Champion

[Forest Lizardman Champion]

Level: 25

Damage: 80–100

HP: 2,500

Tier: Rare

Status Effects:

 • {Curse of Weakness}: All offensive and defensive stats reduced by 60%.

 • {Daylight}: Lower visibility in daylight, but a slight increase in reaction speed.

Skills:

 ❖ Passive: [Thermal Vision]: Detects all heat sources and differentiates them from the environment.

 ❖ Passive: [Stomach Half Full]: Becomes stronger the hungrier it is; fullness leads to sluggishness.

 ❖ Passive: [Claws & Jaws]: All damage inflicted by claws or jaws applies stacking bleeding damage.

Addendum:

Lizardmen are a reptilian race sharing only distant similarities with their draconic cousins. Having devolved over millennia, they lack the mystical powers of true dragons. However, as supreme hunters under the cover of darkness, they remain a formidable threat. Rarely active during daylight, they rely on thermal vision and instinct to survive.

****

The hulking lizardman towered over Ludwig and his group, an apex predator even under the blinding disadvantage of daylight. Its massive, muscular frame rippled under its scaly blue skin, each movement exuding raw power. 

Its orange eyes, narrow and slitted, scanned the group with an unnerving calmness, occasionally obscured by a translucent film that slid sideways—a predator's blink, alien and efficient. It tilted its head, the sharp, predatory movements further unsettling the already terrified students.

Ludwig crouched low, his mind racing as the monster sniffed the air, searching. Slowly, his hand reached for a rock. His every movement was calculated and deliberate, a stark contrast to the visible panic spreading through the group. In one fluid motion, he hurled the stone toward a tree.

The impact resounded through the silent forest.

The lizardman's head snapped toward the sound, its reaction lightning-quick. Without hesitation, its massive claws lashed out, tearing into the tree's trunk with such force that the wood splintered and cracked. The ancient tree groaned under its weight before toppling with a thunderous crash. Birds scattered into the air, their frightened cries echoing through the dense canopy.

"Don't make a sound!" Ludwig hissed, his voice sharp and commanding.

The group froze, snapping out of their paralysis. They moved with careful precision, following Ludwig's lead as they backed away. The lizardman snarled, sniffing the air as its head twisted erratically, searching for heat signatures.

It was blind in the daylight.

The creature's inability to pinpoint them emboldened Ludwig's next decision. He gestured for the group to continue retreating as quietly as possible. But before they could move far, a distant explosion shattered the tense silence, drawing the lizardman's attention.

With a guttural hiss, it strapped its spear to its back and dropped to all fours. The sudden shift in posture made it even more menacing as it lunged forward, its powerful limbs propelling it through the forest. Small trees and thick bushes were crushed under its weight, while larger obstacles were skillfully avoided. Within seconds, it vanished from sight, leaving behind only a trail of broken foliage.

The students collapsed to the ground, their faces pale and glistening with sweat. Fear clung to them like a second skin.

"We're not supposed to fight that, are we?" one student stammered, his voice quivering.

"The teacher is insane!" another cried. "No one can fight that thing! We'll all die here!"

"I want to go home!"

Ludwig's sharp voice cut through their panic. "Crying won't change anything. Man the fuck up."

A few students flinched at his tone. He sighed, glancing at Kassandra, who raised an eyebrow. "Or woman up," he amended, though his irritation was still evident. "Look, it's not unbeatable. Did you see how it acted? It wasn't even aware we were right in front of it."

"What do you mean?" Hoyo asked, his voice still trembling.

"It's blind in the daylight," Ludwig explained, straightening up. "It relies on thermal vision. That's why it struggled to locate us."

Kassandra nodded, catching on. "That's why you threw the rock. You distracted it with sound."

"Exactly. And I think we owe our noble 'friends' for the explosion. It distracted it long enough for us to escape."

"Wait, so there are more of those things?" another student asked, panic creeping back into their voice.

Ludwig shook his head, "I doubt it, but it's not good to be careless." his head. He couldn't tell them that what they just saw now was actually a Champion of Lizardmen because that was information that was only available to him via the Status Screen. Yet he couldn't fully confirm or deny it.

Ludwig wasn't sure if the tribe of lizardmen should have Only one Champion and a Queen. Since they seem to have met the champion first, what was the other group fighting?

Perhaps other lizardmen, or another champion? But definitely not the queen, right?

Because the notification at the start of this dungeon mentioned that the Queen exists further north of here.

"What's the plan?" Kassandra asked, her voice steady despite the tension.

Ludwig's gaze shifted toward the rising smoke and dust from the explosion. "We head east. I want to see what the nobles are dealing with."

****

"HURRY UP!" Bron shouted as he waved his wand, "Flame Arrow!"

A long concentrated and condensed magic stream began spiraling in front of Bron's wand, but before he could cast the spell, several fist-sized rocks flew toward him.

"Torrent!" Minerva called, calling a powerful wind that stopped a few of the rocks but failed to fully block one that hit Bron right in the arm. With his focus disrupted the spell broke and his eyes bulged along with his moth spitting out a blob of blood from the backlash.

Bron cursed as he drank yet again the vial as he threw the empty glass next to three already emptied-out vials.

Several of the other students were panicking, whenever they tried to cast magic they'd be assaulted with hails of rocks and spears. But thankfully the spears were too slow and too weak for them to do any damage to the nobles. Most of them were either skillful enough to dodge or had good enough enchantment on their robes to protect them from any sort of fatal damage.

"Why are we still here BRON?!" Minerva roared out. The nobles were all in a panic as they tried to run away, one of them had already been captured by these creatures.

Bron cursed inwardly, realizing that one of his objectives wasn't going to be met if he kept on fighting here, the nobles were strong but not mentally strong enough to fight against lizardmen who were fighting back.

Though these things which were slightly taller than a human, with a sinewy frame and thin but shredded muscles were fast, they were still lizardmen, weak during the day and were already exhausted. If the group of commoners were to meet even one of these little things they'd die out, but apparently the unlucky ones were Bron's group as they were being chased by three lizardmen.

"Fall back, we'll head toward the exit, this is just a waste of time," Bron shouted.

"What about Maverick!" one of the Nobles said.

"It's not the time to argue! if you want to save him go after him yourself!" Bron roared back, after all Maverick was nothing but a Baron's son, nobility was new to him and for the son of a Duke, a baron was no better than a commoner and wasn't worth the hassle nor the reward for going out of his way to save him.

The group followed after Minerva and Bron as they continued using their magic without spare against them.

Minerva seemed to notice something, however, "Don't use Fire Magic!" she shouted.

"Why?" Bron asked as he was about to prepare another fireball.

"Whenever anyone used fire magic he became the target, you can see that their aim is incredibly bad and only gets better when someone uses fire magic, I think they have thermal sight," she said.

This was true, after all ,Bron had already been 'briefed' before about this but he seemed to have forgotten about that, he never thought that it would be relevant.

"Right, switch to other elemental and Hex magic, even if its weaker, but keep backing away, the exit is only a bit ahead!" he said as he continued moving back.

The group of nobles finally found some semblance of order as they began to gather around and follow orders while defending themselves by any means.

Though he couldn't obtain the 'special' item that the teacher he bribed had left him in the forest, just leaving the dungeon by touching the flag could be considered a pass. As for Maverick, the teacher had already said that death isn't uncommon in the Black Tower academy.

Bron thought for a second about the group of students that had gone to 'scout' and seeing the current situation, they too had no luck. Though this might not have been a full success, at least those guys are dead by now.

"Keep moving!" Bron roared as he headed further and further east while the three lizardmen struggled to chase after the group that was wantonly throwing magic at them.

"THE FLAG! I SEE IT!" Minerva shouted as they were able to see the flag in the distance. And just as they got to the clearing where a red flag was embedded on a large boulder, something seemed to emerge from the side of the clearing, a hulking mass of murder, a lizardman that was at least twice the size of the ones that were chasing after them and it simply bulldozed its way toward the group, crushing the flag in its wake as it lunged at Bron with a mouth open so wide it could swallow him in one bite.