Danmachi - Eldritch Apostle

It was a rather cloudy day in Orario. The sun was hidden behind heavy gray clouds, threatening to release rain onto the city at any moment. The streets were barely crowded since everyone was expecting a heavy downpour.

I stood at the spiral dungeon entrance leading to the first dungeon floor, where most newbies tried their luck each day. Being an average Joe in this world must suck, getting outshined by gifted people with unique skills and magic.

The show always portrays the ideal view from the main character's perspective, but the reality is often disappointing. Around 95% of the people remained between levels one and two, while the rest climbed higher and made their names in this city.

Only 1% became icons of this city with their powerful and unique powers, just like in my previous life.

But thanks to my most precious goddess, I'm gifted with the strongest powers for this world and its kin. Yet talent doesn't beat hard work if the talented one doesn't invest time, passion, and sweat into what they aspire to achieve.

Which is why, despite my powers, I still need to grind.

'Well... time to slaughter some baka monsters, I guess. Okay, that was pretty cringe,' I cringed inside my head at the stupid joke I just made.

I descended the spiral stairways, trying to forget my cringe-worthy joke, while a bunch of other adventurers were returning from the dungeon in their shiny gear and weapons.

"Is this guy going for a dive without any gear?"

"Maybe he's a mage? But how can a mage go solo without any equipment? Is this guy nuts?"

"Probably another of those crazy newbies who die on their first dungeon run due to overconfidence in their powers."

A bunch of seasoned adventurers talked about me behind my back, in disbelief that someone could enter the dungeon without gear. Even Ottar, who was a fricking level 7, had some basic gear when going into the dungeon.

The reason I decided not to wear gear was to grind my durability faster. It would be more dangerous if I got hit by any monster, but the more I got hit or got closer to it, the more excelia I would gain.

I ignored those people and continued my descent into the first floor of the vast dungeon, eventually reaching it where I found that only a couple of parties remained.

"Hey, you! What do you think you're doing entering this dungeon without any sort of weapon or gear?" a human woman approached me, which was odd since most adventurers didn't care for each other.

Everyone minded their own business in the dungeon as there was a rule saying whatever happens in the dungeon, stays in it. It reminded me of a game from my previous life called Albion Online, where black zones and the dungeons in them allowed killing, looting, and ganking without complaints since players entered those zones willingly.

Just like the dungeon here.

"Not your goddamn business. Now let me go my own way for once." My harsh response seemed to surprise her for a second before she turned right and went away.

I noticed she was with a group of lowly geared female adventurers, which I guessed were newbies. There were five of them in total, and we all made eye contact before I walked deeper into the dungeon.

The monster spawn rate was, to say the least, pure shit.

The huge crowd of adventurer parties surely affected the spawn rate on this floor. The first floor was quite crowded now since most adventurers were returning from their daily grind.

One thing I noticed was that at least one out of two parties was carrying a heavily injured or, in the worst case, dead person with them. That alone proved a dungeon is dangerous, especially to the average adventurer without any special powers.

There was one party of female Amazonesses carrying their fallen sister, the girls carried the lifeless body of a female Amazon with a missing arm and half of her face. Unlike other parties, the girls weren't sobbing for their fallen friend. Instead, they kept a strong expression.

I turned my gaze deeper into the floor and continued walking casually toward the second floor, hoping to finally get out of this busy crowd. I hated big crowds, especially in narrow spaces like here.

Some time passed, and I found myself standing on the second floor of the dungeon. In the meantime, no monsters spawned, unfortunately for me. It seemed I had to go deeper if I wanted to grind some excelia today.

CLANK CLANK

The sound of weapons colliding caught my attention. It reminded me of two swords clashing against each other. Most likely, it was a fight between adventurers since no monster on this floor could carry weapons.

Making my way to the sound source, I was met by cracking from the walls. It seemed like the dungeon was happy enough to see me all alone. I guess the dungeon wants to slow me down before I can find out whatever is happening down there.

Crack Crack

From the dungeon walls, a group of green goblins spawned. There were about ten of them in total, which made me wonder if this spawn rate was even normal for this floor.

Sure, most newbies form parties and grind together, but spawning ten goblins at once on the second floor made me question its normalcy. I guess I'll need to ask either Hermes or someone else about that.

Two small goblins that were courageous enough charged at me with their claws ready to tear my flesh off. Without my Hastur's Cloak, I had to finally use my legs and dodge the sharp claw aimed at me.

I successfully dodged the first attack aimed at me. The goblin rolled after it missed and growled out of frustration. The moment that goblin rolled down, I used my Force of Authority to smack it down to the ground.

The second goblin tried to avenge its friend and approached me from behind with its claws pointed directly at my throat. Fortunately, I noticed it in time and gave it a high kick to the jaw, breaking it in the process.

The second goblin fell onto the ground with its jaw hanging around. It screamed in agony but was silenced fast enough after I blew its head off with my power.

Eight goblins more to go.

A group of eight surviving goblins snarled at me after I killed their two brethren, and all of them charged at me at once. Instead of dodging, this time, I charged right at them and pushed all of them away with my gravitational ability.

When my ability pushed them away into one place, I crushed them like those damned press videos on YouTube. They let out painful groans before my ability turned them into a bloodbath, leaving a large pool of blood on the floor.

Their monster cores remained on the ground, and I quickly collected them. I had one particular idea in mind, and for that, I would need a lot of monster cores.

I moved ahead with no new monsters spawning on my way. The sounds of swords clashing got closer and closer until I was met with a nasty sight ahead of me.