Danmachi-Hell's forge

I failed to find any monsters on the first few floors as most of them had been killed already by other adventurers that took the same path down. That said I was sure that there were monsters on the rest of the floors beyond my path. It was only on the fourth floor that I came across a pair of Goblins that were likely fresh spawns. They charged me without hesitation but they may as well have been moving in slow motion as I easily predicted their movements and with a single smooth motion cut off their heads with my bare hand covered in my RCT.-

I then proceeded to stomp on both of their chests to crush the magic stones to dust under my heel while the smoke flew into my tattoos. At my current level of strength even level two monsters were little more than ants with how easily I could handle them much less level one monsters like these goblins. And wasn't that something to think about? Level one monsters were roughly as strong as adult humans at various levels of athleticism and I could kill them like they were little more durable than an ant.-

Really just brought home the fact that adventurers were vastly different from those who were not. Obviously I wasn't just acknowledging this now but more reminiscing on the months ago when I was nothing more than an out of shape human. You couldn't even make a comparison between the me of today and the me of then as I had changed so much in this relatively short period of time that I may as well be an entirely different individual. I wondered if other adventurers ever stopped to ponder these things as well as I continued my stroll through the hostile environment of the dungeon.-

On the thirteenth floor I once again got ambushed by assassins though this time it was a group of three with masks and black robes that made them look nearly identical other than their different sizes. The ambush was fairly well thought out too with the limited information about myself available. First stone rose from the ground to trap my feet in place as a spike of stone impaled me through where my heart was supposed to be. After that one of them threw three poison needles into my throat and the last sent a bolt of lightning into my body.-

I decided to play along and slumped against the spike after gurgling and grasping at it.

"Collect the proof so we can get out of here before someone finds us." one of the would be assassins commanded with a modulated voice through their mask.

I had to admit that unlike the last assassin these guys were WAY more professional as the last one flat out told me who sent her before I merc'd her ass. These guys gave nothing away even after they thought me dead and even the one who was coming to claim the proof of my death remained cautious as they approached. -

Not that that saved them mind you as the moment they dropped their guard after taking out the long needles in my neck and I didn't react they reached for my mask/helm. Once their fingers touched my skin I activated my RCT and erased their ass instantly with a bright white flash of light. I didn't drop the "dead" act though and still remained limp to make them think I had left a trap on me that activated after the dude touched me.-

"Vicious fucker must have left a failsafe after Anne failed to kill him last time. It only activated once Will made contact with his flesh so avoid that when you grab the proof." the clear leader of this group said with an obvious amount of annoyance at the fatality.

The second dude approached me very cautiously and I noted they had a staff which I assumed meant they were the mage of the group that likely threw the lightning at me and/or the stone. When this person got within staff reach of me they carefully used the staff to try and lift my mask/helm off but failed since it went under my jaw.-

After several failed attempts they noticed this and clicked their tongues in annoyance as they moved closer to grab the back of my mask/helm with their hand to lift it up. It was at this point I decided I was officially done messing with these guys and fully activated my technique. The stone in my chest morphed and shot out into the dudes head straight through their mask and out of my body as I pushed off the ground in a full on leap towards the leader all in one fluid motion.-

"The fuck!?" he yelled in confused shock and turned to bolt but was a split second too late for that to work.

I drew my weapon and swung at him which forced him to draw his own sword to counter. Or at least that was his idea but my stats were nothing like what a level three should have and he found himself getting launched backwards with cracked ribs due to this misunderstanding. I didn't relent though and with a burst of hell flame to propel me faster than he was flying I caught up and grabbed his arm and stomped my feet into the stone ground to kill our momentum violently.-

Both our arms were ripped from their sockets but I just rolled my shoulder with my technique to fix that issue on my end. He went to kick me but I just pulled his now limp right arm to throw his aim off while dragging him into a bear hug.

"Hells forge!" I said calmly as he violently tried to struggle.

Blue and black cursed energy rose from my body and wrapped around him as I fused his muscles and skin together turning him into little more than a human worm as his limbs fused to his torso and together in the case of his legs.-

He stopped struggling at this point as it became clear his fate was sealed.

"How are you still alive?" he asked surprisingly calm.

"Oh I'm sure you're dying to know. But where would the fun be in telling you?" I asked with a chuckle.

"Worth a shot. Don't go thinking that you are safe because you've killed us, more will come and eventually one will succeed!" the dude said before I heard a "crunch!".

I waited and waited and the guy quickly started to realize that something was wrong when the poison capsule in his cheek failed to kill him. If he could see my face he'd realize how fucked he was as I was grinning viciously since I had obviously noticed that suicide pill imbedded in his face when I used my technique and neutralized the poison within it.