Chapter 143: Tanafyam's Speedrun.

Tanafyam sits atop the tower overlooking the Dungeon Village, a walled village defended by thick tree trunks standing side-by-side, partially driven into the ground for stability. Each truck has been flattened on the sides, with one side having a V-shaped groove and the other jutting out in a V t make a connecting joint; the trunks are then glued together.

There are many buildings to facilitate the village's own industry, such as material processing shops where wood is treated, monster leather cured, and many other things, so all monster materials don't have to be taken out of the Dungeon to be processed.

The village has grown very rapidly, and not there's a new section being walled off to make room for more housing. Monster slayers mingle in the bars and restaurants and especially the bathhouses. Monster Slayer is now an official job, but it is strictly regulated, and all-new slayers need to be trained by Esofy and Chyzu's Combat Academy.

Tana checks his recent level gain, bringing him close to level four hundred; he wants to slay a couple more Heroic monsters to make sure he gets a Grand tier Class, but if he can slay a Boss monster by himself, that may work as well. If he can slay a Grand-tier monster by himself, then he should be worth grand Tier himself.

Alysara's face flashes through his mind, and he takes out a Dungeon Waystone Key. They've found two more, but Tana never reported this one instead of keeping it hidden. They are very rare and heavily regulated, so no one goes off on their own, but Tana needs to do this to become as powerful as he can be.

It's not just about 'catching up' anymore. Alysara has been protecting everybody and carrying all that weight herself; Tana intends to take that weight off her. He will be the one to save everyone from disaster next time so she won't have to.

Tana stands up, taking a deep breath to steady his nerves. Fire is a delicate thing; if it rages too much, It consumes everything, but when controlled, it can make life thrive; learning how to control it and incorporate it into his life just as Aly incorporate beauty into hers has led to vast growth into his Bond which now stands at level four hundred sixty-eight.

Having a Bond Class, Tana needs to hold back on his class levels, but that's alright; he makes it up with extra training, going out by himself, and slaying monsters. Esofy would have a fit if she knew he is doing this, but this is the best way to train.

Tana appears in the desert pyramid next to the Dungeon Waystone and walks deeper into it. Long creatures like those Eels lung at him with fangs bared and dripping with venom. Tana lets himself take the bite, the venom pumping into his veins.

The flame inside him flares up in a rage; it is time for it to destroy.

Tana cleans himself of the poison and stabs the beast, then cuts it length-wise. Flames quickly spread over the hissing monster as its vitality is consumed.

The fire inside him grows, turning into an inferno. Tana rushes into the room, life-giving flames covering his body, the monsters hissing and cringing back from the heat radiating off of him. With a burst of speed, Tana cuts several snakes in front of him before another quick dash sends him past the last few snakes in the room. Fire crawls over the monsters, and they hiss and writhe in pain. Tana pays them no heed, moving on to the next room at record speed, letting the vitality-draining flames kill the lesser monsters.

This is his challenge, to clear the entire floor of monsters in a short amount of time. To do that, he needs to rely on damage over time spells like his now upgraded [Vicious Flames]. Tana runs through the next room, sending out a wave of fire at the monsters, his [Life Sense] Uloru taught him, letting him know where the monsters are in advance.

I need to go faster!

Fire isn't necessarily fast, which is why he is putting way more effort into training his [Agile Movements] to let him become faster. For that reason, he took up dancing as an art. He is still bad at it, but his dedication to fighting won't let him give it up.

Tana rushes through room after room lighting everything alive aflame. Dodging an attack, Tana feels alive! In every battle with the group, everything feels methodical and muted. There's a set plan, a set coordinated effort in slaying monsters, but this, this is what it means to fight! The unknown, the danger, it speaks to him, the flames inside him feeds off of this!

Tana runs into a boss room, and without any attempt to see what it can do, Tana lunges forward, sending out two waves of flame ahead of him. Before the Boss can comprehend what's happening, three long and deep gashes open up with Tana running, cutting its flesh open and spreading flames.

Before Tana can cut its head off, it thrashes around and sends out a burst of lightning, throwing the Flaming teen against the wall. He stands up and grins, the flame inside him raging more and more. Destruction, the flames that purify the world and prepare it for a new life, Tana will slay this monster so he can grow, just as a flame consumes to grow and rage on.

Tana continues trading blows with the slowly regenerating Boss, managing to cut off one of its fangs and stab it in the eye with its own fang before cutting off its head.

Tana doesn't wait for its life to burn away fully and for the kill notification to ring in his mind; he trusts his flames to finish the Boss off.

Tana moves on, blazing his way through room after room until he comes upon another boss, and just like last time, he getting the first strike in, but this time seeks to train his [Agile Movements] with whirling strikes and dodges, one might say he is dancing with his opponent, each twirl sending out a wave of fire shaped like a blade that cuts deeply into the hide of the snake; each step of his footwork bringing down a slash of his sword, each dodge or parry results in a strike against the larger creature.

Tana dashes out of the room even before the snake slumps to the ground, the last of its life burning away. Tana finally stops at the final Boss, the floor boss panting heavily. He has been running almost nonstop for at least half an hour, maybe even a whole hour, he can't tell, but his lungs burn with the need for air, but if he takes a break now, he won't be able to make a new record so with a burst of speed Tana blitz into the boss room where a three-headed snake rears back to strike.

However, instead of lunging for bites, it instead breathes out frost and shards of Ice with its left head, lighting with its middle and a laser with its right head. All three attacks hit Tana, sending him flying into the wall, Ice melting in his wounds, and a leg missing but rapidly regrowing.

The inferno inside Tana rages more than ever before. He stands back up on one leg, and his other reforms and dashes back into the fight. Jumping over another laser beam and using his flames to counter the frost breath. Lighting cracks down onto him, but he raises his sword up in front of him like a lightning rod and tanks the attack, healing the damage afterward.

Tana runs forward and slides under a tail swipe, cutting the tail deeply as it passes over him, and grabs onto it with his free hand, using the momentum to flip onto the Boss's neck and stabbing his sword into the brain of the middle head.

The Boss thrashes around, but Tana holds on, spreading his flames over the Boss. He reaches over with his free hand, making sure his sword won't fall out from the snake's efforts to throw him off, and grabs one of the eyes, ripping it out of its sockets.

The Boss hisses in agony as tana uses the eye socket as a handhold and, with three hacks of his sword, decapitates the middle head. Falling to the ground, he takes advantage of the Boss's stunned shock and cuts into its belly, spilling its guts onto the floor.

Snapping out of its shock, the Boss bits down on Tana to block the attack with an arm cutting off his own limb before the snake and toss him around and hacks into the midsection of the Boss, only managing to cut halfway into it before he is knocked away by the tail of the beast.

Tana stands once again, this time with a new arm, and charges back into the fray, trading blows and sacrificing limbs if he has to. He jumps, side steps, and ducks under attacks, tanking the lightning and countering the frost before managing to decapitate the lightning head; after that, it became much easier, and he manages to cut the Boss in half.

The Boss flops around, unable to use the rest of its body as counter mass to keep its head up, but it still fights with every fiber of its being, snapping a Tana who easily jumps onto its head and chops off the third head.

Tana slumps to the ground, his flames dying as the last of the Boss's vitality is drained away. Tana gasps for air, his chest heaving, begging him to just end it all already. Notifications ring in his mind from the kill and the level gains, but he is too exhausted to even look. He has cleared an entire floor in record time.

A fight like this is thrilling. Esofy puts too much emphasis on not getting hit, which, he admits, has done wonders for his ability to dodge attacks, but this primal deathmatch is more to his liking.

After a long rest and replacing his clothes and armor with spares in his storage ring, Tana teleports back and takes a relaxing bath; any blood and gore have been burned off in the fight.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

With my clone no longer draining my mana, I can train in the Dungeon for a few days; I wonder how it has changed. But, I also need to study the other Lunaleyan kingdoms too, if I am going to be making more trade deals, then I need more 'gifts', but really they are just a way to demonstrate what we can offer and draw them in for trade.

However, I have a couple of weeks to get all of the gifts made, and I am curious to see the Dungeon now. I send a Clone over to the Dungeon as I take my after-work bath, I am a little early, but people sometimes end the work-day early.

Even before entering the Dungeon, I see people going in and out of the entrance; most are wearing a coat that they take off after exiting the Dungeon. It's not something I put much thought into lately, but the hotter climate here means that everywhere else will feel much colder.

I am surprised to see that my device to let me see into the Dungeon has not been disturbed, but I guess most people think that it is supposed to be there, which it is.

Entering the Dungeon, I am greeted with a bustling village, smaller than my home, but considering its age, this village is pretty big. People walk from vendor to vendor looking at monster materials for their crafts, but things are rather pricey. The lumber market is thriving since many villages still need to be rebuilt, and it looks like that is the business of the village, selling wood – actual tree-wood – to other places.

The Dungeon Village is built around the Dungeon entrance and is well fortified. There is a bathhouse, but I think most people are leaving to use the baths on Temple Island since it's not that far away.

I wander the market, looking at the various monster materials. Many I am familiar with, monster materials from the dens and ruins in this forest being a large amount of what I see, but I also see some unknown ones, probably from the desert.

I'll need to examine the other directions before someone wanders into a place like the mountains, a place far stronger than we can ever hope to fight against. First, I'll need to talk to Esofy and get the Dungeon Waystone Key so I can attune it to any waystones I find.

"...In summary: Prioritise your own safety, then the safety of your team, then positioning and coordination, then attacking, and lastly killing the monster." As I approach, I catch the last of Esofy's lesson.

The monster slayer trainees file out of the room, and I enter after letting the trainees pass.

"Alysara! It's been a while. Thank you for slaying that Treant; I saw the damage it did, and I can confidently say that we may have not been able to slay it ourselves, at least not without someone dying"

I feel my cheeks get a little warm at her compliment.

"N-no problem," I say, a little flustered. "I had originally planned to scout it for you, but I realized it was too dangerous."

Esofy chuckles. "I heard Guklaro was a little ungrateful, but just know that she isn't a fighter. She doesn't know what it's like to one her life in danger like this. As long as everyone comes out alive, even if the monster isn't slain, then it's a win."

"So, you are continuing to teach others?" I ask; for a few months, she put her academy on hiatus, and now that the Treant is dead, it looks like she is continuing to educate others in martial combat, or, I should say, monster combat now.

"Yes, it hasn't been a long time, and somebody needs to teach others how to survive, one of the major flaws during the first expedition. We haven't had a single death so far due to proper fighting methods. People think that killing the monster and doing damage is the same thing; they mix up priorities, and that leads to mistakes and people dying. Safety first and actually killing the monster comes very last, even after doing damage; it's better to hurt the monster and remain safe than to go for a killing blow, but risk dying" Esofy gathers her lesson notes and puts them in her storage ring.

"it wasn't just that we had to get stronger and be prepared; we had to learn how to fight monsters, right?" I say, summarizing what Esofy said.

"Exactly," Esofy nods.

"I see that people are getting materials from the desert too; it's only a matter of time before they want to explore the known areas. I want to map the area out first before someone gets into trouble; who knows if there's another place like the mountains in the south. Where can I get the waystone key so I can attune it to any waystone I find?" I ask Esofy

"We've been training scouts to explore those areas, don't worry about them, we've not had any deaths yet, and we don't plan to have them take unnecessary risks. The waystone keys are held in a secure chest in my office. I'll get it for you" Esofy leads me to her office room.

Esofy unlocks the small and rather unassuming chest and takes out one of two waystone keys. She, or someone else, must have found another one.

"While you are mapping out the surrounding areas, can you do something for me?" Esofy asks.

"Sure, what do you need?" I tilt my head quizzically.

"I suspect Tana is sneaking out on his own to fight monsters. It's very dangerous, and while I understand her desire to get stronger, she shouldn't be taking risks like these. I talked with her about it, but she denies it."

Although Esofy refers to Tana as 'she' he is looking more boyish now, he'd normally be developing breast by now, so he's either a late bloomer or just won't; at least he's got the 'pretty boy' look.

Tana is in the bathhouse right now, but I guess I can keep an eye on him and see if he sneaks out.

"I can do that" I agree to Esofy's request.