I Never Run Out of Mana
chapter-56

Chapter 56 – Out Of The Way! An Unwelcome Guest Of The Dungeon Comes. (3)

The inside of the dungeon was quiet.

It was enough to make me question if this was a level 28 dungeon.

According to the intel, there were supposed to be thousands of monsters appearing.

But from what I could tell, it didn’t seem that way.

It was as if the dungeon was already cleared.

The interior was similar to the manticore dungeon.

The difference was that instead of being a wide desert field, there was a winding desert road.

The width of the road was about 30m or so.

The floor was covered with finely ground sand, while the each side of the road stood wrinkly tress, their shells making a wall.

“Looks similar to a place I know, yet oddly different to it too.”

Finishing my monologue, I casted Mana Shield and shot forward.

Even after running for 2 minutes, I didn’t encounter a single monster or any of their cries.

I didn’t let it bother me, and continued forward.

Because it was normal as usual.

It was then.

“KWAACK”

“KRURU!”

The road was covered with my footprints.

Hundreds of monsters came out onto the road that I passed, howling and screaming all kinds of noise.

Dust Lizardmen, monsters with different sets of equipment and armor appeared.

Monsters that only do melee attacks.

Each swinging their weapons and surrounding their targets.

All of them possessed strength equivalent to a level 100 warrior. Quite troublesome to handle.

They looked similar to lizards.

1.5m  in size.

They proudly showed off their reflective scales.

These scales were so tough that most magic could not even leave a scratch on them.

Not only were they immune to physical attacks, but they had a flat 20% magic damage resistance.

They were breaking the shifting magic and physical resistance pattern the dungeons had every 3 levels.

Kicking up a cloud of dust, they stomped their feet on the ground furiously.

However, Meteor Call had already finished casting in my hand.

Both Meteor and Iceberg had already hit level 159.

Thanks to these guys, these skills will become stronger.

A 10% reduction in cast time as well the cooldown.

To the mass of mobs that were staring at me, I casted Eye of the Storm to group up the mobs that were still spread apart.

Utility skill Eye of the Storm pulled in all lifeforms in the area together.

The level 100 skill didn’t even cause the mobs to budge.

Those strong gusts, they stood still as if it was a breeze from a fan.

“Guess they’re high ranking?”

Both Heal Canceling and Lower Resist were the same.

Debuff skills did not work either.

The marks on the chests that appeared if the skills hit were nowhere to be found, after all.

Resistance was a major factor, but monster level and ranking were to be reckoned with as well.

“I’m curious as to see what will happen.”

“Take this!”

The size of the Meteor was enough to block out the sky.

With one swift movement of my hand, it collided against them.

The entire dungeon shook from the destructive force.

The massive shockwave from the noise rang throughout the dungeon.

The flames from the meteor was enough to consume even the very sands it blew into the air.

The hot winds from the destruction came towards me.

The remains of the meteor covered where the lizardmen used to be.

The flames continued to burn fiercely, and a message followed.

[20,000,000 experience obtained.]

.

.

.

[Level up.]

“Shit!”

I had barely taken care of half the monsters.

I had leveled up from 1/5th of my experience bar being full instantly.

Each monster offered 20 million points worth of experience.

And the numbers of monsters were not just hundreds, but nearly a thousand.

I heard that people leveled up all the way to 500 from this dungeon alone, but I didn’t know it would be this good.

Even high level Awakened have to form up 5 man parties to get in, so they only get 4 million worth of experience per kill.

But I was keeping 20 million experience to myself.

Leveling in the level 18 dungeon, I was able to level up 12 times faster than the average Awakened.

But now I was running the level 28 dungeon that only one person was able to solo run in the entire world before.

Perhaps 20 times? Over even greater than that seemed possible.

I was overcome with goosebumps after confirming the sheer amount of experience I’ve obtained from them.

I was only surprised for a short moment though.

-crack

My Mana Shield was shaking with great intensity.

I was at least 30m away from them.

However, in a blink of an eye, they had caught up and were attack me.

If it was another shield, it would’ve come apart and the attacks would’ve reached me.

If these mobs had this much destructive force, they had to be taken care of immediately.

The reason why about half of them were able to survive was surprising though.

They had come together to form a defensive formation, blocking the damage of the Meteor Call.

That’s why they were able to retaliate.

“KYAA!”

Their sharp beak like mouth had drool spilling out of them.

When the drool landed on the ground, smoke was formed, the scent of sulfur thick.

It was obvious that it was highly acidic.

“Don’t spit at me!”

-CRACK!

A huge iceberg started to form, enough to swallow up the dungeon that was nearly 40m wide.

The ice broke apart and reformed nonstop.

Even as their bodies were being crushed and torn apart, the lizardmen continued to resist.

All the monsters I’ve met so far had been instantly taken out from the sheer amount of damage the Iceberg did, but these monsters…

I was able to reconfirm just how strong these monsters were.

[Iceberg’s skill level rose.]

“Is it finally level 160?”

The cool down and cast time had become 1 minute each.

I was able to cast this destructive spell every 2 minute.

I used Holy Missile and Explosion to get rid of the stragglers.

The sand was painted in blood, the red matching the glow of the Bloodstones.

I collected all the stones and stood up.

I had to take down more lizardmen, after all.

Behind me, I could hear strange noises.

-crunch. -crunch.

“Ah! Right. The janitors.”

I turned around quickly to make sure I didn’t miss this strange scene.

Bugs the size of my fist appeared, eating away at the corpses of the Lizardmen.

Almost like how thousands of locusts eat away at the crops, they came in droves, attaching themselves onto the corpses like waves.

Covered in black, it didn’t even make a minute before everything but the armor and weapons of the lizardmen to remain.

Even dragging away the bones, they hid themselves into the sands once more.

“A lot more disgusting than I thought…”

* * * *

The dungeon’s road seemed to be without an end.

I was curious what kind of ability Choi So-Hyeon had to be able to clear this dungeon by himself.

After taking down the boss, the exit gate appeared.

I was very thankful for one thing.

Other dungeons had the exit open up in the center of the dungeon.

To move all the way to the center in this enormous room was a task in itself.

Thankfully the gate appeared at the end of the dungeon.

“Wew. With just one run, I already leveled up once and have 77% of my gauge filled.”

It was a high class dungeon far beyond my expectations.

Before I left through the gate, I casted my Mass Stealth Jutsu.

-sha sha sha sha

Casting it above my head, the air shimmered and swayed, like a disturbance on a surface of a pond.

Including me and everything that came in contact with me were hidden from view.

If I didn’t have Eye of Insight, I wouldn’t know what I was holding onto.

“All right. Shall I exit?”

* * * *

It was already 5 pm.

Maybe it was due to the dungeon being so bright, but the outside felt darker than usual.

I didn’t have time to waste. I had to hunt some more.

I was about to use the ID scanner when…

‘Who are these people?’

The level 28 dungeon was famous for its rare visitors.

It was to be expected, as there were not many who could clear this dungeon as it was only possible to clear with a party.

However, the dungeon had roughly 40 people surrounding it at this very moment.

About 20 of them were equipped with armor and weapons.

The rest had clean uniforms, using hand gestures to communicate between one another.

I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of a combination was this.

It was because I saw a granny staring directly at the entrance of the dungeon.

‘Seems like either the radical faction or the association.’

However, I could tell they were from the association.

It was because one of the people in the group was  Se-Jin Kim.

I was focused on the grandma once more.

Yoon Jong-sun also had the look of a retired grandpa.

Most rankers had quite the age on them.

That grandma looking at this direction must also be very high leveled.

I felt that she was a cleric.

Because to see hidden targets, you needed Eye of Insight.

My monologue ended there.

The person next to the grandma spoke.

“Honored lady. It’s about time that he would be exiting. Please give us the signal if you see him.”

“Yes. Understood. He doesn’t appear to be out yet, though.”

“Not yet? Do you see anything?”

“Don’t worry. My Eye of Insight is nearly level 100.”

“Of course. I trust you.”

‘What are you saying with me right in front of you?’

The bag on my shoulder.

In my hand I held my ID and the finger imitation.

I was sure that the cleric ranker could not see me.

‘Glad I Awakened my stealth skill. The essence wasn’t a waste.’

Should I just leave out of their sight?

No way. If I do that, they’d be 100% suspicious of my existence and dig deeper to find me.

Just in case the stones in my bag made a noise, I carefully moved my ID to the machine.

It was to make them think that the scanner was broken.

I was carrying out my plan to confuse them right before their eyes.

“Beep. Please present your fingerprint.”

Unlike how it was when I entered the dungeon, the sound from the machine felt much louder than before.

Hearing that noise, all 40 of them began to talk amongst themselves.

Then the man standing next to the elderly spoke.

“Lady! Is there anything at all?”

“Yes. I think you made a mistake today Mr. Kim. As you know, there isn’t stealth that I cannot detect. There is no one at the entrance.”

“No. Impossible! Please check it again. Lady!”

Ho Jin, filled with frustration, looked about despite not being able to see.

Then the elder spoke.

“I’m sure that the machine is faulty. Then shall we end it here?”

“Yes! Of course. Sorry for taking up your time despite your busy schedule, lady.”

“Ohoho. It’s enough that I get to see a young’un such as yourself, filled with energy and rearing to go. Please take care of the rest.”

“Yes! Thank you for your hard work.”

The elder finished talking and was heading to the car.

Kim Ho Jin couldn’t help but wear his suspicions on  his face.

He continued to stare at the entrance of the dungeon.

Our eyes finally met.

He was staring at the dungeon, and I was staring into his eyes.

After a long while, he called his subordinates.

“Did you check the ID?”

“Yes, dept. head.”

“Yeah, who is it?”

“Yoon Hyun-se. Awakened date is year 01, month 03. Busan is his where his residency is.”

“First check the list of missing. Send a team over to check if the machine has a problem.”

“Yes. Understood.”

“If you find him, contact me immediately.”

“Yes!”

“Please present your fingerprint.”

While Kim Ho Jin was busy giving orders, the voice of the machine crackled out once more.

-beep

Without hesitation, I brought the fake finger towards it.

The dungeon entrance formed.

I didn’t know who this ID belonged to, but once they found out the owner, it would be impossible to use it again.

‘Hm…’

Sending a text message to someone, I entered the dungeon once more.