Time to Update Stats
The Dungeon is bounded by fixed floors, and its terrain and properties will be altered accordingly.
For example, floors 1-4 are mainly composed of light blue walls, forming a series of passages. The terrain is not particularly complex. Guilds and various exploration-oriented clans all have relevant maps. As long as you follow the correct route on the map, you will definitely not get lost and will be able to accurately find the entrance and exit leading to the lower floors.
Starting from the 5th Floor, the walls of the Dungeon will turn light green, and its structure will become more complex. Going deeper, you will find a square open space called a cave, which is a common type of place in the Dungeon.
Putting aside other things, there are quite a few such caves in the 7th floor. The overall terrain is a series of light green underground passages that intersect each other. In the middle or at the end of the passages, a cave is connected from time to time. Overall, it is much more complicated than the 1st to 4th floors, but the space is more open and more conducive to combat.
Of course, this conclusion is based solely on the terrain.
In fact, the monsters have a greater advantage in this battle than the adventurers.
Starting from the 7th floor, a monster called the Killer Ant will appear in the Dungeon. It is known as the Newbie Killer along with the War Shadow on the 6th floor, and is extremely dangerous for novice adventurers.
Not only does it possess an extremely sturdy shell, so hard that even low-quality weapons won't leave a mark when they strike it, but it also has four well-developed, curved claws at the ends of its arms. Its attack power is incomparable to that of low-level monsters like Goblin and Kobold; even adventurers wearing armor can be pierced through the body by it, causing fatal injuries.
Even if an ordinary adventurer is not weak, without high-quality weapons or armor, the outcome of facing the Killer Ant is usually the same: before they can even break through the hard shell, they will be struck by the ants' sharp claws, severely injured, and eventually die, forever sleeping in the Dungeon, never to see the surface again.
This monster's abilities are significantly different from those of the opponents on the 7th floor and earlier. Adventurers who are used to the difficulty of the previous floors often become its prey one after another due to carelessness, dying here.
But that's not the most terrifying thing about Killer Ant.
The most terrifying thing about Killer Ant is that they can also call to their companions.
When Killer Ant are in danger, they release a pheromone-like substance that adventurers cannot detect, attracting their companions from the vicinity.
In other words, when you reach the 7th level and face the Killer Ant, it's basically impossible to fight the enemy one-on-one like in the previous levels.
On the 7th floor, the monsters that adventurers encounter are almost all in groups.
Here, facing relentless, ever-approaching hordes of monsters is the norm. Therefore, by the 7th floor, adventurers often need to team up. Apart from high-level adventurers whose strength far surpasses that of those on the upper floors, it is very difficult for novice adventurers to fight alone here.
Despite this, on this very day, a novice adventurer was alone in a pale green cave illuminated by phosphorescence, challenging an army of Killer Ant.
"Chirp chirp!"
"Chirp chirp chirp!"
Amidst a sharp, piercing cry that felt like scratching glass with fingernails, enormous ants covered in carapaces, with four slender legs and two thin, sharp claws, and huge eyes gleaming with a fierce red light, crawled out from all directions through the passages.
Each of them was about the size of Prum, entirely red, and upon appearing, they would constantly rub their mouthparts together, making a squeaking sound as if chewing something, which was quite irritating.
Amidst this unpleasant wave of shouts, Leo remained unusually calm, holding a small straight sword in one hand and a small shield in the other, as he met the attack head-on.
"Bang!"
A Killer Ant raised its upper body, swung its sharp claws, and stabbed at the small shield that Leo had raised, creating a dull thud and sparks.
Leo used his shield to shield the Killer Ant, shoving it away forcefully. He then quickly retreated, dodging two more Killer Ant that pounced from the left and right, and creating distance from the ever-approaching army of Killer Ant.
"Chirp chirp chirp!"
Several Killer Ant climbed up the wall and attacked from both sides, even attempting to flank Leo from behind.
Leo's eyes darted around, and even when enemies were attacking from the front, he wouldn't focus his attention entirely on one direction. Instead, he quickly scanned his surroundings, taking in all the approaching enemies.
"Chirp chirp!"
Finally, a Killer Ant that had climbed onto the ceiling swooped down, its sharp forelegs gleaming coldly, making it clear that it could pierce a person's skull with a single blow.
But the moment it pounced, Leo also moved.
He had somehow managed to grab a stone in his left hand, which was equipped with a small shield, and threw it forcefully at the Killer Ant falling from the sky.
"Bang!"
The stone successfully struck the Killer Ant, sending it flying and landing in the middle of a large swarm of Killer Ant.
Having dealt with the surprise attack, Leo quickly rushed towards the area with fewer Killer Ant, raised his shield, and knocked away two Killer Ant running in front of him while unleashing a slash at the Killer Ant behind him.
"Pfft!"
With a flash of cold light, the small straight sword easily severed the head of the Killer Ant, causing it to bleed profusely.
The best way to deal with Killer Ant is to kill them with a single, decisive blow, giving them no chance to call for their companions.
Their hard shells are indeed difficult to penetrate, but if you aim for the gaps in the shell and attack the soft flesh inside, it is not impossible to kill them with a single blow.
For a novice, aiming at the gaps in the hard shell to attack is certainly not an easy task, but as long as the weapon in hand is sharp enough to damage the Killer Ant's hard shell, this can be ignored.
Fortunately, the small straight sword in Leo's hand, worth 80,000 Valis, could achieve this effect, allowing him to easily pry open the Killer Ant's hard shell and cut off its head.
I, i,, i
Upon seeing their companion killed, the remaining Killer Ant were furious and charged forward without hesitation.
Leo, however, showed no interest in fighting. After each attack, regardless of whether it succeeded or failed, he would quickly run away, never giving the Killer Ant a chance to surround him and cut off all his escape routes.
Sometimes he would charge forward, using his shield to deflect the Killer Ant's claws and push their bodies aside, then slashing down any Killer Ant with a single sword strike. At other times, he would retreat rapidly, or even turn and run, creating some distance between himself and the Killer Ant army before regrouping and launching an attack in the direction where there were fewer monsters, thus reducing their numbers.
Using hit-and-run tactics, Leo relentlessly grappled with a large swarm of Killer Ant. Sometimes he would pick up a stone or two from the ground and throw it forcefully, hitting one or two Killer Ant on the head and making them dizzy.
When he sees Killer Ant climbing the walls and ceiling, Leo quickly moves away from them. If a Killer Ant swarms down from above, he either uses his shield to block the attack or swings his sword to slash it away. Occasionally, he will also kick the swarming Killer Ant away. The battle scenes are simple and unadorned, but he is constantly accumulating victories, gradually reducing the number of Killer Ant.
"Grumble--!"
After a while, the few remaining Killer Ant, seeing that things were not going well, began to panic. They raised their upper bodies, rubbed their mouthparts, and emitted sharp cries.
This is how Killer Ant call out to their companions.
"Don't even think about it!"
Leo, of course, wouldn't give them that chance.
"[Light of Heaven, Sword of Stars.]"
A fluent chant came from Leo's mouth.
"[Meteor Dance]!"
Several meteors flew from Leo's hand, turning into fleeting Starlight, trailing long tails of light, and piercing through the Killer Ant one after another.
The few remaining Killer Ant either had their heads pierced by meteors or their bodies penetrated by them, and they froze, unable to utter a sound.
Seconds later, they slowly collapsed, losing all signs of life, dying in front of the adventurers they had besieged.
"Whoosh----whoosh----"
Leo, still in the pose of casting magic, was slightly out of breath. After a while, he stopped and calmed his heartbeat and breathing.
Did you get through it safely?
Muttering softly, Leo wiped the sweat from his brow, raised his small straight sword, and walked toward the corpses of the Killer Ant, beginning to collect the Magic Stone from their bodies.
This is the tenth day since Leo received Blessing of the Gods and officially Loki Familia.
Two days ago, Leo arrived at the 7th floor of the Dungeon and began his adventure there.
This speed is undoubtedly much faster than that of novice adventurers who spent half a month exploring the upper floors, accumulating enough experience and skills before daring to enter the 5th Floor.
However, even so, Leo still hasn't updated his stats, arriving at this level with all his abilities at a proficiency level of 0.
"Hello, please help me exchange these Magic Stones for money."
--
At the Babel Tower, in front of the long line at the money exchange, Leo emptied all the Magic Stone he had collected from his bag and handed them over to the guild's appraiser.
Upon closer inspection, these Magic Stones were noticeably different from the previous fingernail-sized fragments; they were considerably larger.
Only Magic Stone of this size can now be called a complete Magic Stone, rather than Magic Stone fragment.
Naturally, such Magic Stone stones would be much more expensive.
"This is a total of twenty-two thousand Valis. Please accept it."
The heavy money bag was then handed to Leo; it was filled with gleaming gold coins.
Ignoring the stares from the group of adventurers around him, Leo walked out of the money exchange with his money bag and a blank expression.
In just ten days, his earning power had almost doubled, which was certainly something to be happy about, but Leo wasn't particularly concerned about it today.
He's looking forward to something else now.
That means I'm finally going to update my ability stats.