Dungeon Diver: Stealing a Monster's Power

Chapter 84

[Test 1][Time Remaining: 30 Hours]

I let my flames simmer down, but keep my sword pointed straight ahead.

"So... are we friends or enemies today?"

Nessa lets out a sigh of relief.

"Friends, I hope."

She lets her sword down and turns to her teammates.

"Hey! I know them! Hold back!"

I turn to Maria and nod. She understands and lets her ice wall crumble while backing up slowly.

I'm still skeptical, so I scan the area. At closer inspection, one of the tanks and that woman with daggers look familiar. They were both there when I fought that mutant minotaur... but the big guy.... He's new. Nessa caught me sizing him up.

"Hey Bruce! Meet Jay. Jay, meet Bruce. This is our team captain."

The large light-skinned man with dark features walked over to me slowly with his heavy metal shield to the side. I use inspect and appraisal.

[Lv. 271]

Active Items:

[Heavy Steel Shield] +400 Defense

[Steel Armor Set] +300 Defense

[Leather Boots] +150 Speed

[High Ogre's Ring] +50% Mental Strength

[Rodrigo's Silver Bracelet]

Active Skills:

Body Hardening

"Nice to meet you. If you're a friend of Nessa's you're a friend of mine!"

He reaches out a hand and I shake it hesitantly, but keep a smile on my face.

"Nice... To meet you too."

I continue scanning the area around us, using enemy detection and inspect on a huge radius. Nessa's eyes light up as she looks at me using multiple new skills, but I'm not too worried about it.

Our bigger problem is the 27 other teams on this floor right now. It seems like we overslept, it's getting crowded here.

Maria walks over to me.

"How was your nap? Ready to continue?"

I smile.

"Yeah it was pretty nice, I ju-"

"YOU WERE SLEEPING?"

Nessa looks at me like I'm insane.

I laugh.

"Yeah, we did take a small break. Nessa, Meet Maria... and uhh, Maria, meet Nessa."

They stare each other down for a moment, then both nod before looking away in different directions.

I gulp softly, then notice Nessa holding herself up by her sword... The other 3 teammates doing the same thing, using their gear to keep themselves upright. Now that I take a closer look, they're all pale and exhausted.

"Hey- Are you guys all right? You all seem sickly..."

Nessa looks back at me and nods slowly.

"Yeah, we've just had a long day. Moving slowly and only engaging with parties much smaller or weaker than us is tiring work. If you didn't wake up during our fight, I'm not so sure what would have happened. It's taken a while to climb this high. Plus, that last dungeon was brutal."

Maria looks over at me with a grin on her face.

"I would have wiped the floor with them if you didn't stop me."