Chapter 207 - Endless Work
Ryan had originally planned to attack on the next night. However, he decided to be cautious of the bosses' behavior. So, he delayed the attack for the next night. Thanks to it, he managed to slay all the ordinary salamanders and even build an army of two thousand Giant Bees. For some reason, Ryan felt like being even more cautious and delay his plans for another night. However, the giant bees were so noisy that they were driving Ryan crazy.
After approaching slowly, the dungeon, Ryan confirmed that nothing really worthwhile was dropped. Still, he decided to test a certain theory: will the items disappear if they aren't touching the ground? There was only one way to know. Ryan used Earth Manipulation and hid his items inside a fake rock. The items were right above a table made of earth as well.
"Well, now… let's start by sending five hundred giant bees to inside the dungeon first," Ryan said.
After he gave the order, the bees obeyed Ryan's orders. At first, nothing happened, so Ryan felt safe to approach and check the dungeon shop. He had enough coins to buy another tome that could teach him another elemental transformation, but Ryan refrained from doing so before he clears the dungeon.
Suddenly, things got very noisy inside the dungeon, and then Ryan felt the presence of his bees disappearing in the blink of an eye. He could easily imagine what had happened: the salamanders hid in the last part of the dungeon, and then they bombarded the monsters when they showed themselves with magic attacks.
"I guess they are more aware of my skills to disappear and attack without revealing my position immediately. Anyway, I didn't receive a single coin, so those five hundred bees died without offering any resistance against fifty-five Elder Salamanders… This is a bit worrisome."
Despite that, Ryan had some ideas on how to solve the situation. It was too risky to rely on Flash, given that in a confined space, the fire burns oxygen. Ryan may not pass out since the dungeon isn't actually closed from the outside world, but even so, things might get messy. However, since the bees didn't spend much time inside the dungeon, it was clear that the layout was simple so that Ryan could use something else… he could use: Force.
Ryan decided to test the skill before anything, and he couldn't help but frown when he activated it. As if it was a movie inside his head, Ryan saw the arrow that he fired moving at high speeds toward the sky. After three seconds, the arrow lost its power and then began to fall.
"That is quite fast… probably thanks to my dexterity. Can I actually change the direction of something that fast and hi the monsters inside the dungeon?"
At the very least, Ryan was sure that his arrows were flying at five hundred meters per second. Regardless, after other tests, Ryan confirmed that he could slow down the arrow, but that wasn't something he wanted. After all, the projectiles will lose a lot of firepower if he does that.
After thinking for a while, Ryan decided to check the dungeon's layout and then memorize the course his arrow had to follow. By doing that, his job will become easier. That being said, he was quite sure all the monsters will try to trample on him the very moment he is inside the dungeon. In the end, his best option was to keep using Force, level up the skill, and memorize the layout of the dungeon by following the arrow with his eyes.
Again, it took a while, but eventually, Ryan got the hang of it… after hitting the dungeon walls several times and make it tremble. However, considering that the monsters never left in those moments, it was only obvious that they decided to die inside the dungeon. To make sure and avoid any surprise, Ryan filled his backpack with mana and stamina potions, and then he started the clean-up.
When Ryan fired his arrows, and the first one reached the last part of the dungeon, the monsters tried to burn it with their Flamethrower, but the projectile flew straight into an Elder Salamander's head before the flames could hit it. The monster didn't die since controlling an arrow strengthened by Power Shot wasn't something the current Ryan could do, but the arrow lost one eye, and after one second, another arrow finished off the creature.
After Ryan killed three bosses in a matter of seconds, the monsters decided to use Flamethrower all the time in order to destroy the projectiles. As expected, so many skills almost destroyed the arrows, but when Ryan noticed that, he enchanted them with Lesser Water Enchantment and the arrows became a little more durable. Seven other elder salamanders had to die before the monsters finally noticed that it was useless. They were going to die, even inside their dungeon. In a hurry, the monsters decided to try one suicidal attack. However, when Ryan heard their footsteps, he only smiled.
"That was the wrong choice…" Ryan smirked.
When the salamanders left the dungeon, Ryan welcomed them with a Power Shot. His projectile not only pierced the head of six monsters, but the shock also made the bodies fly backward and hit the other salamanders. Eventually, the bosses recovered from the surprise, but something else was waiting for them… 1.500 giant bees. Ryan helped them, but in the end… it wasn't necessary. The corpses of the salamanders could be barely recognized after the fight.
"I went too far… now I won't be able to tame a single one, Elder Salamander, and these ones were probably stronger than the other that has been killing demons for several weeks. Come to think of it… I should have killed Bolvath before the dungeon break. Now probably dozens of demons are ruling over Houston."
Ryan sighed… he wasn't the only survivor in the country, but Alissa was focusing on her own business, and the others weren't up for the task to clear dungeons periodically. In the end, Ryan felt that his job would never end…