Earth Elemental
28 minutes into the quest.
In a corner of the 7th floor,
Ken encounters a group of monsters: orcs. Green humanoid pigs that stood two meters tall with very fat bodies. There were four of them, and all four were staring at Ken.
Ken drew his sword, not perceiving them as a threat at all.
Ken dashed toward the first one and plunged his sword into its head. He followed up by twisting his body, swinging his sword that was still embedded inside toward another orc, slashing its neck.
The other two orcs stepped back, but it was far too late for that, as Ken beheaded both of them in one swift motion.
They weren't as threatening as the Dire wolves, and at Ken's current power, they were merely his prey.
Ken's nose scrunched up as he sheathed his sword. "Damn, they stink... and there's a whole kingdom of orcs out there... disgusting."
Ken quickly left the area, not wanting that foul odor to cling to him.
[Oa, stop telling me that spoilers... I haven't reached that part yet...]
'Shut up, you don't want to reach that part...'
After a short run, Ken encountered orcs again—this time, twelve of them. He couldn't just run past, as they were blocking his path and the stench was worse.
Ken clicked his tongue, reluctant to deal with them. He drew his sword, held his breath, and dashed at the orc furthest to the corner.
Ken struck down, slicing from the orc's shoulder to its chest. The orc let out a pig-like scream of pain, alerting all, but Ken didn't care.
Ken kicked the orc back, slamming it into another, knocking a few to the ground and clearing a path for himself. He immediately rushed away, eager to be rid of them for even a second longer.
The other orcs squealed and chased after him, but Ken was long gone.
It didn't take him long to reach the eighth floor.
[Sigh... You are making the dungeon look like child's play...]
"That's because it is?" Ken replied dismissively.
[You know as well as I do that it is not... You just happened to find a water stream that led you to the sixth floor, and then it just so happened that you found the seventh floor... and it also happens that you haven't encountered any dire wolves or dungeon monsters like trolls and those bug monsters...]
The system whined, already given up hope for Ken to fail the quest.
"Cave trolls, there are only cave trolls in the dungeon and the surrounding area. They are the worst kind of trolls, while bug monsters are very rare to find outside of summer. The seasons of Aerks and BlueVail are the same, and it's nearing the end of winter," Ken explained as he rushed past another group of orcs.
The system paused for a moment, sensing something was off; as far as she knew and had observed, there was no mention of this, making her suspicious.
[So you're saying monsters are seasonal...? How do you know that? I feel like you shouldn't know that...]
"I just paid more attention to the details and such," Ken replied, a cold sweat forming on his back, 'I screwed up....'
[Wait a second! There are discrepancies between the knowledge I have and what you possess... Tell me, does this anime have a manga or novel...?]
The system questioned sharply, but Ken didn't respond; lying would be pointless, as she would be able to tell if he was deceiving her, and his silence was confirmation enough.
[YOU'RE KIDDING ME!! I'M STUCK HERE WITH ONLY THE ANIME, AND YOU TELL ME YOU'VE READ THE MANGA AND THE NOVEL!!??? THIS IS SO DAMN UNFAIR...] The system groaned. [NO WONDER YOU WERE SMUG ABOUT THE QUESTS; WITH YOUR KNOWLEDGE, YOU SHOULD HAVE A LOOPHOLE TO AVOID THE PENALTY OF THE INFINITY DUNGEON QUEST OR MAKE IT MEANINGLESS!!!]
She shouted in realization, and Ken just smiled bitterly; he wanted to keep his knowledge hidden from the system, but she managed to guess it.
"Stop whining about it. Having knowledge of the future won't lessen the troubles you cause. Not to mention, I'm not supposed to exist in this world but I do, which is already causing butterfly effects. To make matters worse, I'm part of the Valxin Family, so the butterfly effects will be widespread and world-changing. The knowledge I got can only make a small impact on the grand scale," Ken reasoned, but the system didn't agree.
[Doesn't change the events and locations of ancient things...]
"True... but I don't have a particular interest in them, except for the items in the game store... and you might not know this, but finding the game store is the hardest journey..." Ken said, emphasizing the word "journey." "Also, to be honest, I'm quite sure I can reach the 10,001st floor of the infinity dungeon with little effort, and maybe even multiple times."
[I have a sneaking suspicion here... are you implying that there's a way to reach the 10,001st floor without stepping through the previous floors...?]
"Yes, there is... You never said I needed to climb it... If we're talking about going from floor 1 to floor 10,001, then no way, that's not possible..." Ken replied honestly, making the system more frustrated.
But Ken wasn't revealing everything; there's always a loophole, and in Ken's case, with Neo's support, this was quite easy. However, he wouldn't use his wishes for such things, even though he could always modify his wishes...
The system didn't bother to ask further, knowing that Ken wouldn't say more. Ken opened his mouth to change the topic but suddenly—
"RROOOAAAARRR!!!!" A deafening roar erupted from the direction Ken was headed.
Ken immediately halted, turned, and sprinted at full speed, rushing as fast as he could.
'I completely forgot that thing was here! Shit! There's no way I can deal with it right now!' Ken muttered in his mind, feeling a bit panicked.
[Huh? What's going on now? What was that roar!!??]
The system became confused as she watched Ken bolt away. "There's an Earth Elemental behind me; I completely forgot that this thing was still alive!"
[...More context? I'm clueless here.]
Ken ignored her for a moment as he found the entrance to the 9th floor.
He rushed down to the 9th floor, and after a while, he sat down in a corner to catch his breath.
[You going to tell me or not...?]
"Haaaa...." Ken took a deep breath and decided to explain before the system became annoying again. "There's going to be an auction soon, and the main item will be the elemental core. It came from the Earth elemental on the floor above us."
[Huh? A coincidence?]
"No, this is from a side chapter of the novel. The auction is held by the nobles, and they are strict about information. How the elemental was killed, where, by whom, and all that is needed. If I recall correctly, the elemental was supposed to be dealt with today."
[My intuition tells me this is related to Sophy and Luna.]
"Probably..."
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