"
Ahh, there we go, that's much better.
Think I've siphoned off all of its Mana though, so no point in using Drain on it since there's nothing left to consume.
I pulled my blade back out before slashing the Monster's throat open, blood gushing out and streaming down its chest as it let out a choked gasp, collapsing onto the ground and clawing at its neck in agony.
"Nice work, Kai. We're in the final stretch, just a bit more," Remarked Lector, looking pretty exhausted.
"This has got to be the shittiest raid I've ever been on. My feet and legs are killing me, my back's all sore, I've been sweating constantly, there's mud all over my boots and legs, and to top it all off, I can't even use my Magic because of how damp the place is...this really sucks," Complained Elicia, dragging her feet across the ground.
"Yeah, these conditions are pretty rough, but on the bright side, we've only got five floors left to go," I reminded her with a wry smile.
"No, it's five floors to go and then the full fifty floors all over again, on the walk back to the entrance," She responded dryly.
"Come on, quit your whining. You're just wasting your energy," Sighed Ferna, patting her shoulder.
"This is pretty tiring, though. It's been almost twenty hours since we entered, our progress has been a bit slow.
Since we're all sweating so much, we've needed to take more breaks than usual, and this Dungeon is as tall as it gets for a Mid Level one.
With the last few Dungeons we've tackled, we'd probably be done with the Boss and ready to head back out by now," Chimed in Will, stretching his arms up as I used Drain and Devour on the Monsters on this floor.
Yeah, that's true.
This is the first raid I've been on where the time taken has crossed the twenty hour mark, the previous ones never went too much longer than ten hours.
Which means, our progress through this one has been about twice as slow as our previous raids. And, well, how long it's been taking me to use Devour is definitely a major factor in that, along with the tough conditions in this place.
"You guys good to keep going, or should we take another break?" I asked the others.
"Hm...I think I can get through one more floor, at least," Replied Lector, after a brief pause.
"Yeah, same here, I'm good to keep going," Nodded Will with a thumbs up.
"Me too," Added Ferna.
"I want to get this over with ASAP, so no objections here," Sighed Elicia wearily.
She's been in an increasingly bad mood with each passing floor. The conditions and humidity aside, the fact that she hasn't been contributing to the raid at all so far is definitely weighing on her, she seems really restless.
The sooner we finish up this raid, the better. On that note, we continued on, reaching the next floor before too long and heading through it.
It's been consistently swampy throughout the Dungeon, so even our breaks have been pretty uncomfortable, with no dry spots to rest up in.
Even though I've been topping up my stamina regularly through Desecrator, this is still wearing me out. It isn't stopping me from sweating, and stamina restoration doesn't take care of dehydration.
Well, running out of water isn't a concern since I can just make copies of a water bottle using Treasury, but still. I'd like to wrap up this raid as quickly as possible.
As we headed up to the next floor, I ran my sleeve across my forehead as I felt a few beads of sweat starting to trickle down, my lips a bit salty too.
I can feel my hair getting more and more matted against my head, and my outfit is clinging to my skin, it's so uncomfortable. I wanna go back home and flop into bed with the A/C cranked all the way up, with a cold beer and a joint, plus some snacks.
Yeah, yeah, I know.
"Wait! Something isn't right, I only sense two presences up ahead!" Suddenly called out Will.
Oh?
"Hm, so it's deviating from the standard pattern. Let's keep our guards up, we can't be sure what kind of Monsters are laying in wait for us on this floor!" Responded Lector warily.
Not gonna lie, I kinda welcome this. The Caimanoids weren't much of a challenge, so I certainly don't mind running into some stronger Monsters.
As we continued forward, moving at a slightly slower, more cautious pace, I kept my eyes peeled as we got closer to the area where Will had sensed the presences, a pair of Monsters soon coming into sight.
"What the...? Are those Dragonoids?" Frowned Ferna in confusion.
Yeah, this is definitely strange...Caimanoids evolve into High Level Monsters called Two-Headed Alligators, which further evolve into a Critical Level species called Cull Crocodiles.
Dragonoids, on the other hand, are the first stage in the evolutionary cycle of one of the most dangerous Monsters in existence, Dragons.
Other than also being reptile-type Monsters, Dragonoids have no connection to Caimanoids.
They were bigger than the Caimanoids, with stronger builds too. They had a row of spikes down the middle of their backs, they were covered in black scales and had wings. They had pointy horns on either side of their heads, with narrow snouts and curved, razor-sharp fangs and claws.
Oh, and they're High Level Monsters, and amongst the strongest species of that Threat Level.
As they noticed us, one of them let out a sharp, deafening roar, before spreading out its wings and zipping towards at full speed.
Well, it's definitely a lot faster than the Caimanoids, that's for sure. But, that said...
"
A deafening roar of pain rang out as the Monster suddenly jammed its claws into its own eyes, crashing onto the ground and sliding forward as it pulled its claws back out with a shudder, blood streaming out as I sprinted across the space and whipped my blade across, slicing through the middle of its back and slashing across its spine.
I turned my gaze up as the other one zipped up into the air and swooped down towards me, before taking aim and firing out a Pulse Bullet as it began to close in on me, hitting the spot between its eyes and eliciting a sharp roar of pain from it as blood streaming down its eyes, losing stability in the air and starting to fall as its body convulsed slightly.
I raced forward and leapt up as it began to plummet, slashing its throat open with a rapid swing of my arm, blood spraying out and splattering across the ground...