back for today," James replied.
Once the thirty minutes pass, we will go back as it was decided. Got back to Floor-1 and then walked the spiral stairs, exited the dungeon, and headed back to the city.
We will be staying at the Guildhall for the next few days until we finish our dungeon hunt. We, Adventurers, have a pass called adventurer's pass. It's nothing but proof of us being adventurers. With the help of that pass and paying some amount of the money, we can stay here. Each of us has a different room except those girls. They share a single room, I guess.
After taking a bath, I was back in my room.
Putting everything aside, finally, it's time to put those mana crystals into use. I even brought those mana crystals, which I got one month back. Today I will absorb their mana and increase my own. I am not sure about others using this method, but I can absorb the manas from the mana crystal and increase my own.
{Absorb magic, a magic that creates a vacuum-like which absorbs the other magic attacks, but one stronger than the absorb magic will destroy it. It falls under space magic. But the one Art uses is different, and its origin is unknown as well.}
All I have to do is take the mana crystals in my hand, concentrate my mana into them, and convert it into mine. And once it's done, I can absorb the mana from the crystal. Once it's done, it would become an ordinary crystal. Even though I don't know how this works, it becomes mine once I pour my mana into them.
This process takes some time for me, so let's start with low-grade crystals for now.
~ One hour later ~
I have absorbed around 10 D-Grade mana crystals plus one B-Grade crystal, which I got from my first mission, and my mana core colour stage is dark-yellow. I am progressing at a decent rate and for no let's take slowly and steady and not hurry up.
For today it's enough. I guess I will go sleep.
~ The Next Day, Morning ~
We met at the Guildhall's main hall. And we are walking back to the dungeon. That's when Layla approached me in an unrevealed way. She tapped on my back and asked me, "Art, did you do something? Something is different about you."
Wait, can she see my core? Eh?
"Do you think so? I think I am not as tired as I was yesterday, so…" I replied.
"Ohh… Well then, good." She smiled.
Man, women's intuition is scary!!!
We entered the dungeon, Floor-1, then Floor-2, and now we are heading to Floor-2's portal.
I guess portal for the Floor-3 should be this way," James said, pointing towards the left.
We reached the portal and passed through it, making it to Floor-3 now. Floor-3 is also known as Wolves' den. And that's because, on Floor-3, you will only find werewolves and nothing else.
{Were wolves, evolved wolves who are fierce and stronger than the ordinary wolves.}
They can smell us from a distance, so the one who needs to be careful has to be us. But since even I can sense them using my Ki, I guess I don't have to worry about it. Oh, since dungeons are dark and there's no light, Layla has been helping us through the darkness with her light magic. The name of the spell is "Luminous."
{Luminous: A bright, shining ball of light that's used as a torch in dark places.}
We have been walking for five minutes straight and no trace of attacking them. All of them are hiding in the caves. In that case, we might reach Floor-4 soon enough.
{Floor-3 is the smallest floor inside the whole dungeon. And each floor has caves in them which are like a home to the monsters.}
I have wondered, it's not like this is the first time people are coming here in this dungeon, right? So then why are there monsters still inside the dungeon? If people have already entered here, they should have killed many of them, but still, monsters are found here. It feels they can spawn or return to life.
Mystery, eh?
"Oh, that was easy, I guess," Daniel said when we reached the portal.
We entered the portal, and now we have reached Floor-4. This is where we will start fighting for real.
