Chapter 123: Confrontation With The Heroes

POV Eliza

After testing out my options in the spells a bit and getting the recommendation for the capital, I went back into the dungeon to level up. I also wanted to look into another thing I had noticed. As Stevt, I found fighting much more difficult than usual, and not just because I was wielding unfamiliar weapons. I also had the feeling that my movements were slower and more sluggish as if my characteristics were much lower than they should be. I therefore tested a few things to estimate how big the differences were. I couldn't determine this using appraisal.

My first test included the changes made by the Concealment skill. I changed my SP to 1 in my dark elf form and ran around a bit. It quickly reached zero, but I was able to keep running without any problems. Then I changed my MP to 1 and cast a spell that cost more than 1 MP. This also worked without any problems. The changes were not shown in my status, but I already knew that. That's why I had to keep actively adjusting my stats so that they matched my consumption. A test in which I changed my HP to 1 last supported my previous results. When a monster, in this case a Beetle, reduced my HP, I didn't fall unconscious. My HP, AU and MP therefore seemed to be the old ones and were not reduced. The results were exactly what I had expected and were as expected.

Then I tested my skills. I reduced both weapon and magic skills to basic level, but I could fight just as well as before the change. The spells were also as effective as before.

Now came the test to see what effect my transformation had. I picked a monster (a floor 22 Beetle, so that it could withstand several hits) and fought in my form as Eliza (both dark elf and human) and in comparison in my form as Stevt. I found it much more difficult as Stevt than as Eliza. The difference between the two Elizas was not noticeable. I assumed that the form from my old life was just as much mine as the one from my current life.

In any case, it gave me an idea of how much of a penalty I suffered during the transformation. Depending on the extent of the transformation, I was subject to certain disadvantages and as Stevt I changed both my race and my gender. To fully satisfy my curiosity, I also transformed into Dilara. She was the only Beastkin I had in my repertoire and I got on surprisingly well in this form, even though it was my first time taking it on. I certainly got on much faster than as Stevt. I seemed to get on better in female form than as a man, no wonder, that thing between my legs was a massive nuisance.

Fortunately, I was able to adjust my form well enough to make the thing almost disappear. That thing bothered me far more than big breasts ever could. How did I know that? Out of sheer curiosity as human Eliza, I had of course tested how big I could make them and how it would be to live with them. But I quickly abandoned that because it had too many disadvantages. As nice as they were to look at and touch, my clothes no longer fit, they were squashed together in any armor and they moved them far too much on their own. The weight at the front also interfered with my balance enormously, so I didn't even try to fight with them. Not to mention the back pain. In my true form, I only had a B cup anyway and couldn't change it with the skill. Why couldn't I actually change my true elf form? I had to ask Luna.

At the end of the tests, I had an idea of how big my losses were. If I changed my gender, my characteristics were reduced by about 25%. If I changed my race, it was also about 25%. As a Stevt, I had losses of about 30%. The only explanation I could come up with was the effects of habituation. Or changing to human had less of an effect because I used to be human as well.

All the testing had increased my desire to fight monsters. So I stayed in my dark elf form and gave in to my desire to fight.

Two days later, I had emptied both the floor with the beetles and the floor with the spiders. By now I only needed two days for both, i.e. I was getting faster, although I tried to collect as many mana cores as possible in between. Unfortunately, I was often led to the next group of monsters in the heat of battle, which meant I left a lot of monster corpses lying around. The EXP was more important to me than the money, so I preferred to fight rather than cut up monsters.

Next came the floor with the goblins. The goblins now had classes such as fighters, scouts and archers and were much more coordinated in their approach. They were also now more often Hobgoblins. Hobgoblins were a good 50% larger, had significantly more HP and wore better weapons and armor. The overall difficulty had increased significantly since floor 21. On floors 1 to 20, the level of the monsters was roughly comparable to the number of the floor, but since 21 it was more like 1.5 times. The monsters had either classes or special skills. The animal-like monsters like beetles and spiders had special skills, while the humanoid monsters like goblins and orcs had classes. Unfortunately, I only knew this in theory because my Identify Monster skill was too low to get the information from the monsters directly.

As expected, I was alone with the spiders, but there were other adventurers with the goblins. Their levels were around 40 and some of them already had an upgraded class. That reminded me that I should upgrade my class soon too. But I let my mind get distracted again. I could feel the adventurers keeping their distance from me as I rampaged through the goblins at great speed. I made full use of the Air spells, which increased agility and speed. This increased my agility to around 3000, my highest value. But I also needed it, because most of my damage wasn't caused by the force of my hits, but by the number of them. My fighting style consisted of quick attacks with both daggers, targeting unprotected areas such as joints, tendons or the neck. So monsters like spiders or goblins, which had unprotected areas, were good opponents for me, while slimes or treants, which didn't, were bad opponents. But the wolves and bears were probably also bad opponents, as they had thick fur and therefore high armor.

While the adventurers watched me fight, I could hear some of their conversations. The term devil with the sharp fangs kept coming up, and that they shouldn't get in my way. They must have had great respect for me, although fear was perhaps more accurate. Fortunately, they left me alone because of that.

Unfortunately, you couldn't say that about everyone. The day was drawing to a close, but as I wasn't too tired yet, I carried on. Then, while I was still in the middle of fighting a horde of 5 goblins, I noticed familiar auras approaching. What were the heroes doing here? I sighed and prepared myself for trouble. I changed my status, but since I didn't have much time or concentration to do so, I just made it blank.

They kept enough distance that I couldn't hear their voices enough through the noise of battle, waiting for my fight to end. As soon as I had defeated the last goblin, I turned to them. They looked tense and ready to fight at any moment. Javier in particular had a very strained expression on his normally stoic face and seemed to be massively bothered by something. They still had a few simple soldiers with them. I had to be careful and kept my distance.

"Hey, you there. Are you the one they call the devil with the sharp fangs?" <Cornelius>