After Connor and Furina returned from their secluded training, Elena and her squad decided to leave for hunting, choosing to explore the eastern side, opposite from where Delta Squad had ventured. Meanwhile, Connor and his team headed north, the only remaining route.
As they traversed the terrain, they encountered a pack of small chimeras—creatures with ape-like bodies and grotesque mutations.
Resembling the 2nd-floor boss but notably weaker at level 17, these beasts still posed a significant challenge for Connor's team, whose members were all below that level.
Fortunately, there were only five chimeras. Connor quickly engaged them as he used [Darkness Surge] to subdue the creatures.
Despite being restrained and corroded in darkness, these creatures emitted their fierce auras and hardened their skins to protect themselves
The pressure these beasts emitted was enough to scare and overwhelm Connor's teammates as they hesitated to approach and kill them.
Connor had commanded them to deal the finishing blow, yet they stood still unable to take a step towards them as fear took their minds, their wills and mental strength crumbling at the sight in front of them.
Connor decided to aide them by emitting his pressure. If before, the team was scared of the monsters ahead, now they were scared of the monster behind them. The aura of a level 25 Evolver crushed the auras of the monsters.
Everything seemed to have dispersed as even the chimera monsters got overwhelmed, with their body immobile their minds had already surrendered.
The team was even more scared as being inside the darkness, despite them not being restricted, their body refused to budge. The fear inside their them was stopping them from taking a single step.
It was then that Connor realized maybe the aura of level 25 evolver especially someone like him who has a sub class and high willpower could easily subdue anyone below level 20.
He decided to suppress his aura a little and as the pressure around them eased, the team was able to take a step further, but they still hesitated to move further and kill the monsters.
Connor's patience snapped. His voice, low and venomous, cut through the chaos. "You filthy maggots... is this how your pathetic parents raised you? To be cowards, too afraid to even kill a few trapped beasts? You all brag about being in the Alpha squad, but you're worse than dogs!" His words were cold, calculated, and vicious. "Even ants crawl forward. You can't even manage that."
His curses did not stop, it only grew worse as time went on. Meanwhile the Alpha squad members had gone through a turmoil of emotions. From fear to self-loathing, then to shame and irritation and then, finally as time went on they all had only one emotion wrath. Anger, hatred, resentment all the emotions grouped as one which gave fueled their willpower.
In front of them were not 5 monsters, there were 5 punching bags to them. All reasoning left their bodies and minds as they ran ahead and started beating down the monsters with whatever means they had.
Whether it was with a hammer like Shawn, the DPS of the team. or with bare hands like Lana, the sage, or with a staff like Furina, the mage. There was only wrath taking over the 5 squad members as they beat the monsters to death.
At this point, they should have stopped, but the team still continued the assaults even after the monsters died.
Connor realized that he may have pushed too far and now their minds must be on the verge of breaking down.
'This must be what the system warned me about' he thought as he formulated a solution to snap their minds back to reality.
He dropped the idea of releasing his pressure as that would be the worst case, since they were no longer listening to their instincts. they would have instead attacked him wothout hesitation if we did that.
Connor realized that he might have just created a bunch of mad dogs. But this wasn't what he wanted.
He decided to knock them out for now by using [Darkness Surge] to move the darkness particles' concentration inside their mind to put them to sleep.
With their willpower already taken over by wrath it was as easy as cutting a patter.
After letting them rest for 30 minutes, he decided to first wake up Furina.
"Ugh", Furina woke up shaking her head. But soon after opened her eyes, she saw the message:
[You have slain a level 17 Duranape.]
....
[You have gained +4 strength, +13 agility from the excess SP gained.]
[You have leveled up.]
....
She was confused and couldn't remember what had happened. When she asked Connor about it, he simply averted his gaze and went to wake the others.
The rest of them also showed the same reactions as Furina, All they could remember was that Connor was cursing at them before they lost consciousness.
" Whatever you did to us, Please don't ever do that to us again" Furina pleaded with a tired voice while rubbing her head.
Connor simply nodded and apologized. But he learned a lot from everything that happened. He questioned them more about the system notifications as well, as how much SP they were able to absorb, what skill they were presented with and so on.
It turns out that taking down enemies way above their level boosted their stats significantly, exactly what Connor had aimed for. With this one encounter alone, the five team members of his squad surged to level 10. However, the path ahead would grow steeper, as the leveling requirements escalated dramatically.
The person dealing with the killing blow was the only one to fully absorb the Soul Essence from the creature, which was acknowledged by the core of the deceased.
Connor understood the dynamics at play; the strength of the monster's core could affect the rewards. If the difference in rank was too vast, the core might disperse its essence into the astral realm instead.
Connor's willpower played a critical role as well. With his willpower at Class One rank, he could absorb the Soul Essence from creatures of comparable or lower strength with relative ease.
For Connor, this meant he could devour the essences of peak Class One or even low Class Two ranks. In contrast, his teammates—hovering around levels 8 to 9—only managed to absorb about 50% of the Soul Essence from the Duranape.
Yet, even this diminished amount was more than enough for them to level up twice, pushing them firmly into the level 10 range.
How was Connor so sure that his willpower was as high as a Class One rank?
It was both an instinctual and a calculated hunch. Willpower could be considered as a hidden stat that cannot be perceived as it would fluctuate from time to time.
It could even decrease to a considerable degree after losing superiority or loved ones. It was so unpredictable as different people had different mind states, so it made sense to be considered a hidden stat.
Connor was someone at the top of his rank and someone who had killed two Class One rank beings and also had a sub-class of his own.
All these achievements added to the fact that he had the [limit breaker] title made him sure his willpower was different and on the same level as Class One rank beings.
As he analyzed the aftermath, Connor couldn't help but mutter, "Truly a rewarding experiment."
Unfortunately for him, Furina heard. "What did you just say?" she snapped, her expression darkening.
Her senses had sharpened from the level-up, her body still adjusting to the sudden rise in levels.
With a fed-up expression, Furina screamed, "Stop treating us like lab rats!" The frustration in her voice was clear, cutting through the air like a blade.
Another squad member added with a tone of desperation, "We are your subordinates, please be kind to us, Sir Connor."
Connor, unmoved by their complaints, merely shrugged. "Subordinates are supposed to trust and follow their superior's orders."
Their hurt expressions were not lost on him, though.
They were still feigning sadness and playing the part of downtrodden soldiers, trying to gain some sympathy.
Connor let out a tired sigh before replying,
"At least you all grew stronger quickly, right? I bet none of the other squad members will be as strong as you guys are now."
To his reasoning, they exchanged confused looks before finally glancing at their status windows.
Their confusion rapidly shifted to joy as they saw the numbers displayed. Even Furina, still slightly irritated, couldn't help but smile as she scanned her newfound stats.
Yet, Connor wasn't one to let them bask in their moment of happiness for long.
"I think after resting for a while, we should move ahead. The third floor is a lot tougher than we thought, and it's only going to get worse. So brace yourselves for the hardships to come."
His words had the immediate effect of snuffing out their joy, and despair began to settle back into their eyes.
Connor knew the road ahead was going to push them beyond their limits, but that was necessary.
Meanwhile, other squads were faring much worse. Bravo Squad, led by Elena, was barely keeping up.
Most of the time, it was a one-woman show, with Elena single-handedly carrying the team by severing the limbs of the monsters they faced.
Winged creatures and feline Chimera beasts, all around levels 15 to 18, assaulted her squad just as they did Alpha's. But unlike Connor's team, Elena's comrades stood back, paralyzed by either fear or lack of confidence.
Elena, taking on the brunt of the battle, sliced through several creatures with lethal precision, leaving a few alive but severely crippled.
Their wings clipped, limbs severed—she left them in a helpless state so her teammates could deal the final blows and claim the cores.
She took a few hits herself, choosing not to use her Esper abilities, and yet she remained happy.
Each battle had helped her team grow stronger. Slowly but surely, they were leveling up, reaching level 10 after hard-fought victories.
Though it took longer than Connor's method, with each battle drawn out as Elena could only cripple one beast at a time, the steady progress was what mattered.
Fortunately, the healer in her squad tended to her small injuries quickly, keeping her battle-ready.
Compared to both Alpha and Bravo squads, Squad Delta had it far worse.
They suffered numerous injuries as their battles grew increasingly grueling. Julian had been the first to take his team out, driven by his own ambition.
His desire to surpass both Connor and Elena blinded him to the needs of his comrades. He focused solely on his growth, ignoring their struggles.
Julian's squad, composed of his old pack members, had better gear and were higher-leveled, hovering around levels 12 to 15. They'd been the first to raid the 1st floor of the dungeon long before Connor even arrived, giving them an early advantage.
They'd also secured some decent loot from the 2nd floor, yet none of this seemed to matter as fatigue began to take its toll. Despite their initial advantage, their constant battles were wearing them down.
Julian's selfishness only made things worse. He often swooped in at the last second to steal their kills, absorbing all the soul essences and leaving them with nothing.
The repeated pattern had drained the morale of his teammates, and they began to question the futility of their actions.
None of them were leveling up, and Julian's domineering attitude only worsened things. He drove them across the battlefield with barely any time to rest, bossing them around as if they were his pawns, not comrades.
The resentment within Squad Delta was simmering, but Julian was either too focused on his own goals to notice ,or he simply didn't care.