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[Chapter Size: 1844 Words]
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The Astraea familia members were all the in the main tent discussing with Asfi, except Maryuu, who was with Airmid in the infirmary healing the poisoned adventurers of the Hermes Familia and trying to come up with an appropriate recipe for the poison.
I had seen those two in the infirmary when I went to deliver some herbs there.
And just as I minimized the map, I could hear a hub-bub of voices, shouts from the entrance of the camp.
Looks like adventurers were starting to pour in, their loud voices were a constant background noise now.
The silent atmosphere of the camp an hour before no-where to be found.
Standing up from the chair on which I was sitting, I made my way to the entrance of the camp.
"Ah, the main group and the Loki familia."
Looking at the pallum with a long spear entering the camp, and the dwarf next to him, I exclaimed.
Seeing the adventures behind them chatting with each other without a care, it seemed they had an easy time.
No one seemed tired or injured, after all, with a level 6, level 5 and a bunch of Level 3's leading the way, there was no chance for anything to go wrong.
Entering the encampment, Finn, Gareth and a few others made their way straight to the main tent, with Asfi and Iska leading them.
The others behind them scattered across the camp, chatting with people whom they recognized, trying to get the latest news.
I made my way back to the tent to get some rest.
...
A loud ringing woke me up, bringing up the system screen told me that I had slept for about 2 hours.
Washing my face with a bo'ohw'o'wo'er, I quickly made my way to the place where adventurers were gathering.
Once again, Finn was standing on a makeshift stage, but this time there were Alise, Asfi, Kaguya and a few others next to him.
"Everyone, thank you for gathering here."
"First thing, all the 11 groups who left separately on the surface and descended into the dungeon are now here on the 18th Floor."
"As some of you may already know, the monsters from the 19th floor onwards have gotten stronger and the scouting team have been injured. "
"Hence the second leg of the expedition will be delayed by 2 days while we send stronger scouts to check the changes in the monsters and its strength."
"We'll gather here after two days at the same time. In the meantime you can explore this floor if you wish."
As soon as the pallum finished his speech, the adventurers burst into discussions about the change in the expedition.
As I turned around and was about to look for the dwarf from earlier, I felt a tug on my shirt.
Looking back, I found Airmid staring at me while pulling on my shirt with her hand.
"Airmid-san, anything I can help you with?"
I asked the silver-haired girl who could almost be mistaken for a doll.
"All the members of the Astraea familia are going on the scouting trip, and Alise asked me to stay with you for the next two days."
Airmid dropped a bomb-shell without even a change in her face.
'Who am I? Why am I here? What am I doing?'
For a moment, I even forgot who I was, what was Alise even thinking when she asked Airmid to find me.
*Fuuu*
Raising my head and looking at Alise who was still standing next to the stage with a bright smile on her face talking to Kaguya next to her, I let out a sigh.
As if sensing someone was looking at her, Alise turned her head towards me, and seeing Airmid next to me, she gave me a thumbs-up with both her hands with an even bigger smile.
*Fuuu*
Letting out another sigh, I spoke to the girl standing in front of me.
"Sure, Airmid-san, you can follow me, by the way, you have a place to sleep, no?"
" Yes, I'm staying with Miss Nernatti from the Hathor Familia, she is over there, the elf yelling at those people."
She replied pointing towards a female dark elf wearing mage robes, who looked like she was busy giving a piece of her mind to a few elves standing next to her.
My plan to sleep some more had to be cancelled now that Airmid was with me.
...
Staring at the corner of a random tent while thinking of what to do, my eyes wandered to the cooks who were starting to prepare the rations.
"Airmid-san, do you have anything you want to do?"
Feeling bored, I asked the girl next to me if she wanted to do anything.
" Yes, I know a few medicinal plants which grow on this floor, I want to get them. When I asked Asfi-san earlier, she said I shouldn't go out of the camp as it may not be safe. Can we go find them?"
There was a sparkle in her purple eyes when she spoke of medicinal herbs.
I mulled about her request for a moment. The monsters from the 19th floor had no chance of coming up, the scout party had gone down and there were also scouts placed on the entrance to the 19th floor.
The monsters of the 17th floor also had little chance of coming down, even if they came down my speed was enough to escape from them along with Airmid in tow.
[ A / N : MC's speed, sprinting with a fully powered accel skill is almost equal to a new Level 4. ]
"Sure, we can go search for the plants you want, but remember we need to come back before it the crystal on the ceilings dim."
...
A few hours later, after Airmid had found the plants she wanted, we made our way back to the camp.
We reached the camp just as the crystals embedded in the ceiling began to dim.
After sending back a happy Airmid, who was humming to herself, holding those herbs as if it was something precious, to go find the dark elf Nernatti and rest for the day.
I made my way back to the entrance of the camp.
Following the path to the entrance from the 17th floor through which we had come down earlier in the day, I started walking up the slanting path.
Bringing out my wooden sword and a jacked made of salamander wool from my inventory, I checked, making sure that my HP and MP were full.
I wanted to try fighting against the monsters on the 17th floor, and see how I would fare against them.
The wall of Grief which spawns the Monster Rex Goliath was now restored from the damage done to it during the fight earlier.
There was no sign of the Monster Rex as it's respawn time was around 2 weeks.
Making my way through the huge room, the first thing I did was spread out my spatial sense with full power and then turn on the Gamer's mind skill.
"The monsters which appeared on the 17th Floor if I remembered correctly were-"
*crack*
Sensing a crack in the wall, I stopped and focused at the monster being spawned.
It was a dog-type monster, named Hellhound, it's specialty being it's shooting out fire magic flames from its mouth.
*woosh*
I instinctively rolled to the side, if I was even a moment late, I would have been toast by the blazing flames shot out of the Hellhound's mouth.
The flames even burnt the ground upon coming into contact. Good thing I wore the
Activating the accel skill and pouring more stamina into the skill, I began sprinting towards the Hellhound.
The Hellhound looking at me sprinting towards it opened its mouth again, but before it could spray another torrent of flames at me, I kicked the monsters shin with all my strength.
It was enough to stun the hellhound, allowing me stab my sword through the monster's head with enough force to directly kill the Hellhound,
I felt the familiar level up sensation, but did not have the chance to check my system.
*crack*
A bull headed humanoid monster with patches of brown fur on its shoulders, waist and legs spawned in front of me. Its eyes, a bright red in color.
"A Minotaur, huh."
"Float !"
Chanting my magic's name loudly even when there was no need to, I jumped up steadying myself in the air at a meter's height from the ground.
The bull headed monster was known for its strength, there was no need for me to foolishly face it head on.
*GRRR*
The minotaur looked at me, its red eyes focused on my body floating in the air.
"ROAR !!"
Hearing the Minotaur's roar, for a moment I felt a sharp pain in my head.
But the very next second Gamer's Mind blocked it, a cool sensation spread through my mind, immediately allowing me to concentrate on the minotaur's club flying in my direction.
It had thrown its club at me after trying to paralyze me with its roar.
I stopped floating, landing on the ground successfully evading its huge club.
Quickly picking up the club now lying on the ground and storing it in my inventory, I cast my magic once again jumping up into the air.
"You bastard, see me and learn, this is how you fight."
Looking at the minotaur staring with wide eyes as if looking for the club which I had picked up and was now no-where to be seen, I taunted it.
*GRRR* *ROAR !!*
As if understanding my taunt, it let out another roar and ran in my direction.
Looking at the burly monster running at me, I increased the speed of my movements with the help of my accel skill, sometimes moving to its right side and other times towards its left side.
The minotaur turned towards its right, then towards its left following my movements and then finally towards the front
*ROAR !!* *ROAR !!*
It continuously roared at me, trying to make me succumb to its roar, but the Gamers Mind skill automatically blocked its attack without me even me doing anything.
Pouring as much mind into the wooden sword as I could and gripping it with both my hands, I sent a compressed air slash at the Minotaur's body while floating in the air.
The air slash made a cut through its abdomen, blood spilling on the ground and the minotaur, it collapsed face down.
For safety, I sent another slash at its head to make sure it is completely dead.
I was only in the narrow corridor just outside the monster rex's room and already two monsters had spawned.
Taking out a dagger and digging out the magic stone from the two monster corpses, I turned around walking back towards the entrance of the 18th floor.
I felt that my mind was a bit less, and more importantly I needed to see my level up changes.
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[ A / N : mana = mind ヾ(≧ ▽ ≦)ゝ ]