Fight the Strongest?
At the same time, at Schicksal's main headquarters.
"WHAT!!!"
A very loud scream was heard.
In front of Kouro's room, Kiana along with Mei, Ayame, and Bronya were staring at the Ragna in front of them with incredulous looks.
"Kouro's going on vacation for a month!?" Ayame asked with a strange expression.
Looking at all of them, Ragna then nodded her head before sighing, "Yep... if it wasn't for the Overseer telling me... I also really wouldn't know that he had left."
"Do you know where he went and with whom?" asked Kiana quickly.
"From what the Overseer said, Kouro-kun went on vacation to Paris, and he said that Kouro went alone." Ragna replied.
(E/D: Otto you have betrayed your fellow comrade. Now I will bully your alternate version in Genshin Impact, who is always standing at the entrance of the Knights of Favonius, Muhahaha!)
Kiana first thanked her before turning to look at Bronya with a serious expression.
"I see, thank you. Bronya! Quickly track Kouro's whereabouts using your 'Hacking' ability!"
Bronya turned to look at her with a flat expression, "...Isn't that a criminal act?"
"Ehhh... Isn't it okay? After all, it's possible that Kouro is currently caught up in something, like being chased by girls for example." Ayame said.
"With subject Kouro's strength, Bronya calculated that it was unlikely to happen."
Seeing that her persuasion did not succeed in persuading Bronya, Ayame then sighed before looking at Mei with a pleading expression.
"Bronya-chan, I also want to know where Kouro-kun is right now." Mei said with curved eyes and a gentle smile.
Seeing Mei's gentle smile, Bronya suddenly got goosebumps before cooperatively tracking down Kouro's whereabouts under the watchful eyes of all of them.
Actually, all of Kouro's internet-connected electronic devices had been tapped and controlled by Bronya for a long time so it shouldn't take long to track Kouro's whereabouts.
A few minutes later, Bronya's eyebrows now looked slightly furrowed when she did not find Kouro's whereabouts at all.
"Bronya was unable to find the subject Kouro. Bronya could only find the airport that subject Kouro boarded from."
"Eh?! Does that mean Kouro disappeared?" Kiana asked with concern.
"Not necessarily, maybe Kouro has known that all his electronic devices have been tapped so he deliberately turned them off or even deliberately did not bring any electronic devices." Ayame said.
Kouro actually had a cell phone with him but he had put it in the 'Inventory' so it wasn't detected by Bronya.
"Maybe he went to Paris to meet a girl so he left secretly..." Ragna said in a joking tone.
"Then we have to go after him!" Kiana said firmly.
"Right, we have to go after him!" Ayame nodded her head.
Mei was still smiling but looking at her hands that were clenched hard it seemed like she also had the same thought.
Ragna who saw all this was smiling stiffly, there was only one thought in her mind.
'I'm sorry Kouro, I can only pray for your safety...'
__
On the other side.
In a dimly lit hallway, Kouro was clashing swords with a humanoid creature wearing armored clothes like a medieval knight who even carried a large shield and long sword.
*Ting!*
*Ting!*
Why did Kouro refer to it as a 'creature' instead of a human?
It was because he had seen the true appearance of this 'Knight' before him.
The body of this creature in front of him was not flesh and bone like a living being but merely a 'shadow'.
More precisely, it was a 'shadow' that had turned solid to form a human-like body.
Their swords clashed against each other to emit sparks, although it looked strong unfortunately this 'Knight' had a fatal flaw.
Too slow.
In Kouro's eyes, the 'Knight's' movements were really slow and too stiff, even though the Knight's speed rivaled that of an A-rank Valkyrie.
But even though it was slow and stiff, the 'Knight' had fairly high defense, at least, the Xuanyuan sword without Honkai energy infusion could not damage the 'Knight's' large armor and shield.
Kouro then jumped backward to create some distance before the two Xuanyuan swords in his hands could be seen enveloped by the burning blue flames.
He activated [Sprint] to create momentum before swinging his two swords without blinking.
The knight seemed to raise his large shield to deflect the attack, but... That was a mistake.
Kouro's sword instantly cut through the large shield like tofu and even cut the Knight in half.
[You have slain a 'Knight']
Kouro stared at the pile of armor that had melted under his feet with a serious expression before muttering, "Can this monster be called a 'Monster'? Why do I feel like this thing is more like a puppet..."
He then thought of the system notification when he had fully entered the portal.
[You have entered the Special Dungeon]
[You will not be able to exit the Dungeon until you have cleared it]
[In this area, your 'Potion', 'Mall' and 'Status Recovery' have been Restricted]
Almost similar to the 'Instant Dungeon' that he had entered before, he could not exit this place before he completed the quest or had a 'Heartstone'.
But the difference is, the difficulty of this Dungeon is unknown compared to the first Dungeon, there is no healing, and there is no escape.
What a risky challenge!
In the end, though, Kouro did it anyway because he needed the power and he also had a lot of confidence that he wouldn't fail.
Ji Xuanyuan appeared on Kouro's shoulder before asking, "[What are you thinking about, Kouro?]"
"Ah, nothing I was just-" Kouro's words were suddenly interrupted by Ji Xuanyuan's Alter suddenly appearing.
"[Be careful! Behind you!]"
Hearing her warning, Kouro spontaneously rolled over before jumping away.
*Bang!**Bang!**Bang!*
Several high-speed bullets shot toward Kouro was.
*Boom!*
Each of those bullets seemed to have a high warhead considering the floor he was standing on before had been shattered.
Seeing this, Kouro immediately stood up and then raised his head to stare at the dark hallway in front of him with a wary expression.
It was very difficult to see such a shot in this place that had dim lighting.
Moreover, the creature that fired the bullet had a very thin air of existence.
The sound of footsteps echoed from the hallway, from behind the shadows a humanoid creature with a human-like body shape in dark blue military robes was seen holding a rifle whose muzzle was still emitting smoke.
The creature raised its head to look at Kouro and revealed dark blue eyes that glowed like lights.
Seeing this creature, Kouro quickly turned his sword into a fiery chain and threw it at the creature.
"GET OVER HERE!"
The creature jumped back to avoid Kouro's attack and simultaneously aimed its rifle at him before firing several times.
*Bang!**Bang!**Bang!*
*Boom!*
Each of those shots carried a fiery explosion.
Kouro dodged all the shots and simultaneously approached it before using his [Dominator's Touch] ability when about 10 meters away from it to stop it from moving.
Seeing the creature stopped, Kouro activated [Sprint] and immediately swung his sword that had been enveloped in burning blue flames without blinking.
*Swoosh!*
Just as he was about to slash at it, Kouro saw the creature raise its head and stare back at him.
His movements halted for a moment before his expression turned serious and he swung his sword again at full power.
[You have slain a 'Ranger']
The creature's body split into two and burned before finally turning into ashes.
Kouro looked at the dust on the ground with a pensive expression.
He didn't know what the 'Ranger's' eyes were reflecting when looking at him at that moment.
A feeling of relief? A feeling of peace? Or a feeling of hatred?
Kouro didn't know, he had even from the beginning wondered if the creatures inside the Dungeon created by the system were living beings with minds.
Recalling his previous experience when he opened the 'Instant Dungeon', the creatures in that Dungeon felt like they were programmed much differently compared to this Dungeon.
Kouro thought that he now somewhat understood why this dungeon was called a 'Special Dungeon'.
"[Kouro! Those creatures are in front of you!]"
Ji Xuanyuan's shout woke Kouro up from his reverie, he then looked ahead. Several 'Knights' and 'Rangers' were forming some sort of formation.
Seeing them, Kouro's two swords were then enveloped by blue flames that lit up the hallway.
Black smoke even emerged from his entire body before finally blowing toward the creatures.
"...Come here."
A few hours later.
Hundreds of pieces of armor and dust were scattered on the ground, and nearby was Kouro, who was currently leaning against the wall while breathing heavily.
[HP: 39,883/42,000]
[SP: 10,206/15,040]
[Fatigue: 64]
It was very difficult to fight the 'Knight' and 'Ranger' when they worked together let alone forming some kind of battle formation.
Fortunately, with his current strength and abilities, it only took a while before he could defeat all of them.
He also gained 2 levels after fighting them all, apparently, the 'exp' he got from eliminating them was more than from the Honkai Beast.
Kouro stared at the water bottle he got from 'Looting' the creatures before drinking it.
[Fatigue: 14]
After feeling better, he then stood up and looked at the large door in front of him with a serious expression.
"Is this going to be the boss's room?"
Kouro pushed the door hard until he finally got a clear view of the scene inside.
The room was completely different from what Kouro had in mind.
This room was completely similar to the room where he fought ELF Kevin in the ancient temple.
He saw all the statues of the MANTIS lined up in a curved semicircle.
Just as his foot stepped in, one of the MANTIS statues opened its eyes and looked at Kouro.
It was the statue of the world's strongest warrior, Kevin Kaslana.
Seeing the statue of Kevin staring at him, he immediately felt soul-piercing goosebumps.
His entire body exclaimed that the creature in front of him was extremely dangerous.
"[What the hell?! What kind of horrible monster is this?!]" shouted Alter Ji Xuanyuan with a dumbfounded expression.
She could feel the gripping aura of the statue, even the aura it emitted was so powerful that 'ELF Kevin' was just dust compared to this statue in front of them.
And now Kouro was to fight this monster!?
Alter Ji Xuanyuan turned around to stare at the door behind them which had been closed tightly.
'[Damn it! The escape route has been closed!]'
"[Oi Kouro! Let's escape! With our current strength, there's no way we can defeat that monster!" shouted Alter Ji Xuanyuan to the point of even pinching Kouro's cheek hard.
"[That's useless.]" said Ji Xuanyuan beside her in a calm voice.
"[What do you mean? We need to get Kouro out of here immediately!]"
Ji Xuanyuan stared at her twin for a moment before finally saying, "[Don't you see the expression Kouro is wearing right now?]"
"[Huh?]" Alter Ji Xuanyuan was confused by her words and finally turned to look at Kouro's face before her expression changed to surprise.
Kouro was currently looking at the monster with a happy grin and his purple eyes were shining very brightly.
A thought flashed through Alter Ji Xuanyuan's mind with a dumbfounded expression.
'[Kouro... Has he gone mad?!]'