Erend received a level-up notification after repeating the previous stage several times. Now, he would venture into Dungeon Level 2 since he had successfully defeated the bat-shaped Dungeon Boss.
Erend stepped through the portal, which marked the transition to the second floor. What he saw beyond the portal was vastly different from what he had experienced before.
On Dungeon Level 1, everything consisted of dark corridors or dimly lit black-walled rooms. Now, what lay before him was the sight of an expansive, wild forest. Erend felt as though he had entered an entirely different world.
He glanced back and noticed that the portal had disappeared after his passage. What stood behind him was an enormous tree. Its trunk had a diameter of approximately five meters, and Erend couldn't see the top of the tree when he looked up.
Erend decided to start walking cautiously, his eyes scanning the surroundings. In this place, enemies could emerge from anywhere and at any time.
"What I faced in Dungeon Level 1 was insects. Now, what will I encounter in this forest?" Erend wondered.
Erend wasn't particularly thrilled about the environment he found himself in now. Forests were eerie places where you never knew what might come from where, just like the situation he faced at the moment.
Suddenly, a monkey leaped toward him from a hidden branch.
"Shit!" Erend cursed loudly and activated his [Dragon Scale]. Although the monkey appeared to be a normal one, Erend was currently in the Dungeon World, where nothing was truly 'normal'.
As expected, the monkey immediately produced two daggers seemingly out of thin air into its hands. Erend widened his eyes in surprise at the sight.
The monkey swung both daggers towards Erend's shoulder. If he had been a moment slower in activating his [Dragon Scale], the daggers would have pierced his shoulder, creating a severe injury that would hinder his progress.
Erend swore he saw the monkey grin.
The monkey quickly backed away, accompanied by its odd giggling sounds. Erend sighed in relief because he hadn't been too late to activate his [Dragon Scale]. He stared at the departing monkey with a simmering resentment, finding its face incredibly annoying.
Branches and leaves in the surrounding trees rustled intensely, indicating that many things were moving within them. Erend looked up and saw the movements coming from various directions.
'There are so many of them.'
Loud and annoying giggles echoed around him. Yes, Erend found the monkeys' sounds more annoying than intimidating. They descended, clutching daggers in their hands.
The size of the monkeys had grown. The first one that had attacked him had been the size and shape of a typical monkey. But now, they had enlarged to the size of a ten-year-old child.
What was even more surprising was that these monkeys were wearing black leather armor.
The monkeys swarmed him from above and immediately tried to plunge their daggers into Erend's body with all their might. Due to their substantial numbers, they forced Erend to his knees.
Shortly after, another group of monkeys, which had been waiting below, began to arrive. As their friends from above withdrew to flee, the monkeys below took over. They rushed from various directions and swung their daggers at Erend's body with all their strength, accompanied by triumphant cackles. The monkey forces were ecstatic, having cornered their target to his knees.
Another series of clanging sounds as daggers met the black and red scales rang out in the midst of the forest amid the monkeys' chattering.
Erend gritted his teeth. He had actually wanted to wait a little longer until all the monkeys surrounded him. However, their triumphant cheers were starting to grate on him.
[Skill activated: All Fire-based Power (Lv.1)]
The monkeys saw sparks of fire emanating around Erend's body and immediately scrambled to retreat. But they weren't fast enough.
The fire spread from Erend's body in a radius of five meters, incinerating everything in its vicinity, including plants, trees, and the monkeys with daggers and leather armor.
After a few seconds, Erend extinguished the flames and surveyed his surroundings. However, what he saw was quite surprising.
The monkeys weren't dead. They had only suffered severe burns, with some of their flesh having fallen from their bodies. Yet, they remained alive.
The grins on their faces, which had been filled with the joy of victory, had now transformed into expressions of fury.
"Oh, so you're pretty tough, huh!"
[Skill activated: Dragon Claws (Lv.1)]
"Let's see how tough you really are!"
Erend immediately attacked them with his claws. The monkeys, who had been annoying him, couldn't offer much resistance with their severely burnt bodies. They couldn't dodge or move quickly enough to evade Erend's claw strikes. Consequently, they could only resign themselves as Erend's claws came down and shredded them into small pieces of flesh.
Erend received notifications about the experience he had gained, but the experience from the monkeys he had killed wasn't enough to level up.
Erend looked up and saw that another group of monkeys, positioned in the treetops, was watching him. Fear was evident in their eyes.
"Heh!" Erend snorted, accompanied by a cold grin. "What are you doing? Come here and let's have some fun, you little bastards!"
The monkeys seemed frozen in place. Erend could see anger in their furry, primate faces. He had never thought that monkeys could be this expressive.
Suddenly, a roar shook the forest. Erend glanced around, trying to locate the source of the noise.
It sounded like the roar of a huge beast. The monkeys turned their heads toward the source of the sound, confirming its direction. They began moving in that direction.
However, Erend wasn't going to let them escape. He activated [Dragon Wings] and soared towards the treetops, seizing the monkeys like a predator snatching its prey.
The monkeys, realizing Erend's attack, hastened their pace, leaping from branch to branch. Yet, Erend could move quickly enough to catch up to them and kill most of them.
However, a small group of monkeys managed to elude Erend until they arrived at a location with a giant gorilla, standing five meters tall.
The gorilla stood in an open area in the middle of the forest. Erend, who had been pursuing the monkeys, finally arrived there.
Now, he sees the source of the earlier roar.