Three days passed, and my stats were back to normal. Rose and I were back in the room of the second boss, preparing to clear the third floor. Due to the dungeon being instanced, the second boss didn’t respawn, so we had a clear path. We used a staircase leading downstairs, and we arrived in a room made out of polished black marble. The only light sources were streams of lava coming out of the holes in the walls. The temperature was like at a forge, literally sapping the energy out of living things. The hallway was lined with armour statues from black metal with flames coming out of crevices between plates.

‘They are monsters on one-hundredth percents’ immediately came to my mind when I looked at them.

“Be careful. These statues are probably monsters” Rose had the same thoughts as me.

Purple tendril formed in my hand and flew towards the first armour. The ringing sound echoed as eyes in the visor of the helmet lightened up in flames. Armour dashed towards me in a whirl of flames but was blocked by Rose as I cast another [Death Ligtning] towards a second armour which awoke in reaction to ringing sound. It tanked it, so I casted [Death-infused Plasmabomb] towards it. It exploded in a whirl of purple energies and turned armour into a molten puddle of metals. Rose was still locked in melee battle with first armour. Both of their weapons were blurry from the great speeds they were swung with. To support her, I cast one more lightning. Armour got stunned for few moments. Rose used that opportunity, “[Spectral Strike],” causing her scythe to become ethereal as she swung it directly at the neck of the enemy, bypassing its defences. Two more armours were already on the way towards us. I erected my claws and blinked directly behind the armour. There I stabbed my claws into a place where would normally be a hearth. It pivoted in my direction but was too slow as my second clawed hand cut of its head. “[Spectral Throw]” purple-mint apparition of Roses scythe flew towards last armour. “[Wind Dash]” she speeded up towards armour, leaving a trace of green behind her. Armour swung its massive flaming sword towards her, but she nimbly backstepped and swang her scythe towards armours wrist. At the same time, two bolts of purple came and hit armour into the back. Its flames finally extinguished as it died and became a regular armour.

Ding

System Announcement

You killed LV 23 [Flaming Golem Knight] X2

You killed LV 24 [Flaming Golem Knight] (28% Contribution)

Your party member killed LV 24 [Flaming Golem Knight]

You obtained 751 XP

You obtained 4166 CE

“Should we harvest it for material to sell or something ?” I pointed at the metallic remnants.

“There is no need. You have contracted a dungeon. Let it absorb these remains. In case when will we need money, you can just ask dungeon master for money”.

We continued and walked swiftly as we already obtained information about all traps on this floor from Bif. The end of a long corridor was finally visible in front of us, so we hurried a little bit more. We exited into a massive circular room. The whole room was made from black stone and was surrounded by black pillars supporting a platform extended from walls. Two staircases leading to a platform were located in the corners of a hall. On top of this platform were golem knights with massive crossbows. And in the middle of a room was standing a single knight with a burning black halberd. A charred black cloak was fluttering on his back as he repositioned his halberd towards us.

Plasma gathered in my hands as I cast [Death-infused Plasmabomb] towards a knight with a halberd. A purple explosion engulfed him. Five bolts covered in flames flew towards me, fired with such spacing that I would have no chance to dodge. My surroundings twisted and blurred as I blinked a the top of the platform. “[Triple Slicing Deathwind]” three blades made out of purple wind flew from Roses direction and severed arm of the crossbowmen. The crackling sound echoed as I cast my lighting. It hit the nearest crossbowmen into a chest plate. The nearest crossbowman threw away its crossbow and drew the sword out of a scabbard. They rushed towards me together with another bolt. I made the step to the side, avoiding the bolt. Two more arcs of lightning flew out of me and killed the golem with the sword. Rose, meanwhile finished one crossbowman and launched herself towards another one. The bolt flew a few centimetres by my side and pinned itself into the wall. I poured mana into the next spell. Plasma gathered around my arms. I launched it towards a crossbowman further away. In meanwhile crossbowman closer to me finished reloading and fired a bolt on me when I was occupied with casting. I noticed it only when the pain of a bolt penetrating through my chest hit me. “Argghhh”, I cried in pain as a massive bolt was stuck in the middle of my chest. My thoughts became distorted as I started to cast one lighting after another. Purple lights were flashing that it looked like during a summer storm. I put my hands on a bolt and pulled it out. My face spasms in pain, and blood started to pour out of an injury as it slowly started to close due to my regeneration. Then I took a potion out of my [Dymensional Storage] and poured it over my injury before drinking the rest of it. My injury finally closed, and I could think clearly once again.

Ding

System Announcement

You killed LV 23 [Flaming Golem Knight] X3

You killed LV 26 [Flaming Golem Knight Officer] (28% Contribution)

Your party member killed LV 23 [Flaming Golem Knight] X2

You obtained 1116 XP

You obtained 4260 CE

You are now level 19

You can choose one of the class rewards for reaching level 19

Proficiency of [Focued Death Ligtning] increased to 10

Proficiency of [Death-infused Plasmabomb] increased to 3

Rose finished her fight as she ran towards me and supported me with her shoulder.

‘Huh, if this happened to me on, earth I would be dead. But here with HP, it is different. I really needd to get mana barrier ’ I was relieved.

“You can let me go it’s already healed. Just let me take a break” I pushed Rose further away from me, as it was already hot out there even without another body pressing on me. She backed few steps and I decided to check possible rewards.

Ding

System Quarry

Rewards (Choose one):

1.

+20 MAG

2.

[Cryomancy III]

3.

[Aeroamncy IV]

‘Hmm, I can gain momentary gain by learning a new school of magic or long-term gain with 20 magic. I can always learn magic manually, but stats are limited… Nah, suck it. I would rather take new magic. There are definitely ways to increase stats outside of levels. And if not, I can just level up more. [Cryomancy] is in the bolt, so it’s higher ranked than a [Aeromancy]. So let’s take it.’

Ding!

System Announcement

You gained a new skill [Cryomancy III]

You learned [Freezing Touch I] spell as a reward for reaching level 1 of [Cryomancy]

You learned [Ice Spike I] spell as a reward for reaching level 2 of [Cryomancy]

You learned [Ice Armour I] spell as a reward for reaching level 3 of [Cryomancy]

I cast and [Ice Armour]. A layer of ice started to grow over my skin, but I felt no cold out of it. At first, it was just plain ice, but soon it started to morph into the shape of plate armour. Sadly there was no helmet, so my head remained unprotected. I tried to move my limbs. It slightly made it harder to move. While It was active, my mana slowly seeped out of me to prevent ice from melting, but it was only a small amount for me.

‘Is this coincidence that I gained a defensive spell when I realised how vulnerable I am? Anyway, my survivability increased, and that is good.’

“We can go now. I am ready,” I said, walking towards a door leading out of the room.

“But be more careful. Your life is important for me”

I was irritated. “Important because you really care about me, or you think about me as a ticket for a better life?” Rose paused for a few moments with a puzzled expression before she answered, “I care about you. I consider you to be my friend.”

Not really caring about her answer, I continued walking through the new corridor until I froze as I remembered that I could evolve my [Focused Death Lightning]. "I forgot something, let's stop here for few moments".