I Never Run Out of Mana - Chapter 56

Chapter 56

56 . Out of the Way! An Unwelcome Guest of the Dungeon Comes . (3)

The inside of the dungeon was quiet .

It was enough to make me question if this was a level 28 dungeon .

According to the intel, there were supposed to be thousands of monsters appearing .

But from what I could tell, it didn’t seem that way .

It was as if the dungeon was already cleared .

The interior was similar to the manticore dungeon .

The difference was that instead of being a wide desert field, there was a winding desert road .

The width of the road was about 30m or so .

The floor was covered with finely ground sand, while the each side of the road stood wrinkly tress, their shells making a wall .

“Looks similar to a place I know, yet oddly different to it too . ”

Finishing my monologue, I casted Mana Shield and shot forward .

Even after running for 2 minutes, I didn’t encounter a single monster or any of their cries .

I didn’t let it bother me, and continued forward .

Because it was normal as usual .

It was then .

“KWAACK”

“KRURU!”

The road was covered with my footprints .

Hundreds of monsters came out onto the road that I passed, howling and screaming all kinds of noise .

Dust Lizardmen, monsters with different sets of equipment and armor appeared .

Monsters that only do melee attacks .

Each swinging their weapons and surrounding their targets .

All of them possessed strength equivalent to a level 100 warrior . Quite troublesome to handle .

They looked similar to lizards .

1 . 5m  in size .

They proudly showed off their reflective scales .

These scales were so tough that most magic could not even leave a scratch on them .

Not only were they immune to physical attacks, but they had a flat 20% magic damage resistance .

They were breaking the shifting magic and physical resistance pattern the dungeons had every 3 levels .

Kicking up a cloud of dust, they stomped their feet on the ground furiously .

However, Meteor Call had already finished casting in my hand .

Both Meteor and Iceberg had already hit level 159 .

Thanks to these guys, these skills will become stronger .

A 10% reduction in cast time as well the cooldown .

To the mass of mobs that were staring at me, I casted Eye of the Storm to group up the mobs that were still spread apart .

Utility skill Eye of the Storm pulled in all lifeforms in the area together .

The level 100 skill didn’t even cause the mobs to budge .

Those strong gusts, they stood still as if it was a breeze from a fan .

“Guess they’re high ranking?”

Both Heal Canceling and Lower Resist were the same .

Debuff skills did not work either .

The marks on the chests that appeared if the skills hit were nowhere to be found, after all .

Resistance was a major factor, but monster level and ranking were to be reckoned with as well .

“I’m curious as to see what will happen . ”

“Take this!”

The size of the Meteor was enough to block out the sky .

With one swift movement of my hand, it collided against them .

The entire dungeon shook from the destructive force .

The massive shockwave from the noise rang throughout the dungeon .

The flames from the meteor was enough to consume even the very sands it blew into the air .

The hot winds from the destruction came towards me .

The remains of the meteor covered where the lizardmen used to be .

The flames continued to burn fiercely, and a message followed .

[20,000,000 experience obtained . ]

.

.

.

[Level up . ]

“Shit!”

I had barely taken care of half the monsters .

I had leveled up from 1/5th of my experience bar being full instantly .

Each monster offered 20 million points worth of experience .

And the numbers of monsters were not just hundreds, but nearly a thousand .

I heard that people leveled up all the way to 500 from this dungeon alone, but I didn’t know it would be this good .

Even high level Awakened have to form up 5 man parties to get in, so they only get 4 million worth of experience per kill .

But I was keeping 20 million experience to myself .

Leveling in the level 18 dungeon, I was able to level up 12 times faster than the average Awakened .

But now I was running the level 28 dungeon that only one person was able to solo run in the entire world before .

Perhaps 20 times? Over even greater than that seemed possible .

I was overcome with goosebumps after confirming the sheer amount of experience I’ve obtained from them .

I was only surprised for a short moment though .

-crack

My Mana Shield was shaking with great intensity .

I was at least 30m away from them .

However, in a blink of an eye, they had caught up and were attack me .

If it was another shield, it would’ve come apart and the attacks would’ve reached me .

If these mobs had this much destructive force, they had to be taken care of immediately .

The reason why about half of them were able to survive was surprising though .

They had come together to form a defensive formation, blocking the damage of the Meteor Call .

That’s why they were able to retaliate .

“KYAA!”

Their sharp beak like mouth had drool spilling out of them .

When the drool landed on the ground, smoke was formed, the scent of sulfur thick .

It was obvious that it was highly acidic .

“Don’t spit at me!”

-CRACK!

A huge iceberg started to form, enough to swallow up the dungeon that was nearly 40m wide .

The ice broke apart and reformed nonstop .

Even as their bodies were being crushed and torn apart, the lizardmen continued to resist .

All the monsters I’ve met so far had been instantly taken out from the sheer amount of damage the Iceberg did, but these monsters…

I was able to reconfirm just how strong these monsters were .

[Iceberg’s skill level rose . ]

“Is it finally level 160?”

The cool down and cast time had become 1 minute each .

I was able to cast this destructive spell every 2 minute .

I used Holy Missile and Explosion to get rid of the stragglers .

The sand was painted in blood, the red matching the glow of the Bloodstones .

I collected all the stones and stood up .

I had to take down more lizardmen, after all .

Behind me, I could hear strange noises .

-crunch . -crunch .

“Ah! Right . The janitors . ”

I turned around quickly to make sure I didn’t miss this strange scene .

Bugs the size of my fist appeared, eating away at the corpses of the Lizardmen .

Almost like how thousands of locusts eat away at the crops, they came in droves, attaching themselves onto the corpses like waves .

Covered in black, it didn’t even make a minute before everything but the armor and weapons of the lizardmen to remain .

Even dragging away the bones, they hid themselves into the sands once more .

“A lot more disgusting than I thought…”

* * * *

The dungeon’s road seemed to be without an end .

I was curious what kind of ability Choi So-Hyeon had to be able to clear this dungeon by himself .

After taking down the boss, the exit gate appeared .

I was very thankful for one thing .

Other dungeons had the exit open up in the center of the dungeon .

To move all the way to the center in this enormous room was a task in itself .

Thankfully the gate appeared at the end of the dungeon .

“Wew . With just one run, I already leveled up once and have 77% of my gauge filled . ”

It was a high class dungeon far beyond my expectations .

Before I left through the gate, I casted my Mass Stealth Jutsu .

-sha sha sha sha

Casting it above my head, the air shimmered and swayed, like a disturbance on a surface of a pond .

Including me and everything that came in contact with me were hidden from view .

If I didn’t have Eye of Insight, I wouldn’t know what I was holding onto .

“All right . Shall I exit?”

* * * *

It was already 5 pm .

Maybe it was due to the dungeon being so bright, but the outside felt darker than usual .

I didn’t have time to waste . I had to hunt some more .

I was about to use the ID scanner when…

‘Who are these people?’

The level 28 dungeon was famous for its rare visitors .

It was to be expected, as there were not many who could clear this dungeon as it was only possible to clear with a party .

However, the dungeon had roughly 40 people surrounding it at this very moment .

About 20 of them were equipped with armor and weapons .

The rest had clean uniforms, using hand gestures to communicate between one another .

I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of a combination was this .

It was because I saw a granny staring directly at the entrance of the dungeon .

‘Seems like either the radical faction or the association . ’

However, I could tell they were from the association .

It was because one of the people in the group was  Se-Jin Kim .

I was focused on the grandma once more .

Yoon Jong-sun also had the look of a retired grandpa .

Most rankers had quite the age on them .

That grandma looking at this direction must also be very high leveled .

I felt that she was a cleric .

Because to see hidden targets, you needed Eye of Insight .

My monologue ended there .

The person next to the grandma spoke .

“Honored lady . It’s about time that he would be exiting . Please give us the signal if you see him . ”

“Yes . Understood . He doesn’t appear to be out yet, though . ”

“Not yet? Do you see anything?”

“Don’t worry . My Eye of Insight is nearly level 100 . ”

“Of course . I trust you . ”

‘What are you saying with me right in front of you?’

The bag on my shoulder .

In my hand I held my ID and the finger imitation .

I was sure that the cleric ranker could not see me .

‘Glad I Awakened my stealth skill . The essence wasn’t a waste . ’

Should I just leave out of their sight?

No way . If I do that, they’d be 100% suspicious of my existence and dig deeper to find me .

Just in case the stones in my bag made a noise, I carefully moved my ID to the machine .

It was to make them think that the scanner was broken .

I was carrying out my plan to confuse them right before their eyes .

“Beep . Please present your fingerprint . ”

Unlike how it was when I entered the dungeon, the sound from the machine felt much louder than before .

Hearing that noise, all 40 of them began to talk amongst themselves .

Then the man standing next to the elderly spoke .

“Lady! Is there anything at all?”

“Yes . I think you made a mistake today Mr . Kim . As you know, there isn’t stealth that I cannot detect . There is no one at the entrance . ”

“No . Impossible! Please check it again . Lady!”

Ho Jin, filled with frustration, looked about despite not being able to see .

Then the elder spoke .

“I’m sure that the machine is faulty . Then shall we end it here?”

“Yes! Of course . Sorry for taking up your time despite your busy schedule, lady . ”

“Ohoho . It’s enough that I get to see a young’un such as yourself, filled with energy and rearing to go . Please take care of the rest . ”

“Yes! Thank you for your hard work . ”

The elder finished talking and was heading to the car .

Kim Ho Jin couldn’t help but wear his suspicions on  his face .

He continued to stare at the entrance of the dungeon .

Our eyes finally met .

He was staring at the dungeon, and I was staring into his eyes .

After a long while, he called his subordinates .

“Did you check the ID?”

“Yes, dept . head . ”

“Yeah, who is it?”

“Yoon Hyun-se . Awakened date is year 01, month 03 . Busan is his where his residency is . ”

“First check the list of missing . Send a team over to check if the machine has a problem . ”

“Yes . Understood . ”

“If you find him, contact me immediately . ”

“Yes!”

“Please present your fingerprint . ”

While Kim Ho Jin was busy giving orders, the voice of the machine crackled out once more .

-beep

Without hesitation, I brought the fake finger towards it .

The dungeon entrance formed .

I didn’t know who this ID belonged to, but once they found out the owner, it would be impossible to use it again .

‘Hm…’

Sending a text message to someone, I entered the dungeon once more .