“So, who wants to be the first oo fight a challenge room?” I asked roup, when we reached the first floor challenge room.

  “I do! I do!” Alice offered.

  “Alice, why don’t you let someone else go first?” Christina was trying to hold her back, without directly saying no.

  “But I do it.” Alisisted.

  “Maybe we could use someone else to firm that nothing abnormal is going on first.” I said, to add an excuse to have someone else go first. I don’t want to stop Alice either, but as Christina was against having her go first, I’ll add this as an option.

  “Then should I do it?” Ria asked.

  “Madam, Sir. I don’t miher.” Cardo, our knight escort, offered.

  “Brian. Why don’t you just do it?” Lua asked, and everyouro look at me.

  “Yes. Brian should do it.” Alistantly agreed.

  “It would be iing to see.” Ria said. “You never actually fight yourself.”

  … yeah. There is a reason for that. I’m a summoner/support css, not a frontline fighter. Even if I at one point wao be.

  “You do it.” Lua said. “I know you beat them, even without summoning.”

  … That’s not fair. You ’t pressure me like that. Of course I want to try to show off in front of my girlfriend, especially if she asks for it.

  “... fine. I go first.”

  Holy speaking, I wasn’t afraid of dying. I have tons, two and a half tons, of HP. So even if I take some hits, I shouldn’t die. And we are on the first floor. Last time, the oppo was a group of five of the basic skeletons that roam this pce, so it should be no problem. Even with my ent skills. And if all else fails, I just rely on Hinotama or something else like that. Even if it hits me, I tank 500 damage no problem.

  Spoiler

  [colpse]

  “Christina, why don’t you open up Dungeon Master, so you all watch. You do it right?” I requested. I think she should be able to do it, as Dungeon Founder , but there might be a differen what the skills do.

  “Yes. I shall.”

  While Christina ening her skill, I got out my mithril sword and hyped myself up. Let’s hope this doesn’t backfire pletely. For safety reasons, I also got a Hinotama out of my colle and pced it in my pocket, so it would be ready to go.

  Holy, I was a little nervous. I never really thought about fighting solo like this. But at the same time, it is something that I should be able to do, at least on a basic level. My cards have weaknesses and one of them is their speed. Sure there won’t be a problem if I prepare in peace, but if I have to defend myself without preparations, all I’ll have are my set cards.

  … I should remove them before this, actually. Just so they won’t activate. I’ll leave the Nutrient Z and Draining Shield, as they likely won’t activate. Nutrient Z needs an attack that would have a power of over 2000 to activate, while Draining Shield only activates against ranged magic attacks, so her of them will be in the way when I fight skeletons.

  Spoiler[colpse]But my Threatening Roar and Sakuretsu Armor would activate, so I removed those two.

  Spoiler[colpse]

  (... Laura, you ready to go?) I firmed. I want all of my power avaible, that includes Laura hacks.

  (Always. Believe in yourself more, Brian. You do this.) She reassured me.

  (... I hope so. Most of my OP skills aren’t really something I use when I fight alone, without any of my summons. Even Unity won’t help in this fight.)

  (You still have telekinesis. That, and your sword, should be plenty against a few skeletons. You might eve your sword teique skill from this, as you are using your sword in an actual fight.)

  (... well, let’s hope so. But I’m not expeg that.)

  I got into the room and my oppos spawned in. Three skeletons. Two armed with bronze poles, and oh a bronze sword and shield. Not quite as expected, but not too far from it.

  The basic skeletons are E-rank monsters. Not to, but not goblins by any means. The better armed one was a D-rank skeleton knight. Skeleton knights could range in rank from D-rank all the way to B-rank, depending on their size and equipment, but this one was D-rank, the lowest, so I think I ha. It should be weaker than my Familiar Knight who was my teacher just a few days ago.

  “Okay. The small ones first.” I muttered to myself. (Laura, let’s use telekinesis to bother the knight.) I gave my idea to her.

  (Sure.) She responded.

  My telekinesis has been growing in power, and with the practice I’m putting in almost every day with Paulina, I’m getting more profit with it. Not to mention the level ups.

  pared to when I was just barely able to lift Paulina, now I could do it quite easily, as long as she didn’t resist. So I focused telekinesis on the skeleton knight to keep it from moving, and attacked one of the other skeletons.

  I was on the initiative, so I rushed at the skeleton and sshed at it with my sword. The skeleton blocked with its bronze pole, but because of the material difference, my sword cut about halfway through the pole. Holy, I’m a bit disappoihat I couldn’t cut it all the way.

  I took a quick jump backwards, so I could avoid the other skeletons' attack. I wish I could hold down two oppos with telekinesis, but that is just a bit too much for now. But I hawo skeletons. I’m sure of that. If I ’t even do that, then what kind of an adventurer am I?

  I threw a stab towards the sed skeleton, but holy, it was nothing but a faint. I wa to take up its guard, as it did. I then moved back to the first, and stabbed at it instead. Again, it tried to block with its pole, but as I have learned, you don’t block a stab. Well, you with a shield, but not with a sword or something like that pole. You have to either avoid it or parry it. With just a slight alteration to my swords directory, I was able to go past the pole and hit the skeleton's core in its chest. Getting stabbed into its oint, the core, the skeleton took massive damage, and couldn’t stay together, shattering to the ground.

  I turo the sed skeleton, who was raising his pole to strike at me. I probably won’t make it in time to block it, so maybe I should just tank the hit. It ’t do that much damage, right?

  I focused my efforts into getting a good hold of my sword, and positioning it so that I could strike back as soon as the skeleton hit me.

  The pole hit me in my left shoulder. It hurt, but it wasn’t terrible. I could definitely deal with this level of pain. I used my left arm to take a hold of the pole, so the skeleton could no longer move it, and sshed at the skeleton with my sword. My sword sliced it ly, and the skeletoo pieces.

  Then I turned my attention to the skeleton knight which Laura had been keeping still with telekinesis. This thing wasn’t that strong, but a much bigger threat thawo before. But now, with telekinesis again usable, I could just hold it in pd stab it, but I’d rather practice a bit more, so I released the telekinesis hold on it.

  The skeleton knight rushed at me with its sword held high. I took a stand prepared to block the blow, only to realize that the skeleton was going to attack with its shield first. A shield bash. I used telekinesis to hold back the shield, so it wouldn’t hit me, f the skeleton to quickly ge its pn. But I’m just going to go first, because you didn’t do what I thought you would do. So I sshed with my sword, attag the ope fnk of the skeleton, as its arm was still up high. Left? Would it be left ht in this situation? Well, it is my left, his right.

  Uh the weaker skeletons, I couldn’t quite cut all the way through this one, but I still sshed off a few of its ribs, getting me a nice hole I could try to access the core from. Then, a quick jump back, so I could avoid the raised sword, which was ing down on me.

  With a bit of distaween me and the skeleton again, I took a ready position again. It had been something Familiar Knight had driven into me hard during our practice, so while I didn’t quite automatically return to it, it was quite easy for me to do.

  The skeleton knight was also on the defensive, probably because he failed to hit me, but I mao nd a blow. He was holding his sword up, but not straight up like he had previously, and he had his shield forward, really giving him alright cover. Too bad Familiar Knight showed me how to go around a shield. It was quite simple, really. At least for me.

  I rushed at the skeleton, holding my sword ready. I was just going to strike his shield. No really. This would cause him to either flinch or try to ter attack. And I could use that moment to do any number of things, though some of them were beyond my current skill level.

  I took a hold of the shield with telekinesis and altered its position a bit. This wasn’t strictly necessary, but as I do it, I did. I moved the shield so that it would be more in the skeleton’s way if he attempted to strike back.

  I struck his shield on the right side, pushing it with both the impad telekinesis further to the left. Then I quickly recovered my sword, so I could strike at the now defenseless fnk of the skeleton. Thrusting my sword, I pierced the ribs and reached for the core ihe skeleton, but as the skeleton had used the momentum I’d given him with my both my ssh and telekinesis, the skeleton spun around, and I lost the grip on my sword, as it was caught in the skeleton’s rib cage. I instantly jumped back, because now that I had no on, I didn’t want to stay too close.

  “... all of my swordsmen, and women, will give me fck for this…” I muttered in my failure.

  I wasn’t worried. I knew I would win, and the reason for that was simple. I had tried to win, pying this 1 on 1 as if the skeleton could resist telekinesis, only using it for small corres, like with the shield. But I know it ’t, as I already held it in pce earlier.

  So I just took a hold of the skeleton again. It struggled a bit, trying to move its arms and legs but it was stuck. I calmly walked to its side, pulled my sword out of its rib cage, raised it up and brought it down. The powerful ssh split the skeleton's torso and es life.

  “... I really will get so much fck for this…” I muttered again, as I picked up the bronze sword which had dropped as my reward. I couldn’t eve anything good. Not that I deserved something good for that show.

  Well, I feel like I did alright, all the way until the end there.

  “Wele back, Brian. Are you hurt at all?” Lua asked, when I returned.

  “My ego, but I’m fine.” I responded.

  “What about your shoulder?” She asked.

  “That much is nothing. That hit did all of 14 damage to me.”

  “... alright. Well, if you say you are fine…” Lua didn’t argue any further. “Still, I got a bit worried when you lost your sword. How did you hold that skeleton in pce like that? You did it at the start as well, didn’t you?”

  “It was telekinesis, right?” Paulina asked.

  “Yeap. Sure was.” I firmed. “I really didn’t expect it to fully hold that skeleton in pce, but it must have bad magic resistance, as I could hold it almost pletely still.”

  “What level is your telekinesis anyway?” She asked.

  “Level 4.” I answered. “And level 7 mana trol.” I added, as mana trol matters a lot for telekinesis.

  “... wow. I guess that is something I look forward to.” Paulina muttered. She still cked her skill for telekinesis, but holy, I feel like she will get it soon. She just struggles a bit in coating the object part. Well then again, if Laura didn’t help me, I probably would as well.

  The oo try a challenge room, the same one I just cleared, was Alibsp;

  Her oppos were five regur skeletons, with their metal poles. I really don’t know whie is worse for her, five regur skeletons, or the twur, one knight that I faced. The knight’s shield might have caused an issue for her. … well, probably not, but still.

  Alice quite quickly won the fight by darkening the room with Shade and then casting a few Dark Bullets, before finishing the skeletons with Dark Spears. And with the skeletons being lost in the darkness, they really couldn’t do anything.

  “... I just got a dagger.” Alipined a bit, as she brought an iron dagger with her out of the room. Well, at least it isn’t bronze or copper.

  o try aulina. She quickly crushed the two normals, and one knight skeleton. Her spell that made stone spikes rise from the ground which skewered the skeletons. Then she used a targeted stone spear to strike the core of the skeleton knight, the only oo survive the initial hit. Her reward was a dagger like Alice got, but hers was bronze instead of iron.

  Agatha also tried, and she destroyed her oppos quite quickly with her battle axe. The oeresting part were the streaks of blue light that her o. They were from a skill she gained during her entire race ge/arm regrowing operation. Agatha’s reward per axe. It was a bit small, so I thought it would be useless, but she said that it is a throwing axe, not a battle axe. I didn’t even know the dungeon had throwing axes avaible as drops, so maybe Tahlia added it from one of my monsters, or the dungeon lear itself from an adventurer.

  Last to have a go at that challenge room was Cardo. He wasn’t the st because the rest of us didn’t want to try, but because the room ended up log itself after the fifth challenger. Apparently due to some sort of dungeon safety meism, which locks the room if too much mana and miasma have been used by it. Oh, and his reward was a bronze shield.

  “... maybe we should add a toll to it.” I offered Christina, as we were w how to avoid it iure. “Something like 100 or 200 dungeon points.”

  “ we do that?” She asked.

  “Yeah. I think so. I have a card called Toll, so I think we could use that. But we o get to the core to do the install.”

  Spoiler

  [colpse]“I see. Yes. Let us do that. I deal with calg what the entrance cost should be at each floor. That will also help with the on situation.” Christina agreed to my suggestion.

  With that, we headed further into the dungeon. Each floor, Alice, Paulina and Agatha ehe challenge rooms. Lua even tried the floor three challenge room, and made it look like a joke. Her water spell one shot her oppo, a skeletal mammoth. I didn’t realize she was that strong, but I guess she is.

  Alice tapped out after the fourth floor, because her mot a bit … worried. She had been bitten in the leg by a skeletal custer wolf in the room, and she had e back bloodied and limping. Sure she was just fier Lua healed her, but she was still forced to sit back after that.

  But I think she had more than a ce to try the challenge rooms, even if her rewards were between useless and garbage.

  nro_8