Raka staggered, its movements slowing as the damage took its toll. The crowd's cheers reached a crescendo, the arena vibrating with excitement. Lyrian didn't let up, pushing forward with renewed energy. He delivered a series of swift unenhanced kicks, targeting the weakened spots on Raka's body.
The mighty creature fought back, its scythes swinging erratically, but its movements were becoming sluggish. Lyrian's persistence paid off as he managed to disarm Raka, sending one of the scythes flying across the arena with a precise kick.
With a final, powerful Enhanced strike, Lyrian severed the chain holding the scythe to Raka's hand, causing the weapon to clatter to the ground. The Magma Dweller wavered, its strength finally giving out. Lyrian swiftly ran up to it and delivered the final blow, slamming his foot into the beast's stomach as it was sent flying several feet before skidding to a stop.
The arena erupted in cheers, the crowd's excitement unmatched. Lyrian stood victorious, his chest heaving as he caught his breath. He glanced around, realizing that he had earned the respect and admiration of the Magma Dwellers.
As the cheers subsided, Lyrian thought to himself, 'That wasn't good. I'm too tired after just one fight... what if I have to do this several more times. I think instead of prolonged fights like this, using more mana to quickly finish off my opponents is the correct way.'
A short rest of a few seconds occurred, as a teal light suddenly began to shimmer in the middle of the arena. Lyrian quickly made his way there to realize another key and keyhole had formed there. Taking the key with his mouth, he put it into the key and clicked it sideways again.
Just like before, the floor beneath him started to glow in the teal-colored light, as it quickly engulfed him. In the next second, he was inside an identical room to the one he was transported to last time as well.
***
A moment later, Leon also defeated his opponent. It was a beast that wielded a giant hammer and had the body of an enormous gorilla, but with a swift motion, he severed its head with the attack, "Iron Blitz."
Arriving at the next arena, he saw that the floor he was in... was 86.
***
Alten defeated his opponent as well, but narrowly. It was only a rabbit Magma Dweller, but for Alten who wasn't nearly as strong as his teammates, it was still a struggle. Moving on, he arrived at the final 100th floor.
***
Finally, Lyrian stepped out of his room as another cheer sounded from the crowd. Last time, he was too preoccupied with the fight to notice that there was a number on the wall below the king's seat box.
His number read: 2
[Room 1/100 completed!]
[Defeat the Floor Ruler and retrieve the key to enter the next floor]
His mouth gaped slightly as he heard this from Gear, 'I can't do it... there's no way.' He thought to himself.
If he was to have to fight something as powerful as Raka once again, especially with his hands cuffed, there was no way he was going to have the mana, let alone stamina, to get that done.
Looking forward at his opponent, however, he realized that it was much smaller than the previous Magma Dweller. It was a reindeer on its hind legs, holding a simple bow.
"Huh? That's it?" He said, not feeling any dangerous mana coming from it either.
With one swift motion, he dashed towards the creature and slammed his Enhanced noggin into its head, cracking the armor on its body as its magma eyes rolled back into its head.
Just like that, the following key presented itself, with a roar from the crowd. Lyrain neared the key, "I see... it seems that the creature strength levels are random. If that's the case, I have a chance." A grin formed on his face as he entered the next floor.
[Room 2/100 completed!]
[Defeat the Floor Ruler and retrieve the key to enter the next floor]
...I think you should take a look at
[Room 3/100 completed!]
[Defeat the Floor Ruler and retrieve the key to enter the next floor]
...
[Room 4/100 completed!]
[Defeat the Floor Ruler and retrieve the key to enter the next floor]
...
[Room 5/100 completed!]
...
ραndαsnοvεl.cοm [Room 6/100 completed!]
..
[Room 7/100 completed!]
.
[Room 8/100 completed!]
[Room 9/100 completed!]
Just like this, Lyrian quickly advanced to the 10th floor. Although he was a bit tired, he was confident as ever. His opponents through the 9 floors were mostly weak, but some were a slight challenge. Nonetheless, he easily advanced past them using high amounts of mana toward the stronger beasts in order to preserve his stamina.
Although preserving mana seemed smarter, that wasn't exactly the case here. In a battle of endurance, no mana would mean that Lyrian still had a chance with his basic ability, but no stamina meant death. With the inability to move, no Enhanced attack would be worthwhile.
Finally, as he began walking out into the arena on the tenth floor, he noticed that the aura of the place felt different than before. Stepping out, he noticed that the crowd wasn't nearly as cheerful as before, instead, many looked to have concerned expressions on their faces.
Lyrian finally witnessed his opponent, a Magma Dweller whose body was that of a giant snow leopard. It was no smaller than a rhino, and standing up on its hind legs, it looked menacing. Its feline stripes still covered its body but with magma instead of fur.
By taking a single glance at it, Lyrian could simply feel the mana exuding from the beast.
*Ding* [The Dungeon Quests' first boss has arrived]
[Defeat the Mini-Boss: Jaqu; in order to advance onto the next floor]
As soon as Lyrain stepped within a 100-meter radius of the beast, it unleashed a higher amount of killing intent directed toward him. This spread around a little bit as well, silencing the nearby crowd.
Not wanting to be outdone, Lyrian challenged the arrogant beast with a taste of its own medicine. Allowing both Garmr and Zuuc to show their own respective bloodlusts, he combined it with his own and unleashed a powerful wave of spiritual energy that quickly shot toward the Magma Dweller's body.
In the very next moment, it stopped releasing its killing intent, its eyes slightly widened in shock as it unsheathed a spear attached to its back slowly.