Eventually, their number got reduced from 50,000 to 40,000, but they had also nurtured 100 Journeyman bugs of the early stage. This put some pressure on the Shadow Assassin that continued to fight beautifully using instincts alone, still dealing damage to even the newly awakened bugs themselves.
However, once the swarm was reduced to 30,000 and the number of Journeyman Insects reached 200, with 50 reaching the intermediate stage, the battle became much direr for both parties as they went into a frenzy.
By the time the bugs were left with 10,000, they had 500 Journeyman bugs with 350 at the early stage, 100 at the intermediate stage, and 50 at the late stage, the battle had become became one-sided.
The Shadow Assassin could only screech in excruciating pain as it was slowly but surely being devoured by the wave of powerful insects despite trying to fight them off repeatedly, utilizing its skills haphazardly to save its existence.
However, once the bugs had captured their prey, there was nothing that could save its life. In a matter of seconds, the valiant Shadow Assassin became nutrition for the army, allowing another 500 insects to enter the Journeyman stage.
Darius nodded his head in satisfaction. Just like when Mikey and Joneson had fought for him, their master gained no experience whatsoever, not even after they had thoroughly devoured everything.
Not even a single drop was left behind, making Darius smack his lips. It was clear that his plan to have the bugs farm resources on his behalf was a bust, since they practically ravished everything within an instance.
Instead, Darius would have to find a dungeon - or make one - that would be used to feed them in order to prevent his stockpile of resources from evaporating.
Whatever the case, Darius waved at the bugs to head down to the next floor while he and Gunner inspected the second. This was their first time clearing the second floor of a dungeon, so they wanted to see if there was anything worth noting.
Unfortunately, there was nothing there, apart from a chance to look at the unremarkable room. It was almost identical to the one on the first floor in every way, leaving Darius curious as to whether all dungeons were like this, or only this flawed dungeon had this issue.
Thinking back to the Wood element dungeon in Listo, the first floor had been neatly separated into rooms that had cut of the power of monsters segmentally in order to maximize the harvesting efficiency of visitors as well as the dungeon itself.
The second floor had been a large cavern with a forest within. Darius remembered that the entire forest had been a monster, likely the boss. Once one fell within, they would be hit with Journeyman enemies of various grades until they fought with the consciousness of the forest itself.
Upon defeating it, one would have a chance to enter the Adept floor.
So from this, one could see that dungeons did, as a matter of fact, have their own logic and aesthetics to their design. This dungeon though, was like a broken record on repeat, with retarded monsters that could not make full use of their power or adapt, and floors that were a mirror image of the last.
This brought a question to Darius' mind. Just how badly damaged was the Dungeon Core exactly? Would he even be able to repair it at his current stage?
These questions could only be answered later, so the duo went down to the last floor and reached the battleground for Adepts.
Here, he saw that - as expected - the layout of the floor was the same as the two above.
The way forward was already cleared for the duo as the bugs had long since razed everything down, even the corpses of their kin, leaving nothing behind.
Darius and Gunner walked through the silent tunnels leisurely, eventually reaching the cavern of the boss after 20 minutes.
There, they saw huge wasp-like insects numbering 50 swarming around a large demon-like entity that looked similar to a satyr, only made out of pure Darkness Energy.
It had two blazing eyes, horns that crackled with Shadow Energy, and a black khopesh that was coated in the juices of bugs who had dared to charge at it. It also had two wings behind its back that were curled up, and when Darius entered the chamber, it roared with anger.
"Vile human! You dare send these accursed insects to hinder me, the Great Shopablo?!" The demon roared as Darius silently Analyzed it.
[Detected target is of an Enemy affiliation. Displaying details accordingly.]
[Name: Shopablo
Race: Elemental
Class: Shadow Demon
Subclass: Lord of Darkness
HP: 7,764/8,277
MP: 5,841/5,841
STA: 5,580/5,580
Level: 60
Strength: 89
Agility: 78
Endurance: 93
Intellect: 53
Charisma: 12
Luck: 12
Abilities: Darkness Devour, Corruptive Strike, Dark Meteor Strike, Minion Summon, Minion Sacrifice, Aura of Despair, Life Steal
Weapons: Elemental & Kopesh.]
Quite a powerful one. Not on the tier of the Pureblooded Vampires or the Bone Dragon for obvious reasons, but far more potent than what Darius could handle on his own. Of course, based on its stats, it was barely average for an Adept at level 60.
Many humans had stats on par, if not better than this boss at the same level. True powerhouses were still able to clear out dungeons, though very few dared to go alone regardless of how strong they were.
Darius noticed that there were no other bugs in the cavern except for the 50 large wasp-like insects that were flying about rapidly, keeping Shopablo on his toes and unable to pester Darius.
Darius Inspected them and was happy to see that these were Adept stage bugs that had evolved from devouring their brethren and the various monsters on their way here.
The wasps had two claws in front of them that dripped with venom, sharp teeth hidden between solid mandibles, and a large stinger that looked incredibly sharp.
Despite only being early-stage Adept insects, the 50 of them were slowly hitting him when his defenses couldn't keep up in order to lower his HP and weaken him.
It was horribly effective as Shopablo could only roar helplessly, cursing their bullying him numbers!
