Chapter 4: The Minotaur is more suitable for the maze!
Arthur pendragon
LV.1
Strength: I (0) → F (324)
Endurance: I (0) → I (74)
Dexterity: I (0) → G (217)
Agility: I (0) → G (222)
Magic: I (1) → E (415)
——Magic——
——Skills——
...
Loki: (╯°Д°)╯︵ ┻━┻
Having barely suppressed her exploding curiosity, the Evil God once again wore a mask of agony, even feeling the urge to flip the table.
No other reason than Arthur's absurdly fast growth rate!
He just explored the Dungeon for one day and accumulated over 1200 proficiency points?
No!
Considering the time he wasted in the morning, he didn't even spend a full day in the Dungeon!
"Hey, kid, spill it. Are you really human? Not some monster in human skin?"
Arthur turned his head subtly, giving Loki a sidelong glance, and replied calmly.
"Based on physiological structure, I am indeed human."
Loki shook the freshly translated parchment in her hand, exclaiming in wonder.
"Hoh, if everyone from another world is like you, then we absolutely must go there and broaden our horizons."
Arthur took the parchment and scanned it, his brows slightly furrowed with a hint of confusion.
"Even Magic, which increased the fastest—only reached E-rank?"
"What are you saying! Listen! Listen to yourself! Is that even human language?"
"'Only' E-rank? If other adventurers heard that, they'd definitely cry on the spot!"
Loki pulled out a wine bottle from somewhere, chugged a few gulps, and then began to educate Arthur on adventurer common sense.
Blessings indeed had the effect of accelerating growth, and adventurers did gain proficiency through frequent training.
But!
Everything is afraid of a 'but'!
It was never easy for an adventurer to improve their ability scores.
Normally, someone who could raise their ability scores by dozens of points in a short time was already a rare genius that various Familias would fight over.
Moreover, the later the stage, the slower the ability scores increased.
Even her most special Sword Princess, when she first received her Blessing, didn't have such a monstrous growth rate as Arthur.
'Something's not right... No matter how strong this kid is, even if he can brute force his way through the tenth floor alone, he shouldn't have such an exaggerated increase.'
'This isn't just strength gained from training... it's more like... the divine blood has awakened some dormant potential within him?'
...
Loki habitually narrowed her eyes, then took another large gulp of wine, waving her hand dismissively.
"Forget it, forget it, our Familia is full of children with unspeakable secrets, you're just one more."
Arthur was slightly taken aback; he had already prepared an explanation, but he didn't expect Loki to let go of the questioning so readily.
This Evil God from Norse mythology seemed to be quite different from the image he had in mind.
"I need a map of the floors beyond the tenth, preferably extending to the eighteenth floor. I heard there are adventurer shops there, and I'm very interested."
Hearing Arthur's request, Loki's face instantly fell, showing a troubled expression.
"A map, huh..."
Although her Familia was one of Orario's two kings, she, as a Chief God, had always been a hands-off manager, never bothering with the trivialities of Dungeon exploration.
Now that Finn, the captain responsible for coordinating everything, had gone on an expedition with the main force, where was she supposed to find a map?
"That's right!"
Loki suddenly slapped her thigh and pointed to a building on the side of Twilight Manor.
"There, that's our library. It's filled with years of exploration records and intelligence from the Familia. Whether it's maps or monster data, whatever you want, it's there. Go find it yourself!"
"Understood."
Arthur nodded, put away the parchment, and turned to walk towards the library.
But just as he was about to step out the door, his steps suddenly halted, and he turned his head to look at the deity who was still drinking to drown her sorrows.
"Loki, is there some kind of surveillance equipment on top of Tower of Babel?"
"When I came back this evening, I felt a gaze, very uncomfortable, like someone was scrutinizing me from head to toe."
"Surveillance? A gaze?"
Loki heard this, put down her wine bottle, and her drunken expression instantly faded. She nodded and said,
"I probably know what's going on. Don't worry, kid, just leave it to me."
After Arthur's figure disappeared outside the door, Loki roughly wiped her mouth, a cunning smile, completely different from her usual playful grin and tinged with a hint of ruthlessness, appearing on her face.
"It seems that lovesick fool has set her sights on him. 'Old friend,' don't force me to turn against you!"
...
After finding the necessary information from the vast sea of documents in the library, Arthur once again stepped into the deep Dungeon, bathed in the faint morning light.
This time, his target was directly the safe floor in the middle levels—the eighteenth floor.
Yes, a safe floor.
After carefully reviewing the information, Arthur realized he had been too presumptuous before.
The Dungeon was not dangerous everywhere; on specific floors, such as the eighteenth floor, monsters would not spawn, much like a safe zone in a game.
Because of this, daring adventurers had even set up shops there, forming a small supply point.
"Running into the middle levels on the second day of receiving a Blessing, other people would definitely think an adventurer like me is courting death, right?"
The self-deprecating words had barely left his mouth when they were scattered by the turbulent airflow surging from the passage ahead.
Arthur, enveloped in a torrent of magic, was like a cannonball, hurtling along the remembered route through the underground tunnels.
This was a small trick he had recently mastered.
Unleashing the immense magic within his body without reservation, transforming it into a brutal propulsive force.
This power not only greatly increased his strength and speed but also effectively reduced damage, and even allowed him to briefly hover or even fly!
Arthur's blatant and undisguised method of travel naturally acted like a lighthouse in the night, instantly attracting the attention of countless monsters.
In the rock cave passage of the seventeenth floor, heavy breathing rose and fell, like powerful drumbeats against the rock walls.
Shadows wriggled, and one after another, muscular, grotesque bull-headed monsters slowly emerged, their bronze-hard skin reflecting a cold sheen under the phosphorescent light.
Minotaur.
One of the representative monsters of the Dungeon's middle levels, known for its immense strength and tough defense.
Arthur stopped, his right hand forming a virtual grip, and a platinum longsword, shimmering with a faint glow, instantly materialized.
He observed with interest the group of monsters before him, agitated by his intrusion.
"Minotaurs in a labyrinth?"
"I didn't expect that after coming to this world, it would be these monsters that most closely match their mythological descriptions."
"Moo-woah!" × N
They couldn't understand human language, but that didn't prevent these fierce bulls from sensing the provocation and threat emanating from the presence before them.
They let out thunderous roars one after another, muscles bulging, and abruptly lowered their heads, their thick hind hooves vigorously stomping the rocky ground, kicking up gravel and dust.
The Minotaurs transformed into streaks of wild shadows, launching a group charge at Arthur!
The scene briefly reminded him of the Kobolds he had once faced, equally fearless of death.
"Sorry, I'm not in the mood to play with you all right now."
Wind King Hammer!
Arthur didn't even dodge, instead, with an even more violent and fierce demeanor than the monsters, he swung his longsword, which was wreathed in invisible wind pressure.
The slash tore through the air with a sharp whistle, instantly pulverizing the charging Minotaurs and the rocky ground beneath their feet into a shower of fragments!
However, this crushing instant kill seemed to trigger some taboo, thoroughly enraging the Dungeon itself.
Thump-thump—!
First, a dull, powerful sound, like the beating of a giant heart, suddenly echoed throughout the entire rock cave.
Immediately after, the sound of cracking walls erupted like popping beans.
The rock cave was crumbling and wriggling on all sides.
More Minotaurs were being born and taking shape in droves, at an unprecedented rate.
Their crimson eyes instantly locked onto Arthur, filled with savagery and a desire for destruction.
The Dungeon had instantly spawned a far greater than usual number of powerful monsters!
This was a desperate death trap capable of instantly engulfing and crushing any experienced adventurer party!
It was a veritable—Monster Feast!
Yet, faced with this terrifying scene that made one involuntarily feel awe, Arthur showed no trace of fear. Instead, he curved his lips, his eyes gleaming with unprecedented excitement.
"What, does the Dungeon have a temper too?"
"Since you're all so enthusiastic, I'll stay and have a good time with you!"