How Come You're Here?!

The entire floor was covered with hundreds of three-meter-tall wolves. Once I get hit by one of them, then it's obvious that I'll die soon enough. However, I'm not going to allow such a thing to happen!

*Slash!*

As of the moment, I am nothing but a cutting machine, waving my sword at anything that comes within range.

Heads flew, and blood spurted, along with a symphony of loud cries and howls. However, the waves seemed endless, not giving me any time to rest.

"...!"

As I was running continuously, the inevitable approached. I was cornered, stuck in the far corner of the floor, with nothing but monsters around me.

It was fortunate that they had large bodies, as they couldn't attack me all at once without bumping against one another, or else I'd probably be in a deeper sh*t right now.

While trying to utilize the limited space I had, I dodged incoming claws while swinging the sword in my hand. It was so sharp that just the slightest touch was enough to wound the wolves.

As my head was focused on the sole function of surviving as long as I could, the number of wolves around me started to dwindle little by little. I have no idea how long it has been, but when I reached my limit, my arms shaking in fatigue and my breath shallow and quick, not a single wolf stood alive before me.

Corpses were scattered across the entire corner, making it feel stuffy just by staying there.

I sat on a nearby corpse as I panted before turning to the blue windows that I had been ignoring since the start. There were already thousands of them!

"..."

It was bothersome to read them one by one, so I just closed everything with a single command before checking my status panel.

---

Name: Hvir Shaloon

Race: Human

Level: 8

Ability: Curse of Infinite Revival

---

"Level eight..."

I only completed the first floor but only reached level 8. How much experience is required for each succeeding level? This is driving me crazy...

After a good rest, I finally stood up and moved to the next floor. This time, the process remained the same. Since my strength increases by 20% for every level, I should be about twice as powerful as I was during level 5.

Not only my senses, my strength, and my agility, but even my mind was showing extreme improvements now.

As I went down to the second floor, a group of claws attacked me in a surprise attack. I watched as the sharp nails came closer and wondered, "They're so slow now, compared to before."

I casually swung the sword, cutting off a claw, before moving to the side to dodge the rest. Then, with a light jump, I reached the wolves and swung my blade, reaping five heads at once.

*Tap!*

As soon as I landed on the railings of the ramp, looking down on the rest of the wolves below, the five behind me fell down, lifeless.

"Maybe I should begin counting them. See how many I need for each level."

After that, it was nothing more than menial labor. With my current reaction speed and kinetic vision upgraded to approximately four times that of a normal person's, killing the wolves now felt like I was just walking down the park, playing with hungry dogs.

"Four hundred ninety, four hundred ninety-one..."

The count had almost reached 500, and I have yet to gain another level. Just as I was wondering if all the wolves on the second floor weren't enough, I suddenly saw the familiar blue panel showing that I leveled up.

The count stopped at 512, and since clearing the first floor brought me exactly to level 8, then that means the experience needed to reach level 9 was equivalent to 512 green-level monsters.

"That's a lot..."

Well, knowing how it's becoming easier with each level up, I guess the numbers do make sense. Now, I'm level 9, with overall stats approximately 5 times those of when I was level 1.

Anyway, after that, I continued counting. In the end, I finished the second floor with about 1,000 wolves. After making sure that I didn't miss one, I went down to the third floor. There were another thousand wolves there, which brought me to level 10 after 1,024 kills. It seems like the experience requirement doubles with each level.

The speed at which I was conquering the floors was accelerating as I gained more levels.

I didn't clock it, but clearing the first floor took me roughly five hours. The second floor took about 2 hours, and the third to fifth floors took roughly an hour and a half.

On the fifth floor, I finally managed to reach level 11, which further added to my strength, boosting my clearing speed to 1 hour per floor.

Just as the time was about to reach nearly midnight, I finally managed to clear the ninth floor, which added another level to me. Now, I'm at level 12, which, with basic computation, brings me to about 7.5 times as powerful as at level 1.

I didn't need to rest as long before finally going down to the last floor. There weren't as many wolves left here compared to the other floors, since I and Garuda had already hunted a lot of them.

Still, there were still hundreds of them spread all over the wide parking lot. As soon as I got down, I could feel the gazes turning in my direction, but I didn't pay them much attention. I only had one target, and with my enhanced senses, I could tell where it was without even needing to go down.

"So you're over there..." I muttered as I stared at the corner of the ramp, around the bend. "Planning to surprise attack me? Unfortunately...!"

I kicked the floor, letting my anger fuel my charge.

"... I'm not as weak as I was before!"

*BAM!*

My fist landed on an invisible object and sent it blasting off the railings before smashing against one of the pillars. The chameleon-man's figure slowly appeared, unable to keep itself invisible anymore. It was embedded into the pillar with a smashed face and was unable to extricate itself.

*THUD!*

I jumped down before rushing to where the bastard was, grabbed it by the shoulder, and started to rain down punches toward its face. In just a few moments, the monster's body turned limp, not even twitching anymore.

"..."

That was anticlimactic. I thought taking revenge on it would clear my mind at least, but nothing of the sort happened. Instead, I just felt like I wasted my time. If not for the level I gained along the way, then it might've been a real waste...

"...!"

Just as I let go of it and was about to start clearing the wolves around, the skin on the back of my neck started to crawl. I lowered my body and turned toward the furthest end of the 10th underground parking lot, but I couldn't see anything other than darkness.

However, all my senses were warning me. Something was there, and it was something dangerous!

Even as I kept my vigilance, scrutinizing the wall, I still found nothing. That was until a giant, glowing, golden eyeball opened up.

"You..." I felt like my throat was parched, looking at the familiar figure staring at me. "How did you get here?!"

Slowly, it undid its mimicry, appearing in full glory. Tentacles had already surrounded the entire underground floor. I have no way out.

With my trembling fingers, I gripped the sword in my hand tightly, gritting my teeth as I denied my fears.

"No..." I muttered, trying to fight back the desire to cower. "I became stronger than before! There's no way I'm going down without a fight!"

Currently in front of me was one of the two confirmed black-rank monsters, the giant eyeball octopus!