13 Finding the boss

I was rolling away from a monster that was chasing after me. Specifically, it was a red-skinned iguana with horns, that breathed fire. Maybe it would be better to call it a salamander but…

[Volcanic iguana: A huge fire lizard capable of breathing flames at-will.]

Name: -

Kind: Iguana | Race: Volcanic iguana

Level: 25

HP: 603/603 | MP: 723/723

————————————————

… But what Helpy says it’s law. Although, I was a bit confused by its name. I didn’t understand what a volcanic creature was doing in the middle of the jungle. Wasn't fire dangerous for a jungle?

Why was it chasing me, you ask? Had it seen me passing by and decided to attack me? Not really…

‘Run, run, what, you can’t keep up with a stone?’

I had actually lured the monster into chasing me myself.

‘Come on reptilian torch, can’t you run even a little bit faster? Useless, you are useless!’

Despite not being able to hear my taunts, the iguana seemed to be getting more and more pissed due to being unable to catch up with me even though it was running at full speed. That was what I was aiming for. I finally stopped abruptly and stared at it. Intense flames shot from its nostrils as it probably thought that it had finally managed to corner its annoying target.

‘Are you coming for me or what?’

It didn’t reduce its speed one bit, instead, it used its remaining stamina to speed up even more and… it suddenly disappeared in front of my eyes.

[You have gained 6084 experience points.]

[Your level has risen to 10. Because of your kind, the stats can’t go up.]

‘Ouff, finally!’

Status:

Name: Peter Gravel

Kind: Magic stone | Race: -

Level: 10 | Experience: 4905/11524

HP: 60/60 | MP: 93/120 | Mana well: 81/400

_________________________

I reached level 10. Getting into the double digits had been harder than I expected. At first my level was increasing easily. Killing a single monster was enough to gain a level or even two. However, going from 9 to 10 had taken a lot longer… And, it goes without saying, finding a monster I could safely face was in itself quite challenging.

‘The experience cost is skyrocketing a bit. I have been killing monsters that seem to be two grades higher than me and outnumber me by almost twenty levels, yet it’s still taking a while to level up. I don’t even want to imagine how many problems to level up would have someone who faces monsters of the same grade and level.’

I slowly approached where my pursuer had been a moment ago. A huge hole dug in the jungle immediately appeared with the monster inside, impaled between sharp rock spikes.

‘In the end, intelligence beats brute force.’

While ago, I also discovered that, with some more effort and consumption, mold earth also could affect rocks. So, not only was I able to control the arth, but also the rocks and give them the shape I wanted, so I created some kind of pitfall trap: a thin cover of earth that will crumble under the weight of a huge monster but not under mine, that was probably not even two kilos, with the bottom full of spikes. It was a simple and common trick, but terribly effective in my situation.

‘With this trap I could even kill a cheating hero, heh, heh.’

There was only one trap. I could have filled the place with holes without even bother remembering where I placed each one and experience will follow automatically… but that wouldn’t make any sense. I needed to use them wisely, or in the end it could come back to haunt me in one way or another. I preferred to reuse the same hole a few times, which had left that hole full of corpses of different monsters.

‘Well, I don’t think it’s a danger to leave all these corpses piled up here. Actually, I think I’m doing a favor to the plant ecosystem. Yes, I’m only making fertilizer for the jungle.

Craaaaa!

And as I began to recover the hole again, a shrill squawk reached my ears…

‘What was that?’

I stood completely frozen and looked where it came from. Flying high above the trees, a strange and colorful peacock-like bird was approaching where I was. In its claws it carried the corpse of a monster that was still bleeding.

Immediately I hid in the undergrowth and waited for its reaction. It landed right next to the hole and began to scavenge the corpses within. That bastard started feasting with them.

‘Fucking bird, don’t take advantage of my effort! At least fall into the hole too… Helpy, show me what this thing is.’

Status:

Name: -

Kind: ??? | Race: ???

Level: ???

HP: ??? | MP: ???

————————————————

‘Ah? What’s the matter, Helpy? Don’t tell me… Can’t you get information from that thing?’

I barely had been in this world for about a week and knew almost nothing about it. However, it was the first time I had encountered a monster that Helpy couldn’t analyze.

‘Please, don’t tell me you broke. Why can’t you see absolutely nothing of that monster?’

[Impossible to get information from objectives 3 grades higher than yours or 30 levels higher than you.]

I was glad Helpy hadn’t broken, but at the same time scared of that monster. I had no way of knowing how strong it could be. That terrified me more than the possibility of having to face an enemy above level 40.

‘Ok, calm down Peter, calm down. Think rationally… Absolutely all the enemies you encountered on this floor are between the level 20 and 35, therefore it does not make sense that there is a monster whose level exceeds them exaggeratedly. That only leaves one option, this bird is at least three grades higher than me.’

Of course, a monster with a level much higher than the others did not make sense, but what made sense was the existence of one whose difficulty became a lot higher than the strongest of the commons, a floor boss.

While searching for monster that I was able to lure without danger, I probably traveled across all the floor, but I wasn’t able to find the entrance, stairs, hole, or whatever the path to another floor could be, but if there was a floor guardian, wouldn’t it make sense that it was the one protecting that path?

‘I wonder if I should try to advance now or stay here until I level up a little more.’

It was a difficult question. I had only gone up five levels, but my eagerness to get out of the dungeon overwhelmed me… and I had only been trapped there a measly two days or so. However, having the opportunity so close...

‘Bah, I’ll decide later. For now what I have to do is follow this bird to discover if I’m right.’

I chased the bird through the jungle until I reached a large cave. I waited for it to enter the depths and then I crept inside. Little by little, the caves walls began to change until they became brick instead of stone. It was the same type of shiny brick that I saw at the entrance of the dungeon.

It didn’t take long for me to reach a much larger squared room. The ceiling was four stories high, enough so that the bird could fly with ease, although not with absolute freedom.

‘I knew it, I was right.’

In the middle of the room was that monster, who after finishing eating the corpses had gone to sleep, and behind him the stairs to the next floor.

‘This is a stroke of luck like no other. Well, I’ll go to the next floor while you’re snoring.’

I tried to get into the room without making any noise, but the moment I entered, the stairs were blocked by a door… the entrance as well.

‘Shit, I should have foreseen this… I’m stupid!’

Of course, after the path abruptly and loudly became blocked, the bird woke up and raised its head. With its beak still bloody from its previous meal, it began to search the room like crazy. It didn’t take long to fix its eyes on my position and squint in anger. I do not understand how it realized that it was not another sonte of the room but me.

‘This… I didn’t want to bother you while you were sleeping. Go on… if you open the door for me I would leave right now…’

Craaaaaaaaaaaaa!

‘Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!’