Heavy Metal [ A Monster Evolution LitRPG ]

Chapter 10 – Dungeon Menace.

‘It does work! Was this what the orange color meant?’

Rusty delved deeper into his newly discovered ability to use bronze ingots from his stash tab. He also had ingots of copper and tin, which he could combine to form the bronze necessary for repairing his body. Only after combining the two metals could he use them, as copper and tin didn't integrate into his body independently.

The process was intriguing, albeit costing SP, a resource crucial for many of his best skills. SP management posed a challenge; it took hours for the bar to recharge, and leveling up alone couldn't increase the number. The only potential way to increase this resource was through evolving, and perhaps that was the sole method available.

‘Now what should I do? What do you think?’

After shifting his attention away from the stash tab, he posed the question to a drooling monster. It was one of the undead, just standing in the crypt where he had dealt with the adventurers. The others behaved strangely for a moment; after the battle concluded, they stopped moving, and eventually, the graves they emerged from began to open. Slowly, some crawled back in, while others, like this one, stayed behind, becoming Rusty’s conversational partners.

‘You don’t have anything to say Mr. Zombie? No one ever answers besides those two light balls, I wonder what they are up to.’

Some time had elapsed since his visit to the soul forge, and Rusty began to miss the creatures capable of conversing with him. This particular monster just stood there, with some sort of liquid oozing from its upper orifice. He gave it a few pokes, but the creature eventually departed when one of the graves opened up for it.

‘Not even going to say goodbye? How rude! Fine, I’ll get stronger without your help!’

After shaking his metallic fist in anger, Rusty picked up the large axe that had remained. Fortunately, it didn't vanish like the rest of the adventurer armor that the zombies brutalized. One other piece of equipment that he had managed to wrestle away from his monstrous friends was a sword sheath. After strapping it to his body he would not have to constantly hold his corroded blade with his hands anymore.

It appeared that as long as he didn't leave equipment on the ground for too long, the dungeon would not be able to absorb it. Perhaps it possessed a skill akin to his material absorption, which made sense as he often witnessed some of the holes within this place mending themselves.

‘The voice hasn’t been telling me much since I got to this level, I wonder why.’

Upon descending to the second floor, he noticed something peculiar. The voice didn't instruct him to patrol anything; it was as if he was somewhat free from its grasp. While it still prevented him from attacking other monsters deliberately, if he accidentally struck them, the voice did not intervene. Despite his attempts after the last battle, he found himself unable to perform an attack even from a distance.

‘Should I stay here, or try another location…’

Rusty had emerged victorious, and his strategy appeared to be yielding results. However, for some reason, he felt an inclination not to linger here. The adventurers seemed to be cooperative beings, forming groups and coming to each other's aid. Though uncertain, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone stronger might arrive to investigate the fate of the defeated group.

‘One of them mentioned something, a guild? I think this guild thing isn’t anything good but… I won’t let it stop me either!’

Perhaps he needed to exercise caution, but this wasn't the only spot where he could defeat enemies. Equipped with his quiver and poisonous leeches, he had alternative means to overcome other foes. These were not his only resources. Upon reaching the second level, he extensively explored the area and found other interesting things that could aid him. Thus, armed with the means to defeat the foes that he had previously feared, it was time for him to begin the hunt.

He only had access to the first and second floor, but the latter was about twice the size of the one he was initially summoned to. While navigating through it, he encountered several interesting chambers, such as the zombie-filled one. It became evident that this floor contained more concentrated danger zones with fewer monsters traveling between them. There were other places that he could hunt the adventurers and there was no reason to just wait for another party to arrive at the crypt location.

‘It must be my lucky day!’

After arriving at the next location, Rusty had to wait for a few minutes until his next target arrived. The place resembled a wide corridor with seemingly nothing interesting. However, upon inspecting the ground, he noticed strange square tiles with various symbols on them. When adventurers entered, they moved in a peculiar pattern over those square tiles, hopping between them.

‘This one will be more difficult… but I can do it!’

Rusty psyched himself up while preparing his new scheme. This room held a certain secret that could be used to defeat the four people passing through it. Once they were around the middle of the long corridor, he decided to make himself known.

“Hey, what is that thing doing there? That’s not supposed to happen.”

The place was well-lit, and he was waiting at the other end where the party was heading. His metallic body was easily visible, but that didn't matter as he only needed to place himself on a specific tile for his plan to work. As he stepped on it, a clicking sound resonated, and a large slab descended, blocking both the entrance and the exit. In response the adventurers started shouting, clearly confused by what was happening.

“The monster set off the trap? Did the guild give us faulty information?”

“T-the sides!”

“Shit, get ready! The trap has been triggered!”

One of the individuals pointed to various rocks sliding to the sides, revealing more monsters. A combination of zombies, skeletons, and corroded armor pieces that resembled the old variant to which Rusty used to belong slowly emerged from small pockets within the walls. They quickly turned to face the small group of adventurers. The monsters outnumbered the adventurers four to one, but this wasn't an immediate death sentence. Rusty was well aware of the strength these adventurers could possess, and without bringing the poisonous worms with him, this plan would likely fail.

“There is something wrong with that living armor… what is it doing?”

As in the previous battle, Rusty employed the exact same tactic of introducing poison into this chamber. With both the entrance and exit now closed off, the poisonous mist produced by the little creatures spread rapidly. He fired off a few arrows into the distance to ensure that it covered the entire area, and just like before, the adventurers had no answer to this tactic. They began to cough, and in their weakened state, they became perfect targets for the monster onslaught.

With not many arrows remaining in his quiver, but enough to produce the poisonous cloud, the rest of the battle would need to be fought at close range. Rusty had strapped his original sword to his body, but for this occasion, he wielded the sturdier iron axe he had taken from the other party. Charging at the group overwhelmed by the twenty or so monsters, he aimed to join the fray.

“T-the cleansing potions…”

Some of them tried to drink some type of blue-colored liquid but were unable to as they were rushed by the monsters from all directions. Their skin started turning purple and veins bulged out which gave Rusty all the information that he needed to know. Soon he swung down his axe at one of the people but to his surprise, he could not use it too well.

‘Something feels off…’

The weapon was clearly superior to his one-handed sword, but Rusty found swinging it to be jarring. Even when he landed a few hits, they weren’t too precise and lacked power. He managed to use his power slash skill with it, but something wasn’t quite right; it was as if his current body was not suited for handling this weapon. It felt similar to the time when he was still only a Damaged Corroded Bronze Armor, and he had an inkling as to why this was the case. Soon, he decided to just throw the axe at one of the adventurers and pulled out his sword from the sheath.

“Arghh…”

“N-no stay away…”

“I… I can’t die here…”

With the combined powers of the dungeon monsters and the poison the group of four eventually succumbed to the ambush. They thought valiantly and even managed to defeat ten of the undead monsters but the more they struggled, the more the poison spread within their bodies. Even after drinking potions, without being able to leave this trapped corridor it was pointless. Soon the whole corridor was covered in silence and Rusty was rewarded with another level up.

‘Hey, stop eating them!’

The battle was won, and he had suffered a few minor scratches here and there. While it might not be the most honorable way of fighting, using the other monsters as meat shields was proving effective. Previously, he was unable to even harm one of these fleshy humanoids, but now he had successfully defeated two whole parties. His level had increased from one to four in just a span of one day, and perhaps there were even more gains to be had.

‘Hey, give me that!’

After wrestling away a few pieces of armor, he started absorbing the metals inside. To his surprise, the best source of bronze was from the other corroded armor pieces left by the two living armors that had been with him. Their pieces were scattered around the corridor and seemed quite compatible with his skill. It appeared that after the monsters were considered dead, they reverted to just armor that he could now use.

The loot here was a bit better, but soon it was vanishing like before. Rusty wished to collect more of everything to use later, but there were no areas in the dungeon that wouldn't swallow them up. He discarded the axe he had used and instead decided to grab an iron longsword. It now became clear that without the passive skill for using certain weapon types, he would be unable to use them proficiently.

‘I feel like I should be gaining some skills… but I’m not…’

After these few confrontations, he was left pondering some of the leftover memories. He was sure that people were able to gain skills through means other than just leveling up. However, he had to use the absorption skill to gain most of his, and the rest were obtained through leveling up. Perhaps after he visited the soul forge again, one of the balls of light could give him an answer, but for now, he needed to move towards the third location. This was not the last spot he had discovered that could allow him to grind levels faster.

Having used up the poison leeches, which were unnecessary for this location, Rusty now needed to gather more arrows. Soon, a few Skeletal Scouts were left without a quiver or bow, as the one he had used had also broken down. The repairing skill didn’t work on weapons acquired from others but only on his own bronze blade. The rest needed to be replaced by other means.

After a long walk, he finally arrived at the last destination, which seemingly looked like a dead end with no place to go but down. He now stood before a deep chasm with no clear bottom. Even when he accidentally kicked some rocks down, there was no echo, as if it were a bottomless pit. Normally, this place wouldn’t offer much besides falling down to his doom, but in the distance was his current target - a set of dangling bridges.

It was a path leading to a different section of this dungeon level and also the next set of stairs, probably leading to the third floor. During his scouting trip, he noticed that people tended to go through this place to reach the other side. There were only some monsters at both ends, but nothing on the sides. He was sure that no one was expecting him, as he had already confirmed it.

‘They are getting information from this guild but they never accounted for me.’

The longer he lived in this dungeon, the more he could analyze his main opponents. Initially, these adventurers seemed like powerful foes that he could never hope to defeat, but now things were different. They were ill-equipped and unprepared for an unexpected turn of events, and he was starting to believe that they lacked intelligence as well. Thus, he waited for his prey to appear, and finally, after an hour or so, another group of four emerged.

They dispatched the monsters that were waiting at the start of one of the bridges. Then, they continued on their way through the seemingly bottomless chasm. The bridge they took was made of wood and vine and would wobble around slightly. Yet, even with this danger, the adventurers didn’t seem to mind going through it together. Rusty wasn’t sure why they were so convinced that it wouldn’t crumble, but he attributed it to the same reason the other two parties fell - lack of intelligence and overreliance on old information.

Soon, he notched one of the arrows into the bow and aimed. He found the perfect spot just so he could easily hit the adventurers who were passing over the bridge. The arrow started glowing as he used the basic power shot skill that he absorbed from the skeletal scouts. After releasing the arrow, it sailed through the air, finding its mark and striking the adventurer in the back. The individual staggered, letting out a cry of surprise. The others turned to look at the screaming man who staggered and fell over the bridge to his doom.

‘Hah! This is too easy!’

Rusty felt something in his chest as he saw the man plummet to his doom. The continuous victories were slowly increasing his self-confidence that had been previously destroyed after his first two deaths. Quickly, he was realizing that perhaps these opponents weren’t as formidable as he previously thought. They were panicking and not really able to do anything, so he continued to unload more arrows without worrying about being hit himself. The tunnel he was in lacked any light, but the area where the bridge was situated was quite well-lit.

As the adventurers scrambled to face the threat, Rusty continued to fire arrows from his vantage point. The wobbling bridge made it challenging for them to maintain their balance. The element of surprise gave Rusty a significant advantage, and soon, another target was hit, this time wounding another man on the leg. Due to the shaking and screaming, the monsters on the uncleared end were now alerted to the adventurers' presence and started to slowly move in their direction, something that Rusty was counting on.

The wounded adventurer struggled to stand, while his companions desperately tried to stabilize him. The monsters, sensing the vulnerability, closed in. Rusty continued his barrage of arrows, targeting the weakened individual. The glowing arrows struck with precision, causing chaos among the group.

“Damn it! We need to get off this bridge!”

One of the adventurers yelled.

“I’m sorry… but I’m not going to die here!”

Another adventurer did the same, and to Rusty’s surprise, the wounded person had been abandoned while the other two ran to save their skins. With the target being more stationary, he decided to focus on the wounded man, as gaining experience was the main point of this strategy. While this allowed the other two to escape to a safe location, the man left behind eventually succumbed to the arrow barrage and also fell down into the dark chasm.

‘Oh well… two out of four isn’t bad… but I didn’t get that much experience out of this one…’

He couldn't help but feel a mix of satisfaction and disappointment in not being able to defeat the whole group before they ran. Chasing after them was a possibility, but he would probably not be able to find them. The continuous victories had bolstered his confidence, and he craved more. Thus, his hunt continued, and the dungeon had finally become his hunting ground, or at least that’s what he thought without realizing what he had set in motion that very day. Soon he would realize, that perhaps he shouldn't have underestimated the people called adventurers.