Chapter 104: One of a Kind

Episode 104

‘…Wait a minute.’

A thought suddenly crossed Kim Jinsung’s mind.

‘If they really do absorb my dark energy…’

Just then, one of the monsters fired another black laser beam at him.

This time, instead of dodging, he deactivated his dark energy shield, allowing the laser to hit him directly.

‘…It doesn’t hurt.’

He felt no pain, despite taking the full brunt of the attack.

A notification even popped up.

—

▶ Absorbed dark energy.

▶ Acquired 5 Beast Karma points.

—

Kim Jinsung’s eyes lit up, seeing the notification.

‘As I thought, they’re made of the same type of dark energy as mine.’

The monsters hadn’t been affected by any of his dark energy-infused attacks.

Therefore, he had surmised that as someone with a demonic constitution, he wouldn’t be harmed by their dark energy attacks either.

He had taken a risk, allowing himself to be hit. Not only had he emerged unscathed, he had even gained Beast Karma points, just like those monsters had grown stronger by absorbing his attacks.

‘Now it’s confirmed. In that case…’

He shifted his mana attribute.

He extended his hand towards the monsters.

A massive fireball formed above his palm and shot toward the group of monsters.

**Boom!**

A fiery explosion engulfed the entire passage.

As the smoke from the explosion cleared, he saw the monsters engulfed in flames, their bodies shrinking rapidly.

Unlike when they had grown larger and more aggressive after absorbing his dark energy attacks, they were clearly being damaged this time.

‘They’re susceptible to mana attacks of different attributes.’

Now that he knew how to deal with them, he unleashed a massive firestorm, engulfing the monsters.

**Whoosh!**

The black monsters, caught in the blaze, rapidly shrunk before disappearing completely.

At the same time, a notification appeared.

—

▶ You have defeated a monster.

▶ Acquired 150 Beast Karma points.

▶ Obtained trait ‘Being of Dark Energy’ from the defeated monster.

▷ Being of Dark Energy: Damage of dark energy attacks increased by 10%. Absorbing dark energy slightly restores HP and MP.

—

‘…Huh? 150 points?’

Kim Jinsung’s eyes widened slightly at the unexpectedly high number.

He hadn’t expected to get this many points from something so easy to defeat.

‘Is it because they are made entirely of dark energy…?’

He wasn’t sure, but it was good news nonetheless.

‘At this rate, I can refill my points quickly.’

He thought, spotting more of the dark energy monsters in the distance.

He had depleted most of the points he’d accumulated from hunting Quagmires while fighting Shin Woong.

He needed to stock up on points, and these dark energy monsters seemed to be the perfect target.

* * *

‘…Three paths.’

Kim Jinsung, continuing down the passage, eliminating monsters along the way, reached a fork in the path.

Three separate paths extended before him: left, center, and right. He extended his palm.

‘I’ll scout with the ‘Eyes of Surveillance’ first.’

He held his palm up, summoning three hawks.

He planned to send one hawk down each passage and proceed down the safest-looking one.

Just then,

‘…Huh?’

He suddenly detected multiple living beings clustered beyond the wall.

Having absorbed the ‘Mana Controller,’ ‘Sense of Location,’ and ‘Vibration Detection’ traits, he could now sense life forms much farther away.

He also started hearing faint but chaotic noises coming from the same direction. His hearing, enhanced by the ‘Keen Hearing’ trait, picked up.

“Argh!”

“Minions of the Demon World! Don’t block their attacks, dodge!”

“Damn it! My sword isn’t working… Aargh!”

The sounds of battle.

He could sense the desperation in the contestants’ voices as they fought against the monsters.

‘Hm…’

He pondered for a moment, then slipped into his own shadow.

At the same time, a massive black hole, opened up within his shadow.

He had activated his Warp Hole skill.

15 seconds later, he stepped through the exit he had created.

He immediately saw the source of the battle sounds.

“Damn it! Get away!”

The contestants were in a dire situation.

Two lay dead, their bodies charred black, seemingly burned to death. The surviving contestant was desperately swinging his sword against three bipedal monsters.

But there was something unusual about these monsters.

‘They’re on fire?’

Unlike the dark energy monsters he’d encountered so far, these creatures were entirely engulfed in flames.

‘Are they formed from fire mana? If so…’

He immediately shifted his mana attribute to ice. He extended his palm towards the monsters.

Cold, water-based mana surged from his palm.

‘Water is the best way to extinguish fire.’

He swiftly thrust both his palms forward.

A massive whirlpool of water formed, engulfing the fire monsters.

The monsters, caught in the churning water, began to shrink rapidly before disappearing completely.

—

▶ You have defeated a monster.

▶ Acquired 150 Beast Karma points.

▶ Obtained trait ‘Being of Fire’ from the defeated monster.

▷ Being of Fire: Damage of fire mana attacks increased by 10%. Absorbing fire mana slightly restores HP and MP.

—

‘…So, there are monsters made from different mana attributes.’

As Kim Jinsung was thinking this,

“Gasp! K-Kim Jinsung…!”

The surviving contestant, staring at him, was utterly shocked.

He instantly bowed deeply, practically folding himself in half.

“Thank you, Jinsung! My name is Lee Jiseong! Thank you so much for helping…huh?”

Lee Jiseong’s bowing abruptly stopped.

He saw Kim Jinsung approaching him, expressionless, his right hand gripping a longsword.

‘…N-no way!’

Lee Jiseong’s face paled with fear. He was clearly coming to kill him.

“Wait! Just hear me out! I know this Demon World Dungeon very well! I once worked in the body disposal unit here in the New Continent!”

He blurted out, fear fueling his frantic attempt to persuade Kim Jinsung.

Resistance wasn’t even a consideration.

He knew he wouldn’t stand a chance against Kim Jinsung, the only contestant who had achieved the ‘Union of Body and Qi’ realm.

“I can be of immense help to you if you spare me! So please, just once…ugh, uwaaaah!”

Kim Jinsung’s outstretched hand made him shriek and collapse to the ground.

His hand reached toward the fallen Lee Jiseong and…

‘…Huh?’

He saw Kim Jinsung rummaging through the bag of one of the dead contestants and finally stopped trembling.

‘What? He wasn’t going to kill me…?’

Ignoring Lee Jiseong’s inner thoughts, Kim Jinsung focused on retrieving the contents of the bag.

He collected mainly food items, stuffing them into his own bag, thinking,

‘I have no idea how long it’ll take to escape this labyrinth. So stock up on food.’

After emptying both bodies’ bags of food and other supplies, he stood up.

Lee Jiseong, who had been staring at him blankly,

‘…Huh?’

Snapped out of his daze when he saw Kim Jinsung looking at him pointedly. He remembered what he was supposed to be doing.

“Ah, yes! This is the way!”

He quickly got up and pointed towards a passage.

Kim Jinsung silently followed the direction, and Lee Jiseong scurried after him.

But they soon came to a halt.

‘…Lava?’

Kim Jinsung’s eyes fell on a vast, sloping area ahead, the floor teeming with glowing red liquid.

Then, he saw several humanoid fire monsters strolling across the molten floor.

“Those are the minions of the Demon World that attacked us earlier. Three were stationed at the entrance of this lava zone and charged towards us.”

Lee Jiseong’s explanation came from behind.

“We need to find a way to cross this lava zone first. Based on my experience, there’s bound to be a hidden switch somewhere that changes the surrounding environment.”

“……”

“I’ll check the right wall, and you, Jinsung, the left…. “

Before he could even finish speaking, Kim Jinsung suddenly moved.

“……!!”

Lee Jiseong’s eyes widened in disbelief.

He saw Kim Jinsung floating in mid-air, crossing the lava zone.

Seol Daun’s ‘Mana Controller’ trait made this possible, but for Lee Jiseong, who was unaware of this, the sight of a flying Kim Jinsung was utterly astounding.

‘Is he even human…?’

**Whoosh!!**

A rushing sound suddenly filled the air.

A waterfall materialized, cascading down on the fire monsters.

The force of the waterfall was tremendous.

Not only did it extinguish the fire monsters rapidly, it also started to cool the lava on the ground.

Soon, the lava zone cooled down completely, the molten rock hardening into solid basalt.

‘Oh my god….’

Lee Jiseong, his jaw still hanging open in disbelief, scurried after Kim Jinsung, who was already walking away across the newly-formed basalt floor.

* * *

Near the dungeon portal.

Hong Yeonseok, the leader of the Daehan Clan hunter team, was listening to a report through his earpiece.

“…Understood.”

He approached Yong Hangil and reported in a low voice,

“Kim Jinsung is about to reach the designated location.”

“Proceed as planned.”

“Yes, Master.”

He responded, immediately activating the microphone on his earpiece. He covered his mouth with his hand, speaking quietly to his fellow hunters,

“Prepare to open the dimensional rift.”

—