Dungeon Diver: Stealing a Monster's Power

Chapter 143

My perception of time slows down as I watch this attack slowly near its target. The nagging sensation of a voice at the back of my mind becomes louder and louder until I give in and open my telepathy link. Ember's voice rings out.

"Run."

I swallow hard, shifting my gaze toward Arie as he cheers me on. I'm holding both of my blades, so the only thing I can think of doing is to jump straight at him to make physical contact. My shoulder hits him in the chest and I mutter the only two logical words in the moment.

"Dungeon Walker."

We blip away using the last remaining stores of MP in my body after releasing that attack. Both of us fall to the group about 3km away. Arie yells out.

"Hey, I was just about-"

An earth-shattering crack interrupts him, followed by the loud metallic hum of a Titan's domain being activated from a distance. A huge dust cloud forms on the horizon as I see a black void erupt outwards in a spherical shape easily 500m in diameter.

Then... it shirks and disappears completely in an instant. Leaving the two of us in a silent dungeon. I activate my telepathy link with Ember, and he replies almost Immediately.

"You cannot defeat a Void Creeper with brute strength. The only way I know of to defeat it is to plunder its entire pocket dimension neatly dry of MP until the link to our realm collapses. I could easily take it out for you. This won't take more than a few hours."

"You're not going back into its Domain are you....?"

"That would be the quickest way, but it's far too risky for you to come along. I'll be able to handle myself in a fight with a mindless low-rank Void Creeper. Plus, it'll have plenty of mana for me to plunder into exp. The level-up threshold has reached a rather high limit, but we may be able to gain a level or two from this one."

"..."

"What is it?"

An idea pops into my head that should have come far sooner. I must have been scared out of my mind of these creatures, that I forgot Ember was the one that defeated with ease... As a level 1...

"Could you farm the Titans in the back of the Dungeon while I train with my team this week?"

"Certainly, it would be my pleasure."

I smirk, looking over to Arie as he still stares wide-eyed off into the distance watching the massive dust cloud settle.

"Interesting... Take out as many as you can, I'll meet with you as soon as I can."

"As you wish."

I sever the telepathy connection and stand to my feet. Arie speaks up in a quiet tone.

"Did... we get it...?"

I let out a chuckle.

"No. Far from it. That thing is still perfectly fine..."

Arie gulps, then grins, then lets out a laugh of his own.

"Well, I guess you were right. They- uh- were a bit too strong for us."

I scratch the back of my head while plundering the MP of a fresh mana crystal taken out of my mana storage.

"Lets head back I-"

Arie cuts me off.

"Wait. Before we do... That attack you let out. You've trained your mana control too? I've never seen you let out an attack like that. Were you just hiding it before?"

I look Arie up and down with curiosity then respond.

"I trained for a while to build up my control. I don't like to use it often, just like a lot of my skills and techniques."

He nods.

"Alright, alright. I won't pry. It's just another thing we have in common. I know how long and hard the training can be, I went through hell when I was a kid back in my village."

I give him a firm nod and a light smile while putting out my hand.

"Let's head back. I think we've gotten out fill of Titans for the night. Maybe we'll come back and take one out when we get a bit stronger, how about that?"

Arie grabs my hand and nods as I teleport us back to the dungeon's start point. We make our way out of the Hub and back to our new residence quickly. Overall, I think that was a pretty good night run.

I managed to touch base with Ember to get our future plans in order, strengthen my theory about the mutant's non-existent drop rate, and even bonded with Arie over his mysterious ability to also wield condensed mana...

We make it back to the Vanguard Heights and call it a night. I take a long hot shower, then walk up the clear staircase at the far side of my living room up to the bedroom loft.

After staring out the blue glass window for a few minutes, I drift off to sleep.

The next morning, I wake up to the sound of a ringing notification as the sun begins to rise

[Level Up]

I check my status and see that I've grown to level 405 overnight. Thanks to my exp share, I've gained a level in my sleep. He said the new leveling threshold was low, but this low....?

Hopping out of bed, I get dressed and make my way down to the lobby. My 3 teammates are already waiting for me. We grab a bite to eat on the way to the Association's HQ, and the 4 of us arrive with a few minutes to spare.

As we walk through the sliding doors, Maria insists that we hand in the Strengthening Fragment from yesterday's hunt. Abby agrees, and they are already halfway down the first narrow hallways at the back of the lobby before its too late. Arie and I don't get much input on the situation, so we both follow with a shrug, interested to see where this goes next.

A short walk later through the neon shop signs, and we're face to face with the white-haired Association merchant named Sophie. She greets us with a smile as Maria hands her the little black gem.

"Here you go! We got our first Strengthening Fragment yesterday, only 9 more to go!"

The short woman blinks at us a few times with her mouth wide open as the coin-sized Fragment falls into her hands. There's an awkward silent pause for a few seconds, then she speaks.

"V-Very well..."

The merchant woman puts the small stone into a concealment case under the counter, then taps on a small silver tablet a few times before looking up at us.

"Your progress has been updated, 9 more to go."

She lets out a thin smile, but I'm not buying it....

I chime in.

"Hey Sophie, I'd like to ask you a few things about these Strengthening Fragments if you don't mind. Is that alright with you?"