But, if it was a few at a time...if hacking at the exoskeleton didn't do the trick, then I could always just start stomping on them since that always seemed to do the trick.
"...Could you tell me their weak points?" I asked, mulling an idea over. I was so far behind where I needed to be, it went so far beyond not being funny that it looped back around to be hilarious. I needed exp and, unless I want to start murdering people, then I needed better sources of it. Quests would give me a ton, but the floors I had to get to to do them were out of reach. I could fight on the sixth floor practically naked if I could go into the seventh, then I should.
What if a killer ant gave 10 exp? Killing the same number of war shadows earlier would net me 40 exp. The spawn times increased, so I would spend more time fighting them -- if I increased my stats enough, I could fight with Lili on my back and grind them even further. Stats were the priority, but if I could avoid falling further behind the daily exp need, then I would.
"Their necks, legs, and eyes are weak points. The legs more so to disable a killer ant to make finishing it off easier," Lili answered.
"And how long does it take for a swarm to gather?" I questioned, thinking I could do that easily enough. Chop off heads, stomp on them if I couldn't, or take out the legs before doing either above.
"It depends," Lili hedged, "the pheromones attract killer ants that are nearby after a few minutes. Swarms don't really happen until you reach the lower floors or you're near a pantry." Lili explained, eliminating my biggest worry. If I wasn't going to face down a hundred of the buggers, then I was feeling pretty confident about my odds.
"...Are we near the entrance?" I asked after a moment of thought.
"...we are. Just up ahead, and turn left then right. Is Mr. Jericho sure about this?" Lili questioned as I picked up the pace. I nodded in response, taking a left and spotting the right.
"I won't explore too far. I'll hang around the entrance for a quick escape," I told her, thinking over the plan again. There could be some resistance when we try to retreat, but, for the most part, I could run through whatever the Dungeon threw at me. The ants weren't likely to follow me up, but even if they did, I was certain I could outrun them.
"If Mr. Jericho is sure," Lili agreed as I finally laid eyes on the entrance to the seventh floor. I looked down at it, an innocent-looking hole in the wall with steps carved downward. I lowered myself, letting Lili hop off my back while a hand went to the satchel to pull out a stamina potion. I downed it in a single gulp before I found myself walking down the steps, Lili a step behind me.
Then, I set foot on the seventh floor for the first time.
I took in the new floor. It looked nearly identical to the sixth, except for that the color had changed. The floors lost the bluish hue to them from the glowing crystals in the wall, revealing everything to be a dull yellowish-brown. The stones overhead were yellow in color, acting as a fluorescent light almost.
"Mr. Jericho seems very happy," Lili noted, adjusting her strap.
"I am," I agreed, smiling faintly, my eyes peeled for trouble. I was on a new floor, fighting new monsters, and hopefully making leaps forward instead of baby steps.
"Most adventurers spend at least a year getting to this floor," Lili reminded lightly. And I did it in less than a week.
Before I could make a comment back, the wall cracked in front of us, a killer ant pushing itself through. It looked like the ant in the Ant-man movie, I noticed as I rushed towards it. Except its exoskeleton had an almost glossy sheen to it underneath the light and its black eyes were the same color as the deepest, darkest pit in the depths of hell. It was a lot larger than the other monsters I fought so far, standing tall it would be around 5 feet, though it was the same size as Lili when it stood on all its legs.
No sooner than it freed itself from the Dungeon wall, I fell upon it. Lili's words were fresh in mind. I swung at its head, where its thorax and head met and felt my blade sink into it. It caught halfway, almost like the war shadows before, but this time it was something hard that stopped me from decapitating it in one go. Even with my sword buried in it, the ant lunged at me, intent on biting down on my thigh, and it would have managed it if I hadn't jerked my leg back.
Clenching my teeth, I forced my blade through, cutting through what looked like a bone to do it. Its head fell to the floor, its body still half into the Dungeon wall. I summoned my status with a thought, eager to learn how much exp they were worth.
Jericho
Level: 1
Progress to level 2: 6,735/1,000,000
Strength: 11 (+4)
Endurance: 30 (+1)
Dexterity: 24 (+1)
Intelligence: 4 (+2)
Sense: 19 (+3)
Development Abilities:
Physical Resistance: The user receives 3% less damage. Effectiveness is determined by the Endurance stat.
Skills:
Gamer Body: The user's body is that of a video game.
Massage: Skilled hands make targets tension and exhaustion melt away. Effectiveness is determined by Dexterity and Strength stat.
Kissing: An intimate act between lovers that, if done well, can bring pleasure to the target. Effectiveness is determined by the Dexterity and Sense stat.
12 exp. They were worth 12 exp. Dear lord, that felt good. Oh, man...12 exp. More than double any monster offered up until now. 12 exp...whew. That...that was almost as good as the orgasms I had this morning. I mean, I would still have to kill several thousand of them to meet my daily quota, but, at the moment, that 12 exp felt so, so good.
More killer ants began to spawn ahead of us. Tilting my head back, I saw that the same for behind us. Since next to no one was on this floor, the Dungeon could afford to throw everything that it had at us. By the time the crowds came, the respawn time limit would have ticked by.
"Lili, stay close," I ordered, rushing forward to dispatch the monsters ahead of us.
"Lili will hold the rear," Lili informed, the twang of her crossbow echoing in the tunnels that slowly grew noisier. I don't know how it managed it, but it was pretty much a machine gun that fired deceptively powerful bolts. I heard the pained cries of the killer ants behind me, Lili would know better than anyone to quickly finish them off.
I neared the first killer ant as it rushed to meet me, its giant mandibles widening to take a bite out of my leg. I raised a foot to crush its head instead, throwing all my weight behind it. I felt a lot more resistance than I normally did, but the killer ant's head still cracked open like an egg. I paid the gunk coating my shoe no mind in favor of turning my attention to the other three killer ants that crawled out of the walls.
All three of them converged on me as they made weird clicking noises that managed to creep me out. My reach was so great that I could bring my blade down on the nearest one long before it came anywhere close to me. I brought it down on its head, my sword managing to cut through some of the exoskeleton, by not enough to kill it. Moving forward, I angled the blade down, with my weight behind it, it pierced the monster instead, stabbing it in the head.
Switching my grip, I yanked my blade free before I thrust it into one of the eyes of the second one. There was a lot less resistance there. The third lunged at me, forcing me to dart back a half step, pulling my sword free in the process. I slashed at it, my sword digging into the monster's face, lodging halfway through its eye, but that wasn't enough to kill it.
With a snarl, I lifted the monster up, grabbing the other end of my sword, before I slammed the monsters head into the Dungeon wall, my sword parallel to it. The sword dug in further, the ant lashing out with its legs, the blows that it landed were powerful, easily stronger than the frog shooters by half, but I didn't let it stop me from finishing the ant off. With another slam, I shaved the ants head in half, killing it.
The fight wasn't over, though. I turned around to see Lili still fighting off a single remaining ant. Its eyes had a lot in common with pincushions, an arrow wherever there was a chink in the exoskeleton. The ant wasn't even making its way to her, just thrashing wildly right up until I walked over to stomp on its head.
Looking around, I saw the fight was over, and only then did I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding."Whew," I let out a breath, flinging gunk off my hand. "That was kinda intense," I said, glancing at the corpses to make sure they were all dead. They were. Perfect.
"Lili thinks Mr. Jericho is more suited to this floor," Lili commented as she began to retrieve the magic stones. "The larger monsters are normal-sized monsters for Mr. Jericho."
"Yeah, they're easier to hit than goblins, at least," I agreed with a nod of my head. Once I get used to fighting them, I don't think killer ants would be any problem at all-
"But, please don't get too overconfident! This floor is very dangerous, Mr. Jericho," Lili commented, looking concerned but unworried. "It's very easy to get overwhelmed down here, so please do not stray too far from Lili. She'd really weak. Lili would die if Mr. Jericho doesn't protect her."
...It was like she could read my thoughts or something.
"I won't let you die," I told her. It was only now that I started to realize what I was trying to do. Lili hated adventurers. Not like how I hated people who didn't use their turn signals or people who crank up the bass in their cars until the entire apartment complex can feel the vibrations at 1 in the morning. She harbored a deep personal hate for adventurers and I had absolutely no idea if I was included in that. I think she was warming up to me, but...I just didn't know. "And, even if you aren't strong, you're a hell of a lot braver than me. If I wasn't built like I am, then I'd be too terrified to ever enter the Dungeon the first place."
"Mr. Jericho is very kind," Lili said, giving me a smile that I hoped was a little more genuine. I just had absolutely no idea if she meant it.
"I'm honest," I lied, turning my attention back to the tunnels. It didn't take Lili very long to finish retrieving the monster stone, and she found a mandible too. So, I just needed another ninety-nine and I would get that sweet, sweet exp.
Lili silently fell in step behind me as we walked through the tunnels. I expected it to be a constant fight down here, but there was only the occasional monster spawning. That was...kinda disappointing.
Before long, I heard the sounds of footsteps and labored breathing echo through the tunnels, getting closer with every second. I held a hand up for Lili to stop, as I got ready for a fight. I heard her cock her crossbow and take aim, the footsteps getting closer until-
To my surprise, I recognized him. A middle-aged guy, his shaggy brown hair flowing into mutton chops with two little round ears on top of his head. A thin goatee sprung up around his mouth, whispy and thin. He stood just over five feet tall, a red scarf around his neck. He looked almost identical to how he did in the anime. Everything about him reminded me of a middle-aged man that was only happy with a beer in his hand and a football game on the tv.
He came to a skidding halt when he saw us, sweat dripping down his forehead. His gaze darted to me, clenching the sword in his hand before they shot over to Lili. His eyes widened a fraction when I heard Lili suck in a low breath.
This was the guy that tormented Lili. Who beat, betrayed and left her to die in a swarm of killer ants.
"Is there a swarm?" I asked, making a show of lowering my guard ever so slightly. I stole a glance at Lili, her hood made it impossible to tell what expression she wore, but she trembled ever so slightly. Her crossbow was pointed to the ground, so I didn't think she was going to shoot him.
"There, ah, there's no swarm," Asshole the Second said, wiping his brow with his forearm. He swallowed thickly, looking nervous as all hell as he glanced at Lili again. "Just in a hurry to get back up top," He wasn't anywhere near as good of an actor as Lili was as he gave a shrug of his shoulders. Then he paused, his eyes looking away from my face down to my sword.
"Nice sword," he suddenly changed the subject- oh, fucking shit. That guy. That guy that I killed yesterday, wasn't one of the guys that laid a trap for Lili carry an Asian sword? Did Asshole the First and Second know each other? I couldn't remember, the former was such a nonentity I completely forgot about him.
"Thanks. Bought it at a pawn shop," I answered, trying to throw him off the trail. "They sell decent stuff for cheap. Can give you the name, if you want," I offered, hoping that he wouldn't call my bluff.
Except it didn't matter, did it? Lili was standing right behind me. She didn't know me. She didn't trust me. I was willing to bet all the money in the world that if Asshole the Second asked where I got the sword, she would answer. Except he wouldn't have to because, judging from that smirk on his face, he didn't buy my bullshit at all.
"Eh, I prefer quality work myself," he said with a shrug. I...what should I do in this situation? This guy definitely suspected that I murdered whatshisface. Would he do anything about it? I don't think so? Maybe? I had absolutely no clue, and that was the scary part. I didn't know what he would do with the information. Would he blackmail me? Sell me out to the familia that guy belonged to?
What were my options? I...convincing him to tell no one...or...making sure that he couldn't tell anyone?
Should I kill him?
"But, as much as I love chit-chatting in the Dungeon, I have a delivery to make. Nice meeting 'ya," he said, walking towards me with a carefree expression on his face that didn't match up at all with his hand gripping a sword at his belt.
Killing him would make sure that he couldn't tell anyone. Lili would be a separate matter, but this guy tormented her so I doubt she'd be the loose lips that sunk the ship. Not to mention the nice pile of exp I would get for it. And whatever was in that bag of his. And…but…
Last time, I was acting in self-defense. He would have killed me if I hadn't killed him first. This...would be straight-up murder, wouldn't it? Killing was one thing, but murder? In cold blood? For something that he might do? That...I wasn't so sure about.
I knew he was an asshole from the anime… It wasn't like I would be murdering a saint or anything. But, still, it was murder. Like, actual murder. Last time, I killed that guy because he was trying to kill me. Maybe I didn't have to kill him, but he had forced my hand. I didn't have a choice.
There was a difference between reacting to a guy trying to kill you and premeditating murder to kill a guy over what he might do. And I had a deep feeling in my gut that no matter what I picked, it was going to regret my choice.
I was hesitating, I realized. And that probably answered my question.
Asshole the Second didn't give me time to think it through. He kept walking, the confident expression on his face a silent challenge for me to try to stop him. And, in the end, I stepped out of the way. His smile grew when he walked by me, sending Lili a look that she refused to meet before he continued on his way.
I clenched my sword so tightly that my knuckles were white. I knew I was going to regret whatever choice I made, but I think out of the two bad choices I found myself with, I think I picked the wrong one.
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A/N— I'll try to post daily. Powerstones and comments would help, it would mean alot and give me the motivation to continue the story. In fact two chapters a day wouldn't be impossible either.
I'll post an extra chapter every 500ps power stones, no limit!
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed.
Ps. You can also read ahead at my Patreon to support the story and help me write more. Patrons get two chapters a day and 30 chapters ahead for just a couple bucks :)
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