ALL NOVEL Chapter 11: Dungeon Clear
<Featherfall Dungeon>
Objective: Eliminate the Flightless Lady at the bottom of the Dungeon.>
“Alright, let’s adjust our formation. It’s pretty simple.”
Factor spoke as soon as they reappeared.
They were within an underground structure. There were ruined buildings around them, dilapidated yet glowing due to the colorful vines that had overgrown over years.
It was a dark but magical place, and they didn’t immediately see any enemies, so it was safe to converse for a bit.
“Us wizards will sit in the back with Hannah. Polus and Yenna will take point. Polus, you can just support Yenna in frontline combat.”
“Alright. I’ll just leave the direction to you guys. This is my first time in here.”
“No problem. It’s straightforward anyway. Our goal is the throne room at the bottom of this building. That’s where the boss will be. Beat her, and we get to leave.”
“Mm.”
“Then let’s start moving.”
Factor waved, allowing Yenna to take the lead. It seems she had been through here before, so she had no trouble finding the way.
Everyone had experience besides Hugo. Although he had been given a technique, he couldn’t yet use it properly. His superhuman attributes were his only advantage, for now.
Everyone had to start somewhere. At least he had a goal to reach toward.
From the starting zone, they moved down toward a staircase. Once descended, they found themselves on another platform where there were 2 enemies.
They looked like humans, but they had wings on their backs. The feathered wings had various colors to them, but were battered and broken in places.
They also patrolled the platform mindlessly, their eyes blank, giving off no sign of human intelligence.
“Whenever you’re ready, Yenna.”
Factor muttered, Yenna nodding and moving forward.
Hugo moved with her, staying a pace or so behind.
“I’ll take left.”
“Then I’ll take right.”
The two made their succinct plans before breaking out into a run, ambushing the two humanoids.
Yenna raised her shield and thrust out, bashing the humanoid before it could react and sending it to the floor.
She then raised her sword and slashed down, the humanoid raising in arm in defence.
The sword sliced through, but there wasn’t enough strength backing it to completely take the arm off.
So she pulled away as the humanoid struck out with its own weapon, a knife.
At the same time, Hugo had met his enemy.
And in an attempt to perform well since he didn’t know how to fight, he simply raised his mace and bore down with all his strength.
The result was his mace coming down upon the humanoid’s head and continuing through as if the bones and muscles of the thing were made of dough. The mace sunk all the way down to the pelvis before stopping, almost bisecting the humanoid in a most spectacularly gory fashion.
“Woah…”
Factor let out a sound from behind as Hugo rose from his stance.
His brows raised.
“That was easy. Are you alright over there Yenna?”
“I’m fine.”
She stabbed with her sword as she said that, ending the life of the humanoid below her feet.
Hugo smiled, thinking about how simple that hit had been.
He had severely overestimated how tough that humanoid was. Now he knew it would take a fraction of the effort in order to kill one.
Not to mention how slow they were. He had been in front of it before it could even turn to him, and as soon as it registered he was there and turned, his mace was already cleaving through its body.
This really was the easiest difficult. So since there was zero threat to his life, he decided he would simply work on his technique.
After glancing at the humanoid corpses on the floor, Factor shrugged.
“Let’s continue then. I have a feeling this will go by faster than expected.”
“Let’s.”
Hugo nodded, everyone falling back in and continuing down the next staircase.
This dungeon seemed to move them from platform to platform, each one being a level lower than the next, and each one containing a few enemies.
They were never very challenging, and Hugo quickly realized that this dungeon was meant for those who had absolutely no idea what they were doing. It was purely to learn. There was no difficulty otherwise.
That made everyone rather relaxed, especially when the others realized that one of their swordsmen was more powerful than they initially realized.
Yenna shifted her shield, glancing over at Hugo besided her. The two walked together while the other three lingered behind, falling into their own cliques.
Factor and Raine, who seemed to be his girlfriend, were walking together while Hannah awkwardly walked a small distance away. Other than their occasional chatter, they were mostly silent.
Yenna broke the silence with a soft voice, her words aimed toward Hugo.
“Have you been playing long? You look strong.”
“I haven’t. I just got this mace and decided to start fighting in the dungeons for combat experience. I’m not very good at fighting yet, but I can at least say I’ve got the strength to make the learning process easier.”
Hugo smiled while speaking to her, Yenna nodding in pleasure.
“I can see that. You’re still in the starter clothes. At least the mace looks decent.”
“It’s basic but gets the job done. I had a friend help me out so I didn’t have to start from scratch.”
“Mm, I have a friend here too. She’s been playing for a while, and I finally got my hands on an Artifact so I could join her. It’s been about a week and I’m still grinding for stats to get my first class. At least there are a bunch of guides to follow. All I’m doing now is learning.”
“I would assume anyone fighting in this easy of a dungeon is here for that.”
“True.”
She giggled a bit as they found the next platform.
Hugo unsheathed clenched his mace, approaching the four new enemies.
“Allow me to handle this. I have something I want to try.”
“Very well. Just holler if you want help.”
Yenna stood to the side with the others, watching as Hugo walked over to the humanoids calmly.
They all saw him, turning and brandishing some long talons on their fingers before running over with uncoordinated steps.
They looked like children stumbling over their own steps to Hugo. It was almost painfully slow, but Hugo’s goal wasn’t defeating them quickly.
He remembered Magnus’ technique. There had been some punches and kicks, but otherwise there was nothing for combat. Hugo hadn’t even read the books for the knife and mace yet.
On one hand, it was debilitating having such a technique consume an entire Star. Hugo would need combat in order to gain Accolades and raise his stats. This was forcing him to figure that part out on his own.
But on the other hand, it made him incredibly versatile. It was expanding his potential before he even touched a weapon technique. Should he master it, he would have an exceptionally easy time figuring out how to use weapons. By then, this disadvantage would be quite the opposite.
Unfortunately, before he could start utilizing it during combat, he would need to work on it on his own time. So for now, he decided to just exercise his strength and get a sense for killing these creatures.
As the humanoids trudged toward him like degraded zombies, he waved his mace and planned his attack, aiming for his first victim.
Instead of last time, Hugo simply bashed the humanoid in the head, gouging a hole and making it collapse. After that, he flourished the mace like it was a toy, killing the other three in rapid succession, blood splattering across the air.
It was lucky for most players that there was a censoring function. Every creature had fully functioning systems, like these organic systems. This meant they had organs and everything, and when attacked, they and their bodies would react just like in reality, in full gory detail.
It was difficult to stomach, and Eve had decided to be merciful and implement the function, especially for those who weren’t in it for the combat. It ws just like the pain function.
But Hugo didn’t have any of those limiters on, including pain. So after sensing such visceral detail through his eyes and hands, he took a second to process it.
When the last body fell though, he heard a clap.
“Wow. You make it look easy. You really are strong.”
Yenna walked over with wide eyes. Everyone else was watching from the side, just as impressed.
“You could clear this entire dungeon by yourself, no doubt. Are you really just starting?”
“Of course. There’s no way I would have stayed in clothes like these for so long. I don’t mind basic garments but these are kind of uncomfortable.”
Hugo holstered his mace while rolling his shoulder, Yenna giggling back at him.
At that moment, Hugo heard a voice in his ears, recognizing Eve.
“She’s taking so many pictures of you. And they’re all going straight to her friend.”
“Yenna?”
Hugo asked back in his mind, Eve’s figure appearing in his vision. Only he could see her, of course.
“Yes. An extraordinary specimen will attract a lot of attention. Seems women won’t be able to keep to themselves around you. I just have one word of advice though.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re kind of super hot right now, so you’ll have your picks. But don’t stick my specimen in every girl that throws themselves at you. Save it for the quality merchandise. You don’t deserve nor should you want anything less. That includes this girl.”
“What makes you think I had plans to have sex with her?”
“Well, I brought every part of you beyond the pinnacle of humanity, which means your hormones are several times denser and more plentiful than before. This also means your libido is through the roof and you have phermones and looks that’ll make every girl swoon over you. Once your mentality shifts, you’ll start feeling it, which is fine. But I forbid you from bedding some random bimbo from off the streets. If you really can’t help it, just go find Aurelia.”
Eve tossed some side eyes at Yenna while speaking, Hugo sighing without drawing attention.
He had been so on edge recently that he had nothing in his mind but training. He was still in the process of adjusting his mental state, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t noticed some other things.
His libido was one of them. Just because it wasn’t at the front of his mind didn’t mean it wasn’t there, and it was most assuredly there.
He clicked his tongue.
“Seems Aurelia was serious.”
“Of course she was. She would’ve jumped in bed with you before if you so much as asked her. Now she’s practically begging you to. Tanya as well.”
“Tanya?”
“Your phermones triggered her dormant instincts. Besides, it’s not like she’s asexual. She just deals with it in other ways. Socially inept people tend to find other outlets.”
“Hm, sure. I didn’t think I would ever have this conversation with you, but its been enlightening. Now go away. I’d like to platonically converse with my new friend.”
“So long as you keep my specimen clean.”
“Stop calling my penis your specimen.”
Hugo waved, Eve vanishing before his eyes. Around him, the others started to move normally again. Eve had accelerated time just to have a talk with him.
“That’s true. You’ll have to find some new clothes soon. You wouldn’t happen to know a place, would you?”
Yenna asked curiously, causing Hugo to smile.
“I do, actually. Another friend of mine is going to be taking me later on. She’s been looking forward to dressing me up.”
“A girl? I see. Say, are you really realmless like us? You seem awfully strong for someone who just started.”
“But I did just start. I entered no longer than a few hours ago.”
“So what are you, a superhuman?”
“I am, yes.”
“...”
She went silent, the two staring at each other for several seconds. All the others nearby were staring at Hugo as well.
“...Are you serious?”
“Of course. I became a superhuman less than a month ago. It was quite the grueling process.”
“T-That’s amazing. Congratulations. What Dojo do you train under?”
“None. I did it on my own.”
“Wow. You must be seriously talented.”
“I had a lot of help.”
Hugo smiled. He knew that his talent was average. Without those serums, it wouldn’t have been possible. He would have killed himself first, not to mention the help from Eve.
After rounding a corner, Hugo turned his head to find another batch of enemies, this group was a bit larger, consisting of 7 humanoids.
Yenna nodded in their direction, smiling.
“Did you want to take care of them all, Mr. Superhuman?”
“I’m still learning to fight, you know. And I don’t want to hog all the fun. You guys handle them. I want to observe.”
“Very well.”
She stepped forward along with the others, grouping into formation before picking off the humanoids one by one.
Hugo watched from the side, seeing how spells were cast, arrows were fired, and how Yenna handled the humanoids with her sword and shield.
He admired it. Not their skill, but the very nature of what was happening. Casting spells was only possible because the people of each faction who cultivated power were enabled through a magical organ system, like the cardiovascular system but for magic.
It was something only possible in this world, something Eve had created at the behest of the designers. And it induced feelings that allowed the Immortals to utilize it like another limb.
It was no different from actually adding a limb to the human body, which considering the fact that humans had been the same for thousands of years, was difficult beyond measure. Before the invention of Serums, organ transplants still had the issue of being rejected from the new host. And that wasn’t adding a new limb or organ, but filling in a gap. It was perfectly in line with human biology and yet the tiniest details and differences caused the body to reject itself.
Yet she managed to tune the magic organ and its sensory integrations to perfectly fit and not cause an adverse reaction. Of course, everything in this world was under her control. The human body wouldn’t reject anything if she didn’t want it to. But that didn’t mean there couldn’t be a multitude of other issues.
To induce a feeling meant that the Artifact, the capsule every player had to utilize, was affecting the player. It was the difference between just reading information and injecting information. And she could easily cause the body to react to things that didn’t even exist, for better or worse, purely by utilizing the intricacies of how the nervous system worked.
Introducing a new organ could do such a thing, and Hugo could only imagine the methods she used to bypass all those theoretical issues.
Nevertheless, even the smallest details within this game were marvels of science. And Hugo appreciated them all.
Like that, he watched as yet another group of enemies were dispatched. Then, they all moved on.
It was rather repetitive. This dungeon was the easiest, so it naturally wouldn’t be exciting.
Hugo continued to converse with Yenna as they walked, occasionally fighting in small battles as they continued to traverse deeper into the dungeon. The walking took longer than the fighting.
And finally, after a few more hours, they arrived before a massive set of double doors. It couldn’t be more obvious what they led to.
“This is the boss room. The boss is a large woman who wields a cleaver. She also has wings but can’t fly. Just keep a distance when she tries to attack and she can’t really do anything to you. Let’s go.”
Factor led the way and pushed open the doors, revealing the small arena beyond.
Hugo scanned the morbidly fat lady sitting behind a huge table, countless plates of meat, fruits, and breads gracing the table’s surface.
When she saw them enter though, she let out a low growl and stood, flipping the table and sending everything flying toward them.
They all just stood there, the table reaching no more than halfway toward them before skidding to a halt, all the food scattered and wasted, except for one apple that Hugo caught.
“Guards! Kill these filthy cretins!”
She screamed, prompting several more humanoids to enter and run at them.
Hugo took a bite out of the apple, humming.
“Hm, a bit old. Can I kill the fat lady?”
“Be my guest.”
Factor chuckled as Hugo tossed the apple away and ran forward, his speed uncannily fast. Before they realized, Hugo was already before the fat lady, who had only just drawn a cleaver.
She slashed down at Hugo, but he barely had to sidestep and dodge before leaping upward.
And his mace came down, knocking into her head with a bit more force than usual and caving it in.
She couldn’t even scream before collapsing lifelessly. All the other guards stood there blankly for a second.
And so, the team swept through them.
It only took a few minutes for them to clear the arena, Hugo standing around as he watched his group fight.
And once they were done, they all got an alert.
<Congratulations! Featherfall Boss Room cleared. The exit lies before you. Dungeon Collapse occurs in 2 hours.>
<1:59:58>
Hugo saw the timer. It seemed that they couldn't just hang around the dungeon forever after the boss room was cleared.
“The cleaver is the most valuable thing from this dungeon, though even that doesn’t sell for very much. Did you want it Hugo?”
“No, thank you. You guys take whatever you want. I’ll be going.”
“Of course. It was a pleasure working with you.”
“Likewise.”
Factor walked over and shook Hugo’s hand, the two nodding to each other before Hugo walked toward the exit.
Yenna ran over to his side.
“What are your plans after this?”
“I’ll be going shopping. I’ve already received messages from my friend. They’re waiting for me.”
“I see. Do you think we could try this dungeon again sometime together?”
“My apologies, but this dungeon is far too easy for me to attempt it again with anything more than myself. Even then, I think I need more of a challenge.”
“Well, you’re a superhuman. It makes sense.”
She gave a low nod as they walked through the exit in the form of a portal. Hugo could feel slight disorientation before his feet appeared on a new surface.
He was back in the plaza for the dungeon, thousands of people still occupying the place. It seemed Yenna was sent elsewhere, so he appeared alone.
It wasn’t long after that he heard a ping.
<Congratulations! You have cleared your first Dungeon. You have earned an Accolade.>
Newbie Dungeon Diver: The first expedition, with countless more on the horizon.
Rewards: 1 Stat point gained for all non-magical Stats.
In his vision, he could see the new Accolade. It also appeared under a new label under his Profile.
\\Profile//
|
Name: Polus |
Faction: Celestial |
|
Class: ??? (Legacy) |
Realm: I |
|
Species: High Human |
Psion: 10 |
|
Vitality: 19 |
Strength: 14 |
|
Acuity: 18 |
Wisdom: 18 |
Skills:
|
First Star: Precision Proficiency: 0% |
|
Path of the Prima Materia Proficiency: 0% |
Accolades:
|
Newbie Dungeon Diver |
There was only one for now, but even this basic Accolade gave him 4 stat points. It was only unfortunate it didn’t also boost his Psion.
After that, he looked to the side to find his friend’s list as well as some chat logs with each of them. This was another function the game gave exclusive to players, allowing them to contact each other regardless of what they were doing in or out of the game.
And Aurelia was bombarding him. It seemed she was already at a clothing shop waiting for him while sending images of her favorite picks.
Hugo chuckled a bit before walking off, using his map to find his way to her location.