Chapter 16: Soloing the Dungeon??

Squelch...

I gazed upon the corridor strewn with the lifeless bodies of slimes, a sight that stirred a sense of revulsion within me. Although the scene was repulsive, my mind remained surprisingly calm and composed. 

The corridor that was once filled with 'Mucus Slimes' now felt desolate without any shred of vitality. I didn't even bother taking out the monster core from these Slimes, I loathed these monsters with my heart. It was also one of the reasons for me to choose this specific dungeon as I wanted to massacre these monsters with my own hands, relieving some of the stress these monsters have given me whenever I had been in this dungeon. It might even have been the reason I was calm despite the repulsive scene in front of me.

Another reason for me to enter this specific dungeon was the type of monsters that habituated this dungeon.

'Mucus Slimes' were the same as fish ready to be killed on a plate, but with disgusting marination covering it. So, I took my time reeling in the sensation of killing these monsters while also slowly getting used to the feel of the long sword in my hand.

As for 'Zorats' I had enough confidence to kill these monsters even before awakening. Also, I wanted to test the effect of the 'Rune of Strength', 'Rune of Confusion', and 'Rune of Poison' for myself while battling them. These three runes were the only ones that could be used in combat for now. 

One rune enhanced my physical strength, enabling me to engage 'Transcendent' ranked monsters if necessary. Another rune was designed to disrupt opponents by inducing confusion, while the final rune was deadly, inflicting slow poison to kill the opponent over time.

I wanted to perfectly combine the effect of all three runes into 'The Chaotic Art' refining it in the process.

The 'Rune of Stealth' worked perfectly without any problem making my job even effortless.

None of the slimes I killed had any idea of how they were killed once I activated it. Even though I was spotted several times and had to resort to using 'Light Bomb' in the process, it happened because I had deactivated the Rune to assess my ability to handle such a large number of monsters without relying on stealth.

And the result was, I wasn't strong enough to deal with these monsters even though they basically didn't have an attack if we think about it. The main problem I was able to feel while fighting was the lack of proper combat technique. 

Although 'The Chaotic Art' was regarded as combat art by the Legacy, it wasn't refined enough. I mean.. Battling monsters wasn't like killing the defenseless people like I did when I was hunting the people in Lumia.

For normal mortals, I was able to use my chaotic style of fighting as we both were similar in terms of strength, and the advantage I had was my well-trained body.

The monsters, on the other hand, possessed greater physical strength. Even low-level monsters posed a significant challenge for mortals without enchanted items to bolster their defenses.

Another thing that I noticed was, that my soul power was truly pitiful. I wasn't even able to control 'Nightmare' for more than 10 seconds before poof… my control over it was gone, it fell on the ground with a clang, sparks flying in all directions. I later retrieved and stored 'Nightmare' in my right arm, where it would gradually refine itself as it absorbed my soulpower.

Basically, Nightmare was going to be my trump card. I wasn't planning to use Nightmare for regular battles at the moment. Also with such a pitiful amount of Soulpower, I didn't have other choice rather than using it as a trump card.

Having extensive experience with daggers, which I had been using for over a decade, I intended to train with the longsword as my primary weapon. 'Nightmare' would remain concealed, to be revealed only when necessary.

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Monster: Zombie Rat(Zorat)

Tier: 1(common)

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It took me around ten hours to completely eliminate the normal 'Zorats'. I was still experimenting with different forms for my longsword during these battles. The runes on me did wonders as I was able to easily disintegrate these monsters in swift strikes, without using any other Runes except the 'Rune of strength'. As for the other two runes, I wasn't even able to test them as any Zorat touched by my longsword was disintegrated into smithereens.

Although I was making rapid progress with the longsword, I hadn't yet achieved the same level of proficiency that I had with daggers.

I still had a long journey ahead before I could deem myself as proficient in Longsword. I couldn't help but remember 'Alexander', and the trait I had helped him awaken as it had helped him master the sword within the few hours we spent in the dungeon that day.

I still envied his trait.

"Well whatever, Time to hunt the boss." I thought while going towards the corridor where monster Boss spawned every day. 

I could only hope I was the first person reaching the corridor after exterminating every monster in the Dungeon today.

And, I wasn't lucky because I couldn't see the monster in the boss's chamber where it would spawn once a day. It was also because I spent way more time dealing with Zorats, checking the effect of the rune I had on me.

I had no choice but to leave the dungeon and come back the next day to attempt to defeat the boss. My plan was to bypass the monsters outside the boss's corridor and focus solely on taking down the boss.

"Can I say I 'soloed' the Dungeon??"

I thought to myself as I had soloed the dungeon in a literal sense, massacring every monster inside it. As for the boss that wasn't present in the boss room, it wasn't my fault at all.

[Succesfully raided the Dungeon.]

[Do you want to return back?] [Yes/ No]

"Look, even the dungeon believes I single-handedly conquered it."

Even more, reason to leave this dungeon and crown myself as the 'Ultimate Soloer'.

"Why does it sound idiotic??"

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Woosh... 

I returned back to the waiting zone, it was still lively filled with several raid parties enthusiastically chatting amongst themselves.

"Shall we set up camp here for the night?" I overheard someone suggest their party. And the amazing part was, everyone in their group quickly agreed upon it.

"Should I camp here too?" I asked myself.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," I agreed while rubbing my chin.

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Another Day.....

I stood before the entrance, dark circles adorning my eyes.

"Yup, I had done the unthinkable and camped here for a whole night."

"It wasn't a good idea.''

My eyes hadn't had a moment of peace due to the continuous interruptions from the chatting adventurers, who were engaged in heated discussions.

The topic of discussion covered almost everything one could think of; their plans for today, their intentions to visit a prostitute, and even discussions about extramarital affairs.

Now thinking back about the decision I made yesterday, I felt stupid as I could have just come here at the time the dungeon would reset. There was no need for me to camp here as my house was just a 20-minute run from the dungeon, so there was no real need for me to stay overnight.

The dungeon reset itself as I was contemplating my decision to stay there overnight.

"Was it the best decision ever?"

No!

''Would I be making such decisions in the future??"

Hell yeah!!

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Woosh.....

I was once again captivated by the spiraling mass of intricate runes.

Although comprehending the rune was impossible due to the short time it presented itself and my lack of proficiency in working with Runes, it was mesmerizing, to say the least.

I entered the dungeon before anyone could, the 'Rune of stealth' working in its maximum capacity. 

Entering the Dungeon, I was once again surrounded by eerie whispers and ghostly faces of those I had killed. Despite their attempts to frighten me, I remained unfazed as I had gone through much worse than this.

My back was straight, and with steady steps, I reached the corridor belonging to 'Mucus Slimes'. I didn't stop there, directly went toward the corridor housing the 'Zorat King' boss of this dungeon.

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I looked at the corridor with a simple wooden door plastered on the wall. This was the entrance leading to the 'Zorat King,' my primary target for today's raid.

Creakk.....

The scene that welcomed me was of the single entity, double the size of 'Zorats', sleeping inside the chamber. It had a terrifying appearance, with a patchwork body made of decaying flesh and bone, exuding a ghastly aura, giving off an impression of ferocity and dread. Its red eyes gleamed with unbound fury, for somebody had disturbed its beauty nap. The talons adorning its four limbs were coated with poison, ready to tear the intruder in two pieces.

This was the 'Zorat king' the uncrowned king of this dungeon, with every other monster being enforcers of its will.