Christopher Allen Smith is you average lazy high school gamer, with no aspirations for success in his life in Los Angeles California in 2023. That is until one night when EVERYTHING changes. Christopher wakes up to find himself in a fantasy land jus...
I dash straight at my foe, and he responds in kind, his blades igniting on the way. Our blades clash and a shockwave propagates from the impact along with a massive burst of steam as hot blade meets ice shrouded blade. The whole platform we are on seemed to have bounced in the magma lake as the shockwave momentarily pushed it downward.
We clash over and over, our blades impacting with explosive force. This Daemon is quick, but still has nothing on my speed. I could carve up this guy in an instant if I wish, but I need to see this Spatial Movement skill in action.
After a few minutes of just blocking its attacks, it still has not used any skills let alone the one I'm actually interested in. Perhaps I need to give it a little push to use it.
The Daemon launches another attack and I simply parry the attack and plant a foot in its left side. The impact of the kick sends the monster flying way beyond the platform where it splashed back into the magma. I'm not too concerned because that's where it literally came from, so it's not going to hurt it.
As expected, the daemon burst out of the magma and lands back on the platform. As it lands, I'm already behind it as it stares at my shadow image. I land another kick upside the right side of the head and the daemon tumbles on the platform and back into the magma.
Once again it bursts forth and before it could even land on the platform, I'm right in front of it, my Masamune a mere inch from its eyes. Then it happens. My Masamune passes right through air as the Daemon literally vanishes. I couldn't even see it move. Was that the skill I was looking for?
I quickly turn and see the Daemon a foot away, blades already closing in for a strike. I use my Utsusemi skill and appear behind the Daemon, my blade placing a neat slash across its back. Bright Orange liquid magma pours from the wound.
Suddenly, the Daemon vanishes, again I'm unable to see the movement. Is this skill faster than my Utsusemi skill? I wonder if it could be...
*CRACK* our blades meet as the beast stricken from directly above me. How the hell did it get up there?! A quick slash and again my blade finds only air, the Daemon nowhere to be seen.
"Fascinating skill." I say to myself as I scan the area.
I walk around trying to see if I can sense the Daemon, but it's nowhere to be found. I've never known a monster to run away, so this is quite odd. Several minutes pass and it doesn't show, so I'm just going to move on. I think I'm just going to have to figure that skill out for myself. I just wish I had more time to observe it to get a better idea of what that bastard was doing.
I head toward the edge of the platform to jump to a skinny but long platform leading to a tunnel in the side of the cavern. As soon as I get to the edge of the platform to make my jump, the lava explodes, and the Daemon launches out of the magma at me. I have just barely enough time to draw my sword and block the strike.
I return the strike and the fucker vanishes again, my sword gliding through the air. I immediately turn to block another strike from behind me. This is like my Utsusemi skill. This must what my foes must have experienced when I used that skill. But it's still different.
With my Utsusemi skill, I'm literally using a massive burst of speed to run behind my foe. With this Daemon's skill, it's like he just disappears and reappears somewhere else, not just behind me. It seems it can control where he ends up. It's almost like...
We begin exchanging blows again, shockwaves exploding from the impact of our blades. Time to bring some speed into this. I'm going to turn it up a notch.
The Daemon's attacks slow down as my speed increases. His strikes coming nowhere close to me. I land several strikes in succession, being careful not to kill my foe as I still need him to use his skill.
Use the skill he does, as every attack I make the Daemon vanished. Faster and faster, I make my attacks, and faster and faster my foe vanishes only to reappear elsewhere.
"Teleportation." I whisper as I launch attacks.
That's what this is! I speed up faster and faster, until I'm almost 80% of my top speed, and still this monster evades my attacks with his Spatial Movement skill. Absolutely amazing. Here I thought I already had the peak skill in my Utsusemi.
I'm not going to land a hit with him using this skill like this. No matter how fast I go, this skill keeps him one step ahead. Looks like I don't have any choice. I'm going to use it.
I deliberately slow down my attacks to give me plenty of time to execute this. I need a decent margin of error as I have never used an unknown skill in the middle of a fight. If this goes wrong, I don't have much time between failure and my head being separated from my body.
I begin placing my attacks in a pattern, allowing my foe to track me and counter my strikes. This allows me to guide my foe into a pattern of attack that I design. Knowing the pattern allows me to set up the perfect time to execute my plan.
After several clashes, I begin with a slash from my left to the right. This opens up my left side to his counterattack. I concentrate on the space directly behind and to the right of the Daemon. As he swings with his right sword, I cast the spell.
"Spatial Movement!"
In an instant I'm suddenly facing the Daemon's back. He is still mid swing, so I have plenty of time. I slice the Daemon clean in half at the midsection. As the top half falls to the ground, I follow up with a quick slice through its neck, ending this confrontation.
New Level Acquired!
Magic Skill Acquired: Special Class: Spatial Movement
Nice! Alright, let's take a look at this skill and see what it's all about.
Spatial Movement The Caster bends space and time to traverse distances instantly.
That's a hell of a movement spell. I turn around and see the small rock I was on when I teleported down to the mid floor.
"Spatial Movement!"
I instantly find myself on the platform facing the rock wall at the start of this floor. I turn back around to see the square platform I just came from. I let out an appreciative whistle as I smile. This will make moving around the floor a lot easier.
I teleport back the platform where I fought the Daemon and jump to the narrow platform leading to a tunnel through the cavern wall. I run to the tunnel then slow to a walk as this tunnel is quite the sight.
Both sides of the tunnel are made of walls of lava falls. I have to crank up my mana flow to my Frost Armor spell due to the immense heat in the tunnel. This is pretty bad ass. I have no clue how this tunnel is even able to exist considering there are no walls or pillars holding up the ceiling above me.
I must admit it's pretty sick walking through a tunnel of lava. How many people can say they have done something like this?! Unfortunately, the tunnel isn't that long, so it's back to reality as the tunnel empties into another large cavern, this one is missing the massive magma ocean present in the last one. This massive cavern however has falls of lava everywhere. It seems there are hundreds of them flowing to small moats of lava that border the cavern walls.
I walk toward the center of the cavern, marveling at the multitude of lava falls surrounding me. I feel like I'm in the lair of an evil supervillain. I let out a little laugh at that. I'm such a nerd.
Suddenly, my senses pick up the presence of creatures. A LOT of creatures!
"What the fuck..." I whisper to myself as I feel myself being surrounded my literally hundreds of creatures.
The problem is I can't see them. I can feel them there, I can even feel them looking at me. So, where the fuck are they?! It was the. I saw movement. The lava falls! They are pouring out from the lava falls!!
Hundreds and hundreds of whatever the fuck they are, are pouring out of the falls and jumping onto the cavern floor. They are closing in on my position. There are too fucking many! I don't know how I'm going to fight all this crap at the same time! They look like fucked up looking dogs. Like dogs cast out of rock with lava rivers flowing around their bodies. They are each the size of a big ass Golden Retriever.
I quickly pack up the Masamune and take out the massive Axe I got from the last boss. I use its split skill and it transforms into two smaller axes able to be held in one hand. I figure two weapons will be easier to fight all this bullshit than one sword. At least that's my hope. I quickly inspect the closest creatures.
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I inspect a few more of these things to get an idea of their level range. They are all about the same level give or take 1-2 levels, which means they are higher level than the Daemon I just faced. Thankfully it seems individually they are weaker though. Guess this is a power in numbers deal here. Guess the swarm skill is just what I'm seeing... a fuck load of them!
I dash to the leading Hellhounds, and I am able to make quick work of several of them with the axes. I dive right into the group and start swinging anywhere and everywhere, slaying monsters and showering the area with parts and lava "blood".
My new favorite move came when I just started spinning with my arms outstretched. I just sliced them up by the dozens. The Hellhounds begin jumping into the fray from all directions, several landing hits on me but their blows mitigated by the bursts of steam produced when they hit my Frost Armor.
In the past 20 minutes I have killed probably 200 of these things, and they are STILL pouring out of the lava falls! How the fuck do I stop this?!
It takes the better part of an hour to finally dispatch of the horde of Hellhounds. After the final hound is dispatched, I drop my axes and fall over flat on my back. My lungs are heaving and I'm dead tired. I can tell I'm short of MP and endurance. I haven't been this exhausted and drained in quite a while. Amazingly, I actually gained my third tail in all that madness. So, that means there had to be around 600 of these damn Hellhounds.
Best yet, I gained quite a few levels from all these monsters. After several minutes I drag my ass off the floor and begin the annoying task of collecting all 600+ mana stones. Surprisingly, nothing else dropped in terms of gears or other items.
I want to go back to the platform at the start of this floor to rest up a bit. This will give me an opportunity to test one thing out though. I close my eyes and try to visualize the beginning platform in my mind. As soon as I have a good image of it, I try the spell again.
"Spatial Movement!"
"Oh shi..."
"...t"
I fucked up. I think I fucked up! As soon as I cast the spell, another image just popped up in my mind. I couldn't help it as I'm tired and my mind just went to the first thing that I associate with relaxation. I'm kind of afraid to open my eyes. I don't feel the heat of the fourth floor anymore, though I can hear water running!
I slowly open an eye to peek at my surroundings. My eye is met with sapphire blue water that's very familiar. I open my other eye and take in the sight before me. I drop my Frost Armor as there is no need for that here. I immediately begin stripping off my armor as I am extremely excited about this.
Soon, I'm butt naked, and I jump as high as I can, flip several times, and splash straight into the pond containing the Grotto that I used to call my home. I spend the next hour frolicking in the pond like a dolphin that hasn't seen open water in years. I spent several hours stuck in literal hell after all. Who wouldn't want a nice long swim after that?!
I jump back onto the granite outcropping and throw my gear into a bag. I then form an image in my mind of a location I'm dying to get back to.
"Spatial Movement!"
I open my eyes and I'm staring at the gold throne with the massive aquarium behind it. A huge smile crawls across my face as I'm back in the place I called home for over half a year.
I immediately take out my wolf fur bedding and other household items and set up residence once again. Once done, I crawl into my Dire Wolf fur bed, and snuggle in feeling the soft fur against my naked body.
Before I drift off to sleep, I think of the ramifications of this new skill. I can instantly transport anywhere I want; even places I have been before. That means I can actually leave the dungeon! I think on this long and hard, but I can't seem to increase my desire to actually leave here.
I am not sure why I don't want to leave, but I guess it's partly because there is nothing for me out there. I'm living the fantasy life that every Otaku around the world only dreams of. I have come so far in this Labyrinth, and I have grown so strong, that I want to push farther into this dungeon and see how strong I can become.
I have fought immensely strong enemies, and even two who I assume are basically immortals, possibly sort of Gods even? After my battle with the Kitsune, I'm insanely interested as to what the final boss of this Labyrinth is.
I'm going to stay here a bit longer; I think to myself as sleep reels me in.
