The First Floor
[3 Hours Into The Dungeon: 1st Floor]
"Hiyaaa!"
The swift, graceful movements of the Explorers were the only things that occupied Des' sight as he stood still—just as he was instructed to.
He watched as Philip, the Disciple Warrior, whose weapon of speciality were his dual blades, swung each weapon with absolute precision.
He cleanly sliced through the bodies of the enemies—Skeleton Horrors—that charged towards him. Since sharp weapons were very ineffective against Skeletons, Philip's current blades were dulled at the edge, giving them a blunt force that sent vibrations pulsating through the air.
He wasn't the only one making a scene with his action, though.
"O' Great Lightning… Strike Down My Foe With Your Thunderous Cry… [Lightning Burst]."
As soon as this great Spell was cast by Levi—the only one who could do such a thing, being a Spellcaster and all—a bright surge of electricity manifested in the air, and all of it rushed towards the swarm of Skeletons that had been gathered in front of him.
In an instant, they were reduced to smoked rubble.
The strategy employed—from how they lured the Horrors, to the choice of Spell used to attack them—was immaculate.
Skeletons were weak to Lightning and Earth, but had considerable resistance to Fire. So, out of the three most offensive-based elemental attributes, only two were the most optimal in this situation.
Out of those two, Lightning had better range and flexibility—not to talk of speed—so it was the most effective element to use.
The strategies employed by the others were very similar to this, and it allowed them to go through the horde of Skeletons with relative ease.
Even Lisa was surprisingly efficient in fighting the Skeletons with her ranged attacks—each dull tip of the arrow containing explosives that destroyed the core of each Skeleton with a single strike.
In the past, such Cores would have been meticulously avoided so as to sell them later, but due to their oversaturation on the market, their value was pretty much diminished.
Des would have still made sure to take as many of them as he could without damaging the goods, but he reckoned people of this caliber had no need for things so trivial.
Skeleton Cores would be a waste of limited space for them anyway, so they took no interest in them, instead focusing on dispatching the Horrors as soon as possible so they could advance to lower Floors and obtain more lucrative commodities.
No one expressed this desire, coupled with action, more than Dredd—the Party Leader.
"Umu!" With one powerful swing of his incredibly tall and thick blade, several Skeletons shattered into pieces.
~BOOOOOOM!~
Their bones, cores—everything—were reduced to bits and pieces.
In no time at all, they were done taking care of the Grade 1 Horrors that blocked their path. All of them gathered soon after that, clapping their hands together and laughing casually as they sheathed their weapons.
Des could only stare at them in sheer stupefaction, unable to even properly move.
'These Explorers are no joke!' His thoughts echoed as a wide smile formed on his face.
"Hey, you!"
"Y-yes?"
Tightening his grip on the handles of the bag he wielded, Des gulped as soon as he heard his name being called by the mean Lisa.
She gave a smirk the moment she sensed his fear and hesitance, and that hurt his pride a little.
"Hurry up already. We're moving forward."
"Okay…" His voice meekly trailed as he buckled up and readied himself for another round of walking.
Dungeons were fraught with danger, but it wasn't like Explorers always encountered Horrors. They had walked for three hours before encountering their first horde of enemies, after all.
For some, they would encounter the same horde mere minutes after entering the Dungeon, and for others, just one or two Skeletons would pop out every once in a while. It was no wonder that such an unpredictable place was deemed dangerous and could only be accessed by those who were formally recognized as Explorers.
It took Des a few months scraping around and doing all manner of odd jobs in Freedom Town just before he was able to gather enough funds to take the exams and pass. Still, even though he had qualified as a Dungeon Explorer, he was nowhere near the level of these people before him.
Even Lisa, the weakest of the bunch, was far stronger than he was.
'How long has she been doing this? One year? Two years? Maybe three? Does that mean I'll be able to become that strong if I work hard enough and also spend enough time in Dungeons?'
Des knew there was no guarantee, but he was determined to try his hardest.
After all, his goal was to become a—
"Des, watch out!"
Before he could complete his thoughts and take a single step forward, he felt a shadow creep up on him.
At that moment, his instincts kicked in, and he felt danger.
Immense danger!
'T-this is—!'
~WHOOSH!~
An arrow darted swiftly, leaving only a fading sound as it passed over Des' paralyzed head and hit its target—a random Skeleton Horror that managed to survive the onslaught by some oversight or miracle.
The arrow exploded, shattering the core of the Skeleton and taking care of the matter rather swiftly.
Thankfully… no one got hurt.
"E-eh…? Ahh…" Des looked at the Skeleton Horror behind him with wide open eyes, beads of sweat cascading down his face as he swallowed.
If that arrow had been any slower, the thing could have chomped his head off, or sliced through his neck, or ripped through his chest. There were at least a dozen ways he could have died just now.
Yet…
"T-thank you." He turned towards Lisa, who simply clicked her tongue and gave him a hateful gaze.
"Made me waste one of my arrows…"
She walked away, right to the front of the group, with the rest of them giving Des a rather complicated look. He felt ashamed of himself at that moment, and while no one said a word to him about what just happened, he could feel the consensus among the group.
'I… am so weak.'
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[A/N]
Thanks for reading!
Glad you could make it through the second chapter. Then… what about the next? Also, please make sure to give me your thoughts in the comments.
Cheers!