A distorted and shallow-sounding voice was heard on Hiroki’s head right as he was about to enter the dungeon.
He knew that most of his rat opponents were dead, which is why he kept quiet without moving for the next few seconds.
~Are you the one that betrayed me?~
The commonly weird sounds, which were being formed into a sentence, were inquired once again inside Hiroki’s head. He knew that these rats were way too dumb to have communication skills, which is why he decided to stay quiet.
‘Betray…’ Hiroki repeated in his head.
He knew very well that if that monster called him a betrayer, then that definitely meant—
‘—The boss of this floor.’
Whatever was behind this door, Hiroki realized that the voice making those sounds was not directed at him. But towards the rat he was currently possessing.
The strongest monster that had to be in charge of all the other rats on this floor must’ve noticed that not one but many other rats were beginning to kill one another. This was a behavior that was very unlikely, which also must’ve gotten the attention of the main boss.
Hiroki, who still possessed one of the Ratdoo’s, took a few more steps towards the massive door until it began opening automatically, revealing what was inside the room.
Once he entered the room, Hiroki quickly looked all over the place in order to analyze the terrain that he was going to fight in.
The boss room was a very wide open space that almost reached fifty meters in diameter. With the exception of the floor, which was made of bricks, every wall and roof appeared to be similar to the cave’s rough, solid rocky wall.
The entire room was wide open with few obstacles, leaving Hiroki with little space to use his tricky moves that confused his opponents.
After all, that was how he was able to kill a lot of the other rats without getting jumped to death by a swarm of them.
~So you finally decided to show yourself?~
The same voice inquired once again after entering the room.
The moment Hiroki took a few more steps forward, many other torches that were inside the room lit up, exposing a large shadow at the corner of the space, which appeared to have been dozing off the entire time.
Its body was almost as large as a full-sized bus, and it had a tail that was covered with red spikes and enormous teeth that showed how filthy they were from consuming all kinds of trash. And in the end, there were long, slim fingers that made clicking sounds whenever they touched the floor.
~You have challenged me! That means you die!!~
The massive figure in front of the possessed rat telepathically spoke before letting out a high-pitched squeaking sound that almost popped the small rat’s ears.
“SQUEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKK!!!!!!”
The squeaking sound was so loud that even the floor was vibrating.
Or at least that's what Hiroki felt for a moment before realizing that it wasn't the floor that was shaking, but the rat that he was possessing. The small rat knew that challenging its boss was very dangerous and scary for it.
And right now, after Hiroki had killed all of the smaller rat monsters, the boss of this floor was releasing a menacing dark aura that wanted to destroy the sole rat that betrayed its group.
But what the boss of this floor wasn't aware of was the fact that the one who had done that wasn't its underling but a hidden being that had never been seen before.
With barely any knowledge of who the real challenger was, the enormous rat scraped dirt and debris off the ground with its tail and fired it at the smaller rat.
Hiroki, sensing the dangerous particles coming towards him, hurriedly took off from where he was and ran as fast as it could around the massive rat boss as a way to find its blind spot. The terrain in the fighting room was wide open, which is why Hiroki had to be clever in how he was going to approach it.
Despite the monster in this room being way stronger in pure strength, Hiroki didn't back away at all, nor did he want to lose the physical body of the rat he currently had in possession.
That's why he used the possessed rat's small size to avoid all of the incoming particles from the boss's tail shooting off the floor. And with that, Hiroki managed to reach the back of its target easily.
However, the moment Hiroki jumped towards the massive monster's back, a swoop of its tail grazed the cheeks of the rat he was possessing, which also made lots of dust fall down from the force of its velocity that missed its target.
‘That was close! If I hadn't noticed, even for a slight second, I might’ve lost this physical body.’
Hiroki thought to himself as he was trying his best not to get intimidated in the heated fight with this giant rat.
‘I know that it's not that necessary to try and keep this body alive, but if I want to defeat the monster, I must use any form of violence in order to bring it down. –Even if I have to use this small rat just to have a physical body.’
The moment Hiroki found the right chance, he used the remaining strength on the possessed rat and jumped towards the monster, allowing him to immediately climb over its back legs until reaching the back.
The small feet that Hiroki was using, while still small, were incredibly useful when climbing the monstrous Ratdoo boss’s body full of hair.
The Ratdoo boss, who had become confused about where the small rat was, looked around in rage without realizing its challenger was at its own back.
But before the Ratood boss could even realize that…. It was already too late.
Hiroki, after he had braced himself, used the sharp teeth of the possessed rat and began eating as much skin from the Ratdoo boss as possible.
With each bite that sent a disgusting taste in his tongue he continued digging with its teeth in the Ratdoo boss’s neck until he would find half of the possessed body inside the massive monster’s skin.
The Ratdoo boss quickly became aware of the teeth biting, which caused excruciating pinching pain to travel through its neck.
“SQUEEEEEEKKKKKK!!!!!!”
And, while making squeaking, painful sounds, the Ratdoo boss used its long and dangerous tail to reach the small rat and crush him to death.
However, since the possessed rat was a lot smaller in size, the massive rat was causing a lot more damage to itself than to its real target.
“SQUEEEEEEEEKKKKKK!!!!!!”
The massive rat cried out in pain as it wasn't able to reach the possessed rat that was going crazy with its teeth.
The Ratdoo boss wanted to make the pain stop as quickly as possible, that's why it couldn't comprehend at those moments that most of the damage on its neck was being caused by its own tail.
It was a combination of pain from being eaten alive from the inside and strikes from its powerful tail.
Hiroki, who was still using the possessed small rat’s teeth and sharp nails, managed to fully get inside the Ratdoo’s boss neck. His goal was to instantly kill the boss from the inside by eating the most vital parts near its neck.
Or that's what the plan was before the massive monster finally used the sharp parts of the tail, thrusting them as blades right near its own neck, which instantly killed the physical body that Hiroki was possessing.
Blood was dripping on the floor while this massive monster was trying to remain calm after the damage it received from its own tail.
But there was one thing that this monster did not consider. A small detail in which it misunderstood the betrayal of its own kind.
What killed all of the other underlings wasn't the small Ratdoo that it just killed.
“............”
The boss room had become much quieter once again, allowing the boss of this floor to finally lose its own guard.
However, the moment the Ratdoo boss tried relaxing from the amount of injuries it just received, the monster felt a weird sensation inside his own body. A sensation of restriction that rendered all of its limbs and body useless.
The monster couldn't understand why it wasn't able to move.
The Ratdoo was smart enough to know that its injuries would eventually heal after it had experienced many other attacks from the humans of this world.
But right now, something is definitely weird about its current state of being.
It was almost as if its body wasn't its own anymore...
But before the dumb Ratdoo could understand the dire circumstances of its own situation, he saw as the sharp blades of its own tail swung towards it, beheading its own head without any difficulties.
“S…queek..”
There was barely any sound heard from the Ratood boss due to how quickly its head was separated from its own body.
The only thing that the boss of this floor could see was a light cloud of smoke in the form of a humanoid being that came out of its own body, revealing the true culprit of its own death.
The real target…. Also the reason for its own death….
Hiroki, after he had managed to commit suicide using the body of this monster, looked at the beheaded monster with barely any emotion. In his eyes, there wasn't any pity about the way he killed this monster who was able to communicate. But rather, curiosity that intrigued him to understand the rules of this world.
[ Ratdoo Boss has been defeated! ]
[ New skill has been acquired ]
The moment the boss of this floor was confirmed to be dead, the following information popped up in front of Hiroki. He glanced at them for a moment before narrowing his eyes a bit.
He was aware that gaining skills as a ghost appeared to be a difficult task in this world, so he wasted no time in opening his status window screen.
【 STATUS 】
Name: Hiroki
Race: Ghost
Title: The summoned one
SF: 12/30
Points: 95
INT: 53 STR: 0 AGI: 0 VIT: 0 DEF: 0
----------------------------------------
《 Skills 》
‘I was able to gain a lot of points and a new skill simply by defeating the boss of this room. However, even though the boss of this area was terribly hurt and unaware, it still used more than half of my spiritual force just to possess it.
I am still unsure what will happen if all of my spiritual force is gone. I may be unable to move or simply disappear—- So in case that happens, I have to keep an eye on my status.’ And as he concluded to himself, he focused his eyes on the new skill that he had acquired.
SKILLS ACQUIRED
—⟨ Ruler’s Wrath ⟩
Description: Your aura will intimidate all opponents who are weaker than you.
‘What I need now are more aggressive skills if I want to grow stronger and escape this dungeon. And considering my current condition, this is useless to me.’
Hiroki thought to himself while glancing at the information about his new skill.
But despite the fact that his first newly acquired skill was useless, this wasn't a complete loss to him since, thanks to this, he now knew how getting new skills worked and what he had to do to acquire them.
Once he was done sorting out his status, Hiroki looked to his side where a pathway opened up for him to advance to the next floor.
There was nothing else to do on that floor, which is why he didn't think for a second before floating to the staircase, which led to the next level.
What Hiroki noticed after reaching the next floor was the fact that this whole place was completely dark compared to the previous one.
Even though there were torches on each side of the way, they remained unlit as if they couldn't notice Hiroki’s presence. Or rather, they were not lighting up on purpose.
Hiroki had no idea what kind of monsters awaited him in here, so he kept moving forward until he came to a halt.
His eyes wandered around and saw many spider webs, which were continuing to become more common everywhere on this floor.
‘Spiders….’ he concluded to himself.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Spiders are creepy crawlers of the night, in which they use their webs to catch their prey in the dark and feed on their blood for long periods of time.
That's what was crawling toward Hiroki right now.
Many several looking spiders that were almost the size of a small human being. Their massive fangs and furry legs could be seen from here, which showed a lot of details of what a spider’s body was like.
However, despite the terrifying yet creepy appearance that these big spiders had, Hiroki still wasn't feeling nervous or scared from looking at them. He kept a straight face with a single objective in mind—defeating the crawling creatures as fast as he could.
And without thinking again about his decision, he possessed one of the upcoming spiders and attacked the following ones, which immediately thrust their fangs on the spider that turned their back.
Hiroki continued using the same tactics, where he would repossess and kill spiders without caring what the possessed spider would receive.
[ Sypra was defeated! ] [ Sypra was defeated! ] [ Sypra was defeated! ] [ Sypra was defeated! ] [ Sypra was defeated! ] [ Sypra was defeated! ]
However, at that time…. What Hiroki didn't realize—
[ Sypra was defeated! ] [ Sypra was defeated! ] [ Sypra was defeated! ]
—was the fact that the more he possessed other monsters—
[ Sypra was defeated! ] [ Sypra was defeated! ] [ Sypra was defeated! ] [ Sypra was defeated! ] [ Sypra was defeated! ] [ Sypra was defeated! ] [ Sypra was defeated! ]
—the more the humanity within him faded away…
* * *
After almost several hours of killing many monster spiders on the second floor, Hiroki finally reached the same looking massive door, which would lead him to the final place where he would fight the boss of this floor.
However, looking back, there were still spiders that were either trying to climb up the pile of dead spiders or running away from there.
Hiroki wasn't bothering to turn back and finish the rest of them due to the fact that he wanted to reach the boss room as quickly as possible after acquiring quite a few points.
The boss of the next room was going to be a similar-looking spider that he was possessing, but much bigger in size. Or at least that's what he was assuming from the previous floor he had conquered.
One thing that Hiroki was thinking at the time, was the fact that while he was possessing the Ratdoo from the previous floor, he was actually able to understand a few words, or at least what the monster was trying to communicate to the underling.
Hiroki knew that the boss monsters in this dungeon had a fair bit of intelligence in them and would communicate in any form.
But despite that, Hiroki knew that although those monsters weren't as smart as humans and didn't possess proper communication skills, they were still aware of themselves as powerful boss monsters.
They were monsters in the end, after all….
Once he thought in his mind of how hard it was going to be to defeat the monster on this floor, he looked at his own status for a moment, then dumped most of his points into his ‘INT’ and some into his spiritual force as a way to restore them after consuming them during the long fight with the smaller spiders behind him.
[ SF has increased by 20. ]
[ SF has been restored! ]
[ INT has increased by 60. ]
The spider he was currently possessing wasn't the strongest one out of all the smaller spiders. But it did quite a good job when using its skills to attack other targets with eight legs.
【 STATUS 】
Race: Spydra
Health: 39/40
INT: 1 STR: 10 AGI: 50 VIT: 49 DEF: 16
----------------------------------------
《 Skills 》
< Dead Silence >
‘It's stats aren't that bad— but what I'm more interested in when possessing this spider is the fact that it has skills that will help me advance more and kill the boss behind this door.’
He thought to himself while peeking at the stats of the spider he was possessing.
Once he confirmed that his status was leveled up once again, he slowly crawled inside the boss room using the possessed spider.
The boss room was also very similar to the previous floor. The only difference was that this room was completely dark and filled with countless webs hanging from the ceiling and floor.
But thanks to the spider Hiroki was possessing, he was able to see the whole room very clearly. Actually, he could see almost the whole room at once thanks to the eight eyes of the spider.
However, despite being able to see almost the whole room at once, Hiroki was left in the quiet for a moment before realizing that he couldn't spot the boss of this room.
Was it hiding somewhere behind those massive webs at the corner, or was it hiding at the ceiling—
“!!.......”
And as he looked upward, Hiroki was met with another eight massive red eyes that were directly looking from above.
The spider boss was hiding at the ceiling the whole time, quietly waiting for its next prey.
The moment Hiroki felt the murderous aura coming from the massive monster in the ceiling through the body of the underling spider, he dashed to the opposite side of the room as quickly as he could.
And thanks to his fast thinking, Hiroki saw as the gigantic spider had decided to let its massive body fall to the ground, which created a big crack with its weight on the floor.
After he saw what the weight of the spider boss could manage, he noticed how the spider he was possessing was feeling fear inside him, causing its legs to become a bit stiffer when moving around.
The underling spider was showing all sorts of signs to run away from there, because the Spyder boss was no laughing matter.
But was Hiroki going to let the instincts of a dumb spider make a decision for him?
‘I don't think so!’
He thought to himself before shifting the position the possessed spider was currently in.
The Spyder monster, the moment it flipped itself right back on its own legs, blasted a projectile towards the possessed spider.
However, thanks to the quick thinking of the spider's senses, Hiroki was able to evade the attack.
When Hiroki turned around to see what the Spyder boss had shot, he noticed that the spider had spit out a hardened web in the shape of a sharp spear. But what made that hardened spear dangerous was the green liquid dripping out of it.
‘It's shooting poisoned projectiles.’ Hiroki quickly realized.
Once the Spydra boss saw that it missed the first spear with poison, it blasted dozens more projectiles to get rid of the possessed spider as quickly as it could.
Hiroki knew that the moment he was going to get hit by one of those things, the spider he was possessing was going to be instantly killed. That's why, in order to tire down that massive monster, he tried to use the smaller spider to the fullest.
* * *
The battle between the boss of this room and the small spider Hiroki was possessing continued for several hours.
Despite being a ghost that could exist forever without tiring, Hiroki soon became aware that the body he was inhabiting was reaching its limit. Meaning, that he had to think of something else in order to at least injure that massive spider boss.
However, despite the struggle for several hours, he still felt like the Spyder boss wasn't slowing down at all.
‘Huh?——’
Another mistake that Hiroki hadn't noticed was the fact that the moment he stopped moving for a second, his ghost form was kicked out of the physical body of the spider he was possessing.
For a minute, he was perplexed about this change. But as he looked back, Hiroki realized that the Spydra boss had succeeded in capturing the smaller spider. And now it was eating it as if it was a snack.
Having lost its physical form, Hiroki took advantage of the opportunity to take control of the powerful monster while it was preoccupied with devouring the smaller spider.
However, the moment Hiroki tried taking control of its body, he felt a burning pain on his head to the point where he thought he was going to melt from within the possessed massive monster.
He knew that this Spydra boss shouldn't have a higher INT than him, that's why he took the risk of possessing it.
But despite that, he still received damages. And the moment he had successfully possessed the Spydra boss, he quickly felt a mixed feeling of rage and intimidation, which was making it very hard for him to continue possessing it.
While still having the chance, Hiroki decided to peek at the status of Spydra's boss.
【 STATUS 】
Race: Spydra Queen
Health: 320/400
INT: 60 STR: 100 AGI: 30 VIT: 79 DEF: 160
----------------------------------------
《 Skills 》
< Acid spit > < Web Shooter > < Night Vision >
< Dead Silence > < Harden > < Glutton's growth >
< Danger Sense > < Predator’s Resistance >
‘Now I see why it's so hard possessing this monster. Thanks to one of its skills, this spider is managing to stay in control of its own body.’
Hiroki came to this realization after quickly going through every skill in the Spydra queen’s stats.
Thanks to its skill ‘Predator’s Resistance’, it was somehow able to resist the control that Hiroki was trying to take through his possession.
But he wasn't going to let this drag on any longer, which is why he dumped the remaining saved points onto his own INT.
[ INT has increased by 20. ]
And the moment the Spydra Queen could realize that it was being possessed, Hiroki moved one of its legs and stabbed each of its massive red eyes.
Then, without letting the monster get any rest, he shoved the same leg inside its own body, rendering the giant spider senseless.
!NOTICE
[ Spydra Queen has been defeated! ]
[ New skill has been acquired ]
The moment that the Spydra Queen was killed, his ghost form got out of the physical body before looking at his own stats.
He knew that he had to have learned a new skill due to the sudden change of sense inside his own spiritual body.
He felt kind of weird at first, that's when he knew that something was wrong. It was as if something— Or someone was watching him right now...
“I know you are there. Who are you?” Hiroki tried calling out to whatever was watching him.
The entire room was silent for a split second before Hiroki heard something.
“If you really want to know who I am, then come to the deepest level.”
The voice responded to him. It was a powerful voice that echoed in the whole room, as if there were a big speaker inside the boss's room.
“And what if I don’t want to?” Hiroki inquired with narrowed eyes.
But before he could get an answer, the entity that was watching Hiroki vanished without a trace.
‘————Clever…’ Hiroki thought to himself with a slight smirk on his face.
Whoever that voice was, he or she gave Hiroki a sloppy answer in order to entice him to the dungeon's final level.
And since his goal was to complete this dungeon, in one way or another he was going to encounter that entity in the end.
“Alright, let's see what you have got for me.”
Hiroki smirked as he understood what might be going on. The mystery itself is what brought merriment to this dungeon that he needed to complete.
* * *
On the next floor, Hiroki continued to push himself to the limit without rest, grinding for additional skills and points. He was certain that the being that spoke to him was going to be the last boss of this dungeon, or at least the one behind it, and that's why he had to get as many points and skills as he could.
Defeat isn't an option for him!
On the third floor, Hiroki had to defeat wolf-looking monsters, which could sense him despite the fact that he was possessing one of their kind.
All of the wolves worked in groups and tried attacking the possessed wolf without any hesitation. But thanks to the ‘Danger Sense’ skill he got from the Spydra Queen, he managed to easily get away from the stealthy bites of the angry wolves.
The fourth floor was much easier for Hiroki since he basically didn't have a physical body, which means that none of the slimes were able to comprehend what they were trying to attack.
The slimes were massive balls of slimy jelly that could even dissolve a corpse within a minute and eat anything edible in their sight.
The next floor was rather tricky for Hiroki due to the fact that all of the monsters in there were tiny little insects that could shoot sharp pressures of air that could cut down almost anything.
Even though he was able to finally possess one, he spent a lot of time trying to figure out the senses and the way they moved in order to take them down without dodging all of the attacks at high speed.
While Hiroki continued to conquer each of the floors in this dungeon, he had completely lost the sense of time due to not feeling tired.
And by the time he reached the 30th floor, he knew that he wasn't any different from a monster that had no remorse for killing its opponents.
But the only thing that remained different from the rest of the monsters…. Was the fact that he never felt fear no matter how powerful or scary his opponents were.
【 STATUS 】
Name: Hiroki
Race: Ghost
Title: The summoned one
SF: 300/300
Points: 70
INT: 930 STR: 0 AGI: 0 VIT: 0 DEF: 0
----------------------------------------
《 Skills 》
< Ruler’s Wrath > < Night Vision > < Danger Sense >
< Howl's Call > < Airblade > < Fast thinking >
< Quick Shield > < Memory Call > < Intimidation >
‘My status has also been developing okay, and I've managed to gain quite a few skills.
—Mostly passive skills…..’
Hiroki thought to himself while looking at his current status.
‘But since I can't really die or receive any damage, I guess the limitation on skills is understandable.’
Once Hiroki was done sorting out his skills, he moved to the next floor, where he soon realized that it was more deserted compared to the other ones.
While the long hallway was scratchless without any monsters protecting it, Hiroki quickly came up with two guesses as to why this was.
The boss on this floor was either already defeated... Or the boss on this floor was the strongest out of them all...
That's what Hiroki was thinking at the moment.
Once he reached the end of the hallway on this floor, he saw the same-looking door with the same design. But this time, it was much bigger and wider compared to the rest of them.
That's when Hiroki realized that he was right. Behind this door was supposed to be the final boss in this dungeon. Also, where the entity that spoke to him was….
The moment the massive doors were automatically opened for him, he looked all around the terrain.
The whole room was decorated in such a way as if this wasn't a dungeon. But a castle's throne room. The place itself was very wide, and a chandelier could be seen hanging from the ceiling.
"Seems like you managed to get here."
The same voice that spoke to Hiroki on the second floor spoke once again with a deep and inhuman tone in its voice.
Hiroki looked forward until a king-like seat could be seen at the end of his sight, demonstrating the prominence of an individual. And on the throne, a certain shadowy figure sat, unbothered about anything.
If anything, that king-like individual seemed rather interested while looking from afar at Hiroki.
"......."
Hiroki remained silent the moment that shadowy figure spoke, not because he was nervous but because he wanted to hear what this being was going to say next.
"I’m sure that you must have many questions that you wish to ask me."
The throne's shadowy figure inquired before raising its head and exposing its face to be without flesh and muscles. A naked face with no human traces behind it. His hands were completely all bones, and there was no sign of life from him.
If someone had played RPG games before, they would quickly realize what this being was.
And for Hiroki, it was no different.
The shadowy figure sitting on the throne was definitely….
A Litch.