Chapter 288 Preparations In Netherrealm: Dungeon Of Death

I moved towards that ghost and upon sensing my presence near him; he started coming down before floating towards me. Just like last time, a robotic voice was heard,

"Young Traveller. Are you sure you want to proceed into the Dungeon of Death? You may not die, but the odds of winning against the monsters deep down below are near impossible."

I nodded as I answered,"yes. I would like to try my luck here."

"Very well then. Place your hand on the tablet and repeat after me. Arkame…" then he started chanting something in an unknown language and placing my hand on the tablet I started repeating the chanting after him.

The more I chanted, the more intensely the tablet glowed and before I knew it, the scenery changed into a wide open grassland. It reminded me of the area where I took my test at Arcadia Academy. Though the prevalent Death Energy around me told me that it wasn't that place.

Soon a mild drizzle began coming down. Dark clouds covered the sky and the whole area turned dimmer as a single monster rose from the ground in front of me.

It was a dark monster, with death aura oozing out of him and looking at him, I felt nostalgic as the scenery refreshed my memory.

This was barely a SS Grade monster, with some skills with the longsword.

"Let's begin then," I muttered with a smile as I moved forward, holding my Deaths of Duality, and easily slashed him into three pieces before absorbing him into my sword.

The floor didn't exactly change, but the atmosphere turned a bit darker with the rain now coming down heavier than before. Soon, two more dark knights rose in front of me.

'Floor 2, huh?' I thought as I slashed those monsters too and absorbed them as well. With each floor, the rain began coming down harder, and the area turned completely dark with anything barely visible around.

On floor 5, there were 5 knights and even though the environmental factors were there, it wasn't really hard to beat them as well.

Floor 6 was different with only one SSS dark knight being there, though it wasn't as hard as well. Easily killing and absorbing him too, I reached floor 7.

The scene changed this time. There was no exact footing this time, as bits of ground were floating in the sky. Soon, a white knight similar to the previous black one started rising from the clouds below and floated in front of me.

'SSS Rank, huh?' I thought as I prepared myself to jump at him, observing him slowly moving towards me with his stance changing into an attack.

-Boom!

-Slash! In a single jump, I slashed him into two, before absorbing his energy as well. Even though he was a white knight, he too carried dark energy inside him; just like every being in the Netherrealm.

The floating bits of islands started falling down as two more white knights started rising and just like last time

-Slash!

-Slash!

I killed them as well before absorbing them. With my base strength at S4 level, monsters like them were not even worth sweating over.

Floor 9 to 11 were the same as before, with monsters increasing and floating islands getting lesser and lesser before finally only a single island was left to stand.

Floor 12.

A stronger white knight with two wings on his back came in front of me. Judging by the dark aura he had, he should be around S4 level.

'Since I am just practising my skills here, I think I should start fighting without using any energy for the time being,' I decided before jumping at him with pure strength and skills.

He too flew towards me and I parried his attack swiftly, before using his body to jump back on the sole floating ground in the area.

As soon as I reached back on the ground, I turned around to find him almost behind me and, using the Deaths of Duality, I parried his attack before trying to cut his body in two. It wasn't possible with how much of a defensive armour he had on, so it basically just grazed him.

'Hmmm… guess, I need to get in a direct attack on its weak spot to even have a chance here,' I thought as I stopped and took a good look at him.

After receiving the minor scratch over his armour, he turned around and started slashing the air, sending waves of dark energy at me.

Not much bothered by it, I began absorbing it using my blades, until he decided to come at me himself.

A few moments passed and soon I saw him coming at me himself. This time, not letting the chance go, I took my stance and let him come extremely close to me. When he was just an inch away from me, I took one step to the side, used the chains of my blade to bind him and then used my strength alone…

"Hupp!!!" stopped him from flying. I wanted to kill him using my sword, but I guess I got bored by this and decided to end it in a less flashy way. Normally he could have escaped the chains, but because the chains were rapidly absorbing his energy, he became really weak within moments.

Then I simply tightened those chains around his neck, breaking it with a crisp sound and killing him then and there.

Soon the island began falling down as well, and I found myself falling in the air before…

-Splash!!!

I hit the water soon drowning deep underwater.

'How many times has it been that I let myself drown freely in the water, huh? It's three already,' I thought as I recalled the first time when I died and the last time in the previous dungeon.

The key to getting to the next floor is actually letting yourself fall freely before you reach the other side of the sea and the gravity turns upside down for you. Last time I kept fighting against drowning for over 3 days before finally giving up.

Soon I reached the bottom of the sea and came out from the other side with the gravity turned upside down for me.

Well, what I felt like was simply that I got out of water on my own. Nothing more than that.

Soon, I saw a bare island in front of me at a distance, I started swimming towards it.

'Floor 13, huh? Well, the real challenge begins from here,' I thought as I kept swimming towards the island.