Quest: Lost Companion

Echoes of a running in the path dark hallway.

Yuichi runs in the dark path as he hurries to find someone that was his only companion. Determination was rushing over his body, huffing and puffing as he ran for about 20 minutes.

Since he made the choice that caused Lumiella to get separated from him, he should find her whereabouts. The situation would have been different if he hadn't gone into the dungeon room and he should have been more careful.

By focusing his senses and using his sense of distance to detect what is ahead of him, Yuichi can increase his perception and locate four Shadow Wolves ahead of him. He continued to run as though he was more ready to take them on in a fierce manner.

The Shadow Wolves became aware of Yuichi's presence as they drooled saliva to the ground, which made them rush to confront him and launch an aggressive attack. However, their destiny simply collapses into perish.

Reaching forward, Yuichi summoned the power of the wind attributes that were inside of him. He quickly and accurately unleashed a powerful ｢Wind Gale｣ toward the approaching foes. Though a fight was about to break out, Yuichi's attention was diverted by something more pressing, so he moved quickly to eliminate the enemies

"Out of my way!" Yuichi yelled and unleashed his ｢Wind Gale｣.

｢Wind Gale!｣

The Shadow Wolves were destroyed in a matter of seconds after being struck by the ｢Wind Gale｣. Since these circumstances are only a diversion from his one set of objectives, Yuichi keeps moving forward, his unwavering determination keeps him running.

｢You have slain 4 Shadow Wolves

You have earned Solo EXP 1600

EXP Progression: 37466/105600｣

Shadow Wolves are always level 30 in every encounter and they will be only found in floor 30th to 39th. The fact that Yuichi used to struggle to fight these monsters, he gained the right amount of experience points he needed to gap the Shadow Wolves up to level 33. It's the reason why he can defeat them easily with just a single shot of ｢Wind Gale｣.

Yuichi was rushing the entire floor as he already passed over five floors in just 30, minutes. His determination to find Lumiella is just crazy that even he doesn't know about what floor he is right now. Previously he was aware that he was on floor 34th, but up to this point, Yuichi has been ignoring the system notification about his whereabouts.

As he descended from each floor, Yuichi encountered quite a lot of Shadow Wolves along the way. It's such a nuisance for him that he didn't even let them have the dignity to attack first but rather Yuichi just straight up killing them first instead.

Precisely, Yuichi is now on floor 40th and has killed over 22 Shadow Wolves along the way.

｢Floor 40th - Crystal Floor｣

Yuichi stopped to catch his breath as he stood on a floor where shimmering crystal stones scattered around the place in bright sky blue. Yuichi looked around to see the mesmerizing view as he slowly walked into the place with his face captivated.

As he looked around, he focused his senses on the crystal stone to make the system generate detailed information about the mesmerizing stone and a screen appeared.

｢Mana Crystal - Resource｣

｢This stone is made up of ancient mana that was stored within the depth for centuries. It's strong against physical contact and magic, making them repellant, but these minerals are weak and delicate against piercing power. Can be obtainable by mining.｣

But Yuichi doesn't have time for speculation and only makes the system write information for him to read later on. After all, he only had one goal– to find and save Lumiella. He started walking into the crystal floor with his determined eyes.

｢Notify: You are in a quest area. It's recommended to complete the quest before leaving.｣

'The system said I'm in the quest area so Lumiella should be around here somewhere. This place is glowing in sky blue and Lumiella has blue skin so she won't be hard to identify.' Yuichi contemplates.

'I have descended to floor 40th, I haven't noticed it up until now. Strangely, I haven't encountered any bosses along the way. Now that I think about it, does that mean bosses can be fought in every 20 floors?'

Boss Monster can be encountered by surpassing every 20 floors, that's why dungeons have 100 floors because it also consists of five different bosses. There are five levels of boss monsters in each floor respectively: one-star boss monster, two-star boss monster, three-star boss monster, four-star boss monster, and five-star monster.

The Fungoid Golem was the first boss that was ranked as a one-star boss, found on Floor 20th when Yuichi accidentally encountered it. To compare it to the other boss monster, it's the weakest boss monster but still cannot be underestimated.

There are sometimes boss monsters that randomly spawn in respective random floors like for example the Venomancer who Yuichi somehow fought on floor 33 when it's a three-star boss monster. The irrationality here is that the Venomancer wasn't supposed to be there acting as the floor boss monster as floor 33 is still part of the two-star boss monster range. Though, it managed to happen anyway.

Just as Yuichi was about to finish his contemplation, an ethereal sound of crystal clanging on the ceiling and Yuichi heard the ethereal sound, instinctively looking up.

He saw a diamond-shaped entity that was flying up in the air with a little crystal shard flying around it in a glittering sky blue. It was about 8 feet tall and the entity was surrounded by 6 flying crystal shards.

Yuichi was surprised by this as it just came out of nowhere, but he was cautious about the entity as he didn't know if it was hostile or not. Until the system showed him a screen of danger.

｢Crystal Seraph - Hostile｣

｢★★ Level 40｣

｢Description: ???｣

Just as the system showed him, the crystal entity is indeed a boss of the floor and it's a two-star boss. Yuichi was slightly surprised but expecting the feeling.

'It hasn't attacked me for the past few seconds the moment I encountered it. Maybe it's not aware of me just yet.'

The Crystal Seraph was just flying in the air, idling due to that it hadn't noticed Yuichi's presence yet in the vicinity. But even with its hostility, Crystal Seraph is a beautiful entity that can be compared to a diamond.

Yuichi looked down to see if any light blue trail was shimmering on the ground, but there was none to be found, meaning that he had arrived at the right place to find Lumiella.

He looked around to see if any hints could lead him to Lumiella, but when took a single step forward the Crystal Seraph was immediately alerted and noticed Yuichi's presence, signaling that it was going to act like any mindless monster would do– attack.

The crystal shards around the Crystal Seraph circles swiftly and it summons three shards in the air, propelling into Yuichi's position. When it was approaching swiftly to him swiftly, Yuichi instinctively jumped away five seconds early before the shard hit the ground as if he predicted it would attack him there.

It was a strange feeling, but Yuichi had noticed that he could see the future five seconds ahead as like his passive ability ｢Mystical Eye｣ gave him a clairvoyance. Not only that, he also noticed that he's more agile than before and can jump more than 12 feet.

Yuichi landed on the top of a crystal stone and crouched there in position, stroking his chin as he pondered about this new feeling inside his body.

'My body feels lighter than before and I can see the future. This must be the improved version of my passive abilities since it gets enhanced when I level up.'

The Crystal Seraph shoots another three shards into Yuichi, prompting Yuichi to dodge away as he jumped early as he sensed, making the shards hit the crystal stone instead.

'It's just a level 40 monster. I can defeat it even though I'm gapped again with seven more levels, it doesn't matter anymore.'

While he was moving swiftly jumping onto the top of the crystal stone one by one, in midair he channeled his skills and launched his ｢Wind Gale｣ into the boss monster. But when it hits the Crystal Seraph, the wind magic gets dispersed right after impact.

Surprised by this, Yuichi was perplexed and remembered that Crystal Seraph is akin to the crystal stone in that they are natural resistance against any type of magic. But of course, Yuichi also remembers the weak point of this crystal entity which is weak against piercing.

'I gotta somehow damage it with piercing attacks but I don't have a sword to just slice it off. My wind magic and my fist are futile in fighting against this boss. If only there's another way to penetrate its defense.'

Just as he pondered about how to defeat Crystal Seraph, he saw a sharp spike crystal dripstone on the ceiling that was accurately positioned on top of the Crystal Seraph. At first glance, Yuichi immediately knew what to do and was ready to commence it.

He rushed through as he was trying to send himself into the dripstone. But the Crystal Seraph wasn't going to just let it happen as it launched more shards to shoot at Yuichi. Because of this, Yuichi was forced to dodge while moving into the place he needed to go.

Shards after shards, Yuichi was able to dodge most of the attacks. But suddenly, a single shard was able to penetrate Yuichi's left hand, instinctively making a safe distance from the boss. Amidst, the system showed a small screen to Yuichi that is a warning of a negative effect.

｢Warning: Mana Drain is in effect! Your mana will gradually drain over time.｣

As Yuichi noticed, the shard was oddly sapping his mana as it glowed in bright blue and he immediately took it away from his hand. He couldn't feel anything as the effect immediately nullified the moment he removed the shard on his hand, but it drained his mana a little bit.

'That was close. I won't let myself get drained before defeating this boss. If it can drain my mana and also damage me then I need to be careful. It could be another level of monster...' he ponders.

But Yuichi remembers that this crystal entity is just a mere monster to him. His realization made him crack a faint confident smile and move his right shoulder in a circular motion.

Yuichi scoffed and mumbled, "Another level? Forget about it. It's not even that strong compared to that skull freak."

The Crystal Seraph launched multiple shards again towards Yuichi which Yuichi reacted by running and dodging the shards. He jumped into a crystal stone and landed on the top to try to get a certain height to be able to reach into the crystal dripstone hanging in the ceiling. The Crystal Seraph shoots a shard that causes Yuichi to get the right momentum to launch himself into the air and he successfully grapples on the dripstone.

He looked at the Crystal Seraph as if he was taunting it to attack him in which the Crystal Seraph did attack it with six barrage shards into his position. He moved away from the attacks, causing the shards to hit the dripstone instead, almost breaking it apart from the ceiling.

Yuichi saw the crystal dripstone one hit away as he grappled from it so that his weight could break it loose from the ceiling, but it was just not enough to even make its final crack.

'Come on, just one more shot!' Yuichi is expecting the Crystal Seraph to attack him once more, and so it launches six powerful shards into his position.

The dripstone was cracked from the ceiling as the impact of the shards hit it. Yuichi jumped in the air when the dripstone finally broke apart from the ceiling and is now propelling into the top of the Crystal Seraph. But the Crystal Seraph was aware and was about to move from the falling dripstone.

But Yuichi won't let that happen as he launches himself from the ceiling and channeled his wind magic into his right fist, punching the dripstone and launching it swiftly into the Crystal Seraph as if an armor-piercing shell was about to hit a tank.

The tip of the dripstone pierced through the crystalized diamond-shaped body of the Crystal Seraph and with a powerful impact the Crystal Seraph was shattered into pieces like glass shattered into smithereens. Yuichi landed safely on the ground as he watched the Crystal Seraph dying from the penetration of the dripstone, casting away some mesmerizing glittering particles upon dying away.

｢You have defeated a Two-star Boss ★★ Crystal Seraph!｣

｢You have earned Solo EXP 200000｣

｢Level up+｣

｢Level up+｣

｢Current Level: 35｣

｢EXP Progression: 19666/119000｣

｢You have received a new title – Crystal Conquerer｣

Yuichi stands from the ground and approaches the remains of the Crystal Seraph where it just dusts off shattered crystals on the floor with a singular loot in the middle. Yuichi promptly grabbed the loot from the ground and examined it.

｢Crystalized Shard ｢Loot｣

｢These shards are extremely sharp and abundant in mana energy. It can absorb or release mana and magic.｣

'So this time it's not a heart crystal like the Fungoid Golem who drops a Mycelium Heart. Well, it's still valuable to keep.' Yuichi contemplates.

'But I don't have time for any of these. I gotta go and find Lumiella.' Yuichi closed his both eyes as he focused his perception to detect any living being that was near him.

Within 80 meters he detected more than 12 enemies in his vicinity, though some of them were far away from him, showing that his perception had indeed increased. But there's this particular presence that is somehow odd for Yuichi. It was near him, but it was not hostile, almost like this presence was surreal for him.

Suddenly, the presence became clear and nearer as Yuichi instinctively alerted and gripped the loot in his hand, looking to his left with a defensive stance. He was waiting for it to come for him because he didn't know whether it was hostile or not.

As the presence of that certain entity emerged from the forest of crystal stone, Yuichi widened his eyes in shock and surprised that he even dropped the Crystalized Shard on the ground.

The entity has pale blue skin and long blue hair, wearing a black robe just enough to cover the parts we're not supposed to see. It was a girl around the age of 15 years old. Pink eyes gazed upon Yuichi with her emotionless face, almost like she was about to fall into despair.

Yuichi shivered in shock as he had finally found what he was looking for, a companion he had lost from the get-go.

"Lumiel...la?" Just as he was about to shout her name, he noticed that she was standing in the distance with an emotionless expression and glowing pink eyes.

Just then, a huge tentacle of fungus came out of nowhere and burst out from the floor where Yuichi was standing below. He was surprised and was caught off guard, instinctively jumping away barely.

He got to a safe distance and looked at her emotionless expression as if she didn't remember Yuichi at all. Yuichi was bewildered and dumbstruck at why Lumiella just straight-up attacked him.

But he was even more bewildered than the fact Lumiella was able to summon a huge fungus tentacle and he knows Lumiella doesn't use magic because he didn't teach how to. This is complete news for Yuichi.

As the two gaze back at each other, the palpable atmosphere begins to shift as it looks like a battle will begin sooner rather than later.