Finally, we had reached the 100th floor and the end of our journey of power was coming to an end. Or, at the very least, we thought so.
On our way down from the 90th to the 100th floor there were only a few noteworthy monsters, mainly the 'King slimes' - huge, light blue, slime-like creatures that had the power to disconnect and then reconnect parts of their own body at will. Just like 'Immortal salamanders' they were a hassle to deal with, being practically immortal, but unlike the 'Immortal salamanders' they were actually quite threatening.
Their insides were made up of strong acid that could fully melt a body in the matter of minutes, they had the ability to shoot that acid at its targets with remarkable speed and precision and worst of all, it seems that physical attacks, especially slashing, piercing and bludgeoning had little to no effect on them since they could just reattach their disconnected parts.
The only way to deal with them was through magic, but that had a limited effect as well. 'Air slash' was useless since those slimes could reattach, 'Iron silk' was out for the same reason, 'petrifying gaze' didn't work at all since it works only on 'B' class or lower and the 'King slimes' were solid 'S' class monsters.
That left us with only 'Ember touch', 'Fireball' and 'Ice breath'. Since 'Ice breath' is the ability with the widest range and the 'King slimes' were big we chose it and at first it was very successful - freezing one of them thru in a few seconds. After that all I had to do was to give the popsicle a nice wac and it shattered into many pieces.
Now all that we had to do was to defreeze it and enjoy our meal, but things didn't go so smoothly because as soon as the slime refroze it reformed again and we were back at square one.
Next we tried fire and surprisingly it didn't work either. The 'Fireballs' were simply too small to do any real damage and Alex didn't dare get close to the 'King slime' with 'Ember touch' since, mind you, the whole time we were trying to destroy it, it was trying to melt the skin of our bones with acid.
It took some time and some trial and error until our captain finally came up with a solution. "The 'King slime' is highly acidic right?" Alex asked, dodging the unending flurry of acid attacks.
"Yeah, it seems so. Why?"
"Well, think about it, how do you neutralize acid?"
It took me a while to think, but I came up with nothing and stayed silent hoping that he would just do something instead of giving me another science lecture. After all, it is hard to dodge and think at the same time.
After a while Alex smiled and said with a proud face "It's simple really, we just use a base"
Now I was really confused "How will building a base help us in defeating that thing"
Alex looked at me for a second and then burst out laughing "I am not talking about that kind of base, I am talking about a chemical base that neutralizes acid!"
"Alright, genius, what's the plan? I'm getting really tired of dodging."
"A while back I found a rock that, I am pretty sure, contains sodium hydroxide and decided to take it with me for future use. Who knew that the day would actually come?"
"Oh, you are talking about that rock? It's pretty big so I thought that you were going to make yourself a hammer or something out of it. Who knew that it was actually an alchemical material?"
"Not alchemical, but chemical material, you dunce. Do you really not know about the process of neutralization?" Alex had a look of someone actually worried for my future on his face, which kind of pissed me off.
"I spent most of my time in school sleeping, so be so kind, fuck of and neutralize the fucking slime for me."
Alex sighed "Fine, but after this you are so getting a lecture about the basics of chemistry from me." Fuck.
Alex threw the stone at the monster, the stone got lodged in the center and slowly but surely melted. The 'King slime' started to lose its shape and color and finally bursted open. That was the end of it.
After our monster soup dinner we both gained 'acid resistance' and I received the 'reconnect' skill. After that we went to the 100th floor. And let me tell you, dealing with the terrain was going to be a hassle. Why? Because the whole floor was a giant lake that stretched for as far as the eyes could see. The monsters were all under water, so we had to adapt our fighting style to a completely different element then before. Fire and air based attacks wouldn't work either putting Alex at a major disadvantage. But what can you do? It's not like we were going to turn back now that we were so close to our goal right?
First order of business was to gain the ability to fight, breathe, and move underwater with relative ease, which was easy since on this floor there was a lot of life. The small fry here - while they were powerful, by our standards they were still weak, so it didn't even take us half an hour to pick up a 'Giga crab' from the bottom of the lake near the shore.
'Giga crabs' are an 'A' class monster known for its crab-like appearance, size comparable to a two storey house, powerful claws that pose danger even to 'S' class monsters, incredibly tough shell and the ability to use water attribute skills such as 'Water canon' or 'Water slicer'.
The crab was in comparatively shallow waters therefore it wasn't as taxing to get to it as we originally thought. The problem was its weight, it was remedied somewhat by the fact that it was in the water, but when we tried to take it out, we had to bear the 'Giga crab's' full weight.
It was simply too heavy for us a load to take it to shore therefore we tore the poor monster to pieces while still in water. The shell was tough, there is no denying that, but the joints weren't protected, so that is where we struck. We ripped off a few legs, that was more than enough for the two of us to evolve.
At the sight of the 'Giga crab' I could swear that I saw Alex beginning to salivate. I guess he really likes crab. I thought. The expression on his face was to die for when, after tasting, Alex realized that the 'Giga crab', no matter how good it looks, tasted exactly like any other monster.
Hey, Alex, do you like crabs from our world that much?" I asked, amused.
"Yeah, they are delicious. What? don't tell me you don't like them."
"I never had the chance to try one, but from what I heard they are pretty amazing."
"Really? Under what kind of a rock did you live?"
"In an orphanage… Since I was six." Silence.
"Oh, sorry to hear that… I really didn't mean that, I'm sorry…" Silence again. Well, the mood is ruined now, why did I say that? Better question is why did I tell him anything about myself?
I sighed "Well, whatever, if you're finished eating, let's continue. What kind of abilities did you get?"
"Oh, right I gained the 'Underwater breathing', 'Water slicer', a general boost to my mana capacity, physical strength and toughness. Pretty basic stuff, what about you?"
"Much the same, apart from the 'Water slicer'. Guess not having an affinity for water really did me over again, huh?"
"Well, on the bright side, even without an affinity for earth, you have the 'Petrifying gaze', so that's cool, right?"
"Yeah, a skill that works on 'B' class or lower, how very useful at the lower levels…" We both laughed. Finally, the mood is back to normal.
"Isaac, if you are ready, we still need to catch some small fry and gain their skills before we go up against the big fish, so if you're ready, we should go." Alex said while standing up.
"Sure, let's"
Armed with the skill 'Underwater breathing' and beetle shell spears we set out to hunt some fish. Our requirements were simple - it had to be fast and maneuverable. Spotting one wasn't an issue, the problem was in catching it. It didn't matter how much we tried to sneak up on it or how much energy we spent trying to throw the spears at it, it was futile, the fish was just too fast.
After thoroughly exhausting ourselves, Alex gave a signal to get to shore and I didn't argue. At this point I was tired, I hated the sensation of having my lungs full of water for the 'underwater breathing' skill and the frustration of not catching a single fish was starting to get to me.
When I was about to unload all the built up fatigue and stress on to Alex, he looked at me and said "Help me build a spear gun"
In that very instant all of my pent up anger disappeared. I knew that when that guy finds a problem, his solutions are always effective and to the point. The fact that he has a plan means that the hard part is over and the task at hand is almost complete. Oh, and it doesn't matter that I have no idea what a spear gun is. I should probably keep that last part for myself in order to avoid another lecture on life.
In order to make this so-called spear gun we had to trudge back to the 60th floor for supplies and building materials. The construction of our new weapon was relatively simple. It worked like a crossbow, but on a much larger scale. My job was to make a whole lot of ammunition for the weapon - slightly modified spears with notches on one end, while Alex made the weapon itself.
After finishing, we had to make the arduous journey back down, with cargo this time no less, but it was worth it, because after a few practice shots, I snagged a fish straight through the head.
The pride and excitement I felt after the successful hunt was quickly changed by fear when I realized what kind of a monster one of the missed spears had awakened. It was huge, twice the size of a blue whale at the very least. It had a monstrous maw filled with hundreds of human sized teeth, black skin with a grey-white belly. When I saw it, I didn't wait for the signal and headed straight to shore.
"What the hell was that?" I stammered at Alex When he came to the shore.
"It's… It's a 'Leviathan' - an 'SS' class monster. I have a sneaking suspicion that the spear gun won't work on something like that.
'SS' class is the second from the top class in this world also known as the 'disaster' class, with the first being 'SSS' class known as 'god' class. The class system works in the 10X interval system meaning that an 'A' class has ten times more mana than a 'B' class and an 'S' class has 100 times more mana than a 'B' class.
If it was just the amount of mana that differed between classes, it would still be manageable, but with greater mana capacity comes greater overall strength and the strength of one's skills. Both me and Alex, at this point, were around the high end of 'S' class meaning that the difference between the amount of mana between us and the 'Leviathan', who is in the middle of 'SS' class, estimating in our favor, was at least five fold. Besides that, the 'Leviathan' had a home field advantage. That is not good. Not good at all.
"So, Alex, How do we fight that thing?" Please tell me that you have a plan.
"I… Have no idea…" Sounds about right. "Wait, there is one thing that we might try, but…"
"But what? C'mon, man, don't keep me hanging. If there is a way, spill it."
Alex sighed "Well, the preparations will be intense. Because we will be making thermite, a lot of it." Cool, I learned a new magic word.
_________________________________________________________________________
The way Alex described thermite was like a magical burn-all made of metals and metal oxides that burns with extremely high heat and can burn through concrete. Instead of wondering how a metal can burn at all, I decided to just trust this mad scientist and do what he said.
The first thing that we needed was iron oxide. When Alex saw the confused look on my face, he clarified "It's just iron rust". That was easy to find on the banks of the lake. We collected as much as possible, purified it and powdered it. I won't get into the purification since I myself don't really understand it, but he used something called alkali carbonate and the acid from the 'King slime'.
Next up was the aluminum. In our world in nature it is almost impossible to find pure aluminum, at least that was what Alex said, but in this world it was abundant. The problem was in how to powderise it. The only method to do so that Alex, in his infinite knowledge, was able to find was making a ball mill. Once again, I won't get into the specifics of making it, but the gist of it was that we made a spinning cylinder full of similarly sized rocks. We put the chunks of aluminum into it and just let it roll for a few days.
It took us weeks to finish the acquisition and purification of materials. After we had collected and prepared enough material, we mixed them by weight - 27 - aluminum and 80 - iron oxide. Yeah, we even had to make rudimentary scales for that. Kids, do not, I repeat, do not try this at home.
After we mixed it all up, we were left with something like 200 kg of thermite and according to Alex, that should be more than enough. We packed it into a huge barrel that we made out of the trees on the 60th floor and now we were ready. Let's go fishing, if what we are attempting to do can, in some way, be called fishing that is.
The plan was simple - I, as always, was the bait getting the attention of the 'Leviathan' by sending a spear up its ass. That worked like a charm and the monster was after me, our destination - the surface of the lake above which, on an 'Air barrier' Alex was waiting with the barrel of thermite.
I was a fast swimmer, but the 'Leviathan' wasn't bad either, a few times it got too close for comfort, but otherwise things were going as planned. When I got to the surface, I erected an 'Air barrier' underneath myself and jumped as high as possible, the monster came after, jumping as well. It jumped, mouth open ready to swallow me whole, but Alex, who currently was right above it, jumped up, releasing his 'Air barrier' and when the barrel was about to be swallowed, sent a 'Fireball' straight at it.
The barrel Ignited, the 'Leviathan' swallowed it whole and returned to the water. After a few seconds, when I was beginning to think that all that work was for nothing, the monster reemerged, thrashing around wildly. It trashed around for a few minutes and then stopped, it showed no signs of life, it just slowly sank to the bottom. We did it.
Eating the corpse of the 'Leviathan' gave us an exponential boost in mana, strength and toughness. It was well worth the effort.
After eating, we searched the depths of the lake for something similar to that monster, but came up empty. "Well, it seems that our job here is complete, let's return to the surface." Alex said with a smile. "After all, right now we both should be in the 'SS' class. Just imagine, right now we are stronger than even the hero himself!"
"I am not so sure about that." I said.
"What do you mean? We ate the 'Leviathan', we are definitely stronger than the hero."
"Not that. I sense something powerful underneath the lake. Something even more powerful than the 'Leviathan'."
"You mean something in the bottom? But I am sure that we checked thoroughly, there is nothing there."
"No, it's deeper than the bottom of the lake, I think there is another floor below us."
"You are imagining things, this dungeon is supposed to have 100 floors and we are on the 100th right now, there simply is nothing beneath us." Alex, at this point looked flustered.
"As you've said, it's supposed to have 100 floors, but who decided that? Apart from us, the lowest that explorers have gotten is the 48th floor, so who said that it only has100 floors?" I argued.
"Okay, let's check it."
"Deal!"
Shocker, I was right, there was a staircase leading down in an air pocket in one of the caves. Let's see what's next!