Demon Queen Rebirth: I Reincarnated as a Living Armor?!-Chapter 15 - First Encounter, An Armored Crab?

-----

The middle-sized dungeon where Veronica had been reincarnated was stationed in the middle of the Devil Forest, which surrounded the Evergreen Village in the outskirts of the Aquaria Merchant Kingdom. ??

This dungeon contained an estimated amount of fifty floors, each one made as a confusing maze filled with corridors, dead ends, traps, and secret rooms.

Veronica reincarnated in the middle of the dungeon, inside a secret room where a large amount of Living Armor was stationed, which would attack the invader who activated the switch from the outside.

Of course, there was also a switch in the outside, as the dungeon rewarded someone strong enough to have beaten the trial from the inside, and gave it a way out.

Dungeons are not as malicious as the people of Kritias makes them seem to be. They were created by large quantities of mana accumulated in the world in certain places and possessed a small consciousness. They inherited a small amount of Kelsus, the Great Dark God's 'intelligence', and 'destruction' alongside Anir, the Great Bright God's 'life'.

Due to this, it seeks not to exclusive destroy life, but also to nurture it. Those worthy of beating its trials would be rewarded with prizes and treasures, nurturing their strength even further. And those who fell in the trials… would become the dungeon's monster food.

This medium-sized dungeon was called the 'The Den of Metallic Beasts', as it was filled with several insect-type monsters that wielded hard and heavy metallic exoskeletons, alongside Living Armors or other creatures capable of predating on these hard materials.

The dungeon has not been cleared in years, and due to this, the monster inside had thrived for very long, creating a high density of creatures spawning everywhere and fighting each other for food instead of focusing on the common enemy of invaders.

Veronica, since she presented a strange behavior when she was 'born' in the secret room, was already deemed as an 'invader' by the dungeon. And the dungeon gave its monsters the ability to prioritize her extermination…

This is why she was currently slowly moving through the damp corridors, silently, without trying to call as much attention as possible.

"Calm… I must remain calm and composed, focus…"

Veronica was capable of seeing in the dark not by the 'Dark Vision' or 'Night Vision' Skills, but by her 'Special Five Senses' Skill. Since she became a Living Armor, her entire body became her soul, while her armor was more like her exterior carapace. Due to this, she gained strange, augmented senses, different than beings who naturally possess them through organs in their physical and flesh bodies.

"Seeing back at where I currently was… I am in the middle of a floor… naturally, Dungeons are usually underground labyrinths, so going towards the higher floors should bring me to the surface,"

Veronica used her soul to glance at the front, she saw a long and damp corridor, with a semi-transparent fog and mossy walls, there were two turns at each side, and a dead-end in front of her.

She decided to go through the right way, as she felt a slight breeze coming from that area.

"Slow… slow… Huh?"

Veronica glanced at the front of her and saw long stairs going upwards.

"There!"

She made sure that her enthusiasm didn't get the best of her, as she carefully walked towards the staircase and moved upstairs. She had detected no monsters since she went outside of the room where she was born, so she suspected that this floor had been wiped out of monsters by another, stronger monster or that it was made entirely out of secret rooms where the monsters were stored.

Reaching the next floor, Veronica used her 'Soul Form' Skill alongside her Mana to create small waves. Sharing her sense through them and being able to scout faraway places…

The eerie and pale white mist shrouded the dungeon in darkness, but because of her special senses, she was capable of completely ignoring this…

"There is something in there…"

Veronica had three corridors in front of her, the one to the left was a dead end, and had a strange trap on the floor, while the one at the left seemed to lead downstairs. Only the one in the middle released a slight breeze.

But something was blocking the way.

Veronica carefully used her mana wave to detect the fiend that was blocking her path.

She saw a large, crab-like creature, with two giant a sharp claw, long black eyes, and a drooling jaw, moving with its eight legs. It was completely covered in an exoskeleton made out of silver-like steel.

"A crab…? Appraisal" thought Veronica, mentally chanting the skill activation command.

[Name: Nameless.

[Race: Armored Crab 𝐟re𝐞w𝐞𝒃𝓃𝒐𝐯𝚎𝒍.c૦𝚖

[Titles: None.

[Type: Crustacean/Material

[Rank: 2

[Level: 062/100

[Health Points: 112/112

[Mana Points: 30/30

[Strength: 110

[Defense: 200

[Magic: 20

[Resistance: 30

[Agility: 30

[Passive Skills]

[Dark Vision; Level 2]

[Abnormal Status Resistance; Level 3]

[Strengthened Physical Power; Level 2]

[Physical Damage Resistance; Level 3]

[Armored Carapace; Level 2]

[Active Skills]

[Charge; Level 2]

[Projectile Fire; Level 1]

[Corrosive Venom Secretion; Jaws; Level 1]

[Mineral Devourer; Level 2]

"It has projectile fire and corrosive venom secretion… it means that it is capable of attacking with its venom, throwing it like bullets. And it possesses 'charge' to top it all, so it can give itself a boost in speed if it needs to. However, it has low Mana, so it should not be capable of using charge in excess, perhaps two times"

Veronica analyzed the creature in front of her, the first foe that she had to fight after leaving her 'home'.

Its corrosive venom seemed capable of melting metals with ease and it used them as projectiles to attack from a distance. It possessed ridiculous defenses and the ability to attack in close combat with its sharp claws if given the opportunity.

Its speed, mana, and magic were low, so it could not rush to Veronica unless it used 'charge', which it could only use twice.

"I doubt he will move away for me, so I will have to kill it. It would be hard to smash its carapace with the Unarmed Fighting Technique because it can easily spit corrosion venom in front of my armor. Or use its large claws to smash me, I could evade… but I don't want to do so many flashy movements, as it could attract more monsters. I need to dispose of it quickly" thought Veronica.

"Use me… Stop overthinking things, piece of junk, that is unlikely of a monster" whispered Shade.

"There is nothing wrong with overthinking things if my life depends on it. I will not recklessly charge and die, Shade… But you are right, I should use you. It has low Resistance; a few magic shots should be deadly. Alright, let us use 'Shadow Sphere' from within the darkness and let us act according to its reaction"

Veronica used her connection with Shade as she conjured a sphere of darkness from within the shadows inside of her hollow body.

Recalling her memories of aiming at things with 'Memory Retention', she threw the sphere towards the Armored Crab, which seemed to be resting.

Flash!

"Clack?! Clack!"

The shadow sphere hit the Armored Crab with intense speed, bypassing the defenses of its carapace and doing direct damage to its innards, for a moment, it began to vomit green-colored blood. By using its senses, it immediately charged towards the direction where the sphere appeared from.

"Clack! Clack!" it roared, furious.

"Here it comes!"

Veronica intercepted it by evading it! She jumped over its body by the speed boost of her own 'Charge' and then bared her sharp hands into a fist.

"Hammer Blow!" mentally shouted Veronica. Her fist became as heavy as hammers as they hit the Armored Crab's back, its metallic carapace blossomed with cracks.

Clash!

"Clack?! Clack!" shouted the Crab, trying to catch Veronica with a projectile of corrosive venom. She was currently in the air as it flew towards her, she instinctively used her shield to receive the hit as she moved towards the ground and then gave the crab a powerful hit.

"Hammer Kick! Shadow Sphere!"

Clash!

"Clack…!"

The Crab received her strong hammer-like kick from the lower area of its exoskeleton, while a Shadow Sphere hit the wound over its back, the Armored Crab Health Points decreased quickly to zero, falling to the ground motionless.

[Experience Points have reached the required level!]

[Individual 'Rank' has increased from level 1 to level 5!]

[Furthermore, the Individual's 'Job' has increased from level 1 to level 5!]

"Phew… My shield… This corrosive venom is quite deadly, but with the use of 'Armory'… There! All new… Now to the next floor… Wait, I should absorb the Crab's carapace!"

After cleaning the corrosive venom from her shield, Veronica healed it with the 'Armory' Skill by spending some mana. She glanced at the corpse of the Crab and touched the carapace with her hand.

"Absorption Healing"

-----