“Ah! Fuck! What the hell happened?”

Lying face down on the floor, Ray grunted as his body raked by overwhelming pain. His bones, muscles, and even the blood inside his vessels felt like they were getting burned while he was alive.

Our protagonist was really unlucky. The moment he stepped out of the safe place, he took a stray attack from the boss to his face. Even before he could flaunt to either party, he got sent home. It hurt his pride.

The pain lasted for a while. Then, he picked himself up and sat down in the middle of the hallway. His breathing was labored, and the muscle shirt stuck to his back. It took him a while to get over this uncomfortable feeling triggered by the instant death. ‘Sigh- looks like even if I resurrect, I will still feel the pain before death.’ Ray noted this down mentally.

He opened the stats sheet and saw a few changes. Namely, due to stealing Endurance and Physique-related stats, his HP and stamina increased again. Both of these were a good thing on so many levels. With a higher HP, he can take more hits. It also made his ability more powerful. His HP had become 2900 from 900, and his stamina had reached 300 points. At this rate, he might get a tanky Job.

But there was something that worried him. The ability seemed to be very useful, but what was its true limit? Ray didn’t believe that such an ability was without any hard restrictions. Disregarding everything, the effect of cheating death alone puts it along with other S-class Skills out there. As for the ‘stealing’ aspect, it can be ranked between A to S.

The abilities of Raiders and monsters had a rank of their own. The grading starts from F and ends at S. His Porter-only abilities could at best be characterized as a D-grade Skill. Although, the new one could be a B, border lining A.

About half an hour later, feeling that enough time had passed, Ray stood up and walked to the door. Holding the handle of the door, he hesitated. The memory of the pain was still fresh on his mind from his death not long ago. His grasp on the handle tightened before relaxing. He decided to be not rash this time. He didn’t want to die because of a stray ability.

‘Too bad, I don’t have a tool.’ Ray lamented for not bringing his dagger, the Shark-tooth. When he accepted the offer from those bastards, he thought it would be an easy job since all three of them were level 2 Raiders. After what happened, depending on how one looks at it, this could either be his worst mistake or best chance.

Biting his lips, he pushed the door open with his legs. This time, no strange sounds or light flashes occurred. Instead, an eerily silent hall greeted him. No marks of battle could be seen anymore. Ray’s nervousness increased. He didn’t see the dead body of the monster or the Raiders, leaving him no way of knowing what happened.

Gritting his teeth, he took a step forward into the fourth floor of the D-ranked dungeon. Last time he wasn’t able to see the true identity of his killer, which made him a little jumpy. With much hesitation, he proceeded further into the place. His eyes looking around warily, trying to find any signs of danger.

The first floor had scorpions, the second floor had snakes, and lizardmen lived on the third floor. With this logic, the fourth floor should contain a poison-based monster, which it did. The problem lied with the identity. Who was the beast that had managed to kill him in one shot not once but twice?

‘What am I afraid of? I can always resurrect.’ Ray consoled himself, allowing confidence to fill him again. Gritting his teeth, he walked further into the floor, all while his eyes scanning everywhere around himself. As he moved, torn remains of a bag were found scattered on the floor.

‘It's my bag! What happened to the things inside?’ The torn pieces were from his bag, the one he had been carrying for years as a Porter. Porters were the dungeon version of a coolie. They would carry the loots while the Raiders busy hunting the monsters. A relaxing job in a dangerous place. The price, however, was very hefty. The ones with the said job would have to let go of their self-respect. They have to get used to being treated as a doormat and have to learn how to ignore jeerings on a personal level.

Letting go of the rendered bag, his eyes moved towards the dark narrow path leading towards the end of the floor. His heartbeat increased as events of what happened not long ago flashed inside his head.

“Ahh!”

Suddenly, he started hearing muffled cries. Ray couldn’t identify the gender as the cry was too subdued and stuffy. The sound came from the narrow, dark path stretched ahead of him. Ray’s steps halted as his body shook. Indecisiveness flashed in his eyes.

“Mhmm”

The cries became louder and louder as he got closer to the tunnel-like path. At this time, Ray’s heart palpitated, filling it with a sudden sense of crisis. A shadow loomed over him as a stench permeated into his nose. Without even stopping to think, he jumped forwards, cartwheeled on the stone pavement before coming to a stop.

Boom!!

The identity of his killer was finally revealed.

A three-meter tall spider with two glowing eyes and a body full of purple fur. Its eight legs had pointy tips, looking rather deadly. Yet, all those weren’t the most unique aspect of this spider.

The title was taken by a humanoid-shaped, faceless figure sticking out of the spider’s back. Its rather uneven hands were dangling loosely on its side, like puppets with their strings cut. A hole was seen on where its heart should be, with green pus oozing out. The spider itself wasn’t in its healthy condition either.

Big and small holes riddled all over its body.

‘These wounds should be left by that woman. Her Job, if I remember correctly, was Gunslinger.’ His eyes shifted to the hole on the grotesque humanoid figure on its back. ‘That should be the work of that spear guy. What about the green-vine bastard?’

While thinking of this, he clapped his hands and willed the new ability to activate. A yellow glow surrounded him, before concentrating around his palms. Soon, the outline of a glass arrow formed between his palms.

[Crystalline Poison Arrow]

[Deals 2900 damage every second for ten seconds.]

[Stamina: 200/300]

After the arrow formed, it hovered between his palms. Just as he was about to hurl it at the monster, a golden cross appeared in the middle of his line of sight. The cross automatically moved until resting on the spider's head. It started to blink while staying anchored to the place. Ray instinctively knew it was the effect of the 'homing' ability of this skill. Hence, with a grunt, he focussed on the cross and hurled the arrow.

The construct of magic penetrated into its head, making a squelching sound in the process. It soon melted, producing a yellow gas that entered the spider’s body through the wound.

Kroar!!

The beast let out a thunderous roar as it tumbled forward. Even its eight legs struggled to keep it balanced. Ray quickly backtracked to avoid getting squashed by it. He watched in morbid fascination as the beast’s body bloated and chunks of its flesh fell off.

Sometimes later, a notification box popped up.

[You have killed Nightmare Spider]

[+50 EXP]