"What a trash."
Yami Tsukishiro couldn't help but laugh at Tomoya Aki's pathetic attempt to cover his selfishness with fake chivalry.
The guy couldn't even hold a gun steady, had no idea what he was doing, and ended up firing at his own childhood friend.
Completely useless.
The only reason Eriri was still alive wasn't because of him, it was because Yami had stepped in.
A shadowy hand appeared in front of her eyes.
Crunch!
With a single squeeze, Yami stopped the bullet midair.
When he opened his fingers, the projectile crumbled into shards and fell harmlessly to the floor.
Eriri's eyes went wide. She had been close enough to see every detail
That was a real bullet. And he had just crushed it like cheap candy.
Meanwhile, Tomoya was still sprawled on the ground, clutching his hands and wailing like he'd been shot by a sniper.
"Seriously? You grazed your hand and you're screaming like that?" Yami muttered, clearly irritated.
He stepped closer, eyes cold.
"No matter how you spin it, you aimed a gun at me. I'm not interested in your excuses."
Yami's voice dropped to a chill whisper.
"Remember this... in your next life, if you see me, keep your head down… and act human."
The shadow beneath Tomoya twisted, rising into jagged spikes that shot straight through his chest.
Puff!
Blood sprayed, his eyes widening in pain and disbelief.
The last blurry image in his sight was Eriri kneeling beside Yami
And his final, bitter thought before turning into light was:
Damn it… Eriri should have stood beside him…
In the next instant, his body shattered into particles and vanished.
Eriri stood frozen.
It had all happened so fast that her mind was still catching up.
After witnessing two shocking scenes back-to-back, Eriri's mind went completely blank.
Yami Tsukishiro glanced at her, still frozen in place.
…Looks like that was a bit too much stimulation for her.
She was cute, sure but he had no plans to do anything to her.
Still, leaving her alone in this place wouldn't be safe.
With a flick of his fingers snap! the shadows beneath her feet spread like black water, flooding the entire shopping mall.
Within seconds, the building was sealed in a dome of pure darkness under the night sky.
Anyone who tried to force their way in… wouldn't be leaving alive.
"That's the most I can do for you. Good luck," he said, before vanishing into the Dungeon.
Eriri was left standing there, staring at the empty space he'd just occupied, her mind still blank.
Inside the Dungeon, chaos reigned.
A combat zombie was leading more than a dozen normal zombies in a siege against Busujima Saeko and the others.
The smaller fry were handled by the rest of the group, Saeko and Kanroji Mitsuri focused on the real threat.
This one wasn't a basic shambling corpse, it was a second-level combat zombie.
Its strength and reflexes could rival Rei Miyamoto on a bad day, and it had the claws to prove it.
Saeko and Mitsuri moved in perfect sync, circling it like wolves.
They weren't trying to kill it outright, they were buying Rei the opening she needed to land a decisive strike.
"Roar!!"
The combat zombie lunged, its claws slicing through the air toward both women.
Their eyes sharpened.
"Ha!"
In the same heartbeat, Busujima Saeko's blade flashed, deflecting the deadly swipe with her Busujima-style swordsmanship.
At the same time, Kanroji Mitsuri's whip-like blade, infused with the Breath of Love, curled around the zombie's arm like a snake.
"—Haaah!"
With one mighty pull, Mitsuri yanked its guard wide open.
The zombie staggered, an opening had been made.
Miyamoto Rei didn't waste the opening.
In one smooth motion, her spear shot forward like a lightning strike piercing straight through the combat zombie's unguarded head.
There was no suspense. One clean hit, instant kill.
With the biggest threat down, the three of them didn't even pause to celebrate. They immediately turned and cut down the remaining first-level zombies.
Within minutes, the last corpse crumbled into glowing dust.
"Phew—done!"
Jade gave an exaggerated wipe at her forehead, even though she hadn't broken a sweat. With the Ox Talisman's power, she might as well have been swatting flies.
Two portals shimmered into existence, one glowing red, the other blue.
Red meant down to the next floor.
Blue meant exit to the City of Bones.
"Let's go back. Food and water won't last us much longer," Viper said calmly.
No one disagreed. They all stepped into the blue portal and vanished.
---
Third floor already?
When Yami Tsukishiro entered the Dungeon, he noticed that Shinobu Kocho had already cleared most of the third floor.
That said… most of the monsters had actually fallen to Rei Miyamoto's attacks.
Her fighting style was leagues above most adventurers well, aside from Jade, who was cheating with the Ox Talisman.
Even so, progress was slow.
The problem wasn't just the monsters. The deeper levels were littered with traps randomly generated every run.
Against monsters, they could be reckless. Against traps, they had to be painfully careful.
The further down they went, the more maze-like the passages became. And in this dungeon, you couldn't just skip floors, every monster on a level had to be eliminated before the portal to the next one would open.
That meant combing through every twist and turn. Time-consuming… and exhausting.
And worse there was no food or water anywhere in the dungeon. No mall functions, no item shop.
If you didn't bring supplies with you… you were in trouble.
It was no surprise they'd reached their limit and had to retreat.
Supplies are the choke point, Yami noted.
Then he remembered the supply points in the virtual city and a new idea formed instantly.
A grin tugged at his lips. Time to put it into action.
--------------------------------------
Support me at patreon.com/Arthorain and read upto 50 Advanced Chapters and Exclusive R-18 Content!
--------------------------------------
Update schedule: 7 chapters/week
Every 100 power stones = 1 Extra Chapter
By voting with [power stones], you can easily get double the number of chapters.