Chapter 210: Status update

After hunting down the escapees, I treaded deeper into the paths twined like a branch of a tree. I stumbled into a few blocked paths where I found adventurers' rotten corpses. They had died while resting or took their own lives to escape the madness of this floor.

I searched for a path to the next floor.

*Crack* *Crack**Crack*

The skulls grew out of the walls. Ten, eleven, fifteen, twenty… the dungeon spawned thirty Skull Sheep to counter my threat.

I smiled and clenched my fists.

"Bring it on."

Thirty punches later, the monsters faded into ashes.

"If only there was a map sold by the Guild."

(The dungeon changes the path often, so there is no point.)

'Urgh…'

(I can help—)

'No. I can't be relying on my wife forever. Also adventuring like this… isn't bad you know.'

Klyscha giggled.

(I know, my—)

Her voice was suddenly cut off.

'Klyscha?'

(Umm, sorry. I just received a message from my underlings. I have to return to my main body for an hour. I will go after you are done with the dungeon.)

'You can go now. I can talk to my other wives.'

(No. Helping my husband is my property. I can take care of Heaven later.)

'Thanks. I'll repay you with my body later.'

(Umm, no problem.)

'What happened though?'

(A goddess working under me is trying something naughty.)

'A goddess? Is she single?'

(She proclaims to be the most beautiful goddess. And my love, she has chosen a man for herself. I never thought a tsundere like her could love someone.)

'Damn. Another narcissist. Nobody is more beautiful than Klyscha in Heaven.'

Klyscha and I chuckled.

(She stole the data of one of the fictional worlds.)

'Which world?'

(I don't know. There are too many to count. She is planning to use that world to groom her chosen one.)

Yuck, another protagonist.

'You lazy goddess, keep track of your stuff!'

(I would rather spend that time dreaming about my love!)

This loli goddess… then again, this made it more lovable.

(I will have to use my real body to find her real intentions.)

'Okay. Keep me updated.'

I finished the talk and jumped inside a hole. A distinct white curved wall towered over me, probably over five hundred meters. It should be the place that leads to the next floor. Walking along the wall, I found the entrance.

"Kha!"

A blue monster leaped up. My instincts acted before I registered the threat; I swiped my leg down on the monster's head. With a sickening crunch, the force crushed the lizard head caved in. It crashed dead from where it came from.

"What was that?"

I glanced down. I was standing on a wide wall with monsters. Stairs could be seen on my right, leading to the area where the comrades of now-dead blue-scaled Lizardmen waited for me, their bony axes raised high for me. There were also small werewolf-like monsters and Skull Sheep. Some waited while some rushed toward the stairs.

"It's gonna be a bloodbath."

I stepped down the stairs and grabbed the little werewolf's head and smashed it into the wall. Keeping it strafed to the wall, I punctured its chest with a blow and mercilessly pulled out its magic stone.

It instantly vanished into ashes.

One down.

The mob of Skull Sheep was smart enough to detect the danger and fire everything at me. A rain of sharp bones flew up at me. I dodged the one heading for my crotch and head and tanked everything. Although stakes pierced my adventurer outfit, the sharp stakes barely scratched my thick skin.

Grinning, I kept advancing, pummelling the werewolves with bare fists. Magic should've been more efficient, but unleashing the beastly violence felt too good. While crushing heads and breaking bones, I kept using my telepathy to grab and store their magic stones.

[—You have learned a new skill 'Wild Martial Arts']

[—'Telepathy' ranked up to E]

[—' Multithreaded Processing' ranked up to E]

The howls attracted more monsters as another horde rushed out of the tunnel down the stairs.

'Are these guys enough to get an A-Class parameter on my Falna?'

(My love's Falna indicates level 1 while you are crushing level 3 and 4 monsters. It will be strange if you don't get massive parameter boosts after this.)

"Hmm."

I dove into the horde and started the massacre.

—x—x—x—

The room was left in blood after the slaughter, earning a satisfactory nod from me. I changed my clothes and checked for any lingering blood smell.

(My love's skin resists any external materials.)

'Does that mean any cosmetic won't work on me?'

(No, you don't need one.)

Giving a smile, I pasted the teleportation marks and asked Nao about the situation over there.

"You can return. Alise and company have returned to their mansion.'

Klyscha teleported me.

Nao immediately pulled me aside and roamed her hands over my body. I chuckled at her deep frown and leaned closer.

"You can look closely tonight, you know."

Her frown eased, and blush covered her face.

"Cute."

*Cough!*

I turned to Astraea who let out dry coughs to separate us.

"Astraea-sama. I'm sorry to ask, but can you please update my status?"

"I don't mind." Astraea nodded with a smile and gestured to the floor. "After this, you're coming with me."

I took off my shirt, which made the brunette blush a bit. I turned my back on her and plopped on the tatami mat. I looked over my shoulder. She pricked her finger with a needle and pressed the same finger on my back.

I shook a little from the waves traveling through my body. She kneaded the marks and traced her fingers on my back with utmost concentration.

[Falna updated. Status is updating to reflect the changes…]

[Strength +8, Constitution +8, Defense +8, Dexterity +7, Magic +1]

That's nice…

(Thank you, my love.)

"This is… Asahi, you slew level 3 and level 4 monsters? Deep floors?" She let out an exaggerated sigh. "Why am I not surprised?"

So she can find my slaying history through the hieroglyphs.

"Yeah."

She took a paper and started copying my status. She passed it to me with a wry smile.

"Here, congratulations."

Asahi Marikawa

Strength: A-810

Endurance: A-845

Dexterity: B-750

Agility: B-724

Magic: H-104

Endurance got the biggest boost, perhaps because I absorbed the attacks head-on. Every 100 points in Falna meant one point in my system.

'Won't that make it useless after a certain point?'

It will become increasingly harder to increase Excelia after a few levels.

(Each level will have different point values.)

'That sounds a lot better.'

I gave a broad grin to the goddess. "Thanks, Astraea-sama."

"You can level up if you want."

"Not yet. I want to see the limits of my body."

[—Astraea: Affection +1]

"I won't interfere with your desires. Now, let us meet your comrades."

"Yeah!"

"Please, don't try to seduce anyone."

"..."