Bo's Return

Bo was bored again, so he decided to pack up his gear and return to Veronica's Rest once more. Last time had been rather disappointing. The gargoyles were weak and very easy to defeat. He just had to grab the and crush them into smithereens with his fist. He didn't really need to use actual weapons very often. His warrior class had adapted to his fighting style and his shifter lineage had blessed him with strength and horns alike.

When it came to the dungeon master, he had been hoping for a real challenge. However, she had been clumsy in her attempts to dodge him and not very brave either, for that matter. He doubted much had changed in such a short period of time, but he had given her a few days to improve. Bo hoped that she would put up a much more impressive fight this time around.

When he got to the dungeon, there were already a few groups of adventurers milling around. Most were still in the first few rooms as they discussed strategies and waited for the gargoyles to respawn. Since he was a c-rank adventurer, Bo was hardly here to farm experience. The pitiful amount the gargoyles would give him simply wasn't worth wasting his time on. Maybe things wouldn't have been so bad if there were more than three of them per room. Having a whole swarm of them attack him at once certainly would make things tricky, even for him.

While Bo wasn't one for using weapons and he couldn't help but look down on his local dungeon, he had still come prepared. If the dungeon master had been smart about things and planned ahead, he was sure things would get messy. However, the lesser healing potion would still be enough to heal most injuries. Even if the worst came to pass, he also had a normal healing potion, which he had carefully saved up to afford. That still wouldn't be enough to recover missing limbs or truly lethal injuries, but he doubted this dungeon would be capable of that any time soon.

After entering the tropical parkour challenge room, Bo paused. He looked the room over, feeling impressed. While he could certainly exert enough force to jump long distances, he didn't have much agility, making it hard to maneuver carefully through the air. Turning around, he tried the door he had just come through. It was locked and the challenge notification popped up notifying him of what was in store. It would seem he had no choice then, he'd have to conquer this course before he could move forward.

Thanks to not wasting money on fancy armor and weaponry, he had a cheap magic bag. It had a limit of 25 kilograms and was the cheapest on the market, but it was enough for his purposes. He wouldn't have to worry about any of his gear being ruined, should he fall in the water, nor would he have heavy armor to drag him down. Readying himself, he braced himself and jumped onto the giant wooden ball in front of him.

He must have overestimated the jump as he went flying over them and landed in the water between the second and third ball of the bunch. He quickly swam over to the entrance and dragged himself ashore. He didn't wait long before he was at it once more. While this was hardly the first parkour course to ever exist in this world, they weren't exactly common. So, Bo didn't have any experience dealing with such obstacles and it took him a while before he could make it to the first island in the midst of the pool of water.

Sighing, he sat down and pulled out a ration. He would take a short break and then continue onwards. Peering ahead of him, he could see a rectangular strip of land directly ahead of him. The distance to cross over made it seem easy, but there was no way it would be that simple. From what he could see of the rest of the room, the course was meant to be difficult. There was ice, which one could easily slip on, causing them to fall into the water below. The highest point in the room appeared to be some raised landmass with water pouring into the water below. How the water level below him didn't rise and the landmass itself didn't run out of water, he wasn't sure. Probably some sort of dungeon-exclusive magic.

Bo had only brought simple rations and simple camping gear. He was glad that he had it now that he knew he'd likely be stuck here for a few days, but he was most certainly going to miss having a hot meal and a proper bed to sleep in by the time he made it home. Still, it was nice to have a proper challenge and he felt far less bored now, even if this wasn't what he had in mind. Standing up, he dusted off his pants and prepared to make the next jump across.

Thanks to his alertness, he was easily able to dodge the first [Trap] and even the one after that. However, he had gotten the timing wrong and the next push wall [Trap] started to close in on him. Digging his feet into the ground, he did the only thing he could think of and shoved at the [Trap], attempting to remain on land with all of his might. The push [Trap] must have been a weak one as he was successful as he shoved it back into the wall and was then able to continue forward. That would make this whole process far easier than he had been expecting.

After clearing the rest of the distance, he jumped onto the next island floating in the water. This was the last one on this side. He'd have to clear the raised platform with rushing water and avoid slipping on two icy platforms before he'd be able to take a rest next. Bracing himself, he jumped across to the icy platform, but, despite his best efforts, he skidded across its surface and fell into the water. This was definitely going to take a while...