A Beautiful Day in the Dungeon
Chapter 5 - It's a beautiful day in the dungeon. Birds are chirping, flowers are blooming—it's spring. The scent of the forest after rain is soothing to the soul. I've always liked the rain. The sky after a downpour is incredibly beautiful. Whenever I'm struggling, just staring up at the sky makes it feel like my troubles are being washed away. That's why I enjoy looking at the sky. It doesn't happen every day, but when it's clear, the view is breathtaking. Maybe I was always longing for the sky. It's pure, clean, and unchanging. Perhaps I wanted to become someone like that myself. But beauty aside, the ground after heavy rain isn't exactly pleasant. Soaked with water, it turns to mud, and with every step my feet sink deep into it. I could run, but with my poor stamina and limited mobility, I'd be exhausted in no time. I decided to take it slow and steady.
A cool breeze drifting between the trees felt like an oasis in the desert as I trudged through the mud. The ground was a complete mess, so sitting down wasn't an option, but the wind brushing against my sweat-soaked clothes... it was incredibly refreshing. After wandering aimlessly for about an hour, I finally reached the center of the forest.
The center of the forest was empty except for one massive willow tree, which made it look even larger by comparison. It towered over twenty meters high—a truly enormous tree. The branches swaying in the wind and the countless leaves covering them were a magnificent sight. This must be what the World Tree feels like in person. I let myself get lost in the moment as fallen leaves drifted down around me. If I ever come back here, I should bring a mat and a lunchbox.
"But now's not the time to get sentimental."
I stopped admiring the view and approached the base of the giant tree. Just as I'd expected, there was a small gap, and within it was something like a portal leading into the dungeon. I cleared away the smaller roots to widen the space and prepared to enter.
The inside of the dungeon was a separate dimension from the outside world. Since ents appeared here, the interior was quite spacious. However, aside from the boss room, most of it was made of wood. That meant if I wanted to use fire magic, I'd have to get right up close to the monsters. One wrong move and I'd set the walls ablaze—then I'd be the one getting roasted. Well, if I cleared it fast and escaped, it wouldn't matter, but this isn't a game. That's not happening. So, just like yesterday, I'd have to fight in close quarters. But that was fine. After yesterday's battle, I felt like I'd gotten a feel for how to fight.
I finished my preparations and stepped toward the portal leading into the dungeon.
"Hmm... it's cleaner than I expected."
It really was. Maybe because I was still near the entrance, there were no monsters, and the interior was spotless. I gripped the store-bought longsword in one hand and began walking slowly. There were no torches, but in their place were lamps made of mana stones, glowing with a bright white light. The atmosphere felt so cozy it didn't seem like a dungeon at all. But this was exactly when I needed to stay alert. Complacency can lead even the strongest opponent to ruin. I kept walking through the deceptively non-threatening dungeon.
How long had I been walking? Up ahead, ents about my height were waiting for me. I tightened my grip on the sword and stepped forward. There were two of them, but they were roughly my size. Their bodies were fused with wood, yet they were still humanoid monsters. Their joints probably weren't completely wooden, or they wouldn't be able to move. I charged forward at full speed, deflecting the first one's attack and slipping past as it stumbled. I closed in on the second.
Without weapons, the ents relied on fists and legs. Their attacks packed power but were slow. I aimed for that weakness. The second ent rushed me, swinging to kill. Thanks to possessing a body with mana, I could see its attacks clearly and calmly dodged them. After avoiding the first punch, it threw another aimed at my arm and leg, then a third at my head. I ducked under the blow, then slashed at the inner joint of its leg with my sword. The tree-like limb severed, and its stance collapsed. Seizing the opening, I prepared to unleash fire magic at point-blank range. I might get hurt too, but that was fine. I'd already anticipated this outcome. I couldn't afford to fear getting injured. So...
"Right now, I just need to focus on killing the enemy."
A blue flame infused with mana ignited in my left hand. It burned fiercely, as if it would scorch everything in existence. I drove my now-literal fire fist straight into the monster.
"Hiken (Fire Fist)!"
I'd named the technique after something I'd seen in a manga. By compressing fire into my fist, I sacrificed range for massively amplified damage—a so-called Fire Fist. It cost little mana, but the downside was that it definitely injured my body. Still, that problem would be solved once I gained fire resistance. The blue flames wrapped around my fist punched through the creature's torso and burned its insides to ash. I pulled my hand free from what could no longer be called a living thing.
At the same time, I regained my stance, dodged the remaining ent's charge, and severed its joints the same way. The monster collapsed again before it could even stand properly. To preserve what little dignity it had left, I cut through all its remaining joints, then struck its relatively weak neck repeatedly until it stopped moving.
It had been a noble fight. A tough one. I won't forget our battle. After dealing with a few more ents in the same manner, I arrived at the boss room.
I'd come to this hidden dungeon for one reason: to obtain an artifact. It was an item you could get relatively early on, and it was extremely efficient for beginners. Its name was Grace of Nature. It increased both HP and mana by 20%. For someone like me with poor stamina and a small mana core, it was like a divine blessing. Twenty percent was nothing to sneeze at. If I could only use Ignition magic six times a day before, now I could manage one more. In a fight, that single extra cast could mean the difference between victory and defeat. My trait, Mana Amplification, used to strain my body after just one or two uses, making it unusable. Now I could probably manage it once. The trait was simple: it amplified mana to boost skill power, but it required meeting certain stat thresholds. It was more of a late-game passive, something that only shone in the mid-to-late stages. Once I got the artifact, the strain would still be there, but I should be able to use it at least once.
"Of course, that's assuming I beat the boss and claim it first."
I pulled the store-bought lighter and oil bottles from my backpack and tied them to my waist. Unlike the previous areas, the boss room was made of stone and was very spacious. The boss was different from the regular ents—it was much larger, about two or three times the size of a player. Well... fire would take care of that. Since I could use flames freely in here, it shouldn't be too difficult. I finished my preparations, pushed open the massive door to the boss room, and stepped inside.
The interior was filled with a different kind of blue energy than before. The mana stones glowing blue gave off a gloomy atmosphere, unlike the ones outside. I gripped my sword tightly, tense. Thud— Thud— A massive tree giant emerged from the shadows. It stood roughly six meters tall. Its size rivaled or exceeded the trees in the forest, and its mere presence was enough to radiate pressure. But in the end, it was still an ent. It was just as slow, and fire was still its weakness. I charged straight at the giant ent. With its size, blocking my attacks would be difficult. I hurled the oil bottles tied to my waist at its enormous legs. Crash! One down. The bottle shattered against its leg, soaking it in oil. I flicked the lighter on and threw it at the limb as thick as my torso. Whoosh! One leg burst into red flames. The giant ent was still standing, but it let out a deafening roar, clearly in agony.
--!!! While it was distracted by its burning leg, I slipped beneath it and threw another oil bottle at its remaining leg. Crash! I activated Ignition and set the last leg ablaze as well. Red and blue flames slowly consumed the monster's body.
"Going smoothly."
The once-imposing giant gradually lost its balance and began to collapse. No matter how huge a monster was, it couldn't withstand cheap tricks. Especially when most of its body was made of wood.
"You just had the wrong opponent."
If it had been a troll, I'd have been slaughtered. But there's no point worrying about things that didn't happen. Time to wrap this up and head back to the academy. Yeah, after all the trouble I'd been through these past two days, I deserved an easy win. The thought of getting the artifact put me in a good mood. It was almost time to return to the academy.