I woke up the next morning with a clear mind and my mana restored. Luckily no monsters had invaded my resting area in the night, and the mundane beasts weren’t brave enough to go against my C Rank Aura.

I quickly stored all my things and began my hike. The Map was keeping me informed about the monsters in my vicinity, so I wasn’t ambushed like with the Velociraptors yesterday.

My main problem right now was my lack of weaponry. I had mostly trained in the Brahma Art, so all the mana control I had practised needed a weapon as a medium, otherwise, most of my spells won’t work. Even with Ray’s memories, it won’t matter in an ambush, if I wasn’t able to perform spells by reflex since my watching Ray’s memories was like getting instructions from a mentor. No matter how good they were at it, I won’t be able to perform at the same or even a similar level unless I practised it from before.

‘I should have done more training in mana control. Or at least brought a spare weapon with me when I came here.’ I regretted my life choices as I walked between the towering trees.

Usually, in these types of situations, the protagonist would automatically find a solution to his problem, but I guess such illogical optimism was a mistake on my part.

Suddenly I spotted a pair of figures on the screen floating in front of me. I zoomed in on it and found the two beastmen I had encountered earlier.

But as I stared at them, I found something unexpected with them. The lion beastman was holding on to Deus. And to my shock, he was covered in some weird cocoon, which was probably the reason why our telepathic connection wasn't working.

Thankfully, he was still in his eagle form. If those beastmen found out what Deus was capable of, they would do anything to get their hands on him.

Goosebumps suddenly ran down my arms as I realised how frightening Deus’ true capabilities were. In the world of this novel, there were two rules for Spirits. The first one was that the Spirits found on a planet can only be contracted with by the residents of that planet, in this case, the humans. Secondly, only those with the affinity to be a Spiritualist may be able to form Spirit contracts.

But there was a very good reason why I, despite not being a Spiritualist, was able to form a contract with Deus.

A Spirit’s title held a lot of importance in defining his potential and abilities. Since Deus was the ‘Formless Spirit’, it meant he can change and adapt to whatever the conditions surrounding him were. It was because of this loophole that I took Deus away from his would-have-been-owner, and I am sure that with this loophole, the Beastmen were more than capable of taking him away from me.

Though, of course, there was a big condition to be fulfilled for a Spirit already in a contract to change owners. That condition was the death of its current owner.

‘Gulp!’ Suddenly, my coming to this Dungeon had turned into a much more dire situation than I had thought before. I so wanted to slap my past self who decided it to be a good thing to go hunting for Spirits.

‘Well, no use crying over spilt milk. Let’s just get Deus out of here now. And I can always find another Spirit Egg for Mike, if I am not able to get my hands on the one here.’

“Hmm.” I went back to analysing the Map. There were only a few kilometres of distance between the beastmen and the boss monster. Seeing this, a truly underhanded plan began to form inside my head.

I quickly took my laptop out of my dimensional ring. I quickly pulled up ‘Pandora’s Box’. Usually, in a Dungeon, all forms of communication with the outside world is blocked, but ‘Pandora’s Box’ is an exception to this rule because it is originally a Dungeon as well.

I hate to admit it, but being in a new world, along with my cheat abilities and knowledge, had gotten me in over my head. I had forgotten that this was a fantasy world, and there were monsters here who had been training to survive in this world for decades, as opposed to me who had only spent a few months in this unmerciful world.

Those beastmen were strong. Too strong, in fact. And no number of tricks or worldly knowledge would help me escape from them alive, if they truly ever got their hands on me. So the only thing I can do now is to distract them with the boss monster while I rescue Deus.

I first pulled up the auction page on the website. It had been a while since I put my potions up for sale. The 15 Speed Potions and Monster Repellents had gotten me a total of 4.5 million R. I am pretty sure a third of those Potions must have been bought by researchers to check whether the potion was real and if yes, then how was it made.

But I noticed something peculiar while making those Potions.

All the recipes that Ray had created used a very special stabiliser that Ray had personally researched for years and developed in his laboratory after many years. It was virtually irreplicable. Unless I reveal the specific method, no scientist will be able to replicate these potions. They might be able to create low-quality replicas but they would never be able to come close to the ones he had made.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

It was such a loss, for the Laxon family and this world, to have lost such a valuable asset. In the novel, he was executed for his half-brother’s crimes, and in this world, I had taken over his body.

But the only thing I could do now is lament at the loss of life.

Shaking myself from my thoughts, I began to search the black market. I had just received 4.5 Million R. Even with the 2% commission fee, I had quite a lot to spare. Once I had added all the things I needed, I hit the BUY button. Immediately, the laptop screen turned into a portal and a package was spat out.

I ripped open the box and took out the items I had ordered.

After a few hours, all my preparations were done. I opened up the Map. Unsurprisingly, the two beastmen hadn’t moved from their location. Since they had Deus, they were probably waiting for me to make the first move.

And unfortunately for me, since I took such a long time, the Elves that I had let the monster storm on before, had now met up with their companions. Though this unexpected addition won’t bring much change to my initial plans.

I activated ‘Fade’ and slowly approached the beastmen and Elf group. Without Deus by my side, the spell proficiency had taken quite the hit, so I had to be careful not to make the slightest noise while approaching them. I had Appraised the two beastmen earlier and their Perception was no joke. It was vital to the plan that they didn’t sense me.

I slowly walked to the group, being careful about where I was stepping, so as to not make any unwanted noise. After a great deal of time and caution, I found a good hiding spot to execute my plan. I silently hid behind a large tree, about thirty metres from the group.

I took out the glass vial I had been preparing. I poured out its contents into my hand. A tiny hill of sparkling blue and silver dust piled up on my palm.

“Fwoosh!”

I lined my lips with Wind mana and blew on it. The little spell I had cast carried the dust, scattering it around a small area, and covering up the entire group.

A small spark of red mana ignited at the tip of my finger.

As I stared at the group, my eyes met the lion beastman's. A small shiver ran down my spine, as he gazed at me like a predator looking own on his prey, telling them that any attempt to escape was futile. But it was too late, as the fire spell spread from my finger.

“Boom”

An explosion engulfed a radius of a dozen of metres. I quickly rushed out of there, my Speed Stat pushed to the limit, thanks to my Speed Potion.

The dust that was in the vial was made from the wings of crystallised Psyche butterflies.

Psyche was the goddess of the soul, and was a human who had gone into a coma because she was exposed to the essence of the Underworld. Later, at the request of the God Eros, she was reborn as a goddess with butterfly wings. I had used a low-quality imitation of those mythological wings for my attack just now.

But even as an imitation, those wings contained enough essence to be able to paralyse the senses of its target, no matter how high their Rank was. And since it was the imitation of such a legendary item, it had even cost me half of my earnings just to buy one small pair of wings.

I used Ray’s knowledge of Alchemy to mix it with other ingredients to make it explosive. The smoke would affect permeate into their bodies far quicker than the dust would have. And I had used the Appraisal to check the cocoon around Deus, and it was strong enough to withstand a nuclear missile, so I went reassured that he won't be harmed in any way.

“Cough. You bastard. S-Stop.” One of the Elves yelled at me. Beside him, Nyra glared daggers at me. Max clutched tightly at the cocoon, in case I tried to attack them. The toxic smoke had done a number on them since they were having trouble moving their arms and legs at the moment.

Confirming the poison's effectiveness, I began to rush in the direction of the Boss monster. Even poisoned, if I approached Deus right now, they would be able enough to slice me open even before I could react. Not to mention, there was no way I would be able to defeat the boss monster here on my own. Unlike Vritra’s Prison, I could feel this Dungeon was on the top spectrum of C Ranks.

Its boss would be impossible for me to fight. So, that’s why I am gonna hand it over to the Beastmen while I will go look for the main prize.

As I rushed through the woods, I could hear Nyra and Max grunting behind me. The physiques of beastmen were certainly extraordinary. Their antibodies had already neutralised the poison enough for them to move. The poison in those wings was enough down a hundred elephants.

Luckily, the Elves were still under the effects of the poison, so the number of pursuers behind me was quite low. As I ran, I sprayed Monster Love on my trail. Monsters in the vicinity began to approach us like bloodhounds. Although Nyra and Max took them down in seconds, the time I gained was invaluable for me to reach the Boss.

Soon, I found myself in a clearing. Well instead of a clearing, it seemed more apt to say that the tower-tall trees had been pushed away like Legos as if they were an inconvenience to the occupant.

And in the centre of this, slept a huge Tyrannosaurus Rex. It looked about 15 metres long with a height of 5 metres, with reptile brown skin. But despite its scary appearance, it looked quite at peace, much like a cat lazing on a Sunday afternoon. I felt bad for disturbing the innocent creature, but this was a matter of my survival.

‘Appraisal’

Name: Roberta (Rexy, for short)

Title: Boss of the ‘Jurassic Park’

Rank: B

Skills:

* Berserk: The more damage that the user accumulates, the higher their Stats will go up on activation of the skill.

* King Of The Pride: Will gain absolute dominance over those who have acknowledged the user to be stronger than them. The subordinates will follow the user’s actions unquestionably.

Those were some frightening Skills.

And that Skill, ‘King Of The Pride’, in a Dungeon where she was the boss, it would be safe to assume that she can control the actions of all the monsters here.

The thing about monsters, boss and otherwise, is that the only instinct they have is to attack the Awakened that have entered the Dungeon. In most cases, the smaller monsters have no loyalty towards the boss, unless the beasts they were derived of from had an instinct to follow a leader, as in the case with wolves.

‘Boss’ was simply used to refer to the strongest monster in a Dungeon.

But with Roberta’s skill, I am pretty sure, she can command the smaller monsters to become cannon fodder. And if she had enough intelligence, she can even coordinate their attacks, like a commander to his soldiers.

'I do wonder how the Beastmen will be able to fight her.'

“You filthy human.” A roar came from behind me.

It seems like the poison was wearing off. Well, I never expected much, considering that those two were B Ranks, with Physical Stats on the level of A Rankers. I was content that their Stats had decreased long enough for me to make a run for it.

I took aim and threw the Monster Repellant. The vial broke right next to Rexy’s snout, the smell wafting into her nostrils. The Potion might not be strong enough to chase away a B Rank monster, but it will surely be enough to irritate her.

Sure enough, soon Rexy’s face was twitching due to the repulsive scent, stimulating her out of sleep. Her mud-brown eyes opened up, scanning as to what disturbed her sleep.

I swiftly used ‘Fade’ to evade her senses, keeping myself as still as possible.

She slowly stood up, her height as tall as a two storey building. Her nose twitched around to find clues about the perpetrator. But she didn’t have to wait long, for two enraged Beastmen soon entered the clearing as well.