Chapter 231: 231

He was taken aback a little when he saw it from the outside, so he couldn’t help but wonder . By being inside, however, he was definitely sure of it now .

The cave that Su-hyeun and the awakeners had walked into was not an ordinary cave at all but a corpse of an Ouroboros .

This monster was a high-leveled creature that would only show up as the boss of an indigo-colored dungeon, at the very least . Fortunately enough, it was already dead, and its remains now became a backdrop for a dungeon instead .

Hold on, could this be…?

A theory belatedly popped up in his mind, and Su-hyeun’s eyes grew much larger . He still hadn’t confirmed it yet, but the possibility was certainly there .

Smirk—

His worry at the appearance of an unexpected dungeon only lasted for a brief moment . A wide grin formed on Su-hyeun’s lips . The genuine delight that he couldn’t hide anymore had taken over his expression .

“M—mister Su-hyeun?” Yi Byeong-hoon, who was closely following him, got next to him, saw his expression, and asked, “What’s the matter? Did something good happen?”

“No, it’s nothing . ” Su-hyeun did his best to suppress his rising laughter and replied to the question . “Not yet, anyway . ”

“…?”

“Alright, then . Let’s hurry up and finish this raid as soon as possible . ”

Su-hyeun quickened his steps .

Toward the deeper parts of the Ouroboros’s remains .

The type of monsters that appeared inside the Ouroboros’s corpse turned out to be rather consistent—parasites living inside the gigantic monster’s body .

These creatures that survived by eating the Ouroboros’s remains didn’t prove to be much of a challenge at all . However, the boss that did show up at the end was rather threatening in its own right .

“I thought this place wasn’t much since only some bugs showed up, but who knew that we’d have to face a huge snake as the boss? I can’t figure out what kind of a dungeon this is,” said Yi Byeong-hoon .

An offspring of Ouroboros, which hatched from one of its eggs, was the boss of this dungeon . The Ouroboros snakelet consumed the parasites inside the corpse to mature . It was already several hundreds of meters in length and many meters in width .

It boasted a considerable speed, illusion-type skills that restricted the movements of its target, and even innate resistance toward magic .

It was basically just about what you’d expect from a boss appearing inside a green-colored dungeon . Of course, it truly was nothing more than a newborn hatchling compared to its mother .

Although it’s a bit of a waste using it on this guy…

No matter what, this monster did appear as the boss of a green-colored dungeon . It might have lost its life rather feebly at Su-hyeun’s hands, but overall, it was still a pretty high-class creature .

Rustle—

Su-hyeun extended his hand toward the dead Ouroboros snakelet with a hole in its head . Soon after that…

[Trait “Necromancer” has been activated . ]

[By spending “Death Aura,” you can now view or command the dead . ]

The moment he activated his trait, a blackish light swirled within Su-hyeun’s eyes . At the same time, the world in his view changed as well . The cries of the dead resounded within the Ouroboros’s corpse, and he could now see semi-transparent souls .

I see . Simply maintaining this state alone already requires a pretty high amount of Death Aura .

It seemed that his newly acquired “Death Aura” stat wasn’t that advanced at the moment . The current Su-hyeun would find it quite difficult to command several of the undead at the same time . And even if he could, the duration wouldn’t be that long .

For now…

This was just the beginning of the skill . Su-hyeun locked his eyes on the Ouroboros snakelet and activated the next set of his skills .

[Soul Accumulation has been used . ]

[The soul of the Ouroboros snakelet has been stored away . ]

[The target for Dead Summoning has been set . ]

[You can now summon the Ouroboros snakelet . ]

Shu-wuwuwu—

The dead Ouroboros snakelet disappeared as if it had melted away . This was the sign that the skill had been activated successfully .

The raid party members watching on from behind were stunned, and their leader quickly asked him what they just witnessed .

“W—what just happened?”

“No, it’s nothing important . You don’t have to worry about it . ”

Thinking that there was no need to explain himself, Su-hyeun simply shook his head .

Yi Byeong-hoon’s surprised expression lasted only for a little while . He observed Su-hyeun’s moods and nodded his head . Awakeners possessed all sorts of colorful and varied skills, and as a result, it was fairly common to see them trying to keep their abilities a secret .

Su-hyeun was no exception . As that was the case, digging any further would be going against the accepted etiquette .

I’ve only heard from rumors, but man, his skills are really out of this world .

Yi Byeong-hoon, who had squatted down after getting tired from the high-intensity march earlier, stood back up and stared at Su-hyeun .

He was an A-Rank awakener himself . He was a proud leader of a guild, and he could confidently boast that, as far as abilities were concerned, he was on the highest level within the A-Rank .

However, even someone like him couldn’t help but be blown away by Su-hyeun’s abilities . For one thing, he began questioning what exactly his guild did during this raid . Su-hyeun had killed pretty much every monster that showed up, after all .

“In any case, I guess this is the end of the raid . It just doesn’t feel real, ending a raid in less than two hours,” said Yi Byeong-hoon .

A green-colored dungeon had been raided without anyone getting hurt . From his perspective, there was no better result than this one .

But before he could head outside the dungeon, Su-hyeun stopped him first .

“Can you go ahead without me? There’s something I’d like to do and I gotta stay behind for a bit . ”

“Excuse me? But, you said you were really tired before we entered the dungeon…”

“I’m feeling a bit better, actually . Please go ahead without me . ”

Su-hyeun said that with a smiling face and lightly pushed forward Yi Byeong-hoon on the back .

Raiding a dungeon made him feel no longer tired? Yi Byeong-hoon tilted his head in disbelief but chose not to dig any further .

Su-hyeun wasn’t really the type to stay behind in the dungeon after a raid had ended so that he could sneak away a few Ether stones for himself, and besides, the raiding party didn’t have anything else to do .

“Well, in that case…We shall head out first . Thank you for your hard work . ”

“Yes, you too . ”

Yi Byeong-hoon led his guild members away and headed to the dungeon’s exit .

Su-hyeun confirmed their exit and spoke, “Hey, Miru . ”

Split—

Gya-ong—

At Su-hyeun’s call, Miru shuffled out into the open, still looking somewhat fatigued . He formed an apologetic expression and talked to his red dragon . “Sorry about calling you out when you were resting just now . Can you fly?”

Gya-ong—

Miru nodded energetically and turned around to show him its back . Meaning, he should get on .

The dragon had been injured rather seriously during the last trial, and just like Su-hyeun, it hadn’t had enough time to rest up . That was why he planned not to call on Miru during this raid if he could help it .

However, he definitely needed the ability to fly right then .

Flap—

Swoosh—!

When Su-hyeun climbed up on Miru’s back, the red dragon rapidly beat its wings and began flying up higher .

The bigger Miru got, the faster its speed became as well . The dragon quickly escaped from the Ouroboros’s corpse and, as Su-hyeun had asked earlier, flew up high into the sky .

“This is high enough,” said Su-hyeun while patting Miru’s back, and the dragon instantly folded its wings .

They had come to a stop at a fairly high altitude . He could now take in the entirety of the Ouroboros’s corpse floating on the ocean’s surface .

Seeing that its hide and flesh have decomposed, it must’ve died a long time ago .

Su-hyeun’s heart was pounding away .

Will it work?

He extended his hand toward the Ouroboros’s remains . His hand was now blocking that vast creature from his view .

And right at that moment, the skill was activated .

[Soul Accumulation has been used . ]

[An Ouroboros’s soul has been stored . ]

Shu-wuwuwu—

Black aura leaked out of Su-hyeun’s body and rapidly got sucked into the Ouroboros . His body faltered for a moment there .

Heo-urk!

Gya-ong—

Perhaps worried about Su-hyeun’s current status, the surprised Miru quickly created a wall out of magical power and supported his slumping figure .

Su-hyeun raised his hand to say not to worry about him . It was just that he got caught off-guard by his strength suddenly abandoning him for a second there, so it wasn’t a serious problem .

“I’m alright . Don’t worry . ”

He regained his center of balance . What leaked out of him after he activated his skill wasn’t the magical energy but the Death Aura .

Souls have different grades, don’t they…?

Su-hyeun recalled the explanation about the Soul Accumulation skill . It said that the number he could store away would depend on the grades of the souls . He had been wondering what this soul grade thing could be after reading that part of the description, but now, he thought he could understand it fully .

The mother is in another league compared to the baby, is that it? So the amount of Death Aura spent is so much higher .

This wasn’t simply the difference between a big body versus a smaller one . No, the power within the souls themselves was different . Su-hyeun wiped the sweat streaming down his forehead and thought to himself .

If it were Mister Herrels, he’d probably have no problem commanding a creature like this one .

The two greatest undead Herrels possessed were the Bone Dragon and history’s greatest swordsman, Louw . Not to forget, he also commanded several tens of thousands of other undead besides those two .

In the future, I’ll also…

Su-hyeun extended his hand once more .

Right away…

[The target for Dead Summoning has been set . ]

[You can now summon the Ouroboros . ]

Pant, pant, fuu-wuu—

Su-hyeun panted heavily and quickly . His head was spinning, too .

“It’s done…”

The Death Aura inside his body leaked out instantly again, and his body slumped forward powerlessly .

Act 6

Gya-ong, gya-ong—

Lick—

Su-hyeun felt a slick and warm sensation on his cheek . He regained his consciousness from that feeling . The moment his eyes opened, he spotted Miru’s face right next to his .

“Ah…”

Did he black out?

Su-hyeun hurriedly got up . He found himself and Miru on top of a monster’s remains floating on the ocean’s surface .

The first thing he thought of right after regaining his consciousness left him somewhat flabbergasted .

“Looks like I might get a good scolding from the Authority for this,” said Su-hyeun with a sheepish face while scratching the back of his head .

Now that he thought about it, the Ouroboros’s corpse wasn’t just some “remains” of a monster but the entire dungeon itself . The remains of the monster he had been lying on were just that of a parasite found inside the Ouroboros dungeon .

“Wait a minute, it won’t end in a simple scolding, now will it?”

A smirk broke out on his face . Even though he had blacked out just now, overall, he felt quite alright .

No, he felt even better than he had ever before .

[Death Aura: 21]

Was it because he got to enjoy a deep, relaxing slumber? His previously depleted Death Aura had recovered to some extent .

Su-hyeun stood up and extended his hand toward the horizon .

Shu-wuwuwu—

Death Aura gathered on his palm . He continued to gather this power and murmured softly .

“Arise . ”

[“Dead Summoning” has been used . ]

[The Ouroboros is being summoned . ]

Simmer, pop, hiss—

Bubbles began boiling on the surface of the ocean some distance away . And not too long after that…

Pow—!

Swhoo-aaaaah—

Kiii-aaaah—!

A massive snake made out of bones—Ouroboros—revealed itself above the surface . A big grin had spread on Su-hyeun’s lips when he witnessed this sight .

Grin—

This was his very first summoned creature .

Sure, Death Aura consumption is massive because of this monster’s size, but…

There was nothing to worry about . Since his stat was still low, the rate of its improvement after clearing trials should be quite fast .

It could probably rise up very quickly to 60, maybe 70 points . Reaching that figure alone should ensure that the number of the undead summons he could wield through the Necromancer trait would increase exponentially, too .

The real issue is, as expected, the suitable souls and the remains .

Su-hyeun didn’t have one iota of desire to use this Necromancer trait to command dead humans . Not only were there the questions of ethics and morality to consider, but they also wouldn’t be able to display as much destructive power as monsters .

It looks like I might get busy for a while .

For the past few months, he focused on passing the 50th floor’s trial . If nothing of note happened, he was planning to take a day or two off to rest and then head straight to the next floor .

However, his newly acquired skill turned into a variable, and it was a pretty wonderful variable at that .

“I wonder when an indigo-colored dungeon would show up again . ”

For the first time ever, he started looking forward to dungeon generation .