[Shop (Medicine):

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Soul Sparking Magic Pill (E) | 1,000 System Points

Description: Completely restores G. Squad (E+) Magic Reserves upon first consumption. Subsequent consumptions increase Pill Toxicity by 5% and Pill Resistance by 0.5%.

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Shop (Information):

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Main Quest 2: Prepare For Trouble And Make It Double

-Dungeon Boss | 250 System Points

-Dungeon EX Boss | 300 System Points

-Tower Transference | 500 System Points]

Miles didn't hesitate to spend 250 System Points to learn as much as he could about the Dungeon Boss he would be facing in a matter of minutes.

[Dungeon Boss (Information):

Background: Dimensional analysis gathered meters from the Dungeon Maintenance Array in its Boss Spawning Phase show that this F Rank Shadow Dungeon has a 98% of spawning a single E Rank entity; likely of impure Nether Royalty.

Possible Encounters: Shadow Knight (66%), Shadow Oracle (21%), Shadow Shifter (6%), Nether Beast (4%), Nether Nightmare (2%), Nether Dominator (1%)]

"One on one with a fully fleshed out E Rank..." Miles muttered.

He looked over the log of potential Bosses that could spawn and decided it would be best to buy a Soul Sparking Magic Pill and keep it ready, just in case one of the Nether Variants spawned.

Against a single Shadow Monster, even those with the greatest strength, Miles was confident in his ability to win as he was; at most they would be a single step above hyper specialization and have two E Rank Stats. However, Nether Monsters, which evolved from Shadow Monsters, would probably be too much for him in his current exhausted state.

Miles spent his remaining time browsing through the Skills section of the System Shop, hoping to find a new Spell, Skill, or Ability to increase his strength just a bit more. Alas, with the Shop still organized in the most infuriated alphabetized list and no Search or Help feature to help him narrow down the listings, Miles didn't have much luck before the Dungeon Maintenance Array began operating again.

Light flickered, momentarily blinding Miles before the Boss' identity was revealed.

[Nether Beast | Level 33]

"Four percent… bullshit," Miles shook his head as he threw the Soul Sparking Magic Pill in his mouth.

[Skill "Lesser Negative Autonomy" activated]

[Skill "Common Blade Intent" activated]

[Skill "Buffing Spell: Double Time" activated]

Before he could bring his hand up to execute a Paralysis Spell, the Nether Beast was upon him.

Clang!

Miles winced as he felt the bones in his arms shake against the effort required of him to block and bar the Nether Beast's steel-like beak from getting any closer. In less than five seconds, he would be driven ten meters back as the beast attempted seven more pecks at his neck. On the last attempt, though, Miles managed to redirect the beast's attack to the side instead of outright blocking it, opening up a gap in it's relentless assault which he didn't fail to capitalize on.

Unfortunately, he came to find out that the Nether Beast had more than just Agility and Strength as its E Rank Stats. His knife immediately met a terrible resistance upon striking against the beast's diamond-hard feathers, not even managing to make it more than a few inches deep into its body before Miles was shoved off.

"Tch," Miles clicked his tongue and aimed a finger at the Nether Beast.

[Skill "Debuffing Spell: Paralysis" activated]

The beast didn't so much as wince… It was as all but confirmed to have most if not all its Stats Ranked at E- or above.

'Great,' Miles rolled his eyes as he came to a full stop and reengaged the Nether Beast in brutal physical fight to the death.

Generally speaking, Miles had the higher combat prowess. He was capable of inflicting more damage, though, that was entirely attributed to his higher intelligence and fighting tactics. The Nether Beast, on the other hand, was significantly more powerful than Miles; it was faster, stronger, and even more resistant to damage.

Whereas Miles relied on defending and countering, the Nether Beast commanded the pace of the battle as it attacked five to six times for every one of Miles' offending moves. Though, conversely, for every ten successful attacks Miles landed, the Nether Beast landed one and each and every one, even as a grazing hit…

[Status:

...

Parameters

Health: 88%

…

Parameters

Health: 74%

...

Parameters

Health: 54%]

For a real fight, this was easily the longest one Miles had ever had the displeasure of enduring. His only saving grace was the fact that despite it's ridiculous Constitution and Vitality, the injuries he had been piling onto the Nether Beast were keeping it equal to his deteriorating health.

Over time, the high octane pace where dozens of moves were exchanged in seconds devolved into two parties simply trying to recover faster.

At one point, as Miles was sluggishly about to drive his knife into the beast as it howled in pain on the ground, the blade end of his weapon literally snapped off, forcing him to throw it to the side, giving the beast enough to smack him away as well.

From then on, Miles, in a slightly delirious state, forgoed buying yet another F Ranked weapon as he questioned the point of it all, when he would probably be fighting an even stronger monster in the EX Boss and those low Ranked knives were proving to be worthless.

He was left with only his arms and legs to finish the job and unsurprisingly the pressure of the fight inspired new Skills to manifest in him.

[New Skills Learned]

[Skills:

Name: Common Martial Intent

Classification: Practiced Common Skill

Level: 1

Description: The most basic Skill for users of unarmed combat. Trust in your body, refining it with warring intentions, and all your Physical Parameters will rise accordingly.

Cost: Can only be activated while unarmed. Lasts only for as long as you can maintain your intent to fight.

Effect: Strength, Constitution, Vitality, and Agility rise by 1% while in effect.

Name: Magic Strike (Unarmed)

Classification: Practiced Common Skill

Level: 1

Description: You always were better off handling Magic than trusting in your Stamina, so why not apply that to close-quarters combat? Imbue Magic into your limbs to multiply their force output, though, do be careful not to accidently blow them off your body...

Cost and Effect: Strength and Speed increase relative to the amount of Magic used. Though, due to low proficiency, 80% of Magic used ends up being leaked and wasted at the moment.]

It eventually came down to Miles literally beating the Nether Beast to Death and bleeding it out as he hadn't the initial strength to quickly kill it off from the start. In its last couple moments whining and squirming underneath him, Miles felt his eyes twitch and his mouth frown despite Lesser Negative Autonomy working overtime.

When it finally died and Miles received a System prompt informing him of his Level increasing, he wasn't the slightest happy.

[Congratulations, you have Level Up to Level 23]

[Congratulations...]

[Congratulations, you have Level Up to Level 26]

Appearance disheveled with the whole of his body tainted with both his and the Nether Beast's blood, Miles took a couple seconds to look down at the fallen Monster he had killed. Unlike the Shadow Monsters that just faded upon dying, the Nether Beast's corpse remained, reminding him of what a brutal battle it had been.

He didn't like that.

He didn't think it, but subconsciously, his stomach turned as he saw what his actions and lack of strength forced him to do. To kill was one thing. But, this kind of prolonged torturous beating was something he once felt should be rightly reserved for the worst of his personal enemies.

To kill a monster so miserably… Even if they were enemies to humanity, it felt like he was doing something wrong.