The now-ownerless and damaged equipment that was scattered over the stone ground of the Boss Room, in the Quratar Dungeon’s 8th Floor, scattered with a loud clatter; the Boss, Pan, had seen us and began to attack.
He may have looked like a half man, half sheep, like the wild God that shared his name on Earth; but he was much more vicious, a Demon not only in name.
It would probably upset a normal person if they had been waiting in line and listening to all of the people ahead of them laughing and joking, discussing their plans for dinner or visiting ‘women of the night’ -- only to follow them, and discover that those men had all died viciously; a few moments separating them from joyful banter, and the despair of death.
I had been jaded by this world…but I wasn’t able to completely disregard how cheap life was--how a small mistake could result in death, even before you had the chance to realise that something had gone wrong.
Even though my attention wandered, I could still see the Boss’s actions, still react without noticing; I had changed greatly, from a normal person, to someone who could consider the intricacies of life while also killing threatening Demons or monsters.
“Sherry, keep its attention, I will deal damage.” Roxanne spoke to the other girl, not even looking back as she darted towards Pan.
Even though Sherry had recently joined the group, Roxanne knew that she could trust her implicitly.
“Yes!” Sherry responded enthusiastically as she jumped forwards; she shifted the position of the small shield strapped to her left arm, hitting the Demon with a body-slam.
Although the cute, purple-haired girl was small--she hit Pan so hard that he bounced back and smashed into the stone wall with a pained bleat.
“Well done.” Roxanne murmured with a smile as she took advantage of the stunned Boss.
Moving her sword so quickly that I could barely see anything more than a silvery blur, Roxanne left five large slashes on Pan’s chest; we knew that she could have killed him then--but she stepped back, allowing Sherry to get the killing blow.
“Thank you.”
Their interaction was cute, like two sisters who were willing to share life, and death--though their armour was covered in blood, small fleshy lumps clinging to them…remains of some of our previous fights.
While Demons would become smoke on death; if their flesh was cut from them, and was touching a living person, it would be left behind for some reason. Neither Roxanne nor Sherry knew why this was, they just took it as a part of how the world worked.
The Boss fight for the 8th Floor of the Quratar Dungeon, one which had killed more than a dozen men before us--was over in around half a minute; two moves from Sherry, one which was a killing blow, and one move from Roxanne…well, she did swing her sword over five times, faster than the eyes could track.
I walked over to the girls, praising the two of them for a job well done, charmed by their sparkling eyes and ‘praise me’ auras.
So cute.
After a few seconds, I looked at the ground to see what Pan had dropped.
It was Goat Meat.
...Goat Meat?
I don’t think I would be comfortable eating meat which came from a half man, half sheep; he looked like a man with very woolly hair and beard, his eyes had the strange sideways pupil of a sheep. He even had ridged horns which curled up from his temples and through his overly-curly hair.
If people didn’t know in advance, he could be mistaken as a Beastman.
Both of the girls looked at the slab of meat in my hand, I could see the disgust in their eyes.
Silently, in unison, we agreed.
“Fireball.” I threw the meat into the air and murmured a Spell, burning it; I would neither sell, nor eat meat like this.
I wasn’t a vegetarian, or even worse, vegan; but what separated meat that I could eat from what I couldn’t used to be how cute the slaughtered animal was--now, I also had to add the caveat as to how human-like the animal was…
Upon killing Pan we began to make our way through the equipment that was scattered over the floor, over to the entrance to the 9th Floor. But, Sherry murmured something when she saw one of the swords; tilting her head, she walked over and picked it up.
“Master, have a look at this!” Sherry sounded strangely excited as she called me over.
Taking the offered sword from her, I looked at it.
The weapon seemed normal, until I inspected it.
Name: Blade of Obstruction
Weapon Type: Sword
Size: Two-Handed
Skill: Incantation Delay
“Does Incantation Delay do what it says?” I asked Sherry as I carefully cleaned the blood off the metallic blade.
“How did you know that it had that Enchantment?” Sherry cutely tilted her head.
“He’s Master.” Roxanne answered the confused Dwarf with a pleased grin and glimmer in her eyes, her tail rapidly swaying.
“I…don’t think that’s how it works.” Sherry rolled her eyes at Roxanne, before turning back to me, “It’s likely that the Delay Enchantment works how you think it does.”
She leaned closer and gentle rubbed the flat of the blade, before gently knocking on it with one small knuckle, listening intently to the sound, “Master, you could figure out the Enchantment without Analyze Weapon, or years of training?”
“But, yes. The Enchantment causes a disruption in the flow of Mana, which causes the casting of whichever Spell--to be massively slowed.”
“Thank you for explaining.” I smile at Sherry, before storing the weapon.
***
As we leave the room, I as Roxanne a question that was bothering me.
“So, Human remains rapidly disappear as well?”
Nodding, Roxanne answered my question, “Yes. The Dungeon eats Mana to survive and grow--and the Human body has a lot of Mana in it; however, if this Mana is rapidly drained, the body turns into a fine powder, a strange wind forms, blowing away any remains.”
She looked down.
“Then, how come equipment doesn’t do the same? Especially Enchanted equipment, which should have a lot of Mana.”
“I…Sorry Master, I don’t know.”
“It’s because Mana conductive materials tend to be tougher than the Human body, so they take a lot more effort to digest; if this effort is greater than the gains--the Dungeon places them into chests, to lure in more, tasty, Humans.” Sherry answered.
“However, some of the stronger Enchantments get devoured; thousands of legendary weapons have been known to disappear alongside their owner, when said owner dies in a Dungeon--and none of them have ever been found, even after the destruction of the corresponding Core.”
Sherry sounded excited when she said this.
“I see. Thanks.” I smiled at Sherry, and stroked Roxanne’s hair--she seemed strangely downcast.
Back when we left the room, while Sherry and I were looking at the sword, Roxanne had noticed a few Magic Crystals. There were three of them, one for each group that had been slaughtered.
The Crystals all contained great amounts of Mana--one of them was even Green…worth 10 Gold--the others were deep blue.
***
We are now on the 9th Floor.
Sherry had only joined us a few days ago, yet she had integrated so efficiently into our party that it seemed almost as though we had fought side-by-side for years.
Because of our compatibility, we were back on the Floor that Roxanne and I had been on before Sherry; just one more Floor until I encountered Demons that would allow me to gain Experience--Demons with their 2nd Rank Classes.
However, while they were experienced and talented--neither girl had a 1st Rank Class reach 30, so their Attributes would be too low to be of any help; not only would I have to fight difficult enemies, I would have to protect them.
Though Roxanne was getting close.
After the defeat of Pan, her Beast Soldier Class had just reached level 25; she will be able to naturally advance in a week or so. With a specialized 2nd Rank Class, she would be more powerful than me, if I were only limiting myself to a singe Class.
Sherry, however, had decided to accept the Shield-Maiden Class--and had only reached level 8.
“Well, let’s start off with the smallest group of Demons.” I said to Roxanne with a smile.
Nodding, her nose twitched cutely as she spun in a circle, searching for Demons.
“Hmm…That way. The Demon is called a Collagen Coral, and I think there is only one.” Roxanne points down a corridor, “I’m not sure. But, I can guarantee that if it is a group, it will be a small one without any variations in types.”
It seems that the new Demons on the 9th Floor were called Collagen Coral.
Seeing my inquisitive look, Roxanne looks proud, “Master, if you talk to the Adventurer’s Guild, they allow you to see a list of Demons which appear on certain floors. Because quite a few Beastkin have a good sense of smell, one which they use to hunt, the Adventurer’s also have Magic Items which replicate the scent of all of the Demons.”
Sherry sidled up to me, “The book also lists the strengths, weaknesses, and attack patterns as well; I recorded the information here, Master.”
When she takes out a roll of parchment, I accept if from her with a ‘thanks’ and stroke her fluffy hair while reading; her hair is so much softer than when I first bought her--a simple and cheap shampoo did so much…probably because it was infused with, or created by, Alchemy and Magic.
As soon as I finish studying the information on the Demons, which also includes their possible loot, I give the parchment back to Sherry.
“Well then, let’s continue.”
Thanks for the chapter
Thank you for the chapter.