As I was walking upstairs, the walls began to change in texture.
The bluish veins inside the wall turned yellow, emitting a stronger light to their surroundings. I could sense the intensifying amount of mana as I was walking to the next floor.
On the next floor, I was met with nothing in front of me. It was an empty room with nothing inside, and just like the first floor, you could cross the path by choosing the right way... or so it seemed.
I was wary of my surroundings, and while doing so, I grabbed three potions out of my [Inventory]. Those three potions were the reason why I took a longer path to get to the [Mana Crevice] Dungeon since I wanted to gather their needed materials.
Before I could use the potions, I heard heavy steps getting closer to me. I quickly put the potions on my belt and got myself ready for the fight.
Thud! From the corner, I saw a tall and big humanoid rocky figure slowly approaching me. Its eyes were glowing red, and its hands were as big as my head. In the middle of its chest, there was an orange glowing stone that was unprotected.
There were 12 main races in the [Doomed Fantasy] world: Human, Dwarf, Elf, Sprite, Demon, Monster, Undead, Beast, Dragon, Heaven-Born, Hell-Born, and lastly, Artifact. From the main races, there were countless hybrids and sub-races, like Vampires and Slimes.
The figure in front of me was a Wild Golem, which was a common hybrid of Monster and Artifact. They were considered C-grade monsters, just like the Acidic Slime I fought, but there was something strange about them.
A Golem's Core was the most important part of their body since if damaged, they would be as good as dead. But the golem in front of me had an unprotected Core.
That might be a good thing since all one needed to do was to destroy the core, right?... Well, it wasn't the case for me.
Rumble! As the golem began to approach me, I saw another golem behind its big body. That was the third-floor challenge. The floor was filled with C-grade Wild Golems.
"This is bad," I muttered.
I wasn't in a good situation. My main objective was to avoid fighting as much as I could, but fighting was inevitable, so I quickly made some distance between myself and the golems.
The golems weren't approaching me due to their restriction of being tied to the third floor, so I exploited that restriction.
I took out the blue potion from my belt and began to drink it with an appetizing look.
[ Item "C-grade Agility Potion" in Use ]
[ Agility Increased by 18 for 60 minutes ]
Most golems were weak in terms of speed, so having high agility while facing them was an advantage that they couldn't counter.
I was really lucky to be able to find the items for brewing a C-grade Agility Potion since one couldn't make it easily without spending a lot of money on materials.
After I drank, I pulled out my second potion from my belt and began to spill it on my sword. The potent red liquid wrapped around the item and made it heavier.
[ Skill "Potion Apply" Activated ]
[ Item "Enhanced Normal Sword" Acquired a temporary Enchantment "Aura" ]
Right after I poured the potion, the sword began to emit a red shade in the area. I could feel a strange sense from that aura, and I knew that it was because of [Mana Sense].
Aura was a concentrated form of mana that Advanced Swordsmen use to break their limitations and achieve what couldn't be achieved with just a sword, so compared to Mana Infused, Aura stood in a higher position and capability.
C-grade Liquid Aura wasn't something that could be brewed with just normal materials. I was so lucky to be able to find some once-in-a-lifetime materials while walking to the Dungeon.
I looked up right after I finished my job with my sword. The golems were standing patiently in front of me, ready to attack.
I didn't want to stall for time since I didn't want to lose my Agility Boost, so I quickly ran between the golems and made my way to the middle of the room. I couldn't run away, because if I were to meet an uncrossable golem, I would be stuck with more than three golems all at once, so destroying them was important.
[ Opponent Used "Heavy Punch" Skill ]
Whoosh, CRACK! One of the golems came towards me and threw a punch at me, but I dodged it, and the punch made the ground shake a little.
I quickly saw an opening to the fallen golem's core and pointed my sword to cut the core, but the other golem didn't allow it. I made some distance to manage the flow of the fight.
It was a bit painful to see that I couldn't use the full potential of my potions, so I decided to act a little bold.
[ Skill "Flash Kickoff" Activated ]
I quickly dashed towards the furthest golem with [Flash Kickoff]. The golem was protecting its core with its hands, so I aimed for the legs and swung my sword with the best of intentions.
[ Skill "Swift Cut" Activated ]
Swosh, Crumble—the golem lost its balance and fell but didn't react at all. The golem used its hands to move around the room, but it got slower.
Thud, THUD! The healthy golem began to rush towards me, and I was certain that it was ready to attack me. The distance between the rushing golem and me was too short, and there wasn't a fast way for me to dodge, so I got ready for the impact.
Boom! After I got hit, the golem was about to attack me with its hand, so I quickly made some distance to avoid regretting it.
The attack rendered one of my arms damaged, and I couldn't afford a broken hand, so I pulled out the third potion from my belt, which was a C-grade Healing Potion, and drank half of it while pouring the other half on my hand. Due to the high-grade health potion, my hand healed quickly.
I used the short break to pull out another health potion from my [Inventory] and equipped it on my belt.
The fight between me and the golems continued. I damaged them, and they were damaging me. And of course, I was the victor of the battle.
[ Level Up ]
Although I won, I wasn't happy about it. The reason? Well, it took me more than enough time to kill the golems.
[ Item "Enhanced Normal Sword" Lost the Enchantment "Aura" ]
"…pathetic… [Reset]," I said in disappointment.
I wasn't angry because I needed to restart; I was angry because of my own incompetence.
I acquired skills and items through my knowledge, learned swordsmanship through Gabriel, and understood Mana Sense through Brass, and yet... [Doomed Fantasy] wasn't a normal game that one could play with just having an OP skill or items.
[ Skill "Save & Reset: Reset" Activated ]
[ Restarting From the Recent Checkpoint ]
There were many reasons, such as having no good combat skills or my low strength, but they were nothing but excuses.
I looked at the palm of my restless hand with a gloomy look on my face. I was furious at myself for not being good enough to clear the dungeon.
I looked up with a serious look while being only by myself. I clenched my hand and felt my blood and mana synchronizing with each other.
I opened my mouth and vowed something that I knew I was going to regret and not. Something so strange and complicated, yet strong and beautiful.
I vowed, "From now on, I'm going to do it perfectly."
… it wasn't a far-fetched vow for me. I had infinite tries for everything and the patience to infinitely try.
And I still am adhering to the vow I took for myself.