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Chapter 109 Return To The Royal Dungeon

Training continued as usual the following day.

Each day, there would be a separate training session that only took up a few hours in the morning. Afterwards, the students would take a long break and go to the Grand Stage for their battle with Monsters.

That was the new arrangement for the effective growth of every student.

The training was for them to acclimate to their new Levels, which meant more advanced or prolonged use of their abilities.

And, the practical session was meant for the students to grind Levels.

Once they were done with everything, it would be around 1:00 PM, and so the students were free to spend the day as they wished.

Some spent it in the Town, exploring more in the market, or just taking strolls around.

Others chose to remain in their rooms or enjoy the grandeur of the Royal Capital.

Some spent it training and trying to better themselves.

There was one that spent her time in the Library.

However, out of all the twenty-eight students, one existed who didn't fit into any of these boxes.

He indeed left for town, but he didn't do so to hang around.

No… his goal was different.

"Hehehe… hehehehe… hahahahaha!!!"

A young man in a dark cloak and black mask that resembled a skull was standing at the entrance of a cave-like construction.

There was no one present, so the area was deserted.

"I'm finally back here…" His voice hummed as he gave a slight smirk underneath his mask.

Thanks to the suspicion that a dangerous monster was lurking around in the Royal Dungeon, the Royal Council ceased all mining activities within the Dungeon.

With Mining temporarily halted, processing and refining soon followed.

Before long, the once bustling Royal Dungeon grounds had become deserted—almost in an eerie manner.

'Looks like they also got rid of that barrier that surrounded the Refinery…'

Considering the fact that there was no work ongoing, it would be a waste to consistently use Mana Crystals.

No poisonous gas or loud noise was currently being leaked.

Everywhere was just dead silent and clear.

Since Rey had never seen the place like this before, it initially appeared strange.

He was used to it now, though.

'Well… let's venture in…'

Rey ventured into the darkness, his perception already dialed up to eleven. All his senses were heightened, and he was already prepared for any form of defense should the need call for it.

It was already the second day of training, and while he had come here the previous day, it was mostly for investigation purposes.

He didn't actually descend past the Eighth Floor.

'It's just as Lucielle and Brutus said. The Hobs and DarkWolves are no more…'

Rey never saw their bodies, so he assumed that they were probably burned up by Lucielle's Magic.

'The same applies to the Monkey Monsters.'

As a result of that, he wasn't able to investigate any further to confirm everything that Lucielle and Brutus had said.

Still, Rey saw enough to convince him of the truth.

All the minerals and resources that should have been present on the Floors had been stripped away.

… Everything!

'I shouldn't get too riled up. Brutus and his team will handle that. I should just focus on grinding Levels.'

The biggest concern Rey had when returning here was that he'd encounter Brutus. However, after donning his dark mask and concealing his identity, he felt a little more anonymous.

His senses were also perked up so he would be able to detect any approaching individual—or individuals as the case may be.

With these preparations already made, Rey doubted he would be caught off-guard.

'If I sense Brutus close to me, I'll just hide or something.' That was his line of reasoning.

Rey was also concerned about what his actions would cause if they found more dead Monsters that he had killed, but after thinking on it for too long, he could only offer one solution.

'I'll burn their corpses. That should hide the evidence, I suppose…'

He considered taking away the minerals, since the Royal Council already suspected the creature they were looking for to be that kind of monster, but Rey just couldn't do it with a clean conscience.

Besides, he considered his current wealth enough at the moment.

There was no need to get too greedy.

At least, when it came to money.

'Maybe I'll encounter the one truly responsible if I stay here long enough…'

That said, killing Monsters and Leveling Up was his top priority. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

Curfew was 8:00 PM, so he could legitimately walk through the front gates of the Royal Estate without a need to sneak out.

It took less than an hour to get here, and less to return, which meant he had the usual five hours for training.

'I better make it count!'

And so, as Rey ventured deeper into the depths of the Dungeon, aiming for the 9th Floor, he only thought of how to get stronger.

'This should be my new arrangement…'

***********

The Ninth Floor was by far the strangest one out of everything Rey had ever seen before in that it was freezing cold.

'Oof…' Rey felt a tinge of jitters visiting his body, but that didn't last long since his [Full Resistance] came into play.

The Ninth Floor felt like a land of eternal blizzards, and it was covered in Ice Fragments that stuck out walls like jagged blades.

The icicles hanging from the ceiling appeared to be more akin to long white spears than icicles, considering their length.

As they stood imposingly above Rey, he felt like they could fall on him at any moment.

As a result, ended up being a lot more vigilant than he would normally be.

'I wonder if I'll find any Monsters here…'

There was a good chance that Brutus and his team had killed all the Monsters here in their quest for the dangerous Monsterwho had invaded the upper Floors.

'But from what I saw, there doesn't seem to be any place that a Monster could have used to come to the Upper Floors…'

Maybe they had a [Phase] Skill, or something to that effect, but Rey honestly felt like that was 'reaching.'

Monsters preferred operating in their natural habitat, and other than the nomadic types, they would never leave their domains.

All Dungeon Monsters were evolutionarily predisposed to remain in their territory.

'Why would a Lower Floor Monster come to a Floor near the surface…?'

Still, the Royal Council had to take precautions, and they couldn't see any other alternative that best explained the situation.

'I just hope this investigation doesn't end up affecting my Leveling…'

Somehow, Rey doubted that would be the case.

'The entire goal of the investigation is to make the Floor safe enough for us to come in and Level Up. I don't think Brutus would kill Monsters meant for our purposes…'

He couldn't be sure until he saw for himself, though.

"GRUUUUUU!!"

As if reading his mind, a beast landed from the ceiling with a loud growl.

It had furry white skin, similar to the White Monkey Monsters, but this monster resembled an albino BigFoot more than anything else.

It had a savage expression on its face, which Rey considered to mean one thing.

"Wanna fight?"

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*Chapter 110 The Ninth Floor [Pt 1]

'Ah… I see. So that's how it is…'

Rey smiled as he stared at his opponent.

Even though his eyes were on the BigFoot-like creature, his senses had spread to the ceiling where it fell from.

'More of them are crawling above…'

Rey couldn't see them even if they tried. There was a reason he hadn't detected any until this one landed to confront him.

'A Camouflage Skill, maybe? Interesting…'

These creatures knew how to blend in well with their environment, so unless one really paid attention, it would be impossible to detect them.

'Even now, I can only properly sense their movements thanks to the sound they make and the slight distortions in space.

He couldn't properly see them.

'I already have [Stealth], which is more like turning me invisible. But I guess this isn't too bad…'

Once Rey raised his head and observed enough of the Skill, he reckoned that would be more than enough for it to be registered by [Doppel].

He sighed a little and turned his attention back to the BigFoot in front of him and gave a small smile to it.

The Monster appeared a little stunned, and Rey knew why.

"You guys were probably planning on getting the drop on me, right? You would act as the decoy while they would descend and make short work of me while I focused all my attention on you…"

"G-GRUUUU…?!"

From the flustered reaction of the Monster, Rey couldn't tell if it could actually understand him or if it was just upset to see him so calm.

Either way, it didn't really matter to him.

Not at this point.

"Sorry. As much as I'd like to play with you, I'm in a bit of a hurry now. There's someone I want to catch up to, so…" He raised his hand upward.

"… I can't afford to mess around."

There was no need to dawdle any longer while Adonis was advancing like a madman every day.

"[Greater Explosion]"

~BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!~

A burst of bright crimson energy erupted from Rey's hand, sending a blast so destructive that the pressure alone completely shattered the numerous icicles in the ceiling, before the heat melted everything into oblivion.

The camouflaged beasts were not saved from this.

"GRUUUUAAAAAAHHH!!"

Their horrified screams filled the air as the flames of explosion burned them alive.

Fortunately, their suffering didn't last long.

Within a few seconds, they were already dead.

"G-Guuuu…!!"

Rey already noticed the fright on the face of the BigFoot in front of him.

No longer did the creature have its fierce predatory expression, or any semblance of violence whatsoever.

It was simply frightened.

~WHOOSH~

In a gust of wind that the Monster didn't see coming, Rey appeared before it with a wide smile on his face.

"Die." Rey touched the Monster's chest.

A swift use of [Transmute] caused the creature to expand like a balloon, instantly bursting the next second.

Its blood and innards splattered across the room, staining the pure white and blue sparkles that filled the room.

As Its Monster Core appeared, a rain of dozens of Monster Cores descended from above.

'Ahh… this again.'

Rey currently didn't have much use for Monster Cores, but he considered it a waste for him to not harvest them or have them just lying around.

'At least, with Skills like [Explosion], I can just destroy their bodies and get the Cores straight away.'

There was no need for anything more.

'Their Skins of parts of their body could probably be used for Items. I might make a lot of money selling them too…'

But Rey knew this wasn't the time to be distracted by money.

Not only were the Monsters too large for him to fit into his sacks and throw into Subspace, but it was going to get in his way of dispatching the Monsters if he had to worry about their quality when killing them.

He didn't need that kind of hassle.

'Let's just focus on Leveling Up and taking the Monster Cores as my reward.'

There was no need for anything more.

********

As Rey advanced through the Icy lair of the BigFoot Monsters, he knew he had to be extra careful.

His senses were extremely sharp, and he could detect slight changes in the environment, even if he couldn't see the cause, but that didn't mean his detection abilities were perfect.

If they were, they would be in the SSS-Tier.

'There could be variants that possess other abilities that I'm not certain of. I can't be too careful.'

He would have activated [Safe Haven] to keep his defenses consistently up, but he didn't have the Mana to waste on that.

'Even though I'm Level 22 now, and I've been pouring all my Stat Points into Mana, it's still not enough…'

Rey doubted he could use any S-Tier Skill for more than a minute before fully draining himself of Mana.

He could probably activate SS-Tier Skill, but maintaining it for a few seconds would be tricky.

'Welp… I guess I really need to get those items as soon as possible!'

Rey shrugged off his current thoughts and focused on the situation at hand.

He could already detect slight changes in his environment.

'These monsters, based on their physique, and the fact that they're in a Lower Floor, are probably stronger than the Monkey Monsters…'

They also probably had resistance to a lot of attacks—perhaps physical and magical.

However, due to their Floor's climate, Rey was certain that they had to have a vulnerability to fire-based attacks.

As a result, he used abilities with that attribute in order to get a guaranteed hit.

"[Grand Fire Magic]"

Once activated, Rey summoned a massive wave of flames and launched it in multiple directions.

Like a flood of untold power, it rushed through the ice-based room, melting everything in its way.

"GRUAAAAAAHHH!!!"

"UGHAAAAHHHH!!!"

"GURRROOOOAAHHH!!"

Rey heard multiple screams, but he simply kept moving forward.

The most efficient way to clear a Floor was to simply not be distracted by the enemies one encountered.

"I'll kill them as quickly as I can and reach the Boss."

Using his [Perception] and [Farsight] allowed him to detect the fallen Monster Cores, so he swiftly proceeded to pick them up and advance forward.

'This is a drag…'

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