"It’s fucking dark in here."
I mumbled those words under my breath as my feet began descending the cold stone stairs. For any normal person, the pitch-black environment would have made it impossible to see even an inch in front of them. But thanks to my [Nocturnal Sight] and [Echolocation] abilities, I was able to navigate through the gloom just fine without needing a light.
After walking for about a full minute, I finally reached the bottom and arrived on the first floor of the dungeon.
"What in the world..."
I couldn’t help but let a curse slip out when I actually saw the interior of the place. The way it was built— it felt like I had just walked inside the heart of a massive, ancient castle.
... ... ...
*****
I took a moment to look around and study my new surroundings.
The dungeon had taken the form of a vast, sprawling stone castle, with its blackened walls rising up from the thick darkness like a forgotten stronghold from an old legend. Empty outer halls stretched out before me, leading into long and twisting corridors that seemed to go on forever.
The torches along the walls were unlit and cold. The stone under my hands was icy to touch, and I could see where it was scarred with old claw marks and damage from ancient battles. The ceilings were so high that every sound I made lingered in the air— each breath and footstep returning to me in warped, haunting echoes.
Corridors branched off in every direction, with some rising upward while others dropped down into deeper darkness. There were broken staircases that ended abruptly, and decayed banners that would probably crumble to dust if I even touched them.
It really wasn’t a place meant for a person to explore; it felt more like a fortress that had been twisted into a confusing maze.
"So I am supposed to find the next set of stairs that lead even deeper if I want to keep moving forward, then?"
I mumbled those words to myself.
To be honest, trying to find the right path in a place like this would normally be very hard for anyone else... well, that is, if I didn’t have my [Echolocation] to guide me.
And so, I began actively using the skill from time to time as I moved, listening closely for a specific sound feedback that gave off a hollow ring.
That hollow sound just meant that the area led to something deeper, and that was likely where the stairs heading down were located.
But as I was walking silently through the halls— SWOOSH— a sudden attack came out of nowhere!
A heavy sword brushed right above my head, but I had already tilted my body to avoid it because of [Danger Sense].
I looked over at my attacker and saw a pale, humanoid monster standing there, holding a rusty sword and wearing pieces of cracked, old armor. It was even bleeding a little bit, leaking dark, thick blood from its joints.
’Is that thing supposed to be some kind of zombie...?’
I asked that question in my head, but instead of getting any kind of answer— FWOOSH! The monster swung at me again.
FWIP— TANG!
I immediately drew my own sword from its sheath and parried the monster’s strike upward with a single movement. And while the creature was left completely wide open— SLASH!
I brought my blade down heavily and cleaved the entire monster into two pieces, even shattering its brittle armor with the force of my attack.
THUD-
The heavy pieces of the monster fell onto the stone floor with a dull, wet sound.
I looked down at the remains with a bit of a frown... the idea of consuming this kind of blood wasn’t really appetizing to me at all, but I knew I needed the power— SLURP!
I grabbed the monster’s dead body and forced myself to drink its blood. To my surprise, it actually tasted good in a weird way... but the whole process was still disgusting nevertheless.
... ... ...
From the knight monster that I had just defeated, I didn’t manage to acquire any brand-new skills.
It seemed like the creature was supposed to give me some kind of swordsmanship skill; but because my current level of swordsmanship is already far superior to whatever it had, drinking its blood simply served to strengthen my [Unified Swordsmanship] instead.
I don’t really hate the idea of it getting stronger, so I didn’t have anything to complain about.
Anyway, after that first encounter with the knight monster, a few more exactly like it started showing up to block my path; they were slow and really weren’t strong enough to challenge me, so I dealt with all of them quite easily.
I made sure to drink all of their blood dry afterward, of course.
After that, I eventually found the stairs leading another level down; I immediately descended to the next floor without a second thought.
... ... ...
I arrived at another level... and the atmosphere down here was much heavier and darker than the previous floor had been.
I also spotted a new type of monster roaming around; they were humanoid again and looked a lot like the monster knights, but their veins were clearly visible through their skin. They were much faster than the others and they preferred to move in a group.
But even so, they were still very easy for me to cut down.
All it really took was one clean slash from my sword to kill each and every one of them, and they just kept coming at me like total idiots.
They were like moths jumping headfirst into a roaring fire.
Moving on, after I finished defeating a large group of them, I sat down and drank all of their blood.
From those monsters, I actually gained a new passive skill called [Vital Mapping]... this skill basically helps me find and target the most vulnerable vital points on any living creature.
"So they really were rushing at me with the intention to go for the kill, huh..."
I muttered that to myself, remembering how those bastards were charging at me earlier.
After drinking all the blood of the dead monsters, I continued exploring deeper into the dungeon. I encountered a few more monsters along the way... but none of them were really a threat to me.
’Uhh... this whole dungeon shit is actually pretty easy.’
I thought that to myself, and then a smile crossed my face.
"I’m actually glad that it’s so dark in here, because it means I can use my full strength."
I said that, sheathing my sword.
... ... ...
I made my way all the way down to the 3rd floor, but except for the fact that everything was getting even darker, nothing really new or exciting happened.
Oh, I did start encountering some traps now, as flying arrows came hurling at me from the walls from time to time. But I was able to easily dodge every single one of them with [Danger Sense]... this skill really is incredibly good.
But after a while, the constant dodging got a bit annoying, so I just started walking through the halls with my whole body covered in [Black Scales]. Now, all the attacks from the monsters and the arrows from the hidden traps just bounced harmlessly off of me.
I spent a few more hours exploring the dungeon after that... but before long, I decided to head back.
It was easy to find my way back once I took the time to remember the layout.
And by the time I finally stepped back outside... it was already dark.
Also—
"Huh?"
"Oh...!"
Kael and the rest of the squad were standing right at the entrance of the dungeon when I walked out. It looks like they had just finished their own exploration as well.
Though— I could clearly see Elianna standing at the back of the group looking absolutely pissed as hell about something.
’Uhh... I guess I won’t be getting close to her for now.’