DMS Chapter 196
DMS Chapter 196
After Flinx's battle against the hobgoblins and goblins riding Dire Spiders, Samuel commented that his fighting style resembled that of a thug.
"There isn't any finesse," Samuel said. "You just overwhelm everything with brute force."
"What do you expect me to do?" Flinx replied. "I want to make sure none of the monsters survive. The faster I kill them, the less chance there is for something to go wrong and put any of your lives at risk."
Samuel merely shrugged, so Flinx continued.
"We're only on the first floor, and it's already comparable to the twentieth floor of the Dungeon of Mara. Once we reach the deeper floors, the monsters will become genuinely dangerous. I need to eliminate them as quickly as possible."
The first floor was populated by creatures commonly found in cavern environments: goblins, hobgoblins, spiders, kobolds, orcs, trolls, giant bats, and even slimes.
The slimes, however, were nothing like the adorable teardrop-shaped creatures commonly portrayed in anime and video games. Instead, they resembled enormous masses of disgusting mucus that crawled along the walls and floor of the dungeon.
Fortunately, Pip spotted them first and warned Flinx. Otherwise, he might have been caught off guard by the revolting creatures.
As the raid continued, Flinx realized he had been relying on the same offensive spells repeatedly. Since there was little danger to himself, he decided this would be the perfect opportunity to become more familiar with his strongest wizard spells.
During the next encounter, he unleashed Meteor Swarm, his most powerful evocation spell. Four blazing meteors crashed into the monsters, engulfing the entire area in a sea of fire.
Normally, a few survivors would require additional casts of Magic Missile, but this time, Meteor Swarm annihilated every monster instantly.
In the following battle, Flinx cast the ninth-circle spell Ravenous Void. A sphere of overwhelming gravitational force formed in the center of a swarm of vampire bats perched upon the cavern's stalactites. Within moments, the destructive singularity crushed every creature caught within its reach.
After witnessing the spell, several of his companions openly admired the display.
"Why are you suddenly using all these incredible spells?" Edward asked.
"I haven't really tested most of them yet," Flinx answered. "I figured this was the perfect chance."
"They're amazing to watch," Arnold said while holding up his expensive-looking video camera. "Thankfully, I've been recording since the beginning."
Flinx simply shrugged.
He did not mind being recorded. In fact, he had filmed many of his previous dungeon expeditions and had shown them to his adopted family.
Even if Arnold uploaded the footage to Earth, most people would probably dismiss it as a high-budget amateur film filled with impressive CGI.
The next unfortunate victims were a band of kobolds consisting of both warriors and spellcasters.
Flinx greeted them with the ninth-circle enchantment spell Psychic Scream.
The spell was horrifying.
One after another, the kobolds' heads exploded as the overwhelming psychic assault shattered their minds.
Flinx paid little attention to the gruesome sight. From experience, he knew the dungeon would absorb the corpses within minutes.
The next spell he tested was the ninth-circle illusion spell Weird.
A group of hobgoblins accompanied by several dire wolves became the unfortunate targets.
As soon as the spell took effect, the monsters began reacting to terrifying hallucinations born from their deepest fears. Some fled in blind panic. Others collapsed onto the ground, screaming or wailing in terror.
For a moment, Flinx wondered whether he would need to finish them off himself.
Then, one by one, every monster died.
His companions were thoroughly entertained by the variety of powerful spells he continued to demonstrate. Since each battle lasted no more than two or three minutes, everyone assumed they would finish the first floor in relatively little time.
The next group consisted of four trolls.
Flinx cast the eighth-circle necromancy spell Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting.
The spell lived up to its infamous reputation.
Every drop of moisture within the trolls' bodies vanished instantly, leaving the massive creatures as dried, shriveled husks that resembled ancient mummies.
Flinx was grateful that he never had to touch the corpses.
One of the Wind Elementals simply gathered the mana stones after every battle, allowing him to avoid handling the remains altogether.
The next victims were a colony of giant spiders.
This time, Flinx cast the eighth-circle spell Dark Star.
A sphere of magical darkness appeared among the spiders before collapsing inward under an immense gravitational force, crushing everything trapped within its radius.
Witnessing such overwhelming magic convinced several of Flinx's friends that, once they could permanently choose their classes, Wizard would almost certainly become one of them.
The spells Flinx displayed were both awe-inspiring and unimaginably powerful.
Since dual-classing was possible, Flinx smiled as everyone began discussing their future combinations.
Most agreed that Wizard would become one of their two classes, while the second would either be their favorite class or the one originally granted to them by the transmigration system before the Torbal Slavers captured them.
As Flinx continued clearing monsters, his companions debated which class paired best with Wizard.
Some argued that combining it with a Warrior class would compensate for a wizard's lack of physical durability.
Others believed pairing Wizard with another spellcasting class, such as Druid or Bard, offered greater versatility.
Several insisted that Cleric was the ideal partner, just as Flinx himself had chosen.
During a brief pause between battles, Samuel suddenly laughed.
"I just realized something. You're casting your spells alphabetically, starting with the ninth-circle spells and working your way downward."
Everyone quickly noticed the pattern and found it amusing.
Flinx merely shrugged.
"It's easier that way," he admitted. "Once I get used to all of my strongest wizard spells, I'll start testing my Cleric's offensive and summoning spells too."
The next spell he demonstrated was the eighth-circle illusion spell Illusory Dragon.
He had used it before, so he already knew what to expect.
This time, he chose a dragon that breathed lightning.
The magnificent illusion swept across the battlefield, releasing a brilliant torrent of lightning that engulfed the monsters below.
The spectacle was breathtaking.
Arnold practically beamed with excitement as he captured the entire scene with his high-definition camera.
Despite the dungeon's immense size, Flinx completed the first floor in roughly four hours—the same amount of time it usually took him to clear the fiftieth floor of the Dungeon of Mara.
That alone proved the first floor of this wild dungeon was significantly larger than any floor within the Dungeon of Mara.
Flinx silently concluded that his friends had been wise to take a month away from their normal lives for this expedition.
When they finally reached the end of the floor, they discovered an elite monster waiting for them.
Flinx had not expected an elite to appear on the very first floor.
Even so, he defeated it effortlessly.
The monster dropped a magical item: the Ring of Gust, which could cast the Gust spell five times per day.
It was a fairly ordinary magical item, and since no one could take it back to Earth anyway, Flinx simply stored it in the fourth tab of his inventory.
By the time they finished clearing the first floor, it was around ten o'clock the following morning.
The group decided to leave the dungeon, rest for a few hours, have lunch, and resume their raid on the second floor afterward.