Evan D. Sherden, A Disparate Trace (3)

The ‘Fatal Death,’ a hidden boss on the 90th floor of the dungeon, didn’t have a solid form. It hid in an unseeable domain, only revealing itself when attacking.

“I thought other monsters could have come out since Merdin escaped from the process of integration…but I guess this monster was planned to appear at this place, unlike the others. It may have become slightly weaker, but the fact remains that it’s the worst boss monster that changes your concept of battle.”

It was a being that purely consisted of misgivings, and its movement speed and attack speed were as fast as the speed of thought. It became stronger with the fear and horrors from the people who faced it. A transcendent being that committed undiscriminating murder by feeding on others’ minds and becoming stronger while moving through the flow of their thoughts. No, it wasn’t even right to call it a being. It was a thought, a phenomenon that no longer could be called a monster nor a Demon.

“Hidden bosses are beings that are referred to as ‘prisoners’ and are sealed within the dungeon, but their cruelty after the hidden boss from the 90th floor is just too brutal. There’s a reason why the hidden boss of the 90th floor respawns while the 95th floor and the 100th floor don’t.”

It was because Fatal Death spawned on the mana tainted with humans’ emotions from death and from fear. The horrible being that was born after several months through such emotions was Fatal Death. Of course, after defeating it once, the Fatal Deaths afterward were little monsters that were weaker than the normal boss on the 5th floor. The gathered emotions wouldn’t be enough, but it was still something that was impossible to eradicate.

“But even such a monster has an unbelievably vain weakness…”

Most users in the game utilized such a method. In order to defeat it through a normal battle, eight party members wouldn’t do it, so most of the users relied on that method to beat it down. The method was about using a decoy. Since Fatal Death absorbed death and was attracted to death, such a method was effective against it. Creating a situation where a monster brought by a tamer into the dungeon was intentionally put into a critical danger was often used. In that case, Fatal Death was bound to attack the tamer’s monster, and the party would bombard the monster with ‘healing skills’ while utilizing this window of opportunity.

Then Fatal Death might be attracted to the healer, but it didn’t work out that way. The normal aggravation system wouldn’t apply to them at all. Fatal Death would hunt down its first target until the target died. So, if the monster recovered with endless healing skills, Fatal Death would be bewildered, but it would still attack the monster.

Then what happens next? Other party members would just barrage their attacks on Fatal Death. Of course, it was important to keep casting healing skills on the monster so it wouldn’t die. Healing skills on Fatal Death were considered an attack, so there was no need to worry about healing it accidentally. So, such a course of action must be done through precise adjustment of damages dealt until Fatal Death perished…

“And you’ve put your effort into explaining it to us.”

Shine looked at Evan with a dumbfounded look. Actually, he was looking at Fatal Death, which was screaming at Evan’s grasp along with the slimes that were beaten into a pulp.

―Krrrrrrrggggghhh…!

“And you are hunting it down all by yourself in the end…”

“Well, I’m sorry…I wasn’t quite sure whether this would work, but it does.”

Here is the explanation! At first, Evan intended to ask Serena to tame a monster to have it be the target for Fatal Death, but Fatal Death targeted the group of slimes that died right after being summoned on Evan’s hand. A tremendous amount of death was happening in his hands! However, as a result, it ended up being beaten up by Evan, and when it tried to escape, it just got absorbed by the summoned slimes. In the end, Fatal Death perished along with the slimes in Evan’s grasp before the members could even try to do something with a tamed monster!

―Krghhhhh…!

“Ah, it’s dead…”

“So first, I know that Oppa’s grasp is more dangerous than Fatal Death.”

“That’s not surprising anymore. Shall we call it the Fatal Death Hand?”

“No, please, I beg you guys…huh?”

Evan, who tried to resist a terrible nickname from being attached to him, felt something in his grasp after Fatal Death’s death, so he was quite surprised. The slime summoning was temporarily stopped. Surprisingly, the Fatal Death dropped an item! The crystal glowing darkly in his hand looked like a jewel at a glimpse, but it was, in fact, a precious artifact.

‘Fate Breaker. An item that allows the user to wear one more artifact…’

There was a time that Evan was able to increase his maximum wearable artifacts to six through an item called Limit Breaker, which was stored in the Kingdom’s Treasury thanks to Serena’s help. But this item added one more artifact from his current state. Thus, wearing this would allow Evan to equip a total of seven artifacts!

‘There were those experienced players who endlessly hunted down Fatal Death by repeating the Save and Load function to attain this item, and I didn’t expect such an item to be dropped on the first try in this world where such a function won’t work.’

Well, considering the proportion of the force, it would seem more appropriate to use the item on another person, but unfortunately, the Fate Breaker had a condition that the wearer must use Limit Breaker as well. It was an item allowed for the strongest who literally desired to break his own fate!

“Seven artifacts. Well, the unique weaponry is also considered an artifact.”

“It can be considered an endgame artifact…no, I don’t think I can craft such a thing.”

Although Evan did joint research with Bernard on the Heart of the Spirit Lord, which could be used to craft unique weaponry, he couldn’t achieve a considerable result, so he smiled bitterly. But he used the Fate Breaker immediately. Although it wasn’t another piece of unique weaponry, being able to equip one more artifact would be a great help in confronting enemies in the future.

“Master, I believe the earring for the lunatic siren set is suitable for the empty slot.”

“That’s right. Oppa looks good with earrings, so let’s go for that.”

“The charming effect from the heart circlet and the cape is too much to take, though…”

While grumbling to Belois and Serena, who quickly gave their suggestions as soon as Evan could wear an additional artifact, he willingly wore the lunatic siren earring. As long as the heart circlet’s effect was in place, the armor penetration increased along with the charm, so he ended up becoming stronger.

“Evan, that’s too pretty…!”

“Remember that is not a compliment.”

It was the normally quiet Arisha who reacted as soon as he wore the earrings. Everyone hadn’t said a word until now, but all of them thought that Snow Mountain Spirit Earring, which Evan was wearing, “looked really great,” but it was such a waste it disappeared after being fused with Belois’s Volcanic Spirit earring. However, the lunatic siren earring, which was far more exquisite, was now on Evan’s ear, so how attractive would he look?! That earring was complimenting his looks as if it were made to be there.

“Whew, now I can calm down. As expected, the earring suits you very well, Master.”

“Sorry, I’m really feeling complicated here, so don’t say such…anyway. Did you open the treasure chest?”

“Yes. It’s a necklace with a strong sense of vitality.”

“Ah, it’s a bummer. But I think it can be used as a material for a potion, so let’s keep it for now.”

The members were equipped with gears crafted from drop items of the dragon and good artifacts from all over the world, even an artifact from the treasure of a hidden boss could be treated as something insignificant.

“Great, then let’s finish up with the leveling and let’s head straight for the 91st floor. The real dungeon starts now, so get ready.”

“My apologies, but we heard the same from you for the fifth time.”

They would soon be on the 100th floor after completing ten more floors, so who’s talking now! Shine was rebutting Evan as usual, but he looked dumbfounded. It was the 100th floor that nobody was able to complete ever since the dungeon’s birth, and his party spent just a week from the 81st floor to complete ten more floors, and now they had the 100th floor in sight…!

“Fatal Death appeared just as I’d expected, but even I can’t predict what happens on the 95th and the 100th floor…we have to be tense. It’s normal for a person to die from the slightest mistake from now on.”

“No, Master. That won’t happen. As long as I live, nobody in our party will die, and I won’t die for the sake of my child who’s waiting for me on the ground.”

Raihan spoke while clenching his fist when Evan tried to bring some tension to the party. It was understandable to be excited about his child’s news, but his speech sounds like a death flag, so an eerie feeling came upon Evan!

“…Well, so be it. We even conquered this boss, so what’s scarier than that.”

“Don’t add up bad karma, and let’s just level up together.”

The members headed to the reward room to break the statue of the Devil. After crushing the Devil statue that gave off unpleasant vibes as the floor level increased and absorbing the devilish aura completely with the boots, they received God’s blessings.

―Your levels have increased to Lv. 91. And…rejoice! This raised your Heavenly skills to Lv. 9!

And Evan experienced what he somewhat expected.

“Maybe after completing the 100th floor, we will attain Lv. 10, right?”

―No, you will experience an evolution in skills.

God took a special liking to him since before he talked about the skill evolution. They didn’t expect him to talk about the next skill, which was the next stage of Heavenly skills at this point!

―Then they will attain powers equivalent to mine.

“Is it all right to give us something like that?”

―It’s clearly a reward equivalent to the achievements you’ve made. Although there might be a slight adjustment in the direction, there’s nothing that can’t be exaggerated, so there’s no need to worry.

The reward system made by God couldn’t seem to be comprehendible. Even when Yo-Ma Great War was played as a game, an exact algorithm regarding this system wasn’t provided. It just had to be accepted as a random game.

“If that’s the case, then all right, but…well, I hope to meet you soon.”

Dungeon level 91, and acquiring the skill ‘Heavenly 9’. Evan’s body, which was already strong, was filled with power through those two sudden changes. But as he tried to slaughter slimes to prevent his excitement from erupting, he heard the voice of God in his ears.

―He would know. There was one who entered the dungeon.

―The abandoned children whose paths were unfortunately misaligned although they were born through our will.

―Surely, they are all our fault. But to ask you a shameless favor…please, save those children if possible.

Perhaps God was talking about the god’s race? Evan was silent for a moment before replying with a laugh.

“Depends on the situation.”

Was it because he spoke with God that a report came from Louise before heading to the 91st floor?

She had encountered the Sacred Guild in the dungeon.