Next day, Pauli and I decided upon a particular time to log in again. The time we decided on was a little late into the night but not that late either. We aimed to make it to the next floor's safe room.

Also, there was some interesting news I happened to overhear in school. There was some sort of tournament that was going to happen in IO a week from now in the Great Kingdom of Dian. As it turns out, it was the first major event in the game and everyone was excited at the prospects of the potential grand prize offered by the King of Dian. Well, it was useless information for me since I wasn't going to take part. Bringing alot of attention to myself was the last thing I wanted to do right now. Also, I had no idea where or how far the freaking place was. Neither had I the time, with my exams coming up soon.

Since there was the discussion of IO going around, someone mentioned something interesting. Atleast, I found it more interesting than the tournament. Apparantly, the [PK] guild was wiped out. It was the guild that worked to kill high-level players to bring down their levels. It seems like a some sort of justice loving group got together and made the [Justice Prevails] guild, which took help of some other guilds and users to do to the [PK] guild players, what they did to others. So now, those guys were at most level 40.

Somewhere in my heart, I felt a bit disappointed. Truth be told, I wanted to take care of that 'evil' guild myself. I don't know whether it was for the Hero feeling or to test myself or to just go for a plain old smackdown. Well, what was done was done, nothing to be done about it now.

Anyways, after school ended, we went our separate ways and got back to our homes.

Pauli and I had decided to meet up for a single hour in RL duration which would give us 3.5 hours in IO. We estimated it to be enough to reach the next safe room.

Since there was a lot of time for our meet up, I decided to study. I changed out of my uniform and did some exercise and finally got down to studying. It went on for a few hours before I realised it was 10 minutes before our appointed time.

I decided to log in early. Putting back my books in order, I got ready and lay on my bed and put on the headgear. After a few seconds, the headgear made a *beep*. It was my cue to dive in.

As I opened my eyes, I found myself in 12th floor's safe room. As expected, Pauli wasn't here.

"There are some users headed your way." (Trichia)

Suddenly came Trichia's voice. I was startled a bit as this was something completely unexpected. But then again, it should have been obvious that someone would come sooner or later. Millions play the game. Their probability of coming here has to be finite.

"How many?" (Me)

Since it was just me here, I didn't need to send back a thought.

"3 of them. Levels are 83, 87 and 91. I can't say for sure whether they'll find the dungeon or not." (Trichia)

"Are they friendly?" (Me)

I asked the important question.

"They're known to harass NPCs and have committed some PKs but have never went over the line. Otherwise, I would have banned them." (Trichia)

"Shirley......" (Me)

I was worried about Shirley. She might have grown enough to handle one of them if they decided to attack, but not all three. It was even more troubling as I didn't know whether they'd be hostile. If I clearly knew, I could have straight away head out to kill them.

"You're already here." (Pauli)

I heard a voice behind me. As I looked back, Pauli was standing there. She seemed to have just logged in.

"I just got here myself." (Me)

(Hey Trichia, how long do you think before they reach here?)

"Should we go in for the boss fight, or eat something first?" (Pauli)

"I'd say somewhere between 2 to 4 hours depending on how many monsters they have to face." (Trichia)

It was a little confusing to have 2 conversations at the same time, but I managed.

{Authors note: If you're getting confused too, know that whatever the girls say is directed to the MC. MC's (thoughts) are for Trichia and "direct lines" for Pauli.}

"What do you want to do?" (Me)

(What is Shirley doing?)

"She's fighting on the first floor, though not for long. She's been fighting for some time and is bound to take a break soon." (Trichia)

This time Trichia replied first as Pauli took a moment to think.

(Can you let me know if the 3 users get in range of half an hour of here? I'd need some time too to reach the first floor.)

"Sure thing." (Trichia)

(Thanks.)

"I think we should go forthe boss first. We can eat in there again, like the last time." (Pauli)

"As my lady commands." (Me)

I made a sort of a joke to rid myself of previous thoughts.

Pauli didn't seem to mind and started checking her equipment. I should probably do that too since we have no idea what kind of boss it'd be.

Pauli got equipped with the [Spike Shield]. It was a good idea since she'll most likely be fighting any skeleton lackeys.

As for me, I also got equipped with a [Spike Shield] but along with it, also an iron sword. The shield went on my left and the sword on my right hand.

Seeing that we were both equipped with our respective weapons, we gave each other a nod and moved on to the boss room. As we opened the door, what we witnessed was a similar boss room to the ones before. In the distance stood our enemy.

Doom Poodle LVL 160

Seriously, who names these monsters!?

Our opponent was a poodle atleast, but only in shape. There were a few differences from a normal one in that the one in front of us was huge and looked as if someone mistook black for white and vice versa. The entire body of the creature was black except for its eyes and nose which were white. This gave it a more surreal feeling than ever. Even its teeth were pitch black. Actually, it would be better to call them fangs due to their sharpness that I could make out even from this distance.

It looked like there wouldn't be any skeleton underlings this time so I told Pauli to stay back.

I carefully moved ahead and the [Doom Poodle] gave a deep growl.

I had already replaced the spike shield with another iron sword so now I was dual wielding the same weapon in each hand. I was always an offence oriented player so the shield was useless for me. I only ever used it against skeleton opponents due to their sheer toughness.

As I got well within range of the monster, it begun its move. It jumped up and towards me.

It was a simple attack and easy to dodge. I just ran in the direction the Boss jumped from.

I saw the boss turning its body mid-air to land with its face towards me. As it landed, it bent its body low and opened its mouth large.

It looked as if it was going to launch some sort of attack so I dodged to the side. Right then came out of its mouth a [Dark Ball], only this one was much larger than the one the [Skeleton Mage]s shoot. MUCH larger! It covered a semicircle with a radius of 2 metres. Sadly enough for my opponent, I was one step ahead. Since I had already dodged before it even attacked, the opening I got was too broad, the moment it actually did. I made a dash, and slashed at the boss from the side. Having a strength stat of 1900 and every hit critical, none of my enemies ever survive my first hit(except skeletons because I prefer not to hit them directly). So I was pretty surprised when I saw the Boss get up from its position and took a stance to launch another attack.

I looked at its HP bar on its head and I could see the tiniest of redness. (Red over grey shows the remaining HP).

It just barely survived the attack. Its remaining HP must be in 2 digits at max.

Anyways, it had been a long time since I used it, so I used my most powerful skill.

"INSTA-KILL!!!!!!" (Me)

I still have no idea how to get it to work since I don't to use it too often. So I just pointed my palm at my opponent and shouted on the top of my lungs!

The boss which had just made a jump at me disappeared mid-air.

"Phew." (Me)

I wiped the non-existant sweat on my forehead.

Then I noticed Pauli was heading towards me and coming closer and closer. I started getting confused when she didn't show any signs of stopping even at a distance of 1 metre.

"Umm.. Wh.." (Me)

As I was about to ask what was going on in her head she still didn't stop and passed me.

(Huh?)

As I looked back, I saw her moving towards the boss item and pick it up.

(Forgot about that, didn't I?)

Then she brought it over to me.

"What was that skill?" (Pauli)

Before she handed me the item, she asked. She was probably talking about my most powerful skill that I used just now.

(Crap. I forgot Pauli doesn't know about that. Well, no harm in telling her.)

"Its called Insta-Kill. It lets me defeat any enemy with remaining HP lower than a hundredth my total HP." (Me)

I told Pauli as she came closer.

Thankfully, she didn't ask more as I would have been troubled had she asked me how I got it.

Then I finally took the item from her hands.

(That's.. Big.)

"Appraise." (Me)

Massive Mace

When the giants waged war on the other races, there appeared a hero wielding the Massive Mace and massacred hundreds of giants.

Effects:

STR +600

AGI -100

Requirement:

STR more than 400

Ohhh.... This one was a crazy item. If you had 400 strength, it'll jump you up to 1000! The reduce in AGI was a small price to pay when you consider the massive gain in HP and damage. And speaking of massive...this Mace is a little too big to be used in the dungeon. A Mace was probably the best weapon to destroy the skeletons but it will be too hard to swing this in the dungeon other than the boss room. Its handle was 3 metres and its head was another half a metre.

As for its appearence, it was completely red, a deep dull red except for the protrusions on its head which were black. The prostrutions on its head.. I don't know how to describe them. There are 3 of those and in the shape of a distorted 'S', with the pointy part up. The head itself wasn't a sphere either. Though it was MOSTLY spherical, the sides were a bit flatter and the top was again pointy.

Pauli should also have the necessary STR to wield this, but it wont be going to her. Its not that, I want it especially but..if I see the small Pauli use something humongous like this, I'd probably cry you know.

Anyways, it went to my inventory to be used at the next boss battle.

Then we started cooking in the middle of the room. I made some soup with herbs and deer meat. Deer meat is soft so it goes well with soup.

The end result was good enough. You can't compare it to Shirley's but its still good enough that a person eating for the first time can say its delicious.

Anyway, after that we moved on to the next floor. I asked Trichia the status of the 3 adventures and she told me it'll take 2 more hours. That wasn't an exact time, just an estimate.

Two hours was what it normally took me to complete a floor when I didn't know the way. Obviously, it'll take much longer for anyone else. Even then, I fought a bit more aggressive on the floor and made it to the safe room of the thirteenth floor with a complete hour to spare.

"Stressed?" (Pauli)

".....You can say that." (Me)

Pauli mistook my hurriedness for venting out anger.

"Exam tension?" (Pauli)

"Umm. Not exactly...." (Me)

"You know you can talk to me if you need anything right?" (Pauli)

She came closer as she said that. But this time, instead of passing by, gave me a small kiss. This inadvertantly brought a smile to my face.

(She was worried, huh?)

"Thanks." (Me)

I told her and gave her another kiss, a bigger one than hers and one that may have included the use of our toungues.

After we separated, she gave me a nod and logged out.

I was supposed to do the same but I moved on to the boss room instead. I had some time to spare and I wanted to try out the mace. To head back, I would probably need around 30-40 minutes to reach the first floor. One had to take the exact same path to get out that the used to get in, so the only fight I needed to do was the boss battles. I could just ignore other enemies and run past. When serious, even the boss battles took only a single second to finish, so I can complete each floor in about 2-3 minutes at my top speed. With this calculation, I surmised that there would be enough time for me to get back even if I took part in the boss fight.

Rocky LVL 170

It was some sort of rock golem. It was the same height as the [Doom Poodle], but not the same length, so in effect was smaller than the previous boss. Also, it was completely made of rock so ANY of my weapons would have been useless against it.

(Looks like I got the mace at the right time.)

I had a giant mace and in front of me was a giant target. Talk about compatibility!

As I got closer, it took a pose and started running at me with the intent of a body slam. But it was incredibly slow.

I'm guessing that attacking isn't one of its strong suits. Well, its defence is enough of a cheat in the first place. If you couldn't damage it, it'd just be useless. A party can get completely annihilated against it if they don't have a heavy damage dealer.

Each step it took caused the ground to rumble and send out mini-quakes. Just from that, I could tell that it weighed ATLEAST a few tons.

I easily dodged its attack and the golem slammed in a pillar. That's when I noticed that the boss room was different from the others. It had a large number of pillers. I didn't notice it earlier as my attention was towards the boss.

As the boss got out of the debris, I could see that it had lost a tiny bit of health. But it was still negligible compared to its remaining HP.

Then the boss came running for another body slam.

*boom* *boom*

This time, I swung the mighty mace at my opponents feet and..missed! And I was sent flying! Even though the boss never touched me! And the direction I flew in was opposite to the boss.

I landed on my feet and regained my posture.

(So physics and dungeons are actually brothers.)

I remembered the time where I was confused where all the light came from(still am).

The effect of physics this time was.. amazing! I would have never believed had I not felt it myself. This is what happened:

Boss runs.

I swing the mace.

Earth shakes due to boss running.

I get elevated in air due to the tremor(losing friction).

I get thrown in the direction of motion of my and the mace's centre of mass.

If you're still confused, thing of what happens when you swing a stone in a circle with a string and then let it go. It doesn't continue spinning but moves in the direction of its instantaneous motion at the moment it loses support.

In my case, I lose support(friction) when I'm pulled in the air. And the mace being physically heavier than me, pulls me with it in its instantaneous direction of motion.

(Awesome...)

Experiencing something you can only study about feels great!

*boom* *boom*

Ah, I was so happy I forgot about the boss. If I look closer, I can see its HP dropped a bit more and there's a destroyed pillar behind it.

This time I jumped as I swung to not be caught by the tremors.

*BOOOOOM*

An incredible sound reverberated as the mace met the head of the boss at full strength.

I was thrown back a bit due to the rebound of the collision but managed to safely land on my feet.

The boss, on the other hand, was sliding though the floor due to the earlier momentum without a head while destroying the floor.

It started disappearing even before it came to a stop.

I walked over to where the Boss took its last breath before it disappeared. Obviously it didn't actually breath though. It was a freaking Stone Golem with the name [Rocky]!

Anyway, I made my way over to check for any item drops. Even though it wouldn't drop the best item, it was still a boss right? No harm in expecting, is there?

Fairy Underwear

A high quality item sought after by the nobles in the past.

Effects:

Magical Skill +40 when worn by a member of fairy race.

Pervertedness+10 when in possession of a race other than the fairies.

What the fuck is this!? I don't even want it in my inventory!

What was in my hands was a pair of panties the size a kid would wear. They were light pink in color and had a small ribbon on top.

(I better throw it before someone sees me.)

"Photographed, itemized and sent to Pauli's inventory. Hmm. That should do, right?" (Trichia)

....

"NOOOOOO!!!!!! Please Trichia! Have mercy on this mortal soul!" (Me)

What would Pauli think if she saw me holding a kid's underwear!? Actually, its hard to tell. She might actually not care, given her personality. But I can't take that risk!

"Hihihihi... I'm just kidding, big brother. You're so easy to trick~" (Trichia)

"...I've learnt my lesson to never question a God's credibility." (Me)

"Aww.. You're so cute." (Trichia)

"Haaah... I think I should start heading back now? Its a bit early though." (Me)

Trichia didn't reply this time and let me make my own decision.

Yeah. I think I'll go.