With the last of his preparations complete, Levi took a deep breath.
Then, with mana overflowing his entire body, he vanished from the spot like an arrow loosed from a bow.
Having already memorized the maps of the first five floors, it took him less than half an hour to reach the entrance to the sixth floor.
Starting from the sixth floor, the Dungeon spawns a type of monster known as 'War Shadows', infamous as rookie killers.
This is because their ability scores in all aspects see a small boost.
For adventurers coming to this floor for the first time, they are very likely to score a kill on a first encounter.
Levi was a very cautious person by nature. Even though his normal stats were comparable to a regular Lv.2 adventurer, he knew that if he was careless, there was a high chance of him messing up even against weak monsters.
Therefore, upon encountering the first... or to be precise, the first group of three War Shadows, he, holding his Sky-Piercing Sword, instinctively cloaked himself in a layer of 'Mana Burst: Ten'.
Next, with all his abilities boosted by 100 points (the effect of the Sky-Piercing Sword) and his Agility receiving an additional 800 points, he didn't opt for close combat at all. Instead, he created distance while pulling out a hardwood shortbow and two arrows. He drew the bowstring to its fullest, and a chilling aura emanated from the tip of the arrow resting on the bow.
In the next instant, with a swish, the head of one of the War Shadows charging at him was pierced by the impact of the arrow and the Cryo element.
Its entire body then turned into a pile of black ash.
Levi didn't stop. Almost at the same time he fired the first arrow, the second arrow, previously held between his ring and middle fingers, was already nocked on the shortbow.
Then, with another swish.
The second War Shadow fell.
At this point in the fight, the third War Shadow was still about five meters away from Levi.
Theoretically, he could have continued to defeat it with ranged attacks.
But in the end, Levi chose not to do so.
Bows and arrows are certainly useful on the Upper Floors of the Dungeon.
But starting from the Middle Floors, monsters' defensive capabilities begin to increase unreasonably. Especially for some defense-specialized monsters, ordinary arrows might not even be able to pierce their outer shells.
Often, one needs to prepare special, expensive arrows.
Besides, reality wasn't like the games he played in his past life; arrows would break after just a few uses.
If he focused solely on developing as an archer, he would inevitably face situations in the Dungeon where he ran out of arrows and had to rely on close combat skills to survive.
Rather than sharpening his spear at the last minute, it was better to get completely accustomed to melee combat with monsters now, while he had the advantage of superior stats.
—Of course, if he could one day learn a powerful offensive magic spell and transition into an artillery mage, that would be a different story.
The thought flashed through his mind. Levi, taking out his Sky-Piercing Sword again, plunged the longsword into the ground. When the War Shadow closed to within three meters, he gripped the hilt and swung it forward forcefully.
—Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū: Doryūsen!
Several rocks of varying sizes flew rapidly towards the War Shadow along with Levi's movement, momentarily obscuring its vision.
As for Levi, he stomped his left foot hard on the ground, and as he closed in on the War Shadow, he unleashed a flurry of seemingly random slashes with his weapon.
—Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū: Ryūsōsen!
As they passed each other, Levi calmly sheathed his sword.
As for the War Shadow behind him, just like its two brethren, it instantly turned into black ash on the ground.
The battle over, Levi quickly walked over and picked up three magic stones from the three piles of black ash.
The stronger a monster in the Dungeon, the larger its magic stone.
According to Levi's estimate, in a battle that lasted less than ten seconds, he had already earned nearly 2000 Valis.
On average, one War Shadow was worth a little over 600 Valis.
Fifty of them would match his entire income from the previous day!
No wonder so many adventurers, knowing the risks, still ventured into the deeper parts of the Dungeon by any means necessary.
The allure of wealth was just too strong.
Because Levi had a cheat that let him get stronger by spending money, he understood that as long as he stayed alive, he would inevitably grow to the limits of an adventurer, and it wasn't impossible that he might even transcend the boundary between mortals and gods.
Therefore, he never considered playing the part of an underdog, fighting opponents beyond his level and winning against the odds.
His goal for the day was simple: first, win a one-on-one fight with a War Shadow using his full buffs. Then, while guaranteeing victory, gradually reduce his buffs. After that, increase the number of War Shadows he faced simultaneously. Finally, achieve an instant kill against three or more War Shadows using the most efficient attack method.
As mentioned before, the vast majority of adventurers in Orario only ever ventured through the first five floors of the Dungeon. This resulted in the monster spawn rate on the uppermost floors being severely insufficient when divided among everyone.
However, starting from the sixth floor, the situation was different.
Levi simply roamed back and forth between three adjacent natural caves, and by noon, the total number of magic stones from War Shadows in his inventory had easily surpassed 60.
Adding the drops from other monsters—like Goblins and Lizardmen—Levi made a rough estimate and found that, converted to Valis, he had already earned a little over forty thousand!
'Looks like I'll be able to pull the Recurve Bow today, and raise my ability scores a bit more while I'm at it.'
A smile touched Levi's lips. Filled with motivation, he decided to slightly expand his monster-farming area.
The ideal situation would be to finish clearing the monsters in one cave just as the monsters in another were respawning.
Thus creating a perpetual cycle.
Of course, this was just a hope.
Although the number of adventurers on the sixth floor was much lower, the number of caves each person could claim was only about four or five.
Levi didn't want to get into a conflict with others over a few monsters.
So, after occupying two more adjacent caves, he stopped his expansion.
However, the Dungeon was never a place that cared for order or morality.
Thanks to the memories of a more orderly society from his past life, Levi could restrain his own greed.
But others, seeing Levi occupying such a large resource-rich area, and more importantly, being all alone, couldn't help but get some bad ideas.
His longsword slashed across a War Shadow's head, bringing its forward charge to an abrupt halt.
Levi bent down, about to pick up the magic stone the War Shadow had dropped on the ground.
In the next instant, the mana he had dispersed around him suddenly pulsed as if it had sensed something.
Without the slightest hesitation, Levi rolled to his right.
About half a second later, with a whoosh, an arrow forged from ultra-hard metal flew past where he had just been.
Immediately following that was a low shout from dozens of meters away:
"This one's tough, let's bail!"
_______
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