Claire and I chatted up a storm about Wolfun for an hour before parting. I didn’t go home right away. Instead, I traveled to Onizuka Dungeon. There were still too many unknowns about Onizuka, so it was closed off to normal adventurers, but I knew of no better place to level up for a guy like me. I decided to teleport inside from a location away from any nosy onlookers. It wasn’t the most ethical thing to do, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
“Dungeon Teleportation!”
I teleported rapidly to floor thirty. Claire said the monster swarm would only spawn if an adventurer stayed on that floor for over ten minutes, but I didn’t wait for that. I headed straight for the irregular extra boss room where the high ogre waited. Once I entered, the doors behind me slammed shut and the muddy crimson body of the high ogre pushed out of the wall. It roared to high heaven.
“I’m glad to see you’re ready for round two,” I said to it. “Thanks.”
I drew Nameless and faced the high ogre. Unlike yesterday, Greed wasn’t stocked with stolen magic. I had to beat this monster with my strength alone, but I wouldn’t flinch. Beating Onizuka granted me a 2000-level boost, spiked my stats, and loaded me with enough SP for a few new skills. With plenty of tricks up my sleeve, there was no way I’d lose, even without magic.
“Buckle up!”
My second battle with the high ogre immediately revved into high gear.
Tens—even hundreds of flashes of my blade sliced through the air. Each strike compounded the next until they totaled one huge impact that split the high ogre’s tough hide, deeper and deeper. It growled in frustration as it tried to counter me.
“Way too slow!”
I used Time Zero to dodge its attacks and land even more hits, flitting around its body like a mosquito. The high ogre’s coarse strength remained a threat, but if I kept my cool and evaded its clumsy counters, I could dodge it all night. Time Zero was perfect against giant monsters like this one. Monsters with magic attacks like the salamander and the gryphon required more strategy, but the high ogre specialized in physical attacks and defensive magic. Thanks to that, defeating it took about a minute. Without Greed and a spell to help me out, I couldn’t beat my first record, but it was close enough for me.
The flow of the fight continued as I reliably whittled down its HP. Soon, I found an opening and swung Nameless. The silver blade sliced a huge gash in the high ogre’s weakened chest and destroyed the magic stone inside. It disintegrated.
The system dinged, announcing my victory and a huge chunk of experience.
“Gained XP: Level increased by 1,213!”
“Dungeon takedown reward: Level increased by 100!”
“Extra boss takedown reward: Level increased by 100!”
I checked my status screen. I’d activated Superhuman Strength, Gale Wind, and Time Zero at the same time, so the MP drainage was pretty rough, but I had some mana still to spare.
“I’m just getting started,” I said. After the dungeon’s teleportation spell transported me to the Return Zone, I reentered the dungeon’s depths once again.
“Wait. I could beat it again, but I should check my skills first.”
I opened my stats display and found the skills I’d obtained yesterday ahead of my return to diving in Onizuka.
Endurance LV MAX: Defense +3,000
Adamantine LV 5: +50% to Defense (costs 10 MP per second)
Enhanced Spirit LV MAX: Resistance +3,000
Tenacity LV 5: +50% to Defense
When I was home last night, I’d leveled up skills that elevated my Defense or Resistance in some way, like how High-speed Movement and Gale Wind elevated Speed.
“Can’t rely on Time Zero and Battle Barrier all the time, after all.”
Sure, they were superior, special skills. I could spam Time Zero to evade attacks, and Battle Barrier reduced damage to almost zero, but their positives hid negatives of their own.
“Time Zero is only helpful inside a dungeon, not to mention it drains MP like no other. If I’m not careful, I could lose a thousand MP in a second. I gotta get used to fighting without it.”
I knew too well that battles sometimes occurred aboveground. Monsters could escape from dungeons, and if they got an edge on me there, things could go downhill quick. I needed to prepare for every scenario.
“Battle Barrier will come in handy when I can’t use Time Zero, but there’s downsides to relying on it too.”
Battle Barrier carried a one-minute cooldown. It didn’t seem like much at first glance, but during a serious fight, life and death was measured in seconds. If I ever found myself unable to evade after my barrier was breached, I would be a sitting duck until I reactivated it.
Unexciting as they were, that’s why I went with defensive skills this time around. I would rather have gone without them and picked a more fun option, but I treated it like buying life insurance and signed up.
“Sorry, Battle Barrier. Now, what about Time Zero? Should I challenge the high ogre without using it? I’ve fought it twice, so I think I’ve figured out its attack patterns anyway. Yeah!”
My mind made up, I set off for the thirtieth floor. After following the winding path, I entered battle with the high ogre for a third time. As usual, in terms of raw power it had me beat, but I relaxed and watched for openings. Even without Time Zero, my measured battle strategy allowed me to deal damage in small, consistent increments.
Three minutes after the fight began, the high ogre fell over dead.
“Gained XP: Level increased by 1,022!”
“Dungeon takedown reward: Level increased by 100!”
“Extra boss takedown reward: Level increased by 200!”
I listened, a little awed. “The XP reward is always so high…”
The conditions to spawn this extra boss were easy to fulfill, so I gained the dungeon takedown reward and extra boss takedown reward totaling 300 levels each time. Plus, since the high ogre’s level was much higher than mine, the experience I earned for its defeat spiked my level even further. One Onizuka run boosted my level at a rate normal adventurers would kill for—and thanks to Dungeon Teleportation, I could loop it several times per day.
My unique skill was a real blessing. It was valuable not only for traveling the dungeon and fighting, but for getting me inside the dungeons with the best rewards over and over! Thanks to its awakening, I was leveling up faster than anyone imagined.
Naturally, I went for more dives and jumped so many levels, I even surprised myself.