Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Endless Wolf Den
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Wolf Layer Dungeon.
Nicknamed the Wolf Den.
It was a place teeming with countless types of wolf-related beastkin.
For a mid-tier dungeon, it was a region of considerable difficulty.
Wolves possessed strong pack instincts and high intelligence.
As such, there were more than a few phantasmal beasts that turned the tables and hunted pioneers instead, defying the expected difficulty of a mid-tier dungeon.
But that was only when the power gap wasn't overwhelming.
Things were different with absolute superiority.
On the fourth floor of such a Wolf Layer Dungeon.
Endless Wolf Den.
As the name implied, its defining feature was the endless horde of replicated wolves pouring out.
If you failed to meet the conditions and escape within the time limit, you'd ultimately be buried under the wolves—a trap dungeon.
Leyzon was thus sprinting through it at the shortest possible route.
"Hanok, coming from the left holes. Block them!"
At Leyzon's shout, Hanok kicked off the wall and leaped up.
"Kurrrgh!"
Right on cue, an infinite wolf burst from the left hole, baring its fangs.
Without hesitation, Hanok twisted his spear into the infinite wolf's neck.
"Kiiing!?"
The massive infinite wolf let out a death cry and tumbled over.
Hanok retrieved his spear.
It felt light in his hands.
The haron equipped on Hanok's arms felt almost weightless.
"Hanok, how's the haron?"
"It's incredibly light!"
Leyzon asked, and Hanok promptly replied.
It offered minimal help for now, but the haron was definitely showing its effects.
If he covered his entire body in it...
Hanok was certain he could move far faster than before.
"This time, the lower left hole."
Hanok swung his spear to block the emerging wolf.
As he did, he glanced back at Leyzon with curiosity.
"Sir Leyzon, where do you get your dungeon knowledge from?"
The Endless Wolf Den was a dangerous place where wolves could burst out from anywhere.
Moreover, the infinite wolves varied wildly in rank, so sometimes even a warrior couldn't handle one.
And sometimes a mage couldn't either.
Yet Leyzon knew exactly which wolf would come from where.
He even issued orders to Hanok on the fly.
All while handling the wolves himself just the same.
But to Leyzon, this was only natural.
"I've got my ways."
Leyzon casually swung his staff.
The world had passed a century since then.
Dungeons still retained their original forms unchanged.
Dungeons in Dungeon Replay didn't change easily.
Dungeons had restorability.
This referred to the standard restorability of phantasmal beast respawns,
and complete restorability, where the entire dungeon reset.
Complete restorability triggered every three months on average.
The dungeon entrance would close for about a day.
In that process, everything except the phantasmal beasts—terrain, traps—reverted to their original state.
Thanks to that, even after a hundred years,
the dungeons remained exactly as Leyzon remembered them.
'What exactly are dungeons, anyway.'
Still a mystery.
Whoosh!
The Staff of Abundance aimed at the right hole.
The moment mana flowed through his running feet into his hand,
"Fierce Poison Spread."
Fierce poison billowed out before the Staff of Abundance.
"Attribute Fusion, Bleeding Recovery."
At the same time, green fierce poison mixed into the blood orb.
"Dragon Scale."
Finally, Leyzon fired the completed orb into the hole.
The instant the orb was shoved inside,
"Shadow Fortress."
Leyzon's additional shadow magic sealed the hole's entrance.
As a result, a wolf trying to emerge got trapped inside with the fierce poison blood orb.
Using it repeatedly, his shadow magic was gradually becoming second nature.
He couldn't make wolves from shadows like Syria,
but sealing an entrance was simple enough.
"Fierce Poison Explosion."
One final spell activated.
Boooom!
The wolf shattered into pieces from the fierce poison and blood explosion.
Thanks to the shadows, not a drop of poison leaked out.
Now, even without attribute fusion, his spellcasting methods had expanded.
Honed through combat.
"Heh."
His skills were improving satisfyingly.
Seeing results made it impossible not to smile.
Hanok watched the scene in awe while running.
Lately, he'd been marveling at Leyzon's magic more often.
Eventually, bothered by the stare, Leyzon called out.
"Hanok, why are you looking like that?"
"Oh, uh, it's just... they say parallel casting is really hard for mages."
Hanok replied timidly, as if caught off guard.
[Ah, yeah. It's not easy.]
Syria chimed in with agreement this time.
Leyzon's eyes widened.
Was what he did so casually actually not normal?
Casting multiple spells in parallel.
In truth, even high-ranking mages struggled with it.
Yet Leyzon did it effortlessly.
'...Why?'
Leyzon rubbed his chin, tilting his head.
He hadn't even considered this before.
In a world where talent vanished but skill proficiency remained.
Of course, Leyzon had never specifically practiced parallel casting.
It had just come naturally from the start.
[That's because it's you, Sir Leyzon! It's only natural!
You're the world's greatest necromancer!]
Syria responded with boundless positivity.
'Maybe the original Leyzon used parallel casting all the time.'
Or perhaps he'd mastered it over a century of auto-hunting.
'Good is good.'
Leyzon accepted it positively.
No reason not to use what he could.
"Hanok, upper right."
Leyzon issued the next order to Hanok.
Leyzon and Hanok blazed through the fourth floor at breakneck speed.
And finally, Leyzon spotted the end in sight.
The exit of the Infinite Wolf Den.
"Hanok, charge straight ahead!"
With that, Leyzon spun the Staff of Abundance in his grip.
Hanok bolted forward.
Meanwhile, Leyzon aimed the staff behind them.
Ruuuumble!
An earthquake shook the cave.
The tunnel trembled as if it might collapse.
At the same time, Hanok felt a chill, his fur standing on end.
His head whipped back.
Boooom!
Something collapsed with a roar.
The ceiling caved in, revealing a wolf of overwhelming size.
It filled the entire fourth-floor passage.
White sparks crackled from its body, fangs bristling fiercely.
A trap phantasmal beast practically designed not to be defeated in the Wolf Layer.
The Colossus Wolf.
The final trap of the fourth floor.
An enemy no mid-tier pioneer could ever topple.
Craaaash!
The Colossus Wolf charged toward Leyzon, mouth agape.
Fangs and a maw dwarfing Leyzon's body.
Its throat was pitch-black inside.
But Leyzon showed no fear.
On the contrary, he'd been waiting.
He'd come to the Wolf Layer today precisely to hunt the Colossus Wolf.
'Ascension Fang.'
The gear dropped from the Colossus Wolf.
It had the unique trait of boosting ascension experience gain.
The effect only applied up to the 15th ascension, but for raising Hanok and the haron, it was top-tier.
"Shadow Fortress."
With the activated spell, shadows stretched out before Leyzon.
The shadows spread along the walls, soon blanketing everywhere.
Layer upon layer of shadow barriers formed in front of him.
"Fierce Poison Spread, Attribute Fusion, Bleeding Recovery."
Just like before, a fierce poison blood orb began forming.
"Attribute Fusion, Shadow Fortress, Attribute Fusion, Intimidation Burst."
The repeated spells began overlapping.
"Attribute Fusion, Dragon Scale."
Finally, as the spell reached completion,
the Dragon Scale veered toward the shadow wall.
Pressed against the shadow barrier, the fierce poison blood orb began spinning furiously.
The rotational force gradually pulled back the shadow barrier.
Leyzon aimed the Staff of Abundance.
"Prime rib."
Leyzon's eyes gleamed coldly.
"Bon appétit."
And as the fierce poison blood orb's spin peaked,
Bang!
The shadow snapped back like a slingshot.
The fierce poison blood orb rocketed skyward like a cannonball.
Its trajectory was singular.
Straight into the Colossus Wolf's maw.
The orb slipped down its throat in an instant.
The spin was so fierce it shredded the uvula and burrowed inside.
Down the esophagus, the relentless fierce poison blood orb plunged.
Watching, Leyzon triggered his final spell.
A hole-in-one celebration.
"Fierce Poison Explosion."
Squelch—
A faint cracking sound echoed from somewhere.
And with that as the trigger,
Craaaash!
Tremendous explosive force unleashed a scorching blast at Leyzon.
The Colossus Wolf shattered from the inside out.
Syria's shadows blocked the flying chunks of flesh and blood.
Thud thud thud—
Leyzon strode forward.
In just one day, he'd reached a whole new realm.
The more skills he wielded,
the absurdly stronger Leyzon grew.
"Syria, the blood."
At his call, Syria poked her head out from the shadows.
She was already sucking on one of the Colossus Wolf's corpses.
"All tucked away, nice and safe!"
Phantasmal beast blood aiding evolution had been confirmed beforehand.
So Leyzon kept Syria out of the fight, focused solely on blood collection.
Her next evolution was the top priority.
"Hanok, you're unhurt?"
"Yes, not a scratch."
Smooth sailing.
Leyzon downed a mana potion bottle to recover.
A smile played on his lips.
"Good. Then."
Leyzon spun the Staff of Abundance again.
He collected the Ascension Fang from the Colossus Wolf's corpse.
"Hanok, hold this."
"Y-yes!"
Leyzon handed the Ascension Fang to Hanok.
The main goal, the Colossus Wolf, was down.
All that remained was the overlord beast.
"We'll take it out and move to the next dungeon."
Thud!
The overlord beast, Tyrant Wolf, collapsed to the ground.
Leyzon, standing before it, lightly rolled his shoulders.
Mid-tier dungeon overlord beasts were getting easy now.
"Hanok, ascension EXP?"
"Still a ways off."
Yeah, clearing one mid-tier dungeon wouldn't fill it much.
Leyzon nodded.
'Still.'
7th Ascension → 8th Ascension
📍 Requirement: Clear Mid-Tier Dungeons (7th+ Ascension) 1/5
Today's mid-tier dungeon clear checked off one more.
Hanok was currently at 8th ascension pioneer.
Leyzon, at 7th, had to hustle to catch up.
"I'm ahead of you now, Sir Leyzon."
Hanok wagged his tail, puffing up a bit.
[Should I scold him?]
"He's cute, let it slide."
Leyzon soothed Syria as she bristled.
Then he rummaged through his bag.
Leyzon pulled out a book.
"Time to farm some skills."
He strode up to the Tyrant Wolf.
Leyzon flipped open the skillbook with a whoosh.
Gray letters began arraying in the air.
Seven letters in total.
All the skills the Tyrant Wolf possessed.
This was Leyzon's first time using a skillbook.
He watched the spectacle with considerable curiosity.
Moments later, one of the floating letters flew into the skillbook.
Fwsh fwsh fwsh!
Soon, letters engraved themselves into the skillbook.
The rest scattered and vanished.
Leyzon checked the skillbook right away.
"Got something useful."
Leyzon grinned, baring his teeth.
The letters in the skillbook read:
Wolf Leap [A]
A skill that formed a wolf silhouette for instantaneous acceleration.
Perfectly suited for a warrior.
"Hanok!"
"Yes!"
Hanok scampered over at the call.
"Here."
Leyzon handed the skillbook to Hanok.
Hanok blinked, stunned to receive it.
Then his ears perked up.
"S-Sir Leyzon, you're really giving this skill to me?"
"You've got an empty skill slot right now. Gotta fill it."
He still had another slot open even after this.
Time to fill that with something else soon.
Hanok's face lit up with emotion as he took the skillbook.
"B-but then what do you get out of this, Sir Leyzon?"
"You, Hanok."
Hanok's tail quivered as emotion welled up.
"This is the first time anyone's ever given me a skill."
Hanok had always gone solo.
So he'd always had to acquire skills on his own.
Leyzon smiled proudly and patted Hanok's head.
"You'll get plenty more from now on. Hang onto it."
"Yes... I'll get really strong."
Hanok would surely grow into a sturdy frontline guardian.
'And someday, we'll tackle the Four Great Dungeons together.'
Dungeon endings.
To see them, Leyzon had to raise Hanok.
"Alright, plenty more dungeons left in the Ged Mountains."
Leyzon rolled up his sleeves with a grin.
"Let's clean 'em out."
"Yes!"
Time to graduate from Ged Mountains mid-tier dungeons.