A slash was coming his way, but he just sent one of his own. The two energies clashed against each other, with none winning in the end. Both of them simply dispersed.
Kicking his horse’s side, the death knight moved through the desert at rapid speeds. It was slightly less than Conall’s, however, he was much bigger in size.
Riding on his mount, the boss prepared his greatsword. The ground was separated as he easily erected a wall made up of the red sand.
Covering himself along with the skeletal horse that had black flame moving through its insides, he seemed to have disappeared from the human’s vision.
With emotionless eyes, Conall saw as the knight tapped the sand beyond the wall with its sword. On the thick blade’s tip, an evil energy gathered before being sent out underground.
Casually observing as ten dark red swords moved through the deep sands of the desert, as though nothing was enough to stand their way, even the ores that filled the whole space.
He didn’t stop moving, even though the collapsing wall of sand and dust was right in front of him. Entering it without a care in the world, he sensed the great sword moving at him, yet he nimbly evaded it with a timed jump.
As he judged by the knight’s face, even though it was a skull, it seemed furious. Not being able to catch the little human frustrated it.
In the middle of his chest, a dark flame lit up, quickly spreading out of his body, all the way towards the dark red skies.
A beam of dark light descended upon the boss, enlarging its already big appearance. Becoming at least twice its size, the knight swung the great sword that became even larger and wider than before.
Then, he swung at the human?
Human?
Glancing across the desert, looking all around, he tried to catch the boy, yet he was nowhere to be seen. Perplexed by the sudden situation, he only found out about his position a second later.
The boss felt a great force gather at the back of his head. It couldn’t have been ignored, that attack. Once the death knight felt it, he wasn’t able to do anything.
Flying onto the ground, face first, the knight and his horse were separated even before they could truly hurt Conall.
And, while trying to get up, the death knight sensed as the flame of life faded away from the horse, a robed human stabbing the mount that lay on its back, right through its chest and the black flame. In his hand, there was a crumbled part of a certain rune.
Touching the back of its skull, he felt there was a large hole with a missing part of himself. Even though it was a boss, a prepared monster for a dungeon, it felt fury unravel deep within. Alongside the dark and red one, a new, purple fire was born inside its chest that burned away the rest.
Dramatically shrinking down in size, the fire began to cover the greatsword as well. As the knight shrunk, the gray bones from before condensed without losing mass. Hard, glossy, and dark material made up the death knight that now stood at the same size as Conall.
Walking with his new deadly weapon covered in dreary, purple flames, the boss revealed to him a new phase Conall didn’t know he possessed.
Making a surprised, but pleasant expression, the boy smiled to himself after sensing that the monster was on the brink of Grade A.
Well, with the last part of the Challenger Rune and his Rune of Magic, he wasn’t much worse. He had already hit the level cap bestowed upon the delver by the dungeon, having achieved the twenty-sixth level. It was a shame that experience no longer dropped from the monsters, but at the same time, it was understandable.
If a person with a normal soul came here, and if they got the runes like Conall did, they would have probably hit the max level without the time limit of the dungeon.
Wind mana swirled around him like a tornado, while an explosion of flames surrounded the black death knight.
At the same time, they moved, and the human felt his opponent’s newfound strength.
Once their swords met in the way, an explosion reverberated throughout the whole space, covering the two of them. Conall, having layered himself with wind and ice magic, came out unharmed. The death knight hadn’t done anything defensive, yet the body that shrunk down seemed unbreakable. Its armor disintegrated from the attack instead.
There wasn’t even a smudge from the thunderous explosion. The only reason Conall dared to meet his greatsword was because he felt its density and weight with his clairvoyance.
Unlike the skeletal body, the weapon and armor lost most of its weight, but the sword was still sturdier compared to the other, so it didn’t break in the explosion.
Despite becoming a bare self of black bones, the boss moved as quickly as lightning, not caring for the defense since it was already sky-high.
With all of his body, the death knight swung the black greatsword, purple eyes staring at the human. Once again, black mana appeared on the weapon while Conall imbued fang with a mellowy green, wind mana.
Clashing yet again, he felt as though a humongous boulder came right at him, but he quickly gritted his teeth and tightened his muscles.
Still, the force was too much. Jumping to the side, the larger blade slid across the smaller one, slashing down at the ground. A small earthquake appeared as two forces met each other. Creating a sizable crater with a large hole stretching for a few meters, the death skeleton quickly took back its sword before turning to the side.
Not caring for the incoming attack, a sharp wind grazed its tough ribs. But, as though hitting a metal, Conall clenched the jaw from vibrations that followed his body.
Jumping high into the air, he saw as the monster suddenly changed the greatsword’s trajectory. A black energy was coming at him, ready to slice through the soft, human flesh.
However, at the last moment, as the sword started forming a slash to cut him in the impeded position, the human formed a dense wind energy under his feet, jumping away from imminent death.
Before the death knight could even finish his attack, he saw as the human came at him like a falling comet. His blade’s wind energy was so dense the metal was practically shining green.
Feeling a slight danger approaching, the boss moved instinctively. Its bare chest was covered quickly by removing a hand from the sword handle, and he felt as the tip of the green blade touched its boney hand.
Even with his body’s hardness, similar to that of finely processed steel, the monster felt the immense power held in that small human’s frame.
Cracks appeared on the majority of his hand, parts of them breaking apart and shattering. The slash of death energy went through the skies while the monster was pushed back with the attack.
But, the fight didn’t end yet. Adjusting his working hand and arm, the death knight swung the sword with it. Although the speed was slightly slower, it didn't fail in being deadly.
With the other hand that broke apart, a black orb appeared before a deadly skull emerged in the skies, its jaws open, releasing countless black birds that targeted the human.
Before they could do something, however, the boy released powerful tornadoes that went after the birds while evading the sword’s path.
The slash performed by the boss smoothly transformed into a rotation that aimed directly at Conall. Using the momentum from the previous attack, the next one was almost instantaneous.
Nonetheless, the boss suddenly halted, seeing a smirk on the boy’s face. Below his singular working arm, he felt a staggering aura envelop the air. It was as though ten different people were combined into one.
Even though he was about to slash down and seemingly cut the world in two halves, the sudden piercing feeling inside his chest made him abruptly stop.
With the sword lingering above Conall, the boss looked down, only to see the green blade piercing through the flame of life hidden deep inside his skeleton.
Conall’s smile faded as the boss fell down onto his back.
He couldn’t help it. If the enemy gave him a sudden opening, it was in his instincts to use it to his advantage.
“You’re quite the monster, you know?”
Farra suddenly said to him while he was collecting the one hundred thousand rune fragments that the boss had dropped.
“Not really. If I was fighting against an experienced warrior, I would have easily died. He was simply strong, that’s all.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Hmm, I don’t know whether I should believe that. The way you’re using mana is also abnormal. You’ve been training with magic for only three weeks, yet you’re already able to step mid-air.”
He rolled his eyes.
“That’s because of the Magic Rune. Without it, I also would have died.”
“I guess.”
She sounded somewhat suspicious, but he ignored her for now. Instead, he turned towards the main reward and window that appeared in front of him.
[You have defeated the main boss of the dungeon, but it hasn’t been completed. Try your best! (ง'̀-'́)ง Also, you received additional 200,000 rune fragments for the harsh fight!]
‘It really doesn’t hide its blatant side anymore, huh?’
As the window dispersed, he finally saw the six glowing runes above the dead death knight.
Red, silver, green, blue, white, and light yellow. All of the colors represented a rune of a specific value. Strength, defense, agility, mind, spirit, and healing respectively.
This was simply the beginning of the dungeon’s adventure, yet the end.
Grasping the rune of healing and engraving it on himself, he felt as a mysterious force descended down onto the world, but he could see nor experience it yet.
Stretching his body, looked ahead, at the clusters of mana that hid 101st wave. A cloud of dust covered his previous position as he ran towards the wave. He needed to grind some more fragments.
…
“He’s somewhere in the forest! Stretch out and find him!”
A knight in shining armor shouted as his group began to enter the forest in a hurry. The aura around them screamed the top of Grade B, while the leader himself was a Grade A knight. Currently, they were searching for the thief that had stolen a treasure of the royal family.
“Come out, you’re not gonna keep hiding forever! We will find you eventually!”
He shouted as the people dispersed into different sections of the forest.
Taking out an orb from his inventory ring, he poured mana inside, reporting of the current status.
“General, we have started to infiltrate the forest where the fugitive had escaped. It will only be a matter of time until we bring the heirloo- ghak.”
Before being able to finish the sentence, the leader spat out blood as he felt his life fading away. Right in the middle of his neck, there was a shining blade protruding.
“Kanel? Kanel! Tell me what happened!”
A voice came out from the orb, however, it was suddenly crushed with a phantom foot. Leaving a mark on the forest floor, a person revealed himself, standing under the bright moon in his dark robes.
“Connie, connie! Why did you do that?”
“You big meanie!”
Four creatures flew around him, all complaining. Their chubby little faces pouted after watching him kill the middle-aged man.
Collecting the hundred thousand fragments that dropped from him, Conall simply ignored the flying monsters that circled around him.
They have been a handful for about two months now, which was exactly when he acquired them, as bonus rewards from obtaining the runes of each element.
Yet, although they gave him a headache sometimes, he couldn't deny their usefulness. Being the legendary primordial creatures of the elements that they were, the power they held was incredible. Not to mention, with these guys, he was able to handle every element proficiently.
“That’s it, I’m no longer your slave!”
A little, black dragon roared as its big eyes screamed hatred for its master. Quickly flying away, the baby dragon suddenly stopped when it reached a certain distance.
“UGH!! LET! ME! GO!”
‘I’m not even doing anything.’
Sighing before shaking his head, Conall simply let them be. The elemental pets couldn’t escape him, but it wasn’t his doing. After traveling away from him, they finally couldn’t move anymore, as though an invincible barrier stood in front of them.
A fire breath flew at him from all the way over there, but he didn’t receive any damage. Instead, the fire went through him, lighting the forest on fire.
Suddenly, the big eyes of the dragon went blank as it realized its doing. On the other hand, Conall glared at it with furrowed brows.
“Ahahaha, sorry, Connie.”
With a stuck-out tongue, the dragon apologized while scratching its scales with a paw.
Before the people got here, he quickly imbued the dark cloak on his shoulder with mana, becoming invisible a second later. The beasts beside him also became invisible, though that was possible because of the little gryphon that wielded over the wind.
They stopped the fire from spreading further, however, the smoke still alerted some of the more perceptive knights.
Running away since the Grade Bs gave little rune fragments, he simply moved where he had intended to from the beginning. After a while, he had already left the vast forest, moving together with the wind.
Although some people along the way got suspicious about the sudden, strong wind, it wasn’t like they could tell who it was, even if they knew it was a person.
After half an hour, he finally reached the area where people wouldn’t obstruct him during the time he was vulnerable.
Entering the mountain range, he quickly found a deep cave to his liking before settling there. Sitting beside a relatively big lake filled with clear and warm water, he enlightened the dark space with torches before taking out a certain item from his inventory.
A slight echo reverberated throughout the space as a platinum-ish anvil hit the rocky abode. It was hellishly heavy, despite its normal size.
Then, Conall summoned the Rune of Healing, or rather, the empty shell of it. Putting the crumbled parts of the rune on top of the anvil, the boy sliced open his wrist, letting blood drip on top of the anvil.
However, before the fragments could gather together, the wound was already healed. It wasn’t a surprise. Having gathered more than fifteen million fragments the last three months, he fully upgraded all of his runes, leaving him fragmentless once again.
Nonetheless, he had become strong, strong enough to be considered the top of this restored world.
In just a few seconds, the large, deep wound had closed up. Putting up the blade of his fang against his wrist once again, he once again let the blood that quickly infused itself with the rune parts flow.
“What are you scheming this time?”
“Upgrading the rune. And myself.”
Farra felt confused. All this time, he was telling her that the rune fragments were used to upgrade the runes, and all of his runes were already upgraded to the best condition.
“It’s not the same as you think. It’s somewhat of an evolution, you could say.”
“I see.”
Though still not clear, she was thankful that he explained.
“What did you mean by yourself?”
“You will see soon.”
He said, but she didn’t like that one bit. After getting to know him for quite a long time, she understood this veiled something horrible.
After a few hours and liters of spilled blood, the rune parts finally shone bright red with a tint of gold on top of the heavy anvil.
Finally, he could start the rest of his treatment.
Suddenly, three worm corpses appeared from his inventory ring. Since time there was irrelevant, they were basically fresh and new.
Taking the first corpse and cutting it open, he didn’t slice it up yet. Unlike before, the world wasn’t crude anymore. He had everything at his disposal, so he drained the blood of the worm to the lake.
Finally, only then did he slice it up before grilling the meat until it was edible.
Though still tough, it at least wasn’t acidic.
“Faru, I think Connie is trying to kill himself again.”
A blue sea serpent spoke up to the mana source as it circled around her master. She spoke with abnormal tranquility, as if his behavior was completely justified.
“Yeah, I know.”
Letting out her voice into the world, Farra sighed in exasperation.
Before he ate the cooked piece of meat, he recalled the pets. Most of them were already feeling sleepy from going around the world, so it was only fair for them to get some rest.
There was also the matter of his self-harm that he didn’t want the creatures to see.
With another few bites, he was done with the first piece of meat. Repeating the process, Conall cooked the second steak. Grilling yet another one while still eating, he somewhat sped up.
It wasn’t about fulfilling his desires or anything. Pure gluttony. Eating until one was beyond full and even further.
He ate one fourth of a singular, large worm at the half hour mark, feeling as nauseous as one can be. There was no unnecessary movement from him, because that might have resulted in vomit splattering everywhere.
Nonetheless, he stuffed the meat he didn’t want to see forever again one more time. As though swallowing rocks, he didn’t even chew anymore.
Finally, he got what was coming to him. Under his heart, he felt a sudden pain in the abdomen. His stomach had ruptured from overeating. The Rune of Healing quickly activated, dealing with the walls of the stomach, however, it was a futile task.
The space inside didn’t ease up whatsoever. Once the first parts of the organ were healed, the other sides of the walls exploded and ruptured.
Sitting silently, he felt immense pain. It was horrible, however, he had experienced many similar sensations. Worse was the uncomfortable feeling inside his stomach. Constantly repairing itself and breaking, the stomach couldn’t keep up, and Conall felt something rising in his throat.
Quickly moving over to the lake, in less than a minute, he had to empty his internal organs. After a solid five minutes, the slimy gunk slowly made its way to the bottom of the lake, only to be eaten up by the plants there.
Washing his mouth, he stared at the reflection from the water. His eyes were bloodshot while his longer than usual, red hair had been damped with sweat from overcoming the pain in his stomach.
He was empty, maybe a few ounces of food was left in his digestive system. Once again, scary hunger took over him. Like a voracious animal that didn’t think rationally, he moved to the worm. In his hungry manner, he couldn’t even notice the lingering green energy that slowly escaped his body.
It was most prominent during the healing of his stomach, and it wasn’t long when it disappeared as his organ was fully healed. Gathering itself on top of the platinum anvil, Conall paid it no heed.
Suddenly, a voice distracted his meal.
“Do you really have to do all this?”
Inside his head, Farra made an appearance with her face made up of mana. She tried to talk him through, as this seemed excessively reckless and dangerous.
“Can’t you just cut yourself up for the rune to be active?”
Stopping himself from eating further and listening to her, a terse response left the pale lips of his mouth before continuing.
“No.”