6 Chapter 6

I dodged the huge paw by moving my body slightly to the left. The impact made the ground tremble, and snow flew everywhere, leaving a massive crater and a web of cracks on the ground. 

The snow, thick like a smokescreen, hindered my vision. Nevertheless, it didn't pose a problem. I simply followed the recommended actions outlined in the Killing Path.

Swiftly and without hesitation, I utilized the bear's arm as a foothold to ascend to its head.

I grabbed its fur to prevent myself from falling during its thrashing and lowered myself until my mouth was inches away from its ears. I opened my mouth and screamed at the top of my lungs. 

"Kyaa—!" 

[Skill: Banshee's Wail has been activated.] 

The bear flinched for a moment, ceasing all movement and falling into what seemed to be a trance. Its eyes lost focus and stood still. 

I didn't waste time and materialized my own dagger, beginning to hack at its skull. My movements were fast, even faster than before. 

Despite the superficial nature of the wounds I inflicted, their rapid succession created the illusion of formidable strength, ultimately leading to the destruction of his head.

By the time I stopped, the bear fell to its knees and then to its face. But I wasn't done; I dug into its chest and took its mana core. 

I tossed it into my mouth with practiced ease, my movements flowing in a familiar pattern, a testament to the hundreds of times I had done it before.

[Species: Ice Elf.] 

[Strength: 13.1, Agility: 38.9, Dexterity: 32.7, Magic: 21.5.] 

[Status: Mentally Fatigued.] 

I'm not even sure how long it has been since I started my grind. Not that I'm completely engrossed in hunting monsters, but it's actually impossible for me to track days since the sun here never sets. 

I never find it weird since I once lived in Greenland during summer. And at those times, the sun never sets for months. Be it midnight, the town was brightly lit by sunlight. 

So unless I focus on counting every hour that passes by, I would never know. Maybe AI knows. 

"AI?"

[Days since you last slept: 41 days.] 

"Oh." 

Well, there you have it. It seems I've been running around killing monsters in the dungeon for more than a month now. 

Stats-wise, I've grown a lot, double of the stats when I first woke up. True to my words, I spent my days grinding without rest. 

Thankfully, AI has this ultra-useful Self-Healing Protocol that heals my fatigued body and injuries accumulated throughout the grinding session whenever needed. 

However, the protocol couldn't heal the stress in my mind. I may be physically healthy, but that doesn't mean my mental health is. I've been going around for the past forty-one days killing monsters, after all.

Take note, I was just a normal guy prior to my transmigration. While I did not show any emotions when I killed those wolves in the cave, having seen so much blood and gore for a month straight put my mind under so much stress. 

Even if I trick myself into thinking that I'm just killing a turkey for Thanksgiving day, it doesn't change the fact that I killed hundreds of them. It definitely is going to have an effect. 

The blood, the whimpers, the feeling of me tearing their flesh apart—it has become normal to me. I can even still feel the sensation of me cutting their flesh until now. 

It's like those phenomena: why do we feel waves on the bed after a day at the sea? Like that. I'm feeling exactly like that.

"But this is necessary. If I don't do this, something worse than this is going to happen to me. I'm going to die." 

I can endure this. No, I should endure it. Anyway, let's set that aside. Simply observing the gains I've achieved from my efforts is enough to lift my spirits, especially in comparison to the current challenges I'm facing.

I got two new skills as well from killing a wide range of monsters. 

[Skills: Ice Magic, Cold Aura, Stealth, Banshee's Wail, False Appearance.] 

Banshee's Wail, of course, came from a banshee. As for False Appearance, I got it after farming hundreds of those Ice Mephits. It allows me to change my appearance. 

Though useless for now, it'll definitely be useful once I get out of this place.

The increase in agility and dexterity makes me stronger than I expected. 

I'm not sure how strong I am compared to Jinwoo or Baruka or even the elves, but I can pretty much solo kill a bear—the entity I feared in the past—with relative ease now. 

Although my strength is nowhere near the bear's, my other three stats make up for it. 

As for stats in my magic, I noticed that as the points increased, not only did the amount of mana in my body grow, but also my control became better and it became more concentrated. 

This made my spells, especially ice magic, more potent when used. 

Only my strength stats remained that low. Not like I can do anything anyway; it's only recently that I started to hunt monsters with a high amount of strength, meaning it's only now that I'll get a lot of strength points when consuming a mana core.

"If only I had the same cheat as Jinwoo..." 

Well, no use complaining. Not like that's going to change anything. I stood up, readying myself to hunt another monster in the vicinity. 

Bear, salamander, mephits, whatever they may be. The gate still hasn't opened up; I have no time to waste. This is still not enough.

"Scan the area for me."

However, right after the AI scanned the surroundings for monsters, I got a different notification than usual. 

[Warning: (9) High Concentration of Mana Detected. Approaching Entity. Prepare for potential encounters and exercise heightened vigilance.]