The Damned Lair

*****

As the hero's party and Adele set off for the Damned Lair, Ayla had finished off the 50th mutated cow, thus ending the quest; she'd only need to return to the Adventures Guild with the evidence of her completed quest—the mutated cow's horns that'll mark the completion of the quest.

Fortunately, locating and slaying the mutated cows didn't take long, as from start to finish, it only took half an hour to finish the quest.

She still had time to complete four more quests before dark! Her objective for the day appeared simple—to reach F rank in a day; however, one quest, even though it's G rank, would normally be difficult for a novice adventurer. Only those who were talented or brave enough would even try to try two or more. Anymore than that, one would be asking to die!

Naturally, Ayla wasn't a novice and possessed strength that exceeded the strength of an ordinary G-Rank adventurer—she could easily complete five quests in a day.

After extracting the soul crystal from the cow's heart, she glanced at her status screen—the one given by the world.

[Status]

[Ayla]

[Race: Black Dragon/Succubi | Sex: Female | Age: 18]

[Titles: None]

[Level: 705 | Class: None | 4,825/70,500 EXP]

Physique: Demonic/Darkness Dragon/Succubi Body

[HP: 1,467,995/1,468,000] [Strength: 1,210,000] [Agility: 1,212,000] [Stamina: 1,211,000]

'250 exp from 50 mutated cows, huh? Leveling up here isn't easy, especially when forced to slay low-level monsters. I could slay a stronger one, but unfortunately, it wouldn't amount to anything in this assassination. I wouldn't earn anything from the Adventures Guild. They don't give rewards to those who didn't register the quest.'

Plucking the mutated cow's horns from its head, she stored them and its body in her shadow space. Turning around, she left the forest, and as she left, she sensed a familiar presence in the forest—this presence had never ceased to follow her since she left Ethereal Star.

She nor the man who was tailing her had taken action against another—she felt no need to, as he was no threat to her.

He was no different from a measly ant! That was the difference in strength between them.

'Too slow.' She smiled, leaving the man behind.

"Again… She defeated it before I could arrive. What a monster! How does a G-Ranker have such high stamina and speed? Shouldn't she be at least C-rank to continuously move around for hours without decreasing her pace?" Panting heavily, he glanced off into the distance at the departing Ayla. "With her growth speed, I'm sure she'll bring this endless and pointless war to an end."

"That's if she isn't one of those demons... If she were, she should've noticed my presence long ago and attacked to dispose of me; however, it appears she hasn't noticed my presence or she has but doesn't feel the need to attack. And if that were the case, she wouldn't consider me a threat! No, there's no way that's possible... Err… For now, I'll keep my eyes on her. It's too early to come to a decision."

He frowned—he was displeased by having to chase after Ayla, wasting the time he could get to sleep. In addition, he was unable to come to a conclusion and clear her. He'd rather laze around and enjoy the peaceful silence and cozy comfort of his bed.

However, unfortunately, he couldn't experience such a luxury until he found the culprit! The one whom the Goddess of Light herself told in an oracle to the holy priest of the Church of Light, who immediately informed the king of the oracle.

'A demon of unimaginable beauty will descend from another world and wreak havoc on this world.' He recalled the words the king had declared to him.

Naturally, the Goddess of Light had no power to see into the future, but as a member of the Light Pantheon, she was affiliated with those who rule over time—they'd assist another in annihilating the Dark Pantheon; however, neither the head priest nor anyone inhabiting Afeola knew of this fact, and they'd never know as it'd be too inconvenient for her.

In short, they may begin to doubt her rule and absolute judgment. It'd inevitably lead to many losing their faith in her, and she'd have to clean up the mess—an easily avoidable mess that'd cause several issues.

The more ignorant her servants were of her, the more beneficial it was for her to have an invisible and intangible leash clasp their fragile necks.

*****

At the edge of Arcton City, a stone double door appeared to be engraved into the foot of a large mountain. The door wasn't just any door—this was proved by the ancient ruins carved in black onto it—the door was the gateway to the infamous dungeon: The Damned Lair.

A place where adventures of advanced rank could lose their lives in a blink of an eye if they hesitated or were caught off guard even for a split second. It was dangerous, but that didn't stop those who desired fame, treasure, and power—they'd risk their lives for such luxuries and in the end would heavily profit from them. That is, if they don't lose their lives before then.

It was the life of an adventurer, and what came with the risk of death was a rich reward. Why wouldn't anyone risk their lives for a fortune? One could die, yes, but if one were able to survive, they'd return stronger, richer, and with an abundance of fame.

At the moment, the hero's party and Adele had arrived before the Damned Lair and were in the process of entering the dungeon. Fortunately, they didn't need to stand in line as they were the hero's party; they were escorted by the staff of the adventurer's guild straight to the entrance of the dungeon.

As all recognized them as the hero's party and Adele, no guards nor any adventurer dared to stop them from entering the dungeon. No one raised a complaint; they kept their thoughts to themselves. Some were envious of them; the hero's party had a luxurious life, fame, and were trained specifically by the strongest of the kingdom.

Who wouldn't be jealous? They had everything an adventurer desired after all.

'Surpassing my record for an ingredient, I'd never thought this'd be how I'd beat it…' Kai smiled. He hadn't been here in months, and he'd drastically improved since then. He wanted to see how far he could go with the strength he had.

Pushing the stone door open, they took their first steps inside the dungeon.

Immediately, the stench of blood reached their noses.

"I'll never get used to such a foul stench."

Zaria and several others voiced their complaints, only to be silenced by Kai.

"Enough! If the stench isn't to your liking, use a skill. We don't have the luxury of idling around here and waiting."

Not wanting to waste any more time, they went down the stairs. It didn't take long before they came to the bottom of the stairs.

They ended up in a rocky cavern that could fit four carriages with enough room for them to easily pass. The cave was inhabited by several homogeneous slime monsters. They weren't the same as slimes outside; they were silver in color and took somewhat of a human form.

"Let me handle these small fry." Kai clutched his sword. "I've been meaning to test my level of strength, and testing it on them is suitable enough."

The others, having no reason to refuse, nodded and stepped back.

"Immense Speed of Light!"

"Immense Mana Regeneration!"

"Advanced Sight!"

…

As he wanted to test his limits in speed, he cast booster spells on himself, increasing his physical strength, defense, speed, and resistance.

The spells he cast weren't ones anyone could easily obtain; they were the highest versions a human had ever reached, surpassing the peak spells of humanity. Spells that only the light hero possessed.

"Immense Limitation Defiance!" Kai cast the last spell to bypass his limits and improve—he took a step forward.

As soon as he took a step, his speed drastically increased. In the blink of an eye, he was right before the nearest slime, swinging his sword, surrounded by a beautiful golden light.

His sword moved diagonally at several times the speed of lightning. The hero's party found it hard to track the blade of the sword due to its speed.

Before the slime could put up any resistance, the sword cleaved cleanly through its body, but that didn't injure the slime—they were resistant to piercing and slashing attacks. Unfortunately, the sword's light wasn't an ordinary light; it was the innate sword aura of the light hero, Sword of Light.

Sword of Light was an aura spell that drastically increased damage with immense heat created from the light—slimes and other liquid-based monsters were at a severe disadvantage against it, and other monsters weren't far off from them; the heat burned anything that crossed its path.

The slime swiftly evaporated into nothing, and Kai disappeared again. He started slaughtering every and any slime without batting an eye as his figure blurred from his speed. None of his party could make out his figure with him moving so fast—they could only walk forward, trailing behind him.

"The hero surely lives up to his name! He's truly incredible!" Adele subconsciously muttered—he could easily complain about Kai's lack of self-control and his ignorance, but he couldn't complain about his strength!

It was a truly remarkable scene! Though he was only battling homogenous slimes.