They kept going at this pace. This time, they spent more hours scouring through the floor and taking more breaks than before. Aidan realized that he couldn’t keep up with the instant floor domination as there was one thing that made this floor different from the last ones.
Each monster here had good control over their magic, and could keep up the fight with Aidan’s swords and their automated movement. He should’ve known that he was going to hit a limit when it came to autonomous hunting with his swords, which had forced him to commit to fighting them close at hand. They were still useful to have around as relays for his Sense Vibrations to take effect, but this time, he would be the one fighting the monsters.
He also had the party help out however they could. They mostly attacked from a distance, but it was good enough for Aidan to get a sweeping kill most of the time even if the experience rate was halved thanks to their involvement. He did come in here for the levels, but he knew he was getting a decent amount even if it was being shared with the rest of his party.
Level Up! From Level 30, you became Level 31!
+1 Free Attribute point
+3 Free Stat points
+1 Intelligence
+1 Toughness
+1 Dexterity
+1 Vigor
…..
Level Up! From Level 31, you became Level 32!
+1 Free Attribute point
+3 Free Stat points
+1 Intelligence
+1 Toughness
+1 Dexterity
+1 Vigor
He thought about adding more points into Intelligence, but since his Class automatically increased his Intelligence attribute every time he leveled, he decided to just keep increasing both his Strength and Vitality for now.
Especially since the next title upgrade just dropped.
You have gained a title!
“Smartass III”
You raised your Intelligence attribute to 50. Your knowledge and mental prowess is starting to take form to become much more than anybody can attain!
+3 Intelligence
The increase in Intelligence pretty much boosted him even more than before, and for good reason as they came across a certain pathway that seemed to be the only way through the near end of the fifth floor. It was surrounded by high walls that stretched on seemingly forever, almost like a valley between the mountainsides.
Across from them lay an area Aidan immediately sensed something was off. When one of his swords flew into the area, it immediately got cut off and fell to the ground, making him blind to that sword’s whereabouts. Even his Sense Vibrations, upon closer inspection, wasn’t able to sense much in the area around there.
Eventually he came upon the realization that the area they needed to go through had some sort of field that caused anything mana-related to lose control and cohesion. In other words, it was an anti-magic zone.
And the reason why that was problematic for them was due to the large being that lay there as though ready to face anything that would invade its territory.
Null-Arcane Ogre, Level 40
It was the highest level he had met so far, reaching an impressive 10 feet in height, and as one would expect of an ogre, having big muscles and a large gut that came with it. It also carried what looked like a club, but with jutting spikes poking out. It also wore heavy looking metal armor that covered its torso and even its legs and arms, making it rather protected in terms of defense.
Normally Aidan would just keep peppering it with multiple swords and spells, and he even had a plan on dealing with that protective armor it wore, but seeing how it rested in the anti-magic zone made that plan completely impossible.
“Yeah, I’m useless here.”
Aidan said to the others after explaining his earlier assumptions. While he wasn’t quite sure whether it was completely magic-free, he didn’t want to risk entering inside and getting aggro from the ogre inside the large spacious hall with barely anything else there.
“You seriously can’t use magic inside there?” Haley asked, not really doubting, but just in astonishment.
“You can see that sword there, right?” Aidan asked, prompting Haley and Van to look where the sword was lodged straight into the ground, completely lifeless. “I’m glad it didn’t do anything to the boss inside, but I can’t move it at all from here. I can probably use Infuse on myself since it’s inside my body, but anything outside of that would get cut off.”
“In other words, we can only use physical combat from here,” Van stated. “But… are we even able to make a dent in it without Aidan’s powers?”
He looked back at the rest of the group, with even the Wise Guys party looking apprehensive. Ander, their most powerful combatant, looked ahead at the ogre standing almost lifelessly at the center with a contemplative gaze.
Aidan wasn’t sure whether the boss was either waiting for something to happen, or that it was utterly brainless that no thought entered its mind unless something came in to fight it. Either way, he was glad that the ogre wasn’t the sort to go traveling around the dungeon like a certain Dweller Prime.
“And it’s seriously the only way through the entire fifth floor?” Nina asked, getting a nod from Aidan. “I didn’t think the dungeon would throw a trap room like that into the mix.”
“Well, there goes any plans for the adventurers with mages in their parties back at the guild,” Nicky muttered. “With this here, any party that focuses on getting mages is gonna get curved-stomped.”
“Hey, what about us? We got a guy here all about magic!” Bill said, pointing at Aidan.
“So, is this a bust?” Haley asked. “Do we go back?”
“Well…” Aidan muttered, rubbing his chin. “I sort of got an idea I wanna try, but it depends on you guys.”
“What do you mean?” Van asked.
“You guys fine with me experimenting whether Infuse works on you?”
“You mean the buff spell?” Haley asked. “You can do that?”
“I never tried Infusing on another person before,” Aidan admitted. “I might need to readjust some things, but if anyone’s willing, I wanna try it out.”
The group turned quiet at the response, a few moments passing by as everyone contemplated on his words. Aidan would understand if nobody wanted to try it out, but once again he was pleasantly surprised when one hand rose to the air.
“I’ll do it,” Van said. “I’ve been next to useless this entire time. At least let me be the guinea pig if it’ll help us out.”
“Bro…” Haley chimed in.
“Just let me do it,” Van insisted.
“I appreciate this, man,” Aidan smiled. “Come on over then.”
Van did as he asked, a determined expression on his face. Aidan placed a hand on top of his chest, figuring that was the best place to pour Infuse into. His eyes closed, he focused his willpower into his spell and willed it to send into Van’s soul.
When he cast Infuse onto an item, it was easy as the item didn’t have any sort of will of its own to combat it. And when he cast Infuse onto himself, he was fully willing to accept it, his soul easily accessing the increase in power.
So sending Infuse into another soul grew to be a bit of a challenge as he felt some kind of wall surrounding it. Unlike how he cast Heal on him before, considering how the spell was different, he had to adjust the frequency of his own spell in order to match the soul’s wavelength in order to improve it.
After a few moments of careful adjustments, something clicked as the mana drained from Aidan and poured itself straight into Van. His soul rose in conjunction to the power added, and it seemed brighter and more vibrant in Aidan’s mind.
When his eyes opened, he saw Van’s eyes widening in response to the power, breathing heavily before stepping back and looking at his hands.
“This is… incredible,” Van uttered, his voice low but amazed. “I feel like I’m just brimming with energy!”
As an example, Van let out a punch in the air, and like how Aidan went through, it also exploded in air pressure, surprising Van and the others. His eyes turned distant, a sign of someone accessing their status screen, making them go wide again.
“My stats went up by a ton!” Van said, almost shouting at the reaction.
“Serious? Hey, let me try!” Bill said, running up to Aidan and raising his hand like a school kid.
Eventually Aidan went and Infused the rest of the Wise Guys, granting them a lot of power in return for his mana. Given that the next battle was going to be, he wasn’t going to have to worry about regenerating anything since he wouldn’t be able to use much.
He looked back at Haley and Nina, with Haley looking like she was pumping herself up.
“I’ll try to fight, too!” Haley said. “Umm, I’ll just be shooting arrows from a distance, though. But maybe with Infuse, it might help?”
“I think anything is better at this point,” Aidan said. He turned to Nina. “What about you?”
“I think it’s time for me to show you why you don’t have to worry about me whenever I go out alone,” Nina smiled. “Go ahead.”
He did just that, infusing mana into both Haley and Nina. Just as Aidan suspected, when he Infused Nina, her soul seemed grander in comparison to the others, only becoming more impressive with Infuse on top of that.
“A fighter, a long-range user, a healer, a scout, and a buffer…” Bill listed one by one, shaking his head. “You’re a damn monster.”
“Let’s see how much of a monster I can be in this fight,” Aidan said, pointing his thumb at the ogre. “Remember, you guys got around 20 minutes. If the fight lasts longer than that, we need to skedaddle.”
“I’ll be the distraction then,” Bill anointed himself. “With this boost in Agility, I can definitely get its attention and piss it the hell off.”
“I’ll stick with Haley, if you don’t mind,” Van stated, clearly not willing to change his position. Haley didn’t even bother correcting him.
“Then I’ll stick to the big brother and little sister,” Nicky said, sending a wink to Van. “Mind adding me to your protection detail, honey?”
“Uhh, sure…” Van almost stuttered, prompting an elbow jab from the smirking Haley beside him.
“Then Ander and I will focus on combat,” Nina said, then suddenly pulled out some wicked twin daggers from her pack, spinning them casually like a practiced killer. “Ander, can you handle yourself in a fight without your talent?”
“Don’t underestimate me,” Ander said simply. “I can handle anything, as long as we have a plan.”
“The plan’s simple,” Aidan smiled, a bit of excitement leaking out of it. “Keep attacking, and don’t die.”
Aidan was the first to move, followed by his party as they entered into the domain of the ogre. As Aidan suspected, he immediately felt his magic being cut off all around him. While his Sense Vibrations was still going strong, he could only sense his immediate surroundings rather than expansively outward.
Having no other choice, he held his single sword in hand, wanting to focus mainly on just one sword to gauge the fight as the ogre immediately picked up on their party approaching. Its two eyes seemed to lit up in realization, and stepped forward with one big foot onto the ground.
It opened its mouth and let out a roar, raising its spiked mace up into the air and launching itself straight at them.
Thankfully, it didn’t appear to be any faster, so the party managed to separate into their roles as they dodged the large attack that made a trail of destroyed earth from the impact. The archers with their singular vanguard stood off to the side, launching attacks with many small arrows and few large arrows raining down on it.
Bill, doing as he promised, rushed ahead and kept shooting his crossbows at it, aiming at the parts where the armor didn’t connect. Seeing its tiny target, the ogre went after it, but thanks to being boosted by Infuse, Bill dodged it with ease, even whooping like a maniac while he did so.
That got both Ander and Nina enough room to jump in for an attack of their own. Ander swooped in, his single blade arcing and slicing off a small chunk of the ogre’s tough skin on its ankle, with Nina following up with a mad dash and making a crossed slash on the same leg, catching the ogre’s attention and redirecting its club at them.
Aidan came up to its front, his physical stats boosted to a high degree as he felt his muscles tensing and brimming with power. He dug his sword into the other leg, cramming as much physical force behind it as he could. The blade dug deep into the leg, blood flowing like a damn waterfall.
That interrupted the ogre’s swing long enough for it to pay attention to him. He lifted his injured leg that Aidan cut and tried to stomp him, but Aidan carried himself out faster than even he predicted, dodging the attack entirely.
The fight went along smoothly as they kept up the pace, slowly wearing down the ogre while dodging and avoiding its devastating strikes. Sometimes the ogre moved unexpectedly, even charging after the supporters from the side, but despite his low level, Van managed to interrupt its attacks with his buckler while the girls fled, and the fighters managed to catch up to take the ogre on while Van ran with the others. He looked haggard as fuck, but considering he was tackling an opponent three times his height, double his level, and without an overpowered talent, Aidan had nothing but respect for the man protecting his sister.
That only made Aidan want to fight harder, using all of his available knowledge on swordsmanship while keeping his balance steady. It was easy thanks to Sense Vibrations, ensuring that his movements didn’t go out of line while facing this humongous monster. That’s when the situation changed.
The ogre, perhaps figuring out its predicament, flexed its arms as the usually green color of its skin soon changed, becoming a deep crimson red. The soul of the ogre changed dramatically, which only revealed that it also had magic at its disposal–just that it was the same as his own, a boosting magic that increased its stats.
“Everyone, stay focused!”
Aidan shouted, but the first target of the ogre’s wrath was none other than him as he came at him faster than he was used to. His arms swung faster too, forcing Aidan to put up his sword to take the blow for the first time.
If he could, he would’ve gladly used Phase to avoid the strike, but despite his desire to, his magic didn’t work despite it being mostly an internal spell. Considering that it affected his physical body on the outside, it was only to be expected.
The mace hit him, making him fly for several miles in a heartbeat before landing, his head blanking out from the pain that hit him worse than a truck. None of his senses, including Sense Vibrations, worked at all before finding himself plastered on the ground, leaking out blood and making a pool underneath him.
He managed to recover his senses on time to find the ogre running up after him. Clearly, it was out for blood as he ignored everyone else and came after the one that was the closest to death. His body shook from the excess blow to the head, unable to move in time to get away.
That’s when he noticed a presence that suddenly stood out. He saw Nina running at it at full speed, showing the sort of agility he’d never seen her do before. She quickly jumped up across the ogre’s body and ran up across its back and shoulder before jumping again straight into the open air.
Up above, her daggers flashed a bright white, clearly not some sort of spell, but a skill as each blade’s edge shimmered with a silver light. They extended wide, becoming larger as her body spun with momentum before slashing downwards like a wheel. The ogre roared and blood flowed like water, interrupting its attack which gave Aidan the chance to move.
But not before giving one final glance at the airborne Nina and scanning her, giving him the real truth of her power.
Assassin, Level 63.
Holy shit.
Somehow, he wasn’t surprised. He knew that Nina was a lot more capable than she let on, but to think that after all his leveling, she was actually twice his own level. It was clear she had some kind of power or relic that allowed her to disguise her true level, and even gave a fake class on top of that.
She landed on the ground, crossing her daggers to face the ogre ready for another brawl. It spun around and swung its massive mace at her, only to swing nothing but air as Nina dodged fluidly. On top of her level, her stats were boosted by Aidan’s Infuse, making her a real powerhouse as she let loose her true strength and kept cutting the ogre apart piece by piece.
Everyone else followed suit, including Aidan after he managed to recover enough of his senses and struck at the ogre. Eventually, it got worn down enough to fall onto one knee, using its mace as a stand.
Hundreds of cuts showed on its available skin, the armor in tatters with several arrows, both large and small, sticking out in places. The only reason why it was still living was clearly due to having a higher lifeforce thanks to its level, but they managed to deal enough damage to its tendons and ligaments to keep it from using its full movements.
Now that it was on its last legs, everyone mercilessly piled on the damage, Aidan wanting nothing more than to end this fight for good. After some more slashing and cutting, something that even Aidan felt a bit sorry for making it go through so much, the ogre finally let out its death throes before falling, its mace left forgotten.
He breathed a sigh of relief when the notification landed.
You have slain ‘Null-Arcane Ogre’.
You have gained a large amount of experience points.
…..
Level Up! From Level 32, you became Level 33!
+1 Free Attribute point
+3 Free Stat points
+1 Intelligence
+1 Toughness
+1 Dexterity
+1 Vigor
…..
Level Up! From Level 33, you became Level 34!
+1 Free Attribute point
+3 Free Stat points
+1 Intelligence
+1 Toughness
+1 Dexterity
+1 Vigor
He looked around, seeing Haley fall to her ass in pure relief with Van breathing heavily by her side. Nicky let out a whoop along with Bill, with Ander looking just as pleased despite not showing anything on his face.
Nina walked up beside him, looking at the downed creature with a resolute face.
“You know, you could’ve told me you were that strong,” Aidan said aloud, figuring that it wasn’t that important for everyone else to know.
“When people underestimate you, they show weaknesses they never mean to,” Nina simply said, shrugging a shoulder. “Hiding your level is only natural.”
“Assassin, though…” Aidan said, unable to hold back his curiosity. “Was that Class available to you when you first got it?”
Nina looked at him strangely, then looked as though she understood. “I see that you don’t know. I upgraded my class to Assassin when I reached level 50. You get the option to either pick another Class to level, or upgrade your original Class.”
“Wait, seriously?” Aidan’s eyes grew wide. “You can have two classes?”
“You can,” Nina said. “Though I suggest you seriously consider whether having dual classes is worth it, or perhaps it’s better to upgrade your Class to a superior version.”
Aidan nodded in understanding, his gamer mind already considering the options thanks to his high Intelligence. He was still a bit off from reaching level 50, but now he saw his goal right in front of him.
But that had to be put on hold for now as the way to the end of the fifth floor was now open for them to advance. Once they took their loot from the giant ogre, it was time to move onward to the end of their dungeon dive.
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