[You've entered a mystic boundary, a place created by the Iron Clad Empress through imbuing a part of her Ability kingdom in this place.]

[The rules of this place restrict the usage of any type of spatial device and spatial magic.]

[The space of this place is too refined.]

[You can not open the pathway to your subspace in this place.]

[Subspace Spell Matrix: Restricted.]

A few notifications popped up in his mind, and after reading them, he frowned. He couldn't even pull out his dagger from his spatial storage ring! Furthermore, he needed to use the fifty units of blood in his heart more carefully than ever.

Vincent moved ahead in the darkness. He had only taken the third step when enormous sources of light manifested above his head. The lights which were emitting out of the two moon-like orbs hanging from the ceiling were intense enough to rip apart the darkness and illuminate the surrounding.

Now, he was able to take in his surroundings more clearly than before.

He saw a crystal door and guessed that it was the path to the second floor.

However, a monster in the second stage of the demonic realm was guarding it.

[Hellborn Blade]

It was a five meters long and two meters wide monster that had three pairs of legs, each shaped like a blade, two wings with many scales on them, and a sturdy exoskeleton.

It looks like a mantis; that was Vincent's first impression about it. However, it didn't have eyes, and it also didn't have antennas. It only had a sunken nose in the center of its face that lacked all other features.

The moment the creature sniffed the air, it realized that someone has come to this place.

Its head turned in Vincent's direction. Right in this very moment, he had used his appraisal spell matrix to determine the strength and weakness of this monster.

He raised one of his hands, out of which a drop of blood came out and dropped to the ground.

It lacked many sensory functions, but its sense of smell was a thousand times better than humans.

He knew that the scent of blood would reach it and aggravate it, causing it to go berserk and make bad judgments!

"Roar!!" The moment the droplet of blood touched the ground, the monster from hell released a roar, then a bloodthirsty look appeared on its hideous face as it moved towards Vincent by stabbing its limbs into the ground.

It was too fast for any typical intermediate-stage combatant, but it was too slow in Vincent's eyes. His speed, strength, and stamina surpassed 100 points. He was unmatched by monsters in the early stages of the demonic realm.

He could move out of its way as effortlessly as a person taking a stroll in the park. However, he stood still and didn't make a single move even when it swiped its front limbs towards him. He was waiting for a chance, a chance that would help him reach the weakness of the Hellborn Blade in the least amount of time.

Whoosh!

Just as it looked like the blade-like limbs were going to rip him apart, he made his move. The two blade-like limbs passed from just over his head as he barely evaded the attacks by ducking low. While still in that position, he pushed himself forward, trying to slide towards the underbelly of the monster.

The monster he was fighting wasn't slow at all, and it was also determining his position by using its sense of smell. In its senses, Vincent was a massive pack of blood!

Before he could even slide from underneath the front side of its body, the monster lowered its head, brought its mouth down, and opened its jaw to reveal knife-like teeth before biting at him.

Bam!

However, Vincent kicked its lower jaw before it could even fully open its mouth. The force behind his kick was enormous enough to force shut its mouth and cause its teeth to pierce the inside of its mouth and protrude out of its face.

Fresh blood spurted into the air as Vincent reached its underbelly, which was coincidentally the weakest area of its body.

An exoskeleton wasn't covering this place, and it was soft too. -5 HP, Blood surged out of his right palm, extending but at the same time solidifying into a sharp sword.

The tip of the sword pierced into its flesh, causing it immense pain. It instinctively opened its mouth to moan out in pain, but it, in turn, ripped apart its face, a truly horrifying sight that would give anyone a chill.

Even worse came for it as Vincent thrust his crimson sword further into its underbelly, causing the sharp sword's tip to stab into its heart and explode it!

"Gah!"

The Hellborn Blade uttered its final painful roar as its body came crashing down towards Vincent. He immediately pulled out his sword by using his right hand, then smashed his left on the ground with a great enough strength to push himself out of harm's way.

The monster dropped on the ground with a heavy thud, raising dust in the air, after Vincent slid from underneath it.

[You've killed the guardian of the first floor of the monster tower within a minute of engaging it in a fight.]

[You've earned 10 Monster hunting points]

[Total Time: 35 seconds]

[You've surpassed eight top contenders and ranked just below the Emperor of Might and Mr. Joker]

[Congratulations! You've earned 70 extra points]

'If it's the Emperor of Might, then defeating the monster with a single hit shouldn't be much of a problem for him,' Vincent believed. 'Losing to such a person when I hadn't even used my full strength isn't a shame.'

'As for Mr. Joker, I don't know of such a person. Is he the human, devil, and God that Melody mentioned?'

While Vincent was lost in these thoughts, another notification sounded in the cave.

[You've earned the right to advance to the second tower]

Vincent didn't even glance at the monster. It's not like he could store it, anyway. He moved straight towards the crystal door, pushed it open, and entered the second floor.