After entering the seventh floor, I proceeded through the dungeon and fought more Skeleton Knights on the way. I just defeated another Skeleton Knight when I picked up a new presence.

Oh, it smells like there is finally another bat. I can finally refill my Blood Power, but more importantly, I am getting really hungry. It takes me a while to get there, but I catch the bat quickly and drink its blood. Of course, like last time, I don’t bite it directly but cut its body and let it flow into my mouth.

I am not sure if I should be happy about getting used to drink blood, but at least I don’t have to worry about food. “Food… I want to eat normal food… Ah wait, stop sulking Benji!”

It seems I am getting to a point where I start talking to myself… But I really miss proper food. At this point, anything would fine. It just had to be edible. Even if I can sustain enough nourishment through blood as a vampire, I still want to eat normal food.

I shake my head and dismiss the thoughts about food and get my focus back on my current priority “escaping the dungeon”. Now that I am not hungry anymore, that is my most important task.

I fight more skeletons while looking for the stairs to floor 8 and finally reach level 9. About half an hour later, at least it felt like about half an hour, I reach the stairs to floor 8.

Right now I am looking at my first skeleton encounter on floor 8, but this time it is not a Skeleton Knight.

Skeleton Archer (Level 12)

Skeleton Archers are low-ranked undead monsters. Because of their Ranged Attacks, they are more Dangerous than Skeleton Knights. They stop moving when the Core in their chest is destroyed.

Skills: Archery (Rank H)

“Skeleton Archers, huh?” And there are two of them. This time, I am definitely at a disadvantage with my sword. At least if this was a fight where I have to engage from the front. Since they stand with their back turned to me, I can just sneak up and kill them with my sword. But if I had to engage from the front, I think I would have to use my Blood Needle. I really don’t want to risk getting shot by an arrow.

I do exactly as I planned and sneak up to the first Skeleton Archer and strike it down. The second Skeleton Archer notices me and reaches for an arrow to shoot at me. But I am already at a distance where I am faster with my sword. So I take two steps to close the distance and stab the second archer.

Now that the two Skeleton Archers are dead, there is another thing I have to think about. What do I do with the bows? Should I take them with me? Sadly, I never used a bow before. When my dad took me on his hunting trips, I only helped with the camp and watched him dismantling the hunted animal. At that time, I was still too young to actually be taught about hunting. Well, he didn’t use a bow, anyway. But I don’t think I can pick it up and just get a feeling for it, like I did with the sword.

I pick up the bow and an arrow and try shooting at point on the wall and well… As expected, the result was terrible. I consider taking the bow anyway, but in the end, it would only hinder my swordsmanship. I still don’t have a scabbard for the sword, so in order to use the bow, I would have to put my sword on the ground. I don’t really like the idea and leave the bow with the dead Skeleton Archers.

From that point on, I fought multiple Skeleton Archers and Skeleton Knight, sometimes even in mixed pairs. If possible, I still snuck up to the archers to kill them, but there were a few cases where I had to kill them with my Blood Needle. Shortly after reaching floor 9, I got another level up and reached level 10.

Since reaching floor 9, I also put another point on my mental to-do list. That is, to prepare for what might happen on floor 10. This time I won’t just advance to the next floor. After all, when I was half through the dungeon, there was this special room that drained my Blood Power. That’s why my plan is to kill as many Skeletons as possible and maybe reach another level up. I also have to refill my Blood Power before entering floor 10, just to be safe.

Eventually, I found the stairs, but my current Blood Power is at 5/14, but luckily there is actually a bat in my detection range. There are also two Skeletons in my way.

I proceed that way and find another pair of two Skeleton Archers. But this time the distance between them is bigger than before. So I can sneak up to the first archer, but because of the bigger distance, the second archer is at a more advantageous position. So I have to kill the second one with another Blood Needle.

To my surprise, that fight got me another level up. So I am now level 11. But I didn’t get another skill or anything like that.

Now I can finally catch the bat, but I don’t kill it immediately. I take it back with me to the stairs, just in case. Of course, the bat struggles a bit, but it’s futile. I get back to the stairs and refill my Blood Power. Then I finally enter the last floor.

Like with floor 5, I passed through another barrier, or whatever that is. At least I am not able to go back to floor 9. This time there is a vast room waiting for me. The first thing I notice are the torches on each side of the room. As soon as I entered the room, they lit up with a blue flame.

They lit up one after another until they reach the far end of the room. There are a few stairs and on top of the plateau is a throne with someone sitting on it. No, wait. It is not someone. I should say something. It stands up and slowly walks down the stairs.

I know immediately that this would be the most dangerous fight since waking up in the dungeon. It is not an enemy that I can just destroy with one strike. But on the other side it could definitely kill me in one strike.

I nervously whisper its name, “Skeleton King…”