(This chapter was uploaded on Monday 11/December/2023 8:00 PM, timezone GMT+3)
('1), ('2), ('3), etc. means that there is some explaining for the thing in the notes at the end of the chapter.
"..." small moment of silence
"Talking"
"He-" Someone was interrupted.
'Thinking'
[Skills' names, chanting, spell keys and spells' names]
(Flashback)
(PoV)
(Line Break)
(Nephelont's PoV)
Day 8, 3:49 PM.
I stepped foot in room#3-1 for the first time of many.
The room itself was nearly the same arrangement as rooms of category 2 (Soldier's Room). It just gave me a confusing feeling for some oddly unknown reason.
Anyway, let's set the rocks that mark the other rooms.
The path to room#3-1-1 seems a bit too long, don't you think?
'It feels like it is'
So, Allen, can I use light as an attack through other mediums? I don't want to always breathe it out.
'You could send blades of light through your claws'
Neat. Now... isn't this interesting? The first path just loops back to room#3-1, entering from path 7.
I guess the difference between category 2 and category 3 rooms is that category 3 rooms loop into themselves and each other. I will put an 'X' at any path that loops back to a room I already went into from a shorter path.
Allen, when do you think my scales will mend?
'They will not. They will only be repaired by removing them and waiting for new ones to grow back. It is approximated that the cracked scales will grow back within a few days if they were to be removed now'
A few days is too long. I need to go to that monster and eat its purple stone. That ought to make my journey to the surface much calmer and easier.
'Just be careful'
Marthanóir, dude, are you sane?
'I am, damned brat. I do recognize it when a risk taken now can offset a higher risk coming later'
Glad that you can. In light of that, what are the monsters I see there? Aren't those just skeletons?
'They are. They are weak to blunt force'
Hunter, aren't too many things weak to blunt force?
'What Hunter said is natural. Since a lot of their defenses focus on dealing with slashing or piercing attacks, their blunt force resistance was neglected. The snake monster you swung like a whip was somewhat resistant towards blunt force, but was susceptible to slashing and piercing attacks, as they could get through its soft skin. Your own claws pierced into its skin without you noticing'
Okay. Thanks, Hunter, Arsalan.
I was thinking of choosing the next path by what feels closer to the room housing that screeching monster, but looping paths made the idea impractical. I need to go through the paths just like before, one by one.
Anyway, those skeletons were extra weak. I want a harder opponent.
After dealing with the monsters in the room, I entered the path leading to room#3-1-2.
The room had 8 paths. And the monsters here were a bunch of green masses of muscles. They were ganging up on a human duo. Why are there only two of them here? The last time, there were 10 where it was easier. Shouldn't they bring at least 20 people? Or maybe those ones are stronger than the previous group of humans?
I cling to the wall silently and start watching them fight. Normally, monsters will swarm the humans all at once. But those green muscles were a little quirky.
Thirty or so of the stuff observed the fight and even cheered for either side when they did something befitting of the act.
One of the two was held down by a green muscle while the other was fighting a 1 VS. 1 against another green muscle.
The green muscle threw a punch at the human.
The human ducked under it. He retaliated by kicking the green muscle and jumping back and away from its next attack.
The green muscle charged at him and grabbed his leg while he was airborne. It slammed him to the ground.
The human stood up while the green muscle sneered at him. He threw sand in its eye, temporarily blinding it. He threw a rock at a place to make a sound decoy. After which, he picked up his fallen weapon, a longsword, and stabbed the green muscle deep into the chest. It fell dead after he withdrew his weapon from its body.
"Kraak!"
"Krieek!"
The green muscles were cheering for the human. And just as they were cheering, another green muscle entered the area where the last green muscle was killed.
If I understood this right, these two humans are going to need to kill all of the green muscles this way or risk them fighting all of the green muscles at once. It's apparent which of the two choices they preferred.
Should I step in? I can't just sit and observe as the two of them die. I would feel guilty for letting someone die when I could have saved them.
'Be careful. Those monsters are individually strong enough to injure you. If you were careless, they could end up killing you'
But, Hunter, would I be strong enough to face them all at once if I boosted my scales to the max?
'Possible'
'Keep being invisible and take as many of them as you can. Once their numbers thinned enough, you can reveal yourself'
That's a good strategy, Arsalan.
I proceeded as Arsalan suggested. I took off with their heads in my mouth. They panicked, but their muffled screams were further muffled down by the crowd's cheer. I kept on doing it until they noticed that only about 5 of them remained, including the one fighting the human and the one holding the other hostage.
"ROOOAAARR!!" I undid my invisibility as I roared in their faces.
With my height and superior reach, I kept flicking my tail and sending them flying back. When I saw an opportunity, I stabbed one with a claw that pierced its purple stone, judging by the crystal breaking sounds it made. That one turned to dust.
The remaining four abandoned the humans and came charging at me. Their eyes lost a layer of intelligence to them that was there when they were cheering.
I torched them, which did almost nothing to them. I picked up to the 'skies' and sprayed them with more flames. I infused my second dose of flames with energy. It burned two of them to death.
The remaining two received a claw of concentrated light each, scorching their bisected bodies.
I looked at the humans and, to no one's surprise, they were running away from me.
"You two, come here. We need to talk like civilized people" They reached a screeching halt when they heard my voice. They turned around to find me just staring at them, waiting for them to come closer.
"You two are too injured to survive the other monsters, right? If you tell me where I could find your allies, I could protect them for you. What about that?"
"You said you will protect us?"
"Yes" I mean, you would most likely doubt the hell out of me.
"It's nice to meet you. My name's Kernel. What's your name, then?"
My name all of a sudden? Do monsters have names? I will just give them my human name.
"My name's Nephelont. Why did you want to know?"
"You wouldn't happen to have the family name 'Cranel'?"
"I actua-" *Clank*
A sharp impact sound reverberated through the room. I know where that came from. It was an arrow hitting my scales.
I look back and see a bloodied archer and a few others. Some other breathing sounds were behind them. I noticed them beforehand, but my defenses were enough to let them be. Letting them know that they couldn't hurt me could make them more inclined to hear my words.
"Haaah. Look at you. I was offering to protect them. Now, what would have you done if I lashed out and killed them because of your uncalculated actions?" He should have known that was a possibility.
"GET AWAY FROM THEM!" The archer screamed at me for what? For trying to help?
"Well, it's not my problem. You can stay here without anyone who is uninjured among you and without any protection. Let the others die because you didn't judge the situation with rational thoughts backing your decisions. Live with the regret you will develop later, when I leave and one of your companions dies because everyone else was too injured or too tired to help them. Goodbye, stupid. Remember, don't remove the rocks that have carvings on them. Because if you do, I will sniff you out and slaughter you"
After I gave them that warning, I turned around and started making my way away from them. I mean, I don't really need that bunch of stones. They might be useful, but my mental map is okay without them once the rooms and the paths leading to them are known to me.
As I turned around, I saw a long-eared human look at the archer with poison spilling out of his eyes. Why though?
"KRACHK!!" A green muscle with a thick beard entered the room.
I turned invisible and stepped to the side. I replenished my energy by eating some of the purple stones the green muscles dropped.
"Hey! Come back! Help us!"
That archer, man. He is one arrogant asshat.
"Why should I? You just shooed me away for offering my help. What right do you have in asking for the help you yourself rejected less than a minute ago?"
"What if I asked for your help instead of him?" The long-eared human said. He was holding a stick with a very alluring gem on top of it. I might just listen to this one. He was one of the only few who were actually debating asking for my help. It's definitely not for the gem, not at all.
The entire time, the elder green muscle was looking around for my voice. He was clearly unimpressed when he couldn't see the unknown voice with no owner.
"Give me something in exchange. What can you offer?"
As the elder green muscle dismissed me as an illusion, it tried to move in their direction. I flicked my tail to its side, launching it away. It got up convinced that I existed, not being a hallucination, and started looking around for me again. It kept its guard up against the humans, though.
"It pains me to admit it, but we are not in a situation where we can make the offer. We can only give you information about the floors and where to go to find what. What do you want to find? Or where do you want to go?"
He's level-headed in a situation like this one, huh? I respect that.
"I fired an attack that struck the screeching monster at the center of this maze. I want you to lead me there after you are rested enough"
"You want to fight Udaeus?"
Umm... Why does he seem concerned?
Hey, Allen, why can I fight something that's clearly stronger than the green muscles from before? Green muscles were capable of injuring me, marking this as a serious threat.
'Your bodies' mass difference makes it so that every time both of you collide in any way, it gets launched back. And the fact you reinforced your scales further around the area of your body that struck it, it made it more painful. You are as much of a threat to it as it is to you'
Logical. Was that Lo hiding behind your voice again, Allen?
*Smack**Crash**Crack*
'Yes' (Allen)
'Traitors' (Lo)
You should have just told me, Lo. Although it gave me the little pleasure of discovering it myself.
'You are welcome'
Let's continue talking with this human.
"Can you help us in exchange for that?"
"I want something more. Do you have any information about this Udaeus's weaknesses? After I help you, of course, and you will lead me there"
"You have my word, sir. I, Frugo Miller, swear upon the name of my home forest of Ryumilua, that I will keep my side of the promise as long as you help us in this peril"
"Consider it done, Frugo Miller. My name is Nephelont Cranel. It is a pleasure to meet you, a person who listens before judging others"
Yes, that was aimed right at you, nameless archer.
"Tie him up. Nobody wants me gone, right?" Miller turned towards the nameless archer and tied him up. It was a good sight to see, when that archer was about to resist. All the able-bodied members of their party ganged up on him to help Miller tie him in chains.
Are they always ready to tie others in chains? It's a weird item to carry in a place like this.
By the way, I just had an idea. I can hide from the sight of others by manipulating light. What happens if I created a copy of myself using light?
'Depending on the size of said copy, and taking your natural size as reference, it could be maintained for as long as an hour while you are hidden. If it was the size of that monster, you could maintain about 5 of them while hidden. If you were not hidden, you will be able to create and manipulate about 7 of them for a little less than an hour'
Then help me create three clones its size and reinforce my scales so that I can maintain the clones for the same duration you proposed.
'Positive'
Out of thin air, 3 smaller clones of light appeared. I changed sizes to the same as them before I undid my invisibility.
"Grrrrr!" We surrounded the monster and showed our fangs, and I growled as a sign of hostility.
"KARRUK!" It charged at one of my clones, which gave me an opening to ram my entire body's weight into its side with a headbutt.
*Clink* A sharp sound grated my ears as my horns slid off some of the elder green muscle's metal equipment.
*rumble* The room shook a little and a cloud of dust appeared when the elder green muscle impacted the wall.
When the dust cloud settled, the monster was already up, nose and mouth bleeding a little. It had some scratches here and there.
My horns also made puncture wounds by pressing on his skin at an angle. They were somewhat shallow. At the rate they were spilling blood, the elder green muscle will die from an infection before blood loss kills him.
It rushed at me, the cause of its pain. As it got closer, the clones got to three different sides of it again and illusory flames appeared in their maws. It got distracted long enough for me to ram into it again.
This time, I changed positions with one of the 3.
And as I expected, since the dust cloud covered its vision, the elder green muscle didn't know I changed spots. It charged the clone who replaced me. I decided to spend some energy on my claws.
I launched blades of light at it with my clones doing the same.
The elder green muscle got deep burns from all the blades directed at it. I decided to ask Allen later about what happened as I watched it being in a bit of a dizzy trance. It was a clear opening.
As I saw my clones dissipating, I struck it with all I have got.
*Rumble* The room shook a bit more than the last time.
It was laying there, breathing, yet unconscious. I went up to it and beheaded it.
Allen, explain.
'Your clones are made of light. When it is a light-based attack, they can use the energy that supports the illusion of their existence to launch that attack'
That may be useful against Udaeus.
"So, can you tell me everything you know about this Udaeus?"
"As promised, I will tell you"
How honest he is. I guess that oath truly weighed its apparent value. He wants to fulfill his part even while he's being treated by a party member.
"I'm all ears" Well, respect for those who are polite.
"Let us start with how Udaeus looks like. Udaeus is a black demon-type monster that looks like a human skeleton. It has horns but lacks the bones from the hip down.
It normally fights by spreading its attacks underground through its spine. It can also summon spartoi.
If fought alone, it will summon its sword and drop it upon death.
It is slightly stronger than the monster you just defeated, but its body is as large as two and a half times yours.
If you are aiming for its magic stone, considering you are a monster, then do not attack its chest. Udaeus is all bones. Its magic stone is apparent to the naked eye, and it could be trivialized by striking it. But that destroys the magic stone most of the time.
Udaeus, as a monster formed mostly of bones, is susceptible to blunt attacks. Your tail and fists are great for that purpose.
Is there something else you want to know?"
"All that remains is to reach Udaeus. Thank you for the information, Miller"
"I have a question for you, Nephelont" I turned to him to see him waiting for my permission to ask said question.
"Go on"
"You identified yourself as Nephelont Cranel twice, correct?"
"That I did. It's the name my parents gave me, before I lost most of my memory and became a monster"
I'm sorry, Miller. I'm lying here when I say 'most', because all of Nephelont's memories are gone.
"Young master Nephelont, can you show us how you look more clearly?"
"There is no harm in that" I shine light. Yeah, cool, I know. I revealed my wings and horns, as I was still covering them in an illusion of invisibility.
"This... is the one we are searching for. Bernard, you could have extended the search much more"
Miller said to the rude and irresponsible archer from before. He had an ugly expression saying that, as if he was going to give this nameless archer a beating when they arrived at safety.
"What search?"
"Calm down, young master Nephelont" Now that he looks at them, my wings are wide open. Was that one of you suggesting it to my subconsciousness?
'... Negative'
So, it was. Whoever you are, I'm gonna fish you out some day. And when that happens, we're gonna have a nice, long chat.
'...'
"Sorry, I'm still getting used to this body" I then closed my wings and listened to what Miller had to say.
"It is fine. We can start around a week ago, when a report came in that an irregular green dragon appeared on the 24th floor"
So, I'm now what's classified as a green dragon.
"The report detailed a green dragon covered in crystals and was a monster who could talk, make and keep promises, and knew how to assess its situation. It also contained intel about the monster's intelligence.
When the party that went to the 24th encountered the irregular, they reported that it resembled a certain person who died years ago"
"And that would have to have been me, right?"
"Yes, that is correct. After the report reached the ears of Bell Cranel, your father, all the allies he could gather in a single short day organized their ranks and started searching for your whereabouts.
We reached this floor just today"
(Day 8, 5:06 AM) (3rd person PoV)
"Captain Cranel! We will join you!"
When Bell was about to step onto the 37th floor, he heard the voice of one of their allies. He turned around and saw a party mostly comprised of level 5 adventurers running towards them.
"You are on time. We were just about to go in"
They were included in the searching process. The problem Bell faced was the branching paths of the maze on this floor. The deeper one went, the luckier they would need to be to escape those paths that grew ever more complicated. That is unless one has a map to guide them.
"So, we will split into smaller groups. Every group will be responsible for a certain number of paths to check. Once the Beast's Room is done, we convene to decide where everyone goes in the Soldier's room. The same happens for the other two rooms. Let us hope he does not go to face Udaeus alone"
'I hear from Ranye, she saw him go lower, into the dense forest ravine. Not to mention, the adventurers we found in an alcove some floors above us, they witnessed him going down. We may need to hurry'
Bell theorized that since Nephelont spawned on the 24th, he was a strengthened species of a green dragon. That will, at most, give him the strength of a level 5. The abilities that come with being a strengthened species are not the same for every monster of the species.
Two monsters of the same strengthened species could have different abilities. And that randomness created a sense of unease in Bell.
He was going to take all the chances he got to hasten the search. If the dragon was Nephelont, and if it faced off against Udaeus, it could make them lose him again.
(Back to present) (Nephelont's PoV)
"Nah. I will fight Udaeus. There is no reason for me to believe that my father is here. The only thing I can trust you in is to lead me to where Udaeus stays. Now, if you could please lead the way, Miller"
I can punish them if they lie to me while we are here. But once we come across more people, there is a chance I can't deal with all of them. Humans can make that terrifying human-wave tactic come true. And among those, hiding in a wave's folds, there is going to be a person stronger than I am. I will use them here and just let them go. By that time, any pursuit given could be wasted by my invisibility.
(End of Chapter)
Have a nice day, ladies and gentlemen.