After killing the strange monster, an item was left on the ground. It was a claw from the monster I had just slain. I picked it up and examined it.
"They use these items to make weapons, right? I wonder if I can use them too."
I stored the claw, which resembled a knife, in my bag—the same one I was using to carry food. Maybe it wasn't a great idea, but who cares? "I'll try forging a weapon with it later."
The system should give me that option.
I took a deep breath and finally calmed down.
"That was easy…" I was just too nervous. It's like Tsubaki said—sometimes I get too nervous during battle. If I hadn't stopped to think, I would have hurt myself.
I considered sitting down again to rest a bit longer, but I decided to keep moving, exploring the 6th floor. Keeping the map open, I continued collecting all the minerals I found along the way.
After walking for another five minutes, I encountered a monster I had never seen before. "A frog?" But it was far from ordinary. It was bizarrely huge and had only one eye.
A massive eye staring straight into my soul.
However, I wasn't nearly as nervous as when I killed that shadow a few minutes ago. This monster didn't scare me. Since the frog didn't intimidate me at all, I attacked it without putting in much effort.
Then, it caught me off guard.
As I charged at it, the frog's mouth opened, and its tongue shot toward me at high speed—so fast that I barely managed to react. I dodged the attack at the last second.
The tongue slammed into the dungeon wall, causing significant damage.
"That damn frog has that much strength in its tongue!?" I shouted in disbelief.
Then, the frog attacked again, aiming straight for my stomach.
I moved to avoid its tongue, but since I didn't know all of the frog's moves, I was caught off guard by the sudden change in the direction of its tongue. Its tongue curved sharply, hitting me on the stomach.
It felt like taking a punch from a professional fighter—right in the gut.
Since I'm an adventurer, it didn't hurt me too badly, and I recovered quickly. However, I was afraid I might have been poisoned. There were plenty of highly venomous frogs in my old world, after all.
"I don't even know these monsters' names. I should have read the Danmachi novel…" Looks like I'll need to do some studying when I get out of here. Another thing to add to my schedule—at least one hour of studying per day.
Not knowing whether the frog was poisonous, I waited for it to attack again. Now that I was aware of its unpredictable tongue movements, I felt confident I could handle it.
The frog stared at me for a few seconds before suddenly leaping toward me. Its speed was incredible.
Still in mid-air, it lashed out with its tongue. I tracked its trajectory with my eyes and swung my sword, infused with magic, aiming to cut it. My movement was so fast that the frog was taken by surprise.
It froze after its tongue was severed. Realizing it was in danger, it attempted to flee.
But I didn't let it escape. I closed the distance in an instant and sliced it in half with my sword.
The frog died and dropped a magic stone.
I picked it up and put it in my pocket.
"I didn't expect to get hit, but it's fine—it doesn't hurt anymore." Lifting my shirt, I saw no marks. It was as if I hadn't been struck at all. My Light Regeneration LV3 skill had probably helped.
My stomach would probably be bruised if I didn't have that skill.
"Are these the only two new monsters on this floor, or will I encounter more weird creatures?"
They were certainly interesting monsters.
"That shadow monster is creepy as hell. Looks like something straight out of a disturbed child's nightmare."
If I had to choose…
I'd rather fight 50 frogs than 10 of those things.
####
As I was finishing up collecting all the minerals on the 6th floor, I encountered another one of those eerie shadows and killed it easily. After facing a few of them, I had learned how to deal with them.
I collected more of their claws and stored them in my food bag.
"If I can't use these items to forge a sword, I can always sell them for some money. That way, I won't have to ask Hephaestus for money to buy things."
"All right, time to move on to the next floor."
I followed the path leading to the 7th floor when, suddenly, a chill ran down my spine.
I was sure I had felt this sensation before.
"Was it when I first encountered the boss on the 5th floor?" Cold sweat dripped down my back as I braced myself, expecting a system message at any moment.
A notification always pops up in situations like this!
[ New mission available! ]
[ Defeat all monsters! ]
[ War Shadows defeated: 0/50 ]
I read the notifications and thought it wouldn't be too difficult since I had completed a similar mission when I was still inexperienced. Plus, I had a much weaker sword back then.
But the moment I read the monster's name, a shiver ran down my spine.
"War Shadow… War Shadow… Those shadows… 50 of them!?" Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
"System, cancel the mission right now! Save it for later! I'm not ready to complete it yet!"
Even though I had a much stronger sword and had grown significantly, fighting fifty of those monsters was suicide.
They're fast and deal massive damage if they land a hit!
If I take even one hit, I'm sure it'll be the end for me!
"Should I just head down to the 7th floor? Maybe the mission will be canceled if I do that."
[ If the user abandons the mission, a severe penalty will be applied. ]
"What the hell!?"
####
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Next chapters: Chapter 60 - Simple Plan / Chapter 61 - Danger. / Chapter 62 - My leg! / Chapter 63 - Freya Familia. / Chapter 64 - I'll worry about you many times in the future. / Chapter 65 - New skill. / Chapter 66 - Items. / Chapter 67 - New hammer and rings.