Quickly Becoming Stronger in the Dungeon! 10

As far as the results were–

–It was crazy.

I gather magical energy into my fist and punch.

That was all it was.

That was it, and yet–the giant experimental body of the catfish now had a crater in it.

I think it was about 7 meters in diameter.

The giant catfish was over 20 meters in size, but there was no way it could survive with such an enormous hole in its body.

I mean, there was blood and bits of flesh splattered all around me now. It was that crazy.

“…This getting to be exasperating.”

Lilith shrugged her shoulders as if to show just how exasperated she was.

No, even I was exasperated at how powerful it was. It was more than a little off-putting now.

Having your MP at nearly 20,000 was incredible indeed…

However, I was suddenly attacked by a dizziness and ended up sinking to the floor.

A headache accompanied by pain had rushed to my body, and a greasy sweat began to surface from my pores.

–Magic depletion.

“…The force may be incredible, but it would be very difficult to use it in actual combat… Its usability is pretty much abysmal.”

I said with the best smile I could muster. Lilith looked at me with a worried expression.

“Now, I’m hungry. We should get something to eat soon…and get some sleep.”

The next day.

After spending the night in the cavern with a water vein running through it, we continued our trek to the final bottom layer.

The insides of this cave was filled with a somewhat damp atmosphere.

As I pulled Lilith by the hand, I asked her:

“With dragon zombies… Don’t they mostly look the same as they did before death?”

“…After death, the dragonkin use their secret arts to preserve the body from decaying. And then…their souls are fixed to this world… When they are reborn as undead, they reflect their status shortly before death.”

“Shortly before death?”

Lilith nodded.

“They wouldn’t even be able to walk if they were brought back to a state of being sick on the ground, moments before death. You might fix their soul into such a body…but they would hardly function as guardians.”

“Well, that is true.”

“Yes. The true purpose of this trial… You cannot receive the divine blessing of the dragon god… Deceased dragons who go to the afterlife become beings that are only souls. Then they turn into dragon gods. And in that moment of death…they pass on their powers to younger dragons. Through this, they can rise in rank and becomes gods. And so elder dragons had much more power than younger ones.”

“–It’s like a passing of the baton through the generations, huh. So…when dragon zombies become zombies… Does the blessing of the dragon god skill disappear?”

SKILL: Dragon God’s Blessing.

It was an insane skill that adjusted your Physical Strength Boost to x1.5.

My current Physical Strength Boost was x2…so with that stacked… If I learned that skill, than my stats would come out as 2 x 1.5 = 3.

By the way, compared to hero level 100 skills… Dragon God’s Blessing was quite tame.

After all, the hero level 100 skill… added an additional x2 increase to your Physical Strength Boost… It added an x2 to my original x2, so it would be an x4. It was just insane.

Well, it’s no wonder why they call it the most powerful class.

Because of those reasons, I personally wanted this skill by any means possible.

My growth rate was quite low compared to heroes as it were, but if they were able to double their stats on top of that… I would never catch up to Cordelia if that happened.

“…Also, there are not many dragons around. You cannot count on a dragon zombie to conveniently appear at the altar every time.”

“But…There is one this time, right?”

Lilith does not answer.

And so I do not question her further.

“…”

“…”

We walk through the long, long tunnels.

“…”

“…”

At some point, both I and Lilith had become very quiet.

“…”

“…”
Finally, the path opened before us, and a large hall that a 100 meters radius, spread out before us.

“Is this…the altar.”

There was something lined in a 20-meter radius surrounding the dragon.

It resembled the Stonehenge from England, with black colored boulders placed an equal distance apart in the shape of a circle.

No, it wasn’t just boulders…it would be more accurate to call them monoliths.

Well, never mind that… Lilith was in shock just as I had predicted.

There was a golden, gigantic body that was over 10 meters tall in the center.

It was an impressive earthwyrm.

Even I and Lilith…both, had somehow or rather guessed that this would happen.

No, it was the moment that we stepped foot into this labyrinth, that we noticed it.

Or more accurately, we had only purposely…avoided talking about it.

“…Father.”

Lilith’s words did not reach the dragon, as it was already dead.

Apparently, the parent who had raised her was the dragon who had died one month ago.

—Well, then…this was to be expected.

This was probably partially why Lilith had remonstrated me all this time for not conquering this dungeon in a proper way.

Because this was the last step in the ceremony to send—the parent that had raised her to the afterlife. Of course, she would have strong feelings about it.

But, there was no use in standing here idly.

I looked towards Lilith. Stay back…my eyes ordered.

She seemed to be thinking about something for a moment, but finally, she nodded with a difficult expression.

“…I knew that this would be the case. Right now, if there is indeed a guardian in this labyrinth…it could only be my father.”

“Are you sure that you are okay with this?”

Lilith nodded.

“…This is a holy ritual. Long ago, father even killed a guardian. And now, he too wishes to be slain by someone who is younger.”

Good…I think, as I crack my neck, side-to-side.

With my ax in hand, I boldly move forward.

The black monoliths that stood in a circle—the moment that I entered it, it happened.

—Dragon Breath.

The scorching flames rushed towards me, but I ignored them as I continued to dash in the direction of the golden dragon.

My abnormal numbers in magic.

It transformed into a magical barrier, automatically creating a thin, light veil around my body.

As the dragon’s breath used magic and MP as it’s source, it could not deal any critical damage towards me.

The breath stops.

We were now less than 10 meters apart.

For a moment, the dragon looked a little surprised that I was unhurt, but then he laughed happily.

And then he spun without warning, like a spinning top.

His five-meter long tail swung towards me.

–It was fast.

But not so fast that I couldn’t see it coming.

I twist away and dodge the attack.

There was the slightest scrape on the side of my stomach, but otherwise, I had evaded the tail.

Now, my turn…I think as I swing the ax down towards the joint between the dragon’s shoulder and its wing.

Bull’s eye.

And then, the dull impact reverberates in my hands.

—it was hard.

But, it was not impenetrable either.

There were small streams of blood running from the dragon’s wing. And blood was spraying all over my face like paint.

In the same position, the dragon spun like a top yet again.

His arm…no, front leg? Ah, it didn’t matter which.

But it came rushing forward to smash me in the face with its claws.

Claangg! The sound of metal echoed in the chamber.

The attack was blocked by my ax, but the impact was so strong that it threw me into the air.

I flew for a few seconds before landing, sliding on the ground to kill the momentum.

And then I nodded with satisfaction.

—He was strong.

But, not so strong that I could not defeat him.

The experience points that I had farmed in this labyrinth were my nourishment.

I took countless lives, and they became part of my flesh and blood.

I laugh without fear, and the dragon too laughed happily.

And just like that, I once again charged to attack.

Claws clashed against ax.
I evaded the tail. And the dragon too avoided my ax.

His giant maw opened, exposing his deadly teeth.

Not wanting to allow him an opening, the Damascus Ax moves in.

The sounds of crashing metal continued, as did the cries of the air being cut.

—The strong pursue the strong.

For the first time, I felt like I could understand that sentiment.

The feeling of wanting to confirm just how strong you have become.

The reason that dragons held such combat to be something holy…part of me could understand it.

A match…it was the testing of power.

And the ultimate form of that was this ceremony for elder dragons. This match would turn into a death match.

It was a match for the dead, in order to decide who was worthy to live as the next generation.

And…I frowned.

After trading so many blows, I had come to a realization.

—He was strong…no, he was a little too strong. This was more than I had expected. This dragon who had raised Lilith, must be one of the strongest of the elder dragons.

In fact, with my current stats, I had predicted…that the dragon zombie would be easily overwhelmed by me.

However…things looked like they would only get worse for me if they continued like this.
.
My opponent had an undeniable experience in combat, and he was continuing to push me with true combat techniques.

On the other hand, I was quite hopelessly lacking in actual experience.

Eventually, I would commit a deadly error, he would take advantage of that mistake and press hard…and I would die.

It was the obvious outcome, if we just continued to strike at each other like this.

But, wait a moment. A smile cracks on my face.

It was still—not as if he was unbeatable.

If anything, it means that I can continue to fight like this for a while.

—Then….This victory would be mine.

I dodge the dragon’s tail.

Quickly following, something moves over my head, just like a pigeon pecking at its food—the dragon’s jaw comes down on top of me.

Accelerate.

I bound over to the side.

As if doing a sliding tackle, I skid across the ground and barely miss the fangs overhead.

—Skill: Iron Body Activate.

—Skill: Demon Gate Activate.

I had not activated these skills during the fight.

I had known that having the Physical Strength Boost x2 would have been more than enough to allow me to fight with the dragon. However, activating Iron Body and Demon Gate would not be enough with my real abilities.

However, in this specific moment.

If I used these two skills, at this moment alone, I would be able to move at a speed that greatly surpassed that of the dragons.

Accelerate.

Accelerate.

Accelerate.

And then, I move to the side of the dragon zombie.

To explain even further, this moment was a critical opening that was created right after the succession of attacks. In other words, it was the best possible timing.

—Here it is.

It’s open body, defenseless and exposed.

I throw the ax to the side.

—Skill: Wrath of the Villagers Activate.

I concentrate all of my magical energy in the palms of my hand, then I turn them into fists.

—-If this wasn’t enough… I don’t even care!

“Goooooooooooooooo—!!!”

My deadly fists were charged with abnormal amounts of magic, and the attack landed as if being sucked into the dragon’s stomach.