Chapter 636: [13th Layer]
On the desert, there was only sand and rocks.
After walking for nearly ten minutes, Allen did not even see a strand of grass, much fewer animals.
Allen hesitated for a long period of time. Finally, he suppressed not only his aura and presence but also his strength.
Right now, Allen restrained his level to that of a Lesser Deity by putting a Curse of Limitation on his body. Although the experience he would get was like a single grain of sand in the desert for him, it was still precious, especially now that he was on the verge of breaking through the 2nd grade Mid God Realm. Although he doesn’t know how much he would exactly need, every point is still valuable as gold.
Truthfully, he wanted to play around with Layla and the others. However, if he was there, they would surely place him as a priority and would not enjoy the Dungeon fully. Besides, if he was there with them, their guard will turn lax, although he didn’t really mind it but their future relies on their strength as well.
Winter Solstice is coming and he wouldn’t be there for them. It might be cruel but they need to stiffen up. And so, he separated from them. In any case, his mission is far more dangerous than one could imagine. It’s better to work solo for the time being…
Now, playing alone…
Allen smiled bitterly.
Whooooooooooooosh.
A wild wind was blowing desolately, and yellow sand was flying everywhere.
This was an extremely desolate desert world, and the wild wind blasted the yellow sand everywhere, causing the entire world to seem blurry. The heatwaves here caused the air itself to distort as well. Then, after a few minutes of walking, suddenly.
“Oh? Is there finally one?” Allen mumbled as he could clearly tell that off in the distance, there was a ferocious, three-horned magical beast that was hundreds of meters tall, which was currently roaring with anger. Its entire body was covered with a metallic shine, and its fierce fangs were dripping with some sort of liquid.
“This beast appears to be quite formidable. It should be good for killing time,”
Allen smiled faintly and started walking towards its direction. However, “Hrm?” he suddenly realized that a great deal of sand was being blown by the wind through the body of that ‘ferocious magical beast’. Soon, the ferocious magical beast disappeared from view.
“What the hell…? Mirage?” Allen began to understand and his brows furrowed. He felt disappointed somehow. He thought he could finally exercise and yet, hmmm… this is already the 13th layer so where are my strong monsters…?
Allen suddenly has an urge to flipped the entire layer upside down.
“Master, do you want me to help…?”
“Hm?”
Suddenly, as Allen was displeased, a voice rang out from behind him. Allen wasn’t startled as if he had already known that someone was behind him.
“Mummy Lord, you do know that there is a ban in this layer right? We cannot use perception here. Are you telling me you can use it?” he asked doubtfully. Every layer passed the tenth; there exists a ban, all different from each layer. It was probably because passed the tenth layer, most of the player possesses at most, a Deity level power and so the difficulty also surges up.
And the 13th layer bans perception or any kinds of sense presence.
Probably because it was an open desert?
There were no obstacles or trees that can hide one’s presence and figure—
And so it would surely become a disadvantage for the Monsters if this ban didn’t exist. What a jerk of a Dungeon, so cruel and unfair. This Dungeon seems to be extremely biased towards monsters and seems to be avoiding to be conquered by someone.
This is probably the reason why up until now, there was no one that had yet to pass through the 15th layer, the restriction should worsen as one goes deep. What a bastardous dungeon…!
“Although I can’t use my perception range but I am a being of sand. As long as there are sands under my feet, I would be able to feel and sense what sands do…”
The Mummy Lord responded with pride. Allen actually believes him. After all, just like the Mummy Lord, as long as he is within the water, he could also feel and sense everything within a kilometer range as if it was his limbs, all while deliberately not using his Spiritual Sense.
As the Mummy Lord, he indeed is a being connected to sands. As Allen was about to respond, at this moment, his brows furrowed and together with the Mummy Lord, Allen somersaulted in the air. Baaang!! A flash of light suddenly shot out from beneath the yellow sands, shooting directly towards Allen.
Allen didn’t react much only frowning a bit as he rotated his waist and sweep his legs. Booom!! the ray of light was immediately shattered and broken.
Allen stepped in the air and retreated a few steps. Immediately afterward, six skeletons whose entire bodies were covered with a yellow aura emerged from the yellow sand at high speed.
“Human, obediently give us your corpse, and we’ll give you a clean death.”
One of the six undead spoke out, his eyes-sockets filled with two lively balls of fire. The six skeletons surrounded Allen, their weapons at the ready.
Allen looked at the six undead and his lips curling upwards. As expected of the 13th layer, these six undead are not ordinary undead and instead were actually peak Emperor Realm Intelligent Undead. And judging from that blow, they have strength equivalent to a Lesser Deity… incredible!
Just some ordinary mob and yet actually possessing such level of strength, even Alkrasha and the others would surely have a hard time fighting it if they encounter them. Before Allen wondered in this layer to scout things beforehand and gather information, he actually didn’t bother with the small details and only focused on some important information, just like the Door Guardian and his level which was a 2nd-grade Lv8 monster, completely above that of a normal Lv8 monster. It has strength equivalent to that of the peak of Lesser Deity.
“…my corpse?” Allen glanced at them out of the corner of his eyes. His lips curling into a strange smile. “You think I would…” Halfway through Allen’s words, the various weapons in the hands of this undead, such as a skeletal sickle and a skeletal spear, simultaneously struck out at Allen, making him dissatisfied.
They really had no manners, he is still talking.
The air immediately howled piercingly.
The combination attack of these six undead couldn’t be looked down upon.
Allen snorted and countless flashes of crimson light appeared, and with a metallic clanging sound, the six undead found themselves being knocked backward.
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“Oh? They didn’t die?”
Allen noticed that these six skeletons only had some superficial scars on their skeletal bodies, but hadn’t collapsed. Despite their weakling-like appearance, their defenses are top-notch.
Crunch! As the six undead was struggling to get up, the sand beneath them suddenly rose up and swallowed them, making crunching noises. Four of the six Undead felt a bad premonition and immediately flew away but two of them was not so fortunate and was crushed to death!
“Attacking my master in front of me, you deserve death!”
The Mummy Lord appeared behind another two were fleeing for their lives. And his crook was slashed horizontally, crushing them in an instant. Pieces of broken bones showered in the ground like falling rain. Just one move and two of the peak Emperor Realm was slaughtered in an instant.
Then, the Mummy Lord disappeared, only to reappear standing behind Allen. Seeing the Mummy Lord, the two other Skeletons finally realized that they had kicked an iron sheet this time. The Mummy Lord’s power is obviously above them and they hurriedly tried to escape, the sands beneath them turned into whirlpools, slowly sucking them in.
But how can Allen let them? With a wave of his hand, the sand whirlpool stop and instead, it rose up like a tidal wave and completely swallowed the two skeleton.
Allen clenched his fist and the two monsters were easily crushed into smithereens. The sound of bone breaking felt strange but calming…
“Let’s go…” Allen turned around after and started leaving the place. From behind him, three pieces of items shook and then slowly shot towards Allen’s direction. It then slowly descended onto Allen’s hands.
【Bone Armor (Rare)
Category: Armor
Requirements: Darkness-type Affinity, Emperor Realm Level
Defense: 70% Strength: 25%
Darkness Shroud: Skill that can make the user coated in darkness. Intimidating and causing fear to opponents and give 10 minutes of Invulnerability 】
【Skeleton Transformation Potion
Category: Consumable
Potion able to transform into a Skeleton Appearance for a day. Can change to normal at will but when deactivated can never change back into a skeleton again. One-time use. Able to use all the Skeleton Undead Powers and be invulnerable to piercing and stabbing. 】
【Skeleton’s Tattered Boots (Rare)
Category: Armor
Requirements: Darkness-type Affinity, King Realm Level
Defense: 50% Agility: 20% (at dark, speed increase by 60%)
Shadow Walk: Able to travel through the shadows. Sneak: Be invisible at night 】
It was neither good nor bad. In fact, it was trash in Allen’s eyes but what do you know, they are still good in other people’s opinions. He had many artifacts and magical items but these things are always too few. Not for him but for other people of course.
Allen and the Mummy Lord continued their way through the vast desert without care. With the Mummy Lord suppressing his aura to accommodate Allen’s entertainment, there were countless monster attacking them and was then destroyed by them instead.
As expected of the 13th layer of this hellish Dungeon though, it was not stingy and several dozens of items, consumable potions, and medicines, as well as skill books, appeared one after another. There were even things that caught Allen’s attention, especially on the skill books, such as [ Sandy Castle ] that lets one able to create a castle made up of sand in an instant.
Although he can create one as well without a problem but this ability was quite interesting on its own as he cannot only create a Castle but also any kind of building using sands. It was truly a skill that enables someone to become a great architect using one’s imagination. What’s more, the building is much sturdier than any ordinary building he had seen so far in the mortal world.
Finally, when the sun was starting to set, following the Mummy Lord, he arrived at the foothold where a specific group of monsters called Sand Giants lurked. Thanks to being able to sense things through his sand, the Mummy Lord had been able to roughly pinpoint the location of the monster. Allen knew earlier that there was a source of water at the location due to his innate characteristics similar to Mummy Lord’s great home affinity to the Desert, but didn't see it upon his arrival.
Walking leisurely towards the clear lake, Allen completely ignored the startled monsters that were growling at him. He looks at the clear lake and waved his hand, immediately after, the water on the lake seemed to be grabbed by an invisible hand and floated towards Allen’s hand. Taking a sip at the small glob of water floating in front of him, Allen felt energized. As expected, this water is not simple… it has some healing properties.
As Allen was savoring the water, the stunned Sand Giants snapped out of their daze. They really didn’t expect for someone to just waltz in, completely disregarding their existence. Although they were not powerful, still when together they could be a threat to even a Lesser Deity Realm expert. Though, with their pig-like brains, they completely ignored the fact that Allen and the Mummy Lord had managed to approach closer without them noticing. They attacked.
Allen turned towards the surrounding monsters and grinned. The Sand Giants belonged to a branch of human giants. They were huge, very fat and they consumed a diet consisting of a variety of flesh and meat very regularly. Some even look like Pudge the Butcher. They were more like a deformed human with some of them having two or three heads and some with only one head with additional mouths or eyes.
They looked similar to humans as they walked with two legs but their intelligence can be called worthless. Even dogs could be said to be more intelligent than them. Probably heat in this layer had grilled their minds into waste for them to be this stupid.
However, their power was above those Emperor Realm Undead due to their thick defense and titanic strength. If only their intelligence wasn’t so pitiful, they could be one of the rulers in this layer. They are much similar to that of trolls, in terms of strength and stupidity and monsters such as Ogres and Orcs are much better than them.
2nd Grade lv5 Sand Giants were at least five meters tall and the tallest one could be up to 10 meters. They were easily a few times stronger than Emperor Realm human experts. There were roughly twenty Sand Giants here but none of them were taller than 10 meters and they were all 2nd Grade Lv5 and 6 monsters.
Baang! Allen casually sidestepped and a large club had smashed at his former position. A gust of wind and sand blew on his face. Then, his figure disappeared. Sands wriggled beneath the attacking Sand Giant and it coiled around the monster causing it to cry out in agony and then fell into the ground. Allen reappeared above the Sand Giant, suspended in the air. He raised his hand a large five-meter claymore appeared above him.
Woooosh. A stone club swept through him and he flipped midair, avoiding the stone club. Two to four Sand Giants attack him as Allen evaded, like a butterfly in the air. Then, he grinned and swung down his arm, and the large sword suspended in the air immediately fell towards the still struggling Sand Giant restrained by Sand Tentacles.
RooooaaaarrrrRRR—!!
The poor Sand Giant showed a terrified expression as the large sword fell down his neck, cutting his head off, causing it to roll on the sands. Blue colored blood splashed from the severed neck.
RooooaaaarrrrRRR—!! RooooaaaarrrrRRR—!! RooooaaaarrrrRRR—!!
The Sand Giants roared one after another after seeing their comrade’s unexpected demise and they rushed towards Allen angrily and full of rage. Allen was like a water strider, skipping leisurely in the air, avoiding the Sand Giants angry attacks.
The Mummy Lord, on the other hand, was fighting over five Sand Giants simultaneously. On his back was a giant made of sands, grabbing, swallowing and smashing its opponents.
Allen flew back, away from the Oasis.
The Sand Giants hated Allen for killing its comrades and hurriedly chased at him, along with their strange cries that seemed to be a combination of a dog’s bark and a bat’s shriek, echoing in the entire Desert. As if attracted by the commotion, there were several Skeletons and Sand Worms emerged from the Desert and joined the Sand Giants, turning a large group chasing Allen away. Thirty, forty, and still increasing in number, the group gathered like a monster horde.
Seeing what was happening, the Mummy Lord along with his sand giant monster swept through from the back and swallowed a large group. Ringing in his ears, Allen felt a chime inside his head as blue-colored notification bars one after another keep on appearing.
Ting Tong Ting Tong—the noise seemed to create a symphony as massive amounts of experience points appeared in his vision.
Allen grinned. He descended in the sandy desert and then looking at the rushing monsters towards him, he waved his hand and made a small circle in the air. Then, the sand in the sandy desert started to rose upwards surrounding the large group of monsters just like how Moses split the ocean into two, the desert sand waved at each side of the large crowd of monsters. Even if his current strength is just that of a Lesser Deity, it doesn’t mean he couldn’t do something like this.
His Skill Proficiency is still there. And his Sand Manipulation was not something to be underestimated especially in this kind battlefield, he was invincible. His ability to manipulate Sand in the Desert was not the least bit inferior to the Mummy Lord…!
The crowd of monsters was greatly startled and they started panicking, trying to run away from the area but the moment they saw, sand tentacles shot out and coiled around their bodies, like snakes. Seeing this sudden situation, more monsters started to feel despair.
Wherever they look, a massive wall of sand could be seen.
Just who did we pick a fight with? If these monsters could talk, they would surely scream these words in despair.
As dawn approached at that moment, under the desert sky, Allen was the exact embodiment of a god of death in human form.
… …