Chapter 255
The shockwave of the massive Boss' corpse hitting the ground has blown most of the purple fog away revealing my 3 teammates as they make their descent.
Maria and Aire are bloodied and bruised, but the green circle of light that encapsulates them all slowly makes every wound on their body disappear before they meet the ground.
The Serpent dropped 3 scales, but also... an item I wasn't sure could even drop.
The blue text in my mind's eye won't go away now that I've locked onto it.
[Lower-Floor Boss Identification Core]
All 6 of us begin to approach the long narrow crater made by the snake creature's body after the fall. It's fully dissolved now and has left a 10-meter deep, 100-meter-long ravine in the Boss room floor.
We hop down into it, to get the loot and mana crystal drops.
The items are giving off a white and purple glow, radiating with excess mana from the creature. Even after death, it's still exuding power.
Maria is the first to run over and pick up one of the glossy black scales. It shimmers purple and green when light hits it.
Like most item drops, it shrunk down to wearable size and it's attached to a small black string. All 3 of them put in their new battle rewards.
My eyes move back and forth around the boss room floor searching for this mysterious identification core. I've never seen one before... So I'm not sure what exactly I'm looking for. My teammates haven't found it, so it wasn't in the loot pile.
Technically it's their kill, so it's their loot. Though, I'm sure they won't object to some reasoning.
My main concern is finding it before we're sent to the next floor. The blue text box hovers above the ground just 10 meters away under a pile of small rubble.
I walk over and start moving stones out of the way with my telekinesis skill. No excess mana is coming off of this pile, so all I can do is uncover the stone slowly. Pinpointing its exact location is oddly difficult.
Arie walks over with his arms crossed.
"What are you looking for?"
My gaze tightens as I continue to move rubble.
"I'm... honestly not sure."
There isn't even a hint of a mana signature coming off of this item. None at all.
The only way I'm able to locate or sense it is with my Appraisal skill. The blue text just hovers over this pile of rubble in my mind's eye.
I Lydia and Fisher both eye me from afar, but decide to congratulate Abby and Maria instead.
The girls are very happy about their victory and need someone to share it with.
My focus is solely on finding this Identification core. I must have missed my chance to obtain one in my last Lower-Floor Boss match. I did pass out after the fight. If it's this hard to locate every time, I can't blame Ember for leaving it behind.
No one else is able to sense its presence, not even the experienced Elites. So, it must be even rarer than I initially thought.
Arie watches me sift through the rubble for a few minutes, then finally speaks up again.
"Whatever's under there, I can't sense it at all. If you find anything, it's all yours."
He turns the black scale to glimmer around his next.
"This is more than enough for me."
I give him a nod but stay focused on the rock pile ahead of me.
The small blue name tag keeps shifting and changing exact locations as I throw rocks around. I'm narrowing in on its location.
Finally, all the debris moves out of the way and I'm left standing in front of a small grey-colored stone...
It has swirls of black color over it, creating a stripe-like pattern. Looking at it through my perception skill gives me a very weird feeling, it doesn't even show up at all.
It's not made of mana.
The blue label just floats above the floor over a tiny smooth oval-shaped rock. I lean down and pick it up.
_______________
[Lower-Floor Boss Identification Core]
[Instant Low-Floor Boss Room Re-Activation]
[Yes][No]
[Automatic Timed Re-Activation]
[6 Days 23 Hours 57 Minutes 11 Seconds]
_______________
I turn around, and Arie is still staring at me with arms crossed and a satisfied look on his face from a battle well-fought.
Passing for a moment, the stone is the only thing I can think about. The countdown timer is 7 days long, the same as a Boss Room's cooldown timer.
I let out a long sigh, then turn to Arie.
"Can you see anything unique about this stone?"
He raises an eyebrow and puts out a hand.
"No... Let me see it up close."
I blink a few times while staring at the stone in a confused state of mind. Then, tightening my lips I drop the stone into Arie's hand.
"Just, tell me if you can see any-"
The moment the stone touches the archer's hand, it passes right through and hits the hand Boss Room floor at our feet.
It doesn't make a sound as it lands. Arie jumps back, cracking a smile but reacting in a surprised tone.
"W-What was that? That rock just passed right through my- my hand!? What kind of item did you just find???"
After Arie's yell, this gets all of my other teammates interested.
The 4 others walk over.
One by one, I drop the rock through each of their hands and it does exactly the same thing.
Even Fisher and Lydia.
After almost another minute passes, I choose [No] on the instant re-activation and the timer continues to count down on its own.
No one here has an Appraisal skill, so it makes perfect sense why they couldn't see or sense the item. The one question that witches at the back of my mind is why I'm able to touch the core and no one else can...?
Before I have too much time to question this more, a white flash of light begins to bring us to the next floor.
I throw the Identification Core into my item storage. This will be explored later.
While the whiteness of transfer magic surrounds me, my brain churns through ideas, but it's best to focus. I'll ask Ember about it once we have a moment of free time. He'll know more than I do about the inner workings of a Labyrinth.
In the meantime, I'll have to focus on clearing this break.
We're about to enter the 21st Floor.
As my vision comes back to me, the sight before my eyes is oddly familiar.
My feet stand steady on a very hard white marble-like surface, and in front of me, there's an eerie pale green sky.
It's not exactly the same, but quite similar to a dungeon floor I've been to before.
Fisher speaks up from behind me, reaffirming my suspicions.
"Hey Lydia, this floor is exactly the same as the 21st back in the capital. Who would have guessed?"
He lets out a laugh, and it echoes through the endless white pillars that stretch down into the green abyss below and above.
The blue-haired swordsman speaks up again, reaching down to pick up a green vine with healthy-looking leaves growing around the large pillar we stand on.
"Well, it is a little different. I don't remember there being so many plants back in the Vice Region's 21st."
I nod slowly, still taking in the view, then activate my perception skills. The moment I do, a massive green creature approaches us from above. Its beady red eyes peirce through the misty sky.
The creature's white talons match its sharp teeth. With a 5-meter wide wingspan allowing it to glide around with great precision, the monster stares us down with an ugly monstrous expression.
Its status appears in my mind's eye.
____________________
[75m]
[Lv. 461]
Active Items:
[Gargoyle's Platinum Ring] +88% Mental Strength
[Gargoyle's Platinum Amulet] +82% Defense
[Gargoyle's Heavy Armor Set] +2000 Defense
Active skills:
Life Steal [Special Grade]
Body Hardening [Special Grade]
____________________
"Gargoyles..."
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