Chapter 328: This Time for Sure

On the 30th floor of the Necropolis dungeon, two figures darted around in fierce combat: Amber and Shadow Crawler. Amber wielded two unique daggers with precision, while Shadow Crawler handled a twin scythe made of shadows, moving it with surprising agility.

Neither combatant used elemental skills, relying solely on their weapons. This meant no elementalization skills to nullify damage, leaving both participants with numerous cuts as the battle raged on.

Above them, Sol sat on a floating stone platform, his legs dangling over the edge as he observed the fight.

When the duo had first re-entered the boss room, Sol had quickly and effortlessly defeated Shadow Crawler. With access to two law techniques, the outcome was inevitable; Shadow Crawler's clone could only use pseudo law techniques at best. The initial purpose was for Sol to raise his skill, [Umbral Domain], back to its maximum level. But when it reached Level 9, Amber asked to face the boss herself.

Sol had agreed, and Shadow Crawler, ever the opportunist for a fairer challenge, did too.

Initially, Amber and the boss fought using all their abilities. However, since Shadow Crawler's elemental skills rendered Amber's pseudo law technique, [Distort Weapon], ineffective, they reached a compromise to limit their abilities. While it was generally against dungeon rules for bosses to hold back, Shadow Crawler circumvented this using the same loophole it had employed to bet for the void root, mutual agreements were fair game.

As Sol watched, he called down to them.

"This should be the last time for sure! I just need one more to max out the skill!"

Shadow Crawler scoffed, blocking Amber's strike before leaping back to create space. "You said that the last four times!"

"Yeah, but I mean it this time!"

"You said that last time, too!" Shadow Crawler retorted.

Amber didn't let their exchange distract her. She swung her daggers again, closing the distance instantly. There was significant distance between the two, but the boss had already learned the hard way five battles ago that distance wasn't a problem for her. He followed the path of her swing and raised his scythe in front of him. A sharp clang echoed as the scythe held firm.

'If I hadn't blocked that, my head would be rolling.' Shadow Crawler thought to himself, not wanting to die so easily.

Amber swung again. This time, something changed. Shadow Crawler's instincts screamed in alarm. Rather than block, he dove to the side, hoping to evade the attack entirely. But to his shock, pain seared through his left arm.

"Gah! My arm!" Shadow Crawler howled, clutching the deep gash.

'It came from the side?' Sol's eyes widened. He recalled Amber's training the past few weeks. She had been working to not only increase the power of her distorted strikes but also manipulate the angles, making them unpredictable. Until now, she had been unsuccessful.

Amber attacked again, and another angled strike slashed across the boss's body, leaving him helpless.

"Oi, wait!" Shadow Crawler pleaded, scrambling to dodge the invisible blows. But without a way to predict their trajectory, his instincts weren't enough. Two more cuts appeared on his legs, forcing him to collapse to the ground, immobilized.

Amber stood over the incapacitated boss, breathing heavily. Her arms trembled from exertion, the toll of manipulating her strikes evident. Despite her exhaustion, she raised her daggers to deliver the finishing blow.

"Wait a second, Amber," Sol called out.

She paused, lowering her daggers and stepping back. Sol descended on his floating platform, landing beside them.

Looking at the defeated Shadow Crawler, Sol said, "I wasn't kidding, this really is the last time. Thanks for helping me max out the skill and helping Amber with her training."

Shadow Crawler, despite his wounds, gave a thumbs-up with his good arm. "No problem. It's my job, after all. By the way, why not try the next set of floors? I promise Mother doesn't harbor ill will toward you anymore. The monsters won't go easy on you though."

Sol shook his head. "Thanks but I can't. I wouldn't want to tackle them until Amber comprehends her law technique and while she is close we can't afford to wait until she does."

His urgency stemmed from the vision he'd witnessed with Saintess Wendy. Though Sol lacked deep understanding of fate and time, he knew the moment they'd glimpsed his parents in the Sapphire Scale Alliance was in the present. The longer they delayed, the higher the risk of missing them.

The reason Sol didn't mind challenging the boss to level [Umbral Domain] because it wouldn't take long to do and only took an hour to repeatedly kill it. But to delve into the next floors would not only be extremely dangerous as all monsters would wield law techniques, it was even more so because he would have to fight them by himself. Amber was strong, he didn't deny that, but the gap between a B-Ranker and an A-Ranker was simply too large. He didn't know how long it would take her to comprehend her law technique and the trip to the Sapphire Scales Alliance wasn't short by any means.

Shadow Crawler sighed. "Fair enough. Still, come back someday and tackle the rest. You'd be the first to reach the end."

"I'll drop by some time, See you later." Sol said with a small smile.

He glanced at Amber, who had recovered enough that her breathing stabilized. She understood his intent and with a swift motion, she slashed her daggers, cleanly decapitating the boss.

[You have slain a Lv 130 Shadow Crawler! Gained 170,856,277 Exp (300%)]

[You have leveled up! +5 Attribute points]

[[Umbral Domain] leveled up! (9 -> EX)]

[[Siphon] level up! (6 -> 7)]

"Oh, hey! I leveled up, and [Siphon] finally leveled up, too!" Sol said, pleased. He allocated all his attribute points into Wisdom and turned to Amber. "We're done here. Let's set off."

Amber nodded, storing her daggers in her spatial ring and walking alongside him to leave the dungeon. Their next destination: the Sapphire Scale Alliance.

...

Meanwhile, in another boss room on the 30th floor, Shadow Crawler sat waiting. Ten minutes passed.

"It can't be… he's actually done?"

The boss had doubted Sol's words about the final attempt and only now realized they must have been true. With them not returning, it flopped to the ground, relieved. Though it had faithfully fulfilled its role, the repeated defeats had taken a toll mentally. The clones didn't only share memories with the real body, but the pain as well. While it never showed the pain during battle, it felt every death and repeatedly which left him tired.

Allowing its mind to wander, Shadow Crawler reflected on its earlier conversation with Sol. It muttered, "There was the [Soul Harvester] and the Butcher… but who was the third? I'm pretty sure they were active during the war, but I can't remember. Maybe Mother knows?"

The boss passed the question along to the dungeon core wondering if she had the answer and rather surprisingly, she did.

"Neitarel?" Shadow Crawler closed his eyes as he tried to recall more. "Still doesn't ring a bell. Must not have been that important."

Shrugging, the boss dismissed the thought.