Hero Of Harmony

Chapter 115: Monster Horde

Walking beside Yuki, we took the pathway leading down to the sixth floor, and just like the previous floors, minus the fifth one, we were first met with a fork in the dungeon with several different paths to take, though Yuki didn't think much about it and took the rightmost path, while I followed along. After a little bit of time had passed, the dungeon corridors were even larger than the previous flowers, causing me to raise an eye as my first thought was we'd be forced to face more enemies, though before I could ask Yuki, through the use of my [Heroes Gaze], I saw a gargoyle emerging from the wall to my left.

It was a good deal smaller than the one Yuki and I just fought and also much slower, so when it arrived within striking distance, I swiftly unholstered Trina and slashed at the monster's neck with such speed the gargoyle wasn't even given enough time to dodge; however, considering how the gargoyle we previously fought was still alive after being destroyed into tiny bits, it might not have been a death blow. Either way, it seems my assumption was wrong since after I decapitated the gargoyle, its entire body crumbled into small stones right before my feet, alerting Yuki, who quickly looked behind her with her shields.

"It's fine; I just took care of it; though it did surprise me, I wasn't expecting to start facing gargoyles." Remarked Alexander lightly as he looked at the stones at his feet before glancing at Yuki, unholstering Zartha, preparing for battle.

"Gargoyle? They're a rare find on the sixth floor, though they became increasingly more common the further we descend." Said Yuki with furrowed brows as she glanced at the dead monster before ignoring it and continuing forward while warily eyeing their surroundings.

"Speaking of that, is it normal for us not to have encountered any other adventurers? There is almost always a small line outside the dungeon entrance every time I see it, so I expected to come across a few people, yet it's been just you and I this entire time." Asked Alexander curiously as he glanced at Yuki while spotting a licker stalking them from above, only for him to launch a wind blade at it, yet to his surprise, it managed to leap out of the way.

'Eh, that's weird.' Mused Alexander as he attacked again with a wind blade by swinging one of his greatswords, yet the monster managed to dodge again.

Confused as to why this licker was dodging something it shouldn't have been able to, I inspected its status, only to stupidly hit my head as I launched a third [Wind Blade] at it, though, unlike the previous two times, I used more strength, causing it to try and dodge, but it wasn't fast enough.

'Haa, I'm stupid; we've just beaten a guardian; of course, the monsters would receive a jump in strength. If I had to guess, it's roughly 50% stronger than the lickers on the previous floors, still weaker than the gargoyle, but that's still a massive jump in strength.' Thought Alexander with furrowed brows as he eyed the monster's corpse, which had fallen to the ground, before catching back up with Yuki.

"I wouldn't say normal, but it's not uncommon to have an expedition into a dungeon and not encounter anyone; you've seen all the different pathways there are to take; like most dungeons, this place is like a labyrinthine, the only thing that's stopping people from getting lost is that this dungeon is linear. If it weren't for that, navigating this dungeon would be way hell of a lot harder and much more dangerous." Remarked Yuki seriously as she spotted a gargoyle lunge right at her, waiting for it to get close before powerfully swinging her shield at it, turning it into a pile of rocks instantly.

"That's good to know; my last dungeon was similar to this one, though it was significantly smaller, so there is that." Said Alexander with a nod as his ear twitched at the sound of shuffling feet and groaning around the tight corner.

Turning the corner with Yuki, we instantly came to a halt as we were met with a wall of zombies blocking the path forward; given our statures, Yuki and I could see over them, but that didn't help much since the horde of zombies seemed to continue for as far as the eye could see, not to mention numerous lickers were scaling the ceiling, along with even a few gargoyles lining the walls of the dungeons. To top it all off, there were a couple of massive zombies, and after a quick inspection of their status, I concluded they were elite monsters, which was the first time I'd seen any of them inside this dungeon.