CHAPTER 39: ONE SHOT KILL

Ash was enjoying the fight—this was the most clever beast he had faced till now. The precision it had while using its skills was mind-blowing. It knew exactly when to use which skill.

He was also impressed by Jessie’s new flames that were as majestic as a real Dragon’s breath. Unfortunately, they weren’t enough for the beast to die—its scales had started regrowing. The burnt part of its body healed at rapid speed, the mist around the beast clinging to its body and making all its injuries vanish.

He didn’t want to dance between life and death for too long. He had multiple ways to end this fight in a single shot, and he was done playing with it.

Until now, he hadn’t used any of his skills or talents, but now it was time to test his new skill.

Ash dragged himself upright, retrieving his pistol. His vision blurred from the cold seeping into his bones, but his mind sharpened. This wasn’t a beast that could be chipped down with ordinary shots.

His new skill was terrifying when combined with Killing Intent.

[Shadow Veil – 2 MP/second]

First, he used Shadow Veil while the beast was busy fighting Jessie.

Then, having no time to spare—

[Killing Intent – 30 MP/second]

[Vital Shot – Channel mana into the next attack. Bypasses armor and deals 250 % damage.

Bonus: Under Killing Intent, multiplier rises to 300%.

Cost: 50 MP]

He had stacked all his skills to multiply the damage into a single shot.

His MP was full, but the cost of using all the skills at once was too high, and he could barely maintain them for one or two seconds.

As Jessie’s flames battled the Basilisk’s frost, shadows thickened at Ash’s feet. His form blurred, swallowed in darkness as his aura vanished completely. The serpent’s eyes darted in confusion—it had lost track of the human who had been sitting on the ground.

But it was in no condition to divert its gaze from Jessie. While recovering its defense, it knew Jessie had poured all her mana into that single spell. Its eyes gleamed with menace as frost gathered in its mouth, ready to unleash a terrifying frost bomb that would freeze Jessie.

Jessie looked at the gathering frost with weary eyes, her emotions faltering. Her attack power had increased exponentially with the new class, but the high mana cost had drained her. In contrast, her mana pool hadn’t expanded to match.

She could see a mocking smile on the Basilisk’s face.

She was sure that if it had been any other beast, it would have been dead by now. Its defense and regeneration were the perfect counter to her attacks. Even then, she might still have won, but the way it detached its burning scales was the turning point.

Any other beast would have died, burnt alive by her Inferno Flames that burned fiercer the more pain the victim felt. The more pain the victim endured, the mightier the flames grew—and the stronger the flames, the more pain they inflicted, creating a vicious cycle.

As she readied herself to defend against the oncoming assault, a single sound whispered through the haze of battle—the metallic click of a pistol’s hammer cocking.

The Basilisk froze in fear, unable to move. The paralysis lasted only a moment, but that instant was enough.

And in that instant, a mana-induced bullet tore out from the darkness, screaming toward the glowing veins in the Basilisk’s throat.

"Crunch."

Newly forming scales exploded under the might of the bullet.

Double damage from Shadow Veil, then Killing Intent combined with his new skill Vital Shot, multiplied the power threefold. In total, the damage was multiplied six times.

[Killing Intent has been countered]

Ash saw the notification, realizing his Killing Intent was disabled. He had expected something like this to happen eventually. It was natural that some beasts or humans could have skills to counter mental attacks.

Killing Intent was a mental attack, so anyone with powerful mental resistance could counter and break it.

It was the same way he had countered the "Dragon’s Ask" of the Wilbert family head.

Bullet attack power had reduced from 3× to 2.5×.

Realistically, it was a big blow to the attack power of the bullet—now it was only five times stronger than a normal bullet. But in the end, it didn’t make much difference.

The bullet spun, breaking through the scales and rupturing deep into its neck. The impact sent shockwaves through its body.

The Basilisk hissed in pain—its destiny was sealed.

Within a second, its whole body burst apart like a bomb. Scales, skin, and organs flew through the air, splattering across the ground and painting it crimson.

Then, all the body parts slowly degraded into nothing but frost.

Ash felt his hands trembling—the recoil of the shot was beyond control. If he had been a normal human, his arms would have been ripped apart from the shoulders.

[+400 Exp]

Ash saw the notification on the screen, followed by others.

He looked toward Jessie, who stood dazed, shocked by the sudden death of the beast. She couldn’t grasp the extent of the power behind the shot or how Ash was able to pull it off.

Then she looked at the Exp share she got from the Basilisk’s death.

"Did you level up?" Ash asked, seeing her distant eyes, no doubt focused on her system.

"Close, but not enough... What about you?"

"Quite far from leveling up." He was a little disappointed. They had practically risked their lives—was it worth it?

"Wait... we’ll get dungeon clearance rewards once we get out. That might push me to level up," Jessie said, encouraging Ash.

Ash looked toward the horizon, his intuition telling him to check what lay beyond the invisible dungeon walls.

"Wait, I’ll be back," Ash said, dragging his body toward one side of the dungeon.

It was quite a vast area for a D-rank dungeon, but still not infinite. These invisible walls gave a sense of boundless space.

He reached the side walls after running for some time, his leg still burning, but his curiosity overriding the pain.

He tried to look beyond the walls, but all he saw was the illusion of an eternal, fake world, perhaps a real world that looked fake.