endless path, infinite cosmos

chapter 28

Vahn made his way through the first floor of the dungeon and followed the stairs down to the entrance of the fifth floor. Since he was able to outperform the efforts of a party of level 1 adventurers, he decided the first four floors were no longer capable of tempering his skills.

Entering the fifth floor, the first thing he noticed was the change in the layout of the dungeon. The walls had become a light green color, and there was a murky patchwork of browns along the ground. The phosphorescence coming from the walls had changed from the gentle blue of the previous floors to a luminous green.

Progressing further along the path, Vahn came across his first group of monsters of the fifth floor. Hopping around about 13m away was a total of three 'Frog Shooters'. They were each about 120cm tall and possessed a singular large eye. Their name came from how they attacked their enemies by 'firing' their tongue with enough force to shatter stone. For those unfortunate enough to take a direct hit, broken bones were often considered light injuries.

Vahn took a deep breath before activating [Will of the Emperor] and drawing his sword. He increased his pace with each step as he began to close the distance to the three monsters.

Shuddering after being encompassed by Vahn's domain, the three 'frog shooters' tried opening a gap with the approaching human. The closest one to Vahn's position tried to launch its tongue to halt his advance. Vahn rewarded its efforts by severing its tongue before using the momentum of his charge to press forward and bisect the now wailing frog.

The remaining two attempted to aid their ally by attacking from Vahn's flanks, but he was able to dodge both surprise attacks by swiftly side-stepping between their trajectories. In less time than it took for them to retract the tongues, they saw the human approach with a deadly arc trailing behind his imposing figure.

Vahn exhaled. He had managed to slay all three 'frog shooters' without taking a second breath. In total, less than six seconds had passed between the moment he drew his sword and the monsters had turned to dust.

Vahn began to understand the principles behind [Will of the Emperor] somewhat. Though it didn't seem to offer an increase to his numerical stats, it most certainly enhanced his speed, strength, and perception to monstrous levels while active. There was a distinct difference between his capabilities with and without the skill, even though it didn't reflect within the parameters of the system.

It was also important to note that, though his stats hadn't increased since his last venture into the dungeon the radius of his domain had grown from around 21 meters to 37 meters. It seemed to directly correlate to the strength of his conviction and desire to grow stronger.

After slaying more than 40 'frog shooters', Vahn found his way to the next floor and immediately pressed onwards. He had been using [Will of the Emperor] intermittently instead of keeping it active at all times. Though he knew it likely affected his growth, Vahn wanted to increase his pace until he was able to reach a floor where he could put his current skills to the test. He used the time between activations to recover any mana that had been consumed during the skills use.

Entering the sixth floor Vahn continued slaying every 'frog shooter' he came across. Though he was able to improve his footwork by dodging the tongues, he ended up swapping out his sword for his bow to increase the efficiency of clearing the floor. The large eyes of the frogs were the perfect target for honing his archery skills, and he was able to gain some experience predicting the trajectory of movements brought about by the synergy between [Bow Mastery] and [Will of the Emperor].

An hour into the floor Vahn began to slow his pace. He had not come across a single 'frog shooter' for the last ten minutes and the phosphorescence of the surrounding area had progressively darkened over time. Giving in to his instincts, Vahn activated his domain to its maximum potential.