MTLNOVEL chapter 404 - First Floor [lV]
"Now!" Caldwell shouted. "We end this!"
Reza dashed beside him. Aura ignited around both men.
Caldwell and Reza rushed the stunned Dryad Lord together, Caldwell's Excalibur glowing blue-white, Reza's Sword burning in a red-gold aura.
Their strikes hit simultaneously, ice and aura rupturing the creature's corrupted core.
The Dryad Lord let out a final, warping shriek as its body shattered into shards of frozen bark and wilting rot.
Silence fell.
The fog began to recede slightly, as if the land itself exhaled.
Magic Cores dropped, this time larger, glowing a faint bluish-green. Among the remains, another paper-thin object fluttered in the wind.
Reza caught it this time before it hit the ground.
"Another talisman?" he muttered.
"No," Rijal said, squinting at it. "This one's different…"
He held it up. A system interface popped up.
---
[Congratulations for killing the Mini-Boss Level Monster: Sproutcaller Dyreds]
[Reward: One of Three Natural Runes]
[Information Update: Collect the Three Natural Runes scattered throughout the map.
Each one is guarded by a mini-boss:
Sproutcaller Dryad (east)√
Wolfpack Alpha (south)
Sprite Swarm Matron (north)]
[Further instructions will be given when the Mission has been completed]
---
The glowing interface faded into particles of light, leaving the group in uneasy silence.
"A mission with three runes..." Reza muttered, folding the parchment and stashing it in his belt. "So this wasn't just a guardian, it was a gatekeeper"
Caldwell knelt beside the remains, brushing frost and bark aside until his claws found the cold glint of the larger cores.
"And I'm sure this thing... It's one of the keys to whatever's holding this place together"
Rijal stared out past the clearing, where the mist had thinned just enough to show a long stretch of forest. The trees in that direction were darker, thicker, and twisted by time and unnatural growth.
"The southern side... I feel something wild brewing there," he murmured.
"Let me guess," Asahi said, flexing his wings of mana as they flickered in and out of visibility. "The next mini-boss is less 'tree-hugger' and more 'fangs and pack tactics'?"
Daniel spoke up, his voice calm but firm, the silver cross-sword still glowing faintly with residual holy power.
"The system called it Wolfpack Alpha. If it's leading a pack, then we won't just be fighting one monster"
"No," Caldwell growled, eyes flashing briefly. "We'll be fighting many. And they'll be smart. Coordinated"
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On a nearby cliff, shrouded beneath a veil of concealment magic, Taufik observed the battlefield with arms crossed.
"Natural Runes…?" He murmured. "Looks like they triggered the first floor's key event. Huh. Not bad."
He zoomed in with a blink, observing the parchment in Reza's hands more closely.
"...Still," he muttered, "this first floor's too hard... They'll clear it… not just because they're coordinated, but because each one of them is extraordinary," Taufik said. "Special people with special powers"
He paused, watching the fog ripple unnaturally in the distance.
"...But if it's the others?" His voice turned low. "...Not everyone will be that lucky"
He let out a soft sigh, almost inaudible.
"There are still… so many things to look after"
The mist curled around him as his figure shimmered, light folding in on itself.
And in the next moment, Taufik vanished, leaving behind only the sound of wind brushing the cliff's edge.
--------
The environment shifted as the party pressed southward.
The air grew colder, not the brittle bite of winter frost, but the slow, crawling chill of a place ruled by predators.
It was the kind of cold that slid beneath armor and skin, whispering of unseen eyes and unrelenting hunger.
Howls echoed through the twisted trees, distant at first… then closer. Too close. They came in waves, layering atop each other.
The forest was no longer just overgrown, it was wounded. Trees loomed tall and gnarled, pierced by bone totems, their trunks carved with deep claw marks.
The very ground bore the scars of a thousand padded steps, winding through bramble-covered dens and shallow, blood-stained trenches.
"I don't like this," Rijal muttered. His staff pulsed faintly with light as protective spirits coiled around him like glowing wisps. "It feels like we've wandered into a hunting ground… and we're the prey"
Suddenly-
A low growl rumbled from ahead. Not one of hunger, but of territorial rage.
Caldwell's eyes narrowed like a wolf's. "Contact..."
From the brush emerged twisted lupine shapes, lean and long-limbed, their fur warped like shadow-stained oil. Their eyes glowed an unnatural red, and their bodies twitched with tense anticipation.
They weren't alone.
More stepped out. A dozen. Then more still, surrounding the party in a tightening crescent.
And at the center of the encircling pack came a beast that dwarfed them all.
It moved like a king of the Wilds, shoulders broad, legs corded with muscle.
Its hide was a patchwork of bone plating and bark-like armor. Antlers curved from its skull like a crown wrought of twisted branches, framing silver eyes that gleamed like moonlight reflected off a still lake.
---
[Mini-Boss Encounter Detected: Wolfpack Alpha – Dreadfang the Moon-Bound]
[Danger Level: B+]
[Pack Instinct Bonus Active: +25% Damage, +20% Speed while Pack Units Survive]
---
"There's a pack bonus?" Asahi muttered, his Mana wings flaring slightly as he hovered midair. "...What the hell is this?"
"So as long as the lesser wolves live," Daniel growled, gripping his glowing cross-sword tighter, "he's stronger"
"Then we break the pack first," Caldwell said, already moving. "Reza... on me. We tear their formation down"
Reza didn't speak, but the quiet rasp of his sword being drawn spoke louder than words.
He unsheathed his blade in a smooth motion, a gleaming longsword of polished silver.
He raised it high. His stance crackled with raw power.
Then, with a thunderous burst, Reza vanished, each Step echoing with a shockwave.
In an instant, he reappeared midair above the snarling pack, blade wreathed in searing red-gold aura.
With a shout, he brought it down in a cleaving arc.
A wave of burning force split the air, and three wolves died in a single breath, their bodies reduced to cinders as they hit the forest floor.
"Go!" Caldwell bellowed, rushing into the gap Reza had carved.
His sword, wreathed in glacial mist, slashed in a spiral. Each swing froze a wolf mid-pounce; the follow-up shattered their bodies into crystalline shards of ice and bone.
Together, they moved like a tide of destruction:
Reza, blazing with Aura and flame.
Caldwell, cutting with frost and precision.
Their strikes were rhythm and ruin.
Each kill weakened the pack's shared strength, chipping away at the bonus that made the Alpha nearly unstoppable.
Above them, Asahi streaked across the canopy, his mana wings leaving glowing trails.
With Katana in his hand, he hurled crescent-shaped wind blades that screamed through the air, cutting down wolves mid-leap.
"Push toward the Alpha!" Asahi called out. "Rijal's binding him... go now!"
In the clearing beyond, Rijal stood tall, his staff raised high, his face stern with focus.
Flames of azure and violet spiraled upward as a burning ring of spirit fire coiled around the massive Dreadfang.
Chains of spiritual energy twisted around the beast's limbs, pinning it in place.
Dreadfang let out a howl of fury that shook the trees but the chains held, for now.
Then Daniel stepped forward. His cross-shaped sword rose to the sky, blazing with divine light.
A beam of searing holiness lanced down from the sky, striking the Alpha dead-center in the chest.
Black rot sizzled and peeled away as the light carved into it, revealing the flickering core beneath.
"NOW!" Daniel roared.
Caldwell and Reza didn't need more.
They moved as one.
Caldwell surged forward, slamming his blade into the Alpha's legs. Ice exploded outward, locking them in place with jagged spires.
Reza soared high above, blade blazing, eyes locked on the beast's silver gaze.
He descended in a comet-like plunge.
His sword pierced through the antlered crown with a shattering roar, splitting the Alpha's skull and bursting through the other side.
A final, ragged howl tore from Dreadfang's throat, echoing across the Wilds like the last breath of a fallen king.
Then… silence.
The Alpha's body dissolved into ash and ghostly wisps, scattered by the breeze.
The remaining wolves let out fractured howls before disintegrating into dust.
---
[Mini-Boss Defeated: Dreadfang the Moon-Bound]
[Reward: Natural Rune of the Southern Wilds Acquired]
[Bonus: Dreadfang's Fang (Epic Weapon Component)]
---
Reza knelt beside the beast's remains, yanking his sword free with a sharp tug. Ash scattered as the blade slid loose, still faintly pulsing, hungry for more.
He studied it for a moment, then the spot where Dreadfang the Moon-Bound had been.
"Well," he said slowly, "is it just me, or is this starting to get easy?"
Caldwell snorted, sheathing his Excalibur.
"Easy?" he echoed but his tone was light, amused.
He glanced at the spot where the Alpha had fallen, then upward toward the tree canopy where light filtered through.
"On the contrary," Caldwell added, voice lower now, more thoughtful, "we're getting stronger. Faster than expected"
He turned to the others.
"Now I understand why Taufik set the entrance cap for the Infinite Tower at Level 50 and above... This Infinite Floor is just too hard"
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