Archie stared at the door at the end of the tunnel. The door looked to be made out of charred wood, with thin veins of liquid magma forming the skull of a bull.
Archie touched the door and a system prompt appeared:
Dungeon of the Infernal Minotaur
Objective: Reward:Requirements: Warning:Would you like to enter?
“Oh, shit!” Archie exclaimed. “I get to fight a minotaur!” Just as he was about to confirm his entry into the dungeon, he remembered to test out his new skill.
Archie took out a Magma Hound Beastcore and felt the pulsing energy in his palm. He channeled his mana into the core and activated Spirit Bond
As quickly as the darkness came, it vanished. Archie found himself inside a cave with thin veins of magma snaking along its walls. The cave itself appeared empty, with only bits of char marks dotting the floor, but a low growl from behind caught his attention. He spun around and found himself face-to-face with a Magma Hound.
Archie wondered.
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than the hound lunged at him. Archie sidestepped the attack, grabbed its charred, molten tail, and slammed it onto the ground.
With his foot planted firmly on the hound’s stomach, he tried to keep it in place, waiting for it to whimper and submit. However, the hound continued to growl and flail, desperately trying to break free from under his foot Archie thought. He had no idea what might happen if he injured the beast while inside the core. These thoughts raced through his mind.
Keeping the hound pinned, Archie leaned in until their faces were inches apart. He activated Taunt
The hound’s wild movements suddenly stopped. It stared at Archie with lowered eyes and began to whine.
Abruptly, Archie was back in the tunnel, the core in his hand now glowing brightly with reddish-orange veins.
Suddenly, a surge of heat coursed through him. As a result, his muscles swelled. Archie instinctively understood that the buff would last for thirty minutes before fading.
Archie quickly confirmed that he wished to enter the dungeon making the dungeon door vanish, allowing him entrance inside the dungeon.
Archie stepped through the doorway and found himself inside a large cave, illuminated by the reddish-orange glow of lava streams flowing in between the rocky terrain. Jagged rocks jutted from the cave floor and walls, with droplets of molten lava falling from above and splattering onto the rocks below.
As Archie looked around, he noticed two types of creatures moving about
[Magma Slug Lv 73]
[Blister Beetles Lv 68]
The magma slugs were massive, towering at two meters tall. Their charred backs were streaked with molten veins along their sides. When they inched forward, the undersides of their necks were exposed, revealing unprotected, molten-red skin. As they moved, they left molten trails in their wake.
The blister beetles, on the other hand, stood at one meter tall with black exoskeletons marked by fiery red lines tracing along the grooves of their shells. What captured Archie’s attention most were the large sacs on their backs. He speculated that these sacs contained some kind of liquid, given the beetles' name. The creatures clung tightly to the cave walls, avoiding contact with the ground.
After taking in the dungeon environment, Archie noticed a system notification he had previously ignored.
Dungeon of the Infernal Minotaur
Objective 1:
Archie activated Thornscourge Expansion Adrenaline RushSpirit Bond
Kicking off the ground, Archie charged at the nearest magma slug, activating Savage Charge
With a quick pulse of his nature-attuned mana, the vines extended from his fists, burrowing deep into the slug’s body. The blue-thorned vines tore through its molten innards, eliciting a pained squeal from the creature.
Archie yanked his arm back, ripping the vines free as the slug collapsed, leaking reddish-orange fluid onto the floor.
Suddenly, he dodged a spray of fluid secreted by one of the beetles clinging above him. With a swift motion, Archie thrust his hands upward and sent another pulse of his nature-attuned mana. Thick tendrils of vines shot up, wrapping around the large sac on the beetle’s back.
With a powerful yank, Archie propelled himself upwards and tore the sac from the beetle; spilling its fluids onto the ground. The beetle flailed momentarily before crashing to the floor. Using his momentum, Archie wrapped his vines around a nearby beetle and repeated the maneuver, dodging the boiling liquid the beetles sprayed at him.
A shout of excitement burst from Archie as he began swinging from one beetle to the next, ripping out their sacs and sending them plummeting to the ground, twitching before turning limp.
After he killed the last beetle, Archie landed atop a magma slug, punching through its hardened back and making his thorns tear through its innards as they extended into its body.
Archie ripped the thorns from its body as he dodged a spray of lava from the second to last magma slug in the cave.
Archie quickly activated Savage Charge
Archie dodged another spray of lava before sending a punch into the exposed underside of its neck. His thorns shredded through its innards, and with a quick yank, the creature fell limply to the ground, its fluids spraying across his chest plate.
Archie deactivated his active skill, wiping off the reddish-orange fluids off his chest plate. Glancing at the notifications, he sighed..
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
*[Magma Slug Lv 73] has been slain – XP has been given. 876 Tutorial Points given*
*[Blister Beetles Lv 68] has been slain – XP has been given. 748 Tutorial Points given*
***
*[Blister Beetles Lv 68] has been slain – XP has been given. 748 Tutorial Points given*
*[Magma Slug Lv 73] has been slain – XP has been given. 876 Tutorial Points given*
*[Magma Slug Lv 73] has been slain – XP has been given. 876 Tutorial Points given*
*Your Class has reached Lv 63– Points allocated, +4 Free Points*
Simultaneously, a system notification appeared in front of Archie, and a fissure opened in the wall behind him.
Dungeon of the Infernal Minotaur
Objective 1: Proceed to the next floor
Archie looked back over his shoulder and gazed at the wide fissure that revealed stone steps ascending toward the unknown. , he thought, stepping through the fissure and beginning the climb. Along the charred walls, veins of magma snaked their way upward, casting a fiery glow that illuminated his path to the next floor.
At the top of the staircase stood a pair of double doors. They appeared to be made from charred wood, with thin veins of liquid magma forming the image of a familiar-looking bull skull.
Archie placed his palms on each door and pushed them open, revealing a cavern not unlike the floor he had just completed. However, instead of Magma Slugs crawling along the ground and Blister Beetles clinging to the ceiling, there were different creatures waiting.
[Magma Scorpion Lv 77]
[Magma Spider Lv 75]
The Magma Scorpions stood at a height of two meters, their bodies encased in an obsidian-colored exoskeleton crisscrossed with glowing, molten streaks. Their massive pincers looked powerful enough to crush stone, each large enough to wrap completely around his leg. Above their bodies, the scorpions' tails arched menacingly, ending in stingers that glowed as if they were forged from pure magma.
Suspended from the cavern ceiling were the Magma Spiders, their thinner exoskeletons glowing with fissures of molten lava. Their fangs, as well as their spinnerets, burned with a fiery intensity, suggesting both lethal bites and scorching webs. Webs, resembling solidified strands of fire, stretched across the ceiling, casting a dim, otherworldly light over the cavern below.
Archie looked at the system notification that appeared.
Dungeon of the Infernal Minotaur
Objective 2:
Archie counted three scorpions roaming the cave and six spiders hanging from the ceiling. Archie thought, just as he heard chittering from his right. His eyes widened.
He rolled forward, dodging a stinger that struck the spot where he had been standing. Archie quickly activated Adrenaline RushThorns
Within the same moment, Archie arced his right fist and punched, his blow landing squarely in the scorpion’s eye, causing fluids to spray out and its right pincer falling on the ground. The scorpion flailed in pain, but with its stinger embedded in the ground, it was unable to move away.
Archie channeled nature-attuned mana into his vines, which grew within the scorpion’s eye socket. The vines quickly burrowed through its innards, branching whenever they met a dead end. When they reached far enough, spikes erupted from the vines, tearing through the exoskeleton from within. The scorpion went limp and collapsed to the floor.
The sudden noise awoke the spiders suspended from the ceiling. Archie quickly flung his arms, wrapping vines around two spiders that were halfway to the ground. Yanking his arms back, thorns erupted from the vines, squashing them and turning them into pincushions.
Archie dodged the molten webs spewed by the spiders that had landed on the floor. The spiders' rapid, machine-gun-like bursts of molten webs kept him dodging as he ran towards them. He kept his vines extended, still attached to the two spiders, essentially using them as makeshift flails, Archie crushed another spider, leaving him with three more to contend with. Meanwhile, the three scorpions were not idle, scuttling towards the sound of battle.
Two scorpions leaped from their positions, soaring over the spiders and toward Archie.
Archie reacted quickly, twirling his flails and wrapping them around the scorpions’ pincers—his left arm’s vines wrapping around the right pincer of the right scorpion, and his right arm’s vines wrapping around the left pincer of the left scorpion. Crossing his arms, he yanked them back, causing the leaping scorpions to collide in midair. A burning sensation surged through his arms from the sudden movement. is ending in the next few minutes, Archie thought.
He dismissed his vines and dodged between the sprays of molten webs aimed at him. He thrust his fists into the maws of two scorpions, surging nature mana through his arms. Vines erupted from his thorns and tunneled through the creatures’ insides. Once spread throughout their bodies, thorns emerged, rupturing their innards. With a quick pull, he shredded them from within.
Suddenly, something latched onto his face, plunging him into darkness and sending pain searing through his neck. Archie dismissed the thorny vines binding the scorpions and leaped backward toward the entrance of the cave floor.
With a pulse of mana, the vines across his arms and legs spread across his body, bursting with thorns. Archie ripped the now punctured magma spider that latched onto his face and threw it on the floor before crushing it with a stomp.
Archie suddenly staggered, his vision dotted with black spots. Grabbing the right side of his neck, he looked at his hand, now covered with flakes of burnt flesh and green liquid., he thought.
Archie quickly surged more mana and stamina into Adrenaline Rush
Archie kicked off the ground, and activated Savage Charge
Archie rolled on the floor, but continued his charge towards the last two spiders, dodging their spray of molten webs.
Just as he was about to reach the spiders, one jumped at him, fangs open ready to bite Archie. But Archie quickly dodged it, landing a punch on the grounded spider, crushing it with ease.
Archie then turned around, dodging a molten web, and crushed the last spider in the cave with his boot.
Archie quickly activated Savage Charge
Archie thrust his vines forward and around the pincers of the scorpion and pulled, propelling himself towards the scorpion. Archie’s vision was getting worse, he could see about half as much as he normally could. Pugilist’s Grit
He dodged an extended stinger strike by moving his neck to the right, dismissed his vines, and plunged his fists into the scorpion’s maw. Vines exploded within, spreading through its insides and puncturing its organs with thorns.
With one final yank and a backward jump, Archie watched as the scorpion fell limply to the ground, its fluids pooling around it.
Breathing heavily, he deactivated his skills and took out an Effigy of Health, cracking it in two, causing vital energy to rush through him. The spots blotting his vision began to recede, though they did not disappear entirely. He heard a snapping sound, and simultaneously, the intense heat that accompanied his bond with the magma hound faded, signaling the end of Soul Bond.
Archie quickly sat down and activated Nature’s Meditation
A moment later, dark green ooze seeped from his neck and dripped onto the floor, where it began to melt the stone.
Archie exited Nature’s Meditation
*[Magma Scorpion Lv 77] has been slain – XP has been given. 924 Tutorial Points given*
*[Magma Spider Lv 75] has been slain – XP has been given. 900 Tutorial Points given*
***
*[Magma Spider Lv 75] has been slain – XP has been given. 900 Tutorial Points given*
*[Magma Scorpion Lv 77] has been slain – XP has been given. 924 Tutorial Points given*
*[Magma Scorpion Lv 77] has been slain – XP has been given. 924 Tutorial Points given*
*[Magma Spider Lv 75] has been slain – XP has been given. 900 Tutorial Points given*
*[Magma Spider Lv 75] has been slain – XP has been given. 900 Tutorial Points given*
*[Magma Scorpion Lv 77] has been slain – XP has been given. 924 Tutorial Points given*
*Your Class has reached Lv 64– Points allocated, +4 Free Points*
*Your Race has reached Lv 63– Points allocated, +3 Free Points*
Dungeon of the Infernal Minotaur
Objective 2: Proceed to the final floor
