NOVEL NEXT Chapter 104 - Lethal Light
One strike was enough to finish off the kitten monster, which had been slammed into the wall countless times in the span of their fight.
[Enchanter] Class has reached level 10.
[Smith] Class has reached level 10.
Spending a week forging and enchanting the armor had been the correct choice.
Within the crater in the ground formed by the Smith's blow, the kitten monster dissolved into motes of gloriously brilliant golden-white lights, which dispersed into the lux-laden air and left behind a magic stone of the same color.
[Appraisal] failed to identify it.
Still, James was fairly certain it was a different color from the Lightning jewel he had gotten from the Lightning Serpent, and it must be related to the Light element. Nor was it the first unidentifiable magic stone he had collected. The bat monsters on the first floor had left behind quite a few purple magic stones that remained as yet unidentified.
So he put it in the magic bag, and then quickly re-arranged his wards to cover the tunnel leading back to the previous floor, as well as the tunnel into the rest of the floor beyond this room.
The fight had ended too quickly for James to get really worked up, and now he was feeling the time pressure of how long he had spent in this one room. He needed to move on.
Carefully, slowly, weighed down by his armor, James proceeded through the tunnel into the next cavern: a large room with high ceilings, lit by dazzling crystals pouring forth light reflected off the white stone and other crystals and James' own armor. Here and there small trickles of Pure Water could be seen among more veins of white iron ore and smaller veins of other iron ores.
He paused with his back to the tunnel from which he had just came, and scanned for monsters. Immediately he saw a serpent ahead and to to the left, coiled up and seemingly sleeping. Various boulders of the same shining white stone littered the ground, but on the side of one he saw a monster similar to a fire lizard, but with gleaming scales.
It was looking right at him with one large bulging eye.
And then it disappeared.
Or… James shifted his shield slightly. Had it? He felt like he could still see it, just barely. Had it merely changed color to blend in with its surroundings?
A piercing beam of light struck his shield and was [Reflected] and amplified and struck the strange lizard monster, killing it instantly. It fell to the ground, stiff, with a quiet thump.
James stared at it a moment before he heard a slithering sound, and he whipped his head back to see the previously sleeping serpent monster heading his way.
Hisss!
It didn't rear back to bite him, instead it tried to quickly coil around him in his armor, to crush him to death with purely physical force.
James, of course, [Blinded] by his helmet, didn't realize the serpent was glowing so brightly it would have overwhelmed anyone else and stunned them…
Instead, he raised his Earth War Hammer in his left hand and trusted in his thick armor to protect him from any bites, and brought down a mighty blow on the serpent's body.
BOOM
Hiss!
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
The serpent writhed around in pain and James continued his strikes.
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
Crunch
He finally hit the monster's head and crushed it, killing it instantly.
Still, he immediately brought his guard back up and scanned around.
Thud
He heard another soft sound and froze, looking around, then heard another.
Thump
Closer this time, and he caught the movement out of the corner of his eye. Another of the new lizard monsters had fallen to the ground, dead.
James, at that time, had several priorities, the first of which was safety. He couldn't see his enemies. He needed to retreat.
Beyond that, he needed to explore the Dungeon to find an exit, and he needed to find food.
He had the serpent in front of him. Carefully, keeping his shield up, he bent down to grab it by the tail and drag it back to his basecamp.
Thump
Another lizard monster fell.
As fast as he could, he ignored the lizard monsters and dragged the serpent through the tunnel, into the safety of his wards.
Now James needed a moment to calm down. And he didn't dare take off his armor again, not with nearly invisible enemies attacking him with beams of light. After some time of sitting in front of his anvil, behind his readied shield, his breathing slowed and he was able to focus on dismantling the serpent carcass. It was a little less than a foot across, but over eight yards long, and mostly muscle underneath its glittering serpent skin.
James cut out some of the flesh and gave it a tentative sniff. He'd never eaten snake meat before, but he'd heard that it tasted like chicken.
Well, it didn't smell bad at any rate, so he cut out as much of the meat as he could, put it in his smoker, and then dug a new pit for the rest of the carcass. Its Light magic stone was located in the neck, just below where he had struck the head, and other than that there wasn't any materials he could use. The bones were too brittle, the organs did have a foul smell, and he couldn't think of a use for the fangs.
While the meat was smoking, James crept through the tunnel and as quickly and stealthily as he could, tried to collect one of the dead lizard monsters. He found one lying on the floor, easily visible in death, and grabbed it. As he stood upright…
Thump
Another of the lizard monsters had apparently attacked him and fallen dead.
James shuddered, a small and quiet rattle passing through his armor. Nearly invisible enemies and perfectly silent attacks…
Plus that outrageously fast and tenacious kitten monster.
And the fact that the floor was so stupidly bright he couldn't see without his quirky helmet.
He wanted to move on quickly. But not before he collected some food.
Sadly, the lizard monsters' meat smelled utterly foul and James wasn't willing to risk it. The only material of any value they yielded was a light magic stone, of which James already had plenty.
The Smith once again returned to the new cavern and started to explore, occasionally hearing the soft thumps that indicated he had once again been attacked by the invisible lizard monsters, but he put it out of his mind as best he could. Upon making a full circuit, and finding no more serpent monsters, he had discovered three new tunnels. One on each side of the square shaped cavern. Starting from the right, he proceeded down the first tunnel which twisted around, left and right, wary of unexpectedly coming across another of those kitten monsters, and at the end he found nothing but a small room full of outcrops of glowing crystals, nearly bright enough to dazzle him even through his helmet.
[Appraisal]: Glow Crystals
James quickly set down a small ward, just in case, and mined out some of the Glow Crystals. If his [Appraisal] skill worked on them, it was likely he could make something out of them. Maybe some kind of lantern, not that it was needed here, on this floor. The mined crystals even went directly into his magic bag, without needing to be boxed.
James found himself clinging to these small joys to distract himself from his growling stomach.
He picked up his warding stakes and walked back to the central cavern, then carefully made his way again to the right, reaching the side of the cavern opposite the way back to his basecamp.
No soft thumps this time. But James couldn't be sure if that meant all the monsters were dead already, or if they had given up on attacking him for now.
He kept his guard up.
This tunnel, like the last, twisted and turned and even doubled back on itself with blind hairpin turns. And on and on it went. James thought of counting his steps, but he had already come so far it felt rather pointless. Eventually he stopped and took a break. He ate some crab meat and drank some water, which was difficult to do through the visor of his helmet without removing it, but he managed, and eventually he continued on.
And on.
And on.
Finally, at the end of the tunnel was a small room with an iron door.
The end of the floor had been found faster than expected. But James could only sigh. He wasn't ready to leave yet, not with serpent meat still smoking and another tunnel left unexplored.
He turned around and started the long walk back to the central cavern, counting his steps as he went.