Stepping down the stairs for about ten minutes, I still couldn't see the end of them.
"Hah… hah… hah…" I bent over slightly, panting heavily. "Just how long are these cursed stairs going to keep going?!"
I complained to absolutely no one in particular.
With now that my Vitality stat at rock bottom, meaning my stamina pool was also pitifully small. As a result, I got worn out far too easily. Even something as simple as walking down stairs felt like a marathon now.
I sat down on one of the steps to recover, then bought a bottle of mineral water to wash away my thirst.
"I really hope the next floor has some low Lv monsters," I muttered. "With my current stamina, if a fight drags on too long against high Lv monsters, I'll be as good as dead."
I stared at my trembling hands.
"And I can't even use magic for ranged attacks anymore… ugh. I really should've learned how to fight using weapons back when I was a Hero."
"Haah… no use crying over spilled milk, I guess."
After resting for a while and recovering what little stamina I could, I continued my descent. This cycle repeated several times—walk, pant, rest, complain—until I finally reached the end of the staircase after about 30 long minutes in total.
"What a pointless, ridiculously long freaking staircase," I grumbled.
At the bottom stood a metal door about 2 meters tall, separating the stairs from the 2nd floor. I slowly reached out, wrapped my hand around the doorknob, and pushed it open.
On the other side, I found myself in a polished marble corridor.
The corridor was symmetrical and rectangular, about 5 meters tall and 4 meters wide, stretching straight ahead for roughly 100 meters before ending in a 90° intersection branching left and right. Dim crystals embedded in the ceiling illuminated the area at regular intervals—the same type I'd seen on the first floor, though noticeably dimmer.
"I don't see any monsters," I said while checking the mini-map at the top-left of my HUD.
< The Hellhole Dungeon, 2nd Floor >
Any monster within 50 meters of my position would appear as a red dot on the mini-map. As long as I paid attention, the chances of I'm getting ambushed were pretty slim.
I walked down the corridor until I reached the intersection, then peeked to both sides.
"Hmm… which way should I go?"
I could expand the mini-map to display a larger area, but it only showed the area that I'd already explored. Since this was new territory, I had no choice but to explore each route manually until I found the exit.
"Haah…" I sighed. "I guess, it's time to use my secret weapon."
I took a bottle of water from my pocket and placed it on the floor.
"O blessed spirit of pure water," I chanted dramatically, "please guide this lost soul toward the correct path."
Then I spun the bottle and stepped back.
The bottle wobbled, spun for a few seconds, and finally stopped—its cap pointing toward the left corridor.
"Alright! It's left."
Just to be clear, I wasn't actually casting a spell. I was just roleplaying. Don't ask why!
Trusting my fate to the almighty poke-a-re-sweat bottle, I headed left.
After walking for a while, I felt something approaching. The sound of hooves stepping on stone grew louder and louder until the source finally entered my field of vision.
A towering creature ran towards me—over 2 meters tall, with the head of an ox and a heavily muscular build. Despite its animal head, it walked upright on two legs. Its human-like hands, each with five fingers, gripped a massive axe.
The creature charged straight at me, raising its weapon, ready to strike.
"GHUOOOO!!"
"Whoa—are you freaking kidding me?!" I shouted. "Why is a Minotaur showing up on the second floor of all places?!"
The Minotaur closed the distance and swung its axe diagonally, aiming straight for my head.
I ducked with minimal movement and shifted slightly to the left, narrowly avoiding the blade. The Minotaur ran past me, then halted awkwardly, clearly perplexed, not expecting someone that looks as weak as me to be able to dodged his attack.
It turned around to face me again, confusion written all over its face.
"Lv 62?! Is this supposed to be a freaking boss room or something?!"
When my HUD was active, I could see a monster's level as long as its full body was visible. Normally, dungeon monsters scaled with depth—Lv50 or higher enemies didn't appear until after the first boss floor, usually starting around the 4th floor.
So why was a Lv62 Minotaur here on the 2nd floor? Should I run? But how am I supposed to outrun a Lv62 monster in this long, narrow corridor?
That left only one option.
I have to kill it. But how?
My only weapon was this punny little kitchen knife. There was no way it could pierce that big-boy's thick hide with only this thing.
Before I could think further, the Minotaur charged again, swinging its axe. I dodged once more with minimal movement as it rushed past me.
The creature snorted angrily, clearly irritated. Steam burst from its nostrils with every breath.
Honestly, dodging attacks from a mere Lv62 Minotaur wasn't that difficult for me. Even with my current awfully pathetic stats, my battle experience was deeply ingrained. I hadn't been a Hero for nothing—well, a former Hero.
Unlike any other Isekai Hero stories I've read in manga an light novels before, I had been a mage, I'm not a Hero who'd primarily using a sword as weapons. My fighting style revolved around attacking from the backline with magic. Close combat was never my strong suit.
I'd nearly died several times during close-quarters fights against high Lv monsters. Those near-death experiences taught me one thing very well: dodge, disengage, and retreat behind the vanguard.
But what I suppose to do now?
I had no vanguard.
And I can't use my magic anymore.
With my low stats and this pitiful weapon, I couldn't deal any real damage to that monster.
The Minotaur attacked again, slamming its axe downward. I stepped aside just in time. The impact cracked the floor beneath it, leaving a tiny fissure. If that hit me, I'd be sent to the next phase of life instantly.
While the beast struggled to recover from its own momentum, I lunged forward and grabbed its ankle to test something out.
"Cryokinesis!"
I didn't actually need to chant or anything—but old habits die hard, so give me some slack.
I activated Cryokinesis at the highest output that I could manage, pushing my brain load to 85% in an instant.
Pain exploded in my head.
"Ugh…!"
Ignoring the headache all together, I dismissed my skill and dashed away.
The Minotaur tried to turn toward me—
—and collapsed forward onto all fours.
I'd frozen the area around its right ankle. Not the whole leg—just enough to make it unable to be moved. Freezing the entire limb would take another one or two attempts, but my brain load needed time to cool down.
"Ugh… what a pain," I muttered, pressing a hand to my temple.
The Minotaur growled, trying to stand. But with its ankle frozen while bent, and with its massive weight, it couldn't maintain balance.
It stumbled down.
Stood back up.
Fell down.
Tried again.
And failed again.
—————————————————
Brain load: 88%
—————————
My head felt like it was about to be crushed—but I'm not going to waste this precious opportunity.
I lunged forward at the Minotaur, gripping my knife with both hands and driving it straight into one of its eyes, piercing it effortlessly. Resulting in the monster let out a pained roar.
"Ghruuooo!"
Without wasting a single second, I froze a bottle of mineral water with Cryokinesis, forcing an ice spike to burst straight through it—I didn't even bother opening the lid. While the Minotaur was still struggling to pulled the knife out of its eye socket, I thrust the ice spike into its still-functioning left eye.
Its vision was completely robbed.
"GUOOOOOH!!!"
"Sorry, big dude," I said calmly. "But you're going to be my first stepping stone toward my goal of destroying that bitch Princess and her band of petty knights."
I waited 10 seconds for the headache to ease, then another 10 for my brain load to normalize—while the Minotaur continued whining in agony.
I resumed freezing its body, stopping each time my brain load reached 70% to avoid another headache. Slowly, methodically, I froze one part after another.
After about 5 minutes, the Minotaur was completely encased in my ice.
< Cryokinesis Lv1 ~> Lv2 >
"…Huh. That leveled up faster than I expected."
Maybe it was because I was using Cryokinesis against a high Lv monster. When I first trained my magic skills, I'd only used them on Lv10 or lower enemies, and it took weeks to level up.
Perhaps skill experience scaled with enemy level. Or maybe lower-level skills gained experience faster?
Just a hypothesis. There was no skill EXP indicator, after all.
"Enough theorycrafting," I continued my monologue. "I have yet another problem."
The Minotaur whole body was completely frozen solid, but it wasn't quite dead yet. I still hadn't received any EXP from it, which meant it was technically still alive. Worse, now that its entire body was encased in ice, its skin was even tougher than before.
"So… now what?" I muttered. "My plan to freeze him sure's worked, but now I have no idea how to finish him off. And seriously—how could this guy is even still alive? I'm pretty sure I froze him all the way to his heart."
While I was wracking my brain for some ideas, I glanced around the corridor, turning my head left and right. That's when my eyes landed on something.
"That big axe…" I frowned. "Nah… There's no way I could lift that with my current strength."
I looked back at the frozen Minotaur, then at the axe again…
"…Well, no harm in trying, I guess."
I walked over to where the big axe had fallen. And when I say big Axe, I mean massive. It was more than a meter and a half long—heck, it was about a head taller than me.
"Hmgh!"
I grabbed the handle and tried to lift it, but only managed to raise it slightly off the ground.
"Gah! This is impossible!" I groaned. "I'm actually wrecking my back just by trying to move this thing."
I let go and sighed.
"…Guess I don't have any other choice."
I opened the shop and bought an item.
< Strengthening Potion (mid) >
This potion would increase the strength stats of anyone who drank it by 50 points for 5 minutes. The only problem was the price—it was ridiculously expensive. One bottle cost 7000 Currencies.
Holy Minotaur!!
There was a cheaper, lower-quality version that'll only increased strength by 25 points, but I doubted that would be enough to let me handle this absurdly heavy axe.
"Alright. Here goes nothing."
I downed the potion in no time.
I could feel power surging through my whole body, my muscles tightening as my strength skyrocketed. I grabbed the axe again.
The result was… underwhelming, to say the least.
I could barely carry it, even with my temporarily boosted stats.
"Why is this thing still so damn heavy?!"
Grunting, I dragged my newly acquired weapon toward the frozen Minotaur.
"Hngh… this… better be work," I muttered.
I raised the axe high above my head and swung it down with everything I had.
"Hrraah!" I cried.
The Minotaur's head was cleanly severed from its neck and rolled across the ground. Moments later, the corpse vanished slowly, replaced by a magic stone the size of a small marble and a neatly folded Minotaur pelt. My vision is immediately flooded with notifications.
< You have slain a Minotaur, exp+xxxx >
< Lv up x23 >
< Maximum Lv increased to 62 >
< Hp and stamina is fully recovered >
< You received 620 Currencies >