Chapter 57: I'm all about that Money

Kahn had Ceril cast the Silence Barrier on his room while Ronin guarded the house from shadows. He could not afford to have the news of him grabbing and running away with the entire noble clan's fortune.

As for the aftermath of the night's battle.. He hadn't left any traces behind unless there was someone who could track his location and all the places he went through some sort of tracking device or a satellite. This world simply wasn't that advanced for the latter.

Kahn took out the things he got in batches one by one and started counting exactly how big of a haul he had last night. After spending hours trying to list down everything based on their categories and uses, he was finally done. His Eidetic Memory being extremely helpful to him again; because if it was someone else, they would've lost the track of it just in few minutes since the amount was too big.

Under this silence barrier, Kahn started laughing like the Green Goblin again.. Thankfully the barrier was stopping his voice to leak out of his room.

After jumping with joy and doing a little moonwalk did he finally stop. Kahn gave a final look at the contents of the space with a satisfied smile. He was certain that even the Magistrate or Solomon weren't as rich as him now.

He started listing out the things just for the sake of it again.

7 epic & 21 rare rank weapons, 3 epic and 13 rare rank armors made of highest quality materials such as body parts of highly defensive rare monsters. Then his gaze shifted to the mana ores.. Totally 2000 or more mana ores.. Each ore was comparable to a C Rank monster core in terms of the quality of mana. These things sized of a fist and were extremely rare to get because mana condensing together inside the deep grounds was a rare phenomenon.

There were more than 40 high-grade and 90 Medium grade Health Recovery potions. Over a dozen rare poison antidotes and for the first time, Kahn saw the Mana Bombs.. From what he had learned, these were used in an open war or against a monster tide. Each one was strong enough to wipe out everything in a 500-meter radius from where it was thrown. These were like mini-missiles. And there were 5 of them.

Then he moved towards the rare herbs and materials he couldn't even recognize. He didn't have any Alchemist skills or had a chance to absorb them so he wasn't aware of plenty it these rare herbs. But he was certain that not a single of one these was a wasteful thing.

Then his eyes turned to the rare magic scrolls. There were plenty of life-saving scrolls such as teleportation, barriers, elemental attacks, stun and paralysis, debuff and explosive magic. As per his knowledge, no one could use these things like skills and had to rely on the process of imprinting magic formation and designs for them to work. It took skilled magicians and artificers to work together to even create a single low-rank magic scroll.

And there were more than 100 of these scrolls. He really had hit a jackpot because if one day he were to face an opponent far stronger than him, these magic scrolls could help him fight and even win against the opponent or at worse, help him escape if his life was in jeopardy.

And now for the remaining ones.. There was a chest full of rare rubies, diamonds, pearls and minerals he hadn't even heard of in his previous life. He realized if he were to sell these to someone, they'd easily be 10 times of what he earned by selling the materials to Nikola a week ago.

For the final contents of the ring.. That made him happy the most. The gold coins!

Before this, Kahn thought having 60 to 70 thousand gold coins in personal worth was enough to make him one of the top one thousand richest people in the city.. But now he realized how wrong he was. That would barely make him one of the top ten thousand in reality.

He kept staring at the hill of the gold coins with an elated expression.. Because the sheer number had left him gobsmacked after he was done tallying them..

2 million gold coins!

Yes! That was the number of gold coins he had now. And that too after excluding the worth of the other materials and gems. Kahn was having a hard time deciding how he would even manage to spend half of this money.. This was beyond anything he hoped for.

"Wait.. If that's the worth of just a single noble clan. I wonder how much money the other clans have.." said Kahn with a greedy and malicious smile on his countenance.

"I guess I no longer need to depend on that contract to get resources and money. I already have a reputation so there's nothing those old fogies could help me with." spoke Kahn to himself.

There truly was no need for him to go killing around people or even act as the enforcer of justice using the name of Azrael. The current Kahn had all he wanted in the beginning.

He had strength, he had money and resources and more importantly.. He had the reputation. Now nobody would look down on him or willingly pick a fight with him.

Because he was no longer a nobody who could be bullied or killed and not a single person in the city would know or talk about it.

Besides, he had already killed Stragabor; the main cause of the contract in the first place so it was now nulled if thought practically. So in other words, Kahn was no longer bound to anyone, he wasn't dependent on anyone and was completely free to do whatever he wanted.

Because after the banquet.. Many doors were already opened for him among the richest and top echelons of the city. Soon, he too would make dealings with them and form friendship here and there.

Now he had only one thing left to do if he wanted to stand in front of the strongest in the city on an equal footing.

And that was breaking through the Grandmaster Rank!

Chapter 58: A new Powerhouse

It was the decisive moment for Kahn.. He knew that even though he was considerably stronger than the majority of the population in this city, he was still one man. And who knows how many crouching tigers and hidden dragons lived in this city. He wasn't a fool to think that the people he met till now were the only ones standing at the peak.

A peak master rank person would be a big deal in this place but if he went to higher places.. A Master rank fighter would not be even worth mentioning. And there were still few things he had to do and for doing them, he needed more power.

Kahn took out the golden core he got after killing Stragabor. He could already feel the vast and dense mana inside his bright and dazzling core. He gave it some thought and finally gulped down the core after washing it with water.

Kahn sat in the meditative pose on his bed and started absorbing the core.

Ding!

Ding!

Ding!

He finally heard the system notifications after a long while. He hadn't used or ate any cores after he reached Level 58 more than a week ago and prioritized on getting his subordinates stronger as he did with Omega, Oliver and Blackwall.

A bright yellow glow shimmered from Kahn's body again and again as his level rose few times. But unlike before.. There was a lot of qualitative change in his strength and aura. Because this time, his body started glowing golden in color as he was leveling up.

Ding!

The system notification sounded for the last time and he finally opened his eyes. Suddenly a dreary and volatile golden aura mixed with Kahn's own black and red aura leaked out of his body. For some reason, Kahn couldn't control this aura by his will and the entire room filled with his terrifying and majestic aura.

Clatter! Clatter!

The table and chairs in the room started trembling, the bed he was sitting on was shaking while the air inside the room was filled with a tangible pressure that could be seen with naked eyes.

Suddenly, Kahn's heartbeats raced faster with every passing second and he felt a type of heat coming from inside of his body. In just minutes, Kahn's entire body was burning hot and he felt like his bones and flesh were undergoing some kind of transformation.

His veins and muscles bulged as the golden glow emitted right inside his heart.

"Arrrrrrh!!" shouted Kahn in pain.

BOOM!!

An explosion of mana blasted everything that was in the room and broke all the furniture, the glass window was shattered and a loud noise filled the entire neighborhood.

Kahn's body dropped on the floor after this burst of mana nearly destroyed the whole room. Even the clothes he was wearing were torn to shreds.

He quickly took out some clothes and wore them before anyone came after this commotion.

[Congratulations to the host for breaking through the Grandmaster Rank.] announced System and declared Kahn's new achievement.

"What the fuck was that?!" shouted Kahn.

[It was the leftover sentience inside the golden core which was trying to reject the host in the form of golden aura. It has been completely subdued and now mixed with the host.] answered the system.

"Show me all my stats and important skills and abilities. Skip the low-rank ones and those which I don't need or use anymore." ordered Kahn as he finally came to terms with this entire ordeal being his breakthrough process to reach the Grandmaster Rank.

[ Host Attributes and Skills are as follows :

Name : Kahn (Host)

Species : Human

Rank : Beginner Grandmaster Rank

Level : 65

Strength : 726

Agility : 698

Dexterity : 661

Defense : 537

Mana : 882

Divine Abilities : Ability Absorption, Dimensional Law, Synthesis

Blessings :

War Dominance (Stage 2)

Weapon Mastery (Peak Master Rank) (Grandmaster rank in Battleaxe weapon)

Combat Techniques Mastery (Peak Master Rank)

Survival Instinct (Stage 2)

Berserk God Mode ( 5 times the physical strength)

War Deity Body (Stage 3)

Gifts : All Languages Knowledge known to the War Deity.

Physical Abilities :

Ripper Claws

Side Hopper

Hunter's Intent

Venom Acid

Poison Immunity (Grandmaster Rank)

Somir Scale body

Executioner's Gaze

Extension

Heat Sense

Magical Skills :

Shadow Walk

Hive Mind

Firestorm

Water Blade

Frost spike

Wind blade

Combat Techniques :

Windcutter

Defense Fortitude

Backstab

Lacerate

Sword Edge

Deflect/Parry

Tornado Axe

Ground Shatter

Axe Splitter

The host has met the conditions to break through the next stage for the Blessings given by the War Deity. The range and effectiveness of the blessings has increased by two times. ] replied the system and listed all the useful and important skills and abilities Kahn always had in use.

"Phew.. Finally!" said Kahn as he let out a content smile after his new transformation.

If he was a really strong fighter before.. Now he was twice stronger than before and even his Blessings were two times more effective than before.

In other words. He was truly a powerhouse now.

Even if he couldn't win against a peak grandmaster rank fighter. He still had the advantage in levels and physical attributes. With his newfound strength.. Kahn was sure that he would at least be able to fight some top fighters.

He could feel every inch of his body and the pores on his skin, his eyesight and mind's processing speed also went through another breakthrough. The last time he had this feeling when Kahn had absorbed the core of the Somir and inherited its will.

"System, compared to other Beginner Grandmaster rank fighters, how strong do you think I am?" asked Kahn out of curiosity because only his System had the perfect analytical capacity to properly judge someone's combat strength.

[The host is currently two times stronger compared to other beginner grandmaster rank individuals because of the increase in the War Deity Body stage.] replied system.

"So in other words.. I could be compared to an Intermediate Grandmaster rank person, right?" he asked.

[Yes.] responded the system in its lifeless voice.

"Subarashi.." said Kahn and tipped his imaginary glasses with a smug smile on his face.

"About time I start hunting those Dungeon floor bosses. Before I have to leave this city.. I'm going clear out all these dungeons and absorb as many abilities I can." said Kahn with a resolute countenance.

"But before that.. Let's meet those old fogies tomorrow."

Chapter 59: End of the Deal

The morning sunlight lit the entire room and Kahn woke up in a different room than his usual bedroom.

Yesterday's incident of him breaking through the Grandmaster rank left the entire room in shambles. Kahn had to contact the house rental company and also pay 500 gold dramus (currency of Rakos empire) to them for repairs that'll be finished by tomorrow.

Thankfully, the news of him breaking through the new rank wasn't known to anyone. And Kahn preferred to keep it a secret for now as well. Because just a day before, an entire clan lost all of their capable people in a massacre and suddenly there's a new grandmaster rank person.. That'd just cause unnecessary trouble for him and he no longer wished to get entangled in those things.

Kahn took a bath as per his habits, had breakfast and left for Adventurer Association. It had been a few days since he visited this place. The last time he was here when he put on the show of him dropping bodies after bodies of those giant minotaurs. He used that incident to raise his popularity in the entire city and it paid well to invest all that money to have the snakekin spread the news in the entire city.

And because of that, his name was heard by all the masses and many influential people.

As soon as Kahn entered the main hall.. People started noticing him and some gasped in surprise. He was no different than a celebrity in their circle already because hundreds of adventurers had witnessed his act with their own eyes.

He stood against one of the counters and asked the female elven receptionist..

"Excuse me, do you know where Malcolm is?" he asked the beautiful lady on the other side of the counter.

The next second however, the Elven girl stopped speaking and stared at Kahn in surprise.. Completely baffled on the spot.

"Mis. Mister K.. Kahn! It's really you!" shouted the girl while stuttering in between her words.

Her loud voice filled the hall and many of the people who were going about their ways started to look in his direction. As if they didn't expect to see the man here.

"What's with that reaction? And why is everyone staring at me?" asked Kahn as he noticed the covetous gazes on him.

"We were informed that if you came here, you were to be taken directly to meet the President & the Vice-president." spoke the elven receptionist.

Just then, a few of the other adventurers surrounded Kahn and started introducing themselves to him one by one.. But it didn't take long for dozens of people coming his way and completely surrounding him. Many started expressing their admiration towards Kahn and praised his might.

Some were outright shameless and tried to team up with him. Kahn understood that majority of these people only wanted to ride on his coattails when he visited dungeons again.

The gathering crowd created a small horde, blocking the counters and doors in the main hall.

"What the hell is happening here?!" shouted an old man.

It was none other than Malcolm, his most familiar receptionist in the association building.

But as soon as he saw Kahn in the center of the crowd, his countenance turned to that of utmost respect and he walked towards the man in the center.

"Pleased to see you again, Mr. Kahn. If you have time, please come with me." said Malcolm.

"Eh.. What's with all the polite words and respectful behavior.. Old man?" asked Kahn because generally, the old receptionist would always call him a kid or a punk.

Malcolm's face twitched after being called an old man again. It was the one thing that irked the receptionist the most.

"Follow me, please." said Malcolm and Kahn had no choice but to follow him.

After waiting for few minutes, he entered the office and saw both the old man Arkham & the Elven mage Solomon sitting inside the room. Malcolm then left the room and closed it from the outside.

"Long time no see, kid. Looks like you've gained quite the popularity." spoke Arkham as he welcomed Kahn to sit down on the sofa on the opposite side.

"And even beat some nobles if I remember correctly." said Solomon who was sitting on his throne-like chair.

"Well.. Things happened and I reacted on my best behavior." joked Kahn as he sat down. But then he quickly got to the main topic.

"I guess our agreement is no longer in effect? I mean, your biggest competition was killed by someone. So there shouldn't be any more need of carrying it on." said Kahn and clarified his thoughts.

"Yes. We wanted to end it since there is no longer a need. But don't worry, you'll still receive half of the promised pay." said Solomon and again summoned a bag full of coins a small one full of monster cores.

"Well.. It's not like I'm dependent on the money too much now. I still haven't spent all the money I received from selling the minotaurs to you guys." said Kahn but still accepted the money.

"What do you wish to do now, kid? Keep exploring dungeons?" asked Arkham.

"Maybe.. I want to improve my fighting skills even more. Killing monsters in life and death battles is the most perfect way for me." replied Kahn.

"Seriously, how are you even getting stronger this fast?" asked Solomon out of curiosity.

"Who do you think is eating all those cores I'm getting from you guys?" spoke Kahn nonchalantly and laughed. Obviously, hinting at Omega & Rudra.

"I see. That explains how you managed to kill so many minotaurs." said Solomon as he intertwined his fingers together.

What followed was a small chat between them and Arkham giving Kahn some swordsmanship tips.

After Kahn left for his next visit to the dungeons, the old men finally spoke to each other..

"He's much more powerful than before." said Arkham.

"You may not have noticed it.. But the aura of the familiars I sensed on him previously is now twice stronger than before. He's becoming more dangerous as we speak." declared Solomon.

"Good thing that he's on our side." said Arkham.

Unbeknownst to all the talk about him, Kahn for the first time visited the Bromnir dungeon without hiding his face or appearance. He walked for nearly an hour and finally entered the gates of the 12th floor.

He had a target to accomplish.. And that was to fight and hunt even more stronger monsters and absorb their abilities and bloodlines.

"Well then.. Let the Hunger games begin."

Chapter 60: Meeting them again

Kahn walked inside the foggy and damp area of the 12th floor after exiting the door channels that connected various floors of this dungeon. After exiting that channel, you would be led to the individual environmental setting of each different floor.

Normally, it'd be a sunny day as most of the previous floor Kahn had visited so he didn't expect this sudden change in the scenery because the sight in front of him was completely filled with black clouds, a dense and foggy forest where you couldn't see anything past 10 meters ahead of you.

Kahn walked with his utmost vigilance and since Survival Instinct had undergone an upgrade, his senses were far keener and covered around 80 meters from his location. This was indeed a very useful transformation after he broke through the Grandmaster rank.

Kahn activated Hunter's Intent as it was currently his most useful and widest range skill for a better sight and gauge the strength of any opponent he saw.

[[Author : Since some people have been confused regarding the difference between Survival Instinct & Hunter's Intent.. Let me explain with short references. Survival Instinct is more like Kahn's Spidey sense which alerts him when something dangerous is targeting him or someone exudes killing intent towards him. While Hunter's Intent on the other hand is more like Batman's detective mode. And now that Heat Sense ability he created using the Nymph floor boss is merged under this skill, Hunter's Intent can also register heat signature, scan, differentiate and even see through long distances. No different than Kahn's own Witcher senses.]]

He kept treading through the foggy surrounding and muddy land for a while but still hadn't seen or sensed anything yet. He wondered if he had entered the wrong side of this dungeon floor.

Before coming to this dungeon, Kahn had checked out the information available for this floor but found that there were not even 10 incidents where people entered this floor.. And the majority of the adventurer teams that entered.. never returned alive.

Only 3 groups had managed to return back and as per the records, majority of those people went through mental issues and some even committed suicide out of fear that something was going to kill them.

Kahn wondered if those people had undergone some sort of traumatic experience on this floor that affected their sanity.

Just as he finally entered through the inner areas of this floor, Kahn noticed that the fog was far more denser and visible than before.. Now he couldn't even see what was in the five meters next to him. His vision somehow felt like it was getting blurry and his eyes grew heavy the more he breathed this fog.

Swoosh!

Kahn's ears perked up and he quickly turned to his right, his mind completely focused and ready to react.

Whisper!

He heard small whispers but could not sense the actual direction where they were coming from. He was starting to get an eerie feeling because even his senses felt like they were getting dull and the range he was able to cover with his skills started diminishing little by little.

Crawl!

Kahn shifted to his left while taking a defensive stance and quickly activated his Somir Scale armor. He did not like how he was losing control over this situation.. He had the skills to both warn him or track the enemies but none of them appeared to be useful in his current predicament.

Even though he was twice stronger than before after breaking through the new rank.. He felt a sense of dread and danger from this surrounding.

"What the hell is happening?" asked Kahn as he noticed that his body and his movements were getting slower as the time passed.

"You.." suddenly he heard a whisper in his ear. Kahn jolted in shock and turned around, swinging his sword out of fear and tried to defend against whoever this voice belonged to.

"Are.." whispered a female voice in his head and he quickly turned to his back.. But he saw no one behind him.

"A complete.." now he heard a man's voice who would be in his 30s based on the tone. Kahn was baffled and started walking in circles, trying to gaze at what was causing this type of effect on him.

"Failure!" finally he heard a woman's voice as his body started shivering out of fear.. His legs almost gave out, ready to drop on the ground.

But just then, he saw black shadows slithering towards him from this fog and slowly approach him from four different sides.

The shadows emerged from the ground one by one.. Their eyes shining bright red and soon after, they started forming various shapes.

Kahn who was completely on the defensive mode at this moment started noticing that these shadows were now getting more human-like appearances and just in a couple of minutes; they finally took properly formed proper human faces.

Kahn dropped his sword on the ground in disbelief.. His mind not being able to make sense of how could the people he saw in front of him could exist in this world.

The four bodies dressed up in modern-day clothes were now completely visible to him. Kahn saw an old man with grey hair and a mustache.. A middle-aged woman with long brown hair. The man who looked to be in his 30s had a buffed-up body while the woman that appeared the last looked quite gorgeous for someone who had entered her 30s.

Kahn dropped on the ground as the people in front started walking close to him one by one.

"Look at you.. Still so pathetic and alone." said the old man.

"I can't believe I was related to such a useless human being." spoke the middle-aged woman.

"Still a weakling and a coward.." said the buffed man.

"I'm ashamed to even admit that I knew someone like you." spoke the woman.

Kahn who finally managed to recover from the shock found the sight impossible.

Because the people that stood in front of him at this moment were someone he knew very closely in his previous life.

His family!

Chapter 61: Finding the Culprit

Kahn got up on his feet, trying to get away from these things that were pretending to be his family. For reasons unknown, he could not think straight and with a rational mindset. His state was completely different from his usual calm and confident demeanor.

In his previous life as Elric, his family had a huge impact on his personality. Not because they were always there for him and uplifted him when he was down in spirit; but because they were simply there but never actually with him.

The constant feeling of not being enough and not being special originated because of them in the first place. Normally, people would do their best to raise their children to be a better person and someone who should strive for better things and higher goals in their lives.

Eric's parents indeed acted like good parents.. Just not for him but his elder brother David and sister Synthia. Jonas, his father was always there to support his brother who was in school's baseball team while Sarah, his mother always took the side of her daughter and wanted to see her achieve something in the world of fashion and entertainment.

Elric, on the other hand received the least of their attention as he never showed any kind of promise in any sector even if was related to education. He was simply average at everything throughout his childhood days and weak when it came to physical sports and exercises. So they never thought highly of him.

Unlike how many parents treat their children, his brother was the pearl of their eyes while his sister was their princess. He on the other hand was more like the unplanned child they never really wanted. He was nothing but a liability to them ever since he could remember.

And now.. That same family was insulting him and throwing slanders at him.

Suddenly, the system's sound rang in his mind.

[System detects that the host is being influenced by an external presence and the body is affected by some form of hallucinogen. The host is advised to severe the source of these chemicals to recover from this state.] system informed Kahn about the actual reason why he was feeling this way.

"Hallucinogen? When did I come in contact with it?" he asked himself and tried to recount the incidents since he entered inside this floor.

He hadn't made any contact with anyone or anything for that matter. So there truly wasn't any other way he could be spiked with hallucinogens.

He didn't even eat or drink anything when he met Arkham & Solomon this morning.

So how was it possible that he was dosed with the hallucinogen. Kahn thought in his mind, trying to focus on his own consciousness rather than giving into the voices he was hearing.

"The fog!" shouted Kahn as he finally came to a realization. It was the air he breathed since he came here was the main culprit. Now he understood why his body was unaffected throughout the day and started feeling slower when he reached the innermost parts of this floor where the fog was far denser.

[Omega! Blackwall! Armin!] he called out the 3 subordinates and was quickly surrounded by them.

Armin, the Priest started casting debuff cleansing and healing spells at him. Just in a couple of minutes, Kahn finally regained his sanity and noticed his senses coming back to functioning properly again.

"I see.. So that's why not many lived after coming to this floor." spoke Kahn as he finally got the gist of why barely anybody made out alive from here. Because they were either affected in their minds or scared to death before they were hunted down by whatever creatures that lied on this floor.

He quickly called Ceril out and both started throwing wind magic spells around their surroundings and cleared out the dense fog that was surrounding them all this time.

Swoosh!

Kahn sensed something on his left and Blackwall took a guard in the front, Kahn took the left while Omega took the right.

Ceril and Armin took the center and quickly set up a team formation. Because in such moments, any enemy could flank them from an opening. Kahn didn't summon the others because he wanted to see the face of the enemy first.

Creak! Flutter!

He heard the sound of something passing from the surrounding trees and the sound of small leaves and branches breaking. Whatever it was.. It was big.

If not for his heightened senses after becoming a Grandmaster.. Kahn's mind probably would've given in a long time before the system even warned him. He was lucky that he didn't come to this floor before he broke through the Grandmaster rank.

He then switched to his Hunter's Intent again and found a trace of body heat among the woods. His team slowly following the tracks without causing too much noise. Even the giant bodies of Omega and Blackwall trod softly in this area.

After passing through the trees and following the tracks.. Kahn's senses finally picked up a huge and long figure at the end of the tree lines. He quickly pulled everyone back in his shadow and activated Shadow Walk.

After walking through the shadow of these thick and broad tree lines, he saw a monstrous figure.. For the first time, Kahn was horrified for a bit after watching any creature in front of him.

He gazed at this figure from the shadows and felt lucky that he didn't see it when he was affected by the hallucinogens. Because the ghastly, creepy and outright terrifying figure would've given a heart attack to anyone with a weak mind.

The upper body of this giant and long monster had 8 hands with claws so big that they could cut a man's head in a single sweep. Its nose was that of those Kahn saw on the Snakekin Assasin, the body complete pale white.

But that wasn't the creepiest part.. What gave Kahn an eerie feeling is the lower half of this creature's body.. It was completely that of a giant scaly snake.

At this moment, Kahn spoke to himself..

Chapter 62: Overestimated

Just by looking at the floor boss that was slithering in between the trees, Kahn felt like something was crawling under his skin.

One thing he knew for sure.. He could not fight this floor boss head-on. Because after suffering through the effects of those hallucinations and reuniting with his family again.. He had no will to endure that trauma once more.

[How do I kill it?] asked Kahn to himself because there were truly few options if he wanted to kill this floor boss. Because after the recent experience, it became a personal grudge for him. He was going to kill the damn monster no matter what.

Kahn thought of possible plans such as putting the monster in a corner or surrounding it from all the sides and ambushing it. But after some time of thinking, he thought of it as a naive choice because other than the information of the fog, he had no clue about the different abilities and skills of this floor boss at all. Planning anything prematurely could spell disaster for him.

This opponent was indeed really strong based on the aura he felt around it. And most importantly.. Despite being 8 meters tall and nearly 30 meters long, the creature was extremely well versed in hiding as if it was part of the environment itself. Because even Kahn, who was now a Grandmaster level fighter had a hard time to sense and track it down.

"I guess I have no other choice." said Kahn and went a kilometer away and deactivated shadow walk. He let out 2 minotaurs & 10 nymphs from his shadow and went back into hiding again. He was going to use these subordinates as a sacrificial lamb so he could learn about the skills of this boss and prepare accordingly.

When Kahn was 500 meters away from the boss, he found that the boss could sense the incoming enemies from a mile away. Means it had extremely well hearing.. Or maybe smell given how it was letting out its tongue more often.

If not for Kahn's Shadow Walk which completely hid his presence, aura and heat signatures; he would have been found a long time ago.

But unexpectedly, the boss didn't choose to fight them head on.. It slithered across the woods and kept releasing a fog from the various outlet-like openings on its body, trying to scare its prey and then attack them when they were in turmoil because of this hallucinogenic chemical that was mixed into the fog.

A small battle erupted between his subordinates and the floor boss. Little did the boss know that these subordinates he used as fodders didn't possess any free will of their own. They only acted as per his command.

So the boss ended up revealing more of its fighting skills when it felt like it was playing with food.

Kahn understood one thing that the floor boss had the advantage in speed and quick reflexes but other than the fog that was coming out from its secretory glands from outlets on its body. The boss had only one offensive ability. And that was the long tendrils that were coming from its back which also had hard spear-like pointy ends.

And during the fight, it used these flexible and agile tendrils as long-range weapons and attacked multiple opponents at the same time.

Even the tough-skinned Minotaurs fell against this ability. Kahn too possessed the Extension skill that was similar to this skill but it had a very short range and the pikes that were thrown from his bodies were detached as soon as they came out of his hands and he couldn't take them back inside him.

These tendrils on the other hand would still be connected to the monster boss and some of these tendrils had hook-like ends.

"Is that it? And this fucker scared the shit out of me.." said Kahn as he was stupefied how this floor boss left him witless but in reality, it had the combat strength similar to the Nymph floor boss. Even the Minotaur floor boss he previously fought on the earlier floor had more combat skills and innate abilities than this one.

If you left the advantage of the hallucinogenic fog it could create, there really wasn't much this boss could do. Other than the tendrils, it had no offensive skills that could be used in a long & arduous battle.

The most commendable trait it had was the speed and reflexes during the fight. Plus the sensing ability through hearing and smell was indeed very useful even for someone like Kahn whose hearing had a range of 30 meters at best if he wanted to hear whispers and talks from a distance.

"Ah.. Fuck it!" spoke Kahn as he left the shadows of the tree.

[Grab its attention and keep it busy.] ordered Kahn to his subordinates and his small army left his shadow in seconds.

He used shadow walk again as he disappeared while his army under the lead of Omega attacked and surrounded the floor boss. And since the fog didn't work on his subordinates.. The floor boss was forced into a corner.

Blackwall taunted the boss with his skills, forcing it to focus and attack him while Omega and Jugram dealt a lot of damage. Ceril played a vital role as he kept shooting highly damaging magic spells and Armin provided many attack buffs to the other generals.

In half an hour, the floor boss was excessively bleeding from various places but it couldn't even run away because the enemies had one strong fighter in all directions and had extremely well-timed attacking coordination. With the advantage of using the fog being turned useless, the floor boss turned into a disappointing opponent.

After having its complete attention on the enemies it was facing, it failed to sense a black shadow coming its way.

When it was fighting against the onslaught, it felt a swift pain.

Kacha!

The floor boss's head was pierced through by a longsword. Before it could sense what was happening.. The head was split into two and the giant slithering body dropped on the ground.

A human figure that was holding the pierced sword in his hand and was currently standing on the back of the floor boss where those tendrils came from sighed in disappointment.

He easily finished this boss by bullying it with numbers while losing only a few of his subordinates and landed the killing blow when it was completely exhausted and distracted.

"My dissapointment is immeasurable and my day ruined." spoke Kahn with a dejected face.

"I hope at least the abilities are useful." said Kahn and put his hand on the corpse.

"Absorb!"

Chapter 63: All in One

After spending nearly 30 minutes, Kahn was finally done with absorbing the skills of this hybrid-like creature.

Through the system, he learned the name of this species.. The Pethralls. A variant species that originated from Lamias and Humans. As for how did it come into existence.. He had no idea. But the plus point was that the monster was Lord rank. If not for his advantage in numbers, he would've had some hard time killing it and the monsters could've also escaped if Kahn fought it by himself.

"System, show me the new skills."

[The host has acquired the following abilities & skills :

Hallucinogenic Toxin (B Rank) (Active) :

Allows the host to secrete hallucination toxin inside the host's body and spread it from any body part by creating an outlet.

Mist Cloud :

Allows the host to create a gaseous mist.

Tendril (B Rank) (Active) :

Allow the host to create long-range extensions from the body.

Sonar Hearing (B Rank) (Passive) :

Allows the host to have an acute hearing range of 200 meters.

Cold Body :

Allows the host to completely decrease the body temperature to zero and the host will also be unaffected by extreme cold environment.

Note : Some of these abilities can be merged and some can be mixed under different synthesized abilities and skills.] the system listed the new abilities and also told him that they could be used furthermore.

"Show me the merged skills." ordered Kahn and the system gave only 3 abilities. But instead of feeling dejected, he was rejoiced after seeing the possible results.

"Merge them all!" exclaimed Kahn as he was very happy with the possible outcomes.

[Synthesis complete.] replied the system.

"Show me the details."

[The host has synthesized and acquired the following abilities and skills :

Grappling Extension :

Allows the host to create black fleshly extensions from any body parts and control them at his will in any distance, direction and length. The ends of these extensions can also change shapes as per the host's will and will be made from hard and metallic pikes from the Nymph host has previously absorbed abilities from.

Current Range : 30 meters

Toxin Mist :

Allows the host to mix the hallucinogenic toxins and release them in the form of mist or fog.

Current Range : 20 meters

Sonar Hearing has been merged under Hunter's Intent to raise its efficiency. However, the exclusive ability can still be used individually.] replied the system as it gave details of his new skills.

[[Author : Mentioned the last part because some of the readers have been misunderstanding that once the abilities & skills are merged, the original one disappears. Remember, he isn't using physical bodies to create these skills like he has to while creating subordinates where the original bodies will disappear. The merged skills have the combined effects of both the skills in a single skill/ability while the original ones can still be used.]]

"Bingo!" shouted Kahn in joy.

He put his hand on the back of the Pethrall and gently caressed it.

"I'm sorry I called you ugly and terrifying. Thank you for the skills." spoke Kahn.

"System, name the Toxin Mist as Fear Toxin." he commanded.

He went for the short and simple name. As for the resultant skills he got.. They were simply useful.

He could use this fear toxin mist or a fog to hunt down people in groups as he jumps right in the center and this hallucinogenic toxin would scare the shit out of his enemies and completely break down their battle formation.

And if he put his subordinates in the equation.. Since they were unaffected by this skill, it'd be a one-sided slaughter.

And the Grappling Extension was also simply amazing.. He could use it to reach heights and even swing through long distances when he shot these extensions from his hands.

This could work as his grappling gun belonging to a certain black caped guy who had pointy bat ears on his mask.

Sonar Hearing was, without doubt his best hearing skill. And now being merged under Hunter's intent.. The skill turned no different than the Detective Mode of the Caped Crusader.

But there was one more advantage.. He could use these extensions as weapons as well. To be put in simple words.. He could fight a dozen of people at once and when someone was at the farthest distance from him, he could simply use these extensions to kill that enemy, or even pull it closer to Kahn.

When someone tried to attack him from behind, these extensions with sharp pointy ends could simply kill the enemy. These extensions were more like his extra arms now.

After being content with the results. Kahn let out a satisfied smile. But he didn't touch the core of the Pethrall to eat it. Rather, he had some other plans.

"Ronin!" he called out the Rogue subordinate.

Kahn had a suitable candidate to merge with this floor boss. Because eventually, his Generals were going to play a vital role for him in the future. Quality was sometimes far important than quantity.

Ronin was going to lead Kahn's army of assassins one day if Kahn decided so. And the subordinate had proved itself useful from time to time. So it was about time it got the reward it deserved.

Kahn used the Synthesis Divine Ability and used 20 A-Rank monster cores to mix the floor boss's body with over 10 nymphs to create a subordinate that had Evolution skill unlocked. And to bridge the gap between species rank since Ronin was of Rare rank while the floor boss was of Lord rank, he used another 15 A-Rank cores for better results.

After spending 2 hours.. The Evolution was finally done!

A black mist surrounded the newly upgraded Ronin and his face turned similar to the monster boss but his eyes had turned completely green. He retained his humanoid appearance but is now 3 meters tall. There were multiple black whip-like extensions coming from his back.

Kahn quickly took out two epic rank daggers and gave a set of black leather light armor, a coat, shoes and accessories that fitted the new body perfectly.

After this evolution, Ronin was now a Lord rank subordinate just like Omega, Blackwall & Oliver. But after inheriting the hallucinogenic toxin and fog skill along with the extensions.. He was far more lethal as an Assassin class fighter. He could now take on dozens of people just by himself very efficiently if he wanted.

As for what's next.. Kahn already had decided that he'd test the new skills tonight. Not as himself.. But as Azrael.

Chapter 64: The Assassin

Kahn returned to his bungalow after clearing out the 12th floor. He was inwardly excited to test out his newly gained skills and abilities. And what best would serve as a target practice other than the scum of the society who had their hands bloodied with innocent lives.

It had been quite some time since the angel of death made his appearance to the public because Kahn had been busy with various things lately and he also had no need to keep up the act of this warrior of justice any longer.

After having his dinner at night, Kahn returned to his temporary bedroom and took a small book out of his space ring. It was one of the intel books the snakekin had given him and Kahn had been using these criminals to create a reputation for his other persona while he used it as the cover to eliminate the people mentioned in his contract.

But since the contract was now nulled, his other identity no longer proved useful. But because of these new abilities he gained today, he required live targets in order to get familiar with them.

Kahn checked through the list of the names, by now.. Around ninety percent of them were crossed from the list. Around 50 names had been crossed from the list and nearly a dozen were left.

"Well, I'll at least get to finish one book out of the three." he said and started reading the leftover names and their details mentioned in the book. He planned to clear out this book first before giving his other persona a full-time rest.

As the midnight moon shone brightly in the sky, Kahn left his place under the soothing light.

He was now accustomed to using the best and shortest ways to reach the different parts of the city. He was now wearing a dark grey attire with a hood and high quality chest armor, pauldrons, gauntlets and a metallic belt that covered his entire waist; just to give himself a look of a legendary assassin named Ezio Auditore da Firenze.

During his travel, he saw multiple places where the city guards were patrolling the streets in groups.

[Idiots. They still haven't learned that they should be protecting all the criminals they left roaming free if they want to catch me.] spoke Kahn to himself as he swiftly passed through various streets.

Kahn climbed on top of a tall tower using the new extensions as his own grappling gun. Gazing at the city filled with lamplights and magical street lights. He stood solemnly as the wind fluttered his robes as the white moon behind him appeared to be enlarged like a full moon.

Kahn let out a sophisticated sigh as he looked at the city life that was going about their way in hurdles. He finally spoke in response to the glimmering nightlife.

"We work in the dark to serve the light.."

[[Author : You're all men of culture, you know the rest.]]

"Nothing is true; everything is permitted." said Kahn and jumped down with his head and upper body facing towards the ground, taking a Leap of Faith.

Before his body could touch the ground, he disappeared using Shadow Walk and chose one of the streets to mix into and go for his first target.

In a tavern full of bustling crowd and waiters bringing everyone their ordered foods, many people were drinking and eating to their heart's content. Amongst one of such groups, a strong and muscular elf gulped down the entire glass in one go.

Unlike the stories Kahn read on earth, although Elves had a high affinity to magic; they were not averse to using other professions and fighting trades. The majority of the elves he had come to see so far were actually physical class fighters and had physique as per their fields required them to be. They weren't some weak and frail humans with pointy ears like depicted in almost all the mangas and novels he read in his previous life.

"Damanael, your appetite for booze will even give the Dwarves a sense of competitiveness. Haha" laughed a demonkin and ordered for more.

"Only if I could get a nice woman in my arms for the night, it would be worth it." said the elf as he licked his lips.

At this response, the demonkin's face turned somber.

"Don't cause trouble, you're still under suspicion by the law enforcement hall. Don't give them a chance to catch you red-handed. We can't always pay our way through." said the demonkin.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be careful. I'm off to sleep. See you tomorrow." said Damanael and left the tavern.

But unbeknownst to him, there was a dark figure watching and hearing his every word from a distance far away.

The elf walked across streets from streets and wandered around as if looking for something.

Just then, the muscular elf went behind a dark alley, chasing after a human girl who seemed to be exhausted after a day's work.

A few seconds later, there was a muffled scream.

"Ah! Who are you? Let me go!" shouted the girl but her voice was quickly subdued as the elf put his hand on her mouth and since no one was present there, her pleads for help didn't reach anyone.

"Don't make a noise if you still want to live." said the Elf as he put a knife on the girl's throat.

"I'm not asking for much.. I only want to have some good time." he said and licked the girl's neck and grabbed her bosom.

The girl shuddered in fear and tried to struggle by flexing her arms, trying to push her assaulter. But to no avail, her frail body could not put any resistance to the muscular elf.

"Don't worry.. I'll be gentle." whispered the elf with a lecherous and creepy look in his eyes; he pushed the girl against a wall started pulling her clothes, trying to tear them out.

Suddenly, a ghostly and grim voice resounded as a dark hooded figure appeared behind the elf who was trying to r**e the girl.

"Damanael Olstrinvach.. You have failed this city!"

Chapter 65: The Adjudicator

The Elven man opened his eyes, a sudden pain hit his senses as he felt a big bump on his head. He couldn't make sense of what was happening.. And most importantly, he felt like his legs were tied by something and as soon as his vision became clear.. He screamed loudly in fear.

Because at this moment, he was indeed hanging upside down... On top of a tower.

"Arhhhhh!!! Let me down!" he shouted in fear, his body flailing around in the air.

"Very poor choice of words." a grim voice came from his back and quickly the rope-like thing that had tied his legs loosened its grip.

"No!!!" screamed the elven man as his body was thrown down from a nearly 80 meter tall tower, ready to be swatted in the ground. But at the same time, another hooded figure, clad in grey robes had jumped down with him and was descending down albeit more organized and in proper form.

"Save me!" shouted the elven man from the top of his lungs.

"So dramatic.." said the hooded figure and 4 black extensions came from behind his back, 2 of them quickly grabbed and rounded up the elf while the other 2 quickly stabbed themselves in the building's walls.

The elf who was nearly swatted to the ground found his body suspended in the air again and the figure who bound him was hanging in between these 4 extensions. He raised his hands upwards and they too turned into similar extension, pulling both the bodies upwards.

When they finally reached the top of the tower again.. The fear-stricken elf finally had a clear view of this ghostly figure.

"Tensile strength is great, ductility and malleability are also high. I wouldn't have any problem even when blocking arrows using this." spoke the hooded man as he folded his hands and looked to be thinking about something.

"The extensions are strong enough.. I can hold his entire body in the air while standing on my two feet without losing any balance. So useful.." spoke Kahn as he felt satisfied with the newly gained ability.

"Now let's test the fear toxin." said Kahn and a spray of white fog came from his hands and reached the elf's face who was muffling under the grasp of these fleshy extensions.

Just a dozen seconds later, he saw Azrael's face again. But this time.. The face appeared inhuman with nothing but a black skull with brightly burning red eyes as if they were on fire.. The entire body of the hooded man in front of him felt like it was turning bigger and grimmer as the seconds passed by and all the elf saw was a dark demonic figure looking down on him as if looking at an insignificant being.

"You.. Who are you?" asked the elf who was tied up by these extensions, his face full of horrors.

"4 knows cases of sexual assault on females including demonkin, elves, humans and beastkins.. And who knows many more off-record victims. I wonder how you're not inside the prison yet.." spoke the hooded figure.

"Let me go! I don't want to die! I'll do anything you want!" pleaded the muscular elf.

"Alcina Cikom.. The name rings any bells?" asked the hooded figure..

"You.. How do you know that?" asked the elf with an ashen expression on his face.

"You r*ped that 13 year old girl and when she refused to keep quiet about it.. You killed her and threw her body in the gutter. Well, that's only one of your victims that I've come to know. I'm sure there are many innocent women you've killed and destroyed the lives of." said the hooded figure in a judgmental tone.

"Don't tell me.. You're Azrael?" asked the elf in a ghastly tone.

"Yes. Now tell me.. How do you wish to die?" spoke the hooded man.. Azrael.

"I'm giving you three options. One, get your limbs torn in pieces.. Two, getting skinned alive and three, I put holes in your body one by one till you die from excessive bleeding. I'm in a good mood today, so I'll let you choose." said Kahn in his Batman.. In his Azrael voice.

"No! Let me go! I'll pay you with all the money I have. I promise I won't do it again!" shouted the elf in a fearful tone.

"Third it is.." said Kahn

Stab!

The elf's shoulder was stabbed by the spear-like ends of the fleshly extension that were coming out of Kahn's back.

"Arhhhhhhhhg!!!" wailed the man in pain as blood started pouring down from the wound.

"You like using that thing to show your supremacy on innocent women & young girls, don't you?" asked Azrael as a small pike came out from his palm and he quickly stabbed the man in the crotch!

"Mrahaaaa!!" cried the elf in pain as he lost his ability to reproduce in this life. But Kahn didn't just stop there. One by one, he stabbed the elven male in his arms, his thighs, then his abdomen using the tendril like extensions. He twisted them inside the elf's body to give him even more horrendous experience as if the decree of the heavens was punishing the elf for all his sins.

Multiple wounds inside the elf's body bled buckets of blood and the elf lost his consciousness after suffering through the immeasurable pain.

"Ugh.. So disappointing. How am I going to test these abilities if these bastards keep passing out so soon." spoke Kahn in a dejected tone.

"Well, it's a good thing that this city has no lack of lowlives." declared Kahn and tore the elf's body from limbs and hung it on top of the tower.

"Well, this is my last night as Azrael so let's clean up this city as much as I can." spoke Kahn as he jumped from the top of the tower and disappeared in the darkness of the night.

Tonight, there was going to be another massacre in the city that would make the name of Azrael put fear in the hearts of all the criminals.

Tonight.. He would gain a new title.

Azrael.. The Adjudicator.

Chapter 66: The Missing Enemy

Once again, the Flavot city awoke in the morning filled with terrified screams as multiple streets were now crowded with masses throughout the entire perimeter. All the 4 gates of the city that had thousands of people exit and enter through were now in shambles because suddenly, the influx in people that were leaving the city for good had risen.

And the reason being none other than Azrael.. The Adjudicator.

Because last night, he had displayed such ruthlessness that even the most experienced fighters who had been through many wars would find it scary and no different than an actual battlefield.

Unlike what Azrael had done before, where he only put a pike through the bodies of the criminals and pin them on a wall.. This time, the display of cruelty had put fear in even those who supported his actions and called him a hero.

Because the criminals that were now pinned on the street walls were no longer hung there in a single piece.. Rather their body parts were spread out throughout the city while blood leaked out of them and the reeking atmosphere left many onlookers shuddering in fear.

If one street had the head of one of Azrael's victims, the other street walls would have his legs or arms, another will have his fingers while the last one would host the splattered and torn up intestines. The mangled body parts covered in blood were spread throughout the city and not a single populated zone was left an exception to it.

This was by far, Azrael's biggest declaration of war on the criminals and corrupted that lived in the city.

All of these streets had blood-painted walls with words written in blood that were the main cause why anyone who ever committed a heinous crime would feel like looking the death in its eyes.

I SEE ALL. I OBSERVE ALL. AND I KNOW ALL YOUR CRIMES.

NO EVIL SHALL GO UNPUNISHED BECAUSE I, AZRAEL; THE ADJUDICATOR IS ALWAYS WATCHING.

He was no longer a hero of justice or someone who fought for the little guy. No, he was basically declaring himself to be the law itself.

The reason why he went to such extreme measures was because he knew that people would easily forget no matter how many criminals he killed and punished for their crimes. And eventually, the majority of the populace who only heard the name of Azrael only in gossips and rumors would come to even deny his existence.

Sooner or later, he was going to leave this place and his name and deeds would fade in history.. People would still commit crimes in the dark alleys, innocents would be thrashed and trampled upon by the rich and powerful and all the efforts he put in creating his persona of Azrael would have no meaning left to it.

If he wanted to leave a mark in the history of this city.. He had to not only kill these criminals, but also make the masses fear him. Otherwise, the same cycle would repeat and that would make no difference.

For Kahn, it was no longer about using these killings as a means to kill the people in his contract, but rather about the legacy he would leave.

Because a fearful man followed rules far better than one with freedom. Even though no one served any religion or any God in Rakos Empire.. Azrael had put the fear of god in all the citizens of this city.

*yawn*

Kahn, the main culprit of this chaos woke up merrily in the noon after yesterday's hectic work and simply enjoyed the view outside of his house.

He was now done playing the role of a warrior of justice and the Judge, Jury and Executioner. His short career was now over because he had to focus his time and energy on various things. He wasn't going to be complacent and enjoy whatever little reputation and strength he had in his hands.

Complacency breeds pestilence that stops your growth and will eventually cause your downfall.

He took a bath and had Jerome bring his lunch.

"Sir, these are your letters for today. I think you should respond to at least a few of them. Some even come from noble clans who wish to have you join their ranks." said Jerome as he unloaded a whole bag of letters on the table.

These were all the letters and invitations Kahn was receiving ever since his popularity rose with the incidents with the minotaur bodies and later it reached its peak with him beating the noble heirs at the banquet.

Kahn, who barely had any time to spare these days didn't want to waste it on entertaining these self-proclaimed high class people and their useless notions. He had no need or the will the join hands with any of the forces. If it was some one-time deal, he would do it but making any commitment and joining any factions wasn't something he wanted to get entangled in. He had no interest in playing a futile politics game in this small place that was on the edge of the empire.

"Tell them I'm unavailable for few days and won't be able to reply." replied Kahn as he enjoyed his fulfilling meal.

It was about time he hunted the next floor boss.

Kahn visited the Bromnir dungeon again.. Simply because it was the closest one to the city and apparently, had the highest number of dungeon floors. Just that the people who came here were too many so there were not many monsters to hunt on upper floors. Only if you could fight and survive on the lower floors, then it'd be worth it.

Kahn reached the 13th floor this time and entered through the gates. His senses were all on alert as he searched for the enemies on this floor but couldn't find any living thing other than the trees and plants on this dense and rocky valley.

Even his hunter's intent hadn't picked up any heat signature or a trail of any living soul.

Kahn couldn't help but think in puzzlement..

"Has this floor been abandoned?"

Chapter 67: The Shapeshifter

Kahn wandered around the entire 13th floor of this dungeon but still failed to find any enemies or the floor boss despite spending a few hours with all his abilities activated.

"Where the hell is it?!" shouted Kahn in an annoyed tone because no way that the floor boss could leave the floor. If it did, there would be a mayhem outside of the dungeon and maybe the city would be at war because the higher the floors, the stronger the bosses were.

He looked around the trees and rocky valleys from time to time but still couldn't find anything that would look like a monster or any being that would appear to be an inhabitant of this floor.

"I guess that leaves me no choice. Everyone, out!" commanded Kahn all of his subordinates jumped out from his shadow one by one.

"Legion, go look for enemies. Generals, attack anything you find suspicious and Omega.. Smash!" said Kahn as he pointed his forefinger at Omega.

Omega let out a smirk and ran in the opposite direction.

What ensued very soon was multiple places on this dungeon floor getting blown up, caved in, giants peaks and boulders getting shattered while the dense treelines put on fires while the smoke from the burnt wood spread on this floor which nearly had a perimeter of 10 kilometers.

Kahn was literally smoking the floor boss out of its hiding.

After he too joined the shindig, the property damage raised significantly because he had the highest mana and attack range whether it was sword or magic spells.

After half an hour, suddenly Omega engaged in a battle and Kahn was quickly notified via Hive Mind skill.

He finally saw the floor boss through the shared vision as he and the rest of the subordinates were running towards the ongoing battle.

Kahn was stupefied after looking at the boss. Omega who was fighting it was having a hard time to even land a proper blow at it whether it was melee and ranged attacks.

And the main reason being that the floor boss had no proper body form. Sometimes it turned into the shape of a boulder and the next second it turned into limb-like structures that avoided the attacks extremely well. It was like a jelly that was changing its size and shapes without any problems.

As Kahn reached the midway to the battleground.. He faltered in his footsteps after he saw something that made him drop his jaw on the ground.

The floor boss had turned into... Omega.

Kahn couldn't believe his eyes as he saw a black Lycan who looked identical to Omega in every aspect. Whether it was the height, the fur or the claws. There wasn't a difference in any way.

If Kahn didn't have the mind connection with his commander.. He too would've failed to differentiate between the real Omega and the fake one.

Omega was enraged to the core after he saw the floor boss imitating him in every way. It had a smug grin on its expression as it evaded his attacks from time to time and made mocking gestures.

[It has high sentience and it knows how to goad an enemy into exhausting themselves by provoking them.] Kahn thought and ordered all of his subordinates to stop their charge towards the battleground. The floor boss clearly didn't know how many enemies were surrounding it.

[Keep it busy.] he ordered Omega as a viable plan hatched in his mind.

After watching the floor boss via Omega, Kahn quickly understood why he failed to find the floor boss till now despite spending hours wandering around the floor like an idiot.

Because this floor boss could Shapeshift into objects and even living beings. And to make it even more deadly, it could also completely mask its presence so well that even his Survival Instinct and Hunter's Intent that were already twice more effective than before ever since he broke into the Grandmaster rank couldn't find it.

No wonder it had completely mixed into the environment without leaving a trace. And if not for Kahn getting pissed off and ordering his subordinates to destroy the places on this floor, he would've never found it in the first place.

If this was Kahn before he faced the floor boss from the 12th floor and absorbed its abilities; he wasn't confident that he would even be able to fight this floor boss.

The opponent was indeed very smart and tactful from what Kahn saw.

He ordered his Legion and Six Generals to surround the battlefield from corners without coming in sight. He exclusively ordered Oliver to take the high ground and be ready to attack if the shapeshifting floor boss decided to take the form of something that could fly in order to run away from the battle.

At this moment however, Omega was being pushed back by the monster with the same physical attacks as the former and mimicking his attack pattern. A true nightmare for those who hunted alone and in groups. Because no matter what, this floor boss could take the shape of a random object and you wouldn't even notice. If in groups, it could take the appearance of your allies and then kill you when you weren't looking.

Kahn trembled in amazement after he noticed how horrifyingly strong this floor boss was. It was one thing if you could copy someone's appearance.. But it was another thing if you could fight the opponent using the same attacks and fighting style as them.

[The 12th-floor boss only looked terrifying.. But this guy is the actual bastard you should be afraid of.] spoke Kahn to himself as he finally prepared a plan to take down this floor boss.

Since its biggest advantage in a fight was to shapeshift into the enemy and copy their fighting style in time.. Kahn was certain that the monster was a highly intelligent being to adapt so quickly in a battle.

But what if the boss lost its ability to think properly and had too many enemies that it couldn't even copy enough of them?

Because soon, the floor boss was going live inside a nightmare.

And that nightmare would be none other Kahn.

Chapter 68: Living a Nightmare

Omega faced off against the floor boss by himself as Kahn entered in stealth. Thankfully, the fight was happening in an area with long and broad trees so there was no lack of shadows for him to hide inside using shadow walk.

Even though Omega was currently being defensive and was pushed back by the floor boss who had taken the same form as him, he still adhered to Kahn's instructions and kept the boss engaged.

Kahn on the other hand started shifting from one place to another and took a cover behind tree trunks and released the fear toxin from his hands. But he didn't stop at just one place, he didn't want to give the floor boss any escape route so he filled various places with his toxin mist and covered the entire area out of the battlefield in a circle.

And in this encircled area, he placed his lower tier subordinates as the six generals hid in the inner areas not far from the ongoing battle.

After completely filling this middle area with the fog, Kahn finally decided that it was about time the floor boss understood what true fear looked like.

Using the shadow walk, he appeared behind the boss and released his fear toxin at full capacity as if a cloud had descended straight from the sky on this battleground.

Only then did the floor boss finally noticed that something was amiss and looked around its surrounding. Only to find a visible white fog and somehow feeling its senses becoming dull.

When it looked back on its opponent, it was surprised to see how its enemy had completely disappeared from the sight without even making a sound. It quickly changed its form and transformed into a blue and large winged creature that resembled a lot to the Pterosaurs (the flying bird-like dinosaurs), but with feathers and a long tail.

The floor boss was now 5 meters in height and quickly spanned its wings to take off and look at the surrounding.

Shoot!

Just as the newly transformed boss took off and flew 15 meters above the ground, a metal-like pike pierced its right wing and soon another one was shot at the boss.

KRAAAA!!

The boss fell on the ground and screeched in agony as the wings started to bleed. It quickly changed its form into a 4 legged creature with scaly skin on its body. Its head resembling imps and legs similar to clawed wolves.

Just then, another burst of the white smog came to its face and the boss inhaled a big breath of this fog.

Swoosh!

The floor boss heard a voice and quickly turned its back, looking for the source of the noise. Then suddenly, a black figure passed behind its back and disappeared before the boss could even turn around.

It transformed into a horned snake and slithered across the trees after getting a sense of fear from the surrounding noises.

Just then, it saw a group of giant monsters walking towards it.. Each figure was as tall as a 20-meter house.. Their eyes burning red and the biggest of them was a 40 meter tall humanoid monster with a giant shield and axe in its hand.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

The floor boss whose senses were weakening as time passed shuddered in fear for the first time in its life. It quickly ran away from the giant monsters and took the left side.. Only to find an army of spider-like creatures swarming in the group of hundreds.. Their eyes prying at the boss as if they wanted to dissect it alive.

When it slithered in the other direction, it saw a giant hooded figure with a black staff in its hand.. And a ginormous fireball that looked like a miniature sun was hovering around this hooded figure. The floor boss felt like it was nothing but a tiny being and ran for its life!

It transformed into a bird-like creature again but before it could even take off, its wings were shot and pinned to the ground from a long and 8 legged figure with its bright yellow eyes staring back at it. The sight terrified the boss and it transformed into a 2 legged ape-like creature who jumped extremely fast among the trees.

Only to face its previous enemy.. Omega!

But unlike the previous encounter, Omega was now 50 meters tall, various parts on his body appeared to be covered in fiery patterns and the eyes felt like they were would burn anything to the ground. His claws now looked far longer and sharper that could cut down the boss in a single swing.

The boss was completely horrified and lost the balance of its body on the spot. The fog had almost blurred its sight and its body was feeling numb from the fear alone.

KYARGH!

ROAR!

SCREECH!

Multiple blood-curling noises resounded in this tree line as the enemies had surrounded the floor boss from all the sides.

The boss screeched and roared in a deafening voice as if trying to warn the enemies.. But to no avail, the hundreds of gigantic figures kept walking towards it.

After being scared witless, the floor boss finally took its real form for the first time.

A dark grey scaled 4 legged creature with a mouth made of a tortoise beak with teeth as sharp as a crocodile. The back was hunched but covered in stone-like skin. The entire figure was around 5 meters tall.. Much smaller than any of the forms it had taken before..

Now covering in fear, it had left down all its defenses, hoping that the nightmare in front of it would stop.

Before its eyes, another black figure emerged from the shadows. And the density of this fog increased twice than before. The floor boss could no longer think anything rationally and wailed in fear.

The new figure seemed to be humanoid and walked towards the creature that was lying on the ground, trembling in fear. The size of the figure rose by dozens of meters with every step it took. In his hands, was a gigantic sword that could cut a tall peak in half with a single swing.

As this new figure stopped right in front of the boss, the monster let out a whimper, begging to be spared in its own way. But the gigantic figure didn't show any hint of mercy on his face and pierced his sword right through the floor boss's head.

In its final moments.. The floor boss finally saw the truth behind its death. Because there were no gigantic creatures.. There was no army of hundreds and thousands surrounding it. Rather, it was only a dozen of small-time monsters that it could easily kill by itself. But the most shocking sight was the true form of the one that had killed it. It was the shortest, most threatless looking human.

The floor boss finally closed its eyes in disbelief as the horrifying nightmare finally ended.

Chapter 69: Seeking Copper but finding Gold

Kahn put his hands on the dead body of the floor boss. He felt like patting himself on the shoulders for how tactfully he took out this floor boss.

If not for his extremely well thought planning such as closing all escape routes, removing the option to fly and then simply scaring down the boss to a state where even he appeared as an immense threat to the monster and simply stood rooted to the spot as Kahn ended its life.

It was no different than the highly intelligent and experienced boss allowing itself to be killed. Kahn thanked the previous floor boss in his head again for giving such a useful skill. Because even with all of his strength, his small army and even his Lord-rank subordinates; he really wouldn't have been able to kill the boss so efficiently.

The fear toxin was by far one of his most effective skills just like the Somir scales, poison acid & extensions.. Truly worth investing in. If he could find monsters and skills that could improve its potency and effectiveness, it'd be worth going through the trouble.

He was done absorbing the skills and bloodline of this floor boss in 40 minutes. Unlike many of the monsters he had absorbed the bloodlines of, this time the whole body and blood was completely absorbed by Kahn. Leaving nothing but an empty husk of bones under the skin.

DING!

[Congratulations to the host for finding an S Rank Metamorphosis bloodline!

Current bloodline purity : 68%

The host must eat & absorb the core of the Uthraqiris to complete this bloodline. ] a sudden notification sounded in his head informing him about the monster boss.

"What? A Metamorphosis bloodline?" Kahn was gobsmacked after the notification. Because never in his wildest dream did he think of finding the almost rare and unique metamorphosis bloodline inside this dungeon.

From his knowledge, only dopplers who were a rare type of demihumans had this type of bloodline from the books about different inhabitants and species of this empire he read in his free time.

But even those had a very low purity in bloodline and at best, they could take the form of another humanoid species after going through the arduous trouble of shedding their skin and having their bones cracked to match the shape of their targets.

If Kahn wanted that bloodline, he'd have to kill at least 200 dopplers that were already hard to find. But even then, he'd get a B rank bloodline at best.. Not the S Rank bloodline that this floor boss had just gifted him.

Kahn bowed in respect to the deceased Uthraquiris.

"Thank you for your sacrifice." he said and pulled out the blue core from the now dried-out heart.

"So it was a Lord rank boss as well." spoke Kahn as monsters who were of Lord rank and comparable to Grandmaster humanoid species fighters had blue cores unlike the latter who had golden cores.

Kahn gulped down the big lemon-sized core and sat on the ground in his usual Lotus Buddha position whenever he absorbed high-grade monster cores. He always found his mind calm and able to comprehend the surge in strength in that position.

DING!

[Bloodline Absorption complete.

Current bloodline purity : 100%

The host has acquired the following abilities & skills :

Metamorphosis :

Allows the host to transform into beings and creatures the host has a complete bloodline of without any delay or harm done to the original body.

However, the host must learn to function and move in these different forms by himself.

Bloodline Merge :

Allows the host to mix different physical and magical traits of different bloodlines the host is already in possession of.

The host must possess a significant portion of bloodlines and physical skills for them to merge together.

Note : Since the different physical & magical traits of the different bloodlines will put a huge strain on the host's body after using them to merge; the activation span of this skill is short.

Current time limit : 15 minutes.

The host is advised to absorb even higher rank Metamorphosis bloodlines to overcome these restrictions.] replied the system in its usual robotic voice.

Kahn was elated after hearing this message. Because this was no different than giving himself the biggest advantage he had whether it came to fighting, if he had to hide himself, doing a reckon or even infiltrate inside a place.

As long as he had met the conditions of 100% Bloodline purity, he could transform himself into any creature he wanted. This ability clearly had opened many doors for him. Because if he were to travel into a place inhabited by a particular race or species, he would have no problem mixing in with them let it be Elves, Dwarves and maybe even Seafolks.

This was far better than any Shapeshifting ability where you'd be restricted by many things such as the types of shapes your body allowed you to take or have physical traits that would restrict the kind of species you could imitate.

And the biggest advantage was that if he obtained the full bloodline of some type of rare monster or even a Dragon for example; he would be able to transform himself into them. Although he would need a higher bloodline like a Mythical rank metamorphosis bloodline for it to be successful.. This was still a gate that opened hundreds of possibilities for him.

And the Bloodline Merge was also another handy and useful ability even though it had a short time of 15 minutes only. He could select the best traits of the bloodlines he had and take a form that would be an amalgamation of these OP physical and magical traits and skills.

To put the cherry on top, Kahn also noticed that his level went by 5 levels and now he was level 70. This was indeed an immensely fortunate harvest.

"Muhaha.. Hahaha hahaha!!" Kahn did his usual Joker laugh as he stared at the sky with nothing but joy and happiness in his eyes.

[Has master gone senile again?] asked Ronin to his fellow subordinates.

[What do you mean?] questioned Omega.

[I'm usually on the lookout when master is doing something important. So whenever he gets something useful or precious.. He always laughs like this.] replied Ronin.

Unbeknownst to Kahn, all the subordinates that had reached the Lord rank after the Evolution had formed their own consciousness and will. Although they were still programmed to follow Kahn's every order, they could think by themselves and even converse with each other with the same Hive Mind skill that he used to talk with them.

"So the sayings are true. When you search for the copper, you might as well find Gold." said Kahn and decided to leave the dungeon after today's extremely rewarding Hunt.

Now he was going to spend some time practicing and experimenting with this Metamorphosis ability for some time. This was definitely one of his biggest hauls ever.

Little did Kahn knew that one day.. this ability would change his life.