Chapter 32: Chapter 32

Ethan started exploring the ruins while thinking about his strategy against the overgrown creatures. The hearth is out of the question, and if I give them minor injuries, waiting for them to exhaust themselves while bleeding out, it would take too damn long. He walked past the destroyed corridors and found somewhat stable rooms. There was no furniture or anything valuable, just some stylish engravings on the high walls. The head seems to be the best way, but it’s also the most dangerous place to attack. I hope they don’t have any active skills; otherwise, I’ll have to use [Blink] constantly.

With the help of his [Mana Sense], he checked out the ruins quickly. The place seemed to be a small sect or something similar, but it was abandoned and possibly ransacked many times some centuries ago. There was nothing valuable left nor anything useful for his fight against the wyverns.

He wasn’t very far away from the peak of the mountain, and before trying the beasts, he decided to check there as well. At worst, he would satisfy his curiosity about the door. If he found a single door for the 11th floor, he would likely flip out but learning this after all the troubles with the wyverns would be much more devastating.

As he made his way to the top, he noticed a piece of good news. The wyverns never stayed together. Even the ones sleeping on the ground stayed separated from each other. And they also didn’t actively try to hunt him. When he entered one of the beast's domain, it lifted its head to stare at him and growled threateningly. Ethan didn’t use [Void Wrap] but only [Blink] to see if it would follow. Much to his relief, the beast returned to sleeping as nothing had happened. I guess the essence of a tier-3 doesn’t mean much to tier-5s. They also don’t see me as a threat, but they are still cautious, so they don’t want me near them.

He kept climbing with steady steps and changed his route a few times, trying not to bother the angry birds too much. When he arrived at the peak, what greeted him was a splendid scenery, a magnificent creature, and a colorful door. Two words were written on the door, carved with mighty-looking golden characters, Wish Room.

Finally seeing the way out, Ethan’s fist got tightened. This floor is much bigger than the others, but there weren’t many beasts so far. Just like the other floors, there should be around 100 monsters. Still, I must find a way to finish them quickly if I don’t want to spend a month here.

Looking at the boss who was sleeping next to the door, he knew it wasn’t going to be easy. All the other wyverns were cream colored while this one was azure. Not only was it bigger than the others, but it was also mid tier-5, unlike the others who were at early tier-5. He turned to gaze at his way back, where the sleeping wyvern lay and narrowed his eyes. No need to delay. Let’s see how tough these fuckers really are.

As he was about to enter the domain of the beast, he used [Void Wrap] and started running. When he was about a hundred yards away, he used two [Blink] and appeared at the forehead of the creature with his full momentum before piercing his daggers all the way.

The wyvern’s eyes shot open, and it gave a long wail. Not a wail of agony, though; it was one of a furry. Like it couldn’t believe that the tiny human actually dared to attack. It raised its claw to finish him, but he already blinked behind its neck and sent [Shadow Spikes].

Alas, as he guessed, it was useless against these thick scales, but he didn’t get discouraged. His daggers still worked pretty well, even if the damage they did was little. Like a savage, he cut, he pierced, he sliced. Whenever a claw or tail came toward him, he just blinked and kept attacking. Until a big wind blade appeared and almost severed him in half.

In a panic, he blinked a few times to distance himself, and at the last moment, he managed to save his arm but couldn’t avoid the gory wound at his shoulder. He chugged a health potion immediately and scowled at the screaming beast as the wound closed. Of course, they have fucking active skills!

Another wind blade came through, and he blinked again, trying to decide if he should fight or escape. He was focused on the physical attacks, and that’s why he couldn’t see the wind blade before it was too late. Otherwise, [Mana Sense] should’ve detected the moment it was created. Looking at the wyvern who was bloody all over, he chose to finish what he started.

Becoming invisible once more, he blinked for a good angle and sent two [Shadow Spikes] to its eyes. One hit the eyelid, but the other pierced through the eyeball. Taking advantage of the crazed beast, he once again jumped on its back and resumed his relentless attacks while getting ready to blink at any moment.

The wyvern became slower, and Ethan mostly managed to avoid wind blades, but even after half an hour of a fight, he only gave the beast some shallow wounds, like a shaving accident. He even tried to punch the open wounds and sent more [Shadow Spikes] through the flesh, but it was still a chore to kill even one of them.

When the beast collapsed, Ethan was heavily breathing on its back. His health was more than half, but his mana was barely a %20 of what it was. This is ridiculous. I would’ve slaughtered dozens of dryads by now. Even if they were tier-5, it wouldn’t matter this much! I definitely need some tools and skills for the giant monsters, but clearly, I’m not getting one on this floor. He lied back and closed his eyes to think of countermeasures. The claws would probably be effective, but how am I going to wield them? Even the fangs would be easier to stab, but not much better than my daggers.

After thinking of possibilities for a while, his eyes opened with a gleam. Leaving the corpse of the wyvern, he dashed to the ruins of the small sect. He looked around carefully and found what he was looking for not much after. A straight column that was as big as himself. Gripping with both hands, he managed to lift it with little difficulty. By Ani’s rough calculations he learned that it was about 1500 pounds, almost as heavy as a car. Ethan disregarded the fact that he could now lift cars like melons and store them in his ring. Collecting a few more like that one, he headed to find another sleeping wyvern.

This time, after using the [Void Wrap], he blinked above the beast, about 150 yards. Fetching a column from his ring, he immediately coated it with void aspect mana. Then, along with the column, he made a free fall toward the head of the beast. Mana consumption of the [Void Wrap] became 7/s from 4/s, and according to Ani’s calculations, it would take about five seconds until the crash. Even with the mana he needed for the [Blink]s, as long as it killed the beast, it was a good deal.

The only problem was that [Void Wrap] didn’t conceal the sounds he was making against the wind. The wyvern also noticed the sound and looked up, but it neither saw nor sensed anything.

Just a second before the crash, Ethan removed his hands from the rock and blinked 60 yards away to the ground before watching it with anticipation. The column hit the head of a beast with a loud sound, and a louder roar followed after. Unlike expectations of Ethan, it didn’t stab with its sharp point but just crumbled after the impact. He gritted his teeth in frustration. Unbelievable! God damned cheap patriarch had built his sect from the worst quality material! No wonder you guys got rekt.

The wyvern was still screaming while looking around for enemies. It seemed the damage was still pretty good, but it was not the cheat Ethan had hoped for. Taking a deep breath, he called his daggers and dashed toward the injured beast.

This time it only took 20 minutes, but all of his mana got depleted. In order to save mana, he used quite a few [Long Jump]s, but still couldn’t escape the fate of using another potion. He leaned against the carcass and rubbed his forehead. If I start from 300 yards above, it might work. Or at the 500 yards, even if the column didn’t pierce it through, it might still kill them with the force of impact. But that means too many [Blink]s and too much time for the free fall. It would be pointless if I still didn’t have enough mana to keep a fast pace.

He got up with a determined expression and drank a stamina potion. Which was his only second time ever since he bought potions. Calling his daggers, he walked toward the carcass and started to dissect it, bit by bit. After an hour of hard work, he was looking at four long and thin bones. Among all the bones of the wyvern, only the ones at its wings were somewhat useful. He stared at the bones with his hand on his hips and licked his lips. One wyvern, four bone spears. With these, I’ll keep making shish kebabs from the wyverns, and once I finally reach the boss, I’ll turn him into an azure hedgehog!

He had already checked them for their durability, and the results were not bad at all. Their weight was lighter than he wished for, but he was able to pierce the scales of the carcass with enough strength.

Walking up, he grabbed the one with the sharpest point and started to spin it with his fingers. He then started to spin around himself while playing with his new toy. The balance was a bit off, but he still had a good grasp on the basics. Ethan had experience with almost every kind of weapon but he could only say that he was proficient in daggers and swords.

That was because once he understood the potential of the weapon, he switched to another one. He wasn’t trying to learn to battle with them but was trying to understand his enemies who might battle with them. His training was mostly with blades and swords until he found that range wasn’t always a benefit for close combatants. For an experienced fighter, a long-range weapon was even limiting at times.

After this realization, he switched to dual-wielding a sword and a dagger. Eventually, he even left the sword and chose two daggers. It was a thrilling experience to figure out what he was good at. His footwork became much more important, and he focused on that with fervor. It all paid when he was finally good at it because he also found a feeling of freedom in his style of fighting. It was like fishing with utmost patience while surrounded by all kinds of dangers.

With his heart beating furiously, he would dodge, parry, change his position, or mislead the opponents with a calm face. But once the enemy took the bait, he would’ve unleashed hell upon them, with every one of his moves ending up as a lethal one.

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Ethan slowed his spin by placing his foot on the ground abruptly and grasped the spear from the middle. With the support from his leg, he made a [Long Jump] to the front and threw the spear simultaneously.

The bone spear cut through the wind with a high-pitched whistle for 30 yards and found its way to the skull of the wyvern carcass. It only stopped when half of it pierced it through. Even with the best throw, it barely reached the beast's brain.

Ethan used [Blink] to appear behind the spear and kicked it with the heel of his boot. This time only a quarter of it was left outside, and it firmly penetrated the brain. Descending to the ground with a graceful landing, he smiled in a good mood. Yeah, that’ll do. I would love to have my [Shadow Spikes] this long and this tough, but for now, these bone spears will do the job just fine.

The next few days were spent hunting giant birds with everything he got. He still used the dropping column tactic depending on the situation, but his main strategy was the bone spears. What he didn’t expect was the wind blades countering his spear throwing perfectly, but that’s also where the [Fabric Tear] showed its use once again.

There were a few dangerous situations that he had to escape without turning back, but after a few hours of meditation, he once again turned to finish the job. He didn’t sleep at all and only cultivated once his resources were low.

At the end of the week he spent on the tenth floor, he was holding his knees while breathing heavily in front of the dead azure wyvern’s body. Hundreds of bone spears were pierced through its body, and even more were spread through the top of the mountain. There were large craters and blood stains everywhere. Only the door stood there like nothing had happened.

‘’Delivered… as… promised,’’ he uttered between breaths before walking up to the beast and patting its head. ‘’You were one tough fucker. Even after using my only middle-grade potion, I still considered running away and coming back later.’’

Without wasting any time, he started to collect the spears. This floor was quite challenging but also the one with the most rewards. -Well, save for the magic water thingy.- He got about a hundred tier-5 monster cores and was pretty sure that the body parts he stuffed into his ring were also valuable. While dissecting the boss, he gave his stats to perception once again. His level went up to 36 on the second day and 37 after killing the boss. If anything, he was very pleased with the speed of leveling.

Tier 3 - Level 37

Health: 390/1300

Mana: 241/1300

Stamina: 448/800

Vitality: 130

Strength: 102

Endurance: 80

Agility: 160

Intellect: 130

Perception: 80

*Available stats: 0

Skills(Rank 1): [Fabric Tear], [Mana Sense], [Shadow Spikes], [Long Jump], [Mana Conceal], [Mana Connection]

Rank 2: [Void Wrap], [Mana Aura], [Blink]

With [Blink] becoming rank 2, perception once again became important. Though, he didn’t plan to go all out because whether his range was 100 yards or 200 yards, it made little difference. He was still planning to focus on AGI and INT, but the incoming 50 stats of INT, thanks to Aether Bloom, made him relax more. And lately, he wasn’t in the mood to think about his build.

Finished with the loot, he turned toward the door and passed it through right away, without even cultivating to his best condition.

He found himself in a big room made of stone bricks. In the middle, there was a platform that contained two small chests. At one corner, there was a teleportation gate for Niamaris and at the other corner, quite ridiculously, stood a tree with Beet and Paprika on it, both looking at him excitedly.

Not noticing Evelyn anywhere, Ethan’s face darkened, and once again, his [Mana Aura] unleashed involuntarily.

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