Reincarnated as a Sword Vol. 1 Page 19

  But we made sure to keep the corpses of the ones whose crystals I had absorbed. If the monster had a useful skill, I would absorb its crystal, then quickly stow it away in the Pocket Dimension to hide the evidence.

  We prioritized taking down the black-skinned High Hobgoblins on the occasions we ran into them. They had more or less the same skills as regular hobgoblins, but I got more crystals out of them. They were like bonus treats.

  Singling out enemies while fighting them proved to be good practice for the Split Thinking skill since I was now able to cast two spells at once. Casting two spells at the same time required an enormous amount of concentration, so I was going to have to practice to get the most out of this powerful skill.

  Hahaha! Fire Javelin!

  Ten flaming spears pierced through the hobgoblin horde.

  “That was amazing, Teacher.”

  You can do it too, with some practice.

  “My head hurts when I do.”

  Split Thinking overuse caused migraines, it seemed. It put tremendous strain on one’s brain.

  Really? Mine doesn’t. Oh, wait, I guess I don’t have one.

  I couldn’t feel pain, so headaches were a thing of the past, and I got amazing mileage out of Split Thinking because of that. Having the Mage skill helped too.

  “I’ll shoot for casting weaker spells when I’m fighting.”

  And I’ll try to cast two different spells next time.

  “Good luck.”

  You got it.

  We weren’t lacking for target dummies right now, that’s for sure.

  Nothing stopped Fran’s charge to the heart of the dungeon. I used Echolocation to get an image of the lay of the land, but the image lacked detail since it was only at Level 1. We supplemented the information by using Presence Sense, Tremor Sense, and Thermal Vision to figure out the number of hobgoblins left.

  “Teacher, there’re stairs here.”

  I guess there’s a second floor.

  The second floor looked akin to the first floor, the one difference being a greater population density of hobgoblins.

  Nice. They made it easier for me to farm skills.

  “Good training dummies.”

  Fran was already in battle mode. She might have started seeing the hobgoblins as little more than walking EXP dispensers. At some point in our raid, the hobgoblins began running the second they saw her. News travelled fast in the goblin cave. It was no use, however, since she chased after and cut them all down from behind.

  I wondered how far this cave went on. The second floor seemed wider than the first.

  There’s an opening up ahead.

  “Yeah. I’m picking up a lot of activity.”

  Is it a boss?

  We inched closer until we came to what looked like a hall. There were actual floor tiles instead of dirt, and the interior changed significantly from the natural cave. We carefully peered in.

  That’s a big boy and a big girl…

  The room was filled with close to fifty hobgoblins. In the center of them all were the two goblin rulers: the Goblin King and Goblin Queen.

  They reminded me of the Goblin King I had killed in the Wolf’s Garden. The goblins would huddle around their leaders in the event of an invasion. We were going to have to take down both King and Queen during this raid.

  The Goblin Rulers weren’t much different from kinsmen. Their stats were higher, and they had plenty more skills, but that was about it. They were as tough as the Area 3 monsters of the Garden. If we didn’t get sloppy, we should be able to take them down in no time.

  Let’s go, Fran.

  “Yeah!”

  We’ll start by thinning them out.

  We shot our spells off before they could notice us.

  Flare Blast!

  “Flare Blast.”

  And another! Flare Blast!

  We used our spells to open a way to the King and Queen. Fran lunged forward and danced through the startled hobgoblins.

  Keep going! Take the Rulers down!

  Or so I thought…

  Huh?

  “They’re dead?”

  We reached the center of the room after crossing the sea of hobgoblins to find the burnt remains of the King and Queen. Our distraction turned out to be a direct hit.

  I…guess we won?

  The surviving hobgoblins were scattering to save their lives. The battle was over before it had begun.

  Does that mean the quest is over?

  But there was still more to the cave.

  Or not…

  “There’s more ahead.”

  Yeah. We haven’t seen the Dungeon Master yet.

  Neither the King nor the Queen was the Dungeon Master. If one of them had been, all the remaining monsters would’ve died with them.

  “Let’s keep going.”

  Yeah!

  We rushed to the end of the second floor where we found a door waiting for us. The door was made of metal and was an imposing three meters tall.

  “Big door.”

  Is this the Boss Room?

  An aura of intimidation emanated from the door, repelling us from even opening it. There was something behind it for sure.

  Have the Return Feather ready just in case.

  “’Kay.”

  I pushed the door open with Telekinesis and it made a heavy creaking noise. There was a wide opening in front of us, but was there nothing here…? No, I could feel the presence of a small monster. Maybe an insect type.

  Stay on your guard.

  “Of course.”

  Suddenly, the door slammed shut. We would have to beat the boss before we could leave.

  I thought there weren’t supposed to be any traps here.

  “Are we locked in?”

  Just stay calm, Fran.

  “I know. I’ll just have to kill everything in sight. No problem.”

  I had to hand it to her: She had nerves of steel.

  “What’s that noise?”

  Something’s coming.

  The droning noise came from a blue-shelled ladybug monster. It had horns sprouting from its head and was the size of a baseball. Behind it were creatures that looked like giant isopods, which made for a disgusting bunch.

  Name: Army Beetle Leader

  Race: Insect

  LV: 5

  HP: 8; Magic: 18; Strength: 4; Agility: 22

  Skills: Wind Magic 1; Summon Minion 5; Command 1; Cooperation 1; Acid Fang

  Name: Army Beetle

  Race: Insect

  LV: 2

  HP: 6; Magic: 5; Strength: 3; Agility: 20

  Skills: Harden 1; Acid Fang

  Name: Army Beetle Medic

  Race: Insect

  LV: 4

  HP: 10; Magic: 10; Strength: 1; Agility: 20

  Skills: Healing Magic 2; Acid Fang

  Name: Army Beetle Shooter

  Race: Insect

  LV: 4

  HP: 3; Magic: 11; Strength: 2; Agility: 20

  Skills: Wind Magic 3; Acid Fang

  They were weak but numerous. There must’ve been upwards of a hundred of them. The leader even had a summoning skill to boot. If we didn’t kill it fast, they’d easily overwhelm us by a sheer force of numbers.

  “This looks fun.”

  Fran was already on the road to becoming a Blood Knight. She lunged, taking as much pleasure in the fight with the disgusting bugs as if it were a dance. I used Telekinesis to slow the bugs down. I could hold them in place since they were small enough. If they had been bigger, it would’ve been much more economical to blow them all away with a well-placed spell.

  “Haaa!” Fran pierced their crystals as I nailed them in place. I had never seen these monsters before, so I decided to keep about half of the materials we’d gained.

  The Shooters were a real annoyance with their Wind Magic. Thankfully, they only had a limited amount of casts thanks to their low Magic value. They were more of a distraction than a real threat.

  The Leaders kept summoning bug after
bug which proved to be a boon for us. We were able to level up Wind Magic, Harden, Summon Minion, and Cooperation while getting my fill of crystals at the same time.

  Thirty minutes later…

  I felt the presence of a person from behind the door.

  “Damn it! It’s locked!”

  I guess Donadrond was here.

  Oh well, time to end this.

  “Goodbye, bonus stage…”

  I know. I’ll miss it too.

  “It was good while it lasted…”

  It was time for extermination. We launched fire spells and Sword Arts one after the other. It took no more than five minutes to wipe out the two-hundred-odd bugs that had spawned in. Our Wind Magic was now at Level 7 as a testament to how many bugs we’d killed.

  Huh, the door’s not opening.

  The door remained shut as Donadrond kept banging on it. However, a door on the opposite side of the chamber opened.

  “Such strong mana.”

  This is…a C-Rank monster… No, maybe higher.

  The Gluttonous Slimelord had had the greatest mana signature I’d encountered up till now. Whatever was behind this door clearly outclassed it.

  This is a new dungeon. What type of monster could produce such mana?

  “I’m getting excited.”

  Wait. Whatever it is, this thing’s going to be a legit threat. Let’s get you ready before we go in there.

  I buffed Fran with Regen to give her constant healing, along with a Resist All spell to increase her resistance to everything. I gave her some stat-increasing buffs too, just to be safe.

  And we’re good. Let’s go.

  “Yeah!”

  What awaited us beyond the door was a well-furnished room which looked nothing like the cave we’d been spelunking in.

  “Hello there, and welcome! You’re our first guest since the opening of this dungeon! Come in, come in!”

  A suspicious-looking man floated in the middle of the room. His skin was black like tar, and he had wings and horns. He looked intimidating, to say the least. The demon’s cheerful attitude detracted from his fearsomeness however.

  Let’s get Identify out of the way…

  Name: Daemon

  Race: Lesser Demon

  LV: 30

  HP: 1,900; Magic: 2,409; Strength: 720; Agility: 675

  Skills: Dig 3; Dark Magic 4; Intimidate 4; Transport 2; Fear 4; Sword Arts 5; Sword Mastery 5; Abnormal Status Resistance 7; Earth Magic 7; Climb 1; Poison Magic 7; Mana Barrier 6;

  Black Magic 10; Cooking 1; Dark Up; Dark Immunity; Night Vision; Mana Regeneration; Insubordination; Tough Hide; Magic Up (Small); Strength Up (Small)

  Extra Skill: Skill Taker 6

  Title: Devil Count

  Equipment: Enchanted Steel Longsword

  Details: A monster unique to the Dungeon environment. Usually summoned by Dungeon Masters. A loyal subject of the Chaos God, it is immensely powerful. Has been granted additional powers by the Dungeon Master that summoned it.

  Crystal Location: Heart

  A devil…

  He’s strong. I’d never seen a stat go above 1,000 before.

  Dark Magic: An advanced form of Black Magic. Manipulates darkness, shadows, poison, and death.

  Fear: Inflicts the Fear status on anyone who sees its form.

  Mana Barrier: A barrier which absorbs physical and magical attacks in exchange for mana.

  Skill Taker: Steal skills which meets its requirements.

  Even his skills were nothing to be scoffed at.

  Be careful, Fran. He’ll kill you if you let your guard down!

  “I know!”

  I was full on mana from the earlier goblin and army beetle crystal buffet. I could use all my skills and spells with reckless abandon. Even then, I knew this was going to be a difficult fight. The demon was just that intimidating. I had Return Feather on the ready just in case of emergencies.

  “Haha! What a motivated little girl! Wonderful! I won’t have to hold back on you since you made it this far!”

  “Stop talking and kill her, Daemon!”

  Huh? Was that a goblin on the other side of the room? It seemed different from the goblins we’d encountered so far. It could talk, for one…

  Name: Rare Goblin

  Race: Fiend

  LV: 11

  HP: 25; Magic: 131; Strength: 12; Agility: 13

  Skills: Dig 2; Summon Minion 5; Staff Mastery 2; Mind Reading 2; Trainer 2; Vigor 1

  Title: Dungeon Master

  Equipment: Oak Staff; Leather Rope; Bracelet of Sacrifice

  He was weak, but he was definitely the Dungeon Master. Was the glowing thing in the wall behind him the Dungeon Core then? We had reached the final room of the dungeon it seemed.

  I couldn’t get over how weak he was. Did he really summon that demon? I could understand if he summoned other goblins or army beetles, since they were weaker than he was. But a full-blown demon? Was it because he was a Dungeon Master? It would’ve made more sense if he had a Demonology skill or something but Identify showed he didn’t.

  I also felt sorry for the fact that he didn’t have any skills to manipulate the dungeon, since the Core was responsible for Dungeon Creation.

  “Shut it! I’ll take care of the intruder, so don’t get in my way!”

  “Damn it. I thought I was lucky after using all my Goddess Points to summon an insanely strong Daemon, it gives me lip instead! And now it wants to play at being a Melee Class when it’s obviously a mage!”

  That was a little ham-fisted, but thanks for the explanation. The Insubordination skill explained why the devil didn’t merely obey his summoner’s orders.

  “How did this intruder pass through our elite guard?!”

  “They were probably killed. They’re only goblins, you know.”

  “You think the superior race of goblins would lose to a bunch of humans?!”

  “That’s what I was hinting at, yes.”

  “Shut up! Just kill them!”

  “You don’t have to tell me. It looks like I’m in for a fun fight.” The Daemon drew his sword. “He won’t shut up till I kill you. Ready?”

  He lunged toward Fran.

  “Raaah!”

  “Haa!”

  Their swords clashed.

  “Hah! What a fine sword! Didn’t think it’d last this long!”

  Name: Enchanted Steel Longsword

  Attack: 561+450; MP: 56; Durability: 1000

  Mana Conductivity: C

  Skill: Returning Shadow

  His sword’s Mana Conductivity was impressive; it pushed the sword’s attack power over 1,000. The skill Returning Shadow made it so his sword always returned to his hand, even if he threw it. It was a good thing I buffed our attack power to over 500 before the fight. I might have cracked during our first clash otherwise.

  “You have excellent swordsmanship! But how about this?”

  “Huh?”

  He disappeared the next moment before reappearing behind Fran.

  “Ah!”

  What…?

  Oh no!

  He lopped Fran’s left arm clean off. There was blood everywhere, and she almost bled out. I quickly reattached Fran’s amputated arm to her stump with Telekinesis and cast Greater Heal as fast as I could. Recovery Magic 1 had the ability to reattach limbs, so unwanted amputations were no problem.

  “Oh? You have Telekinesis and Healing Magic?! Hah! That’s crazy! You a Spellsword?” The demon laughed as we stared at him in silence.

  What was that?

  He had disappeared and reappeared behind her again.

  Fran, are you okay?!

  “I’m…fine!”

  “Look alive, little girl!” The demon disappeared once more and slashed from behind us.

  “Ngh!” Fran anticipated the sneak attack but barely blocked in time.

  “That was good! You’re a fast learner!”

  He disappeared, that much was clear.

  But how did he do it? Teleportation? He didn’t ha
ve anything like that in his skills. Which left either Black Magic or Shadow Magic…

  “Raagh!”

  “Ha!”

  I was right. His shadow became charged with mana when he disappeared, then he’d reappear out of Fran’s shadow. The spell allowed him to move between shadows. Now that we knew what we were dealing with, we could formulate a counter. Should be easy enough considering how predictable the pattern was.

  “Haha—gah!”

  “You’re getting sloppy.”

  “Urk… Good job! You saw through my tricks, eh?”

  Damn it. I missed. My blade, charged with Vibrofang and Advanced Poison Fang, only grazed the demon’s side.

  “What’s this? I’m poisoned? I didn’t think anything could get through my Status Resistances… Impressive!”

  His chattering was annoying!

  The poison only ticked away at his health. His resistances were too high for it to have a significant effect.

  Fran, go for his weak spot.

  “Yeah.”

  He was still underestimating us, to our great advantage. He didn’t know about my sentience either. I had to lay low and not make any grand attacks; I was strictly on support duty.

  “Haaa!”

  “Hyahaha!”

  Their swords clashed again, and I caught something glowing out of the corner of my eye. Hobgoblins were coming out of the light source, four of them in total.

  “Go, my minions! Kill the intruders!”

  It was the Dungeon Master. Having hobgoblins interfere now would be quite dangerous. However, the hobgoblins only looked at Fran and the demon, unsure of what to do.

  “What are you doing?! Go!”

  The Dungeon Master’s command forced the hobgoblins to march to the battlefield.

  “Stay out of this!”

  The demon cut two of them down with his sword, while Fran hacked through one of them.

  “Wh-what are you doing?! They’re on your side!”

  “I won’t let these idiots ruin my fun!”

  He blew away the remaining hobgoblin with a sphere of dark energy. The Dungeon Master looked pitiful as he trembled with anger and humiliation.

  Fran and the demon’s battle continued. The sound of their clashing swords rang through the room louder than before. Fran was clearly the better swordsman, but the demon brushed off most of her attacks and swung his sword in a show of might. Agile speed clashed with brute strength, creating an odd stalemate.