Lee Seung swiftly moved between them and tightly gripped their arms, leaving the clones dumbfounded.
With a wide grin, he asked, "Have you ever tried pizza?"
He knew that was a rhetorical question since even he, himself, had pizza once in the past two years. The question was just a way to show how excited he was, nothing else.
Seung straightened his back with two astonished figures standing in front of him.
He gently took out his phone and ordered pizza from a nearby store.
"You can take the order when the delivery man comes...and," he smiled, "enjoy yourselves. I am going to take a rest in my room."
He walked towards the door of a room. As he did so, his clones bowed their heads and chorused,
"Have a nice rest, master!"
As Seung got into his bedroom, he sat before his monitor and navigated to a game called Bloodline Avenger, his favorite game which he used to play after getting back from school.
"Let's see how many golds I have to purchase a new character," Seung muttered as he navigated through the game.
But he thought purchasing stronger weapons would make him victorious in every match so he did that instead.
Time passed. Seung checked his wristwatch and found out he had spent five hours playing the game. Having done so, why didn't he feel tired?
"That's weird," he said, his brows furrowing. It was totally strange for he not to feel a slight stress.
In that moment, he assumed the screen or 'artificial intelligence' was responsible for this.
'Why don't I get tired?' he thought and as expected, the screen opened.
[You have reached an advanced level so you now have ability to fully concentrate in anything you engage in for as long as you want, without getting stressed up.]
"Oh... really?" Seung asked in astonishment as he stared at the screen. He then rubbed his chin, thinking, 'I am yet to know everything about this screen and also, my ability. It's uncertain whether my cloning has limit or not; there are many other things I wish to know. Why don't I examine the screen to its core then?'
He finalised his decision to do that. He began, first by checking the Inventory, to learning more about his new skill — Mana Reservoir Fusion.
Afterwards, he navigated to the 'Missions' interface. Consequently, he became surprised to see that the mission he was given in the dungeon wasn't cancelled yet.
"It should have been cancelled since I failed to kill the Hunters. Otherwise, the mission has no time constraints," Seung said. What he just talked about made him remember how he spared the Hunters' lives.
'Am I a moron? Why would someone show mercy to those who tried to kill them?' he thought as he hung his head on the chair's shoulder. It would be better if he had thought like that in the dungeon.
Lee Seung stayed up late, checking every icon on the screen.
The next day, upon waking up, he found himself still slumped over in the chair.
As he decided to raise his head, he felt a sharp pain in his neck.
"Argh!"he grimaced. Getting up from the chair, he made his way out of the bedroom.
Lee Seung saw the leftovers of pizza that his clones had from the previous day scattered on the floor.
He shook his head and sighed loudly, 'Seriously, those guys have to learn personal hygiene."
After cleaning it up, he called Mr. Choi to come pick them up. He later reassembled his clones, and the three of them waited for the man to come.
Meanwhile, they were waiting in front of his house when Seung spotted the red car driving toward them.
He grinned, "Here he comes. Let's go, little guys."
As Mr. Choi parked, Seung and his clones entered the car.
Whirr...
The car drove away.
On their way, Lee Seung said, "I want to inform you that I won't be taking down F-rank dungeons anymore. I can defeat E-rank monsters now, together with these little guys."
He grinned.
Mr. Choi shifted his gaze at him. His mouth was a bit agape for awhile.
He asked Seung, "Don't you think going that fast will put you in danger? Except for the monster at the train station, you have no experience with E-rank beasts..."
"Don't worry, Mr. Choi. I will be safe," Seung said, calmly. He believed the man won't be doubting him if he were to see how he handled the Hunter back then. 'Haha. I don't want to show-off.'
The car revved on the lone road. The four of them walked close to the military officers at the front of the dungeon.
"Can you show us any ID you have?"asked one of the officers, gripping his M16 gun tightly. Mr. Choi showed his ID card. The man then said, "The Hunters can proceed into the dungeon now."
Lee Seung smiled at Mr. Choi before proceeding inside with his clones. To his astonishment, the building he thought had the entrance was blocked by bricks.
The building was a duplex whereas its entrance was blocked by bricks placed over one another.
He looked around, curiously, 'This is the only thing I can-'
Hiss!
Twish...
Lee Seung paused on hearing a loud rumble of thunder. He caught a glimpse of fluctuating lights directly from his front.
What in the world was making the sound?
He glanced at the front, and his mouth widely opened on seeing a portal cackling with lightning.
From his recent research on hunting, he had found out monsters get out of portals. They later attack buildings or go into forests and create their own territory, which was called Dungeon.
'Anyways, I am not afraid of going through this,' Lee Seung thought, clenching his fist. He said to his replications, "Let's proceed."
The three of them walked into the mysterious pathway. In the next second, they were inside the dungeon.
...
The air was thick with the smell of decay, but this time, there was something different—Seung could swear he detected a metallic scent.
"That's the smell of blood. Fresh blood; it seems so," Seung said, taking a deep breath as he assessed the unusual situation.
From what he perceived, the smell was fresh, which meant that someone had been killed there not long ago.
Just at the moment, a roar was heard!
"Watch out, master!" One of the clones swiftly moved him out of harm's way, and they both landed on the ground with a thud.
Crash!
The spot where Seung was drawn away from shattered into pieces as a brown, scaly tail hit it.
Whaah....
The clone which was alone held out his dagger and glanced upwards, not letting his guard down.
The figure was a bulky serpent, at least fifteen meters tall. Its face was shadowed in darkness; besides, the head was very close to the ceilings.
The gigantic serpent moved its tail across the perimeters; the three men dodged with good reflexes.
Feeling his heart racing, Lee Seung shouted, summoning his 'Shadow Blade.'
Thunder first formed in his hand, followed by the silvery dagger. He said to his clones, "Let's go!"
Lee Seung swiftly jumped high into the air, literally targeting the serpent's eyes but landed back when it made an attack.
Consequently, his clones climbed its body and charged upwards. The serpent then rolled its body, causing them to fall down and then slammed the ground with its head.
Crash!
"Kheok!"the clones cried out. Lee Seung's eyes shut out widely on seeing how strong the serpent was. As the cloud of dust lifted off his clones, they were struggling to rise to their feets.
Lee Seung gritted his teeth. He thought, 'D*mn it, an E-rank monster shouldn't be giving me a problem anymore! If I die here, I am going to disappoint a lot of people! I only need to hit a good spot to kill the serpent!'
[Light speed activated]
Lee Seung dashed upwards across the towering serpent. He remained on his path even though the serpent rolled in order to shake him off.
Upon getting close to piercing straight into its eyes, it released a greenish liquid which made Lee Seung jump away from its body.
'Damn it! It just released an acidic liquor!'
Nevertheless, he was relentless. Without reaching the ground, he found his way back on the creature's body and he stabbed an eye.
Snarl!!!
The serpent snarled loudly and shook Seung, making him land in a water pool some meters away.
Splash!
The water was greenish, hinting at how long it had remained that way without being changed. Lee Seung dropped in the pool but didn't float in it.
It was just like nothing had crashed in the water pool.
"Yah!"one of the clones yelled and stabbed the serpent around the tail. However, even a dagger couldn't penetrate its body.
It's as if the monster was made of metals. The serpent hit the ground again, sending the clones flying in the air.
Silence...
Everyone was gone.
The clones were seriously injured while the summoner wasn't confirmed whether dead or alive. The monster....
A splash caught the monster's attention. Lee Seung rolled out of the pool and charged straight to the serpent. On his way, he thought,
'Activate Shadow Manipulation!'
The Shadow Blade got enveloped with milky blue lights. Lee Seung pointed it at the monster as he charged forward.
Mysteriously, a form of image, like a blackish copy of the serpent emerged from its own body.
Hiss!
Consequently, the blackish copy, or perhaps the shadow, vanished and in the next second, the real serpent was kicked a long distance. Its body crashed in the wall, causing the wall to shatter.
It rose from the ground.
Snarl!
"AHH!!!" Lee Seung yelled. And then, with a swoosh, he got on top of the monster and incandescent it.
Poof....
Pant...
The lifeless body of the gigantic serpent collapsed onto the ground.
Lee Seung gasped for breath. "This fight is unlike any other."
"My clones must be about to vanish by now. Let me absorb the serpent's mana into them."