Infinite Competitive Dungeon Society

“... That’s great. No, but what about Floor Masters?”

[If exploring in a party, Floor Masters are fixed. If Kang Shin-nim continues to climb alone, we have special Floor Masters prepared. The Crimson Hell on this floor are only clones of the real Crimson Hell. Its real body is on the 85th floor.]

Wait, these guys were just clones? With this terrifying of an ability? I suddenly began to hold great admiration for the explorers and warriors that fought against them in Pantiran continent. At the same time, Sherafina finally said something to make me feel better.

[Additionally, this is the first time since the dungeon’s founding that Crimson Hell has been used as a monster. If you continue to break through alone, you will receive an appropriate reward for this achievement.]

“Mmm, that is tempting.”

[Because of the world’s enemy’s special trait, Beyond has its own monsters. Please keep that in mind.]

“So even if I fight worlds’ enemies here, they won’t appear again on Beyond’s 41st floor? Then will I just face stronger versions of what other explorers face?”

[Yes.]

That’s what I wanted but... Just how did they bring worlds’ enemies into the dungeon!? Worlds’ enemies were basically final bosses of the attacking world, how could they bring them in here? Almost as if she was reading my mind, Sherafina immediately added.

[The power of worlds’ enemies isn’t absolute. Between annihilation and subservience, many choose subservience.]

“That’s amazing.”

I murmured quietly. Even so, having worlds’ enemies trapped in the dungeon... I had a feeling that there was more to it than what Sherafina said. Sherafina might even be strong enough to save all worlds without anyone else having to help her. Of course, there had to be a reason she was just administering the dungeon.

[All enemies from now will be unpredictable. I advise you to take time to analyze their abilities.]

“No, that’s okay.”

I didn’t expect the dungeon to show monsters matching my standard, but even if the 81st floor had fixed monsters, I didn’t plan on getting information about them from Loretta. That would be possible in the dungeon, but on Earth and on other worlds, it was impossible for me to know everything about enemies I met. I needed to be able to deal with enemies I didn’t know anything about.

... Still, this was too much!

“Huu...!”

I took a deep breath and swung my spear, shooting several aura waves flying. It seemed they couldn’t absorb powerful auras as blood exploded everywhere. I then raised Absolute Soul to its peak strength. No matter how my Absolute Soul’s level was, I wouldn’t be able to freely absorb mana from these mana eaters, but I would at least be able to minimize the mana I lost.

“Yeah, I can just think of this floor as a place to train Absolute Soul.”

Even as I half-jokingly said that, I frowned. If there was one thing I was sure about, it was that I wouldn’t be able to break through the floor in a couple of hours. If I tried to fly in this place, I would be swept over by a tsunami of blood and never make it out.

“Alright, let’s go.”

What could I do? I pondered as I struck down lumps of blood with my spear. My aura and elemental power were both only at half their strength. Lightning God’s power was somewhat efficient, but it wasn’t the perfect answer. Making direct contact with them had more disadvantages than advantages.

“Peika, Ruyue! Break through the front for now!”

[Got it!]

[Eit!]

I didn’t need to conserve mana. I poured plenty of mana into them and focused on Peruta Circuit. Mana surpassing 500,000 points circulated around my body, filling up my body and materializing outside. It seemed the whirlpool of mana appearing around me looked tasty to these Crimson Hell clones, as they surged towards me like raging waves. Just how did people from Pantiran continent fight these guys without Absolute Soul? I could only sigh.

“Now that I think about it...”

While sending Peika and Ruyue about 10% of my mana in a single moment, I scanned over my skills in the skill window and suddenly stopped when I saw a skill. Breath of Death. It was the skill I got from defeating the Death Knight.

“This skill let me wield aura of death.”

It was a skill that let me absorb the energy of lives I took. I could breathe it out and use it to attack, but I could also use it as an aura by cladding my weapon with it like I did with Lightning God’s power or elemental power. Simply put, this skill let me use death aura which usually belonged to peak rank undead. Though I wasn’t sure because I’d never used it, it should have marvelous effect against any living beings.

The wave of blood surged towards me without sound. Ruyue and Peika seemed to be pushing it back, but even bigger waves erupted from behind in a never-ending cycle. I never would have thought I would face such a scene in the First Dungeon.

Before it was too late, I used Breath of Death and searched for the collected death energy within me. It was inside a small sphere near my heart. As I killed a terrifying number of enemies in Edias continent, the sphere was full to the point it was leaking out energy.

When I drew it in my spear with Peruta Circuit, the already black Chaotic Spear began to emit an ominous energy and was dyed in a deeper black. Even I didn’t want to touch this aura with my hands. However, I wasn’t done yet.

“Chaos flame.”

I whispered and ignited chaos flames. When it mixed with death aura, black flames instantly shot up on my spear with an dreary force. It looked even more formidable than the aura Death Knight wielded. As I controlled the aura and checked its power, I was shocked to find I could maintain it for over a year.

Did I kill that many lives in Edias continent? Really...

“Good, at least I won’t have to worry about running out of energy!”

It was great ! I immediately tested this new power. Even though it was called death aura, it couldn’t defy Peruta Circuit’s control. The blazing death flames enveloped my spear in a whirlpool shape and became fiercer. When Peika and Ruyue couldn’t hold out any more and took a step back, I pushed forward and shot out the flame whirlpool in all directions.

“How’s this!?”

Of course, the Crimson Hell clones didn’t say anything. They couldn’t. They could only detect mana and move towards it greedily. The death flames had a terrifying effect. Any blood that touched the flames began to grow darker, and the blackness continued to spread to parts that didn’t touch the flames. The blood fell back realizing something was wrong, but the parts that touched the flames had already burned up and disappeared.

Flames that burn until the target’s death mixed with the aura of death. No matter how voracious these mana eaters were, they were still alive in the end. The combination of chaos flames and death aura directly countered their existence. I had found my answer.

“Perfect! Peika, Ruyue, you two can go rest now. Thanks.”

[Un. I don’t want to deal with them.]

[Call us if you need help!]

When the two elementals who showed great firepower disappeared, they rushed towards me, forgetting about the loss they just suffered. Perhaps they planned on leaving parts of their bodies to die so they can focus on devouring me. It seemed I needed to remind them who the real predator was.

“Huhu, I can even do this now!”

Death flames, which originally only spun around my spear, suddenly grew bigger following the increasing size of the whirlpool. As Peruta Circuit’s spin got fiercer by a level, the whirlpool around my spear combined with the whirlpool enveloping my body. I felt a bit out of breath in this whirlpool of flames, but it wasn’t to the point my movements were affected.

To be honest, I was still a bit scared, but I let myself go and jumped into the raging wave of blood.

“Uooooooo!”

The feeling I got when I first made contact with them wasn’t bad. The wave was immediately dyed black and burned up before evaporating helplessly. Still, the wave of blood continued to rush towards me, sweeping over the whirlpool covering me. With their special trait of absorbing mana, even if they couldn’t absorb death aura, they should still be able to absorb the mana forming chaos flames. The whirlpool began to lose strength. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“I didn’t want to do this, but...!”

Now that it had come to this, I had no other choice. I poured about 200,000 points worth of mana into the whirlpool. Its death flames instantly began to blaze fiercer as it expanded outward. The approaching wave of blood seemed to be startled as it jumped back.

“Let’s see if I run out of mana or if you fully evaporate! Uaaaaaaah!”

I howled and began to run under the wave of blood surrounded by only my flaming whirlpool! The hand holding the Chaotic Spear constantly moved around, piercing through the front to make a way, while the whirlpool of flames surrounding my body endlessly resisted the wave of blood using my mana. I then summoned Sharana and even added Wind King’s Rage.

[These guys are so annoying. I’ll strengthen you soon, Master!]

Sharana’s strengthened wind energy joined the flaming whirlpool and created a terrifying force. Eventually, I stopped seeing the wave of blood in front of me. Crimson Hell, which had once been close enough to touch my nose, was completely blocked the whirlpool and couldn’t approach me at all.

As I continued to run, I gulped down a mana potion. It tasted like a strawberry banana shake.

“Kuu... I don’t even feel like I drank anything.”

No matter how expensive the mana potion I drank was, it couldn’t fill more than 20% of my mana, and I could only use it as an extra support. Thankfully, with the mana I stole using Absolute Soul and Peruta Circuit continuously absorbing the surrounding me, I could barely maintain my whirlpool.

“Good, let’s keep going!”

[Leave it to me, Master!]

Sharana’s power harmonized with any power and strengthened it. She drew her power to its limit, and the 3 meter radius whirlpool raged fiercely and evaporated Crimson Hell. I felt like I could hear their screams of despair.

“Uaaaaaaah!”

Almost as if I could defeat them with sound, I shouted at the top of my lungs and charged forward. It was a secret that I thought I looked cool as I ran through a sea of blood with a flaming whirlpool around me.

Two days and three hours after that, I managed to break through the 81st floor with my mana completely drained.