Kashu Animusphere
LV.1
Strength: I(0)→F(324)
Endurance: I(0)→I(74)
Dexterity: I(0)→G(217)
Agility: I(0)→G(222)
Magic: I(1)→E(415)
--Magic--
--Skills--
Loki: (╯°Д°)╯︵┻┻
Having barely managed to suppress her explosive curiosity, the evil goddess once again wore an expression of pain. She even felt the urge to flip the table.
There was no other reason. Kashu's growth rate was simply absurd!
He'd only spent a day wandering around the Dungeon, yet he'd come back with over 1,200 points of excelia?
Wait, no!
If you counted the time the kid had spent dawdling that morning, he hadn't even been in the Dungeon for a full day!
"Hey, kid, come clean. Are you really human? Or are you some monster wearing human skin?"
Kashu turned to look at Loki with an unreadable expression, then answered calmly.
"Judging by my physical structure, I am indeed human."
Loki waved the freshly translated parchment in her hand, clicking her tongue in amazement.
"Whoa. If everyone in the New World is like you, we'll have to go check it out for ourselves."
Kashu took the parchment and glanced over it, his brows furrowing slightly in puzzlement.
"Even the fastest-growing stat, magic, only reached E-rank?"
"What did you just say? Listen to yourself! Does that sound like something a human would say?"
"'Only reached E'? If the other adventurers heard you say that, they'd burst into tears on the spot!"
Loki pulled a bottle of liquor from who knew where and took several hefty swigs before beginning to explain the basics of adventurers to Kashu.
Falna did indeed accelerate growth, and adventurers could indeed earn excelia by training frequently.
But!
There was always a "but"!
Raising one's stats was never easy for an adventurer.
Under normal circumstances, anyone who could raise their stats by dozens of points in a short time was already a rare talent the various Familias would fight tooth and nail to recruit.
And the further one advanced, the slower their stats rose.
Even Loki's most exceptional Sword Princess hadn't grown at anything like Kashu's absurd rate when she first received her Falna.
Something's not right... No matter how strong this kid is, even if he can charge all the way through the tenth floor alone, his stats shouldn't have risen this much.
This isn't just strength gained from training... It's more like... divine blood has awakened some potential that's been sleeping inside him?
Loki narrowed her eyes out of habit, then took another big swig of liquor and waved a hand dismissively.
"Forget it, forget it. Our Familia's full of kids with their own secrets. You're not the only one."
Kashu paused. He'd already prepared a whole explanation, but Loki had let the matter go so readily that she'd never even pressed him.
This evil goddess from Norse legend seemed rather different from the one he'd imagined.
"I need a map of the floors beyond the tenth, preferably one that covers the eighteenth floor. I heard adventurers have shops there. I'm interested."
At Kashu's request, Loki's face immediately fell, and she looked troubled.
"A map, huh..."
Though her Familia was one of Orario's two great powers, she was a hands-off goddess who had never bothered with the little details of exploring the Dungeon.
And with Finn, the captain who coordinated everything, away on an expedition with the main force, where was she supposed to find a map?
"Oh, right!"
Loki slapped her thigh and pointed to a building beside Twilight Manor.
"Over there! That's our library. It's packed with exploration records and intel from the Familia over the years. Maps, monster data, whatever you need—you'll find it there!"
"Understood."
Kashu nodded, put away the parchment, and turned toward the library.
But just as he was about to step out of the room, he suddenly stopped and glanced back at the god still drowning her sorrows in drink.
"Loki, is there some kind of surveillance equipment up on Babel Tower?"
"When I came back at dusk, I felt someone watching me. It was really uncomfortable, like someone had looked me up and down from head to toe."
"Surveillance? Someone watching you?"
At that, Loki set down her bottle. The drunken look vanished from her face, and she nodded.
"I think I know what's going on. Don't worry, kid. I'll take care of it."
Once Kashu had disappeared outside, Loki roughly wiped her mouth. Her face took on a sly, vicious grin, utterly unlike her usual playful expression.
"Looks like that lovesick fool has her eye on him. 'Old friend,' don't push me into falling out with you!"
After searching through the library's sea of records for the information he needed, Kashu once again stepped into the gloomy Dungeon beneath the faint light of dawn.
This time, his destination was the safe floor in the Middle Levels—the eighteenth floor.
That's right, a safe floor.
Only after carefully studying the records did Kashu realize he'd been making assumptions.
The Dungeon wasn't dangerous everywhere. On certain floors, such as the eighteenth, monsters didn't spawn. They were like safe zones in a game.
That was why daring adventurers had opened shops there, creating a small supply hub.
"On just my second day after receiving Falna, I'm heading into the Middle Levels. Other people would probably think an adventurer like me has a death wish, right?"
His self-mocking words were swept away by the turbulent air rushing from the passage ahead.
Wrapped in a torrent of magic, Kashu shot through the Dungeon's tunnels like a cannonball, charging along the route he remembered.
It was a little trick he'd only recently mastered.
He unleashed all the vast magic within him, turning it into brute force that propelled him forward.
This power not only greatly increased his strength and speed, but also reduced the damage he took—and even let him hover briefly or fly!
Kashu's loud, unabashed approach naturally drew the attention of countless monsters, like a beacon in the night.
In the rocky passageways of the seventeenth floor, heavy panting rose and fell, like the pounding of great drums against the stone walls.
Shadows stirred, and hulking monsters with knotted muscles and savage forms slowly emerged. Their red-bronze hides reflected the cold light of the phosphorescence.
Minotaurs.
One of the signature monsters of the Dungeon's Middle Levels, known for their tremendous strength and tough defenses.
Kashu stopped and loosely clenched his right hand. A gleaming platinum longsword instantly took shape.
He studied the restless monsters before him with interest.
"Bull-headed men in a maze?"
"Of all things, these monsters are the ones that fit their mythological descriptions best in this world."
"Moooh!" ×N
They couldn't understand human speech, but that didn't stop the bulls from sensing the provocation and threat radiating from the being before them.
They roared one after another, muscles bulging as they lowered their heads. Their thick hind hooves kicked against the rocky ground, sending up rubble and dust.
The Minotaurs became raging black blurs as they charged Kashu together!
For a moment, the scene reminded him of the kobolds he'd once faced—just as fearless in the face of death.
"Sorry, I don't have time to play with you right now."
Wind King's Hammer!
Kashu didn't even dodge. He swung his sword, wrapped in invisible pressure from the wind, with a ferocity that outmatched the monsters'.
The slash tore through the air with a piercing whistle, instantly reducing the charging Minotaurs—and the rocky ground beneath them—to a storm of fragments!
But this one-sided slaughter seemed to trigger some taboo, thoroughly enraging the Dungeon itself.
Thump, thump—!
First came a dull, powerful sound, like a gigantic heart beating, echoing through the entire cavern.
Then the walls began to crack with a succession of sounds like firecrackers popping.
The cavern was splitting and writhing in every direction.
More Minotaurs began to spawn in groups at an unprecedented speed, taking shape all around him.
Their crimson eyes immediately fixed on Kashu, filled with savagery and a desire for destruction.
The Dungeon had spawned far more powerful monsters than usual in an instant!
It was a desperate situation that could swallow and crush any experienced adventuring party in moments!
A veritable—Monster Party!
Yet faced with a terrifying sight that would make anyone blanch, Kashu showed not the slightest fear. Instead, his lips curled into a smile, and his eyes gleamed with excitement unlike anything he'd felt before.
"What, the Dungeon has a temper too?"
"If you're all this eager, then I'll stay and play with you for a while!"
Before you continue