The first thing I noticed once I was in the dungeon was a cold draft of wind that made me want to hug myself a little closer. We've been trained to handle extreme terrain and weather; not because Alfheim had such locations, but because with magic in play we all had to be prepared for anything. But the cold was manageable, especially since I was now wearing elfish armor, the only thing left from my original gear was my battle tool, and that should be due for an upgrade any time soon.... Assuming I can get a couple of cores from monsters.

A loud scrapping sound drew my attention as I quickly raised my head just in time to see a metallic spider jump towards my direction. Now if it was just any normal spider, even if it was metallic in nature I would not have been caught off guard, except this one was a meter tall and twice as long or wide depending on how you wanted to measure it's dimensions.

I ducked over it's leap, my heart pounding in my chest as I brought the assault rifle in my hand to bear. I gently squeezed the trigger, only to quickly stop as my bullets seemed to ricochet off it's frame. I let the gun hang from my neck as the Spider jumped at me again.

"Wind Blast!"

It was a panicked move, but it threw the mecha-spider backwards as it's back impacted a metal wall, leaving a dent behind. Seeing as that was the direction I just came from, the lack of an exit made me realize something. 1; this was an instance dungeon, 2; that means it's a dungeon that can only be cleared once and 3; there's no other way out but to move forward and conquer it.... And that could take a shit ton of time.

I exchanged the rifle for a hand cannon and leveled it at the direction of the spider. It hissed, all eight of it's legs slowly scraping on the metallic floor, letting out a screeching sound that went the distance in irritating me. I gritted my teeth as I pulled the trigger, holding it for a few seconds longer as the spider jumped, leaping across a four meter distance to my direction. I Released the trigger as a dull hum was released from the hand cannon, it's recoil pushing my hand back a bit as a hole was burnt into the head of the spider. I moved to the side as it flew past and crashed into the frame of a comrade that was about to attack me. They ended up in a tangled heap, one very much dead and bleeding out silver oil that rapidly corroded the Torso of the second spider. The living spider let out jarring hisses that gave me the creeps as the red glow from all eight of it's eyes faded away.

There was a pneumatic hiss from the spiders as a compartment under their chest hissed open, holding a metallic orb in a transparent canister. I raised an eyebrow at that.

"Well that's awfully convenient." I said to myself as I picked both canisters up and screwed the top off, having both orbs fall into my hands.

Apart from the Yurkets I decimated at the location of my crash these were the first useful cores I've seen. Which means these bloody spiders were not ordinary mechanical constructs, they were living things. The moment the cores fell into my hands, I could feel my battle tool hum as screen popped up in front of me.

[Hremich Spider Core: Slot 1= Hydraulic Leap/ Slot 2= Gear Crush]

[Hremich Spider Core: Slot 1= Steel Silk/ Slot 2= Hydraulic Leap]

Two cores, three skills. Hydraulic Leap seems to be a common skill for these spiders, with variations for the Gear Crush and Steel Silk skill. These cores were important for upgrading our battle suits and other war equipment. However I have access to none of those things but my battle tool.

But therein lies the problem. When a battle tool is first made and bonded to a user it can change into a myriad of weapons and tools. The only problem is that these transformations lack strength or abilities and the battle toolc be broken when fighting someone with more power than the battle tool can possibly withstand.

But it is an evolving battle tool, a step above the basic tool known to other members of the army. It's evolution comes from cores, but once a core is introduced, then the tool gets locked into a specific weapon form, that's initiated by the type of core that's first used for it evolution. So you loose the versatility of having multiple weapons for multiple scenarios, and instead gain a unique weapon with abilities and more resilience.

Some battle tools have more than one form, but this is based on sheer luck. Even amongst battle tools there are a rare few that can have multiple forms from different cores. They're made individually, so the skill of the craftsman and the materials used matters a lot. But be that as it may I wasn't ready yet to see just what sort of weapon my battle tool would turn into, I've been getting along just fine and it has seen a bare minimum usage. I can ponder about which core to feed it when I have a little more options available to me.

I observed my surroundings and noticed that I wasn't in a hallway like I thought, but rather a walkway. To the left of me there was a metal railing, and peering over it's sides showed me a demarcation of multiple floors going down with one massive pillar shooting up to the blank ceiling above me. The pillar was smooth and had multiple display screens and what looked like LED panels. However it was not lit up and I could only see by the bare minimum of light from a couple of red lamps hanging from the walls.

I moved forwards, noticing the end of my walkway at five meters in front of me, however there was a branching off hallway to the left. I paused and crouched down, these spiders had to have come from somewhere, I haven't seen them crawling on walls yet, but given that they're spiders such movements is not off the table.

I placed the hand cannon to the side as I pulled out one of the knife on the bandolier I carried. I'm not a fan of knives, but at the moment it had it's uses. I took a deep breath, then I threw the knife into the hallway, listening intently as it pinged off a metal frame and clattered to the ground before a pneumatic hiss was heard and a blur rushed past me.

I quickly picked up the hand cannon and moved back as spider twice the size of the two I just face smashed into the railing and caved it, leaving the two and half inch piece of solid steel or something else looking severely deformed. I didn't have time to contemplate on its bulk, speed and power, I just pulled the trigger of the Hand cannon, my shock and rapid response not giving me enough time to aim.

The blast hit one of it's legs, crumpling it up and then leaving a bit of it's sides deformed. The giant spider skittered to the left as I notice the top of it's abdomen open up and a honest to God heavy machine gun popped out. There was no time to act or think, my heart leaped into my throat as I pointed my hands to the ground.

"Wind Blast!"

*Ratatatatatatatatata!*

I was thrown into the air, well out of the way of the shower of bullets that drilled holes into the spot and area I just previously occupied. I held the hand cannon steady as I went up in an arc over the head of the spider and charged the next shot, even using the skill in tandem as a blue haze began to glow at the mouth of the cannon; and then I let go of the trigger.

*Voooom!*

There was a trail of blue light following the trajectory of the compressed energy. It slammed into the still rotating gun, dislodging it from the back of the spider before burning a hole into the creature. I landed with more grace than I thought possible, but the spider didn't give me time to catch my bearing as it seemed as if the shot did not even damage it. It barreled towards my direction, shooting a bolt of white silk towards me. Panic ensued and once again I had to rely on my instincts or I should say instinct saved the day one more.

[Wind Blast]

The silk was blasted backwards, ensnaring it's own owner as the spider's legs got tangled up and it crashed to it's face. I quickly moved to the side, watching as it's head smacked into the end of the railing again and held fast. The mechanical spider screeched and moved it's legs left and right, quite a few of them were still free, but even then, it's own webbing held fast.

I moved the hand cannon and used [Charge Shot] again,this time making sure I hit the previous spot. The strike this time made a hole, but didn't cause enough damage to actually kill it. Another charged shot and it stopped moving, it's massive bulk letting out a loud hiss as it gave up it's core to the world.

I heaved a sigh of relief as sounds on the opposite end of where I was lit up. I looked to my left and noticed that past the massive pillar was another walkway, and on it where the former 'friends' I had just left behind. I ignored them as they got their bearings, enduring the same assault from two spiders as I did when I first came in.

[Hremich Big Spider Core: Slot 1: Hydraulic Charge/ Slot 2: Terminator Mode/ Slot 3: Steel Silk]

I could think of a thousand and one uses for this core, apart from battle suits, the romance of mankind's warfare included mech-suits and mechas. Every military corps or base has at least a dozen mech-suits and half a dozen Mecha battalions. But even so many of these suits are not in play because of what it takes to use one of them. They grow, and evolve just like battle tools and battle suits. And cores like this are required and more often than not a significant amount of said cores are needed for that growth. Now that I think about it, all these cores are not suitable for weapons, but suits of any sorts would benefit greatly from this.

*Skitter! Skitter!*

The hallway the big spider had come out from was coming alive with more noise than ever, it was dark and I couldn't see how much of them are down there. These damn things are severely resistant to bullets, if not the assault rifle would have done the trick... If I had a pulse rifle though that would have made a whole world of difference. But those guns are rare and only available to ranking officers, which means those 'idiots' would have been given one the moment they arrived at the base. But as they says when life gives you lemons, or in this case a bloody heavy machine gun that seems to be powered by magic, you make bullet lemonade.

I picked up the heavy machine gun and faced the dark hallway, I could hear Malkova call out my name from the opposite side of this dungeon's first floor but I ignored it. As I took a firmer grasp on the gun in my hands.

[Spider HG38(Dwarven Make) Heavy Mana Machine Gun: 1 mana per second]

I've forgotten what a standard machine gun fires per second, it's right at the tip of my tongue but I seem to have forgotten about it, but right now, death was looking me right in the face. So knowing how many rounds per second a heavy machine gun fires would do me no good, I just needed it to take these monsters down.

*Screeeeeeeech!*

"Yeah that's right, say hello to my little friend mothefuck--" my voice was drowned out but he subsequent spit of mana based projectiles that flew out of the gun.

*Ratatatatatatatatatata!*

"Hahahahahahaha!*

The shots continued for close to a minute, but my laughter was cut short as my breath couldn't sustain laughing like a deranged monster. Though I envision the Joker would be proud. The sound of mana hitting and going through metal, accompanied by the dying shrieks of these monsters was music to my ears. The dim hallway was lit up by the flash of the shots and the red of their eyes. My shoulders ached but I couldn't stop, not with the amount of spiders I saw within, all over the ground, the walls and the ceiling. If I had walked in there without finding out it was occupied I would be dead, and there would have been no coming back from that. And then, it all came to an end.

[Wind Blast Has Leveled up to 5! +5 to Magic +5 to movement]

[Charge Shot Has Leveled up to 7! +3 to Physique +3 to movement]

[Druid Class has Leveled up to 9! +36 to Magic +18 to movement]

[Wind Attribute Has Leveled up to 2! All Wind Spells And Skills +10% -5% in cost. +5 to Movement +15 to Magic]

[Firearms Has Ranked up To D+! +15 to Physique +20 to Movement]

[Night Vision Has Ranked up to E+! +10 to Physique]

NAME: Samson Michaels

AGE: 19

MIRACLE: ?????/????

GODS: ?????/????

CLASS: Combat Officer

MANA CLASS: Druid (Lv9) 77%

RANK: Battle Acolyte

ATTRIBUTES: Wind (Lv2) Light (Lv3) Water (Lv1)

STATISTICS

Physique 71

Movement 161

Magic 243

PASSIVE SKILLS:

Firearms Mastery (D+)

Blades Mastery (C+)

Terran Combat Series: Lion Fist (D+

Resilience (E-)

Mana Control (E+)

Night Vision (E+)

Regeneration (E+)

ACTIVE SKILLS:

Charge Shot (Lv7)

Quick Draw (Lv6)

Swift Thrust (Lv4)

Lion Stomp (vl 5)

Lion Strike (Lv3)

Lion Claw (Lv3)

Wind Blast (Lv5)

Wind Drag (Lv2)

Light Heal (Lv8)

Morph:(Wolf Cub) (Lv5)

There was a silence, it was extremely calm and I couldn't help but feel right at home in it. The gun in my hands was lighter than it was a few moments ago, I could feel magic thrumming underneath my skin like a symphony of arcane music entwined with the glory of nature. My muscles felt tighter, much more compact as I felt the urge to run. I was stronger than I had any right to be, the movement stat made me fast but it also enhanced the muscles responsible for movement, improving my strength just as my strength would also improve my speed. But my strength was lagging behind, and it was not letting me utilize all my abilities to the limit.

I shook my head and went into the hallway, turning enough just to look at the others. They seemed fine and that was enough for me. To be honest I'm rethinking my whole going off on my own shit, now that I've had time to blow off some steam, I realize I might have been a little childish, but there are some things you can't take back.

"Fuck!"

I gave them a wave just to make it seem as if I was okay. But was I okay... I really couldn't tell. If anything I think I'm too nice, I should probably hate them for all eternity, but considering how my fight with the mechanical spiders could have turned out bad for me, I can't help thinking that perhaps going off on my own was not a good idea in the first place. But it wasn't something I can take back, the dungeon had dropped us in two separate areas, now it was kind of like a race between me and them to see who gets to the end first. Either way, it's onwards and upwards or perhaps in this case downwards.

I moved into the hallways, making sure to harvest the cores of the now deceased spiders before getting to it's end, where a door was open with a set of stairs that led down to the next level. I had a pack with me, and I shouldered it, while holding the machine gun tightly, come what may, there was no going back.