Exitus calmly looked at the frenzied beast writhing in front, Matta had tremendous destructive power and good defense, but compared to him when enhanced by “SilverFang's badge”, it was too slow. The dust could not block his sight; he could see the black energy stream surging inside its body.
“It’s about to attack.” Exitus sidestepped to avoid.
“Boom.”
Once again, the rat slammed into another wall, its eyes bloodshot and twisted with crimson veins, the prey before it was so slippery, it could not catch it. Matta roared in rage, from its body burst out a strange black aura.
“It’s coming, its ‘Ultimate Skill’.” Exitus became alert.
He did not rush to attack; understanding the opponent was a necessary caution. Exitus needed to know what kind of skill it had, pure offense or with special effects. The dark aura surrounding Matta seemed to further strengthen it, the muscles on its legs swelled, its fur gradually hardened like black steel. Matta prepared to attack, it stared fixedly at Exitus without moving its gaze, its back hunched down and its legs gathered strength for a charge.
“It’s a type of body enhancement.” Exitus smiled; this type was the easiest to deal with.
Then, mana began to surge in the boy’s body following a peculiar pattern. His eyes turned red like a demon, his pupils like a black vortex without end.
“Look into my eyes,” Exitus muttered.
Matta suddenly froze, the madness in its eyes now filled with fear, it seemed to have lost all its power, and around it was now a familiar iron cage. It was no longer the mighty Matta, but a small Ratta, trembling in pain. The one standing before it was no longer a delicious prey but the young dark mage who threw strange liquid-filled bottles onto his own body.
“You’re still alive?”
“Chit chit chit.” Its body smoked, melted into white pus, then regenerated, over and over again, repeating endlessly.
Outside, Exitus slowly walked toward the immobilized Matta, its face stiffened with expressions of agony. He gathered mana into his right arm, four fingers straightened tightly together, the thumb pulled close to the palm. When the mana reached its peak, Exitus slashed hard at the neck of the helpless Matta.
“Slash.” A huge rat’s head flew high, followed by a violent gush of blood like a spring. Bathing himself in the foul, fishy blood, Exitus glanced at the rat’s face, still frozen in fear.
“Now you can’t wake from that nightmare anymore.”
From Matta’s body appeared a transparent white orb, inside it was a distinctive eight-pointed star symbol. It seemed to be the item to be embedded in the slot on floor 10. Meanwhile, Matta’s body gradually dissolved into black smoke and merged into the boy’s head. The elite monsters were unique and would not reappear. Exitus’s book, Madenes, trembled, and on the page of Matta’s information appeared a small line of text.
“Matta - The Grawmaster.”
“Monster Biography: Since its birth, the first thing it gnawed on was the flesh of its own mother. Matta was a special individual; it mutated, strong, and immune to the diseases of the filth. When hungry, it easily killed and devoured its kind, the constant flesh-eating made it robust, its fur thick and sturdy. By chance, during one hunt, it was captured and made an experimental subject by a young dark mage named Madenes. It was imprisoned in a dungeon and forced to eat strange meats every day, doused with horrifying liquids. But it did not die; instead, it grew stronger, until it became as large as a calf. What it felt was not its own power, but fear—fear of the terrifying two-legged being who imprisoned it. Later, when the mage grew tired of his experiments, he released it. The fear allowed it to survive for an incredibly long time, avoiding dangerous creatures and growing stronger.
During the ‘NewBorn God’ event, it was slain by an army led by a warlord. As the strongest Ratta ever to exist, it was granted a name by Madenes by then already a NewBorn God.
‘A Ratta that possesses all three traits: intelligence, might, and luck. I, Madenes, grant you a name, a name that will be remembered throughout history. Matta – The Grawmaster – Madenes.’
"Page ability: Super Physical Strength."
"Super Physical Strength: The body is comprehensively enhanced, greatly increasing jump strength, defense, and recovery."
Exitus closed his eyes, feeling the power the page granted. It was an elite ability; he could sense his body becoming many times stronger. “Boom.” Exitus punched the wall, shattering it to pieces. From the hole spread spiderweb-like cracks all around, and that was just a normal punch without mana.
“So this is an elite power, too strong. I am now almost invincible within the warlord rank.”
Exitus is confident that, except for special warlords who possess “Abilitie” inherited from their bloodlines, ordinary ones could never defeat him. His physical strength has been elevated to a whole new level; perhaps soon, his body itself will give birth to a unique “Ability.”
“All right, let’s skip Medusa for now.”
Exitus advanced straight to the 3rd floor, bypassing Medusa because she countered his power. According to what was written in Horta’s book, looking directly into her eyes would turn one into stone. Exitus planned to challenge her only after finding a proper countermeasure.
The 3rd floor’s structure was similar to the two previous ones, except that in the center stood a strange altar surrounded by countless decomposing corpses with an unbearably foul stench. Exitus could see monster corpses scattered all along the dungeon corridors. The three types of monsters here were Lio, Goa, and Snak.
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“Lio”
“Race: Lion Monster”
“Characteristics: Ferocious and brave, it has golden fur and a dark brown mane. It is a professional predator, the nightmare of the Noland region. Its fangs and claws are as hard as steel, used to seize and tear apart its prey. In addition, it can breathe fire to burn enemies or when threatened.”
“Weakness: Hates water.”
“Strength: A naturally strong beast, far stronger than a Fighter but weaker than a Warlord.”
“I highly value this monster. It’s the kind of monsters that eats hot and drinks boiling; not something you encounter often.” — Madenes
“Page Ability: Fire Resistance.”
“Fire Resistance: Increases resistance to fire and fire-based magic.”
“Goa”
“Race: Goat Monster.”
“Characteristics: Monsters that live on the Emerald Mountains. Don’t be fooled by their harmless appearance, they are carnivorous creatures. They have a pair of sturdy horns used to attack prey, often taking a running start from afar to suddenly hurl victims off cliffs.”
“Weakness: Poor defense; they won’t attack if their prey notices them.”
“Strength: Comparable to a Fighter, but their ambush-style attacks rely on stealth and surprise. Their horn strikes, when charged from a distance, possess tremendous impact force.”
“Creatures living near the steep slopes of the Emerald range—they can eat both grass and meat. They’re smart enough to use the terrain to kill prey, yet foolish enough to sometimes charge themselves off a cliff.” — Madenes
“Page Ability: Wind Resistance.”
“Wind Resistance: Increases resistance to wind and wind-elemental magic.”
“Snak”
“Race: Serpent Monster.”
“Characteristics: Long snake-headed monsters with four legs; their brown, earthy skin allows them to hide beneath thick layers of sand, only surfacing to attack when prey draws near. They rarely move, conserving their energy.”
“Weakness: Not agile on rocky terrain.”
“Strength: Powerful bite with venom that paralyzes prey; strength on par with a Fighter.”
“Predators lurking deep beneath the sands, making the desert even more dangerous than before but they’re still nothing compared to the Sandworns.” — Madenes
“Page Ability: Earth Resistance.”
“Earth Resistance: Increases resistance to earth-based attacks and earth-elemental magic.”
The monsters on this floor were not too strong, but the abilities they granted greatly enhanced defense in battles against mages, particularly Earth Resistance, which Exitus thought would soon become useful when facing Richer.
Exitus looked around the basement floor. The corpses were all incomplete, some missing heads, others missing limbs but they didn’t look like they had been eaten. Instead, it seemed as if they had been cut apart. The only thing all of them shared in common was that none had heads.
“No heads, huh…” Exitus examined the necks of the three monster corpses in front of him. Suddenly, he remembered the tale about a grotesque creature of legend said to have been created by a mad sorcerer.
Exitus cut off the heads of the three monsters, Lio, Goa, and Snak, threw them into the pile of slimy flesh on the altar. Just as he expected, the altar began to glow with red light. The magic circle rotated, the corpses twitched and fused together into a lump of flesh. From that lump, the three heads he had thrown in earlier grew out, writhing and opening their eyes to let out a ferocious roar.
“There it is… the Chimera.”
The Chimera slowly rose to its feet. Its massive body and three heads radiated an overwhelming pressure. All three heads glared at Exitus as if he were a delicious piece of meat. It charged forward, shaking the ground violently like an earthquake. The lion’s head spewed fire, while the goat’s head unleashed sharp, slicing wind currents.
Exitus dodged. The flames grazed his arm, leaving a scorched mark. He gathered mana in his hand, slashing out waves of sword energy to neutralize the goat’s attack. A fierce onslaught but he managed to defend himself. Then, as if realizing something, Exitus quickly leapt back to widen the distance.
“Boom!”
The ground where he had stood exploded, the snake’s head had emerged from below. Struggling to keep his balance, Exitus activated his eye ability, turning his eyes red in an attempt to hypnotize the Chimera but it was useless. His power had no effect on it. The creature was now a chaotic abomination driven purely by instinct and madness.
The battle dragged on for hours. The Chimera attacked relentlessly with varied techniques, seemingly tireless. Exitus dodged another strike from below and slashed off the snake’s head in one swift motion. The head fell lifelessly to the ground, yet Exitus didn’t smile. From the severed neck, countless fleshy tendrils burst forth, reconnecting with the fallen head. In moments, the Chimera had completely regenerated.
“This can’t go on… it can regenerate infinitely, while I’m running out of strength.”
If not for Matta’s ability, Exitus would’ve already collapsed from exhaustion. He tried to find its weakness, but the monster’s mana flow was chaotic. However, he noticed a slight mana fluctuation each time it reattached its head, the source seemed to come from the altar.
“Something there is controlling it.” Exitus sprinted toward the altar of flesh, the raging monster in pursuit.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
He used his superior speed to dodge the goat’s long-range wind assaults. The closer he got, the stronger the strange mana pulsation became. It was like a rhythmic heartbeat. While searching for the source, the snake’s head suddenly burst from below, hurling him into the wall and leaving a massive hole. The impact wounded him slightly. Groaning, Exitus stood up. From the hole where the snake had emerged, he sensed a distinct mana fluctuation.
“It’s down there,” he muttered with a smirk, severed the snake’s head once again, and jumped into the hole. Beneath the altar was another altar, where blood from above converged around a massive, beating heart.
“Boom!”
The snake’s head reattached itself, and the Chimera followed him down, crashing into the floor with a thunderous impact. Exitus didn’t hesitate, he gathered mana into his hand and sliced the heart in two.
“Slash!”
The heart began to lose its rhythm, the bright red color fading into a rotten hue as it withered and decayed. Behind him, the Chimera howled in agony as its body melted away, dissolving into a heap of pulsing flesh.
“Chimera”
“Race: Artificial Monster”
"Monster Biography: Draco had always harbored a deep fascination with dragons. As a poor boy barely surviving in the slums of Greaton, he once witnessed a colossal shadow blanketing the city. That was a dragon’s wings stretching across the vast sky. From that moment, he wished to become one of them, the mighty rulers of the ancient era.
Draco’s obsession drove him to collect even the filthiest remnants of dragonkind which he used to make strange elixirs, imitation weapons, but none of it was enough. Until the day he found the corpse of a decaying hatchling dragon. He began grafting its skin and flesh onto his own body, nurturing the living tissue within himself. But the most critical experiment was head transplantation.
Countless trials followed, grafting heads onto different bodies. The Chimera was his greatest success, a monstrous three-headed abomination, terrifyingly strong. It became the nightmare of young warlords. Yet Chimera was only a precursor to something far more dreadful. Draco had nearly reached his dream. No one knew whether he succeeded or failed. All that remained was the legend of a monstrous roar echoing from his laboratory, the roar of a powerful yet deranged creature."
“A successful creation… life formed from dead flesh. Disgusting, yet brilliant. For a human to create life. It was astonishing. Your final experiment failed, Draco… but your story isn’t over yet. Allow me to lend you a hand.” — Madenes
"Page Ability: “Extra Magic Core”
"Extra Magic Core: A magic core similar to those of sorcerers; can only inscribe low-tier spells."
A translucent crystal sphere appeared within Exitus’s consciousness, orbiting around the Book of Madenes like a planet circling the sun. The magical energy radiating from it was faint, but no matter how small, Exitus had officially become a mage without the need for any mana meditation. Now, Exitus could walk both paths, a magical warrior, a Champion.