CHAPTER 47: SECOND FLOOR BEGINS

The walls of the cave were lit by bioluminescent fungi etched onto the surface, which appeared to be made of a mineral called basalt. I knew this by using my system to analyze the material. As far as I could tell, it was completely normal and didn’t have any properties I needed to worry about.

My next concern was where my classmates were; we all entered the stairs within seconds of each other, yet they were nowhere to be seen.

The only explanation I could think of was that we must have been transported to different locations. The cave before me spiraled and twisted in many directions, almost like an ant nest.

With no other choice, I followed along the path, not having any idea where I was going. After a while of walking, I heard something—something that would make the whole situation go from bad to worse—running water.

I could hear the sound coming from the gaps in the wall, but just then, I saw something else.

BZZZ!

It was small and resembled a cockroach, but it wasn’t quite. It was fluttering around me, creating a low buzz as it did. I wasn’t sure if this thing was dangerous, so I slashed at it with my dagger, slicing it in half. But when I did, nothing happened; I didn’t receive any system notification about gaining any skill points.

It was strange.

To top it off, more of them showed up. They hovered around me but weren’t doing much. Since they weren’t causing any trouble, I decided to ignore them and continue on my way.

I was worried that the stream of running water I heard might’ve been similar to what happened on the first floor. If it was, I needed to find my way out quickly.

It struck me as odd that I hadn’t encountered any monsters while walking. That fact made everything feel even more ominous, especially now that I had discovered some of them possessed intelligence.

"Eeeeeek!"

A loud, high-pitched scream echoed through the cave, interrupting my thoughts. Along with the scream, I heard a high-pitched screech, like something monstrous. If I had to guess, someone was under attack.

When I arrived at the scene, my suspicion was confirmed.

It was a hero from my class; her mask was completely ripped off, revealing her face. It was Natasha—the girl loyal to Cassian’s class. She had pink-dyed hair and a stylish combat suit that was a little too revealing in certain places.

She was being attacked by Blood Moths. As their name suggests, Blood Moths are giant moths that feed by drinking blood.

They were gray in color and had a wingspan the size of a small car. Their eyes resembled glowing red orbs, granting them a 270-degree field of vision. Inside their mouths were two large fangs, which they used to drain their victims of blood.

Natasha was lying on the ground, helpless as they flocked over her. She was no longer screaming, but sobbing; her voice was raw, almost like a death cry.

Was I going to help her?

I wasn’t sure yet. To be honest, the class might be better off without her. We couldn’t function properly if we had traitors among us.

On the other hand, if we could gain her trust, she would be a valuable asset. Luna had told me about the crafting system she had, the one Cassian used to create wooden buildings while we were on the island.

If I went around getting rid of everyone who was a problem, I wouldn’t have Luna or Kiki.

Right now might be the best opportunity to gain her trust. With that thought in mind, I pulled out the Middle Finger. Since their backs were turned to me, cutting them down should be relatively simple—so I thought.

I managed to cut the first one completely in half, but as I did so, it released a high-pitched frequency that alerted the others. In an instant, they all switched their focus from Natasha to me.

Even the way they attacked spoke to their intelligence; it was as if they were baiting me to attack, then dodging at the last second while another swooped in from my blind side.

They seemed to be signaling each other with a strange frequency, making it impossible for me to figure out which one was actually attacking and which was baiting me.

My only trump card was my eyes.

[ENHANCEMENT]

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Intelligence 12-24

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I increased my intelligence so that my brain could process all the information my eyes were sending. It worked perfectly; those strange movements they were making were no longer strange—there were patterns in the way they flew and positioned themselves for an attack.

I couldn’t see it before because there were too many of them to keep focus on.

Like clockwork, they positioned themselves for another attack. Out of the eight of them, one was coming in for a feint while another was preparing to launch an attack.

I held the Blade of Calamity in my left hand while activating its invisibility attribute. The Middle Finger was in my right hand, with the fire essence activated.

When the timing was right, I threw the Blade of Calamity at the one that came in for the feint while simultaneously beheading the one intended to attack from my blind side.

It came from behind, descending like a high-speed missile, but at the last second, I pivoted out of the way, and its head went rolling.

This single move created a gap in their strategy that I was able to capitalize on. Before they could regroup, I attacked, utilizing my speed and agility to dispose of them relatively easily. Their bodies were piled up on the floor of the cave.

I walked over to one of the corpses on the ground and rested my hand on its head while activating my skill—HEPHAESTUS’ CLAIM.

The Blood Moths had a certain skill I was interested in, so I used HEPHAESTUS’ CLAIM to steal it and pass it on to the Middle Finger.

[CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE PASSED THE ATTRIBUTE VAMPYRIC BLOOM TO THE MIDDLE FINGER]

[Skill Description: Grants the weapon a temporary 10% increase in all stats when it is exposed to blood.]

It wasn’t much, but it was still a valuable skill.

When I finished reading the skill description, I turned my attention to Natasha. She was curled up in a corner, trembling from the shock of what had happened. I walked over to her and reached out my hand.

"Are you okay?"