Chapter 28: Underworld Realm (2)

Ding!

Leon glanced at the notification.

[Talent Devourer: Residual Talent Energy Detected: "Deathless Resolve" (Fragments Available: 5)]

[Consume Fragments?]

[Yes / No]

Leon selected yes.

Ding!

[You have consumed 5 Fragments of "Deathless Resolve".]

[Talent Fragments Stored: Deathless Resolve x5]

[Insufficient Fragments to acquire New Talent: Deathless Resolve.]

[Fuse 5 Fragments into an existing Talent or Skill to grant it a Deathless Effect.]

Leon looked through his abilities for a moment before his gaze settled on Petrifying Gaze.

The talent was already powerful, but he hadn’t had the chance to test its limits yet.

"Fuse them into Petrifying Gaze."

Ding!

[5 Fragments of "Deathless Resolve" have been fused into Talent: Petrifying Gaze.]

[Petrifying Gaze has gained: Deathless Effect.]

[Description Updated: Allows the user to emit a supernatural gaze capable of gradually petrifying weaker targets who meet their eyes. The gaze now possesses a deathless property, allowing its petrifying effect to persist even against targets with powerful resistance to death-based or disabling effects. Effectiveness depends on the user’s Intelligence and the target’s resistance to supernatural effects.]

Level 22 wasn’t nothing, but it clearly wasn’t the wall Mira had imagined either.

Leon continued forward.

The second threat announced itself through sound rather than sight. A dry, constant skittering rose from somewhere beyond the next ridge, growing louder as he approached.

[Monster Detected: Underworld Rat (Swarm)]

[Level: 22]

Leon crested the ridge and stopped.

They weren’t giant rats.

They weren’t mutated creatures several times the size of their natural counterparts.

They looked almost ordinary.

That was what made the sight in front of him so strange.

Thousands of ordinary-sized rats poured across the ash in a single writhing mass, their bodies packed so tightly together that the ground seemed to move beneath them.

Every one of them was Level 22.

A swarm of that size would have overwhelmed an ordinary player within seconds.

Leon rolled his shoulders once.

"Alright," he muttered. "Let’s see how long this actually takes."

He didn’t wait for the swarm to close the distance.

Leon raised Stormcaller’s Conduit and fired.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Mana bolts tore into the leading edge of the swarm, dropping rat after rat. Leon continued firing without hesitation, his attacks coming one after another with barely a pause between them.

Ding!

[You have killed "Underworld Rat (Level 22)" and gained 90 experience points.]

[You have killed "Underworld Rat (Level 22)" and gained 90 experience points.]

[You have killed "Underworld Rat (Level 22)" and gained 90 experience points.]

[You have killed "Underworld Rat (Level 22)" and gained 90 experience points.]

[You have killed "Underworld Rat (Level 22)" and gained 90 experience points.]

.....

More rats immediately filled the gaps.

Leon kept firing.

He didn’t check his mana.

There was no point.

Eternal Mana made the concept of conserving his reserves almost irrelevant. His mana dipped slightly after several consecutive attacks, only to recover before the loss became meaningful. An ordinary caster would have exhausted themselves within seconds against a swarm like this.

Leon could simply keep going.

This is the part nobody else gets to have, he thought as another group of rats collapsed beneath a spread of arcing lightning.

Everyone else out here is rationing their mana.

I just keep going.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

Ding!

[You have killed "Underworld Rat (Level 22)" and gained 90 experience points.]

[You have killed "Underworld Rat (Level 22)" and gained 90 experience points.]

[You have killed "Underworld Rat (Level 22)" and gained 90 experience points.]

[You have killed "Underworld Rat (Level 22)" and gained 90 experience points.]

[You have killed "Underworld Rat (Level 22)" and gained 90 experience points.]

[You have killed "Underworld Rat (Level 22)" and gained 90 experience points.]

.....

The swarm continued pressing forward despite its losses. Sheer numbers allowed it to keep replacing the rats Leon killed, and eventually several managed to slip through the barrage and reach his legs.

Leon didn’t retreat.

He allowed Stoneskin to absorb the worst of their bites while Bloodfang Edge moved in short, efficient arcs, cutting down anything that came too close.

Slash! Slash!

Ding!

[You have killed "Underworld Rat (Level 22)" and gained 90 experience points.]

[You have killed "Underworld Rat (Level 22)" and gained 90 experience points.]

At some point, Leon stopped counting.

It didn’t matter.

The notifications continued appearing one after another, and the battle settled into a simple rhythm. Fire. Kill. Recover. Fire again.

There was almost something relaxing about it.

Poison Howl eventually caught the edge of the swarm, as it began stacking across several rats at once, and Arcane Requiem finished off those weakened by the effect.

Ding!

[Arcane Requiem: Leeching Effect triggered.]

[HP drained: 8. Restored to user.]

[You have killed "Underworld Rat (Level 22)" and gained 90 experience points.]

The amount drained from each rat was small, but there were plenty of them.

The steady stream of stolen vitality meant Leon’s HP barely dropped despite the sheer number of teeth snapping at him.

By the time the last few rats finally turned and fled, the ash around Leon was littered with more corpses than he cared to count.

Ding!

[Underworld Rat Swarm eliminated.]

[Total kills: 87]

Eighty-seven.

At ninety experience each, that was a respectable amount of experience, and Leon let out a slow breath as he finally lowered Stormcaller’s Conduit.

Then another notification appeared.

Ding!

[Lucky Fate has activated!]

[Rare Drop Probability significantly increased.]

[Underworld Rat Swarm has dropped: 1,800 Eternal Coins, 6 Rat Fangs, 1 Underworld Level Orb.]

Leon stared at the final item.

An orb.

He had collected plenty of strange things during his first ten days in Eternal Heaven, but nothing with a name quite like this one. An Underworld Level Orb sounded far too specific to be an ordinary drop, and the name alone suggested that it might have something to do with one of the most important things in this world.

Levels.

Leon crouched and picked it up, turning the strange object slowly between his fingers.

It was warm.

The orb carried a noticeable heat that seeped into his palm, warmer than anything else he’d obtained since entering Eternal Heaven.

"Well," Leon murmured, a small smile appearing on his face. "Let’s see what you’re worth."