Chapter 6: Mythical Dungeon (2)

The black land.

Though it's an artificial place, the waning moon hangs dimly in the sky, creating a rather grim atmosphere.

The moment I entered the field of view of the Death God.

-How dare a living being step onto the land of the dead. Your soul will become a part of death!

Bang!

“Gah!”

It happened in an instant.

If my body hadn't been enhanced by mana, or if my strength had been even slightly weaker, I would have been instantly bisected by the Death God's scythe.

My arm tingled and my legs trembled.

Continuous attacks came in.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The Death God swung his scythe ruthlessly, revealing a fierce killing intent.

The scythe swung at right angles, at 45 degrees, and at 180 degrees.

Naturally, a chain of attacks unfolded, and I blocked the Death God's scythe based on my extensive experience.

If I had continued to block head-on, my joints would have been shattered.

Blocking the Death God's scythe was already a challenge.

At first, I thought I should have invested some stats in agility, but facing the Death God's strength, I didn't feel that way at all.

I moved my sword with minimal effort.

If my movements were even slightly larger, I wouldn't have been able to keep up.

After a while, I noticed a certain pattern in the Death God's movements.

I rolled around on the ground, recalling old memories.

Twenty years later, the world's second-ranked Sword Emperor, in an interview, clearly revealed information about the Death God's weakness.

The Sword Emperor's characteristic rambling.

Though his attitude was polite, it was clear that he treated non-mana-awakened individuals like slaves.

For us non-mana-awakened individuals, the words of such high-ranking players were worth a fortune, and we had to listen with the utmost concentration.

The key was to lower one's stance.

Since the lower body is weak, one should attack there to create an opening and strike the vital point, the chest.

Though I didn't like the Sword Emperor's tone, there was no reason not to apply it.

There was no strategy for the Death God, and even if there was, it would be impossible to tackle alone.

I created a change in the Death God's pattern, which was flowing chaotically.

Whoosh!

The scythe narrowly grazed my head.

A few strands of hair were cut and fell to the ground.

If I had miscalculated even slightly, my head would have been split open.

I lowered my stance and used the stealth skill.

I kept the greatsword, which is a magic item with a stealth skill, specifically for this moment.

I lowered my stance so much that I was almost lying on the ground, and as I used the skill, the Death God frantically swung his scythe, trying to track my movements.

About one second.

Though it was a fleeting moment, it was enough time for me.

I immediately attacked the Death God's lower body.

He was floating in the air, and when I swept his lower body with the greatsword, his posture collapsed, and his body tilted to the left.

Now, I needed to thrust.

When I shattered the head of the reinforced skeleton, I deliberately used only thrusts.

At this moment, to deliver a one-hit kill.

The greatsword plunged directly into the Death God's chest.

‘Done!’

It was worth paying close attention to the Sword Emperor's interview.

Crack!

Forcing the greatsword to retract, my joints screamed in pain.

The Death God was momentarily stunned but struggled to move again.

I thrust the greatsword into him again.

With all my strength, I put my weight into it.

Crack!

-Death shall descend.

Red energy gushed out of the Death God's body.

I couldn't block the scythe. No, I didn't even think about blocking it.

As the red energy spread in all directions, I was almost crushed.

However, the fact that the boss had entered a berserk state meant that even a single hit would bring him down.

Hunters knew that the boss was making a final desperate attempt, which is why they always tackled dungeons below their level.

Boom!

“Gah!”

There was no time to drink a potion.

Though I had bought a few potions from a general store with the gold I earned from dungeon runs, taking them out to drink would have resulted in my body being torn apart.

I immediately lay flat on the ground.

As soon as I used the stealth skill, the Death God wildly swung his scythe.

The moment he exposed his chest.

“Die!”

Thud!

-Squeal!

Swish!

The red energy gathered in the Death God's chest, which had been pierced.

The energy on the ground dissipated, and the sun shone brightly.

The grave, which had looked so grim, disappeared, and the area turned into an ordinary forest.

“Pant! Pant!”

I sprawled out.

Three red boxes appeared before my eyes.

I clearly had to choose one of them.

Without the strength to even twitch a finger, I one-shot a potion and pointed at the middle box.

A bright light flickered from the box.

Finally, I could learn the Sword Emperor's skill?

But when I actually obtained the skill, I couldn't hide my shock.

“...”

It was quite a shocking result.

“What is this?”

I had expected the same result.

The Sword Emperor obtained a mythical-level skill in this dungeon, and it should have been the Lightning Sword Technique he used.

The number one contributor to making Baek Seung-ho the Sword Emperor.

His fighting style, which involved emitting flashy lightning like a Blade Mage, made him an unreachable figure for all hunters.

The Iron Plate Mythical Dungeon was everything to Baek Seung-ho.

Moreover, what about the item?

Shouldn't the Lightning Sword have appeared instead of the Blood Scepter?

My mind went blank, but I soon regained my composure.

And I tried to think positively.

This game is about 80% luck.

It wasn't the same person who chose the box, and it was random from the beginning, so it was natural to get a different result.

Still, it's a mythical-level skill, isn't it?

I also obtained a rare-level item, which is rare in Korea.

Since items aren't permanent due to durability, they can be considered secondary.

“Let's think positively. Even though I became a summoner, which I never expected, the efficiency should be similar since it's a mythical-level skill.”

Most importantly.

There was a famous person who became a hero through summoning skills.

Eren, the one-man army ranked fifth in the world, was known as a summoner.

Even if his summons died, as long as he had mana, he could summon them again, leading an immortal army.

There's no guarantee that I won't become like that.

I immediately burned the Book of Summoning.

An enormous amount of knowledge flooded my mind.

Over the past 20 years, I had studied sword techniques and magic and learned various skills.

Though I couldn't use them due to lack of mana, I had accumulated a lot of knowledge.

I had also studied summoning, which is a type of magic.

However, when the knowledge of summoning flooded in, I realized that all the summoning techniques I had studied so far were worthless.

Summoning is a technique that connects the threads of fate to bring mysterious beings to the earthly realm.

Though it was a branch of magic, the "threads of fate" had a coercive nature.

An ancient summoning technique based on primordial agreements.

To wield true power, a summoner must be proficient in various fields. It could even be better than sword techniques for me.

Finding a usable sword technique is possible if you search for fortuitous encounters, but as far as I know, the profession of summoner is very rare. I've never even heard of a mythical-level summoner.

My mind felt a bit clearer.

Accepting my fate as a summoner, I instantly understood how to form and use the threads of fate and how to summon beings from other dimensions.

At this moment, I became the third hunter in Korea to obtain a mythical skill and was on the rise to become a future hero.

This fortuitous encounter is not the end.

As my body recovered, I began to thoroughly search the cave.

If the Iron Plate Dungeon was the place that created the Sword Emperor Baek Seung-ho, there must be a cash shop permission here.

It wasn't difficult to find.

I could feel a powerful force in a corner of the cave.

I slowly walked towards it.

Under a massive tree, which could be considered a World Tree, I felt the source of power.

The essence carved at the base.

I placed my hand on it.

Whoosh!

An enormous light enveloped my body.

Is this mana?

No, it's not.

I can distinguish between mana, divine power, and demonic energy.

This is fundamentally different, a higher-dimensional power.

A hexagram was tattooed on my right hand, and a system message echoed.

A star that only the chosen few can barely contract.

Such stars are competing for me?

The corners of my mouth curled up slightly.

“A two-for-one deal was here all along.”