Chapter 11 : Fifth Floor

He is an adventurer for three months almost, time flies faster when you have a job, or should he call it a job? He does make money from adventuring, and he does have working hours. So, by that definition, yes, he could call it a job.

He thought about the nature of being an adventurer as Lord Miach was looking at his status, he let a sound of surprise, saying, "You're doing great Sidhe, it seems you got a skill. Its name is Scath Gaoithe, it raises your speed and increases your ability to hide, making you unnoticeable. A good skill for you."

Sidhe's eyes grew bigger, his ears twitched, this was awesome, he got a skill! Getting one was hard, and depended only on luck, you never knew when you will get one, and there were cases of never getting one.

He took the status paper, looking with great interest at his progression.

Sidhe Si

Level one

•Strength:

H-102 > G-210

•Endurance:

I-81 > H-136

•Dexterity:

H-129 > G-268

•Agility:

H-134 > G- 279

•Magic:

I-0 > I-0

Magic ()

Skills

(Scath Gaoithe)

He felt ready to enter the fifth floor, his progress, he meet a war shadow and knows how hard are they to kill, killer ants are a menace, or so he heard, being hard to kill, and spread pheromones to talk with other killer ants, and call for help. The faster you kill a killer ant, the better, as you have the chance to get swarmed, and then ripped limb by limb.

His tail trembled at the thought of being teared by ugly ants.

He prepared everything and left for the dungeon, he walked through the Central Park, where the tower of Babel was located, and underneath it, the dungeon.

He was always impressed by its beauty. Babel tower was built as a lid to the dungeon, and it became the administrative building of the entire Orario. At the same time, it was the house of many gods and goddesses.

He passed by Misha, who was in her world again, he said that he was ready to enter the Fifth floor.

Misha said, "Hmm, I think you are ready to do, just be careful, don't think that war shadow will be a lesser danger now, they are still dangerous creatures with a fast speed and sharp attacks." she focused on her documents as she said that.

Eina hearing what Sidhe said, had a look that said promised pain to Misha, "Misha are you out of your mind, how you can allow a beginner to enter the fifth floor, when he was only an adventurer for what, like two-three months?"

Misha shrugged, saying, "Don't worry Eina, Sidhe has experience fighting against war shadows, and his status is on par with the creatures of fifth and sixth floor. I don't see any problem that will make me not allowing him."

Eina narrowed her eyes, but didn't say anything, and returned to her work. Misha gave him a thumbs up and said, "Good luck down there, and this time, please be careful, and don't come one brink of death."

Everything changes after the fourth floor, the monsters rate of spawning increases, they get smarter and more cunning. The war shadow and killer ant are known for a reason as "newbie killers", they are just more powerful than your average kobold, or an entire group of them.

The scenery changed, from the light blue to a light green, the structure changed too, it was larger, with more places to hide and sneak, there were more secondary paths that you could walk in.

He gripped his saber, getting a sense of security from it, then checked if he had the dagger on his waist. It was there, he then remembered about the war shadow finger-blade, he will make it into a knife or a dagger, after he will leave the dungeon.

He heard the wind whistling, he blocked with his saber just in time, he looked surprised at a long tongue. In the distance there was a frog with one eye, and its tongue out, it came back into its mouth, then attacked again.

He bended as the tongue passed above his head, then cut the tongue with his dagger, he leaped at the frog and killed it. His tail was swishing, looking disgusted at the ugly frog.

He took the magical crystal with a delicate finesse, doing his best to avoid any blood or juices from the monster.

He walked through the halls, coloured by the green light, he looked curiously at the different shape the halls took. He made sure to not make noise, walking in the shadows and next to walls.

He saw a war shadow, the tall monsters with its long arms was prowling through the hallways, silent, if Sidhe didn't have a great eyesight he would have missed the monster.

He unsheathed his saber, and waited behind a corner till the war shadow turned with its back on him, then in a great leap he arrived just behind it, he attacked, one blow and was able to deal a long cut on the shoulder.

He took distance as the war shadow turned, black blood falling on the ground. Sidhe missed the killing blow, only making a heavy injury.

The war shadow attacked with its fingers, he parried each of its attacks, now his hands didn't get numb from attacks, the saber didn't vibrate, or started to crack.

The monster tried to out speed him, Sidhe blocked its way, dealing a swing to its side, the monster protected it with its hand. Sidhe smiled, now, he could keep up with this horrible nightmare that brought him some weeks ago on the brink of death.

It tried to confuse him with sprints, jumps, thrusts and slashes; Sidhe jumped, twisted himself, parried and dodged, the attacks were passing by, the war shadow was being played.

Sidhe saw the opening, the war shadow tried to thrust in his stomach, leaving it open, he closed the distance, then with a slash he cut the monster's head.

He continued his prowling, he was intrigued by the new scenery, after months of the same colour you get bored. He found a killer ant, it was red in colour with strong armour, the joints weren't armoured though. That was the weak point, or so Sidhe guessed after a superificial analyze.

The ant hasn't yet seen him, he needed to do one fast swipe to end the ant, before it could call others. He jumped and inserted his dagger into the ant's throat, decapitating it in a swift stroke.

He was in joyful mood, he thought it would be way worse down here, but maybe he progressed just enough to not be deadly? He wondered as he arrived in a closed space, he was miffed that he needed to turn back, from walls and ground shapes started taking form.

His face was bloodless, his pupils shrunk, his breath was took away. In simple terms, he hated the dungeon with passion. He unsheathed both his dagger and saber preparing himself for the incoming pain.

Killer ants swarmed on him, there were maybe five, or six, he couldn't count them as they were drilling through the ground to catch him with their iron mandibles. One jumped from the ground to bite his leg, reacted in time and changed his position, yet when he wanted to strike back, the ant was gone.

One was going straight to his face, he lowered his body, and when the ant passed by, he cut the belly, killing the ant.

Four more remained, he two more jumped straight to his face, clanking with their metal mandibles, he blocked one with his saber, and slashed at one's legs with his dagger.

He jumped in air as the other two appeared from the ground, he immobilized one, three remained that are dangerous. Just as the ant was starting to burrow, he reached it just in time to cut its belly.

Three more ants appeared from the dungeon, he was starting to sweat, they started to circle and fight from the ground, jumping only to take him by surprise, he evaded, dodged, yet he still got hurt at his right leg, making it harder.

He killed the injured ant, in his evades. The threat of ants was growing, one more appeared, he started to breath harder, an ant almost caught his entire leg.

He could only dodge, as one bite from the ants will just mangle his body part, he cursed his casualness, if he didn't get complacent he wouldn't have fallen in this trap. The worser thing is that he was aware why they were called "newbie killers". A killer ant was next to his leg, only by the metalic sounds it made Sidhe heard it, he plunged his saber into the ant's body. To his horror, the saber didn't cut, it slided over the armor.

He moved his leg just in time to evade the bite, his last chance was to kill it with his dagger, he was able to cut through the joints, making the an unable to move, before the other ants could come to help their kin, he finished with his saber.

He was in the same situation as when he arrived here, cornered by ants, the number didn't decrease, yet he was tired and injured, he needed to finish them fast, the question was, how?

Ants feel the vibrations in earth, that's how they manage to find him, if he continuously moved, would they be able to find him? Or if he started to use their kin's dead bodies to create vibrations in earth.

He pondered as he moved to dodge to ants, they are probably calling for reinforcements, he should do what he thought.

He moved as the wind, fast and in multiple places, he was almost everywhere, the ants were confused, leaving the ground to check where he was, then, in a ruthless fashion he decapitated them.

The number of dead ants was growing, yet their numbers remained the same, he cursed, he was utterly tired, if he had magic, or a skill that could have conferred him a better advantage. Or maybe a bow or something to shoot with.

He started throwing the dead bodies on the ground, blunt sounds reverberated through the room, with ants attacking their kin's corpses. Their numbers slowed as only one ant remained.

He was able to kill just as it was trying to get under the earth's protective cover. He didn't rest. He collected all the magical crystals and left as fast as possible that room, he heard clicking sounds behind him, he didn't turn or stop. He ran, ran as fast as he could.

The ants didn't follow him, he breathed a sigh of relief, he again meet death in the face and escaped, he shouldn't try his luck like this. He learned an important lesson, kill those pesky ants, don't let them burrow, or give them the chance to call reinforcements.

Easy to say, hard to do. At least he collected parts of metal armor from those killed ants. He got a good haul that will get him a good amount of valis, maybe even break his record.

The lower you into the dungeon the more money he could make, yet the danger increases exponentially, he will never again think that he has the upper hand, or get comfortable with the situation. It's one thing to hear about how being complacent could lead to your death, it's another thing to feel it on your skin.

He looked at the injury left on his leg, it was a deep gnash, if he stood there even for one more second, he would have lost his leg. From now on the real horrors of dungeon will appear, and he hasn't meet yet the true face, as only after you leave the upper floors, you can feel, see and meet the dungeon in its real name, and power.