The next morning, the entrance to the Tower of Babel was a sea of people. Adventurers moved in and out in small parties, their boisterous chatter mingling with the metallic clatter of equipment.
Lili stood alone in the shadows of a corner, looking like a wilting plant.
She wore a hooded cloak pulled low, the brim nearly veiling the upper half of her face. Even so, one could still see her eyes, red and swollen like overripe peaches, and her lips, which were ashen and devoid of color. She was trembling slightly—it was hard to tell if it was from the morning chill or sheer terror.
When Lynn approached, she flinched violently, like a startled rabbit.
"Master Lynn..." Her voice was agonizingly hoarse, sounding as though it had been scraped by sandpaper.
She was the first to speak, though she didn't dare look up, her gaze fixed firmly on the ground. "Today... are we continuing to the fifteenth floor? Lili... Lili heard there's a fork in the path to the west where monster spawns are very dense. We should... be able to earn more there."
Every word seemed to drain the last of her strength. Beneath her cloak, her fingernails dug deep into the palms of her hands.
Lynn looked at her. Those swollen eyes and that trembling body told a story far more clearly than words ever could. He didn't ask questions; he simply nodded.
"Fine. You lead the way."
Those four simple words caused Lili's body to stiffen again. She had expected Lynn to ask something, to sense that something was wrong—she had even prepared herself to be interrogated.
But he didn't.
This calm was far more terrifying to her than any interrogation could ever be.
Lili gritted her teeth, turned around, and began to lead the way with heavy steps. She walked in front, every step feeling like she was treading on knife edges. Her back was rigid, and she didn't dare look back even once.
She felt like she wasn't walking into the Dungeon, but toward an execution ground. And she was the traitor, personally leading the executioner toward the only person who had ever treated her with kindness.
The wind in the Dungeon was cold and damp, biting at Lili's face and making her swollen eyes sting. Several times she nearly tripped over loose rubble, stumbling before forcing herself to stay upright.
Lynn followed behind her at an unhurried pace. Occasionally, the scabbard of his Hound's Fang scraped against the stone walls, letting out a soft sound. In the silence of the passage, every scrape felt like a hammer blow to Lili's heart.
He said nothing, but Lili felt as though he knew everything.
Finally, they reached the fifteenth floor.
Lili stopped, took a deep breath, and pointed toward a dark, narrow fork in the path ahead to the left.
"Master Lynn, it's... it's here."
She led Lynn inside. Water seeped from the rock walls on either side, making them slick and slimy. The air was thick with the nauseating stench of moss mixed with something rotting.
The further they went, the narrower the passage became and the dimmer the light grew.
Lynn scanned the surroundings. It was unnervingly quiet, devoid even of the usual roars of monsters. He paused slightly.
"This doesn't look like a place where monsters would be," he said flatly.
The moment the words left his mouth—!
CLANG—!
A dull, heavy roar echoed from behind them, making the entire passage vibrate. A massive iron portcullis slammed down from a groove in the ceiling, hitting the ground with the force of a thousand tons and kicking up a cloud of dust. Their retreat was completely sealed!
Lili's body shook violently, her face turning as white as paper.
Before she could react, another iron portcullis thundered down a dozen meters ahead, embedding itself firmly into the ground with a heavy CRASH!
The two gates, like a giant bear trap, turned this fifteen-meter stretch of the corridor into a desperate cage.
Lili's legs gave out, and she nearly collapsed, leaning against the slick rock wall just to stay upright.
"Heh... hehehehe..."
A grating, cruel laugh came from around the corner outside the front gate.
Zoru's coarse, ugly face peeked out. He stared at Lynn, who was trapped in the cage, his expression full of undisguised malice and triumph.
In his hand, he held a massive clay jar half the height of a man. It was filled with a viscous, dark red liquid. Even from a dozen meters away, the pungent, metallic scent of blood and a nerve-grating surge of magical energy wafted toward them.
It was Monster Bait—and of the highest purity!
"Lynn!" Zoru roared at Lynn through the bars, his voice dripping with the joy of a successful scheme. "Enjoy the gift the Soma Familia has prepared for you!"
With that, he used every ounce of his strength to hurl the massive jar deep into the passage where Lynn was trapped!
The jar traced a high arc through the air, sailing over Lynn's head and smashing heavily against the rock wall at the far end of the passage.
CRACK!
The jar shattered on impact, and the dark red liquid cascaded down like a waterfall, splashing across the walls and floor. The thick, suffocating stench exploded instantly, filling the enclosed space.
"Go!"
Zoru didn't linger for a second. Leading a few of his peeking lackeys, he turned and fled, quickly disappearing into a pre-prepared safe zone around the corner.
They didn't even spare a second glance at Lili.
Lili sat paralyzed on the cold ground, staring at the retreating backs. Her mind was a complete blank.
She had been abandoned too.
As it turned out, in their eyes, she was just as much a consumable as that jar of bait.
The scent of the bait spread through the complex Dungeon tunnels at an incredible speed. Only a few seconds later...
"ROAR—!" "Hiss—!" "SKREE—!"
From the distance, a cacophony of frenzied, violent howls approached like rolling thunder. The ground began to vibrate slightly, and pebbles rattled down from the rock walls.
In the dark depths of the passage, one pair, two pairs, ten pairs... a dense multitude of crimson eyes suddenly ignited like ghostly fires in the night. They converged into a crimson ocean, surging toward this tiny cage with the momentum of a tidal wave!
Goblins, Kobolds, War Shadows wielding rusted swords, Killer Ants the size of hounds... monsters of all kinds from the lower-middle floors were mixed together. Stimulated into a total frenzy by the high-purity bait, they packed the tunnel, biting and trampling one another. Their only thought was to reach the source of the scent and tear everything there to shreds!
Their numbers were impossible to estimate! Thirty? Forty? Even more! They were like a burst dam, instantly filling the horizon of the tunnel!
Lili sat on the ground, shaking like a leaf. Her mouth hung open, but she couldn't even manage a scream. Watching that surging, crimson sea of monsters and feeling the violent aura capable of crushing steel, her brain had completely ceased to function.
It was over. This was her end.
Even a hero of a War Game couldn't possibly deal with this many middle-floor monsters at once!
However, in this moment of despair, a calm voice spoke in front of her.
"That's quite a few monsters."
Lili looked up blankly.
Lynn stood before her, his back to her like an unshakeable wall. He looked at the incoming tide of the monster army without a trace of fear—not even a hint of gravity. He simply gave them a flat glance, estimating their numbers.
Then, to Lili's bewildered eyes, Lynn extended his right hand, fingers splayed as if gripping the air.
In the next second, a dark red light condensed and erupted from his palm without warning!
A mass of searing fire, seemingly from the very depths of the abyss, rose in his hand. Within the flames, a hideous and massive sword was slowly being forged into shape!
The blade was wide and covered in grotesque, writhing patterns that looked like living tissue. The edge burned with an eternal, dark red flame. This was no ordinary fire; it was a profane flame, filled with an aura of pillaging and desecration, as if it could burn even the soul to ash!
The Blasphemous Blade!
As the sword fully manifested, a terrifying wave of heat exploded outward! The temperature in the tunnel spiked instantly. The slick rock walls were dried out in a heartbeat, even letting out a "sizzle" sound.
Lili was forced back by the heat, scrambling away on all fours. She stared at the flaming greatsword that was nearly as large as she was, her amber eyes wide and her mouth hanging open.
What is that... what on earth is that thing?!
Lynn gripped the hilt with one hand; the heavy blade seemed as light as a feather in his grasp. He didn't look back. He simply stepped forward to meet the monster flood that was already upon them.
"ROAR!"
The first wave of four or five Goblins reached him. They swung their crude weapons, their stinking mouths agape as they lunged at Lynn.
Lynn didn't even look at them. He simply swung the Blasphemous Blade in a casual, upward arc.
There was no earth-shattering boom, only a "squelch" like a hot knife through butter. A dark red arc of fire flashed through the narrow passage.
The Goblins at the very front—along with their weapons—were sliced through the middle like paper. Their movements froze mid-air, and then their upper and lower halves slowly separated. Before blood and guts could even spray out, they were ignited by the dark red flames at the cut!
And the flames didn't go out!
Like maggots clinging to bone, the fire lunged from the monster corpses onto the comrades crowding behind them!
"SCREE-AAAAAAAH—!"
Several monsters touched by the flames immediately let out agonizing shrieks, rolling frantically on the ground in an attempt to extinguish the fire. But it was useless. The profane flames seemed to use flesh as fuel, burning brighter and hotter. In just two or three seconds, they were reduced to twisted cinders.
This sight caused the cruel smirks on the faces of Zoru and his men, who were peeking from the corner, to freeze instantly.
"What... what the hell is that?!" one lackey rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
Zoru was stunned as well. He stared fixedly at the burning greatsword, his throat working as an ominous premonition rose from the depths of his heart.
Lynn didn't stop.
He gripped the hilt with both hands and charged directly into the suffocating crowd of monsters like a tiger into a flock of sheep. He raised the Blasphemous Blade high and slammed it down!
BOOM—!
A surging wave of dark red fire erupted forward in a fan shape, centered on him!
Taker's Flames!
Every monster in his path, whether Goblin or thick-skinned Kobold, was as fragile as a blade of grass before that wave of fire. They were instantly swallowed, ignited, and turned to ash!
With one strike, a fan-shaped area nearly ten meters ahead was cleared!
The dark red flames danced and burned wildly around him, making the entire cage look like a literal purgatory. With every swing, several or even a dozen monsters fell, and the flames burning on their corpses ignited even more of their kin.
The fire spread through the crowded horde like a plague.
A War Shadow ambushed him from the side, its rusted sword whistling through the air toward Lynn's neck. Without looking back, Lynn swung his sword behind him, cleaving the War Shadow and its sword in two. The searing wind from the blade even ignited two Killer Ants behind it.
He was like a blooming flower of death—elegant and lethal.
The roars of the monsters were gradually replaced by shrill screams and the smell of charred flesh.
In the distance, Zoru's forehead was covered in cold sweat.
"You've... you've got to be kidding me..." His voice was trembling. "That guy... what kind of monster is he?!"
It was no longer a battle; it was a unilateral massacre.
A burly War Shadow, relying on its body made of magical energy, ignored the screams of its burning comrades and lunged from the side. Its rusted claws tore through the air with a piercing howl, aiming for Lynn's throat.
Lynn didn't even bat an eye. As if he had eyes in the back of his head, he countered with a backhand swing, the movement so effortless it looked like he was swatting a fly.
The wide, dark red blade sliced silently into the War Shadow's waist, meeting no resistance and cutting it in half. The War Shadow's body solidified for an instant in mid-air before turning into two halves of burning magical light, dissipating completely before they even hit the ground.
At the same time, a nearly imperceptible wisp of dark red light flashed along the blade of the Blasphemous Blade and flowed into Lynn's body.
A tiny scratch on his arm—incurred during a monster's dying struggle—instantly vanished. The faint sting disappeared, and his skin returned to its smooth state.
The life-leeching effect of the Great Rune. In a war of attrition against a hundred foes, it was nothing short of a divine skill.
"AWOOOO—!"
Three Hellhounds, each the size of a calf, lunged from the front in a triangular formation. They opened their maws full of fangs, the scent of sulfur and fire churning in their throats. Their saliva dripped onto the ground, sizzling as it corroded small pits.
Lynn didn't retreat; he advanced. With a shift in his footwork, he swept the Blasphemous Blade across his front. The flames on the blade roared as if doused in oil, instantly forming a two-meter-high arc of fire!
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The three Hellhounds slammed into the fire wall. Their proud fire resistance was as thin as paper before these profane magic flames. Their tough fur was instantly ignited, and they let out shrieks that were pitched in agony, crashing heavily to the ground and rolling frantically.
But it was all in vain.
The dark red flames seemed sentient, burrowing into their flesh and burning their life force from the inside out. After struggling for less than three seconds, the three massive bodies went rigid, turning into charred statues that emitted wisps of black smoke.
Lynn stepped over their scalding corpses without expression, continuing forward.
With every step he took, he swung his sword once. Every swing brought a fan-shaped wave of fire. Every wave cleared everything living for several meters.
Finally, the monsters broke.
Monsters that knew only slaughter were actually afraid. The madness etched into their souls by the bait was finally overwhelmed by a more primitive and pure fear of death brought by the man before them.
They began to scream and howl, instinctively trying to retreat, trying to flee from this demon god wielding a giant flaming sword.
However, the passage was too narrow for them. The monsters in the back were still pushing forward blindly, and those in the front couldn't retreat even if they wanted to.
Crowding, trampling, fratricide... the entire horde fell into absolute chaos.
Lynn gave them no room to breathe. He raised the Blasphemous Blade high, pointing the tip at the ceiling, then slammed it down, driving it deep into the ground littered with monster remains!
"Taker's Flames!"
A pillar of dark red fire, more violent than any before, erupted from the blade! The searing shockwave expanded outward in a ring, forming an unstoppable wave of death!
The flames licked the rock walls, turning the stone glowing red. The fire swept through the narrow passage, swallowing every monster—standing, confused, or terrified—from front to back!
The screams stopped abruptly.
It had taken less than two minutes in total.
The monster tide that would have given an experienced Lv.3 party a desperate fight or even a total wipeout had been completely erased.
The entire corridor was covered in a thick layer of charred remains. Many corpses still held the poses of their final death struggles. Dark red flames burned tirelessly among the heaps of bodies, making the sound of popping fat. The air was thick with a nauseating smell of char and blood.
This was no longer the Dungeon. This was a true purgatory.
Lynn slowly pulled the Blasphemous Blade from the ground. The flames on the blade receded, but the searing heat still distorted the surrounding air.
He turned around and walked toward the iron portcullis.
Around the corner, Zoru and his lackeys were paralyzed with fear. When the sounds of battle began, they had worn cruel smiles, imagining Lynn being torn apart. But when the screams turned from human to monster, their smiles froze.
In the end, that earth-shattering explosion and the subsequent heatwave that nearly roasted them alive completely shattered their mental defenses.
Now, they were peeking out from the corner with trembling heads.
When they saw Lynn standing unharmed atop the mountain of charred corpses, holding that burning demon sword and walking toward them step by step, Zoru's face turned deathly pale.
"No... impossible..." His lips trembled, his teeth chattering. "It's a lie... that many monsters... by himself... how could he..."
One of the lackeys behind him went weak at the knees and slumped to the ground, his crotch quickly becoming wet.
Lynn ignored the terror of these ants. He walked to the heavy iron gate and, without even a second glance, casually raised the Blasphemous Blade.
Then, he slashed down.
BOOM!!!!
There was no sound of metal being cut—only a deafening explosion!
The dark red flames erupted the moment the blade met the bars. The iron portcullis, made of reinforced steel and capable of withstanding several charges from middle-floor monsters, instantly melted, twisted, and snapped from the center!
The searing shockwave, laden with countless glowing-red metal fragments, blasted toward Zoru and the others like a bomb!
"AHHHHHH—!" "Get down!"
Zoru and his men shrieked in terror, scrambling back behind the corner. The scalding metal shards peppered the walls around them, sending off blinding sparks and leaving charred craters. The smell of scorched meat wafted from one of their unlucky companions.
Lynn stepped through the massive, violently melted hole, his expression calm.
Behind him was a burning purgatory. Before him were trembling sinners.
Not a single drop of blood stained his clothes. Only his eyes remained as calm as a deep, lightless pool of cold water, reflecting the twisted, terrified faces of Zoru and his men.
"Run! Run!"
Zoru was the first to react. He let out a roar of fear, threw away his weapon, and turned to flee deep into the passage.
But the moment he turned, a sharp whistling sound cut through the air by his ear.
THWIP!
The massive tip of the blade, burning with dark red fire, grazed his earlobe and slammed into the stone wall in front of him, sinking half a foot deep!
The searing heat singed the hair at his temples. That cold chill of death froze him in place, unable to move a muscle.
The remaining lackeys were scared out of their wits. Their legs were so weak they couldn't even stand; they huddled in the corner, clutching their heads and shaking like sieves.
Lynn gripped the hilt and flicked his wrist slightly. The Blasphemous Blade slid out of the wall, the tip leaving a shallow scorched mark on Zoru's neck.
"Who sent you?"
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