Chương 40

Ethan started exploring the ruins while thinking about his strategy against the overgrown birds. Trying to reach their heart with my daggers is a fool's errand. If I give them minor injuries here and there, waiting for them to exhaust themselves while bleeding out, then it would take too damn long. He walked past the destroyed corridors and found somewhat stable rooms. There was no furniture or anything valuable, just some stylish engravings on the high walls.

Their head seems to be the best target, but it's also the most dangerous place to attack. I hope they don't have any active skills. Otherwise, I'll have to use [Blink] constantly. With the help of his [Mana Sense], he checked out the ruins quickly. The place seemed to be a small sect or something similar, but it was abandoned and possibly ransacked more than once a long time ago. Nonetheless, he did a thorough job investigating the place.

Secret passages turned out to be dead ends, old libraries revealed nothing but empty shelves full of cobwebs, and the language on the murals stayed a mystery as Ani didn't have enough data to decipher it. There was nothing valuable left, nor anything useful for his fight against the wyverns. He wasn't too far from the peak of the mountain, where the gate was supposed to be, and before testing out the beasts of the floor, he decided to check there as well. At worst, he would satisfy his curiosity about the door.

If he found a single door for the 11th floor, he would likely flip out. However, learning that after all the troubles with the wyverns would be much more devastating. The cold intensified as he made his way to the top, though he did notice a piece of good news. The wyverns never stayed together. Even the ones sleeping on the ground stayed separated from each other. And they also didn't actively try to hunt him. When he entered one of the beast's domain, it lifted its head to stare at him and growled threateningly.

He didn't use [Void Wrap] but only [Blink] to see if it would follow. Much to his relief, the beast returned to sleeping as if nothing had happened. I guess the essence of someone at tier-3 doesn't mean much to tier-5s. It's like how I ignore tier-1 creatures. They don't see me as a threat, but they are still cautious, so they don't want me near them. A thin layer of snow covered the ground and got thicker as he kept climbing up with steady steps.

He changed his route a few times, trying not to bother the angry birds too much. When he arrived at the peak, he was greeted by a staggering view: an alabaster mountain summit, a magnificent creature, and, completely out of place, a 15-foot-tall wooden door. Two words were written on the door, carved with mighty-looking golden characters: Wish Room. Finally seeing a way out, Ethan's hands tightened into fists. Alright, this is it. This place is much bigger than the others, but there weren't many beasts so far.

Just like the other floors, there should be around 100 monsters. Still, I must find a way to finish them quickly if I don't want to spend months here. Looking at the boss who was sleeping next to the door, he knew this wasn't going to be easy. All the other wyverns were cream colored while this one was azure. Not only was it considerably bigger than the others, but it was also mid tier-5, unlike the others, which were at early tier-5.

He spotted another place on his way back, where a regular sleeping wyvern lay, and narrowed his eyes. No need to delay. Let's see how tough these fuckers really are. As he was about to enter the domain of the beast, he used [Void Wrap] and started running. When he was about a hundred yards away, he used two [Blink]s and appeared at the forehead of the creature with his full momentum before piercing his daggers all the way. The wyvern's eyes shot open, and it gave a long wail.

Not a wail of agony, though; it was one of fury. It seemed unable to believe that the tiny human had actually dared to attack. A claw rose to finish him, but he already [Blink]ed behind its neck and sent [Shadow Spikes] at it. Alas, as he guessed, it was useless against these thick scales, but he didn't get discouraged. His daggers still worked pretty well, even if the damage they did was little. Like a savage, he cut, he pierced, he sliced.

Whenever a claw or tail came toward him, he just [Blink]ed and kept attacking. Until a big wind blade appeared and almost severed him in half. Breaking into a cold sweat, he [Blink]ed a few times to distance himself, and at the last moment, he managed to save his arm but couldn't avoid the gory wound on his shoulder. He chugged a health potion immediately and scowled at the screaming beast as the wound closed. Of course, they have fucking active skills!

Another wind blade came through, and he blinked again, trying to decide if he should fight or escape. He was focused on the physical attacks, and that's why he couldn't see the wind blade before it was too late. Otherwise, [Mana Sense] should've detected the moment it was created. Looking at the blood-covered wyvern's face, he gritted his teeth and chose to finish what he'd started. Becoming invisible once more, he [Blink]ed for a good angle and sent two [Shadow Spikes] to its eyes.

One hit the eyelid, but the other pierced through the eyeball. Taking advantage of the crazed beast, he once again jumped on its back and resumed his relentless attacks while getting ready to [Blink] at any moment. The wyvern became slower, and Ethan mostly managed to avoid wind blades, but even after half an hour of fighting, he had only given the beast some shallow wounds, looking more like a shaving accident.

He even tried to punch the open wounds and sent more [Shadow Spikes] through the flesh, but it was still a chore to kill even one of them. When the beast collapsed, Ethan was breathing heavily on its back. His health was down more than half, and his mana was barely 20% of what it was. This is ridiculous. I would've slaughtered dozens of dryads by now. Even if they were tier-5, it wouldn't matter this much!

I definitely need some tools and skills for the giant monsters, but clearly, I'm not getting one on this floor. He lay back and closed his eyes to think of countermeasures. The claws would probably be effective, but how am I going to wield them? Even the fangs would be easier to stab with, but not much better than my daggers. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. After thinking of possibilities for a while, his eyes opened with a gleam.

Leaving the corpse of the wyvern, he dashed to the ruins of the small sect. He looked around carefully and found what he was looking for not much later. A straight column that was as big as himself. Gripping it with both hands, he managed to lift it with little difficulty. Ani's rough calculations estimated it was about 1500 pounds, almost as heavy as a car. Ethan, with little difficulty, disregarded the fact that he could now lift cars like melons and store them in his ring.

Collecting a few more like that one, he headed to find another sleeping wyvern. This time, after using the [Void Wrap], he teleported above the beast, about 500 feet. Fetching a column from his ring, he immediately coated it with void aspect mana. Then, along with the column, he made a free fall toward the head of the beast. Due to the new object, the [Void Wrap]'s mana consumption increased from 4 to 7 per second, and according to Ani's calculations, it would take about five seconds until the crash.

Even with the mana he needed for the [Blink]s, as long as it killed the beast, it was a good deal. The only problem was that [Void Wrap] didn't conceal the sounds he was making against the wind. The wyvern also noticed the sound and looked up, but it neither saw nor sensed anything. Just a second before the crash, Ethan removed his hands from the rock and [Blink]ed 180 feet away to the ground before watching it with anticipation.

The column hit the head of a beast with a loud sound, and a louder roar followed after. Unlike Ethan's expectations, it didn't stab with its sharp point but just crumbled after the impact. He clenched his jaw in frustration. Unbelievable! Their penny-pinching patriarch built the sect from the worst quality material! No wonder you guys got rekt. The wyvern was still screaming while looking around for enemies. It seemed the damage was still pretty good, but it was not the cheat Ethan had hoped for.

Taking a deep breath, he called his daggers and dashed toward the injured beast. This time it only took half an hour to finish the beast, but all of his mana got depleted. In order to save mana, he used quite a few [Long Jump]s, but still couldn't escape the fate of using another potion. He leaned against the carcass and rubbed his forehead. If I start from 900 feet above, it might work. Or at the 1500 feet, even if the column didn't pierce it through, it might still kill them with the force of impact.

But that means too many [Blink]s and too much time for the free fall. It would be pointless if I still didn't have enough mana to keep a fast pace. He got up with a determined expression and drank a stamina potion, which was his second time ever since he bought potions. Calling his daggers, he walked toward the carcass and started to dissect it, bit by bit. After an hour of hard work, he was looking at four long and thin bones. Among all the bones of the wyvern, only certain ones in its wings were somewhat useful.

With his hands on his hips, he stared at the bones and licked his lips. One wyvern, four bone javelins–or rather spears, considering their size. With these babies, I'll keep making shish kebabs from the wyverns, and once I finally reach the boss, I'll turn him into an azure hedgehog! He had already checked them for their durability, and the results were not bad at all. Their weight was lighter than he wished for, but he was able to pierce the scales of the carcass with enough strength.

Walking up, he grabbed the one with the sharpest point and started to spin it with his fingers. He then started to spin around himself while playing with his new toy. The balance was a bit off, but he still had a good grasp of the basics. Ethan had experience with almost every kind of weapon, but he could only say that he was proficient in daggers and swords. That was because once he understood the potential of the weapon, he switched to another one.

He wasn't trying to learn to battle with them but was trying to understand his enemies who might battle with them. He trained mostly with long blades and swords until he found that range wasn't always a benefit for close combatants. For an experienced fighter, a long-range weapon could even be limiting at times. After this realization, he switched to dual-wielding a sword and a dagger. Eventually, he ditched the sword and chose two daggers instead. It was a thrilling experience to figure out what he was good at.

His footwork became much more important, and he focused on that with fervor. It all paid off when he was finally good at it because he also found a feeling of freedom in his style of fighting. It was like fishing with utmost patience while surrounded by all kinds of dangers. With his heart beating furiously, he would dodge, parry, change his position, or mislead the opponents with a calm face. But once the enemy took the bait, he would unleash hell upon them, with every one of his moves ending up in a lethal blow.

Ethan slowed his spin by placing his foot on the ground abruptly and grasping the spear from the middle. With the support of his leg, he made a [Long Jump] and threw the spear at once. The bone spear cut through the wind with a high-pitched whistle for ninety feet and found its way to the skull of the wyvern carcass. It only stopped when half of it pierced through. Even with the best throw, it barely reached the beast's brain.

A [Blink] placed him right behind the spear, and he kicked its end with the heel of his boot. This time, only a quarter of it was left outside, and it firmly penetrated the brain. Descending to the ground with a graceful landing, he smiled in a good mood. Yeah, that'll do. I would love to have my [Shadow Spikes] this long and this tough, but for now, these bone spears will do the job just fine. The next few days were spent hunting giant birds with everything he had. It didn't take long before he leveled up.

In a hunt of this kind, his grind speed was mind-boggling. High-risk, high-reward, and all that, he guessed. He still used the dropping column tactic depending on the situation, but his main strategy was the bone spears. What he didn't expect was the wind blades countering his spear throws perfectly, but that's also where the [Fabric Tear] showed its use once again.

There were a few dangerous situations that he had to escape without turning back, but after a few hours of meditation, he once again returned to finish the job. All this time, he didn't sleep at all and only cultivated once his resources were low enough. At the end of the week he spent on the tenth floor, his sorry figure was standing before the azure wyvern, his hands tightly clenched on his makeshift javelins and his hard eyes locked onto the mythical creature. Just a two-tier gap and a special variant this time.

No big deal. I should be an expert when it comes to big-ass dungeon poultry by now. Wrapping himself in his skills, he appeared high above the sleeping wyvern and started diving unseen with great speed. You've got this, Ethan. Crispy fried wings for dinner!