Bete was the first to skid to a stop, ears flattening at the golden crackle of electricity that danced along the dark corridor's walls and ceiling, lighting it up with a blinding glow. A breath later, he turned his head toward the chamber adjacent to the room where they had left Rex with the Demi-Spirit.
But where the adamantite wall had once separated the two rooms, only shredded strips of twisted metal remained, with the destruction from the other room spilling into this one. It looked as if a Kaenseki bomb was detonated in the next chamber—judging by the tremors and deafening blast they'd felt earlier, that might not have been far from the truth.
Ais caught up beside him, gaze narrowing as she took in the sight. After a brief moment of stunned silence, she moved toward the ruined wall. Bete followed without hesitation, the two of them stopping at the threshold to peer into the devastated chamber beyond.
Golden lightning continued to arc across the fractured walls and ceiling, casting wild, flickering shadows over heaps of shattered metal. Blackened, charred wood of unknown origin was strewn across the floor, filling the hot air with the sharp stench of smoke and scorched timber.
Amidst the wreckage, their expressions darkened as their eyes landed on Rex's broken body, sprawled across a scorched timber. There was no heartbeat, no flicker of movement, no sense of life.
Somehow, a Level 4 had held off a monster long enough for their Familia to escape and regroup… and yet, they had still failed to reach him in time. At this, Bete clenched his fists, teeth grinding, nails digging deep into his palms.
Just months ago, he was mocking a certain white haired Level 1 for needing Ais to protect him from a Minotaur, laughing as the boy ran in fear afterwards. Now, he had run—while a so-called weaker adventurer sacrificed himself so that they—one of the strongest Familia in Orario—could live.
When the others arrived, they saw it too. The Demi-Spirit stood tall, nearly unscathed, the only sign of damage a faint burn across its humanoid face—already fading. In contrast, the one who had dared to stand against it now lay as a mangled corpse.
Ais's expression twisted, turning monstrous as her hand reached for her sword, ready to strike—but before she could move, a crushing pressure slammed down around them all, locking their muscles in place.
"We are the final echo of the forge… that tempered time itself..."
The voice struck their ears, leaving them breathless as the man they thought dead began to rise. His face was gone, his body flayed like exposed meat, bones jutting from open wounds, as if he had dragged prematurely from cremation.
And yet—he stood.
That wasn't just strength—it was madness. Madness to survive. Madness to defy death itself. Only monsters or gods should be capable of such a feat. And since he wasn't a god, the only thing left for him to be… was a monster.
"What the hell…" Tione was barely able to let out, her eyes trembling.
"Shine fierce... shine fleeting…"
The words didn't sound like part of a typical chant. They felt handcrafted for this moment—less a spell and more a final oath.
"…and leave naught but echoes of our creed." He raised his right arm high, magic surging violently around it. "Berakh—"
The swirling wisps of energy gathered into a vortex around his arm. "HaKele."
The chant ended calmly, but the energy it unleashed was anything but. His right arm was now coated in an overwhelming magic—so dense and radiant it seemed to eclipse even Riveria's own reserves.
'Limit Off…' The words struck simultaneously in both her and Gareth's minds—a rare, volatile state where emotion and circumstance collide, overloading the falna and exponentially amplifying one's power beyond normal limits.
"This…" His voice pulled them in. "Is to go even further beyond..." Those words ignited something in all of them. A raw, burning heat that mirrored the man as he pulled back his arm.
"Go beyond!" Rex roared, stepping forward.
"PLUS—ULTRA!!!"
The world went silent as a blinding flash of blue erupted from Rex's outstretched fist. A beam of raw defiance launched forward, obliterating everything in its path, and for a heartbeat, the only thing they could see was a white-blue afterimage seared into their vision.
Their retinas burned. Their eardrums rang. And when their senses finally returned, they saw him—Rex, still standing tall before the Demi-Spirit's humanoid half, his left hand raised high, clutching its magic stone like a trophy.
The spirit pitifully reached for it with a trembling hand. Looking down at it, Rex murmured something they couldn't catch—then crushed the stone in his fist, returning the spirit to ash.
This reminded them of a moment from over a month ago—when Bell had stood tall against a charging bull. That moment felt heroic, a nobility born from courage—a coming-of-age story, a fairy tale come to life. But this... this was something else entirely.
This was a war story. Someone willingly breaking himself to save others. A reminder of what adventurers were supposed to be at their core—not heroes, but people who fought monsters for what they believed in, whether it was good, bad, or even something as simple as money.
As for Ais, that back stirred something deep within her from a memory just out of reach. But one thing was certain.
'Rex Magnus.'
A name she knew she would never forget.
And then—
"LEEEEET'S FUUUUUCKINNNNNNG GGOOOOOO!!!!"
—The voice snapped them from their daze, and in an instant, the pedestal they had instinctively placed him on crumbled. All they could do was watch in stunned silence as the bleeding man struck a series of shaky, over-the-top victory poses—clearly moments away from collapsing from blood loss and sheer exhaustion.
If Tiona was in the right state of mind she could have rushed in to celebrate with him, but she wasn't. And then when he noticed them, his Limit Off status finally dropped—and he immediately began to fall.
Bete and Ais bolted forward, but Bete was the first to catch him before he hit the ground.
"Shit!" Bete said, glancing down at the unconscious man in his arms, tongue lolling stupidly out the side of his mouth. "Raul!" he snapped, jolting the stunned boy back to reality. "Both Supreme Potions—now!"
He was referring to the two most expensive potions in their possession—the Supreme Elixir from Panacea Familia and the Supreme Body Potion from Dian Cecht Familia. They had left them with Riveria's group earlier as they never thought they would need and were unwilling to risk such priceless items.
"Give him the rest of both," Gareth said firmly as he also rushed to Rex, with Raul reaching into his bag. "What's left should be enough to keep the lad alive until we get to Airmid—"
"LEEET'S FUUUCKINNNNG GGOOO!!!" Tiona shouted, throwing a triumphant fist into the air. "PLUS ULTRA, YOU DAMN LEGEND!!! YEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Bete barked.
—✦—✦—✦—
Red. So much red. It stained the inside of his eyes crimson, proof that his consciousness was returning.
"…Ngh."
Wrenching his eyes open, he was met first by the harsh light of the magic stone lights and was forced to shut them again.
'Fuck,' Rex thought as he slowly opened his eyes this time to allow them to adjust, noticing a white, unfamiliar ceiling. Pain coursed through his body, especially his numb right arm. He didn't like it at all, but—
'Pain is the proof that I'm still alive. Huhuhu~' He laughed internally as he kept his gaze on the ceiling.
Then a sigh escaped his lips as memories of the fight trickled back. 'I was stupid.' He had gotten a little too cocky once Scavenger confirmed that crushing the magic stone would be enough to kill the demi-spirit.
'Okay, let's not sell ourselves short here, now.' He wasn't cocky during the fight. He never once had been.
He was facing a monster that could one-tap him. That much was clear from the beginning. But his carelessness came from not truly understanding the Demi-Spirit's capabilities. Sure, he knew its skills and magic, but he didn't know their exact strength—and that left him stunned.
He could barely wrap his head around a Level 6's strength, let alone a Level 7's. Like Caelum Veil's Distel. Who would expect it to be that fast—even with Iguazu Dash, Jack Bird Dash, and his insanely high stats, he got blitzed.
'And to think the Demi-Spirit had been nerfed by Goliath Roar.' The skill slightly weakened Strength, Endurance, and Agility—not Magic—but still. It was disheartening. 'Well, I was a Level 3 fighting a Level fucking 7, so I'm gold.'
But the real turning point of the fight was the monster's regenerative physical property. 'I should've asked Scavenger if it had any form of regeneration from the start so I wouldn't have been caught off guard.'
But it's not like he could've thought of everything in the heat of the moment, especially under that kind of pressure. And if it hadn't sold his Blue Papilio Powder to the black market, things would've gone a lot smoother as the spirit wouldn't have its regenerative Physical Property.
He had planned to turn the whole chamber into a gas trap, slowly but surely poisoning the Level 7 giant with Green Dragon Poison, then ignite the whole room. The poison in the monster's bloodstream would ignite too, and would be already weakened from poisoning, it would be killed from the inside out—that was the original plan, and honestly, it was a good one.
'Well, let's not dwell on that,' he thought, glancing at his stats.
— — — — — — — — — —
Rex Magnus
Level 3 (Can Level Up)
[Strength] SSS1499 | [Endurance] SSS1499 | [Dexterity] SSS1499 | [Agility] SSS1499 | [Magic] SSS1499
[Predator] G
[Luck] H
— — — — — — — — — —
It was obvious he would max out all his stats and would be able to level up after that fight, but he hadn't expected his Luck to rank up. Still, it was a welcome surprise. Gambling was about to get way, way easier.
'Guess I will be getting Apex Hunter soon.' He didn't even consider the 10+ other Development Ability he can get. Level 4 was the last chance to choose Apex Hunter, so that's what he was going with no matter what.
'Next level, I'll see if there's a way I can get the Mystery DA,' he thought, then shifted his attention to the abilities he'd scavenged from the Demi-Spirit.
First up—Meteor Swarm. A magic with a long chant, which basically meant it was powerful. Sure, a short-chant spell could still hit hard, but the moment a chant's word count hit a certain threshold, it was practically guaranteed to be overpowered.
Longer chant, stronger magic—simple as that. Not to mention, it originally belonged to an Earth Spirit. It was a no-brainer. He was taking it.
And now, finally, he had a skill that justified the name "Rex Lapis." He finally had Zhongli's ultimate—Planet Befall.
"Hehehe~" He laughed like a gremlin. He could already imagine himself gaining aura from using the magic in the future.
Next was Caelum Veil, and from what he experienced, declining it would officially mean he became brain-dead after that battle.
Not only was this enhancement magic on par with, or even superior to, Ais's Ariel, its destructive capability was something only his fire magic could compare to right now. It was another obvious yes.
Earth Crush was the reason the Demi-Spirit's stomps were so powerful, and another ability he took without much thought.
Next were the two physical properties, which he would be forced to decline. The eyes—those unsettling green eyes, both iris and sclera—were too flashy. There weren't any contacts in this world, so he couldn't hide them, and the effect wasn't even that good. And then there was...
'Gugalanna?' Rex looked at the last physical property with a bit of confusion. 'Do I... oh, shit. I do.'
Questioning Scavenger clarified the true purpose of the property. Apparently, Scavenger had literally scavenged Gugalanna itself.
Normally, it only scavenged parts like claws or scales, but this time, by some insane stroke of luck, he got the whole thing. Absorbing it would turn him into a perfect copy of the Divine Bull Demi-Spirit—bull body, female upper half from its forehead, green eyes, all those shit—while still retaining all his current abilities.
'Insane.' Rex didn't know what to think, but he couldn't accept it.
Who the hell would want to become such a gigantic monster? Not to mention, the only 'good' part of becoming it would be gaining access to all its magic—
'Wait.' He paused. 'That is a big deal, isn't it?'
He would gain access to all the magic Gugalanna never ended up using: Firestorm, Light Burst, and the spammy Thunder Ray he couldn't scavenge. Honestly, a huge deal. Declining it would be a massive loss. He wished—again—that he had transformation magic.
But he couldn't bring himself to decline it, no matter how weird or impractical it seemed. This was a physical property, one of a kind. Unlike the usual ones found in the Dungeon, he couldn't just throw it away and go to collect it again later.
So he 'moved it to the side'—deciding not to focus on it for now. 'I should be able to leave it there without accepting or declining it, right?'
Scavenger confirmed that yes, he could. So he decided to leave it floating on the edge of his vision until he found a real answer—however long it might take. It was too good to just decline.
'And finally,' he turned his eyes to the most interesting skill. 'Spirit Blood.' The skill alone granted him access to three Development Abilities, which cut down on the DAs he'd been planning to scavenge—and all of them fit him well.
Mage was obvious; he had so much magic already, and this would make it even stronger. He just couldn't quite picture how his magic circle would look while casting something like Overgrowth since it wasn't a one chant magic like all the others ones in the world.
Magic Resistance would finally give him some defense against spells. No more need to scavenge a Crystal Mantis body—which still bothered him, mind you.
Then there was Spirit Pleasure, which is just a much, much better version of Spirit Healing according to Scavenge. Spirit Healing allowed for automatic mind regeneration—a small recovery of mind after magic use—but this allowed for a much larger regeneration after each use.
Nothing compared to the magic absorption Physical Property the spirit had, but it would definitely allow him to use more magic easier.
'I should be the first person to have Spirit Healing, right...?' He was surprised when Scavenger told him he wasn't, but didn't think too much of it as he had something else to think about. 'The other effect of this skill.'
It resembled Crozzo Blood, but with a different application. Instead of crafting weapons with a variety of magical effects, this let him imbue a bit of his magic into an item—allowing him to create something like Salamander Wool, with the fire resistance of a fire spirit.
'Combining both would make me a smithing god,' he almost laughed. 'If I can imbue something like Berakh HaKele or Caelum Veil into an item, I could probably turn a Level 3 into a first-class adventurer.'
With those two skills, there was no reason for Hephaestus to decline teaching him. And he wouldn't want anyone lesser than a god to teach him smithing.
'I can just go to Goibniu if she declines,' he decided as he accepted the skill.
Goibniu was the chiller of the two smithing gods, and it was easier for adventurers to meet him compared to Hephaestus. Though he would prefer Hephaestus to be his smithing master—because of who she was in Greek mythology—he wouldn't mind Goibniu.
[Blue Papilio Powder (Magic/Active): You can release the Blue Papilio healing powder through movement of your body.] —> [Spirit Blood (Skill/Passive): Grants the user the Development Abilities: Mage, Magic Resistance, and Spirit Pleasure. Each effect scales with the user's level. Also enables the creation of special items imbued with their magic properties and reduces the impact of curses.]
"…Eh?" He uttered, staring at the screen in front of him. 'Replacement? The fuck?'
These two abilities didn't relate in any way for it to meet the requirement for a replacement. So why would it try to replace it? Spirit Blood didn't even have an ounce of healing—only mind regeneration. He found it odd, and then something came to mind.
'Replace Strong Body,' he thought cautiously, and a new screen appeared.
[Strong Body (Skill/Active): ....] —> [Spirit Blood (Skill/Passive): ...]
'Huh…' Multiple thoughts crossed his six minds, flashing by as they all simultaneously talked to Scavenger—like a super computer at work. And after a few seconds, he understood why.
Scavenger had reached its limit.
That's right—his trusty skill, his best friend, his lover—was not omnipotent.
There was only so much it could absorb. Physical Properties didn't count toward the limit, but the number of total skills and magic he could hold at a time under Scavenger was twenty-one.
The age he died back on Earth.
Currently, he had:
Eleven Skills: Strong Body, Body Furnace, Tremor Sense, Heptathlos, Jack Bird Dash, Vouivre Rage, Green Dragon Body, Goliath Roar, Iguazu Dash, Magic Sense, Earth Crush
Nine Magics: Blue Papilio Powder, Fire Breath, Berakh HaKele, Poison Release, Overgrowth, Siren's Scream, Light Quartz Light, Meteor Swarm, Caelum Veil
One Development Ability: Abnormal Resistance
And now, if he wanted more, he would have to replace one.
'Haah.' Rex sighed. Truthfully, he hadn't thought of Scavenger having a limit before—or rather, he did, but never confirmed it because he didn't want to be disappointed.
But it looks like the time had come.
'Still, twenty-one is a lot.' A fuck-ton, in fact.
Any one of these abilities would set a normal adventurer for life. So he had no reason to be mad at this, but the greedy part of him was still disappointed.
'Whatever.' He refocused at the task at hand and it didn't take long to decide what to replace.
Light Quartz Light.
It was cool magic, sure—but Caelum Veil and Fire Breath already did what it could, and did it much better. He didn't see himself using it much in the future, so he replaced it with Spirit Blood, keeping his total at twenty-one.
12 Skills, 8 Magics, 1 Development Ability.
'Haah…' Looked like his time of scavenging everything had come to an end. 'And I'll need to replace something else for Crozzo Blood, the Carbuncle magic barrier, maybe Filvis's cloning magic in the future. Also, didn't the Monster Rex Udaeus have summoning magic? Yeah, it can summon hundreds upon hundreds of Level 4 skeletons, which would definitely scale well, so I need that too. Then there's also the other elemental dragon bodies I'll find later…'
There were over ten more abilities he was already thinking of scavenging but the 21 magic/skill limit had put a wrench in that. He would need to start building himself.
Tutorial was over. The real game had started.
He sighed again. 'Can't believe it took me over a month to finish the tutorial,' he mumbled as he turned to the side to look at his arm. 'Or is this more like the end of the early game, and mid-game is just starting?'
It made more sense. Tutorial was when he was getting the hang of Scavenger, and it ended after his fight with the Infant Dragon—the tutorial boss.
Early game was his time of rapid growth, where he got his abilities up, built connections, and carved out a place for himself in the world. That ended with his fight against the Demi-Spirit and maxing out Scavenger.
Mid-game would be the time for stability and refined growth, where he built himself up in preparation for the late game—diving deeper into the Dungeon—and the endgame would be...
"The fight with the Black Dragon," he mumbled to himself, looking up at his palm. While his left hand looked normal, the right was completely wrapped in white bandages. Honestly, he was surprised it was still there after the stunt he pulled.
This now raised a question. "How long was I asleep for?"
[Author's Note: Yesterday, the Author looked up at the sky and just didn't feel like writing, so no chapter was posted.
Anyway, this is the aftermath of the Knossos Arc. Not much happened in this chapter—it was originally supposed to be longer to give it more substance, but I decided to end it here and post the second part tomorrow as its own chapter.
Scavenger also got maxed out this chapter, which marks a turning point in the plot. I think I first brought up the idea of giving Scavenger a limit somewhere around chapter 30 or 40, and now at chapter 82, it finally happened. I thought 21 was a good number—it's the age he died, and it gives him enough room to play around with abilities without overwhelming me with too many powers to remember or keep relevant.
Also, I saw a few people suggesting that I give the Protagonist a new skill or his first real magic after this arc. And I agree. This is a perfect time. So if you can, please toss me an idea or two. I've got some concepts in mind, but hearing outside opinions would really help spark more creativity.
The main problem with giving him magic is finding something that won't eventually get overshadowed by a future ability Scavenger picks up. I want all three of his real magics to stand on their own. I don't want another "If I Change into a Swimsuit..." situation, where it gets completely outclassed immediately after—so it needs to be unique.
Anyway, thanks for reading, and thanks for the Powerstones, my handsome readers. Sweet dreams, and may both sides of your pillow be cold tonight~ o(￣▽￣)ブ]