Golden Dragonfly

The route Noah and Alice had decided to take was long and twisted. Noah had bought many maps and updated his Explorer Map trait, from which he was able to deduce the areas that had higher-level monsters they wouldn't be able to handle.

Plus they weren't directly going to RoyalCloud City, they had to stop by the Elven Mask Crafter first. He hadn't gotten a gun design yet, so he didn't want to go for a new rather he wanted to go and have masks for both of them made.

Currently, Alice had taken off her mask, while Noah just wore the bamboo hat to cover his face.

The first three days of travelling were uneventful. They continued to farm E Class dungeons together, while Noah would go and do the nearest D Class dungeon alone.

The new horses were stronger and could travel further in one go, so they focused more on travelling rather than dungeon clearing.

...

Insects of long bodies and green exoskeleton flew with their four-part wings. The wings buzzed at a high frequency as the insects swarmed together moving forward towards Noah and Alice.

[Green Dragonfly]

D Class

Level 24

"We should go around," Noah said looking at the swarm, there were more than a hundred of them. The dragonflies had formed a large dome as they moved along the forest. Entering the dome to take the shortest path would be risky, he would be able to escape using Flash Step, but Alice didn't have a way to escape.

"Let's go through it." Alice pulled Noah back and pointed in a direction, "We should kill at least one, right?"

[Golden Dragonfly] (Elite)

D Class

Level 31

A dragonfly within the swarm flew like flowing gold, its body sparkling as it moved at speeds faster than the rest. An Elite class monster was very rare. Each one would drop rare items so killing Elite class monsters was worth a lot. Noah had only run into two till now, and this was his third.

Tempted and seeing Alice's confidence Noah decided to take the risk.

"I'll distract the swarm, you kill it quickly and escape. I'll then meet you after I break free from them." Noah dropped the Levitation staff and rose up, as he did he took a moment to buff Alice with, Strength Boost and Speed Boost, then holding Black Wind he was ready to shoot.

Alice underneath him had turned invisible. She walked to the side, waiting for Noah to take aggro and separate the Golden Dragonfly.

Pulling the trigger and moving back on the Levitation Staff, Noah swerved consistently as bullets of air passed by him. His bullets hit their hard exoskeleton pushing the dragonflies back angering them. Part of the Dragonflies flew out towards him.

Seeing that many still ignored him. Noah grabbed at another staff he had tied to his back. It was a Gravitational Staff. He now would also carry it on his back with the Levitation Staff. He activated Gravitational Zone and dropped the Staff to the ground, sticking the two-meter staff in the dirt.

A large Gravitational Zone formed covering the area where the Dragonflies flew. All Dragonflies flapped their wings with force, bursting out with wind. They were able to stay afloat as the field wasn't too strong. Noah had weakened the strength while maximising the area to keep mana consumption low.

The Dragonflies all effect started buzzing towards Noah. Picking up the Gravitational Staff and cancelling the skill, Noah Flash Stepped back as three-meter long missile-like insects homed in on him. Noah manoeuvred around using the levitation Staff and constant Flash Step. Mana Screen was put to use since he couldn't go too far and lose their attention.

The dragonflies were the first monsters they had fought that were completely aerial, all monsters before this weren't actually flying. They were normally floating, or assisted by items, like his levitation staff. So taking out their wings was his first priority. The wings were protected by a layer of wind pushing bullets off, making them difficult to take down.

Noah pulled the swarm of Green Dragonflies away. The Golden Dragonfly which hadn't been affected by his weak Gravitational Zone flew at the back of the swarm.

Alice jumped onto a tree and then turned her dagger to a reverse grip. She stood waiting for the Golden Dragonfly to reach close then jumped up, her dagger slashed up where the wings of the monster connected to its body. The wind-protective layer resisted but she twisted her body squeezing out as much force. Her Reverse Grip skill compounded with the Mana Slash technique broke through it and cut part of the wind. She then flowed through with another Slash, breaking the wind off completely.

The Golden Dragonfly lost its balance and came tumbling down, Alice landed next to it activated Earth Wave the moment her foot touched the ground launching it in the opposite direction of the swarm. She did it to isolate the Golden Dragonfly from the swarm.

Incorporating Sonic Leap into her step she caught up to the struggling Golden Dragonfly. It opened its mouth and sent a burst of wind towards her. She moved to the side using a tree as cover. The tree burst into pieces of wooden splints, while Alice had disappeared from behind it.

Assassination was already off cooldown, so she had activated it again. She silently ran to the Golden Dragonfly, which had pulses of air coming out from one wing keeping it afloat. It's body alert looking for Alice.

Alice sneaked up from behind and left a cross mark on its body. As her Stealth broke the Golden Dragonfly sent a tailwhip into her direction. With high agility, she dodged the attack and followed up with another two slashes crossing each other.

While Alice slowly formed five crosses to get the maximum damage buff from her enhancer, Grave Cross, Noah was busy running from the swarm.

The swarm had already surrounded him multiple times. He was constantly using Flash Step now to avoid them. He Flash Stepped out of the middle of the Swarm, within a moment to glanced in Alice's direction, she was too far to be seen by sight but he could 'see' with spatial sense. He saw that she was about to finish up so he decide to start escaping.

He Flash Stepped much further this time, then followed it with another four Flash Steps until the Green dragonflies weren't able to sense him. He then got down and waited for a while, letting them pass.

Alice killed the Golden Dragonfly with another Reverse Grip that had its damage increased by 50% because of Grave Cross. She picked up what dropped and went into stealth. She then moved and waited near the horses for Noah.

...

Noah arrived sitting on his staff, as he floated next to Alice.

"I got lucky this time." Alice showed Noah what had dropped.

[Golden Wing Dagger] (E Class)

Strength +17, Agility +44, Physique +10, Sense +20

Passive Skill: [Golden Light] The speed of the blade increases by 10% whenever the blade is used in bright light.

Active Skill: [Yellow Wind] Throwing the blade at the enemy causing it turn into yellow sharp wind doing 150% damage.

cooldown: 2 hours

[Dual Wielding (Silver): This allows you to wield two weapons. None dominant hand has reduced damage by 50%.]

Noah looked at it and was pleasantly surprised, although he wouldn't be able to use them, Alice growing stronger made him happier than himself growing stronger.

Alice learned the enhancer and equipped the second dagger. Her attributes increased immensely again. her agility attribute broke through a hundred. her body felt like it was floating as she walked. It took a slight movement and she had jumped to the top of a tree.

She then came down and hugged Noah in delight. "Let's go clear a dungeon I want to see how much stronger I got!"

...

Inside the Dungeon Lord's Lair, Alice in an invisible state walked around a large brown beetle while Noah at the front shot with Black Wind.

She slashed out twice leaving a large cross on its back. The beetle squealed in pain as it turned to attack Alice. Stamping her feet, she sent it back then approaching it she left another cross on its body. Soon she killed the Dungeon Lord with a Reverse Grip.

Looking at its corpse Alice said, "let's start entering D Class dungeons now."

Noah couldn't agree more. They had spent a lot of time grinding E Class dungeons. Although he was solo clearing D Class dungeons, it would be a lot faster to clear with Alice.

The two picked up the loot and left.

...

Back outside Noah and Alice set up camp for the day. Alice laid her head on Noah's lap, sleeping. She was now used to fighting all day and didn't it as tiring anymore but because of the new dagger and enhancer, she ended up overexerting herself in excitement.