[Upper Labyrinth. Safe Room. Observation Log — Luki]
Entry 1.2
Today's already the next day, I think. The crystal on the ceiling is a real lifesaver when it comes to knowing whether it's day or night down here.
I'm about to head out to hunt more monsters. I need to extend the Safe Room's timer, and now that things are more stable, I've got to go deeper to figure out this damn floor.
Although I honestly don't care much about it anymore, I think just to be mean, the Dungeon took us directly from the First Floor to the Twelfth Floor. After all, why not?
But before leaving, I decided to take some time to write here. Not the best hobby, but it's something. Better than letting my thoughts spiral in my head.
Continuing where I left off about my first day… after the Young Dragon, and almost setting my ass on fire.
I'm not going to describe how long I spent standing at every corner, checking if the path behind me still existed, if the ground was stable, or if something was waiting right in front of me. Boring to do, even worse to write.
So I'll skip to the interesting parts.
I think I ran into seven groups of monsters, and only faced two... well, in a way it was only one.
First, there was a large group of Lizardmen. Too many. So I turned around and went back into the darkness. I'm not suicidal.
Apparently, that old "the deeper the floor, the bigger the packs" mechanic still holds true after the Dungeon evolved.
But the weirdest part came later. I found not one, but TWO Young Dragons, sleeping.
They were identical in size, but their scales were different colors, one green, one brown.
Doesn't really mean much, but I like that monsters here aren't just copy-paste clones of the same model.
I don't even need to explain how much I clenched my ass at that moment. Two monsters that are basically Level 3, just napping right in front of me.
Some people would say: Go on, take them out, easy prey.
I say: nope. Nuh-uh. No way in hell.
So, as subtly as one can while wearing armor that sounds like a church bell, I snuck away without waking them.
Judging by how those two encounters went, it's clear this map is way too high level for a beginner like me.
To be honest, the recommended level for the first floor is level 2. I and all the other level 1 adventurers entered at our own risk, so obviously, the lasts floors of the Upper Labyrinth are recommended for adventurers at the peak of level 2, with the occasional special level 3 threat that requires a group of them to face.
Meanwhile, I'm only halfway through level 1. It sucks, right?
Anyway, after that, I found two bizarre monsters.
The first was a floating orb of light. That's right, literally just a ball of light. No body, no wings, not even a visible Magic Stone inside its translucent body.
According to Lili, it's called a Will-O-Wisp. A Lesser Fire Elemental.
Elemental Monsters are a new category that appeared after the Dungeon's evolution. They're pure manifestations of magic from their respective elements. There are three others that can show up here in the Upper Labyrinth: the Earth Golem, the Air Fairy, and the Water Slime.
Yeah. Apparently, Slimes are super-powerful magical creatures in this world. The phrase "the last shall be first" was taken very seriously here.
Each one has its own traits, but the biggest issue with Elementals is that they only take damage from magic attacks. Meaning, against me, they're basically immortal. Fun, right? As if things weren't already hard enough.
Of course there had to be a freak of nature capable of shooting fireballs and lightning from its… well, you get the idea. And yeah, even though it's a fire spirit, this thing can use electric attacks too. And on top of that, it's intangible.
This time, I couldn't sneak past it. Maybe, like the skeletons, since it doesn't have eyes and ears and anything else, it perceives the world differently. I took a few hits, but the armor held, and I ran. Thank Hestia it's slower than a sleeping turtle, or I'd be dead.
Oh, and that other strange monster I mentioned? Simple: the same thing, but wind version.
A tiny fairy, looked like a normal girl, very pretty, with insect-like wings on her back. She could fit in my hand. She glowed constantly, like Tinker Bell from Peter Pan.
But that's where the cuteness ends. There was nothing cute about the beating that little bitch gave me while I ran for my life. "Ran" might be too generous, she was toying with me in every sense of the word. And unlike her fiery counterpart, this one was fast as hell.
How can something so small be so fast and cruel? As they say: the smaller the dog, the bigger the Devil (capital D) inside. A Pinscher is the perfect example... i think this joke is better said in portuguese...
Anyway, praise Tsubaki, because once again, her armor saved my life. The fairy's wind blades couldn't pierce through it. After a long while, she just got tired and left. Just like that.
I swear, next time I find that thing, I'm trapping her in a lantern and forcing her to make magic dust for the rest of her life.
Just remembering that makes me sigh. Why do I feel like no matter how strong I get, nothing changes?
I'm sure that over the past few months I've trained as hard as I could: physical conditioning, unarmed combat, footwork, fencing, distance control. I'm more experienced and better prepared now.
But no matter what I do, I always feel like I'm lagging behind. Is this how the extras feel when they look at the protagonist's accomplishments?
To put things in perspective, I remember seeing somewhere that the author of Danmachi admitted the story will last less than a year. So that means the protagonist, Bell Cranel, went from a nobody without Falna to maximum level in one year.
Meanwhile, we have the Sword Princess, Ais Wallenstain, daughter of the strongest hero in this world and a wind spirit, the true embodiment of talent. Who began her adventuring journey at the ripe old age of seven. She reached level 6 at age fifteen, meaning an eight-year interval.
This is also why she's considered the record holder for the fastest leveling up; it takes into account not only the time itself but also the person's age. After all, a 300-year-old elf could simply appear and level up in the same day, and screw anyone who thinks otherwise.
Compared to these geniuses, it feels like something's missing inside me, something I can't quite identify.
Even Lord Takemikazuchi admitted it. According to him, I still need to find myself, discover who I am, what my ambition and desire truly are. Only then will the Falna on my back react and my true potential awaken.
I don't know what he meant by that. Find myself? What good would that do? I'm in a medieval fantasy world, for Hestia's sake, I just need time to grind more.
As they say, if you keep banging your head against the wall, eventually it will break. Now... who the last part is referring to is none of my business...
I sighed again. Thinking about my own weakness is frustrating. If I were stronger, we wouldn't be in this mess, literally.
But getting back to the point! After those four displays of power from the enemy, I finally got my first victory in this damn thing!
After drifting aimlessly for countless hours in the depths of the world, our hero finally encountered an enemy worthy of his presence. Right before him, he saw a monster, unlike any other he had ever seen before.
It stood tall and broad, its entire body wrapped in plates of overlapping scales that gleamed faintly under the dungeon's light. Each segment of its armor looked forged from stone and steel, rough to the touch, yet alive — shifting and grinding with every breath it took. Its head resembled that of a lizard, with a blunt snout and eyes that burned with a dull, golden intensity, unblinking and ancient. Along its back ran a ridge of jagged spines, giving it a silhouette closer to a living fortress than a mere beast.
When it moved, the sound was a deep, metallic scrape, like blades dragging against rock. Every step it took left a faint tremor in the ground. It wasn't fast, but the sheer weight behind its presence made even stillness feel dangerous — a predator that didn't need speed to kill.
The ensuing battle was fierce; the hero's blows had no effect, just as the beast's claws and fangs could not pierce his armor.
However, drawing on his years of experience in fierce duels against beings stronger than himself, where any mistake would mean his end, the hero surpassed his limits.
Then, with a cry of determination, he plunged his sword into the monster's mouth. Blood spurted everywhere, and the beast fell defeated before the young hero, who continued victorious as always...
...hahahaha! Okay, enough jokes, let's get serious.
I ended up encountering a monster called Hard Armored, basically a burly lizard with scaly armor on its back.
I don't remember seeing one of these before, but I have the impression that it's a canonical monster and not a new species.
Fighting it was relatively simple, but not easy; any blow it landed on me would knock the air out of my lungs, while my sword didn't do any damage. But I just needed to get used to its movements a little before I started to take advantage of some openings.
My initial idea was to hit the part without scales, but it was very skilled at putting its protected parts in front of the blows, so by pure coincidence, we ended up attacking at the same time and my sword ended up inside its mouth, piercing its brain and skull.
It must have been a pretty cool scene looking at it from another angle.
That was the first monster I killed after so many problems, and I admit I was proud of myself at that moment. But apparently the Dungeon wasn't content to let me enjoy my victory, and five more Hard Armored monsters appeared.
I imagine they were all a group, and the one I killed had simply separated a bit, so the fight ended up drawing the attention of the rest further ahead.
Once again, the battle was difficult but not impossible. I was very careful not to be surrounded, controlling the positioning and distance of the monsters so that they were all in front of me. Thus, because they were large and a bit clumsy, only one or sometimes two could attack me at the same time.
The second fell, then the third. The rest went into a frenzy, and one of them threw itself on top of me ferociously.
I spent a good while just retreating and defending myself, letting them attack until they were out of breath, until finally, an opening appeared, and I killed the fourth.
Exhaustion must have quelled the fury of the two remaining ones, and after a final roar of rage and indignation, they fled.
Although breathless, I wasn't exhausted from the fight; I spent more time passively defending than actually attacking, so after a few moments waiting for my unique ability to take effect, I continued.
Oh, and it's worth mentioning that I collected the monster cores while recovering.
The Hard Armired cores are approximately the size of a golf ball and blue in color, like those of the Goblins and Young Dragon.
This whole monster core color thing has been intriguing me lately. Now that I have free time to think about it, I suspect it's some kind of signature, a special characteristic that all monsters of the same type share.
I'm not sure yet, but as I kill more monsters, I'll have more examples and get closer to the truth.
Four level 2 monster cores, now I just need a lot more.
That's where we get into the topic of the next encounter, this one was the most unexpected of all, not because it was a monster I'd never seen before or a very powerful monster.
They were Imps, that's right, Imps.
The same demon-like monsters we can find on the first floor, of course... they were a little stronger but that didn't change the fact that they were Imps.
I admit I was a little surprised by that, I didn't expect to find them down here, but that wasn't the most surprising part.
They were all injured, no, they were on the verge of death. Their wounds were many and lethal, some were literally just a torso with a head but without any limbs, but even so, they were alive, screaming and suffering as they slowly felt their lives fading away.
Who did this to them, why didn't they finish them off, why didn't they collect their cores, why be so cruel? I don't know, but I'm not interested in finding out.
Using my kukri knife, I finished them off and collected their cores, twenty-seven in total.
I thought that was a good amount and decided to return to the Safe Room, following the approximate direction that would take me back to that same point in my memories, because believe it or not, the whole way was a real pain and I went around in circles twice before finally getting back.
But wait... I said I had seven encounters with monsters, right? So let's count.
Avoided Lizardmen, two sleeping Young Dragons, a Will-O-Wisp, a devilish Fairy, the Hard Armored ones I killed, and finally those Imps left to die... there is one missing.
Well... let's just say I maybe, just maybe, ended up finding another Young Dragon and maybe I was chased once again until the monster slammed its head against the Safe Room barrier, leaving behind another core the size of Lili's head... just maybe.
Dungeon son of a bitch...