Coming back to the goblin village, Darien glided overhead with the Dungeon Key.

The Legendary Dungeon Key acted like a compass, glowing in a particular direction to lead the warrior to the subdungeon's hidden entrance.

Before Darien followed the glowing path, he checked his status panel.

[Mage Rank: Beginner 0/250]

[Knight Rank: Intermediate 10050/15000]

[HP: 328>>>408]

<Stats>

[STR: 51>>71]

[AGI: 21]

[DEF: 47]

[VIT: 59>>79]

[STA:58>>78]

[INT: 80]

<Primordial Energy: 580>

<Skill Points: 14450>

<Innate Skill: Ancestral Weapon Ascension>

<Skills: 100x SP Multiplier, Perfect Stealth, Inventory, Transcendent Swordsmanship, Critical Expose, Gravion Control, Frostfang Javelin, P.E Recovery, Solar Purge, Omnilingua, Instant Assimiliation, 100x XP Multiplier, Totem Bastion, Energy Bolts, Seismic Clutch>

After seeing he still had a whopping count of 14450 skill points left, Darien decided he'd make more skills to battle this Rank 1 subdungeon.

He also inspected his weapon to see how much it had evolved.

(Item Name: Heatbringer)

(Type: Weapon/ Sword)

(Rank: Rare)

(LV. 9)

(Description: A magical sword that radiates intense warmth and flame. Deals adequate damage. Deals burning damage when activated. Devours the essence of whatever it strikes, absorbing power to strengthen itself.)

(Skills: Blazing Edge, Infernal Devour)

'Level 9? That's pretty close to the next tier.'

Excited, Darien gripped the glowing Dungeon Key tighter and continued gliding in the direction it pointed.

The farther he went backward, the stronger the pull became and the brighter the glow, like the key itself was eager to reveal the hidden entrance.

Eventually, Darien realized that the trail of the Dungeon Key had just led him back to where he and his party had arrived in the dungeon.

'Hmm. So the entrance to the subdungeon is also at the entrance of the main instance?' he thought, finding this video-game-like.

Glancing down, he noticed the Dungeon Key was now glowing downward toward the husks of the goblin goons that still littered the floor.

The boy descended to ground level, using his hands to clear away the remains of the dead monsters. He brushed them aside until he revealed a sealed floor hatch.

At its center was a keyhole shaped perfectly for the glowing Dungeon Key. No doubt, this was the subdungeon's entrance.

'It's in plain sight. I don't remember seeing this hatch here… unless it appears magically once the Dungeon Key is attained…'

Darien lingered on that thought for a moment, running his fingers across the runes on the hatch's surface.

After that, he carefully slid the glowing key into the hatch's lock.

The magical mechanism began to rumble, and eventually, the hatch unlocked itself, the key disintegrating.

Darien exhaled as he creaked the hatch open. Beyond it yawned a pitch-black abyss with no light.

The warrior stood at the edge for several heartbeats, slightly anxious.

He decided to make a few powerful skills before he dived in.

This wasted some of his time because he received a couple of denials due to unmatched intelligence.

[Ding!]

[You have acquired new skill: <Abyssal Fracture>]

[You have acquired new skill: <Phantom Cloning>]

[Skill: Abyssal Fracture]

[Level: (3-star)]

[Description: Splits open a Space rift, dragging everything within a 20-meter radius into its eye. Lasts for 10 sec before exploding. Major damage. 35 P.E Cost and 180 sec cooldown]

[Skill: Phantom Cloning]

[Level: (2-star)]

[Description: Creates 1-3 illusory shadow clones of the user that mimic basic movements and attacks with Common-tier grade of the user's weapon. Cannot use skills. 30 sec duration. 15 P.E Cost and 30 sec cooldown]

With these skills, Darien didn't intend to sweat too much in this subdungeon.

The skills were far too costly to mean nothing. <Abyssal Fracture> required 3250 SP, while <Phantom Cloning> demanded 1000 SP while at 2-star!

This costly pricing could only mean that they had higher potential and power.

Darien could envision Abyssal Fracture at max, but he was curious what a cloning skill could do when at its best tier.

Taking a deep breath, the boy leapt into the yawning darkness below.

His descent plunged and plunged for seconds without end, the air growing colder and oppressive.

To prevent getting snatched in the jaws of a waiting monster, Darien took control of his body with <Gravion Control>, descending by his own command until his foot touched stone in the eternal darkness.

'This is really a no-turning-back endeavor…'

The warrior thought to himself, using the fiery shaft of his weapon as light.

[You have entered a Cursed Zone]

[You have entered Rank 1 Subdungeon: ???]

The size of the subdungeon was measureless, basically infinite if not for the tall stone walls at the far ends, stretching downward into deeper shadows.

There was neither sound nor light, save for Darien's weapon, but there was smell—likely the scent of mana, arcane energy, and possibly the residue of countless failed adventurers who had entered before.

Using his source of light, Darien noticed the gigantic silhouettes of sentry statues lining the walls. Depicted were strange, gnarled creatures with multiple limbs and open mouths frozen in eternal roars.

Standing before them for a while, Darien wondered if they had anything to do with the dungeon's challenge.

But with no response from the colossal statues, the warrior continued into the next tier.

There, he encountered enemies that leaped from the absolute darkness.

(Shadow Fiend)

(HP: 999)

(Affinity: Shadow, Arcane)

(Rank 1 Stray!)

The Shadow Fiends peeled themselves out of the dark to the glow of the warrior's flame.

Unlike what he came across several steps ago, these weren't statues at all. These things were alive.

'Why do they have such high health?!'

Darien exclaimed as he escaped their shadowy claws by pulling himself away with <Gravion Control>.

The monsters bellowed, their ghostly voices echoing further down as they lunged one after the other with crooked, shadowy frames.

A violet substance burned from their eyes and their gnashing teeth, boosting their speed as the collective darkness aimed to swallow the human.

Luckily for Darien, there was basically no ceiling at all, nor was there any dead end behind him.

<Gravion Control> only let him hover about two meters above ground level.

So, with the maximum height he could achieve, Darien drew back rapidly as the grotesque league of phantoms raced forward, reaching out with shadow fingers and snapping jaws.

Once he had the slightest breathing space, the warrior thrust out a hand, invoking the spell <Solar Purge> as quickly as he could.

~FWOOOOSH!

The hot sphere exploded forward with unbelievable brilliance that illuminated the subdungeon.

It swallowed the shadowy monsters whole, their crooked frames writhing and shrieking as the fiery light tore through them.

One by one, the league was consumed by the holy blaze, and they disintegrated into violet smoke and shadow residues.

[You slayed a Rank 1 Monster!] x 9

[You slayed a Rank 1 Monster! You get 1350 XP!] x9

[Knight Rank: Intermediate 21200/15000]

Ding!

(Congratulations on reaching Rank 1 Advanced)

(+1 points all Attributes)

[Knight Rank: Advanced 6200/40000]

'That's a lot of experience points, bigger than what I got from the Goblin Warlock…'

Darien thought to himself as he glided over the annihilation of the Shadow Fiends, back to where he met them.

He wondered whether this slight increase in attributes might've just given his intelligence the boost needed to make the skills he planned to.

But before Darien could think more, the entire subdungeon began to rumble, its stone walls trembling, letting dust and grit fall from them.

The silence that once cloaked the abyss was shattered by snarls and growls echoing from every direction.

It seemed the effect of <Solar Purge> had awakened the subdungeon's horde prematurely.

'Darn. I should've used my sword!'

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