"
I swiftly spun across as another charged in, letting out a vicious snarl as it closed in on me, before I raised my right leg up high and swung it down at full strength, slamming my heel against the top of the Monster's head.
A loud crunch rang out upon impact as I caved its skull it, a few spots on its head tearing open as streaks of blood sprayed out, its arms slumping to its sides as it fell over and and slumped against the snow.
I swung my blade across as a rock came hurtling towards me, deflecting it away before turning my gaze in the direction it had come from, spotting two Goblins keeping their distance from me.
I smirked before racing across the snow towards them, the pair of Monsters stiffening before starting to run away.
"Looks like I don't need to use Spite to make you fear me. Good to know," I muttered to myself, before taking aim with my gun and pulling the trigger, firing out a Mana bullet at one of the Goblins as I got it within my range, striking the middle of its upper back.
It cried out sharply as its body shuddered violently in pain, struggling to stay standing before I shifted my gun across slightly, channeling Mana into it before firing, launching another Mana bullet aimed at the other one.
The bullet struck the back of its head, a loud, brief screech ringing out before it went limp and fell over, slumping against the ground.
Hm? Did I kill it?
No, it's still breathing, I just knocked it out.
Against Monsters of this level, I don't really need to use Mana Pulse directly, the weaker effect through my Mana bullets is enough to effectively incapacitate them.
It takes me one second to generate a Mana Bullet, I initially was steadily decreasing the amount of time I need to create one, but after I lowered it down to one second, that was my limit.
So, I can't fire off consecutive shots in rapid succession, I need at least a second between shots. Otherwise, I could just spam my Mana Bullets with reckless abandon, they barely cost any MP to generate, 1 MP is enough for two or three bullets.
Now that I think about it...Mana bullets is a kinda basic and boring name. Maybe I should think up a better name.
Oh, I know, I'll call them Pulse Bullets from now on!
Yeah, it's cooler.
Sure, having a cooler name for it motivates me more.
<...>
Hey, stop judging me.
I then glanced back as a sharp crackle rang out, to see Elicia firing a bolt of lightning through a Goblin's head, right as Lector pierced another Goblin's heart with a lightning-coated arrow.
We were upto the eighteenth floor now, and over the last three floors including this one, the groups of Goblins have been between twenty to twenty-five strong.
While they're weak enough that I'd be able to take that many on by myself, I can't fight all of them at the same time. So, inevitably, some of them get past me and target the others instead.
I wish I had something like the Taunt Skill that a lot of Combatant-type Hunters have, it triggers a wave of energy that attracts the attention of Monsters.
Instead, I've basically got the opposite of that with Spite, which sends Monsters running, at least with weaker ones.
On another note, I'm kinda getting tired of fighting these things. They're so weak and easy to deal with, it's honestly starting to get boring.
This is a Mid Level Dungeon, and we're almost halfway through, so it shouldn't be much longer before we run into stronger Monsters...at least, I hope so.
I let out a slow exhale as I began using Drain and Devour on the fallen Goblins, wisps of mist flowing out of my mouth.
I've paralyzed or knocked out a lot of them, using my Pulse Bullets as well as slashing at their spines, though I did end up killing a few.
As I finished consuming all the Goblins on this floor, I stretched my arms up before glancing across as the others approached me.
"Nice work," Remarked Lector, as I put my blade back into Treasury.
"Thanks, same to you guys. Think I'll take a break now, I was starting to feel a bit out of breath towards the end there," I replied, taking a seat on the snow.
"Good call, since you don't sweat as much in such cold conditions, not to mention how numb your senses get, it can be hard to tell how exhausted you are if you aren't careful," Responded Ferna, as the others sat down too.
"Plus, we're almost halfway through the Dungeon now, shouldn't be more than another floor or two before we start running into Hobgoblins," Added Elicia with a nod.
Hobgoblins are the evolved form of Goblins, they're Mid Level Monsters. And they further evolve into Ogres, High Level Monsters. The Dungeon Boss is likely to be an Ogre, unless this Dungeon deviates from the standard patterns.
Hm, since the difficulty level will probably tick up soon, I might as well distribute all the points I've earned into my stats.
The Goblins may have been weak, but I killed and consumed a hell of a lot of them, which netted me a pretty substantial amount of points.
As always, I'll prioritize Agility and Perception, and then split the rest between Strength and Vitality. Nice, looking pretty good:
Stats:
HP: 225 -> 275
MP: 233 -> 305
Strength: 226 -> 280
Agility: 280 -> 350
Vitality: 224 -> 270
Perception: 270 -> 346
Power Level: 243,000 -> 304,300
Potential: 243,000 -> 304,300
Sweet, I've officially crossed the threshold into K-Rank and then some, my current Power Level puts me at around on par with lower-mid K-Rank level, in terms of power.
Of course, these are just my base stats, not factoring in the ten percent boost I get from Desecrator. Not to mention Arouse.
Plus the ten percent boosts to my offense and defense from my Wrath and Sloth Classes. And another Skill too, one that I haven't used at all yet, not even to practice with...
Anyway, once I felt sufficiently rested up, we continued making our way through the Dungeon, heading up to the nineteenth floor.
"Hm? Hey, I sense Monsters up ahead, but there's only three of them," Remarked Will with a frown.
Oh? Does that mean there are stronger Monsters up here? I definitely like the sound of that, I could do with bit more of a challenge...