What once was Haku's arm lay motionless after it twitched one last time.
Haku had long realized—this was no ordinary dungeon.
With his right arm now unusable, he summoned a staff from his inventory ring and decided to rely on his magic, as the staff would boost its power.
While standing up, he felt a slight change in the air. The wind began to pick up. And then, like the calm before a storm, everything went silent before a volley of arrows came flying toward him from above.
With an earth-shattering stomp—
"Ha!"
His voice echoed, unleashing a burst of energy, repelling every arrow in sight.
Not finished yet, he tightened his grip on the staff, summoning his most devastating spell.
"Fire Call, Firefall, Fireball!"
With a crackle, thousands of emerald flames were brought into creation, their heat a scorching blaze.
One after the other, they started to swirl in a circle, creating a ring of flames before they merged into one giant ball.
"Scatter."
With that one command the flames flew in opposite directions, heading toward the trees.
There was one thing Haku knew when he first stepped foot on the second floor. He was being watched. But from where?
Although the arrows themselves lacked detectable mana, faint traces lingered when they were fired—enough for him to trace their source: the trees.
And that was enough for him to plan his counterattack—burning the entire forest down.
Just like he envisioned, the flames engulfed the trees, revealing his ambushers.
Skeletons. Not the normal ones, but ones holding elemental bows.
Upon seeing this, Haku's eyes widened with shock. Born in a dungeon, he had never encountered skeletons like these before.
Pitch black. Only their eye holes were white. They stood in the flames, gripping their bows, aiming at him. They were burning, yet there was no indication that they were scared or in pain.
Of course, they wouldn't feel anything. A skeleton was, after all, just a necromancer's puppet.
Meaning there would be a one hiding somewhere on this floor.
And to clear this floor, he probably had to kill it.
Meanwhile, as Haku was trying to come up with a plan, taking all he had figured out into consideration, the volley of arrows rained forth again.
In that instant, he jumped back, using his wings to gain further momentum. He barely dodged. His eyes shifted around, trying to spot where the necromancer was, but it was a useless effort.
Without giving him time to breathe, more arrows flew toward him—but this time, it was only four?
Only four arrows, but they were much faster than the last. Worse, they came from all directions—left, right, behind, ahead, even above.
This was no joke. It was dangerous. Extremely dangerous. The move he used earlier to deflect the arrows needed a build-up by stomping the ground, and by the speed the arrows traveled, he'd die.
Gale Wind was also out of the picture. It could at least block three arrows.
Is there no choice but to use that skill?
The skill Haku sealed. The Legendary Skill he swore he would never use.
"Aerial Domain."
The world went silent after flashing once, losing all its color. The arrows got stuck in place.
The Legendary Skill Aerial Domain. It creates a domain where the user's senses and speed increase exponentially, slowing everything, making it seem as if time stopped.
The only drawback was that the user's mana gets eaten—literally. The longer the skill is used, the more mana it takes away forever.
There was no time to waste. He walked forward, and with a flick of his index finger, he shot the arrow upwards and walked past it.
He looked around, shifting his head back and forth.
With his senses heightened, he could also find the necromancer, and just as he thought, he found it.
No wonder it was so hard to locate.
It looked no different from the other black skeletons—even the bow it held was a perfect replica—but that very bow was an illusion.
And with his heightened senses, Haku could clearly feel the mana wavelength was different from the others.
Summoning a club, he dropped into a running stance, ready to strike.
While deactivating his skill, he pushed down on his foot and took off, leaving a gust of wind behind him.
The world regained its color as Haku flew at the necromancer, his figure a blur of speed.
Now in front of the skeleton, with a heavy blow to the head, it flew from the tree, crashing on the ground as it dropped its bow.
Its illusion faded, revealing a staff in the bow's place. That only affirmed that this was the necromancer.
Again, Haku rushed toward it, continuing his onslaught, bashing the club into its head until it began to crack and finally break—shattering into fine pieces.
After the necromancer's body stopped moving, Haku let out a sigh of relief, although there was still a lingering feeling of uneasiness.
The reason being that the system announcement that he cleared the second floor couldn't be heard.
"What's going on. Didn't I kill the necromancer."
Fear started to creep into his mind. There was no way he could fight again. He didn't have the mana, and he needed to rest.
Haku's eyes began to shut, his body swaying back and forth before—
Ding!
Upon hearing this noise, his eyes jolted open.
[Second floor cleared]
[Generating rewards...]
[Mana Orbs × 10]
[Bones × 50]
[Elemental Bow × 5]
[Splitting Items...]
[Teleporting to next floor in 2 minutes]
Haku's face filled with relief but just as quickly darkened.
He knew that this dungeon was unlike anything he had experienced.
Even the system was acting strange. But he was too tired to think about anything else.
He took one glance at Ryusei around his neck before he spoke in a tired voice, barely audible.
"Ryusei... I'll leave the rest to you..."
As his consciousness faded, he tapped Ryusei on the head, trusting the little snake to keep watch over him on the next floor.