Chapter 397: Monster Room.
My body felt numb. Numb to Rajahs fluffy fur rubbing against my skin, numb to Tatsuyas sweat falling on my head, even numb to VifiYok stepping on my tail. My nerves wouldnt send the signal to my brain, even though I could see it all happening right in front of me. A lack of feeling combined with my parallel minds working on overdrive to ensure my survival meant I witnessed everything in a slight slow-mo.
Well, it wasnt like I could do anything about it right now. This Winters Gift toxin was a real punch to my gut. Yeostar warned me about the venom, mentioning how it was one of the best tools to kill fire dragons. It felt kind of like anesthesia but with a side effect of extreme chill. I couldnt feel anything but the cold creeping through my body; probably a realistic description of the venom coursing around my body.
Frightening, truely. Even after Tatsuya fed me the antidote, I couldnt feel anything at all. Even my muscles were rebelling against my parallel minds decisions. I could, thankfully, still use my skills and release scale-dust, as evidentced by my Territory release. Aura skills were still usable. However, physically, I was a burden, right now. I could technically still move, but it felt like I was paralyzed throughout my body. Like I was a vegetable.
[Gnomacotta Warrior]! Tatsuya shouted, before sending the appraisal details through telepathy.
Gnomacotta Warrior: A rock statue possessed by vivacious gnomessmall earth faefolkwho long for the embrace of the Earth Elemental Emperor. Jealous of their siblings, the dwarves, and how they were allowed to live and prosper under the watch of Origin Goddess Crustacia, the gnomes have created humanoid rock bodies in honor of the dead Earth Elemental Emperor. Living in symbiosis with dungeons, these gnomes possess rock to protect their temporary home. Rank C
In other words, just like spriggans who could become treants and dryads like Rita, gnomes could possess rock to become something more. These lesser faefolk were essentially too weak to do anything in their normal bodies, so they possessed something to gain a strong body. Now that I thought about, that was a real trend for lesser faefolk. Onnikais possessed corpses, spriggans vegetation, and now these gnomes with stone.
Hestia-san, how are you doing? Kyouya asked me while keeping his guard up, cautious about the still rock statues. A monster room was one of the mentioned traps. Three waves of escalating enemies. Rank C now, but a rank B might appear later.
You asking if I can fight? Barely, I forced myself to say. The only parts of my body that didnt feel completely numb were my stomach, throat, and stomach. Fuck I burned Yuuko. Im sorry
I still felt bad for what I did. Sure, she was a stranger to me, but saving them was one of Saoris goals. As their former teacher, she wanted to rescue her students from the clutches of the demonkins. Not to mention that Tatsuya and Kyouya were fellow students as well. I didnt want to burn her, but that whole sequence of actions were just the worst!
Who cares about that! Its her fault getting in your way! Tatsuya callously stated to sooth my worries. That bastard Takuma isnt any better either, even if there was a misunderstanding. Dont worry about it; just fix that girls face up later with [Miraculous Grace]!
I guess he was right It wasnt like it would solve anything to ask those two for forgiveness. Tatsuya wasnt too close with his other classmates, while Kyouya was on the fence about it. In addition, those two also lectured me how I forgot about [Magic Breaker]s effect. I mean, come on, I wasnt planning on fighting with them!
When they gave me the briefing on the students unique skills, I hadnt really paid attention cause I wasnt there to fight them! I wanted to persuade them about everything. Even if we stayed enemies, I thought I could resolve everything peacefully. These were Saoris students; the last thing I wanted to do was give her grief. Prepare for everything, but how the hell was I supposed to guess VifiYok being there with the students and some dragonslayers?! Crazy!
Magic Breaker: The user becomes a conduit of mana, severing the mana link between the target and their spells. Nullifies all spells and magic-based skills, including buffs and debuffs caused by them, and prevents the target from using them until midnight of that day. Restores the users mana by the amount of nullified items while also transferring arcane corruption from target to user. Very high mana cost per usage
How broken was that? It didnt have to touch me and I was locked out of spells for an entire day?! Meaning, this locked up, sealed feeling I had with my mana, my inability to release it out of my body or move it around fluidly like hardened blood or something, was a result of [Magic Breaker]. Fortunately, I could still use my draconic abilities, spell songs, and also scale man
Arrrrrgh! Owww! I grabbed my right arm, feeling the sensation of my fingers touching the dried, black stump. My missing arm; the feel of touch had just reappeared and I could feel the pain. Well, adrenaline is over. The venom causes necrosis Jeez, the phantom pain.
Tell me about it, dragon. Now, how about we not deal with something that minor, and instead figure a way to survive this?
I snapped my head around, noticing VifiYok speaking with me. Her snarky comment was directed at my complaints, despite the fact she was missing her left arm. She really was prickly.
How about you step off my tail? I wanted to complain, but Tatsuya took over the discussion.
Hestia-san cant use magic and is paralyzed until the antidote fully takes effect. Rajah has [Exhaustion (Minor)] and his armor is in shambles. And our unexpected companion here is in danger of exploding in our face. He sighed, before assuming a battle pose. Hestia-san, I presume you can still support us?
I nodded. With song and flames, yes. Cant use any -kinesis skills, though, so I rather not use my Territory with you guys around.
Neither can I, for obvious purple reasons. The demonkin scoffed, but seemed wobbly on her feet. Her expression confirmed my worry for her health, as she looked like she could fall over at any second. These things arent moving though.
The humans-sized stone golems werent moving an inch as she mentioned. There were a bit too many to count. This roomthis clean, polished room made from fairnite, showing no signs of the decrepit ruins from beforelooked about the size of a large cathedral. No entrances could be seen, not even a closed door. We were flanked by so many of these golems, standing there like soldiers with shields, various melee weapons, and bows.
On the other hand, we only had a small area to fight in, too tiny before this monster room swarms us. I put my party bracelet on, realizing the golems were waiting for us to make a move, a mistake they could capitalize on. However, at the same time, I understood this might be a mistake. I looked up, confused why the dragonslayers hadnt pursued us through the hole yet. Whatever it was, lucky us.
Im tanking! Humanize! I transformed back into a dragon, causing my exoarmor to transform, morphing back into its true form. Unable to cast [Panzer], Grimnirs masterful armor gave me the protection I needed to trust in my tanking abilities.
Now back as a dragon, my large size seemed to have taken a step over the boundary, causing the blue eyes of the golems to light up. Their bodies creaked and cracked in a robotic manner, before everybody had assumed a battle position. Without any warning, they ran and shot arrows, almost seamlessly, resembling the fluid movements of a human.
Pavise!
I couldnt use magic, meaning I had to fight like a dwarf right now. It didnt matter, for I had dwarven-made armor to work with! Runes could work even with [Magic Breaker] on me.
As the barrier protected me, but also pushed the other three away, I smashed my tail onto the ground, decimating numerous golems before sweeping them away like a broom.
Krriiiiiiiaaaaaaah! I roared, forgoing buffing everybody to focus on combat.
Lets go, Kyouya! Tatsuya called out, pumping him and his best friend up.
Rajah, too, couldnt help but participate. [Master, Ill take care of your flanks!]
Meanwhile, VifiYok didnt say anything; instead, she used my glaive with deadly precision, looking like a whirlwind of flames and metal as she cleaved through the numerous golems. Seeing her like this, I had one of my parallel minds keep an eye on her, not for surveillance, but to learn her movements. Learn from how she fought with my weapon.
Even with a single arm, she was outmaneuvering the golems as if they were untrained recruits, weaving parries, feints, and strikes with the occasional scale-dust explosion stored inside my weapon. She was even using the runes I had on it, using the fire she created to regenerate mana.
On the other hand, I had to rely on my parallel minds fine tuning my movements for my precise attacks. Even though my body felt airless in a bad way, my constant training with Neill through three weeks had ingrained my attacks into my muscles. Even if they were asleep, the motions felt natural.
With VifiYok and the boys taking care of my flanks, I slashed and stomped, being agile and destructive in one. With pavise shielding me from everything, I could even stand still and breath fire down, melting the golems.
Wave 2 incoming
When that System message came, holes on the outer edge opened up, letting hands the size of a single gnomacotta warrior reach out. A giant menacing statue with black armor appeared from each cardinal direction, all ramming their giant axes onto the ground, creating small shockwaves of dust to blow around. More of the warriors appeared from behind these giant figures, who even rivaled me in height as I stood on four, errr, three legs.
Fairnite Guardian Statue: An animated golem made from fairnite using mana. With the agility of a normal giant warrior, these destructive creatures can challenge even the swiftest groups. While heavily resistant against magical attacks, their defences arent as impenetrable through physical means. Rank B
Hestia-san, target focus! Well take care of the legs, you take care of yourself! Tatsuya shouted out our orders, prompting me to charge towards the western statue, bulldozing my way through the horde of enemies like a ram.
Krrrriiiiiah! With a single swift motion, I grinded my tail along the ground, not only causing it to ignite on fire but also sending another wave of warriors flying out of the way. I jumped in the air and flapped my wings, before slamming my tail right onto the golem.
It defended itself against my attack with its weapon, causing its solid shaft to crack, before I grabbed the golems head with my left claw, smashing it onto the ground. Despite the description, it was sturdy. Still, initiating my [Spark Crescent], I somersaulted, slashing the golem and destroying its weapon.
As it tumbled back, crashing against the wall, VifiYok and Tatsuya pierced the golems legs with their Grimnir-made weapons and pulled it back for me to grab with my jaw. Using my tail as an anchor, I swung my neck around, throwing the golem at the three approaching ones with all my strength, only for me to miscalculate my trajectory and smash my head right into the wall.
Hestia-san?! Kyouya called out.
Shit!
My horns were stuck! I couldnt pull them out!
Knowing it would take too long for me to pull myself out without my dominant right arm, I gestured for the others to run ahead. Once they saw sparks forming around me, they understood what I was trying to do and ran ahead, slicing through all the fodder. Gnashing my fangs together, I unleashed the surrounding scale-dust, blowing up the entire area and the monsters around.
I thought blasting apart the wall would reveal some kind of way to escape, but there was just more thick rock behind it. There really was no way to exit outside of defeating these things.
Once I flapped my wings to blow the dust away, I saw Rajah keeping the heavily injured giant golem down with his [Dark Tendrils]. Sadly, since these golems couldnt experience fear, all my rawr, Im a dragon moves werent scaring them. This monster room was just an endless wave of these creeps!
Dammit! Tatsuya shouted as he was pushed back by a shieldwall of warriors, causing him to finally realize he was at his limit.
Kyouya, too, was having trouble. His unique skill allowed him to continuously conjure black armor to shield himself from damage, but they cost his health to create. Sadly, while I could continue healing him with my normal white flames, his skill reduced healing from all outside sources by 50%. Meaning, his only reliable healing method was to leech off the damage he did. While good in shorter battles, this was an endurance challenge.
This wasnt even mentioning VifiYok. The girl was fighting like a berserker despite her physical limitations, prompting me to remember her scorched, almost zombie-like figure at the end of our fight in Elyona. She still kept fighting, even when death was near. She wasnt even taking damage from anything, but the strain of all the fighting was clearly catching up to her.
The boys had to not only fight a bunch of black mercs before we seperated, but they also held off the dragonslayers for a bit to protect me. They werent even fully rank Bs yet, and they had to take on all this crazy? Dammit, we all needed a bloody level up!
Boys, howAhhh, I cant use [Telepathy]! Yuuuuuuukooooooo!
These damn things arent dying fast enough! Kyouya noted as he realized some of the broken golems still had blue glowing eyes. Thats why we havent level up yet, Tatsuya! Crush those heads! Those damn gnomes!
Understanding I had to support them with this, I charged towards them, but instead of attacking, I circled around them and pushed the remaining golems away. I was acting as the meat shield, giving them some moment of rest.
Krriiiiuu! I growled softly, causing the boys to catch on after Rajah appeared.
[Master, wants us to rest!]
I knew I could rely on you, Rajah!
Tatsuya nodded. Got it! VifiYok, get on Hestia-san and rest. You cant level from these things, right?
Huffing like crazy, she stomp on a broken warrior head, killing it before nodding. With the boys covering her, VifiYok rushed over to my body, only to snap her head up. The three still unharmed rank B golems had reached us and were swinging their axes down.
Kra! I shouted at her, before sending my scales out, relying on them with [Draconic Barrier] and [Defense Rune: Pavise] to protect us.
As the stone crashed against my defenses, I could feel the loud sound rupturing through this room. Thankfully, no damage. Seeing me smirk, VifiYok nodded and jumped onto my leg and then on my back, allowing me to standing up and dodge out of the way just as the golems tried to grab my wings.
Hellflame Breath!
Kraaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Flames burst from my mouth, swallowing the golems and the warriors, pushing them away from us.
Idiot! Mana attacks wont harm them, that includes your breath! VifiYok, the armchair expert, commented.
I know that, but I had to push them away somehow.
Got a level! Tatsuya and Kyouya both shouted, before they rushed over to me. The former had a wide smile on his face as he opened his [Storage Magic], retrieving two [Room] runes from it.
Genius!
That was our way out! This was far too taxing on us, and the boys figured this was the timing to get out.
Things were too hectic, I kinda forgot about them! Tatsuya admitted, to which I couldnt fault him considering the shit situation we were in. Even then, it wasnt like I could blame him, considering opening a portal here could risk them being destroyed. Alright, I
Wave 3 incoming
What?!
Gnuuuuuuuuuuu! A reverbing groan echoed throughout this monster room, only for our footing to suddenly shake as the ground lit up blue. The numerous warriors and even the giant golems saluted, staying in place even as this entire room was moving!
What is with this dungeon?!
The crazy finally appeared, with the arrival of the final wave breaking the roomceiling, floor, and wallsinto pieces. The numerous gaps were so dark, I couldnt even properly see into the depths of them, making me almost want to jump down to avoid whatever this next surprise was.
Sadly, the gaps were instantly closed up with mana. The wall I destroyed separated itself, revealing a new room, before the room we stood on, literally, tossed us into the new one with no fanfare.
As we recovered, the warriors and golems dropped down, forming a statue wall in front of the morphing monster room. Like smashing solid rocks against each other, that grating crunch of fairnite tiles being pulled into each with mana, combining into one being like a bunch of lego. The monster room was a literal monster.
I snapped my eyes around this new room, noticing how it wasnt as white and pristine as the room we were just in. That actually bamboozled us. This normal room looked identical to the nature-overtaken ruins from the previous floors, making it more likely to be an authentic room. This was a killing trap.
The bomb before floor 15 was there to kill us, but if we werent, we would fall into this place. The monster room would send waves at us, trying to kill us like suckers. The Ankoran King sent us in here for training, not wanting to endanger my life by letting me join the expedition force for the Event Quest. However, what the hell was happening here?! I probably would have been safer in the Event Quest just cause I had people like Yorshka, Neill, and Master around!
Who did I have here? Two exhausted upper Rank Cs, an injured rank C virigress, and a demonkin who looked like she could die at any second now.
We needed to escape, and as if everybody understood this, we all stared at Tatsuya. However, my heart skipped a beat as I saw his deadpan face, pointing at the wall of golems. Looking over, I saw the crumbled remains of the [Room] runes, crushed underneath the sole of one of the golems. Tatsuya must have dropped them when we were tossed into this place.
Why? Why is my encounter luck so bad?
We all stared at Kyouya, who nodded and opened his [Storage
Magic]
Ahem. Kyouya gulped as we all saw his storage close up on us. His head slowly turned to everybody else, and his mouth began to twitch. We have a problem.
I lost my [Room] runes when the dragonslayer cut my arm, Tatsuya just lost his, and Kyouya lost access to his. We were trapped.
Master Rajah doesnt feel so good.
Neither do I, buddy.
Or, at least that was what I imagined our dialogue would be when I looked at Rajahs crestfallen face. After all, no mana usage also meant no [Telepathy]. While that wasnt too bad, the real problem was how he couldnt even use his spells any longer. He needed them to fight properly.
Similarly, I couldnt use [Humanize]. I tried it, but I couldnt transform back into a dragonewt. Meaning, I couldnt sing, but even then, spell songs probably wouldnt work. Not to mention, this also meant I couldnt use my Territory nor manipulate my scales and use [Draconic Barrier], since they all relied on mana.
Ankoran King, do you want to kill me? Im a FUCKING MAGE!
No way, no way would the Ankoran King send me into this just after everything, right? No way, there had to be an explanation for this. There had to be!
I snapped my eyes back to the giant room golem, noticing how the pristines walls from before had changed, giving more chiseled edges and wedges around its body as details. The mana seams flowing through it made it look like some kind of mantech, but the stony surface of its body was clear to see. Its face looked a bit cartoonish with its cube teeth, giving it a less intimidating force compared to the statue faced warriors and the helmeted soldiers.
On the other hand, as the room golem latched its hands onto the edges of the hole where the monster room was. Pushing itself through, it revealed its full appearance. Mostly top-heavy, its arms were as thick as a small family house, probably enough to quash me as it was larger than me in size. Its lower body, though, looked far frailer as it was weirdly thin and only had two tree trunk-sized legs to support it.
So how are we supposed to kill that thing? Tatsuya said with dazzling eyes, probably captivated by the grander reward part of the System message.
With my tail, of course.
I raised my tail, fully accepting Tatsuyas optimism. After all, there really wasnt any other way to survive, so why not be a bit competitive about it? A star like me couldnt just die in this forgotten place, and definitely not a dragon who had family and friends to lose.
No risks, no rewards, right?
A note from AbyssRaven
Get that reward, Hestia! Get the loot, even if you can't talk!
If you guys want to support me, Hestia and "A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale" (or just read up to 20 advance chapters + any Patreon-only chapters) please check out my Patreon: Rawr!
For two dollars, for the cost of a coffee, you can read up to four chapters! You will have my eternal gratitude for any support you can give me! Please.
Thank you for reading this chapter.
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Bio: Hey there, AbyssRaven here. I'm just an avid Light Novel and Fantasy story reader who randomly thought of a story and began writing about it.
I eventually found out that I've been spending a bit too much time with building, planning, and researching for the story, that I've decided to just share it with others.
Writing is mostly a hobby for me, but I would still love any kind of criticism to improve on it.
I'm also german, so please excuse anything that sounds a bit weird...I wouldn't mind you pointing it out though.
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