42. Slime (1)
The 11th floor took the form of a defense game.
Just like a game where you had to survive endless waves of monsters crashing in like tidal waves at regular intervals until you outlasted them all to face the final boss, monsters kept pouring out of the dungeon without cease.
'Picked the right choice for once, damn it.'
Jeonghyeon couldn't help but think it was a stroke of luck, even slipping into rough language without realizing it.
In a way, it was only natural for him to feel that way.
Perfectly understands Rabid Dog.
Perfectly understands Vampire Bat.
Perfectly understands Crawly Bear.
Perfectly understands Zombie.
Perfectly understands Slime.
Perfectly understands Poison Paeton.
⋮
Perfectly understands Medusa.
Attribute Disruption level has increased.
Attribute Disruption level has increased.
⋮
Understanding of beast-type monsters reaches its peak. - Memories from previous life revive.
Understanding of flying-type monsters reaches its peak. - Memories from previous life revive.
Dissection Swordsmanship level has increased.
Dissection Swordsmanship level has increased.
Dissection Swordsmanship level has increased.
Harvested mana stone quality improves due to increased Dissection Swordsmanship level.
The notifications kept flooding in relentlessly, matching the pace of slicing through the endless onslaught of monsters.
"Kukuk…!"
His body was starting to feel the strain, but the real thrill of a defense game lay in the overwhelming numbers—sweeping away hordes of slightly weaker foes in one go, rather than facing a single powerhouse. It felt far easier than the raid boss from before or his duel with Serin.
Hell, it was so fun he wanted more.
'If only more dungeons like this popped up.'
By the time Jeonghyeon had grown proficient with Dissection Swordsmanship, carving through enemies without a single drop of blood touching him, the waves suddenly halted—as if mocking his wish.
"Aw, already over?"
Jeonghyeon glanced around disappointingly. The monster corpses dissolved into the air like rusting metal, leaving only hundreds of mana stones behind.
"Eh, not a bad haul."
None were from C-rank or higher, so nothing exorbitantly valuable, but he'd racked up more in a few hours than most hunters earned in over a year.
"Whoa, as expected of a porter."
As Philip put it, since only awakeners could enter the Tower, most hunters barely collected any mana stones here. Climbing it offered little economic gain.
"You think a regular porter could do this?"
But Jeonghyeon was a porter at heart. His recovery rate was damn near 100%.
"Put 'em here, yeah, all at once."
Normally, you'd have to manually dissect corpses for the stones, but Jeonghyeon and Philip were just shoveling them straight into their inventories.
"Pretty profitable, huh?"
Philip eyed the stones, probably thinking back to Jeonghyeon's earlier ribeye mission.
"Sell the crappiest ones here and invest the rest. Don't even think about blowing this on ribeye."
He could've feasted on ribeye for a month straight with the cash from these, but no way in hell.
Philip scratched his head sheepishly and chuckled.
"Ahaha, of course. So, investing with the Wakin sisters?"
"Yeah. They wanted 50, but more's always better."
"Wise words."
"Said while not pocketing any on the sly. Put it down. Now."
"Whoa… you spotted that already?"
'Smart or stupid? Pick one.'
Philip, oblivious to how Attribute Domination let Jeonghyeon read most of his thoughts, was genuinely in awe.
'Damn… that dynamic vision. What dragon's awakener is he to be this exceptional? Or is he just built different?'
It's 'cause I can see all your thoughts, dumbass. Jeonghyeon sighed and shook his head.
After a brief rest, the ground beneath them rumbled—kururung! The flat plains split open in an instant, massive boulders erupting as the terrain warped into rugged mountains.
"Whoa… we've climbed past the 10th floor, but it still amazes me how it changes every time."
"Tell me about it."
Even Jeonghyeon found the Tower's existence baffling. Dragons? Demon King? No one knew who built this colossal structure to select and send the strong to Afraksas—or why.
To recreate artificial environments and shift them endlessly? You'd need a grand archmage surpassing 10th circle.
'And it's not just one climber.'
It felt like everyone chilling at home with consoles when some hyper-realistic VR MMORPG metaverse dropped out of nowhere.
Jeonghyeon stared blankly at the Tower's mystical—almost horrifying—power, but he couldn't afford to sightsee.
Kururung!
The earth-shaking vibration heralded the boss mob's arrival, bursting from underground.
***
The emergence came with an overwhelming roar, as shocking as the event itself.
"That… that's the boss monster?"
Philip looked utterly dumbfounded, wondering if he was seeing wrong or if there was a hidden main body.
Chilchok!
A tiny monster, its gooey body stuck to the floor, slithering along.
The kind even regular humans could squash with fire or tools—a total trash mob among trash mobs.
"It's a slime…?"
A slime.
But Jeonghyeon didn't let his guard down. From the 11th floor, difficulty scaled to the entrants' levels. Multiple people? It got tougher than their combined strength.
To prevent carries for weak players.
Philip was around Serin's duel level now, and Jeonghyeon counted as an awakener too. No way it'd toss an easy slime as boss—it'd be brutally hard.
'Attribute Disruption.'
He calmly activated it on the slime, now at perfect understanding rank.
Ethereal Slime
A slime that absorbs mana and impacts. The perfect adhesive for demon realm architecture. Thanks to these, even ruined Demon King's Castles rebuild easily. Bonus: invisible, so aesthetically pleasing.
'Damn it. Useless info!'
With Attribute Disruption leveled too high and slime understanding maxed, it spat out Demon King-perspective trivia instead of his own.
'Other info!'
He needed every scrap before it attacked first.
No matter how you slash or crush it with heavy blows, it won't burst or cut. Especially great for absorbing mana—perfect for wiping out humans who underestimate slimes.
Observed Ethereal Slime is fluid state. Has not absorbed any power yet.
'Shit. We're screwed.'
No clear counter visible.
Chilchok!
The slime oozed forward with eerie sounds.
"Sh-should I attack?"
"No! Don't you dare!"
Like the 10th floor issue. Only two chances max. If Philip went all-out and it survived, it'd absorb the impact and power up.
"Gotta crush it in one go."
"That thing's that strong?"
Philip seemed anxious, sensing Jeonghyeon's mood via Attribute Domination.
"Yeah. Ribeye after this, for sure."
Jeonghyeon gripped his Blood Dissector tighter. Cold sweat beaded between his fingers.
"What even is that thing?"
Jeonghyeon's eyes stayed locked on the slime; only his mouth moved.
"Ethereal Slime."
"Different from regular slimes?"
"Hugely. Absorbs shocks and magic, regenerates its gross gooey body even from sword slashes. Total freak."
"Freakshow. How do you even kill it?"
"Hell if I know."
"Even you don't know…?"
Jeonghyeon's gaze flicked to Philip.
'Obviously, asshole.'
He'd seen it before, but never fought one. Even Solgaleh, whom he desperately wanted to grow, had dodged it as too annoying.
"If something like this shows on just the 11th floor, who the hell clears it?"
"Dunno. I've only seen two do it…"
"Huh? Who…?"
In his previous life, only two hunted Ethereal Slimes. One was Serin, post-mana stone weapon acquisition…
'The mad Serin, armed with mana stone gear, barely won after days of all-nighters…'
That's when she crossed into death-defying territory, growing insanely strong.
The other was 'Yul,' Jeonghyeon's loyal subordinate—similar to current Philip but not as close. Awakener of the Purification Dragon Jupiter.
Jeonghyeon pondered if he were Serin or Yul, then dropped it.
The Yul he knew was an archmage wielding spatial magic beyond elements.
That's why he'd compared the Tower to an archmage earlier.
"Fucking genius I hate thinking about…"
"Pardon?"
Jeonghyeon suddenly asked Philip.
"Hey, Philip. Good with magic?"
"Do I look it?"
"Nah. Gotta be mage-level to kill that."
If no mage potential, only option was Serin-style: fight to the death.
"So… just attack till it dies?"
"Hah. Exhausting."
Jeonghyeon sighed deeply.
"You got a feel for Value Proof yet?"
"Kinda…?"
"One shot. I'll pour every bit of domination into you then. Hit so hard it can't absorb. Got it?"
"Domination…? Uh, yes sir."
Defense game was perfect, but attrition war? Jeonghyeon's nightmare.
'No choice. Damn it.'
Sighing nonstop, head bowed in resignation, Jeonghyeon snapped up, eyes blazing with murderous Demon King's Eye, and charged.
"End it in one!!"
Shwak!
He rocketed in at blinding speed, barely grazing the slime's slick surface—
"Insolent worms! Useless, pathetic, worthless trash of a species!!!"
"…?"
Out of nowhere, the slime spoke human words.