Unlike before—where everything was quiet, cold, and wet—what now lay before Agares was a vast garden, filled with plants and towering trees reaching 2–3 ters in height.
It was a suspicious situation. A dungeon shaped like a forest or garden was not a common occurrence.
Still, Agares had to remain cautious. He didn’t know what kind of monsters lived in this place.
He crouched down and pulled up so grass. It felt wet in his hand.
Everything looked and felt too real—proof that this wasn’t so kind of visual illusion.
’The monsters must be lurking around here. I have to stay sharp and careful.’
Agares stepped forward, slowly following a neatly arranged stone path deeper into the garden.
His eyes scanned the area around him—so far, there were no signs of any monsters.
But sothing startled him. He turned around—and saw that the path he had just walked had disappeared, covered up by trees. It was enough to put him on high alert.
"I know what it is."
"Tree monsters."
Just as Agares suspected, the tree monsters appeared—reaching out their root-like tentacles, eight in total. Even the fibers of their trunks twisted into terrifying faces.
Realizing he was surrounded, Agares took a strong stance and leapt backward, avoiding the siege. Fighting while trapped like that wasn’t favorable for him.
He successfully broke free from them while slicing through several root-tentacles that tried to grip him.
Landing a good distance away, he kept his distance from the monsters.
With a quick glance, Agares could now distinguish between ordinary trees and the monsters. Having identified them, he counted the number in front of him.
"Five. There are five of them."
One by one, the monsters roared and started walking toward Agares, wrecking the once-beautiful path with their move.
The beauty of the garden that he had just admired had now turned into an unexpected hellscape.
But Agares had walked through far worse hells in his life. These? They were nothing.
He drew his sword, Shadepiercer, and swung it outward. A gust of wind blew as the blade ca free. When the sword was unsheathed, a system panel appeared.
[Sword Effect:]
[Buff: Increase ATK by 20% || Increase DEX by 10% || Physical Lifesteal by 25% || Anti-Magic]
[Debuff: Reduce AGI by 15% || Reduce DEF by 20%]
"Activate Skill!"
"Saber Skill: Shadow Cleave!"
[Saber Skill: Shadow Cleave Activated]
[-150 Mana]
[Mana: 2000/2150] [-150]
Agares’s eyes flared with purple light. The dark energy covering his body also wrapped around his sword, stretching its blade into a longer form made of energy.
With a forward vertical slash, Agares launched a crescent-shaped shadow strike toward the monster group.
The strike hit them directly—an explosion of purple energy sent them flying in all directions. The blast scorched the grass beneath their feet.
[ 375 dmg]
[Weakened for 10 seconds]
[Reduce ATK by 30% every 12 seconds]
[Reduce 10 HP/sec for 7s]
A buff panel appeared, showing their weakened status and bleeding HP loss. However, sothing else popped up—a mysterious green panel hovered in front of the monsters.
[Buff:]
[Regen HP Activated]
[ 5 HP/sec]
Agares squinted. That was clearly the monsters’ own regeneration buff. Glancing at the right corner of his vision, the na appeared—Widowlings.
’Widowlings? They regenerate 5 HP per second.’
’If I wait too long, they’ll recover all their health.’
"This is a race against ti."
He knew what had to be done. His skills were on cooldown, and using the third one would be wasteful. His best option was to engage the monsters directly with his sword techniques.
Yes, that was what Agares had to do.
He prepared and dashed forward in a zig-zag pattern. The widowlings noticed his advance and plunged their root-tentacles into the ground to attack him from below.
He had to act fast. Looking back over his shoulder, Agares saw the tentacles erged from the ground like spears. If caught, he’d be brutally impaled.
"So they attack from underground."
Using the montum, Agares jumped into the sky—too high for their roots to reach him. He smiled, knowing the limit of their tentacle reach.
"Only 15 ters. That’s good enough for ."
He landed behind one of the widowlings and slashed with a sideways swing.
Agares didn’t stop. Moving fluidly, he continued slashing while dodging their root strikes.
[ 25 dmg]
[ 65 dmg]
[ 90 dmg]
One by one, damage panels popped up as he struck the monsters. The monster he was targeting had only 224 HP left, as shown in his vision’s HP bar.
Once his first skill ca off cooldown, Agares activated it again—this ti attacking from behind.
"Activate Skill!"
"Saber Skill: Shadow Cleave!"
[Saber Skill: Shadow Cleave Activated]
[-150 Mana]
[Mana: 1850/2150] [-150]
With another slash filled by darkness, Agares sent a clean, deadly blow to the monster. The system panel showed a massive hit.
[ 560 dmg] [Critical ATK]
[Weakened for 10 seconds]
[Reduce ATK by 30% every 12 seconds]
[Reduce 10 HP/sec for 7s]
"Damn it!"
He leapt backward just as the widowling’s body glowed green—it was about to self-destruct.
The explosion was big, even damaging the other four widowlings nearby. The blast left them injured, but their regeneration abilities made it difficult.
"That regen... it’s such a pain."
Agares landed and plunged his sword into the ground to anchor himself and avoid being flung away by the shockwave.
He lifted his head and saw the wounded widowlings rising again.
The explosion had dealt about 30 damage to each of the four monsters—but their regen would heal that in six seconds.
’Using the first skill again won’t be enough against the remaining widowlings.’
’Looks like I’ve got no choice but to use my third skill.’
"Activate Skill!"
"Saber Skill: Eclipse Execution!"
[Saber Skill: Eclipse Execution Activated]
[-200 Mana]
[Mana: 1650/2150] [-200]
Agares’s eyes glowed with intense purple light. His body surged with dark energy as he flew into the sky.
Behind him, a crimson moon projection appeared—accompanied by the wings of a dark bat-like shadow.
He raised his sword and pointed it downward—right at the four widowlings still moving with their root-tentacle gait.
As he prepared to strike, a massive purple sword—ford from the crimson moon and shadow-figure bat wings’ condensed energy—took shape in front of Agares. It resembled a larger version of Shadepiercer.
With a single thrust move, Agares launched the massive blade straight down toward the monsters.
BLAST!
The explosion rocked the entire area. The shockwave spread in all directions, the giant blade crashing directly into one of the widowlings.
[Chain Effect Triggered!]
[ 985 dmg] [Critical ATK]
[Dark Mark Activated]
[Doom Activated]
[Augnt Core Activated]
[Buff: Delay enemies’ buffs by 15s]
Agares smiled. Even though his attack damage had far exceeded their HP, he was glad to see the Augnt Core activate—and the Black Spiral gem’s buff effect finally activated.
’That buff should’ve been activated earlier, not just now.’
’Oh well. I can’t exactly control when the Augnt Core is active anyway!’
"If these are the 11th floor monsters... then their boss must be the sa as them."
"I better be ready."
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