Chapter 29: Global Announcement: Kaelen Cross has successfully Solo Cleared the Tower of Belmont

"H-How’s that possible—" the guild leaders were still in a state of shock when Kaelen crossed his fingers and activated the upgraded Guild Leader Babrus’s SSS-rank Talent.

"Formless Dragon Sword Art!"

In an instant, a battalion of swords began pouring out of thin air as they wildly swirled around Kaelen. They didn’t stop at swirling or become a whirlpool of swords like the original Talent.

Instead, they began transforming behind Kaelen into something that terrified the mighty guild leaders with its sheer size.

It was a dragon. Made entirely of swords. Not just any swords or those of Guild Leader Babrus, but hundreds of Legendary-tier swords that could shred just about anything and everything, pulled out from his inventory.

"What the hell is that technique?!" A guild leader’s pupils shrank in terror, and before anyone could react, the dragon surged forward.

The guild leaders quickly regained their bearings and sprang into action with years of practiced training and battle experience.

"Shield of Annihilation!" One stepped forward and dug his great shield into the dirt as he stood his ground.

Bam!

The dragon’s maw collided with the heavy shield, pushing the tank several feet back, but it couldn’t break through the defense.

The tank dug his steel toes into the ground for support, canceling the knockback effect of the collision, and with a powerful roar, pushed forward with his shield.

At first, it didn’t seem like he was doing much, when he suddenly picked up momentum and began pushing the dragon back.

"My name is Malgamosa, SSS-ranker and Guild Leader of the Golden Horizon Guild. I shall not be bested by a mere construct—"

Slam!

Kaelen controlled the dragon to swing its sharpened tail at the exposed side of the tank, and in the face of a thousand Legendary-tier swords, he was instantly decapitated.

The dragon didn’t pause for a second before it charged at another guild leader.

When suddenly, blinding beams of sword light accompanied by pink flower petals flashed before the dragon, and it was torn apart.

Black Rose didn’t stop there and immediately charged at Kaelen. The other guild leaders didn’t need orders to be shouted at them before they knew the best formation to lock Kaelen in, blocking every possible escape route and charging at him with their weapons.

Kaelen immediately transformed back into a slime and spread his blade-whips across the hall, sending several tentacles at each of the guild leaders, who immediately locked into battle as they forcefully advanced amidst the barrage.

An incredibly nimble woman managed to dodge every single one of Kaelen’s blade-whips, arriving before him in an instant as she thrust her twin daggers into his body, aiming for his core.

But before the tip of her dagger could reach it, the core suddenly moved upward and jumped out of the slime, soaring into the air.

As a result, the slime liquefied without its core, but she knew if she didn’t destroy the core, it could regenerate itself. Without the immediate danger of the slime, her eyes locked onto the core flying in the air, as another guild leader crossed the distance in an instant and crushed it between his palms.

"Watch out!"

The warning came too late from Black Rose when Kaelen solidified right at the same spot where he’d liquefied.

That was because he never lost his core. He had simply split it into multiple tiny orbs and spat one out to distract the guild leaders.

Though destroying that one affected his health, it was by only a small margin. And he had completely made the guild leaders overlook him.

A blade-whip immediately shot through the chest of the female guild leader, and another immediately wrapped around the guild leader who was still suspended in the air after crushing the decoy core.

He didn’t immediately kill the one caught in the air and simply wrapped his tentacles around him, pulling him toward himself while pulling the female guild leader into his stomach.

The others saw this and immediately closed in to sever the tentacles trapping their ally, when Kaelen instantly activated [Miasma Slime], shooting out the white mist that covered the entire area in an instant, and before the terrified gazes of the guild leaders, who realized they had walked right into his trap—

Spark—

Boom!!!

The entire floor shook as the explosion rocked it to its core.

[You have killed the demonic elders of the Eight Demonic Pillars of Hell’s Gate]

’Huh?’

[10,000× Reward Multiplier Triggered...]

[You have received 100,000,000 Evolution Points]

[You have received (8) Loot Bundles]

[You have received 100,000,000 Evolution Points]

[Quality or Quantity?]

[(2) Genetic Trait/Skill Available for Extraction]

[Do you wish to extract?]

Kaelen didn’t focus on the rest of the notifications as his gaze locked onto the first.

"Demonic elders of the Eight Pillars? Eight?" He frowned.

He could clearly remember there should be nine of them. Which meant one person wasn’t dead yet, even after the devastating explosion.

Before Kaelen could investigate with his [Sharp Senses], a series of sharp footsteps broke him out of his thoughts, and he immediately stood on guard. Then he realized the footsteps weren’t running toward him, but farther away.

He snapped his head toward the 99th-floor entrance gate, only to see the shadow of Black Rose disappear into the 98th floor.

"Did she... just run away?" Kaelen was puzzled, before he smiled mischievously.

"As if..."

He shot forward like a cannon and disappeared into the entrance gate of—not the 98th floor. That would be a foolish move, chasing her down to the first floor where her guild was waiting.

He was heading back to the 100th floor, and up to the rooftop, where he planned to speedrun devouring the dungeon from top to bottom before Black Rose could escape.

She already knew too much, so he couldn’t let her go scot-free.

Kaelen burst onto the rooftop, and without standing around to admire the view from that height, he immediately realized just how vast the dungeon’s width was, and how far he’d have to spread himself to even cover half the ground.

But that was only a problem for a slime who didn’t have the 10,000× Reward System and wasn’t casually sitting on over 10 billion Evolution Points.

He swiped up his evolution tree and hastily skimmed through it. And just like he expected, the slime evolution tree had a solution for every problem.

He quickly made his purchase.

[Aegis Jelly: Focuses on pure mass expansion and surface tension. Become a giant, rubbery wall used to swallow incoming projectiles and shield allies.]

The evolution attribute had a different use, but could still serve his purpose. He didn’t hesitate to dump 10 million Evolution Points into the attribute to upgrade it to Level 1600, matching his other attributes.

The change in his body was immediate, and he didn’t waste any more time before activating the attribute.

In an instant, Kaelen had covered half the tower’s rooftop. And in a few moments, he had completely swallowed it and began sliding down the tower walls, devouring every floor he came across, from the 100th floor down to the last ten floors.

Meanwhile...

Black Rose was incredibly fast as she flashed across the tens of floors, leaving afterimages in her wake.

She had long since stopped looking behind her after she realized she wasn’t being chased. But if there was one thing she’d come to learn the hard way from the slime, it was that he was highly unpredictable.

She was certain the slime wasn’t just sitting around on the 100th floor picking up scraps. But she couldn’t tell what he was doing.

She didn’t need to speculate for long when the walls began spreading cracks and the ceiling began caving in, raining ancient boulders.

She was beyond stunned. The dungeon tower that had stood for several decades was suddenly breaking apart.

Was it because the final boss was defeated...

Or could it be...?

She immediately dismissed the thought. She didn’t even want to imagine it.

It was simply impossible.

She landed on the first floor, and now surrounding her were the new recruits of the White Vanguard Guild, led by Instructor Rain.

She frowned. They shouldn’t be in the dungeon yet, not until an hour had passed after they entered the 100th floor, and she was certain it had barely been that long.

She didn’t have time for a meet-and-greet, and without sparing them a second glance, she sped straight for the exit gate.

The light at the end of the tunnel... freedom.

Bam!

She collided with a soft wall that had suddenly covered the entrance, and before she could register what was happening, her vision went blank.

[You have died]

[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT]:

[Kaelen Cross has solo cleared the 100 floors of the Tower of Belmont and successfully completed the hidden quest.]

"W-What?!"