Getting Used to Battles
戦いに慣れる
The 10th day after entering the cave and now I am in a new environment, I was glad that I had rested fully on the boss room on the 10th floor before treading to this floor.
After all the 11th floor no longer looked like a cave, instead what greeted me was dry plain (not a desert) but a dried up land devoid of plantation. What’s more shocking is I just saw the sun from the sky… that’s just crazy, I mean I should be heading downwards and yet the high scorching sun was overhead.
Looks like the dungeons can magically change its environment to whatever it wishes which include a dry plain with a scorching sun, the heat that is hitting my skin is definitely no illusion. If I have to walk from something like this weather I needed to make sure that I can easily rehydrate myself.
With my mind thinking along that line I decided to travel back to the 9th floor and filled the canteens I had previously packed inside ‘The CABINET’ with water. Thankfully starting the 2nd floor up to the 9th floor, water was abundant in the form of springs.
Not having water in the next levels would have been extremely fatal for anyone. It would be bad if I died from dehydration instead of monster attacks. That is so no laughable way to die.
With the 5 canteens fully replenished with waters I then took a QUEEN ARACHNAE thread from ‘The Cabinet’ and strapped one small canteen in my waist. With this I can immediately quench my thirst when on the plains and will then just refill from the other four when it gets spent.
Hopefully, I will be able to replenish my water from the sources of waters when I get to plains. After all I am expecting 10 floors of these scorching hot dried plains.
*****
While the heat was already bad, the contact with the monsters are equally bad, a variety of SCORPIAZ, large scorpion like monsters; DESERT ARACHNAE, large spider like monsters; DESERT WOLVES, wolves with brown fur; DRY IGUAS, Iguana look-a-likes only much bigger and nastier; and then there are some BASILISKS, lizard-like monsters which a nasty habit of petrifying it targets.
All of them heat resistant and here is me who was about already to succumb to the heat and the battle against them became tiresome. In a battle of attrition I was sure to lose. To spare me from that, I made sure to use skills that instantly kill them and made sure to lower the time battling them.
Truthfully it was easier said than done, while it was relatively easier to defeat the pack like DESERT WOLVES and the low birth-rate BASILISKS and DRY IGUAS. The insect types come in swarms which made battles longer.
Thankfully, in this seemingly endless dry plains were mountains, if there are mountains, then there are caves, and if there are caves, then tada~ a hidden spring. I indulged myself, took a bath to dispel the heat that had accumulated in my body, and refilled my water canteens (not entirely in that order).
I also made sure to rest for a few hours cooling myself off before continuing my journey, this time making sure that I locate the next mountain first before continuing my journey.
*****
Seeking those mountains for this travel was a good call. Apparently the-what-I-thought was an infinite vast dry plain was actually a loop. Curious, I tried dashing from one point of origin towards another direction and after a few minutes brought me back to the mountain I had pre-marked.
In the first 10 floors the cave stairways were the gateway to the next floors for this dry plain floors mountain caves were the entrances and exits.
While I wanted to battle to gain more battle experience here, the weather was clearly against me, so I had to speed my way to the 14th floor.
In due time the 15th floor was visible and if my previous analysis was correct then it should be the mid-boss room. And viola just like in the previous 5th floor a higher tier monster awaited me -The ORC COMMANDER.
Just as its name suggests it is a higher-tiered ORC that summons and controls lower tiered ORCS to do its bidding.
ORCS just like GOBLINS are a type of DEMI-HUMAN monster, but unlike the short stature of GOBLINS, ORCS were bigger relevant to an average human size. They stand approximately 149.86 to 180.35 in centimeters and weight 43.54 to 68.04 in kilograms.
Their faces are usually that of pigs –no, more like warthogs. In the forest when I fought them for the protection of the Forest-Island, much like the GOBLINS, they wore leaf like wardrobes and clubs made of wood for their weapons.
However, this dungeon have upgraded their gears and equipment much like the GOBLIN COMMANDER on the 5th floor, the ORC COMMANDER right in front of me is in a spectacular good embroidered vestment that would not pale in comparison to the vestments worn my modern day priest in my previous world.
With the flailing feathered headdress it had adorned its head as he waves his hands, 50 ORCS finally heed his call and surrounded me.
The battle ended the same I had ended it with the fight against the GOBLIN COMMNADER, killed more than 100 or so ORCS before taking on the commander.
Had this been in the previous world, I would have been deemed a serial killer.
Nice one Captain! Now you will be feared by all, hahahaha!
But seriously Captain, don’t go flipping to the Darkside.
Such a sinister laugh even for Grim-chan, she must be poking fun of me. But for some reason I had chuckled on next comment.
*****
Now next on my assumption would also be brought to light. If I was right, then the next floors will be riddled with more ORC monsters of different tiers.
And as expected the following monsters had grazed the next floors:
•16th floor – ORC GRUNTS
•17th floor – ORC GRUNTS, ORC WARRIORS & ORC ARCHERS
•18th floor – ORC GRUNTS, ORC WARRIORS & ORC ARCHERS
•19th floor – ORC GRUNTS, ORC WARRIORS, ORC ARCHERS, ORC RIDER & ORC SHAMAN
Much like the 6th to 9th floors which were riddled with lower tiered GOBLINS, the 16th to 19th floors were also riddled with an assortment lower tiered ORCS.
There is something worth noting, I did not bother much about it in the on the 6th to 9th floors but apparently, the ORCS on the 16th and the 19th floors felt somehow like they were slightly weaker and for some reason some of the ORCS would flee from me when I they spot me first. I wonder why?
Well, it was easier to move in the floors and no harm came to me so let us just enjoy this weird benefit. Due to this I was able to hasten my arrival on the 20th Floor after all the heat was finally getting to me. Not that I have finally succumb to the heat or anything like that, I just did not like to prolong the discomfort of the intense heat.
Waiting for me on this boss room is an ORC I have not seen before. It had a bigger build standing almost 160 to 180 centimeters. At first, I thought that this was the mid-tiered ORC like the GOBLIN CHAMPION -an ORC CHAMPION.
Well, while I was probably correct in assuming that it was a mid-rank tier ORC, I was wrong about its name though. For one instead being armed with a huge sword liked the champion I had defeated on the 10th floor, this guy was casting magic to fend me off. This one is probably magician equivalent of the ORC CHAMPION –a SHAMANIC ORC CHAMPION.
This guy probably has Wind Attribute Magic Core as it hurls down Wind Magic at me. Luckily I was able to cancel its attacks by using Elemental Magic Conversion and wrapped my blades with its opposing element.
“Sword Wrapping Techniques - Earth Wrap: TERRA FIRMA”
By converting the Wind Mana that surrounds the SHAMNIC ORC CHAMPION to Earth Element and wrapping on my blade not only cancels its magic it hurled towards me, I was able to also best it with a somewhat moderate difficulty.
With this should end the battles in the scorching Dry Plains.
*****
I did not know what to expect on the next floors, so I decided to rest my body completely, I also made sure to replenish my food and water before setting off to the next floors. Oh, this is a good chance to mention this:
While I can’t dismantle monsters for meat in this dungeon, I did get a way to replenish my food problem. How you may ask?
I am not too sure if this is just convenience or perhaps a dungeon structural scheme or whatever, but there are ways to get food here despite being illogical. In the first 10 floors with the cave like structure, I was able to secure edible mushrooms (I was really glad that the inhabitants of the forest had taught me which mushrooms are edible and which are not –thank you forest inhabitants). Occasionally I was also able to catch fresh water fish in most water sources.
Truthfully, I was in a bind when the Dried Plain welcomed me on the 11th floor. I thought for sure that I would have a problem securing food there. But far from it, I was able to get them inside the mountain like sanctuaries. I was able to dig for potatoes and other root crops that became my food source and there were also the occasional mushrooms.
I am guessing that, while dungeons are indeed dangerous and illogical, it also has some methods to allow explorers to survive it. Like the water and food sources that are riddled at every level.
*****
After having my fill of the food and water, fully rested and making sure that my gears and equipment were still fine I finally said my goodbyes to this intense heat for the next floor –blooming with a diverse forest.
With this, I should be able to secure more food compared to the previous floors. A large selection of fruits, vegetables, root crops and edible fungi is just waiting to be eaten. The water sources should also be abundant.
This is another after thought while traveling deep in this dungeon, but objects seem to have corporeal existence. Unlike monsters which disintegrates to particles of light when killed, stones, rock formations and others objects exist much like the weapons and gears. Well, this should be a given since I am able to eat the food and drink the water here.
This would mean that I am able to mine for minerals here should I get to a good source. And that would also hold true to the trees here on the diverse forest which can be lumbered if cut.
Now back to the exploration, the 21st to the 24th floors had an assortment of insect (FLY, MANTIS and FRAYGRA) and Avian type monsters which are new type of monsters that I had encountered in this magical world.
Avian Type Monsters just as the name suggest are monsters that can use their wings to fly or glide. In a sense they are just birds –ferocious, giant, man-eating birds.
Flying opponents should have been difficult opponents. However, both the flying insects and the birds could not make full use of their wings as we are deep in the forest. Had my battle against them been in the dry plains (previous setting) then this would have been difficult. Well so much for the random monsters in the first areas, I decided to move along to the lower levels where the next mid-boss and boss battles are.
While the flora and fauna had a slight difference, the forest where I am now somehow felt nostalgic almost like the time when I still trained and fought on the island-forest. Being in the forest was nostalgic and battling here is equally so. Due to that, I was able to speed through my battles here and eventually found my way to the mid-boss where a RAVENOUS FOREST WOLF awaited.
I had battle with the FOREST WOLVES in the Island-Forest before and so have a vague understanding of their basic tactics. In fact they also riddled the first floor albeit only the lowest tier rank, TEEN FOREST WOLVES. They stand about 100 cm in size. As their tier goes higher they increase in size, currently the RAVENOUS FOREST WOLF stands triple of the standard size.
While battling, it should have been difficult, but since I was fiercely attacked with a much larger (450 cm) and fiercer MASTER ALPHA GREYWOLF who was of the same species and used almost the same tactics. The battle with both the higher-tier boss and mid-tier boss were a bit easy.
There is one thing to point out while in battling in this area. Usually, after the mid-boss battle, the monsters that should be expected would be of the same species. I was expecting FOREST WOLVES to loiter, however the whole species of wolves I have seen in the Forest-Island and some I have not encountered before riddled with tiers ranging from lesser tiers and higher-tiers ganged up on me the 26th to the 29th floors.
Well no matter their origin, they were still wolves and continued to use the same pounce-and-run tactics so I was able to fend them the same way. I was glad that I was able to train with the wolf and other beast inhabitants of the Forest-Island. Plus, I have overindulged myself combatting Kizuari that even the boss -an ELDER FOREST WOLF was dispatched with medium difficulty.
Now you might wonder if the mid-bosses and bosses, I have encountered thus far were easy, well technically speaking they were not. But since I was already used to fighting them I was able to dispatch them with slight to moderate difficulties. They were probably stronger than the ones I had fought in the Island Forest STAT wise, however since I had already fought and trained with these monsters on the island-forest and became quite familiar with their battle tactics I was able to somewhat predict their movements.
But I cannot –no, I should not succumb to overconfidence, after all the enemies on the floors to come probably have monsters I have yet to encounter.
And with that self-warning I carefully proceeded to the next floor.
