Chapter 67: Dario the Face-Slapped Dragon (2/3)

****(POV)

It was only after being done with this power-up that Dario finally checked the messages he had just gotten from the Tower system. He couldn't but roar in satisfaction once more! His roar of pure jubilation resounded across the entire realm.

[First one to kill <Lizzy the Weak Pet Tamer Lv72☠️>! Feat accomplished! Congratulations!]

[Reward: <Memory Fragment U(F): Invincible Pet Master>]

Just this single line was enough to make irrelevant all he had sacrificed. This was obviously the single skill that had made the previous fight so troublesome. Now, there was only one issue. It would probably require a pet, but no pet would be strong enough to be brought later on. Dario observed the taming emblem even if he pretty much knew what it would be like.

<Rank C Taming Emblem>

Allows one to tame any normal creature present on Floor 50 or below as a pet.

Wait?! Usually, there would have been an extra line in the description "Pet cannot grow". Did this mean that this pet would actually be useful and not only an ornament?! How crazy was that!

The first combined with the second was probably going to be a near-invincible combo! Ah, of course, Dario needed to first get a decent pet. It just so happened that there were Lizardmen on Floor 44 awaiting his taming. These were very suited to his own Class.

Dario felt like simply restarting the challenge, but he knew he would die for sure. After all, everything he had prepared for this combat had already run out. He slowly took a deep breath, calming his beating heart that ushered him to fight once more, and whispered "teleport out".

Dario could see many Climbers, but there was one familiar face. This acquaintance was a muscular man in a tank top that looked like a bodybuilder. His dark hair was neatly combed toward the back, his dark jeans fitted quite well with his tanned skin giving him the appearance of a beachgoer.

"I'm back, AIYA" Dario simply called out to the man.

"Guild Master, you are back! How was it?" AIYA was there to await his glorious return. The man had a slight smile that didn't even show a shadow of a doubt that Dario would return. In fact, he was even handing him a hot cup of coffee at the moment.

"Very good, more than very actually. Alright, come with me to the Tower. I have something to do on Floor 44."

"Just the two of us?" AIYA always showed a very careful approach as usual, well at first glance.

"Well, if it was any other Floor we'd have to be careful, but I trust in your shooting skills enough to do this specific one."

"*Sigh* Alright, let's go then." AIYA caved in.

Soon they teleported in. They instantly found themselves in a dead plain, one that was inhabited by the Lizardmen. These creatures were bipedal, humanoid-looking but had green scaly skin and wielded spears.

They appeared as huge groups that regrouped themselves in towns. This place was both extremely deadly and extremely easy to clear, but it required some very peculiar skillsets.

[Mission: Destroy 3 totems! Good luck!]

Now, every Lizardman town only had one totem. This made it so there were two approaches possible to such a challenge. The safe one was to slowly chip away at their numbers in order to simply walk in and take care of the totem. Doing that three times would clearly require a while.

There was also the second alternative but that one was completely insane. It involved a hit-and-run tactic with perfect timing. Any single positioning issue would cause the annihilation of the party for sure. So many had died to this as they failed to account for the totem itself being hard to destroy only to get surrounded completely.

"Alright, let's run. You get the totem and I clear the way." Dario proposed such a crazy plan without so much as a change in tone.

"Yep, let's go!" AIYA instantly agreed.

They ran all the way to the nearest town quickly invading it! The Lizardmen were fast, numerous, and incredibly sturdy. They were the kind of creature that one needed to stab many times in the same spot before their defenses gave out and they perished.

But the two friends did not care in the least. They simply kept going. They just charged right in. Soon they were faced with their target, an incredibly tall pillar. It was towering over everything else and had a secret. Atop of these pillars were the tiny totems they were looking for.

Yes, to clear the mission one had to scale said pillar, but of course, it wasn't that easy. At first glance people could simply scale it to be in a safe position, right? Nope, while the Lizardmen didn't have ranged attack they could generate a shockwave on the pillar by touching it.

One had to leave a friend at the bottom defending while the other climbed as fast as possible toward the true target. In short, it was a suicidal operation to try that with two members….and yet there they were.

AIYA could be seen…actually no, one would have had trouble managing to even notice his movements. He was Climbing so fast that it looked surreal. Of course, Dario had no time to spare looking at him. No, he was busy killing as many as he could. He had just activated his Dragon's presence and was clearing the green scalies like one would weeds.

Before long… [Mission: Destroy Totems 1/3]

AIYA slid down hurriedly and shared a look with Dario. At that very moment, they were completely surrounded. There was no exit in sight at all. So, Dario would make one. Transforming into his draconic form he charged forward, leaving only Lizard bits in his wake.

AIYA simply followed not even bothering to kill a single one. He was saving his strength for the totems only. The part he was doing actually involved lots of skill and abilities used at the most opportune timing to reduce the burden on the Guild Master.

Their teamwork was great enough that between them no word was needed at all. They both knew the other's skills very well. Well, they still talked, but it was related to Dario's earlier feat. It was all about how he had cleared that Floor 45.

AIYA was extremely eager to hear the story. He couldn't sit still either. The Tower was one of the best places in this world to be candid. After all, there were no prying ears in such a place. Only there would Dario easily and openly talk about even his abilities in detail.

"Lizzy was anything but weak. Just the creatures it summoned were crazy strong and numerous. The combo of the powerful Asura-Gorillas, these annoying Thousand Teeth Flyers, and the unpredictable Slimes created a deadly combo."

"I Imagine! How did you do it?!"

"First, tons of buffs. Lots of C-Rank Food, Whetstones, Tonics. Then the Mana Regeneration Glyph from the Boss on Floor 40. Let me tell you it worked wonderfully, I could feel my mana regenerating with every breath I took after I activated it."

"Well, yes but it's also a very rare boss drop so of course! What about the other stuff?"

"Well, there were my Class buffs that I always have that did play a huge role. My Dragon's Vitality, my Dragon's Might, and my Draconic Bloodline all enhancing my Stats greatly."

"That's a damn lot! How awesome did having all of these activated at once feel?!"

"Very awesome. It felt as if the entire world was in my grasp. I could feel the power overflowing from my entire being. I had the feeling that a single slash of mine could reduce an enemy to dust, of course, that was oh so false!"

"Seeing how bloody you are, it didn't go that easily, right?" AIYA asked.

"Indeed, the only reason I even survived this is my Aspect of the Dragon and Dragon's Presence skills. The main issue is dealing with the pets Lizzy has. Their teamwork is phenomenally good. Nothing like their relatively dumb counterparts on the previous Floors."

"They can use tactics?!" AIYA could be seen shivering as he said that for he knew the implications this would have. Well, for how scared he seemed he'd remain one of the first to charge head-first into battle as usual.

"Indeed. There are actually many waves too. The creature first summons a wave of creatures, then another, then another, so on. The first few seconds are the most critical ones. Either you quickly get rid of some summons or you are dead. As simple as that."

"Still, it's crazy! All your abilities are pretty mana hungry, no? Well, besides Mana Cleave but compared with the others we both know it's trash tier. How did you cope?" AIYA inquired.

-C Aspect of the Dragon

Roar, claw, kill. Transform using ancestral draconic blessings. Boosts all stats by a large margin, covers the body in scales, grows claws and fangs.

∼150 Mana/ second of transformation (Value estimated by Dario Ignas) ∼20% Boost?

-C Dragon's Presence

All enemies cower under the might of the Dragon! Inspires allies and sends enemies running! Effect dependant on duration and strength of enemies.

∼2500 Mana Cost ∼1 sec fright, 5 seconds shaken, 30 seconds debuff