< Eventually, the group resumed their journey, and then Billy found the set of armor and the sword that he had found thanks to his drone. As expected, they had been strengthened thanks to the nature of the of the dungeon. Still, the original materials were subpar, so it wasn't anything beyond what he could make. However, the effects were another and totally different thing... he had to do some research about the subject.
Full Plate Armor
Decreases the damage caused by all magical attacks by fifty points.
Endurance + 250
Durability: 250/250
Sleepy Sword
When causing damage, it grants you the chance to make the target fall asleep.
Strength +120, Speed + 120
Durability: 250/250
Both items were made of iron, but they emitted a silver glow while they had some red Marks here and there. Nevertheless, the effect of the sword sure was different than anything Billy had seen before and made him recall the ring that granted him some power to buy things cheaper from merchants. He had never understood how that worked, but he felt that he was getting closer to the answer.
"Have you seen any sword with this type of effect?" Billy asked.
"No, this is a first… I never saw anyone here aside from the reincarnated individuals with weapons with special effects," Meryl replied.
That seemed off, but still… Billy had a feeling that he was about to understand the mystery. Nevertheless, he could think about it later. They had to keep moving. He asked if either of them wanted to use the sword, but none of them had the experience with that kind of weapon. In any case, Billy would add that one to his collection. As for the armor, no one wanted to get slower using that, and Billy already had his. While he left there, he decided to make his suit grab it and store it to take it home.
After resuming their journey, Billy realized that the constant fights were making the passive skills that the other learned to reach absurd levels insanely fast, so despite the number of enemies increasing, the fights weren't getting harder anymore. There was only one thing that Billy was fearing, but he didn't want to say it out loud because he was thinking that he might jinx himself.
"Hahaha, now I have more bonuses thanks to the passive skills in some of my parameters," Icarus said while laughing. "It is pretty stupid, but my magic power has more than doubled in just four days."
Billy thought that such a thing had happened on the first day after he learned Sage's Wisdom. After all, Icarus had no reason to increase his magic. Nevertheless, if Billy weren't saving his mana for a dangerous situation or using the surplus to level UP Enhanced Thievery, he would be doing the same. <test>
Regardless, for the next three days, things proceeded well for them, but then they reached the fourteenth floor, and then they found a sea of tyrants blocking their paths. At the same time, the ground was trembling now and then.
"Shit… I was hoping that this wouldn't happen, but…" Billy thought.
"This dungeon was never cleared, but it never broke because that guy has been fighting these creatures nonstop and without letting their numbers overflow to the next levels," Meryl said.
"So, the manipulator is causing those tremors?" Lucyna asked. "I thought that he would be on the last floor."
"The last floor is where we will find the guardian, and if the Manipulator isn't there, then the last floor is the entire base of the guardian," Meryl explained.
That was also something that Billy had considered since he had experience with that. Nevertheless, he felt like sighing since it was a massive problem that they couldn't just solve with a few weeks on their strategy or actions.
"What now?" Lucyna asked. "After coming this far, I truly don't want to retreat. That would be too unnerving."
"We can always use Meryl skeletons and zombies," Icarus said.
"They would turn the corpses and the materials into something completely useless," Meryl replied. "While most of them will disappear eventually, using them like that would be a waste. Also, the more undead in a single place, the more they will produce a terrible miasma due to their decaying bodies. Even if I only summon skeletons, they won't be of much help with those numbers. During the times, I used an army of undead creatures. I turned several areas into something like a land of death. The smell was so putrid that all the vegetation began to die in those areas. Time resolves that problem, but it isn't a matter of months. Regardless, that was why I decided to focus on quality over quantity when it comes to the zombies."
"I suppose our only option is to force our way through then," Icarus said. "Do you have any better ideas, Billy?"
"No… At least for the time being," Billy replied.
"For the time being… Should we wait for a while, then?" Icarus asked.
"No, we have been here for a week already, and I want to finish this as soon as possible," Billy replied. "Even if we don't make any progress, we will get stronger and get closer to the Manipulator."
The others knew that Billy had a point, but it was hard to imagine how they would succeed relying on brute strength alone. After all, if they had the chance to count, they would find thousands of tyrants blocking their way.
The very moment they put their feet on the fourteenth floor, the group was attacked by a barrage of Mana Beams. Those attacks made them feel like that something out of that world and from a very advanced civilization was about to crush them. Still, Billy managed to block the attacks with his spears spinning in front of them.
As they had planned, Lucyna focused on decreasing the endurance of the enemies while Icarus and Meryl focused on attacking. Without any another choice, Billy focused on defense.>
