015

Alex watched the Fire Elemental collapse with cold eyes. In that moment, he was in his battle mentality, devoid of emotions and only focused on the battle. He then shifted his attention to the other two elementals and assessed their conditions. The battle had just begun, and they had made little progress against the monsters. Alex shook his head slightly and went to assist them. Although he acknowledged their great teamwork, he noticed they couldn't deal enough damage or exploit the elementals' weaknesses. Despite not being entirely comfortable with utilizing this particular skill, Alex felt it would be best to do so.

Alex activated the sub-skill "Flaw" of the skill "Seeker's Eyes." His once amethyst eyes began to take on a pure golden color, with pupils resembling those of a lizard or reptile. The world around him turned completely dark, with white lines outlining everything. Various objects in the environment, including walls, floor, ceiling, monsters, people, and items, showed yellow cracks or patches. He focused on the Fire Elemental that was least damaged and rushed towards it. Rose noticed him and was about to yell at him, but then she saw his cold reptile-like eyes. Alex fixed his gaze on a bright yellow patch in the middle of the elemental's body, corresponding to its core. He swiftly evaded to the left, dodging the elemental's punch. He casted Accelerate on himself and slashed at the crack on its right arm.

The arm shattered, exposing the core. Alex promptly stabbed through the bright core, killing the Fire Elemental. He deactivated the Sub-Skill Flaw. As he turned his attention to the last Fire Elemental and prepared to approach it, a piercing headache suddenly struck him. He tried to push through it, but it intensified. It felt as if the world was punishing him for witnessing its true form, its flaws. However, Alex maintained a cold demeanor, refusing to show any emotion, including pain. He joined his party in defeating the final elemental. After it was defeated, he finally sat down to address the headache. He ignored the faint pain from sitting on the steaming floor and clutched his head. The other party members observed him in silence until Claire broke it.

"Blossom, do you know what's wrong with him?"

"No, I don't. However, I do know he's exceptionally strong. He took out one of the Elementals in a brief moment, and the other one quickly followed."

"Yeah, I saw that too when I looked over to see if he needed healing. He was already heading towards the next enemy while the other one was crumbling behind him." Rose said in a weak tone.

"Rose what's wrong? You don't sound like you normally do."

"His eyes, Blossom. They were not human."

"What do you mean? They looked human to me."

"No, Claire. His eyes lacked emotion, their color was golden, and his pupils resembled those of a reptile. They were not human. He's merely a monster hiding in human skin."

"I believe you're just overthinking things, Rose."

"No, Blossom." Rose chuckled. "Lucifer, that name perfectly suits him. He's the devil. I don't think he sees us as allies but rather as tools. He's a monster through and through."

"…"

"Rose…"

They looked at Rose with concern, but they decided to address it after they left the dungeon. Little did Blossom and Claire know, Alex did see them as tools. At least, he saw them as tools when he was in that mindset or when that personality took over. Alex even viewed himself as a tool in that state of mind. Alex had come this far partly because of this second mindset or personality. The mindset of winning at all costs, regardless of the sacrifices.

Finally, Alex's headache subsided, and he examined the system notifications he had received.

[You killed a Rare Fire Elemental (Level 16)]

[You killed a Rare Fire Elemental (Level 16)]

[You killed a Rare Fire Elemental (Level 17)]

[You have received 300 experience points]

While he was reading the system messages, his party members also took notice. They received the Rare Slayer title and were ecstatic about its effects. The title would greatly aid their interactions with NPCs. Alex didn't pay attention to them and simply asked, "So, Blossom, are you accepting that other deal or not?"

"Alright, we'll get to work."

"Blossom, what is he talking about?"

"Well, he also offered Ivory Iron equipment for dismantling the monsters."

Alex glanced at Blossom with a slight smile and a glint of sorrow in his eyes. However, he quickly concealed those emotions and thought to himself, "I should tell her about the true death penalty. Blossom and her guild have died a lot, causing them to lose significant portions of their souls. If it weren't for that, they wouldn't have fallen so quickly and miserably to that other major power."

Alex pushed that thought to the back of his mind and focused on completing the dungeon first. He also needed to search the library for any information regarding Seekers. After this dungeon, he planned to create his own guild. He needed the additional manpower and resources.

Alex and his party continued to clear the dungeon, after around 5 hours they had defeating around 150 Fire Elementals. While Alex leveled up once, Rose, Blossom, and Claire leveled up twice. Apart from that, nothing noteworthy occurred as they made their way toward the core area.

Alex looked down and noticed three Fire Elementals, two with green inscriptions and one with light blue inscriptions. He used "Inspect" on them.

[Rare Fire Elemental Tier: 0 Level: 19]

[Rare Fire Elemental Tier: 0 Level: 18]

[Elite Fire Elemental Tier: 0 Level: 20]

Although he wasn't entirely sure, as he hadn't previously raided these dungeons on Hell difficulty, he now believed that the Sky Wolf had transitioned to Tier 1 due to him fulfilling the hidden condition. He wasn't certain about the hidden condition for this particular dungeon, but he had a good idea of what it might be. The real question was whether he should complete the hidden condition, considering he wasn't sure if he would survive this time. However, since he wasn't alone this time, it was worth a shot. It would require a significant amount of mana, so he allocated 5 points into Intelligence. He didn't know if his 520 mana would be enough, but he hoped his mana purity would aid him.

He focused his attention on the core area and cast the "Extinguish" spell, enveloping the entire core area. After a few seconds, what was once a burning hell turned into a scorched cave. The walls, floor, and roof were completely charred. While his party members looked on in shock, Alex collapsed. He had expended every bit of mana he had, and it was surprising he hadn't lost consciousness. Concerned, Claire looked at Alex and handed him a blue glass potion—a mana potion that increased mana recovery by 100% for 3 minutes. Alex smiled and accepted the potion. He gulped it down and waited for his mana to regenerate. He quickly checked his status to see how much mana he had remaining.

[General:

Name: Lucifer

Age: 16

Level: 19

Tier: 0

Class: None

Race: Human

Mana: 50/520

Affiliates: None

Titles: True Soul (Equipped), Blessed by Mana, Watched by the Spirits, Elite Slayer.

Appearance:

Eye Color: Amethyst

Hair Color: Black with white streaks

Height: 6'2

Weight: 107 pounds

Skin Tone: White

Facial Hair: None

Physical Body: Malnourished (Decrease in all physical attributes by 2)

Mental State: Calm

Status:

Physical -

Agility: (30) 28 (Determines speed and acceleration)

Strength: (25) 22 (Determines force generation and control)

Constitution: (25) 22 (Determines natural protection against threats)

Sense: (40) 38 (Determines sharpness of sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing)

Magical -

Intelligence: 35 + 17 (Affects total mana pool)

Wisdom: 30 + 15 (Affects magical damage)

Purity: 5% (Determines purity of mana and ability to absorb pure mana)

Hidden Attributes:

NPC Familiarity: 2 (How an NPC will view you in their first meeting) (Respected)

Unknown (These attributes cannot be increased with status points and must be discovered)

Skills: Stop, Accelerate, Warp, Appraisal, Seeker Eyes, Parry, Extinguish.]

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A/N: Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! As you may have noticed from the above text, I have just now added the bonus status points from titles. I had forgotten that he had them equipped, and I would have already fixed previous chapters accordingly.

I'm also increasing the power stones for a bonus chapters to 50. While I'm happy to write bonus chapters, I need time to actually make them.

If you like this book so far you should check out my other work, A Last Wish!