More Than A Normal Dungeon
(2 hours Later…)
Katsuya and the others followed Jay as he led the way through the dungeons forest.
"We've been walking for so long. I'm quite surprised we haven't found anything yet." Jay stated.
"Yeah, and there has been no sign of monsters." One of them replied.
"I guess that's good for us. Less monsters, less work." said Jay.
Katsuya knew that to be false. From magazines he read on dungeons gave him the knowledge that lack of monsters usually meant a more powerful type of monster was around.
Katsuya was already on guard, watching his surroundings as they ventured further and further.
Jay stopped walking as he held his hand back, signaling Katsuya and the others to stop as well.
"Something nearby." Said Jay.
Almost Immediately after he said this, everyone began standing on guard, waiting for something to appear.
Katsuya couldn't help but feel that something wasn't right as he looked around.
"Where could a monster be?" He thought to himself.
A bush next to him began shaking as if something was behind it.
A small white furry creature hopped out from behind it. The creature was a Killer rabbit. The creature ran off, seeming to have the intention to fight them.
"Looks like what I sensed wasn't a threat." Said Jay.
Katsuya had another theory. He thought that normally a killer rabbit would attack people on sight but the one they had come across seemed to be running from something. Seconds passed as nothing happened.
"Was I overthinking the situation?" He thought to himself.
"We better continue walking." Jay suggested.
A chill shot down Katsuya's spine as he saw another shadow besides his that showed on the ground next to him.
He trusted his gut instinct and jumped out the way. The ground next to him was greatly damaged as a monster had swung its arm against it.
Jay and the others jumped at the sudden sound cracking and quickly got on guard.
Katsuya was shocked as he had just barely dodged the monster's attack.
As everyone stared at the creature, they noticed its features. It stood at least seven-feet tall and had dark black fur. Its eyes were glowing red and it had long sharp claws. It was a monster called a "shadow bear."
Jay held out his palm and quickly chanted a spell.
"Blue Fire: Melting blues!" A hot blue flame shot out and hit the creature's entire body.
(Elite Shadow Bear: Hp: 7,876/15,876)
Katsuya jumped to his feet and swung his foot through the air, hitting the creature's side.
(Elite Shadow Bear: Hp: 5,019/15,876)
The creature violently moved its claws through the air. Katsuya quickly ducked down as he felt the claws barely miss, cutting a strand of his hair.
One of the men ran forward and placed his palm on the bear's chest.
"Wind bullet!!"
The wind all around shook as the creature was knocked through the air, landing on its back.
Thump!
[Warning: Enemy's skill 'Awaken' has activated]
(Elite Shadow Bear: Hp: 175/ 15,876)
The man quickly jumped into the air, stomping on the creature's face as he landed.
(Elite Shadow Bear: 0/15,876)
Jay was confused as to why a monster this strong was in a B-rank dungeon.
"That thing was as strong as a high ranking A-ranker. I'd say he was just as strong a george." He stated.
Katsuya wasn't all that shocked as he knew there was a strong monster around because of the lack of monsters.
Jay turned around, facing their original path.
"Let's continue walking."
He proceeded going forward as the rest of the team followed behind. Katsuya gave the dead monster one last look then followed Jay as well.
Just as he took one step, a warning came into view.
[Warning: Enemy's 'Second Chance' skill has activated.]
"What?!"
He quickly turned back around and was surprised as he saw that the bear was now standing up.
(Elite Shadow Bear: 31,876/31,876)
Jay suddenly stopped as he had sensed the creature's revival. He turned around in shock as he saw the bear standing up.
His eyes widened as he noticed its Hp:
(Elite Shadow Bear: Hp:31,876/31,876)
"That's...impossible. It's on the level of an S-ranker!" he thought to himself.
He noticed Katsuya was ready to fight it.
"Wait! Don't fight it alone!" Jay shouted.
The Bear leaned back as if it was taking a deep breath. It leaded forward and let out an extremely loud roar that shook the air. Katsuya, Jay and the rest of the team were all knocked to the floor by the wind.
The Bear lifted its arm and slammed it down towards Katsuya. He quickly rolled over and attacked the floor.
A great big hole opened up underneath him as he fell in, disappearing into the depths of it.
"Crap, you'll pay for this!" Jay shouted.
He held out his palm, aiming it at the bear. He loudly chanted a spell.
"BLAZING FIRE: FULL THROTTLE MELTING BLUES!!"
A giant hot blue flame shot out, instantly burning the bear and the trees behind to ash.
Smoke and ash filled the air as a great portion of the forest behind was destroyed. Burn marks were visibly on the ground.
The spell Jay just casted was his trump card. It was a spell where he would use up all of his remaining Mp in a fire blast that created damage of around 80,000 Atk.
Him and the other all stood up off of the ground. Jay walked over to the hole where Katsuya had fallen. As he looked in, he saw that there were other floors below as if this was multiple floor building.
He knew that right away this was a progressive type of dungeon. A type of dungeon that usually had around 100 floors leading down.
"Is Katsuya dead?" One of the men asked.
Jay then replied.
"That's a hard question to answer. He fell so far down that I can sense him. If I'm being totally honest, the chances he survived are quite slim. Even so, we have to regroup with the other team and tell them about this. That's when we'll all have to leave and let the guild know. They will notify the government officials."
--------------------------------
(4 Hours Later. Dungeon Floor #83)
Katsuya slowly opened his eyes and sat up. He was knocked unconscious from the fall.
"Ugh..What happened? Sora, materialize."
A white haired girl with red eyes who wore a black leather, blue jeans and shiny black boots appeared before his eyes.
"Where am I?" Katsuya asked.
"The dungeon seems to be more than B-rank. A progressive dungeon to be exact. You're on the 83rd floor which is Gold-rank here. Sora replied.
"This is bad. How am I supposed to survive? I'm only on the level of a low ranking A-ranker. Is there any way to get out?" Katsuya asked.
Sora leaned against a wall, closed her eyes and let out a sigh.
"Well there it is but, you'd have to fight a floor boss every ten floors. So if I gave you the directions to the nearest boss room it would be silver-rank. You'd have near a 0% chance of survival."
Katsuya was in a tight situation as going back up to the higher floors was near impossible. Going down would be twice as difficult as going up.
With almost no chance of survival, he was at a loss.
Sora came up with a plan, giving Katsuya some hope.
"If you could somehow level up to level fifty, I could materialize and fight alongside you. Though, currently I can't."
['Sora' has added a new quest: Defeat a Gold-rank monster]
[Prize upon completion: Level capacity +450]
Katsuya was shocked as the prize was too generous.
"Why make the rewards that high?" He asked.
Sora began explaining that she did not do it out of generosity.
"I can't just be generous and give you prizes or high prizes like this. Us A.I's have a set of rules we have to follow. However, I was able to make the reward that high because of the difficulty."
After gathering up the last of his courage, he stood up.
"Okay, Sora , lead me to the nearest monster."
--------------------------------
Meanwhile…
(Dungeon Floor #1)
After retracing their steps, Jay and his team arrived back at the meeting point, approaching George's team.
He noticed the look of loss on Jay's face.
"What's the matter with you? You're looking a little sad." said George.
Jay proceeded to approach him, then stopped in silence.
Gorged noticed that Katsuya was missing and asked about him.
"Where's Katsuya?"
After some seconds of silence, Jay replied.
"....We came across an A-rank monster. After killing it, it came back to life but it had gotten stronger. It reached the level of an S-rank monster. While fighting it, a whole opened up. Katsuya fell inside. I used the last of my Mp to defeat the monster. Afterwards, I walked over to the hole and looked inside. It was quite deep and there were multiple floors below."
George knew what he was getting at.
"So, this is a progressive dungeon, then. If what you're saying is true, the chances Katsuya survived are one percent. Right now, we have to leave and inform the guild. A progressive dungeon is no small deal."
"Yes, I know that." Jay replied.
George turned around and began walking as he spoke.
"Well then, we should get going. If Katsuya did survive, he's running out of time."
--------------------------------
(Dungeon Floor #83)
Katsuya had arrived at a large stone bridge. There was moss coming out of the bridge and it looked somewhat ancient. It was at least 40 feet long and led across to a large tunnel.
Katsuya began walking as he thought to himself.
"When I fight a monster how should I deal with it? I probably wouldn't be able to match its speed. I have almost no way to combat a Gold-rank monster."
In theory, A Gold-rank monster was equal to 90 A-rankers.
Thump!
Thump!
Katsuya froze as he stared up ahead. There was a monster that stood nearly 15-feet tall and its skin was rock hard. It had long sharp fingers and its eyes were glowing white. It was a rock spirit, a strong kind.
(Ancient Rock Spirit: Hp: 221,379/221,379)
Katsuya pulled out his dagger and held it back, preparing to throw it.
"Monster, activate."
[Your skill 'Monster' has been activated]
[Your skill 'Adapt' has been activated]
He threw his dagger with all his might. It launched through the air and hit the creature's skin. It didn't penetrate, instead, the dagger bounced off.
(Ancient Rock Spirit: Hp: 215,632/221,379)
Katsuya was shocked as his dagger barely did anything.
"That did nothing?!"
The spirit slid its leg across the floor twice, kicking dust behind it.
It suddenly began running forward at a speed faster than Katsuya.
The creature slammed his hand against Katsuya's body, pushing him through the air.
(Katsuya: Hp: 0/17,426)
He was knocked off of the bridge and began falling down through the air. It seemed as if he was falling down a bottomless pit as the seconds passed.
Splash!
His lifeless body landed in a pond on blue glowing water. Katsuya's body sunk lower and lower into the water as there seemed to be no floor.
Once again, his body had life.
(Katsuya: Hp: 17,426/17,426)
His eyes opened wide and he began squirming around in the water, wondering where he was. To him, it felt as if he was floating in midair but in reality, he was deep in water.
The air left his body and bubbles came out from his mouth, floating up to the surface.
"Oh, so I'm in water?" Katsuya thought to him.
Katsuya began trying to swim up as he felt the suffocating tightness from not getting any air. He started to slowly black out.
Just in time, he reached the surface of the water and stuck his head out, gasping for air.
Panting crazily, he looked around trying to find land.
Up ahead, was an area where the floor was nothing more than hard grey rocks that was next to a large tunnel.
Katsuya began moving his arms and legs through the water, swimming over. He reached his arm out and gripped the hard rock floor. Katsuya pulled himself out of the water and laid on his back, feeling relieved as he was finally able to get air.
"....I...never...want to feel that suffocating tightness...ever again…"
Out of exhaustion, he lost consciousness.