Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Chapter 82 - Variant

A golden figure could be seen dashing around the room using the walls to rapidly change direction. It continued maneuvering around a group of four Minotaurs who futilely attacked by throwing rocks and trying to hit the figure with their weapons. The figure, Vahn, had been trying to push his [Featherfoot] skill to the next level by using his increased agility to enhance his omnidirectional combat ability.

Like Lili, Vahn was using fast attacks and the environment to his advantage instead of directly engaging the enemies. He bounded off both the walls and floors and entered between the gaps of the Minotaurs attacks. Using his bow, he was targeting their joints and other weak points to adapt himself to moving while firing in mid-air. Vahn learned it was especially effective to hit the contracting points of muscles near the ligaments as it would disable the limb. He also focused on areas like the eyes and neck to reduce their combat potential before aiming at their defenseless cores and finishing them off.

After the four Minotaurs had died, Vahn released a tired sigh as he wiped the sweat from his brow. It had taken him nearly three hours, but he had finally hunted his goal of 50 minotaurs. Luckily, this floor seemed to be mainly comprised of small groups of them and there weren’t too many other monsters around. Vahn had noticed it was much easier to fight against a single type of monster as he could adapt his combat style to counter their unique traits instead of having to change focus for each enemy type.

It was already after midnight, and Vahn was finally started to feel fatigued. Though he could stay in the Báihǔ form for a very long period of time, as he was focused on trying to adopt a new combat style it drained a lot of stamina. He would have to find a way to balance his methods in the future or he might get winded in longer engagements. The main reason he was focusing on speed right now was, after his encounter with the Juggernaut, the only thing he could think of was wanting to be faster.

Though he was still in the middle of a floor, Vahn decided to take a short break and rest. He canceled his transformation and extended his domain to sense any approaching enemies as he slowly drifted off the sleep.

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Vahn snapped his eyes open before jumping to his feet and running towards the direction he had just sensed a presence. Similar to when he had saved Naaza, Vahn could feel a sense of helplessness detected by his domain. He entered his Báihǔ form and increased his speed while seeking the source of the negative emotions. Looking at the system clock, Vahn could see it was slightly after 5 AM, and he didn’t expect people to be venturing into the floors at this time.

After running for fifteen minutes, Vahn came into a large room where he could see three adventurers fighting against a large purple dragon-like creature. From its basic features, Vahn could tell it was a Wyvern, but unlike the 5m long pink scaled original, it now had a dense assortment of dark purple scales and reached nearly 7m in length. Its eyes were a dull red that seemed to contain flames as it fiercely assaulted the group of three.

The three adventurers were all human and seemed very similar to each other. The man currently fighting the Purple Wyvern looked to be the eldest of the group and was likely related to the two young men in the back. The man had grizzled looks and brave features with a firm and tall build. He fought against the Purple Wyvern with a long spear while trying to draw its attention away from the other two.

In the back, a boy who looked like the youngest of the group was trying to stop the flow of blood of the boy who looked like his elder brother. Their faces were very similar, but the younger boy was several centimeters shorter and more fair-skinned than the one on the ground. Vahn was able to see in the brief period since his arrival that the older boy would most likely die with his current wounds.

It was typically considered bad practice to attack a monster that another group was engaging, but Vahn determined they needed his assistance. As it stood, if he called out to the man who was barely evading the Purple Wyvern, it might end up with him getting caught off guard and killed. For now, Vahn made a circle around and started attacking the Wyvern’s eyes with his bow.

The arrow skimmed across the brow of the Purple Wyvern and caused its head to lurch back. It roared in fury, but the middle-aged man used the gap to stab his spear accurately into the neck of the beast. In response, the Purple Wyvern tried to breathe noxious fumes toward the man who had quickly opened his distance. He evaded the attack before shouting out towards Vahn, "Thanks stranger! We get out of this alive, I’ll make sure to award you aplenty. If you have any potions, see to my boy and I’ll try to keep this damned bastard occupied."

Vahn could see the man was genuinely happy for his help, so he quickly approached the two boys that were likely the man’s sons. They were each around 15-16 years old, slightly older than Vahn, and judging by their figure and the fact they were on the 15th floor, Vahn assumed they were both mid-level 2.

The younger boy looked towards Vahn with a frenzied expression as he tried stopping the flow of blood with his bare hands. He was obviously disarrayed by the situation and wasn’t properly treating the wound at all. "P-please, please, help him, I can’t, I..." The boy was trembling as he held his brother in his arms and appealed to Vahn.

Vahn moved the boy’s hands aside as the golden aura on his body quickly faded away. Instead, there was a gentle white light emerging from his palms which he placed on the body of the older brother. Vahn noticed that he was still in his Báihǔ form, but he would explain it after the matter had settled. One of the rumors circulating about him detailed the fact he had a ’beast transformation’ magic, so as long as they knew the name ’Vulcan’ it would be fine.

The boys wound began to heal at a visible rate as the younger brother started smiling like a fool. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" Vahn silenced the boy with a look before handing him a potion that he had kept for emergencies. Since he couldn’t use shop items on other people, he had always kept spares in his inventory just in case. He couldn’t use [Wound Transfer] for everything or it would draw too much attention if rumor spread. He had been lucky so far to keep it under wraps to all but his close confidants.

After leaving the potion to the stuttering boy, Vahn rejoined the fight against the Purple Wyvern. He had already closed the wounds using his [Hands of Nirvana], so he would survive. The potion would help him recover a bit so the two would be able to escape using their own means. Drawing back his bow, Vahn loosed an arrow and continued to pester the Wyvern.

The Purple Wyvern was incredibly angry at the newcomer’s attacks because every time it got hit the man it was fighting would impale it with his spear. The man was a 2nd-class adventurer nearing level 4. He wasn’t a match for the Purple Wyvern, but it would take a lot of time before he fell. With Vahn’s help, the odds had increased drastically, and he was even able to see both of his sons retreating in the distance.

Seeing that his sons were safe, the man did something no adventurer should do, he dropped his guard slightly due to his relief. The moment wasn’t missed by the Purple Wyvern who slammed its tail towards the man. Noticing the incoming attack, the man grit his teeth and tried to receive the massive tail with his spear. The tail continued forward and slammed into the spear, causing the shaft to bend like a bow as it launched the man into the wall. Cracks were emitted from the point of contact as he coughed out a mouthful of blood.

The Purple Wyvern tried to finish the man off, but the moment it lurched forward a powerful force slammed into the crown of its head. Succ.u.mbing to the mighty blow, the Wyvern’s head was forced down until it had been nailed into the floor by a long black sword. Standing on the Wyvern’s lifeless head, Vahn looked towards the man and gave him a smile.

Seeing the now dead Purple Wyvern, the man ignored his wounds and began to laugh. He looked towards Vahn was a thankful expression as he began tending to his wounds. Now that the fight had ended, his sons started making their way over as the boy who saved their lives cut the magic core from the dead monster. The man grimaced slightly after seeing the large core, but he just shook his head as Vahn put it into his satchel.

The two boys wandered over and called out, "Dad!", "Father!" After they got close, the three all embraced each other and Vahn could see tears in their eyes. He saw they had deep affections for each other and Vahn started reminiscing slightly about the people he had left on the surface. Though he was still determined to stay in the dungeon to complete his quest, Vahn began missing them after seeing the current display. After releasing a sigh, Vahn turned away and began advancing further into the dungeon.

The middle-aged man called out to him, "Hey, wait stranger! I need to repay you for saving me and my boys!" The man’s sons nodded their heads and agreed with their father. Vahn, turning towards them, displayed the monster core he had obtained. "This is enough for me. Just take better care of your lives in the future...it is sad to see families split apart by tragedy."

After giving his parting words, Vahn continued to walk away from the three dazed gazes. Just as he was going to round a corner, the middle-aged man called out again. "Ah! At least tell us your name! I’ll toast to you when we return to the City!" Vahn stopped after hearing the man and thought for a moment.

Turning toward them, Vahn released a confident smile which stunned the three. "I am called Vulcan. Though those in the Hephaestus Familia also call me Vahn Mason." Vahn once again turned away and rounded the corner, disappearing beyond their sights. The man looked towards his sons and, remembering Vahn’s words from earlier, decided to cherish his life a little more. He needed to be more careful in the future, or it wasn’t just his life that would be affected.

"That boy is so strong...even though he seems even younger than me..." The youngest boy spoke with a sad tone. In the fight earlier he had been useless. Even when his brother got injured trying to protect him, the only thing he could do was watching him slowly bleed out.

The middle-aged man put his hand on his sons head and ruffled his hair. "Yeah, but it isn’t age that determines strength. You need to work hard and have a strong heart." After the man spoke, his son nodded which brought a smile to his face. The man could see a conviction in the eyes of the boy and knew he would become much stronger in the future.

---

Vahn was walking through the corridor and inspecting the information in the system. After slaying that Purple Wyvern, Vahn exchanged its core into the system and received a total of 7,180OP. It was an astronomical sum compared to normal monsters. With this, Vahn was able to determine that variants were worth as much as 20x the value of their originals. With luck, he would be able to come across more in the future and rapidly increase the amount of OP he earned.

Continuing for another two hours, Vahn finally arrived at the stairs leading into the 16th floor. He decided to rest again as he hadn’t been able to finish his nap from earlier. As he wasn’t the main focus of the Purple Wyvern, it wasn’t that stressful a fight, but he killed an additional 26 Minotaurs afterward. He had now obtained a total of 213,116OP and officially broke 20% of the requirement of the quest.

Relaxing against the wall, Vahn ate some crepes before checking his stats. This had become his habit ever since entering the dungeon, as it let him keep a proper measure of his growth. Vahn noticed that, with the increase in his parameters, he had also increased the skill [Featherfoot] to rank B. His agility training and evasive fighting style had paid off.

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[[Stats]]

Name: [Vahn Mason]

Age: 14

Race: Human, *sealed*

Parameter: [Danmachi: 1-4]

-Level:2(2)

-Power:1001+(C609)->(C690)

-Endurance:1108+(S914)->(S951)

-Dexterity:887+(E470)->(D522)

-Agility:940+(D551)->(B702)

-Magic:1611+(S949)->(SS1008)

Total:5547+(3393)->(3873)

Soul Strength: Tier 2 (Hero Soul)

[Karma]: 1,219

[OP]: 213,116

[Valis]: 171,630

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[OP]Spent: 99,700/100,000

Satisfied with his improvement, Vahn fell asleep as his domain expanded to cover the entire corridor.

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’Anti-Climactic’,’Minotaur’s Natural Enemy’,’Vahn, the Bully’,’There are guys in this world, but they are nameless...for now?’,’Be careful what you wish for’)