Margaret mumbled, "Cerius Niel," turning around.

Behind her, a tall and handsome elf stood elegantly. He had long, blonde wavy hair, which complemented his pale skin. The smile he wore was almost too big for his face.

He, too, wore the green and brown light armour that the other guards wore.

"It's been a long time since we last met. How have you been?" Cerius asked. Even though he sounded calm and friendly, Nox could sense particular malice in his voice.

"I'm here with the boss's permission. Kindly permit me to continue my work," Margaret replied, ignoring the guard's question.

Taking out a sheet of paper from seemingly nowhere, she handed it to the guard.

After glancing through the paper, a slight frown appeared on Cerius's face. However, in the next instant, he started smiling widely again.

"Nice to meet you," said the guard, turning towards Nox.

"Likewise," replied Nox.

"Looks like our boss has taken quite a liking to you. Enjoy your time in the dungeon," Cerius said as he disappeared back into the forest.

'This was a weird encounter," Nox thought, turning towards Margaret.

"I apologise for the interruption. Please follow me," Margaret said, moving towards the massive boulder with an opening.

The other guards offered their greetings to Margaret before making way for the duo to pass through.

"Isn't she the most beautiful woman?" The elf guard whispered in the ears of the human guard.

The human guard whispered, leaning closer to the elf, "You don't know this because you are new. But, just stay away from that woman."

Margaret and Nox stopped in front of the dungeon's entrance.

"I won't be coming inside with you. But, put this in your hand. It'll notify me when you are in danger and I'll rush to your aid," Margaret said, handing a red-coloured bracelet to Nox.

Obediently, Nox slid the bracelet into his hand. Margaret did the same with another bracelet.

"Thank you for all your help. I shall take my leave now," said Nox, offering Margaret a bow before heading into the boulder's opening.

Stairs led down from the entrance. It was pitch black, but Nox was able to see somewhat clearly.

After descending the stairs for two minutes, they finally ended.

Nox was now in a cave. The air was still and moist. The smell of moss and still water enveloped the entire cave.

The cave was considerably huge. Besides a few boulders scattered around the cave, no other obstacles were present.

[You have entered a dungeon!]

[This dungeon has already been cleared several times. Therefore, no rewards will be provided on completion!]

'Well, I came here to test my skills. Obtaining no rewards is fine with me.'

At the other end of the cave, a pair of glowing red eyes glared at Nox. From the darkness emerged a rat.

It was about four feet tall and had dirty grey fur. Its skinny pinkish tail swung around behind it as its eyes were fixed on Nox.

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[Giant Rat]

The rat sprinted towards Nox.

However, Nox was relaxed. After facing wolves and knights, taking care of rats was kid's play.

He calmly strolled toward the rat with his hands in his pockets.

The rat lunged at Nox.

Nox kicked the rat, although he was too lazy to put much power into his kick. As a result, the rat was sent crashing into the cave's wall.

[You have salina Giant Rat!]

'I don't think I'll even get the chance to level up here. Well, I may as well take advantage of this opportunity.'

"Come out," Nox ordered.

In the next instant, his shadow slaves emerged from his shadow and stood behind him.

Rats had started pouring out of the other end of the dungeon.

"Go," ordered Nox.

The knight and the assassin rushed toward the rats from behind Nox while the magician stayed beside Nox.

"Well, I guess fighting face to face isn't your forte," Nox said, turning his head towards the magician.

The magician slightly blushed, looking towards the ground before it finally started chanting a spell.

[The strength of the shadow slaves has increased by 20% for 5 minutes!]

Even though it was weak in a direct fight, applying buffs and debuffs wasn't something anyone could do.

The knight and the assassin had already started effortlessly taking out the rats.

The knight waved its giant sword around, slicing any rat who dared to come near it. But, unlike the knight, the assassin used stealth to take care of the rats discreetly, without them noticing it.

Although both of them used different tactics, their coordination was almost perfect.

Suddenly, a dozen rats swarmed the knight, not giving it a chance to target a particular opponent. But, its wound would automatically heal whenever the rats attacked the knight.

Together, with the help of the assassin, the knight was able to finish off the swarm swiftly.

"Doesn't this make them almost immortal? Although, every time they heal, a portion of my arcane is consumed," mumbled the man wearing the tracksuit.

.

.

.

Within thirty minutes, Nox's shadow slaves had put around two hundred giant rats to rest.

Although Nox didn't need to interfere often, he slayed about fifty rats because he was too bored to sit around and do nothing.

[Your shadow slaves have levelled up!]

[The number of summonable shadows has risen!]

'That's a good thing.'

"But raising these powerless rats as shadows would be useless," Nox mumbled.

Nox turned towards his shadow slaves, kneeling in front of him.

"You did well," he said.

Initially, Nox hadn't expected that his shadow slaves would even be able to fight. But, things turned out for the better.

'Let's try the other skills too,' he thought, as the shadow slaves disappeared into his shadow.

"Gigantification," mumbled Nox.

[The skill: Gigantification, has been activated!]

[Due to low vitality, only partial Gigantification will take place!]

Nox felt a strange power surge inside him.

Suddenly, his right arm started shivering violently.

"Hoooo…" Nox softly whispered, observing the changes in his body.

.

.

.

The afternoon sun shone brightly in the sky without a single cloud to cover it.

"It's been two hours since that man went inside. Do you think he's alright?" asked one of the guards, leaning on a tree.

"Alright? From what he looked like, he entered the Tower not long ago. No matter how powerful he thinks he is, no newbie can solo clear a dungeon," replied the guard lying on the grass floor.

"Well, from what I understood, he's someone special to the boss. So if anything happens to him here, even we may face consequences," replied another guard up on a tree branch.

A short silence followed the conversation of the guards.

"That woman's been standing there since he went inside. Do you think she never gets tired?" asked the guard on the tree branch, pointing towards Margaret, who was standing at the dungeon's entrance.

"Shusshh!" shushed the guard reclining on the tree, "Don't speak about her so casually."

Before any more comments could be made, a man appeared from the dungeon's entrance.

The right sleeve of his tracksuit had been torn out, exposing his bare biceps, through which cuts ran. His entire tracksuit was covered in mud and dirt.

Other than Nox's right arm, no other body part had any cuts or scratches.

Margaret was a little confused. If Nox was in danger, then the bracelet she gave him should have notified her.

"Are you alright?" asked Margaret as she came running beside Nox.

"Yes. Let's go back," Nox replied.

Even though Margaret wished to bandage the cuts on his hand, she couldn't go against his wish to return to the inn.

"Of course, please follow me," Margaret said, moving towards the road on which they had arrived. Nox obediently followed her.

"Did he complete the dungeon?" asked the guard sitting on the tree branch as he jumped down.

"Probably. Though, from the looks of it, he managed to barely get out alive," replied another guard.

The waitress and the man walked down the road without exchanging any comments.

The red-haired woman looked back at Nox. His head was hanging, looking down at the ground.

'Just what happened? Should I have gone to check on him while he was still in the dungeon?' Margaret thought.

As Nox followed behind Margaret, with his head facing the ground, a broad smile could be seen on his face.

'Finally!'