THE EARTH DRAGONS OF THE LOWER STRATUM
I eat.
And eat.
And eat.
I’m no longer making any effort to hide it.
I bite down heartily and suck up the insides.
So that I can eat it all up.
<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Satiation LV 3] has become [Satiation LV 4].>
<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Divinity Expansion LV 5] has become [Divinity Expansion LV 6].>
I went on a rampage in the Lower Stratum.
I was trying to vent all the anger built up inside me.
Weak monsters, strong monsters, I hunted them down equally.
In the process, I had an unexpected reunion.
Earth dragon Kagna.
The second earth dragon I met in the Lower Stratum.
Huh? You wanna know if I fought it?
Buddy, take a look at its stats and then try asking me that again.
<Earth dragon Kagna
LV 26
Status:
HP: 4,198/4,198 (green)
SP: 2,798/2,798 (yellow)
Average Offensive Ability: 3,989 (details)
Average Magical Ability: 1,837 (details)
Average Speed Ability: 1,225 (details)
MP: 3,339/3,654 (blue)
: 2,995/3,112 (red)
Average Defensive Ability: 4,333 (details)
Average Resistance Ability: 4,005 (details)
Skills:
[Earth Dragon LV 2]
[Imperial Scales LV 9]
[Hard Armor LV 8]
[Steel Body LV 8]
[HP Rapid Recovery LV 6]
[MP Recovery Speed LV 2]
[MP Lessened Consumption LV 2]
[Magic Power Perception LV 3]
[Magic Power Operation LV 3]
[SP Recovery Speed LV 1]
[SP Lessened Consumption LV 1]
[Terrain Enhancement LV 8]
[Destruction Enhancement LV 8]
[Piercing Enhancement LV 6]
[Impact Super-Enhancement LV 5]
[Magic Power Attack LV 1]
[Terrain Attack LV 9]
[Hit LV 3]
[Danger Perception LV 10]
[Heat Perception LV 6]
[Earth Magic LV 2]
[Destruction Resistance LV 9]
[Cutting Super-Resistance LV 2]
[Piercing Super-Resistance LV 3]
[Impact Super-Resistance LV 6]
[Shock Super-Resistance LV 4]
[Terrain Nullification]
[Fire Resistance LV 3]
[Lightning Resistance LV 7]
[Water Resistance LV 3]
[Wind Resistance LV 5]
Heavy Resistance LV 2]
[Status Condition Super-Resistance LV 8]
[Rot Resistance LV 3]
[Pain Nullification]
[Pain Super-Mitigation LV 3]
[Vision Enhancement LV 3]
[Night Vision LV 10]
[Vision Expansion LV 4]
[Auditory Enhancement LV 1]
[Ultimate Life LV 2]
[Magic Hoard LV 3]
[Instant Body LV 1]
[Endurance LV 1]
[Herculean Strength LV 9]
[Stronghold LV 2]
[Monk LV 2]
[Sanctum LV 1]
[Acceleration LV 1]
Skill Points: 31,200
Titles:
[Monster Slayer]
[Monster Slaughterer]
[Dragon]
[Champion]
>
No way in hell!
With those skills, this thing’s defense is way too perfect.
It’s basically a walking castle.
Sure, my stats are a little lopsided, too, but these skills are totally specialized in defense.
To start with, we’ve got the default dragon skill, Imperial Scales, which grants high defense and magic-canceling power.
Then, throw in Hard Armor and Steel Body for even higher defense.
Both are constantly active skills that simply raise your defense.
Thanks to those, its already high defense power is skyrocketed even more.
And THEN, there’s that huge mess of resistance skills.
I don’t think I could put a dent in this thing.
The most annoying of those resistances is Status Condition Super-Resistance.
It’s an advanced version of the Status Condition Resistance skill the fire dragon had.
My main weapon is status condition attacks, so this is the worst possible scenario for me.
And it’s level 8, so pretty much no status condition is gonna work.
Poison, Paralysis, Curse, the whole shebang.
Oh yeah, apparently curses are categorized as status conditions.
Which means most of my Evil Eye skills won’t do anything, either.
Even putting that aside, the fact that poison won’t work seriously sucks.
I’ve always relied on poison, since the day I was born.
Not being able to use it is kind of a shock.
I’ve even brought down monsters with Poison Resistance before, but now, for the first time, my opponent’s defense is just too damn high.
It’s not like I wouldn’t be able to do any damage at all, but whatever I do manage would be healed up by HP Rapid Recovery in the blink of an eye.
Status conditions won’t work.
So what about physical attacks? Well, that’s even less likely.
My meager attack power could never break through that fortresslike defense.
Rot Attack might just do some damage, I guess, but whatever injuries my scythes could possibly cause would be like papercuts on Kagna’s giant body.
And Rot Attack is like a suicide bomb, so I can use it only once each with my left and right scythes.
Bring down that defense-heavy beast with two attacks?
Yeah, not gonna happen.
Percentage-wise, it’d probably damage me more than it would my target.
Even if I managed to break through its defense that way and do some damage, it’d still heal pretty quickly thanks to HP Rapid Recovery.
It seems pretty unfair for something with that high defense to also have a recovery skill.
Thanks to that, attacks from my Heavy Evil Eye won’t mean much, either.
If physical attacks and status conditions won’t work, then magic is my only option.
I guess I should count myself lucky that it doesn’t have a resistance for my best kind of magic, Dark.
But if I try to shave it down with that, its recovery and high defense might help it survive.
In which case, it might acquire the resistance skill partway through the battle, and its recovery could even start to outweigh the damage again.
If that happened, that’d be the end of it.
But, well, my magic stats are pretty crazy high, so I do think I could wear it all the way down.
The problem is, it could end up destroying me before I finish the job.
Looking at its skills, I’m guessing that Kagna’s strategy is to use the brute strength of its enormous body.
It does have the breath attack from the Earth Dragon skill and some low-level Earth Magic, but other than that, it doesn’t seem to have any major attack-based skills.
You could even say that those are its only long-distance attack options.
But wait! Don’t be so hasty.
Because it’s so giant, its body itself is basically one big weapon.
I mean, picture it.
A huge dragon charging at tiny little me, wanting to crush me underfoot.
Yikes.
Plus, its speed is 1,225, much higher than most of the monsters around here.
It just seems low because all its other stats are so high.
Of course, I pride myself on my speed, so it wouldn’t be able to catch up with me, but still.
This is all assuming there’s only one opponent.
<Earth dragon Gehre
LV 24
Status:
HP: 3,556/3,556 (green)
SP: 4,067/4,067 (yellow)
Average Offensive Ability: 3,433 (details)
Average Magical Ability: 1,343 (details)
Average Speed Ability: 4,122 (details)
MP: 2,991/2,991 (blue)
: 3,562/3,845 (red)
Average Defensive Ability: 3,874 (details)
Average Resistance Ability: 3,396 (details)
Skills:
[Earth Dragon LV 2]
[Imperial Scales LV 6]
[Hard Armor LV 2]
[Steel Body LV 2]
[HP Rapid Recovery LV 3]
[MP Recovery Speed LV 1]
[MP Lessened Consumption LV 1]
[Magic Power Perception LV 3]
[Magic Power Operation LV 3]
[SP Rapid Recovery LV 3]
[SP Minimized Consumption LV 3]
[Terrain Enhancement LV 8]
[Destruction Enhancement LV 9]
[Cutting Super-Enhancement LV 8]
[Piercing Super-Enhancement LV 4]
[Impact Super-Enhancement LV 8]
[Magic Attack LV 1]
[Terrain Attack LV 8]
[Dimensional Maneuvering LV 5]
[Hit LV 10]
[Evasion LV 10]
[Probability Correction LV 7]
[Danger Perception LV 8]
[Presence Perception LV 10]
[Heat Perception LV 7]
[Motion Perception LV 8]
[Earth Magic LV 2]
[Destruction Resistance LV 4]
[Cutting Resistance LV 8]
[Piercing Resistance LV 8]
[Impact Resistance LV 9]
[Shock Resistance LV 5]
[Terrain Nullification]
[Lightning Resistance LV 3]
[Status Condition Super-Resistance LV 3]
[Rot Resistance LV 1]
[Pain Nullification]
[Pain Mitigation LV 7]
[Vision Enhancement LV 7]
[Night Vision LV 10]
[Vision Expansion LV 5]
[Auditory Enhancement LV 5]
[Olfactory Enhancement LV 4]
[Taste Enhancement LV 3]
[Longevity LV 9]
[Magic Hoard LV 1]
[Ultimate Movement LV 2]
[Fortune LV 1]
[Herculean Strength LV 8]
[Sturdy LV 9]
[Monk LV 1]
[Talisman LV 8]
[Skanda LV 3]
Skill Points: 31,000
Titles:
[Monster Slayer]
[Monster Slaughterer]
[Dragon]
[Champion]
>
So, like, Kagna was, oh, I dunno, with another dragon.
Seriously, what the hell?
Unreal.
Who does that?
Of course I immediately ran away with Teleport.
I had no other choice, obviously.
I mean, how was I supposed to win that?
As if Kagna the walking fortress wasn’t enough, Gehre’s stats and Dimensional Maneuvering skill solidified it as a speed type.
They might as well be carrying a sign that says DO YOU WANT TO DIE?
No waaay.
Earth dragon Gehre was a pretty sleek-looking creature, similar to Araba.
It was huge, sure, but unlike the stout build of Kagna, it had a sharp, fast-looking form.
Plus, its speed stat is over 4,000.
As a bonus, its high perception and Evasion skills mean it would probably be really freaking hard to hit.
Actually, I automatically looked at its speed, but Gehre has pretty high defense, too.
Not as high as Kagna, of course, but it’s got high stats, support skills, and lots of resistances, with HP Rapid Recovery to boot.
So even if I did manage to hit it, it probably wouldn’t be hurt very much.
What kinda sick joke is this?
And that physical attack power is nothing to sneeze at, either.
Especially those blade things on its front legs.
I get the feeling I’d be sliced in two if it hit me with one of those.
Zipping around at high speed and swinging those blades…yeesh.
And of course, it’s got the standard built-in breath attack.
Still, its defense isn’t as high as Kagna, so I do think my attacks would connect if I managed to hit it.
Its speed is high and all, but I’m no slouch, either, and I’ve got higher Evasion and Hit power.
If I’m smart with my strategies, I could probably beat it in a fight.
If it was on its own, that is.
With both of them, Kagna could block all my attacks while Gehre goes on the offensive.
A pair that covers for each other’s weaknesses, like an invincible spear and shield combo.
They’d be difficult enough one-on-one, but both at once in such an ideal combination? Forget about it.
Anyway, I marked ’em both, so I’ll wait for them to split up before I make a move.
Marking is one of the effects of Wisdom. It lets me mark targets on my map.
As long as they’re marked, I can find their whereabouts no matter where they go.
Although if it’s somewhere I don’t know, the information is vague, like “somewhere around here.”
My map of the Lower Stratum isn’t filled up yet, but Kagna’s and Gehre’s markers stick together like glue.
It doesn’t look like they’ll be splitting up anytime soon.
Also, when I mark something, I can check its status whenever I want.
So if I keep an eye on that, I can teleport in and attack if I catch them at a weak moment.
Not that I’d imagine a pair of earth dragons to have “weak moments” very often.
By the way, turns out it’s impossible to prepare a spell beforehand, teleport, and then immediately release the spell on a target in front of you.
Even if you construct the spell beforehand, it falls apart as soon as you teleport.
It’s because of the nature of Teleport, not the user’s skill at constructing spells, so there’s nothing I can do about that.
Anyway, until those guys split up, I’ll go level up somewhere else.
There should still be at least one other earth dragon in the Lower Stratum, so maybe I can take care of that first.
Revenge on Araba, for example.
Thinking back, Araba’s the whole reason I’m scared of earth dragons to begin with.
It might not be bad to banish that trauma by beating it.
One-on-one, I think I could probably beat Kagna or Gehre.
In which case, since Araba seems to be a loner, couldn’t I beat it, too?
Hmm. Not a bad idea.
Anyway, it’d be dangerous to jump into battle without any preparation, so first I’d like to get a look at its stats.
Judging by Kagna and Gehre, earth dragons aren’t the kind of opponent you should just jump in and fight without a plan.
Besides, if I remember correctly, Araba was a higher level than Kagna.
I have to gather some data and come up with a strategy.
Which brings us to the present, back in the Lower Stratum.
I’m currently located near that memorable spot where I first fell down here from the Upper Stratum.
I could’ve just teleported directly to the bottom of the pit, but it’d be scary to run right into Araba if it’s there, so I went for a place a little ways away.
As it turns out, that was a good call.
<Elroe baraggish
LV 25
Status:
HP: 3,994/3,994 (green)
SP: 3,926/3,926 (yellow)
Average Offensive Ability: 3,875 (details)
Average Magical Ability: 2,999 (details)
Average Speed Ability: 3,827 (details)
MP: 3,011/3,011 (blue)
: 3,958/3,958 (red)
Average Defensive Ability: 3,821 (details)
Average Resistance Ability: 3,295 (details)
Skills:
[Imperial Scales LV 7]
[HP Rapid Recovery LV 4]
[MP Rapid Recovery LV 3]
[MP Minimized Consumption LV 3]
[Magic Power Perception LV 7]
[Magic Power Operation LV 7]
[SP Rapid Recovery LV 4]
[SP Minimized Consumption LV 4]
[Status Condition Super-Enhancement LV 8]
[Strong Acid Enhancement LV 7]
[Heavy Super-Enhancement LV 6]
[Destruction Enhancement LV 9]
[Piercing Super-Enhancement LV 4]
[Impact Super-Enhancement LV 10]
[Shock Super-Enhancement LV 10]
[Magic Power Attack LV 7]
[Deadly Poison Attack LV 10]
[Paralysis Attack LV 6]
[Strong Acid Attack LV 8]
[Heavy Super-Attack LV 8]
[Dimensional Maneuvering LV 1]
[Stealth LV 10]
[Camouflage LV 8]
[Silence LV 10]
[Odorless LV 7]
[Hit LV 10]
[Evasion LV 10]
[Probability Correction LV 8]
[Danger Perception LV 10]
[Presence Perception LV 8]
[Heat Perception LV 10]
[Motion Perception LV 10]
[Heavy Magic LV 5]
[Shadow Magic LV 4]
[Destruction Resistance LV 6]
[Cutting Resistance LV 9]
[Piercing Resistance LV 9]
[Impact Resistance LV 9]
[Shock Resistance LV 5]
[Earth Resistance LV 8]
[Dark Resistance LV 1]
[Status Condition Super-Resistance LV 9]
[Rot Resistance LV 4]
[Pain Nullification]
[Pain Mitigation LV 9]
[Vision Enhancement LV 7]
[Night Vision LV 10]
[Vision Expansion LV 7]
[Auditory Enhancement LV 5]
[Olfactory Enhancement LV 4]
[Taste Enhancement LV 3]
[Longevity LV 9]
[Magic Hoard LV 1]
[Ultimate Movement LV 2]
[Fortune LV 1]
[Herculean Strength LV 8]
[Sturdy LV 9]
[Monk LV 1]
[Talisman LV 8]
[Skanda LV 3]
Skill Points: 37,000
Titles:
[Monster Slayer]
[Assassin]
[Monster Slaughterer]
[Champion]
>
This guy looks like serious trouble.
I’m in one of the extra-wide passages in the Lower Stratum, but this thing’s huge, long body makes it look tiny and cramped. It’s an enormous snake monster, easily a dozen feet long.
It slides along unbelievably smoothly, considering how huge it is, without a single sound thanks to its Silence skill.
Oh, great.
This thing’s worse than Kagna or Gehre.
I’d definitely die if I try to fight this thing. No, thank you.
Actually, I mean, I don’t think I would necessarily NOT be able to do it, but my odds of winning are probably around half at best.
Based on its shape, I think it might be an evolved form of the snakes from the Upper Stratum.
The snakes were pretty strong for the Upper Stratum, so it’s no wonder that their evolved form would be even scarier.
I watch from just within Appraisal distance as the snake slithers away.
It’s heading for the pit I was about to go toward.
It’d be bad news if I followed it and ended up getting into a battle, so I think I’ll give up on the Araba recon mission for now.
I guess there are still monsters beyond my imagination here in the Lower Stratum. It was good to be reminded of that, probably.
Once it’s been long enough since the snake passed by, I’ll activate Teleport and go back home.
Even for me and my Height of Occultism skill, it takes a little while to use Teleport.
That thing had tons of perception-type skills, so I’m just gonna wait until it’s definitely far enough away that it won’t pick up on me using magic.
Boom!
I kinda hear, like…battle sounds?
Slowly peering in the direction the giant snake went, I can see it fighting something verrry far away.
This is the perfect time to use Telescopic Sight!
The image of the giant snake’s desperate battle expands to fill my vision.
Then I catch my breath.
It’s a dragon.
Darting around, manipulating the earth…an earth dragon.
The snake’s body undulates at an unexpected speed for its huge size.
It uses its giant weight and the pull of gravity to slam into its opponent with frightening force.
But the dragon dodges it easily, slipping across the ground and the air alike.
Spears of earth burst up from the ground, wounding the snake.
Its high defense prevented them from penetrating its skin, but they’re still definitely doing damage.
The snake tries to dodge the spears, but they burst out of the ground wherever it touches. With its giant body, it’s impossible to avoid them all.
The only way to avoid the attacks of this earth-controlling dragon would be to flee into the air.
But just as I think that, rocks fall from the ceiling.
This is a labyrinth, after all. We’re surrounded by earth on all sides, and to this dragon, all of it serves as a potential weapon.
Then the earth dragon uses itself as a weapon, too, charging at the snake.
Those fangs, those claws, and that tail as sharp as a sword.
The serpent is overwhelmed, completely at the mercy of the dragon.
Watching this scene unfold, to me, is beautiful.
That dragon is even stronger than I imagined.
There have been many times when I’ve thought I couldn’t possibly win.
Mother, D, Administrator Güliedistodiez.
However, although I was frightened by their strength, I never yearned for it.
Right now, I am truly yearning for that dragon’s power.
I want to surpass it, even.
Even I don’t know where this urge is coming from.
But for some reason, I feel like I need to fight it.
I’m not strong enough just yet.
But it’s not a height that’s beyond my reach.
So I’ll keep leveling up and rise to the challenge.
The giant snake gets hit with a breath attack and falls to the ground.
I know that breath very well.
Because, of course, I’ve experienced it for myself.
Remembering the fear I felt at that time, my body trembles again.
But it’s not just fear this time. Part of me is trembling with excitement.
The dragon tramples on the corpse of the snake.
I burn that powerful image into my brain before teleporting away.
I want to carve it into my brain until the day I finally challenge it.
The creature I have to surpass.
The source of my trauma.
The earth dragon Araba.
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