This was always a sprint. After he plunged his knife in the monstrous woman's chest and ripped it free, she fled. A plan began to form as he chased her. This monster had a very human face. It could be just what his group needed to wake up. To that end he terrorized the monster. He blasted her with needles and slipped in close to slice her when she veered off course.

He checked his phone while he herded the monster. This was hour 24 in the dungeon. Nero aimed the spider woman towards the dais. His mana continued to tick down as he crossed the distance. She was slowing down again. Nero wrapped his knife in the fabric of his cape and threw it. He heard a satisfying crunch and pulled the knife back. The spider woman picked up speed for the dais. Blood oozed from multiple stab wounds, but it was worth it.

She turned and blasted a stream of green acid. Nero stepped to the side and peppered her with poison needles. The monster turned and ran towards the dais.

Nero continued to blast and cut the monster until she started climbing the dais. The nearest guard was of the faith. His spear glowed with golden light. He stabbed true and it bounced off her chitinous carapace. A smile stretched across Nero's face. Long spider legs bounced off his barrier at first before finding purchase. The guard’s glowing defense winked out and Nero could hear the ripping of flesh. Others joined the fray.

Nero watched Joshua freeze up. The spider woman ripped open one of the guards and fed upon his fluids. It was all the distraction he needed to climb up the dais himself. The spider woman was beginning to heal. It seemed devouring human flesh regenerated a monster's health. By his estimate, her health bar was nearly 50% it was fortunate that her greatest features were her defense, poison, and spear like legs.

He quickly turned and unleashed an acid spray. It was just in time to melt the spider webs aimed to trap him. Nero dashed forward and stabbed his knife into the spider's brain stem. His body was so light now it felt like he could fly.

"Nero what have you done?" Jack demanded.

"The longer a human spends in this dungeon the more monster like they become." He walked up to a pile of discarded spider parts. Nero reached into the pile and pulled out an almost human skull. "Doesn't this look familiar?" After a moment, he placed it back on the pile. "Those that refuse to play or give their power to someone like Julius is an enemy. Stand aside and I won't kill you."

"Kill me, you're just a power drunk civilian. I'm trying to keep people alive. But you can't see that." Jack said. A smile grew across Nero's lips until the corners of his mouth hurt. The ebony spartan sheathed his knife and raised his hand.

"You should have worn armor Jack." Three purple rings formed linked together and spinning. He'd bothered with the conversation to give himself a chance to rest and recover mana.

A powerful blow smashed into the side of his head. He turned to see Francis. Nero bent his leg and dashed out of range. He saw a streak of light flash and rip into the spider woman. It was Julius empowered by Sara Lee.

"Why did you do this?" Sara Lee demanded.

"Wake up. All of you decided to play camp instead of figuring out how this dungeon worked. You never asked why no other groups made their home here. All you did was give power to a fucking priest and find a nice place to sit on your asses." He pulled his knife and threw it. The blade shot through the air before plunging into the spider woman's head.

Nero lvl14

Equipment

Spider Armor + 50DEF

Undeath Clothes lvl10

Life Taker lvl6

HP 207.15

MP 365

ATK 15.45 + weapon and highest skill = 259.81

DEF 15.15 + weapon and highest skill = 817.15

SATK 92.34 + weapon and highest skill = 206.898

SDEF 43.5

SPD 53.75

ACC 18

Fortune 15.15

"You are the worst kind of people." Nero said.

"As the leader of the council, I strip you of your officer position, excommunicate you from god's grace, and I banish you to the first floor. Leave these lands and never return." Julius shouted. He pointed his and forward and launched a powerful beam of light.

The light slammed into him. His armor burned burned away in places leaving only his blood shield to tank the rest of the damage.

Defense 300/817

His helmet crumbled off his body. The armor fell away leaving him with only his undeath clothes. Nero pulled on the thread connecting him to his knife yanking it free of the spider skull and back to his hand. He slid it easily in his sheath.

Nero didn’t have his fancy armor anymore. That was alright. He learned something far more valuable. The priest’s skill was physical.

Defense 300/767

Nero took the distance in a step. He felt the rush of Francis's force palms pass by as he drove the dagger into the priest's barrier. The older man looked shocked before grinning. Nero couldn't pierce the first barrier. He clicked his tongue and turned his head to the flock. Nero could kill them or head to the door. After ducking a few more force palms, he blasted Francis with a spray of acid before dashing for the boss room.

He felt a sudden change in pressure and threw himself to the side before another blast of light could hit him. It hurt him inside, but he couldn't win in this situation. To remove Julius's barrier, he'd have to kill ever single member of the flock.

The doors came into view and he pushed them open. "Stop, you can stay we'll make Julius give you your council seat back. You'll have to go on probation, but you'll be ok." Sara Lee said.

He turned back to the woman. "Did you see that monster I drove into camp?" She turned her eyes away from him. That was all he needed to make his decision.

"Look again and burn her image into your memory. That is what you'll turn into if you stay on this floor." Nero said. Then he dove through the door. They shut behind him and he started his descent to the first floor. A strange green light surrounded his body before a force took hold of him and he fell down.

He fell for a few seconds before a light appeared. Suddenly, he was falling above a forest. It was coming in fast. He could see towns in the distance, mountains further away, and a few castles. This floor was so different than the one before. He took a few pictures of the area while he fell making note of bodies of water, landmarks, and towns.

He couldn’t take enough pictures before the forest blocked his view. Nero slammed into the ground and stayed there for a few minutes. A few minutes later he heard a strange chirp.

He shot up; a massive lizard's jaws closed barely missing where his neck had been. Three purple rings appeared above his hand and spun. The lizard closed the distance and a thick tail smashed against his body. Nero raised his camera to see the monster's level.

Raptor lvl9

HP 280

Traits: High Speed

Description: A common monster found in many forest themed floors. They are highly intelligent and hunt in packs.

Powerful jaws tore into the back of his neck digging into his blood shield. Nero sliced with his knife as it disengaged. He felt flesh part with barely a drop of blood. His rings began to spin, and he blasted at one streaking by. They'd already surrounded him, and he knew he was at a disadvantage. He sheathed his knife and activated acid spray with his other hand.

He threw long streaks of acid covering the ground where he could. Needles flew but never hit their target. All he needed was a single hit and he'd kill one. The problem wasn't just their speed. The spell took time to activate. The raptors were much faster than the spiders.

Exhaustion 66%

Debuff Fatigued -50% speed

Nero cursed; he hadn't rested after level grinding. He should have just gone through the doors instead of making a statement. What the hell was wrong with him? He was supposed to be the practical one in the group or was that Jack.

Well if he couldn't out speed them then he had to outthink them. He started paying attention to their patterns. The acid he threw down worked to keep them at bay. While acid dissolved, he had a chance to watch their timing and teamwork. They never attacked alone. When one made a frontal assault the other snuck from behind. He began to spin his poison needles again. There was a trick he wanted to try.

He twisted as a raptor charged full out. When he felt the other raptor was on him, he turned and left the poison needle spell to fire on its own. Nero alternated to acid spray and and fired the second he turned. The raptor seemed surprised when green caustic liquid covered its body. Nero pulled his knife when the pain hit the creature. It turned to flee, and Nero tackled the monster to bring his knife into play.

Nero stabbed the back of the monster sinking his knife to the hilt. He turned to see the other raptor covered in needles fall over before reaching him. He heard a rustle of leaves and the others fled.

Hunger pains took hold of his body. His undeath clothes rose up forming tentacles before stabbing into his two downed enemies. He found a new bar on his undeath clothes.

Undeath Clothes lvl 10 5/100 to next.

Nero wasn't able to pull away until the last drop of blood was drained. Every drop made him feel emptier. He needed more blood. The fibers of his cloths dug into his skin like roiling maggots. As he fed, they dug deeper into his body pushing at a growing hunger. A smile grew across his face threatening to split his lips. This was him he was becoming who he was meant to be.

Undeath Clothes lvl10 15/100

With the corpses dried out he felt wrong. Seeing them made him want to gag. What he'd done turned his stomach and hallowed his guts. It was clearer than ever he needed to get to the fourth floor and win. His undeath clothes slowly returned to their natural state.

He checked the pictures on his phone. There was a clear map made of the various pictures. He needed to head north, find the river, and follow it to the nearest village. Hopefully, he could get some information.

After checking his inventory, he found two dice from his recent kills. He bent his knees and went into stealth mode. Only an idiot would walk these woods with random packs of raptors patrolling. He slipped up a tree using cling and slowly made his was towards a nearby river.