Ch.6868. Divine Mandate

The boss’s form shattered and crumbled like glass.

More precisely, the boss crumbled in the world that Amon was seeing.

The boss’s fragments, which poured down like glass, floated back up, reassembled, and then poured down again in a continuous cycle.

This wasn’t the first time he had experienced this phenomenon.

It was something he could see in all the monsters that entered his field of vision since entering this dungeon.

When he first saw this phenomenon, Amon wasn’t surprised.

Instead, just as one doesn’t need to learn how to breathe after being born, he naturally recognized that this phenomenon was part of himself.

When he first encountered monsters and this phenomenon began, he started to verify it.

By the time Amon arrived at the boss room, he could draw conclusions about this phenomenon.

And to verify that conclusion, he had leaped at the boss alone.

Amon closed his eyes and opened them again.

Escaping the dreamlike world, the boss in reality was still intact.

Amon entered the boss room.

As soon as he entered, the boss assumed a combat stance.

When the boss swung its arm, pillars of light poured down from the sky without warning.

The Branding pattern.

It was a technique the fake saint had used.

Though the dialogue was different.

[Accept evolution!]

Somehow the President of Higgjen was shouting what should have been Dr. Victor’s line.

Amon knew what to do.

However, it was a bit different from before.

Back then, he had to roll on the ground to avoid it, but now a light sidestep was more than enough.

Perhaps not expecting him to easily avoid the first attack, the boss looked visibly flustered.

Amon immediately went for the wings.

[Aaaaargh!!!]

As Amon’s sword passed through, smoke rose like a fire earthquake, and the boss writhed in pain.

Then Amon blinked.

His vision changed again, and he could see the boss in the other world.

The crumbling boss.

However, it was slightly different from the previous appearance.

‘As I thought.’

After receiving Amon’s attack, the collapse was accelerating.

This time, Amon targeted the most cracked part of the boss’s body.

And when he returned to reality, the wound around the shoulder that had been attacked began to grow larger.

Confirming this, Amon was certain of what his eyes were seeing.

‘Heavenly Mandate.’

His eyes could read predetermined fate.

Unlike Kathy, who could read the future, he could tell when someone would die.

However, the reason why the monsters here broke and reassembled was because they were beings that neither lived nor died.

Infinitely close to death, yet unable to escape this dungeon.

That’s why their existence, as he glimpsed it, repeated collapse and restoration.

At first glance, these eyes seemed useless in battle, but their utility was boundless.

For example, the shoulder Amon had attacked.

The wound on that shoulder was eating away at the boss’s body in reality as well.

And the boss’s collapse in the other world was accelerating much faster than before.

The boss was dying faster than its predetermined lifespan.

In other words, it meant that Amon could intentionally shorten the Heavenly Mandate.

‘The verification is complete.’

Now it was time to fulfill Kathy’s request.

Despite being able to kill the boss, Amon deliberately didn’t and instead investigated its patterns.

Outside the boss room, Sonia was recording the patterns.

After some time, Amon judged that the boss had shown everything it could.

He took out a slightly long dagger from his pocket, which had applied spatial technology.

He threw the dagger, piercing the boss’s thigh.

The boss struggled and tried to flee from Amon, but with its wings cut off and a blade stuck in its thigh, it couldn’t escape.

Amon approached the boss.

And just as Amon was about to swing his sword—

The president smiled grotesquely.

“?”

Though he instinctively realized something was being plotted, Amon still swung his sword.

Just before his sword made contact, a voice came from Dr. Victor’s head attached to the back of the president’s skull.

[That’s a nice-looking sword. Would you like to sell it?]

With those words, Amon’s sword disappeared.

Without any warning.

And Amon felt a heavy weight in his pocket.

Glancing down, he saw a wad of cash stuffed in his pocket.

‘Huh.’

This was a pattern he hadn’t seen before.

While Amon was marveling, the boss didn’t miss the opportunity and swung its staff.

Though the staff was hardly an impressive weapon, with the boss’s strength, it could crush most human skulls.

‘Most’

The problem was that Amon wasn’t part of that “most.”

Thwack!

[Gack]

[Kuaack!]

Amon’s left arm blocked the staff while his right elbow struck the boss’s solar plexus.

There was one thing the boss had overlooked.

Close-quarters sword combat ultimately comes down to martial arts.

Wrestling, karate, boxing, and so on.

These were essential areas that swordsmen mastered to prepare for situations where swords became entangled.

While they might not be at the level of specialists in the same field, they were still quite proficient.

The notion that swordsmen are vulnerable without their swords was a misconception.

Thwack!

Amon struck the boss’s side and retreated.

The boss clutched its side and tried to use the technique the fake saint had used, but of course, it wouldn’t work.

Easily dodging with Sky Step, Amon moved past the boss’s head to its back.

And once again, he kicked its side.

This continued several times.

Starting from the side, the boss’s body began to collapse.

The lifespan of the boss, as seen by Amon, was rapidly diminishing.

He broke the staff with his knee, struck the stomach repeatedly to daze the boss, and kicked the back of its knees to make it kneel.

Thud!

Due to its massive size, even kneeling, the boss’s gaze reached Amon’s shoulder height.

Amon looked down at the boss with its lowered gaze.

[That fist… its market value…]

[I can see the direction evolution should take…]

The boss mumbled nonsense as if in a daze.

Compared to the fake saint, it lacked an impressive presence.

Amon took out a dagger from his coat pocket and ended the boss’s life.

Thump.

The massive body sprawled on the floor.

As the boss was gradually absorbed into the dungeon, turning into particles, Amon turned towards Sonia.

“Did you record it?”

“I recorded everything. Except for the pattern where the weapon suddenly disappears, everything else was a degraded version of the fake saint.”

“I felt the same.”

“But where did the disappeared weapon go?”

Amon showed her his pocket.

A wad of cash was visible.

“It paid a fair price.”

“Isn’t that what Kathy was going to buy for you as a special order?”

“Maybe…”

Amon sighed.

The boss itself was manageable.

But the pattern of suddenly removing equipment was a bit painful.

While one could repurchase with money, limited edition items couldn’t be replaced with money.

Sonia added a note about the boss.

“Never bring expensive equipment.”

Amon added from the side.

“At least someone who knows how to use their fists…”

At that moment, a strange sound came from the direction of the boss.

Clink.

Both of them looked towards the boss.

The boss had already disappeared.

Instead, a familiar sphere was in its place.

“A core?”

Amon immediately picked up the sphere.

Yellow.

Another legendary one.

Sonia’s eyes lit up.

“I’ll appraise it!”

Now that she had learned the skill, she could appraise it.

While she was appraising the core, Amon thought about it.

‘Another legendary?’

It was strange.

The fake saint was definitely a boss worthy of a legendary core, but objectively, this boss wasn’t at the level to drop a legendary core.

Yet, a legendary dropped.

Of course, it could be good luck, but recently, Amon had received two legendary cores in a row.

It seemed too odd to attribute to mere luck.

While Amon was pondering, Sonia, who had finished appraising, approached.

“Appraisal complete.”

“What is it?”

“Stitching. It allows you to stitch threads seamlessly.”

“Not bad.”

Sonia nodded.

At first glance, it might seem useless, but “stitching” was too broad a concept.

While only sewing with thread might come to mind, if someone who uses a whip or harpoon were to use this core, it would demonstrate a formidable power.

It meant that as long as a thrown weapon was connected by a line, one could manipulate it freely, like sewing.

Cores were always like this.

Power that touches the concept itself.

Amon’s application of Sky Step to develop an unusual fighting style was an extension of this.

Therefore, the concept of “stitching” itself wasn’t a dud.

It’s just that Amon and Sonia had no use for it.

“Let’s sell it at an auction or to the company later.”

Sonia nodded and placed the core inside her garment.

“Are we leaving now?”

After pondering for a moment at Sonia’s question, Amon shook his head.

“Let’s stay for about two more weeks.”

“Why?”

“Two legendary cores in a row. There might be some rule. Would that be okay with you?”

Sonia nodded vigorously.

There was no reason to object.

School was on break anyway, and with Amon by her side, she didn’t particularly care where they were.

Rather, it meant they could date in their hometown during the empty time.

Sonia asked Amon tentatively.

“So what are we going to do for the next three days?”

“Well, want to go on a date?”

“Where to?”

“Let’s go to the amusement park tomorrow.”

Sonia happily nodded.

*

After two weeks, Amon and Sonia returned.

They immediately headed to Kathy’s office.

“You look exhausted.”

That was Amon’s impression upon entering the office and seeing Kathy in a suit, melting on her desk.

Kathy spoke in a voice that seemed to be dying from the desk.

“I’m not exhausted…”

“With that appearance?”

“I’m not exhausted, I’m dyiiiiing…”

“You do look like you’re dying.”

Amon placed a bottle of alcohol he had bought from his hometown on Kathy’s desk.

It was Colorado beer.

Craft beer made with real barley, not GMO.

Made by old man Johnson, a goat beastkin who retired from the office.

“I bought it for you.”

“Thanks.”

Kathy put the beer in the refrigerator and regained her composure.

“So, what’s the result?”

“Sonia will explain it well.”

Amon stepped back, and Sonia approached.

She handed over the report she had organized over the two weeks.

Kathy casually skimmed through the report.

But as she neared the end of the report, her eyes widened.

“Is this… real?”

“Since we only have 10 samples, I can’t be certain, but it seems right.”

“Still, this is valuable enough.”

Kathy pointed to a page in the report.

It was about the boss’s special pattern.

<The boss can purchase equipment without any warning. The criterion is the most valuable equipment in that place, and if the values are similar, it prioritizes threatening weapons.>

Just looking at this, there was no particular reason to tackle the boss, nor was there a reason for Kathy to show a surprised reaction.

The true value of the boss was in the next content.

<At this time, the value of the purchased equipment affects the rarity of the core dropped when defeating the boss.>

A table was drawn in the report.

Equipment worth over 100 million often dropped legendary cores, while those in the tens of millions dropped unique grade cores.

Unfortunately, Amon and Sonia didn’t have many pieces of equipment, and they didn’t have much time, but the credibility was still high.

Kathy immediately contacted the External Cooperation Department.

“Yes, this is Director Kathy Requetio. It’s urgent, so I’ll send the relevant materials later, but could you prepare the dungeon acquisition procedure? Yes. Thank you.”

Dungeons are generally public.

They were closer to spaces where mercenaries would come and coexist with things that were difficult to dispose of or manage.

In other words, if someone had the confidence to manage or dispose of it, it was entirely possible to own it.

After all, in this world, it’s faster to find what can’t be bought with money.

After finishing the call, Kathy nodded with satisfaction.

“You did an excellent job this time. Besides the compensation, I’ll give you something extra later.”

“Ah, speaking of that…”

“Yes?”

Amon awkwardly backed away from Kathy.

Then suddenly, he bowed his head.

“I’m sorry! I ruined all the new equipment you bought for me!”

All the equipment listed in the report were items Kathy had purchased.

And that too, with Kathy’s personal funds.

Altogether, they amounted to the price of a small to medium-sized enterprise, so Amon had nothing to say even if he had ten mouths.

Of course, Amon knew that it wasn’t a burdensome amount for Kathy.

But there’s a matter of the sincerity of the person who gave the gift, isn’t there?

For such things, not apologizing would leave a sense of disappointment.

“I’m sorry!”

Sonia also apologized alongside Amon.

She hadn’t done anything wrong, but it just felt like the right thing to do.

Both of their foreheads were directed towards Kathy.

A moment of silence descended in the office, and then Kathy spoke.

“It’s really okay.”

“Really?”

“Equipment is consumable anyway. Feel free to use it up. It’s not hard to get more.”

Besides, this level of support is basic…

Kathy was about to say something but swallowed her words.

It wasn’t the right time yet.

Instead, she commended the two for their achievements.

“Rest until the dungeon acquisition is complete. I’ll give you a bonus then. Whatever you imagine, it’ll be more than that.”

With those words, Kathy stamped the completion of this request.

Afterwards, the three chatted casually before parting ways.

Later, when Amon and Sonia returned to their beloved home,

Kathy picked up the phone again.

“The people I’m sending the list to now. Keep them under close surveillance for the next 3 months. Especially those with names in red, don’t let them leave work.”

“Get me the head of External Intelligence. … Make sure the reporters don’t catch a whiff for at least 2 weeks.”

“Yes, Torso. Is Vans with you? Really? I’m sorry, but could you both be on duty with me for a while? It’s a task I can only entrust to you two.”

Kathy was making calls everywhere.

Her night was longer than others’.