Daman
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[CC] Chapter 42
🕑 Added 2025-05-16 18:30:28 +0000 UTC[Floor 1 Clear Conditions: Kill 3 Tier 0 entities]
[Current Kills: 0/3]
The familiar notification flickered in front of Shouren, and he promptly brushed it away.
Two cold, pebble-like eyes stared at Shouren. The monster and human were only a few centimeters apart from each other’s face.
Croak.
Shouren froze in place, his eyes darting back and forth from the monster and his surroundings. He was inside a large, hollow cave. It wasn’t too deep inside the earth, as he could see small trickles of water running from the nearby river.
His hazel eyes then slowly trailed back to the monster.
Croak.
It was a turquoise-colored monster with a weird head shaped like a salamander and the body of a turtle. The shell was incredibly sturdy and Shouren had no doubt that even his strongest [Uncommon] spell card would fail to splinter it.
The bizarre monster silently stared at him. It had plenty of time to launch an attack, but its pebbly eyes continued to gaze at the human with faint caution. Shouren was about to trigger his corruption and use one of his spell cards, but something made him hesitate.
Why hadn’t the monster attacked him?
Now that he had time to collect himself, Shouren noticed patches of green-blue underneath the turtle monster. They were eggs!
It can’t attack me because it thinks I will go after its eggs the moment it stands up.
Shouren rapidly calculated the present scenario. He didn’t have a boulder in his vault he could use, and doubted if that strategy would even work with the thick shell on the turtle. He could try to aim his spells at the bizarre turtle’s face, but his aim wasn’t that great and the monster could easily retreat into its shell, making his use of his card a waste.
Shouren’s eyes shifted down.
I don’t want to hurt the eggs.
Ultimately, Shouren didn’t really want to attack the weird turtle monster. It had the chance to attack him and chose not to. Despite its fears of Shouren harming the eggs, the monster had chosen to wait instead.
“I have no intentions of hurting you, ugly guy. I just want to leave the cave.”
Shouren raised both his hands in the air, a universal sign of surrender, and slowly spoke to the monster, taking care not to frighten it.
Seeing that the monster responded with curious silence, Shouren got prone on the ground, belly up.
Is this really safe? What if it attacks me now?
Shouren remembered that exposing one’s stomach to animals was a gesture of peace. He still had his spell card ready in the vault in case the turtle attacked, but the bizarre monster was just watching him.
Alright, no signs of attack so far. I’ll make my way to the exit like this.
Shouren rolled his shoulders up, and then crawled towards the exit, dragging his backside through the rough dirt.
I think I could have just walked out. I don’t know why I’m crawling through the dirt like a worm? That turtle probably isn’t even scared of me anymore after watching this. It’s too late to stand up, I need to continue crawling.
Shouren blushed, shoving his face to the ground, so the monster didn’t have to see his embarrassed expression.
Croak?
The turtle let out a confused squeal. Whether the confusion was because the human didn’t attack it or the ungraceful way he slithered on the dirt, only the monster would know.
Please don’t look at me. Please don’t look at me.
Shouren cried inside his mind. His only solace was that no one except him and the turtle would remember this memory. He wouldn’t tell anyone while the turtle couldn’t tell anyone, even if it wanted to.
He kept crawling through the cave. It wasn’t a deep cave as Shouren could already see the light of the exit. A few seconds later, the splashing sound of the river echoed within Shouren’s ears. He was outside.
Shouren hastily stood up and patted the flecks of dirt away from his clothes. A faint redness tinged his cheeks. He turned around to face the dark cave and pointed his finger at the emptiness.
“I’ll kill you if you tell anyone about today.”
Only a silent breeze responded to the boy’s threat.
Meanwhile, inside the cave, the turtle stared at the crawling marks left behind by the small human.
Croak?
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“At least I didn’t have to waste the day looking for a suitable boulder.”
Shouren sighed as he tapped the massive rock before him and stored it inside his vault. At the river bank, he had his pick of rocks and boulders.
I need to something smaller than boulders that will still do the trick.
Shouren mused as he surveyed the nearby area. He spotted a few monster tracks and picked the one didn’t have any similar accompanying foot prints. That meant the monster was alone. Shouren had to leave the boulder because it took too much space inside his vault when leaving, and he would rather fill it with the monster parts than a big, useless rock.
Do I even need to drop rocks on monsters?
Shouren pondered as he quietly followed the tracks. His combat strategy was entirely based on the cards he had at his disposal. Spectral Threads allowed for temporary restraints on the monster’s movement, which matched perfectly with later dropping heavy objects on it.
He could restrain the monster and then kill it with a weapon, but where would he find one? A Lumen Weapon like Rubin’s dagger was worth tens of thousands of chronas. Shouren felt a pang of regret when he recalled it was one of his options in the dungeon reward, but the recipe scroll had helped him more than anything else so far.
He had unlocked his traits, helped his grandmother unlock hers as well, all of which was possible through the knowledge he obtained from that recipe.
“Once I finish Isola’s order, I will enter the dungeon for a week and try to get “B” clear. Hopefully, there will be a Lumen Weapon in the final selection.”
Shouren kept his movements as quiet as possible as he dashed through the open field. The tracks were getting fresher. In truth, low-grade Lumen Weapons weren’t really that uncommon or expensive for the common people. It was just that Shouren and Rhea were dirt-poor to start with.
I see it.
Shouren stopped in place, his hazel eyes scanning the lone monster in front of him.
It was an enormous hippo monster with glittering scales instead of a thick hide. The brownish-black scales shimmered with every step the hippo took. Shouren hesitated for a moment when he saw the dense cords of muscles poking through the scales. The hippo was the same size as the bear he encountered in his first dungeon run.
Shouren gulped. It was a bit nerve-wracking watching the brute monster stroll casually through the forest. It knew the weaker monsters wouldn’t dare trespass its path.
Blazes, I don’t have time. I need to kill three monsters quickly and start forging the cards. I can’t be picking and choosing which monsters I want.
Shouren took in a deep breath, calming his nerves, and took out a card from his vault. His main goal was to use the dungeon and the monsters to fuel his lumen reserves.
You need to spend cards to make more cards.
Shouren activated his corrupted ability, <Oblation Pact> and used it on the card in his hand.
Tier 0 - Spectral Threads [Common]
Create thin spectral threads from your hands to bind a target for 3 seconds. Threads will break if damaged or over-strained. Effective only on Tier 0 targets.
Cost: 5 lumen per use.
The spell activated with a flash of lumen, and Shouren had now 60 seconds to use it. With his 15 units of lumen, Shouren could use it two more times.
“Grah!”
The hippo suddenly roared in savage fury, as ropes of ghostly threads spread from Shouren’s fingers and wrapped around the monster’s limbs. Its rabid eyes bore into Shouren when it saw it was the human who attacked it.
“Goodbye, scary fellow.”
Shouren’s hands wavered as he felt the tremors pass through the ethereal threads. He wanted to finish the hippo as fast as he could. A looming boulder fell from the air and smashed directly into the hippo’s midsection.
“GRAAGHHH!”
The hippo bellowed with rage as the boulder rolled down to the ground with a thud. A streak of blood leaked from its pincer jaws, but the boulder wasn’t enough to kill it outright.
Snap.
Time ran out after three seconds, and the ghostly threads were torn into the void.
The hippo swayed for a few moments with its woozy footing, before it locked gazes with Shouren and charged angrily at the human.
“I was only kidding.”
Shouren chuckled nervously as the hippo stormed towards him, sending shockwaves through the ground.
Comments
CataFlan
With his 15 units of lumen, Shouren could use it two more times. > With his 15 units of lumen, Shouren could use it two more times without spend all his lumen.
CataFlan
Tier o targets > Tier 0 targets
