Blitzing the Dungeon

But when we entered the boss's room, there was nothing, even though this room seemed to be fully lit by the trays of fire that hung off of the side of the walls.

It was a circular room with the exact same design as the previous one, I think. I didn't really get a good look during the fight, nor was I able to think about it when I woke up, due to so much happening when I did.

It had darks grey walls similar to the stone in the cave system we were just in, and hanging trays of fire that hung off of the walls. Said walls were carved with fake arches into them.

"Where's the boss monster?" Someone asked.

"I don't know..." One of the other platoon leaders replied.

"It seems that the boss of this floor has either already been defeated, or something else is at play here." Denosin said to everyone. "Either way, we keep moving."

Everyone moved towards the door to the next floor, still prepared to defend against any surprise attacks as the tension in the air rose higher and higher the closer we got to the door.

And as everyone was looking around in case of such a scenario, I looked back at the doors we came in through. They were still open, when they should have shut by now. At least they should have closed.

I tapped Denosin's shoulders to get his attention.

"What?"

He turned and saw me pointing at the entrance door that hadn't closed.

"Oh... Everyone! No need to be worried about the boss, it seems to have been killed already." He announced

...

"That's not good..." he muttered under his breath, realising that something here was able to kill it, meaning that that something was stronger that the absent boss monster.

But I had a feeling that something else was happening here, something sinister.

...

I feel nauseous just thinking about it.

_

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We pressed forth through the next two floors, both of which were completely silent and had no monsters to speak off, nor any bosses either. This confirmed Denosin's theory of each floor holding a "lake" of sorts. And in each lake was the corruptive energy of death, most likely from all of the undead gathering in the depths of the dungeon.

The third floor had an almost pitch-black stone look to it, with actual carving in the walls and an actual uniform design to it. It also made any and all light we tried to use useless due to the darkening properties of said stone. Luckily we had many people who could use several other skills to keep an ear out for anything.

And during our trek through the third floor, I got another skill!

[Ding!]

[You have received the [Dark Vision] Skill.]

This allowed our team to have better navigation through the tunnels as I could now actually see where we were going and could lead everyone in my team without us running into a wall or something.

It took us another couple of days to finish the third floor and map it all out before we encountered the same situation in the boss room, a fully lit interior and no boss. And just like time, the entrance doors didn't close.

Once more on the fourth floor, we encountered not monsters or undead. We found a lake that was nearly fully corrupted by necrotic energy. And the floor lacked a boss.

The design of the fourth floor was more intricate that the previous one, with many different carvings depicting a forest burning and the inhabitants running away. These carving were extremely off putting for everyone, because the door to the boss wasn't made of a rotting wood, but the same dark stone as the rest of this floor and the previous one.

And the image was of a giant evil creature smashing apart what very closely resembled the city of Athenela.

And upon entering the fifth floor, everyone felt this unsettling aura that pervaded the whole place. This time, we decided to move as four units of twenty, meaning a couple of the platoons were disbanded and split amongst the rest of the remaining teams.

This floor took a week to discover everything we could about it. Just like the rest of the floors, there was a water reservoir, although I refused to stick my hands in this one as the whole thing looked too toxic and may poison me with a more concentrated necrotic energy.

The were also a few runic inscriptions left on the walls in some places. Nobody could decipher them, even with some of us knowing runic inscriptions, it doesn't mean we can read all types of them. Runes have a somewhat funny way of working like that, and despite some of them looking very similar to the ones I know, it's still different due to the energy imbued into it, which I determined to be necrotic energy.

The amount of necrotic energy here was concerning, and I feel like when we get through to the sixth floor, it may even be too much for some us to handle.

After another day we all managed to find our way to the boss room and prepared for a boss monster to be there, even though the previous three floors had no boss, we should always be prepared for one just in case.

The doors were pushed open and the vanguard charged in and there was surprisingly something actually in here. It was a giant, one eyed monster of some kind with a healthy green hue in its skin, and not deathly pale one, something that somewhat relieved all of us.

The vanguard team charged at the behemoth as the support buffed them while everyone else split up to flank it from the sides.

I charged to the left and charged up a [Fire Beam] as I did so. And as I reached the right side of the room, the vanguard reached the monster and attacked.

The monster retaliated with its own attack and the two forces met.

*BOOOOMMM!!!*

A loud booming sound was created from the force of the impact as the shockwaves tried to push everyone back.

The creature stumbled back in pain as the vanguard remained in place.

"NOW!" Denosin yelled, and I let my charged [Fire Beam] fly out.

Several other magic attacks flew out and stuck the monster at once, creating a multi-elemental explosion that engulfed the creature.

The dust settled and everyone prepared for a counter attack as we charged up a second barrage and the monster let out a bellowing roar, and going into a berserk state.

*RRROOOOAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!!!!!*

It charged towards the other team but the vanguard came in and attacked it before it could get very far. The creature seemed to not be bothered by it this time and just swung its arm as if it was trying to swat a fly, knowing the vanguard away from it.

It then resumed its charge towards the other team but I fire another [Fire Beam] at it to draw its attention over to me, melting its flesh off in the process. I tried using [Paralysing Stare] on it when it stared straight at me, but it didn't work. I tried using [Intimidation] alongside it but that didn't work either, perhaps because it was in a berserk state, mental attacks wouldn't be nearly as effective.

As the creature closed the distance between us, the others behind me fired their own spells at the monster while I prepared to face it head on, activating several of my skills at once to boost my strength. I also felt some of the mages behind me cast their own buffing spell on me also.

The monster reached me and I pulled back my left fist and met its own fist in a head on collision, creating another loud bang.

*BOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!*

The monster stumbled back again with its arm looking not so great, it had been deformed into an unusual shape. As for my own arm, although it felt a little numb, it was ultimately fine.

The vanguard team then came rushing in from behind and struck its back with such force that it fell to the ground. Then a few of the blade wielders of the group came over and cut its ankles to prevent it from getting back up.

I then rushed up and summoned my soul manifestation and used [Soul Devour] on it whilst slashing at its face with all of my claw skills, finishing it off as everyone threw one last attack at it, finally killing it.

[Ding!]

[You and your party have killed a [LvL. 42 Cyclops Monster] and earned 2,000 EXP]

[You have devoured a [LvL. 42 Cyclops Monster]'s soul and earned 25,000 Soul EXP]

[Congratulations! You have met the requirements to evolve your Soul.]

A bunch of messages appeared before me, catching me a little off guard but it was all fine, great even, as I could now evolve and level up my soul once more. The EXP from the Cyclops is small but it is spread to everyone as best it can be.

"Well done everyone, let's take a break for now. We'll divvy up the loot in a bit and then head to the Sixth floor." Denosin congratulated.

We then took a bit of rest and took any of the loot from the boss if we wanted any and then headed down to the next floor.