Bang! Bang! Bang!
A series of shots rang out, and with a practiced motion, Dio didn't even wait to see the result as he rushed forward. He was sure the beasts were all dead. It was confidence that stemmed from the fact that so far, his master never missed a shot!
Plus, each shot resulted in death. Even though a few level 10 vipers popped up every now and then, they weren't exempt.
He reached the area of damage and, with practiced ease, gathered the dropped loot — not forgetting to absorb the beast core, an instruction given by his new boss. He could absorb one out of every ten.
Dio was all smiles. His initial revulsion and apprehension towards Roy was all history. What was there to be sad about? A cheat-like boss who was also really generous.
He stared at his stats, which had made huge leaps forward, and his level, which had just climbed to 11. He couldn't help but think, This… this wasn't bad.
Unfortunately, the others around didn't find the whole journey so far as exciting and pleasant in the least.
They had watched from the start till now how easily Roy deleted the beasts — even level 10s. What the hell!
This was stifling and frustrating. Back then, they fought dancing between life and death at every turn just to reach their current levels. Their foundations were soaked with blood and sweat…
But… but this guy — here he was having it easy. One shot, one death. No further effort added. They had even hopefully prayed and anticipated that his ammo would eventually run out.
But boy, were they wrong. The bastard just had to magically conjure a new mag from literal nothing!
They were beside themselves with shock and indignation.
This guy had it too easy…
"Hmph! His luck is bound to end when we reach the first floor boss…" one amongst them whispered in spite.
"Yes, exactly. Boss monsters are equivalent to human Lords and are way stronger than the others. He is bound to reach a roadblock," the mage elder agreed in a huff.
Only Vera, their master, felt things differently. While others felt anger and indignation, she felt immense anticipation. There was nothing to it — she was a chosen of the Order of Trade and the bearer of the S-Class Universal Merchant System. Where others saw problems, she saw opportunity.
If… if I can just get a blueprint of that masterpiece and mass produce them… just… just how much will I gain? Vera's pupils practically morphed into coins, drool dripping from the corners of her mouth as her mind wandered wildly.
In her eyes, Roy just got a lot more valuable. No matter the cost, she had every intention of tying the knot and cementing the deal of them being allies. But unfortunately, she couldn't be too forward with this.
And like that, the group wandered further into the dungeon. And because of how breezily Roy handled the monsters, they reached the floor's boss sooner than expected.
Eyes from around Roy lit up with expectations — each expectation carrying different meaning. Dio's and Vera's hoping that he would find this easy: one hoping his boss would be OP till the end, the other praying the weapon would be powerful enough to boost its market price.
As for the others, of course their eyes carried scorn and hope for his eventual failure. This beast would put his effortless killing spree to a forced halt — for sure, they thought.
Meanwhile, Roy stood unperturbed, glancing at the inspection screen as he sighed silently to himself. God, I really need to level up. Just because of level gaps, I can't even discern its stats.
The corners of his eyes twitched in annoyance as he gazed at the screen full of question marks. Whatever, he thought, as his gaze hardened, his moss green gun rising into aim.
The nine by the side watched this scene with rapt attention, their eyes burning with hope for Roy's eventual failure.
Though Roy couldn't see the monster's stats, they could — and their eyes glinted. These stats were indeed befitting of a boss…
[Greater Shadow Viper: Level 12
Strength: 69
Constitution: 74
Speed: 80
Intelligence: 9
Ether Unit: 18/18]
Compared to this, other vipers weren't even worth mentioning — and this, they were sure, would stump Roy.
The viper glared at the intruders spitefully, its eyes a murky gray and the reptilian slits a resplendent green. Its inky black scales blended nicely with the dark tunnels of the dungeon. In fact, if not for the illumination provided by the mages' staffs, only its eyes would be visible — towering at a frightening 3.7 meters.
Its eerie crimson slit forked tongue flickered from its lips as it greedily tasted the scent of fresh human meat — a type of scent it had never tasted before. But for some reason, it drove it mad with hunger. A hunger so encompassing it threw all reason aside and lunged violently towards them, its fanged maws wide open.
It moved at a speed so fast, Roy couldn't aim. His expression turned ugly — finally, his low level showing itself. He gritted his teeth as he quickly leaped out of the way.
While already sending mental commands: System, put 5 stats to Agility! he ordered.
Yes, he had yet to allocate his stats since his level-up from the Troll Chief. Suddenly, a slight heat coursed through his veins, his brain suddenly cooling, his pupils constricted. He suddenly felt he could react to anything — not only physically, as he felt his cognition beyond doubled.
Everything felt so slow… but unfortunately, the viper remained exempt. Due to the others standing a bit further, the feral beast's focus was only on him. And even though he swerved out of its reach narrowly, it had already curved at an angle — fast approaching.
The bastard was so fast, his boost in agility didn't seem to matter. The stench of death was thick. As Roy gazed at the fast-approaching maws, his arm raised — not even caring to make a clean aim — his trigger finger tightened.
Bang!
The bullet plowed straight into the viper's open maws, boring into its innards mercilessly, the recoil from the attack flinging it backwards, while Roy's feet held steady.
Hissssssss!
The monster slithered with rage as blood pumped from its mouth, its green slits for pupils glowing with rancor as it charged more aggressively.
Bang!
A bullet pelted straight through one of its eyes mercilessly, reaching its brain and reducing it to mush. The beast dropped dead mid-charge, its twitching corpse skidding across the earthen ground.
After a few silent moments, Roy let out a pent-up breath as the monster pixelized into drops, signaling his victory.
He gazed at the Ethereal glowing crystal amid the pile of drops his eyes shining with anticipation, Time to level up.
The others who were silently observing throughout remained silent, stunned out of their minds — only one thought echoing across all simultaneously:
That… that was a Boss!