Chapter 53 - 3F Breakthrough (1) (1/2)

3F Breakthrough (1)

The third floor of Black Palace District 7 was different from the first and second floors in many ways.

Scale? Of course, it is larger. The quest was to catch 100,000 monsters, so it made sense that the third floor had a space that was not comparable to the second floor. On the second floor, I had a map of it drawn in my head and could go around it with ease, but it was impossible to do that on the third floor.

It’s not just that. The number of rooms and passages also increased. At the end of such rooms were treasure chests.

But annoyingly, most of them are Mimics.

“Apart from knowing that they are Mimics, at first sight, you can also skewer them from top to bottom in one blow. You’re amazing, Captain.”

“It’s because you’re weak.”

“Sheesh.”

I was teasing him. Lee Chan-yu was strong. After recovering his health and strength, he fought without hesitation against intermediate monsters on the third floor using his outstanding energy and recovery power.

He wants to achieve evolution.

“As far as I know, no one has ever succeeded in evolution. However, if it is possible for a monster, it will be possible for a Fallen. I will surely be the first.”

“I am the first.”

“Damn!”

Our fighting styles matched quite well. He uses speed and resilience as an infighter who rushes without fear into the crowd, while I pick off a group of monsters one by one using Fairy Tale and Surprise, until there’s no more left.

He charges and grabs attention while I finish them off.

However, there were two problems.

First. My abilities, especially the Surprise skill, was far higher than that of the intermediate monsters on the third floor and Lee Chan-yu. After killing a monster with a Surprise Attack, I could immediately disappear again for another strike. Thus, Lee Chan-yu didn’t really need to draw the monsters’ attention for me. I could annihilate everything alone.

Second. On Earth, with the concept of guilds and parties, experience and gold are shared when a monster is killed as a group.

However, there was a skill necessary to form a party.

Leadership.

Since I cannot place Lee Chan-yu under my Leadership skill, the ‘colleague’ dynamic, we have does not work effectively. No matter how much someone contributed to killing a monster, the one who dealt the final blow gets all the experience and gold.

Temporarily, I suggested to Lee Chan-yu to place me under his Leadership, but he opposed it and said it was impossible. It was impossible for a person with an Advanced level of Leadership skill to be under someone with a Lower Leadership.

If he and I could be linked through Leadership, we both would have grown more, but it was simply impossible right now.

In the end, what we could do is get him to hunt alone within my range of Detection.

Lee Chan-yu had the ability to survive on the third floor, except when the number of monsters is too large, where his recovery could not sustain the damage he’s taking.

Therefore, I only support him during dangerous moments, and we hunt separately most of the time.

With that, we explored the spacious 3F. I thought that would be enough, and in the first few days, it certainly seemed so.

But it was not enough.

[Level Up!]

“Lee Chan-yu, you told me you could become strong with me.”

“I’m getting stronger, too. But you’re getting stronger too fast!”

I was getting impatient as Lee Chan-yu’s level struggled to keep up.

Of course, there was a difference in our experiences. He must have lived a desperate existence as I did, but when it comes to hunting in dungeons, I am ahead of him.

There wasn’t much difference between his level and mine when we first met, but when I reached Level 75, he was only around Level 65.

Of course, the annihilation of the Phoenix Hunters is a big factor in my level increase, but the gap shouldn’t have been this great.

I thought hard about it and decided there was one main difference in our hunting.

Sleep.

I have Predation and a high level of resistance to abnormalities. Since I opened my eyes as a goblin, I have never slept. I kept going around all the time to hunt monsters. It was natural that I would level up faster than Lee Chan-yu.

But think about it. Was it only Predation and Resistance that could wipe out fatigue instantly?

No. There was something else.

Reaching a level up.

I could not ask him not to sleep because he doesn’t have Predation, but wouldn’t reaching Level Up alleviate all fatigue and injuries he sustained?

When I explained it to him, he was stunned.

“Is that possible?”

“At least, you can expect all physical fatigue to be gone.”

“But… it must be hard not to sleep. It’s not that simple.”

“It is simple.”

Lee Chan-yu looked at me with a blank face; then his expression distorted as if he realized something.

It reminded me of L’s reaction the other day.

The only thing that differed was that it was a beautiful woman the other day, and now I am facing a werewolf.

“Does that mean that… Captain, you haven’t slept all this time?”

“Don’t pity me. Because from now on, you won’t be sleeping, too.”

“Is it really possible?”

“Sure.”

Of course, it was a simple matter for me because I had Predation. I could overcome physical fatigue simply by eating the monsters.

With Lee Chan-yu, even without Predation, he could probably level up once every three days. Three days were short enough to endure without sleeping, especially for an intermediate monster like a werewolf.

“The only reason you’re still sleeping is because your habits remain human. We are not human. Monsters don’t sleep for at least three or four days. So, you should be fine.”

“… I must be determined.”

We were not only fighting monsters, but we are also fighting time. The fear of not knowing when a strong human will enter the dungeon and the obsession to become stronger before that happened consumed us.

With that, Lee Chan-yu proved that he could withstand without sleeping. From then on, his level up rate also increased.