Episode(71) Floor 34, Another one bites the dust
SOVEREIGN OF DEATH~(71)
Floor 34-
Had it been weeks?
Maybe it'd been even months.
Nagisa wasn't sure.
To begin with, there was no way to discern night or day in the dungeon as the darkness didn't specify.
The only source of light he had going were the glowing stones in the walls and the torches that were hung up every now and then.
Counting the seconds could solve the issue of knowing how much time went by but, come on.
Aside from that one guy in that stone age anime, no one else had the mental capacity to literally count past a few minutes.
And he, who would be fighting every now and then really didn't have the thought to spare.
In any case, as he advanced further and further deeper into the dungeon, the passages became much wider that it had been before.
There was also more lighting in the dungeon as well, so though there was still no way to actively tell night and day he no longer worried about the darkness impeding himself in a fight.
In any case, perception made fighting in the dark a cinch so it wasn't much of an issue even if it hadn't gotten brighter.
'In any case-'
Fighting all the while made worrying about time feel useless and so he had long stopped worrying eons ago.
Time would pass whether he was inside the dungeon or out, it was better to stop stressing about it and just do what he could.
Nagisa walked slowly through the passage, his steps light as a feather.
While yawning every now and then he would occasionally step on moss or wild grass growing through the brick layered floor.
The wild flowers especially looked otherworldly, even more captivating than any rose or lily he had seen back on earth.
Every now and then he would stop to admire them and even share conversation when he felt lonely.
Still, because he didn't want to actually go insane he didn't talk to the flowers too long.
Well, maybe it was already too late for that.
On a side note, there were also bugs.
Not just the normal small kind of bugs smaller than a finger, no.
The bugs that existed in this dungeon were at the least larger than a hand!
'F*cking abominations!'
Even Nagisa with his strong mental fortitude nearly lost it when he woke next up to a cockroach the size of a dog nearly inches away from his face.
It was horrifying!
At any rate, he was now at the 34th something floor.
*Applause!!!!*
As was stated before, the cave passages had increased in both width and height.
Before the cave was barely as tall as a two story building, but now it had the size of a seven story apartment.
Its width was even larger almost as wide as two or three buildings joined together.
Not to mention, the most eye catching part of this change were the magical glowing crystals that Nagisa would encounter every 100-500 steps.
They were so beautiful that he couldn't help himself but create a pickaxe and mine a few of them.
At the same time, his schoolbag wasn't capable of holding everything he mined which made him slightly dispirited.
He was reluctant to leave them behind but there was nothing to be done.
Even emptying the previous contents made it impossible.
It was then, when he was faced with the difficult choice to stop mining that he created a new type of magic for himself.
'Storage Magic!'
Well, it was a bit different than in a game where you placed things into another space or an inventory.
His storage was more dropping things into his shadow.
A so called 'shadow magic'.
How he learned it you ask?
It was rather simple.
One of the bugs he encountered on this floor used a similar magic to drop dead bugs into its shadow.
As a necromancer, rather as a ruler of death Nagisa naturally had the highest compatibility with darkness element.
And with the addition of his talent, 'Master' that allowed him to instantly master and learn any concept.
All he needed was to see how it was used once and he could literally copy any magic of his attribute compatibility.
There was also a slightly embarrassing story where he thought he was a genius at creating magic and wasted several days trying to create new magic before coming to the realization that he was a genius at learning not creating!
He only gave up when his cheeks had sunken in and he was exhaling dust for air on the brink of passing out due to malnourishment.
It turned out you couldn't create new magic so easily.
'Perhaps I'm lacking some sort of understanding?'
Maybe it was just that the conditions didn't align.
Nagisa ended up thinking up many excuses however the truth remained that he failed.
In any case, he didn't feel like wasting any more time to create new magic, it seemed too much of a pointless venture.
However, inspiration struck again two days after giving up.
'Wasn't night fall able to use darkness type magic?'
Yes, since he could only copy magic with his trait then, why not use the closest thing he could get to a teacher inside a dungeon.
His sword.
It was not only cheap, but reliable!
Sure enough, after using nightfall in battle a few times and observing the flow and concentration of magic being converted into the darkness element, what came after was simple.
He gained shadow magic.
It was at a low level currently, still as he continued to use it over and over it was leveling rather quickly so he didn't complain.
Back to the 34th floor.
The monster concept for this floor was, wait for it-
Trolls!
Yup!
The standard fantasy monsters, trolls.
Just like in any fiction story, they were monsters that were extremely and absurdly large in size.
Like small mountains, they were giants that could easily hover over a two story building not to mention their huge builds.
One arm of theirs was so thick that it might block out the view of the sky.
But-
This wasn't much of an issue for Nagisa.
With his levels now increased not to mention two powerful swords in his possession, he was able to utilize his sword techniques to a terrifying degree.
It was so much that this round of leveling was nothing but a breeze!
The best thing of all was he didn't need to waste time and energy fighting most times.
At most, all he needed to do was to freeze them solid with hopeless before shattering them like glass.
And like that it was done, easy EXP!
There were some with elemental resistant or some that were too powerful for this strategy to work, but even then it was still an easy victory whenever he fought.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
In the silence of the empty dungeon-
Heavy footsteps could be heard coming towards Nagisa who had stopped to mine crystals.
Just by the sound alone it should have been a heavyweight opponent unsuited for speed.
And yet, mere moments after its heavy steps shook the ground-
Woosh!
A huge axe fell from the sky towards Nagisa's head.
He still had yet to react even as the axe fell, but without even an ounce of panic his body shifted at the last second.
One step to the side barely avoiding the heavy slash that struck the ground with a resounding crash.
Smoke and dust scattered with debris jutting from the ground like small missiles.
With a step and a turn, as if dancing he leapt while spinning his body towards the head of the towering giant and drew his sword in an arc.
Slash!
The blade of his katana tore through the eyes of the troll completely robbing it of its sight.
Groaaar!
Green blood splattered on the ground before it made a resounding shriek echoing through the passages.
Having lost its sight, the troll backed away in a panic.
All it could do was guard with both its arms and retreat, unable to even tell what direction the next attack would follow.
However, before Nagisa's sword could such a flimsy defense prove useful?
The answer was of course, no.
Leaving a trail of frost behind as it was swung, hopeless cleaved through the arm of the troll like paper.
It yelped.
The severed hand froze over completely up to the shoulder and the other arm that had been sliced to the bone froze as as it hung limply.
Tap!
As soon as his feet touched the ground, Nagisa vanished appearing behind the troll slicing through the back of its knee butchering the ligaments of its legs.
In this moment, the troll an uncontrollable feeling.
One it had never felt before.
Heart thumping wildly, sweat as cold as ice washing it face.
It even felt its spine tingle and a shiver ran through its soul.
Whether this was an effect of the ice starting to encase its entire body, the troll only knew one thing.
It must run away.
Nagisa saw it preparing to run but didn't say or do anything.
He merely sheathed his sword and yawned with a bored expression.
As for why he hadn't chased the troll?
Looking ahead at the frozen statue of a troll lying on the ground, its frozen arms laying shattered on the ground, Nagisa shook his head.
'Another one bites the dust'
[As expected hopeless is amazing]
It didn't matter what enemy it was, big, strong or sturdy or whatever it was.
All it took to turn you into an ice statue was one shallow cut.
Even resistance against ice element was useless.