In Safemoon, the Five Apprentices were gathered before the entrance to the city's dungeon. After coming here repeatedly over the past few weeks, they had long become sued to the challenge within and how to push themselves.
"So, let's do our individual battles first before we handle the group ones. Does that sound okay, guys?" Ash suggested to the rest.
This was the first time they would do their individual dungeon clearing before the group one, but since it was the last day of the first month that Darius assigned them this mission, they thought they should switch things up a bit.
As such, the rest agreed and everyone entered the dungeon separately. The various adventurers of Safemoon had long gotten sued to the scene of these youngsters challenging this dungeon and coming out almost unscathed each time.
Ash emerged in the first rest station and didn't bother to pause before entering the first battle room. The moment he did, doors opened up in the walls and hundreds of monsters from level 1 to level 5 appeared.
The first wave had 30 level 1 monsters, which Ash dispatched calmly using his sword. He didn't even bother to move from his spot, using his superior swordsmanship and skill to cut down any monster that entered his attacking range in order to conserve energy.
It wasn't that his stamina was so limited that movement would bottom it out, he had just realized that if he wanted to advance his swordsmanship further, he needed to understand how to conserve energy with every movement.
As such, he was cleverly using the weaker monsters as targets to achieve this, as managing such a feat against the higher leveled monsters would be extremely tough.
Soon, Ash cut down the 30 level 1 monsters and was faced with a renewed wave of level 2 monsters that numbered 35 in total. This time, he still maintained his stance and ability as he cleared them out with ease.
Wave 3 featured 40 level 3 monsters, wave 4 had 45 level 4 monsters and the final wave had 50 level 5 monsters. No matter the amount or their power, they were nothing against Ash who had been trained by Gunner.
So far, he hadn't even bothered to use his magic as these monsters did not deserve to see him use it. Ash cleared the first battle room and entered the second rest station. Here, he drank some water and mediated a little to calm his mind and understand what he had just practiced.
Now that he had time to sit down and look back, the lad was able to see that he had made many mistakes in his movements. In the beginning, he was good, but as time went on and his confidence built up, he began using flashier moves when the goal was to be as minimalistic as possible.
This was the double-edged sword in using easy targets as practice. The benefit was that they would not be able to deal any significant harm if you messed up, but at the same time, they were unable to provide enough pressure for one to break through their limits and achieve intense focus.
Identifying the problem, Ash realized that his best course of action was to continue as is and discover which wave of monsters could begin inflicting pressure on himself. It might be a wave of level 10 monsters or might start at level 15.
He had no way to tell just yet, so the lad decided to keep moving forward. In the next battle room which was slightly larger than the one that he was in before, the doors slowly opened and revealed 55 level 6 monsters that made various sounds as they rushed at him.
Ash tightened his stance and spread his legs out, with his right hand placed on the hilt of his sword while his left held his sheathe tightly. When the first monster came close, Ash drew and bisected it in one slash, maintaining his calmness and focus as he moved his sword to strike a monster that was attacking from behind.
His stance and skill allowed him to attack in a 360° without any blind spots, and especially without moving his legs. A normal person trying to do this would likely tear their muscles in their forearms and waist, but Ash had more endurance than the average human obviously.
Ash then dealt with the level 7 monsters that amounted to 60 in number, then the level 8 that were 65, the level 9 that were 70, and the level 10 who numbered 75.
It was during the last fight that Ash began to feel a bit of pressure because the level 10 monsters could use some skills of their own that were troublesome. As wood element monsters too, they could easily attack from a long-range so Ash had to find ways to lure them over.
Once he realized this issue, he felt the touch of an epiphany in his mind, but it escaped quickly as he no longer had anyone to pressure him. Bothered by this, the lad entered the next rest station and sat cross-legged as he pondered as to what the issue was and how he could resolve it.
Ash dug deep into his mind but it was like trying to catch a slippery eel. The moment he glimpsed upon it, it would ruin further into his mind and become harder to catch. Even trying to remember a dream after waking up was far easier than this.
The lad dropped his futile efforts and rose to his feet. His eyes glinted with intent, as he realized that since the idea came to him in the midst of battle, then he could only force it out using battle!
The monsters going forward should be tougher and more tricky, so he didn't believe that he would not be able to enter the zone once more. As such, he walked into the third battle room and faced off against a horde of 80 level 11 monsters.
