"Okay, let's split up," Souta said as he looked at their face. He then explained, "There's no dangerous monster in this dungeon at our current power so I suggest splitting up and clear the path ahead before plundering all the treasures."
"I see... You really put down the mission in clearing this dungeon, captain." Lumilia nodded while looking at the map on the ground. "I agree with the captain's suggestion so we'll form a group of three just like the time when we're clearing low-level dungeons."
"True, despite being low-level monsters their numbers are high so it would pose a problem if we're going to move alone." Jagret nodded and said his opinion.
"Our goal right now is to clear the path towards the boss's room. We wouldn't stand a chance against a monster that's stronger than the White Jade Spider so forget about clearing this dungeon. Our target right now is to plunder the treasures before the boss's room." Souta said. His real target was the [Soul Blood Earring].
Even if they got the dozens of potions from the treasure room, he thought that it was still not enough. If they have two B-rank adventurers aside from Yujin and Yuko, then Souta would give it a chance.
The groups were the same when they were clearing low-level dungeons. After that, they split up and went to different paths inside the dungeon.
"They're gone..." Souta looked back and said in a low voice. Yuko who was beside him looked behind as she slightly tilted her head.
"Mu."
"Let's take the universal grade treasure," Souta said as the corner of his mouth curved upward. He then turned around and strode forward. Yuko quietly followed him while gazing at his back.
On their way, Souta and Yuko fought more than fifty second evolution monsters. They were also spiders but this one was different than the spider before the first boss.
They were spiders that had sharp poisonous fangs so Souta and Yuko had a hard time. After all, the nearest boss was also a spider-type monster but it was poisonous and smaller. This was the reason why Souta didn't want to fight another boss.
The second boss was something that they couldn't defeat. The poison it possessed was so strong that it could kill a B-rank adventurer within an hour. Their healing spell wouldn't be able to cure poison. After all, healing magic could only cure wounds and injuries not detoxify poison.
A C-rank adventurer wouldn't last more than half an hour under the poison of the boss. To defeat it, they needed someone who knows high-level detoxification spells. It was difficult to fight it without any detoxification spells as the boss has an AOE poisonous skill. Its web also has fire resistance characteristics so it was pretty hopeless if they were going to fight it.
After half an hour, Souta arrived in the secret room of the secret room. Of course, he knew the puzzles surrounding the secret room. He was the one who completed and obtained the treasure in the game after all.
He also levels up from killing all the monsters in this area. He was now a level 34 Battle Mage.
Good. Just a little bit more and he would be able to reach level 40 but before that, he had to maximize the benefits that he will get from forming his legion. A lot of skill points were waving at him.
"Finally, we're here."
Souta and Yuko were standing in the corridor of the room. The room was small and dark but Souta had night vision so the darkness didn't bother him. On the center of the room was a golden treasure chest.
"Pretty big chest for an earring," Souta said with a hint of excitement in his voice. He couldn't hide his own excitement as the other [Soul Blood Earring] was just in front of him.
"Yuko, guard this room and wait for me." After saying that to Yuko, Souta strode forward and stood in front of the golden treasure chest. He lifted his hand and caressed the earring on his left ear.
Huff!
He took a deep breath to calm himself before he raised both of his hands and opened the golden treasure chest. Inside the chest, he saw a small silver-colored earring with a black orb as its design.
Ohm!
The earring inside the chest glows dimly as if it was greeting the earring that Souta had.
Thud! Thud!
Souta felt the [Soul Blood Earring] in his ear throbbed. Then, he heard small voices that he couldn't recognize.
"This...?"
He was slightly surprised but he already expected it. Just like the [Vajra Sword Saya], this pair of earrings were slightly different in the game.
Stretching out his hand, he picked the earring and pierced his earlobe. He registered the earring as "equip" in his system. Then, he heard the same throbbing sounds.
Thud! Thud!
[You've completed the Universal Grade Artifact "Soul Blood Earring"]
[You've unlocked all the skills of the Universal Grade Artifact "Soul Blood Earring"]
[You've gained Soul Eye!]
[You've gained Soul Ear!]
[The radius of the skill Harvester of the Soul has increased by two kilometers!]
Souta frowned as he covered his ears with his hands. He was hearing different voices in his head. The voice was full of hatred and malice.
"Damn! These are the voices of the souls inside the earring!!"
He gritted his teeth and raised his hand in the air. He smashed the ground repeatedly as the voices inside his head grew louder.
"Damn! These puny souls are bothering me!!" He screamed loudly as he found that covering his ears was useless.
All the souls inside the earring were breaming in anger, rage, fury, desperation, and various mixed emotions. The emotions were focused on Souta, the one who bound them. The one who didn't let them die in peace.
They were suffering inside this small earring. They felt they were in hell.
For them, Souta was the evilest being in the whole world.
Souta was about to snap when he heard a familiar feminine voice inside his head.
'Ufufu, that look on your face is quite interesting...'
He opened his eyes widely as he knew the owner of this voice. At the same time that the familiar voice appeared, the voices of the souls disappeared inside his mind like a bubble.
"Hu~ you save me there, Saya." Souta said with a sigh of relief. The owner of the voice was none other than the being inside his dark grade sword.
'I warned you before that what you're doing is something extreme. Taking the souls is something that even gods didn't want to do. If a word of this got out then you will face the wrath of countless gods.' Saya's exasperated voice sounded in his mind.
"I don't care. Who are they to me anyway? All of it was to prepare myself for the worse." Souta replied to her as he stood up and patted his clothes.
'That's what I'm saying. Still, to think that you would have a complete universal artifact is outside my expectations. Do you know how many universal grade artifacts are in this world?'
"Fifty, no, maybe a hundred," Souta replied as he took a bottle of water and drunk it.
In the game, his equipment set was all universal grade. The top 20 players in the game had one or two universal grade. The three great countries also possessed powerful universal grade. He just didn't know how many artifacts they have.
The three bringers of calamity and some of the gods in the other continent have their own set of universal grade.
He knew a lot of universal grade equipment and its uses, the only problem was that he didn't know how to get it except for his own set. If he only knew it then he would get it no matter what to increase the strength of his forces in the future.
'Plundering the souls is a sin.'
"And who decided that damn thing? I'll kill that person so no one could say that it's a sin anymore! Rules? I created my own rules!"
'Well, we're always the ones who decided those things to limit ourselves. So I couldn't complain about you.'
"Still, I had to thank you. I didn't know what to do with the voices inside my head. It felt like their emotions are seeping in the fibers of my body." Souta said as he glanced at the system to check the changes in the artifact.
'I have my own circumstances and one of that is I can't afford to let you die at this moment. I want to confirm something if you are really the one.'
Souta ignored her voice as he focused his attention on the system.
Soul Blood Earring (Universal): A powerful universal treasure created from the soul and body of the True Ancestor to collect the souls of every living creature in the universe.
Skill: [Harvester of the Soul]. It could collect the wandering soul of in the surrounding area.
Soul collected(Left Piece): 892/1,700
Soul collected(Right Piece): 0/100
Skill: [Soul Blood Mode]. Infused the souls inside the earring to the wearer's blood to generate a power surpassing the limit of the user. The blood of the user will become a medium of the souls in exchange for the usage of soul power.
Consumed 200 souls every one minute if activated.
[Soul Eye]: Let the user have an eye that could see the wandering souls in the area.
[Soul Ear]: Let the user have an ear that could hear the voices of the wandering souls.
Stats effect: +100 all stats, +100% resistance to all abnormalities
"With this, I could go toe to toe with a full power White Jade Spider..."