Mash stood outside the portal, looking toward the others confidently. Although the confidence was only a front. He would be entering the dungeon alone, which already had him a little worried. However, he was more concerned for the others. They didn’t have an easy exit like he did and wouldn’t have a sure-fire way to get out. They had two keys between the four of them, and Mash carried the one that Luna had given him. He tried to let one of the others take it, but they refused adamantly. It was meant for him, and they wouldn’t take that away from him.

Ultimately, that meant that there was little to do other than just enter. This dungeon was close to the capital and was actually meant for people at the lowest levels. Like their first dungeon, it was meant for groups who had just become adventurers. It was located beside a lake, and he saw it in the distance. The lake was at the center of a forest, and trees grew from within the water too. It made for an interesting sight, but he played it little mind, as he waved towards the others. He was entering first, mainly because he was one of the only people with an escape item. Luke would follow after him since he received the other item. Jill and Red would be the last to enter.

Before stepping through, Mash checked his status one final time. Last night he had allocated, his free stats and wanted to remember the details of his status before entering. He had considered what he wanted to improve and decided that it was most important to make him stronger all around. Hopefully, that would let him tackle anything unexpected that he encountered.

Name: Mash Stellumbra Class: Draconic Thunder-wood Imitation

Level: 100 Test of Ascension Available

Health: 2390 / 2390

Energy: 3560 / 3560

Fortitude: 210 → +29 → 239

Endurance: 136

Strength: 171 → +29 → 200

Agility: 173 → +27 → 200

Intelligence: 220

Wisdom: 105

Charisma: 96

Free Stats: 70 → 85 → 0

Skills: Hunt, Thunder-wood Creation, Inhuman Hibernation, Monstrous Transformation, Thunder-wood Imitation, Draconic Domain, Adaptable Monster Core, Monstrous Humanity, Wooden Body, Mimic’s Avarice, Golden Body

Everything went black as Mash stepped into the entrance. The darkness seemed to have fallen on him from above, and it felt like his body was moved suddenly. It was slightly different from what he felt when entering other dungeons and reminded him a lot of that first labyrinth he had entered.

Although, that feeling only lasted a moment, as he found himself facing an empty room. It was large, easily bigger than a small village. Though it was completely empty and was surrounded on all sides by a white stone wall. It certainly grabbed his attention, and he moved towards the wall. The ground was a mix of sand and dirt, his steps kicking up some sand as he moved. When he got close to the walls, he could see that there were cracks and grey lines mixed into the pristine white color of the rock. It was smooth to the touch too, making it seem constructed rather than a natural formation. His next instinct was to look up, and he noticed a domed ceiling at the top. A strange lighting device was used to illuminate the entire room. It hung from the center of the roof and looked like a ball of pure light. He scanned the room, noticing that there were some obvious seats located at opposite ends of the space he was in.

Those finally told him where he was. It was a stadium, a colosseum of sorts. It somewhat matched the one he had fought in, though the stone was made of a different material. Not to mention that it was completely empty with the exception of the portal he had taken to enter. It was strange to see that it was still open, as it seemed to be the only thing to blemish the nothingness of the arena.

There was nothing else for him to see, and he considered breaking out of the building. It had no windows or anything to let him look into the outside world. He was curious to see what kind of a world had designed a structure like this, but it didn’t seem like that was in his fate. Almost, as if in reaction to his thought another portal opened on the other side of the room from his own. A monster stepped out. As one of the creature’s feet struck the ground, Mash saw the sand billow out from it. Mash opened his storage space, pulling out one of the gravity staffs, he had kept inside. He might not need it, but he wanted to test the monster before using excessive force. Judging from what he could see, this was probably going to be a challenge of endurance.

The monster’s head peaked through the black portal, and Mash saw the oddly smooth skin it had. Its foot had been covered in a dark brown fur, though its head looked like it was smoother than his own skin. Its mouth extended outwards a short distance, and it opened it menacingly when it noticed him. Hundreds of square teeth were layered within its mouth. The creature actually had eyes on the side of its head and was not using them for vision. Instead, it seemed to be sniffing the air like a common dog. As it stepped through fully, Mash could see that the monster was three or four times larger than a bear. Then Mash realized that it looked like a literal combination of a bear and another creature. He thought he recognized the other creature but didn’t remember, and he didn’t care too either.

It rose on its back feet towering over him, before opening its mouth towards him. A split second later, hundreds of teeth were launched toward him. They were a lot faster than Mash expected, but he was able to dodge them easily enough. Last night he had allocated his free stats and saw the effects of the improvements already. The teeth flew past him, embedding themselves into the stone in a perfect replica of its own jaw. Mash heard a nasty scraping noise and turned to see that thing’s teeth were already growing. It was not something he wanted to see, and he wouldn’t let the creature do it for free either.

Mash closed the distance quickly, and the monster slammed its head down to strike him. Mash easily stopped and avoided the slam. In the same motion, he spun his body with the momentum of his run and struck the side of the monster's head with his staff. The weight of the staff increased significantly and plowed right through the monster’s head. The monster stopped moving collapsing on the ground motionless. Expecting that there would be more to the dungeon, Mash made a large wooden mouth and took a bite of the monster.

He tore off its head and section of its shoulders with the bite, letting the wood handle the chewing. Blood poured from the wooden mouth, making it look horrific. The monster’s blood was red like his own, and Mash watched as it pooled beneath the wooden mouth. Thankfully, he was quickly preoccupied with something else. Feeling the rush of some bonuses, Mash decided to check if there were any permanent benefits while he waited.

Sadly, there was nothing and Mash guessed that was fair. The monster was weak, and it didn’t take any real effort to kill it. If he gained permanent stats from something like that, then he would have spent months hunting rodents. No, he wouldn’t receive an ability like that. Mash's attention was drawn away from his status, as he noticed the other portal close. It faded away like mist, and another took its place soon after it was gone. Similarly black it, hid whatever was coming.

A beak pierced the darkness before a bird flew out quickly. It barely made any noise as it flew up into the air and scanned its surroundings. Mash was not hiding, and there was an enormous wooden mouth connected to one of his arms. The bird didn’t seem to be the intelligent type and flew towards him. There had been a strange bluish fog that had covered the details of the bird, but it dimmed as the monster moved faster. Mash saw white feathers and a rainbow-colored beak. The bird had seemed small from a distance, but he could tell that it was almost as large as he was. It was still smaller than the wooden mouth he had made, and he turned towards the bird, letting lighting surge through it as the bird crashed into it. Mash was surprised to get pushed back a few feet, but it didn’t do much other than that as the mouth slammed down on the bird.

Mash thought that would be it, but another bird flew out from the portal and was quickly followed by a flock of them. They all charged straight at Mash as they noticed him, and he knew that the single wooden mouth wouldn’t be able to handle so many of them. He considered overpowering them with one of his forms, but he didn’t want to do anything excessive yet. If he went all out for a fight and collapsed afterward, he would be a dead man. Taking a note out of the previous monster’s book, flung the wooden mouth like throwing a rock and it plowed through some of the birds. It killed them easily, and Mash knew that these monsters weren’t particularly strong.

With his draconic domain, he was able to suppress the creatures a little and just used his staff to bat them out of the way. None of them lived more than a single hit. While they were able to produce a lot of force, it was just as detrimental to them as it was to him. It felt more like they were killing themselves. Their single-minded charge made the fight quick, and before long the ground was littered with blood and bird bits. Their blood was a strange mix of red and yellow and gave off a nasty stench.

He really didn’t like the idea of staying in the room for very long. These bodies had already made the previously empty space unpleasant. It was made worse by the fact that he was drenched in the monster's blood. It made his clothes stick to him uncomfortably, and it caused the smell to follow him. He considered stripping and cleaning himself with some of the water that he still had. However, he knew that would be short-sighted. He would only end up covered in more blood soon enough.

Mash hadn’t used much energy in the fight, as he had been eating the monsters when he could. He had let go of the imitations of Priscilla that he had been wearing. They were scouring the battlefield eating what they could, but it would take them a while to clean up everything. However, they were providing him with a steady stream of stats, and that more than made up for his energy usage. The birds would never be able to provide enough to combat the use of his transformations, but they could handle this much.

Mash was tempted to enter the portal, to explore the world of the bird creature, but he stopped himself. This dungeon was for his advancement, not to explore another world. That was something he could do whenever he wanted to. No, it was more important to clear this dungeon. The thoughts seemed to provoke the next wave, as the portal closed, and another took its space. Mash checked his weapon, realizing that it was close to breaking. He could repair it but decided to just grab another weapon from his storage space. This time opting to grab one of the javelins instead. It crackled with lighting as he pulled it out. He had found that he could make the items generate their own lightning. It sucked in the mana around it and started vibrating as if it were coming to life. Looking towards the portal, Mash prepared to face the next monster.