"Huh? Nobody asked you. I wanted Blake to explain it to me…" Sighed Erika.
"Y-You! I was just trying to be polite!" Elfriedden angrily replied.
"Anyways, yeah, what he said. They're quite valuable as materials, but we'll mine them once we're done with the Dungeon Boss." I said with a smile. "Also they do grow in other places as well, usually in areas with tons of Mana or Miasma known as Haunts."
"Oooh! I'll help you mine them later then, I've got some Mining Dolls." Erika said.
"More importantly, why don't you use your second spirit?" I asked her. "You've not been taking it out at all."
"Huhhh… It's a bit complicated…" Erika sighed. "He's a bit… a bit nuts."
"Nuts?" I wondered. "Wasn't he a strong spirit?"
"Yeah but there's something dark about this spirit, so it goes berserk and it's a bit scary…" Sighed Erika.
"Just bring him out-"
Suddenly, an arrow flew towards Erika's face, imbued with Mana, it flew at an incredible speed.
However, my arm blocked it, the arrow exploded once it hit my arm, leaving a small wound over the skin, but nothing too serious.
"Huh?! Who threw that?" Erika wondered.
The roars of monstrous humanoids echoed around the entire dungeon. In mere seconds, we were surrounded not by Goblins anymore, not even by Hobgoblins, but by larger… beings.
"Those are…?!" Eric was surprised.
"Wait, they appear in Floor 3?" Chris wondered.
"This is not a goblin dungeon, it's the Ogre's Den, a harder dungeon than something like the Goblin's Cave." I answered. "I've been waiting them for a while…"
The three-meter-tall, green-skinned barbarians that greeted us were Orcs, slightly similar to goblins in appearance, but burlier, muscular, and taller. Most of them also had long, white, silver, or red hair, and glowing red eyes.
They emanated powerful Magical Auras, if they were able to shoot that powerful arrow, they were naturally capable of conjuring Skills and Magic. That exploding arrow wasn't a normal arrow at all after all, it as the power of a Skill.
"KEHEHEHEH… GUKAH! GORUK! KECHEK! KIHIHIHI!"
A taller than the rest Orc greeted us. An Orc Chief, his enormous body reaching almost three meters and a half, wearing bone-made armor, and holding a gigantic Battle Axe, he laughed evilly as he pointed his fingers at us, he was mocking our height. I knew Orcish Tongue as they were a widespread race in Asmodeus' world.
"He's saying we are foolish little children, and that we're going to die an agonizing death before they feast in out tender flesh." I said. "Just like they did to the last team that came here…"
"Huh? But I am fairly sure they're fine?" Wondered Chris.
"They probably meant an older party of people that went inside of here… After all, Monsters have been proven to have memories of previous lives, sometimes. This chief probably inherited the memories of his previous life. Souls inside dungeons get constantly recycled." I said to everyone.
"S-So that's a thing…" Erika said.
The angered Orc Chief got pissed off we weren't as scared as he wanted to see us, the Orcs immediately charged once he gave out the signal. Tens of Orc Archers from afar pointed arrows at us to make things worse, while burly Orc Warriors raised their powerful and giant weapons, attempting to crush us.
The battle quickly broke out, everyone unleashed their magic and techniques, this time without holding back. The dungeon was finally showing its true difficulty after reaching Floor 3. A giant Orc rushed my way as I saved Erika from getting an arrow over her face, she quickly jumped into battle, fighting another Orc coming from behind.
The powerful Orc Warrior that confronted me boldly attempted to slash me in half by swinging his giant, rusted iron sword, which was two handed, but which he wielded with merely one hand.
However, my spear responded to that attack swiftly, parrying the blow as an enormous amount of red and black energy surged from the parried attack's counter blow.
"GRAKH?!" The Orc Warrior was left speechless, he didn't expected a child to be this strong as to parry his powerful blow.
"Burn. {Crimson Flare}."
I gathered Blood Ki and Mana together and unleashed a fireball into the Orc Warrior's body, setting him ablaze. The Crimson Flare was a special Magic combining Ki which had both Blood and Fire Elements converged together.
The Orc Warrior roared in agony, but furiously continued attacking with flames covering his body. His rage activating the Berserk Aura as he unleashed consecutive blows. The monster was mighty and durable, just as the Orcs my previous life knew about.
CRASH! CRASH! CRAAASH!
"I'll end you with one blow. [Spear Attack Enhancement]."
My spear gained a momentary enhancement to attack, one of the many new Techniques I acquired through the evolved Spearmanship into Spear Mastery, and then, I jumped the moment the Orc Warrior hit the ground again, pointing the tip of my weapon against the monster's hardy chest.
The spear's tip reached the Orc Warrior's chest, piercing through its hard bones and skin and piercing the monster's heart, unleashing, at the same time, a blast of darkness and blood energy, filling the Orc Warrior's interior and making its chest explode.
The entire body fell into pieces over the ground, as I found myself covered on blood. Nothing wrong with that, I've always loved bathing in my enemy's blood. I already had drained the blood of the enemies we fought before, filling my body with more Blood Ki.
The blood from the Orc Warrior was several times richer and stronger than the goblins and hobgoblins though, once refined into Blood Ki, it became a powerful and fierce energy that I once more gathered together into a powerful mass of spiraling blood.
Three Orcs ran towards me to avenge their fallen comrade.
"You're bold, come and die then. {Blood Blades}!"
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!