Lev gazed upon the tear in reality, the entrance of the dungeon. It was as if some entity had ripped the fabric of reality, forming a jagged tear that led to a separate dimension.
The analogy was not far off. The tear did indeed lead to what was theorized to be an artificially created sub-space, a region that existed without being accessible from anywhere but the entrance.
"Team?" The guard asked, inspecting Lev's badge.
[Warrior - Level 185]
"Just me."
The guard frowned, looking at Lev silently for a few seconds.
"While there are no rules stating you cannot enter alone, I will recommend against it. Dungeons have difficulty ratings in comparison to an average team, which means they're far more dangerous for lone hunters."
Lev considered the warning but eventually shook his head.
"I know what I'm getting into and plan to delve safely, don't worry."
The guard simply nodded and stepped aside, telling him to wait. Dungeon entrances cycled every half an hour, during which anyone could enter the same instance.
Surrounding him was a small camp with several hunter teams either recovering mana or simply resting. Nobody was waiting for their turn, so Lev got first access.
It only took a few minutes for the entrance to cycle. Lev watched with his mouth slightly ajar as the entrance dimmed, before pulsing in a wave of mana again. The signal for a new cycle was very obvious, and Lev was waved inside.
Entering the dungeon was a seamless transition. One moment, Lev was outside and the next, he was stepping into a web-ridden forest. The entrance led him to a small clearing containing only the portal in the middle.
The temptation to poke the portal was strong but Lev didn't want the delve to stop before it even started. Flying up, he observed his surroundings.
He had to ascend for several dozen meters to go through the treetops and gaze at the forest. Webs covered a large part of it, letting Lev observe several huge spiders silently prowling around with disturbing clearness because of his enhanced eyesight.
Lev flew higher and looked for a lone spider on the ground. It took him a few minutes before he found one loitering around by itself.
Two meters in height and over five in length with its legs spread out, the beast looked like a juggernaut with a gray exoskeleton covering its body but not its face.
Just as durable as I was warned, Lev watched as the spider's eight limbs stomped on the ground, producing small airwaves from the impact. Heavy too.
Having seen enough, Lev formed an arrow and filled it with lightning mana. He aimed, the sight of the bow reminding him to upgrade the bow or the skill utilizing it eventually, and loosed.
The arrow hit the target in the blink of an eye, piercing through the exoskeleton at the cost of most of its speed. Lightning followed, searing its way into the spider.
A high-pitched screech reached Lev as the monster looked in vain to locate its attacker. He lost sight of the monster for a few moments as it hopped from tree to tree, the monster's size and weight not nearly enough of a detriment as Lev expected.
The trees, too, were more durable than he assumed with how easily they handled the weight. Two lances formed above him before lightning infused them. 5% of Lev's mana pool was used just like that, and he launched two of them at once.
Both of them hit the relatively slow spider near the wound from the arrow, blowing up half of its body and exoskeleton from the impact and resulting explosion.
It bled out not long after.
[
You have slain [Grey Spider - Level 124]
]
The level is fairly low.
Lev flew in a circle, finding the edge of the forest rather quickly. The dungeon ended in a plain white wall of mana that stretched vertically without an end. Just one look was enough to dissuade him from trying to damage them.
It took a few more minutes to find another lone spider as he avoided groups before learning more about them. Similar to the previous monster, it was simply loitering about when Lev landed in front of it with Stargazer in hand, blade already spinning with a sharpness rune carved in it. Even if he no longer had a skill for spinning the blade, it still helped.
Lev let the screech roll off his armor and ducked the first limb that sought to impale his face. Three more followed, each blocked by shields floating next to him.
The sheer impact produced loud thuds as the integrity of shields suffered, requiring Lev to expend a little mana to repair them that would slowly catch up.
I hope I don't regret this.
The limbs moved slowly but erratically as Lev backpedaled. Some of them came too close to his armor for comfort while most of them were blocked by the shields.
The spider screeched every few seconds, which often disrupted his control with how loud the sound was.
Sending a stream of mana into Stargazer's basic enchantment, Lev blocked another two of its long limbs before slashing at one. The glaive bit an inch into the tough exoskeleton with a crack before he was forced to dodge.
The spider jumped, the leap mighty and calculated to squish Lev like a bug. Caught unaware, Lev dashed to the left to try and avoid the falling spider but one of its long limbs slapped him back inside at the last moment.
Mana flooded his armor as the heavy monster landed on top of him, the skill straining not to break under the weight. Even the monster let out a screech of surprise when the armor held, tilting it at an odd angle.
H-heavy.
Not letting the opportunity to attack freely go, Lev dumped a large chunk of mana into his right gauntlet and released the lightning mana from a point blank punch.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Nearly a tenth of his pool combusted at once in the form of lightning and fire, blowing up a massive portion of the spider's insides.
The shower of blood and gore allowed him to escape its clutches and finish off the stunned monster with a well-placed lightning lance.
Lev took steadying breaths as gore covering his armor fell to the ground by dismissing and summoning it again. Now relatively cleaner, Lev thought back to his actions.
They are heavy but the limbs don't do much beyond blunt damage. Jumping on top of me was unexpected but my armor seems to be durable enough to handle one of them at a time unless larger versions are waiting for me.
There wasn't much else to consider. The spider was heavy and could leap like arachnids normally did, but that was pretty much it. Lev assumed their webs were not suitable for combat but he would still keep an eye out for them. They seemed to be the final potential surprise from these monsters apart from an ambush.
Cracking his neck, Lev began the search for another to test his gauntlets.
****
I think I can take on two after damaging them a little. Or I can just snipe one before the fight even begins.
Several minutes of searching had returned with no more lone spiders, and Lev had even found the boss monster of the dungeon instead.
Circling back, he was now stalking two of them the furthest away from the rest. Lev also got his answer about why they didn't use their threads in a fight.
One of the spiders was expanding their already huge web, very slowly producing thick threads. The web looked pretty robust, which made him wonder if he should harvest it. The indecision lasted all of a few seconds before Lev realized how painful and tedious the process would be, so he opened fire with two fire lances on the busy spider.
Both attacks landed at once, the second widening the wound from the first even further and reaping its life.
[
You have slain [Gray Spider - Level 130]
Mana Tempest has reached Level 110
Colorful Destruction has reached Level 7
]
The remaining monster charged with the same unholy screech. Lev glided backward, luring it further away from the nearby monsters.
Four shields followed him. When he felt they were far enough, he sent mana into his gauntlets to increase their weight and durability as the monster tried to squish him again. Not caught unaware this time, Lev dove back sharply and rushed in the moment the spider landed.
His right gauntlet landed on the monster's face with a disgusting squelch as it caved in. The lightning mana in it exploded forward violently, blowing off most of its face and rendering half of its eyes useless as it spasmed.
Thin, long Limbs slammed into his shields as Lev blocked them to the best of his ability and Perception, giving him enough time to slap aside another limb and rush in again, this time with his left gauntlet filled with fire mana.
Mana released in brilliant red and orange shades, sending Lev spinning uncontrollably through the air before he stabilized himself. Gazing at the spider, its front had simply disintegrated.
[
You have slain [Gray Spider - Level 129]
Rapid Infusion has reached Level 7
]
Neat. The whole thing didn't even cost me a tenth of my mana.
The fight made use of just mana infusion, flight, and his gauntlets, and it still worked out pretty well. That was the point of this delve, to test and improve his close-range capabilities without going explosive from afar. It was going smoothly so far.
Next up… chains.
Chains. Since he could no longer reliably fight in melee range after the loss of his 'Nimble' skill, impeding the movement of monsters was the next logical step. He could only punch the spiders because they were slow and heavy, and even then it required several shields blocking the limbs to open a path for his gauntlets.
Lev could also simply blow all the dungeon monsters to smithereens from afar, but that cost too much mana. He didn't have that much of it. Yet.
Focusing, Lev dove into his understanding of barrier formations and willed a chain to come into existence. Pale blue links formed into a long chain over the course of a dozen seconds.
He'd opted for interlocked links instead of fixed links for maximum range of movement regardless of where he'd grab the chain from. To make it more useful, Lev formed small spikes along its length for a sturdier grip on the monsters, each spike the length of his finger.
To top it all off, a wicked curved sickle formed on top of the last link. The bladed end was extremely sharp, and the tip sported a basic sharpness rune to further enhance the effectiveness.
This looks like a cheesy villain's tool of torment. Lev snickered as he observed the chain. The formation had some glaring flaws in its crude shape but he had time and mana to spare. Forming barriers barely cost anything with all his Wisdom.
For the next few minutes, Lev created dozens of different interlocking links and tested their durability and freedom of movement. When he found a shape and size he was happy with, which was rather slim and round, Lev manipulated the chain to wrap around one of the huge trees nearby.
The chain followed his command, deftly wrapping itself around the trunk before slowly tying itself into a knot. Lev frowned. That maneuver was too slow. Right now, his mental strength was not enough to hold back monsters, so using the trunks was the next best option.
Determining it was time to practice, Lev did just that. For the next hour, Lev threw the chain at random trees and focused on wrapping and tying it around the trunk as fast as possible.
Then he formed another chain with a sickle on one end and repeated the exercise with both of them.
Feedback from both chains was confusing at first, as all links moved too much during the flight. Slowly, Lev learned to decipher it better. The links, for the most part, were ignored unless damaged, and the sickle was used as a guiding hand.
Following the sickle, all the links straightened without any input from Lev, courtesy of the free-link nature.
Finally, I can make use of all my long manipulation range, Lev thought, excited to begin.
****
Two lightning lances killed one of the two spiders in a blink. The remaining monster found the floating armored human a few dozen meters away quickly and screeched.
Lev grimaced at the unpleasant sound and summoned his bow. When the spider was only 50 meters away, two long chains hidden along the height of the nearby trees smoothly glided downward. With a wet tearing sound, the sickles punctured through the exoskeleton and lodged themselves inside the spider's body.
The spider halted abruptly as the chains turned taut. It screeched again and heaved to free itself. The strained barrier chains were on the verge of breaking when a fully charged Lightning arrow pierced its head and fried its brain.
[
You have slain [Gray Spider - Level 135]
You have slain [Gray Spider - Level 136]
Mana Tempest has reached Level 111
]
The highest leveled monster yet. Lev noted with satisfaction. The chains had performed admirably even if they were close to shattering. Using two instead of one also turned out to be a good idea, for one chain would've never survived the power of the spider.
The levels were also rising as Lev went further inward. So far, he had resorted to circling the edges of the circle but he didn't have much mana left. Only a little more than half after all his testing and kills.
How would a similar level mage perform in my stead? Lev mused, on the lookout for another pair.
His thoughts circled in an interesting direction. From what he had seen and heard, Lev wasn't that special in terms of destructive power. Sure, he could cause a lot of lethal explosions, but many other mages could match him.
That would however, change swiftly. He was going to alter his attribute distribution and make Wisdom the primary focus. Intelligence was nice and all but he didn't need more range, only better mana handling. Evolving his mana manipulation skill would compensate for the minor loss of potency by letting him use mana better.
Perception and Constitution were still important though. High amounts of both were necessary to keep up with his growing mana usage.
To that end, for every 50 attributes he would put 20 into Wisdom and 10 into the other three. It sounded like a good balance, even if he knew the low Constitution would bite him in the back.
It was a worthy tradeoff, in his opinion. Lev would much rather suffer to use large amounts of mana than to not suffer and have far less mana.
The pain would be exquisite, he knew, and one day he would find a way to fix it. That day was still far off though, so he slowly prepared himself for constant mana overuse and poisoning.
