Chapter 348: Fourth Dungeon
Deep within the embrace of the water, a monster the size of an adult horse moved gracefully. Despite being a water creature, its limbs looked to be developed to crawl on land effectively.
It was laced with sharp and serrated, longer, hideous teeth. Its eyes were more adapted to low light, glowing with an eerie bioluminescence.
It moved effectively as it hunted the nearby fish without giving them any chance to escape. The monster hunted there with nothing to worry about. Competing with normal animals, they hunted without any problem.
There was a downside to this, though. As normal animals, their prey didn’t really give them that much exp or essence for that matter. Frustrated by this, their tribe had decided to hunt the ones on the island but, to their surprise, they were almost killed off by the landwalkers.
Forced by their instincts, they forgot about the islanders and began hunting in their natural habitat once again.
Noticing another prey, the monster moved once again as its body cast a shadow on the bottom of the ocean floor. It had moved from there, but the shadow it had cast was still there.
Mana began to infuse in it as the shadow began to wriggle. The shadow expanded in size as two beings got out of it.
Noticing the presence, the monster stopped in its tracks and looked toward the newcomers. Not sensing anything special from them, it began storing mana in its mouth... and soon it attacked with a powerful blast of water.
Before its water bullet hit any of them, though... it was dragged into the same shadow, never to be seen again.
"They certainly have infested the water..." Dhruv whispered, noticed that despite him trying to mask themselves they were attacked by the monsters.
Seeing it was taken care of, he did not waste any more time and manipulated his mana as an air barrier appeared around them. Soon the little pressure he was feeling was gone as well.
"It’s a good thing... I can reach my level early then..." Alaric replied as a smirk appeared on his face.
[You have killed a Tier 2 monster: Abyssal Juvenile Hunter]
Dragging another monster into his shadow, Alaric looked at his master and pointed in a particular direction.
"It’s there, huh!" Dhruv blurted out as he saw the crack shimmering proudly on the floor. There was a bunch of fishes revolving around it but nothing could disturb its brilliance.
The portal looked identical to others as there wasn’t any distinct difference that one could see with normal vision.
’Ir will be an underwater adventure this time... then...’
As Dhruv sensed the particles coming out of the portal, he began to become aware of the environment inside the portal.
Reading the nature of the mana coming out of it, he knew that water mana was going to be in abundance there. So much water mana was leaking from it that the water around the portal was getting enriched with it.
’I guess I’ve to do something about air...’ Noticing the lack of air mana, he understood he had to create it himself.
Opening his status, he scrolled further down and clicked on the skill that he would need the most there.
[You have learned the skill: Water Breathing.]
[You have learned the skill: Water Resistance.]
At first, Dhruv wasn’t sure whether to buy Water Resistance or not, but after understanding the resistance would protect him from the pressure that the water exerts upon his body he didn’t have any other choice.
"See you soon then..." Saying these words, he didn’t waste another second and propelled himself toward the portal. Reaching it, he touched the crack and disappeared from the realm once again.
Blurghhh!
Gasping for air, Dhruv found himself surrounded by nothing but water. The dungeon had directly teleported him underwater.
The Water Breathing skill acted as he found himself able to breathe in the water once again... albeit it was harder to do so. It still felt like he was gasping for air, but... he wouldn’t die drowning, that’s for sure.
’So, there is a surface at least...’ Dhruv thought, noticing the light entering the sea through its surface.
He was happy to find that if worse were to come there was something except these waters as well. Lifting his head, he tried to judge the distance between the two but wasn’t able to do so.
"Forget that..."
Knowing there was no point in traveling upwards, Dhruv activated his senses and focused on the things he had come for. In just a few seconds of looking, he found a plethora of monsters moving around him.
Obviously, not all of them were the dungeon-specific monsters.
’They are only at Tier I... should I use the lesser affinity magic to deal with them?’ Thinking, Dhruv manipulated his earth mana and created a spear.
Aiming at the monster, he threw it with a bit of hope. Breaking his hope the moment it appeared in reality, the spear began to erode, and by the time it reached the monster, it couldn’t do anything except dissolve in water.
’Normal ones will have no effect on... I guess...’ Manipulating his mana once again, Dhruv summoned an enhanced earth spear which was infused with flame.
The water sizzled as the spear moved in the water like a serpent. Reaching the monster it bore a hole in his head killing it on the spot.
[You have killed a Tier I monster: Abyssal Hatchling.]
Learning the name of the species, Dhruv ignored the rest of the notification and moved to collect the prize. Placing the entire monster in his inventory, he began looking for more prey.
’How will I reach the next part of the dungeon?’ He hunted monsters one after another but soon began looking for a way to get to the next part of the dungeon.
From the previous expedition, it was certain that every dungeon had a unique way to let them travel to the next tier area. The goblin dungeon was a floor type. The spider dungeon was a sort of maze type... while the crystal one was a field-type dungeon.
Scratching his head, Dhruv began thinking about what this one would be.
[You have killed a Tier II monster: Abyssal Water Manipulator.]
’Hmmm... is it that simple... the deeper I go, the greater their tier will become?’ Dhruv thought, looking at the notification he got from killing another monster.
It had been about 15 or 20 minutes since he had entered the dungeon, and if his sense of direction wasn’t deceiving him, he certainly was moving deeper.
[Water Breathing has reached Level 3.]
[Water Resistance has reached Level 4.]
’Huh!... looks like I don’t have to think anymore...’ Smiling, Dhruv activated his mana senses to the fullest and began looking for the first boss. As the tier of the monsters had increased to Tier II, the first boss would be around as well.
Stopping his dive, Dhruv began looking left and right, trying to cover as much of the ocean as possible. His strategy didn’t fail him as he found what he was looking for...
"Its here..." Dhruv whisper moving toward the boss.
