After mastering Silent Judgment from battling the remaining monsters, Connor devised a battle strategy for facing the banshee.
He consulted the system for details on the banshee's skills and combat style.
Realizing he hadn't fully utilized the system's knowledge until now, he learned that the banshee was a level 26 Class One monster with the Necromancer class.
It commanded a group of human corpses sourced from the dungeon's resources.
The system couldn't identify the banshee's specific fighting style as it hadn't engaged in combat with any being yet.
However, it listed its skills: innate abilities included [Darkness Surfing (2nd order)] and [Vengeful Bane (3rd order)], along with class skills [Soul Eater (2nd order)] and [Emerge (2nd order)].
Connor carried two corpses of the toxin-tail monsters in hand, He stored his weapons in his astral core.
This feature was exclusive to the treasures he had synchronized with; as for the belt, he simply wore it, unable to utilize its equipment until he fully integrated with it.
He planned to exploit the banshee's vulnerability to toxins by hurling these two corpses at it. Additionally, he aimed to paralyze the banshee before landing a fatal blow, charging his blade with a large amount of mana for maximum impact.
Connor opened the large doors to the boss room. As they opened, a large group of dirty corpses, numbering more than fifty, stood lifeless in arranged lines like an army.
Screech
They only opened their eyes when a loud voice reverberated in the air. Upon hearing it, the group of undead rushed toward Connor to tear him apart.
Connor bowled the two corpses to the sidelines and brought out his dull blade with a smile. Fighting against a group of untrained combatants was nothing new to him; he had faced such scenarios even before the apocalypse.
The undead tried to scratch and bite him, with some throwing pebbles and others using severed limbs to attack.
Connor smashed the heads of those close by and maneuvered to dodge fatal attacks, though he took some hits and scratches.
While he was busy fighting, a dark veil approached him through the ground.
Connor acted as if he didn't notice it and kept fighting the horde of undead until a hideous, half-humanoid creature jumped from the dark smoke.
"Caught you," he smirked, unleashing Mana Infusion to channel all his remaining mana and slashing at the banshee.
Yet, despite the shockwave, the banshee retracted into dark smoke mid-air and landed on the ground, veiled in darkness.
His slash severed a significant number of undead, reducing them to three-quarters of their population.
Connor immediately refilled his mana by exchanging SP and used Night Blend as the banshee appeared, ready to strike with its sharp nails.
In its physical form now, it passed through Connor's dark mist, allowing him to deliver a quick roundhouse kick.
However, before it could land, the banshee shifted back into darkness.
They both kept attacking each other with similar tactics, but they were equally skilled in their defense dodging each strike with precise timing.
They continued this cat-and-mouse exchange until one of the undead caught him off guard, knocking him off balance.
As he regained his footing, the banshee was about to pierce his chest as Connor reflexively raised his hands when the dull blade moved towards Connor's hand on its own, shocking both Connor and the banshee.
Connor had remembered dropping the blade when he was hit by the undead. 'How did it move?' he asked in shock as the system answered his question.
[ The dull blade has the skill Mana Infusion, making the blade fuse with the wielder's mana, or to be precise, your mana, which makes it an extension of yourself, just like your vessel is to your core. ]
[ When the attack from the banshee came, you instinctively reached out your hand to stop it. The man in the blade made it move to you at the speed of sound. In exchange, the blade has consumed all the mana flowing inside it. ]
Connor did not know how to react to that revelation. He had thought he understood the blade's capabilities well, but now he realized he had underestimated its true potential.
Initially, he had considered the dull blade to be suitable only for beginners to practice with.
However, he now saw the folly in his assumption. How could a rare-grade weapon be so easily dismissed?
"It's not just a tool for practice," he muttered to himself, contemplating the blade's true worth. "Its primary purpose is to be wielded in battle."
With a sigh, he resolved to utilize the blade to its fullest potential from now on, committing to proper training and mastery.
What Connor didn't know was that, in just two days since the chaos began, he had ascended to a level that placed him among the top individuals on the planet. His growth and evolution had only just begun.
( A/N: Nobody starts as an expert, not even the author writing the novel )
As the banshee moved back to take a defensive stance, Connor threw his sword at it.
The blade passed through her as she turned to darkness, taking advantage of him being weaponless again. It went for the attack, only to be struck in the back by the same blade.
The banshee hissed at the blade as it commanded all the undead to surround him from all sides. On the other hand, Connor was beginning to understand how to control the blade in mid-air.
Recalling how the Tigra-squirl had moved, he felt a similar capability within his rejuvenating physique.
As all the undead jumped at him from every direction, he infused the blade with two thousand worth of mana, causing it to explode for acceleration as he made the blade revolve around him.
Using the blade as an extension of his body, he turned himself into a whirlwind, severing the limbs and heads of the zombies.
Though he received no SP or kill messages, knowing they were just empty vessels controlled by the banshee, he aimed to exhaust the banshee's mana, reading the skill description of Emerge.
He waited patiently, using his advantage in mana to tire out the banshee while the battle raged on. Despite this, Connor found himself growing weary faster than anticipated.
He wondered how long he would need to fight these undying zombies that reformed every time he severed them, all while being cautious of the banshee's intermittent attacks whenever he let his guard down or showed signs of fatigue.
Feeling the pressure mount, he questioned aloud, "Just how much mana does this ugly granny have?"
[ The banshee has 890 mana left ] the system responded.
"Still that many, but shouldn't it require a lot of mana to maintain so many undead?" Connor mused.
[ The undead only require 0.1 Mana each per minute for sustainability. With 54 undead, it requires 5.4 Mana. Every time an undead is killed, it requires only 1 Mana per unranked undead to restore it back ]
the system clarified.
"So, I'd have to kill these guys faster and efficiently," Connor realized. "That's why the banshee isn't recklessly using Darkness Surfing. It knows it would run out of mana."
With this understanding, Connor prepared himself for a prolonged battle. He knew the only advantage he had over the monster was his abuse of mana, so he focused on leveraging that to outlast the banshee's mana reserves.
As Connor continued to wield his sword with his mind, he grew increasingly adept at controlling the flow of mana that he directed, making the sword dance gracefully through the air, effortlessly slicing through the undead.
Connor hadn't yet drawn his dagger, waiting for the perfect moment to strike the banshee by surprise.
As the banshee witnessed its undead army being systematically slaughtered, it decided to withdraw them into its phantom zone where their bodies rested.
Now, only Connor and the banshee remained, facing each other.
Screech, the banshee hissed, emitting a dark red aura that Connor recognized as the activation of 'Vengeful Bane'.
This skill was akin to a berserk state, where the banshee drew power from the Wrath Sin. It enhanced the banshee's strength and speed significantly, albeit at the cost of the user's sanity or, in the case of a monster, its cognitive abilities.
Such skills consumed its willpower, redirecting it to boost all other stats that suited the banshee's offensive capabilities. The battle was reaching its conclusion.
Connor gripped the sword tightly, refueled it with mana, and charged forward with a primal scream, taunting the banshee.
The banshee, in turn, reacted to his challenge and lunged towards him.
As they neared collision, Connor activated his skill, Night Blend, enveloping his entire body along with the dull blade in a dark mist.
The banshee's claws swiped through empty air as Connor's evasive maneuver left it exposed.
In the heat of the moment, Connor continued his swing, momentarily forgetting his skill was still active due to adrenaline from all the havoc he caused while killing the undead.
The banshee, shrouded in darkness, was poised to retreat, but Connor's attack found its mark, sending the banshee crashing into one of the pillars.
He pondered, 'How?'
[ The mana in the blade remained active, enabling it to harm the banshee despite both beings not being in physical form. However, this could also be used against you when you are in Night Blend state.]
'This is it.'
He discarded all previous plans for killing the banshee, now determined to evolve Night Blend in a unique way that no one had ever managed.
This was only possible because the banshee manifested in the same darkness form as him.
Connor also concluded that 'Darkness Surfing' was akin to 'Night Movement,' the skill he envisioned 'Night Blend' evolving into.
His joy was short-lived as he heard a familiar roar, a sound that sent shivers down his spine.
Following the roar, a figure crashed onto the platform that led to the third floor.
Connor recognized the monster immediately—it was his worst nightmare from the first floor.
"H- How... is this possible?" he muttered, disbelief washing over him as he stared at the daunting sight before him.
[ It is because the Dungeon boss: The Lich, Although it could not reach the lesser floor, as the boss of the dungeon and as a high-level necromancer and mage it was.... ]
"I didn't ask you for an explanation, you freaking ChatGPT wannabe. If you were so eager to talk about it, you should have mentioned it when that beast turned into an undead. Can't you see I'm losing my mind here trying to process things, and you're lecturing me during a death match? Do you not understand human emotions?"
Connor yelled at the system, his cool demeanor slipping as fear took hold.
[I am only here to answer your questions. You asked, I answered] the system replied, its tone surprisingly argumentative, which seemed unnatural.
The Undead Tigra Squirrel stared at Connor with emotionless green eyes, a clear sign it was merely a puppet devoid of free will.
It roared again and charged at him, aiming to attack with its tail.
Connor activated Night Blend to dodge the attack, but at the last moment, he noticed the tail was surrounded by dark particles.
"Ohh, fu—"
He couldn't finish his sentence after the tail hit him, as he was sent crashing with tremendous force, breaking through two pillars before slamming into the wall, his skill deactivated from the impact.