25 Close Call
(Sorry… I know you want to head straight into the fight, so I will be brief.
I messed up the letter identification from last time, so this is the updated form.
Strength D 539 -> D 547 (289)
Vitality C 682 -> B 700 (358)
Dexterity D 534 -> D 543 (252)
Agility C 610 -> C 625 (419)
Magic B 718 -> B 737 (359)
B=700-799 A=800-899 S=900-999 SS=1000-1199 SSS=1200+
Pretty much, I had decreased one letter in all values.)
-------------------------------------------
/BAM!/
/TUM!/
/CLANG!/
'Now that their strength was closer, the fight between the two became much more intense.'
'With a constant clash of swords and techniques, the two were having an intense fight!'
/SWUSH!/
'After 6 clashes between their swords, Silver raised his sword and did a diagonal slash'
/CLING!/
'But Frederic was ready and counterattacked with his superior speed.'
/Clang!/
'But Silver also blocked the attack without wasting a single movement. His years of training were finally showing results!'
"HUFF!"
'Silver slashed downwards while using Franklin's demise.'
'Unfortunately, his enemy's strength was higher than expected as he managed to keep his sword in his hands.'
/Cling clong.../
'They continued to exchange blows for several minutes until...'
/Crack.../
'Silver's large sword made a worryingly loud crack!'
"Tsk!"
"Heh, although our strengths are closer now, our equipment is still miles apart!"
I got this sword from Boss! It's a Level 3 sword!
'Frederic slashed with his sword to end it all.'
/Crack!/
'But an ice shield suddenly appeared out of thin air and barely blocked the strike, Frederic noticed it was too late to evade normally, so he jumped into the sky.'
'But Silver smirked, he picked his large sword and threw it to the sky, surprising Frederic!'
"ARG!"
'Frederic didn't have a lot of mobility in the air, so he awkwardly blocked the sword, but he was grazed on his right shoulder.'
'But that wasn't all!'
"... SHIT!"
'Silver disappeared from his location, appearing above Frederic!'
/BAM!/
'He kicked Frederic towards the ground and used telekinesis to accelerate his fall.'
"Arg!"
'Right when he was going to land, multiple ice spikes appeared from the ground, waiting for his fall.'
"FUCK THIS SHIT!"
/BANG!/
'He turned in the air and slashed downwards, the impact of his sword against the ground created a large dust cloud.'
'Silver gazed at Frederic as he flew in the air.'
'He took this chance to land and drink a blue potion while he unsheathed his other sword.'
I used too much Mind on this combo yet he still found a way out... The damage was negligible...
"... That was close… I don't know how you are doing magic without chanting, but I already noticed it's quite weak. I heard that no-cast magic was weaker than normal magic, I guess they were right."
There are many items in Orario, some can indeed allow for the casting of magic without chanting… Who is this guy?
'As Frederic left the dust cloud, he removed a small piece of ice that had pierced his leg. Only a small amount of blood seeped out from the wound as it was quickly closed due to his fast regeneration.'
"You don't have your large sword anymore… It's over. That little spare sword won't resist even a single strike."
I need to end this right now! This guy is too strange!
'Silver didn't say anything as he created a small fiery orb on his hands.'
/Plop./
'But instead of throwing it towards his enemy, he placed it on the ground.'
'In fact, there were multiples of these on the ground, making a small pile of red orbs.'
"..."
What is he trying to do now?...
'He had an idea, he picked a small rock and threw it with immense power towards one of the orbs.'
/Cling!/
'But Silver deflected it.'
He is protecting those… Why?...
"I see it now, are you trying to set a trap? Right in front of my eyes? How low of you."
"... If I was playing low, I would have aimed most of the spikes I threw at you towards your balls."
"..."
'Frederic couldn't help but clench his legs.'
/Swush!/
'It was at that moment that Silver smiled! He was waiting for that guy to lower his guard.'
'He picked one of the balls and threw it.'
"You think such a slow thing is going to hit me?"
'Frederic easily dodged to the side… But!'
"WHAT?!"
'The ball suddenly made a turn and landed right on his face.'
"Not this again!"
'Now blinded, Frederic used all of his strength to detach the ball from his face, but it was really sticky.'
'Silver didn't lose this opportunity and used telekinesis to move all of the balls towards Frederic.'
/RIP/
"This isn't good!"
'Frederic had finally managed to rip out the ball from his face, but he immediately saw multiples of the same balls going after his face, and as he was distracted, the ball he just ripped off made a turn in the air and landed on his arm!'
"Shit! It's now or never!"
'Frederic used all of his swordsmanship to cut as many balls as he could, but every time he did so, a sticky substance would fall onto his body! The more he moved the more trapped he was.'
"It 's over now." Said Silver.
'Although he looked fine on the outside, he was extremely pale on the inside of the armor.'
'The amount of Mind he used was terrific so picked another blue potion and chugged it, but it wasn't enough to restore his mental exhaustion.'
"Just a bit more and I would've..."
"..."
'Frederic had stopped struggling, he was trapped, trapped by something he had made fun of just a few moments ago.'
'The humiliation was too much...'
'But he felt that his body was slowly getting loose, it seemed the sticky substance had a time limit. He just needed to buy time...'
A few minutes...
"I would ask if you had any last requests but I don't care, bye."
/Splash!/
'Silver picked his sword and penetrated his heart. Splashing blood onto his armor.'
It wasn't deep enough... Is this because he is a monster? I will make sure to...
'But Frederic smiled.'
"NOW! Purgis Flem!"
"!!"
'Frederics suddenly gained immense strength as he ripped the sticky substance out of his body and punched Silver in the guts, making him fall to his knees.'
/Crackle.../
'His eyes turned full blue as flames suddenly spew out of it like a pressurized stream!'
'Everything in front of his eyes was suddenly covered in blue flames, including Silver.'
"Harf… Harf..."
'As the blue flames burned the sticky substance, Frederic started to go over what had happened.'
I… I got him… My final trump card…
"This was the second time this skill saved my life… Haha..."
Tartarus superstes.
It's a very simple yet incredible Skill.
At the start, I didn't know much about it since Dionysus couldn't read it. The only thing I knew was that the Skill gave me access to the Healing power development ability.
(It increases one's natural healing ability, Ottar has it and some characters have it as well)
But as I fought and ran in the Dungeon, I learned that this skill did much more than just that.
The weaker I was, the higher my resistances were.
The weaker I am and the more hurt I become, all of my resistance will increase.
"But that's not all"
Together with those two booms, I also awakened a magic. I didn't know if it was due to the skill or something else.
But that doesn't matter.
It required a very long verse, upon completion, my eyes would release a blue flame that would burn all organic matter in its path.
That's right, only organic matter.
"As for how I manage to cast it in an instant… That is the final boom of my Skill."
Whenever I receive a critical strike that would end my life, I would be sent towards my peak condition.
It doesn't matter how tired and hurt I was, I would receive one second of max power!
And the cast of my skill would be reduced to almost an instant cast.
Of course, this is on the assumption the critical strike didn't end my life…
I could still act if I was pierced in the heart, but not if my head was cut off.
And there is the next stage… I need to live after using the ability.
Thankfully, his slash wasn't deep enough to cut my heart in half...
"Harf… Harf… But… I don't have any energy left."
/Fwush!/
/Pierce!/
"Ah… ARG!... Wh-What?... How is this..."
'His chest was penetrated by a large sword! It was the red knight's super large sword!'
'It came flying from his bling spot!'
"Whe-where are you-you… FUCKING BASTARD?!"
'Frederic screamed in anger and despair.'
'... From the mist, the red knight appeared. But his condition was rather strange.'
'Blue flames were spewing out from the gaps of his left arm armor!'
"You almost got me."
'Frederic couldn't believe it. How is the knight alive?'
"First… I need to get rid of this."
'The knight extended his right hand and his fallen sword flew to him as if it was alive!'
"!"
What is that magic?! Was that what he was using all this time?!
That isn't the point. Just how many magics did he use?!
'The knight didn't say anything, he lifted the sword with his right hand and...'
/Ploft!/
"... Crazy bastard..." Said, Frederic
'Cut off his left arm!!'
"Urg… This hurts a lot."
/TZZZS/
'He created a small flame on his right hand and cauterized the wound.'
"Argg... Harf harf... I don't want to do this ever again..."
"No wonder I fucking lost this… I was fighting a fucking crazy man."
"..."
'Silver was silent, he knew just how close he was to dying…
Well, not dying. But he would have suffered tremendous amounts of damage that would have certainly left him disfigured and crippled for a while.'
The moment I saw his eyes glow blue, I knew shit was about to happen.
I created a telekinetic shield while I teleported away.
However, using two abilities at the same time is hard for the current me, so teleporting took a while longer.
The shield lasted just enough to prevent the flames from consuming my whole body, but they still hit my arm.
I immediately noticed its effects so I came to the conclusion I had to cut off my left arm to stop it from spreading to my shoulder and neck.
I tried using water and ice to douse the fire but that ended up being ineffective.
"You won, knight… You got me. Just finish me off like you last time."
"... Since it came to this, let me ask you a question first"
'Frederic knew... There was no escape from this situation
"... Feel free, although you are giving me time to recover… Ask as many as you wish." He said with a sad smile.
'Although he knew that was a lie.'
"... Who are you? And why did you do all of this? Just because you became a creature, it doesn't justify your actions."
"!... So you know what I am?... What a surprise… A fucking Level 1 knows about us… He...Hehe… Fuck. I don't care anymore, this world stopped making sense for me for a while now..."
"I am Frederic, although I doubt you care about that."
"I… Just wanted revenge… Against the fuckers that destroyed my life."
"So you mass murder dozens? People that were not related to anything?"
"..."
'Frederic was silent, he bt his lips as he stared at the ground. What he was thinking was a mistery.'
"Is that all you wanted to say?" Asked Silver
"... I wanted revenge, more than anything. Even my life and that of others… When I asked for help, no one came, and now..."
A petty excuse. He just wants to grow stronger while disregarding others. And somehow, I can hear the guilt in his tone.
Perhaps he knew and could stop his actions, but his anger was so much that he wouldn't let his enemies live one day longer.
Just what did those people do to him to drive him to this state?
"I know my body is going to disappear, but could you bury this necklace near my friend's grave? Her name is Gill… We were from the Dyonisus Familia."
"!?"
Dionysus? That maniac?!... Shiit... I should have expected it when these hybrids were involved. This explains his anger… What did that monster do to him?
Either way, I shouldn't mess with him for now.
"I will think about it, I am not really inclined to follow the wishes of a mass murderer."
"That's all I wanted… And be careful of Dionysus, he is a fucking two-faced bastard. He abandoned me the moment I became useless."
"Is there anything else? Not like you would be losing anything..."
"Stop, I won't tell you anything more."
"..."
Did I fail the Charisma check?
"So be it. However, I will make sure to investigate Dionysus' involvement in this case."
At my own pace, of course, nothing good will happen if I try to confront them with my current strength.
"You will?... Perhaps… Read my diary. I hid it in my old home in Daedalus Street, the number is..."
…
"If that is all...Goodbye."
"Yeah..."
Wait for me Gill, once my sentence in Hell ends, I will see you in heaven and…
/Slash!/
'Silver cut off the man's head and removed the magic stone from his chest.'
/Poof!/
'Frederic slowly turned into dust that scattered in the air.'
'The stone was yellow while the ones from the Dungeon are normally blue.'
"... Dionysus… Did he plan all of this? Why?"
It's a shame his body disappeared, otherwise I could've tried to pry for some information from his brain… Although it's risky to try it in my current state, it's better than being clueless.
I will search for his diary at a later date, not today at least, it might contain some info as to why all of this happened.
In any case, my arm comes first.
'On the ground, the armored arm was still burning with blue flames'
"The flames aren't that strong right now since their source of power has disappeared, but they remained nevertheless, they are quite vicious."
I imagined they would stop burning and I would just reattach my arm later. But I will have to go with plan B.
'Silver removed his arm from inside the armor by using telekinesis. It was rick to touch the flames, even if they were protected.'
"Hum… Let me try removing the skin first… And the affected tissues"
'Precisely, Silver removed all of the affected skin and tissues from the arm and he successfully separated the flames from his arm!'
"Urg… I have a sudden urge to vomit when I think this is my arm..."
Thankfully, this brutal method worked... I should thank all of my surgeon practice in my last life...
How many things did I dissect anyway?...
'Silver looked at his bleeding and burned arm with sadness.'
/Splash/
'He used multiple potions on his arm, healing most of its wounds.'
"It's quite a strange feeling, seeing your arm like this..."
'He used his power to reopen the wound on his shoulder and reattached his arm to it by using potions and his Plasmids.'
"ARRRRG!"
'The pain was immense, but he tried his best to not scream, most monsters had fled during their fight, but if one was to be attracted to him right now… It would be very troublesome.'
'After 1 agonizing minute, Silver successfully reattached his arm to his shoulder.'
'He opened and closed his hand to make sure everything was fine.'
"Harf… Harf… I don't want to do this ever again."
"It's still quite stiff… I should be fine after a few minutes of rest on the road. Can't show myself to Hestia and Loiju all fucked up."
'Silver picked a few potions and immediately drank them. he even splashed a healing potion on his face through the gaps of the armor to make sure everything was alright.'
'What a way to splurge money.'
"It's finally over."
Time to go… I need some rest.
'Silver picked up his old gear and put them on again.'
"... My armor is broken again… I fixed it and used it after 2 weeks but it broke again when that guy punched me in the back and guts..."
'He also picked up the sword and the necklace, the rest was just torn clothes.'
"What a strange sword… Ew, it is wriggling!... Are you alive?"
Is it a cursed sword?... I don't think so, I don't have any curse on me, or at least, by the looks of it.
Well… Back to the inventory… I will deal with it later.
'It was a strange day, he came here wanting to find the monster and he did, but who would have expected it to be a creature hybrid...'
'With everything in place and a filled backpack on his back, he left the area.'
…
'A few moments after Silver left, a small purple head popped out from behind a boulder.'
'Following that head, another one popped out and another and another...'
'It was none other than the Hermes Familia team from earlier!'
'But they seemed… Rather pale...'
"Urg… To think that guy would cut out his arm and do th… BLERG!"
'The Elf turned around and started to vomit on the ground, by the looks of it, it wasn't his first time.'
"Ah…."
/Ploft/
'The situation was too much for the loli and she fell unconscious...'
"That guy was tough… He removed his arm to stop the flames from spreading, he maintained his calm and managed to recover his burning arm at the end… A very tough guy. " Said the Weretiger.
"Most would panic and end up committing some sort of mistake. But he reduced all of the dangers by acting immediately." He complimented
'He looked rather fine compared to the Elf and the Loli, but his face showed surprise.'
"But did you see that? The target just turned into smoke! Just like a monster!" Said the dog girl
"Isn't that strange? Just what is going on?... Did anyone hear what they talked about?" She asked
'Everyone shook their heads, even Asfi.'
"They were a bit too far away and they were talking in a low tone. We were lucky to even be able to see the fight in all of this mist." Said the Weretiger.
Most of the fight was covered by the mist, it's a shame but we have to live with it.
"If Falgar didn't hear it then we can't do anything about it." Replied the Elf.
"But is it okay to let him leave? Shouldn't we question him as well, he seemed to know something."
"... I will deal with that later, for now, we need to report what we found, including those strange monsters from earlier." Replied Asfi
That boy is giving me more and more surprises… But that is for later
'They all nodded and left towards the Upper floors.'
…
"Did I lose them?" Said Silver
I felt that someone was watching me when I defeated that guy… His name was Frederic, right?
I used muffle around me and Frederic to not make our conversation leak outside just in case. And that was also the reason why I didn't remove my armor.
And I don't think they saw me using the inventory... I hope so at least, I tried my best to hide it.
"I think I am far enough."
'Silver suddenly became invisible, he removed his armor and stored his gear inside the storage. Leaving only a small sword and the backpack behind.'
"Perfect… I am quite dirty. Let me clean..."
/TUM… TUM../
/ROARRRR!/
'From behind Silver, a large orange lizard appeared.'
'It slowly approached Silver as it gazed at its "Prey".'
"You gotta be fucking with me… I looked for you all this time and now you just appear in front of me?!"
Is this the legendary law of games?
You may look for an item forever, but the moment you don't need it anymore, it will appear in front of you as if it was provoking you...
"... I am quite tired but taking out an Infant dragon like this should be pretty doable."
'Silver dropped his backpack on the ground and unsheathed his sword.'
'But he looked at its broken state and signed'
"This won't do."
'He sheathed his sword again and did something rather unbelievable'
'One hand behind the other, one foot after the other.
Silver had entered a martial arts stance.'
'Ice started to condense on his hands as 2 ice knuckles materialized.'
"This should be enough..."
/ROAAAR!/
'The scene of the bloodied boy challenging the giant dragon in the mist looked pretty cool'
"Come at me!"
/ROOAR!/
'Silver rushed after the dragon while it roared!'
…
/Roar.../
"... Did you hear that?" Said a girl with tanned skin.
"Yeah… It seems to be an Infant dragon if we consider where we are right now." Said a man with Wolf's ears.
/Sniff sniff/
"Something is strange, I don't smell any monsters nearby apart from the one that made this noise."
/Bam.../
'A loud impact noise echoed in the cavern.'
(N1 Notes)
"Looks like someone is having a tough fight… OI! Wait Ais!" Screamed Tiona
…
'Ais ran, and within a dozen seconds she reached the origin of the sounds.'
'And then she saw it…'
'Nothing'
"..."
'Whoever was here had already left.'
'She was a bit too late.'
"..."
'She looked visibly upset.'
"OI Ais! Don't run like that!... Hm? Whatcha looking at?" Said Tione.
'The others finally arrived, well, not finally, they arrived a few seconds later than her.'
"... No one is here." Said Ais
/Sniff sniff/
"There was someone here not too long ago, the smell of blood, he must've been hurt… And an Infant Dragon." Said Bete
"So we were already too late. No matter, let's go back." Said Tiona
"How unlucky, an infant Dragon is the only interesting thing in the Upper floors" Commented Tione
...
/A few minutes ago/
"This is boring… " Said Bete as he killed yet another Imp.
"Well… What did you expect from the Upper floors? We got stronger and now it's boring. Didn't you struggle with it once as well?" Asked Tiona
"HUH?! I didn't!"
"So you were born strong?" She asked
"Of course I… " Bete suddenly got silent
"What is it? Cat got your tongue?"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
"IHIHI Bete is angry..."
"Tsk!"
"Can the two of you stop already? We have a job to do." Said Tione
"Just let them. Once we get to the Lower floors we won't have the chance to speak like this again." Said a small boy with golden hair. It was Finn
"Captain is right! Shut up Bete!" Said Tione in a scary tone
(Tione has a romantic obsession with Finn so she acts, absolutely, biased towards him in any situation.)
"You just contradicted yourself..." Replied her sister.
/Glare!/
'Tione looked at her sister with a gaze implying she was ready to murder her.'
"Ca-Calm down sis..."
"In any case, are we going to do that?" Asked Gareth
"We accepted the commission so we are doing it, I just hope we don't lose too much time going after it though." Replied Finn
"Don't worry captain as I will murder that creature for you fufufu..." Said Tione
"... Are you talking about the murder cases? I wanna find the fucker that's been praying on the newbies down there." Said Bete
"What do we know about it?" Asked Riveria
"Pretty much everything I said last time" Replied Finn
"It started two weeks ago with some adventurer's team disappearing, but it started to grow more and more and yesterday the Guild put on a bounty and a commission for investigation after they determined all of these cases were connected."
"After investigations, no sort of connection has been made between the victims, so the most likely scenario is that an Irregular or Enhanced species has been born in the Middle floors."
"I just hope nothing bad happens..." Said Lefiya
"Oh! Don't jinx it Lefiya!" Said Tiona as she jumped and hugged the little Elf.
"We will soon know anyway when we arrive in the Middle floors, I find it hard whatever is down there will be able to escape our tracking." Said Bete
'His ears suddenly twitched.'
"Did you hear that?"
"... No… Did you hear something Bete?" Asked Tiona
"... I heard a roar and… Sounds of fighting."
"It must be an adventurer fighting against a monster, it's been a while since we met any." Said Gareth
/Roar.../
"... Did you hear that?" Said a Tiona
…
/Back to the present/
'Silver was walking across the misty plains.'
'He turned around as if he could see someone in the mist.'
"What a surprise."
"We almost met, but I guess they were a few seconds too late..."
I could turn around and meet them but… That might be pushing a little…
"Perhaps I should've stayed? Wouldn't it have been a nice way to make them acquaintances?"
"..."
Nah… We will eventually meet.
Orario might be a big place, but it can be seemingly a very small place.
Those with strength eventually converge...
I already met with the Hermes Familia, why not the Loki?
Although I already met them in the bar… But that doesn't count.
"As long as my dream remains, we will meet one day."
.
.
.
Notes
N1
(10th-12th Floor
The 10th Floor keeps the same structure as the 8th and 9th Floors above, however, the light from above becomes reminiscent of morning mist.
Mist appears across the floor making vision terrible. Large category monsters such as Orcs and Infant Dragons begin to appear here.
The 11th Floor has mist like the 10th Floor. The mist on the 12th Floor becomes much thicker than the 10th and 11th Floors above.
The 11th and 12th Floors are extremely dangerous for Level 1 adventurers because stronger monsters like Silverbacks and Hard Armoreds appear here.
Infant Dragons that are categorized as Level 2 and considered as floor boss of the area also appear though rarely. It's recommended for Level 1 adventurers to have a status of at least B in their basic abilities to explore these floors.
Parties that explore these floors are normally the ones preparing to venture into the middle floors for the first time. wiki
)
