Chapter 79

Chapter 79

[Test 1][Time Remaining: 48 Hours]

Maria and I jump through the portal and enter a grassland dungeon. I can see 10 or so parties in front of us splitting off in all directions.

Not many people are using magic, they must be trying to conserve it for later.

We sprint forward and dive deep into the dungeon.

The grass is short, and there are patches of pink, yellow, and blue flowers. Occasional trees pop up into view, but they seem to be pretty rare.

After about 5 minutes of running, I hear a deep voice yelling out from behind us.

“HEY! You two, stop right there!!”

Maria and I turn our heads to see a massive bearded man chasing after us with a steel chest plate and an enormous silver sword. There are two shorter men behind him carrying swords as well. He keeps yelling.

“My first victims! Come here!!!”

His eyes are bloodshot and his teeth are showing through a malicious smile.

I take one look at Maria, she’s grinning ear to ear.

I nod.

We stop running and turn to the group of men chasing us. Maria runs forward at them and begins to glow bright blue.

It’s over in a matter of seconds....

She runs through them all leaving trails of ice in her tracks. With a single touch of her blade, they’re all frozen solid instantly. She turns to me and laughs.

The leader still has an angry look on his face with his mouth wide open mid-yell as he points his sword high in the air. He’s petrified in Ice standing upright with his dedicated followers frozen close behind him. They never saw it coming.

“I say we let them thaw out on their own.”

I laugh back at her.

“Good idea. Those Idiots chose the wrong party to blindly attack.”

We turn and continue running toward the back of the dungeon. A party approaches us from the rear as we’re leaving, but swerves away at the sight of Maria’s Ice sculptures. I turn to Maria mid-stride and point out the new party running away from us.

“This exam might be easier than we thought.”

“Hmmph, might be.”

Finally, about 20 minutes later we found our first monster. A horned rabbit... With a single kick, I easily killed it. It’s still cool to see a new monster species though.

They’re about half a meter tall and look like oversized muscular rabbits. They have bright white fur, red eyes, sharp jagged teeth, and a single brown horn protruding from their foreheads.

After the first one, I just ignored them moving forward. They’re all between levels 5 and 15. There isn’t much to worry about.

Another 20 minutes go by, and the hunters have really spread out a lot. I can only see one team in front of us far off in the distance, and none behind. That ice attack must have skewed the path people are willing to take....

As we continue, the party ahead of us starts becoming larger... No wait, we’re just getting closer. It seems they’ve stopped moving.

We approach them cautiously but do not change our speed.

At closer inspection, I can see it’s a team of 4. They’re all wearing matching silver armor with gold accents. Their under-suits are white and elegant... its really nice gear. They seem to be examining a few sheets of paper while trading magic items around on the ground. A man with long blond flowing hair and bright blue eyes steps out in front of the other three and yells to us.

“We do not wish to fight, but If we must... I shall destroy you.”

Out of curiosity, I use inspect and appraisal.

[Lv. 275]

Active Items:

[Steel Sword] +300 Strength

[Enchanted Armor Set] +600 Defense

[Dragon Scale Pendant] +50% Mental Strength

[Rodrigo’s Silver Bracelet]

Active Skills:

Combat Magic [Barrier Summoning]

Swordsmanship

I grin.

“Now here’s a real opponent. Maria, I want this one.”

She steps back.

*CLANGGG*

His sword smashes into the hard crystal armor and his eyes open wide in disbelief.

Maria gasps as she sees my defense out of the corner of her eye while instinctively putting up her own shield of Ice to block the woman’s ambush of daggers.

I face the man standing in front of me, he stands over 205cm tall, wearing makeshift leather armor, and deep scars on his face.

I use inspect and appraisal.

[Lv. 258]

Active Items:

[Heavy Iron Long Sword] +200 Strength

[Heavy Iron Shield] +250 Defense

[Enchanted Leather Armor Set] +200 Defense

[Rodrigo’s Silver Bracelet]

Active Skills:

Extreme Strength

Buffs:

[+35% Speed & Agility]

I smile and raise my sword pointing it at the large man’s head.

“You call that an ambush?”

He grunts and stares me down while beginning to glow orange. A new Buff appears in his appraisal stats.

[+50% Strength]

I grin.

“Interesting...”

The team member behind him must have a speed and agility party-wide buff skill, while he has his own strength buff skill. Unfortunately for him... it’s not going to be enough.

I ignite into flames and look the man straight in the eyes. I activate berserker and intimidation.

“ATTACK THEM N-“

He stops yelling mid-sentence and freezes with fear. My vision tunnels and I charge forward.

*SHINGGGG*

Without hesitation, I slice him in two then stab the short red-haired buff caster through the chest in the same attack.

Instantly, they both dematerialize into a flash of white light.

“So that’s how the bracelets really work.... Good to know.”

I turn to see Maria facing off against the dagger-wielding woman. Her eyes open wide as she sees her teammates easily obliterated.

Maria places her hand on the ground and releases a wave of Ice. The woman turns to run as the frost creeps up her ankles. She lets out a scream and drops her daggers before turning into a glistening white statue. Maria walks over to her and slashes the ice into a million little pieces. The white light appears again, indicating she’s been sent back to her party members.

I think to myself for a moment. If I really killed them, I’d be able to absorb their skills. So it looks like I won’t be getting to farm skills that easily today...

Maria speaks up.

“Hey look! That woman left her weapons!”

She bends down and picks up the two black daggers off the ground. I use Appraisal.

[Enchanted Dagger Set] +250 Strength +250 Agility

I nod.

“Nice. I guess they’re yours now. Looks like you have to be holding your items to be transported with them.”

Maria smiles and places the daggers into her item box, then points her sword in the air toward the back of this new dungeon.

“Let’s go! I hope we get to fight some stronger opponents soon. Monsters or Humans, I don’t care.”

She starts walking forward.

I nod and follow.

“I’m sure the higher we climb, the more challenging this test will become.”