WebNovel

Rise of the Empyreans60.00%

Chapter 8 – Towards the Northern Lands

In the late afternoon, Maya came to fetch us, saying that the guildmaster was done with calculating the rewards and asked us to follow her into the guild so we could receive them.

"Please take a seat."

Said the guildmaster. We sat down on the comfortable couch once again, engulfed by its softness as Maya passed the guildmaster some documents.

"Well then, allow me to first share with you the findings of the investigation squad I sent out. Their findings greatly align with your report, confirming that you spoke the truth."

I'm not entirely sold that he did send out an actual squad, knowing what the monocle does, but let's just nod along for now.

"The goblin knight was indeed a never before seen mutation. After measuring the goblin knight's residual essence and roughly assessing its abilities from your report, it has been provisionally ranked as a low B-rank threat."

Oh, I guess he did send out an actual investigation squad if he measured the residual essence.

'Wait, what even is residual essence?'

The guildmaster then sucked in a deep breath, followed by a heavy sigh, his eyes looking at us with both appreciation and annoyance.

"Considering the fact that you two are F-ranks, this is going to cause quite the stir."

"That… is something we'd like to avoid as much as possible."

I said, scratching my cheek anxiously.

"I figured as much. As such, I'll immediately promote you to D-rank. I can't raise your rank further because of the necessity to take the test in order to rank up. That should eliminate the nosy types that'd try to figure out how a pair of F-ranks managed to take down a B-rank threat, at least partially."

Well, I guess the milk is already spilt, all we can do now is hope that the interest in the stain will die down fast once it's cleaned up.

"Next up, you'll receive 5 gold coins as an apology for exposing you to danger due to our mistake in ranking the dungeon, and you'll receive further 2 gold coins as a reward for taking down this formidable foe."

I received the 7 gold coins from the guildmaster, thanking him. Having our ranks raised to D right away should be a good thing, even if it garners some attention, it's only from F-rank to D-rank. As long as one doesn't pry how exactly that happened, I'm sure this will just be glossed over as a run-of-the-mill achievement that garnered such an increase in rank. It will also make people less interested in prying into it. While rare, D-ranks taking down B-rank monsters isn't unheard of.

After the guildmaster was finished with giving us the rewards and explaining why he had done so, he slumped into the couch's backseat and looked at us with slight possessiveness.

"So, I'm guessing there is no way you two might cancel your plans to head north?"

"I'm afraid so."

I shrugged. With the goblin knight fiasco, we now had even more of an incentive to haul ass out of here at our earliest convenience. My intuition is telling me that the people at the castle will figure things out before long, even if they only have light circumstantial evidence. The news of F-rank adventurers (now D-rank) completing a B-rank difficulty goblin nest will definitely be something they'll want to check out.

The guildmaster stared at us, deep in thought. After murmuring under his hands for a bit, he sighed and gave us a shocking proposition.

"What if I give you my daughters' hands in marriage? Both Maya and Lisa are single, and you two seem to get along with them well enough. From what I've heard, Lisa especially has taken a liking to you, Astoshan. What do you think?"

Maya shouted out in surprise and I simply nervously chuckled. Apart from raising his eyebrow, Merlin didn't have much of a reaction, as usual.

"Our answer is still no. While I do agree that both Maya and Lisa are lovely ladies, we have our circumstances that are practically forcing us to go north. If we stayed, it would only endanger them. Don't pry, I won't be answering further than that."

Gustav knitted his brows and grumbled under his breath.

"I understand. Now then, as for the ruins…"

"The guild can have all of the profits. There's nothing left down there, anyway."

I answered before Gustav could lay out any other terms. Neither I nor Merlin were interested in whatever meager amounts of money could be scraped from those ruins. Maybe if they unearth the blocked passage, they might run into something worthwhile, but it'd be better for us to just wash our hands off the problem right from the start.

"Are you sure?"

I gave the guildmaster a quick and decisive answer.

"This concludes everything I needed to tell you then. When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning at early dawn."

"Alright, I'll make sure to see you off."

"There's no need for that…"

"I know. Just think of it as thanks for fixing our mistake."

I shrugged. I was in no position to tell him what to do with his time, so if he wants to go see us off early in the morning, so be it.

The sisters we rescued from the goblin cave were currently recuperating in the guild's medical section, which was hidden behind the main building. Since we were already at the guild, we went to visit them and see how they're doing.

"Ah, Astoshan! Merlin!"

Rell quickly ran up to us and cheerfully welcomed us in.

Anita greeted us.

"You've come at a great time, I just finished writing the letter. If you go to Knigh, look for an organization called the Bald Merchant Group. My uncle is its owner and if you tell him Anita and Rell from Thiina sent you, I'm sure he'll gladly welcome you."

I received the latter and passed it off to Merlin, who stealthily put it in his [Inventory].

"Thanks, this will be of great help."

Just being able to get inside Arngeno is going to be a massive boon. If we could find someone to escort us to the Samadian Kingdom in the west, it would be even better, but I shouldn't get my hopes up.

"How's your leg?"

"Much better, thanks to you. I should be able to walk in a few months' time. Truly, thank you."

Anita bowed her head lightly. Rell did the same a short moment after her big sister.

"Don't sweat it, you've already done more than enough for us with this letter."

Anita raised her head and a small smile formed on her lips.

"When are you planning on leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning. We actually came here to say our goodbyes, as it's unlikely we'll be seeing each other again."

Both Anita and Rell became slightly dejected after my answer. Sorry girls, but we really need to get out of here, pronto.

"Well then, I wish you the best of luck on your travels and hope my letter is of help."

"Yeah! Stay safe out there!"

Anita calmly wished us luck while Rell cheerfully told us to not necessarily get into dangerous fights like the one we had when rescuing them.

After finishing our goodbyes, we left the adventurer's guild and headed for the Spider's Bed. We ate dinner and talked to Mrs. Arkleit and Lisa about our departure tomorrow early morning.

Soon enough, morning came, and we stood in front of Sandhol's northern gate. The guildmaster, Maya and Lisa came to see us off.

"You guys really didn't have to do this though, you know?"

I said, looking at them with an incredulous smile.

"Just enjoy the moment that there are people who want to see you off."

I and Merlin both chuckled.

"Well then, we're off."

"Goodbye, everyone."

We waved everyone goodbye and set out on our way north.

"I'll eagerly be waiting to hear more of your exploits."

"Goodbye, take care you two."

"Sir Astoshan, Sir Merlin, good luck on your adventures!"

The guildmaster, Maya and Lisa all waved us off. We passed through the gate, and officially left Sandhol.

Up north, to the Britian Union, we go.

On our way to the Britian Union, we passed through multiple cities and conquered two E-rank dungeons and one D-rank dungeon. Thanks to that, our levels greatly increased, and my stats now looked like this.

Astoshan Vikra

Trait: Humanoid

Class: Godslayer

Level: 22 (22 572/42 330 XP)

Titles: [Mythical] [Otherworlder]

[Lifestyle Magic I] [Null Magic I]

[Polearm Arts LV. 4] [Aura LV. 4] [Blade Arts LV. 3] [Night Vision LV. 1]

Passive Skills:

[Language Comprehension LV. MAX] [Abnormal Status Immunity LV. MAX] [Health Regeneration LV. 4] [Mana Regeneration LV. 1] [Mana Control LV. 1] [Mana Sense LV. 1] [Glaive Mastery LV. 4] [Glaive Proficiency 42%] [Sword Mastery LV. 3] [Sword Proficiency 32%]

[Adaptability] [Experience Boost] [Seraphim] [Rewind] [UNKNOWN] [UNKNOWN]

We've managed to level up a few times thanks to the large XP we got as rewards for conquering the dungeons, drastically increasing our fighting power. We've been walking for about two weeks now and were finally nearing the border. If we kept going by our current pace, we should be in Brit before it gets dark.

Suddenly, a voice echoed from behind us as three men on horses rode up to us. One look at them was enough to tell me all I needed to know. Despite wearing armor, they wore very shabby clothes and I could see that the armor hasn't been in its best condition for a while now. Their acting skills were also abysmal, if they were even trying to act at all.

"You two, pay us a protection fee and we'll let you go."

Hahahaha. They're going with the 'pay us a fee for the protection we offer' route, huh? Well, can't say I'm not intrigued at all. Let's play along for now, I'm a sucker for clichés, after all.

"H-how big is this fee you speak of and what is it for?"

I asked, feigning fear. The two thugs that hung at the back smirked slightly, probably thinking something along the lines of 'such easy prey' or 'how dumb.'

"Everything you have on you will suffice."

"E-everything?!"

Woah. These guys were going all out right from the start.

The guy at the front pulled out his sword and pointed it at me.

"If you can't pay up, we'll just have to take it by force!"

With a quick swing of my sword, I vertically bisected the thug that just pointed his sword at me. His torso fell to the ground while the horse got scared and started running away with his bottom half still in the saddle.

The other two were momentarily surprised, but their surprise didn't last long. Merlin put an arrow through the eye socket of the one further away. I jumped into the air and spin kicked the last one off his horse. Pretty sure the force of my kick was enough to break a bunch of the thug's ribs, and maybe some organs, as he coughed up blood before falling to the ground.

I sheathed my sword back while keeping an eye on the not-so-threatening thug.

"Well, I have to say you guys have perfect timing. The horses will be of great use to us, thanks."

Merlin cast an earth magic spell Stone Bullet and the thug's head exploded upon colliding with the bullet-like rock, splattering grey matter, blood and flesh everywhere. I placated the horses, somehow managing to calm them down.

The average bandit's level hovered around the 25-35 mark. Because of [Mythical], our stats rivaled those on level 40, making as unbelievably powerful for our level, so a few measly bandit grunts weren't going to be a threat to us. Seeing how easily we dispatched them, they were probably around level 25.

"Those bandits really came and gave us treasure just like that, huh."

Merlin said, standing next to me and taking over placating one of the horses.

"They sure did. I'll be taking the white one."

"Sure. I'll take the brown horse then."

We climbed atop the horses as a realization suddenly hit me. I don't know how to ride a horse.

"Umm… You wouldn't know how to ride a horse, would you, Merlin?"

The color seemed to drain from Merlin's face as he also realized he had never ridden a horse before.

'You wouldn't have any pointers, would you, Sera?'

We continued trying to make the horses move for the next 30 minutes, but to no avail. In the end, we gave up on trying to ride them and decided to sell them off in Bellshell, the border city.

Thus, we set off, two horses pulled in tow… the third one ran off when I divorced its rider's torso from his bottom half. I probably gave the horse trauma for life.

We arrived in the city with plenty of time before the city gates closed for the day. We asked the gate guards if there were any shops or merchants who'd want to purchase these horses, and they told us that the Golden Bellshell Group would definitely buy the horses from us at a good price.

"I didn't think they'd straight up offer five gold coins per horse. Considering they were kind of useless to us, I'd say this is a bargain."

I shook the pouch filled with 10 gold coins we received for the horses.

Five gold coins was more than enough for a single person to get by for a year, maybe even two if they budgeted things well. I understand getting such money in a dangerous line of job like adventuring. Actual worthwhile equipment tends to cost a fortune and people wouldn't really want to do life-threatening jobs unless they paid well.

"Well, horses are in high demand, after all. With monsters existing in this world, I'm pretty sure the horses die a lot more often than they did back on Earth when they were the main mode of transportation."

Merlin's reasoning did indeed make sense. With monsters prowling about and bandits being a real threat as well, horses faced far more danger than their Earthling counterparts. For merchants, owning horses or not could be the difference between making a fortune or going into life-crippling debt.

"Let's find an inn for the evening and hit the hay. Travelling for days on end is starting to get mentally taxing."

"I'm with you there."

That's the part of isekai they don't tell you about. The. Endless. Fucking. Walking. I don' even get tired from simple walking anymore. It's just become so… repetitive and boring. Walk, walk, walk, and then walk some more. Ugh.

Anyway, we ended the day by finding an inn and promptly getting some rest. It's become natural now to wake up before dawn, so we usually go to sleep around 9 or 10 o'clock in the evening. I cannot fathom a situation in which I'd go sleep this early back on Earth, considering I usually went to bed at 2 or 3 in the morning, even if I had school from 8 the next day.

In the morning, accompanied by the first rays of the sun, we visited the adventurer's guild. As is expected of an important border city, the guild was bustling with adventurers despite the early morning hours.

Thanks to our flash promotion to D-rank in Sandhol, we could now tackle a much wider variety of quests, although we usually skipped on doing quests on our way here, unless they were along our route. Because of the incident in Sandhol, we weren't short on money and thus had no real incentive to do quests. We did stop by in the adventurer guilds to see if there weren't any merchants we could accompany as guards or other escort requests, but we had no luck there. We cleared the few dungeons in hopes of obtaining skills, which worked out well, as I now had [Night Vision] and Merlin got [Snipe].

However, our promotion to D-rank also meant we could enter C-rank dungeons. It wasn't exactly illegal to go to dungeons above your rank, as their entrances were guarded only from A-rank dungeons and above. It had more to do with nobody believing you if you did conquer it and failing meant certain death, so most people stayed away from dungeons above their rank. Dying inside a dungeon and getting your corpse absorbed by the dungeon makes for a rather grim end.

I checked out the list of nearby dungeons and one caught my eye. A C-rank dungeon that was mindbogglingly close to the city.

"Hey, Merlin, since we're practically in Brit, how about trying out a C-rank dungeon?"

"Sure. It's close and I don't think it'll take us that long."

We bought some supplies, such as potions and other necessities, in a shop opposite the guild, and headed off.

The dungeon itself was a mere 15-minute walk away from the city walls. Entering it felt like jumping into a freezing lake straight out of a sauna. The temperature within the dungeon easily fell below 10 degrees Celsius, a stark contrast compared to the summer heats outside. How the hell does the temperature drop this much precisely at the entry point? Dungeons are weird.

We rant into a few D-rank parties that were just hanging around on the upper floors, but we completely stopped meeting people below the 10th floor. My best guess is they were trying to rake up some XP.

We then blitzed through the first 15 floors. Apart from being bigger in scale, the first 15 floors were very similar to a D-rank dungeon, difficulty wise.

The difficulty finally started ramping up on from the 16th floor, though not by much. We started seeing some C-rank monsters, namely goblin knights and ogres. Because of our increase in stats, I could now comfortably fight against multiple goblin knights. That's a steep increase in strength, considering I had to focus all of my attention on defending if I didn't want the goblin knight we ran into in the goblin nest to skewer me.

"Though, these guys aren't much of a challenge either, despite being C-rank monsters."

I said, pulling the sword out of a dissipating ogre corpse. I've been using the sword more often than the glaive lately, in order to raise its proficiency. Merlin's repertoire of usable spells has also greatly increased, and he was now blasting our enemies with tier three spells left and right. Though, tier three spells started to take a significant amount of time to cast, around ten seconds, compared to tier one's one or two seconds of casting time.

We mercilessly slashed our way through the monsters inhabiting even the lower floors, advancing ever deeper into the dungeon.

The number of C-rank monsters drastically started increasing from the 30th floor and we had to plan out our attacks efficiently to maintain as much stamina and mana as possible, otherwise there was a real threat of us getting overrun by the sheer number of C-rank monsters coming at us.

There were also occasional mutated variants of said C-rank monsters. They kept their rating but were generally classified as 'Elite' monsters and were a notch stronger than their normal version, though they weren't strong enough to give them a whole new rank.

One such monster was currently giving us a tough time.

"Merlin, it's going to do that again!"

"Fuck! Fire Shield!"

"BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"

The thing making such a ruckus was a mutated version of the 'Roaring Yeti,' a C-rank monster that looked like an oversized white-haired gorilla. The mutation we were fighting was called 'Fiendish Yeti' and just like the roaring yeti, it stood at nearly two and a half meters, had white fur covering most of its body except the hands, feet, face and chest, where you could see its grey skin instead. Unlike the roaring yeti, however, the fiendish yeti had an additional pair of arms growing from its back and two goat-like horns on the sides of its head.

The monster raised all of its arms as blue embers started gathering above its head. The embers quickly turned into flickering lights into a scorching ball of fire.

"Spinning Slash!"

I spun around my axis and with the added momentum, I severed one of the fiendish yeti's arms that were preparing to discharge a scorching blue fireball at us. Again.

This, however, didn't even get a reaction out of the dumb beast and the blue fireball kept on increasing in size.

I used null magic to create a foothold for myself with Floating Board and jumped above the fiendish yeti's head while Merlin enshrouded himself in fire armor, meant to offset the flames created by the fiendish yeti's incoming skill.

The blue ball of flames exploded upon impact with the ground, spreading the flames in a horizontal manner, the already singed nearby walls taking on a deeper black color after getting charred by the yeti's skill.

Once the flames dissipated, I landed a few steps behind the fiendish yeti. I quickly checked if Merlin was alright and when I confirmed his safety, I unleashed a flurry of attacks at the fiendish yeti.

Its stats weren't high, mine were at least equal if not higher, but the real problem was the amount of skills and unique skills unique variations were born with. Namely, [Iron Skin] and [Silver Hide] made it annoyingly difficult to inflict any substantial damage on the monster, despite my strength stat being obviously higher and using aura. I had to use martial art imbued attacks to make the beast bleed.

Then there was the annoying blue fireball that took us by surprise the first time due to its wide area of effect. I now bore some nasty burns that came into direct contact with the flames, but my natural regeneration long surpassed that of a normal human's, so the burns were slowly but surely recovering.

The monstrous ball of silvery fur wildly lashed out at me with its thick arms whenever it could. Each of its arms was as thick as my torso and getting hit by even a single one would definitely feel like getting hit by a log. I wouldn't die, but I prefer dishing out the hits instead of receiving them.

Merlin's spell hit the hulking ape on the back, burning off most of the fur from the spell's high temperatures and singing the skin hidden beneath. The monster shrieked out in pain and fell forward, ill-prepared for the sudden blast to its back.

I jumped to the side to avoid getting crushed like an ant under the falling beast's massive body.

"Stormcaller!"

I spun the glaive above my head, creating winds that would drive off any weak ranged attacks and further aided in speeding up my glaive's spinning frequency. When I felt like the attack gathered enough momentum, the winds vanished just as quickly as they appeared.

I swung the glaive from my upper left, slashing down on the monster beneath my feet. The glaive seamlessly cut through the beast's tough fur and skin, stopping only once it hit the ground with ridiculous amounts of destructive power. The fiendish ape got torn into a hundred pieces. The explosive power that hit the ground made sure to share a few meat chunks with the walls and even the ceiling, smearing them with blood and guts. Dust rose high into the air and the ground was now decorated with a beautiful crack that looked like a spider web.

"Well, that was way more annoying than I thought it would be. Why the fuck does a measly C-rank monster need so many defensive skills? People without aura wouldn't even tickle the motherfucker."

"[Iron Skin] and [Silver Hide] offer only physical defense boosts. Mages wouldn't have a problem with dealing damage to it."

Said Merlin, who casually strolled to me.

"Ah, so that's why it always evaded the spells you sent its way before I managed to make it turn around!"

As the dawn of realization hit me, I placed the glaive over my shoulder.

"And Astoshan, reign in your battle junkiness when you fight. Please. It's unsettling seeing you purposefully evade life-threatening hits by millimeters for nothing but entertainment."

I put on an incredibly offended expression as I looked at Merlin, as if hurt.

"I do not do that on purpose!"

I protested strongly.

"I do it subconsciously…"

Merlin looked at me with a deadpan face.

"I can't even decide which if that's worse."

Said Merlin, resignation and worry clearly discernible from his face.

We fought and slashed and blew up our way into the deepest parts of the dungeon, though it took us longer than we thought. We started in the morning, but according to Sera, we've been down here for a little over twelve hours.

Over half a day spent within the confines of a prison-like dungeon. The walls, floor and ceiling were covered in grey bricks and torches that never went out were spread out throughout the dungeon in equal distances, providing us with a reliable source of light.

But finally, we were here, standing in front of the core guardian's doors. The doors glinted and shimmer like polished iron, complex patterns adding to the doors' grandiosity.

"No point in dawdling around, let's go!"

I said, impatience ad anticipation urging me to fight. Merlin acted like I didn't exist and prepared to cast a spell at a moment's notice. I pushed on the doors and they slowly opened by themselves. The room beyond was pitch black at first, hungrily devouring even the light that came from the pathway behind us. Once both of us were inside the boss room, the doors shut with a heavy thud and torches lit up with life, illuminating the circular room.

"A troll, huh."

In the center of the room stood a tall, green figure. Two long tusks grew from the creature's lower jaw, rising along the creature's small head, compared to the rest of its massive body. It held a massive wooden club in its right hand, no doubt to squash anyone who'd dare approach it.

Troll, a B-rank monster with comically low intelligence but incredibly infuriating ability to heal almost any wound it received.

"Its stats are way higher than yours, so be careful. It also has two unique skills, [Troll's Regeneration] and [Bloodrot]."

I nodded to Merlin's handy advice and calmly started walking towards the troll.

"And wipe that smirk off your face."

I didn't react and continued walking, as if Merlin never said anything about me smirking while inching closer towards a monster with higher stats than me.

"Guiiiiiiigeheh!"

The troll let out a shriek, smashing the ground in front of it with the club, creating cracks and breaking it apart. The troll let go of its weapon and pulled out a sizeable chunk of the smashed floor with both of its massive hands.

With a weird grunt, the troll threw the piece of floor debris straight at me.

I quickly jumped to the side to avoid the flying piece of floor. High stats or not, getting squashed by debris that weighed at least a ton would killed me on the spot. Or at least make me use [Rewind], but I'd prefer not to rely on it. After all, if I was forced to use it, the situation was most likely already looking bleak.

BOOM! CRUMBLE. CRUMBLE.

Moments after I jumped out of the way, the piece of debris hit the ground squarely where I stood and broke into tens of smaller pieces.

"You want to play like this, huh? Aight, I'm coming for you!"

I pointed the glaive at the troll and broke into a sprint. I could cover the distance between us in mere seconds, but I'd prefer something a little faster.

"Spectral Lance!"

I prepared a long-range martial attack, but instead of throwing the glaive and letting go of it, I held onto the glaive as if my life depended on it and let it transport me to the troll. The glaive guided me through the air and I felt the tip dig into the troll's tough skin and flesh.

The troll tried to swat me away with its massive arm as if I were a fly. After jumping away and somersaulting in the air, I landed a few meters away from the troll and immediately charged back at it.

The troll noticed the incoming ball of fire Merlin just sent its way. It swung the massive club, perfectly hitting the speeding fireball and putting it out. I used the gap this created and struck the troll's right armpit multiple times.

A strong gust of wind passed by me as the troll swung its club a few centimeters away from my face. I pointed my glaive upwards and raised it, directly piercing its elbow. The troll let go of the club as its arm lost the structural integrity to hold it.

The troll's left arm shot towards me like an arrow as it tried to grab me, but I ducked and managed to avoid getting my head squashed like a watermelon.

The troll kicked at me with its right leg, so I raised my glaive to block it, but the impact was still strong enough to make me lose breath for a second. I got sent flying and rolled a few times when I hit the ground. Despite my spinning head, I didn't feel any life-threatening injuries on me. I got up in no time, prepared to go for round two of our scuffle. That is, until I noticed something really annoying.

"Oh, come on! You already healed all of the damage we gave you already?!"

The wounds I gave the troll not too long ago were all gone now, as if they were never there in the first place.

A surge of flames erupted from the troll's back. Merlin managed to score a perfect hit thanks to the troll turning away.

The troll shrieked out in a surprise and pain, quickly turning around. It now targeted Merlin as if nothing else in the world mattered. Thankfully, the troll's strong point wasn't its speed. I used Spectral Lance to bring myself closer and disrupt it from targeting Merlin. I sliced through the back of its knees and with a returning slash I severed the tendons in its Achilles' heel.

The heavy mass of flesh and bones fell forward, its mad dash to pay back the damage it received coming to a halt. I slashed through the troll's legs so thoroughly that I could see the white bones peeking out from between the muscles, but even those wounds quickly closed.

Before I could inflict more wounds, I noticed a massive brown wooden club coming from my right. I jumped back, avoiding taking damage, but in that short window all the wounds I caused on the troll's legs vanished, new pristine green skin covering them.

My eyes naturally drifted up towards the troll's eyes, but something caught my attention. The skin that got charred black by the fire spell wasn't regenerating as fast!

"Fire halts its regeneration! Focus on fire spells!"

Merlin shouted back at me in acknowledgement from the other side of the room.

I dashed towards the troll to make it forget about where Merlin is so he could focus on casting his spells.

"Impaling Thrust!"

I lodged my glaive deep into the troll's stomach as it was standing up and twisted it to cause as much pain to it as possible. Somehow, I managed to make the glaive pass between some of the troll's ribs and my glaive got stuck in the monster's ribcage.

The troll swung its club at me from above. I didn't have enough time to pull the glaive out, so I let go of it and side stepped to my left. If I chose right, the troll would be able to grab me with its free left arm before I could react and if I stepped back, I'd turn into mush. As I evaded, I unsheathed my sword and slashed at the troll's arm with a martial art empowered attack as aura covered my entire blade.

"Ghuiiiiighiiii!"

The sword passed through the troll's arm without much resistance, cleanly severing it. I gripped the glaive stuck in its side hard and jumped at the troll. I used its stomach as a jump pad and propelled myself away from it. The glaive, supported by the force of my whole body moving away from the troll, broke through the troll's ribs and tore the flesh, leaving a nasty wound from where I pulled it.

At the same time, a fireball hit the troll square in the face, burning off its entire left side. The tusk turned black, the facial muscle and skin burn to a crisp and its left eye melted under the heat of the fireball.

"GHUIIIIIIIIGH!"

The severed right arm already started slowly regenerating. New bones, muscles flesh and skin wiggled out of the endings like worms and solidified after a few seconds, turning into maneuverable parts of the troll's body.

'I sure hope humans don't regenerate like that when they get their [Health Regeneration] to a high enough level, that's disgusting.'

Sera came in clutch with her explanation, as always.

"Spectral Lance!"

I flung my glaive at the troll's left knee. It was the one I managed to damage more while it was on the ground and some of the wounds were still visible.

The troll didn't seem to be in the mood to even properly scream anymore and resorted to simple grunting. The emotions of pain and hatred were, however, still properly conveyed.

It stared at me with one functioning eye, deep wrath revealed within.

Another ear-piercing scream echoed throughout the room as Merlin's Fire Arrow melted its way through the troll's left shoulder blade. I lunged at the troll again to keep its attention away from Merlin.

I cut the troll's neck, spilling so much blood it could fill a whole bath. The wound I created on his neck of course closed within seconds and it acted is if it just hadn't had its neck arteries and airways sliced through.

"Come at me, you green shit!"

I shouted, hurling insulting words at it. I don't know if monsters can understand human language, or any language, but it had the intended effect. The troll, with its peanut-sized brain, already forgot about Merlin and all of its focus was back on me. Its right arm fully regenerated and the glaive in its knee crumbled as the troll forced the leg to move.

'Wait, it crumbled?'

I looked at the leftover pieces of the glaive that had lost its silvery shine. Instead, the pieces had an orange color, as if they were left to rust on air in a humid area for decades.

The name of the troll's second unique skill came to mind. I took a quick glance at my sword and sure enough, signs of the blade rusting were already starting to show. I sighed deeply, grieving the fact that I'll have to buy new weapons. Again. I didn't even get these that long ago…

Annoyed, I resigned myself and decided to give the sword I was holding an early farewell.

The troll started running towards me, all the wounds I inflicted gone. Only the burns leftover from Merlin's magic barrage left any lasting damage the troll had trouble healing.

I ran towards it, which seemed to have taken the troll by surprise, as it slowed for a moment, but then resumed running at me at its full speed. Just moments before I was in the troll's grabbing reach, I jumped up above its outstretched arms and locked my left arm around its neck. I manipulated myself into a position where I could easily reach the troll's healthy eye with my hand and I plunged the rusting sword into the eye socket. I pushed on the sword as hard as I could, completely robbing it of sight. The monster wailed out in pain, but even when blinded, it could feel me on its back, so it tried to grab me with its massive hands, but I jumped away.

"Merlin, burn it to cinders!"

I shouted, hoping that regenerating the healthy eye would take it enough time let Merlin finish casting a spell that could erase the giant green fucker from existence. I don't particularly hate trolls like I hate goblins, but they are damn annoying to fight against.

An amount of mana so massive even I could sense it swirled around Merlin, gathering in the red magic circle floating in front of his outstretched hand. The gathered mana kept on swelling and swelling. Merlin finally opened his eyes and finished his casting a good thirty seconds later, double the time you'd normally need to cast a third-tier spell. The mana stopped swirling around him and completely gathered inside the magic circle.

"I specially overloaded the spell to its limit, experience how it feels on the surface of the Sun! Flamethrower!"

The red magic circle spun into action as incredibly hot flames spewed forth in a cone area. The temperature within the room rose by so much I thought we were suddenly transported to a smelting furnace. The orange flames burned everything they came into contact with to ash, be it brick, air or organic matter. Once the flames vanished, all that was left behind was intense heat, a sizzling ground that was melted into a glowing orange puddle and a wall so thoroughly burnt I could not differentiate one brick from another.

"I guess that's the end of the troll."

I said, staring at the spot where the troll stood moments before.

"If it really does regenerate from this, we're fucked. I used up a lot of mana on that spell and I don't think I could pull off a stronger attack with the amount I have left."

I shook my head at Merlin's recklessness in expending his mana. He really needs to learn how to conserve it better. And the thought of the troll regenerating from getting incinerated seemed very unlikely, but the idea still sent a shiver through me.

[You have gained 100 000 XP]

[Your level has increased by 3]

"Oh wow, just the troll gave us three whole levels. I can't wait to see how many levels we're going to get from conquering a C-rank dungeon."

I made my way to the back of the dungeon, where a door that wasn't visible before was revealed. After conquering multiple dungeons, the sudden appearance of a door no longer surprised us.

With steady steps I made my way to the dungeon core and placed my hand on the marble-like orb.

[Capture of the dungeon Dark Prison of Mystics confirmed]

[You have gained 1 000 000 XP]

[Your level has increased by 8]

[You have obtained the Haste skill]

'Over 10 levels in a single day… holy shit. If we run it again tomorrow…'

As my elation ran high and I did some rough calculations to predict how many levels we could gain here, a new notification pulled me out of my thoughts.

[You have reached the limit of XP rewarded for conquering the dungeon]

[Further conquests of Dark Prison of Mystics will no longer give you bonus XP]

There's a system to stop people from farming the same dungeon over and over endlessly.

Well, it makes sense, I guess. If an A-rank adventurer came they could gain a lot of XP just by running the same dungeon over and over. If I think about it that way, a system that limits the amount of XP you can gain from a dungeon is a sensible addition.

I then checked what the new skill, [Haste], does. It's a simple percentage boost to my AGI when I use it. Nothing extremely game changing, but powerful nonetheless.

"Merlin, come get your rewards and let's get out of here!"

I screamed at Merlin, who was taking his sweet time with walking a few meters.

"Coming, coming. Damn, don't rush me. I don't run as fast as a car!"

While it was true I could now run at the speed of a car at my full, I almost never moved that fast. Well, I'll let him have this, because I can't really disprove it.

As I watched Merlin walk up to the core, I thought about how we've now completely surpassed normal human limits. Merlin can cast spells capable of completely melting stone, while I can run as fast as a car without getting tired for hours and lift people without feeling the weight, as if they were filled with feathers.

'And we're only one third of the way to reaching level 100.'

[You will be transported out of the dungeon in ten seconds]

Merlin finished obtaining his rewards as the notification that we're going to get thrown out in a few short seconds popped up in front of me.

"Got any new skills? I managed to obtain [Haste]."

"No luck for me this time."

Merlin shook his head. Well, you can't win the roulette every time you spin, but losing still feels worse than winning, so one can't help it but hope they win every time.

Of course, knowing that wouldn't stop me from making fun of Merlin for not getting anything.

I said, putting on my most pitying and ridiculing smile I could muster.

Merlin didn't seem to like that, as a red magic circle aimed squarely at me appeared in front of Merlin's palm. A small ball of flame left his balm and headed straight for me…

[You will now be transported out of the dungeon]

But the spell never reached me.

Truly a skill issue.

Last Chapter Next Chapter