“Run... I have to run! If I can just get back to the dungeon, I might still survive!”
No. 945 turned to flee, but before he could take more than a few steps, an arrow condensed from the wind pierced through the air, accurately skewering his calf and pinning him to the ground.
He let out a miserable shriek and collapsed to the ground, struggling to crawl back up, but Luna had already landed slowly in front of him, bow in hand, blocking his path.
Olivia also descended from midair to his side. She squatted down and asked in a curious tone, “I'm quite interested in those marvelous tricks of yours. Where did they come from? If you cooperate, I might consider sparing you some pain.”
No. 945 lay on the ground, panting heavily, a glimmer of hope for survival flashing in his eyes.
Since those people had already treated him as an expendable pawn, he might as well abandon them in return.
Thus, he opened his mouth, about to speak of the secrets he knew. However, the very moment before he could make a sound, his body suddenly began to age rapidly.
His skin shriveled and wrinkled at a visible rate, his muscles withered, his hair fell out, and his entire being became like a dead tree drained of all its moisture.
“Save...”
He let out one last short, hoarse cry before his skeleton suddenly collapsed, turning into a heap of ash-white bones, completely devoid of life.
“It seems things are even more complicated than I thought.”
Olivia slowly stood up, staring at the pile of bones on the ground, falling silent for a long time.
Luna also lowered her bow, gazing solemnly at the remains.
The two exchanged a look, seeing the same thought reflected in each other's eyes.
It seemed there were still secrets in this world that even they knew nothing about.
As the body of No. 945 completely crumbled into bones and scattered in the night wind, a system prompt immediately popped up in Greg's mind:
[Redemption of the Villainous Noble: Phase Three completed! Phase Four locked.]
[Assisted in killing the Floor Boss of the third layer of the Empire Dungeon. Acquired a massive amount of experience points.]
A long string of experience numbers flashed before his eyes, finally settling on a figure that left him highly satisfied.
He let out a breath and opened his status panel, which he hadn't looked at closely in a long time:
[Name: Greg Sass]
[Race: Human (?)]
[Level: LV48]
[Constitution: 8]
[Agility: 7]
[Intelligence: 7]
[Charisma: 10 (?)]
[Willpower: 8]
[Luck: 10 (Black)]
He had leveled up five times in a row, jumping from 43 to 48, which made him quite pleased.
However, he quickly noticed an unusual change on the panel—behind “Human” in the race column, a small question mark had mysteriously appeared.
“Strange...”
Greg muttered in his heart, Why is there suddenly a question mark next to my race? Although Nightmare shared her Godhood with me before, my body should still be human...
He pondered for a moment and came up with a possible answer:
Could it be because... I ate some strange things again?
At first, he had swallowed the finger of the Mother of Fragmentation, and later, he had swallowed the... well, whatever Wendy had given him that contained special power. In short, he really seemed to have consumed quite a lot of abnormal foods.
Although he didn't know what kind of impact this change would bring, fortunately, his body didn't show any obvious adverse effects at the moment. Thus, he decided to temporarily put these matters aside and research them properly when he had the time.
Then, he scrolled further down, his gaze landing on the talents page.
[Dungeon Conqueror King (Upgradable): When you are in a dungeon, damage dealt to any entity is increased by eighty percent.]
[Praise the Dungeon (Upgradable): When you are in a dungeon, your actual Luck stat will not drop below 6.]
[Dungeon's Appreciation (Static Aura): When you are in a dungeon, the experience points acquired by you and nearby friendly characters will be greatly increased.]
[Digestive Bacteria (Static): When you kill an enemy in a dungeon, there is a chance to acquire a random skill or skill fragment from the enemy.]
Like before, his three talent skills had all received comprehensive upgrades. What surprised him the most was that after the [Dungeon's Appreciation] talent was upgraded to its maximum level, it had actually transformed from a single-target effect into an aura effect!
This meant that anyone who partied up with him to explore dungeons in the future would also enjoy the benefit of the experience boost.
All he could say was that this adventure had been absolutely worth it.
“Since my goals have been achieved, it's about time to find an opportunity to withdraw.”
Greg pulled back his thoughts and looked down at the ground.
His gaze met those of Olivia and Luna below.
Olivia winked at him.
Luna still maintained her expressionless, deadpan face, but her hand suddenly rose, seemingly wanting to wave. Fortunately, Olivia pressed it back down in time, preventing Isadora, who was standing next to Greg, from noticing.
After calming his racing heart, Greg cleared his throat and said in a steady, composed voice that maintained his sophisticated facade,
“Since my business here is done, it is time for me to depart.”
With those words, he first controlled the black sun in the sky to slowly dissipate, returning the night to its normal appearance. Then, at the very instant darkness blanketed the sky once more, he combined it with Shadow-Step, his figure vanishing into the night sky like a wisp of blue smoke.
Seeing this, Isadora instinctively prepared to give chase, but Olivia flickered and blocked her path, waving her hand.
“Forget it, forget it. You saw it yourself—that guy is incredibly strong. If we accidentally start a fight here, it'll be a massive headache. Besides, looking at the current situation, he doesn't seem to be an enemy.”
Luna also nodded quickly in agreement from the side.
Isadora looked in the direction where Greg had vanished, then at her two colleagues in front of her. Ultimately, she lowered her weapon and asked grumpily,
“Where on earth did you two run off to earlier? I couldn't find you anywhere.”
Olivia defended herself,
“Actually, the two of us got drunk last night. When we woke up, we found ourselves lying in the park bushes. But the moment we regained consciousness, we rushed over to help right away!”
“Is that really true?”
Although Isadora was a bit skeptical, she figured that if it was this fellow Olivia, it wasn't entirely impossible.
In the end, she let out a sigh and accepted the explanation.
...
Atop a distant clock tower, Melina slowly withdrew her gaze.
She looked in the direction where the black figure had vanished, a look of intense interest flashing in her eyes.
Although she was somewhat curious about the origins of that steward, she was, after all, far more interested in the person clad in black armor.
She speculated that perhaps all her previously failed plans had been related to him.
Furthermore, regarding the Dark Night Order, she recalled hearing some rumors about it back when she was in the city where Glory Cael Magic Academy was located.
“Perhaps this person is hiding somewhere much closer to me than I think.”
A devilish smile appeared on Melina's face, and she turned to leave.
Although many unexpected variables had arisen during this operation, overall, her plan had actually become even more successful because of the chaos in the Imperial Capital.
In her original plan, only one executive of the Demon King Cult would have been able to seize the opportunity to infiltrate the dungeon for investigation.
But now, because most of the defenders in the underground labyrinth had gone up to support the suppression of the riots in the Imperial Capital, many of her subordinates had successfully slipped into the dungeon during this gap.
Thus, she believed that before long, she would be able to obtain some information about the dungeon.
Rate on N.U.
