endless path, infinite cosmos

chapter 81

Vahn awoke and began his fourth day within the dungeon's depths. He had noticed he required much less sleep after obtaining his upgraded 'eternal flame', so Vahn had only rested for fives hour before he continued into the 16th floor. Much like the 15th, the 16th floor consisted mainly of minotaurs, but they were now roaming in larger groups with other monsters.

After the previous days of constant fighting, Vahn had begun to adapt to his Baihu quite a bit. Because of the perception provided by his domain and the increased senses of the form, Vahn had a much easier time navigating around the dungeon at high speeds than most people. While other agility fighters had to rely on their senses and spacial awareness to out-maneuver foes, Vahn essentially had a map within his mind and could 'feel' everything within 70m.

Vahn had even begun to adopt a more feral combat style and had unequipped his boots to get better traction due to the transformed state of his feet. Whenever he was tired or wanted to get a better vantage, he was able to use his claws to stick to walls and jump around while easily evading enemies. At this point, Vahn relied almost entirely on his physical abilities to deal with monsters without the use of any weapons.

The 16th floor seemed to be somewhat larger than the previous floors, and Vahn had already been training/hunting for seven hours before coming to a massive room. Moments after entering, Vahn's instincts started sending danger signals to his brain which put him on high alert. Before taking another step, he immediately vaulted backward toward the wall and leaped off of it after creating a foothold with his claws. Within three seconds, Vahn had scaled the entire wall before coming to a stop on the roof. Vahn embedded his claws deeply into the surface and observed his surroundings.

Several cracks began to emerge all over the massive room and holes opened within the surface. From a strange purple-red void, dozens of Minotaurs began pouring out and began looking around. Vahn recognized this phenomenon from the compendium's danger section. When a group or party had excessively hunted within the dungeon it would cause an event known as a monster party. The 'monster party' could consist of hundreds of monsters and has been known to wipe out entire expeditions if they were unprepared.

Vahn began counting each Minotaur and, by the time they stopped spawning, there were a total of 73 that he could sense within his domain. Luckily the spawn rate was directly tied to the size of a party or Vahn might have had to deal with far greater numbers. As a lone adventurer, what could have been several hundred monsters had been reduced to a relatively small amount.

The Minotaurs continued looking around for their 'prey' which was nowhere in sight. When Vahn had stuck himself to the roof he had also activated his stealth skill, so they were unable to sense his presence at all. Since the roof was nearly 34m high, none of the monsters had thought to look in his direction since exiting the 'portals' from earlier. Vahn watched them idle around as if they were confused, while some even began smashing rocks or places that could have been hiding spots.

Vahn continued to watch them for an entire hour as he began to wonder if they would ever despawn or wander away from the area. He had never seen monsters stay in one spot for so long, so he was curious if there was some mechanism keeping them within the room or making them aware that he hadn't left. Suddenly, Vahn was inspired by an idea that passed through his mind.

Wedging his feet firmly into the roof, he allowed himself to drop upside down and hang from the ceiling. It was a very disorienting feeling to hand upside down and Vahn spent a few seconds trying to adjust his mental state before drawing out his bow. Ever since his encounter with the Juggernaut, Vahn had wanted to get some practice using his [Call of the Reaper] skill and found this to be an excellent opportunity to do so.

Taking aim, Vahn knocked an arrow and loosed it towards one of the Minotaur in the periphery of the group. As it had done so during his encounter with the Juggernaut, the arrow turned completely invisible and if not for his domain, even Vahn wouldn't be able to sense it. The arrow penetrated through the back of the Minotaur's head before it's entire body turned to dust. As Vahn had become extremely accustomed to fighting them, he had long since discovered the location of their core and it's weak spots.