Heavy Metal [ A Monster Evolution LitRPG ]

Chapter 52 – Ninth Floor.

A flash of light engulfed a dilapidated church, momentarily stunning an undead horde. Rusty’s elemental attack - an explosion of holy energy, devastated the dark creatures before him. Their rotting bodies disintegrated, leaving behind only a few stragglers, who were left with missing limbs and burned flesh. The main part of his armor was left mangled within the piles of burned zombies but his helmet was safely perched up on a ledge.

"Another successful run,"

He muttered as his body started reassembling itself piece by piece. Soon, a brand-new body took shape while the old one was discarded. With a leap, he jumped from the ledge and drew his longsword. The few enemies that remained could barely move, giving him an opportunity to use his skill.

“Let’s see… Do you have any worthwhile skills that are compatible with me?”

After approaching a high-zombie, he sliced off its remaining limbs. This monster could slowly regenerate and would not die easily. He positioned his helmet so that his core was away from its mouth, then quickly activated the skill absorption.

“Hm? There is nothing?”

This was a first for him. Usually, there was at least one skill he could absorb. It seemed that his metallic body was not very compatible with the zombies, but they weren't the only enemies left. After quickly slicing off the monster’s head, he started looking around. There were two other zombies like it and one high-skeleton.

After finishing his search, he found one skill from the last high-zombie to choose from.

It was a skill that some of these zombies had attempted to use on him and had even marked his leftover shell. These monsters went down easily thanks to his light elemental attack, but they were quite strong. They could mangle his metallic body with their bare hands, and it seemed that this skill aided in that. However, before choosing, he still needed to see what the high-skeleton had to offer.

He examined the skill the skeleton offered him, and after seeing the spear it had been holding, it made sense. The lunge seemed like a variation of a thrust attack, but it was probably limited to far-reaching weapons. He had seen one of these monsters jumping forward with increased speed in an attempt to skewer him.

“This impaling lunge seems like a different type of power thrust, it just launches my body forward faster. The other one could be more useful…”

Rusty’s logic was simple, he already had a more powerful thrusting attack. Getting another one could be useful but a skill that enhanced his abilities once he lost his weapons sounded more appealing. With his decision made, he chose the Strangling Grasp skill. The skeleton was destroyed and after he absorbed the new skill, the zombie followed suit.

After adding the new skill to his repertoire, it was time to give it a test. His old discarded shell was still there and before he took it into his storage, he decided to test his grip on it. His bronze fingers tightened around the arm of his former body, and he felt an immediate surge of strength. The grip felt significantly stronger, almost as if his metallic hand had gained a life of its own. He squeezed harder, and the arm began to crumple under the pressure, the metal buckling and deforming with ease.

“Interesting, it lasts for a few seconds but it could be quite useful.”

Rusty knew that this world held many dangers and various types of enemies. Some were resistant to slashing damage, others to heavy attacks. His body had its advantages, but if an enemy with immense grip strength appeared before him, it could quickly mangle him. Satisfied with the new skill, Rusty absorbed the remnants of his old shell into his inventory and took stock of his situation.

The church was quiet now, the light from his elemental attack having purged it of undead threats. He had gained a decent amount of experience from the encounter, and there wasn’t much left until he would reach his next evolution. However, a large problem was arising. In his pursuit of causing chaos in the dungeon, he was making it difficult for himself to gain levels. This was not his first attempt at AOE farming, and this eighth level lost its resources a lot faster than the others.

This was a theory he had come up with: the stronger the monsters he defeated, the more the dungeon struggled to restore them. On this floor, there were more E-ranked monsters than on any others, and there were large quantities of them. Without light elemental spells, it would be quite difficult to cause this much destruction to the scenery. His light was also seemingly doing something to the gloomy environment, purifying it.

“There is no reason to stay here anymore, then. There don’t seem to be any treasures, either, I wonder if it’s also because of me?”

Once he realized that this place had stopped spawning more monsters, he headed towards the next set of stairs. If the hero was correct, he would soon reach a special area of the dungeon. He just needed to get past the ninth level, and then perhaps his journey would be at an end.

“I haven’t seen those adventurers around for a while, so I should probably hurry.”

The last few days had been rather simple. Once the adventurers vanished, he was free to roam the undead-infested area without a worry in the world, engaging in wanton slaughter without needing to rest. He hadn’t realized just how much those people were limiting his progress, but this freedom probably wouldn’t last. Those individuals were smart and resourceful. He was sure they were planning something, and it would be better to go through another evolution before they confronted him.

After facing off against multiple monsters, it became easy to gauge the strength level of the adventurers. With his current power, he could probably defeat the average adventurer who roamed this dungeon. These people didn’t engage in combat with creatures much stronger than themselves, so it was simple to imagine himself in their place. However, he still couldn’t see himself defeating a full party of five in a fair match without using any hidden weapons or tactics.

“I wonder what's on the ninth level. I suppose there's only one way to find out!”

With a little over a week left until the deadline, his plan was to clear the ninth level in a few days to aid in his evolution. Once there, he would then challenge the special tenth floor, and without the adventurers around, it was a chance he couldn’t waste. Soon, his metallic footsteps echoed in the silence as he headed towards his next destination. The area leading to the next floor resembled a large opened castle door, and upon passing through it, he understood why.

The stairs didn’t descend much, and before him lay an old castle-like structure in the distance. What greeted him was not an even larger expanse, but a bridge leading to a single massive structure. Surrounding this castle was a high ceiling of rocks and a massive moat. As he looked in all directions, there didn’t seem to be anything of note except the path forward.

“It’s quiet…”

The bridge leading to the spacious castle was long and wide. As Rusty glanced at the murky water below, he noticed bones floating around. Initially, he assumed they were remnants of adventurers who had fallen and met their demise. However, upon closer inspection, it became clear that these were skeleton monsters lurking in the water, perhaps lying in wait to ensnare anyone who fell in further.

It was a strange monster placement, but soon he would realize why they were there. While he had no ears, his hearing was sharp, and from the distance, the clear sound of a bow being drawn reached him. Reacting almost instantly, he pulled out his shield to protect his head, and just in time - an arrow collided with it, bouncing off and plunging into the moat. Suddenly, all hell broke loose as many adversaries appeared in the distance.

Movement erupted on the castle’s ramparts. He saw armored beings with heavy bows aiming in his direction. They looked similar to him, but their coloring was much darker. These weren't simple bronze armors anymore; they were their evolved forms, and all of them had seen him attempting to cross the bridge leading inside.

There was no way to flee to the sides; the only option was to go forward. His body was sturdy enough to withstand multiple hits, but the real issue was protecting his helmet from getting knocked off his shoulders. If that happened and it landed in the moat, he would probably sink like a rock and be done for. Thus, after lowering his stance and placing his shield directly in front, he rushed forward.

The armored monsters fired their arrows in his direction, and many collided with his shield. The arrows bounced off, and even those that struck his body bent out of shape. He could hear the system warning him about the loss of HP, prompting him to increase his pace. Even though they couldn’t kill him outright, he would be stunned once his health reached a critical point.

He sprinted across the bridge with as much speed as his metallic body allowed. His shield absorbed most of the impact, but the hail of arrows continued. This was a greater increase in difficulty compared to previous floors, which had been relatively mild at their starting locations. The closer he got, the more he could see the details of his enemies - living armors of a different metal variety.

There was a gate in place, keeping him from entering further, but it was only closed on one side, allowing him to escape the hail of arrows. With a final burst of speed, he dashed through the entrance and slammed into the iron bars blocking the way forward. Rusty had made it partially inside, and while the path forward was blocked, there was a side entrance nearby.

“I’m in…”

Rusty turned around and saw many arrows impaled on the thick wooden bridge behind him. It was quite the welcome, and a few arrows had even managed to pierce through his twilight bronze body. He started yanking the iron arrows out while surveying his surroundings. Through the castle gate, he saw a large number of enemies, all mostly of one type: the same dark-armored living armors that had been shooting at him.

These monsters were patrolling around but quickly turned in his direction after he slammed into the iron bars of the inner castle gate. Not wanting to stand out, Rusty decided to quickly slip into the side entrance, where a lesser number of enemies awaited him. The interior was dimly lit and narrow, offering a temporary reprieve from the overwhelming number of foes outside.

Despite the relative safety of this side entrance, there were still enemies here. Without any adventurers within the dungeon, he had to deal with all of them alone. His metallic footsteps echoed in the confined space, alerting the patrolling iron guards to his presence. With haste, he switched out his longsword to match his opponents who were made out of hardened metal. The sword vanished from his hand and was replaced with a heavy-looking mace. Soon, one of the living armors was charging at him with a large two-handed sword.

Rusty braced himself for the impact, adjusting his stance to better wield the heavy mace. The charging Iron Armor raised its two-handed sword, ready to strike. Rusty dodged to the side at the last moment, swinging his mace in a wide arc. The mace connected with the side of the Iron Armor's head, sending a resounding clang echoing through the narrow hallway.

The Iron Armor staggered but did not fall. Rusty swung again, this time aiming for the knee joint. The mace crushed through the metal, causing the Iron Armor to buckle and collapse. He followed up with a decisive skill-infused strike to the head, right where the core should be hidden away. The monster’s helmet was flattened from the powerful blow and he received the system’s confirmation of his victory.

One was down, but another remained. The second Iron Armor swung its sword, but Rusty was quicker. The blow was parried by his shield, sending the monster staggering back. With a perfectly timed hit from his mace, a dent appeared in its stomach, and the monster was sent flying against the nearby wall. While the monsters looked sturdy, they were rather light, a weakness Rusty knew how to exploit.

He quickly approached before the monster could gather itself. One of its arms had popped off, but the monster was unwilling to give up. With its remaining arm, it flailed wildly, trying to keep him at bay. However, before the monster could use its Limb Control skill, Rusty charged in. His mace connected with the remaining arm, pinning it against the wall. Then, his hand moved in a grasping motion toward the Iron Armor’s helmet. Soon, it was being squeezed without mercy, bending under the might of his new skill.

“It’s like fighting a slower and dumber version of myself…”

The monster’s parts flopped down as its core was crushed by Rusty’s gauntlet. He knew his own weaknesses best, so it was quite easy to exploit these enemies that were almost the same as him. While their bodies were made from a better metal, it didn’t mean they were harder. Thanks to his passive skills and his bronze body being made of a rarer variant, he was just as, if not more, sturdy than all of them.

Rusty stood over the defeated foe, briefly assessing the situation. The area was clear for the moment, giving him a chance to catch his breath and plan his next move. Luckily, the battle hadn’t triggered the other monsters to enter this chamber. He had some time to examine their bodies and prepare for the coming battles. His enemies weren’t as weak as the ones on the other floors, and he couldn’t dispatch them easily with his elemental light. To navigate this area and reach his next evolution, he would have to proceed carefully.

However, he couldn’t shake the feeling that his enemies wouldn’t simply allow him to lurk in this dungeon without trying to impede his movements. Time was of the essence and once he was level fifteen he would tackle the tenth floor and what lurked within.