7
As he stepped onto floor 10, Lecan's <Life Detection> only showed one blue dot. A very small dot. Situated in a room that wasn't too spacious.
Lecan proceeded ahead.
A rough ground consisting of rocks. Same with the walls and ceiling.
He was on his guard for the possibility of Dark Sprites emerging out of the walls, but nothing happened even after he got far in.
As the enemies have been steadily getting stronger and numerous the more he goes down in this dungeon, he thought this floor would finally prove to be a challenge. But that hope has been dashed as it seems.
Lecan stopped moving 20 steps ahead of this one enemy and checked it out with <3D Perception> and <Mana Detection>.
It's a humanoid magic beast.
Around kid-size.
It's kneeling down with its arms wrapped around its legs and face down so Lecan can't tell its full figure, but there's not even a shred of power from it. It's wearing some sort of worn-out rag-like thing to cover its emaciated body.
It's only got a very small pool of mana.
A trifling foe.
"<Graph Make>."
Lecan cast a spell to investigate this floor's structure.
"What?"
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There is no stairway that leads down.
Meaning this is the lowermost floor.
Or perhaps, defeating this frail-looking foe will open up a stairway down.
(Can't be.)
(This is no Grand Dungeon.)
It's really the end by floor 10.
What an utterly lacking dungeon.
Then he's just gotta defeat this thing in front of him and get out of here.
As Lecan took a step forward, the magic beast lifted its head.
It's a skeleton-like face.
A chill stopped Lecan in his track.
Lecan's battle hardened instinct is telling him not to carelessly get in the range.
As he squinted in this dim room, he found out that this thing was not fully a skeleton, it still got a little bit of meat attached to it. Or more like skeleton with dried meat sticking to its face.
This magic beast stood up.
Dull and slow like an elderly.
Its standing figure looked quite feeble as well, you'd think a slight breeze would push it down and break all its bones.
Turned out, the worn out rag was no rag at all.
It's meat.
Rotting meat is clinging to its bones, swaying as it moves.
Looking again, the bone-clinging meat on its entire body is all rotten and slimy looking, with a disgusting color to it.
Remains of hair dangle on its head.
Rotting water plant-like hair.
A repulsive odor drifts in the air.
Lecan pulled back his right leg that was about to step forward.
(Is this thing a Carrion King (Nuruell)?)
The highest ranking specter kind among Apparition type magic beast, Carrion King, he's heard of its existence at least. He has no knowledge on their appearance but this seems to fit the bill.
Lecan drew the <Apparition Cutter> hanging on his waist. It's finally this sword's turn.
"<Deploy>!"
He deployed <Shield of Wolkan> and put it in front of his chest.
Then he stepped forward.
Carrion King raised its right hand and casually moved its index finger.
Then a black lightning-like thing manifested and assaulted Lecan.
It clashed with <Necklace of Intuador>'s barrier, creating a huge explosion.
Lecan was shocked.
This thing shouldn't have enough mana to cast such a powerful spell.
(No. Could it be.)
(This thing can cast magic with an extremely high efficiency.)
(Still, it shouldn't have been able to do anything noteworthy with such a small mana pool.)
Carrion King lowered its right hand slightly, its head tilted to the left.
As if it was wondering how its attack got blocked.
Its expression even looked like it was laughing a bit.
Lecan swiftly charged ahead and swung down <Apparition Cutter> at the Carrion King.
It vanished.
Lecan turned around.
The Carrion King is in the middle of the room now.
(Was that Warp?!)
(But I didn't sense any mana convergence.)
Even Argent Flame Wolf would converge its mana whenever it cast magic even if only for an instance. Especially when it warped, the mana vestige clearly remained.
Yet there was not even a hint of the Carrion King converging its mana to warp nor was there any vestige remaining during the warp.
(You must use magic to defeat the magic beasts in this dungeon.)
(That might apply to this thing too.)
"<Reduction>."
Lecan turned <Shield of Wolkan> back to gauntlet form, carefully raised his left hand with <Apparition Cutter> still in his right arm and converged his mana.
"<Flame Spear>!"
A thick bluish white-colored spear of flame flew at the Carrion King.
The explosion that should have defeated this Carrion King never took place.
The Carrion King is just casually standing idly where it's at.
A vortex of mana mass is swirling on the bony index fingertip on its right hand.
The Carrion King had so easily absorbed the magic Lecan shot and put it under its control.
The words Shira told him way back in the past resurfaced on Lecan's mind.
<<Those who cast magic without reciting spells, especially those who do so like they're breathing are no ordinary humans. Those beings are the embodiment of magic itself. They live in the world of essences. If you ever come across such a being, Lecan, run away. Run even if they possess very little mana. They stand on a whole different level than you. They will swiftly see through your weaknesses, and kill you or worse, make you go through a fate worse than death.>>
The thing standing before Lecan now is not even human. However, this Carrion King may very well fit the description of <The embodiment of magic itself> Shira mentioned.
A chill ran down Lecan's spine.
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