Chapter 128: The Most Difficult Level 10 Demon World Dungeon

Episode 128

[Have you already forgotten that I, a Demon Lord, personally clashed with those hypocritical Celestial Realm bastards to help a mere being of the middle world!]

Dantalian continued to pour his rage directly into Kim Jinsung’s mind.

[You should be bowing down and thanking me for the favor I bestowed upon you! You ungrateful, arrogant little brat…!]

‘Ah, it’s so noisy as soon as we enter.’

[W-what?! This kid really…!]

Just as Kim Jinsung felt Dantalian’s anger reaching its peak,

[Demon Lord Amdusias focuses all his attention on you upon discovering your presence.]

[Demon Lord Orias is delighted by your arrival.]

[Demon Lord Vapula wishes to speak with you.]

[Demon Lord Belial…]

Numerous notifications popped up before Kim Jinsung’s eyes.

At the same time, Dantalian shouted in a panicked voice,

[Those greedy devils…!]

‘Then should I talk to Vapula first?’

[No!]

Dantalian yelled.

Simultaneously, all the notifications disappeared in an instant.

[Demon Lord Dantalian has temporarily blocked all Demon Lords from approaching you.]

A familiar notification appeared, followed by Dantalian’s firm declaration in his mind,

[Who dares to interfere with a middle world being already in negotiations! Absolutely not!]

‘There he goes again.’

[Shut up! This is an unspoken rule among Demon Lords, a rule!]

‘Anyway, thanks.’

[…Huh?]

Dantalian was taken aback by Kim Jinsung’s sudden expression of gratitude.

Kim Jinsung continued in a sincere tone,

‘Thanks to you, I was able to escape safely and become a free man. I wouldn’t be able to talk to you like this if it weren’t for your help.’

Dantalian was silent for a moment, then cleared his throat and said smugly,

[…Ahem! What did I tell you? I said it would definitely succeed, that you should trust me! Ahem, ahem.]

His incessant coughing suggested that he was quite pleased with Kim Jinsung’s words.

Then, he subtly revealed his true intentions.

[Ahem! Well, if you’re really grateful, how about we finally make that soul contract…]

“This place… I think I’ve been here before.”

However, Karen’s voice, interjecting at the perfect moment, cut him off.

“It’s been a while, so I can’t quite remember what kind of monsters appear in this dungeon. I think I’ll remember if we walk around a bit.”

As soon as Karen finished speaking, Dantalian shouted again in a voice boiling with rage,

[That clueless bastard…! Who is that insolent human who dares to interrupt a Demon Lord!]

‘My guide.’

Kim Jinsung replied.

[Guide? Guide… Huh! He must be a real guide. I can’t sense any mana from him.]

‘I sealed his mana.’

[…You did?]

‘Yeah. Just in case he gets any funny ideas.’

Dantalian chuckled.

[Kukuku! An excellent choice. That’s right, you can’t trust anyone when it comes to those treacherous middle world beings!]

Karen, completely unaware that Kim Jinsung was talking to someone, spoke,

“Let’s follow the path. We’ll encounter monsters soon. Once we identify them, we can figure out what kind of dungeon this is.”

He tried to walk ahead after explaining, but Kim Jinsung stopped him.

“Wait.”

As Karen turned around with a puzzled expression, Kim Jinsung closed his eyes and entered a state of resonance.

He began to resonate with the dark energy permeating the dungeon, just like he had during the Colosseum finals.

After a while, the dungeon’s dark energy completely synchronized with Kim Jinsung.

He was now able to detect beings with dark energy within the dungeon.

‘…There’s no exit portal, but there’s a being with particularly strong dark energy to the northwest.’

Dantalian immediately responded to Kim Jinsung’s words.

[You found it! That’s the boss of this place. The portal to the exit will open once you defeat it.]

Kim Jinsung nodded and said to Karen,

“This way is a shortcut.”

He then started walking northwest towards the boss.

Karen asked with a confused expression,

“How do you know it’s a shortcut?”

“Just a hunch.”

“W-what…?”

Karen looked at Kim Jinsung with a dumbfounded expression.

Ignoring him, Kim Jinsung continued walking northwest.

As the distance between them widened, Karen had no choice but to run after him.

‘If only I wasn’t wearing these shackles…!’

He practically had no choice.

If he tried to escape back to the entrance portal, Kim Jinsung would catch up to him and cut off his head before he could even react.

As Karen ran, gritting his teeth,

Kim Jinsung was listening to Dantalian’s voice in his head.

[By the way, I’m surprised. You’ve become much stronger in just two days.]

‘Really?’

It seemed the pure stats he had gained from killing the giant Twin Head Ogres, the crossbred monsters, and Franco’s group had helped.

[The dark energy here wouldn’t have synchronized with your resonance so easily before… What happened in the meantime?]

‘I don’t know. Not sure.’

Kim Jinsung didn’t bother explaining and changed the subject.

He had no intention of telling anyone about his ability to grow stronger by killing villains.

“Wait, wait!”

Karen, who had finally caught up to him, blocked Kim Jinsung’s path and tried to stop him.

“Regardless of whether it’s a shortcut or not, it’s extremely dangerous to blindly walk through the forest paths of a dungeon!”

Kim Jinsung looked ahead at Karen’s words.

He saw a dense forest instead of the open plains.

“This is the type of environment where monsters appear the most in Demon World Dungeons! So let’s go back to the open path…”

“You should have said something sooner.”

“…What?”

Karen asked back, momentarily confused by Kim Jinsung’s words.

At that moment, rustling sounds began to come from the forest ahead.

As the sounds got closer, Karen looked towards the forest with a worried expression.

“……!”

His eyes widened as numerous monsters emerged from the bushes.

They were monsters the size of adult males, with bodies made entirely of stone.

“G-Golems…!”

Karen stammered, looking at the monsters.

The Golems then charged towards the two.

The ground rumbled as the numerous Golems stomped their feet.

But in the middle of their charge,

**Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!**

The Golems exploded with loud booms.

Kim Jinsung had used his ‘Mana Controller’ trait to detonate the dark energy concentrated within their bodies.

“……?”

Karen, unable to comprehend the sudden turn of events, looked at Kim Jinsung with a blank expression.

Dantalian’s voice, filled with admiration, was heard in his mind.

[Ooh. You can even use that technique.]

But Kim Jinsung ignored him, focusing on the notification that had appeared before his eyes.

—

▶ You have defeated a monster.

▶ Acquired 150 Beast Karma points.

▶ You have acquired the opponent’s trait ‘Body Made of Rock’.

▷ Body Made of Rock: Permanently increases Skin Defense by 70.

▶ Skin Defense increased by 70 due to the ‘Body Made of Rock’ trait.

—

‘…My Skin Defense will soon exceed 1,000 at this rate.’

Kim Jinsung cleared the notification and wondered. How tough would skin with a defense value of 1,000 be?

‘I’m sure I’ll have a chance to test it out naturally someday.’

Karen’s voice then reached his ears.

“Damn it…! Of all dungeons, we had to enter a Golem Dungeon…!”

Karen was shaking his head in frustration beside him.

Meeting Kim Jinsung’s gaze, he began to explain.

“As you saw earlier, this is a Demon World Dungeon where only Golems appear. The problem is that it’s considered the most difficult among Level 10 Demon World Dungeons.

Some hunters even consider this Golem Dungeon to be at the level of a Level 15 dungeon or higher. Because…”

**Thud! Thud! Thud!**

Heavy footsteps that shook the ground began to come from deep within the forest ahead at regular intervals.

The sounds got closer, and then they heard the sound of a giant tree being felled with a crack.

They could then see the source of the sound.

It was a colossal Rock Golem, incomparably larger than the Golems they had just defeated.

‘…It’s ridiculously huge.’

The largest monster Kim Jinsung had encountered so far was Forghinae.

The Golem before him was almost as large as Forghinae.

“Be careful!”

Karen’s urgent shout was heard.

“You can’t damage that thing with ordinary attacks!”

The giant Rock Golem, which had been walking slowly, suddenly started running towards them.

It reached them in an instant with speed that belied its size and swung its massive rock fist at Kim Jinsung.

Kim Jinsung swiftly dodged the attack.

**Thud!**

The spot where Kim Jinsung had been standing was deeply cratered, as if hit by artillery fire.

He immediately swung his sword at the Golem’s fist, which was embedded in the ground.

**Swoosh.**

Kim Jinsung’s sword cleanly severed the Golem’s wrist.

‘It was cut… Huh?’

Kim Jinsung’s eyes widened.

He saw the severed part reattaching itself immediately.

The Golem then swung its fist at Kim Jinsung again, as if nothing had happened.

As Kim Jinsung dodged the attack again,

“Didn’t I say it’s immune to damage!”

Karen’s shout came from afar, where he had fled.

“Listen to me from now on! This is the only way to defeat a Golem!

First, we need to somehow bind its ankles and restrict its movement as much as possible! Use your spiderweb ability!”

Just as Kim Jinsung extended his arm forward at Karen’s words,

[Is that human really your guide?]

Dantalian’s dumbfounded voice was heard in Kim Jinsung’s mind.

‘Why?’

[He’s spouting nonsense! Why can’t you damage a mere Golem, hes not a Demon Lord!]

Kim Jinsung asked Dantalian, who was practically scolding him,

‘So there is a way to damage it?’

At the same time, he leaped back a good distance.

The Golem’s fist slammed into the spot where he had been standing with a thud.

Karen shouted at Kim Jinsung, who had dodged the attack, in frustration,

“What are you doing?! Quickly bind its legs with spiderwebs! We can’t kill that Golem unless we restrict its movement and pulverize its entire body!”

[First, shut that human up! He’s too noisy, I can’t explain properly!]

At Dantalian’s irritated shout, Kim Jinsung immediately ran towards Karen.

Naturally, the giant Golem followed him.

“No, why is it coming this way…?”

As Karen panicked, Kim Jinsung suddenly threw himself to the side.

The Golem’s fist, aimed at him, struck Karen, who was standing right behind him.

**Thud!**

Karen flew backward, scattering teeth and blood in the air with a dull thud.

His head slammed into a large rock with a bang, and he collapsed to the ground, motionless.

[…I said shut him up, not kill him?]

‘He’s not dead.’

Kim Jinsung urged Dantalian,

‘Don’t worry about him and tell me how to deal with the Golem.’

—