Chapter 97 91: Deep Down Dive (2)

My hair fluttered and slapped against my face as I swam down the air. In the distance, I could see the oversized sun letting out a gentle light in this underground labyrinth.

"Should I cut my hair?" I spoke, twisting my back toward the ground to reduce the pressure on my mouth.

"You said everyone gets transferred to a random spot but isn't the sky too much?" She had floated down to my back and tried to push me up, but failed within seconds and decided to pester me instead.

Still falling, I casually chatted with her.

"They said there's a one in a thousand chance you'll be transferred to the sky, even lesser chance of being so high up."

"So you're the paragon of bad luck, huh?"

"How rude!"

It wasn't wrong though.

Seeing as I was getting closer to the grasslands below, I turned again and stretched my hands outward.

My mana flowed out of my palms and took the form of an ethereal magic circle. Sigils formed around the two-layered magic circle as it started spinning.

The first of the two concentric circles of a magic circle decided the series it belonged to. Elemental.

And the second, smaller one defined its attribute. Wind.

Rapid calculations passed through my mind in the form of runic language and marks as I defined everything for the spell, from the intensity to the force.

"[Wind Magic: Torrent]"

The magic circle glowed brightly and a crashing wave of wind spread through it. Large gusts of air pushed against the fluttering blades of grass now right above my nose before my body was impacted by the spinning torrent. The momentum of the fall was gently counteracted by the wind as it lifted my body and placed me down on the ground like a precious vase.

I smirked at my display and dusted my hands, prompting the torrent to fade away.

The grass under my feet was crushed and bent, but the long strands of green everywhere else reached all the way up to my waist. With a hand on my forehead, I peered into the distance.

And the stretch of grass just went on... and on... and on...

As far as the eye could see, under the watchful gaze of the disgustingly in-proportionate clouds and the plastic skies, the blades of grass stretched to the horizon.

"Now... how do we go around this?" Titania strutted over to my head and sat idly as I moved through the grasslands. Pushing the grass away with my hands, I took quick steps ahead. I had brought along enough resources to last me a month and then a week thanks to the receptionist of the guild, but I wanted to go past the first ten floors today itself.

The terrain of the Deep Down Dive changed every ten floors and so did the difficulty. They had said a copper-ranked adventurer would struggle against the boss of the grasslands on floor ten, so staying here was useless for me.

"The stars to the lower floors changes spots randomly as well."

"Ehhhh? Isn't that too difficult right off the bat? Should I transfer you out?" The main reason an adventurer needed a 'system' was the emergency escape feature. Since a dungeon was not only dangerous but a place where the gods' powers didn't reach, the main thing the system did down here was to guide the people to conquer these places.

Thankfully, I studied well on this place.

"There's an easy way," I said. "The entrance to the lower floors is always in monster settlements."

Just as I said that, a low growl entered my ears.

I turned to the side and saw rows of brownish-red fur mixed in with the blades of grass. A bony club glimmered as the monster slowly and steadily tried to sneak up on me.

The monster lowered its stance as it stopped right next to me.

I turned and crossed my arms as I stared at the being, a smile emerging from my lips.

"No matter what world," I said. "A mixture of a goblin and dog, Kobolds and their incomprehensible faces are a staple of fantasy."

The Kobold growled, noticing me.

"I think you're the only one who finds it 'incomprehensible'?" Titania remarked.

And the monster leaped up at me. It raised its bone club high in the air and swung it toward my face.

Yes, a Kobold made sense as a starting monster.

Just before it could land its attack, I opened my eyes and glared at the Kobold.

Both my cores twisted and turned as the mana in the air bent to the shape of my killing intent, all of it pointing at the monster.

The Kobold stopped in its tracks, its club nigh but touching my face.

In seconds, the monster trembled. Its legs quaked as tremors of fear spread through its body.

"Hmph."

At a single scoff, the Kobold turned on its heels and started walking. It desperately pushed away the blades of grass and rushed ahead, trying to get away from me.

"Let's go," I said. "We found a guide."

Titania broke into a laughing fit as I followed the Kobold through the patches of grass. Eventually, the one Kobold grew into two, then four, then eight, and soon enough, I was at the settlement of the Kobolds.

Not a single of those monsters was spared from trembling as the original Kobold showed me the way down to the next floor.

"Good," I said and waved my hands. The staircase made of stones was definitely something Kobolds could do as a trap. The Kobolds backed away at my gesture and I slowly started descending the slanted stairs. The sight of the previous floor disappeared as I moved into the dark ground.

Further down the stairs, a light emerged as the brown dirt of the ground disappeared. The sight of the stairs grew paler until they grew almost transparent as I kept moving down and down. I passed by the hole in the ground.

And the world lit up again.

All of a sudden, the sky stretched out in front of my eyes once more. This time, slightly different from the one before.

The stairs below grew transparent as they curved in a spiral all the way to the ground. Far and far away in all directions, a dozen or so more transparent staircases reflected a few glimmers of the artificial sunlight.

Titania got off my head and started floating down the spiral staircase.

Walking down the skies one step at a time, I took in the breathtaking scenery and descended to the ground.

"Not bad for something fake," I muttered.

"Aw you liar, you thought the stairs are quite amazing, right?" Titania playfully poked my cheeks and turned my gaze away.

With a sigh, I continued walking around until I found another Kobold, and the same process repeated.

Second floor.

Third floor.

Fifth floor.

Ninth floor.

The stretch of the land grew narrower with each floor that passed, and at last, I was in a space no bigger than a kilometer in diameter. The same fake sky and sun still loomed overhead as only one set of transparent staircases led down here.

As soon as I jumped off the last step, a translucent window appeared in front of my eyes.

"Get ready, Eugy," Titania muttered.

[Deep Down Dive - 1st Field Boss]

A loud, ear-splitting scream entered my ears.

From the distance, a five meters tall giant monster rose from the blanket of green.

[Kobold King - Difficulty Class B]

That was at a level higher than the Griffon that Keith captured all those years ago.

The monster's gaze landed on me. Drool trickled from its fangs as it lowered the two clubs as tall as me in both his hands.

I scoffed and reached into my spatial bag, taking out a pair of white gloves.

I tossed my bag aside and put on the gloves.

"GRRRRAAAH!" The Kobold King raged.

Its forelegs landed on the ground. Its muscles clenched.

And in the next moment, the Kobold King shot through the skies and came rushing at me.

The Kobold King's fangs spread and its face reached close to me—

—I swung my hand and slapped it across the face.

"Awooo??!" The Kobold King returned to its ancestral roots as it flew away.

"Oooh!" Titania screamed. "W-was that a special technique from those age-old dramas!?"

I adjusted my gloves and smiled. The Dog-man monster on the ground was a female.

"How did you like my special technique, the Bitch Slap?"