Chapter 102: The City of Light

James began with a Vorpal Lunge using the Sword of Khine. The red glow burned brightly from the sword in his human hand. The troll swung its giant wooden club—its weapon glowing gold. Golden meteor met red meteor, resulting in an explosion and a shockwave. Fire and golden sparks erupted as James was hurled back, his body crashing through several trees before finally coming to a halt.

“ArgH!” James groaned as he tried to stand up from the debris. He hadn’t expected to win a direct skill clash, but he didn’t think he’d lose that badly either. It reminded him of his fight with the first-floor orc boss in the trial dungeon.

Despite the impact and the shattered trees, James suffered no more than bruises and aching pain, thanks to his high stats. He could still fight.

“Shit. That could’ve ended badly. Was he the boss monster of this floor?” James muttered. “I should’ve known better than to challenge him head-on. The previous floor boss could block my sword skill without even using one of his own.”

James drew his bow. If melee was out of the question, he’d attack from a distance instead.

James was a jack of all trades. Unlike someone like Kouki, who relied solely on swords and sword skills, James had options. If melee didn’t work, he had ranged attacks. If physical attacks failed, he had magic. James adapted.

He hopped onto a nearby tree and notched an arrow. Golden motes of light gathered on it. His bow skill, Quickshot, found its mark. The arrow flew with tremendous speed and force, puncturing the goliath’s left arm and leaving a baseball-sized hole.

James smirked at the result, then drew another arrow. But he realized something was off. The black ooze sealed the wound, spreading even further into the creature’s body.

James winced. Normally, a hit like that would’ve disabled the arm entirely. But this monster—whatever it was—shrugged it off as though it were nothing. It was all because of the infection.

“It should die if I shoot it in the head,” James said. But targeting a rushing creature’s head was easier said than done. The homing bow skill James had needed a lock-on before its homing feature activated—and the troll was too close. The 15-degree lock-on angle wouldn’t be enough.

The troll rushed in. The ground trembled with each step. James had to land a headshot—or it wouldn’t matter. The infection could regenerate its wound.

That brief hesitation cost him precious time.

James abandoned the idea and leapt off the tree just as the troll swung its giant club. The sheer force shattered the tree James had been perched on, reducing it to splinters.

“HAH!!” James unleashed a blast of flame. The troll roared in pain, but its thick hide proved resistant. Only its left side, which was infected, rattled, delivering pain to the rest of its body. With its untainted right arm, it shielded itself from the blaze.

It charged again, bellowing in rage as it swept its club toward James.

“Fuck it. Better to be sent flying again than grounded into meat paste,” James muttered, bracing himself.

His black sword glowed gold as he activated his sword skill, ready to clash against the troll’s brute force. Golden meteor met golden meteor, sending shockwaves throughout the area.

To his surprise, James held his ground. His blade locked with the troll’s club in a blinding clash of sparks. James blinked, stunned, but quickly shook it off.

With a grunt, he threw more strength into his golem arm. Slowly, steadily, he began to gain ground. The club wavered, and then—

“Hah!!”

James completed his swing. The troll was thrown back and crashed onto its rear. Not wasting the opportunity, James followed through. His human arm wielded the Sword of Khine, now glowing red with power.

An alien force propelled him forward as he lunged for the creature’s neck.

The blade glided clean through the troll’s neck, carving a red arc along its path. James landed smoothly on the ground. A red, molten line glowed along the troll’s neck—then it roared as its entire body erupted in flame from the wound.

“...” James tilted his head at the spectacle. Sword skills weren’t supposed to do that. They weren’t supposed to ignite enemies like that.

Seconds later, the raging fire died down, leaving only the charred remains of the troll behind.

“System. What just happened? How could I defend against the troll’s weapon skill this time when I couldn’t before? And why did it burst into flames?”

[Sword of Khine converts a portion of physical damage from sword skills and stat scaling into fire damage. If the strike lands, the converted damage is delivered as fire within the wound. That is why the target ignited.]

“... I see. So I’ll lose every skill clash with this sword, huh?” James muttered. The converted damage had worked well against the first-floor boss, but losing every skill clash was a serious drawback. Especially when some real boss monsters could deflect sword skills with raw strength alone. Against them, he’d stand no chance unless he could land a clean hit.

[Yes. Survivor James will lose most skill clash exchanges with monsters that use pure physical weapon skills.]

“Shit. Thanks for the clear answer, by the way.” James sighed. If he used a normal weapon, the damage was physical. But if he used the Sword of Khine, the damage was converted into fire damage. “Wait—does that mean there are other weapons that convert physical damage into other types? And how many damage types are there?”

[Information classified.]

“Should’ve known,” James grumbled. “Alright. Thanks for the information. Let’s move on.”

James continued wandering through the dungeon.

Little did he know, progression to the next floor required entry into the city. With infected monsters roaming everywhere, James would soon be forced to think not just about fighting—but about survival.

As the saying goes: an army can’t march on an empty stomach.

—————————————————-

Meanwhile, Andrew was losing his mind as he couldn’t find the artifact.

“Shit! All the artifact positions have changed. Even the village’s position is different! What’s with these empty boxes? At least one of the artifacts had to be here!” Andrew shouted.

“James must’ve taken them, right? Who else could it be? NPCs can’t take artifacts... can they?” Kouki asked.

“That’s right. But where is he?” Kaina added.

“Knowing him, he probably challenged the floor boss,” Sanders said. He glanced at Kaina, and she nodded. After a few tests, they had confirmed that Kaina was immune to the infection from the black ooze. That was why Andrew had brought her here.

Kouki and Andrew continued scouting the cave. Andrew had already searched the village where James had killed the knights, but it was empty. Without more artifacts, he couldn’t rent knights or open the teleportation portal to the next floor.

“The cave looks empty,” Kouki said as they stepped deeper inside. Andrew had repeatedly warned everyone about the black ooze, so they had come prepared—armed with torches and dragons ready to unleash fire breath at any sign of movement.

But there was nothing. Not only were there no monsters, there wasn’t even a single drop of black ooze.

Andrew stood there, stupefied.

“No way… Impossible. He actually did it?” Andrew dashed toward the boss room—only to find it empty.

“Well, well. Our boss sure is something,” Kouki muttered.

“But physical attacks were supposed to be ineffective. Sword skills too. The only way to beat it was to use fire magic from behind while knights with shield skills defended against the Doom of Pestilence,” Andrew said in disbelief.

“But the fact remained that there was nothing here. Let’s keep moving. Aww, shucks! James already looted this place,” Kouki groaned as he spotted the three opened chests.

“He beat us to it,” Muto muttered.

“We were dilly-dallying too much, Leader,” Hain said with a nod.

“Ah! Boss James seems to have left these gold bars behind. Let’s go take them! We can sell them in the town square, right?”

“Yes! We can buy some weapons of Mystis. If we can complete the coronation quest, we can even receive the Blessing of Mystis,” Andrew nodded.

“The blessing? Just like those knights had?”

“Yes. It increases your stats by 20% and nullifies most debuffs, including dangerous ones like paralysis, poison, and mind magic. I already have three of them—sword, body armor, and gauntlets. I still need two more. But some pieces of the Mystis set are quest-specific. The ones sold in the store and the knight’s headquarters are just the body armor and the sword.”

“Sets?” Kouki asked.

“Mystis knights need a helmet, greaves, gauntlets, body armor, and a weapon—either a staff, bow, longsword, or sword and shield,” Andrew explained. “Without the full set, they’re just medium-quality metal armor. A strike from a mace or sword is enough to dent or chip them.”

“So we need the greaves and the helmet?” Hain asked.

“Hey, I want to be a Mystis defender too! We can have multiple Mystis defenders, right?” Kouki asked after hearing the perks.

“Well… if there’s more than one armor set, then technically, yes,” Andrew replied. “Ah, the arrow is here. Thank goodness. That’s one artifact down. Now we need two more. I suspect James has them. I just hope he doesn’t destroy them. I need to delver them to the knight order.”

“Ah, here’s the portal to the second floor,” Sanders said.

“Let’s go. We need to find James.” Andrew nodded.

The group exited the cave and arrived on the second floor. Unlike the bleak city of Mystis on the first floor, this one was bright.

“What’s that?” Kouki asked, pointing ahead.

“That’s the Tower of Mystis,” Andrew said. “The coronation spans from the first floor to the fifth. The first floor is called The Beginning of Pestilence. The second is The Star of Hope. The third is The Dead Star. The fourth is The Star Reignited, and the fifth is The End of Pestilence.”

“Where does the dungeon core fit into all this?”

“On the fifth floor. You can’t face the boss monster unless you offer4 dungeon cores. It’s a sealed room.”

“...That’s nasty. What a shitty game,” Kouki frowned in disgust. He wasn’t alone—everyone shared his expression. He imagined it vividly: after sacrificing who knows how many survivors and non-survivors in raiding this place, you’d be sent back out at the final moment, all your work in vain.

“That’s the reality of our world now. The system made the rules,” Andrew said with a wry smile. After a short talk and a brief rest, they began heading toward the Star City, hoping to find James and register some quests.

“Let’s go.”