*...rumble...*

Hmm? What was that? I can't hear over these massive piles of gold!

After I'd emptied the vault for its valuables (several bags of golden coins, some barrels filled with potions of some kind, jewelry, etc.) and emptied my [Spatial Storage] for junk so I could take all the cash with me, some strange sounds could be heard from the distance. I hope those Dread Spirits aren't doing anything...

"Gust! Report!" - Garami

I ran up from the vault and found Gust in the "throne" room. I didn't give the pale-faced bird a moment before demanding what was going on.

"...I have good news and terrible news. Which would you want to hear first?" - Gust

"...good news." - Garami

Please say the Spirits are leaving. Please say the Spirits are leaving. Please say the Spirits are leaving...

"The Dread Spirits are departing from the Dungeon. They seem to have lost interest in this mansion after the Wild Hunt Lord was defeated." - Gust

YES! But now I'm nervous regarding...

"And the terrible news...you know those magitech cores? The ones we used on the Spirits inside the building? ...they seem to have been the sole thing connecting this place to the Dungeon." - Gust

Hmm? How's that bad news? Rather, what does it mean?

*...crack...*

"To be more precise...the whole area is falling apart now that the cores are no longer supporting the connection." - Gust

Huh?

"In other words, the construction of this Dungeon is horrible~. ...sorry, I needed to make a joke there..." - Gust

You don't mean...

But I never got a chance to ask what it means. Because the answer appeared..., no, disappeared before I could ask. Along with the floor beneath us.

I tried throwing threads at the walls, but the rubble from the mansion got in the way, or the walls themselves collapsed without being of any help at all.

And so, we fell out from the 7th floor's ceiling...hmm? The level of rocks that makes up the floor of the 6th floor/ceiling of the 7th floor...it's damn thin! Like, paper-level thin! No wonder it needed some fancy magi-gizmo to prevent the whole place from falling apart.

On a related note, the underground vault and what I assume was the rat king's lair is already falling toward the ground. It's a loooooong way down...time to think about my descent.

Gust was screaming for help for a while before he remembered he was a bird and could fly. And he left. That heartless bastard! Not that he'd be of any help. Intelligence and being able to speak aside, he's just a normal bird.

Grr. If only I too could fly. There are still many hundreds of meters before we hit the ground, so let's test some stuff out. First, a web parachute!

*Riiiiip*

That didn't work. Come on, come on, some new skill that'll help...got it!

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

You have consumed 3 AP to acquire the following skills: [Web Wings Lv.1].

The training of my skill levels had amassed quite the number of AP, so buying this guy didn't hurt me that much. Let's just hope that a proper skill works better than my hasty handiwork...

I activated the new [Web Wings] skill, which created webs across my sides making it look like I was wearing some gliding jacket. And it worked! I was gliding through the air and in between the falling rubble from the 6th floor. It's a little unsteady, but many times better than the parachute that had been ripped from the wind pressure. Skills are something else.

The glider wasn't completely foolproof, but I gave it some breaks by altering between gliding and jumping off the big rocks as we got closer to the ground. Down below I could see several small figures. Maybe those Sahuagins I saw the first time I was here? I can also see some larger silhouettes, but I got no clue who those belong to.

I mean, if I encountered those giants during my first trip, I'd prolly have become a squashed spider demon.

It's prolly for the best that I don't land down there. They seem to be in the middle of a battle. Let's turn away from the open plains that make up the middle of this floor and aim for the crag-like outer rims instead.

And it was good that I decided to do so. Because a few moments later, a huge explosion rang out from behind me.

It was pieces of the mansion that had fallen out from the "sky". The hole in the ceiling is gradually getting bigger, and that made bigger parts of the building break off and drop down on the 7th floor.

Not that's what caused the explosion. Despite that I started to free-fall down toward the ground because my glider webs were destroyed from the blast, I could still see one of the bigger monsters down below charging up some sorta blue energy blast. And then they fired it toward another huge chunk of urban luxury that is the mansion.

*BOOOOOM!*

The new blast sent me flying again, luckily toward the walls of this floor. I'm not gonna enter that battlefield with that blaster-bastard down there and waiting for some fresh demon steak.

But it seems that my luck is still going strong. The beast didn't seem to take notice of me. Go figure. There is only a whole floor crashing down on you from above.

After some nerve-wracking concentration and gliding, I managed to land on the ground...barely without any harm. I fell on my butt at the end...

"Webs..." - Garami

"Hey, is that how you greet your friends!?" - Gust

The bird followed me here.

"Yeah. It's my "so glad to see you"-exclamation." - Garami

"As if!" - Gust

Geez, this bird is so not believing in me. He's right, but that's a completely different story.

"And why did you come here?" I asked, taking note of something getting closer under the covers of the rocks.

"Why? ...because you fell in this area?" - Gust

"Not the point. I wanna know...why did you lead these guys to me?" I said as I pulled out the massive sword of the ghost knight and threw it at the slithering guys in the shadow.

As one could expect from the weapon of a dreadful Wild...whatever, the sword penetrated the defense of the sneaky guy. Oh, it was one of those Glavras cobra monsters. No wonder why they were so slithery.

"Monsters!!" - Gust

"Duh..." - Garami

I retrieved the greatsword thanks to the thread I'd wrapped around its handle beforehand and slammed the sword into the next monster hiding in the shadow. It's been a while, but I see that [Detect Monster] is still in prime shape. I scored yet another hit on a monster. This time it was one of the Dungeon's local spider monsters.

"Why are there so many here!?" - Gust

That's...a good question. Wasn't there a battle going on at the plains? Yet despite the big event, I have noticed six more monsters hiding here nearby. What are these guys doing here? They couldn't have reached this place already if they were tracking me or Gust. Were they here from the start?

More monsters starting to get out of the woodwork (actually, from behind the boulders), but the goddamn scary broadsword-flail I'd invented either smashed them, cut them apart, or generally turned them to mush.

Wait, what the web is wrong with this sword?! It's too OP! And I'm starting to feel a little light-headed...

"WARNING! Usage of item: Deathcalibur is draining owner Garami's HP, MP, and SP!"

Geh!? Really?! Even when I'm only using it as a flail? Don't tell me the effect would be worse if I was swinging it...

I forced the sword back into the Storage, leaving only 2 monsters left alive. One of them, a spider, tried to run, so I threw a [Web Bomb] at it and kept it in place. A spider, trapped in a web...

But the other monster, a cobra, tried to release a blue blast of magic (I presume?) at me. I dodged the blast and threw [Darkness Daggers] at it in return, which it dodged. The snake cut the distance between us as it prepared to bite me to death. Sorry pal, but that doesn't run in this town. Here are some [Darkness Bullets] for trying though.

The bullets hit the snake head-on, damaging it enough to keep it stunned for a short while. During that time, I created a new Dagger and proceeded to hit the snake's neck with [Demon Claw]. Ugh, I'm feeling sick... Did the sword suck that much outta me? I got the snake, at least.

All that's left is the trapped spider. It's been trying to get itself loose all the while, but my Magic Eye has been weakening it all this time. You have less of a chance to escape now than at the start of the fight. It's not a big decrease, but it's the thought that counts!

I didn't wanna get too close to the spider, which was spewing rock-crushing blasts of water from its mouth (it didn't hit the web), so I attached a new thread to the web and used [Cutting Thread]. The skill's effect extended from the new thread to the web, and...sliced-and-diced spider. Yucky...

All the monsters were left dead. Left by me, because I'm not staying. Whether these guys were here from before or managed to catch up to me somehow, I'm not gonna stay in a place where Dungeon monsters can come crawling out from the cracks when you least expect it!

---

Later, when the sky ceiling had turned to night mode, I could finally take a break and make camp with the few gears I managed to keep despite my bad case of gold fever back when I looted the vault. I'm feeling sick... Maybe I should use some of the potions I sacked?

"That was one heck of a beatdown before." - Gust

This guy...he fled when the fight started and kept on following me...

"But be more careful about that curse-looking sword! You almost hit me back there!" - Gust

"Ah, sorry." - Garami

So that's why he didn't help...

"Also, thanks." - Garami

"For what?" - Gust

"For noticing that the sword drained my stamina." - Garami

".........WHAAAAT?! It can do that?! So it's bonafide cursed then!" - Gust

...huh?

"Didn't you warn me about that before?" - Garami

"No, I didn't. How would I know that?" - Gust

"...didn't you shout it to me during the battle?" - Garami

"Oh, I do remember hearing someone's voice, but I was too busy not getting smacked by that huge sword-flail of yours to listen to what they were saying. I thought that was you." - Gust

"...then who..." - Garami

"Answer: that would be me."

Whoa-!? Someone...scratch that. Something was in the camp with us. What is this? A floating, glowing orb?

"...are you...?" - Garami

"Answer: I am the assistance avatar produced by the Champion skill: [Gamemaster]. Pleased to meet you." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

......what the heck is this light-bulb saying? It mentioned [Gamemaster]...where did I hear that name?

Name: Garami | [Migrant] Race: Stygian Executioner Gender: Female Level: 3/50 Traits: 4 Karma Value: -200 Main Class: Arachnid Assailant Lv.19 Sub Class: Weaver Lv.10 Sub Class: Demonic Rogue Lv.11 Skills: 70 Aether Points: 8.0 HP: 75/124 MP: 119/283 SP: 44/123 STR: 160 VIT: 80 MAG: 140 RES: 119 SPD: 328 DEX: 351 INT: 120 LUC: 150 LP: 15

Skill List:

Skill List: Ability Skills: [Extra Health Lv.1] [Massive Mana Lv.2] NEW [Minimized Mana Consumption Lv.1] NEW [Mana Auto-Recovery Lv.29] UP5 [Increased Stamina Lv.1] [Greater Strength Lv.1] [Tougher Vitality Lv.1] [Speed Lv.24] UP3 [Dexterity Lv.32] UP4 Attack Skills: [Darkness Bullet Lv.21] UP11 [Darkness Daggers Lv.12] NEW [Demon Claw Lv.2] NEW [Web Bomb Lv.9] UP1 Magic Skills: [Heretic Magic Lv.1] [Magic Eye of Weakness Lv.6] NEW [Magic Eye of Deterioration Lv.7] UP4 [Summon Phantom: Rat King Lv.1] Crafting Skills: [Create Thread Lv.11] NEW [Weaving Lv.7] NEW [Tailoring Lv.1] NEW Active Skills: [Aura of Darkness Lv.21] UP5 [Optical Cover Lv.15] UP1 [Sticky Limbs Lv.8] UP3 [Cutting Thread Lv.14] UP2 [Web Wings Lv.3] NEW [Dreadful Menace Lv.1] NEW [Spatial Storage Lv.10] UP2 Passive Skills: [Dagger Proficiency Lv.4] NEW [Rope Proficiency Lv.2] UP1 [Lurk Lv.35] UP1 [Aiming Lv.17] UP8 [Evasion Lv.3] UP1 [Parkour Lv.27] UP1 [Ambush Lv.15] UP5 [Sadistic Constitution Lv.8] UP4 [Throwing Lv.20] UP9 [Camouflage Lv.21] UP1 [Demonic Disguise Lv.1] NEW [Climbing Lv.13] UP2 [Riding Lv.1] [Sleep Lv.25] UP9 [Dreamlike Form Lv.5] UP3 [Fear Reinforcement Lv.2] [Destruction Reinforcement Lv.2] [Concentration Lv.16] UP10 [Prediction Lv.15] UP7 [Parallel Thinking Lv.14] UP7 [Vital Point Knowledge Lv.10] UP4 [Language Adaptation] Perception Skills: [Gamemaster Lv.1] NEW [Detect Monster Lv.19] [Vision Reinforcement Lv.15] UP6 [Auditory Reinforcement Lv.14] UP4 [Olfactory Reinforcement Lv.9] UP2 [Tactile Reinforcement Lv.10] UP4 [Taste Reinforcement Lv.5] UP2 [Nightvision Lv.37] [Tracking Lv.16] [Sense of Direction Lv.27] UP2 [Magic Eye of Sight Lv.39] UP5 [Identification Lv.32] UP2 Resistance Skills: [Darkness Resistance Lv.6] UP3 Elements: [Lesser Darkness Element Lv.40] UP21 Monster Skills: [Demon's Strong Muscle Lv.2] NEW [Demon's Spiritual Arts Lv.1] NEW [Demon's Nimble Legs Lv.2] NEW [Glow Web Lv.9] UP6 [Spider's Bite Lv.9] [Spider's Poison Lv.6] [Spider Threads Lv.39] UP6

I used [Identification] to look up my stats and skills. The titles and Blessings aren't visible due to the low skill level. But I can see the [Gamemaster] skill, yes. And I leveled up before I noticed. Guess I was too tired to notice the System Message when I was running away before.

"So, an avatar?" - Garami

"Correct. Due to the effect of the [Gamemaster] skill, I have taken this default shape. Changes can be done at any given moment." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

Okay...but what does this skill do? I looked up the skill in the Kigal-Note rather than Identifying the skill on my skill list. I want every fact on the table.

The [Gamemaster]-skill seems to let you obtain System-related information through various means such as connecting it to other skills that let you read the stuff recorded in the World System. The [Identification] skill is one of them. In addition, the skill provides an AI-like assistant character that supervises the information gathered by these skills and shows it in a user-friendly manner.

[Gamemaster] can also look into data recorded in the World System far better than your average skill. It's sorta like hacking the system. Cracking seems to be impossible.

"Wow... Most of the guys back home would kill to get such a skill..." - Gust

They would? ...thinking back, Gust did mention that he used to live in some academic society. Even I know the worth of information. The info gathered from the Kigal-Note is practically the only reason why I've managed to survive the climb up from the 10th floor.

"Suggestion: should I link with owner Garami's perception-type skills to improve their usage?" - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

"Sure... Hey, what about this?" - Garami

I showed the AI the Kigal-Note. Its tone sorta reminded me about the "AI" inside the book, so I was wondering if it could "link" to the book too. Some computers use "dual cores" or whatever to improve their processing powers. Maybe this skill could do something similar?

"Acknowledged. That suggestion is possible to achieve. However, the time required to connect all the skills along with the Champion item: [Kigal-Note] will increase accordingly." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

"Ehh...what does that mean?" asked Gust, who couldn't stand not being part of the "conversation" anymore.

"Answer: the skills will be temporarily turned off until the linkage is complete. This will extend to the Champion item: [Kigal-Note]." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

"How long does it take?" - Garami

"Answer: 3 days." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

That's long, alright...but not impossible. Except for the fact that there may be monsters lurking in the shadows all the time. I need the perception skills at least if I wanna survive on this "battlefield floor". What to do...