Monotonous

'God, I hate golems.'

Amos was currently stalking the 4 armed Praetorian Golem. It was wandering aimlessly through the maze.

The problem was that Amos was not suited to fighting golems. Golems were generally made of stone and skilled in close-quarters combat, while Amos was good at stabbings and assassinations. But Golems could continue to fight even if they were missing multiple limbs.

Additionally, Golems were naturally weak against blunt damage or explosions, But Amos only brought a sword and his magic. That's when Amos remembered. this was the perfect time to try out that new fireball spell. The fire wouldn't do anything but the explosion caused by the spell would do good damage to the golem. So Amos came up with a plan and acted.

One of the good things about Golems was they were capable of being fooled by illusions. So Amos created a doppelganger of himself. It took less mana than invisibility. It was only made of air, but it looked exactly like him. The only downside was that it couldn't make any noise. Thankfully though, golems only used their eyes, force detection, and mana sense, so the doppelganger's inability to make noise wouldn't matter this time.

So right as the Golem reached an intersection Amos had the doppelganger get its attention.

The doppelganger walked around the corner that Amos was hiding behind. Then Amos quickly threw a rock around the corner that hit the golem.

The 4 armed Praetorian Golem turned around. It had a stone armor covering its entire body. Its four hands each held a different weapon. It held 2 swords, a spear, and a shield.

When it turned around it only saw Amos's doppelganger. Then the doppelganger ran into a corridor, the opposite side of Amos. The Golem chased after it. But when it turned the corner, the doppelganger was disappearing right in front of its eyes.

But now Amos was directly behind the Golem. Amos chanted and a dim red magic diagram appeared out of his open hand. Then a fireball the size of a beachball came out from the diagram.

[ Spell Learned - Fire Magic - Fireball ]

The fireball arced as it went through the air. The Golem noticed a spike in mana and attempted to dodge, but it was too late. The fireball hit it in the right leg, right where Amos was aiming.

The problem with golems was that they would only fully die when their core was destroyed, but it could be anywhere in their body. So even if Amos destroyed its head with the ambush it would still keep on fighting as if nothing changed. But taking out the golem's leg would cripple its mobility.

The leg was blown off and the golem fell over. But it finally locked onto Amos's real position. Amos began to cast another fireball. The Golem, on the other hand, began to prepare to jump. It used its spear as a makeshift cane and jumped at Amos with its other leg. It swung its 2 swords at Amos with a smooth motion.

The jump surprised Amos and he attempted to block it with his sword. He only managed to block one sword though. The other sword hacked into Amos' shoulder. His sword arm was now limp causing him to drop his sword.

Amos jumped back and retaliated with a fireball. The Golem raised its shield. The fireball exploded destroying the shield, but leaving the rest of its body unharmed.

The golem prepared to jump again. Amos saw it coming this time and preemptively dodged backward. The golem jumped and missed. Amos shot another fireball at the golem that took one of its arms. Then the golem jumped at Amos again, which he also dodged. He then shot another fireball that hit it in the body this time.

This repeated a couple of times until Amos hit the golem's core, which happened to be in its ass.

[ slain - dungeon magical beast - 4 Armed Praetorian Golem - lvl 72 ]

[ 11870 exp ] 

Amos picked up his own sword with his good arm and walked back over to the now-still golem. He sat on top of it and rooted through his dimensional bag until he found a healing potion. Amos uncorked it with his good hand and drank half of it while pouring the other half on his shoulder.

Amos sat back and sighed.

"God I hate golems" 

— 30 minutes later —

Amos waited for his shoulder to heal. Once it healed there was a faded scar where the wound was before. Amos bawled his fingers into a fist and then relaxed them. his arm and hand still hurt a little, but he would be able to handle it. Amos then got to work with taking apart the golem.

He picked up the swords and spear. The cracked golem core was still good enough to sell. Amos heard once that a high-level intact golem core was worth a platinum, but he did not think much of it.

Amos began to break the body of the golem into smaller pieces. He then placed the pieces into his dimensional bag. 

Amos now stood in an empty hallway. he wasn't sure what to do next.

'I guess I should hunt some more.'

Amos then went on to hunt multiple more magical beasts. By the end of the day, his bag was overflowing with monster parts. When he left the dungeon the sun was starting to set. He made his way back to the adventurers guild where he sold all his loot. Altogether it was worth about 7 gold coins.

Amos decided to go to a few taverns. He figured it was what most adventurers did. He got drunk and met a few people, but it was all very dull to Amos. Once he got back to his inn he fell asleep. he went back to his same familiar hell. He made some small talk with Caro and waited patiently. When he woke up in agony he went back to the dungeon and learned a few new spells from his books.

He then went back to the guild and sold his loot. He went out drinking again and met fewer people, but got even more drunk. he went back to his inn fell asleep again, died in his sleep again, then went back to the dungeon again. 

— 1 week later —

Amos hoped that with time he would be able to move on with his life. But he hadn't. He still thought about Salis and Balgroff often, and he was still miserable.

When he first arrived in the city he was actually a little happy. The new setting helped his mind greatly. But now that he had settled into his new life it all went to shit. Each day he kept on thinking back to his days as a brigand. And each day he wished it were he who died instead of his brothers.

Now Amos went through his life like a machine. He merely went through the motions without thinking much. He felt adrift and aimless. As each day went by his life looked more and more meaningless, and hollow.

Now as Amos stared at the door for the next floor of the dungeon his mind was empty. The next floor would have monsters in the range of levels 75 to 100.

Amos naturally came across the door as he was walking through the maze. But now that he was looking at it, he wanted to enter. He knew it was incredibly dangerous for adventurers to go to floors above their rank, especially when they were solo hunters. But something deep, deep, down wanted to just do it anyway.

So even though Amos was only level 75 he opened the door. He walked down the stairs in silence. When he reached the bottom he saw stone walls. But these were different from the stone walls of the normal dungeon before. There were also decorations all around. They ranged from banners to paintings, to suits of iron armor.

He then finally realized what the 3rd floor was based on. It was based on the inside of a castle. The long hallways and decadent decorations were the biggest tell.

Once Amos got used to the look he moved on. he got to work stalking around in the halls looking for mythic beasts. If Amos was being honest then he would say he was unsure of what he would do when he found one. It would without a doubt be much stronger than him.

But Amos didn't get much time to think about it as he soon found one. It was a Drake. The drake was as large as a house and looked like an overgrown lizard. Black steel-like scales covered its entire body.

[ Black Scale Drake - lvl 86 ]

Drakes are descendants of dragons, just like wyverns. The biggest difference between a drake and a dragon though is that drakes do not have wings and cannot breathe fire. All they have is the strong scales of dragons and their incredible strength.

Part of Amos wanted to just attack the drake right there, right now, but deep down in his gut, he knew better. Amos quickly hid behind a wall and began to buff himself. He pulled out some potions and began to down them.

[ buff - dexterity + 30 - 5 min ]

[ buff - pain resistance 300% - 15 min ]

[ buff - strength + 30 - 5 min ]

He then also cast a spell buff just for good measure.

[ buff - spell casting speed 150% - 15 min ]

Now he tried to think up a plan. The most dangerous part of dragons was their incredible defense and strength. The only place where Amos could hurt the drake was on its underbelly where there were far fewer scales. So he had to think up a way to get the dragon to show its underbelly.

Additionally, Amos needed to be careful of its tail and long neck. just getting hit once by them could spell his end.

And last but not least drakes were almost immune to fire. So all the fire spells Amos learned recently would do him no good.

Amos was having a hard time coming up with a plan when his eyes wandered onto the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. It gave him a very risky, but good idea.

— POV of Drake —

The drake wandered without purpose through the hallways of the castle. Normally drakes were intelligent creatures capable of sentience, but this was a dungeon drake making its mental capacities limited. The dungeon made it so that It could only wander and attack any non-dungeon monster.

Although the drake was only born recently it found its day-to-day life to be boring. The only joy it had was when it finally found a non-dungeon creature and killed it.

Today was no different from every other day for the Drake. Just walking around the castle like usual. That's when the drake noticed something in its peripheral view. It turned its head to see a little human standing at the end of the hallway behind it.

But something about this human felt off to the drake. For one it didn't have a smell. Plus the drake could usually sense creatures approaching, yet it took until the drake could see it before it could tell it was there. Something about the human just felt wrong to the drake.

That was when the human sprinted away. Normally the drake would be more careful, but when it saw its prey escaping it threw caution to the wind. The drake quickly turned its body around and ran after it. 

When he turned his body he knocked over and destroyed suits of armor and paintings. The drake bolted down the hallway, its tail swaying side to side.

Then he turned the corner and saw the strange human again. This time the human was hanging off a chandelier connected to the ceiling. The drake wasted no time. He wouldn't let his prey get away from him twice.

The hallways were high making the chandelier also high up. For the drake to reach its prey it needed to stand up on its back legs and stretch its neck to its max.

It quickly jerked its head at the human and chomped down. But instead of the good meaty flesh the drake was expecting to taste, it only tasted air. The drake opened its eyes in confusion. He saw the human disappear into thin air showing that it was an illusion.

By now, it was too late. The trap had been sprung as the drake felt something wrap tightly around its throat. It was at that moment that the drake realized it had been bamboozled.

— Back to Amos POV —

Amos' trap worked hook, line, and sinker.

When Amos saw that the chandelier was hanging by a hook in the ceiling Amos realized he could use it to his advantage. So Amos came up with the idea of using his magic thread to tie a noose from the hook in the ceiling and then bait the drake into the noose. 

Now that the drake put pressure on the noose it tightened around his throat. Unfortunately, there were scales around the drake's throat so it would not deal any damage. But in the meantime it was stuck with its front arms in the air, exposing its soft underbelly. 

The drake tugged and pulled on the string. But it only made it more tight. The drake bit wildly destroying the chandelier in front of him. 

The hook in the ceiling shook and dust came out. Not to mention that although the thread was as strong as big steel chains, that might not be enough for the drake. Amos knew it was now or never.

Amos ran forward with his sword and began tearing into the drake's underbelly. He stabbed slashed and ripped. Blood poured from the drake's belly. Amos could even start to see some of its guts get exposed.

[ Critical Hit ]

The drake roared and jerked its head even harder. Finally, the string snapped under the pressure.

Amos rolled to the side as the drake's front legs pounded down onto the floor.

Now the drake and Amos stared each other down. The drake coughed and wheezed, while Amos waited. Amos knew that the drake would soon bleed out, it was only a matter of time. Amos estimated the drake would die in about 30 seconds, All he had to do was survive for that long.

Once the Drake finally caught its breath it charged at Amos. Amos knew there was no way for him to block an enormous mythic beast, so the only thing he could do was dodge.

Amos dived to the side to avoid the drake. He managed to avoid the brunt of the attack but still got hit by the drake's tail in the chest. The impact knocked out multiple of Amos' teeth and cracked most of his ribs. He was sent flying until he crashed into the side of the hallway. To avoid dying from the impact Amos put his left arm out to cushion his crash. So instead of destroying his organs his arm got mangled.

Amos was beginning to lose consciousness as he slumped against the wall, but he knew if he passed out now then he would die. The extreme pain in his body began to disappear and his vision blurred.

At the last second Amos bit his tongue and focused on that pain instead. With bloodshot eyes, Amos tensed his entire body. Now that he got his focus back Amos stood back up.

Amos found it funny how he almost died from just one hit from the beast. But he supposed that was to be expected when it was 10 levels higher than him and in a different tier.

But on the bright side, the drake was doing just as well as Amos. It heaved up blood and panted. The only thing still driving it was rage. It turned to face Amos again. Once they locked eyes again the drake roared out a high-pitched shriek.

Amos did the same as he collected the air from his lungs and roared back at the drake with every fiber of his being.

It only further angered the drake that the human still stood up to him as if they were equals. The drake then prepared for another charge.

Amos knew if he got hit again then he would instantly die. Amos quickly came up with an idea, although it was a gamble.

Amos dropped his sword and placed his hands together. When he released them a thin colorless mist came out. The mist spread all over the hallway covering both the drake and Amos. The drake was confused about what it was meant to do as he could still see the human. Then it realized the smell of the human was now spread out all around the hallway. The mist had spread out the smell of the human. The next thing the human did though really pissed off the drake.

Amos casted his doppelganger spell. He cast it over and over again until he used up all of his mana. His head throbbed as he felt an extreme headache come on. But it was all worth it, as now there were 8 Amos's and the drake couldn't tell which was which. They spread out in the mist staying far away from each other.

When Amos got hit when he tried to dodge the drake he realized that he couldn't even dodge. The difference in speed and strength between them was just too big. So he came up with this. Now the drake had to guess which one was the real one, plus the drake had less than 20 seconds left to live. So Amos guessed the drake could only do a charge 4 more times leaving Amos with a 50% chance to live.

The drake strained its back legs as it pounced again. It went into the mist and ripped apart one of the doppelgangers. The drake snarled when it saw the doppelganger turn into nothingness. 

It charged again this time it took out the doppelganger right next to Amos. A cold sweat went down his back as he stared at the drake. The drake locked its eyes with Amos's. They looked into each other's eyes for less than a second yet it felt like the longest second of Amos' life. Then the drake turned around and charged through the doppelganger behind it.

Now there were only 5 doppelgangers left. The drake heaved up and down while blood drooled out of its mouth. This would be the drake's last charge.

Instead of charging straight at one of the doppelgangers like Amos expected the drake instead pounced in between Amos and one of his doppelgangers. At the last second Amos realized what it was doing.

The drake turned its body sideways and outstretched its tail. This made it so that it would hit 2 doppelgangers instead of one, but this time the drake guessed right and Amos was about to get hit by the drake's tail. 

Amos quickly pulled himself to the side. Before the tail would have hit him in the chest and killed him, but now it only ripped through his arm, further mangling it.

Boom!

The drake crashed against the wall of the hallway. Dust flew all around.

Amos' arm was bleeding heavily. Amos reached into his bag and pulled out bandages and healing potions. He wrapped his arm tightly and started downing potions. Amos then collapsed to the ground with exhaustion.

It was at that moment when the dust settled and he could see the drake getting up again.

"you've got to be kidding me," Amos said to himself.

The drake took one step towards Amos before it began to shake. It then fell to the floor. The drake stopped moving but its eyes stayed transfixed on Amos. A few seconds later Amos got multiple notifications.

[ slain - dungeon mythic beast - Black Scale Drake - lvl 86 ]

[ 43640 exp ]

[ You have completed your rank test of [ slay a beast at least 10 levels higher than yourself ] your max level can now go to 100 ]

At first, Amos was happy that he finally broke past the level limit that he had been stuck at for such a long time. He laughed and smiled. Then 5 minutes passed. The adrenaline wore off and his elation from surviving was gone. Only silence now. Only the stillness of death and loneliness. Now Amos thought about his new level limit in a new light. Now he wished he hadn't broken through the limit. He was back to his shitty life. Back down to earth.

Only one thought went through his head.

'I need a drink.'