Episode 52.6

It's a cramped, short and dim dungeon.

Lecan found a stairway that connects below on ground floor, so he took it.

The stairway was narrow with bedrock walls on all sides. And dim.

He would have hit his head so many times if it wasn't for <3D Perception>.

The stairway wasn't that long.

He got to floor 1.

It's dim as well.

All of a sudden, a mass of many glimmering things flew out.

They all went for Lecan.

Who quickly saw through their real nature and recited a spell.

"<Flash (Riliom)>!"

A dazzling flash of light shone the place as the dozens of those things vanished while leaving resentful voices behind.

They were Hollow Shrieks (Gwora).

They're Apparition type magic beasts classified under Soul Demons, they're incorporeal.

Listening to the voice they emitted would induce panic and lower your ability.

Additionally, having your body, especially head, possessed by one will drain your vitality and knock you out. And death awaits if it's left alone.

When Lecan encountered one in Dungeon Golbul, he managed to regain his sanity thanks to <Ring of Rozan>, but back there those things were floating individually, and their movements were predictable so dealing with them was simple.

Yet the Hollow Shrieks he came across just now were on a completely different level than the ones in Golbul.

First, their mana was far above those. Meaning they're probably higher ranked.

The sudden ambush and how swiftly they moved were nothing like Golbul's Hollow Shrieks as well.

Though the Lecan now has <Necklace of Intuador> on him. He's got nothing to fear with it on, no matter what kind of powerful magic those Hollow Shrieks cast.

(Fumu.)

<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka.com >

(The weird dimness and then this.)

(This dungeon might be a home to a bountiful of Apparition type magic beasts.)

(Which means.)

Lecan put <Sword of Rusk> away and took <Apparition Cutter (Ginscyll)>. A Grace Gear he obtained on floor 123 of Dungeon Tsubolt.

(It's a chance to test this thing out.)

His face slackened up without him realizing.

Then he got down to floor 2.

The stairway to Floor 2 was quite long.

Magic beasts were prowling all over the place here.

But exclusively on the ceiling high above.

There's countless icicles hanging down the ceiling with magic beasts flying around the gaps between them.

They're half translucent white with an upper half resembling the form of a human woman.

These must be the so called White Frost Princesses (Surushirufen) magic beasts.

The White Frost Princesses spewed out white breaths as they flew around.

Those breaths evaporated in the air, turning it white little by little.

(It's cold.)

One of the magic beasts shot something out of its mouth at Lecan.

It's an ice.

A sharp ice knife.

It's flying quite fast.

Lecan cut down the incoming ice knife with <Apparition Cutter>.

Dozens of the White Ice Princesses shot out their ice knives toward him.

"<Fire Arrow>! <Fire Arrow>! <Fire Arrow>! <Fire Arrow>! <Fire Arrow>! <Fire Arrow>! <Fire Arrow>!"

Lecan immediately unleashed a barrage of Fire Arrows.

Each spell generated ten <Fire Arrows> which then flew into the ceiling.

The White Frost Princesses got stabbed by the Fire Arrows and broke into pieces before disappearing as they screamed.

The ice knives they shot hit <Necklace of Intuador>'s barrier and broke down.

Real ices would have slipped past the barrier. Meaning both these White Frost Princesses and the ices they shot out are incorporeal.

"<Fire Arrow>! <Fire Arrow>! <Fire Arrow>! <Fire Arrow>! <Fire Arrow>! <Fire Arrow>! <Fire Arrow>!"

Lecan had enough of it and continued the barrage of <Fire Arrows> until they all got destroyed.

And thus no more foes remained.

<Life Detection> shows that there's not even a single magic beast on this floor.

"<Graph Make>."

He tried using <Graph Make> magic just to be sure and sure enough there's none.

Lecan looked at the drawn <Apparition Cutter> in his right hand.

He wanted to find out just how effective this sword is and if it could cut down incorporeal apparitions, but there was no way to achieve that with that just now.

As he stepped in the stairway to floor 3, Lecan recited a spell.

"<Floor>!"

Only the Ground Floor came up on his mind.

He didn't get the marks on floor 1 and floor 2.

(That's odd.)

Grand Dungeons have their own peculiar quirks, but ordinary dungeons all have the exact same structure. In ordinary dungeons, defeating two Giant Variants on a floor in succession will get you a Mark that allows you to warp to that floor.

He exterminated all the magic beasts on floor 1 and 2 in this dungeon and yet he didn't get a Mark. There was no Giant Variant to begin with. And the magic beasts don't drop a magic stone when defeated.

(This is no ordinary dungeon.)

(Something's not right.)

Floor 3 magic beasts were incorporeal type as well. Probably what they call <Dark Sprites (Boabora)>.

Some unknown magic attack came flying at him, but <Necklace of Intuador>'s barrier protected Lecan.

These Dark Sprites look like a lump of phantom haze that can get bigger and smaller. This extends not only to their bodies but also their presences. They're troublesome alright, but <Lightning> took care of them.

Floor 4 had Hollow Shrieks. They were more powerful and numerous than the ones on floor 1, but nothing to Lecan.

Floor 5 had White Frost Princesses, and Floor 6 had Dark Sprites.

It couldn't be, thought Lecan but Floor 7 had Hollow Shrieks, Floor 8 White Frost Princesses and Floor 9 Dark Sprites yet again.

Lecan was fed up.

The fight is boring and there's nothing to gain.

He can't even test out <Apparition Cutter>.

(Still.)

(You've no hope of exploring this dungeon if you cannot cast offensive and defensive magic.)

(And the magic those Dark Sprites cast on Floor 9 were no joke.)

(This is a dungeon for mages, exclusively even.)

As he took the stairway to floor 10, Lecan thought that the next floor would probably have more powerful Hollow Shrieks again.

(This is boring.)

(Gotta conquer this boring dungeon quick and get out.)

But a completely unexpected adversary awaited him on floor 10.