The next few floors are more of the usual situations. A lot of monsters that are helpless to enter the safe zone while freezing to death. No peculiar item drops either.

Boss floor 50 though is a literal wall - a slime wall.

Name Haze Shield the Slime Age N/A Classes Slime 16, Earth Golem 16, Earth Gleam 16 Race Monster 16 Extra Monster 16, Boss 16, Wall 16 HP 48387/48387 MP 1804/1804 SP 6196/6196 STR 756 DEX 0 [-120] VIT 492 MAG 680 FTH 384 WIL 532 CHA 136 Skills Earth Magic 16 (Rank 5)

Acid Skin 16, Flight 16, Rapid Regeneration 16, Wall 16

Earth Resistance 16, Physical Resistance 16

Unsafe Zone 16 Weakness Fire, Water, Wind

Really? Way too many HP paired with OP regeneration AND avoiding exactly all weaknesses I could exploit? Fuck you!!

Wall

Passive

Cannot move.

Immune to movement effects.

(At least I 'only' have to worry about the boatload of bulk...)

(Well, it doesn't reach to the top of the room so we could theoretically get behind it, Jared.)

(Wouldn't do me any good. The door to the next floor should still be closed until we beat that goddamn thing. Let me quickly check how bad it is...)

Your 'Ice Shot' has inflicted 543 damage to Haze Shield the Slime.

(Perfect. I only need to cast eighty spells within one minute before the HP regeneration sets in... is there any way to negate the regeneration? This seems impossible as it is.)

(None I know of. Did you ever check what status dark spells inflict?)

rumble

While talking the immovable boss has finished casting its earth spell which shatters without effect on the safe zone barrier. Afterwards I try a dark spell for the first time. I actually have no idea what shape that will take.

Once I've finished casting the spell a black laser beam shoots forth from my hand.

Your 'Dark Beam' has inflicted 543 damage to Haze Shield the Slime. Failed to inflict status effect.

Great... I wait for the boss spell to expire again then give the dark magic another try.

Your 'Dark Shot' has inflicted 543 damage and a status effect to Haze Shield the Slime.

The status screen says:

Name Haze Shield the Slime Status cursed (1.6 MP/s)

And then the boss's spell fizzles.

(So it stops its spell casting and drains MP. Nice but doesn't solve the problem at hand.)

(I'll remind you when we fight a spellcaster.)

After a moment the status disappears. So that is all the status does. Might be useful some time but not what I need right now.

(Great, this boss is a total show stopper. Just checking my options - could I take any class right now that would give me any of the three elements?)

(There would be some classes that grant those magic types upfront but I think your stats are too low to take them right now, Jared.)

(Good, so if this is the only way out I have to count that our friend Manni was right on Wizard level 15 giving another element and then hope the element is one of those three.)

(So how does that help? Nine levels you exp don't just drop from the sky like that.)

(Simple, I still have some floors in the other direction. I either get the necessary exp there or maybe find an alternate exit. If it ends with a dead end and still too little exp to make progress here... well, we'll think about it when it comes to that.)

(Sounds like a plan.)

(At a minimum I can check if monsters really do not respawn. The nineties floors were quite some time ago.)

With that plan in mind, I make my way towards floor 100.

There are in fact no monsters all the way to floor 99, so the information about no respawns seems to hold true. Given the wall on floor 50 that is bad news as it limits how much exp I can gain easily within my nine-year time limit.

The floor 100 boss room is populated by a lot of zombies. So the boss comes with adds this time but where is the main boss?

Name Hive Rave the Mind Age N/A Classes Zombie 31, Weaver 31, Cook 31 Race Monster 31 Extra Monster 31, Boss Swarm 31 HP 1087/1087 MP 1054/1054 SP 2845/2845 STR 475 DEX 496 VIT 430 MAG 276 FTH 256 WIL 261 CHA 240 Skills Swarm 31, Undead 31, Unsafe Zone 31, Zombie Bite 31 Weakness Fire, Light, Holy

Eh, each and every single one of the thirty zombies is the boss?

Swarm

Passive, monster only

The owner has greatly reduced stats but spawns in big groups.

(So despite the very different setup this is just the grandpa floor all over again?)

Your 'Thunder Blast' has inflicted a total of 2052 damage.

(Gotta love area damage for slow-moving low health targets in large amounts.)

228 HP down, so five hits each and I've enough for a dozen shots. Just need to group them up a bit better and they die in record time. Never would've thought a boss fight to end that quickly.

Despite just beating a huge amount of bosses I still haven't gotten any more special loot. Guess the truth gem from the big golem boss was just dumb luck.

At least if I ever get back I have a ton of random materials to sell. Might be enough to apply for a 'Class Core' on the black market - should I happen to find that one. No real idea what else to do with money currently. But that is a sorrow for future me.

Floors 101 through 109 are more of the old stuff, hundreds of high-level monsters with the lowest starting at level 30.

Your 'Ice Blast' has inflicted a total of 2079 damage and 3 status effects.

(The amount and levels of monsters here are getting out of hand, Elly. I get barely through their magic defense with my area spells. I think I just hit about 20 of those Lv58 'Ice Scream Cones' and I barely broke 2000 damage total.)

(Well, that was ice damage on a highly ice-resistant target.)

(Maybe, but I don't have any other damage over time status and I'm not doing over 4000 damage per target directly.)

(Yeah, that is something we need to change soon.)

Time for some pudding on floor 110. Wait, I can't drink that!

Name Blue Pink Blob Monarch Age N/A Classes Slime King 51, Bandit 51, Berserker 51 Race Generic Monster 51 Extra Monster 51, Boss 51 HP 176565/176565 MP 5198/5198 SP 17284/17284 STR 2123 DEX 1240 VIT 945 MAG 1553 FTH 965 WIL 610 CHA 366 Skills Acid Skin 51, Acid Spray 51

Axe Training 102, Intimidation 51

Power Strike 51, Reckless Attack 51, Stamina Boost 51

Unsafe Zone 51 Weakness Fire

Despite its name, it is still a green-colored slime. A bit bigger and wearing a crown but still green. A slime just like all the previous, slow-moving, painful to touch, high regeneration... wait, no, it doesn't have that?

Man, I'm glad I didn't take this monster type then, huh? No regeneration, no human compatible form, nearly unable to move. Sorry, these are not the puyos you're looking for.

(Do I read that right? The evolved slime has LOST its most annoying ability?)

(It looks exactly like that. Just tag it with the usual cold effect then avoid dying to the acid vomit attack and you're good to go.)

(Then do that I shall.)

Plan devised and executed.

Your 'Ice Bullet' inflicted 541 damage and a status effect to Blue Pink (but actually green) Blob Monarch.

And that's all she wrote. For a day and a half but all nonetheless.

Floor 111 changes scenery; it goes from the previous jungle to what looks like an art gallery? Sorry, that is wasted on me. Never was much of an art connoisseur.

Luckily the different area doesn't come with a change in monster tactics. The next nine floors fly by as usual.

If this is the previous dungeon and the info was correct this is the last floor.

And here's an old acquaintance.

Name Warrant Queen Mk. 2 Age N/A Classes War Ant Queen 15, Dire Wolf 15, Farmer 15 Race Generic Monster 15 Extra Monster 15, Boss 15 HP 76344/76344 MP 1540/1540 SP 5825/5825 STR 755 DEX 510 VIT 595 MAG 365 FTH 400 WIL 455 CHA 400 Skills Deadly Fang 15, Generate Offspring 15 Weakness Ice, Lightning

(Should I beat her and hope there's an exit behind or should we farm her little children via rain? Decisions, decisions...)

(Definitely rain, Jared. Even if there should be the exit behind this you can really use every level you can get.)

(Yeah that makes sense.)

I wait a few minutes so the queen had already some time to spawn some more regular ants.

I see the boss HP go down in 4 HP increments each time it takes a hit from the rain spell about 20 times per rain cast... which means I can grind this room for nearly 1000 rain casts...

Your 'Ice Rain' spell has inflicted a total of 584768 damage.

Only about 125 exp per cast but by now my increased regeneration allows me to cast it 4 times per day. After a while, some ants have dropped low enough that I can weave some [Blood Bursts] in as well to free up some space for the queen to pop more of her children in.

After about 70 days the queen seemingly has had enough... and orders her children to eat her, the fuck? Hey, no kill stealing, that is my exp!! FML.

"Seriously, I could've done without viewing that scene. Thank. You. Very. Much."

"Umm... sorry, my bad."

(Uh, Elly? Did you just say something?)

(Not a word. I was... busy cleaning up vomit. Sorry.)

(I have seriously been too long here. That almost made sense to me.)

No one else is around and if it wasn't Elly I've no idea what that was then. I need to get out of here... the lack of real people to talk to seems to get to me.

The whole ordeal cost me 12 blood packs, only 609 left. Well, 'only'. I've only been here for about half a year and used up that much. But I've no way to increase that stock anymore. And if my intuition is right that I'll need to spend a lot more time grinding or conquering dungeons...

During the last few days, I finally managed to reach the interesting section of the dungeon book. It was... enlightening.

Supposedly minor dungeons only reach 30 floors deep at most and there's no reward at the end. Just all the stuff you get from the defeated monsters. Those dungeons are just there.

Major dungeons... can do whatever. Each has a fixed gimmick to it and supposedly offers a reward for beating it properly and reaching the dungeon core. It doesn't specify what kind of reward it is. Whoever wrote this probably left that up to the reader's imagination so that desperate fools would go and throw their lives away in hopes that the reward would be whatever miracle they need at the time...

Theoretically after claiming said unspecified reward you can then choose to destroy the dungeon core itself to end the dungeon's existence but considering the resources that are found in it that seems like a bad idea.

As for monsters... it doesn't say much besides to reference the 'Maniac's Monster Manual', helpful.

I'm not sure I even remotely understand the little info it gives on monsters:

'Usually monsters are assembled from part fragments. When the unit's duty is completed it is again disassembled. In case of overflowing part stocks, the remainder is transferred to the main unit.'

So what does that mean? Monsters that weren't killed just get recycled for the next dungeon instance? And where do they get replacement parts for the slain monsters from?

Also if they are just put together like machines why would they need the [Mindless Monster] skill to suppress the will? Why create a will just to switch it off?

As usual, nothing makes sense here...

Why do I get the feeling the boss lady's strange behavior should solve this riddle?

Almost three months just on this set of floors and I still haven't reached the next milestone...

Name Jared Delacroix Status disguised Age 18 (frozen) Classes Wizard 14, Survivor 5, Blood Mage 6 Race Silver Elf 10 Extra Vampire 10, Noble 1, Lord 1, Progenitor 1 Title God’s Lost Child, World Navigator, Noble, Vampire Progenitor, Daywalker

Demon Lord Candidate

Title Level 2 EXP 4938 HP 1632/1632 [2o41] MP 2040/2040 [2550] SP 1240/1240 [1551] STR 239+70 DEX 274+5 VIT 249+60 MAG 466+35 FTH 367 WIL 358+20 CHA 294 Equipment Wooden Staff, Book, Leather Cap, Robe, Sun Cloak, Defense Ring, Sun Guard Ring Skills Affinity Magic 14 (Rank 1), Cure Magic 10 (Rank 1), Dark Magic 14 (Rank 1), Earth Magic 14 (Rank 1), Ice Magic 14 (Rank 1), Lightning Magic 14 (Rank 1)

Blood Burst 6, S̵̖̀ḁ̴̉ń̷̼g̴̽͜u̵͉̎i̸͈͆n̶̦͒e̷͚̍ ̵̔ͅW̸͙̍á̵̫v̸̺́e̴͔͒ 6

Spear Training 5, Trap Lore 5, Unnatural Claws 1

Charm Eye 1, Embrace 1, Familiar 1, Greater Vampiric Bite 1

Disguise 10, Intimidation 2

Ageless 1, Beast Killer 1, Enhanced Regeneration 1, Mana Regeneration 14, Sleepless 10, Stealth 10, Supernatural Toughness 1, Undead 10, Vampire Hierarchy 10 Weakness Fire, Light, Holy

I got a lot of exp out of this but I still don't feel ready to beat the floor 50 boss. 4938/13906 to the next skill. Assuming that Manni was right and I get the right element that is probably still far off from what I need... So let's see what comes next.

Behind the boss are stairs as usual. The stairs lead up to where the usual resting spot of a safe zone should be but the stairs just stop at a wall. A dead end. Shit.

(Great. So that's the end of this side. If there should be something at the very end of a dungeon it didn't appear. Probably because of the glitched nature of this dungeon trip.)

(Yeah, so I guess it is time to go back and see where we stand.)

(Yeah, let's.)