I look around the boss room until my teammates come into view.
Arie is running circles around the mutant slashing its weak points as the others work in perfect unison to distract the beast.
Abby continues to heal Bruce as he takes hits from the monster's sword. Most are blocked by his hammer, but the occasional stray hit slips through.
Maria and Nessa look much more comfortable working as a team with a direct goal in mind. They keep its shield busy while Arie gets to work.
I smile and cross my arms watching the tan-skinned dagger wielder zip across the battlefield. Now that I think about it, I should ask him for a few tips later, I'm sure my blade skills would get significantly better if he helped me train.
About six precise dagger slashes later, the final mutant falls to its knees at Arie's mercy.
It's over.
The massive King's corpse begins to dissolve and I hear the faint sound of metal hitting the hard rock floor. I turn to see a massive pink mana crystal beside a golden ring with a dark red jewel embedded in its face. I use appraisal.
[High Ogre King's Ring] +60% Mental Strength
I pick up both the loot items and spin them around in my right hand as I hold both my daggers in the left.
"All yours, you earned it."
I look up to see Arie wiping his blades clean on his cloak while the other four team members follow close behind smiling wide.
With a sigh, I take off the first ring I ever got from a boss battle, the mutant werewolf's ring. It only has a 20% metal strength boost, arguably my worst percent boosting item. All my slots are full for now, so I have to make a switch if I want to try out this new drop. I throw it in my item storage along with the mana crystal and place the new High Ogre King's ring on my finger, the difference is instantly noticeable.
As I admire my new jewelry, a flash of white light appears between my group and me. Maria was about to call out but was rudely interrupted by a red-suited examiner.
Rodrigo appears and looks me in the eyes with a crooked grin, then his gaze slowly moves to the others.
"Congratulations, it looks like all 6 of you have passed the exam."
He turns back to me, staring intently with his dull white eyes.
"I'd like to offer you a position at the Hunters Association."
I gulp.
He turns to the others.
"This goes for all of you, you've passed one of the hardest C-Class exams ever given. The Association is looking for hunters with abilities just like yours."
Rodrigo turns back to me.
"This offer is optional for everyone here, except you."
I clench my jaw and stare back at him without saying another word.
Arie's voice rings out from behind the examiner.
"I accept. I'd like to join the Association."
Rodrigo slowly nods.
"Very well-"
The white light of the dungeon's transfer magic begins to activate and my vision goes blank. Moments later, we're all stood close together in a rather narrow tunnel...
It's very dark. The floor, walls, and ceiling are all made of hard black stone, and about 20m in front of us is another light grey spinning mass of energy. There's the normal return portal behind, but... there's two in such close vicinity. I whisper to myself.
"Is... that another portal...?"
Again, I hear Rodrigo's voice.
"It is. That portal leads to the final labyrinth boss. I'll get to that in a moment, I'd like to get to the point I was making before being cut off by the transfer magic."
I stare down the hallway and take a deep breath while feeling the dense mana in the air. It's much more intense than any dungeon break I've ever experienced. Whatever is behind that portal must be incredibly strong...
Rodrigo takes out his small white note of paper from earlier and scribbles something down.
"To collect your new C-Class licenses, please stop by the Hunters Association building tomorrow morning. Each of you is on the list and has an open contract deal available if you desire to work with us."
The room goes silent.
"Jay, I'm busy early tomorrow morning, but I'll set up a meeting with you and an Association higher-up. This will be mandatory if you'd like to receive your C-Class license. Let's meet around noon."
My eyes open wide... I knew it would be risky to show off my skills during this exam, but I had no idea it'd be to this extent...
A mandatory meeting with an Association higher up?
What will they do to me? There's no known multi-skill user with capabilities like mine. I just showed them all off to 1 of 4 A rankers in the entire country...
My stomach drops like a rock. The adrenaline pumping through my veins from my battle earlier exits my system as I'm filled with dread and regret.
How could I be so stupid...? I blew it. From the start, I was going to train secretly until my abilities knew no limits. I needed to have no equal before exposing my powers to the world.
I got cocky and exposed myself for a good time... I'm an adrenaline junky with a power fantasy that jumped in too deep and got way out of my league... Is that really what I've come to?
Will they turn me into a weapon for the government? Do experiments on me to extract my powers?
I gulp and shiver as a million thoughts begin racing through my head. I grit my teeth and stare at him with frustration.
"Y-You can't do-"
He grins and nods.
"Yes I can, and I will. The Association has asked me to scout promising individuals, and I will provide them with what they demand. They've given me a gift in return."
In a state of shock, my mouth hangs wide open as the reality of my crumbling future begins to set in. Rodrigo continues.
"Anyways, this is the final boss room. If you'd like to challenge it, be my guest. It's impossible for any of you to defeat it at your current skill levels."
He turns to Maria and puts out his left arm.
"Come here, I assume you'd like another bracelet, it'll be a much quicker way out."
She gulps and puts her wrist out. The examiner glows with a faint white light and she's wearing another silver bracelet all of a sudden. He grins.
"Alright, who would like a 1-way trip back to the outside world? Those of you that wish to fight the boss, again, you may go ahead and traumatize yourselves at your own leisure."
The narrow tunnel fell silent. I'm not the only one thoroughly shocked by this outcome....
Over 5 seconds pass and no one speaks up, I clear my throat and decided to break the silence.
"I'm going to face the boss. I need a good fight right now."
I look Rodrigo In the eyes, then turn my head to the portal and start running.
While storing one of my daggers in storage and pulling out my sword, I light my entire body into a ball of fire while activating every stat-boosting skill in my arsenal.
The muffed yells of my teammates call out behind me, but I pay them no mind. The excitement from defeating this entire exam with such ease has turned into rage. I need a fight to the death to clear my mind.... That's all I can think about.
Moments later, I jump through.
With a flaming dagger and long sword in hand, I take in the view of the final boss room.
The ground is completely flat, and as black as the cave I just left... but the sky above.... Is beautiful.
The outline above me is dome-shaped. It's comprised of pink and white swirling mana. The feeling is both eerie and empowering, I stare at the slow-moving clouds above in awe activating my All-Seeing Eye for an even better view.
The moment I do so, my heart skips a beat. There's an intense dark mass of energy rocketing toward me at an alarmingly quick speed.
I grit my teeth and ready my blades. While looking straight ahead into the darkness I activate enemy detection, inspect, and appraisal.
[100m]
[Lv. 445]
Active Items:
[Greater Demon's Sword] +70% Strength
[Greater Demon's Armor] +70% Defense
[Greater Demon's Core] +50% All Stats
Active Skills:
Dungeon Walker
Telepathy [Legendary Grade]
Buffs:
[Greater Demon's Curse] Hidden Ability
An impossibly fast blur of dark matter rockets toward me. All I see is a 4m tall demonic entity with white eyes and two curling red horns.
It has a humanoid body, and the skillset seems oddly familiar to another creature I fought before this exam in the High Orc dungeon, but I have no time to make comparisons.
I activate stealth and dart away to my left to make as much distance as possible from this monster hoping to formulate a plan.
I grip my swords and glow bright increasing my buffs to their max potential while letting out a yell of frustration.
Then, a swirling black portal opens no more than 5m in front of me... It used Dungeon Walker...
I gulp as the black palm of the demon stretches outwards followed by the rest of its body. The monster's white eyes lock on mine. I see the Greater Demon in all its glory.
Rippling muscles head to toe, shining silver armor covering its vitals, long dark tribal-looking tattoos across its chest and arms. Its skin is very dark, but these mysterious tattoo-like lines are darker than any abyss.
It shows me a toothy grin while lunging at me with an outstretched palm.
There's nothing I can do... It's too fast, and caught me completely off guard....
I hear a deep voice ring out in my head.
"DEMONS CURSE!"
My eyes open wide as its huge black hand slams into my chest and I feel a horrible dark energy invade my body.
I'm thrown backward over 20m and skid across the ground for 20 more. I cough up blood and hear a ticking sound in my inner ear.
Every time it ticks I'm hit with a surge of inescapable pain, it's hot and sharp, covering my entire body and soul. It occurs every second on the second.... The breath was knocked out of me on impact. I gasp for air as I open my status. My vision is blurry and all my senses are dulled.
I have too many debuffs to count and every time I hear a tick my HP lowers by 100 points. I cough up more blood while putting away my dagger and scrambling to grab an HP potion. Finally, I find one and chug it down.
The Greater Demon slowly walks toward me as I struggle to keep my balance. My health is back to full, but it's dropping fast again as the ticks continue...
The monster keeps inching closer as my vision blurs more and more. I grab another HP potion 10 seconds later and regain my health, but it doesn't help at all.
I'm seeing stars, my vision is practically all black. The creature inches closer and closer, curiously watching me struggle.
My breathing becomes erratic and I manage to chug another HP potion down before falling to my knees. This is a horrible sensation, all the muscles in my body are contracting harder than I can bear. All my systems are shutting down and there's nothing I can do.
I can barely grasp the 4th HP potion in my hand.
As my vision turns completely black, the potion falls through my fingers down to the floor.
My HP hits 0 with a final tick as it breaks into shards of glass.