15-20

[ARC 1] CHAPTER 9: STEAMING HOT TITLES, COMING UP!

Greydra

Changed the [Throw] skill to [Throwing].

HOOOOOT! And many! Too many tortoises!!

I kept on running from my pursuers while feeling half-cooked to death. "Why did this happen"? Well, let's go back three days or so, back to when I decided to enter Floor 2...

---

Three days ago (estimated).

Hoooot. Damn hot. Steaming hot. The second floor's too humid.

Floor 2 of the Water-Knot of Glavras. It's more like a long corridor, with open channels that rivers of water run through. Underneath these channels are a blazing hell of fire. The rivers are boiled, and the steam gets taken away by what appears to be natural-formed ventilation shafts if that's possible to be made naturally. Probably a Dungeon thing.

Anyhow, due to the boiling of the water, the floor's not only hot, but it's also humid as heck! So hot I'm almost having trouble breathing! Maybe this floor's the distillation floor of the Dungeon? Why couldn't it also include an ice cream factory?

I walked through the floor and thought about the potency of my threads. They'll probably catch fire the moment it gets too close to the fires. And all the moisture in the air ain't helping either. If I wanna use them, I have to think of tactics here.

And here I thought that I could do this since I had already passed through this place. No way, Jose. I looked for [Fire Resistance], but I can't buy it at the moment. Don't have enough Skill Points.

I've got 6.8 of them now by the way. I bought two mental-support skills before entering the floor. [Concentration] and [Parallel Thinking], to be exact. [Concentration] helps you concentrating on stuff, while [Parallel Thinking] does the same with thinking about several things at the same time.

They may be not that flashy, but I've come to accept it. Besides, passive skills are the best when it comes to grinding. Active skills such as magic and special moves may get more proficiency each time you use them, but the passives are used all the time, so you only need to farm skills that help you with what you're already doing, then you get proficiency without even trying.

And yes, I know it's the lazy man's way of doing things, but it's an efficient one. Having to remember to use your skills all the time's tedious and energy-consuming, if the skills need energy.

Hmm, should I get some more skills then? Getting two of them for 1 Point each should be doable. Some of them have reached the point of getting me another 0.4 Skill Points, so I'll have enough for when I get the requirements for Rogue done.

Yeah, let's do that. Then, the two skills I want are...

---

*smack!*

Whoa, too close! The frog's whip-like tongue smacked at the ground where I was one moment ago. I kept on moving backward, provoking the frog to follow me. Which it did... right into my birdlime trap!

Splat! Got ya, sucker! Aww, I love my threads. They stay sticky even with all this humidity in the air. But it won't last for long. I circled behind the frog, watching out for any potential whip-tongues while doing so. Kukuku. Say your prayers. [Poison Bite]!!

*Chomp!* *Chomp!* *Chompity, chompitiy chomp-chomp-chomp!*

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

[Poison Bite] skill level has reached Lv.10.

You have earned 0.2 Skill Points

Due to "Champion of Alvatria", an additional 0.2 Skill Points were earned.

Acquired title: [Monster Slayer]

Acquired skill: [Health Increase (Small) Lv.1]

Acquired title: [Merciless]

Acquired skill: [Intimidation Lv.1]

Acquired skill: [Vital Point Knowledge Lv.1]

One frog down, [Poison Bite] reached Lv.10, and I got three new skills. This must be the most efficient face-to-face fight I've ever done.

But sheesh. What's with the naming of the second one? Merciless, are you trying to make me sound like some dangerous person, World System?

I did a quick [Discern] on the skills found out that [Intimidation] inflicts the Fear status ailment on others when used. It's attribute-less, so it won't be helping me receive some Heretic Technique User title.

[Vital Point Knowledge] is a passive skill that makes it easier to see weak points... or vital points, if you wanna be technical about it. In other words, I'll have it easier to know where to strike for a critical hit.

Did I get the title 'cause of the chomp-festival just now? Or is it that I used the Shredder on Floor 1? It must be both.

As for Monster Slayer, have I ever killed anything that wasn't a monster? [Health Increase (Small)] is easy to get. I gain more HP points for each skill level. Didn't even need to [Discern] that one.

Speaking of [Discern], I used it on the frog just now before I bit him, in case you wanna know.

Weak. And it doesn't even use its Skill Points. All these skills are either initial and inborn skills. The inborn skills are [Jump], [Lesser Water Element], and [Tongue Whip], since all the other frogs have the same skills.

[Fire Resistance] and [Whipsmanship] are those it learned on its own. The former must be from living on this floor, while the latter must come from his fighting style. Many other frogs also learn this skill. Hmm...

Ah, I almost forgot the reason why I butchered the frog. I just gotta store him inside my Storage and then take out the device.

*Swish!* *Click*

Thanks to the slingshot thread, I attached the tracking device to the big machine-like thing that the frog had obstructed for me. If he only moved, then I wouldn't have needed to take care of him... not that I'm that annoyed at the frog. The return was more than a little worthwhile.

My new strategy of limiting the use of threads worked well against an opponent that wasn't one of those Hosprave Rats, a variant of the normal Greycave Rats. Even so, I won't be challenging any rank E monsters like this. Too risky. Eh, I'm rank F anyway. Going against my seniors like that is like asking to be killed.

Only using threads right before you need it is more difficult than you would first believe. Or, that's how it feels for me, as I'm used to having the traps already made. But using the threads for too long, and they get too soggy for even [Thread Control] to work.

And using the threads too close to a fire will make them ignite. I had to dispose of the slingshot thread the moment the device was attached to the machine. The slingshot's already turned to ashes.

Now then, three machines down, just two more. It's a good thing I had marked the suspicious places I saw on the mental map of this floor the first time I came through. It saves me the time for searching after them. The next gizmo is... not too far from here. Two devices in one day. Score!

---

Back to the present.

And well, I found the machine and all... but it was trapped! And the trap called on the three tortoises to hunt me down!

I've been fleeing for so long that I regret not taking some skill related to it. The tortoises are luckily bulky and slow, so I could slip through them without any trouble. But they're persistent!

They may have some "pursuit"-skill or something, 'cause they're just as fast as me despite not having even 20 points in SPD! To make things worse, [Discern] can't be used on the status of creatures at certain ranks unless the level's high enough. To get info about the rank E tortoises, I need the skill to reach Lv.15. I'm close to it, but not yet!

There's also the "Empowered" status ailment that looks fishy, but [Discern] can't be used on that either! The stamina of the tortoises is greater than mine, so they'll catch up if this continues.

What is this? A replay of the Dread Spirit battle? Do I always have to run away from monsters here!? Grrr... I hate this! Fine, if that's how you wanna play, I'll play with ya real good!

---

The three tortoise guardians kept on chasing Garami with murder in their eyes. After a little while of Garami started to decelerate, just enough to make the tortoises catch up to her little by little.

One of the tortoises, the one in the lead, wanted to finish Garami off as soon as possible. That was the reason why the three of them were spawned after all.

The leading tortoise tapped into its reserves and ran up to Garami. When it was close enough, it tried to bite off half of the spider's body with its [Bite] skill. Tried, is the keyword here.

Garami noticed the leading tortoise's attempts of an attack from the moment it started to accelerate. Not to mention the nature of the attack. She had already witnessed the power of the jaws that the tortoises had on Floor 9, on the very day she was reborn. And she was no longer any newborn either.

Right before the leading tortoise could close its mouth on Garami, the latter produces massive amounts of dark aura. So much that the tortoise had to withdraw its head away from it.

True to its status as a guardian spawned by a Dungeon, the tortoise's instinct regarding danger was excellent. The dark aura would have decreased its stats by quite the amount if it had touched the tortoise, not to mention any potential status ailments. However, that was also the leading tortoise's downfall.

Garami was never counting on the [Aura of Darkness] to affect the tortoise. Instead, she withdrew a certain something from her [Spatial Storage]. By using [Thread Control] and [Throwing], Garami launched her secret weapon towards the leading tortoise's face.

*Splat!*

A wet sound was heard when the secret weapon landed... glued itself, on the tortoise's face. It was a ginormous mass of sticky webs. So many and so sticky webs, that it had turned into a single clump of glue-like substance. A failure work of Garami's when she practiced her birdlime traps.

The webs were stuck in the tortoise's mouth, suffocating it as Garami used [Thread Control] to spread the thread clump to cover the tortoise's eyes and mouth, efficiently blindfolding and gagging it. It would be a matter of time before it would die from asphyxiation.

Moving her attention away from the gagged tortoise, Garami started to think of her next move regarding the remaining two tortoises.

One of the two didn't waste any time in trying to take over for its fallen brethren, but Garami used [Thread Control] through the thread she still held to drag the head of the first tortoise towards the attacking one, making the two of them collide into each other.

Not wasting any time, Garami withdrew more sticky web mass to glue the two tortoises onto each other and to the ground. Garami then made some distance from the two tortoises, efficiently neutralizing both of them for the moment. Then, all that remained was-

*Bang!*

Suddenly, Garami was sent flying in the air. The landing accounted, Garami's HP had been reduced by three quarters. A few of her spider legs were also crushed from the landing. It is safe to say that the little demon was facing the direst situation of her life till now.

Not understanding what had happened, Garami looked over the corridor after the source of the surprise attack. Then she saw the third tortoise, who hadn't come any closer after seeing the first one being gagged.

The third tortoise had used its head and picked up massive rocks with its mouth. Then, mimicking a catapult, the tortoise threw the rock towards Garami.

The plan was good, but the aim was horrible. Even when tortoise nr.3 had attempted to squash Garami with the rock, it had only managed to nick it instead after it had trapped both of the tortoise's allies. Still, a nick was all the tortoise needed to send Garami to the brink of death.

The tortoise threw another rock, but Garami threw a new thread and used [Thread Control] to drag her battered body to safety behind one of the boulders at her side.

The tortoise understood its stones wouldn't reach Garami behind the boulder. However, it also knew that the demon was seriously wounded. Wounded to the point that the tortoise was thinking it had overestimated it. But then it saw the literal mess its two companions were in and decided to take some caution.

The tortoise didn't even consider saving its two companions. After all, if those two couldn't do anything with the web-mass, what could it do? A sound, but heartless, decision. Especially when considering that the first tortoise was soon to die from the lack of oxygen.

Ignoring the pleas of help from the other tortoises, the third one closed in on the boulder that Garami was hiding behind. In its mouth, the tortoise held a large rock, both to be used as an attack in case Garami was going to escape with its threads again, or as a guard, in case she was going to gag the tortoise as she did with the first one.

The turtle rounded the corner and found... nothing? Bewildered, the tortoise started to look around for Garami, thinking it may have managed to escape somehow. It was right then that the first tortoise finally succumbed to the lack of oxygen, giving Garami the EXP needed for an increase in her level... which also came with a full recovery of her Life Stats, included with a repair of her broken legs.

Garami jumped out of the shadows of the boulder where she had hidden with her skills and landed on top of the tortoise's shell. The tortoise noticed Garami, but not before the latter had started to wrap the former with newly produced threads.

The tortoise's mouth holding the rock was sealed off, removing the tortoise's greatest weapon. The tortoise retaliated by using its flexible neck to smash its head towards Garami, who barely escaped this time as well. However, the tortoise's head was now stuck to its shell, courtesies from the web mass that Garami had left behind on top of the shell.

Not missing this chance, Garami glued the legs of the tortoise before using a thread and [Thread Control] to reach the unguarded neck of the tortoise and bit down with her [Poison Fang] while also using the [Aura of Darkness].

It took a little while, but in the end, the tortoise was finally killed. And the only creature left standing, and not glued down, was Garami.

---

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Level has increased. Reached Lv.7

You have earned 0.2 Skill Points

Due to "Champion of Alvatria", an additional 0.2 Skill Points were earned.

Acquired title: [Pinch Breaker]

Acquired skill: [Battle Continuation Lv.1]

Booyah! Another tortoise goes down!

After winning the fight with that rock-thrower, I finished off the last tortoise that was trapped with the gagged one from the start. Good thing it died when it did, or else I wouldn't have gotten two level-ups then. To think that you can recover lost limbs just by increasing your level... or is it a demon thing?

I got titles to boot! What do I have right now? I've gotten so much in such a short time, I don't know myself.

Woohoo! Now, this is a status page! But damn, still 3 points short on the DEX. Just one more racial level, Garami. Just one measly level more. Don't fall for the temptation of buying [Dexterity Increase (Small)] when it's probably possible to earn it with some easy title like the rest of them.

But man, am I glad that most of these are passives. I would never remember to use them all the time. And don't point out that [Parallel Thinking] has a higher level than [Concentration] despite me getting them at the same time, and [Concentration]'s an easier skill to level-up...

And yes, I was looking for a skill related to weaving to help my threads, but I found nothing! Must be some requirements I've yet to fulfill...

Now then, what about these tortoises? I've already stored the last guy, but these two are stuck in my failed birdlime web. Even [Spider Thread] can't remove this stickiness! Maybe I should make a fuse with a new thread to lead the fire to the goop? But then I would have charred tortoise for my next dinner. I'll rather stick to rats if that's the case.

Hmm? I picked up on something down the corridor. The path leading to Floor 1. And these guys... are bad news. [Magic Sight]'s going bananas.

I gave up on the glued tortoises and went into hiding. Then I saw the new guys that came... knights?

Greydra

Kigal-Note/Monsters/Reptiles: Glavras Bunkurtle

Description:

The heavyweight among the rank-and-file monster of the Water-Knot of Glavras Dungeon. The Glavras Bunkurtle is a solid guardian, both in ability and in mindset. They will guard the domain they are set to protect with their lives, or others' life, depending on the situation.

Appearance:

The Glavras Bunkurtle is a massive tortoise monster with a body of varying marine colors. Their heads are that of a snake, along with an elongated neck.

Abilities:

The Glavras Bunkurtle is focused on one thing: defense. However, their necks and jaws are respectively fast and strong enough to chew up any intruders, no matter how armored they are. Unless the "armor" is their shells.

The Bunkurtle also has a special pursuit ability of some kind, where they can catch up to almost any creature, despite their lacking speed.

Garami's comment: Wow. This thing's covered on almost all fronts.

[ARC 1] CHAPTER 10: IS IGNORANCE BLISS?

I peeked out from my hiding place, a large fissure in the wall. From there, I could see the newcomers.

Humans... or humanoids at least. They are wearing armor with helmets, so I can't see any characteristic that shows that they're humans or something similar, but there are no centaurs or tentacle-aliens at least. No female knights either...

The armor had the same white-and-gold theme, but looking closely, I can see some serious differences between the six of them.

There's one guy that looks like the model of Arthurian knights, complete with a cape and sword. But he's the most normal-looking one among all those guys.

A different guy's without weapons, but his gauntlets are so stupid-big that anyone else couldn't lift their arms if they had those equipped. Except for that, and some greaves on his legs, he's only wearing leather armor. Probably some pugilist or practitioner of martial arts. That's the feeling he gives.

Two other guys look like magicians that forcefully added armor to their robes. Is calling them "magic knights" alright? One of them looks more priest-ish, with the crosses decorating his armor. So, magician knight and priest knight? They're the ones with the biggest reactions from [Magic Sight], and the priest-looking one's got a golden-and-white aura to boot.

Musn't forget about the spear-wielding fellow. His armor's thinner than the others, probably designed to move around quickly. Even an amateur like me can see he's got some smooth movements.

Last in the group is the guy walking in front of the other one. But calling him a knight may be stretching it a little. He looks more like a thief with that huge mantle covering most of his body and how he's checking the ground like that. Only his helmet hidden underneath the hood and the metal boots, reveals that he's part of the same group.

The knight group kept on moving, closing in towards the glued tortoise-duo. Not that they moved with any haste. The... thief-knight(?), kept on checking the ground for potential traps and such, but after a while, they must have decided that it was safe.

So that's how pro Dungeon divers do it. Kinda feel like what I've been doing's been blasphemy towards the real adventures... but hey, I'm a monster! Why should I move like the humanoids?

While I was thinking about the difference between monsters and non-monsters, the knight group had started to investigate the tortoise duo.

Or, I think they're investigating it? They've taken out these wacky thingamajiggies... whatever they are. Looks like video cameras, or some scanning devices. There's mana in them, so... magic machines? No, that sounds wrong.

In any case, if those guys are so busy with their science project, let them be. I'm outta here! Having three of those tortoises in my Storage would kill my appetite for reptiles.

That, and they would rot before I could eat them all. Sometimes, meaning all the time, I wish that [Spatial Storage] had some time-freezing functions.

---

Some times after I ran away from the knight brigade, I arrived at a new crossroad of dilemma. A real crossroad! Okay, I'll stop joking.

The road is splitting into four, like the Greek letter Ψ (psi). The next floor is through the left-most upper road, while the first floor is the road at the bottom. The problem, however, is the middle- and right road at the top.

Both paths lead to a machine that needs to be bugged, but the right road is the most problematic. It's guarded by a freaking two-headed snake tortoise! I know that cause I saw it while exploring the floor on the first go. Ran away the moment I laid my eyes on the behemoth.

The middle path's better. Just your everyday frog hive... frog hotel? Frog society? A big area where the frogs in the area have made their official sleeping place.

The frogs are easy to slip by, but the behemoth is different. I can't reach the machine without reaching the end of my lifespan. Or can I?

This idea better work here. Now, where's a good stone when you need it?

---

"Zzzzz, quark, quark, quark. Zzzzz, quark, quark, quark."

What snoring sounds from these guys, er, frogs. Fine with me, as long as they don't wake themselves up.

I'm at the entrance of the cave that contains the Dungeon machine... and the hordes of sleeping frogs. Even a tortoise will have trouble with this amount of frog legs.

No problem for me though. I used a thread as a safety rope and traveled the cavern by walking on the wall. I needed to replace the thread as I walked, but in the end, I reached the machine.

*Click*

And there went the device!

"Zzzz, QUARK!"

Eek! What was that for!? One of the frogs made a loud noise all of a sudden. I was preparing for the worst, but it looks like it was only sneezing in its sleep. Don't scare me like that! But the stupid frog was already sleeping. Can frogs even sneeze? Weird.

I had no choice this time, as the timing of the frogs' sleeping hours matched my purpose brilliantly, but thinking about it, shouldn't I have thought of some plan B? Believing that I can hide with [Stealth] all the time will come back to bite me sooner or later.

... Let's get that class with the Skill Points from this floor's Quest. Getting the skill for increasing DEX won't cost me so much, and I can use Skill Points to force its level up. The only drawback is that I won't be getting any Skill Points when the skill reaches Lv.10 now, even if I make it reach that level naturally afterward, but with DEX being my most used stat, I'll have it reach Lv.20 when I get the Rogue class.

Since I need three more points for reaching 100 DEX, I need to spend 3 Skill Points to get [Dextrity Increase (Small)] at Lv.3. I've already completed the requirements of "Killing 10 or more beings undetected" thanks to the Shredder, or, in this case, having killed 10 or more beings before they could react.

Then there's the requirement of being in the presence of other creatures without being detected for a certain amount of time, but since I've been in stealth mode for most of my second life, I'm not that concerned about that one.

Wonder if the knight group has arrived yet. As I thought that, I reached the psi-crossroad... only to find the spoken devil... Sorry, I meant the knights.

Did they take a break before moving on? Or rather, they must have moved slowly due to seeing that there's something in this Dungeon that can create birdlime-like thread mass. That came back to bite me. Getting to check out if they're following my lead is a good thing, but damn that was close.

The thief-knight looked at the big rock that lent to the wall that divided the right- and middle tunnels. They started to discuss it with each other, so I sneakily came closer...

"... What is this supposed to be?" - Thief-knight

"It looks like some drawing...?" - Pugilist-knight

Oi! Why do you say that as a question?

"I can see that, but what's the drawing supposed to be?" - Thief-knight

"A... mouth?" - Spear-knight

"A hole?" - Magician-knight

"A takoyaki?" - Priest-knight

It's a treasure chest! The right path leads to freakin' treasures(lie)!!

"Who made this? And for what reason?" - Knight

"Don't ask me. It could be a trap made by the Dungeon... but which path should we take then?" - Thief-knight

"Logically, the path the drawing points towards would be the same one, and the other two would be filled with traps..." - Magician-knight

They're both safe! All of them are safe! If it wasn't for the inhabitants...

"... But what if the Dungeon's ruler knows about this way of thinking?" - Pugilist-knight

"He's right. If that is the case, then they would know that people would take the right path since they expect that one to be the trap-less one. So instead, they placed all the traps that could be placed on the two other tunnels in the right one, creating one bonafide death trap." - Spear-knight

Why are you guys complicating this so much!?!?

"... But why wouldn't the ruler of the Dungeon lay traps in all three tunnels?" - Priest-knight

"Ah!" - Knights

Are you stupid or something!? If they could do that, then they would have placed them by the entrance or something! ...Speaking of the devil, I haven't seen any traps either. Is this place bad with traps?

"No matter, we need to investigate the whole Dungeon. The leads tell us that guy is also here, so we need to look for him while working on conquering, or destroying, this Dungeon. Leave no stone unturned." - Knight

"Sir!"

With that, the knight group went to the right tunnel. Finally! I was getting impatient here.

I left the frog tunnel and left for the next floor. Good thing I overheard the knights also wanting to beat the Dungeon. That increases the odds of them placing the last device after beating the two-headed tortoise.

I even considered a moment to join the fight between them, as both sides will lose some life if they clash, bringing a good chance for obtaining some free, high-quality EXP. Although, it would probably end with me dead from a stray shot. I hope those art-haters get what they deserve!

... Wasn't this too easy? Getting to know the knights' plans and all that? Must be overthinking this. I mean, after all my worries, why shouldn't I have a stroke of luck sometimes?

---

- The knights' PoV -

"Was that good enough?" - Priest-knight

"I think so, but one can never know for sure." - Knight

The knight group, an adventurer party that called themselves "The Grail Knights", walked through the Dungeon tunnel while discussing the monster that had tried to keep itself hidden from them.

"This better work. I hate acting." - Pugilist-knight

"No worries. The spider in question was skillful and intelligent enough to take care of two, maybe more, rank E monsters on its own. And from the information we got from the party before, this creature must have the same thoughts about this place as we do." - Magician-knight

The knights had already discovered the existence of the spider monster of the Reha Zera race the moment the battle between it and the tortoises started. Who wouldn't notice a bunch of monsters making hell? Even if it was only the thief-knight that noticed them at first.

"It's better to have a local work with the sabotage of this monstrosity. Even with temperature regulating armors, we will not be able to explore much of this place without proper logistic channels." - Knight

The knights had met up with the Cheerful Hunters party on their retreat from the Dungeon. When these two parties met up, the Hunters told the Grail Knights the way to enter the Dungeon, saving them some time and resources.

Due to that, the knights have quite the fair share of goods left in their Item Bags and Storage skills, but not enough to explore a Dungeon of unknown size. Some of the more famous Dungeons could have 50, if not 100 floors and areas.

Due to that, adventurers that go Dungeon diving anticipate having to stay in the Dungeon for weeks, if not months. The number of materials needed for that is way more than a search for some mystery item that produces the drought.

"Just hope that the little bugger stays clear of that guy." - Spear-knight

"True. That guy is known to hate Darkness attribute creatures." - Magician-knight

"We got to meet up with the Cheerful Hunters by following his tracks, but seriously, I wanna throw him in the slammer more than anything." - Pugilist-knight

"Ssh. Something's up there." - Thief-knight

The thief-knight hushed his colleagues and pointed forward, to the exit of the tunnel. As silent as their noise-reducing armors allowed them, the Grail Knights walked towards the exit of the tunnel.

What they found was a massive cave that contained not only a device bigger than the ones they had seen on their way through the second floor but also a massive tortoise, possibly three times as big as the other specimens that they discovered. The biggest difference between it and them was that the larger tortoise had two snakeheads.

"It's sleeping... right?" - Spear-knight

"... Dan, get a sleep spell ready. Cent, you place a soundproof barrier." - Knight

"The same procedure as the last time?" - Dan (Priest-knight)

"The same procedure as every time." - Cent (Magician-knight)

"Herman, Wulf, you're taking care of the left one. I will take the right." - Knight

"Got it." - Herman (Spear-knight)

"Oki-doki." - Wulf (Pugilist-knight)

"Emel, you-" - Knight

"'Look out for any reinforcements', I get it." - Emel (Thief-knight)

With all their roles decided, the knights moved out. In order not to create any disturbances, Dan and Cent matched their timing and released their magic spells. Soon after, the cave of the two-headed tortoise was covered in a pale green barrier, while the tortoise itself was covered in white sparkles that made it fall deeper into sleep.

Herman struck the sleeping left head with his spear and Wulf used the force of his massive gauntlets to smash the spear further into the tortoise's head. They had gotten the idea of this "combination move" from watching people building wooden buildings with nails and hammers.

In the meanwhile, the leader knight had effortlessly decapitated the remaining head, showing off the difference in skill between him and the other two. Not that they cared about it. It was a clear fact that their leader was heads and shoulders above them in combat power. The leader knight made a gesture to Cent and the silence-inducing barrier was turned off.

"Alright Emel, we'll take over for you." - Knight

"The luggage is my responsibility after all." - Emel

Emel the thief-knight switched guard duty with the three physical knights and started to store the corpse of the two-headed tortoise in his Storage skill. Meanwhile, Cent and Dan went to the big machine in the back to place the last device needed to complete the Quest.

"This went smooth. So now what?" - Wulf

"We're going to the next floor after those three are finished. There's something I want to confirm." - Knight

"As expected of our great leader. And, the reason is...?" - Herman

"Checking out why the Black Baron is in this Dungeon." - Knight

"Oh, good idea. I knew he had a base out here, but still..." - Herman

"Then there's the question of why he had the base here at all." - Knight

"Wasn't he searching for the source of the drought? Just like us?" - Wulf

"And how did he know where the potential source was?" - Knight

"Fair point." - Herman

"Not that many people wouldn't notice the connection of a 'dried-out region' and a 'Dungeon that's got more moisture than anything else we've ever seen." - Knight

"As expected of Percel! You notice stuff like that fast!" - Wulf

"Well, you have to either be some idiot or having lived in this place for all of your life for not noticing that." - Herman

"Or maybe both." - Wulf

"Like that spider-thingy from before? It looked like it didn't notice we had noticed it." - Herman

"A local idiot could be just what we need to close down this place. I just hope that it steers clear of the Black Baron. He's a complete Darkness-attribute monster hater..." - Percel (Leader knight)

---

- Back to Garami -

Hmm, that's not too bad of a skill those dinos have... even if it hurts me to admit it... who would have thought that getting [Discern] to a high enough level to see rank E creature's skills would backfire like thi-hi-hi-haaAA-CHOOO!

*Sniff*. Is someone talking behind my back? Impossible. My reputation as a phantom demon would be worth nothing if that was true.

Keep on the good work! Plant tracking devices on the second floor of the Dungeon. This time, try to plant them on the floor's important locations. It is suspected that the second floor has certain facilities that are crucial for the Dungeon.

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

You have earned 2.0 Skill Points

Due to "Champion of Alvatria", an additional 2.0 Skill Points were earned.

Quest Clearance EXP acquired.

Chain Quest unlocked: [Bug the Knot (III)]

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Level has increased. Reached Lv.8

You have earned 0.2 Skill Points

Due to "Champion of Alvatria", an additional 0.2 Skill Points were earned.

Finally! I was afraid that I had to go back and finish the job myself. A scroll-like thing appeared in front of me, probably the reward, so I stuffed it into my Storage to use at a later date.

After seeing off the knights towards the floor boss, I went straight to Floor 3 to make a base, but I got sidetracked when [Discern] reached Lv.15 all of a sudden. Looking at those dinos that populate the floor used so much time that I forgot about buying the skills I wanted. Now I can... wait a sec. I level-upped again, didn't I? Then...

I knew it! 101! One more than I needed! And without buying the enhancement skill!

And why's my Karma Value fallen again? I could swear it was a negative 94 the last time I checked. Is it because I tricked those knights? Don't come and tell me that my drawings are so bad that I got a decrease in my Karma Value because of that!?

*Sulk*. I'm gonna make myself a nest and cry a little in my bed before picking the class. That, and for some reason, I've got the feeling that someone's staring at me. It gives me the shivers, so I wanna stay somewhere safe when focusing on the Skill Shop. So, what type of home does the miss want? Just kidding~.

---

...

"TARGET HAS INITIATED STEALTH-ABILITY. TARGET LOST. RETURNING TO BLACK BARON FOR FURTHER ORDERS. PROMISE SAVED IN DATABANK. WILL KILL SPIDER-BASED DEMONIC BEING." - ???

Greydra

Kigal-Note/Monsters/Reptiles: Glavras Duortoise

Description:

The Glavras Duortoise is an evolution of the Glavras Bunkurtle. It's twice as big, twice as smart, twice as nasty, and more than twice as dangerous. Just 'caution' won't help against this walking fortress.

Appearance:

Like its previous evolution, the Glavras Duortoise is a massive tortoise monster with a body of varying marine colors. They have two serpentine heads and necks, giving them an appearance similar to a lesser-ranked Hydra monster.

Abilities:

The Glavras Duortoise has everything that makes the Glavras Bunkurtle a pain in the ass. High defense, powerful jaws, pursuit-type skills to catch up with prey, you name it.

Including the mentioned abilities, the Duortoise's self-recovery abilities are in a league of their own. It can grow a new limb in less than an hour even without the help of any skills it may have.

They also have access to Counter skills that enhances the power and speed of their attacks after being dealt damage, so the Duortoise only needs to tank hits after hits until it is 'charged up' enough to take out the enemy in one swipe.

Garami's comment: That two-headed thing was that dangerous!? Talk about a close call!

[ARC 1] CHAPTER 11: FOR EVERY ROGUE, THERE'S AN EVIL EYE

There we go. A nice, safe hideout, located on one of the hills sticking out of the Dungeon walls. I kinda wanted to set up camp in the same place as before, but it's too far away? Why so? 'Cause I wanna bust open a can of Rogue-action right this instant!

Alright, people (meaning me) have waited for this moment for too long, so here we go!

R-O-G-U-E... there! It's ready to be sold! Well then, don't mind if I do...

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Do you want to buy the class: [Rogue] from the Skill Shop for 5 Skill Points?

Y/N

Yes, I wanna buy the Rogue class.

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

WARNING:

By buying the [Rogue] class, it will be set as your Main Class.

Do you still want to buy the class: [Rogue]?

Y/N

Yes, I know that it will be my main class. That's the point, for Pete's sake!

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

WARNING:

Do you really want the [Rogue] class as your Main Class?

Y/N

SO ANNOYING! Yes, I do. So give me the class already!

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

[Rogue] has been set as your Main Class.

Through having [Rogue] as the Main Class at Lv.1; acquired skill: [Lightwalk Lv.1]

Through having [Rogue] at Lv.1; acquired skill: [Parkour Lv.1]

Through having [Rogue] at Lv.1; acquired skill: [Ambush Lv.1]

There we go! Aren't all these safety protocols annoying for people in this world? No matter, I've taken a large step towards the path of obtaining the evolution to Kur Kigal... I think.

Even in the slightest chance that I'm all wrong about the evolution requirements, the fact that the Rogue class fits me like a glove doesn't change.

The class allows me to buy previously unobtainable skills that have a connection to sneaking, thievery, trap-creation, and other roguish activities.

It also increases the growth of the SPD and DEX stats... while the increase is pretty minuscule. Better than having the growth of other stats reduced, I guess.

The class isn't exactly helpful in tanking a blow, but so what? 'It's not scary if it doesn't hit' after all. I just need to make that line true. I'm not saying it will be easy, but that's a life I've been living up until now anyway.

Even the skills I got from the class are telling me not to fight as a vanguard. [Parkour] is a skill that enhances one's movement abilities. [Climbing] didn't get integrated into this one 'cause the former also includes techniques for climbing, not just improving the movements while doing so.

[Ambush] gives my attacks an extra oomph when launching a sneak attack. And [Lightwalk] reduces my weight while in use. That one has hidden potentials alright.

Now then, that's the skills I've just obtained, but there's more to come. First off, I wanna use that Skill Scroll I obtained from the Chain Quest. Just gotta take it outta my Storage, and then... how am I supposed to use this thing? Too bothersome. [Identification]!

A Skill Scroll that grants the Resistance Skill: [Fear Resistance].

How to use: apply magic power on the opened scroll.

And of course, there's no instruction manual... or there is!? Way to take someone off-guard, [Identification]. The reason why it lacks a "quality value" must be 'cause any such scrolls will give the user the skill in question.

Okay, now to use it... is applying my magic power on it the same as when I use [Aura of Darkness]? Only one way to find out... don't break on me now, scroll.

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Acquired skill: [Fear Resistance Lv.1]

It worked! Wait, if applying magic power is that easy, why do you need a skill that lets you control it to use magic? Ah, 'cause making it appear is different from finely controlling it.

The matter with magic can wait for later. I need to consider what skills I'm gonna take. Let's see, with [Parkour] in mind, I should refrain from picking skills such as the frogs [Jump], and the [Running] skill that the dinosaur monsters living on this floor have. They would just be sucked right into [Parkour].

Speaking of frogs, didn't some of them have the [Whipsmanship] skill? I need that one. And some more thread skills. I'm out of the sauna, so I'm free to use as many threads as possible now. But most of all, I need something to help me with this.

Floor 3 of the Water-Knot of Glavras contains a special breed of trees, unique to the Dungeon. They must be part of the Dungeon's machinery.

Bring back some samples of 30 of these trees. A big branch of each is enough.

The branches themselves are no problem, but running away from the whole floor that loves the fruits from those trees, and would terminate anything that tries to harm them, that's could become a problem.

Good thing that getting around without being noticed is kinda my specialty. Still, I wanna have something that can help me with this one. Skills that help you collect stuff are handy either way. Let's see...?

Wait, if you get both skills and classes from the Skill Shop, and you can use the skills you already have to search for new skills... then what if you search using your class?

Let's try... it worked! But geez, just four? [Lockpicking], [Lip Reading], [Eavesdropping], and [Odorless]? Wait, you know what, that last one sounds kinda logical. I'll buy that one. The other three sound more like humans in the city rather than for a monster in a Dungeon, so I'll shelve them for now.

As for something to help me with the Quest, how about something like... this... or maybe this... oh, this one looks nice... yeah, this is gonna take a while...

---

A while later, and I'm ready for action! I've pruned 5 trees already as test runs. I used 7 points to get 4 new skills, one of them being [Odorless], and this is the result:

[Health Increase (Small) Lv.3] UP1 [MP Auto-Recovery Lv.6] UP1 [Strength Increase (Small) Lv.20]

[Vitality Increase (Small) Lv.9]

[Aura of Darkness Lv.11] [Heresy Modification Lv.3] UP1 [Stealth Lv.13] UP1 [Silence Lv.7] UP2

[Odorless Lv.2]1Needed 1 Skill Point. NEW [Camouflage Lv.13] [Intimidation Lv.1] [Lightwalk Lv.3] NEW

[Thread Control Lv.13] UP2 [Cutting Thread Lv.7] [Piercing Thread Lv.1]2Needed 2 Skill Points. NEW [Spatial Storage Lv.1]

[Whipsmanship Lv.1]3Needed 3 Skill Points. NEW [Threadsmanship Lv.22] UP2 [Throwing Lv.13] UP3 [Aiming Lv.6] UP3

[Evasion Lv.2] [Parkour Lv.4] NEW [Climbing Lv.10] UP4 [Concentration Lv.7] UP2 [Ambush Lv.1] NEW

[Battle Continuation Lv.1] [Darkness Reinforcement Lv.17] [Debuff Reinforcement Lv.8]

[Gathering Lv.5]4Needed 1 Skill Point. NEW [Vital Point Knowledge Lv.2] [Parallel Thinking Lv.9] UP2

[Auto-Mapping Lv.6] UP1 [Language Adaption]

[Darkness Resistance Lv.5] [Poison Resistance Lv.9] [Heretic Resistance Lv.7] UP2

[Heretic Immunity Lv.2] [Fear Resistance Lv.1] NEW

[Night Vision Lv.18] [Danger Sense Lv.22] [Identification Lv.26] UP2 [Discern Lv.16] UP3

[Magic Sight Lv.22] UP1

Not bad, right? [Gathering] is a skill that helps you collect items and stuff easier. It's best to say you instinctively know the best way to harvest, pick up, or collect an item. It works wonders with other gathering skills, according to the Note. The [Piercing Thread] skill works in the same way as the cutting-variant. The only difference is that you stab with the thread instead of slashing.

As said before, my work on the other trees has been relatively painless... except for when I misjudged the MP consumption of the new [Lightwalk] skill. My poor head...

However, all those were simple no-name trees, located on the Floor's most forsaken places. No monsters would wanna spend time or energy watching over those. Meaning that this is the real deal. There's bound for something to come once I start working on this tree. Better ready myself for anything that may happen...

---

I arrived at the targeted tree. It stood tall in a pool of river water. Maybe the reason why the Quest involved the trees' because they're connected to the Dungeon in some way? Not my problem, as long as I get paid here.

Are there any big bad monsters here? Left, clear. Right, clear. Back, clear. Front? Only the tree. We're ready to go!

I threw a thread up to the tree and pulled myself up with [Thread Control]. When I landed, I made sure to use [Lightwalk] and [Silence] to reduce the amount of noise as much as possible. It worked... to a certain degree. Not enough to catch the attention of anyone in the city, but you can never know in this stupid-large, empty area. Which is also located underground, in case you had forgotten. Sounds down here can travel damn far.

Let's take another look. Nothing west, nor east, and south... ugh! Dinos at 6 o'clock! No, the two of them are just passing by. They're not even looking over here. I'll wait for them to walk away... two? Don't those guys travel in a herd of three?

*Crash!*

The bad feeling came true! The third dino had crashed into the tree from the other side! Not to mention it has the skills to slip through the [Danger Sense] radar until it came this close...

The dino used its clawed legs to climb the tree more skillfully than I had expected, I climbed higher up the tree in hope of the dino slipping on the thinner branches. Unfortunately, this guy's got some smarts. It doesn't climb higher than the branches that could withstand its weight. We're at a standstill-.

*SPLASH!*

Wha-!? Water? Where did... the remaining dinos! They came back! It's a freaking trap!

The two dinos stayed on the "shore" and spewed blasts of water from their mouths, so I had to use the limited space at the top of the tree to dodge the blasts. And below me is the climbing dino, ready to snap me up, or in half, the moment I lose my grip.

Fine then! Take some [Aura-]-yikes! Now even this guy's starting barfing water blasts at me! Then, what about some thread... nope. I almost got hit by a blast from the shore. Then should I go personal with a venomous bite? Nah, the dino can just jump into the pool with me along with it.

Urgh, this is bad. There's no way out... unless I get a little drastic...

I jumped back from the latest water blast and ended up on the tip of a branch, barely able to hold me. The dinos saw this and wasted no time. The two on the shore tried to keep me at that place with their bombardment, while the third one climbed higher up.

I tried to fight back, but the constant bombardment kept me from doing anything except clinging on the tree branch for my dear life. Before I could act, the climbing dino reached the branch I was on, and-!

Cut it. In one swipe. Damn those claws are sharp. That's was all I could think of while falling into the pool below. The dino looked pretty smug about his action... sucker!

*Splash!*

---

*Cough, cough* bleah. I must have swallowed half the river...

The plan worked. A brilliant escape. The dinos have no idea that I could escape the river torrents after getting dropped into the water like that. The trick is simple; I made an opening with [Spatial Storage] big enough to store all the river water flowing towards me, while also making an opening on the other side, which resulted in a current-less area of the river. Then I just needed to pull myself back on land with my threads.

This strategy was only possible due to my body being incapable of sinking. I'm like a lifebuoy. That, and because I already knew about the topography of this floor. Spending a long time on this floor worked out in the end for me. It's a strategy that only I could use.

Still, no matter how brilliant (or whatever you want to call it) my plan was, this was my first real defeat... and it ended with one of the worst experiences ever. Imagine that you're riding the biggest, baddest waterslide ever, but inside a laundry machine... that was running at max speed.

The only good thing is that the pool part of the "ride" was relatively calm, so I could get a grip over the situation before being thrown into the currents, but damn, that's an experience I don't wanna relive. I crashed into the rocks in the river, I was afraid that my HP would reach 0 before I could activate [Spatial Storage]. It's a miracle that I could keep my breath for so long under those circumstances.

If I ever get a humanoid body, the first thing I'll do is to get the [Swimming] skill. I mean, if there's a skill for jumping and running, then one has to expect a swimming skill as well.

I tried to look after one before, but I couldn't find one even with 7 Skill Points. It must be my body's fault. It's not screaming "swimming athlete" or something.

As for why that dino manage to bypass my [Danger Sense], it's because of one of the skills it had. I got a look at it while falling from the tree. It was [Sneak], the moving version of [Hiding]. Oh, and why I know that is because [Stealth] is the combined, evolved version of the two former skills.

[Sneak] or no [Sneak], it was pathetic of me not to notice the dino. And here I was so proud of becoming a Rogue...

There are two problems with the current me that led to the defeat by the dinos before, and it will bite me in the future if I don't resolve them.

"If you know yourself and your enemy, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles", was it? Those are famous words from Sun Tzu, so let's honor them now.

I'll go over them while chewing on the recovery herbs that I've got stored. They sometimes pop up as mutations along with the more dangerous types such as the Crackerberries, so only someone with [Identification] like me would even think of picking them up.

My first problem is that my detection abilities are too weak. I can notice any sneaking bastards easily with [Magic Sight] and [Danger Sense], but the moment they use a hiding-type skill, I'm doomed. To think my worst enemy would be the same type as myself.

I can fix this by getting some skills that specialize in countering hiding skills, but I won't be aiming for those right now. The reason lies in the Rogue class.

Like skills, classes award the owner with something when it reaches a level that's a multiple of 10. The difference is that classes awards skills instead of Skill Points. And one of the skills the Rogue class gives is called [Discovery].

The effects of that skill can be considered the nemesis of my build. It reacts to anything that tries to stay hidden, skill, or no skill. Just how much you can discover is determined by the level of the skill, but even so, it's just what I needed to solve this problem.

So, solution nr.1: train the Rogue class like there's no tomorrow!

The second problem is my lack of power. When faced against the dinos without any threads or plans, I was a sitting duck... or a sitting spider. Looking at it logically, the dino monsters have a racial rank of E while I'm an F+.

I've beaten cookies tougher than me before, but that was when I had a plan, several traps, the element of surprise, and a damn big portion of luck on my side. Another thing to point on is that all my fights were either defensive battles or battles which I started with a trap or some other advantage.

This time, however, I was the one initiating the attack. And I failed miserably. I may be strong against individuals, but place me against a group that works to defend an area, and I'm not worth even a penny.

Therefore, I need firepower. I've only focused on my strong points of traps, webs, and debilitating, but I lack something that literally packs a punch. Therefore, I need to find a way to produce the said punch.

It could be easily done by farming EXP and evolve again, but since my goal is to evolve into the Kur Kigal race, or something similar to it, picking an evolution just for its battle prowess would be like putting the carriage before the horse. If I have no other choice, then I have to do so, but let's not do anything too hasty.

Ugh, I'm beat... Wonder how my HP is holding? Maybe some of my less popular skills got something outta this? Then the whole first-loss deal will be a little more bearable.

[Health Increase (Small) Lv.5] UP2 [MP Auto-Recovery Lv.6] [Strength Increase (Small) Lv.20]

[Vitality Increase (Small) Lv.11] UP2

[Aura of Darkness Lv.11] [Heresy Modification Lv.3] [Stealth Lv.13] [Silence Lv.7]

[Odorless Lv.2] [Camouflage Lv.13] [Intimidation Lv.1] [Lightwalk Lv.4] UP1

[Thread Control Lv.13] [Cutting Thread Lv.7] [Piercing Thread Lv.2] UP1 [Spatial Storage Lv.1]

[Whipsmanship Lv.1] [Threadsmanship Lv.22] [Throwing Lv.13] [Aiming Lv.6]

[Evasion Lv.3] UP1 [Parkour Lv.4] [Climbing Lv.10] [Concentration Lv.9] UP2 [Ambush Lv.1]

[Battle Continuation Lv.1] [Darkness Reinforcement Lv.17] [Debuff Reinforcement Lv.8]

[Gathering Lv.5] [Vital Point Knowledge Lv.2] [Parallel Thinking Lv.11] UP2 [Auto-Mapping Lv.6]

[Language Adaption]

[Darkness Resistance Lv.5] [Poison Resistance Lv.9] [Heretic Resistance Lv.7]

[Heretic Immunity Lv.2] [Fear Resistance Lv.2] UP1

[Night Vision Lv.18] [Danger Sense Lv.22] [Identification Lv.26] [Discern Lv.16]

[Magic Sight Lv.22]

Not that big of an increase... but this is in a short time pocket, so it's not bad?

Hmm? Karma Value of a negative 102? How did... ah. My escape plan could be better from the System's point of view as well, huh.

Crazy plans or judging Systems aside, this is perfect! A negative 100 on my Karma Value is just what I needed for 'those' skills!

But first, let's deliver the branches before picking 'that' skill. Along with the branch that the dino was so 'kindly' to cut off for me, I retrieved the other 2 branches that I hadn't delivered yet from my storage and started fiddling with the Quest controls to send them to the Quest giver... or wherever they're sent to.

A magic circle appeared underneath the branches and disappeared into it... except for one!? Wait, why!? Is there something wrong with the quality? The Quest description didn't say anything about... 19/30 branches delivered?

Is the knight group working overtime? No, that's not it. Since the remaining branch is too dry to be the one that I just got, and it's not been that long ago since I obtained the fifth branch either, so I know that tree ain't missing any branches... I think

So, by the process of elimination, the branch that remains would be from practice tree nr.4. This is strange, as it's the tree that's the farthest from the entrance to Floor 2, meaning there's a low probability that it's the knight group who are also playing gardener.

As I've secured the rewards for this Quest already, why not see who this gardener is? But first, I wanna pick the skill I still miss. So...

Initial Skills selection:

Numbers of initial Skill slots remaining: 1

Search for Skills: [EVIL EYE SKILL!!]

Available Skills:

WOW! More than I hoped for. I think we can skip the last three, they sound more to be used on humans than on monsters. And that fear-eye ain't worth wasting one of my bonus skills on. I've got [Intimination] already. Even if I don't use it that much.

The two attack-type eyes must be the darkness-eye and the... grudge-eye? The latter one is more of a pseudo-attack, but even [Aura of Darkness] can't reduce the Life Stats. It's probably due to the Aura that those two skills popped up though. I mean, there aren't any fire-eyes or heretic-eyes here after all. Or maybe it was that Technique User title?

The remaining four options aren't that bad either, as they can stop any charging monsters dead in their tracks in many different ways. So, the question is, do I want attack-power or an improved method to trap monsters without needing any preparations?

...It gotta be that one. I'll take that, then go and investigate my potential new competitors. Wonder who they are?

---

"Faster, you idiots, FASTER! Get those trees a new haircut already, or I'll give you a new CUT!"

"But sir, we do not have hair to shorten."

"And I look snazzy as a cueball."

"I didn't say anything about hair."

......

"Get those trees pruned right now!"

"Yeah! And cut off those branches while you're at it!"

"Urgh, why do I have to deal with these rustbuckets? And you, are you sure you saw that demon?"

"AFFIRMATIVE."

"So, a Darkness attribute demon, only found in the jungle, is inside an underground Dungeon filled with Water attribute monsters?"

"AFFIRMATIVE. DUE TO LACKING EQUIPMENT, FAILED TO EXTERMINATE THE PEST. REQUESTS FOR HIGHLY EXPLOSIVE INCINERATOR ROUNDS."

"Are you trying to burn the whole Dungeon to ashes with us still inside!? You are on guard duty for the rest of this operation! Warn me if anything tries to approach us."

"AFFIRMATIVE."

"Good. Then-"

"REPORT. A GROUP OF KNIGHTS, PROBABLY DEFECTORS FROM THE AVALAR KINGDOM, HAVE BEEN SEEN ENTERING THIS FLOOR OF THE DUNGEON."

"WHAT?! Why didn't you say anything?!"

"THIS UNIT WAS NOT ON GUARD DUTY UNTIL NOW. EXTERMINATION OF PESTS MORE IMPORTANT."

"Ughnaaaagh!!"

Greydra

Kigal-Note/Monsters/Dinosaurs: Glavras Slipraus

Description:

The Glavras Slipraus is a dinosaur monster that travels in groups of three. These groups are formed during their childhood and grow into an unbreakable trio that can face off against the strongest of opponents. These dinosaurs also have a great inborn sense of justice, and they would betray even their creator if they deem them unworthy of their loyalty.

Appearance:

The Glavras Slipraus has the appearance of a raptor dinosaur monster, similar to the Jungle Raptor. They have scaley skin, long claws, sharp fangs, and fast legs. Their arms are too short to be considered battle potential, but they're just the right size for everyday objectives.

The Glavras Slipraus' scales are of marine colors, granting them a primitive camouflage in their home Dungeon's tunnels. They also have special fins, similar to those of Flying Fishes, on their ankles and wrists, which they can use to help them when they're swimming.

Abilities:

The strength of the Glavras Slipraus lies in their teamwork and speed. These dinosaur monsters are one of the fastest in their home Dungeon, and they have an incredible ability to run even on wet surfaces, or top of water even if that's necessary.

The real strength of the Glavras Slipruases is their unerring teamwork. With just simple eye contact, they can understand the plans and tactics of their brethren, making them a formidable opponent to fight against as a group.

Garami's comment: No matter how big-hearted they are, I can't see myself on the same team as them.

[ARC 1] CHAPTER 12: OF DEMONS AND MECHS

"Here's another branch, boss." - Stickman-ish robot

"I can see that. So why are you not clearing the Quest with it?!" - Black-uniformed man(?)

"So sorry sir. It will be done right away." - Wheel robot

...Now I've seen it all. An army of small, ball-shaped robots with arms and legs are swarming the Dungeon in the hunt for tree branch-OUUCH!!

*Wheeze, wheeze*, sorry about that. My left eye's killing me. After I picked the Evil Eye skill of my choice, an intense pain assaulted my eye. I think it got crushed, then recreated, then crushed again, for then recreated, etc, etc...

This continued for around half an hour before I had adapted to the pain well enough to move on. And by "adapting" I mean that my newly acquired [Pain Resistance] reached a level well above Lv.10. It'll probably reach Lv.20 before the day's over...

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

[Pain Resistance] skill level has reached Lv.20.

You have earned 0.2 Skill Points

Due to "Champion of Alvatria", an additional 0.2 Skill Points were earned.

See! And the worst part is, the skill only allows you to resist succumbing to the pain. IT DOESN'T REDUCE THE PAIN AT ALL! What a sham! Ugh, sorry about this, but could we rather focus on the bots instead of my lamenting and pain?

The ball-bots, as I call them, are busy searching for trees... and aren't there too many of those ball-bots? I mean, it feels like they're multiplying by the second. I have a birds-eye view from the cliff I'm at now, so I'm sure that their numbers are increasing.

!? What the-? A large... printing press? It had that shape, but it wasn't making newspapers. Instead, tons of ball-bots were ejected outta the machine. Where do they find all the materials needed for this mass-production... rocks!? Simple rocks!? The older ball-bots are feeding the printing press with rocks they've broken off the Dungeon walls into the printing press, then a new ball-bot pops out a few seconds later.

So, it's not a machine, but some alchemy-item? I almost forgot; this is supposed to be a fantasy world, not a sci-fi one. Wonder what their stats are. With my current level on [Identification], I should reach... just barely...

I reached it. And the reward is... the strangest status page I've ever seen?

Its magic-related stats are zero, its INT is unnaturally low, its level is 10 despite being newborn... newmade, and its skills are unnaturally high as well. Then there's the strange race. "mdl" must mean "model", so the ball-bots are Machinerz of model BB.Sb-008? The eighth version of the BB.Sb series? I identified the rest of them, but they all had the same status page, all the way to their LUC.

If these are supposed to be... magical robots... then the low INT must be 'cause they're only supposed to follow the orders of their programmer... I think. In that case, the levels and skills these things have must be something like static levels. They're high-leveled the moment they are... made, but they cannot grow any stronger. Unless they get some upgrades.

The skill list mentioned a [Aether Engine] skill, so they could gain a "Rocket punch" skill if their inventor decided to add something like that. For them, skills equal functions.

There are some guys down there that look like commanders for the ball-bots... the Machinerz.

One is a slim robot with huge, halogen lamps for eyes on his slim face. I think it would be better to say that he was made of sticks. I call it a "he" due to his voice being masculine. The materials used on him looks like some rusty-yellow metal. His stats are...

[Aether Engine Lv.35] [Longlived Batteries Lv.44] [Hologram Eyes Lv.23] [Shredder Mouth Lv.35]

[Anti-Magic Plating Lv.11]

*Collapse*

OOOH!! Why does the first skill I've ever seen at the highest level has to be [Clumsiness]!? And wasn't the skills for these guys supposed to be static? According to his name, you would think that they would rather focus on the [Battle Continuation] skill, instead of [Escape].

Guess I'll never reach high as a scientist. At least, not someone that makes good hypotheses.

"Eh, boss. What's the point of getting the branches again?" - Scarecrow

"Scarecrow, didn't I explain it before we started all this?" - Black-uniformed man(?)

"... I forgot." - Scarecrow

*Clang* *Crash* *BANG!*

Ouch, that looked like it hurt. A whole toolkit right in the face...

"Seriously, Scarecrow, you need to stop bothering the Black Baron all the time." - Wheel robot

"And you need to stop slacking all the time, Breaker." - Black Baron (?)

There I got their names, but I still wanna see their stats. First is that "Breaker"-bot. The one who shifts from a humanoid robot into a robotic wheel when moving around.

He kinda looks like those wheel robots in the movie of a galaxy, far, far away. Even if he's only half the size of the Scarecrow guy, who should be around 180 cm, give or take.

"Breaker"'s torso is a disk with a silver outer rim and black sides. His head looks like it's part of the outer rim, along with two grey-famed, blue eyes. His neck is connected to the front of its torso and it looks like he can retract it to form a wheel with the rest of the disk-torso.

His shoulders are placed in the middle of the disk torso and the arms look like those mechanical arms that you see in factories, with four fingers. His legs are similar to the hindlegs of animals such as jaguars, probably to make it easier to withdraw if he goes into wheel form. His feet look like claws by the way. And his stats are...

[Aether Engine Lv.35] [Wheel Form] [Longlived Batteries Lv.42] [Hologram Eyes Lv.22]

[Shredder Mouth Lv.30] [Anti-Magic Plating Lv.11]

*Collapse*

Wait, "Breaker" as in "taking a break"!? You gotta be kidding with me! Just forget it.

Then there's the only... fleshy guy in charge. the "Black Baron", as the bots are calling him. It looks like he has a well-built body, around the same size as Scarecrow.

He's wearing militaristic garments, including a navy-blue jacket with gold buttons and two flaps hanging from the back, grey pants, black leather boots, and a black leather aviator cap, along with huge goggles that cover the upper half of his face. The lower half is covered with his grey beard and mustache.

And the "Baron"'s stats are-

"Sir, Assault has come over a problem." - Breaker

"Ugh. What does that bucket of warmonger-bolts have to say now?" - Black Baron(?)

Oh? Sounds like something important happened. Let's eavesdrop.

"Well, there is a problem with the final tree, located in the center of the floor. A group of what appears to be the evolved form of the raptor-like dinosaur monsters we have encountered on this floor have gathered in that area." - Breaker

"So, the Floor Boss decided to take matters into its own claws. Just have Assault crush them all." - Black Baron (?)

"But sir... all those evolved specimens are classified as the Floor Boss." - Breaker

"WHAT!?" - Black Baron(?)

EEEEHH!? How did that happen!? Is the Floor Boss some hive-mind with the other evolved dinos?

"Hehehe. Even the big bad Assault can't do anything about that." - Scarecrow

"As if you could. Wait a minute, that's supposed to be no challenge for that mechanical muscles for brains." - Black Baron (?)

"It seems his logic circuits cannot decide which dinosaur to target first, as they all have the same amount of strength." - Breaker

"Now that's just... they're the same?" - Black Baron (?)

"It says so in the report." - Breaker

"Damn my luck. Tell that idiot that I'll go and take charge, so just shoot whichever of those monsters he gets his sights on. Urgh, I should have just left him here instead of trying to 'optimize' his punishment. That's what I get for not installing a better Intelligence Chip into that guy." - Black Baron (?)

"Why didn't ya do that boss?" - Scarecrow

"Because, if someone with that much firepower gets too smart, there will be a robot uprising! You don't need to be a genius to understand that." - Black Baron (?)

"... Robot uprising?" - Scarecrow and Breaker

"Yeah. What about it?" - Black Baron (?)

"... Nothing...*Grin*" - Scarecrow and Breaker

"And don't get any ideas or I'll recycle you both into waste-management-bots." - Black Baron (?)

"Eww." - Scarecrow and Breaker

I concur. Eww at the highest level.

The Baron then bordered a machine that was hidden behind the bot-press... is that an airboat? It looks like a cross of one and a car, except for being a one-seater. The wheels look like propels as well...!?

The wheels changed position, turned into... some sort of anti-gravitational propels or something. It's a real, deal, hovercraft!? Oi, why are someone like that baron allowed in this world!? He should rather be in some sci-fi one instead!

"I'll go and take command over Assault's troop myself. You two nincompoops can start readying the explosives across this floor. Activate them when I give the order." - Black Baron (?)

"Roger!" - Scarecrow and Breaker

Wait! I haven't identified the baron yet! ..."Explosives"? Ah, the baron's getting away! Come back!

"Alright, bomb-bots. Place the spheres all over the floor." - Scarecrow

"You're talking backward again." - Breaker

Argh! I need to stop those bombs first! Grr, just you wait, you stupid baron! The next time I see you, I'll wrap you up like a bagworm!!

---

The Black Baron's PoV:

Where's that stupid hunk of junk?

*KA-BOOM!!*

"Ah, there he is. And a note to self: even if I can't give him some extra INTs, let's try to add some patience into that trash-heap when I get back to the lab." - Black Baron

I steered the Hovermobile to the explosions, and guess what I found: A yellow and black humanoid robot, looking no different than a human wearing full-plate armor. Armor with huge barrels attached to the gauntlets, a huge jetpack, and claws for feet.

It's Assault, surrounded by the remains of my Spherebots! Who did that? Oh, the answer's obvious. The army of evolved dinosaurs. They look like bigger, more feathery versions of the small raptors that kept on trying to eat me when we entered the floor.

"AETHER BULLETS INEFFICIENT ON ARMY OF OPPONENTS. MOVING TO 'GUNS FESTIVAL' MODE-" - Assault

"Stop that, you scrap-for-brains! Those aren't even real. They're avatars made of magic. Why else do you think you're the only one unscratched?" - Black Baron

"THIS ASSAULT IS LEAGUES OVER SIMPLE SPHEREBOTS. THERE IS NO WAY I COULD BE DEFEATED BY SOMETHING OF THIS LEVEL." - Assault

"That's because of the-! Tch, forget it! Just aim for the real Floor Boss and ignore the trash." - Black Baron

"NEGATIVE. THIS UNIT SHOULD NOT PERFORM SUCH A COWARDLY ACTION." - Assault

"Do you wanna be recycled into a non-lethal machine?" - Black Baron

"COWARDLY ACTION INITIATED." - Assault

Assault has finally started to search for the real pest-boss amongst the pest-boss-counterfeits. If he only stopped wasting ammo on blowing away the copies he easily could slip through... no matter. We'll be finished before dinner at this pace. Just you wait, Glavras. Just you wait!

"Just wait till I get my hands on you, you damn, backstabbing, debt-escaper!!" - Black Baron

"What debt?" - ???

"The debt that snake of a rat has with me after I modified that Dungeon Core of his! If he's not gonna pay me back, then he can say goodbye to his precious Dungeon! O-hohohoho!! ...Huh? Who was-?" - Black Baron

*KA-BANG!*

"Giyaaaa!! Who's firing magic on people right in the middle of a question?!" - Black Baron

Was it the floor boss? No, it's occupied with Assault. Then... ah! That knight armor!

"You're Percel! The no-good knight that was kicked out from Avalar." - Black Baron

"Watch your words! You make it sound like they kicked me out because I was useless, not because I left due to their horrible treatment of non-humans." - Percel

"Good point. But whaddya want anyway?" - Black Baron

"Let's see, looking for the cause of the drought that terrorizing the region, taking down this Dungeon, trying to haul the main culprit for this whole shebang to the court... you know, nothing much. Right, mastermind, the Black Baron?" - Percel

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there. It's the guy, er, the snake that made this place that you should have a beef with. Don't invite me to any grill parties I have nothing to do with." - Black Baron

"Yeah, right. And your modifications aren't what made all this happen?" - Gauntlet knight on Percel's team

*Beep*

"We-he-he-he-ell, don't say it like that..." - Black Baron

Seems like I can't fast-talk myself outta this jam. Better try to drag this out until the Spherebots around the floor react to the homing beacon...

*Ka-BOOOM!* *Ra-tatatatata*

"DESTROY! DESTROY!!" - Assault

That guy's not gonna be of any help before he's tired of playing with the Floor Boss. Urgh, this day can't be any worse than this.

---

Garami's PoV

I quickly stepped aside for the rolling robot and turned around to face it. The bot stopped its roll to reposition itself, so I'm doing my attack before it can do so. The thread in my hand made a sharp sound as I whipped it towards the head. The ball-bot tried to catch the incoming thread as if it was a sword. Can he do it? Can this no-name robot manage the impossible?!

*Slip*

*Crash!*

Nope. No good. The thread's too thin to be caught by someone as uncoordinated as the ball-bot. And I used both [Whipsmanship] and [Threadsmanship] to help me maneuver the thread. And even if he did catch the thread, I could use [Thread Control] to wrap him up in a moment.

Just add some [Cutting Thread] to the binding... not that I didn't use it from the very beginning. Whip-users around the world would kill for an ability like that. There's probably something similar already out there though. And more importantly...

*Crack*

There goes the detonator. As one could expect from a robot-making, mad scientist. Even the bombs are high-tech. They look like capsules with a timer attached. Thank god that the design is kinda similar to the ones from Earth.

And with that, the third bomb's taken care of! ...They're gonna explode before I reach all the bombs, right? I mean, there were more than 100 of those ball-bots that were armed with these bombs... I'm getting the shivers of having this thing out in the open, so let's seal it in the Storage.

As for the current problem, what shall I do? Just why did that stupid mustache-face have to order the demolishing of the Floor? Wait, wasn't there something else? Think Garami, think!

...That's it! He said; "Activate them when I give the order". Why did he order the bots to do it instead of doing the honor himself? With that get-up, I wouldn't be surprised if he had a serious case of vanity.

Considering the facts I have on hand, the answer must be that the Black Baron can't detonate them due to some security issues. Meaning that either the place the Baron was heading for was too dangerous to take the detonation switch with him, or the two sidekick bots have the power to safely guard the button... nah. That last one's impossible. It's better to expect that they have some sort of bodyguard with them.

Bodyguard or not, I need to take that switch from them, or else I can kiss this Floor goodbye. And the Chain Quest with it!!

---

"Rock-paper-scissors, shoot! Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!" - Scarecrow and Breaker

Someone's having a lot of free time, despite others (meaning me) had to run all the way back here!

"Shoot! Shoot-!? Aw, nooooo!!" - Scarecrow

"I win. Therefore, I shall activate the detonation switch." - Breaker

The detonation-, that remote control there? Where did I put my lasso thread?

"But, buttons..." - Scarecrow

"Now, now. Remember who won the game-" - Breaker

"I don't care. Button!" - Scarecrow

"Give me that back!" - Breaker

"Button!" - Scarecrow

"Back!" - Breaker

"Button!!" - Scarecrow

... Now they've started to fight over the remote control... I better steal it at once before they accidentally push the button.

I swung the thread over my head to gain more momentum, aimed at the controller, and when I saw the perfect opening, I threw the thread towards it. One detonator switch, coming-!

"Buttooooonn!!! *Splatt* Yiew! I've got slime on my beautiful face!" - Scarecrow

Damn that idiot! He got in the way for the remote!

"What was... Monster! Printerbot, get it!" - Breaker

And now they've noticed me... "Printerbot"?

I shouldn't have asked. The printing press that had produced the ball-bots before deformed itself, revealing its identity as another robot! Hey, you better be ready for the lawsuit regarding any copyright laws, you hear me!

And it's strong!? What's powering it up? The power of journalism?

Jokes aside, this thing's not that difficult to evade, even if I can't beat it. It's SPD and DEX is garbage compared to me. I just need to watch out for any surprise attacks, then find a good chance to go for the remote when that thing's losing its balance.

*Vrrrr...*

And what's with the lame-old machine sound? Is it an old model... why are you aiming your fist at me like that? There's like, a 20 meters length difference between the two of us.

*Ka-chang* *Crash!*

I called it! It was a freaking rocket punch! I saw it in your skill list, so don't try to act all innocent on me here!

The Printerbot retrieved its right arm through the cable that connected it to the rest body while making a stance for another rocket punch with the left. Screw SPD, that attack doesn't care about the stat at all! Time to get drastic.

The moment Printerbot shot out its left arm, I made a jump to dodge it and landed... on top of Printerbot's still withdrawing arm. I hitchhiked up to the big guy.

*Vrrrr!?*

It managed to make a "surprised" sound, but I haven't gotten the time to think about that. I jumped up to the bot's shoulder and leaped off the moment I reached it. I produced a new cutting thread, and with that in hand, I swung towards Breaker on the ground. Banzai!!

"Eek!" - Breaker

The bot dodged my slash, but he lost the remote while doing so. I tried to catch it, but Printerbot turned its torso 180 degrees around while keeping its left arm stretched out. I would have been swatted like a fly if I hadn't ducked at the right timing.

The remote was sent flying due to the force of the arm so I threw a new thread while keeping an eye on Printerbot and Breaker. Scarecrow was still blinded by the thread on his face, so no worries there.

"Oh no, you don't." - Breaker

Whoa, careful, you Sunday driver! That Breaker-guy used his wheel form and almost ran me over. These machines are heartless. I tried to move to where the remote should land, but Printerbot threw another rocket punch at me so I had to focus on dodging it.

While I was busy with the punch, Breaker used the bumps on the Dungeon floor to jump up in the air. I want to throw a thread his way, but Printerbot is in the way. Time for my secret weapon. Open the flood gates!

I activated [Spatial Storage] and released all the river water I had stored in it towards Printerbot. The pressure of the current was kept from when I stored it, so the force pushed Printerbot backward.

I opened another Storage, this time towards the ground where Breaker was running. I couldn't have the remote broken by the water pressure, so I had to be happy with a slippery floor instead.

"Whoa-whooooaaaaaa!!" - Breaker

Success! Now to take the remo-

"Got it!" - Scarecrow

Wha-!? Where did he come from!?

*Beep*

Huh?

"Touchdown!" - Scarecrow

*Crash!*

Wha-!?

"Eh!?" - Breaker

*Vrrr!?*

"A-ha. Oh yeah. Scarecrow's the best! ...What with you guys?" - Scarecrow

He-he threw the remote at the ground... and that sound before...

*Beep*

*Beep, beep*

*Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*

... Is that the bombs? Please don't tell me those echoes are from the bombs.

"What? Weren't we playing rugby right now?" - Scarecrow

... I can with certainty say, that all three of us right there with a working brain thought the same thing right then:

WHAT A ASTRONOMICAL IDIOT!!!

Greydra

Kigal-Note/Monsters:Machinerz

Machinerz:

Machinerz is a type of Magitech that has a working mind of its own.

They are artificial monsters created with the idea of having automated weapons that can think on their own while also having the possibility to grow if there was a need for it.

They are best described as mechanical golems, as they share many similarities with them, such as having no mana and being completely incapable of using magic.

They are also similar to Automatas, but instead of being artificial creatures made with the idea of creating a new being, the Machinerz are simply Magitechs with the ability to think. The Machinerz's lack of any magical powers, which the Automata has, to certain degrees, is another example of the difference between the two artificial races.

Appearance and Personality:

Since they are enhanced Magitechs, the Machinerzes' appearance is that of mechanical constructions. While they can have a humanoid appearance, the Machinerz may also look no different than an item. The only physical common points between them are that they are made of metal and have at least one optical organ.

The personality of the Machinerzes is determined by how well they are built and by the personality module that gets integrated into their cores. Some Machinerz can be soulless weapons of destruction, while others could be no different from other living creatures.

The racial names of the different Machinerzes follow the rule of first "Machinerz", then their model number, which starts first with the initials of their creators, then the serial initials, for then the numbers indicating which version of that series they are.

Abilities:

The Machinerzes come in two categories: the static types that are made with a static level and cannot gain new skills or Skill Points, and the high-end Machinerzes are capable of learning skills like regular living creatures, Skill Points, levels, and even titles. They cannot obtain classes or blessings, nor will their stats grow through the level-ups.

The functions that the Machinerzes get from their bodies are classified as Monster Skills. One can keep on adding these skills as long as the inventor's abilities are capable of granting them such.

Like regular Magitechs, Machinerzes runs on aether, which is represented as their SP. When they reach 0 SP, then they shut down right there and then. They can be recharged at a later date, waking them up from their "eternal sleep".

Machinerzes can also be "brought back to life" even if their HP reaches 0, as long as their core, which acts as both its heart and its brain, is still in one piece. One just needs to repair the broken body, or simply create a new body. One that the core is capable of synchronizing with.

The different Machinerzs are not classified with a racial rank. The Skill Points that the high-end ones receive are determined by the strength of the model of that Machinerz. They can obtain between 0.1 to 0.5 Skill Points.

If a high-end Machinerz reaches its final level (determined by the strength of the Machinerz model), that Machinerz will be capable of evolving into an artificial being called a Construct. These can be considered the "natural Machinerz", while the original variant should be the artificial one.

Note: there existed no Constructs before the introduction of Machinerz.

The Black Baron's comment: Come and get your thinking killing machine at Black Baron's Industry today! It will only cost you a lifetime of debt.