Chapter 1: A Changing World
THE monster that spawned on the fifth floor of the extreme-difficulty dungeon, the Citadel of Ancient Gods, was a Knight of Annihilation. It was a centaur over fifteen feet tall wearing silvery white armor, and—despite not having wings—it ran through the air, hurling giant spears cloaked in massive amounts of mana.
It made the Red Dragon King, the final boss of the hard-difficulty Dragon’s Palace dungeon, look like a piece of cake in comparison, but still…
“Like that’s going to work!”
I dodged the giant spear and slammed both my swords into the Knight of Annihilation, making it disappear in a puff of light, leaving behind nothing more than a magic crystal.
But the battle had only just begun.
The space, massive and without walls, was filled with Knights of Annihilation—more than a thousand of them. There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. The fight continued until you defeated all the monsters. It was an extreme-difficulty dungeon, after all.
Suddenly, all the Knights threw their spears at me. They all came at me, rotating rapidly like drills. I used Short Teleport to avoid the concentrated spear fire, then cast a rapid series of Short Teleports, taking out Knights as I passed them.
Fighting solo, I was constantly attacked from all directions. I had several layers of Impenetrable Defense cast, and whenever one went down, I put another one up. I was keeping an eye on the locations and movements of all my opponents using Scan, while continuously looking for the optimal action with my enhanced mental speed.
If they managed to pin me down, hit me all at once, and break through my Impenetrable Defense, they’d take all my HP out in an instant. A momentary lapse in concentration would lead directly to my death. These battles where my life hung in the balance, that were so difficult they shaved seconds of my life, man, they’re so fun!
My thoughts were sped up so much that it felt like I might burn out my brain, but it made me feel alive. Through these constant near-death fights, I could feel myself growing stronger in that very moment.
I know I’m a battle-crazed maniac, but there’s a calm, logical me watching that maniac me. He thinks, no matter how strong you get, it’s all over if you die. He’s got his eyes set on that line where things go too far, and he won’t make a mistake when it’s time to retreat.
I learned how to live as a combat lover when I met my teachers, Grey and Selena. But even if I hadn’t met them, I think I’d have ended up like this anyway.
I already died once in my previous life. This life, where I reincarnated as Arius, is kind of just a bonus. Obviously, I don’t plan on going out easily, but I don’t see the problem with dying if it happens while you’re doing what you want to do. I’m not afraid of dying, and maybe that’s why I’m perfectly fine doing things other people think are crazy.
By moving from one edge of the massive space of the extreme-difficulty dungeon to the other using Short Teleport, I was able to scatter the herd of Knights. I used the Knight that was in front of me as a shield from the others and took them out one by one. The battle went as planned, and I managed to cut their numbers down to a hundred.
However, losing focus now could snatch victory from me. I continued fighting without losing concentration until I took down the final Knight of Annihilation.
But that wasn’t the end.
I was the only one left in the vast space when a pillar of light descended from the ceiling. Appearing within it was a massive centaur over eighty feet tall in gold armor.
This was the level boss of the fifth floor, the Valiant General of Annihilation.
The name was a bit cheesy, its HP pool was appropriately massive for its huge body, and it boasted abnormally high defense. A direct hit from this guy would shatter my multiple layers of Impenetrable Defense and take out half my HP in one go.
“Haaaaa!” the General roared as it rushed me.
It was faster and nimbler than you’d expect of something that big. The monster’s massive spear punched through the air right toward me.
I dodged using as little motion as possible, then focused my mana into my two swords, and they elongated into blades of light.
I accelerated, instantly achieving speeds faster than the speed of sound, and slashed through the General’s torso as I passed. Even with that, I only scratched its HP. I was seriously lacking firepower when fighting solo.
Enraged, the General spun toward me and unleashed a lightning breath attack. I dodged the tumultuous stream of electric-discharge-causing light with a Short Teleport and slammed my swords into the General’s head. That also only got rid of a tiny fraction of HP.
Luckily, there was only one of them.
I still had plenty of MP. No matter how sturdy it was, how much HP it had, I could whittle it down if I kept on hitting. There was plenty of space in here to dodge attacks, so I wasn’t going to get hit.
I fought for thirty whole minutes before taking down the Valiant General of Annihilation. Its huge form disappeared in a flash of light, leaving behind a massive magic crystal.
A glowing magic circle appeared where the General had fallen. It was the teleport pad leading to the sixth floor, but I ignored it and headed toward another teleport point.
In extreme-difficulty dungeons, the teleport circle leading to the next floor didn’t appear until you eliminated all the enemies on the floor. Still, the one leading to the previous floor was always there. That meant that even in these hellish, extreme-difficulty dungeons, there was always an escape route available.
The second I stepped foot on that teleport circle, I cast Short Teleport before it could activate and jumped several yards forward.
Looks like it worked.
From the distance of that vast space that was the fifth floor, the more than a thousand Knights of Annihilation I just eliminated came rushing toward me.
I was able to force the monsters to respawn by tricking the teleport circle. It was inefficient to go back every time to the previous floor and kill all those monsters before coming back, after all. I’d made that trick up with my tutors, Grey and Selena.
The difficulty of the monsters in an extreme-difficulty dungeon jumped up with each floor, so I was repeating each floor until I could get a perfect win—where I killed them all without taking a single hit—before taking on the next floor.
“Let’s fight better this time,” I announced as I plunged into the fray with the herd of Knights of Annihilation.
Stats
Arius Gilberto (Age 15)
Level: 2055
HP: 21478
MP: 32825
STR: 8266
DEF: 8263
INT: 9294
RES: 8757
DEX: 8264
AGI: 8265