’I almost died there.’
I thought as I rembered my last exchange against the golden knight. That final thrust was a hair’s breadth away from finishing off for good.
’Well, I am not sure if I would really die because in my world, vampires are basically immortal— though I don’t want to gamble to see if that is the case for as well.’
Anyway—
"My face stings."
I mumbled that as I held the left side of my face with a shaky hand. There was a massive cut on my cheek and the edge of my ear was chipped away. It felt like my neck and shoulder were in pretty bad condition as well, the skin shredded and raw.
I’m honestly surprised that I hadn’t lost consciousness yet, considering how much blood I had just lost on that floor.
"..."
I looked down at the headless body of the golden knight lying at my feet. Its blood was incredibly dark, almost black, and it was quickly making a thick pool on the stone cold floor.
I rembered when I first fought a [Dark Serpent] in the cave where I first arrived into this world. I had bled and sustained a pretty big wound then as well, but it had healed almost imdiately after I drank so blood.
And so— FWIP!
I kneeled down and grabbed the heavy corpse of the golden knight by its shoulders. And without any hesitation— CHOMP.
I bit down on what was remaining of its neck and started drinking every drop of its blood.
SHHRK—
The blood was much sweeter and tastier than any blood I had consud before. It had a rich, powerful flavor that seed to hum with energy. As I drank the golden knight’s body dry, I felt a wave of heat rushing through my veins.
I felt my body getting better by the second.
My stamina was being refilled as if I had just slept for a full day. I could actually feel the deep wounds on my body closing up and disappearing.
And soon enough... my blood stopped dripping out of my skin. No more wounds remained on my body; even the skin on my cheek felt smooth again.
"Fuuuhh~"
I let out a satisfied sigh as I stopped drinking. The body was completely spent of blood now, looking like a dry husk inside that armor.
"Thanks for the al."
I was fully recovered now. I just felt a bit exhausted and there was a lingering stinging sensation from where the injuries used to be, but the actual damage was gone.
But ignoring that at the mont—
"I wonder what skill I got."
I whispered that under my breath, curious.
*****
From the Golden Knight, I acquired the passive skill clled [Knight’s Discipline].
What it does is actually very useful. It helps keep my calm during a fight by reducing the feeling of panic in my head. It also helps stabilize my breathing during intense combat and greatly improves my stamina control so I don’t tire out as fast.
Not only that, my [Unified Swordsmanship] evolved into [Sovereign Swordsmanship] as well.
I had learned a bit of the golden knight’s actual techniques through his blood. This style focuses on controlling the tempo of the battle and constantly pressuring the enemy.
Before this, my swordsmanship was based on pure instinct and raw speed. This new skill will help have a variety of moves and allow to fight much better against skilled opponents. I almost lost my life fighting that golden guy, but at least it gave a lot of things and made stronger in the end.
’I guess I can call it fair.’
I thought to myself.
Anyway, I have no ti to waste right now. There’s soone I need to check on.
I imdiately got out of the room, back to the hallway. And there—
-Arf! Arf! Arf!
Onyx was already awake as if he had been waiting for to return. His tail was wagging like crazy as he ran toward . I sat down on the ground and took him onto my lap. He started licking my face while I petted his head.
"We will move a bit later— I will just let my stamina recover a bit more first."
I said as I looked down at Onyx.
-Arf! Arf!
He responded happily. I don’t really know what it ans, but he seed glad I was okay.
... ... ...
*****
After a few minutes of rest, I went back inside the room one more ti. My own pauldrons were already destroyed from the fight, so I decided to take the ones from the Golden Knight.
Although they were old and a bit battered, they felt much sturdier than the ones I was using earlier.
Once I took everything I could from the Golden Knight, I went to the stairs leading down to the deeper floors without wasting another second. It was at the end of the room, like the knight was protecting it and keeping from going even further.
Anyway, moving on—
On the 6th floor, the place beca even darker and had a ruin-like appearance. The traps were less frequent here, but the number of pathways that led to dead-ends increased significantly.
The monsters I encountered were different this ti as well.
I first encountered a group of lizards that seed to have stone hides instead of normal scales. They were very hard to cut with a sword, so I didn’t bother with finesse.
B A M—!!!
I just crushed them all using raw physical force and my kicks.
They were evasive and hard to catch because of their speed, but they were easy to kill once I grabbed them— at least for soone with my strength.
From drinking their blood, I didn’t get any new skills, but I felt my [Black Scales] getting stronger and more durable.
It was one of my favorite skills, to be honest. So I’m actually glad and fine with this.
’I don’t know where to find any more [Dark Serpents], so this works for .’
After the lizards, I encountered so weird bats as well. Their wings were as big as one of my arms, and they were extrely aggressive. I killed each one of them because they kept trying to dive-bomb and attack .
I didn’t get anything brand new from drinking their bloods either.
But my innate skill; [Blood Is Power], felt like it was improving!
This surprised , I didn’t know that this thing could even get better.
The improvents were simple; it seems like recovering and healing will be even easier for now as long as I have a source of blood to consu.
Oh, and not only that, my [Echolocation] improved a bit as well from the bats’ blood.
After all this—
I continued walking after that. I don’t know for how long exactly, but it felt like hours had passed. I stopped from ti to ti to let Onyx sleep and to eat so of the beef jerky I had stored for him. I also used the quiet monts to train my new swordsmanship and get used to it.
After resting, I kept searching for the way down, and whenever I found the stairs; I went down without any hesitation.
Aside from the weird bats and stone lizards, no new types of monsters appeared in front of for a while. I just continued hunting every single one of them and consuming their blood to keep my energy up.
I could feel myself getting stronger and stronger the more ti I spent inside this labyrinth... and this feeling was addicting.
’It was a good decision running in here to hide and improve my strength for the ti being.’
I thought as I continued on my way.
And so, after countless hours of walking, killing monsters, training, and navigating through this massive maze-like dungeon—
I finally got myself all the way down to the 8th floor.
*** *** ***
"Fuuuuh... I’ll stop here for a while."
The monsters I encountered on the way here at the 8th floor were crazily abnormal. They always moved in large hordes and attacked on sight without any fear. The traps were completely gone now, but the space I had to search just to find the stairs leading down got annoyingly bigger.
Oh, and starting on the 7th floor, so of the torches on the walls are lit now. That doesn’t really concern since I can see in the dark, but it’s good for Onyx. If it wasn’t for those torches, everything here would be just pitch black for him.
’Hmm... If I have to estimate, it has been about two days now since I first entered this dungeon.’
I thought to myself as I was sitting on the ground beside the sleeping Onyx.
Then, after looking left and right at the silent stone walls—
"In a day... I will try to finish this dungeon and get out of this place in a single day."
I declared that to myself.
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