As soon as the Orc approached me to attack, I remembered that my knife was very close to breaking.
"Shit," I muttered, jumping backward and avoiding the punch it slammed into the ground with both hands.
It was like a giant sledgehammer cracking the floor apart.
Just one of its attacks is enough to kill me. Luckily, they're slow. I can dodge their attacks easily.
Should I attack it even if there's a risk my knife will break?
'Unfortunately, even if I strike the Orc with my blade, it won't die from the poison.'
The poison on my knife doesn't work very well on Orcs. Maybe because of the size of their bodies—or maybe they have some resistance to the type of poison my blade produces.
Still, even if it's not very effective, the poison can paralyze the Orc's body for a few moments. That's how I've been fighting them. I strike, paralyze them briefly, and then attack again. I focus mainly on their necks and backs.
It's been working.
But I'm afraid my knife will break in the middle of the process.
'Whatever. If it breaks, I'll use my hands.'
My fists carry plenty of strength.
Smiling, I stepped forward toward the Orc, relaxing my body.
The Orc's eyes burned with fury before it charged at me. The ground trembled, but with my body relaxed, I easily dodged its attack and used the tip of my blade to slash across its waist.
As soon as the poison began to take effect, the Orc roared in anger and dropped to its knees.
I ran forward and leapt onto its back. It tried to move but couldn't.
Gripping the handle as tightly as I could, I drove the blade into the side of its neck, aiming for its most vulnerable point. I stabbed the same spot several times. Unfortunately, the poison's effect doesn't stack, so it could regain movement at any moment.
After an Orc experiences the poison from my knife and recovers, I can't paralyze it again. It's as if it develops resistance.
The other monsters on these floors can't withstand the poison, but any monster that can endure it probably gains resistance afterward. What a pain. I gritted my teeth and continued stabbing the back of its neck.
After several thrusts, its neck slowly began to split apart, and it stopped moving entirely.
Its head detached from its body because of my violent, blood-soaked attacks.
As soon as its head hit the ground and its body disappeared, a system message appeared.
[ The knife "Black Mamba" has broken ]
[ Your clones' knives have also broken ]
[ Clone 1 is unarmed ]
[ Clone 2 is unarmed ]
I didn't expect that.
So durability is shared—but only I consume durability. When an item I'm using breaks, all clones lose the ability to use it as well.
That's a problem.
If they're in the middle of a fight…
[ Clone 1 has been destroyed ]
"Ah, shit—right when I was about to reach Level 10!?"
####
POV: Third Person
While Zane was stabbing the Orc on the 12th floor, Clone 1 was on the 17th floor. Stone walls surrounded him on all sides, forming a complex layout filled with countless branching paths. It was difficult to navigate that environment.
However, Clone 1 had an almost perfect map of the floor in his mind. All information was stored there flawlessly.
He had only recently begun exploring the 17th floor. He had spent most of the past few days on the 15th floor, where many strong monsters roamed—Dungeon Worms, Crystal Mantis, and especially Hellhounds that moved in packs.
From the 16th floor onward, though, he knew things would become more difficult.
Minotaurs could appear starting from that floor.
But to his surprise, he hadn't encountered any Minotaurs on the 16th floor. Only Hellhounds—many groups of them. The fire ability used by the Hellhounds was difficult to deal with, especially when several attacked at once.
Still, it wasn't that hard to handle them. Clone 1 was very confident.
Not just him—Clone 2 was also extremely confident. So confident that he had already been on the 17th floor for quite some time.
When will a Minotaur appear? Despite feeling slightly nervous, he was curious to face one of those monsters—creatures considered extremely dangerous and notoriously difficult to defeat.
'But if Clone 2 managed to fight them, I can too,' Clone 1 thought.
At least, that was what he believed—until he finally encountered a Minotaur.
When he stood face-to-face with the towering monster, more than twice his height, it was the first time he felt fear.
He's a clone. Why was he feeling fear?
Wasn't he supposed to be a machine?
He couldn't be confident and fearless like Clone 2.
Almost as if he weren't a machine at all.
"I can do this," Clone 1 told himself.
After that, his mind simply went blank. Yes—blank. His worries and fear disappeared completely.
And as he became fully confident, the Orc's head struck the ground on the 12th floor.
At the same time, the Minotaur attacked at incredible speed.
Clone 1 raised his knife and smiled.
'If I poison him, it'll be fine.'
But just as he was about to strike—
Crack!
The knife made a strange sound and shattered into pieces, vanishing into the air.
"Huh?"
That brief distraction was enough.
He was struck directly by the Minotaur's punch—several tons of force crashing into him.
He felt his body break apart in multiple places. He could feel his organs bursting inside him.
Yet there was no pain.
He slammed against the dungeon wall.
And then his mind shut down.
Like a robot whose battery had been removed.
####
Read advanced chapters on my Patreon!
/Zhangye
Next Chapters: Chapter 16 - Maniac? / Chapter 17 - Finn? / Chapter 18 - Loki wants to meet you. New abilities. / Chapter 19 - Encounter with Loki. / Chapter 20 - Why don't you join our Familia? / Chapter 21 - I want to take Freya to my bed. / Chapter 22 - Bell. / Chapter 23 - Twin brothers meet Loki.