61 DanMachi 31
With Haruhime set up and fully geared, we took turns for a few days to guide her through the dungeon, and after a few test runs, she and Lili were allowed to enter the first few floors of the dungeon. They were forbidden from going anywhere lower than level 10, but could now try leveling alone.
Haruhime, same the other members of our familia, in addition to her new gear, potions, and antidotes, was equipped with a pendant that had the shield enchantment on it, and it was fully charged by yours truly. She, for some strange reason, chose a rapier as her main weapon, while Lili continued to fight with her bare hands, and seldom used the hammer we bought her.
With the girls out, and Hestia at her job, we packed up for our next dungeon run, our inventory only held our weapons, antidotes, change of clothes, camping equipment, and some food. Our shielding pendants were fully charged, and our air filters were equipped. Our gear was fully maintained and we were ready for another longer dive. The plan for this descent was to reach at least the hallway to level seven. We both switched to our Renard races and with a [Blink] found ourselves on the 67th floor.
Just as we appear, our surrounding suddenly lights up, spreading out waves of bioluminescence, as waves created by a pebble dropped into a puddle. The floor and the hive mind instantly knew were here, and it was not long before the mushroom people arrive. The soft taps of their feet could be already heard from afar.
You might be asking, why I just didn't try to fly over this mushroom-infested area, so they couldn't detect us, and I had two answers for that. First of all, these guys provided some experience and give themselves up on a nice silver platter, who was I not to allow them to rush into their demise? Second of all, the spores in the air, had some kind of connection to the floor-wide mycelium network, even flying over the infested area, would allow them to always know our exact location.
This time we didn't just stay in one place to farm experience and excelia but moved around in search of the staircase leading down. The same as our prior dives, I didn't scout the staircase location with my spells as Olivia liked to explore, and casting the spell would take out half of the fun so left it up to all to our luck. Compared to the investment we had to put in, the experience gains on these floors were quite nice. We kept on searching for the staircase while decimating the mushroom population.
Same as the last time, these soft creatures, were cut apart with a single swipe of the blade, but their numbers did slow us down. The non-sentient mushrooms we found around, pinged my [Herbology] and [Alchemy] skills like crazy, something was telling me these could be used to create some pretty nice potions, but without experimentation and a lot of time investment, they weren't worth the trouble. At some point in the future, I might come back and pick up a few of them, but now, it wasn't the time.
The search for the staircase continued for another half an hour, until Olivia with her high perception and extreme luck finally found it, hidden deep within a mushroom cover. After clearing the way, we descended the circular staircase and were surprised that the journey downwards took over fifteen minutes, the longest till now.
[Quest: [Dungeon diving 68] Completed 68 WP(x4) Received]
The biosphere we entered didn't differ from the last one we just explored. However, the floor was a shade darker than the previous one. Not just the mushroom colors bleaker, but the global illumination has decreased. If this theme continued, in a few floors we will end up in total darkness.
This floor added a few new enemy types to the mix. Surprisingly, non-sentient ones, so they provided us with no experience whatsoever, but were, nevertheless, dangerous and annoying to deal with.
Poison Spitters were small mushrooms with crimson, white spotted caps, that had a large hole in the center of them. That hole spat out a corrosive mist that poisoned and eroded anything it came into contact with. They had some strange receptors tied to the mycelium network and constantly knew our locations. Throwing a stone next to them didn't trigger an attack, but when your body closed up to them a poisonous mist was spat in your direction.
Pulse Shrooms were the second type of non-sentient enemies and the first ones that had magic on these floors. They were half-meter tall mushrooms with black and white dotted caps, with stalks the thickness of tree trunks. I was unsure if it was evolutionary or if they were designed this way, but these shrooms had runes on their caps, which allowed them to cast a single type of magic.
Same as the Spitters, they were rooted into a place and could sense your location. But instead of spitting out a poisonous mist, their caps shone bright and they fired off a 360 wave of death affinity pulse. These scary little fuckers were living and growing enchantments.
The first time we met them, I was already suspicious. The area around them was clear, unlike the mushroom-infested forest we just walked in. And after I picked up on the large amount of mana condensing in one of them, I knew something was up. Just before it fired off a pulse I [Blink]ed to safety saving me a shield charge for later use.
Even with all the things trying to kill us, it didn't take us too long to find the staircase leading to the 69th floor. This time, thankfully, it wasn't hidden by any mushroom infestation, but it did stand near a few Pulse Shrooms. They were quickly taken care of, as enemies rooted in one place couldn't really offer any resistance, especially to ranged attacks, then finally, we descended the staircase.
[Quest: [Dungeon diving 69] Completed 69 WP(x4) Received]
Same as the previous floor, this one got a shade darker, the mushrooms now had a gray color pallet, and the illumination was as if standing in the twilight.
This floor exchanged the cute, but annoying mushroom people for Myconid's. These fuckers were beasts, on another level, and stood around level 7. Their extremely high strength and regeneration capacities, allowed them to regrow a lost limb in a mere second, and surprisingly they didn't die from a single slash.
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Same as the mushroom people, they came in all sizes and shapes, but most of them were about three meters tall and had bark-like skin covering their bodies and elongated humanoid-like limbs. They had different shapes and sizes of caps, ranging from a pointy cone-shaped cap of one meter down to a parabola-shaped one of ten meters in length. They had large black eyes, and smaller mushrooms growing all over their bodies. Some of them even carried Pulse and Spitter mushrooms, tied directly to their form of the nervous system. Making them even harder enemies to face.
As fire affinity spells were dangerous in this environment, we were forced to use other types of affinities to combat the never-ending waves of these monsters. The other annoying fact about these guys was that even if split in half, one piece could fully regenerate in mere moments, while the other part just withered away. The only way to deal with them was to fully destroyed their bodies, or shattered their magical stone, which was placed deep within their caps.
Contrary to their cousins, the mushroom people, these guys did give out quite a nice amount of experience. Allowing us to rack up a few levels, and the same time let Olive finally reach the max level of her current class. She opened her class selection screen and shared her available classes with me.
The classes we acquired after killing a god, were extremely powerful but brought with them some pretty nasty drawbacks.
Divine Slayer 0/100
+4 STR, +2 DEX, +4 AGI, +4 VIT, +2 PER, +2 P. Res, +2 M. Res per level
All divine entities will harbor hatred toward you.
The user gains a 10% increase in resistance to damage received from divinity.
The user gains the ability [Divine Retribution], reflecting some damage taken from divine entities back to the attacker.
The user gains the aura [Unholy Presence], weakening the defenses of nearby divine enemies.
The user gains the ability [Divine Sacrifice], sacrificing their own health to deal massive damage to all nearby divine entities.
Twenty-seven stats points per level was a huge amount, but the drawback, especially in this world, could cause tremendous amounts of problems. We'll have to find some ways to prevent that if we ever want to equip that class, especially because the last part of the text is not percentile base, and it will stay active even if the class is not equipped.
Heretic Mage 0/50
+2 DEX, +4 INT, +4 WIS, +2 VIT, +2 M. Res per level
All divine entities will feel your presence.
The user gains the ability [Divine Defiance], temporarily nullifying the effects of divine spells.
The user gains the ability [Divine Maelstrom], dealing massive damage to all divine entities in a nearby radius.
100% increase in Spell Damage.
50% increase in Mana capacity.
Heretic Warrior 0/50
+4 STR, +2 DEX, +2 AGI, +4 VIT, +2 P. Res. per level
All divine entities will feel your presence.
100% increase in physical damage.
50% increase in Stamina capacity.
The user gains the ability [Divine Resistance], temporarily increasing their resistance to divine damage.
The user gains the ability [Divine Punishment], dealing massive damage to a single divine target.
Same situation with the Heretic branch of classes, they might unlock some strong classes down the line, but being on the literal radar of all the divine entities, especially in a town where thousands of them walk around, seems counterproductive. So instead, Olive picked a class that was not straight-up useful but could unlock others down the line.
Warrior 0/25
+1 STR, +1 VIT, +1 P. Res per level
10% increase in damage dealt with swords, axes, and hammers.
10% reduced damage received.
20% increase in the learning speed of heavy weapon skills.
30% increase in the learning speed of defense-related skills.
By my calculations, she should max out that class in a few hours, as it only needed a total of 54,091 experience to reach level 25, but still required her to kill a few hundred enemies, as the Myconid only provided around 600 to 700 experience per kill. We didn't stop to farm on this floor, instead, we explored, and quickly found the staircase leading to the 70th floor.
[Quest: [Dungeon diving 70] Completed 70 WP(x4) Received]
Following the theme of the other fungi floors, the lighting of the 70th floor become even darker, only thanks to the glowing mushrooms did we see anything. With our visibility so low, spotting and fighting monsters on these floors grew even harder.
One of the first new types of creatures we met, was extremely large mushrooms that stood on four legs. Their height reached up to thirty meters, with their caps being fifty meters wide. Most of its body was hidden away by the darkness, but unsurprisingly it was not impeded by the same thing. They didn't have a mouth or eyes, but their legs, which were like multiple tree trunks in size, ended in tentacle-like roots that, on each step, connected to the mycelium network under it, providing it with knowledge of our location and vision without eyes.
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These monsters, even with their mushroom-like physique, in addition to extremely high regeneration ability, had extreme durability and vitality. While their movements were relatively slow, the mushroom cap it carried, rained down a cloud of acid-like substance, that melted away vegetation and anything it came into contact with. I allowed Olive to name these guys, and that is how they ended up being called the Acidic Shroom Walkers. Not the most imaginative name, but it did explain what they did.
Fighting one of these was a nightmare. Cutting off its legs did nothing at all, as tentacle-like protrusions exited the stump and reconnected the cut-off limb. Disintegrating a limb with some high-powered spell, only made it regenerate in seconds. However, as it used its internal biomass for regeneration, that did shrink its initial size. After a few minutes of fighting it, where we had to fire off ranged attacks so we wouldn't get melted away, we finally found its weakness.
Same as the Myconids, they had their magical stones deep within their caps, the caps that were the size of a smaller house. I finally had enough of it and fired off a few hundred [Arsenal] weapons directly into its cap, enchanted with [Infuse] and [Magic Penetration], the supercharge spell cut through it like a hot knife through butter, and luckily, one weapon shattered its stone. Making it unceremoniously drop to the ground and quickly turn into mana particles, leaving no loot at all.
After our first group of thirty Myconid and a few Acidic Shroom Walkers, - damn I already hate the name-, we finally found a new type of creature, and I dubbed them, Zuggtmoy, as in the Demon Queen of Fungi.
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These creatures looked regal, with their posture and their mannerism. They didn't talk but waved their hands while giving out orders to the other monsters around them. These creatures had a female face and a massive five meters-tall in the frame. Their slender arms ended with sharp, but extremely poisonous claws, while their gray skin had a bark-like texture.
The mushrooms covering their bodies created an illusion of wearing a dress and a hat. But even all of that couldn't hide the tentacle-like protrusions that exited their sides and on a whim could influence the mycelium network around them. Moving mushrooms out of their way, and opening huge gaps in the forest. Wherever they moved, mushrooms bowed and gave a way to them. These monsters were the true rulers of these floors, not only did they command hundreds of Myconid, but they also used illusions and mental magic.
Unsurprisingly the latter did nothing to us, as our mental shields held on strong, and their first ability provided quite a nice experience boost, but their second ability was extremely annoying. They had a large area of influence and could cast spells from a long-range, thanks to the mycelium network we were walking on. I can't count how many times we heard the monsters closing on us, but didn't see them till they arrived a few meters away. Even with our high perception stats, and my [Archive] skill, spotting the mistakes in the illusions was a hard task. Thankfully, the ability I gained from my Sorceress class came to the rescue. The ability to sense atmospheric mana, allowed me to spot most of her illusions and focus on the true enemies.
Fighting one of them was even more annoying, she created an illusion of herself, so dodging her attacks seemed almost impossible, especially when fighting other mushroom-type monsters surrounding her. Oh, how I wished I could just blow up the whole floor, but fighting a Juggernaut was still, way harder than these enemies.
To make the fight even more erratic, the bitch even attempted to disguise herself as one of us and made us look like mushrooms. Thankfully, being close to her allowed me to intercept her spells, and at the same time learn the rune combination for illusions. With most of her abilities being totally useless, and her only fighting capacity being her army and poisonous claws, which were easily sidestepped thanks to her snail-like speed, the fight after closing up on her didn't last too long.
Feed up with the onslaught of these caped shrooms we quickly found our way toward the next set of stairs and descended to the 71st floor.
[Quest: [Dungeon diving 71] Completed 71 WP(x4) Received]
The 71st floor brought a huge environmental change, the air was clear and the floor didn't have any mushrooms on it, not even a mycelium network could be seen. The floor was in total darkness, and the only illumination in it was a single speck of light a few kilometers away. This caused us to tense up, as it could only mean one thing, this floor housed a floor boss.
"Yeah, I don't want to fight whatever that thing is." I say with a grimace.
"Yep, use your spell and scout it, but let's not engage it." She says, and I agreed with a nod, which she couldn't possibly see, then cast [Celestial Eyes] for the first time since we arrived at the dungeon today. The moment the wave of mana reached the floor boss, it shifted, turned, and zeroed in on us. Its large, ten-meter-wide, black eyes could perfectly see in the total darkness, and it didn't take him long to spot us. It straightened its back and with quick steps moved in our direction, each step shook the whole floor.
"Fuck." I say, as the massive thumping of its legs hitting the ground, grew louder and louder. An enormous troll-like creature was moving our way. A forest of millions of mushrooms growing from its back lights up an area of a few hundred meters around it. The thing was massive, around a hundred meters in height, and probably weighed the same as a skyscraper.
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"WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" Freaked out Olive, while trying to keep her balance on the shaky ground, even with her maxed out [Acrobatics], boosting it by 500%, it was still a monumental challenge. I grabbed her hand and with a quick recast of [Celestial Eyes] focused on the floor below and swiftly deposited us in a clearing.
[Quest: [Dungeon diving 72] Completed 72 WP(x4) Received]
Bright light assaults our vision, and the rapid change of lighting blinds us for a quick second. A rapidly blinking Olive quickly draws her blade ready for a fight, but after her vision fully clears, and spots nothing nearby, she calms down and turns to face me.
"What the hell was that?" She asks.
"That, my love, was a hundred-meter-tall troll. With gray skin and ten-meter-wide eyes, and the ability to detect mana, and pinpoints our exact location." I say after calming my erratic breathing. "The light we saw were millions of mushrooms growing out of its back."
"Holy shit. These floor bosses are getting out of control!" She says, rising her hands in the air, and I could only nod to her exclamation. "Is this floor safe?" She asks giving the area around us another glance.
"I didn't find anything, except for grass, in a kilometer-wide area. I guess this is a safety point. It's been a while since there was one." I comment, while still keeping an eye on our surroundings.
Contrary to the floors before, this one was well-lit and had small hills and lakes, the only vegetation in a few kilometer-wide areas was knee-high grass, of the mundane verity. Not even trees could be found anywhere nearby.
"Let's have lunch." I suggest.
"Good idea, I'm starving." She says bouncing to the side and taking out a few things from her inventory, while I clear the grass around us, and make a little camp.
