Rex was now far deeper into the 19th Floor than any normal party would dare wander in fear of getting lost. Even a First Class adventurer wouldn't come this deep into uncharted territory, and even with Scavenger guiding him, he had gotten lost countless times trying to find the Vouivre.
He was surrounded by trees that stretched high as far as the eye could see, with thick trunks spaced far apart from each other. Due to their dense canopies, with no gaps, it was impossible to see the Dungeon ceiling. It was like standing in a dark chamber, with tall wooden pillars holding up the roof. Bioluminescent moss and fungi gave the forest a soft bluish glow, but it was still darker than the Cave Labyrinth.
Because the area was unexplored, there were a fuck ton of monsters. He had already killed over 300 despite only being here for about thirty minutes. Among the monsters were uncommon ones like the Direwolves, those massive elks with glowing tree-like antlers, and giant spiders whose nearly invisible webs had caught him off guard more times than he could count.
If he only had the power of a Level 3, he didn't even know how many times he would've died despite this being a level 2 area. Thankfully, with his current stats, all it took was a slap to kill anything on this floor. With his Abnormal Resistance DA and Body Furnace, no poison on this floor could affect him.
And he brought antidotes just in case, so there was nothing down here that could touch him—well except for the acid-spitting cobra that Scavenger confirmed would 100% hurt him if it landed a shot on his bare skin. Even as a Level 4.
'If I mapped the area and sent it to the Guild, it could count toward his Familia's expedition,' but he was way too lazy to map it. He didn't even bring the equipment.
Thrusting his spear, he casually stabbed it through the head of a bat that was as big as a car while looking ahead. "I should be close." He mumbled as the bat turned to dust due to its magic stone shattering. "It should have noticed me by now—"
"SKREEEEEEEEEE!!" A loud screech tore through the forest like nails on a chalkboard, which caused him to flinch a little.
"What kind of sound is that!?" He shouted, trying to cover his ears but his helm was in the way. 'Why is a dragon-type monster screeching and not roaring???' He thought as he watched a monster emerge from the shadows, charging towards him.
It didn't take long for the monster to emerge from the shadows.
It was similar to a Lamia but much larger—easily 7 meters (23 feet) from tip of tail to head, 3.2 meters (10.5 ft) in height from the ground, with its humanoid torso being about 1.9 meters (6.2 ft). It had pale blue skin, with a lean feminine humanoid body, extra long arms with curved obsidian claws, and two streaks of obsidian-black scales rose up from her tail, streaking along her sides and over the center of her large breasts, like a natural bra.
Her face was elf-like, with blue serpent eyes, elongated elf ears, messy oceanic blue waist-length hair, and at the center of her forehead sat a blood-red gem: the Vouivre's Tear. Her navel was near the snake merge point, with the thick snake tail tapering into a whip-like end, and from her back grew two massive, tattered, ash-gray dragon wings with a span of nearly 6 meters.
Naturally aggressive like most dragon-type monsters, especially toward adventurers or when their gem was threatened, she immediately charged him as soon as Rex entered her territory—slithering with speed rivaling a high-level 2.
When she got within range, her massive tail cracked the ground behind her, launching her forward like a living spear, while pulling back her right arm. She closed the distance in a blink of an eye and slashed down with all her strength, her curved, obsidian claws gleaming in the bioluminescent light.
Rex calmly stepped just slightly to the side, the claw missing him by inches as it struck the ground beside him, shattering the earth, and launching chunks of dirt and stone into the air. He walked forward, entering her guard, and because of the momentum from her own charge, her humanoid face—twisted in rage yet undeniably beautiful—was now at his eye level.
Her blue eyes looked at him in shock, but before she could launch another attack, Rex raised his left arm and crossed it in front of his neck, then a backhand landed flush against her face. Her head snapped to the side, her features contorting from the sheer force, and with a loud, wet crack, she was sent flying sideways.
Her massive body soared through the air, crashing into a thick tree trunk with a deafening boom that rattled the forest, with a cascade of leaves falling from the impossibly high canopy above. She fell to the ground and began to writhe violently, her screech turning into one of pain, as her thick tail tore through the dirt with each thrash, gouging out chunks of forest floor.
"SKREEEEEE!" She cried out, clutching her broken lower jaw that had been obliterated from the backhand, now hanging in a grotesque mess of torn muscle and flesh, crimson blood pouring down her neck in streams. "KARRRRR—!"
A pulse of energy spread from Rex's body as he walked towards her—Predator—and the Vouivre's movements halted instantly, her voice silently with her body paralyzed in fear. He could have killed her instantly with the backhand, but he had to collect the Vouivre's Tear first. If she died before it was removed, the gem would crack and lose 90% of its value.
That's why they were dangerous monsters. You had to get them into their rage state to collect the gem.
"You know how hard it was to find you?" he said coldly, standing over her, his amber eyes glow faintly through the shadows cast by his spartan helm. "Stupid thing decided to hide in the deepest part of the forest," he said, reaching down.
Her long, trembling body lay still as his gauntleted, claw-like fingers touched her forehead. He pressed down, the claws ripping the flesh and crushing the bones around the gem, and with a swift pull, he tore the blood-red stone from her forehead. It came free with a wet squelch, a string of red muscle and blood trailing behind then snapping.
'I feel like Thanos.' He smirked, the action reminding him of when Thanos plucked the mindston from Vision.
"KRRRRAAAAAAA!!!" A red wave of energy burst from her body followed by a gust of wind, as she released a screech so loud it felt like it would rip apart his head. Her forehead began to regenerate at an unnatural speed, the wound sealing as her body tried to enter its rage transformation.
Rex's face contorted in rage as he clenched his eyes shut from the annoying screech. "Hush!" He roared and then he stomped down into her neck, crushing it instantly. Her body jerked once, twice, then fell limp.
"Fucking shit." He mumbled, as he shook his head, the ringing sound in the back of his head lasting a few seconds before going away. 'If I had known they were so loud, I could have crushed her throat first.' He thought with a sigh, as he looked down at the creature with a caved in neck, some of its bones sticking out from its flesh.
"I hope my luck isn't so ass that I get a physical property..." he mumbled as he placed the Vouivre Tear in his pouch while licking his lips. 'Please, God,' he prayed.
He'd gone through a lot to get to pity, and if this draw gave him something useless, he might actually cry. 'Please don't make this one of those times I lose a 50/50 in Genshin,' he thought as he placed his foot on her chest.
'…' He looked down at the humanoid body, his foot resting on her chest.
Her body was undeniably monstrous, but the upper half looked eerily human—smooth pale-blue skin, a narrow waist, and breasts that moved slightly as he pressed his foot down. He shifted it, watching the jiggle beneath.
'Heh... I'm a man after all,' he thought, unable to help the stray thought that crossed his mind. 'Now I understand why there are groups of people that fuck monsters.'
He exhaled, shaking his head. Then he muttered, "Scavenger."
Like all other level 2 monsters, it gave him no stats, but he got three new screens:
[Vouivre Wings (Physical Property): Grants the user a pair of Vouivre wings, allowing for gliding and short bursts of air movement. (Effective after a good night's sleep.)]
[Vouivre Blood (Skill/Passive): Significantly increases resistance to poison, venom, and toxins. Also provides a slight boost to natural physical regeneration.]
[Vouivre Rage (Skill/Passive): When experiencing extreme rage, the user's level is temporarily boosted by 1. Stat values remain at the same value as they were at the previous level. During this state, physical regeneration increases dramatically. The effect lasts until the user calms down. Once triggered, it cannot be activated again for 6 hours.]
"YEAHHHH!" Rex roared, throwing his head back with a full-body shout, arms raised in triumph as if he'd just won the lottery. "I knew God loved me!" He shouted with a wild grin spreading across his face. His first try! He wouldn't have to go through another hell for that pity.
He immediately accepted the Vouivre Rage skill. 'I wish I had a Rage Button like the Vouivre Tear, but eh.' He shrugged before glancing at the other two. "I got three abilities at once, huh." His luck was really good on this one.
"Physical property, nope." He declined the first one that would give him wings like he always did. "And Vouivre Blood… Hmm, I guess it's similar to Crozzo Blood."
He wouldn't decline a skill that gives him resistance to poison, especially since it was a skill that would grow better with his level, much like Body Furnace. 'So isn't my Abnormal Resistance useless now?'
Scavenger rated it as low quality. 'Hmm?' A few thoughts later, he discovered the reason. Abnormal Resistance added a base value of resistance on top of the user's natural resistance, then increased it by a percentage—so it stacked with Vouivre Blood.
'That's good.' He thought as he picked up the drops item while monsters approached him due to his shout. 'Well, even if it wasn't percentage-based, Abnormal Resistance would have still been useful.' After all, the DA worked on other things like acid, paralysis, bleed, sleep, hallucinogens, and so on, while the blood didn't.
"Phew." He wiped imaginary sweat from his forehead. "Now this is done, the Green Dragon is next." Which meant he'd have to farm for pity again before going after the dragon.
He sighed, turning to the approaching monsters. He then took a deep breath, his chest and lungs puffing out as he gathered the Dark Fungus spores inside his body. Then, with a low grunt, he blew them out from his mouth in a sharp exhale.
A concentrated blast of purple fog shot forward with a loud boom, a thin line that quickly widened as it surged ahead into a massive wave, nearly ten meters wide. The toxic mist crawled forward like a tsunami, slamming into thick tree trunks and splitting around them, engulfing everything in a rolling, choking purple cloud.
Without hesitation, Rex dashed straight into the fog. His vision blurred with swirling violet as he moved through the toxic haze, cutting down the monsters that survived the poison—he was barely even registering what he was killing. The monsters weren't a threat.
As he decapitated a Lizardman, he thought, 'Let's pray the dragons aren't killed before then.'
If only he could use Scavenger to judge if his next Scavenge would grant him abilities instead of coming out as null—but Scavenger was bad at things like that. Scavenger wasn't omnipotent, and though it could judge the future, it wasn't perfect since the future was always changing.
Even if he tried something like 'no matter what, the next Scavenge will grant me an ability,' Scavenger might say yes, but the very next moment, if he asked again, it might say no. He noticed this at first when playing blackjack.
He could say something like 'i should hit' and scavenger will judge it high quality or low quality. But when he tried to judge future hands, Scavenger rated it as medium quality as he later found out Scavenger won't give him anything really trustworthy until the hand has been dealt.
It wasn't omniscient—especially with things like the future that wasn't yet set. You could think of it like quantum mechanics: the future isn't set until it's observed, and Scavenger couldn't judge something until it was already determined, or it'd just be guessing based on current conditions.
It was a shame, but the skill was already OP as it was.
As he fought, the poison cloud around him continuously induced stacks of poison, and even if they had high immunity, they would die with enough exposure. The ones that came after were just running into a cloud of death.
'Thank god I got this magic.' In a place where he couldn't use Firebreath, Area of Effect magic like this made his life so much easier. 'Well, I can use it now since I will be immune to the toxic smoke of the plants burning,' But the poison breath was even better than Firebreath, as he didn't run the risk of destroying their magic stones.
After killing the last monster, he started absorbing their stones for pity. 'Speaking of stone,' He pulled out the Vouivre's Tear. 'Why is this so expensive?'
From what he read, it was nicknamed the Stone of Happiness, as most nobles believed it granted high luck and fortune. But that couldn't be the only reason, right? So he used Scavenger on it.
[Vouivre's Tear: A rare gem capable of greatly enhancing the effect of magic, significantly reduces Mind consumption, and accelerates Mind regeneration, when used to craft magic stones or equipment. The gem can also function as a sensory amplifier when used as an alchemic ingredient—heightening sight, physical sensation, emotional receptivity, and overall reproductive vitality.
Market Value: ~15,000,000 valis]
"Ooooh~." He mumbled. "No wonder it's called the Gem of Happiness." Who wouldn't want a gem that enhanced pleasure and made you the king in bed? 'Now I know why nobles pay so much for this.'
But of course, he wasn't going to sell it. He didn't care about money or reproductive vitality. What interested him was the magic enhancement capability.
If he got the Blacksmith, Crozzo Blood, or Mystery, he could create a magic item with it—either for himself or for someone like Zanis, to make up for the magic he didn't get at level 1, or Cassandra, to increase her healing ability. And if he used it for himself, his already insane magic would become even more powerful.
'Can they stack?' he thought, returning the gem to his pouch, and the scavenger said no. "I guess it would be too overpowered for them to stack. 'Greatly' and 'Significantly' definitely won't be a small buff."
While he farmed pity for the Green Dragon, he decided he'd also hunt down the two other Vouivres for their gems.
[Author's Note: What do you think of the limitations of Scavenger? I thought it was about time I explained about its 'future sight' capability since I saw a lot of people was talking about it. If you think this is a nerf or contradicts anything I stated before, let this author know. Will see what I can do.
Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the next one~\(￣︶￣*\))]