But Arthur wasn’t about to be defeated so easily. He quickly spotted their weak point—the long, vulnerable neck just below the jaw. Focusing every slash with precision, he aimed relentlessly for that spot. The daggers bit deep again and again, glowing faintly with the primal energy that now pulsed through them.
It took endless, exhausting slashes from his battered Divine Blades, but one by one, the lizards fell.
Experience Gained: 250 / 500
The third floor was an easy walk compared to the fiery nightmare below. Venomous spider monsters lurked everywhere, their bodies shimmering with a faint, eerie glow. Sure, their magical defense was impressively high—enough to make most mages think twice. But Arthur? He didn’t rely on magic. Their physical defense was laughably abysmal.
The fight was messy, crawling with sticky webs and poison that burned his skin, but he cut through the horde with ease, slashing through limbs and crushing exoskeletons. The ground was littered with twitching spider carcasses by the time he reached the far end.
Even so, something odd caught his attention near the end of the floor.
He noticed a faint shimmer—a tile in the far corner of the chamber glowing subtly beneath the tangled mess of spider silk. It looked ancient, like it hadn’t been touched in decades.
"Could be a trap," Arthur muttered under his breath. He hesitated… then stepped on it anyway.
Nothing exploded. No arrows shot through his chest. Just a low grinding sound as part of the wall shifted and a hidden chamber opened behind it.
"Phew! Thank god that wasn’t a trap," he exhaled, half-laughing to himself.
Inside, the room was dark, damp, and thick with an eerie silence. But then his eyes adjusted, and he froze.
Eggs. Hundreds of them. Maybe more.
Pale, leathery things the size of a clenched fist, packed tight across the floor like someone had dumped a nightmare chicken coop into a dungeon. They pulsed faintly, as if alive… not quite hatched.
Arthur stared at them, one brow twitching.
"What if?" he whispered, his grip tightening around the hilt of his dagger.
There was only one way to find out.
With a clean stroke, he sliced one egg in half. Yellowish fluid burst out with a wet pop, along with something half-formed and twitching.
Experience Gained: 255 / 500
His eyes widened.
A thought hit him. A wild, stupid, incredibly tempting thought.
He drew his dagger—the dull Divine Blade Bertha had given him—and plunged it into the nearest egg.
Schlrrp!
It split open with a squelch, spilling goo and half-formed spider matter. His interface chimed instantly.
Experience Gained: 35
[Level 1: 290 / 500]
His eyes smiled.
"You’ve got to be kidding me"
Slash.
+40 EXP
[330 / 500]
Another.
+38 EXP
[368 / 500]
He was grinning now, slashing faster and harder. Eggs popped like overripe fruit beneath his blade. The floor became slick with fluid. His boots squished with every step, but he didn’t stop. Not now.
+45 EXP
[413 / 500]
+39 EXP
[452 / 500]
One last swipe—
+48 EXP
[Level Up: Level 2 Reached]
[Stat Points +30]
Arthur stopped, panting. The slime-coated dagger trembled slightly in his grip.
"Level 2," he whispered. "Not bad."
But there were still eggs left. Dozens. Maybe more.
He smirked.
"Well… might as well finish breakfast."
He tore into the rest like a madman. Fluid splashed against his armor and face, and soon the chamber resembled a battlefield.
+50 EXP
[50 / 700]
+45 EXP
[95 / 700]
+60 EXP
[155 / 700]
+50 EXP
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[205 / 700]
When the last egg was crushed beneath his boot, he stood tall, chest heaving, blades dripping.
Total Experience: 255 / 500 → 205 / 700
Current Level: 2
The room was quiet now. No hissing spiders. No glow. Just the echo of his breathing, and the distant drip… drip… drip of egg fluid falling from the ceiling.
Arthur wiped his face with his sleeve and looked around at the carnage.
"Remind me to never tell anyone about this."
He sheathed his dagger.
Then, without another word, he turned toward the stairs that led deeper into the dungeon.
And the real monsters.
Arthur sat down on a patch of relatively clean stone, chest rising and falling as his breathing steadied. The room still reeked of ruptured spider sacs and whatever acidic gunk oozed from their unborn forms, but he was too tired—and too wired—to care.
His interface pulsed gently.
Level Up!
Current Level: 2
Stat Points Available: 30
He opened his stat screen, eyes narrowed. There they were—the four core attributes that defined him.
HP : 200
Strength: 8
Agility: 10
Endurance: 7
Defense: 5
Available Stat Points: 30
Arthur rubbed his chin.
"Alright. Let’s not be stupid about this."
He’d learned the hard way that brute force alone wouldn’t cut it. Speed, survivability, and sheer physical durability mattered too.
He started with ten points into Agility—he needed to be faster, more responsive, especially against creatures with erratic movement like those damn lizards.
Then came Strength. Ten more points. With it, his arms would hit harder, his blades would dig deeper.
Five into Endurance. The dungeon floors were only getting longer and more brutal. He needed stamina. The fight couldn’t end just because he ran out of breath.
Finally, the remaining five went into Defense. He hated getting tossed around. Those lizard fireballs still burned in his memory—literally.
Updated Stats:
Strength: 18
Agility: 20
Endurance: 12
Defense: 10
"Feels… good," he muttered, standing up. He rolled his shoulders, and there was a satisfying tension in his limbs now, a new sharpness to his movements.
Time to keep going.
[Dungeon Floor 4]
Arthur stepped onto the next floor, greeted by darkness and a chilling breeze that raised goosebumps. The air reeked of mold and wet stone.
Suddenly—clack clack clack—a swarm of skeletal hounds leapt from the shadows, bones rattling and fangs gnashing.
"Undead?" Arthur hissed, crouching instinctively. "Finally, something new."
He activated Soulpiercer Sight.
[Bonehound] – Level 3 – Undead
HP: 80
Strength: 6 | Agility: 8 | Endurance: 2 | Defense: 4
Special Trait: Necrotic Bite
"Perfect," he grinned, and lunged.
His agility now overpowered theirs. He weaved between bony limbs, slicing through joints and vertebrae. The Divine Blades hummed with unnatural energy.
One exploded into shards with a stab to its core. Another lost its head mid-leap. Arthur danced between them, faster than ever, blades flashing.
But even with his new stats, the numbers weren’t enough to erase pain. One Bonehound latched onto his shoulder. Its fangs dug deep.
"Argh!"
He slammed his elbow into its skull, twisted free, and finished it with a ruthless slash.
+120 EXP
[325 / 700]
He fought on, destroying the pack, each kill smoother than the last. When the last one collapsed, he stood over a pile of shattered bones, panting but triumphant.
+110 EXP
[Level Up: Level 3 Reached]
Stat Points +15
He opened the interface again.
"Only fifteen this time?"
System Notice:
Stat points awarded reduce after Level 2. Current rate: 5 per level.
"Well… that sucks."
He didn't hesitate—seven more into Defense, eight into Endurance.
Updated Stats:
Strength: 18 | Agility: 20 | Endurance: 20| Defense: 17
The next chamber felt different—wider, colder. A low growl echoed.
Arthur tensed.
"Great. More surprises."
[Dungeon Floor 5]
It was a cavern of frost.
The ground was slick with ice. Huge crystalline pillars rose from the earth like frozen trees. At the far end, a serpentine figure slithered from behind a glacier.
[Frost Serpent] – Level 4 – Elemental Beast
HP: 160
Strength: 12 | Agility: 18 | Endurance: 10 | Defense: 7
Special Trait: Frost Breath
"Ice attacks now?" Arthur hissed, narrowing his eyes.
The serpent lunged.
Arthur dove, barely dodging a blast of freezing mist. It coated the floor, turning rock into skating rinks. He slid, flipped, and caught himself on a pillar.
"Let’s test that agility…"
He dashed forward, blades gleaming. The serpent reared, trying to coil and constrict. He stabbed at the gaps between its scales, driving the blades deeper and deeper.
The creature thrashed—tail whipping him across the room. Arthur slammed into a wall with a grunt, but his Defense and Endurance held.
"No time to rest!"
He raced forward again, this time climbing the beast's coiled body like a madman. One blade to anchor. The other to stab.
Finally—he reached its skull.
Arthur jammed both daggers into the beast’s frozen eye socket and screamed.
"DIE!"
The beast shuddered… and went still.
+150 EXP
[475 / 700]
Arthur dropped to the ground as the serpent dissolved into ice and mist.
+200 EXP
[Level Up: Level 4 Reached]
Stat Points +15
Again, he placed them carefully—seven in Strength, two in Defense, six in Agility.
Final Stats:
HP : 300
Strength: 25 | Agility: 26 | Endurance: 20 | Defense: 19
Arthur exhaled, then looked toward the descending stairwell at the far end.
He knew he was already late. The others were climbing fast—too fast. His only chance now was to defeat the boss and secure a place in the top 14.
No more delays. No more hesitation.
Arthur tightened his grip on the daggers, jaw clenched. Whatever waited below, it would fall. It had to.
And with quiet, focused steps, Arthur descended the final stairs, each step echoing like a war drum in the silence. The temperature dropped with every footfall, and soon his breath came out in faint white wisps. The narrow corridor opened into a vast chamber—so wide it felt like the heart of the dungeon itself.
The air was thick. Heavy. Saturated with a pressure that made his skin crawl and his instincts scream.
Then he heard it.
Low, guttural growls. Not one. Not two. Dozens.
They rippled through the darkness like thunder. The stone floor vibrated beneath his boots. Shapes moved just beyond the edge of his vision—hulking figures pacing behind frost-coated pillars, the scrape of claws on stone ringing in his ears.
His grip on the daggers tightened until his knuckles turned white.
From the shadows, cold blue eyes blinked open. One pair. Then five. Then dozens. A chorus of snarls followed, savage and bloodthirsty, echoing off the icy walls like a death chant.
Arthur’s heart pounded. The sheer number of them...
“Pack fight,” he whispered. “Boss room’s not playing around.”
A single figure stepped forward—twice the size of the others, its fur thick and matted with frost, fangs gleaming like icicles. It wore the jagged remnants of armor across its back, and a crown of bone curled atop its skull.
[Alpha Winterfang] – Level 5 – Dungeon Boss
HP: 200
Strength: 20
Agility: 20
Special Trait: Pack Commander, Frost Howl, Alpha Regeneration
The boss let out a roar so loud the air itself seemed to crack.
The entire pack answered.
Arthur didn’t flinch. He took a breath, feeling the weight of every stat point humming in his blood.
He was late. Outpaced. Outnumbered.
But not outmatched.
He raised his daggers.
“Come on, then. Let’s dance.”