Not wanting to bother with having this on my mind any longer, I decided to do as my grandpa asked and threw my focus into battles in a quest for gold coins. I ended up completing Battle 32 and Battle 33. The former was against something called a Venomlash Basilisk.

  It was smaller than the snake on the first floor of the Snakebite Dungeon, but it was leagues above it in strength, and it spat vile green venom, obvious by its name.

  Though it wasn’t too much of a problem and as long as I stayed out of the way of the venom, it didn’t take me too long to kill it, and thereby collecting some Gold Coins.

  After that there was something called a Great Mastodon. Basically, it was a big, armored elephant with massive tusks. Not only could it squish me to death if I got caught by it, but it could quite literally impale me like a spear.

  But It wasn’t very fluid with its movements, just a very big bulldozer with a pointy end. The only problem was that even with Piercing Tide, damaging its outer layer was really hard. I had to take a risk and slide underneath it, where I could be stomped to death, to cut open its gut with my spear. Thankfully, it worked out, and I received another set of Gold Coins, all of which contributed to the purchase of our book.

  But now it’s time to really strategize. I need to stay in here long enough to get strong enough to be not just the equalizer in the upcoming battles but a real difference maker. My presence on the battlefield needs to cause real problems for the lava people. I need to think in such a way that if ten, twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty of them were to show up and try to kill all of our people…all of my family, I need to be able to fight them off by myself.

  Realistically, that’s probably impossible, but at this rate, if my goal itself isn’t unrealistic and my drive to reach it isn’t out of this world, then we stand no chance. The threat we face is real, and it’s going to take real sacrifice to make sure we can stand up to it.

  So my strategy was simple. Instead of trying to go as far as I can and getting that one reward, no matter how good it may be, I think I’ll decide to claim my reward every three battles. Then, with that reward, I will step back into the lobby area of the dungeon, rest, and gather my strength once more. Hopefully, with the rewards I’m getting, the following battles will be far easier. It wasn’t much of a plan in terms of craftiness, but it was the best I had.

  I wonder how my cousin was going to approach this. He was the only other person who took up Grandpa’s offer to enter the dungeons and not come out until they were strong enough to defeat the enemy.

  Everyone else chose to stay outside and fight to defend the family with what they had. Of course, it’s understandable. Everyone else was a bunch of parents. Not a single one of them was going to leave their kids unprotected when such danger was upon them.

  Chief among them was Grandpa himself. He’s someone who could’ve progressed much farther by now if he focused solely on getting stronger. Not to say he hadn’t focused on his strength, but he was doing so much more as well.

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  Everything in the family was a part of him. He was there for every interaction family members had with the public. He wasn’t too far behind if someone in the family needed him.

  No matter what it was, he would be there.

  Some could argue that he would be better served focusing on nothing but his strength, but if they told him that, he’d tell them to kick rocks. Well, he’d probably use a bit more expressive language than “kick rocks,” but that would be the idea.

  Anyway, I’ll take up that mantle for him, and I’m sure Rakeon will as well.

  But that’s enough lollygagging.

  Battle 34 – Alpha Thunder Ape.

  Honestly, it was really just a big gorilla, but it looked dope as hell. I don’t think there are too many people out there who could argue against a silverback gorilla looking dope. Now imagine one twice the size of a regular gorilla that had patterns of gold dancing around its body like it was mimicking the movement of electricity.

  It truly looked incredible.

  And of course, it was a melee fighter. Why wouldn’t it be? A big gorilla with thunder in its body and clearly the strength to match its appearance. That thing barreled after me and immediately began throwing haymakers toward me.

  Its overall speed might not have been much, but the speed of its punches was one of the fastest things I’ve seen so far. The wind cracked with thunder as the fists of the Alpha Thunder Ape shook the space around it while it continuously hurled its arms through the air toward me.

  No matter how much I moved and weaved and danced around, its fists always seemed to find where my body would be. And these weren’t ordinary fists. Every punch was covered in massive sparks of electricity, seeking not only to beat me into paste but to electrocute everything that remained of me.

  Thankfully, neither of those things happened. It was a grueling fight and one that tested my patience and stamina more than anything else, but it ended with my spear going directly through its neck.

  Honestly, I thought I was going to electrocute myself when I did that, but surprisingly, it didn’t seem to affect me too much. Maybe mana played a part. Not sure. Either way, the Thunder Ape was dead.

  After him came something called the Crimson Drake. It was quite literally crimson in color, as every scale looked blood red from the head to the tip of its tail. It wasn’t that big, but it was very fast, and for the first time in a while, I did not surpass my opponent in speed.

  Even with Surging Step, it was still able to not only match me but be faster than me. And since because of how red it was in color, I was almost ninety percent convinced that it would breathe fire. I was wrong, but not completely. It didn’t breathe fire; it simply lit itself on fire.

  Eventually, I found myself going toe to toe with a flaming ball of angry fire looking to rip my head off every chance it got. This was not a fun time.

  Which meant unlike the majority of my recent battles where I could run away and take advantage of my speed by delivering timely but patient strikes at weak points, that option wasn’t available to me here.

  I had no choice but to enter a brutal melee with the Drake. If I couldn’t run from it or attack it from range, then I needed to meet it in battle—and meet it I did. I used Piercing Tide over and over again as I sliced and pierced into its crimson scales enough to kill it.

  But I wasn’t without wounds of my own. Perhaps if I still had Water Cloak, it would’ve helped with the fire a bit, but I did not. Now there were more than a couple of places on my skin that were singed with fire.

  Even now, after the battle, there wasn’t any healing coming. I just had to grit my teeth and push on. There would be no room to quit and come back. Not anymore.