Kind Demon King

At the end of the 8th floor, a familiar face awaited us. An armored hulking beast howled under the full moon.

(You have been exposed to Greater Freezing Howl.)

(Iron Will neutralizes the fear effect.)

(You resisted the freezing effect.)

The creature was the same as the first boss I fought together with Blanche at the first dungeon. It was a giant wolf covered with an ice armor. Well, there were clear differences. This one was bigger, stronger, faster, more durable, and had a bigger dic- I mean, it was just stronger overall. However, bosses weren’t the only ones getting stronger. The current me probably could put up a good fight against the small one even though I was helpless back then. The fact that I resisted the freezing effect told me such. I failed to resist Greater Freezing Howl before but now it was different. Still…

“I really hope that bosses don’t get any bigger!”

As we climbed, the bosses got bigger. Considering the creature in front of me looked like it could bite an elephant into two, I really didn’t want to see what waited for us on the 10th floor. But fuck the 10th floor, we first had to kill this titan. I opened my mouth and started to shout orders. Thankfully, the titan’s movements weren’t different from its smaller cousin.

“We can’t tank its attacks head-on! Percavel, drop your shield and pick up Agatha! Blanche!”

Its attack caused area of effect damage. Blocking it with a shield was meaningless. Even if Percavel blocked one attack, Agatha behind him would be hurt.

“Keep moving, spread out!”

I kept shouting orders. To my surprise, even Duncan followed the orders I gave out. Weird.

“Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Poyraz.”

Thanks to everyone listening to my orders, we were able to defeat it in an hour or so.

(You conquered the eighth floor of Wolf King’s Tomb. You can pass the second floor without battle next time you visit here.)

(You carry mana compatible with this dungeon. All stats increases by 1.)

(Duration ended. Your strength will be decreased by 10 percent for the next 4 minutes and 30 seconds.)

(You acquired the passive personal skill Axe Mastery.)

(Your records are being added.)

(Passive skill Axe Mastery ranked up to C rank.)

(Skill fusion is available. Do you want to proceed?)

Huh? I lifted up the heavy battle axe I used into the air. It was one of the weapons Blanche gave me before. I haven’t had the chance to use it before. I already preferred swords and throwing knives. Even my spear, a better weapon wasn’t used that much by me. I used this axe for a simple reason: It was heavy so breaking the creature’s ice armor was easier with it. It didn’t have any options but its power was high. I put it away to look at the notifications but I noticed Duncan looking at me.

I wanted to sigh. Was he thinking of starting a beef because I used the same weapon as him? No. When my eyes met with his, he turned away. But in that brief moment when our eyes met, I saw something different in his eyes.

Yeah, dislike was still there but something else also existed now. Also, why did he turn away when I looked at him? I thought he would think of it as a challenge and start a blinking contest, yet he didn’t.

Anyways. I looked at the notifications.

“Skill fusion?”

I whispered to myself. What skills will be fused together?

(Skills Unarmed Combat Mastery, Sword Mastery, Spear Mastery, and Axe Mastery.)

All of them were passives and related to how I fought. Shouldn’t Indomitable Marksmanship also be fused together?

…

No answer came.

“Okay, let’s think. Firstly, what I would lose if those skills disappeared?”

A part of me wanted to say nothing. I mean, I didn’t learn how to fight with those “skills”. Even if they were gone, I should be able to use weapons, right?

Maybe no? This world was different. I could lose my ability to use them. But they won’t disappear. They will fuse together. Also, can’t I just relearn them? Yeah, it would take a lot of time but I already did once so why not the second one?

“Proceed.”

(Skills are being fused together.)

(Said skills won’t be available and you won’t be able to acquire them any longer.)

Wait, no. No. No!

(You acquired the passive skill Full Combat Mastery.)

(Due high level of the skill, its rank will be adjusted to E rank.)

Wait, that skill doesn’t even sound cool. Take it back!

(Reversing skill fusion is not possible.)

Should have told me in the beginning, you twat! I sighed as I covered my face with my hand. Anyways, no point crying after spilled milk. Give me the skill description.

(Full Combat Mastery: Many warriors only have enough time, talent, and experience to master one combat style or weapon. You refuse those limitations, adapting to every combat scenario and using every weapon or even your own body.)

(Grants correction in combat.)

(Grants correction when using weapons or your own body.)

Eyyyyy, that’s pretty cool actually. I just wish its name was better. Well, nobody except me is going

to see the skill name so it should be fine.

“Poyraz, take this.”

Blanche threw me a shield she pulled from the treasure chest. I caught it. It was bigger than the buckler shield I carried but it wasn’t as big as Percavel’s shield. It was round and dull grey colored. I put my previous shield to the ground. It was very damaged. Even though I didn’t take the brunt of the impacts and tried to use block very sparingly, my shield resembled a piece of junk right now. I strapped it on my wrist, feeling its weight.

(Stone Cold Shield)

(Defense: 20)

(Durability: 450\450)

(Option: Stone Skin: Once a day, your defense will be increased by 10 for 10 minutes. During that duration your agility will be decreased by 5.)

(Option: Spreading Cold: Every time you block an attack with this shield, you have a 5 percent chance to lower your enemy's agility by 5 percent.)

Two options? This is the first time I have seen it. Well, I shouldn’t be too surprised. The enemy we killed was very strong. I am pretty sure Percavel and Agatha were having a breakdown during our fight. Me?

This creature was neither big nor strong as a behemoth class bug. And I killed several tens of behemoth classes by myself.

“Except I was equipped with enough artillery to wipe out a sizeable country.”

Anyways, reminiscing about those days isn’t helpful. I looked at Blanche. She looked better now, though I saw her grit her teeth from time to time with pain or exhaustion. Still, she was hiding it very well. If it wasn’t for me keeping an eye on her all the time, I wouldn’t have noticed it. One other thing I noticed was her using spells less and less as the fight went on. While I could chalk up to it her trying to save up her mana and mental power, it didn’t seem like it. She was avoiding using magic. It was probably related to her condition.

“A revitalization potion? In a dungeon, on a floor like this? Seriously!”

Ducan complained but what he said caused my ears to perk up. I walked towards Blanche. She was holding a glass container that held a clear liquid. If it wasn’t for what Duncan said I would have thought it was water.

Hmmm. Should I just request Blanche to give it to me right now? From Duncan’s reaction and what Ama told me before I knew that revitalization potions weren’t the most valuable thing around. But that could raise suspicion and cause others to ask me why I want it. Also just walking up to Blanche and asking for it could further damage Blanche’s prestige even more. For those reasons, I didn’t. I could easily ask Blanche or even buy it with the mana stones I gained from previous dungeons.

“No need to make things more complicated.”

I said to myself. Even if I had it now, there was no way I could give it to Larve. No need to behave like an emotional 16-year-old when I am a 65-year-old war veteran.

“We will be moving to the next floor.”

?

Everyone reacted the same way I did. When we kill a boss that said boss became passive unless we attacked it first. That meant that we had a safe zone after killing a boss. While we moved forward after killing a boss on the first 5 floors, at later floors we rested to recover our stamina and mana. Not only monsters but also the terrain we traveled became rougher so it was normal.

“Shouldn’t we rest, My Lady?”

I spoke for our group.

“No!”

I nearly took a step back when she barked at me. All of us, yes even me looked surprised by her outburst. I wanted to voice my concerns but she already warned me to not talk back even back then when it was just two of us. But holy fuck, her decision was stupid. We had food and snow was all around us, providing us with water.

“Is she afraid of her condition getting worse?”

Can’t it be treated with health potions? Or magic? Why everything has to be so complicated?