Tink... drip...
Water hit the cold stone floor near Zane’s head, splashing tiny droplets across his face. Groaning softly, he slowly opened his eyes.
"Where am I...?"
Pain shot through his arms as he tried to lift himself up. "Agh, it hurts... It seems I’m injured all over," Zane muttered, staring down at his scraped and bruised hands.
"System, activate Self-Regeneration."
[OKAY, MASTER]
A faint glow enveloped his body, and within seconds, his wounds began to close and his stamina returned.
"It seems my healing power has improved," Zane said to himself. He sat up and looked around at the pitch-black cavern. "But where am I, really?"
He closed his eyes to focus. "Mana Sense."
A pulse of energy rippled out through the dark, mapping the terrain in his mind.
"Mmm... It seems I’ve fallen all the way down to the 20th floor, and there’s no way to climb back up to the 1st floor. Looks like I have no choice but to go deeper," he said.
He turned toward the shadows as guttural growls echoed through the cavern. Emerging from the darkness were several small goblins, led by two towering, giant goblins flexing their heavy muscles.
"Well... this is exactly what I was looking for," Zane smirked, pulling his sword from the stone ground.
Zane charged forward in a flash, effortlessly slicing through the smaller goblins.However, as he lunged to strike one of the giant goblins, its massive arm swung out and caught him across the chest.
BOOM!
Zane was sent flying backward, slamming hard against the rocky cavern wall.
"I have to fight back!" he growled, pushing himself back onto his feet.
"Element Blade: FLAME RUPTURE!"
FWOOOOSH!
A roaring, violent flame enveloped his blade. Zane shot forward like a meteor, swinging his blazing sword directly through the necks of both giant goblins, severing their heads before they could react.
As the massive corpses collapsed to the ground, Zane panted, staring down at his trembling hand.
I’m still too weak. If I want to clear this dungeon, I need much more power...
[MASTER, IF YOU WISH TO BECOME STRONGER, YOU CAN SIMPLY CREATE ANY TYPE OF POWER YOU DESIRE]
Zane blinked in surprise. "What? I can do that?"
[YES, MASTER. WITH YOUR CLASS AND TALENT, IT WILL NOT BE A PROBLEM]
"Then I should use the Heaven Fragment right now to establish the Holy Vessel!" Zane said with excitement.
[NO. YOU CANNOT]
[BECAUSE IF YOU DO, YOU WILL DIE]
Zane stood frozen, letting out a dry laugh as a cold sweat broke out on his neck. "Well... let me try it another way then."
"But first, I need to kill this boss room monster," he said, shoving open a colossal set of giant doors.
When he opened the doors, a huge amount of oppressive Aura flooded out of the room. Inside, he saw many giant Goblins holding swords and shields. Sitting on the throne with its cheek resting on its hand was a massive Red Orc, clad in black and white skeleton armor.
"Well, will you look at that? I guess I have to go all out if I want to win this!" he shouted, activating his magic.
"MANA MISSILES!"
Many mana-made arrows appeared in the air.
Well, this time I will use all the things I learned from Sister! he said to himself.
Snap!
FWOOOOOOOSH!
BOOOM! BOOM! BOOOOOOOOOOM!
Instead of waiting to see if they were dead, Zane shot forward with his sword coated in Aura and started cutting them down. But there were too many, he was quickly surrounded, and the goblins charged at him all at once.
"Well, I guess it’s time to test it out, my large-scale battle skill!"
Zane combined his wind magic with his sword and infused it with lightning while pointing his blade into the sky. Then...
"RAGE, O WINDS OF THE UPPER SKY! STRIKE, LIGHTNING OF THE HEAVENS! COMBINED TECHNIQUE—HEAVENLY TEMPEST: STORM GOD’S JUDGMENT!"
A massive amount of wind began gathering around Zane’s sword, and lightning started sparking violently from the gale. Then...
VWWWWWWMMMM!
BZZZZT... CRACKLE!
FWOOOOOOOSH—BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The entire 100-meter area where the monsters stood was completely wiped out in seconds!
"Mmm..."
The Red Orc sitting on the throne slowly opened its eyes.
When Zane looked at it, the Orc instantly disappeared and reappeared behind him. Realizing he couldn’t react in time, Zane immediately activated HEAVENLY DRAGON GUARD.
Zane was sent flying, crashing hard against the throne. But the Red Orc gave him no chance to breathe, slamming him with a punch so powerful that the stone throne shattered!
Zane remembered what his sister Sofia once told him: "Zane, when fighting a monster, you must find a way to control the battle no matter what."
Zane raised his head and muttered, "Control the battle, huh..."
He tightened his grip on his blade and shouted:
"GOD SLAYER SWORD: RELEASE 10% POWER!"
FWOOOOOOOSH!
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
A surge of power erupted, and Zane was able to cut the Orc’s arm clean off! The Red Orc roared in agonizing pain:
"ROOOOOAAAAR!"
"DEMON CLAW!"
FWOOOOOOOSH!
Before the claw could hit him, Zane had already prepared his next attack. Their strikes collided, generating a massive shockwave that cracked the entire room.
Stepping a few paces backward, they resumed their wild clash, destroying everything around them.
"Let’s finish this!" Zane roared.
"HEAVENLY DRAGON BURST!"
"ROOOOAAAAR! ABYSS ... "
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The Red Orc was cut in half before it could even finish its incantation.
"Woooow... that was hard, but I did it," Zane panted, sitting down on the shattered remains of the throne.
"SELF-REGENERATION !"
His body began glowing with a warm green light, healing his injuries in seconds.
[DING!]
[RED ORC BOSS DEFEATED]
[REWARDS: ALL STATS INCREASED BY 500 | MAGIC STAFF (S+ RANK)]
"Mmm... 500 stat points increase and an S+ Rank magic staff? Not bad," he said with a smirk.
"I need to rest I will continue later" Zane said while laying down near the throne.