As the Void Blasts were shot forwards, the Patsates were left completely unaware. By the time one of them began to charge at ---, all 6 attacks had landed. 5 of the hits had landed on the Patsate’s heads, killing them instantly. The other blast flew to the side and managed to cut off 2 of the ants legs.

As the injured one fell to the floor and screeched, the other two charged towards the Voidling. Grabbing his knife, he began to quickly run backwards. When the 5 ants died, he had gained enough experience to push to Level 4. Though leveling up didn’t refill your status bars, the 8 AP’s would come in handy for this fight.

As he ran backwards he decided to put all 8 points into Wisdom. It would mean he only had to survive 30 seconds instead of 40 to be able to get another Void Blast off. With 5 seconds spent running away from the Patsates, he had 25 left before he could heavily increase his chances of survival.

As the ants closed in, --- decided to go after the ant that 2 of its legs cut off first. Running towards the two uninjured ants, the Voidling jumped to the side and kicked off the wall, launching himself over them. The injured ant had already gotten up and was slowly ambling its way towards ---. As he closed in, the Voidling moved to the ant’s right as it had less legs.

As it tried to turn it to face --- it lost balance and fell, allowing --- to quickly stab the knife through its head. With two ants left, and 20 seconds left to go before he could use another Void Blast, the ants and he Voidling joined together in a dance of sparks.

Crouching over one leg swipe, --- blocked another with his knife. Said knife was now beginning to wobble whenever he blocked, its horribly-done rank showing itself. It wasn’t even made to be used in battles, simply for skinning, so having to punch through chitin and block attacks reduced its durability drastically.

Before long, --- was covered in all kinds of small scratches and cuts. He had managed to cut off one leg off an ant and stab the other on the underside in return, but he was doing much worse off. Stepping back, --- noticed he was at 50 mana and quickly shot a Void Blast forwards. He also noticed his health which was currently at 140 and steadily dropping, likely due to all the blood he was losing.

The Void Blast managed to hit the full-legged ant in the mouth, killing it. Now left with only one partially-legless ant, --- quickly moved back forwards and finished it off by stabbing its head a few times. Having finished the fight, --- sat down and let out a breath he didn’t know he had been keeping. He was soaked in blood and his Lacertae ‘armor’ was shredding in multiple spots.

Giving his body time to rest, --- looked at his gains from the fight. Dodge had gone up to 6, Small Blades had gone to 6, Void Blast to 8, and Void Magic to 6. His Void-based skills seemed to be increasing the fastest in comparison to how often he used them, but considering he was a race fully based on Void itself, he wasn’t too surprised.

Realizing it would be a while before his health and stamina fully recovered, --- slipped back into a short session of meditation. Once his body had fully recovered, he set out down the tunnel.

The walk was long and uneventful, giving him some time to see what was wrong with his knife. It had a large crack going across the midpoint of the handle and blade; it was held on by a tiny sliver of bone near the very middle of the blade.

It would work for maybe one or two attacks and then it would be better to simply throw it at an enemy and hope it hit something. Continuing his walk, --- soon made it to another door like the one he had seen at the entrance. Taking a deep breathe, the Voidling pushed open the door and walked in.

On the other side was a large circular chamber 50 meters in diameter. At its center were two larger Patsates and towards the back of the chamber, near a door --- assumed to be the exit, was an ant that towered over the others. It was around 8 meters tall and 15 meters long, with pincers roughly 2 meters long. It was the true definition of a boss monster, massive compared even to the larger Patsates standing in the center of the room.

Name: None

Species: Patsate Royal Guard(Giant Dungeon Variant)

Level: 6

Name: Varmio

Species: Patsate Queen(Giant Dungeon Variant)(Boss)

Level: 8

Two level 6 royal guards and one level 8 queen boss. Upon seeing ---, the queen quickly got up from its spot and tried to screech. Before it could do so, the Voidling had already fired two Void Blasts, one at each Royal Guard. One was hit dead on and died while the other nimbly jumped to the side before charging. It was almost 50% faster than its normal dungeon variant counterparts due to its higher level and royal guard status, allowing it to reach --- in seconds.

Seeing the ant come towards him, --- quickly jumped forwards and crouched, landing underneath the royal guard. Before it could turn, he infused his breaking knife with Void Magic and thrust upwards at the Patsate’s brain. Rolling out of the way before the body collapsed onto him, --- faced the queen. He had left the knife embedded in the ant, if any of it had even survived the imbuement.

The queen now looked visibly angry at having her royal guards taken out, at least that's what the VOidling understood from the clattering of pincers.

With no weapons to use save for a few Lacertae femurs he had in his backpack he had left by the chamber door, --- quickly planned ahead. His mana was currently at 246, so he could just attempt to kill the queen with four Void Blasts but he doubted it would work. There was so much chitin and meat to go through before he could hit any important areas that the attacks would likely only do surface damage.

If he could get on top of the ant he could probably hold on and use Void Claws to dig into the boss’s brain. As nasty as that sounded, it was his only feasible plan. Once again sighing, --- began to run towards Varmio. The queen quickly moved forwards, scuttling over the ground almost three times as fast as the Voidling.

As she approached she swiped her front-most left leg at ---. Seeing it coming, he quickly dodged under and then grabbed onto it, using the leg to vault himself onto the queen’s back. Before he had even came in contact with the queen’s back, she screeched. Accompanying the screech, --- could feel the mana in the surroundings joined at the spot he would land as a spike of rock appeared in its place and got launched at him.

Seeing the surprise attack, --- used his Void-Magic Shield for the first time, causing a slightly opaque circle to surround him. While the shield would only block mana and not physical objects, since the rock was created from mana it would still block the attack. If the queen had picked up a piece of stone off the ground and lobbed it at him on the other hand, it would have done nothing.

The stone projectile crashed against the shield and sent him flying backwards. Turning in the air, --- managed to land on is feet as he stumbled to a stop. Happy with her attack pushing the enemy back, the queen once again screeched in spot, only to have one of her pincers cut off by a Void Blast that had crashed against it. --- had aimed at her mouth but his aim wasn’t quite right.

Seeing the pincer collapse on the ground, -- got another idea. It was roughly two meters long and would serve well as a make-shift weapon to smack the queen with. If he could get his hands on it. That would likely be very difficult considering the amount of mana the queen was gathering around herself. Checking to see his mana pool, which had dropped to 197 after the attack, began to move away from the queen.

His shield worked passively, meaning that it took a cost to summon it, and then as it got attacked it would drain mana from his pool to stay intact. Only when his mana was fully depleted would the shield finally collapse, but allowing all his mana to vanish wasn’t something that interesting the Voidling.

As more mana continued to build up, a hum of energy was birthed in the air, causing --- to fear. He quickly backpedaled as fast as he could, feeling the mana in the surroundings come to a crescendo as spikes jutted out from every surface of the boss chamber. Some were wide and short, while others pierced through the ceiling from how much mana was packed into the spell.

Three such spikes had managed to hit onto --- 's shield, two clipping him and one sending him careening across the air towards the queen. Crashing into and breaking another spike, --- quickly got up and looked at the queen. She seemed to be weakened for a few seconds after that attack considering she wasn’t moving. Seeing her broken pincer on the floor, the Voidling rushed towards it. By the time he reached it, the spikes had all but dissolved and the queen was beginning to stir again.

Sliding under one of the remaining spikes, --- grabbed the pincer by the cut end and spun quickly, swinging it around. The slide had carried him close enough to the queen that he managed to cut a leg off with the pincer, a deep green ichor spilling all over the floor.

This spark of pain seemed to reawaken the queen as she screeched before trying to collapse on top of the Voidling. Infusing the rest of his available mana in the pincer and hoping it wouldn’t vanish before he managed to attack, --- swung the pincer upwards with as much strength as he could.

The swing, mixed with the queen already moving downwards, allowed the infused pincer to cut three meters into the queen. The originally two meter long pincer, after being infused with the rest of his mana, had gained a dar sheen over it that extended a meter past the edge of the pincer. Using the rest of his available stamina to rush away, --- quickly distanced from the queen as she lay on the ground twitching.

She was very obviously still alive, but the missing leg and massive cut on her side caused her to stay down. Sitting down to take a breather, --- watched as the ichor continued to flow from the queen’s body before she ultimately died and disintegrated in a shower of sparkles, leaving a brown colored orb on the ground.

You have killed a Patsate Royal Guard(Giant Dungeon Variant) Lv 6. X2

You have gained 85(+4) experience. x2

You have killed Varmio, a Patsate Queen(Giant Dungeon Variant) Lv 8.

You have gained 240(+12) experience.

Congratulations! You have beat the first level of the Dungeon of The Patsate. For being the 653rd person to do so, you have been awarded an Average Ranked Weapon.

You may now choose to either leave the dungeon or travel further into its depths, seeking fortune.

Congratulations! You have gained a new title: Dungeoneer I

Solo Dungeoneer I: Beat 1 floor in total of dungeons solo. Next tier at 10 floors.

Reading through all the prompts, --- gave himself time to recover and breath. Considering he was the 735th person to walk into the dungeon but the 653rd person to beat the first floor, it meant 82 people had died on the first floor. He was almost certain a majority of those died from the queen’s magic. If he didn’t have his Void-Magic Shield, even he would have died.

The title didn’t mean much to him as it didn’t do anything to help him. He was planning to look at how his skills had improved over the fight but decided to save that for after he picked up the weapon that had dropped from the queen. His had just broken and considering he was still in the middle of the desert, he doubted he could make a good weapon.

Getting up, he slowly ambled his way to the brown orb in his hand. It flashed brightly before a 2.5 meter long spear appeared before him.

Name: Giant Patsate Queen Leg Spear

Quality: Average

Description: A spear made from the leg of a Patsate Queen(Giant Dungeon Variant). It is flexible and light; made for high speed attacks. It’s shaft is prone to crack if too much pressure is applied to it but the spearhead will stay sharp even under an onslaught of attacks.

Seeing the weapon, --- nodded in satisfaction and began to walk towards the exit door after picking up his backpack. While de didn’t have any spear skills, they would be easy enough to train to an acceptable level. Getting to the exit, the Voidling pushed open the door and walked through. In front of him was a split path, one leading further into the ground and one leading upwards. Choosing upwards, --- walked forwards while beginning to look at his skill gains.

Dodge has increased to 7, Void Magic had increased to 7, Void-Magic Shield had jumped from 1 to 4, and Void Blast had leveled to 10 which net him another 500 experience from reaching Adept.. He also gained a new skill called Void Infusion which had increased to level two.

You have gained a new skill!

Void Infusion Lv 2

Description: Infuse your weapon with Void, allowing it to cleave through everything.(This is a sub skill of Void Magic.)

With the extra experience, --- was 75% of the way to level 5. Considering he had been alive for two days, it was an amazing growth. Walking out of the dungeon, --- got a notification that he had left it. He was within another cave, likely near the same area as the entrance. He could see the exit in the distance, but considering how dark it was, it was likely already night. It might even already be early morning.

Laying down by the exit, --- ate one of his last relds and fell asleep.

“Awaken little one.”