Abyss (4)
‘Infinite regression? What kind of difficulty is that…’
He was amazed that he’d even won. Of course, the Exploration Trial allowed you to gather as many companions as you wanted, so it didn’t seem designed for solo clears… But even accounting for that, it was undoubtedly a tricky foe.
Still, it wasn’t an unbeatable enemy. It had kept dropping hints from its own mouth, after all. Maybe the Tower had intentionally left some room to win.
‘But if a group takes it down, do multiple reward chests drop?’
Such idle thoughts were running through his mind when—
Exploration of the End of the Abyss has been completed.
A portal to the Deep Labyrinth will be generated.
A blue portal opened beyond the chest. And at that moment—
Whiiish!
An arrow shot from behind. It wasn’t a warning shot. The target was Yun-seok’s neck, and purple energy clung to the arrowhead—likely from some technique.
“……”
Yun-seok casually tilted his head aside to dodge it. Then he indifferently turned, gazing back.
The lizardman who’d been diligently descending the stairs stood there, bow in hand. He seemed to know exactly what the open portal and chest meant, without explanation.
“I don’t know why a human challenger is here… but leave what you’ve gained behind.”
Yun-seok quietly countered.
“And if I don’t?”
“……”
The lizardman gave no reply. He simply stowed his bow and drew his sword, preparing for battle. It meant he intended to kill and take.
‘Looks pretty accustomed to this sort of thing.’
Yun-seok checked above the lizardman’s head. No evil mark appeared. He didn’t enjoy tormenting or harming others, but if there was profit to be had, he’d draw his blade without hesitation—a ruthless pragmatist.
Yun-seok couldn’t hide his disappointment.
‘In the end, they’re all the same.’
Maybe because he’d seen him fighting monsters alone, risking his life, pushing toward his goal? Even without exchanging words, Yun-seok had somehow thought he might be different.
But no. This one was no different. He saw taking and being taken from as mere competition.
“……”
They faced off at about 20 meters. Through the gaps in his helmet, the lizardman’s eyes gleamed sharply, like a beast before a grueling hunt. Even if Yun-seok entered the portal to the Deep Labyrinth now, this tenacity would surely follow.
‘Well, not like I planned to just let him go at this point.’
What was the point of risking his life to grow stronger? It was so he’d never again suffer such injustices due to lacking power.
So, for something he had to do anyway, it was better to move in a way that maximized his gains.
‘Like slapping someone who’s already crying.’
Duel challenges could only be issued by challengers. And this lizardman was the strongest exploration native he’d met so far.
Without hesitation, Yun-seok activated his High-Speed Short-Range Spatial Movement authority.
And…
Please prepare. The duel will begin shortly.
The stage for devouring his opponent was set.
* * *
The circular arena, visited after quite some time. As always with Yun-seok, he first observed his opponent’s reaction.
“……?”
Startled by the sudden environmental shift, but only briefly. Having weathered countless battles, the lizardman quickly regained his composure.
START!
After 3 seconds, as the duel began—surprisingly, the opponent lunged first. Aiming to seize the initiative in distance, perhaps? This time, not a sword, but a spear. Purple energy similar to the arrow’s gathered at the tip.
Whish!
A clean, concise thrust. Yun-seok had gauged him somewhat from the seasoned fights on the stairs, but…
His fundamentals were solidly balanced. But that was it.
Using three weapons? Arming for maximum versatility across situations? Fine for Exploration, but hardly wise in a one-on-one duel.
‘Interesting.’
Was it the weapon’s trait? The already long spear shaft extended even further. But nothing else noteworthy.
Using footwork principles, Yun-seok gripped the spear tip and yanked the opponent forward.
“Kraaah!”
Resisting with raw strength? The lizardman bellowed, pouring power into the shaft. But that wouldn’t make the impossible possible. Not only was Yun-seok superior in skill, but their base stats had a massive gap from the start.
Vrrrrm!
While holding the spear, Yun-seok formed a Blood Demon Sword and fired it at the foe. A barrier from the necklace he wore blocked it.
But… even now, as he’d fought the Abyss Archduke and depleted his reserves, his Blood Demon Qi was steadily refilling. A mere Blood Demon Sword could be remade endlessly.
Vrrrrm!
Once more, a barrier from the necklace. Twice—perhaps a limit?—this time a ring flashed, teleporting him 5m back to evade the sword.
Thrice, four times, five… Easy access to gear in Exploration? The opponent relied more on equipment than skills to barely fend off Yun-seok’s assaults.
‘Even if he’d arrived first, he’d have just died anyway.’
Soon, Yun-seok realized he’d overestimated him. Good at hunting weak monsters, but poor in PvP. He’d watched out of curiosity about his style, but…
No need anymore.
‘End it.’
The moment he resolved that—
Slash.
The lizardman’s head was severed amid his flashy armor.
Unique Skill Predation has been activated.
One of the opponent's skills will be randomly acquired.
Unlock (Rank D-) acquired.
One of the opponent's equipment items will be randomly plundered.
Ring of Jet Black (Rank B-) plundered.
A portion of the opponent's highest stat will be absorbed.
Mana stat absorbed.
Yun-seok skimmed the rewards indifferently, then smacked his lips. Flashy appearance, but no real substance.
* * *
After finishing the duel with the lizardman, Yun-seok portaled back to the Deep Labyrinth. As before, he wandered the maze, smashing secret rooms in his path.
Was it the luck boost from the Pure bracelet from Heaven? On the 8th day, he finally found what he wanted.
◈ When equipped, all items are retained during dimensional movement.
First goal achieved, but Yun-seok didn’t rest. He kept roaming the Deep Labyrinth, hunting secret rooms.
But perhaps the Tower deemed such exploits unacceptable any longer. From the 9th day, changes came to the Deep Labyrinth.
Like an emergency patch in an online game? Suddenly, stone doors linked to secret rooms wouldn’t even scratch under Judgment of the Destruction Lord. Protected like a system waiting room.
‘Good thing I got what I wanted before that.’
When he first noticed the change, relief outweighed regret. A day earlier, and he’d have missed the bracelet too.
No more secret room clears, but Yun-seok diligently hunted monsters for essence until time was up.
Before he knew it, return time arrived.
Complete.
Counting owned essence.
982,000 DP awarded as reward.
Items can be purchased in the shop using DP.
While hunting monsters right up to the last moment, those messages appeared. When he came to, he was back in the waiting room.
Coming from such darkness, the dim waiting room felt refreshingly bright.
‘First things first, let’s check.’
Yun-seok manipulated his tablet. The shop now included DP alongside AP and MP. Value was 1:1, so he’d netted nearly a million AP worth from this trial.
For killing that many monsters and gathering an unimaginable amount of essence by normal explorer standards, the reward felt a bit stingy…
‘Well, Exploration drops more than just essence.’
Countless items from secret rooms. Factoring those in, it was more reward than many duels combined.
‘Same as last time—DP-only exclusives.’
Before spending, Yun-seok filtered DP-only items. But nothing tempting. Mostly skills and gear helpful only during Exploration.
‘Then let’s sort first.’
This trial’s haul was so massive it needed organizing. Honestly, too much to sort one by one. But Yun-seok grinned, diving in.
‘Skills first.’
Three skills acquired. He checked the one he’d been curious about.
Can use one skill on cooldown once every 600 seconds.
Rank C — Active skill power increased 4x.
Rank D — Casting time for all skills halved.
Rank E — Cooldown for all skills halved.
Rank F — Chant omitted on skill use.
Yun-seok’s jaw dropped unwittingly.
‘Whoa, no joke.’
Pre-Judgment of the Destruction Lord, he wouldn’t have reacted this strongly. But…
4x power boost and 10-minute cooldown reset?
‘Does it stack with possession effects too?’
Testing with repeated Judgment of the Destruction Lord, duration extended but no double stat boost. He then checked the others.
Unlocks locks below a certain rank on use.
Trait 1, Grave Robber: +3 rank correction when unlocking chests or doors.
From the lizardman duel—perfect for an explorer. “Won’t need it much,” Yun-seok noted, moving on. The next wasn’t much different.
Tames familiars below the corresponding rank.
What’s a familiar? No need to tame when he’d never even seen one. Duels forever, probably never would. No guarantee taming helped much anyway.
“Total bust.”
Even the duel gear was useless.
◈ Inject mana to randomly teleport 5m. Cooldown: 360s.
◈ Mana below A+ +1.
He had superior spatial movement, and mana already exceeded A+. Plenty of ring slots, but Yun-seok scrapped it for durability without regret.
‘Hardly anything worth keeping.’
Excluding Predation plunders, other gear needed no checking. He’d appraised on the spot, converting junk to durability instantly.
Pocket watch and two bracelets. That was his Exploration gear haul. Durability hit B-rank thanks to it.
‘Converting to AP, it’s already a jackpot…’
Plus skills and gear weren’t all. Stat potions raised Strength to B+, and some charm booster (effect unknown).
Above all, this pocket watch enabled the previously unthinkable.
‘Let’s do it.’
First, Yun-seok spent 750,000 DP to raise Predation to B-rank. He scanned the description.
Predation (Rank B)
On duel victory, choose skill to acquire, equipment to plunder, stat to absorb.
No more randoms. Yun-seok smiled in deep satisfaction.
But no time to bask.
‘If rewinding, upgrade Predation first.’
Pocket watch rewind maxed at 5 minutes. Yun-seok quickly activated skill synthesis authority.
Please select skills to synthesize.
Up to 3 possible; all must be same rank.
From the myriad skills listed, Yun-seok swiftly picked three.
Blood Demon Divine Art, Purple Haze Divine Art, Dragon Soaring Qi.
No turning back, so he’d never dared before… But he’d been intensely curious.
What would fusing these three yield?
Heaven Breaking Divine Art acquired.