Thirty minutes later, Orlax stood at the entrance of the cave and slowly walked inside.
"I found it faster than I thought."
He began advancing step by step until two silver wolves with blue eyes appeared before him, staring at him with drool dripping from their mouths.
Oooo!
They started howling and charged at him with great speed, ready to kill him.
Orlax raised his hand and summoned a small blue flame out of nowhere, then threw it toward the wolves.
As soon as the flame reached them, the fire quickly engulfed both wolves, making them collapse in pain.
Whoosh!
Then he heard the notification again.
[You have defeated a level-three monster] ×2
[Experience gained: 2000]
[Your level has increased] ×2
"Good, let's move forward."
As Orlax proceeded, another group of wolves appeared, but this time there were more of them.
He raised his hand, but instead of summoning a flame, he lifted his finger, and stone spikes emerged from beneath the wolves, piercing through their stomachs.
Ignoring the notifications from killing them, he continued advancing.
The scene repeated itself—encountering wolves and eliminating them either with fire or stone spikes—until he reached the end of the cave, where he stood before a wolf unlike the others.
The wolf was enormous, about seven meters long and five meters tall while standing.
Its blue eyes gleamed with a hint of intelligence and caution as it watched the human who had trespassed on its land and slaughtered its kind.
Electric currents started swirling around the wolf, and suddenly, it vanished from its spot with a speed that did not match its enormous size.
It appeared behind Orlax in an instant, raising its claws, ready to kill the human before it.
Before its claws could reach his back, its hand froze mid-air, and its entire body became immobilized.
Sensing a sudden danger, exerted all his strength and unleashed his magic finally broke free from the control, and swiftly stepped back.
"Hooh! You freed yourself from my control, you are truly commendable."
The wolf didn't understand the human's words, but it continued watching him cautiously while pulling out a medium-length sword from the bag on its back.
"Where are you looking? I'm right next to you."
Before the wolf could react, its world turned upside down. Its final memory was seeing its own body separated from its head, with the human holding a sword drenched in its blood.
A fountain of blood erupted from the wolf's decapitated body.
Orlax had not a single drop of blood or filth on him because he had shielded himself with mana to avoid getting dirty.
The notifications that had been appearing along his journey popped up again, and he quickly glanced at them.
[You have killed a level-five monster]
[Experience gained: 100,000]
[Your level has increased] ×8
[Current level: 24 {14,000/2,000} Exp]
"Now, I have enough points to remove the curse."
He sat cross-legged, looked at his stats screen, and spoke aloud.
"Begin the curse removal."
[100 stat points will be spent. Are you sure?]
"Yes."
[Curse removal has begun]
As soon as the notification appeared before him, he felt as if something was being violently pulled from his heart.
After a short while, the sensation stopped, and he felt more relaxed than before.
[The curse has been successfully removed]
"I no longer need to worry about destroying the world in my sleep. Now it's time to claim my reward from this dungeon."
After standing up and brushing off the dust from his clothes, he began pressing on the wall, searching for a secret passage key.
Click!
His hand sank into the wall, and he stepped back upon hearing the key's sound.
The cave walls started moving apart, revealing a staircase leading downward.
Orlax summoned a flame from his hand and let it float ahead as he descended the stairs.
After a while, he reached the bottom and entered a dimly lit chamber resembling a basement.
The chamber was empty except for a skeletal figure that looked like it would crumble with a single breath, tightly holding a sword in its arms.
The sword cradled by the skeleton was of medium length, sheathed in a deep blue scabbard, with a sky-blue hilt adorned with two gleaming golden stones.
The sword was in remarkably good condition compared to the surrounding environment.
Beside the skeleton, words were engraved on the wall.
Orlax stepped closer and began reading the inscriptions.
"To the one who shall inherit my sword, this blade was a gift from my mother, the only sword I have ever wielded in my life. I ask that whoever carries it after me take good care of it and never neglect it, for this great sword was not forged through blood and war but through love and devotion. This is my only request to whoever shall bear it—[From the greatest hero in human history]."
"The greatest hero of humanity, huh? Though his name is never mentioned, the whole world knows of him and his feat of slaying the demon that appeared three thousand years ago. From that day on, hatred began growing toward those with black hair and red eyes."
After organizing his thoughts, Orlax lifted his gaze from the inscription and looked at the skeleton clutching the sword as if its life depended on it.
"Why did a hero like you die in a forgotten corner like this? And why does no one know your name in history? You're truly a mysterious and strange individual."
Carefully, he began moving the skeleton's hands away from the sword while more questions about the person filled his mind.
Once he held the sword in his hand, the skeleton started dissolving into particles of light until it completely vanished as if it had never been there.
"May your soul rest in peace."
With those words, he gazed at the last fading light before turning his attention to the sword in his arms.
The sword he now held was [Dark Sea Sword], one of the greatest swords in the world. In the game, one could only wield this weapon after reaching the grandmaster level in swordsmanship. Since the dungeon was an early-game dungeon, the hero was not at a level high enough to wield the sword, so he would seal the cave entrance and return later to claim it.
However, upon returning, he would find the cave had been opened, the sword stolen, and it would never appear in the game again.
Orlax closed his eyes and focused on the mana within his body.
After a while, a thin white thread emerged from his heart and extended toward the sword's hilt.
When the thread touched the sword's hilt, it trembled slightly as if excited that someone would finally wield it after an unknown period.
Finally, the white thread turned blue and vanished into the air, while the sword began breaking into particles. However, instead of dissipating like the thread, it entered Orlax's body until the last particle was absorbed.
Orlax slowly opened his eyes and felt the sword now bonded to his heart, settling comfortably within his body.
When he tried to summon it, blue light particles, the same ones that had entered his body moments ago, gathered, and the sword materialized in his hand again.
But this time, instead of the beautiful blue scabbard, its sharp silver blade gleamed as if capable of slicing through anything in existence.
The sword once more turned into particles and entered his body, and he climbed the stairs, leaving the cave with a grim expression due to the overwhelming stench of blood and filth.
Moonlight and a sky full of stars greeted him instead of the scorching heat of the sun that had accompanied him inside.
He took a deep breath, letting the fresh air fill his lungs, exhaled deeply, and then looked back at the cave one last time before moving forward.
An hour later, he arrived in front of the palace gates and saw the guards chatting as they had been in the morning.
Upon seeing him approach, they quickly saluted, and he gestured for them to open the gates. He then proceeded toward the palace entrance and stepped inside.
Unlike the morning, when the servants were busy with their tasks, they were now walking calmly, chatting, and joking with one another. But upon seeing him, they stiffened slightly and quickly bowed, fearing they might anger him.
He motioned with his hand, ignored them, and headed to his room.
When he opened the door, he was greeted by a refreshing and pleasant scent.
He took simple sleepwear and went to bathe, and after half an hour of relaxation, he collapsed onto his bed and drifted into sleep due to the mental exhaustion caused by the day's events.