The twenty-sixth floor.
After walking for about an hour from yesterday’s cave, I found the staircase to the twenty-sixth floor.
I got all excited thinking I reached the halfway point, but there are more monsters than I expected, so it’s not going well.
I’m using a different weapon than usual, and it’s making it so I have to slash trents multiple times before they go down, as opposed to bisecting them in one slash like last time.
Also, the encounter rate has shot up compared to the last floor, and I keep having to face monsters after I just put down the last ones.
Maybe that’s because I’m taking too long beating them.
It’s at this point that I’m really feeling how good the greatsword of fortitude and the tyrant battleaxe are.
I switch to Earth Magic as my main weapon, and take down an orc and an imp with earth stakes and bullets. I cut a trent’s branches with earth blades, and swing at its body to chop it.
A silent condor flies away somewhere after seeing all the others are down.
This isn’t good. I spend too much magic energy in a single fight, so if I don’t turn back, my magic energy won’t hold.
I have magic potions, but I don’t want to use an item I can only use once a day. If I drink it at the wrong time, I might not survive this floor, especially without my main weapons.
I give up on the exploration and turn back, but then I find a treasure chest by the side of the path.
Yep, it’s totally a trap.
But I’m opening it anyway.
◇ ◇ ◇
The bright world shifts.
It’s supposed to be morning, but it turns into a dark night, with only stars and two moons shining light.
Suddenly, a lot of ice arrows rain down.
I block them with the magic mirror armor’s shield, but they push me back.
After the ice arrow attack stops, I look up and see a demon with feathered wings looking down at me.
The demon raises its hand, creates wind blades, and sends them down at me, as they cut through the air. They vanish the moment they touch my armor, turning into a gentle breeze.
The demon tilts its head. That was a direct hit, but it didn’t work the way it expected.
It keeps firing magic, as if trying to figure out what happened.
Ice arrows, wind blades, stone arrows, and fire arrows try to overpower me, but they all disappear when they touch my armor.
Although the impact makes me stagger.
I think the demon is confusing that for damage, and it deploys a big magic circle in front of it where I can feel a lot of magic energy moving.
I raise the shield over my head and brace, and after a flash, a lightning strike hits me.
The impact running through my body and the pain from the burns caused by the high temperature stun me. This magic mirror armor has high magic resistance, but it makes sense that a lightning strike spell does damage anyway.
I look up with stiff movements, and see the demon preparing the next one, so I quickly cast Healing Magic and run.
Lightning shouldn’t be able to hit me in a high place. I actually don’t know if that goes for magic too, but I run into the forest to try to throw off its aim as best I can.
A lightning strike burns a tree nearby, then another, and this keeps happening. Eventually I feel the movement of magic energy change, probably because it realized this isn’t going to work.
I stop running, and fire an earth bullet at the demon like I’m using a sniper rifle.
I’m not gonna just sit here and let you attack me, I think as I show my sniping skills honed by FPS games.
The bullet hits it in the stomach, but doesn’t pierce it. It only deals light damage, stopping at the surface of its body.
It smacks dust off its stomach like it’s nothing, and activates two magic circles. It uses a lot of magic energy, and creates a flaming snake.
It moves like it has a mind of its own, and flies towards me.
I run as fast as I can from it, but it burns the forest as it chases me. The fire spreads quickly from tree to tree, and the whole area around me is burning.
At this rate, I might die not from being burned by the snake, but by the forest fire.
I curse, bring out the shield, and face the flaming snake.
It’s all or nothing. I haven’t tested this before, but it will be a real trial by fire.
Let’s try the special effect of this magic mirror armor, Reflect.
I concentrate on Spatial Grasp, See Through, and Magic Energy Control, and use Parallel Thinking to focus on the snake.
Even if I fail, I should be fine with the magic mirror armor. I put my faith in it as I brace.
The moment we clash, I activate Reflect with my magic energy.
The flames are strong, and they toast me a bit, but Healing Magic soon cures me.
As for the flaming snake, it gets turned over and flies towards the demon in the sky with its mouth open.
Get roasted by your own magic, I think with a proud smile.
Even a demon shouldn’t be fine after being hit by that level of magic.
At least that’s what I thought, but the flaming snake suddenly stops, trembles a little, and gets frozen. Then it shatters when a tiger ice sculpture flies from within it.
The tiger ice sculpture falls on the ground, and takes aim at me.
…It’s this now?
Once again, I’m playing tag.
◇ ◇ ◇
The demon is on the ground dead, with a greatsword in its stomach.
I used too much magic energy, and my body is in tatters because of the impact of crashing down to the ground.
The demon kept firing magic, and I kept running. That magic was being reflected, so it wasn’t much of a threat, but that also sapped my magic energy, so I couldn’t do it every time.
That meant I could only run, but since that could only end with me being killed eventually, I had to go on the offense.
My sword couldn’t reach the demon in the sky, and its magic resistance meant my magic wouldn’t do much damage. I had to go up there myself.
I took a magic potion from my Storage Space to replenish my magic energy, and the bad taste almost made me throw up.
I checked how much it recovered, and it felt like I got about a quarter of it back. The one I got from a treasure chest recovered everything, but this is what the commercial version is like.
Once the demon’s tornado magic passed, I jumped into action.
I created a lot of sand with magic energy, and sent it high into the sky to block its vision.
Then I jumped hard off the ground towards the demon to attack it directly.
It looked like it really hated having its vision blocked, and it cleared away the sand with wind magic, but I was already there with my sword ready.
I swung it without losing momentum to bisect it, but it used wind magic on itself to move. It kept escaping my greatsword, but I could change trajectory too.
I made use of the special ability of the divine bird boots to chase the demon by kicking the air with my left leg to turn at a right angle.
The demon looked flustered as it flapped its wings to fly higher, but I kicked with my right leg to go after it.
I swung and cut it. Or so I thought.
The greatsword only dealt a light cut, not reaching its body’s core.
I failed. I thought for sure its high magic resistance meant it was weak to physical attacks.
If I had the greatsword of fortitude, I could rip right through that resistance, but I’m using a lesser greatsword.
Maybe I’m just not good enough, but regardless, I couldn’t reach it.
As I fell from the sky, I saw a smug expression on the demon’s face.
“Don’t mock me! Limit Break.”
I gathered the remaining sand in the sky to create footing. I had little magic energy, so I had to finish it quickly.
I landed on it, and kept creating it all the way to the demon.
I ran, jumped, and accelerated as I chased the demon.
It fired magic, but didn’t hit.
It tried to run after being unable to hit me in my accelerated state, but I was already over its head.
Our eyes met.
Finally, with a bang, I used the momentum of my fall to stab the demon and send it crashing down.
◇ ◇ ◇
Coughing blood and the pain running through my whole body tell me I’m alive. Even just moving a bit is painful.
I force my broken arm up, take a potion from my Storage Space, and drink it. I want to use Healing Magic, but I feel like if I use it one more time, I’ll pass out from lack of magic energy and die.
I drink another potion, then another, and I can finally get up.
I’m still in pain, but I should check the demon.
It has the greatsword impaled in its body, and it’s dead for sure. The skill orb next to it is proof.
I breathe a sigh of relief, and pull the sword out.
But it’s broken in the middle, and not usable anymore.
I put the now retired greatsword in my Storage Space, take the skill orb, and watch it disappear.
This exploration really showed how blessed I am in terms of weapons. If I didn’t have the magic mirror armor, I might’ve died to that first lightning strike.
I really feel like my equipment is what made me survive so far.
I need to get a little better, or it’s going to get rougher from now on. If I face something even stronger, I have no hope.
But let’s think about how to train later, and get the contents of the treasure chest.
I drag my hurt body to it, take the item, and it’s morning again. I’m back in the forest that supposedly burned down.
I feel monster presences behind me, so I bear the pain and run away quickly.
ーーー
Demon (mage) (unique)
The superior species of imp. It’s a mage demon, so withstanding its attacks from the sky is nigh impossible. It has both magic and physical resistance, so it is hard to beat even if one manages to get close.
Skills: Magic Energy Enlargement, Magic Energy Control, Magic Resistance, Physical Resistance (small)
ーーー
ーーー
Haruto Tanaka (24)
Level: 18
Skills: Earth Magic, Trace, Healing Magic, Spatial Grasp, Toughness, Magic Energy Control, Physical Strengthening, Poison Resistance, Storage Space, See Through, Parallel Thinking, Sewing, Limit Break, Dismantling, Magic Energy Circulation
Equipment: Agility bracelet, divine bird boots, safeguard necklace, magic mirror armor
Status: Fat (All abilities boosted)
ーーー
Join my patreon to support me and read ahead.
Thanks for the treat.