Chapter 64: Why Fight on the Enemy’s Home Ground

Chapter 64

“The true danger of the Quagmire isn’t its powerful physical abilities or any special skills, right?”

Jang Seungwook said to Baek Jun. Although Baek Jun kept his eyes on the monitor, Jang Seungwook seemed unbothered.

“It’s infamous for having the best regenerative abilities and the ability to reproduce by splitting. That’s why it’s so notorious.”

“Mm.”

Baek Jun nodded slightly in agreement.

Quagmire.

Even if most of its body was destroyed, as long as the remaining body parts had mana, it could regenerate. This absurd ability made it one of the most challenging monsters to deal with, requiring immense focus, stamina, and patience. Even top-tier hunters found it incredibly difficult to handle.

“Even large parties that tackle A-rank dungeons struggle with those things. Kim Jinsung taking them on alone… it’s nearly impossible.”

“Mm.”

“…Or so I thought.”

Jang Seungwook’s sudden change in tone made Baek Jun turn to look at him.

“A month ago, Kim Jinsung wouldn’t have stood a chance. But now… Honestly, I’m not sure. He’s grown so much in such a short time.”

Jang Seungwook, arms crossed, continued to watch the monitor.

“I think he might be able to take down one or two if he’s lucky. What about you, sir?”

He turned to Baek Jun, who also looked at the monitor.

“Who knows.”

Baek Jun replied as if talking to himself. On the monitor, Kim Jinsung had already been engaged in battle for quite some time.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The heavy sounds of impacts echoed continuously from the floor, walls, and ceiling of the sewer. The Quagmires, bouncing like giant rubber balls, were attacking Kim Jinsung.

‘They’re really annoying.’

Kim Jinsung thought as he dodged yet another incoming Quagmire by leaping backward.

‘Attacking and dodging aren’t hard, but they’re annoying.’

Kim Jinsung saw that the number of Quagmires had increased to eight. If he didn’t completely destroy a Quagmire in one attack, it would split and regenerate, leading to this situation.

‘I need to eliminate them completely without leaving any remnants. To do that…’

Kim Jinsung kept dodging the attacks while thinking about how to deal with the Quagmires’ absurd regenerative abilities.

‘I’ll have to take them down one by one.’

Kim Jinsung used ‘Animal Transformation’ to turn into a Dark Hound, a monster with high agility. Then, activating his dark energy, he sprinted down the opposite corridor at full speed. His speed had significantly increased compared to when he fought Forghinae in the first preliminary round. Even the top-tier Quagmires struggled to keep up.

After running for a while, Kim Jinsung stopped when his ‘Location Detection’ indicated no one else was nearby. He waited, and soon, he detected a single Quagmire approaching him.

‘Let’s test this one.’

Kim Jinsung created a large dark energy sphere in his palm and launched it at the Quagmire that had just appeared around the corner. With a sticky splattering sound, the Quagmire’s body was completely blown apart. Seeing the scattered slime pieces, Kim Jinsung quickly changed his mana attribute.

Whoosh!

In an instant, intense flames engulfed the surrounding sewer. The heat was enough to cover all the areas where the Quagmire’s slime pieces had fallen. The slime pieces quickly shriveled and burned. Just as Kim Jinsung thought all the slime had evaporated,

Splash!

“……!”

A massive green blob suddenly shot up from the central waterway. If Kim Jinsung hadn’t instinctively dodged to the side, he would have been hit head-on, resulting in a gruesome scene like what happened to Thief 10.

‘It failed.’

Seeing the Quagmire looking back at him unscathed, Kim Jinsung bit his lip.

‘Because of the deep waterway, burning them with fire is impossible.’

The intense flames couldn’t reach the slime pieces that had fallen into the water. He needed a different method.

‘How about this?’

As he dodged another incoming Quagmire attack, Kim Jinsung used two skills in quick succession.

▶ You have used the skill ‘Nullify.’

▶ You have used the skill ‘Petrification Powder.’

The Quagmire’s entire body slowly turned gray and its movements began to slow down. After 10 seconds, the fully petrified Quagmire was struck by Kim Jinsung’s dark energy-covered fist. With a loud cracking sound, the Quagmire shattered into pieces. Simultaneously, Kim Jinsung created a black barrier that completely enveloped the area. The scattered stone pieces couldn’t escape the barrier.

‘Let’s gather these pieces…’

Kim Jinsung shrank the barrier to gather the stone pieces together. He extended his hand forward and commanded internally.

‘Create subspace.’

A dimensional rift appeared, creating a space just big enough for a person to pass through. Kim Jinsung stepped into the subspace with the gathered stone pieces.

‘…It’s a space of complete darkness.’

Looking around the pitch-black subspace, Kim Jinsung thought it felt just like the dark energy he used. Placing the stone pieces in the center of the space, Kim Jinsung thought,

‘The petrification skill will wear off soon.’

As expected, the stone pieces slowly began to turn back into green slime. Once fully reverted, the slime pieces started moving to merge together, as they always did. Kim Jinsung wasn’t going to let that happen.

Whoosh!

Massive flames engulfed the green slime just as it was about to merge. The slime burned and evaporated quickly, disappearing from Kim Jinsung’s sight entirely. And then…

▶ You have defeated a monster.

▶ You have earned 350 Beast Karma points.

▶ You have acquired the composite trait ‘Final Evolution Slime.’

▷ Final Evolution Slime: Grants the following traits and permanently stored skills:

Super Regeneration: All body parts except the brain and heart gain rapid regenerative abilities.

Toxic Body: You can convert mana into toxic properties.

Hydrophilic: Increases movement speed by 100% and doubles HP recovery speed when in water.

Permanently increases all stats by 75.

The awaited notification finally appeared before Kim Jinsung’s eyes.

“Haa… I did it.”

Kim Jinsung sighed with a weary expression. Although it wasn’t as life-threatening as when he faced Forghinae, dealing with the Quagmire was more troublesome in some ways.

‘It was the water that was the problem. I would have finished it much faster if it weren’t for the waterway.’

Just looking at the ‘Hydrophilic’ trait in the notification made it clear. He now understood why Quagmire only existed in an environment like the sewer, covered in waterways.

‘The regenerative ability I gained this time…’

Kim Jinsung’s gaze turned to the description of the ‘Super Regeneration’ trait. It implied that he had acquired the Quagmire’s absurd regenerative ability. But was it really true? Could such an unbelievable trait be utilized by a human body?

Curious, he drew his sword and made a small cut on the tip of his pinky finger. The wound healed instantly, even before a few drops of blood could fall.

‘Then, what about this…’

This time, Kim Jinsung completely severed his pinky finger. The finger started to regrow at an astonishing speed.

‘…This is incredible.’

Kim Jinsung flexed his newly regrown pinky finger, marveling at it. Despite being freshly regenerated, it moved perfectly without any issues.

This was a different ability from his existing healing skills. Healing skills merely restored HP; they didn’t regenerate severed body parts.

‘I’m becoming more and more like a monster.’

Kim Jinsung realized once again how overpowered his healing abilities were. With HP recovery skills, blood absorption, and the ‘Soil Nutrient Absorption’ trait he gained from defeating Forghinae, his HP and MP recovery rates had already increased. Now, even severed body parts could regenerate.

At this point, it seemed he wouldn’t die easily, no matter what.

‘But I must remain cautious. I can’t let my guard down until the Colosseum ends.’

Kim Jinsung steeled his resolve once more.

‘In that sense, I want to gather as many Beast Karma points as possible this time…’

Kim Jinsung pondered. There were still at least seven Quagmires left in the sewer. Each one was worth 350 points, a valuable opportunity he didn’t want to waste.

The problem was…

‘I can only use the subspace once every hour.’

To defeat the Quagmires like he did earlier, he would need to wait another hour. By then, the Seekers would be scouring the entire island to catch them. Kim Jinsung had only about 40 minutes left before the Seekers could start moving.

So, how could he deal with the remaining Quagmires?

‘I’ll need to lure the Quagmires out of the sewer… Ah, that’s it!’

A good idea struck Kim Jinsung. He immediately opened the subspace door and stepped out. Transforming back into a Dark Hound, he retraced his steps. At the same time, he used a skill.

—

▶ You have used the skill ‘Mana Hawk.’

—

A black mana hawk formed in Kim Jinsung’s palms and flew off in the opposite direction. The hawk would head towards the entrance with the stairs.

‘I’ll lure just one more…’

Thanks to ‘Location Detection’ and the ‘Animal Sixth Sense’ trait, Kim Jinsung could sense the presence of a Quagmire far away. Confirming a Quagmire at the end of the passage after turning a corner, Kim Jinsung created a small dark energy arrow and shot it in the Quagmire’s direction. The arrow disappeared halfway down the passage, but it was enough to catch the Quagmire’s attention.

The Quagmire swam rapidly towards Kim Jinsung through the waterway. Just as it reached him, numerous black tendrils shot up from the ground, wrapping around the Quagmire’s body. The Quagmire quickly changed its shape to slip out of the tendrils, but it was too late.

—

▶ You have used the skill ‘Teleport.’

—

The dark tendrils had bought enough time for Kim Jinsung to cast the teleportation skill. Kim Jinsung and the Quagmire were instantly transported from the sewer to another location.

They arrived in a dark passage filled with monster rats and bats. It was the third underground level.

“Good, we made it safely.”

Kim Jinsung looked up at the Mana Hawk circling above. He had used the Mana Hawk earlier to find a safe teleportation spot.

“Welcome to the land outside the water, bouncy ball monster.”

With a mutter, Kim Jinsung launched a pre-prepared large dark energy sphere at the Quagmire.

**Whack!**

The green slime that was once the Quagmire’s body splattered everywhere, mingling with the corpses of the monster rats and bats. Simultaneously,

**Whoosh!**

Flames engulfed the entire cave, burning all the monster corpses. A notification appeared before Kim Jinsung.

—

▶ You have defeated a monster.

▶ You have earned 350 Beast Karma points.

▶ You have defeated a monster.

▶ You have earned 1 Beast Karma point.

▶ You have acquired the trait ‘Digging with Front Teeth.’

▷ Digging with Front Teeth: You can dig holes in walls faster using your front teeth.

▶ You have defeated a monster.

▶ You have earned 20 Beast Karma points.

▶ You have acquired the trait ‘Blood Tastes Good.’

▷ Blood Tastes Good: Drinking blood fills you up faster and increases HP.

▶ You have earned 1 Beast Karma point.

▶ You have earned 1 Beast Karma point.

▶ You have earned 1 Beast Karma point…

—

‘Good. I’ll take them down one by one like this.’

Kim Jinsung thought as he dismissed the long notification.

‘Let’s take down eight more before the Seekers start moving.’

Kim Jinsung headed back towards the stairs. He needed to defeat at least ten monsters to meet the conditions for using ‘Animal Transformation.’