I got out of the city, then started heading north again. I'm gonna pass through multiple villages before reaching Goldmere, so I'd get chances to eat proper food this month, as even though the monsters I cook using fire magic are delicious, they're not cooked very well, so they're not very useful in terms of health.
Anyway, my mission is to kill 800 orcs with no time limit, so basically, I just need to check out where orcs usually regroup and kill them. As I've met orcs before, they're at professional level I'd say—which stands absolutely no chance against me, as I've gotten way stronger since I got out of my home, which is now destroyed. I suppose real fighting experience is the best way to get stronger, but I don't think I'm in grandmaster level. But even if I reach it, this rank in combat has 3 sub-ranks: low-level grandmasters, mid-level ones, and high-level ones.
These sub-ranks actually exist because of how huge the difference is between a zero and a grandmaster, as there are even some people called "Failed Zeros" who are leagues above grandmasters and aren't even close to them.
These "Zeros" are really mysterious. Like—what are they? How did they become Zeros? How strong are they? And if they're actually lords, does this mean the lords of humans and monsters are also Zeros? And why are they themselves so mysterious that we know absolutely nothing about them?A lot in this world is still unknown, and one of the genuine questions that I get is about my reincarnation. Why did that happen? How did it happen? Does every person get reincarnated after their death?
But for some reason, I just don't seem to question why I got here. It's like... it's supposed to happen. Like I don't mind getting reincarnated here.. no, it's more like deep down I want to get reincarnated here.
Some hours passed since I got out of Dawnwick. I'm lucky the area here is known for how many orcs it has, so I ended up just obliterating any orc I found. It's just regular plains, so finding them wasn't really hard. I just followed any green, ugly creature I saw and killed it. I ended up killing some goblins while mistaking them for orcs—they look alike: green, ugly, fat. The only noticeable difference was size, as orcs are much larger.
I don't know if it gets counted, but it may be counted. But even if it didn't, these plains are quite large, so basically I'll meet a lot of them along the way.
There are still around five days of walking before I pass through here, but even so, orcs are common monsters. They exist in nearly all environments, so I can definitely meet the 800 orcs I need before reaching Goldmere. Because just until now, I killed around 70 of them.
Another blessing is that they're always in groups of 5 to 15, and fighting them is a great way to practice my mana control even more, as they're easy. I always use the least possible amount to kill the groups, and each time I make the amount smaller and smaller.
I guess this mission is for sure better than that slimes mission, which was ridiculously hard. I'm nothing but a child for now. I may be special a little bit, but I'm not the best of the best.Well, for now, I should just keep heading to Goldmere while killing any orc I find.
It's been 10 days since I got out of Dawnwick, and I managed to kill more than 800 orcs. So now I'm just traveling normally while fighting all the monsters I meet. But today, deep in the forest near a small mountain, I managed to find something rare yet dangerous—a dungeon.
People are supposed to tell the adventurers' guild if they find one because the one who reports it gets a large amount of money. Yet still, there isn't any punishment for discovering them by myself. After all, they're dangerous. They're filled with traps, monsters that aren't normal but are completely made of magic, and always have a boss at the very end that is way too strong.
But still, at the end of them, there are all kinds of precious things, including magical items that can be very useful, and gold coins, as well as magical techniques. After all, everything needed to learn a technique is just a small box—not a normal one, obviously. It's usually colored in a random color and has some weird writing on it that is different from one to another.
Each form of these magical cubes has a technique, and it can be learned by just absorbing the mana in it. But still, learning it won't do much. It needs practice.
So that's why I'll enter this dungeon alone—even though I may regret it—but I want all the magical items and techniques to myself, and so I did.
I got in this dangerous place that looks like a cave, it's quite dark, so I lit up a small flame in my hand. There was still a small possibility it was just a cave that looked like a dungeon, but it had multiple special features, as the floor and walls weren't natural.
Anyway, I kept looking around for any danger, yet didn't spot anything.
After a couple of minutes of walking, I mistakenly hit a large weird-looking rock on the wall. It moved a little after that, so it's a trap. I ran as fast as I could to anywhere that surely didn't have a trap, and I barely made it out, as a large opening appeared in the ground where I was standing.
I tried looking at the bottom of that hole, but it's was too deep—I can't even see the end.
Well now, I think what I'll do is fly. The only problem with flying is the amount of mana it takes. "A lot" wouldn't describe it correctly. But I'm truly scared this will happen again.
It's most likely that there are some strings in the air, but if I'm just fast enough, nothing will catch me. And so, I started flying inside.
After a couple of minutes, I started meeting monsters as well—actually, tens of them, if not hundreds at once. All of them are respectfully strong. The traps kept becoming more frequent, and the monsters keep getting stronger and stronger as I'm going deeper into the dungeon.
Some monsters are even throwing magical attacks at me.
The problem is that these monsters aren't all the same type, and they're monsters I've never heard anything about, so I have no choice but to keep dodging.
After some time, there weren't any more traps—only monsters, so I decided to return to walking because my mana isn't doing good right now. So I got back on foot.
There are just a lot of monsters, but I think they're excited because it's the first time I got down, so they started rushing toward me, I had no choice but to fight them. So I pulled out my sword even though I don't want to, I wanted to minimize my use of the sword because knowing only one fighting style isn't very practical, but now it's a critical situation, I'm way stronger using swordsmanship after all.
I started killing them one after another while advancing little by little, I'm struggling with the amount of them and their speed, and the problem is that I can't use fire since this is a closed environment—I don't want to get suffocated, honestly.
After what seemed like an hour, I can say I'm quite adapted to their movements and can slash them one after another easily.
They managed to hit me off guard a couple of times, but I used healing magic.
I'm running out of mana, but I can manage myself, as the cave started getting wider, making dodging and ignoring them more easy.
Now finally I found a small place where monsters can't reach me. It's a small opening in the ground that I noticed by coincidence. It led to a small room with nothing, after all, there are a lot of small openings in the ground and walls, but they're either too small or have a dead end.
I decided to get inside, and so I did.
Everything inside is just as expected. I'm too tired, so I decided to take a nap.
I woke up. I don't have any idea how long I slept, but I decided to get out of that small opening.
There are way fewer monsters, so I decided to ignore them for now and focus on the real deal.I doubt if I can actually kill it, but I don't want the mana I just gained to go in vain. I needed everything possible in my fight, as I heard before that all dungeon bosses are mid-grandmaster minimum.I can probably take on a mid-grandmaster if it's a dumb creature, as an example, the royal slime is a low grandmaster in pure power. If it's more, I don't think I have a chance.
But after just a couple of minutes, I spotted it—the boss.
I didn't recognize it, just like the other monsters of this dungeon. It looks like a dragon but without wings. It's totally black except for its crimson eyes that glow in the dark, and it's around 5 meters tall.
I wish it's easy, as the dungeon's difficulty is very easy compared to other dungeons, it's just that they're not supposed to be beaten alone.
Anyway, this monster gave me a terrifying look.
He is getting ready—and so am I.
As I don't care, I'll use fire magic in this fight.
I reinforced myself and decided to attack first to take the lead. I started slashing him with my sword, but he stopped each attack using his sharp claws or teeth, it's very agile, but I think it's mid-grandmaster, so I have a chance.
He started using more force in our exchanges, getting in the lead.
This is bad.
I started trying to dodge his attacks more than stop them forcefully, and thankfully, it's working.I kept dodging while attacking him in his blind spots, causing him some scratches.
He backed down a little, then opened his mouth and threw something black from it at me.I dodged it—and the place where it hit disappeared completely.
I'm completely doomed.
He can use darkness element, which just absorbs anything in its way.
It seems he can't control it well enough, so I need to end this monster as soon as possible.
I started getting ready to create blue fire. I didn't use it since my fight with the royal slimes, but it's my only solution, as he started throwing at me endless darkness magic attacks.
I can only dodge, as any direct attack from it will be deadly.
"Ah! Creating it is so hard. How did I even do that before?" I said angrily.
And then a brilliant idea crossed my mind—and I tried it.
I created a simple magic barrier blocking the attack.
It broke instantly, yet it stopped it.
I learned how to create them while taking inspiration from that barrier I saw before, in the village where I grew up, at least I did the last thing Mom wanted me to do.
Anyway, that's all I needed to know, now that'll be my main method to block attacks while I'm figuring out how to create that blue fire and concentrating as much mana as I can in the palm of my hand
I kept doing this for a couple of minutes, and the monster started trying to get closer—but I'm already on the verge of reaching it.
I started dodging again—and now I reached it. Finally.
The monster felt the incredible danger, backed down a little, stopped attacking, and did nothing but look at me blankly.
I don't understand why, but I don't really care.
I attacked him with the blue fire, I actually produced a lot—it was like a large laser.
But to my surprise, he wasn't looking lifeless for no reason.
He was creating something to stop me—and so he threw a giant ball of darkness magic.As soon as my attack and his met, the earth began shaking from how strong they were.His magic was absorbing my magic, but my magic was too concentrated for it to take it all.
My only hope was that it wouldn't be able to take my whole attack and his magic would disappear.
And so, after a couple of minutes, the earth stopped shaking—and yes, his darkness magic couldn't absorb enough, but it wouldn't just disappear normally like I thought.
Everything that was absorbed in it was launched at the same time, resulting in a huge explosion.
I opened my eyes—and it hurts.
Everything hurts.
I feel a lot of liquid on my body—it's probably my blood.
I looked up and found the monster in a state as bad as mine, I had reinforced myself with all my remaining mana before the explosion.
I guess that's the reason I'm still alive.
I looked at my own body, and there are a lot of wounds and scratches, thankfully, I see nothing that can harm my life, as the wounds aren't in my vital areas.
But the monster stood up, ignoring all its wounds.
I tried to stand up as well, but I can't.
I'm gonna die if I don't do anything.
I'm scared... I don't want to die yet.. I still have a lot I want do..
And just as it kept getting closer and closer to me, I decided—I'll do it.
I'll use my remaining mana to attack him.
That will put my life in danger even after I get cured, but this is better than a certain death.
I then launched a very small blue fire attack, aiming for his heart—and it killed him.And I fell unconscious the same moment he died