Round 2 Starts With 990,000 Points - Chapter 103



103 – Breaking the Egg (2)

I continued to search for eggs and break them. Breaking the eggs themselves didn’t take much time, but finding them was difficult. The dark space was so vast that it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

“What a waste of space.”

It looks like they didn’t consider space at all when making it.

Again, again, again.

The sound of my shoes clanking loudly echoed along with my footsteps. As I continued to walk through the dark, I began to get goosebumps for no reason. Then I read my senses and figured out where the eggs were. The eggs were covered in a strange aura like magic, so I could easily find them if I just read them.

There it is.

So I found an egg and approached it. Just as I was about to break the egg, someone appeared out of the darkness.

“stop!”

Some people stop when they are told to stop, but I tend not to stop. I cracked open the egg while thinking of the ‘Stop’ from the school violence eradication campaign.

Kwajik!

If you swing your fist while holding the egg, it will break easily. It is a hassle to find, but it is not a hassle to break it.

“No, I broke it! How dare you, monkey!”

I turned my head and looked at the guy who had suddenly appeared. He had black skin, bright yellow eyes, and even had goat horns on his forehead. Looking at his appearance alone, he looked a lot like a devil.

Is it like a watchman protecting the eggs?

This wasn’t in the original. But I wasn’t panicked. If an enemy appears, just deal with it.

“I will teach the inferior beings! Thunder…!”

The guy raised his hands towards the sky and shouted, looking like he was going to use some kind of technique.

There’s no need to keep waiting.

Some people wait for their opponent to use an attack technique, but I don’t. I used the Meteor Ball to get close to the guy. Then, I put my inner strength into my fist and unleashed the Meteor Fist.

pop!

There was an explosive sound and a large hole was ripped through the guy’s abdomen.

“Uh, uh, uh…!”

I raised my hand and swung it at the neck of the panicking guy.

Whew.

A slanted line appeared on my Adam’s apple and blood gushed out.

Bam.

As I shook my hand, the guy’s head fell to the floor.

“…He appears as if he’s nothing special.”

Perhaps these guys are appearing because we’re getting closer to the ending.

“… … ?”

As I was muttering to myself, I suddenly felt a strange presence. It was not far away. I quickly turned my head and the presence disappeared.

Did I feel wrong?

It wasn’t a bad feeling. There was definitely something there just a moment ago, and then it disappeared.

This darkness is a favorable environment for them.

If they were outside, it would be easy to detect their presence, but here, the darkness is sticky and it is not easy to detect their presence. Perhaps they have artificially created an environment that is advantageous to them.

* * *

B9 was close to B10. They were able to get along well because they were the lowest in the bronze ranks. In particular, B9 often felt relief when he saw B10. He felt comforted by seeing someone who was lower than him.

Hey kid, let me see what you’re doing.

He headed to the area he was in charge of, intending to tease B10. When he arrived at the area, he saw B10 and another being approaching. Judging from the resemblance to the god who created them, it seems like that being is the monkey B1 was talking about.

This kid is so lucky.

B9 thought. The Bronzes each split up into their own areas to kill the monkeys that were destroying the eggs. But the monkeys came straight to B10. The odds were 1/10, but B10 got the chance to deal with the monkeys right away.

Lucky kid.

B10 always blamed others for his bad luck. But in B9’s eyes, there was no one as lucky as B10.

“stop!”

Then B10 shouted at the monkey. B9 inwardly laughed at his foolishness.

Would you stop if I told you to stop?

As expected, B10 is the dumbest among the bronzes.

Sure enough, the monkey kept breaking the egg without stopping. B10 got angry at this natural behavior and shouted.

“No, I broke it! How dare you, monkey!”

B10 raised his hands towards the sky, ready to punish the intruder.

“I will teach the inferior beings! Thunder…!”

B9 looked at it and thought.

If that guy takes care of the monkey, I’ll take it from him.

B10 is stupid, so if you boil him with words, you can take away his achievements.

pop!

Then something strange happened.

Oh, what is it?

There’s a hole in B10’s abdomen. It’s the size of a watermelon.

Oh my…!

B9 opened his eyes wide in surprise.

Bronzes are the lowest class of beings in the clan. However, they are much higher level and stronger than ordinary demons or monsters.

Because they are the people whom God himself created and bestowed with authority.

Crazy. Something crazy happened.

The monkey dug a hole in the body of that group. The monkey slashed at the bewildered B10 and killed him. B9, who was watching the whole scene, held his breath in disbelief.

“… … ?”

It seemed that the monkey had sensed his presence by hearing his breathing. B9 almost made eye contact with the monkey.

You read my movements?

It is also extraordinary to figure out one’s position in this curtain that is advantageous to the subordinates.

It’s not just any monkey, it’s a dangerous monkey!

B9 finished his judgment and quickly turned around. If he was skilled enough to deal with B10 in one blow, it would be impossible for him to deal with him alone.

* * *

I stared at the place where the presence had disappeared and shook my hand. Even if I expanded my senses, they were blocked by the sticky darkness and I couldn’t read the presence properly, so there was nothing I could do. The reason it took so long to find the egg in the first place was because of this special environment.

Let’s go to the next place.

However, in the case of eggs, if you are nearby, you can read the strange energy to some extent. Then, I saw the corpse of the demon that had just appeared, and suddenly a thought occurred to me.

By the way, I think you said you could eat corpses with the tentacles of emptiness.

Judaea said that it can eat people, so perhaps monsters can eat it too.

Can this be considered a monster?

“It looks like a monster.”

I looked at the monster’s corpse and thought.

If I absorb this corpse, I will become stronger. This is not an empty promise, as I can absorb the target’s abilities and stats based on the tentacle’s digestive ability.

The problem is that, after training in the dungeon for a long time, I realized that having a lot of abilities is not necessarily a good thing.

In particular, abilities such as special abilities often physically change the body, so even if there is no penalty due to the magic resistance I have, if it conflicts with my existing abilities, I can suffer damage.

For example, the body may explode, as if hot water was suddenly poured into an oil drum.

I gave an extreme example, but usually the side effects weren’t this severe. However, I was conscious of the side effects, so after I left the dungeon, I took things like elixirs, but I didn’t take things like essence.

Because I didn’t want the inside of my body to turn into a chemical reaction laboratory.

“hmm.”

But looking at the corpse of the monster, I feel troubled. I originally had no intention of becoming extremely stronger, but Yudae’s words influenced my thoughts.

If I want to see the ending without absorbing Mo Ye-ji or Choi Ji-sung, I have to become stronger than I am now. If I lose the battle because my fighting power is lacking at the last moment, I will regret missing the opportunity to become stronger.

“…let’s eat.”

After making a decision, I pulled out my tentacle and absorbed the monster. Since the head and body were separate, I had to cut it twice before swallowing it.

I thought I would get a reaction even if I only ate a part of it, but I got a reaction only after eating the whole thing, including the head. It seems like the digestive ability that absorbs the object recognizes the existence itself as a single lump.

[This is a corpse I have subdued. It can be digested. Digestion will begin.]

[You have used the ability to digest. Your Void Tentacle proficiency increases by 2,800%. Your tentacle proficiency is already at max.]

[An entity with power. Granted power.]

[All normal stats are permanently increased by 150.]

[All general resistances are permanently increased by 300.]

[You have gained the ability. Ability: Thunderbolt.]

[You have acquired the power. Power: Reach Bronze 10 rank.]

“warrant…?”

I took note of the last phrase. At the same time, I felt an unknown energy rising inside my body.

What is this?

As I focus on that energy, I can read the locations of things around me. I am starting to understand the locations of things that were previously obscured by the sticky darkness.

At the same time, I could sense a moving aura not far away. It was the same aura that had been watching me just a moment ago when I had killed the monster.

Now I can read the signs.

In addition, when I looked at the contribution system, there was a text saying that I earned points by achieving contribution achievements, but I ignored the text and just moved. Dealing with the moving guy comes first.