Getting home, I counted the magic stones I had gotten today and threw them inside my locker. I had made a little over eighteen thousand valis in stones in the last five days, but fifteen percent of that was gonna go to Mord and the rest was only enough for me to live for another week or so.

Waking up the next day, I dropped some blood on my back and checked my current status:

Roland Synclair – level 1

Strength – G – 202

Endurance – H – 194

Dexterity – H – 199

Agility – H – 187

Magic – E – 401

Skills:

- Chosen of and Outer God

- Mangekyou Sharingan (Shisui).

Hey, I had grown about 50 points in every status! From what I had read, my growth was still far above the normal, but my magic was just ridiculous. To think I haven’t been on Orario for even two months and it was already E rank.

I suspected it would slow down eventually, but I could enjoy the fast improvement while it lasted.

Since I was going directly to the Dungeon today I didn’t bother with the eyepatch. With one last check to see if everything was in order, it was, I made my way towards the dungeon.

I actually smiled when I found my lizard resting under a rock on the same room I left him. “Alright, since you’ve actually survived the day, how about I name you?” I asked the creature as it trailed behind me, carrying my backpack on its back.

The beast just stuck its tongue out at me.

“Alright, I’m gonna call you Yoshi. Now come on.” I smiled as I passed by a girl giving me a strange look while she harvested some Kobold. “Come on, let’s go.”

It seems like a high level team had descended just a few minutes ahead of me, a few of their kills still lying on the floor unharvested. Yoshi quickly darted forward and bit down on a goblin’s chest, pulling out its magic stone and swallowing it in a single bite.

I shook my head and harvested the remaining before the glutton had a chance, then made my way forward.

Killer ant’s proved to be Yoshi’s bane. The lizard’s mouth wasn’t strong enough to bite trough their hard shell and it didn’t really have claws to try and pry them open. It quickly learned to leave the things to me and focus on the other monsters.

I slaughtered my way down to the sixth floor with no problem. My days of sparring with Tiona had made me far more skilled, to the point that I could face groups of goblins or kobolds without even using my illusions and my hammer was making quick work of the ants, smashing through their shells and crushing them.

I stepped into the sixth floor and immediately had to duck down as a tongue flew through the space my head had been, it struck the wall with surprisingly strength, sending pieces of stone flying. Pulling out a dagger almost on instinct, I cut up and severed the frog shooter’s tongue before it could recover, then sent my dagger flying and pierced through its single large eye.

The thing jumped back, blood flying all over the place, but I didn’t have the chance to attack again before two tongues flew towards my body. I managed to dodge one while the second hit me square in the chest and was blocked by the armor.

The tongue stuck to my armor and the frog tried to pull me in, instead of resisting I charged. Wrapping my arm around the slimy appendage I pulled it to the side and caused the creature to stumble, leaving it wide open for me to drive my spear all the way through the creature.

I had aimed right for the frog’s middle and, with the sharingan. It was easy to pierce it through the magic stone, causing the frog to dissolve into dust. Losing a stone was a pity, but it got rid of the sticky tongue and freed my spear at the same time.

Pulling my spear back I was ready to face the other frogs when I saw my lizard tangling with the only remaining one, the first having died from blood loss.

Well damn, seems like I didn’t need to destroy the stone after all.

In close combat, the frog couldn’t use its tongue as a projectile and died under Yoshi’s bites, as a reward, I let him ate the stone and only harvested one. Thankfully, the one I had destroyed actually dropped a frog leg.

After killing twelve ants and another seven frogs, I was feeling quite confident in my strength when something new caught me by surprise. A dark patch darted from behind a large rock and rushed me.

Compared to Tiona, the creature still seemed slow, but it was actually much faster than me and I almost didn’t manage to block its first lunge. Its three large claws left a dent on my armguard.

The war shadow attempted to smash into me, but I lifted the butt of my spear and struck its triangular head, causing it to stumble back, with a downwards slash with the tip of my spear I opened a gash on its chest.

I was just about to finish it off with a stab when a second war shadow forced me to retreat in order to keep it from backstabbing me.

The healthy monster was just about to charge me when I decided to attack. The tip of my spear flew towards its head and the beast proved why it was the strongest monster on the floor by dodging back and attempting to use its long arms to slash at my head.

Stepping back I attacked again, my spear sliding through my hand in a flurry of consecutive stabs. The thing was much faster than me and, despite my superior skill; it managed to dodge every one of them.

The wounded war shadow had recovered when I wasn’t looking and nearly took my head off while I was focusing on the second one, cutting three lines of blood on my cheek when I desperately jumped back. Alright that’s enough, time to use my skills.

Unfortunately, that was easier said than done, the war shadows had an orb in front of their faces, but it didn’t really seem to be their eye as I couldn’t cast greater illusion, and they were too strong to be snared with a lesser one while in a fight.

I tried to channel mana into my ring, but it required concentration, something I just couldn’t afford with two of them attacking me.

My spear flew through the air as I used the shaft to block or bat aside dozens of strikes. The wounded shadow attempted to attack the spear itself, but it paid for the mistake with a stab through the shoulder that destroyed its arm.

Suddenly, my lizard dropped right on top of the wounded monster and bit down on its orb. It cracked as if made from glass and the shadow dropped on its knees. A second bite ended its life before it could really hurt the lizard.

Even with only one enemy I still struggled, the creature was fast as lightning and, like me, it seemed able to follow my every movement and dodge my attacks perfectly.

Fuck, I’d have to be tricky then. 

Taking some distance, I struck. Lowering my position I lunged, feinting a stab towards its right leg and, when it stepped back to dodge, my spear changed course directly towards its chest.

The war shadow reacted with a burst of speed, it twisted it’s body sideways and my stab only pierced though it’s left collarbone, leaving me wide open for a strike from its right arm.

I ducked and felt the rush of air as its claws passed above my head, ruffling my hair. Grabbing its extended limb with my left arm I punched its arm with my right hand as hard as I could.

The arm broke like a tree branch, the war shadow didn’t seem to have bones, but its arm splintered into hundreds of pieces and hung useless from its body. Putting my shoulder on its chest I pushed the beast away from me and pulled out my hammer.

The war shadow tried to attack me with its wounded arm anyway, but the damage made it far slower and clumsier, I just ducked under the blow once again and pulverized its leg with my hammer. The war shadow fell to one knee, leaving its head at just the right height to be crushed by my returning swing.

Breathing hard, I stepped away from the dead monster and laughed. “Damn that was fun!”

Finally, I dropped my hammer on top of the dead beast and looked at my hand. I had put far too much strength on that punch and the war shadow had been far harder than I though. Two of my fingers were bent the wrong way.

Then the pain hit me. Fuck did it hurt!

With my left hand, I pulled a healing potion from my pouch and was just about to drink it when I remembered how Tiona usually aligned my bones back whenever I had needed it. When I protested, Loki had laughed and informed me it could heal wrong.

Fuck. Pulling out a dagger I bit down on its handle and gently touched the fingers. Talking a deep breath I squeezed my eyes and moved.

“God fucking motherfucker!” I spit out the dagger and cursed, then drank the damn potion and felt its effects. My pain immediately lessened, but didn’t go away.

Cradling my hand against my chest I harvested both war shadows with my left hand and sat down, deciding to take a small rest while my hand healed. Quickly, I poured the potion on a wooden cup and soaked my fingers inside it.

Pulling out a piece of jerky, I ate it while waiting. Thankfully, with such small area to work in, and with my endurance having almost reached G rank, the potion should be effective enough.

While waiting, I saw an elf glance into the room I was occupying, but he quickly changed directions when he noticed me and moved on. Then a robed man stepped inside and caught sight of me.

The guy wore a large, white robe that covered his entire body, but that wasn’t all, he also wore a white cowl and a piece of fabric in front of his face that covered his mouth and nose, leaving only his eyes uncovered.

I briefly considered how the guy fought covered with so much cloth, but he carried a large sword and didn’t really seem worried so I just shrugged. He had survived until here.

Really, with how unique his clothes were, I was half considering if he wasn’t some secret badass in hiding. The guy actually entered my resting room, causing me to tense and Yoshi to get up, hissing at him.

Pulling my hand from the cup I tested my fingers and noticed they had already mostly healed so I grabbed my spear, but didn’t lift it.

“Greetings. I see you’re taking a rest. Having trouble with the floor?” The guy asked in a conversational voice.

“Not really, got a little tired fighting three War Shadows at the same time, so I decided to have a bite before exploring some more.” I lied. I didn’t want the guy thinking he had a chance fighting me.

If he was much stronger, he probably wouldn’t be interested in the loot of someone who delved around this floor and, if not, he’d probably avoid fighting someone who could beat three of the things without injury.

Still, I kept my ring charged and was ready to use the mangekyou at the first sign of aggression.

“Hmm, impressive, those things are a real nightmare to fight, and it’s rare to find more than one at the same time too.” He nodded. Glancing at the dungeon lizard at my side he lifted an eyebrow. “A tamer are you?”

“I can tame, yes. Why?”

“Just curious, I have never seen you around here before. It’s still early in the day, are you gonna Delve much deeper?” The Masked man asked and stepped closer, causing my grip on the spear to tighten. “Since you’re able to kill three War Shadows alone, it won’t be much risk going one or two floors deeper. You can clearly hunt on floor eighth or ninth.”

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.” I growled. It was like this guy was fishing for information and I didn’t like it. 

The man’s eyes went to my grip on the spear and he lifted a hand to placate me. “I'm sorry. I wasn’t trying to worry you. Just wanted to meet a new face is all.”

“Well, trying or not you’re bothering me.” I said truthfully, and smiled when Yoshi hissed at the man.

“I see, I apologize.” He stepped away and lowered his hand. “I guess I’ll leave you alone then.”

I shook my head as the strange man left. In truth, the meting made me want to leave the dungeon immediately. It just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Still, I wandered the sixth floor with Yoshi, killing killer ants and frog shooters. The loot droop seemed unusually high today, with one in every five monsters dropping something, so I decided to stay the entire day anyway.

I faced another two War Shadows, The first time I had the chance to charge my ring and managed to catch it in a lesser illusion. I made the shadow see me rushing straight at it, it caused the beast to attack a point a meter ahead of me with both arms and leaving it wide open for a simple lunge with my spear that ended the fight without much trouble. It left me feeling highly unsatisfied.

The second one caught me just as I was turning a corner and left three deep gashes on my armor. It was already too close for me to use the spear and the hammer was too heavy, it made me too slow to react in close combat with such beast.

It meant that I fought it with only my daggers, and it was almost as bad as fighting Tiona.

I ducked and waved under its claws, using my armguards to parry its knife-like claws more than once. I tried to grapple it several times but, with both arms fully active, the thing was too fast. I couldn’t lock one of its arms without suffering a deadly blow from the other and the cuts I was leaving with my daggers just weren’t doing enough damage.

I tried to retreat, but the thing was following me close, its strikes hitting the ground or the walls with terrifying strength. My heart beat hard on my chest and a smile made its way into my face despite myself.

The beast actually seemed angry when I started smiling, its movements becoming more and more frenetic. Lifting both arms in the air it prepared to deliver a huge blow, but paid for it with a thrown dagger to the leg that sent its strike of course and allowed me to wave aside.

Its blow hit the grown and sent shards of stone flying up. I spun away from the attack and drove my dagger into its exposed neck. One of the war shadow’s claws recovered fast enough to swing at my head and I laughed as I leaned back, then stomped on the dagger embedded into its neck and drove it all the way through, pinning the creature to the wall.

The beast struggled despite its wounds and it gave me enough time to put some distance between us before I picked up my spear. With a mighty effort, it pulled itself free of the wall, aggravating the neck wound and showering the ground with blood. 

It turned and stumbled towards me, but it was already too late. My spear caught it on its already mangled neck and actually decapitated the beast, the creature had already lost so much blood it didn’t even spray me.

Putting the butt of my spear on the ground I leaned on it and looked down at the creature. Damn that had been fun.

Before I could react, Yoshi fell on top of the war shadow and stole its magic stone in a single bite. “Hey! What the hell, you damn glutton, see if I give you another!” Watching the war shadow dissolve, I smiled when I saw a war shadow finger blade appearing from the ashes. Those things were expensive!

It was still barely past midday so I decided to pull out a stamina potion. I chugged it and considered my option, it had been two hours since I met the strange dude and nothing had happened. 

I hadn’t even noticed anyone watching me and, with the sharingan, that was saying something.

From the books I read, floor seven wasn’t much different from this one, and even floors eight and nine only had stronger versions of goblins, kobolds and dungeon lizards, war shadows were the strongest thing around here and they were nothing I couldn’t deal with.

I could always use charge my ring to cast illusions on the thing and, even if I didn’t have the time, there was still the Mangekyou. It was probably enough to catch one of them in a lesser illusion.

I nodded to myself. “Come on Yoshi, we’re going deeper!”