"My old friends, troll-type monsters," I said while looking at the large green beasts.
These were much beefier than the Champion back on the 1st layer. It fit that the first Champion monster I would face on my own in the 11th layer was a troll.
The dungeon truly had a sense of humor.
I patted the dungeon wall.
"Keep it up, and I will be like my mother and shove a sword where it hurts."
The dungeon didn't react.
Much bigger, the Champion was at least three times my height. The other trolls were roughly one and a half times my height. My sword arm was going to get a workout. There was no other way out of the dungeon, and I needed to get food eventually. That was the immediate priority.
Stepping back, I began swinging my blade. I made a runic circle. It wouldn't last long, but it would help even things out and set the scene for what was about to happen.
"Fireball."
I used the spell skill with the runic circle, and a fire tornado formed, spiraling into the chamber.
At least the chamber wasn't snow or ice themed. Those were annoying due to how cold they were. Fire was less effective because of the environmental effects.
"Ozy, go!"
My Wing Serpent took to the air of the chamber. He would have complete aerial domination since these troll-type monsters were physical combatants, with no range attacks, and they didn't fly or climb walls.
"Flame Blade!"
My weapon burst into blue flames as heat washed over me. Large physical monsters had lots of healing points. The best way to counter that was through damage over time attacks.
Rushing forward, I didn't hesitate. The nearest troll swung at me, and I ducked under the clawed hand.
My blade easily cut through the troll's leg, sending it crashing to the ground with a smoldering stump.
I needed to focus on crippling monsters; I could kill them later. I couldn't afford to spend more than one strike per monster.
"Fireball. Fireball."
The trolls who began burning let out a scream. Before impact, the spell skills injected spirals of air, which made the fireballs grow, enlarging the flames and spreading out the impact flames more. Gusts of wind blew out, pushing more flames out and burning more trolls.
I carved my path through the trolls in front of me, heading right for the Champion.
"Fireball. Fireball."
My Mana plummeted, but it was better to use it up quickly early on while keeping about a third in reserve.
No wonder my mother loved fire so much. It was a great way to wear down numerous durable enemies.
The burning troll corpses blocked other trolls from rushing me as I made my way towards the approaching Champion Troll. It had a large, spiked metal mace.
It brought its weapon back, which then broke apart near the hilt.
Good job Ozy.
That was the distraction I needed to close the distance and slash upwards, cutting from the knee up to the waist of the monster deeply.
"Fireball!"
It was level 110, so I couldn't hold back. While it might have the level of a legend, it wasn't a legend and didn't think like one. Also, it didn't have the skills. The Champion Troll stumbled back as its face burned. I pivoted on one foot, bringing my blade up and down, cutting two-thirds through the thick troll leg.
I didn't hesitate to pull my weapon free and hurried away back down the path I had carved out. Trolls were already moving through the fire to swarm me.
"Fireball. Fireball."
My Mana was almost out now as I let Fire Blade dissipate. I made it back to the tunnel I had entered this chamber from. A good portion of the chamber was on fire. That rush out and back took less than twenty seconds.
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The Champion Troll had collapsed onto one leg and was hopping its way towards me. Other trolls were pulling their burned bodies towards me. Some of them had weapons, but I wasn't worried as I drew another runic structure in the air.
I was getting better at this.
I backed up along the passage with Ozy, who kept delaying the trolls at the front with his Alchemical Bounded Field. Patches of ice on the ground, bursts of fire in their faces, and Petrifying Gaze. Troll monsters would be resistant to poison, so I didn't have him use Toxic Breath.
"Fireball."
The vortex of air swarmed onto the fireball as I anchored the runic circle onto the spell skill.
I thought it was a neat trick.
The massive fireball flew down the tunnel and into the chamber, incinerating hundreds of trolls that had gathered. It had been risky to run out, but I had a good sense of combat at this point. Attacking the Champion also ensured that all the trolls in the large chamber were drawn toward me.
I didn't want to have a battle and then find any of them still kicking. It was best to clear a chamber completely. Why wouldn't all the monsters attack me in large groups if the threat wasn't great enough?
Not all monsters would attack on sight. It was a simple tactic, but an annoying one.
On the flip side, if the threat and Mana expenditure were great enough, like with the war mech, then the monsters from other chambers would swarm to that location.
My Mana was quite low, and I didn't want to risk any more spell skills. I rushed through the burnt and charred trolls, cutting through limbs as I rushed back into the chamber. The smoke and burnt monster smell was awful, but I was used to it.
Now the challenging part came.
For the next half hour, I ran around cutting down trolls and avoiding their attacks while Ozy assisted in watching my back. When I finished, my Danger Sense stopped triggering.
Looking around, none of the trolls were moving either. They had either been burnt or chopped up.
I got to work harvesting the monster cores, starting with the Champion Troll. I stored the yellow core separately.
That was one down and thirteen more to go.
The blood was also useful for the Alchemically prepared ritual ink. I had a couple of storage containers in my spatial pouch for such things and filled them up with the Champion's blood. My classes in monster processing have come in handy right now.
While we hadn't worked with such a high-level monster in the class, the basic principles were mostly the same. I would have to work with Ozy carefully to alter the blood and look for some iron-based monsters as well. Iron would be the best, but I could use another metal if necessary.
Powdered iron would probably be the best choice for the Alchemically prepared ritual ink. I would also need to get some more for the entry passage as well, just like yellow cores.
While it would take more preparation, it would be better to do it now while it was possible. Once I left the dungeon, I would have to worry about the beastkin. Trying to gather supplies to open a passage at that point would be a nightmare. Best to avoid that if possible.
Once I was done, I used the most powerful spell of all.
"Clean."
Such a useful spell skill. Without it, the dungeon would have been far more miserable. It was a must-have for anyone wanting to be an adventurer.
Unfortunately, it did nothing for the burnt troll smell.
I wouldn't go down the passage to the next layer. I could clear one chamber per day on this layer. It would take around ten chambers to reach another passage with a Champion at the minimum. That would take around six more months, which was too slow.
The food could last, but it would be very close, and I would have to ration. Rationing would heavily affect my reserves, making them regenerate slower. That was how people died in the dungeon — overextending themselves.
I needed to fight and kill Champion monsters only, and I had stealth skills. Ozy was overlooked until he attacked or got close to another monster.
Even though he was my pet, he was still a dungeon monster. Whatever the monsters used to determine other monsters and targets to attack didn't count Ozy until the fighting began.
I would sneak through several chambers and then clear the chamber before the Champion's chamber. So, three or four days per yellow core instead of fifteen. Instead of six months, that would take about two. I didn't have to get food the moment I emerged from the dungeon, and my reserves had strong regeneration, since I wouldn't be starving myself.
If I needed to fight some beastkin, then I needed to be as combat capable as possible. Thinking ahead in a situation like this was critical.
My team would have just made things worse, especially the war mech. I had no proof, but I honestly thought our bad luck was because of the contraption.
Now it was just Ozy and me, and I was confident that I could handle most things. Once I had a stable source of food from the surface, I could begin working on soul skills to track Xanatos through his cursed skill.
I found it funny that he would save me instead of dooming me, but he already owed me a massive debt. I was going to collect a small part of that by using him to assist me.
I couldn't help but think about the team as I settled into a corner of the chamber to rest for the night. They hadn't had their priorities straight by focusing on the war mech instead of focusing on the dungeon itself. Anything that needed a team to be used properly in the dungeon was just asking for trouble.
April should have worked to create a curated team and then stayed in the upper layers, but she rushed to a level she wasn't capable of handling herself. The same was true for Sam. One should never go deeper than one's own ability. Even if the team got along well and had synergy, you would be doomed if things fell apart.
It was survival of the fittest down here, both mentally, emotionally, and in terms of skills. All my teammates were lacking in one of these areas.
I couldn't help but thank my mother again for properly preparing me again in my mind. While her training had been harsh and unrelenting, I had a firm grasp of my adventuring ability in the dungeon.
Even Harren, with his background, didn't have the combat experience I had. He might have talked a lot, but ultimately, he was insecure and fragile. He wasn't prepared for how badly things could go down there. While I didn't want things to go badly, I knew I could survive no matter what.
Even if I didn't have the ritual or soul skill books. I would figure out a way to survive.
For now, I needed to hunt beastkin near the exit passages and use Stillness and other skills to strike at individuals and get supplies.