140 CHAPTER 128. Second Boss

"You shouldn't agree to things you don't wanna do. No, really. You need to think about yourself more. You need to speak up about how you're feeling, for your own sake!"

- Marin Kitagawa

.....

'Each one of those guys is on the level of an A-rank boss of a dungeon.'

This wasn't some random guess he just cooked up without any evidence, either.

The 'Bead of Avarice' he got after killing Vulcan. The explanation attached to this marble-like item said that it was created from condensing and solidifying the Superior Demon Vulcan's blood.

If those words 'Superior Demon' denoted Vulcan's grade, then it was about on the same level as regular monsters found on the upper floors. Because, since the 70th floor, Superior Demons appeared far more often than not.

That was one more reason was he was collecting every piece of every 'Superior Demon' he could find just in hopes that he would be able to recreate something like the 'Bead of Avarice' as more than just being beneficial, but he would be able to give them to his mage-type soldiers.

And some of his absolute units also use magic like Pikachu, Zelos, Gorr, and even Typhon.

Just imagining their magical attacks having even a 50% boost gives him chills. And having a 100% boost is like getting their power doubled, as it not just boosts their power but also their efficiency would be doubled and their ranks won't be able to reflect their power.

And technically dragon breath is a magic attack; he already imagined how great the boost from the 'Bead of Avarice' would be. It's like an instant rank up.

Anyway, it'd have been fine if it were only the monsters' levels that had increased, but….

No, there was another inconvenience here, as well.

Not only did the surroundings begin changing, growing bigger and bigger gradually as he climbed higher, but from the 51st floor onwards, the ruined cityscapes were burning in flames. And the higher the floor, the fiercer the flames got.

When he finally went past the 70th floor, the surroundings had gotten so hot that it could melt metal. Even with his high fire resistance, his skin started to become itchy.

And simply from standing still, he lost Stamina like sweat drops pouring out of his pores. And just from moving for a few hours, the Tiredness Stat shot up.

This place was no 'Demon's Castle', but more like the 'Burning Tower of Hell'.

The feeling he got before entering this dungeon was proven to be correct.

'His mind was telling… Let's get out of here.'

This was as far as he could go, this time. He urgently needed to find a way to block out the flames first.

'But he still held on, not only because his fire resistance was leveling up, but also due to the effects of 'The Blood Of Ice Behemoth's' Debuff 'Always Cold'. It helped as he just got a little bit angry and a soothing cold surrounded him.

Causing his body to become colder and the air and ground around him to change, as his fatigue meter returned to 0 again.

Of course, it does slow down the fire resistance he is building, but with this, he was able to keep his body at a stable temperature without using mana or anything.

Anyway, slowly the ground below him was hotter than molten magma.

And heat was causing him many mild inconveniences as his shoes melt away no matter what type of shoes he wears.

So in the current time he was barefoot walking in hell his clothes were intact due to constant use of mana and Debuf.  

This reminded him he should have brought some fireproof clothing and sneakers. 

I did so much running in such instance heat that I gained a bunch of skills.  

Fiery Tenacity (Lv. 1) The player's indomitable willpower, developed through enduring extreme heat, allows them to push their physical limits even in the most challenging conditions.

 In hot environments, the player's stamina regeneration receives a considerable boost. Their inner fire drives them to push through exhaustion, recovering stamina at an accelerated rate.

Relentless Stride (Lv. 1): The player's relentless stride has transformed the act of running into an innate stamina recovery mechanism. Their body's motion is seamlessly integrated with stamina renewal.

The player's stamina regenerates at a constant, slightly accelerated rate while running or engaging in consistent movement. Their perpetual motion synchronizes with stamina recovery.

Pulsating Renewal (Lv. 1) The player's life force pulses with an innate rhythm. This rhythm can be attuned to the natural flow of the world, harnessing it to accelerate the healing process.

By attuning themselves to the rhythms of the environment, the player's HP regeneration aligns with the natural ebb and flow of life energy, healing them more quickly.

Infernal Resilience:

Description (Lv. 1): Through constant exposure of scorching temperatures, the player's body has adapted to the heat, allowing them to regain health whenever they come into contact with intense heat sources. Their skin radiates a faint, fiery aura as a testament to their resistance.

When exposed to heat-based attacks or environments, the character regains a small portion of lost HP over time. The intensity of the heat determines the rate of healing, with higher temperatures resulting in faster recovery.

Those are some nice addition skills while doing nothing but running around since I entered in this hellscape. So it doesn't need to tell that I was pretty hyped to see if I could gain anymore skills.  

But anyway equipment used by high-ranked Hunters was ruinously expensive. And, there was no need to even mention the cost of an item imbued with defensive magic, as well. 

He remembered hearing that a really expensive item could go for several tens of billions of Won from a news site in the past.

Even though he could have bought a hell lot of them, he didn't think that his shoes would literally turn into rubber.  

He had managed to earn a fair amount of coins while clearing dungeons and vaults of Nobles. He could clearly afford them and if he wanted he could buy the whole company that produces them without feeling even a dent on his vast wealth.

Jin unsummoned the Inventory window.

The goal for entering this instant dungeon, to level up a lot, had been successfully met. But with the sudden appearance of a quest that was never seen before and the juicy skills waiting for him was more than enough for him that he will walk bare feet.  

And not to mention an additional secret reward if he completed the quest before the time limit he clearly remembered the additional reward he got last time gave him a great thing.  

The golden ticket that allowed him to travel worlds which gave him not only his strongest soldiers but also a fantastic lover he slowly fell for her.  

That was why he didn't feel too bad to walk bare feet if he had to. If he got the golden ticket he could already think of thousands of worlds he wants to travel. 

As this wasn't a Solo Leveling for him it was Monster Collecting, plus getting to steel hearts of his favourite waifus was a point that can't be ignored at any point.    

And he was far from collecting any monsters; his army lacked a great diversity.  

So he wasn't going to delay this just because he doesn't have a pair of shoes. 

"It's a point where I am ready to do this bare naked thousands of times if I get more power and more waifus. "

When Jin said this there wasn't any hesitation in his words as it was the truth that he wasn't going to avoid.  

He wants power and Waifus and if he was going to get both he is ready to do this while nude thousands of times.  His dick holds that much power over him.  

"Cough Ahem" Jin cleared his throat and wiped his drool and controlled his brain warning it to not to think with his dick as he felt he was drooling just by imagining some sexy time with his waifus.  As there is a bulge could be seen in his pants. 

Jin's gaze drifted upwards.

[Collected Souls of Demons: 21578/10,000] 

Little Less than 400 souls remain to reach 22K….'

This happened because the huge abundance of demons as high rank demons started to become common mobs that could be found in every corner and Superior Demons repealed them as next big bad goons.  

Due to killing a Superior Demon, it gave more than one soul most times it was two but sometimes it was three or four.  

Collecting became a walk in the park.  

He has yet claimed the rewards of the quest of collecting these souls. that he'd long cleared it 

And today just so happened to be the 3th day or should 3 and half days have passed since he entered into this tower of demons. And One more day or 36 hours should be enough to complete this place. 

One of the advantages of the upper floors was that killing a single demon netted him multiple souls. Meaning, collecting souls was a cinch.

'I'll go home after clearing this dungeon.'

Making up his mind, Jin turned around.

Maybe because he had a clear goal now, his steps felt doubly energetic.

[Floors 1 to 74 have been opened.]

[Which floor would you like to transfer to?]

Jin stood in the middle of the magic elevator, no, floor-transfer magic circle, and spoke up.

"75th floor."

***

Just like the story he was there?

A smile spread on Jin's face as he stared at the monster guarding the distant floor-transfer magic circle.

[The Guide of the Departed Souls, Metus]

Just from looking at that name alone, anyone could tell that the monster was a boss.

Also, that guy was very eye-catching, what with it wearing a jet-black robe and a shiny silver necklace.

The necklace that was going to be his. The Sovereign's Necklace.'

To get to collect another part of the set equipment, too.

However, that item wasn't the only thing making Jin smile here.

Even if it was a monster that would cough up some great loot, it'd be meaningless if he couldn't hunt it.

Jin grasped eight out of  two daggers tightly while remaining oncs continued to circle around him killing anything that came nearby. And then, he ran forward.

Soon enough, the skeletal mage decked out in the black robe discovered Jin's presence.

Ring!

[The Guide of the Departed Souls, Metus, has discovered the intruder!]

Fitting for a boss-level monster, it instantly finished chanting its magic spell. As soon as a crimson magic circle formed beneath its feet, an ominous aura rushed all around it.

[The Guide of the Departed Souls, Metus has activated 'Skill: Accursed Voice'.]

Heeding Metus's call, an army of undead suddenly rose up from the ground. And they numbered several thousand!!

A normal person would've been left breathless by the sight of this horrifying army, but when he found himself surrounded by so many enemies, Jin didn't even panic for a second.

'As I thought….'

Just as he expected.

There were endless streams of black smoke rising up all around the boss monster. Seeing that, it wasn't all that difficult to guess what kind of monster this Metus happened to be. And it's not something I didn't already know.  

'The Guide of the Departed Souls, is it?'

And the monster's title only helped to further confirm his thoughts.

Sure enough, Metus summoned a powerful undead army.

Too bad, Jin just so happened to possess the best type of Class within this field.

"Rise up!!"

Uwaaaaahhhhh-!!

Accompanied by painful screams, soldiers began rising up from the shadows of the undead. Their numbers were in the several hundreds!

Compared to Metus's army, this number seemed completely ill-matched, but it was actually more than enough for him.

Because the real deal was somewhere else, that was why.

"Create a path for me!"

Soldiers emerged from Jin's shadow. 

As huge two huge beats and many medium beats who towered over pathetic skeletons could crush this army with a simple moment of their feet. 

Not to mention beasts much faster than sound could cut all of them in a single blink.  

These guys were the real deal.

While the hundreds of soldiers created from the skill 'Shadow Extraction' bought them nothing, it's just Jin wanted to try what would happen, if he extracted the shadow of an already dead monster.  

Jin's direct subordinates, the ones he paid careful attention to levelling up ever since his entrance into the Demon's Castle, carved out a path for him with the single swings of their blades.

His destination was obvious!

Igris, Iron, Akmae, Susano, Gorr, Zelos took the lead and with frightening speed and destroyed the opposing undead creatures.

While other Shadows scatter everywhere looking for demons to kill on this whole floor.  While the strong ones went alone, weaker ones were disseminated in their small groups.. 

The distance to the boss, Metus had closed up in an instant.

'This was enough.' it's not like he couldn't clear it, it just he let his shadow do some work as ending this with a spell would be easy.  

Jin quickly shoved past and rushed out into the front.

Thanks to him running around all over the huge Demon's Castle, the Ruining skills had levels up and due to such heat he was losing HP and Stamina granted him some good skills.  And many skills had risen up a level.

'Nice.'

A grin formed on Jin's face.

Jin escaped from the undead army's siege and stood before Metus in an instant. Their gazes collided mid-air.

'You didn't expect this to happen, did you?'

Jin's gaze was filled with victor's leisure, and Metus could only flinch from that. No, he thought that the monster flinched.

'All things feel fear, even monsters and it's just you have to have that presence.'

Such a thought only lingered for a second, before Jin's daggers left behind dozens of afterimages.

Plop.

The boss-level monster weakly fell to the ground.

Just like expected as a necromancer he was pathetically weak.  

He already knew through experience that mage-type monsters relying on controlling others to fight were very weak when the battle became one on one. This was especially true for summoners and necromancer types of builds.  

The moment he saw Metus in the distance, he had envisioned this end.

Jin returned the daggers to his Inventory.

Soon, the expected message popped up.

Ring~. 

[You have defeated the 'Guide of the Departed Souls, Metus'.]

[You have earned 2,10,000 experience points.]

[You have discovered Souls of Demons sealed within Metus's pendant.]

[You have acquired (220) Souls of Demons.]

[Level up!]

Jin clenched his fists tightly.

220 souls in one go.

Now that was a record.

[Collected souls of demons: 21973, 74, 76, 79, 87, 99 /10,000]

A thick smile floated up on Jin's lips.

'They are hunting at pretty good peace.'

The ever growing count of sols and experiencer points told him that his shadows have started the regular hunt that they were doing ever since they cave inside of demon castle.