CHAPTER 28: CHAPTER NO.28 DUNGEON (3)

[Location: Dungeon, Basement No.5]

"Sorry, dude, it’s either me or me~"

Slash!

[You’ve killed an Iron-Fanged Wolf.]

The last wolf’s head lolled sideways before it collapsed in a heap. Dark blood seeped into the concrete, quickly swallowed by the strange earth as though the dungeon itself was drinking the kill.

Silence again. Not peace—never peace—but that strange waiting silence, heavy and taut, like the whole place was holding its breath.

I exhaled and yanked Muramasa free from the carcass, shaking droplets of blood off the crimson blade. The hum in the weapon’s spine was stronger now. Greedy. Eager.

It had tasted blood and wanted more.

Figures.

"Great," I muttered. "My sword’s an addict."

Still, I couldn’t deny the lifesteal effect. My body thrummed with vitality, every bruise and ache easing as the residual energy seeped into me. If not for that, I’d already be dragging my ass across the moss.

"Mm?"

A faint glimmer caught my eye.

I spotted something glittering within the dead wolf’s mouth. So I opened the creature’s maws. One of the wolf’s fangs was emitting a beam of light. When I reached out, a new message popped up before me.

[You found the item: The Fang of a Wolf.]

[Take it?]

"Sure thing."

[Item: The Fang of a Wolf]

[Rarity: None]

[Type: Miscellaneous]

[A large and sharp fang of a Wolf. Can be stored in the Inventory or can be sold at the Store.]

I got flustered a bit while staring at the canine tooth.

’There was a Store, too?!’

Where would you find a System less friendly than the one I was saddled with?!

’Wait a second, the first mission seemed to unlock System Store? My god, I forgot to check it out!’

To think, it was designed in such a way that in the end, the user had to personally experience it with his own body before learning about any of its functions...

Hell, I wasn’t given a heads-up or much of an explanation during the whole week of daily quests and all that.

I gnashed my teeth and tried to summon this ’Store’ window.

"Store."

I couldn’t help but feel my anticipation build up, wondering if a shop with a signboard declaring ’Store’ and manned by a sexy NPC merchant, kinda like from video games, might really appear before me.

However, what appeared instead was a bunch of blue letters floating in the air like hologram projections, just like when I accessed my Status or a quest popped up.

And there were only two words there, too.

[Buy] [Sell]

"..."

What a simple-tastic Store this was.

Where is that sexy NPC? This is an injustice!

I selected ’Buy’.

I didn’t have a single cent in my pocket, but I was still curious about the stuff available within the Store.

Unfortunately for me, the Store turned out to be one cold customer.

[Your level is too low to access the ’Buy’ function.]

Then what the hell is ’Access to System Store’ promised to me in that reward of the first quest? I have completed it for over a week.

I clicked my tongue.

"Figures. A scam shop."

Then I didn’t think too much about it and shifted my gaze away to ’Sell’.

[Will you sell the item: The Fang of a Wolf?]

"Yup."

With the clinging sounds of coins, my Inventory appeared next. Right at the bottom of the display, in the column saying ’Gold’, I could see the number 20 appearing there. That space had been empty before.

’20 Gold, eh.’

I couldn’t really use that ’money’ in real life, and I couldn’t even use the Store properly yet, so I had no idea just how much this 20 Gold was actually worth.

’Oh, well. A creature from the rank E dungeon wouldn’t have given me any decent loot anyway to begin with, it’s too low level compared to the rank Grayfia is at SS rank.’

Still, I wanted to make sure, so I just collected the fangs from the other dead Wolf.

However, as soon as I turned around, the feeling of bitterness dissipated in an instant.

Growl!

"Grrr...."

Growl!

"Grrr!!!"

Well, now the dead Wolves’ bunch of friends had arrived.

From between the vines, shadows slid into view. One pair of glowing eyes. Then another. Then six more. The underbrush rippled as if the jungle itself were coughing up monsters.

My Observation Grid prickled at the edges—danger lines flaring like a red-hot spiderweb in my mind.

[Hostile presences detected: x20]

"Twelve?" My lips twitched into a humourless grin. "Oh sure, throw in the whole extended family, why don’t you. Don’t forget Grandma Wolf while you’re at it."

The Muramasa pulsed in my grip, its crimson edge almost singing. It wanted to cut. It wanted to drink.

"Yeah, yeah. You’re happy. I’m not."

The wolves crept closer, their growls harmonising into a low chorus of hunger. Their white names floated above them like mocking labels. Not elites. Not bosses. Just more trash mobs.

But twenty trash mobs? At level 2? With no healer, no Grayfia, and no pause button? That was a death sentence if I slipped even once.

I exhaled, steadying my grip. My SPIRAL energy coiled, feeding into the Trinity Crown.

◉ [Armament Core: Active]

◉ [Observation Grid: Active]

The black sheen crawled across my arms again, muscle tightening, veins singing with power. The world sharpened into cruel clarity: every shift of a paw, every twitch of an ear, every ripple of hostile intent overlayed across my senses.

The pack broke.

They came from all sides.

"Fucking fantastic."

The first lunged from the front—I sidestepped, blade flashing. A crimson arc split its throat before its momentum even touched me. Lifesteal surged, vitality pouring into me like liquid fire.

[You’ve killed an Iron-Fanged Wolf.]

Another leapt for my back—I spun, fist meeting snout, Armament-enhanced knuckles crunching bone. Blood sprayed as it yelped, tumbling.

But the others weren’t stopping. Left. Right. Above.

I dropped low, sweeping Muramasa in a brutal arc. Two wolves screamed as their legs went out from under them, spraying dirt and blood.

Pain flared across my shoulder—claws. One had slipped through my defence, tearing a shallow line across my flesh.

HP: 910 → 872

"Son of a—" My fist smashed its jaw sideways, silencing the growl in a snap of teeth.

More blood. More growls. The jungle was alive with murder.

And I realised something then—Muramasa’s hum wasn’t steady anymore. It was building. Every kill, every wound, every second of sustained combat made it sharper. Stronger.

The curse wasn’t just hunger. It was an escalation.

[Malice effect: +7% Damage Increase.]

My lips pulled into a grin despite myself.

"Oh. You’re my kind of crazy, aren’t you?"

The blade’s crimson edge shimmered darker, almost black now.

The wolves circled, hesitating for half a heartbeat as if sensing the shift. Their hunger warred with instinct, and instinct screamed predator.

I lifted Muramasa high.

"Alright then, puppies. Let’s dance."

"With the exception of your fangs, I’m gonna massacre all of ya!"

When the chilling glare of a man who is now obsessed about making making money landed on the Wolfs, they became intimidated and shuddered slightly. It was at this point that I pounced on them without mercy.

***

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

As I expected, my level rose up quite quickly. Simply from searching this floor and killing all the wolves I could find, my level shot right up to 7.

I had jumped five flights of stairs, in other words.

Whimper....

When I caught up and killed the very last monster running desperately away from me, a strange message popped up into my view.

Tti-ring~

[You have acquired the Title: Dances With Wolves.]

"A Title?"

[Title: Dances With Wolves]

[A title given to the one skilled in hunting wolves. When facing animal-type monsters, all your Stats will increase by 40%.]

I blinked.

"...Forty percent?"

For a second, my brain short-circuited. Then laughter just broke out of me—loud, harsh, echoing through the jungle canopy like the cackle of someone who had absolutely lost it.

"Forty percent! That’s not a buff, that’s a goddamn steroid injection!"

My level had just jumped five times from levelling, which means five points to all the Stats. Now this Title is stacked on top. Against beasts, I was basically walking into a cheat mode speedrun.

[Current Title Equipped: Dances With Wolves]

My fingers drummed against Muramasa’s hilt, almost jittery with adrenaline. The blade’s hum felt different—less hungry, more... approving, like it was amused by my kill streak.

"Don’t you dare start liking me, sword," I muttered. "I’m not in the market for clingy relationships. Got enough of those lined up already."

But my grin didn’t fade.

Because this dungeon wasn’t just a death trap anymore.

It was a farm.

A bloody, glorious EXP farm.

When I opened my Status Window to take a look, the ’Title’ column indeed had been updated.

• Name: Dominic Nocturne von Morningstar

• Race: Demon (Suppressed) / ???

• Level: 7

• Job: None

• Rank: H

• Title: [Dances With Wolves, The Forsaken Lucifer(Locked)], [He Who Shouldn’t Be Awake(Locked),]

• HP: 910/910—960/960

• MP: 0/610— 0/660

[Attributes]

• Strength: 160— 165

• Agility: 106— 111

• Stamina: 91— 96

• Intelligence: 61— 66

• Sense: 81— 86

—Available Stats Points: 0)

A bonus boost to my stats when fighting against animal-type monsters...

Although the effect might seem a bit restricted, still, having my Stats increased by 40%, now that didn’t sound too bad at all.

"There are plenty of animal-type monsters out in the real world, too, so would this apply to them as well?"

I thought for a moment and nodded to myself as if I had reached to a conclusion.

"EXP farm, loot farm, stat farm... You know what, dungeon? You might actually be my new favourite house pet."

The Observation Grid pulsed outward. For the first time since I stepped in, the sense of hostility dimmed. No more immediate killing intent nearby. Just the occasional rustle of vines swaying in the stagnant air.

Which meant one of two things:

Either I’d wiped out the starter pack...

Or something bigger was waiting for me deeper in.

Spoiler: it was always the second one.

’34 Wolf fangs, two rusted daggers, a set of traveller’s clothes, and one return crystal.’

While killing these wolves, I learned that I could sometimes find loot from their bellies. Of course, none of them was all that useful.

The rusted daggers possessed a lower attack power bonus than Muramasa, and the traveller’s clothes were not something I could actually wear, as Grayfia would tear them apart for being ugly. To be precise, she’d probably burn them on sight while giving me that terrifyingly calm smile that felt more like a death sentence than affection.

"Yeah, no thanks," I muttered, shoving the tattered rags back into the Inventory. "Better naked than fashion-suicidal."

When I sold them all off, I earned just over a thousand Gold.

[Current Gold: 1060]

"...Even then, I can’t really celebrate, can I?"

Well, no matter how much I hoarded this Gold thing, I couldn’t use it anyway. At least not for now.

The only thing remaining, besides the Gold, was the return crystal. When I crossed the threshold of the Dungeon, the message said I’d need a return crystal if I wanted to leave other than by defeating the boss. And now, if I wanted to, I could escape at any time.

I found myself at a crossroads.

In front, the stairs leading down to the second floor.

And in my hand, a single return crystal was grasped tightly.

’Do I continue on, or do I back out...?’

[Return Crystal]

– Single-use escape item.

– Teleports the host back to the dungeon entrance.

– Consumed upon use.

It gleamed faintly, like a chunk of solidified moonlight, humming with quiet promise. Safety. An out. But my fingers clenched around it. I pocketed the return crystal. My steps climbing down the steps to the second floor were light.

Safety was nice. Safety was temptation. And if I kept it too close, I’d start thinking about it when I shouldn’t.

***

Stone me, I can take it!

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