Warlock of War: My Ares System

16 Dungeon: Crystal Tortoise Sanctuary

There are no laws inside the dungeon, basically making it an every man for themselves type of situation.

"Yes, I'm aware," I mutter before walking past him and entering the dark cave.

It wasn't as dark as the dungeon I had visited before, but if I ever ran into a monster, I would probably die instantly.

But, there was no need to bring any equipment for the dark as once I walked far enough into the cave with crystal spikes, a few notifications appeared in front of me.

[You have entered The Dungeon: Crystal Tortoise Sanctuary]

[Recommended Level: 5]

[The benevolent sanctuary has granted you The Buff: Sanctuary Vision]

Suddenly, it looked as if the sun had appeared at the top of the room, revealing every nook and cranny of the large cave I was in.

What I saw were bright red crystals lining the dome-shaped cave and a few of the crystals scattered around the dungeon's floor.

"Good thing I did my research," I mutter before making my way farther into the sanctuary.

What was so good about this place is that the monsters are passive until attacked, but that doesn't mean you can take a nice, relaxing break upon killing one of these tortoises.

They are large, about half my height, and almost as wide as they were tall.

Their shell was made from the same type of crystals that lined the interior of the dome, so it was easy to figure out that their shells were pretty much indestructible.

Their gray skin had a diamond pattern that shifted slightly onto its shell.

But most importantly, the unique feature, or shall I say the unique skill of this monster, is a skill called: [Resonance].

I first stalked an adventurer who I assumed to be a newbie due to his freshly made leather armor and shaky appearance.

I watched from atop a crystal spike that wasn't that high up as I didn't have the strength to climb the big ones.

But my stamina had definitely increased over the years as I went on a jog every other day.

I lost motivation many times, but somehow I brought myself to go running again.

"ARGHHHH!" The adventurer shouts as he swings his shodden sword down on the tortoise's almost impenetrable shell.

CLANG

The collision of the crystal and sword made a ringing sound that echoed through the dome, and the surrounding adventures could already tell what was about to happen.

The tortoise cried out a long and deep groan.

A rumble came from the ground, and when the adventurer spun his head around to see where it was coming from, he suddenly saw a massive wave of the tortoises charging towards him.

They were faster than a regular human, so a novice who just started was about to get trampled.

The wave of tortoises let out a deep and long groan once again before knocking over the newbie adventurer and trampling him to pieces.

"Heads up!" Somebody shouts towards the trampled corpse before laughing with his party.

They continuously teased the dead corpse, even as the tortoises turned around for seemingly another round.

But when I realized it wasn't another round of trampling, my pupils dilated, and a drop of sweat ran down the back of my neck.

"They're consuming him?" I muttered to myself as I saw the tortoises chomp down on the fresh meat and swallow it, blood trailing down their beaked mouths.

This wasn't in the articles that I read…

And when I looked at the surrounding adventurers, I saw that they were shocked as well, since this wasn't something that occurred normally.

"Geez… This place might've changed a bit," I mutter but have never heard of a dungeon changing.

Yes, they can evolve, but not change.

And how I know this place hasn't evolved is because the name changes upon evolving, and since it's an instant process that kills everybody inside, we would've known if it evolved already.

Unless the city government wants to keep it a secret?

But where is the benefit in that?

"Uh, let's just go hunting," I muttered before climbing back down the crystal instead of epically jumping off it and landing in a superhero position.

My knees and ankles would've snapped in half if I did that.

I made my way to the first tortoise and stared it down.

It stared back at me with its careless eyes, not showing even a hint of hostility.

First, I activated [Tangible Bloodlust], which began to rise from my spear, coating it and my arm in a blood-red aura.

I felt power fill my body as it spread from my arm to the rest of my body.

[You have activated Tangible Bloodlust]

[Your bloodlust reacts to your will to fight]

SHING

I swung upwards with my spear, straight in front of the tortoise's face, causing it to pull its head back into its shell.

But my spear was a bit special.

There was the normal spear tip which was sharp and powerful but right next to it, on the very end of the pole, was a small scythe blade.

I had this weapon made especially for this dungeon as I'd be in here trying to grind for a while, and this was just the best bet.

Ksh

The scythe end of my spear penetrated under the shell and hooked right into the tortoise's face, killing it instantly.

But just as I was about to pull out the spear, I felt part of my bloodlust get sucked into the corpse.

The corpse then rumbled as if it was about to implode, so I took a few steps back and watched as the shell exploded off of the tortoise, leaving a gaping hole in the tortoises back.

They aren't like hermit crabs where the shells aren't a part of them, but the shell is actually part of their skeleton-like a normal tortoise.

I dodged the quickly falling shell before inspecting the halved tortoise corpse.

[3 XP]

"What the hell was that… and a magic stone?" I mutter.

Suddenly, everybody around me began to chatter about something, so I quickly collected the stone and dashed farther into the dungeon while ensuring nobody was following me.

I quickly found a quiet open space, so I sat down there and looked at the small red bead in my hand.

Normally, these tortoises aren't supposed to have magic stones as they are too weak.

"Something is up,"

…

SHING

Ksh

SHING

Ksh

SHING

Ksh

After killing a few more tortoises, I wiped the sweat from my chin before falling back onto the ground, completely exhausted.

No matter how many tortoises I killed, none came after me as I didn't let them cry out for their comrades.