9 – Killing the Minotaur Priest
The inventory window opened so Alex could deposit the sword he had been using all this time. With a crackling sound of lightning, the prototype Excalibur was drawn. The sword, once white, had now transformed into a deep purple, perfectly matching and harmonizing with the aura of its new wielder.
You have equipped Excalibur. Your attributes have increased.
NAME: ALEX, LUCID BEING, AWAKENED
AUTHORITY: GRAVITY
Title: Successor of King Arthur (+5 to all attributes, +10 to level)
Active Skills: Gravitational Manipulation, Intermediate Swordsmanship
LEVEL: 19+10
Stellar Level: 1
Gravitational Defense: 22+5
Gravitational Manipulation: 22+5
Lightning Step: 1+5+5
Intermediate Swordsmanship: 24+5
STRENGTH: 30+5+5
AGILITY: 60+10+5
HP: 200/200
MP: 200/200
Alex felt his body enveloped in a layer of violet lightning as his aura surged. His eyes glowed, and everything around him seemed to slow down slightly. His thoughts raced at an abnormal speed.
Alex's black hair now shimmered in pure violet, fluttering against the wind. His gravitational defense layer was so dense that the lightning surrounding him bent and warped slightly.
Seeing the man's growing power before him, the Minotaur Priest trembled in fear, taking a slight step back. The axes in his hands merged into a single staff.
At the priest's command, a massive magic circle erupted, summoning a hundred Minotaur warriors. It was immediately clear that these were many times stronger than those Alex had previously destroyed.
Each stone warrior was painted crimson, symbolizing their furious state. Fearless, they charged as a horde, their nostrils spewing smoke as they roared violently.
Then, the priest displayed his bizarre smile once again, confident that his opponent would fall today.
From Alex's perspective, these warriors were slow and noisy, jumping repeatedly as if stretching before battle. He extended his limbs and finally made his move.
The sensation of moving so fast induced a heady rush in his brainit was addictive.
Gravity manipulation and electricity fused into one, creating a lightning-charged strike several times his weight, while his body grew lighter with each moment. His movements became a violet blur.
Through the priest's eyes, he saw his beloved warriors being obliterated, leaving deep craters wherever the purple figure passed.
The Minotaurs fell so quickly that the priest could hardly keep count, let alone track his losses.
The time it took for the priest to blink his crimson eyes was exactly the time Alex needed to annihilate several warriors. His swordsmanship was so refined, amplified by his increased attributes, that it felt as if he had been born wielding a blade.
MP=50/200
Alex could not believe that this form consumed so much MP. Feeling his speed gradually slow, he had to hasten his movements. When his HP dropped to 10, all the stone Minotaur warriors lay completely defeated on the ground.
Before the Minotaur Priest could think of fleeing, a lightning-crackling hand grabbed him by the neck.
"Wait, I can"
The Minotaur Priest tried to plead with Alex, but his bovine head was crushed, shards splattering the floor with dust.
Congratulations, you have completed the dungeon
Reward: Level +4
Reward: You have acquired 2 stars
You have acquired 10 Mitre ingots
You have acquired the class-change staff for Ancient Priest
Your MP is zero; you have fallen into a weakened state for two hours.
System Warning: Lucid Being cannot integrate stars generated by the dream.
The growing excitement bubbling in Alex's heart at having acquired two stars gradually faded, turning into disappointment. He had fought so hard, only to be unable to use the stars he had dreamed of. When he reached out to grasp the stars floating before him, something abnormal happenedas if they recoiled in disgust. They shot away, entering the bodies of the two unconscious girls.
Seeing this, Alex felt a deep bitterness in his heart. Looking at the pair of friends, he truly didn't know what to dothey had definitely contributed to his death, and even if it had been in self-preservation, that fact remained.
Seeing the two unconscious, a strange feeling emerged within him: the sensation of controlling the fate of two people brought him an unfamiliar emotion. As far as he remembered, he was not perverted… or was he?
Setting aside his random thoughts, Alex opened his system interface window. He first accessed the inventory to store his Excalibur sword, which returned his attributes to normal. Then he decided to allocate his points.
NAME: ALEX, LUCID BEING, AWAKENED
AUTHORITY: GRAVITY
Active Skills: Gravitational Manipulation, Intermediate Swordsmanship
LEVEL: 23
Stellar Level: 1
Gravitational Defense: 22
Gravitational Manipulation: 22
Lightning Step: 1
Intermediate Swordsmanship: 24
STRENGTH: 40
AGILITY: 60
HP: 200/200
MP: 200/10
Since his agility was already quite high, Alex decided to invest his points in strength so that his strikes would be powerful enough to end battles in a short amount of time.
Now that his level had risen above twenty, Alex noticed that his HP and MP no longer increased automatically as they had in previous levels. This meant that future points would need to be allocated very carefully, with careful consideration before distribution.
Two hours later, the two girls finally awoke. The first face they saw was Alex's, staring at them with an expressionless gaze.
Mónica grabbed her sword, engulfed in crackling, living flames, and without hesitation launched an attack while telling her friend to run.
"Mimi, run! I'll buy us some time!"
But Mimi didn't flee as her friend suggested. She quickly assessed the situation: if the man before them truly wanted them dead, they would likely already be gone. She also realized that they were no longer in the double dungeon.
Even though it was hard to believe, and despite no one else being present, the only conclusion was that the man before them had not only completed the dungeon but had also saved them.
What left Mimi utterly stunned, however, was the aura of flames enveloping her frienda manifestation only someone with star-level flame authority could produce.
Confused, she didn't notice that her own body carried a similar aura, though hers was a white light that surrounded her.
"I'll give you ten minutes to prepare and allocate your attribute points properly. After that, I will attack."
Alex said coldly, observing their confusion.
"Don't think I'll let either of you leave this place alive."
These words echoed through the air, and then Alex's figure disappeared from sight.
"You finally came," Mónica was the first to speak when Alex reappeared after two hours had passed.
"We thought you had run off with your tail between your legs."
Now that both she and her friend were one-star hunters, arrogance took hold, making them think they could defeat the man before them.
"Attack already, I don't have time to waste on bitches who only know how to bark and sacrifice others to survive."
With these words said, the girls' faces flushed red.
To show he was serious, Alex drew his sword Excalibur from the inventory, and his aura soared to great heights, making the girls tremble at the sight of such a display of power.
Suddenly Alex's body appeared before them as he used Lightning Step. Using his feet, he delivered a flying kick to both, making them spurt blood, and before they could react, they were seized by a gravitational pressure that slammed their bodies violently into the ground.
In the next second Mimi was on her feet while Mónica was lifted, choked by the neck and thrashing completely defenseless.
Throwing Mónica to the ground beneath his feet and seeing that neither of them showed any reaction or resistance, Alex retracted his aura and put Excalibur back into his inventory.
He knew he didn't need Excalibur to defeat the two girls before him; what he intended was to demonstrate an overwhelming power that neither of them could oppose.
Seeing their eyes tearful and terrified, Alex smiled, showing disdain toward the girls.
"If I wanted you two dead, I would have finished you a long time ago."
The two listened intently to Alex's words; neither dared to interrupt.