365-376

Chapter 365 Let him be

"Was it really the right decision to leave?" One of the noble Vampires of the Shila family asked, looking down at the valley.

His eyes darted in the direction of the battlefield, where the five remaining Vampire Clans collided with the Undying group and the three Werewolf packs.

"You can go back and die with them if you want to," The Shila family's patriarch responded in a dry tone, sounding as if he was not really affected that his pride had been hurt.

Dilan's imposing behavior should have affected the leaders of the three Vampire Clans the most but it looked like all of them were fine.

This was incomprehensible for the noble Vampires, and even the Vampire subordinates, who knew their master more than anyone outside their clan could ever find out.

"No no, I don't want to return…I was just saying," The noble Vampire quickly improvised and shook his head. The others smiled dryly at his reaction but nobody said anything.

A unique, sweet scent swept through the surroundings and everyone froze in their place at once.

The heads of more than 1500 Vampires flicked in a particular direction, where a single being shrouded in dense blood mist had appeared.

"It was intelligent to leave," A charming voice echoed in the ears of all the Vampires, who began to feel a sudden weakness in their legs.

They didn't know what was going on with their body but they instinctively kneeled down as the patriarchs placed their right fists on their chest, bowing in the direction of the Vampire, who had emerged in front of them.

"Lord Galliard, we bow to you!" the three patriarchs said in union, not daring to look in the frightening eyes of their Vampire Lord.

"You know that I hate formalities. Get up and report to me what exactly is going on down there," The Vampire Lord said, while his long black hair flitted in the blood mist around him.

He had pale and fair skin, just like any Vampire, the same crimson eyes, and a small yet extremely athletic physique.

Nonetheless, he looked like the most terrifying existence all the present Vampires had ever seen.

The three patriarchs explained the situation without hesitation. They didn't leave out a single detail and hurriedly recounted the events, shutting their mouths when the Vampire Lord lifted his hand calmly.

"He didn't kill you because of little Victoria? And he just makes use of the Werewolves and isn't in an alliance with them?" He asked to ensure that he had heard them right.

However, the sepulchral tone in which he uttered every word, prevented the Vampires from saying a single word at this very moment. They could barely nod their head, which was enough for the Vampire Lord to retract his blood mist.

"In that case, he can kill all of them," The Vampire Lord said as he looked at the battlefield that was located more than three kilometers away from the Vampire Lord's location.

"HUH? But…they're your subjects. All the noble vampires belong to you," One of the noble Vampires blurted out without thinking beforehand.

Only when he realized once again whom he was speaking to did the blood in his veins freeze. He gulped nervously in fear of getting killed for his words but the Vampire Lord didn't seem to care about that.

"Do they? They're just leeches, I don't need them. Let him be. With the Primordial Ascension, I can just create my own set of noble Vampires. My Ancient Vampire Powers are constantly becoming stronger, don't think too much, just let me watch in silence!" the Vampire Lord said monotonously, while the corners of his lips curled upward.

It looked like he was enjoying the current situation. This caused many to feel even more afraid.

Some humans and Vampires dared to annihilate the vast majority of Vampires that had been living in the Shikan plains for more than a thousand years, yet the Vampire Lord seemed to find the situation amusing.

"He is really powerful…I wonder how much stronger he would be as a Vampire noble…" The Vampire Lord said with brightly glowing eyes.

The noble Vampires and patriarchs looked at their Lord with wide eyes. The Vampire Lord's intention was obvious but it was still hard to accept that he would allow someone to kill all his noble Vampires just to find a new, better being to become a Vampire.

Dilan had no idea what was going on outside the valley. He merely used his [Thunder Step] and [Second Acceleration] ability every now and then to exterminate the lives of the noble Vampires around him.

There were a total of 300 Tier-2 Vampires, and close to 28 noble Vampires. Killing them was not difficult for Dilan, and it got even easier when the Alphas, Betas, and Gammas of the three Werewolf packs unleashed their whole strength.

They didn't like the fact that a Vampire was fighting on their side, let alone the fact that three Vampire Clans had been spared by Dilan, but it was not as if they were strong enough to kill him.

The Alphas thought about killing the Ascenders Dilan controlled but this would only end in their own death. It was not as if it would help them get rid of Dilan if that were to be necessary.

Taking someone hostage didn't seem helpful as well. The Alphas were pretty sure that Dilan would let the hostage die in order to make sure that he and the rest of his people would survive.

Ultimately, the three Werewolf packs had no chance of getting rid of Dilan. Thus, they simply accepted their fate.

They called themselves lucky and left it at that.

Killing more than 2500 Vampires was no problem. Victoria used her Blood-Ice to erupt two huge walls blocking the advance of more than 1000 Vampires for a short time. This gave the Undying Group and Werewolves a numerical advantage.

But that advantage was not the most important. The fact that Dilan, Victoria, Yvonne, Kathrine and some of the strongest Werewolves got rid of the Vampires' leaders as quickly as they could be even more important, sealing their fate and loss.

In less than an hour, the corpses of more than 2500 Vampires littered the ground.

There were close to 10,000 corpses all around the valley, which was also why it took so long to collect all the Blood Essences after the battle.

Everyone was exhausted but that didn't stop them from going beyond their limit to greedily devour everything they could get their hands on.

The sabertooth tiger was the most interesting being in the entire valley. At least that was what Dilan thought as he saw how the sabertooth tiger brought Dilan all the corpses of the Vampires he had killed.

He removed their Blood Essences, and stored them in his storage ring before he allowed the sabertooth tiger to eat the corpses, or do whatever he wanted to.

Funnily enough, the sabertooth tiger created a huge pile of corpses, throwing the powerful Vampires on top of each other before he began to eat them.

The sabertooth tiger wanted to make use of the special blood in the Vampires to strengthen his blood, or possibly to advance and reinforce his bloodline.

That was what Dilan thought, and he simply accepted it. The sabertooth tiger didn't intend to protect the Undying group but it often did so indirectly by jumping straight into the fray, where the strongest Vampires had been located.

Dilan didn't see the sabertooth tiger often in the battle against the five Vampire Clans but whenever he saw the monster, it wreaked havoc with all the powerful Vampires in its sight.

This was quite interesting and it reaffirmed his decision to take in the sabertooth tiger, whether it was against the monster's will or not.

Now the battles had ended, and Dilan was in front of the Sanctum of the Old Vampire Lord.

"Let's see what the Blood Monarch's Sanctum will look like!"

Chapter 366 Inside the Sanctum

Chapter 366 Inside the Sanctum

Dilan considered leveling up to Level 25 and advancing to Tier-2 before entering the Sanctum of the Vampire Lord, let alone the Instance Dungeon of the Blood Monarch's Sanctum.

However, instead of wasting his time searching for powerful monsters, Dilan was certain that there was either a way to advance to Tier-2 inside the Instance Dungeon, or that he would be able to store everything he was about to get his hands on inside the Instance Dungeon.

He wouldn't be making a loss and that was the most important.

The three Werewolf packs showed signs of resting outside the Sanctum of the Old Vampire Lord, but everyone knew that they wanted to get their hands on the things inside the Sanctum, whatever that might be.

Even Victoria was not sure what could be inside her father's sanctum, which was basically the Vampire Lord's grave.

"Don't be so nervous. You should be happy instead!" Kathrine tried to motivate Victoria, who was constantly sighing and nervously staring at the huge gate of the Sanctum.

To open them, only the five Sanctum keys were required. As for entering the Inner Sanctum, Victoria's blood was the key to entering it.

Thus, they didn't waste a lot of time before all the Ascenders of the Undying group entered the Sanctum.

Dilan knew a few things about the Sanctum because he had received a few more pieces of information about the Blood Monarch's Instance dungeon when the Region announcement happened.

He knew that the outer parts of the Old Vampire Lord's Sanctum were not dangerous but rather peaceful if one could label it as such.

The smell of stale air splashed on his face when he opened the gate of the Sanctum. No system notification rang through his ear, which astonished Dilan a little bit.

However, instead of being bothered about it, he just entered the Sanctum with confident steps.

While looking around, Dilan quickly noticed that the sanctum's interior was luxurious and constructed with marble. There was not much furniture and the only things he saw in the hallway which he and the others entered were a bunch of pictures.

"Is it spotlessly clean, or am I just blind?" Kathrine asked all of a sudden, and Dilan nodded his head.

"Yeah, it's very clean, too clean for a place where nobody ought to have been for a thousand years or however long it has been since it was last visited," Dilan said while glancing over to Victoria.

He also looked backward, just to see that all the Ascenders were following him inside the ten-meter-wide hallway. If something were to happen to them, it would be quite troublesome.

Fortunately, the Sanctum of the Old Vampire Lord was something that had been created before the Primordial Ascension. None of his Ascenders should die, even if there were some ugly traps installed through this place.

Dilan was not that worried about traps, but he felt a bit weird because everything was too clean for his comfort!

"I cannot sense any kind of livingform nearby. Maybe I will be able to say more when we finish exploring the Sanctum?" Yvonne uttered from the sides, focusing on her Origin ability and the passive ability to sense anything related to death in the vast space.

Life was closely tied to death, which was also why her sensory abilities to detect the living were exceptional!

Dilan nodded his head but the uncomfortable feeling made it near-impossible for him to calm down. There was no need to waste any time with that feeling, which was why he tapped Yvonne and Victoria on their shoulders before he pointed toward the front.

"Come," He suggested before shooting forward. With a loud noise, Dilan blasted in the direction of the Sanctum's center.

It took him a second before they reached the dimly illuminated gate to the Inner Sanctum. Victoria cut her wrist and used her blood to draw a specific symbol on the gate, and the gate opened in an anticlimactic manner.

"Well that was…boring," Dilan smiled weirdly just for Victoria to stare at him without saying a word.

"Go on, nobody will hold you back from searching for your father's coffin," He said with a raised eyebrow.

Victoria smiled sweetly before she shot inside the inner sanctum while Yvonne looked at him.

"The mana density inside the inner sanctum is much higher than outside," Yvonne said and Dilan just nodded his head.

"Looks like the Instance Dungeon of the Blood Monarch's Sanctum is inside the Inner Sanctum. That means without Victoria's blood, or a combination of my blood and that of a noble Vampire, only brute force and destruction could possibly let them through to the Instance Dungeon," Dilan explained with a faint smile as he demonstrated something to Yvonne.

He used all his might, which was equal to the average strength of more than 120 adults, to slap the marble wall that separated the outer Sanctum from the Inner Sanctum.

The loud sound of his hand clasping the wall reverberated through the hallways to his right and left but there was not even the slightest sign of a crack.

Yvonne's eyes widened slightly and she instinctively retrieved the skeletons of the Minotaur Leaders from her Penta-Item pouch. She controlled them and ordered them to smash their mazes against the wall.

This created thunderous noises that bounced off the walls but the marble wall was solid as ever. In fact, it didn't even look like something had scratched its surface, much less attack it. This caused Yvonne to look at Dilan in shock.

"Exactly. Isn't that weird?" Dilan just said before he shrugged his shoulders lightly.

He had been a little bit confused about why the Vampires didn't try to enter the Sanctum using their brute strength, but the answer was much simpler than he thought.

"Witches have reinforced the walls with enchantments," He explained nonchalantly as if it was nothing special.

"You said that witches have been in existence even before the Primordial Ascension…but to think that they can augment marble stone so much… That is amazing…and frightening at the same time…" Yvonne was not sure what to say. She believed Dilan without a doubt.

However, that didn't mean she was ready to accept that someone was strong enough to create the powerful walls that protected the sanctum.

"Maybe the witches' spell was reinforced through the mana that permeated through Milarn, who knows," Dilan suddenly theorized and Yvonne just nodded her head.

Everything was slowly becoming stronger and more resilient, whether it was plants, the ground, or buildings. It was like mana strengthened it.

But that was still different from the marble wall right in front of them.

"This place is truly perfect for a large group to stay…" Yvonne blurted out and Dilan could only nod his head.

If they weren't already living fairly comfortably in Shiron, he would actually reconsider moving to the Sanctum of the old Vampire Lord.

It was basically a place that was extremely easy to protect, if not for the only downside it had; being located in a valley.

This was the only downside Dilan found about the Sanctum, or so he presumed, just to miss out that there was something else they had paid attention to.

"Our home is truly perfect, but it's not a place you humans ought to be!"

Chapter 367 Different

Chapter 367 Different

"Our home is truly perfect, but it's not a place you humans are supposed to be!"

Dilan and Victoria looked at the Vampire, who had appeared before them.

There was no ill intention in his actions and his stance showed that he was not looking for trouble.

His sapphire blue eyes darted at Yvonne and the two Minotaur Leader Skeletons which she controlled before he turned his head to Dilan.

"You brought Victoria here?" He asked and Dilan could only nod his head when the Vampire moved aside.

"In that case, you and your group can enter…temporarily," The Vampire with sapphire eyes said in a clipped tone, acting as if he had the power to control what Dilan and his group were under his thumb.

Dilan didn't say anything about that but he could tell that the Vampire, or whatever the man was, couldn't be taken lightly.

"Are you a Hybrid?" Yvonne asked suddenly, which caused the Vampire's head to flick in her direction. His fangs grew and his eyes began to glow in a bright sapphire tone as he shot forward.

It was obvious that he was enraged, but it was not necessary for him to attack Yvonne just for asking a question, whether the question was rude or not.

Dilan's hand lunged out the moment the Vampire passed by. He grasped the Vampire's neck without a problem before he lifted him into the air.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Dilan asked coldly, his sky blue eyes staring straight at the Vampire.

He choked the Vampire and didn't intend to let go of him for the time being. On the contrary, Dilan increased the strength he put in his hands to cut off the wind supply, while his merciless eyes stared into the Vampire's eyes.

"First, answer her question, and then introduce yourself properly!" Dilan said after nearly an entire minute had passed before he put down the Vampire.

The Vampire had been trying to scratch Dilan with his razor-sharp claws but Dilan's skin was like tempered iron, extremely hard to even scratch despite its pointed claws.

'Who the hell are they?!' The Vampire wondered, touching his neck several times in apprehension. He was healing rapidly but it was still a bit shocking for him when he realized how simply Dilan had picked him out of his extremely fast speed.

"I…was born as a Vampire…and I have the blood of Werewolves in my vein…" The Vampire revealed slowly, glancing over at Dilan every now and then. Dilan looked inconspicuous and not like he was some sort of powerful existence.

His appearance and presence didn't justify the terrifying strength Dilan possessed.

"...and my name is Kilian…" the Hybrid, called Kilian, introduced himself unwillingly.

Dilan just nodded his head before he continued to ask questions,

"How do you know Victoria? Don't tell me that she is your half-sister?"

He was trying to figure out why someone would be inside the Inner region of the Old Vampire Lord's Sanctum without the five Sanctum keys or belonging to the Vampire lord's bloodline.

In fact, one was required to tick both boxes to enter the Inner Sanctum. Thus, Dilan was a bit confused.

"We are the Guardians of our Master, and don't dare to approach the Mylady!" Kilian said in broken English but Dilan just nodded his head, understanding what he wanted to convey.

"How many of you are in the Inner Sanctum and did you already enter the Instance Dungeon of the Blood Monarch?" Dilan asked, not really caring about the former part.

It was not important how many Hybrids or Guardians were present. Only the Instance Dungeon of the Blood Monarch's Sanctum was of importance and the fact that he wanted to enter it first to get the bonus for conquering it as the first person.

"We don't meet the requirements to enter the Instance Dungeon, and our number is a bit on the larger side but we are not too many…" Kilian said carefully, making it obvious that he didn't want to reveal a lot to the strangers.

Dilan just nodded his head in understanding.

"Yeah, you guys are way too weak. There is no way that you advanced to Tier-1 already," He said while continuing to nod his head.

Dilan looked over to Yvonne, who returned his gaze.

"Look out for Victoria's mana. I will take a look at the Instance Dungeon," Dilan ordered without a change of his expression as he added as an afterthought, "And try not to kill anyone for the time being. We never know how useful someone can be."

It didn't matter that Kilian could hear him. Dilan didn't mind that at all as he disappeared from the spot.

The Hybrid was nearly flung through the air as Dilan's rapid movements caused a strong air pressure to blast against him.

Only with Yvonne's fast reaction was it possible for Kilian to remain standing on his two feet.

"Thanks…" He said, throwing a wary gaze in the direction Dilan had run to.

"You guys should really become stronger, otherwise, you will die sooner or later," Yvonne shook her head while stating the obvious.

She had figured out that the Hybrid had never left the Sanctum since the Primordial Ascension happened. Maybe he was simply not able to leave the sanctum for more than a thousand years and had been confined to these walls or they didn't want to abandon the Sanctum because they were the Guardians of the Master.

However, it was not very helpful to be as weak as they were if they called themselves a Guardian, for whatever kind of being.

After she pointed out her opinion, Yvonne sent the two Minotaur Leaders back in her Penta-Item Pouch before she disappeared in the blink of an eye as well.

She ran straight towards Victoria, whose mana had left behind a trail for her to follow.

Yvonne followed that trail while Kilian could only witness how more than a thousand, extremely powerful humans passed through the hallway of the Sanctum's outer region.

"What the hell is going on here?!?..." He blurted out in shock, not understanding anything at all.

Since the Primordial Ascension had occurred less than two months had passed.

At first, nothing special had changed for the inhabitants of the Old Vampire Lord's sanctum. The Log of the Ancient was there to look at but it didn't make any sense to them.

However, when the first, and only temporary Gate had manifested inside the sanctum, and more than 1000 monsters had emerged from it, the Guardians were bombarded with trouble.

None of them died but many had been ripped apart like pieces of paper. The Guardians had been too weak and they only survived due to their unique racial traits.

They became stronger by absorbing the Essence crystals of the many monsters they defeated but the temporary Gate disappeared, leaving them no chance to grow and evolve.

Since then, their strength had stagnated and it looked like they would have to wait for more opportunities.

The regional system notification and the appearance of the Instance Dungeon of the Blood Monarch's Sanctum seemed like an opportunity but the Guardians were not able to enter the Instance Dungeon.

Thus, they could only wait, which was everything they had done except sleep for a very long time…

But it looked like their wait had finally ended. First, Victoria had appeared out of nowhere, and now humans flooded the Sanctum…humans powerful enough to eradicate all of the Guardians if they desired to.

Kilian felt uncomfortable and the first thing he could think of was to alarm everyone.

"No…Victoria and this…Dark Witch will be enough to warn…then how about I…no that would be suicidal.." Kilian mumbled, just to rush in a particular direction, going down the path of a suicidal Hybrid.

Chapter 368 Tears

Chapter 368 Tears

[Realm Gate leading to Instance Dungeon has been discovered by the Host]

[Realm Gate leading to the entrance of the Instance Dungeon can be entered by Tier-2 beings, and having all stats above 100!]

Dilan didn't find the Instance Dungeon he was looking for but what he found was a huge, five-meter-tall door that had unique hieroglyphs engraved all over it.

He couldn't read the hieroglyphs to decipher their meaning to begin with but the notification he received was more than enough to tell him that he was where he ought to be.

"Looks like a door that would lead to another world…somehow…" Dilan mumbled, looking at the door that radiated pure mysteriousness toward Dilan.

He was quite interested in entering the Realm Gate but it was not possible. This was quite frustrating, but it was not something he could change.

"We thought that the Realm Gate leads to the Origin of the Vampires, to our home…" Kilian, the Hybrid, said while eying Dilan carefully.

Instead of returning to his people, where Victoria and the dangerous woman were now, Kilian thought that it was much more intelligent to figure out what Dilan was doing.

In the end, Dilan ended up exactly at the position Kilian had presumed him to be.

"You think so? If the Realm Gate leads to a different realm, the place where the Instance Dungeon of the Blood Monarch's Sanctum is located, that is not even unlikely…but where the hell are Vampires even coming from?" Dilan asked, trying to get more information out of Kilian.

He was not exactly angry at Kilian for trying to attack Yvonne. On the contrary, it showed that the Hybrid was dutiful and that he didn't like the label 'Hybrid' at all.

"I have no idea where Vampires come from, and neither do I know where Werewolves or Witches come from. My guess is as good as yours. I'm just a Guardian, who's literally too weak to protect what he was supposed to protect…" Kilian sighed deeply as he looked at the Realm Gate.

Dilan could tell that Kilian was frustrated about being too weak. This was a pretty good sign and something that could be changed easily as long as there were more than enough powerful opponents.

In fact, if Dilan were to wake up Tierless and at Level 0 once again, he would only require a few days to get back to his current strength. With the resources at the disposal of his Undying group, the equipment, and the high number of powerful opponents they had to fight, it would be easy for anyone with some bravery and combat talent to advance to Tier-2 within a week or two.

The support of the Undying group in solving the missions one had to complete to advance to Tier-2 and the higher number of powerful monsters all around were enough reasons for Dilan to believe that it was much easier for everybody to receive ample chances to advance now.

"Nobody can enter the Realm Gate yet. That is quite annoying…" Dilan concluded with a deep sigh. Yvonne and Victoria were probably the closest to fulfilling the requirements. Only some, if not all of their stats were too low and would require some time to reach the threshold of 100 Units.

Meanwhile, Dilan had long since surpassed that threshold. His only issue was that he had yet to advance to Tier-2, which turned out to be his new mission.

"What…are you going to do now?" Killian asked suddenly as Dilan turned around to walk down a path the human hadn't used before.

"I will go to Victoria and Yvonne, tell them that I will advance to Tier-2 as quickly as possible and that they should work their asses off to be able to enter the Realm Gate with me," Dilan explained simply before he walked down the risky path.

He paid little attention to the Inner region of the Sanctum and focused more on the situation ahead of him. There were a few things that had to be changed and figured out, including what exactly the Guardian of the Vampire Lord would do now.

From what he knew, Hybrids were stronger than ordinary Vampires or Werewolves. This was even more the case if the Hybrid was a child birthed by any two of the following: an Alpha, Luna, Beta, and a noble Vampire.

The stronger the parents' powers the more terrifying and destructive the Hybrid. In fact, this had some disadvantages as some Hybrids would die when born too powerful.

Dilan wondered how powerful Kilian was. He seemed pretty fast for a Tierless existence but it was not as if Kilian had been faster than a fully maxed out Dilan when he was still a Tierless existence as well.

In fact, Dilan had issues figuring out if someone was powerful for having certain abilities or being fast while being a Tierless existence. His perception in that regard had been a bit clouded by the strength he had attained.

If he went all out, his body would tear apart in a single move. This was ridiculous but also the reality.

Thus, Dilan's definition of "powerful" was something that was in an entirely different league than what others believed to be the case.

After more than 10 minutes had passed, Dilan finally reached a large hall. In the middle of the hall, a coffin was located in a relatively elevated place. Stairs led up to that elevated coffin, where a total of 50 Hybrids guarded Victoria and Yvonne.

The two girls noticed him and smiled lightly as tears trickled down Victoria's cheeks. Dilan had already assumed that Victoria would cry but he approached her.

He ignored the Guardians, who looked at him with squinted eyes and in vigilance before he hugged Victoria tightly. Then he turned his attention to the coffin.

There was nothing special inside the coffin, except for the oddly well-preserved body of an old Vampire. After looking at it, Dilan felt that it was only obvious for Victoria to cry.

Yvonne hugged Victoria as well, consoling the Vampire noble as much as possible. Victoria hadn't been able to see her father after his death.

This may have happened a long time ago but it was not as if the wound in her heart had already healed. She had never gotten a chance to bid her father farewell, which was something she finally did after all these years.

Victoria felt relieved and happy to have such good and caring people by her side. She might have had difficulties with some humans, especially after they waged war with Vampires but that didn't matter to her.

After all, she had the Berg sisters, and Dilan by her side.

Once Victoria had calmed down, Dilan wanted to let go of her. However, Victoria and, oddly enough, Yvonne as well, held tightly onto him, trying to prevent him from retrieving his freedom.

"Girls…we have better things to do than hugging, you know?" Dilan reminded them, smiling dryly. He didn't dislike hugging two beauties but his heart was beating wildly at the thought of advancing to Tier-2.

He was excited to enter the Realm Gate, especially since it was something new. The Instance Dungeon would be located in some sort of realm, and Dilan was interested to find out more.

Thus, he slowly removed Yvonne and Victoria's arms around him to free himself from their grasp which made them frown.

In response, he muttered,

"You guys have to become stronger as well… How about you advance all your stats to 100 in the next…week?" Dilan asked with a smug smile on his face.

"..."

Chapter 369 Do whatever you want

Chapter 369 Do whatever you want

"You guys have to become stronger as well… How about you advance all your stats to 100 in the next…week?" Dilan asked with a smug smile on his face.

"…" the two women looked at each other and then at Dilan, disbelief plainly evident in their eyes.

How the hell were they supposed to improve their stats so quickly? The average of Victoria's stats barely reached 80, and that was already an exceptional feat.

Meanwhile, Yvonne looked at Dilan as if he had had rotten zombies for breakfast. There was no other way that Dilan would ask them to enhance every single stat of theirs to 100 in a matter of seven days because her stats were capped at 75. She was still at Tier-1, after all!

"Ah, and you have to advance to Tier-2 Yvonne!" Dilan quickly added when he recalled that Yvonne was not even at Tier-1 yet.

Her stats were pretty high, which was thanks to her Origin ability advancing to Tier-1, and because she possessed a pretty great Legendary occupation.

However, advancing to Tier-2 was not exactly easy in her situation as higher-ranked occupations had more difficult missions to complete to advance.

"I will have to advance to Tier-2 as well, and my occupation is higher ranked than yours. So don't give me that look, Yvonne!" Dilan revealed, which did little to faze her. Not just her but even Victoria was glaring at him, her earlier grief forgotten.

"Higher than a Legendary Occupation? That's pretty hard to believe," Yvonne said as if she was trying to suggest that Dilan was a liar.

But he knew that Yvonne believed her. She was fully aware that he was not lying and it was just Yvonne's plan to figure out more about his occupation. After all, Dilan never spoke about his occupation, his family, or anything related to him, at all.

He knew a lot about others but Dilan was basically a stranger to them. They could only tell that Dilan was likely to come from a different continent because his facial features, his eye color, and a few other specific features of him, including his tiny, almost non-existent accent were a clear indicator of the same.

Unfortunately, the continent he hailed from and the fact that he had been mistreated by someone in the past were the only things that gave a bit of insight into his past. Even Kathrine, Yvonne, and the others, who were pretty close to Dilan had no idea about his background, let alone his past or family.

But that did not change the fact that Dilan was a good person and that he usually didn't lie.

"Either way. Just try to advance to Tier-2, and reach the threshold of 100 stats everywhere. I will enter the Realm Gate in around a week, so be ready, or I will go alone," Dilan teased, disregarding Yvonne's challenge.

He didn't like talking about himself, which was why he never divulged details of his past life.

It was simply not necessary and it was better for everyone if they had no idea who he was. His life would just get worse otherwise.

After Dilan told the two women what he wanted from them, he turned around.

All Guardians of the Sanctum looked at him cautiously as if he was a dangerous serpent that would strike abruptly. They were ready to sacrifice their lives to protect the preserved corpse of the Vampire Lord and Victoria. This was something Dilan liked, which was why he turned one last time to speak to Victoria.

"Take care of them. If they're dangerous, I want you to kill them. Otherwise, you have full freedom to do whatever you want," Dilan said, while secretly hoping that Victoria would turn the Hybrids into her subordinates.

Afterward, Dilan walked out of the Inner Sanctum.

He appeared in front of Sven and the other Ascenders to tell them the requirements to enter the Realm Gate. The Realm Gate's requirements were not even the conditions to enter the Instance Dungeon of the Blood Monarch's Sanctum but that didn't really matter right now.

None of the Ascenders was close to reaching 100 Units with all five stats. Thus, they had to figure out what to do now.

It was either stay in the sanctum and build a second base here or return to Shiron.

"I would stay here and build a second base here. Precisely, I would turn Shiron into a branch of the main headquarters, which I would love to create here. If we start expanding from the center of the Shikan plains, it may be possible for us to expand our range and to take control of everything slowly.

If we have the Shikan plains under control, we can think ahead…but wouldn't that be a great idea?" Sven asked, speaking as if he had already thought of this plan for several weeks.

Dilan nodded his head, without commenting on Sven's idea. It was quite obvious that the Sanctum was a great place, especially since even Tier-2 monsters were not able to destroy the marble walls.

One had to be much stronger than Dilan to destroy them. Thus, Dilan would be reassured if Sven were to develop the Sanctum and turn it into a highly protected base, where all of them could feel safe.

"You can return to Shiron with the sabertooth tiger, and tell everyone, who is willing, to pack up and return to the Sanctum. Shiron may be safe but the Sanctum's natural means of protection are much better.

"The sabertooth tiger?… He will just eat me alive the moment you are out of his sight…" Sven mumbled, not believing that it was a good idea to order around the sabertooth tiger like he was the wild beast's master.

"Believe me. I will make him obey. If he wants to become stronger and enter the Realm Gate later as well, he will have to listen to everything you say!" Dilan sounded pretty confident about his idea.

Thus, Sven could only nod his head and grudgingly obey him as well.

It was weird to imagine that a wild monster would obey Dilan's commands as if it was a domesticated pet but the fight against the Vampires clearly showed that when given the choice between tearing Vampires and humans apart, the sabertooth tiger chose the former.

There was a reason behind it, and that was not only because of the fact that Dilan was extremely powerful.

"Ah…and give Old Jeff this, please. He should embed the Pyromancy orb onto the new Serpentine Blade…if he created an upgraded version….which he has hopefully done by now…" Dilan said as he retrieved the Blazing Serpentine Blade from his storage ring.

His storage ring was filled to the brim with Blood Essences and various other things but he couldn't throw anything outside, not yet, at least.

Dilan discussed the future plans a bit more with Sven and the others. He gave them full freedom to do whatever they wanted as long as it wouldn't cause any trouble.

Right now, trouble was the last thing they needed, especially with some annoying Werewolf packs by their side.

That was also why Dilan left the Sanctum in an imposing manner, using [Switch], and [Thunder Step] when he shot outside the sanctum.

What others could see were only blurred afterimages and a purple flash trailing away from the huge Gate of the Sanctum.

Far away, a single Vampire was observing the valley of the Sanctum in curiosity. He saw a purple flash emerging on the other side of the valley with shocking speed and a smile appeared on his face.

"He is even faster than I am," The new Vampire Lord spoke out loud, nodding his head in anticipation to meet this anomaly soon.

Chapter 370 Abyss mission

Chapter 370 Abyss mission

[Essence pool has been filled. Host reached Level 25(Tier-1)! +1.0 Status points can be allocated!]

[Level cap has been reached. The Host can now advance to Tier-2 after completing his advancement mission!]

[Ancient Path of Advancement has opened once again. Advancement Mission can be chosen!]

There were far more messages than the three notifications that had appeared in front of his face at this moment but Dilan ignored them for the time being.

Two days had passed and Dilan finally advanced to Level 25. With maxed-out stats, it was much easier to accumulate more Essence and to level up. If not for that, Dilan would probably have to spend another week hunting monsters.

"Then let's take a look at my Advancement Mission!" Dilan declared in excitement as he walked through the masses of corpses he left behind.

When he clicked on his Divine ranked occupation, there were two things he could take a look at.

First, there was something called [Divinity Mission Board] that seemed to be a new addition, and there was the [Ancient Path of Advancement].

Dilan presumed the Divinity Mission Board to be related to the other messages, which he had yet to read. Thus, he took a look at the Ancient Path of Advancement in hopes of finding easy missions.

**Ancient Path of Advancement**

[Hell]

[Calamity]

[Abyss]

**

A total of three Missions appeared in front of Dilan and he began to wonder which one to choose. Of course, he had to procure more information before he would make his decision but the differentiation of the difficulties made it quite obvious how 'easy' it would be to advance to Tier-2.

"Should I just choose Abyss and get over with it?" He wondered before shaking his head.

It wouldn't really help to choose the highest difficulties for the sake of it. If it would take him years to finish the Abyss mission, he would waste too much time, and it would possibly end in his death.

Milarn was becoming more dangerous with every passing day. Thus, he had to advance fast rather than be solely focused on the perfect advancement path in terms of quality.

"Whatever, I will read them now…" He just blurted out, discarding all his intrusive thoughts.

[Hell-difficulty Advancement Mission

Conquer 10 Bronze Temple all by yourself]

The Advancement Mission was quite simple. It was not difficult to understand, especially since Dilan had encountered a Bronze Temple already. The Sun God's temple had been a Bronze temple and Dilan had conquered it.

However, finding 10 Bronze temples and conquering them now would take quite some time, definitely more than a week. With that in mind, Dilan turned his attention to the [Calamity] mission.

[Calamity-difficulty Advancement Mission

Find and kill the following Monsters

-Platinum Tier-2 Nightmare Hellhorse

-Platinum Tier-2 Silverback Ape

-Silver Tier-3 Onyx Flood Dragon]

Dilan disregarded the Calamity Advancement Mission the moment he finished reading through it. There was not a single Platinum Tier-2 monster in his surrounding area, let alone a Silver Tier-3 Onyx Flood Dragon for him to hunt and kill.

Dilan was also pretty sure that it wouldn't be easy to defeat a Tier-3 monster while being at Tier-1.

It may not be impossible for him to defeat the Nightmare Hellhorse and the Silverback Ape as long as he prepared enough but it was already near-impossible for him to find a strong enough weapon to fight with right now. How was he supposed to find a weapon that could pierce through the scales of a Flood Dragon?!

And that was while ignoring the fact that his stats were bound to be much lower than that of the Flood Dragon's which was suicidal!

"Before I find Platinum Tier-2 monsters, let alone Silver Tier-3 monsters, months would pass on Milarn…" Dilan mumbled gloomily as he turned his attention to the Abyss mission, hoping to not be discouraged by what he would find in it.

[Abyss-difficulty Advancement Mission

The host will be teleported to a secret realm, where he has to survive for 72 hours.]

There was not much information written in the mission but there was a big difference between 'surviving' and 'killing'.

'If I can run away, that would be great, but I doubt that it will be easy. The Abyss difficulty is not there just for decoration. Considering that I have to kill a Silver Tier-3 Onyx Flood Dragon at a lower difficulty, I will probably have to run for my life against Platinum Tier-3 monsters, or even Tier-4 monsters…' Dilan thought, scratching the back of his head.

He nibbled on his lower lip and sighed deeply at the end of the day. After some consideration, he came to the conclusion of which mission to choose.

However, before he would accept the mission, Dilan wanted to take a look at the other notifications he received upon advancing to Level 25.

[The host's Divine Occupation advanced to Tier-1 Level 25. The Divinity Mission Board has been unveiled before advancing to Tier-4 due to unique circumstances and the host attaining special conditions!]

Dilan had seen the Divinity Missions Board, which was why he clicked on it for a change.

–Divinity Mission Board–

[★-Missions]

[★★-Missions]

[★★★-Missions]

[★★★★-Missions]

[★★★★★-Missions]

[Barter]

[Chat]

—

While browsing through the Divinity Mission Board, Dilan figured that there were quite a few interesting points.

Most missions, whether they were one-star missions or five-star missions, were to be accomplished by existences that were at or above Tier-4.

Someone with Dilan's strength was not powerful enough to complete the Missions, even if he would accept them.

As for the [Barter], and [Chat] sections, they were not exactly helpful either. Not right now at least!

The Chat was empty, and the Barter section was overflowing with items and offers that caused Dilan's head to ache.

"Ability crystal 'Hell's Firestorm' in exchange for the Tear of a Mermaid….okay…" He could only say with a shake of his head as he continued walking back to the Sanctum. He wrote a short message in the Chat, hoping to receive an answer to his questions before he closed it once again.

Two days had passed since he had left the Sanctum, and it was time for him to return, even if it was just to take a short glimpse at the situation.

He wanted to advance to Tier-2 as quickly as possible but it was quite important to improve his equipment as well. At least, he should get his hand on a new, or rather old but improved weapon if he didn't want to strive for fruitless results!

"I hope Sven brought me a present from Old Jeff," Dilan wished as he rushed back to the Sanctum, where he found the three Werewolf packs.

Dilan was not sure how long they would stay near the Sanctum but it didn't really have a negative impact if they were to decide to stay longer. On the contrary, their strength was quite helpful in preventing others from attacking their base.

However, right now, it looked like the Werewolf packs' numbers had dwindled considerably. Simultaneously, it was quite obvious to see that many Werewolves were sick.

'Is there a contagious disease spreading through the Sanctum?' Dilan imagined the worst right off the bat, which was why he approached the Alphas to understand what was going on.

"What's wrong with your people?!" He asked as he appeared in front of the Silverlight pack's Alpha.

He seemed fine but his eyes were sunken and he looked tired.

"We found another race…and a temple with thousands of them…" The Alpha said in a barely audible voice.

"New race?...Temple?" Dilan asked in return, lifting his eyebrow.

'Like the Sun temple?' He wondered for a moment before he asked the more important question.

"And they attacked your people, poisoning them? Or did you guys attack first?"

Chapter 371 Temple Of Scorpio

Chapter 371 Temple Of Scorpio

"And they attacked your people by poisoning them? Or did you guys attack first?" Dilan asked doubtfully as he looked at the Alpha.

Dilan was pretty sure that the Werewolves were not a peace-loving race. They were very emotional, which was also why Dilan was certain that the Werewolves were partially responsible for the attack of the new race if the Alpha's words were to be believed.

'A new temple might not be a bad sign…but it's not really a good sign either…' Dilan mulled, thinking about the Rasnian and Ligrav race.

"We didn't do anything this time! We just wanted to talk to them but they spoke in weird, incomprehensible language. They attacked us when we tried to initiate a conversation. Maybe they thought that we were their enemies… in the end…my people died…" The Silverlight pack's Alpha looked devastated as he shared the fact.

However, Dilan was not willing to console him. He nodded his head, and spoke a few more words before he entered the Sanctum.

He sensed the power of the sabertooth tiger, which meant that Sven must have returned.

Dilan rushed through the Sanctum and he advanced past Victoria, who was currently ordering around her new subordinates. She had accepted the Hybrids in their group rows, and shared her blood with them to turn them into her loyal subjects.

There was no time for him to speak with Victoria, which she seemed to note as he rushed past her.

Dilan saw that most Ascenders chose to stay in the Sanctum and he believed that this was a very good idea.

The Sanctum was much secure after all.

When he reached Sven, he didn't even greet their strategist as he hurriedly informed him about the appearance of a new temple.

"A temple? Let's go take a look at it. This is an opportunity to get to know a new race, and to learn more about the system!" Sven said but Dilan could only shake his head.

"I would be more vigilant if I were you. I really don't feel like getting too close to some races that are completely different from humans. The Rasnian and Ligrav were already enough trouble for me. Furthermore, I have to leave for 72 hours to complete my mission so that I can advance to Tier-2," Dilan explained while Yvonne rushed toward them as well.

She seemed a bit exhausted and glared at Dilan for quite a while.

"Do you even know how dangerous it is for me to advance to Tier-2 with a Legendary occupation?! How the hell am I supposed to advance to Tier-2 in the next five days?" Yvonne complained, just to point back at two Werewolves, who had followed her quietly.

"It looks like the Werewolves found the Temple of Scorpio, another Zodiac sign appeared. The race in the temple is some sort of bipedal poisonous race that attacked the Werewolves. Dilan, take care of the dangers lurking in the temple, while I destroy their Divinity Fragment!" Yvonne ordered, looking deep into Dilan's eyes.

However, Dilan was the least frazzled by this.

"Poison immunity is my forte, but I would rather try to converse with the Scorpion men/women rather than attack them mindlessly. It may hold more advantages. However, in order to make sure that I'm stronger, I will have to advance to Tier-2 by myself.

Give me 72 hours, and I will be back and prepared to go to the temple. Meanwhile, you should finish your own advancement as well!" He said before he ruffled Yvonne's hair.

The last time he had faced a temple's guardians, or subjects, Dilan had been too weak. This was not something he wanted to repeat. Thus, he rejected Yvonne's proposal.

She seemed to be frustrated about this but Dilan didn't really mind that. Instead, he felt that Yvonne looked cute when she was angry. It was quite an enjoyable sight if he were to be honest with himself.

"Sven, did Old Jeff give you something for me?" Dilan asked, turning away from Yvonne.

Sven had been smiling at the situation in front of them. It was quite calming to see Dilan joke with others every now and then. Somehow, this allowed him and many other people to stay calm because it meant that their situation was not bad.

But when Dilan was dead-serious, something was either troublesome, or they were going to face something extremely dangerous.

Right now, Dilan was quite calm and relaxed, which was why Sven didn't think too much about the Temple of Scorpio that seemed to have appeared in the surrounding area of the Old Vampire Lord's Sanctum.

The temple might be bothersome but as long as everyone keeps their distance from it, nothing should go wrong.

"I brought you what you wanted. Old Jeff was almost done when I arrived in Shiron. He embedded the Pyromancy Orb in it and told me that you shouldn't make so many troublesome requests in the future because your customized weapons take the longest to create," Sven smiled wryly when he forwarded Old Jeff's message.

Dilan just smiled in return as he extended his hand. Sven placed a silver-colored longsword on his open palm. The silver color was the only thing that was different from the Serpentine Blades he had used before.

While wielding the new Silver Blazing Serpentine Blade, Dilan quickly noted that it was much stronger than the old blade. This was only obvious but it was enough for Dilan to be happy.

"Silver Tier-2 monsters, or maybe even Gold Tier-2 monsters should be unable to avoid sustaining injuries through this blade…okay okay… that's good," He mumbled as he brandished the blade that extended to over 30 meters.

Setting the blade ablaze increased the sharpness and lethality of the Silver Serpentine Blade, which was something that made Dilan even happier than before.

The current situation may be a bit annoying because it put lots of pressure on Dilan but he felt that the others would be fine if he were to leave for the next 72 hours.

Thus, he didn't even think about solving Yvonne's problem with the Temple of Scorpio.

He only gave her a once over before he smiled lightly.

"You cannot ask others to fix your problems. You're the strongest right after me. Even Victoria thinks that, so act that way. Do whatever you want but don't die in the next 72 hours, okay?" He asked, without waiting for an answer.

Dilan then turned his attention to the task at hand and he accepted the advancement mission of his choice.

[Abyss-difficulty Advancement Mission has been chosen. The host has three seconds to change his decision, otherwise, the mission will be deemed as accepted and initiated soon!]

[3]

[2]

[1]

[…]

[<Survival > has been accepted. Portal to the isolated dimension will be created. The countdown will start the moment the host enters the portal!]

Dilan looked at the notifications and nodded his head in understanding. Simultaneously, a portal that looked just like a normal Gate manifested in front of him.

Yvonne and Sven moved instinctively. They jumped back and unsheathed their weapons, while Dilan took a step forward.

"I will be back in 72 hours. Don't stir too much trouble while I am away!" He said before stepping through the portal that disappeared just moments later, leaving a baffled Yvonne and Sven alone.

"I had a few things to talk to him about…" Sven mumbled with a grimace, while Yvonne could only sigh deeply.

"And I cannot make any trouble now that he is not here to clean up my mess…"

Chapter 372 Abandoned Island

Chapter 372 Abandoned Island

[71H:59M:59S]

Above the Log of the Ancient Dilan could clearly see the countdown that showed how long he would have to stay in the isolated dimension.

He took a deep breath and looked around in an attempt to figure out where he was and how safe it was at his current position.

'A mission at the Abyss difficulty won't be easy. I should play it safe until I know how strong the monsters around me are!' Dilan told himself as he walked over the sand beach he had appeared on.

His feet sank a little bit in the fine sand, but Dilan ignored that as he looked to his right, where the wide horizon and a huge ocean were greeting him.

"An Island?" He immediately wondered as he walked ahead. Dilan could see the Ocean far away in front of him, on his right, and with the use of some mana, he could even see the ocean behind him.

"Twenty kilometers or so?" He tried to gauge the length of the island, which was difficult because he was on a leveled area where he could basically see only as far as his eyes allowed him to.

Turning his attention to the left, a huge forest entered his view. Far away from his current location, he could see a large mountain that was partially covered in huge trees.

Hiding in the forest should be possible but Dilan didn't immediately go over because he felt that it may be for the best to wait and watch what was going on behind him first.

In the worst case, he could activate [Switch], [Thunder Step], and [Second Acceleration] to increase his Agility as much as possible.

'Even ordinary Tier-3 monsters shouldn't be able to reach an Agility of close to 500 Units, considering that 150 Units are the peak for ordinary Tier-2 existence. The status cap doubled from 75 Units to 150 Units by advancing to Tier-2, after all!'

He might not be able to fight a Tier-3 monster head-on but running away should be feasible.

But Dilan's issue wasn't actually Tier-3 monsters. He was more worried that some Tier-4 monsters would find and pursue him.

If he had been teleported to an island, which was his current guess, then he could hardly run away from a Tier-4 monster.

It would be more troublesome to survive, which is also why it was so important to scout his surrounding area.

Dilan figured that there was no monster on the beach right now, which was why most of his attention was focused in the direction of the forest that radiated a weird, chilling sensation.

It was almost as if Dilan felt that he would be killed shortly after entering the forest.

No sooner had he thought that Dilan could sense a ripple behind him deep inside the water. He didn't move his head but a faint smile emerged on his face when he understood what exactly was happening.

'As expected, this won't be easy!' Dilan thought when he heard the loud noise of water splashing all over as something emerged from the ocean.

It was possible for Dilan to perceive the pressure of a Tier-2 monster. He could clearly tell how strong it was according to the pressure he felt. Thus, Dilan retrieved the Silver Blazing Serpentine Blade from his storage ring to prepare himself for a battle.

The Serpentine Blade began to burn fiercely as Dilan turned around while slashing the blade forward, enlarging it to its maximum length of 30 meters.

The Serpentine Blade lunged forward to the wide open mouth of a large monster, whose rows of teeth wanted to mince through Dilan's flesh and bones so as to welcome him on the abandoned Island.

However, Dilan didn't want the five-meter-long shark that had blue leather wings on its back to being anywhere near him. Instead, Dilan gave the shark a gift by piercing the blazing serpentine blade straight through its less defended mouth, where it wreaked havoc.

Dilan couldn't allow himself to make too many sounds, otherwise, he would attract the attention of the other monsters in the surrounding area. That was why he ended up killing the winged shark with a single move, and with no hesitation.

He had inserted several units of mana inside the Serpentine Blade to sharpen, control, and ignite it, giving the weapon more than enough strength to kill the winged shark.

It crashed down in front of Dilan, where it writhed in pain for a few times until it stopped moving altogether.

Dilan retracted the Serpentine blade before he walked towards the beast's head, and got hold of a Silver Tier-2 Essence crystal.

"Fighting Tier-2 monsters would be fine with me," He mumbled quietly before he received a bunch of system notifications as he held the Essence crystal.

[The host has killed his first monster in the Abyss-difficulty mission. Essence Shop will temporarily stay open until the end of the mission!]

[The Silver Tier-2 Essence crystal of the Wingua Bluekiller Shark can be sold, or exchanged at the Essence Shop!]

[The host killed a monster less than five minutes after the start of the Abyss-difficulty mission. 1000 Essence points will be added to the host's balance!]

Dilan was pretty interested in the Essence Shop and eager to make a purchase. He opened it without delay and browsed through the exhibited goods he could choose from.

"1000 Essence Points are basically worthless…" Dilan mumbled as he looked at the Essence Shop's best-selling and hottest goods.

"Bloodline of the Great Red Dragon…Incubus Lord's Bloodline….Black Dragon's Heart of Mana…The Destroyer….Tier-5 Slave; Dark Elf Queen…the hell…" He was taken aback by the things he saw in the shop but they were truly valuable.

Everything in the shop was of great value and selling the Silver Tier-2 Essence crystal would reward him with only 50 Essence points. That was not really what he had been looking for, but it was still better than he had expected.

After all, he had entered the portal to the Abyss-difficulty mission to advance to Tier-2, not to make sudden gains with the unexpected appearance of some sort of Essence Shop.

'Will it be possible to sell other Essence crystals or Blood Essences?' He thought all of a sudden and retrieved one Blood Essence and another Essence crystal from his storage ring.

Unfortunately, it was not possible for him to sell them and a notification appeared in front of him once again.

[Only Essences procured from the Abandoned Island can be sold at the Essence shop].

This was a bit annoying but Dilan was still quite satisfied because the system revealed that his guess about the Island was correct.

"Survival is the first priority and hunting monsters the second, I guess…" Dilan mumbled.

It was of no value to him, which was why he chose to walk away from the corpse.

The fine sand was dyed red and other monsters would be drawn to the bloody feast he had created.

This was not something Dilan had planned before but he wouldn't change his decision of killing the shark either way. It would have killed him otherwise, after all.

Walking along the beachside with the Serpentine Blade retracted inside the storage ring, Dilan was searching for a safe place to stay.

It would be for the best if he had a safe shelter, where he could stay and rest in between breaks before running around to kill all kinds of weaker monsters.

However, before he could even think about a shelter, Dilan came face to face with a fierce battle between two rivaling groups of monsters.

"That's fucking bloody…I love it!!"

Chapter 373 I'm the Overlord

Two rather large groups of monsters were fighting not too far ahead of him with their life on the line.

There was a group of Dog-like existences. Blue scales covered their body, they had fins and webs linking their legs to their abdomen like the foot of a duck. Rather than looking hideous or gruesome, they were rather magnificent to look at. Dilan was astonished when he realized that he liked their appearance as they looked cool!

Meanwhile, the Sea-Dogs opponents were large Crabs with huge pincers. The Sea-Dogs could control the surrounding water to a certain extent to initiate attacks, while the blueish-orange colored Crabs were proficient at using the surrounding water to erect walls and shields.

This was pretty interesting, especially since each group had a leader, whose strength was much higher than Dilan's power. They were definitely Tier-3 monsters, while their subordinates were even stronger than the winged shark Dilan had killed a few minutes earlier.

"Total of 300 plus…not bad!" He mumbled in excitement. He would have loved to join the fight but it was quite obvious that this was rather suicidal.

The commotion the fight caused was likely to attract the attention of other monsters and getting caught in the fray of powerful monsters was what Dilan had wanted to avoid.

He maintained a pretty long distance from both groups of monsters and allowed them to fight to their heart's content.

However, what Dilan noticed in the following minutes were two things.

First, the two groups tried breaking through each other's defenses. The Sea-Dogs used their attacks as a means to block the Crabs' attacks. To them, it was their means of a defensive attack. It didn't work out as planned and they were unable to pierce through the defensive mechanism of the Crabs they were fighting.

Thus, they weren't able to kill each other, which was something Dilan frowned at after several minutes had passed. Only 20 monsters had died, and the commotion was just getting louder and louder.

And their battle noises were what allowed Dilan to understand precisely that not a single monster feared the possibility of attracting more danger because of their noises.

Not even the smell of freshly spilled blood attracted the monsters of the abandoned island, which was also why Dilan's mindset was slowly changing.

Only a few minutes might have elapsed since he had emerged on the abandoned island but Dilan could quickly understand the rules of the island.

Territory fights were nothing special because only the stronger would reign supreme while the weak would be devoured. The outskirts of the abandoned island were for the weaker monsters, and stronger monsters were located near the center of the island, precisely at and around the mountain.

Dilan reached a few conclusions because they allowed his mind to be fully focused on the fight ahead.

The Tier-3 monsters had already used up a large amount of mana to attack and defend. They were not yet heavily injured but one could slowly see that the Sea Dogs were gaining an advantage.

Dilan took a deep breath at this sight before he accessed the Essence Shop to take a look at something he had seen earlier.

Balzaki and the Silver Serpentine Blade manifested in either of his hands and after a quick comparison, Dilan ended up returning the Serpentine Blade back inside the storage ring where it came from.

Dilan thought about something for a second before he ended up nodding his head. The timing was near-perfect because the two monster groups were fully focused on each other.

They didn't even expect someone to interfere in their fight. Thus, Dilan ended up buying something from the Essence Shop, costing exactly 1000 Essence Points.

A golden layer shrouded Balzaki as a result and he felt his strength increasing rapidly.

[Temporary Weapon has been used on Balzaki. Time left before the effect wears off <9 59 Minutes and Seconds>]

[Balzaki] |Forged| Gold Tier-1→ Gold Tier-2

[+20 Strength] →[+50 Strength]

After his weapon had been enhanced, Dilan took a deep breath. He utilized 50 Units of Mana to activate [Thunder Step], enhancing his agility by a whopping 88.8%.

This was only possible thanks to the second effect of Thunder Step, which it had gained by advancing to a Tier-1 ability.

[[Thunder Step(Active)] Tier-1 ★✭✭

-Enhances [Agility] by 30% for 90 Seconds per 1 Unit of Mana!

-For each additional Unit of Mana used, Agility increases by 1.2%!

Once activated, it creates an ear-piercing noise, and shrouds the host's feet in electricity currents!]

An ear-piercing thunder reverberated throughout the entire beach as Dilan disappeared from his spot.

His Agility was close to 250 Units right now but Dilan was not yet done enhancing his stats to allow him to fight Tier-3 monsters.

[[Bracing Pain] has been activated. Lifeforce equivalent to 100 Health Units will be drained and converted to 50 Mana]

[[Bearer of Pain] has been activated. The Host's Health decreased rapidly. All stats will be amplified by 25%!]

Dilan's Agility skyrocketed even further, but that was still not it. He had yet to unleash the strongest combination of his abilities. A crazy smile appeared on his face as he charged at the three hundred and more Tier-2 monsters that were led by a Tier-3 Leader each.

"I will fucking kill y'all!" He shouted out, before activating [Switch]!

[[Switch] has been activated. The host reallocated, 50 Health, 30 Stamina, and 20 Mana Units to his Strength stat!]

[Bearer of Pain]'s effect has intensified. The Host's Health decreased further. Dangerous threshold reached. All stats will be amplified by 45%]

After Dilan was done enhancing his stats to the maximum possible, his Strength surpassed 380 Units, while his Agility reached 350 Units!

His body could barely handle both stats being so high due to the maximum limit [Unparalleled Warrior's Physique] had attained when Dilan reached Level 25 at Tier-1!

Dilan was barely able to endure the pain that spread through his entire body, but he tried to ignore it as much as possible because he was just about to face the opponents ahead of him.

With his enhanced stats, Dilan was even faster than both Tier-3 monsters. With a single slash, he could cut through the crabs and Sea-Dogs' underlings, without leaving them a single chance to use their own ability.

Dilan's only problem was keeping his balance on the fine sand. It was not easy to run on it, whether his Agility was around 150 Units, or 350 Units.

However, he was doing his best to kill all the beach monsters with rapid velocity.

The Tier-3 monster leaders were not able to do anything against him. Their Agility was only around 250 Units, which made it impossible for them to keep up with Dilan's rapid speed precisely.

Even their Strength was only around 300 Units, which was how they ended up feeling true fear from an existence they hadn't even perceived before.

Dilan hadn't been noteworthy before, and his true strength was only unveiled when he unleashed it completely.

With a crazed expression on his face, Dilan went on a rampage, ignoring the aftermath of his actions.

He wanted to maintain a low profile the whole time but that seemed to become increasingly difficult the more he thought about it.

"Whatever, just let it rain blood, bodies, and death!!" Dilan mumbled quietly, dispelling the negativity trying to encroach on his mind while his smile widened.

"Who cares whether you are the Overlords of your own tiny group, I am your death!" He roared before appearing in front of the Sea-Dog Leader with glistening eyes.

"Bow to me!"

Chapter 374 Rich

Dilan's body ached heavily as he massacred the monsters all around him. They were not capable of defending against his attacks in the slightest, especially with much lower stats than he had.

While the Sea Dogs were not good at defending themselves, the exact opposite was the case with the crabs Dilan had faced.

Their natural defenses were powerful and Dilan had to use his entire physical strength to reduce their body into crumbs of bone and flesh. This created a gory massacre, where all kinds of body parts ended up splattering through the surrounding area, filling it with the smell of death.

The beach was soaking wet and dyed bloody red as Dilan shot over it.

Wherever he passed blood fountains erupted, and even the Tier-3 Leaders were not capable of protecting themselves against Dilan's attack. The Tier-3 Sea Dog died the moment Balzaki's strength had increased to the extent where the unique greatsword was sharp enough to cut through the hide of a Tier-3 existence.

With [Death toll] every single monster killed with Balzaki was used as a temporary form of nourishment to strengthen Balzaki. The strengthening was potent enough to turn a Gold Tier-2 weapon into something that could easily cut through all the Tier-2 monsters around him.

Meanwhile, even the Tier-3 Crab leader faced issues enduring the mighty thrusts and blows that were executed with Balzaki.

Thus, after a total of 90 Seconds had passed and the effect of [Thunder Step] had finally worn off, Dilan ended up standing in the middle of a huge bloody feast.

"That was nice!" He exclaimed taking a deep breath as he activated [Regeneration] with several units of Mana. Not a single being of the two groups was left alive and Dilan was at last free to collect their Essence crystals.

"If I had already advanced to Tier-2, absorbing all these Essence crystals would have probably allowed me to level up to Level 10," Dilan imagined, laughing lightly as he continued to collect the Essence crystals of the monsters.

Simultaneously, he paid attention to his surroundings. Even if the commotion the Sea-Dogs and crabs had caused didn't attract a horde of monsters, it might be somewhat different if the scent of blood of 300 and more monsters were to be carried by the ocean breeze all over the island in a moment.

That was also why Dilan hurried to collect all the Essence crystals before he took his leave. [Switch]'s effect had also worn off and it would take several minutes before he could use it again.

Thus, Dilan focused on regenerating the Lifeforce he had been drained of before.

"I will have to pay 1000 Essence points every single time I want to join a fight consisting of Tier-3 monsters…that's annoying," He thought out loud, realizing that his strongest weapon was the Silver Serpentine Blade.

Unfortunately, temporarily upgrading the Silver Serpentine Blade cost him 10,000 Essence points rather than 1000 because the weapon was already powerful enough to inflict injuries to Gold Tier-2 monsters if used properly.

Meanwhile, Balzaki was barely powerful enough to injure Bronze Tier-2 monsters, and that too only if Dilan wielded it like a madman.

Once Dilan finished collecting all the Essence crystals, he slowly ran away from the bloody feast he had caused. His plan was to run around the abandoned island to find out how large it was.

This would help him a lot in the future because he was pretty sure that a bunch of Tier-4 monsters lived on the abandoned island. Even if it was not actually possible to run away from them, Dilan was pretty confident that he could set them up against each other and let them finish each other off while he watched the show.

'If all the monsters here are as territorial as I think they are, it won't be too difficult to survive…I hope,' He thought.

He sold the 300+ Essence crystals of the Tier-2 monsters that had been Gold Tier-2 monsters at and above level 25, and the two Essence crystals of the Leaders, who had been Bronze Tier-3 monsters at level 15.

Dilan was rewarded with 65,400 Essence Points, which was an unexpected haul.

"If I keep fighting like this…shouldn't it be possible to collect hundreds of thousands of points quite easily?" Dilan wondered, barely controlling himself from running in search of more battles.

Subconsciously, he was even reconsidering fighting Tier-4 monsters. That was insane but Dilan was exactly that, crazy to fight even if his life was at stake.

"My stats will be too low to fight a Tier-4 monster though…All of their stats should be at or around 500, even for ordinary Tier-4 existences…" Dilan mumbled while heading in the opposite direction of the battlefield.

Ordinary Tier-2 existences were not something Dilan cared about anymore. Only the most powerful Tier-2 existences were likely to be considered his opponents, and those were something Dilan could hardly find.

But that was perfectly fine right now, after all, he was on the abandoned Island, where powerful monsters reigned supreme.

Dilan's vigilant attitude toward the Abandoned Island slowly dispersed. His mind was preparing for an all-out war, and that was simply because he finally found some powerful opponents once again.

The war against the Vampires had been way too boring and Dilan was happy to face some powerful Tier-3 monsters. He could roughly gauge that the limit of a Tier-3 existence's stats was around 500.

Thus, encountering some Platinum Tier-3 existence at the highest level would definitely be interesting, even if it was likely to end disastrously for Dilan.

He was ready to feel pain, and he could embrace it. After all, there were several means for him to temporarily increase his strength, using the Essence shop to his advantage.

There were a few things Dilan wanted to purchase from the Essence shop but everything was pretty expensive.

Thus, Dilan made his way through the outskirts of the abandoned island to search for more monsters to kill.

Time passed slowly and Dilan encountered far more monsters than he would have expected to see. There were many territorial fights going on all over the beach and Dilan chose to intervene whenever it was possible.

Sometimes, there were groups of monsters that were too strong for him to handle all by himself. His weapons were not strong enough to deal with more than 10 Tier-3 monsters, whose forte was a dense and highly-protective defensive shell. Breaking through it was simply not possible, even if he were to temporarily upgrade the Silver Serpentine Blade.

Dilan accepted this fact for the time being and he chose to avoid the annoying groups of Tier-3 monsters. Hours had elapsed and the sun slowly disappeared behind the horizon.

It was getting dark and Dilan noticed a quick change in the atmosphere around the abandoned island. More and more monsters were now beginning to emerge from the waters with glowing eyes.

The vast majority of these marine monsters ignored Dilan as they charged in the direction of the forest, and only some of them attacked him.

However, those who attacked him were clearly more powerful than the monsters he had fought before.

Even the monsters that were the exact same kind as he had killed before seemed to have gained strength.

"Well, this is interesting!" Dilan mused as he readied himself for the next three days and nights because he was certain that he wouldn't get even a millisecond of sleep in the next 72 hours!

Yet, instead of being frustrated about this, Dilan's eyes were filled with excitement as they glowed lightly in the moonlight that shone onto him.

"In that case, I shall exploit you all!

Chapter 375 Night Invasion

"It looks like something on the abandoned island is pulling all kinds of monsters toward it… That's why there are so many powerful monsters…" Dilan guessed as he stretched his stiff body.

He was currently sitting on the branches of one of the bigger trees near the beachside of the abandoned island to observe the monsters.

Two hours had already passed since the marine monsters with the ability to walk on land had emerged from the ocean and the incoming flood of monsters had yet to stop.

Dilan fought the monsters for quite a while, increasing the number of Essence points he had by a large amount. However, in the end, Dilan chose against continuing fighting because a bunch of monsters that were way too powerful for him had appeared.

Against his expectations, Silver Flood Dragons had emerged from the ocean. This was shocking, especially since the Silver Flood Dragons had been one of the kill targets with the Hell-difficulty advancement mission.

Dilan was pretty sure that this was not a coincidence and he had felt like attacking the Silver Flood Dragons just to find out how much stronger they were than ordinary monsters.

Yet, instead of acting foolishly, Dilan stopped himself because more and more powerful marine monsters were crawling out of the Ocean.

A few Tier-4 monsters or overly powerful Tier-3 monsters had been in the batch of monsters, who had entered the forest that was filled with roars, pained screams, and various other noises as they destroyed everything dead or living in their wake.

Dilan couldn't even decipher the sources of some noises but that may be for the better because he was pretty sure that the noises didn't mean anything good.

One particular ear-deafening roar attracted his attention because Dilan was pretty sure that he had heard a similar roar once or twice before the Primordial Ascension had occurred.

"A Tyrannosaurus Rex?" Dilan joked lightly, with bits of seriousness in his voice.

He was interested in what kind of existence was able to roar to create enough pressure and such a loud volume to cause the entire abandoned island to tremble.

It was intriguing but certainly way too dangerous to climb down the tree to figure out. Even if Dilan was slightly crazy, he was not stupid enough to approach some powerful monster if it was already enraged!

Instead, he made use of the current opportunities to the best of his ability. He bought one [Temporary Weapon Upgrade] for Balzaki, and four [Temporary Treasure Upgrades] for his other pieces of equipment, using 5,000 Essence Points before he set off.

After wearing powerful equipment that was equivalent to Tier-2 treasures, Dilan became much stronger than before. He jumped down to the ground and spent the next 10 minutes hunting down the strongest Tier-2 monsters he could find.

Dilan encountered a few Tier-3 monsters as well but he didn't use [Switch] to increase his strength. marine monsters invaded the abandoned island and Dilan had to make sure that he could escape all kinds of monsters if they were to avert their focus from the thing that lured them toward the center of the island.

The moment a powerful Tier-3 monster, or one of the few Tier-4 monsters he had sensed before, were to attack him, Dilan would have to be able to go all out to run for his life.

He felt a bit like a coward but the Night Invasion of marine monsters was not something he could take lightly.

Being able to fight against Tier-3 monsters was already an achievement not many Ascenders at the peak of Tier-1 were capable of.

Under normal circumstances, he was not even supposed to fight these monsters because his mission was just to survive.

But Dilan was not satisfied with that anymore. What was the use of being able to survive if he had to cower in fear of being killed in front of some being? It was time to turn the tides and to survive while attacking his opponents.

This was something Dilan wanted everyone to do after returning to Milarn. There was no need for them to shy away against powerful monsters and the Temples that were filled with foreign races.

It was not the time for humans to retreat, hide and just defend themselves. On the contrary, it was the perfect time for humans to attack, become stronger, and reign supreme.

There were numerous places on Milarn that had yet to be explored and Dilan was sure that there would be more unique living forms on the tiny planet than a few mere Werewolves and Vampires.

He wanted to face a few Witches and various other beings. But to do this and to adventure through Milarn, it was necessary to be the strongest, otherwise, he would just die facing stronger opponents!

As a warm-up session, Dilan spent a total of 10 minutes fighting, killing more than 500 monsters, whose corpses he squeezed inside the storage ring by temporarily increasing their storage space as well.

[The Host shows signs of being willing to sell the Essence crystals of the Abandoned Island's monsters. Does the host want to sell all the Essence Crystals of all the corpses collected from the Abandoned Island to the Essence Shop?]

The System notification seemed a little bit different than usual. He was pretty sure of that though Dilan didn't mind it.

The system seemed to help him right now, so he was willing to accept that help, especially since it saved him lots of time removing the Essence crystals out of the monsters' corpses.

'Yes!' He thought before the monster corpses disappeared from within his storage ring.

Dilan hadn't expected the bodies to disappear as well but he didn't have much use of them right now, either way.

His storage ring didn't have enough permanent storage space to bring more things back to Milarn. That was a bit annoying, which was also why Dilan used 30,000 Essence points to enlarge his storage ring's storage space permanently.

Bringing back the body parts of Tier-2 and even Tier-3 monsters was essential. It was useful for the growth of his group and it would allow Old Jeff and the others to create even more powerful weapons and other pieces of equipment.

Spending 30,000 Essence points in exchange was something Dilan was more than willing to do, especially since he realized that he needed more storage space to accommodate the corpses of monsters he just killed, either way.

It was more cost-efficient to permanently increase his storage ring's space instead of temporarily increasing it for 10 minutes by spending 1000 Essence coins.

Dilan spent the next 10 hours until the sun came up waiting for the perfect timing before he would attack the biggest group of Tier-2 monsters.

Every single attack was 10 minutes long and Dilan roughly earned 70,000 Essence points with every attack he initiated.

His funds quickly increased, while he was not forced to flee from his opponents even once.

His Essence Points increased to more than 500,000 within a mere 24 hours which was exceptional.

There were still two more days left, and Dilan felt that he was getting greedier.

"If I can kill some stronger existences…and I use their Essence crystals after advancing to Tier-2…I can become even stronger…"

Even though the Abyss-difficulty advancement mission ought to be near-impossible to be solved, Dilan's mindset was slowly changing from avoiding dangers to approaching the dangers directly.

He was ready to go all out fighting powerful monsters, especially now that he knew that it was possible for him to improve his equipment using the Essence shop.

Considering the speed at which he gathered points, Dilan was more than ready to make investments in order to increase his strength which in turn allowed him to make even bigger gains.

He began to smile crazily while licking his lower lip at the thought of what he was going to do in the next 48 hours.

"Abandoned Island…you are mine!!"

Chapter 376 Going all out against a Flood Dragon

[Essence Points: 0]

Dilan couldn't really believe that he had actually spent half a million Essence Points to prepare for attacking a Tier-3 monster.

In the end, it was not even a normal Tier-3 monster but a more than 100-meter-long Flood Dragon that had been injured lightly.

Blue Scales covered the body of the Flood Dragon that had escaped from the center of the abandoned island. It was one of the few beings, who had been able to escape, just to run straight into Dilan.

This was the biggest misfortune of the Tier-3 Flood Dragon, especially since Dilan had prepared himself physically and mentally for what was about to happen.

First, he purchased a pair of earrings for 50,000 Essence points.

[[Earrings of Appraisal]

[+15 Mana]

Earrings worn by the strongest Appraiser of the Fallen Kingdom of Jivalier. Their condition is bad and it looks like they will crumble at any moment.

-Weakness Appraisal- The host can appraise his opponent and see all his/her physical weaknesses!

Remark: The treasure will disappear after 48 hours!]

Dilan bought these earrings because he had to see the weak spots of all monsters he was about to face as quickly as possible.

He didn't have the time to start researching the anatomy and weaknesses of his opponents on his own and the Platinum Tier-2 treasure would support him greatly.

Other than the Earrings of Appraisal, Dilan made a special purchase. He found a near-perfect weapon to make use of on the Abandoned Island, and even for afterward, whenever he was in trouble.

[The Cursed Weapon Xealtron has been purchased for 350,000 Essence Points! Be aware of the dangers of the Curse!]

It was quite easy to understand what Cursed Weapons were…they were powerful weapons that were so strong that a curse formed deep in their core.

Under normal circumstances, it was insane to even reconsider wielding such a weapon but the Curse on Xealtron was not something he was worried about. In fact, it could be used to his advantage.

[[Xealtron]

[+100 Strength], [+100 Agility]

The Dagger was forged in the blazing Soul of an Archdemon, who cursed the Dagger in the process.

Can easily cut through Tier-3 monster hide!

[Blood Drain(Sealed Curse)] The wielder of Xealtron will lose 2 Units of Health for every minute he/she holds it.

[Blood Sacrifice] The wielder can sacrifice 25 Health Units to release the Seal on Blood Drain for 10 minutes. Curse's potency will double, and the Stat augmentations will increase by 50%

Special condition to wield Xealtron: Health of 200+ Units]

Under normal circumstances, Dilan was not supposed to be able to wield a Tier-2 weapon or equipment, but his situation and physique had surpassed that of ordinary humans long back.

His mana was purer than others and he also possessed more quantity of it. His overall stats were beyond the norm of any Tier-1 existence, and his passive ability [Unparalleled Warrior's physique] was the last required feather in the cap.

Dilan had stored Xealtron away when he had wielded it at first. However, he retrieved it now that he faced a Tier-3 Flood Dragon.

It rushed outside the forest with shocking speed, but Dilan didn't get flustered.

He activated [Thunder Step] and [Second Acceleration] to further increase his Agility before he used the final treasure he had bought from the Essence Shop.

[Temporary Indestructible body has been activated. The host's body will be temporarily enhanced to the Peak of Tier-2.]

[The passive occupational ability has been detected. The host's physique will temporarily be augmented to become Unparalleled in the Realms of a Tier-2 existence! Duration: 60 Minutes!]

Dilan had purchased a Temporary Indestructible body for 100,000 points to make sure that his body wouldn't tear apart while wielding Xealtron.

The effect would wear off after 60 minutes, which meant that he had to fight and kill enough monsters to make up for the investment he did.

With that in mind, Dilan stretched his body before he shot straight to the Blue-scaled Flood Dragon.

Dilan had activated [Weakness Appraisal] without a second of hesitation to determine the Flood Dragon's weakness before he shot further ahead.

He detected the weaknesses of the Flood Dragon immediately and changed his trajectory to follow it.

Even without activating [Switch], or the passive augmentation of [Bracing Pain], Dilan's Agility was currently above 320 Units. However, that was not enough.

Dilan was not satisfied with his Agility, let alone his Strength. He was currently facing a Tier-3 existence, a Dragon, at that! The moment he hesitated for the slightest instance, his life would end!

Thus, Dilan activated Xealtron's [Blood Sacrifice]. He was drained of his Lifeforce equal to 25 Units of Health so as to increase both his Strength and Agility by 50 units.

Simultaneously, [Blood Drain] would drain 4 units of his Health every minute. Dilan countered this by activating [Regeneration] not worrying of the mana units it exhausted to empower him.

This worked pretty well but it was not something Dilan could focus on properly. He was more interested in the Flood Dragon ahead of him.

It roared out, feeling enraged that another existence had jumped straight in its way, blocking the path it had chosen to walk along.

A blazing azure flame had formed in the Flood Dragon's huge maw and it released a terrifying Dragonflame not long after.

The corner of Dilan's mouth curled upward as he saw this. He jumped to the side, and rolled over the sand before he advanced straight toward the monster.

The searing hot flames of the Dragonflame were about to incinerate Dilan when he emerged in front of the Flood Dragon.

His Agility was close to 400 Units, which was higher than the Flood Dragon.

This gave Dilan the advantage he needed to pierce the Cursed Dagger deep inside the reversed scale on the backside of the Flood Dragon's head.

The position of the reversed scale was at a different location than what it was supposed to be according to the mythological knowledge Dilan had once acquired when he was younger but [Weakness Appraisal] had clearly pointed him to the reversed scale on the backside of the Flood Dragon's head.

Dilan roared out while piercing the Cursed Dagger deep into the reversed Dragonscale that began to crack. Yet, before Dilan could pierce through his opponent's defenses completely, Dilan was flung dozens of meters away.

He landed in the Ocean with wide eyes and was trying to comprehend what had just happened.

'What the hell was that repelling force?! Was my strength not high enough? Dilan wondered, thinking that his Strength which was less than 300 Units was the cause for him to be flung backward.

Whatever it was, Dilan was in a disadvantageous position. He swam upward and looked toward the Abandoned Island that was not even ten meters away from him.

Yet, just when he was about to swim in the direction of the beach, Dilan felt a shudder spreading all over his body. He looked down in the deep water and his eyes widened in shock.

"What the fuck!!"