The Babyroon duchy’s banquet hall was elegantly illuminated, as if starlight was shining above it.
Derus Robert and Duke Babyroon were cheerfully clinking their glasses on the platform.
“The treatment for your son’s shoulder is proceeding without any problems.”
Duke Babyroon smiled gently at Derus Robert.
“He should regain his senses from before he was injured in three months at least, and four months at most.”
“That’s much faster than I expected. Thank you for your consideration.”
Derus nodded while meeting Duke Babyroon’s eyes.
“There’s no need to thank me. This much is obvious between allies. I would be sad if you thanked me for such a trivial matter.”
Duke Babyroon shook his hand. His eyes were full of desire despite his humble speech.
“I see.”
Derus’s lips rolled into a smile as he noticed the furtive scent of desire from Duke Babyroon.
‘He’s such a greedy pig.’
Duke Babyroon was indeed a skilled man, but he was far too greedy for what he was worth.
That greed was the very reason even the marquises had begun to surpass him, and he was called the rotten pillar of Balkar.
‘However… This fat pig clearly has a lot of meat to offer.’
The pig’s position and power were useful for treating Cadis’s shoulder, but he also needed them to take over Balkar.
That was the reason Derus was visiting him instead of the other houses that specialized in healing.
“I would still like to express my gratitude. Please tell me anything you want, without reservation.”
Derus raised his hand slightly while saying that he was fine with anything.
“It’s really not necessary. I said this before, but the Sky Sword Saint’s visit to our duchy is already an honor for us.”
The desire in Babyroon’s eyes intensified as he shook his head despite what he said.
“You are as humble as always. However, since you saved my incompetent son—huff!”
Deurs suddenly started to grasp his head in the middle of his speech.
‘What…?’
Two rage worms had suddenly died. Moreover, they were the worms he had planted in the two people he trusted, not some random vermin.
‘Martio and Kosini have died…?’
Kosini’s mind control magic was capable enough to control mythical creatures—and even the warriors with a higher realm than advanced Master.
Derus couldn't believe that they couldn’t escape and had to die inside the submarine dungeon. It wasn’t possible, no matter how powerful the monster was.
‘Moreover… Their deaths were extremely terrifying and painful.’
Rage worms were also capable of determining the host’s emotions. The last signal he had received from Martio and Kosini’s rage worms was that of astonishment, fear, and pain.
‘How is this happening?’
Martio was an assassin who had already erased his normal human emotions. He couldn’t think straight because he couldn’t believe that those violent emotions were the last things he felt before he died.
“Dear head of house?”
“I need to get some fresh air.”
He could feel that his face was turning pale. He couldn’t control his expression, nor maintain his composure like he’d always done. He had to get away from the hall in order to avoid revealing his shock.
“Head of house! I can examine it for you if you aren’t feeling too good.”
“It’s okay.”
“But it could be a serious diseas—”
“I already said I don’t need it!”
“Huff!”
Duke Babyroon fell on his ass while his fat body trembled in fear upon meeting Derus’s powerful murderous aura in his eyes. Derus glared at Duke Babyroon for a while before turning away.
‘Damn it…’
He knew that he had to suppress his anger, but he couldn’t. His fingertips were trembling because it reminded him of what happened at the ninth farm recently.
Whir!
Derus walked across the banquet hall that had fallen silent and went outside. Regel caught up to him at some point and followed him out.
“My lord?”
“Martio has died.”
“What…?”
Regel was also surprised and fell speechless.
“I don’t know the exact reason, but there must’ve been a problem inside the dungeon.”
However, he couldn’t even begin to guess what could’ve happened inside the dungeon for him to feel such a terrible emotion before death.
“I-I’ll take care of it. I’ll gather the shadows for now…”
“No.”
Derus shook his head and put on the coat that he had brought with him.
“I’ll go myself.”
* * *
* * *
Raon clenched his fist before opening it and examining his body’s condition.
‘Not bad.’
The aura consumption was pretty high, but his swordsmanship had become a lot more proficient thanks to the enlightenment he had received from the Flawless Sea of Fire.
He could guess that he could gain extra stats and even increase the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and Glacier’s realms by focusing on the cultivation after he was done with the dungeon.
‘I’ve gained a lot more than I thought. Maybe I should buy Merlin a meal.’
He was only trying to prevent Derus from obtaining the dungeon’s treasure, but he managed to get his revenge against Martio and even learned a new technique.
He wanted to do something for Merlin because she was the one who told him information about the dungeon when she appeared as a squirrel.
‘The only thing left now is…’
He just needed to defeat the monster below and take the treasure before destroying the dungeon.
Shouldn’t you recover your aura and stamina first and fight it when you’re in your best condition? The monster down there is as powerful as you.
“As powerful as me, you say…”
He could indeed feel powerful energy coming from the hostile mythical creature at the bottom of the dungeon. Recovering his stamina and aura before fighting it was indeed the correct move.
“I know that it’s the right thing to do. But…”
Raon smiled coldly while looking at the ceiling.
“I don’t have the time.”
Time?
“Yes. The owner of the dogs is coming.”
Derus had probably already noticed Martio and Kosini’s deaths, and he had likely already left the Babyroon duchy to come to the dungeon, considering his personality.
‘Because his patience must’ve reached its limit.’
Raon could guess that the destruction of the ninth farm and the death of his confidant, Martio, must’ve made him lose his composure. He needed to leave as fast as possible to avoid encountering him.
Whir!
Raon pointed Heavenly Drive at the ground and focused his aura. His energy concentrated at the tip of the sword before it exploded at once.
The land split apart like a spiderweb and crumbled from the Heavenly Heavy Cannon’s power, which had become even stronger than before.
Swish!
His hair stood on end upon feeling the frightening amount of murderous aura coming from below.
Raon lowered his eyes to see what the hostile mythical creature looked like.
‘Is that…a jellyfish?’
The jellyfish floating in the air was shining white, like a snowfield. Its body was about four meters in diameter, and the tentacles seemed to be over forty meters long.
It’s rather beautiful.
Wrath smiled faintly while watching the wavering jellyfish.
And it’s obviously not going to be easy to kill it.
‘Yes. It’s a ghost jellyfish, after all.’
It was a sea monster called a ‘ghost jellyfish’ because of its transparent and smooth body, and the tentacles looked like a floating ghost.
However, its size was at least three times bigger than the average ghost jellyfish.
Raon frowned.
‘This is going to be annoying to deal with.’
The ghost jellyfish had two characteristics, and the first one was that it was capable of accelerating to a tremendous speed both underwater and aboveground.
It was faster than most warriors, and it was better to think that the tentacle would be right under your nose the moment it recognized you.
The second characteristic was worse. The ghost jellyfish had a deadly poison that no toxic substances or poisonous insect could surpass.
Even an average ghost jellyfish had a powerful enough poison to melt an aura blade, so a mythical jellyfish’s poison could be expected to melt astral energy.
Whoosh!
The ghost jellyfish stretched its tentacles, intending to kill him. It was even faster than a Master’s swift sword. The monster was trying to attack while Raon couldn’t dodge because he was in midair.
Whoosh!
As the tentacle approached at the speed of light, Raon slashed it with Heavenly Drive.
Clang!
It sounded like a clash between metals even though it was a tentacle.
‘It’s strong.’
Raon didn’t manage to cut off the tentacle even though astral energy was bursting from his sword. Even the tentacle’s durability seemed to have increased from becoming a mythical monster.
Kieee!
The ghost jellyfish slowly subsided and spread its body. Dozens and hundreds of tentacles rose at the same time before curving towards Raon to strike. It almost looked like sunlight falling from the sky.
Whaam!
Each and every tentacle was extremely powerful, and they were moving as sharply as a swordsman. Raon had the impression that he was fighting a warrior who was extremely proficient in variable swords and illusion swords.
‘The problem is…’
While a warrior’s sword would have many feints, the monster’s attacks were all real.
Thud.
Raon used the Supreme Harmony Steps and dashed to the left. The ghost jellyfish’s tentacles changed direction in an instant to chase Raon. It almost felt like the tentacles had eyes of their own.
‘It’s even smart.’
The ghost jellyfish was ready to move its body at any moment if it needed to dodge, all while using its tentacles to attack.
Smack!
Whenever the tentacles hit the ground, the area turned white and melted. Sea water was welling up from the resulting holes.
‘That’s the scariest part.’
The result created by the extremely effective poison was far from being normal. It confirmed Raon’s guess that it would also work against astral energy.
‘This is going to be a difficult fight.’
Kosini would’ve been able to easily defeat the ghost jellyfish with her mind control magic, but he had no option other than breaking through the poison to kill it. He could expect a difficult fight.
Whap!
The ghost jellyfish seemed to have realized that attacking from one side wasn’t enough and spread its tentacles to both sides to pressure him. It was even capable of making quick decisions on top of its swift movement and reaction.
‘However… That’s what I wanted.’
Raon smiled deeply and dashed forward. He was waiting for the tentacles to split in order to attack the ghost jellyfish’s body.
Whap!
He gathered as much coldness as possible on Heavenly Drive and unleashed Frost Pond.
The moment his blade and the blade of coldness were slashing at the same time, white poison spread out from the bell of the ghost jellyfish.
Whaam!
The blade of coldness clashed against the poison and disappeared without achieving anything. Just as Raon expected, the ghost jellyfish’s poison was as powerful as astral energy.
“Tsk.”
Raon clicked his tongue and stepped back.
‘I have never seen anything like this before.’
He had never seen a ghost jellyfish spread its poison from the bell, as it normally only came from the tentacles. He could guess that the monster obtained that ability when it evolved into a mythical rank monster.
Whir!
The ghost jellyfish seemed to have noticed the danger, as it reduced its size by compressing itself and started moving all of its tentacles.
Swaa!
A chill ran down his spine because it looked like hundreds of swordsmen were attacking him at the same time.
‘It’s being cautious.’
Unlike the previous attack, it wasn’t using all of its tentacles to attack, instead positioning some of them around its body for defense. It was a smart monster.
Creak!
Raon scratched the ground with Heavenly Drive and slashed upwards to ignite the Flame Spirit. The flower petals were glowing red as they floated into the air to clash against the poisonous tentacles.
Wham! Wham!
The clashes between the poison and heat created countless explosions in the air. Even the dungeon’s walls split apart. Gray dust spread out from them.
Thud!
Raon used the Supreme Harmony’sSecond Step. He advanced in a flash and closed the distance to the ghost jellyfish’s side. He pulled his sword back and thrust his sword by using acceleration.
Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, Hundred Flames.
Flame Dragon Art.
The violently unleashed flame dragon’s breath had become even stronger thanks to the traces of the first head of Zieghart.
Kieee!
The ghost jellyfish turned to the left with a grotesque screech. Silver energy was gushing from its bell. It was a deadly poison, even more powerful than the previous one.
Whaaam!
The frontal clash between the Flame Dragon Art’s heat and the jellyfish's deadly poison created a tremendous shockwave.
“Hmm…”
Raon leaped backward to avoid being affected by the poison.
Not bad for an insignificant creature.
Wrath chuckled while watching the ghost jellyfish. He seemed to have taken an interest in it.
‘Yes. It almost feels like I’m fighting against a warrior.’
Monsters usually had simple movement patterns, but the ghost jellyfish was predicting Raon’s moves—probably because it had reached the mythical rank. It was a difficult opponent to win against.
Whir!
The ghost jellyfish predicted where Raon was going to move next and attacked with its tentacles.
They weren’t simply coming from above anymore, since they were storming from four different directions—including the left, right, and below.
‘It’s completely blocking my escape. What a scary monster.’
Raon narrowed his eyes and slashed Heavenly Drive upwards into a semi-circle.
Claang!
Even though Heavenly Drive was clad in astral energy, he was unable to cut off the tentacle. The sword was bounced back instead, as if it were hitting steel.
“It’s powerful for sure, but I finished analyzing it.”
Raon smiled while watching the second wave of tentacles trying to assault him.
“I won’t be able to play around with you anymore since I’m too busy.”
He normally would’ve studied martial arts by observing the ghost jellyfish’s attacks, but he didn’t have time for that because Derus could arrive at any moment through a dimensional door.
Thud!
He stomped the ground and unleashed the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation to full power. He smacked the tentacles with the raging blade of rotating fire.
Slash!
Even though the tentacles felt as hard as steel, they were cut apart like a piece of cloth.
Kieeeh!
The ghost jellyfish screeched and randomly started to flail its severed tentacles. It looked like it was losing control, but it was actually trying to spread poison from inside the tentacles.
“That’s not going to work either.”
He engulfed Heavenly Drive’s blade with the principles of the Fangs of Insanity. The burning claws of a savage beast burnt up the deadly poison and ripped apart the tentacles.
Slash!
Each time the raging fire danced in the air, dozens of tentacles were cut into pieces.
Kieee!
The ghost jellyfish didn’t try to retreat even though it had lost more than half of its tentacles. It kept flailing its tentacles to kill Raon at all costs.
‘Which means…’
Raon narrowed his eyes while looking at the puddle the ghost jellyfish’s body was floating in.
‘This dungeon’s treasure must be located under it.’
If a monster became a mythical creature thanks to a relic or an elixir, it would never leave that spot. Considering the way it was persistently staying on the spot, there had to have been an elixir beneath the monster.
Thud!
Raon pushed the ground with the Supreme Harmony Steps and advanced.
Whoosh!
The ghost jellyfish gathered all of its remaining tentacles and slammed down on him. Hundreds of tentacles were combined into one huge club, falling down on him.
‘It looks like it figured it couldn’t defeat me with individual tentacles. That was a good idea, but it’s too late.’
Raon chuckled and slashed Heavenly Drive downward like lightning.
It was the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’s Crimson Slash. The dazzling light of a raging fire severed the combined tentacle in a single slash.
Kiaaaah!
The ghost tentacle made its next move while screaming. It clad its body with the deadly poison filling the atmosphere and the poison from its bell to charge at Raon.
It wasn’t trying to self-destruct. It was the best way to attack in that situation.
‘This looks dangerous.’
His fingertips were trembling because of the powerful wave of deadly poison. He was feeling dizzy despite his poison resistance.
Cring!
Raon smoothly pulled Heavenly Drive out. The black shadow anchored on the blade glimmered white as it spread a majestic light.
Raon Zieghart Style Swordplay.
Fifth Form, White Shadow Slash.
The white blade flowed, and all of the deadly poison that the ghost jellyfish had gathered disappeared like snow in Spring.
Kieee!
The ghost jellyfish unleashed a lump of poison from its bell as a last-ditch effort, but it was nothing but a flower bud that would never blossom because of the white shadow it was facing.
Whaap!
The power of the White Shadow Slash exploded after it devoured all of the poison. Cold lightning struck down to split the ghost jellyfish's body in half.
Kieee…
The ghost jellyfish spread its poison as it teetered on the verge of death, but it couldn’t overcome the White Shadow Slash and faded away like dust in the air.
‘This is terrifying.’
Even though it was his own technique, Raon realized once again how overpowered it was to be able to remove all of an opponent’s energy. He figured that an opponent weaker than himself would never be able to defeat him with that skill.
Damn it!
Wrath shouted.
You should’ve lasted longer! Why did you have to lose like this after all the time you spent sucking up the energy in this place?
He slapped the tentacle with his hand to express his displeasure at how easily it lost.
“It’s time to get my loot.”
Raon covered his hands with the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and rummaged through the ghost jellyfish’s body.
‘I found it.’
He managed to find a marble that was a sparkling silver color on the left side of its body. It was the ghost jellyfish’s energy core, and it was brimming with deadly poison.
‘I don’t think I can eat it without further processing.’
He figured he couldn’t simply swallow it because of the powerful poison.
“Let’s leave it for later.”
He pushed the ghost jellyfish’s corpse aside. The puddle was finally revealed from under the corpse that kept trying to hide it even after death.
Raon swallowed nervously while looking at the center of the puddle filled with emerald sea water.
“This is…”
