77-88

Chapter 77 Difference

[-[Lesser Immunity] Ungraded ★★★★★-

Upgrade requirements

1) Essence of '200' infected monsters have been absorbed!

2) Health property of -10- has been attained!

3) Bronze Essence of '10' infected monsters have been absorbed!

Upgrade to Tier-0 ★]

[[Lesser Immunity(Passive] was upgraded to [Immunity(Passive)] Tier-0 ★]

[[Immunity (Passive)] Tier-0★

Gains immunity against poisons and infections below Tier-1 Level 5! Immunity includes scratches of zombies, restricted to ten scratches/bites a day (10/10)]

Reading through all three messages, Dilan nodded his head in satisfaction.

Less than an hour had passed since they had left the cafeteria, and they had just cleared the third floor.

There had been quite a few zombies locked in patient wards. After killing them, Dilan procured their crystals before encountering another Mutated Swiftness Zombie.

Because Dilan required one more Bronze Essence to upgrade his passive skill to Tier-0 he killed it without bothering about the opinion of the others.

They didn't say anything either because they had learned that Dilan took decisions after analyzing the situation thoroughly. And, so they simply observed his expressions.-.

It was quite difficult, but with detailed observation, one could see his facial expression that told them when he required something.

That was also why one could avoid unnecessary trouble as long as one paid close attention to Dilan.

Once the third floor was cleared, their group took a second glance at the fourth floor.

Dilan wanted to make sure that there was no powerful zombie. It was possible for them to have accidentally overlooked the presence of the zombies two days ago.

If they missed a bunch of strong zombies, it would be quite troublesome.

Thus, being meticulous was the most important.

However, after they finished inspecting the fourth floor not long after, Dilan smiled lightly before he suggested,

"Let's just kill all the zombies in our way. It is not necessary to hold back too much for now. The four of you have to level up quite a bit, after all!"

Dilan finished these words by the time they reached the fifth floor.

He was not even sure how many floors the hospital had, but if he recollected correctly, the Rian mountainside hospital was known for being the biggest hospital in the entire city.

So there had to be a few more floors, with each of them having hundreds of zombies!

And there were a total of four towers. As such, Dilan didn't think of pressuring the others on sparing the low-leveled zombies they were to encounter right now.

Understanding Dilan clearly, everyone wielded the Kobold weapons, while Ailee held her cold-metal bow at the ready.

They reached the fifth floor fully tense and encountered a batch of 100 unleveled zombies right off the bat.

Thankfully, not a single Bronze zombie was amongst them and neither did he find a mutated ordinary zombie.

Thus, Dilan didn't even think of intervening in their fight as he stood back and observed the others.

Oliver wielded two Kobold shortswords. They had the perfect length for Oliver to be considered a rather lengthy dagger.

Through the additional stats they provided, he was confident enough to charge at the group of Zombies.

Oliver was ready to hone his skills in the face of possibly being scratched by one of the zombies.

Meanwhile, Sarah wielded a Kobold spear, while Pierre brandished a Kobold's longsword around.

Everyone seemed ready to give their best as their eyes gleamed in determination. Pierre and Sarah chose to follow Oliver and join him in the fray.

Just a moment later Ailee began to shoot out one arrow after another.

A faint bluish gleam shrouded her eyes due to the [Higher Vision] ability.

She focused her attention on the zombies that approached them with oddly fast movements.

But at the same time, her attention never left to ensure that there were no surprise attacks. Ailee felt responsible to save everyone from being scratched or bitten.

Because her mind told her to take care of the others, she didn't fire many arrows. And most of the arrows she fired were aimed at zombies who got too close to her group.

These zombies had approached Oliver and the others from a dead angle, which meant that they wouldn't have noticed the zombie before it had appeared right next to them.

While observing the entire fight, Dilan was quite calm.

If the four Ascenders were unable to defeat the low-level zombies, it was futile to continue hunting with them.

After all, they would only hold him back in fights against powerful Bronze monsters.

He could also try to strengthen them with his unbending efforts, but for that, they had to showcase a bare minimum amount of talent and teamwork.

Furthermore, both Ailee and Oliver had the basic mastery abilities of a specific weapon.

The meaning behind this was quite simple as they received the experience and memories of semi-professional archers and assassins simply by binding the passive ability to themselves.

That meant they ought to have better teamwork, or something was wrong!

Oliver moved rapidly, and his hands never stopped moving as each of his slashes was enough to kill a zombie.

The Kobold's weapons were strong enough to cut through the unleveled zombies as if they were made of butter.

But seeing how overconfident Oliver was suddenly acting, Dilan couldn't help but frown.

He left his position in the triangle that Sarah and Pierre had formed as he rushed ahead.

Every single zombie around him might succumb in the face of his daggers, but that was not enough to calm down Dilan.

From his carefree demeanor, Dilan changed his stance as he held the Captain's sword tightly.

Yet, he kept looking at Pierre and Sarah's fight instead of taking a step ahead.

Sarah's [Multitasking(Passive)] ability was working seamlessly, allowing her to coordinate nearly perfectly with Pierre.

Their teamwork was quite good as they understood that it was important to help one another to quickly finish off the zombies.

And, considering that some low-leveled zombies within the Rian mountainside hospital reached the exact same level as Sarah and Pierre, it was even more prominent.

Dilan liked this much more than the overconfident Oliver. In a way, Oliver acted just like him.

This was something Dilan could tell from the way Oliver tried to fight all by himself.

But the biggest difference between Oliver and Dilan was simply the fact that one of them had an [Immunity] ability and the other one didn't.

As such, Dilan could allow himself to act rushed, and fight the zombies while being surrounded by them.

However, for Oliver, this was far more dangerous! The tiniest scratch of a zombie could end Oliver's life, and that was not even something one could joke about.

Ailee understood this as well, which was why she couldn't help but look at Dilan for a moment before she asked,

"Can…you help him? Please…"

She knew that Oliver was not really in danger right now. Nevertheless, she was worried about the possibility of him being overwhelmed and making a stupid mistake.

Even if Oliver was doing his best, he could get scratched quite easily.

And right now, there were more than ten zombies around Oliver. The skinny young man was fighting by utilizing his entire strength.

The passive basic dagger mastery ability clearly showed its greatness as Oliver killed all the zombies around him.

However, after some time passed, he didn't even notice that he missed one zombie, who had been pushed to the ground by another one.

It began to crawl towards Oliver while being stepped on by the other zombies.

Advancing slowly, it nearly reached Oliver and was about to scratch him, just for a thunderous noise to reverberate through the surrounding.

A moment later a purple flash shot through the room.

Rotten blood, organs, skulls, and brain mass splattered through the surroundings as seven zombies had been beheaded at once.

And the zombie that had been trampled upon was being squashed by a foot that was shrouded in currents of electricity!

All of a sudden, Oliver's immediate surroundings were freed of every zombie as the young and skinny man looked at Dilan in confusion.

"Why did you intervene?" He was visibly confused because he was pretty sure that Dilan wanted them to improve.

However, seeing Dilan's eyes darting to his right foot, Oliver's gaze moved straight to the squashed zombie that was struggling to free itself of Dilan's foot.

"Well, I couldn't let you die, right? I don't really like to kill my own comrades, even if they turn into zombies!"

**

[A/N Support me with golden tickets for move chapters!]

Chapter 78 Red light!

It didn't take long before the remaining zombies were killed as well.

The fifth floor was not cleared yet, but that was not their goal, to begin with.

Oliver looked at the head of the zombie Dilan was crushing under his feet, and his cheeks turned red due to his embarrassment.

However, Dilan didn't take pleasure in making him feel so.

He was of the opinion that Oliver fought pretty well, and if he wouldn't have left Pierre and Sarah alone, everything would have been perfectly fine.

Squashing the head of the zombie below his right foot just a moment later, Dilan turned around to look at Pierre and Sarah.

Their teamwork had astonished him quite a bit, which made him believe that they should focus on working together in sync by making use of their passive abilities.

A better synchronization would help them fight against more and stronger monsters.

But that was something the two had understood already as they looked at each other with a slightly astonished expression.

At first, Dilan wanted to lecture Oliver, but when he saw Ailee rushing over to.

Her agitated expression was more than enough for him to understand that it was not necessary for him to lecture Oliver.

Ailee alone was more than enough to do so.-.

With that in mind, he thought about something for a moment before handing the Captain's sword to Oliver.

A moment later the scales of the Clawed Gloves moved, turning his hand into lengthy pointed claws.

"I will clear the floor of stronger zombies if there are any. You guys can collect the Essence crystals in the meantime!"

Dilan was pretty sure that he wouldn't take long to finish his job.

His Agility was above 11 points, while his Strength reached over 8 points with the boost of the Robe of Strength and the Clawed Gloves' status boost.

This was more than enough for him to defeat almost all monsters in his surroundings.

Catapulting towards the right corridor, Dilan shot past the unleveled zombies in the blink of an eye.

They were not even able to perceive him properly when he brushed past them.

Instead of clearing every single patient ward as well, Dilan focused on passing through all corridors in order to take a first glance.

He didn't slow down even after seeing several mutated zombies.

Astonishingly enough, he also spotted a certain type of mutated zombie he had never seen before.

When he rushed past it, Dilan could only hear its groan.

Less than a second later he felt the temperature behind him increase, only to hear the sound of an explosion.

Turning around, he saw that a large part of the corridor's wall was blown to pieces. The wallpapers around it had burned, and one could clearly smell that something had burned.

'Did it just throw a ball of fire at me?!' Dilan wondered.

However, instead of slowing down, his speed increased.

He moved even faster than before as he leaned forward.

Less than two minutes had passed before Dilan emerged from the left corridor.

Pierre and Sarah looked at him for a few seconds with uncertain expressions, while Ailee was still lecturing Oliver.

But Dilan was not able to pay any attention to them as he shot straight into the front corridor.

At the end of this corridor, and at the T-intersection, Dilan would encounter the fireball throwing zombie once again.

And this was exactly what he wanted to do. Without even directing his mind to do it, it subconsciously activated the [Thunder Step] ability.

His Ability increased by 30% and he turned into a purple flash as he advanced through the rows of zombies.

There were some mutated zombies but Dilan's attention was on the zombie, whose entire right hand was coated in engravings that looked just like fiery flames.

When he inserted a trace of mana into the Clawed Gloves, their sharpness and endurance increased drastically.

In a moment, he appeared in front of the fiery arm zombie. The monster had just turned towards him with a fireball emerging in its hand as it saw a distinct glint of satisfaction in Dilan's eyes.

Catapulting himself towards the left, Dilan used the accumulated momentum to exceed his speed which was already terrific.

His left foot reached the corridor's wall, which he used to propel himself towards the fiery armed zombie as his left arm reached for the zombie's head.

Though Dilan had figured it out already, he could now clearly tell that the zombie's Agility was much lower than his own.

However, even then, Dilan was careful because he was not sure how powerful the fireball within the right hand of the zombie was.

That was why he changed his tactic midway. Instead of going straight ahead, he pierced the zombie's head the moment he reached it.

With his Strength and Agility, his force was more than enough to kill the zombie, which Dilan was attacking from the side as he blasted through the rather narrow corridor.

His fingers dug deep into the brain of the zombie after penetrating its skull and Dilan took hold of it, just to smash its head right into the corridor's right wall.

Cracks spread along the corridor's wall, expanding from the position Dilan had smashed the zombie head in the wall.

Merely a moment later, Dilan's right arm lunged out as he pierced through the fiery arm zombie's skull once again.

His right hand reached the zombie's brain, and penetrated it, ending the fiery arm zombie's life for good.

Tightly gripping everything he could get in his hand, Dilan thought about absorbing the zombie's essence crystal.

He was not sure if that would work, but it was only a moment later that a notification popped up in front of him.

Simultaneously his body was overflowing with energy that invigorated him.

[<Bronze > Essence of a Tierless Level 8 Pyos Rayo Zombie has been absorbed→ +0.3 Strength, +0.5 Stamina, +2.1 Mana]

He had never received so much mana at once, but that was obviously not something he would complain about.

However, instead of focusing on the increase in his stats, Dilan threw a look at his Ancient Paths of Advancement, or the progression of [Kirak's Vassal] to be precise!

[0.000004%]

He knit her brows upon seeing the number. Even after defeating more than 60 ordinary low-leveled zombies and two Bronze monsters at a higher level, the progression bar had barely moved.

This would be pretty frustrating under normal circumstances, but Dilan just shrugged his shoulders thinking that the occupation was probably worth the efforts.

He was ready to keep advancing because there were still more than ten higher leveled zombies he had to defeat.

The others should have it easier conquering the fifth floor after all!

However, all of a sudden Dilan flinched, and his head turned towards the fifth floor's hall.

"Dilannn! RED LIGHT!!"

An ear-piercing scream reverberated through the entire tower.

The moment Dilan heard the scream, he and the others knew exactly what was going on.

They stopped doing whatever they were doing and turned towards the stairway that led them to the lower floors.

There was only one new Survivor, who could scream out like this.

After all, the scream was caused by the [Lethal Voice] ability of a new Survivor.

Instead of using this voice to startle or frighten opponents, it could be used to lure monsters towards him, issue warnings, or request help.

And when help was requested through this ability, the fear of being attacked by monsters was certainly not the biggest problem.

That was something Dilan knew because he told the middle-aged woman, who had bound the [Lethal Voice] ability to herself, to use it only in case of a dire emergency.

The 'red light' was a color code Dilan had come up with to assess the degree of the danger they were facing, with red being the worst!

Chapter 79 Second Wave!

Ignoring the zombies around him, and the zombie whose skull he was still holding, Dilan rushed out of the front corridor.

He left the corpse of the Pyros Rayo Zombie that slumped to the door while ignoring his dirty hands.

Not a single zombie was left alive in the huge hall on the fifth floor.

As such, Dilan had quickly rushed down the floors and brushed past Oliver and the others as all of them reached the stairways towards the third floor.

While passing them, Dilan grasped the Captain's Sword, which Oliver held out for him.

With the +1 Agility boost which Dilan used instead of the Strength boost of his Clawed Gloves, his speed accelerated further.

It almost looked like he was flying down the stairs, and within less than ten seconds he reached the second floor.

When he reached the second floor it took him just one look to know what was going on.

Numerous horned rats, ordinary Krendels, and mutated versions of both monster types flooded the hall to the second floor!

A quick glance towards the left corridor told him that the number of monsters that emerged from the permanent gate was manifold higher than last time.

'Is it the second wave?' Dilan wondered.

His attention was drawn to the stairways that led to the first floor, and he quickly fixed his gaze on several new Survivors that wielded the Kobolds' weapons.-.

Dilan recalled the small group, and he knew that they had been the most eager to start fighting.

They didn't want to be oppressed by people such as Max and his group anymore.

That was also the reason for them to request using Kobold weapons and to follow Dilan and the others to go out hunting.

Kathrine didn't really have anything to say against this as she was woken up for the second time in the day not too long ago.

Even now, she was still a little bit drowsy, which was quite hard to believe after the booming voice that had echoed through the cafeteria owing to the [Lethal Voice] ability.

She was currently making her way toward the second floor, but Dilan had been much faster.

Using his enormous Agility to his advantage he paved his way through the horned rats and Krendels to reach the small group of Ascenders that had wanted to become stronger.

However, upon witnessing the terrifying scene of more than a hundred horned rats and Krendels, their confidence was shattered at once.

"Calm down, guys! Even if they bite you, it won't kill you!! Don't overuse your mana, and keep a calm mind. I'm here to prevent the worst, so try to pick one horned rat at a time and kill all of them!!"

The Kobold weapons were more than enough to pierce through the hide of both the horned rats and Krendels.

That simply meant that the Ascenders behind him had the capabilities to defeat the masses of beasts that flooded the hall of the second floor provided they gathered the courage to kill.

Some of the horned rats and Krendels had already fallen down to the first floor as they were trying to squeeze through the railing.

This was quite bad because Dilan could see them slowly advancing their way toward the cafeteria, which was the direction they were drawn to.

The smell of food attracted them, after all!

Fortunately, he could see that Kathrine arrived just in time, and began massacring the horned rats without much hesitation.

Like Dilan, he was not exactly afraid of killing living beings either. Dilan was quite happy about this in the current situation because it allowed him to believe that everything would be fine.

With that in mind, he used his terrific high Agility and high Strength to slash through dozens of monsters at the same time.

There were simply too many to miss hitting at least one monster.

That was why Dilan didn't even think about using proper tactics to fight.

Instead, he simply bulldozed his way through them, hacking and slashing through the large horde to prevent the large masses from reaching the scared Ascenders that were only slowly beginning to regain their composure.

Blood gutted innards, and corpses were littered across the large area in front of him as he was able to move fast enough to protect everyone.

His Stamina was depleting at a slow pace, which was enough to allow him to fight like this for an entire hour, at the very least!

The fight got even easier when the Ascenders behind him dared to make their first attacks.

They attacked with hesitation, preventing them from use all their might. But this was still fine because they were, at least, doing something!

For now, Dilan was still protecting them from the worst.

This meant that there was an exceptional opportunity that unveiled itself right in front of them.

They knew that they had to kill in order to become stronger and survive.

With that thought driving them ahead, the first young man thrust out his spear forward, severely injuring a horned rat that died only seconds later.

The distinct feeling of piercing the blade of his weapon through the flesh of a living being was something the young man would never forget.

However, even if he was feeling guilty, and as if he would vomit any minute, his life was on the line.

This thought drove all other thoughts of nervousness and fear out of his mind as his movements became a little bit faster.

Less hesitation could be sensed from his side as he forced himself to keep fighting, to keep moving forward and attacking the beast that would take his life if he stayed put.

On the other hand, the remaining members of the group were still hesitating.

They had executed their first attack as well, but their legs and arms were trembling.

For most of the survivors, who were killing a beast for the first time, this was quite normal. It would take them a while to get accustomed to the sensation of killing.

But neither could they afford to sit back and adjust their mindset to something, nor retreat and take a few deep breaths.

Right now, the only option was to overcome their own negative thoughts, and advance…or to succumb to their fears!

Dilan was someone who understood the theory behind overcoming mental hurdles and advancing to become a better human being the best.

His past was everything but rosy, let alone that of a young lad born with a silver spoon.

Being fully aware of the aftermath every action of his caused, Dilan knew that he had to give it his all right now.

Thus, he stepped forward, while increasing the speed at which he attacked using the Captain's sword.

This made him the main focal point for the Krendels, horned rats, in addition to their mutations and evolutions.

The stronger monsters had noticed him, and the fact that he was slaughtering their brethren quite easily.

Hence, they all began to make their way toward him, which was quite bad because fighting against them at his current spot would endanger the others.

But it was at this moment when Dilan could hear footsteps from behind him, while the corners of his eyes clearly detected Oliver and the others.

'Finally…Now let me move freely!!'

A faint smile emerged on his face, while excitement filled his eyes. He wanted to have free reins to unleash his true strength, the beast within him!

Simply defending the others was not enough for him, and the attention of the War Krendels, followed by the other powerful monsters made him feel a maniacal glee.

"I will handle the big ones. Focus on the small ones!! Work together, and don't rush it. They cannot get me, so just look after yourselves!!"

He had only been holding back to protect the other Ascenders.

However, with Kathrine and the other four by their side, everything should be somewhat fine.

Dilan would be the center of everyone's attention either way.

But that was fine with him as well as sustaining severe injuries.

After all, he was able to heal and quickly overcome every kind of injury.

Even if Dilan was not an Undying existence, he was sure that his path of ascension was not supposed to stop right here!

[A/N: For more chapters, support me with golden tickets!]

Chapter 80 Blood, Sweat & Guts

The stream of monsters that came from the left corridor seemed to increase further.

In fact, one could clearly see that monsters were literally pouring out of the front and right corridor!

This showed just how many monsters had emerged from the permanent Gate's second wave, forcing them to make a detour to enter the hall on the second floor.

Adrenaline coursed through his veins, followed by mana with which he accelerated the circulation of his blood.

Through this, Dilan allowed his body to enter a state where he was fully prepared to fight, with his life on the line if necessary.

When the others had formed a small formation around the new Ascenders, Dilan didn't even feel the need to say anything anymore.

He catapulted himself ahead with his huge Agility, before switching the weapon boost from the Captain's weapon to the Clawed Gloves.

Rather than focusing on having an even vaster gap to everyone else in terms of speed, it was more important for Dilan to have the necessary Strength to kill all of his opponents with one, or two hits, at most!

Scanning the room once again, Dilan perceived a total of 15 high-leveled monsters.

A third of them were Bronze monsters. Dilan focused on them simply because they were the most disastrous of the lot.

That was why he appeared right in front of the first War Krendel just a second later.-.

Without activating even a single technique he jumped ahead while thrusting his sword forward.

The longsword pierced through the head of the tall War Krendel, killing it at once.

The first Bronze monster succumbed to its fate, just like that!

However, Dilan was far from done.

Dilan didn' give the War Krendel even one more second of his attention.

He blasted himself ahead to reach the next monster that had already been waiting for him.

It was some sort of a huge, mutated horned rat. It was walking on two legs, had short arms, and squealed at him in anger.

Just a moment later its eyes began to glow faintly.

Because Dilan had looked straight in its eyes, he struggled for a moment as dizziness overcame him.

He felt as if his entire head was being bombarded with mental attacks.

This forced him to avert his eyes from the mutated rat and look elsewhere before he finally reached it.

Dilan almost stumbled over the dozens of horned rats and Krendels which he trampled as if they were not worthy of his attention.

And that was exactly the case because Dilan's entire focus was on the now 14 powerful monsters that were in his proximity.

It took him a mere moment to adjust to the sensation of stomping over the living bodies of moving and writhing beings, but that was only something momentary.

Once he got the hang of it, Dilan had already appeared in front of the rat that was his designated target.

While slashing his longsword at his target, he clearly noticed that the mutated horned rat was trying to move.

This showed that its speed was higher than the War Krendel's.

But it was still not enough to be on par with Dilan, whose speed rivaled some existences that had already advanced to Tier-1!

Fortunately, it didn't seem as if an existence like this was present right now.

This was the only advantage right here, which was something Dilan could make use of.

Beheading the mutated Rat as if he was merely opening a bottle with a thumb, he turned away merely a moment later.

His gaze turned towards the group around Kathrine.

There were a total of 10 Ascenders that were trying to hold their formation, to keep fighting.

However, it was quite easy to perceive that the number of horned rats and Krendels was way too high.

Pierre and Sarah had merely reached level 3 by now, while Ailee, Oliver, and Kathrine were not exactly at an extremely high level as well.

This made things quite complicated for them. After all, their current position was not exactly easy to defend as well.

"Just keep fighting. When it becomes too much for you, retreat slowly while continuing to fight!!" Dilan suddenly shouted an instruction in a voice that was loud enough to reach everyone.

He didn't even wait to see their reaction or if they had understood him clearly and simply turned his head back.

Thanks to the Pyros Rayo Zombie's Essence that boosted his mana by a lot, he still had more than three units of mana left.

This was more than enough for everything he wanted to do.

With all his might, Dilan threw the Captain's Sword towards the War Krendel that approached Kathrine and the others with fast strides.

Flying through the entire hall in a beautiful arch, the razor-sharp blade of the Captain's Sword pierced through the chest of the War Krendel.

It was not yet dead, but Dilan didn't fret over it.

The War Krendel would die eventually! This was the only important thing.

Dilan spread his hands wide open and inserted enough mana into the Clawed Gloves so that they would receive an enhancement in their sharpness and endurance for 15 seconds.

At the same time, three units of mana were utilised to activate the [Thunder Step] ability for 15 seconds!

Catapulting himself ahead with a thunderous noise that reverberated through the entire hall that made faint cracks spread like cobwebs on the glass of the windows, Dilan appeared in front of the next Bronze monster.

Instead of using some glorified and beautiful tactics, Dilan decided to fight dirty.

Both of his hands lunged out for the one-meter tall rat that stood in the middle of numerous smaller beasts and closed his fingers against its thick neck.

In a second, he smashed its head against the wall.

This caused its death in less than a second; a boring and inglorious one.

Dilan simply wiped his hand to the back of his jeans and moved forward as had more than enough monsters to defeat, and no time to joke around.

Thus he catapulted himself several meters ahead with a single push.

He landed in a spot with a total of five high-leveled Krendels.

They looked like lesser versions of the War Krendel, which was why Dilan deemed them as Krendel Warriors.

The five Krendel Warriors prepared themselves for his attack.

However, even then, they didn't expect his Agility to be close to 15 times stronger than the average human before the Primordial Ascension.

As such, owing to their own Agility that was barely nearing 3.5, they were incapable of keeping up with Dilan!

He went on a rampage as he slashed open their throats, and kept inflicting several lethal and several centimeters deep gnashes on their chest, or simply tearing out their hearts, making fountains of blood spurt through the surrounding, painting the walls and the floor red as their organs spilled out of their now mutilated bodies.

And everything was done in a matter of three seconds, and only a single droplet of sweat trickled down his temples.

Without giving himself the time to take a deep breath, he turned into a purple flash that desired the blood and death of his opponents!

Chapter 81 Bloody Feast

There was still more than enough time left for Dilan to defeat the remaining monsters.

He clearly noticed that his excitement was overwhelming.

Others would try to subdue this feeling, but Dilan willingly embraced it as he turned the excitement to kill, and fight with his life on the life into strength; the strength he required to annihilate all the monsters around him.

A purple flash swept through the entire hall, bulldozing several beings that were trampled before the currents of electricity around his feet sizzled through their skin and burned them.

But Dilan didn't notice any of that.

In fact, his senses had already been overwhelmed by his inner instincts and his desire to tear apart every single being around him.

That was also the reason why he was not able to realize that Kathrine and the others were holding the fort.

To be precise, a few more Survivors from the cafeteria had rushed to their aid.

They had required quite some time to gather their courage, but from the noises they heard from not too far away, it was quite obvious that the monsters would come for them if Dilan and the others were to die.-.

Because they didn't want to sit around in fear, the first one caught hold of one of the Kobolds' weapons before stepping through the doors of the cafeteria.

The young woman who had stepped ahead was clearly shivering.

Despite that, she was still advancing ahead.

When some of the Survivors, who had also listed down that they wanted to fight, saw this, they felt ashamed of their own behavior.

One could only say that it was ridiculous because a feeble young woman had to take the first step in order to give the others the necessary courage to step forward.

Slowly, the number of proper weapons available decreased, until there were Survivors, who couldn't get their hands on a Kobolds' weapon.

As such, they picked up the spears that had been manufactured from the bones, and other materials such as the horned rats' horns!

In no time, they reached the entrance hall and the stairways that led to the second floor.

When they saw the heaps of corpses, guts, blood, and intestines that littered the ground of the second floor, many women instinctively retched, while some even vomited.

However, the vast majority of Survivors were simply shocked beyond measurement because the number of rats and weird mythical beasts that flooded the second floor was simply too high.

Yet, even if the number of monsters flooding into the main hall of the second floor had long since exceeded three hundred, the small batch of beasts that attacked Kathrine and the others was just a handful.

There were, at most 10 to 30 lower leveled monsters that attacked them at the same time.

This was simply nothing in comparison to the combined strength of the monsters that entered everyone's sight.

But the reason that only so few monsters attacked the group revolving around Kathrine was quite simple.

It was the purple flash that zapped through the hall like a bolt of lightning with a terrifying speed.

Every single being that the purple flash touched met certain death, leaving behind corpses and mutilated bodies.

One could only hear the painful squeals of the Krendels that were killed by Dilan while running past them, while the horned rats were simply trampled and burned!

The [Thunder Step] ability's 15 seconds were soon over, and Dilan noticed that his Stamina was rapidly depleting.

Sweat trickled down his forehead and his brown hair was sticking to his head, while blood covered him in his entirety.

His entire being was craving for more blood, to kill more beings, and get stronger than ever before!

As such, even when his speed lowered to his usual, while the electricity currents around his feet dispersed, it didn't really feel like Dilan had slowed down.

Seeing how Dilan passed through the flood of monsters completely unbothered by the fact that all of them wanted to tear him apart and end his life, the Survivors that saw everything could only stare at him in utter dumbfounding.

There was nothing they could say as their gaze was fixated on how Dilan ripped apart the chest of a nearly three-meter tall War Krendel that towered even above its own kind.

It was as if no opponent, who was able to rival Dilan existed.

But even if there would be one, nobody doubted Dilan's capabilities…the capabilities of their leader!

Earlier everyone had guessed that he was merciless and powerful, however, right now, everyone understood that they would be safe with Dilan as long as they obeyed him.

It should even be possible to live well and to return to a somewhat ordinary life if they managed to keep working hard as long as they had Dilan in their front, leading them to victory.

Just at this moment, more powerful monsters emerged from the corridors to Dilan's side.

However, instead of feeling desperate owing to the increase in pressure, a bright smile appeared on his face that was smeared with blood.

Even his hair had turned crimson in color owing to the seemingly endless amount of blood that splattered through the huge hall on the second floor.

'More…I want MOREE!!!' it was as if his deepest desire urged Dilan to make him feel more alive, to allow him to become stronger, to clearly sense that his entire existence was worth living for.

At this very moment, a trace of anger manifested in his mind as more and more memories of his past resurrected.

'Who dares to say that I should have never been born?! Who the hell are you to ask me to die, even though I wanted to live desperately?!??'

Dilan's emotions were wreaking havoc in his mind, making him nearly burst out in anger.

Fortunately, he didn't do so as a little trace of restraint was still left within him.

However, the anger he released led the remaining trace of mana inside his body to churn.

The mana boiled like fire, circulating through his body at a rapid pace without him even realizing it.

At the same time, his body released another burst of adrenaline that made him feel as if he was knocked out.

All of a sudden, the memories that should have never resurfaced again, disappeared from his mind as it went blank.

The beast within him had unleashed, only for the bloody feast to continue!

**

[A/N Support me with golden tickets for move chapters!]

Chapter 82 Out of Hell

The anger churning through his veins made him feel as if the mana was boiling and when it reacted with his blood, he received a major adrenaline rush.

As such, Dilan was not even able to comprehend what had happened when he inserted the same mana in his Clawed Gloves!

It was as if a second layer of protection manifested around the Clawed Gloves that gleamed in a faint crimson color.

The second layer was this semi-transparent crimson color hue that increased the sharpness of his weapon of choice by more than 50%.

Though such a terrific high enhancement was a one-time use, it was more than enough for Dilan to kill every single beast in his surroundings without sensing their body's resistance when he cut through them!

[The host's deepest desires have been unleashed. His battle intent reached the maximum, resulting in his mana coursing through his veins like hot, molten lava. When circulated through his body, his mana was altered by adrenaline and his deepest desires.

<Berserk Mana> has been created temporarily.]

Paving his way through the masses of monsters around him, Dilan focused on the strongest beings that had emerged from the three corridors.

But his hands were spread wide open, subconsciously slashing through the back, skull, or entire upper body of the beasts he passed by.

The amount of blood spilled by Dilan's hand was enormous. Had he done this before the Primordial Ascension, he would have been sentenced to death by a jury long ago.

However, right now, he had to fight the monsters if he were to survive. Hence, he charged through the floor that was bathed in blood, turning it slippery.-.

But this was, by no means bad because the blood, organs and dead bodies on the ground indicated that there was one less monster for the others to fight, one more kill at the hands of Dilan, consequently leading to more satisfaction in his life that made him feel it was worth living.

He dashed through the huge hall on the second floor, entered the corridors if necessary, and killed without remorse.

Breathing heavily, it was impossible for him to tell how much time had passed as his mind was focused on wiping out all the vile monsters.

Yet, what he could tell was that his Stamina dropped to the bare minimum that would allow him to still keep running.

His sight was blurred owing to his own hair falling on his face, and the blood dripping down his head, soaking into his clothes and smearing every single inch of his exposed skin.

Slowly, after several minutes had passed, the number of monsters began to dwindle. Only when he saw that no more powerful beasts were emerging from the permanent Gate, did he regain his senses.

At this moment, another set of fleeting memories he ought to have forgotten resurfaced in his mind.

It was a picture of his mother from several years ago…maybe it had already been a decade or longer…Dilan didn't recall the date anymore.

The only thing Dilan was able to perceive in the fleeting memory was his mother standing in front of his crying sisters that hid behind her.

His focus had been on his sisters, who wanted to intervene with whatever his father had been doing at that moment, only to be held back by his stepmother, whose eyes were like blocks of ice, looking at him as if he was nothing but the scapegoat for their entire family…

Sighing deeply, Dilan shook his head before carefully using his hands to push back his hair.

Looking at the ceiling which seemed to have received numerous bloody red stains, he began to breathe heavily once again.

The memories of the last few minutes were hazy, and that was not only the case because his sight had been blurred by blood and his hair.

Now that he had regained his senses, the state he had been in was something that bothered Dilan a little bit, even if it had allowed him to unleash his highest combat prowess.

It was quite weird, and he knew that his excitement to fight, the adrenaline he felt while facing the dangers, and the feeling of killing vicious monsters were something he would hardly get under control.

In the end, Dilan understood this very well.

However, the bare minimum he wanted to have under check was being able to control himself, not enter a blank state of mind, where he would just turn into a mindless executioner.

And after looking around, Dilan barely noticed that all the other Survivors had already paved their way through to the huge hall of the second floor.

In fact, many were still killing low-leveled horned rats, and a few injured Krendels.

A few Survivors, such as Oliver, and some others were dashing through the corridors to kill the remaining monsters.

There were more than enough of them left, even if the strongest had already been eliminated by Dilan.

The number of big corpses was much higher than Dilan expected.

But instead of starting to collect his spoils right off the bat, his eyes turned toward the new Survivors.

Most of them were pale as a piece of paper.

Meanwhile, others were oddly composed.

But this group was the minority of a handful.

Almost everyone had vomited, at least once, and the majority had retched until nothing came out of their stomach.

Dilan could understand this for sure.

After all, the battlefield looked like they had entered Hell's chamber of torture itself.

Maybe Dilan would have felt like vomiting if he hadn't faced too many disgusting situations already.

'Well, even before the Primordial Ascension this sight would have been much better than being in that mansion…with those people…'

WIth that thought in his mind, Dilan was not even able to smile as he pierced his longsword through the skull of a monster he killed not too long ago.

He absorbed its Essence crystal, only to lift his head, where he saw that someone was making his way towards the head of the War Krendel.

'Looks like I need to add another rule…Forbidding taking away someone else's war spoils. If you don't want to die, better fuck off now!' Dilan just thought as he took a step towards the War Krendel's corpse.

The moment he took his first step, the young man turned around in fright.

Dilan's presence had been enough for the young man to notice that he had messed up.

He knew that it had been a mistake to approach the War Krendel, but when his eyes had fallen upon the Bronze color of the Essence crystal that protruded out of the squashed head, the young man had been unable to hold back.

As such, noticing that he made a mistake, he stepped back to return to his old group and blended in while trying to hide from Dilan.

Seeing what the young man did, Dilan thought that everyone would act like this, which was why he thought of adding the new rule.

WIth that in mind, he took a few deep breaths before he began to speak his mind about the given situation.

"Hello everyone, with great joy, I can say that we overcame this horrendous situation. From the looks of it the permanent gate released a monster wave after not releasing even a single monster for several days.

This is something we will research later.

However, for now I want to congratulate everyone for taking their first big step towards ascension, and becoming powerful Ascenders that will ascend all possible mortal realms!

As everyone might have learned by now, the Essence crystals clearly signify how much of a use absorbing them has. Through this, you can clearly sense which Essence crystals belong to you, and which do NOT belong to you!

War spoils are also included in the rule about the belongings of Survivors. So… kindly take only the things that belong to you, and not others' spoils!!

If anybody is found guilty of taking somebody else's belongings, he or she will not receive any food for 3 days. This will be considered the first warning.

The second warning is something everyone has already witnessed, right!?"

Smiling faintly, Dilan's asked the question that made an involuntary chill run down everyone's spines at the hinted meaning.

Some even exclaimed in fear before shutting their mouth in an instant.

In the end, it was not only the way Dilan spoke every single word but even more so his appearance that inflicted fear in the minds of others!

After all, his appearance eerily resembled a Devil, who had crawled out of Hell in order to torture everyone around him.

Clearly hearing every word he spoke, the Survivors vigorously nodded their heads even if it cost them the remainder of their energy to do so.

As long as they could reassure Dilan that they would never take anything that didn't belong to them, everything was fine!

Chapter 83 3 Moods

Someone who dared to steal something right under Dilan's nose had to definitely be tired of living.

As such, it was not surprising that nothing was stolen.

Nobody dared to do anything stupid because the fear of being punished was simply too high.

Dilan knew that everyone had started to fear him, but that was actually not something he could prevent.

There seemed to be different types of personalities Dilan could have.

First, there was his gentle and kind nature where he supported everyone with his best efforts. This was something Dilan did without actually realizing it.

Second, there was his merciless nature and bad temper. He didn't accept rulebreakers and had a low tolerance to laziness and bullshit. He wanted every single person to earn his or her keep.

It was quite obvious that he would refine the rules over time, but that didn't mean anyone was allowed to ignore the existing ones.

And last but not least there was the fact that Dilan turned into a bloodthirsty beast in human skin once a battle reached a certain level of intensity.

This level included not only the pressure Dilan was sensing but also the way he was feeling right now.-.

If he wanted to maintain his composure it was possible for him to stay level-headed.

However, once he released everything without holding back even a tiny bit, it was over. He would reach the same state as he did not too long ago before dragging himself back to sanity once again.

It was only advantageous that he didn't attack his own allies, otherwise, his bloodthirsty beast state would be quite dangerous for everyone around him.

In the end, even Dilan was not sure what to think about the end of the battle against the monsters of the second wave.

One could say that it had been quite ridiculous for him to lose his rationale and control over his body.

Unfortunately, the anger that accompanied the resurfaced memories Dilan had suddenly remembered hadn't been helpful.

In fact, the resurfaced memories were the cause for his mood to hit rock bottom during the fight, which was why he fought without restraint.

It was messed up, to put it simply.

But on the brighter side, Dilan was pretty sure that something as before wouldn't happen.

At least, not owing to resurfacing memories, even though there were still quite a few memories, even worse ones which his mind had locked and sealed deep within himself.

Shaking his head as if to clear his head, Dilan picked up a few more Essence crystals before he was interrupted by a few Ascenders that were near him.

"Oh, why did you pick up this Essence crystal? I sense that it belongs to me?" A Survivor suddenly asked, looking at a young woman, who looked at him in confusion.

"But…I can also sense that it should be mine…" Her voice was low and nearly inaudible for the others.

However, it was Dilan, who passed by her just at this moment, and instructed them in a loud voice,

"There will be Essence crystals where multiple Ascenders have contributed to the kill. Don't absorb them immediately, but discuss the distribution of these Essence crystals with mutual consent!"

In the end, there was no better way to solve this problem.

It was near impossible to determine who had the higher contribution in killing a specific monster while fighting an army of several monsters at the same time.

As such, the easiest way was to talk it out, once the biggest issues were solved.

Nodding their head the moment they saw that Dilan had appeared next to them, both the man and the woman, who were arguing, quieted down in an instant.

Maybe they would have started a verbal fight until one of them gave up on the Essence crystal if Dilan didn't interfere.

However, as he was right in front of them, nobody was able to say anything.

After all, who would dare to approach, let alone provoke an existence that released a blood desiring presence?

'I should take a note of this. Never annoy Dilan during or after a battle. His thirst for blood and death will only lead to more dangers!'

Kathrine made a mental note while reminding herself to never fight with someone else in front of Dilan after he had killed hundreds of monsters.

The thought of him intervening without being able to differentiate between friend and foe was too frightening and she even began to imagine him tearing her apart. Goosebumps spread all over her body at this thought.

Shaking her head, Kathrine could only be happy that Dilan was on their side, and that he was kind and supportive to everyone, as long as they didn't create any unnecessary trouble.

Every human being had good and bad traits, but even then Kathrine had problems assessing Dilan.

Was he really the good guy she imagined him to be, or would he change all of a sudden when his greed for more strength would overwhelm him?

Nobody could tell, which was why Kathrine could only sigh deeply, telling herself to take her sister to practice hunting later!

There was still a lot for everyone to do, but the others could throw away the corpses they didn't need. This was not something she had to do!

With that in mind, she continued to collect Essence crystals, which was exactly the same as everyone else, including Dilan was doing.

There were far more Essence crystals that belonged to him than Dilan had expected.

Amongst them were numerous low-leveled horned rats and Krendels' corpses littering the ground along the burned path he had created.

'Did I really kill all of them?' He asked himself, unsure about the correct answer.

However, what he sensed from each Essence crystal was certainly not wrong, which was why he simply shrugged his shoulders before continuing to collect and absorb the Essence crystals.

He didn't want to be flooded by notifications, which resulted in a bizarre situation where he didn't receive a single notification when he absorbed the monster's Essence crystals.

'Well, that is odd!'

For a second, he was confused, but it was certainly to his advantage that the notifications didn't bother him anymore.

With that in mind, he averted his focus to the huge corpse of the War Krendel, whose Bronze Essence crystal he pulled out of its destroyed skull before absorbing it.

'Should we try eating rat meat, or the Krendels' meat? The War Krendels would have enough meat to last our group for…two weeks or maybe a little bit more if we use it for soup or something like that.'

He was confused about the use of the meat of mythical beasts. Wasting it would be…a shame, but figuring out if the meat of Mythical beasts was edible was something he could leave in the hands of Bianne.

It was not his task or forte to think about it because his mind was occupied with something completely different as his head turned towards the direction of the left corridor.

The bluish liquid swirling in the permanent Gate was unmoving as if nothing had happened. This led Dilan to frown lightly.

'Just how can it be so tranquil right now?!'

**

[A/N Support me with golden tickets for move chapters!]

Chapter 84 Arise

[334 Essences and 9 <Bronze > Essences have been absorbed→ +4.5 Strength, 6.1 Health, +1.9 Stamina, +4.1 Agility, +1.3 Mana]

Approximately 16 higher-leveled mutated monsters' Essences were there in the ordinary Essences he had absorbed.

As such, Dilan was only slightly astonished when he noticed how much of a boost he received from a single huge battle.

He had sustained numerous tiny injuries but none of them was even close to the wounds he had inflicted upon himself.

Dilan had forgotten about the injuries while fighting, which led him to take a look at them once everything was over.

However, there was not much of an injury left to look at, to begin with.

This clearly showed how potent his healing capacities were.

And his Health stat had just increased to 20.5 Units, strengthening his physique and capabilities to recuperate even faster!

'Shouldn't there be a limit on how high a stat can reach at Tier-0?'

It would make sense because otherwise, it was questionable whether he could even label Tier-1 monsters as more powerful than Tierless monsters, to begin with.

After all, one could reach level 10 with the average stat of 4 units, or be like Dilan with a Health stat of over -20-, and an Agility of -15-!

Dilan was really confused as to what the limit of a Tierless Ascender was because his body didn't really feel burdened despite the powers he had received.

If he were to be at his limits, this would have happened.-.

While thinking about it, Dilan approached the permanent Gate.

The bluish liquid was in a stable form and seemed to be completely unruffled by whatever had just happened.

As such, he couldn't help but approach it, while holding two Bronze Essence crystals in his hand.

"Please give me something good, otherwise, I will beat the shit out of you!!" Dilan's mood was already bad because there had been quite a few injured Survivors.

Other than that, the resurfacing memories of his family bothered him the most.

Shaking his head to get rid of those thoughts, he held out the two Bronze Essence crystals with the thought of throwing them inside the permanent Gate, just to receive notifications.

[<Bronze > Essence crystal of Tierless Level 10 Mutated Dizziran Rat and Tierless Level 9 War Krendel have been detected!]

[<Bronze > grade treasures can be exchanged with 5 <Bronze > Essence crystals of the same type!]

After reading the messages, Dilan halted in his tracks.

"Is that some bad joke?!" He could only mumble before re-reading the message once again.

'Looks like the first Bronze treasure I received was just a welcome gift…is that so??'

Scratching the back of his head, Dilan couldn't help but be confused.

But instead of bothering about accumulating enough Bronze Essence crystals, Dilan simply absorbed them.

The War Krendel didn't provide him with any further Status points.

However, the return from the Mutated Dizziran Rat was more than enough to lift his mood once again.

[<Bronze > Essence crystal of Tierless Level 10 Mutated Dizziran Rat has been absorbed→ +0.6 Stamina, +2.1 Mana]

Dilan had hoped to exchange the Bronze Essence crystal of the Mutated Dizziran Rat with a Bronze treasure that was related to the high mana attribute or mental attack of the monster.

Because that was not possible, absorbing the Essence crystal was the most logical answer.

The boost in mana was quite helpful, and it allowed Dilan's last stats to cross the threshold of 10 units!

Each of his stat was more than ten times the average of a human before the Primordial Ascension if one were to exclude Mana as it didn't exist at that time.

[Permanent Gate to (Krendel's Underground Valley). Requirements to enter the Gate are met! -All Stats <4+ >, Tierless Level [10]!]

For a moment, Dilan considered entering the Krendel's Underground Valley at once.

But that would be quite irresponsible to everyone, who fought against the monsters of the second wave with all their mind.

With that in mind, he returned to the huge hall on the second floor before approaching Kathrine.

"How is the current situation? We didn't have any casualties, right? I saw some injured Ascenders, but everyone looked quite fine after absorbing the Essence crystals of horned rats and Krendels."

Kathrine could only nod her head before her attention turned to one particular direction.

"It looks like the Essence has the innate trait to decrease our fear of killing monsters. It doesn't obliterate our fear but it is still amazing how much everyone changes after leveling up once or twice."

It was truly surprising, even more so if one saw how the complexion of several dozen scared witless Survivors changed in a matter of minutes.

Dilan was just about to say something else as he saw that Kathrine's gaze was still fixated on something.

'Why is she so interested in the Krendel Warrior's bodies?' He pondered, only for an idea to pop up in his head.

"The Krendel Warriors were at level 7. So you can take them to the cafeteria for Yvonne. She should start experimenting with her Origin ability as quickly as possible. And while replenishing her mana, Yvonne might as well focus on learning how to control Mana.

This should be quite important for her in the future as well!"

After he said this, Dilan stood back and simply observed the entire battlefield for a few moments.

Some corpses were mutilated beyond measure. Hence, they couldn't be used for anything anymore.

With a sigh, Dilan could only tell one of the Ascenders to return to the cafeteria to get Bianne and everyone else to come over.

They had a big task at hand, sorting the corpses that were still usable, dismantling the hide of the monsters like the War Krendel to create leather armors that were hard enough to block the bites and scratches of lower leveled zombies and so on.

There was too much work to do. Thus, Dilan quickly lost track of time.

He was still tired but his Stamina recuperated faster than it could deplete thanks to his high Health stat.

Bianne had arrived a long time ago, followed by some reluctant Survivors that vomited the last remnants of their breakfast the moment they witnessed the state of the second floor's battleground.

Dilan and most of the others had ignored this reaction, but a batch of Ascenders came over to give them mental support.

Meanwhile, Yvonne was amongst the calmest, which astonished not only Kathrine, but also Dilan.

He had expected Yvonne to panic after probably having developed some severe trauma against everything that involved violence, blood and death.

But given her demeanor, she didn't seem to be all that bothered at the sight of the dead bodies.

"Is that because of her Origin ability's passive effect?" Kathrine mumbled when thinking about the only logical reason for Yvonne to be that eerily calm.

"I guess so…"

Dilan's answer was certainly not pleasing at that time, but when Yvonne simply made her way through the corpses to calmly approach the same Krendel Warriors, Kathrine and Dilan spoke about, they couldn't help but be certain that her instincts led her around.

This was quite interesting, but what amazed them was the way darkness currents emerged out of her hand.

At that moment, the temperature on the second hall had cooled down by several degrees, while the darkness currents were slowly finding their way towards the closest Krendel Warrior.

The corpse began to twitch, and the sound of bones breaking could be heard only for its legs to start twitching.

Meanwhile, Yvonne began to sweat profusely.

Her entire back was already drenched in sweat but her eyes were fully fixated on the corpse right in front of her as she mumbled.

"Arise, and serve me!"

Yvonne's voice was eerily cold, and Dilan could faintly perceive that her eyes had turned pitch-black for a second.

However, this felt like an illusion because the pitch-black color had disappeared in a millisecond when Dilan blinked his eyes.

"She is an ideal fit to become a Necromancer…" Dilan mumbled, wondering if Yvonne's Origin ability would overlap with the Necromancer occupation, or if they would collide with one another.

Meanwhile, Dilan's eyes flicked to the walking corpse of the Krendel Warrior.

He could clearly tell that if Yvonne learned to control herself properly, she would become extremely powerful, maybe even more powerful than himself.

But that was obviously something Dilan wouldn't accept.

After all, he had his very own Origin ability and a very compatible occupation for this Origin ability.

And that was something Dilan knew even though the occupation of his choice didn't really reveal anything about it to him!

[Kirak's Vassal] (0.000005%)

Chapter 85 Krendel's Underground Valley

It was ridiculous…in order to get to just move the status bar to 1% of his occupation, it looked like he had to absorb the Essence of 4 million Tierless Bronze monsters.

This was simply unreasonable, and not something one could achieve with normal means.

In fact, to reach 100%, 400 million Tierless Bronze Essence crystals were necessary, which was even less feasible.

It was pure insanity, to put it simply!

However, especially because it was so ridiculous, Dilan couldn't help but think that there had to be an easier way to procure more Essence faster.

'Maybe there is a unique way to attain a higher progression rate?' He wondered.

The Common occupations of his Ancient Paths of Advancement were already filled, and Dilan could choose them.

But he didn't even think of taking a second glance at them.

After all, Dilan knew that he could choose to become a Necromancer in the worst-case scenario.

It would progress much faster than Kirak's Vassal's progression bar, either way.

Nonetheless, Kirak's Vassal progressed, which meant that it was everything that counted!-.

Bianne was already taking a look at the bodies of the horned rats, Krendels, and all of their mutations and evolutions.

Due to her [Art of Cooking] passive ability, it was possible for Bianne to figure out if the mutated beasts' meat was poisonous or not.

This was the first step in figuring out whether something was edible or not.

The only issue was the potency of Mana, which was something Bianne was able to research later.

"Let's move as many corpses to the mortuary!" Bianne suggested before Oliver intercepted her by clearing his throat.

"Well it looks like you forgot that nothing in the hospital is working properly right now… you know, power outage?"

Dilan was unsure whether it was Oliver's bad mood or that he simply didn't like Bianne.

However, the way in which he spoke with her was rather rough.

But instead of minding this too much, Dilan was fully aware that a lack of power supply was their worst enemy right now.

After all, not even their fridges worked properly right now, which meant that their stored food and meat spoiled much faster than usual!

"Looks like it's time to fix the electricity here!" Dilan mumbled, just to hear Kathrine next to him all of a sudden.

"I will take care of that. You should take care of this mess"

While speaking, she pointed toward the permanent Gate. Dilan understood what Kathrine wanted to point out, and he could only nod his head.

"If the third wave gets even worse, we will have quite a few problems.

The second one was already manifold worse than the first, where only small numbers of monsters emerged…

We have to find out more information about the time of the waves and if it was possible to prevent them from occurring…"

In the end, he was the one to speak out their thoughts even though both knew that it was not necessary.

However, even then, Dilan didn't really feel comfortable about leaving the Rian mountainside hospital alone.

Kathrine and the others might still be there, but he had one particular issue which he had not shared with anyone before.

"What if a group of hostile Survivors was to enter the hospital once you solved the issue with the electricity? I mean it is quite obvious that there are Survivors inside a building that shines brightly in the darkness of Rian…"

When he was outside with Kathrine, Dilan had picked up quite a few hints about the existence of one huge, or several small groups of survivors.

But instead of saying something, he had remained silent because the clues he spoke about were, in fact, human corpses that had either been shot or pierced by something sharp.

The latter could have been the doings of Kobolds as well, but if that were to be the case, the head of the human corpses would have been pierced open as well.

After all, monsters wouldn't leave the Essence crystals behind!

His question was not really pointing out the specific clues he had found, but Kathrine was able to see through Dilan's poker face easily.

It was only obvious that she had sensed it as she had been with Dilan at that time.

As such, she had also seen a few clues to the existence of dangerous human groups.

The only difference between Kathrine and Dilan was that she didn't want to think that it was true at that time.

However, after what had happened to her sister and many other women on the fourth floor, her mindset had undergone many changes.

Thus, now her mind was eerily calm when she looked at Dilan.

"We, or I, will kill them!"

Afterward, she kept her ice-cold gaze trained on him, just to see the wandering corpse of the Krendel Warrior that followed Yvonne.

A faint smile emerged on her lips as her eyes cleared up.

"Believe me, if necessary I can kill all of them on my own, just go!"

Dilan could tell that every single word she said was true. Even if it was just for Yvonne's sake, Kathrine would never allow anyone with ill intentions to enter or even come close to their small shelter!

With that in mind, Dilan could only nod his head before proceeding to do what his gut feeling told him.

He pulled the Captain's Sword out of the body of the War Krendel he had killed with it before approaching the permanent Gate.

Each step he took reverberated through the entire huge hall, slowly drawing everyone's attention toward him.

From their point of view, it looked as if Dilan's body was heavy, and that he was being pulled down by something, something that held him back from doing whatever he wanted.

Yet, the closer he inched towards the permanent Gate, the lighter his weight became because the burdens that weighed on his shoulders seemed to be taken away from him.

When he reached the Gate, Dilan hesitated for a mere second before he took the final step through the bluish liquid mass.

It was as if lukewarm water shrouded his legs and entire body after taking the second step.

He disappeared from the sight of the others all of a sudden which made several Survivors feel as if Dilan had fleed from the hard work, and his responsibilities.

However, just a moment later they shook their heads and called themselves stupid.

The Gate was the place where the wave of monsters came from.

As such, Dilan was certainly not fleeing from his responsibilities.

Rather he was taking them head-on while keeping everyone's safety in mind.

That was, at least, what everyone began to think about Dilan's action.

His true reasoning included whatever the Survivors thought, but there was far more to add, even if it was his selfish reasons.

But all of this turned trivial for Dilan as he emerged within a dark and humid place.

Even with torches and other sources of light, he could barely see anything.

And what he saw was certainly not something he had expected, not the moment he emerged in the Krendel's Underground Valley!

"Well, what exactly did I expect if the requirements to enter the Gate were to be at level 10 and to have all stats at 4?!"

He mumbled to himself, smiling lightly as his grasp around the Captain's Sword tightened, while a distinct glint of excitement emerged in his eyes.

Chapter 86 Limit

Dilan's gaze went around the hall he had entered. He looked even behind him, just to see that there was a huge slope.

Had it not been dark behind him, it should have been possible for him to see the wall that enclosed the underground valley.

'Looks like the only way to retreat is to return to the hospital'

Concluding that there was no way to move further in the valley, Dilan was just happy that he didn't sense any dangers from the darkness that shrouded parts of the slope.

Even if he was not actually able to see the wall behind him, it didn't take him much time to understand that he had emerged in the outermost parts of the valley's outskirts.

His smile could only brighten at this thought as Dilan mumbled,

"That only means I won't be attacked from the back…Great!!"

The moment he muttered the last word, a bright glint manifested in his eyes as he looked at the more than 20 War Krendels, and over 100 higher leveled mutated Krendels and horned rats!

If the fight that he awaited right now could be described as a massacre, the earlier fight was just a child's play in comparison.

And Dilan liked this way too much because he was in his best state, fully prepared to go all-out with all possible means!

After activating the [Thunder Step] ability, he attained an Agility of -20-. This made it possible to blast several meters ahead with a single strike even before the thunderous noise of the ability's activation resounded through the entire area.

The electricity currents enveloped his feet and the crackling stirred up the dirt and pebbles on the ground as he dashed through the vast hall.

His eyes gleamed brightly, and the grasp around the Captain's Sword tightened just to cut through the air at a rapid speed the moment Dilan simply flicked his wrist.-.

The longsword turned into a silverish-gray flash that cut through everything in its wake.

Blood, body parts, and organs splattered on the hospital floor, followed by the sky blue eyes of Dilan to gleam brightly.

"All of you…die for me!!"

**

After a while, one could see a bloody massacre in the huge hall Dilan had emerged in.

There was only one living being that was left standing, and breathing lightly with an eerily crazy smile on his face.

"I…am the strongest!!"

Clenching his free hand, Dilan clearly felt the power that coursed through his body.

If he had already been powerful during the fight against the monsters of the second wave, his current state was simply shocking.

Not a single beast was able to cope with his Strength which was 13 times higher than that of the average human before the Primordial Ascension.

Meanwhile, there was not even the need to talk about his Speed after activating the [Thunder Step] ability because it was already too difficult for any monster to keep up with raw Agility stat of 15.4!

The [Thunder Step] ability was just another terrifying boost in his combat prowess.

It could be used in a versatile manner and was far more powerful than the [Violent Strike] active ability of Oliver.

Oliver might have it easier to upgrade his ability but Dilan was not worried about Oliver leaving him behind.

'Even if Oliver keeps bragging about his upgraded ability, and that it was extremely powerful now, it will be difficult to find a low tiered and powerful ability as the [Thunder Step] ability!'

While thinking about Oliver, and his upgraded abilities, Dilan couldn't help but feel like trying to look at the upgrade requirements for the [Thunder Step] ability.

Unfortunately, nothing happened when he tried to take a good look at it.

As such, he shrugged his shoulders before looking through the heap of corpses that were scattered on the ground around him.

Dilan was not sure how many monsters he killed so far but everything had been way too easy for him.

Even the War Krendels that had been slightly larger and more powerful than the ordinary War Krendels had been incapable of keeping up with his strength, let alone speed.

The only excitement Dilan felt from fighting the horned rats and Krendels was their huge number which gave him an increased chance to keep killing.

And it was only after he spent two more hours collecting all Essence crystals that he realized that he had indeed killed a huge number of beasts.

He stored away 10 Essence crystals of War Krendels, while the remaining ones had been absorbed by Dilan.

Everything seemed as usual, only for a surprising notification to pop up even before he received the information about the number of Essences he had absorbed in total, including how much his stats had improved.

[<Agility > Stat has reached the improvement limitation of a Tierless existence! Agility cannot be further improved without advancing to Tier-1, or without meeting special conditions!]

This message hit him off-guard because Dilan hadn't expected his Agility stat to be higher than high Health stat.

He had already figured that there should be a limit to Tierless existences. As such, it literally made no sense that 'Agility' was mentioned there, instead of his Health stat!

The only thing Dilan noticed in the notification was the 'special condition', which led him to take a proper look at the Log of the Ancient.

__________

Name: [Dilan Cier]

Rank[Tierless (Level 10)]

Race [Human]

Occupation [None]

Title [None]

**

Strength= [17.9] (+1.5)(+0.2)

Health= [24.6]

Stamina=[13.3]

Agility=[20]

Mana=[11.8]

Status Points to allocate→0.5

**

-Origin ability-

[Regeneration] Tier-0 ★★★

-Active abilities (1/2)-

[Thunder Step] Tier-0 ★★★

-Passive abilities (1/5)-

[Immunity] Tier-0 ★

_____________

Only after Dilan spent more than five minutes staring at the Log of the Ancient, did two more notifications pop up right in front of him.

This startled him because they lit up the surroundings all of a sudden before he started to read through them with great interest.

[523 Essences and 76 Bronze Essences have been absorbed→ +6.4 Strength, +4.1 Health, +2.9 Stamina, +4.6(7.3) Agility, +1.4 Mana]

[Because the limit of the Agility stat has been reached, every additional status point in Agility will be converted into Essence!]

The second notification was something Dilan truly liked as it lead him to avert his focus to the progression bar of Kirak's Vassal!

<Kirak's Vassal> [0.000035%]

If his calculations were correct, it should be at [0.000025%] right now, but contrary to his expectations it was much higher.

'That means once all of my stats are higher, I can devour the Essence of Essence crystals in their entirety instead of a vast part being used to increase my stats?'

If this were to be true it meant that he didn't have to absorb 400 million Bronze Essence crystals, but that just a fraction of that huge number would already be enough!!

A bright smile emerged on his face with that thought in his mind.

It made him more eager to max out his other stats, which was why Dilan continued to pick up every single Essence crystal he could sense.

There were still a few more that he had yet to absorb, and he proceeded to do that hastily.

At the same time, his focus was on his Health stat that crossed the limits of a Tierless existence by more than four units!

'It should be owed to my Origin ability…It is probably one of the special conditions the notification mentioned!'

Chapter 87 Advanced Monster

**

Strength= [20] (+1.5)(+0.2)

Health= [28]

Stamina=[20]

Agility=[20]

Mana=[20]

Status Points to allocate→0.5

**

While absorbing one of the last Essence crystals, Dilan couldn't help but feel truly satisfied with the stats visible in his Log of the Ancient.

All of his stats had reached their limits. They had been maxed out, with his Health reaching the exact limit he thought it would attain.

"28 units…20 units…the difference is exactly the boost my Origin ability increases my Health stat!"

Dilan was curious if Origin abilities were the only special criteria to further increase someone's strength, and the more he thought about it the less like this was.

After all, the restriction of stats would make various passive abilities that boost certain stats, entirely useless!-.

'Maybe some passive skills have unique characteristics that lift the restrictions to a certain extent?… I should ask Ella about further information when I return. Maybe she knows something!'

Picking up the last Essence crystal of a Mutated Three-armed Krendel Warrior, Dilan could clearly sense the vast and terrifically high amount of Essence that flooded his Essence pool.

The ordinary Essence crystal that would usually provide him with stat points turned into nourishment that was equal to Bronze Essence!

This was great, to put it simply, giving Dilan the reassurance he needed to keep pursuing Kirak's Vassal as his occupation's choice.

There were still quite a few things Dilan wanted to figure out, and his to-do list simply seemed to be never-ending.

However, amongst the most important tasks was to conquer the Krendel's Underground Valley.

He wanted to find out how to determine when Gate waves would happen, how to prevent them, and what exactly one could find within Gates.

This was why he was here, to begin with.

The new information about the Tierless stat limit was something he received as a bonus.

To add on, after his Health crossed 20 units, Dilan could upgrade his Origin ability once again.

He was only missing three lethal injuries to upgrade [Regeneration], which was something Dilan could easily do, even more so with his current stats!

Only injuring himself would be slightly more difficult because his physique was much stronger and tougher than ever before.

'I can think about this issue once I'm done here.'

Thus, he turned in a particular direction with the aim to approach the center of the underground valley as quickly as possible.

Taking one step after another, he slowly made his way in the designated direction.

There he had to pass through a tunnel that was lit up by numerous torches lined across the walls on either side.

The ordinary horned rats and Krendels that Dilan passed by avoided him by all means.

He noticed this after his fight against the monsters of the Gate's second wave.

Sensing his presence and strength, it was possible for the horned rats, Krendels, and their mutations to understand that they were no match for him.

As such, it was only logical for them to give him a wide berth.

But this was not what all the beasts did because the most important task of the higher leveled monsters was to protect the inner sanctum of the underground valley.

To their misfortune, it was to no avail as they died with a single slash of Dilan's sword.

It was not even necessary for him to evade any kind of monster as even the strongest one he encountered had its highest stat around seven, maybe eight Units!

He had no idea if all kinds of beings had different limits on how high their stats could reach as Tierless existences, but the most important difference in the combat strength of monsters was whether they were ordinary existences or Bronze monsters!

Paving his way through the large tunnel that spanned merely a hundred meters or so, Dilan entered a second huge hall.

However, when Dilan took a look at the scenery around him, he felt a little bit weird.

Once again the ceiling, walls, and everything further away were shrouded in darkness.

This made it difficult for him to see anything beyond a radius of 50 meters, but that was more than enough because he could sense the presence of a particular monster!

In the huge hall, there were more than 1000 monsters in total, but only one attracted his attention.

It was a four-meter-tall rat with long legs, muscular arms, and a curved furry back that covered its lean, yet also somewhat toned physique.

With razor-sharp, 30-centimeter-long claws, and two huge sabertooth, it already looked fierce.

However, that was not the most prominent feature of the creature. What made it stand out apart from its already fierce look was a purplish horn that protruded out of the center of its furry forehead and had lightning currents swirling around it.

The moment Dilan entered the huge hall, the huge rat saw him. It first looked at him with a trace of interest.

But when it smelled the blood of its brethren on Dilan's clothes and the Captain's sword's blade, it let out a high-pitched squeal, revealing its fury.

Through this, the lightning currents turned into a riot, shrouding the rat's face like a mask.

This looked not only eerie but also fascinating. However, even before Dilan was able to assess the Lightning rat properly, it went on its four feet before catapulting towards him.

'Fast!'

In an instant, Dilan knew that the Lightning rat's Agility was close to his, and the fact that it might even be faster than him the moment at its highest speed.

It was not shocking for such an existence to appear right in front of him, but this indicated one thing- The lightning rat was certainly not a Bronze monster, and most likely was a being that had undergone its first advancement!

His gaze swept through the hall and Dilan understood that no other monster dared to attack him.

Whether this was owing to their fear of Dilan or simply the instinctive behavior to back off from the lightning rat's rage was unclear.

Instinctively, Dilan activated the [Thunder Step] ability by utilizing one unit of Mana. A thunderous sound echoed through the entire hall.

He pushed his feet off the ground with all his might. This allowed him to reach a terrifying speed in an instant as he pushed past his former limits.

With an Agility that was equivalent to 26 times the average human before the Primordial Ascension, Dilan's speed could be described as nothing less than terrifying.

By leaning forward, he faced an even lesser wind resistance, allowing him to reach an even higher speed as he appeared in front of the Lightning rat at once.

Both didn't even think about slowing down, which was why both knew that their first clash was likely to be the only necessary clash to determine the winner.

Victory would be decided in an instant, and Dilan was confident that his Agility was more than enough to turn him into a winner.

However, the moment the distance between Dilan and the Lightning rat reduced to less than ten meters, the Lightning rat began to make multiple moves at once.

First, it spread out both arms, its claws glinting in the light that was ready to slash at Dilan, who was only wielding his longsword.

This would already be one disadvantage he ought to face head-on, but it was not the only one because the Lightning rat was just beginning to reveal its traits.

A bolt of lightning was being manifested around the purplish horn of the Lightning rat.

Dilan could clearly sense this owing to his experience with lightning.

He had to thank Kathrine inwardly because of the minuscule traces of mana one could sense before a bolt of lightning was fully formed, and the sudden change in the atmosphere that would make the skin tingle lightly during the process of the lightning bolt's creation was something Dilan was quite familiar with.

However, even if he could conclude what was bound to happen, the Lightning rat prevented him from evading each of its attacks, despite being faster.

'I cannot change my direction because that would slow me down. Jumping to the right or left would definitely lead to a lethal injury caused by the huge claws…alright…then I'm just going straight ahead!!'

In a matter of milliseconds, Dilan came to a conclusion about what he was going to do next.

And with this conclusion in mind, he had to abandon the Captain's Sword.

Maybe abandoning was the wrong word, but Dilan's mind was buzzing in excitement as he noticed that the bolt of lightning was about to be formed.

Now the distance between the two of them was less than five meters, and they were about to clash in a fraction of a second!

However, just when the bolt of lightning was about to be fired when they were merely three meters apart, the rapid movement of Dilan changed everything!

Chapter 88 Silver

A fraction of a second before the huge Lightning rat shot the bolt of lightning at Dilan, a silverish-gray flash flew threw the air.

It was the Captain's Sword Dilan had thrown at the Lightning rat with all his might.

Just a moment ago Dilan had pulled the Captain's Sword over his shoulder. This was something mandatory in order to generate the necessary momentum he required.

Through this, it was possible for him to further enhance the might of his extraordinary Agility and Strength when he threw his longsword at the monster that was merely three meters away from him.

When the longsword reached the Lightning rat, its blade pierced through the center of its chest.

It had been unable to evade the sudden attack owing to Dilan's terrifically high speed!

However, instead of killing the monster, his longsword only managed to gravely injure it.

Despite that, it continued to attack him as if it was completely unscathed.

The bolt of lightning was released while both of the rat's arms swung through the air.

Each attack was aimed to deliver a killing blow, and the might behind the attacks was more than enough to achieve this.

Even Dilan's Health stat of -28- would have fallen short to block them!-.

Fortunately, his sudden attack with the throw of his longsword forcefully averted the trajectory of the bolt of lightning as the rat's involuntarily flinched.

This made it lose its control over the bolt of lightning that was released a fraction of a second too early and at the wrong spot.

While Dilan was already right in front of the lightning rat, the bolt of lightning brushed past his head.

Fluctuations of the bolt of lightning brushed past Dilan, grazing the left side of his face, and his left shoulder, but he ignored the sting.

After all, the attack that was supposed to burst his skull had missed its mark.

The claws of the Lightning rat were still out for his life, but Dilan was standing just a meter in front of its body.

This was fortunately not too close for Dilan to extend his arms rapidly.

He spread open his fingers in an instant, reaching the upper chest of the Lightning rat, just to glance into the eyes of the monsters for a mere moment.

The lightning mask transformed slowly and was about to turn into currents that would lunge at him at any moment.

However, before that could happen, Dilan inserted several units of mana in the Clawed Gloves to greatly enhance them.

Under normal circumstances, it shouldn't be possible to enhance a weapon over a certain threshold.

But that was not something Dilan could be bothered about as he used a significantly high amount of mana to tear open the Lightning rat with his Clawed Gloves.

That was everything Dilan cared about which was why he pierced into the Lightning rat's chest with every single claw on his hand.

Working with the gravitational force, Dilan used all his might to drag the claws all the way down, tearing its chest open.

It was as if he cleaved down with a sword, but instead of a blade, his sharp gloves bit into the flesh of the opponent that continued to thrash its arms wildly.

While his Clawed Gloves dug deep in the Lightning rat's chest, it was almost as if the monster lost all its reasoning and the pain sensors went numb.

Not even a pained squeal escaped its mouth as the Lightning mask turned into a replica of a beast maw that tried to mercilessly bite Dilan's head.

This sudden change in the lightning's shape astonished him.

But instead of evading, Dilan tightened his grip, using his claws to sink deeper into the chest of the Lightning rat, just to push his feet off the ground.

Rather than working against the Lightning rat to try slowing it down in order to initiate a barrage of attacks, Dilan clung to its body!

The Clawed Gloves dug deeper and deeper in its body, though it was still standing on its feet. Hence, Dilan pushed his leg back and shoved his foot hard into its abdomen.

It didn't result in massive damage, but it was more than enough to prevent the Lightning rat from actually biting off his head.

This was everything he wanted to attain, to begin with!

As such a small victorious smile appeared on his lips, only for him to think amusingly.

'I really need some thorny boots! Or boots with knives in their toe cap!'

The fact that Dilan could joke like this was quite simple.

The monster he fought was not as terrifying as he had imagined.

It was either a lower-ranked monster that had advanced to Tier-1, or the strongest existing Bronze Tierless monster.

However, Dilan was actually doubting that the monster he faced could be considered the leader of the Krendel's Underground Valley.

And that was not only because the Lightning rat was not a Krendel…but also owing to its strength which was not even remotely comparable to what Dilan had thought of!

'Maybe I expected too much?' Dilan asked himself as he clenched his hands, ripping out two huge chunks of flesh out of the lightning rat's chest.

This caused the first pained roar to escape the lightning rat's mouth.

It shook its body violently, making Dilan lose his grip onto the Lightning rat

Instinctively his bloodied hands reached for the Captain's Sword which they got hold of a mere moment later.

However, Dilan's legs lost their foothold on the Lightning rat's body. Thus, they were dragged over the ground, preventing him from creating a new opportunity to attack.

But that was not further problematic because the monster had slowed down, with its claws still trying to slash at Dilan.

The lightning rat wanted to take Dilan's life, to make him feel the pain it had to endure right now and make him suffer.

Fortunately, Dilan's feet got hold on the ground, while the excessive amount of mana within the Clawed Gloves was directly transferred to the Captain's Sword.

The longsword's blade began to gleam in a faint bluish color that led to an increase in its sharpness.

This increase in the blade's sharpness was enough to cut through the Lightning rat's body, further deepening the already existing wound caused by his claws.

Using all his might Dilan tore down the Captain's Sword.

This was extremely difficult owing to the fact that his current stance was everything but comfortable, even less considering that the beast's lightning currents had reached his face, and were scorching his skin, while its claws came into contact with his back, and attempted to tear it open.

To the monster's misery, all its efforts were wasted because Dilan's strength was all it took to turn a five-centimeter cut into a huge gash of more than 30 centimeters, where the Lightning rat's blood and guts spilled out.

In a matter of seconds, Dilan's entire body was smeared with bits of organs and the horrible stench of the rat's blood.

He had never smelled anything as foul as the blood that was all over his body.

Even Dilan's iron-like gut couldn't handle the overwhelming putrid smell which made him almost puke.

Only the fact that the Lightning rat collapsed on the ground allowed Dilan to hold it in.

The thought that he would be able to procure the Essence of a powerful beast such as the Lightning rat drove him ahead.

It made him ignore the pain of his half-burned face, and the deep gashes on his back.

However, what he saw when he was able to break open the Lightning rat's skull astonished him quite a bit.

"Silver…? What the hell is going on?!"