"Haah… I thought I was going to die for a second there." I let out a sigh of relief as I reached out my hand to Verdra, helping her back to her feet.
"I will never let you die." She replied with a smile, firmly grabbing my hand and pulling herself up. "This Lv up recovery skill really is amazing. All my fatigue is gone now—I'm full of energy again. It's still cold, though."
"That Yeti guy really gave us a hell of a time. I mean, c'mon! This was only the 3rd floor and they already threw a Lv180 plus monster at us. This dungeon is total bullcrap!"
"We Lvled up a lot from it, though. I think that's a good thing." She crossed her arms, thinking. "We've also seen what that monster can do, so the next one should be a lot easier—well… let's hope so." She added the last part with a faint hint of doubt in her voice.
"Even the almighty True Dragon is doubting her own words. Is it really going to be okay?"
"I think we can manage. Hmm… perhaps I should use your halberd next time to deal more damage. I'm also thinking that cutting off their limbs first instead of going straight for the head might be a viable strategy." Verdra explained calmly.
Her suggestions made a lot of sense. It was safe to assume monsters with higher Lv were protected by some kind of unseen, protective barrier. My halberd could disturb the flow of mana on impact and deliver a secondary shock, and with Verdra's level of strength, it would become a terrifying weapon.
She could've flown to decapitate the Yeti more easily, sure, but in this freezing environment, using her wings without a Warmth spell was out of the questions—with her current level of mana, at least.
"Yeah, you're right. Haah…" I replied, sighing. "Let's go back to the save zone for today. It's almost nightime, and I'm mentally exhausted. I also want to make something before we venture deeper into this freezing cave—oh. One last thing, this isn't an axe. It's a halberd." I lifted the weapon to emphasize my point.
"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say." She replied half-heartedly.
I collected the Yeti's item drops, except for its weapon. It was far too big, and I doubted a log club would be useful to us anyway.
—————————————————
Yeti Pelts
Special effect: keep anything that's wrapped inside warm.
—————————
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
After we returned to the 2nd floor's safe zone, we ate dinner before I washed myself in the restroom. With Pyrokinesis now available to me, I'm no longer need Verdra's magic to heat the water. The fountain water was drinkable too, which was incredibly convenient and helped cut down my expenses on bottled water.
I bought a new set of school uniform to wear while washing my old one. I also didn't want Verdra throwing Fireballs at me again like last time when she accidentally saw my bare skin while I was drying my clothes.
I really wished I could buy some simple trousers or a T-shirt, but unfortunately, the shop only sold school wear and undergarments.
I offered to buy Verdra a new uniform as well so she could wash her current one, but she politely declined, saying it wasn't that dirty yet. Apparently, her body didn't produce sweat at all, and on top of that, she didn't need to excrete waste either.
How did that work? I had no idea. I guess, dragons were just built different.
The next morning, we went back up to the 2nd floor and made quick work of the boss there— Aside from boss floors, doors could be opened from lower floors even if the boss was still alive—we took his weapon for Verdra's use and collected his pelts.
I wanted to make ropes similar to the one on my hip pouch. I planned to use them to create 2 makeshift cloaks for Verdra and myself using the Yeti pelts we collected yesterday. Yeti pelts weren't as elastic or flexible as Minotaur pelts, so they weren't suitable for rope-making.
I instructed Verdra to trim the pelts with her sword until they were long enough to cover us from shoulder to shin and wide enough to circled around our body. After that, I punched holes at regular intervals around the neck area and threaded Minotaur-pelt rope through them to secure the cloaks around our shoulders.
It was surprisingly comfortable.
Thanks to our small stature, a single Yeti pelt was enough to make 2 cloaks. That was the first time in my life I'd ever been grateful for my height…
Why "makeshift," you ask? Because I'm no tailor. So the results were… well, let's just say it was presentable enough for dungeon use, where no one but us would see them.
"Wow, this is warm—and easy to move in too. I think you have a knack for this kind of stuff, Yuu." Verdra said as she twirled on her toes, striking a playful T-pose.
"Don't call it a knack! You'll make every tailor in the entire world lose their credibility." I shot back.
"Jeez. You're no fun." She puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms, feigning a sulk.
"Alright, I'm sorry." I apologized half-heartedly. "But yeah, this white, furry cloak is warm enough. I think we'll be fine on the 3rd floor without relying on our skills or magic."
"So, are we blasting Yetis now?" She asked eagerly.
"Yes. Let's go."
We grabbed our halberds and continued deeper into the 3rd floor.
About 20 minutes later, we encountered our first Yeti. This time, we were prepared, so it wasn't nearly as life-threatening as the previous one.
The Yeti's eyes were positioned even higher than a Minotaur's, and it was surprisingly small, making it difficult to blind with ice shards. It was also highly resistant to cold, rendering my Cryokinesis nearly useless. The cave's walls also only looked like ice—I couldn't manipulate them at all.
Mid-battle, we discovered the Yeti was really vulnerable to electricity. We adjusted our strategy: I stunned it with high-voltage Electrokinesis while Verdra used a more potent Hellfire Slash with the Minotyrant's halberd to sever its leg.
The cut didn't go all the way through at first, but thanks the halberd's special effect, Yeti's leg didn't stand a chance against the second impact.
With her current mana pool, Verdra could only use this enhanced Hellfire Slash once before running low. Worse, the halberd itself took damage each time she did. She estimated it could only withstand 3 or 4 more uses. Even if she switched to my halberd afterward, we'll only have about 9 Hellfire Slashes in total for the rest of the day.
After losing its leg, the Yeti wailed and collapsed, propping itself up with its long arms. It wasn't dead, but its movement was severely restricted.
I burned it with Pyrokinesis until my brain load reached 85%, while Verdra cast Eruption— a Lv9 fire spell that summoned a pillar of flame from beneath the target.
Even then, it survived.
Unlike yesterday, though, we were still standing while the Yeti lay scorched and helpless. My head throbbed painfully, but we finished it off with repeated halberd strikes.
I gained 15 Lv from that fight, and Verdra's Lv finally matched mine at Lv108.
We defeated 9 more Yetis that day before both halberds broke. Each battle became easier as our Lv rose. Thanks to the Lv up recovery skill, every Lv up fully restored our Hp, stamina, and mana, allowing us to fight without rest—at least for a day.
I still needed sleep at least once every 2 days or else, my performance will noticably hindered. Verdra could last longer without sleep, but even she eventually needed some rest. Because of that, we always returned to the 2nd floor's safe zone at night.
On our 3rd day fighting Yetis, we first defeated another Minotyrant to obtain a fresh halberd from him before returning to the 3rd floor. We slowly mapped the area using my mini-map, slaying every Yeti we encountered.
By the end of the day, Verdra was strong enough to decapitate a Yeti without the Minotyrant's halberd.
Like the 2nd floor, the 3rd floor was riddled with branching paths and dead ends—and it was even larger. Over 5 days, we defeated around 50 Yetis and opened several treasure chests. Most contained weapons or item we didn't need.
The only worthwhile finds were a pair of Yeti leather boots and a Tenacious Hunter's knife.
—————————————————
Tenacious Hunter's Knife
Lv: 150
Class: Rare
Special effect: self-repair
—————————
The boots shared the same warming effect as Yeti pelts and really comfortable on my feet. I offered them to Verdra at first, but she declined, saying, "I can make my own boots." So I kept them and replaced my school shoes.
The knife came with a scabbard, which I could attached to my belt.
Just before ending our 5th day, we finally caught a glimpse of the 3rd floor's boss.
"Umm… Yuu, what's that? He somewhat looks weaker than the Yetis. Are you sure he's the boss?" Verdra whispered doubtfully.
"100%. There's a massive door behind him, and his Lv is much higher." I explained my reasoning briefly.
We peeked from behind a corner, about 40 meters away, careful not to aggro him.
The boss was smaller than a normal Yeti—around 2 meters tall. His body was covered in the same white fur, but unlike the others, he was slender, with long limbs and a human-like build. Black metal armor covered his chest, wrists, and thighs.
Most striking of all was his helmet—a Kabuki helmet, the thing you often see in most depiction of an armored samurai—complete with its ominous mask. A meter-long katana hung at his waist.
—————————————————
Yeti Shogun
Lv: 252
—————————
"So… what do we do?" Verdra asked.
"I think we can take him down, if we Lv up a bit more first. Probably."
"What do you mean, probably!?" She hissed loudly in a whisper, how funny.
"I mean… we've never fought him before, and he's 80 Lv higher than us, so…"
"What are you afraid of? We beat an enemy 120 Lv higher than us before. This one's only 80—surely it'll be easier."
"You know, there's a saying in my old world: 'Curiosity killed the cat.' if you could catch that."
"What does a cat have to do with this?"
"Uuuh… fine!" I gave in. "We'll test him first. If we're losing, we run. And if I end up dead, I'm haunting you for the rest of your life."
"That doesn't sound too bad. But I won't let you die—take my word for it."
"Alright then. Let's go."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
""Hah… Hah… Hah…""
Both of us let out ragged breaths as we bended our upper body down, exhausted.
"So… hah… how're you—hah… holding up, Verdra?" I asked, still struggling to catch my breath.
She steadied herself for a moment, then shot me an irritated glare. "Tch. Shut up."
"And here you were lecturing me about being immature." I sarcastically shrugged, rolling my shoulder. "At least, I didn't end up losing a leg this time."
Her body froze.
Slowly, her face turned red—then redder—until even the tips of her ears matched the color of a well-cooked lobster. She puffed out her cheeks, equal parts embarrassed and annoyed, before conjuring a Hellfire ball beside her, ready for launch at any moment.
"I will burn you to a crisp!" She declared in irritation, extending her hand toward me.
"Wha—!?" I recoiled instinctively. "That's Hellfire! Are you trying to kill me!? I thought you said you'd never let me die!"
"I changed my mind." The Hellfire ball drifted closer, its heat brushing my skin. "Don't worry. This won't be enough to kill you."
"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry!" I waved my hands frantically in front of my chest. "I deeply regret my unsightly behavior, so please—cease that Hellfire ball!"
"Hmph."
She dismissed the spell and turned her face away, arms crossed, clearly sulking.
"Haaah…" I let out a long sigh of relief before quickly changing the subject. "Seriously though… what the hell was that monster? That was completely unfair."
The Yeti Shogun was fast. And when I say fast, I mean absurdly fast.
Before he even noticed us, I struck him with a preemptive Electrokinesis lightning strike. He reacted instantly, drawing his katana in a smooth, crescent-moon arc and slicing the air in front of him. My lightning dispersed the moment it collided with his blade.
Then, in less than a second, he went on the offensive.
A barrage of razor-sharp ice shards manifested from his many slashes, raining down on us faster than my eyes could follow.
Verdra immediately summoned a Firewall, her flames forming a blazing barrier between us and the ice storm. Even then, several shards slipped through, forcing me to layer my own version of Firewall using Pyrokinesis.
We managed to block the first wave.
Then came the second.
Then the third.
They didn't stop.
Forget about attacking—defending ourselves was all we could manage. There wasn't even room to breathe.
In the end, we chose to run.
Luckily, the Yeti Shogun didn't pursue us, and that was how we ended up here—alive, exhausted, and very aware of how outmatched we were.
"TRUE!" Verdra exclaimed sharply. "How are we even supposed to get close to that thing!?"
"What if you cast a Hellfire wall and we advance behind it?" I suggested.
"That… could work," she admitted, "but we'd need at least 15 seconds to reach him. If I maintain a Hellfire wall large and strong enough to protect both of us for that long, my mana will drop to 0, even before we could get close."
"Yeah…" I slumped slightly. "And I doubt his body's any softer than the Yetis'. He's also ridiculously skilled with his sword. If he can move his body as fast as he swings that thing, we're screwed."
It was a reasonable assumption. Normal Yetis could already move quickly despite their bloated builds. The Yeti Shogun, with his slender frame and human-like legs, was clearly built for speed.
"We can always Lv up more while thinking of a better strategy." I shrugged. "We're only at Lv173 right now, and my Lv cap is Lv187. There's still room for improvement. And it's not like we're in a rush—I can survive as long as I've got Currencies."
I glanced at her.
"And no matter how it turns out, I think it was good that you pushed us to fight him early. We're still alive, and now we know his attack patterns, at least."
As I spoke, I gently rubbed the top of her head—half in gratitude, half to pull her out of her sulky mood.
Rubbing her head was harder than I expected. We were the same height, so I had to raise my arm a fair bit, and her horns limit how freely my hand could travel atop her silky hair.
…Man, I really wish I were taller— Wait, I'm only 17 though, I still have hope, right?
"Hehehe…" She let out a strange little giggle, with her lips curling into a wide grin. "Flattery won't get you anywhere, good sir."
Well, I guess not.
But seeing that cute smile made it totally worth it.
Her vermilion hair felt soft and comfy under my fingers—pleasant enough that I caught myself lingering a little longer than necessary.
Ah… I might get addicted to this.