Chapter 1439 – The First Showdown

So, like everywhere in the Dungeon, there are pockets that have been ‘claimed’ by the biggest and baddest monsters as their own personal hunting ground.

It makes sense, really. The monsters who manage to survive long enough to form their cores, evolve a few times and get their Skills ranked up have a massive advantage over the fresh spawns. If they avoid the other monsters who managed to do the same, then they’ll have an easy, if slow, path to progress by preying on creatures weaker than themselves. Confrontations between the biggest and strongest monsters don’t make sense, there’s too much risk.

This is only the case if they achieve sufficient levels of intelligence, which is probably why such powerful landlords were less common up in the first stratum. The monsters there just don’t get that intelligent, acting more like Tiny and throwing themselves into battle after battle. Eventually they’ll fall, or grow strong enough to descend deeper, where they fall anyway.

That’s not the case here. Some monsters of the fifth are smart enough to survive, to avoid being infested with parasites, and to accumulate strength until they reach the point where they’re able to thrive. Too tough to be worth hunting for the Krath or other monsters, they carve out their own niche and battle to keep it, maintaining their existence by feasting on those who manage to grow strong enough to provide sustenance.

Now that the Colony is pushing further and further into the fifth, we’ve started to brush up against the lands claimed by these creatures, and it falls to yours truly to go hunt them down.

After twelve sweet hours of rest, letting my carapace heal naturally and ensuring there is no speck of corruption within me, I am once again ready to face the wild, untamed, and super, super toxic fifth stratum.

It doesn’t take long for me to find what I need. The Colony has been employing more and more ants whose Skills and abilities align with Brilliant in some capacity. Mages with the ability to glean information from the Dungeon itself, which seems like some sort of witchcraft to me. It’s these ants who direct me down a curved tunnel that opens to another deep pool of literally steaming mucus which fills the entire cavern with a noxious mist.

All in all, it’s a super pleasant environment, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that a giant turtle creature has decided to set up shop inside.

I stand on the banks of the borderline lake, and, at first, I can’t even see the lousy creature.

My mind constructs are spinning up, and I’m ready to unleash some serious pain, but I don’t know where to aim it. All I see is slime everywhere, with hills and bubbles of goop rising and falling on the surface. The corruption confuses my senses, as always, eating away at the mana and making everything hazy.

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There’s a big bad beasty in there somewhere, I just need to draw it out.

Stealthily, I begin to gather my gravity mana. It’ll be hard for the monster to hide when this entire mucus puddle is sucked up into a black hole and crushed.

However, it appears as if I’m not as sneaky as I thought I was. My antennae flare in warning and I fling myself to the side as something large comes flying out from beneath the surface and crunches down at the place I just occupied.

What in the name of heck!?

Before it can retreat beneath the surface, I whip together a spell and unleash it.

Dragon’s Breath!