Chapter 132

The [Lumin Golem - Lv. 2] was a humanoid monster about seven feet tall made of glass crystal—keeping with the theme of the floor. Like the floor itself, too, Natalie didn’t recognize the creature. She admittedly didn’t pay much attention in class, but monster manuals were one of the few things she had scoured cover to cover. If she didn’t know the beast, the rest of the team likely didn’t either.

That wasn’t ideal, since pre-warning of what types of abilities, strengths, and weaknesses a monster had could be pivotal to victory. That said, she and her team were strong for level twos, and this was just a single simple dungeon encounter.

With the monster having spotted them at the same time they had it, Natalie didn’t waste time. She charged forward with a shout, her massive two-handed hammer gripped in both hands. Liz’s empowering buff suffused her, even stronger than usual—and not just because of Liz’s level-up and improved stats, but because [Juggernaut] amplified buffs. It was a sixty percent flat boost for furor, applied after everything else.

Power thrummed through her muscles, and her feet hit the ground hard enough to crack tile as she charged. Adrenaline helped carry her forward—this being her first real chance to show off.

Forgoing subtlety entirely, Natalie arrived at her opponent, the glass golem raising its palm forward and pointing at her as if to summon some spell or skill. But she interrupted it. She heaved her gigantic weapon forward with everything she had, pivoting with her waist to get as much momentum as possible.

A hefty block of stone impacted the monster’s glass shoulder with the full might of Natalie’s newfound strength. The blow was even more devastating than she’d hoped. Dungeon monsters could engage entire groups of delvers and pose a challenge, but faced with Natalie’s strength, that didn’t matter. On impact, the [Lumin Golem] went flying, Natalie’s hammer hitting with a crunch of splintering glass that was satisfying on a visceral level. The humanoid creature went tumbling sideways, then slammed hard into the wall.

It didn’t die in a single hit, nor was it even crippled, but Natalie knew she’d just burned through its health pool. It lay stunned against the wall, having nearly embedded into it. Meaning Natalie was primed for a follow-up attack. She carried what momentum was left and pivoted with flawless footwork, swinging her hammer in a wide arc, cycloning herself to her stunned opponent—and smashing another full-strength strike straight into the creature’s skull.

One shot hadn’t finished the job, but the second did. The glass skull crumpled, resisting for a fraction of a second, before Natalie’s hammer punctured. Crystal exploded, and Natalie’s hammer slammed into the wall. The decapitated monster slumped to the ground, not having gotten a single retaliatory strike off.

Natalie grunted as she withdrew her hammer—embedded an inch into the wall—then wound up a finishing strike. It was always best to be sure, especially when it hadn’t started evaporating yet. She caved in the crystal creature’s chest next.

Black smoke finally rose from the monster, its form dissipating. A core plinked to the ground. Natalie rested her hammer on her shoulder. She turned a self-satisfied smile to her teammates.

Who were, reasonably, watching with raised eyebrows.

“Huh,” Liz said.

“I appreciate the enthusiasm,” Sofia said dryly, “but that was reckless, Nat.”

“Yeah, but did you see how fast it died?”

At Natalie’s excitement, Sofia rolled her eyes. A smile tugged at her lips. She was exasperated, but also happy for Natalie. Natalie recognized she had been a little too eager to throw herself into the melee, but she had wanted to show off. Regardless, while her new style demanded a more aggressive style, maybe not to that extent.

“A creature made of crystal,” Ana said. “I can only assume it was weak to blunt damage, which is why it died so fast.”

“Or maybe I just hit that hard,” Natalie said. It was a joke; she recognized that three shots, even accounting for her new strength, was an insanely quick victory against an equal-level dungeon monster.

“Seeing how the floor’s theme is glass, I expect we’ll be seeing similar,” Sofia said. She raised an eyebrow at Natalie. “I guess the dungeon also wanted you to show off.”

Natalie laughed. Maybe it did.

“What do you think that spell was going to be?” Liz asked. “When it raised its hand?”

“We should find out, if there’s another,” Sofia said. “In case any stronger encounters come up that have similar abilities. We need to gather information for future enemies.”

“So you’re telling me not to kill them so fast?” Natalie asked.