Survival Story of a Sword King in a Fantasy World

Devouring Experience Points (3)

“If I take this out, monsters will cease to appear.” Ryu Han-bin said while looking at the dungeon magic core.

It was a rather unfortunate result for him. His goal was to gain experience. It would be a problem if the monsters stopped spawning.

“But the monsters here are useless anyway…”

He didn’t want to miss the chance to get a magic tool. Han-bin carefully pulled out the bracelet then activated the guideline’s search function.

“What is this?”

Light emerged next to the magic tool.

[Fireball Bracelet]

[A magic item that gives the user the ability to use fireball magic.]

[Can be used 30 times.]

“Oh! Not bad!”

Thanks to the Demon Dogs at the Rocky Mountains, he had a lot of experience dealing with magic attacks.

He knew how powerful Fireball was.

“It’s not that great, but…”

With his strength, throwing stones became a lot more destructive than the Fireball spell.

“I can use this to cast ranged magical attacks anytime.”

Han-bin always carried throwing daggers.

However, throwing daggers had its own limitations. The movement needed alone to take it and throw it consumed a lot of time. Having magic attacks at his disposal made the scopes of his combat operations wider.

Even if it wasn’t that strong, it could still be used to keep enemies at bay or to check suspiciously dark corridors.

“Since I can use it 30 times, using it once to experiment with it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Ryu Han-bin quickly put on the bracelet. Its size was adjustable, allowing it to fit his thick forearm without difficulty.

“How do I use it?”

[Aim the palm of the arm wearing the bracelet and shout “Fireball”]

Enthusiastically, he targeted the corpse of a nearby monster. Honestly, he couldn’t help but feel thrilled. In his possession was the eternal romance of every man!

“Fireball!”

…Nothing happened.

Not even a spark was created, let alone a fireball.

“Huh? Is it broken?”

He began to wave his hand frantically.

[User’s level is insufficient.]

“What?”

[Magic tools have user requirements that must be met. Raise your level to use the item.]

“…….”

A level requirement had been placed on the item, preventing him from using it.

“Raise my level? What level does it need?”

[Fireball Bracelet’s Conditions of Use: Lv. 33.]

“No, this isn’t a game. Why is there a level requirement?”

Han-bin removed the bracelet and threw it away in frustration.

“It’s rubbish.”

After calming down, he picked it up again.

“I should at least be able to sell it at a high price. I can’t just throw it away.” He sighed.

* * *

Four hours had passed since he entered the Alpha Dungeon. Throughout that duration, he managed to collect nearly a hundred Devil’s Spirit Stones. He couldn’t sell them without raising suspicions, but he at least found a magical tool that should fetch him a huge amount of money. That was enough for him. Ryu Han-bin didn’t have plans to return yet, however.

He was still yet to meet a monster strong enough to give him experience, after all.

“I have to head deeper.”

After putting the stones in his pockets, he kept moving. He had only encountered two more battles since then. He reached a location where monsters didn’t appear. The sloppy traps that popped out from time to time also disappeared. A piece of common knowledge about the dungeons that he had heard before came to mind.

“When you attack a dungeon, there would usually be an area where the monsters can’t appear even though it’s not a cleared area.”

Hunters were advised to be extra careful upon reaching such a place.

“It serves as proof that I’m close to the deepest part of the dungeon.”

A guardian who protected the Artifact awaited at the end of every dungeon. The other monsters in the dungeon feared the Guardian, causing them to leave it alone. His extensive knowledge about dungeons all came from Buckman.

“He had so much knowledge about dungeons for a hunter that’s never been in one before.”

Still, any hunter was bound to have such common information regardless of their experience with dungeons. They needed to be familiar with the information in advance to survive the dungeons in the future. That being said, the monsters’ disappearance served as enough evidence for Han-bin to know he’s reached Alpha’s deepest parts.

He kept going forward without slowing down.

About ten more minutes passed before the passageway ended in front of a huge building. It was an ancient temple-shaped building with its lower half buried in the ground. Thick stone pillars supported the 20-meter-high ceiling.

In the middle of it floated a large beast. Its ball-like body was around 5 meters in diameter and had numerous tentacles sprouting out of it. Large eyeballs were all over its body, each emanating a dim light.

[Race: Tentacle Beholder. Lv. 45]

Han-bin lit his eyes.

“Hoh, Level 45?”

That might give him some experience.

* * *

[Aerial floating monster. Its eyeballs can fire destructive rays, and its highly elastic tentacles are capable of a wide range of physical attacks.]

[Ability: Magic nullification. Within a radius of 30 meters, any magic below level 38 cannot be used. This is the most powerful ability of the Tentacle Beholder. It is recommended to find the eyeball that can activate the magic nullification ability and remove it first.]

Ryu Han-bin unsheathed his sword while reading through the explanations of the guidelines.

‘Its most threatening skill is its ability to dispel magic, but I don’t have to worry about it.’

He began his approach towards the temple.

The Tentacle Beholder found the intruder and flinched.

“…… !”

Its big eyeballs immediately began to shoot out bright beams of light.

Han-bin swiftly dodged sideways to avoid its attacks.

“Huft!”

The beams broke through the floor before exploding.

Bang bang bang!

Looking at the broken floor, he carefully analyzed the situation.

“This level of destructive power…”

He didn’t think there would be any problem even if he got hit by its beams. It was ridiculous that the hard stone floor had been turned into a deep crater, but it didn’t have enough power to be a threat to him.

“Gaaooooh!”

With a strange roar, the Tentacle Beholder fired a series of destructive rays.

Bang! Bang! Bangbang!

Ryu Han-bin dodged all of its attacks calmly. He steadily narrowed the distance while moving in a zigzag pattern. Targeting the intruder, the Tentacle Beholder furiously swung its tentacles.

Like whips, its tentacles began to sweep towards him from all directions.

Han-bin swung his sword swiftly, cutting through the tentacles as many times as he needed. Large chunks of tentacles and chopped pieces of flesh were scattered all over the temple. The Tentacle Beholder screamed in pain.

“Kaaaarrrgggh!”

“How is this mouthless monster screaming?”

Out of sheer curiosity, he began to wonder.

He had no trouble slicing through it.

“if so…”

It was a bit reckless, but he had to try.

Voluntarily, he allowed the tentacles to reach him, blocking the attacks with only his forearms.

Poop!

The appendages flew a few meters to the side. The monster’s weight seemed to be heavier, but it got easily shoved away.

“Kraaack?”

Outraged, the Tentacle Beholder swung its tentacles at him again.

Upon reaching him, the tentacles began to coil around one of his calves.

“It’s weak.”

The monster couldn’t even move Han-bin’s leg from the ground. Along with a loud screech, it tried to pull at his ankle.

Dang!

Gripping at the tentacles tightly, he stomped on them using his free foot, crushing them mercilessly.

He then ripped the tentacles off of him with ease.

“It’s too weak.”

He finished his experiment. He had enough grasp of how powerful a Level-45 monster was.

“Time to die.”

Ryu Han-bin dashed forward nonchalantly.

It was a bad move, but its outcome was still favorable. Almost as if Han-bin teleported, he instantaneously appeared in front of the monster and dealt the finishing blow.

Dang!

With sword strikes that caused dazzling lights to appear, the monster was split apart like a watermelon.

“Kieeeek!”

With a scream, the monster floating in the air crashed on the floor. It revealed its hideous flesh as its disgusting bodily fluids flowed out of it.

Pooooof!

He quickly stepped back with a grunt to avoid the pool of fluids.

“This guy wasn’t much either.”

Han-bin blatantly expressed his disappointment with the dying monster.

“Will it give me experience?”

* * *

With another swing of his sword, he finally ended its misery.

Fortunately, the message he expected came up.

[Obtaining 113,240 EXP from eliminating Lv. 45 Tentacle Beholder.]

“It gave me more experience than I thought it would.”

The experience gained from killing a Level 4 Demon Dog on Rocky Mountain was only around 80.

But over 110,000?

He was suddenly filled with excitement.

The message that followed immediately removed it, though.

[Current EXP: 113,240/54,581,975,800]

“… Cough!”

Han-bin choked the moment his eyes saw it.

“What’s with that absurdly astronomical number?!”

He was so surprised he found it hard to decipher the number. He had to count the digits with his fingers.

“Just how high is that?”

He kept counting.

It was about 54.5 billion.

“I killed a level 45 monster and got around 110,000 experience points, but the remaining experience I need to level up is 54.5 billion?”

Through rough estimations, it meant he had to kill more than 500,000 monsters.

Ryu Han-bin’s jaw dropped.

“What level am I actually at?”

* * *

One thing became clear, at least.

It was useless to slay hundreds of low-level monsters. At least in that area, leveling up was impossible.

“I have to save money and leave this city.”

He had to raid extremely difficult dungeons at the center of the continent.

“It’s time to head back soon, I guess.”

He still had work to do before going back, however. Defeating the Guardian meant he’d be able to get the Artifact. Han-bin searched inside the temple and found a pillar of light that contained something in the middle.

“Is this the Artifact?”

He reached out and pulled the object out of the light.

He then activated the search function.

[Water Flow Creation Staff (Artifact)]

[Hitting a rock while holding this staff creates 3 liters of purified water.]

[User requirements: Lv. 40. 1-meter range. Usable once per day.]

“Doesn’t this just make water?”

“Aren’t Artifacts supposed to be rarer and more powerful than magic cores?”

“Isn’t this just a substitute for buckets?”

There was even a daily limit. However, Han-bin immediately changed his perspective.

“It can be helpful with the right usage.”

Water was essential to humans. With this staff, he could get fresh water anytime, anywhere. It was much easier to carry than a real bucket, and it was reusable. It might’ve been useless for combat, but it was still useful in other fields. It was worthy of being called an Artifact.

“I can’t use it regardless.”

Ryu Han-bin lifted the staff and hit the floor out of blind hope, but the result was just as expected.

[The user’s level is insufficient.]

He could still sell it for money. After putting it in his pocket, he waited for a bit. Now that he had removed the Artifact, changes were bound to happen to the dungeon.

Boom Boom Boom!

A roaring sound confused his senses. At the same time, his entire field of view was distorted and was shaken. It was like entering a dizzying haze.

Han-bin muttered in a calm tone.

“Now, the dungeon collapse begins.”

The Alpha Dungeon began disappearing from Latna after having its core taken.