"Sigh…"
After hours of practice, Bob grew better at handling numerous daggers and acquainted himself with more features of this prison. So far, apart from himself, there was only one human-looking girl and countless demonic abominations, "Haha… Heh… Hehe…"
Bob narrowed down the natives of the two floors to three dominants: wolves, goblins and the worms — "None has broken the Level 20 barrier, by the way…" and this left Freya quite powerful in here even without his help. She must have farmed until she hit the bottleneck of this world.
"But, does that mean there are no over levelled monsters in this dungeon or does that limit only apply to humans? Maybe this is why the developer's hax can bypass the world limit…" As Bob walked down the dimly lit halls, spinning a dagger in his hand, he smiled, "I see…"
Ignoring the boring stuff, the hax evolves the target from human and the limit no longer exists. If so, then the limit is not the amount of levels, but the evolving body itself! Bob's smirk grew, and light flashed in his eyes, "By finding high potential evolves, I can build an unstoppable army in this world!"
Hunting down rare artefacts and then evolving them into celestial monstrosities — that was going to be Bob's secret mission. Bob sighed, "Sadly in this pathetic darkness, finding rare stuff is impossible! To find them, I will need to find a way and escape here as soon as possible."
While Bob was deep in thought, he heard a familiar howl, then turned in its direction, frowning a second later as Bob figured it was the azure wolf. Holding his chin, Bob narrowed his eyes, 'I circled back to the starting point? Or did the wolf rotate to my side?'
"That's strange either way…" Bob frowned, approaching the new door. This door towered taller than the others, and although it was golden, its edges burned in red. As he walked towards the door, Bob felt his heart clench, "That's the azure wolf and I am sure of it, but… this aura…"
Boom! There was an explosion, and Bob's heart skipped a beat. He hesitated, wanting to turn back and run while he could, but — his eyes were gleaming and his heart beating in his chest — curiosity kills the cat. He reached towards the door, then quickly withdrew it,
⦗Area 09: Demon Lord's Carcass⦘
⦗Warning; Below Level 30, Extreme Risk!⦘
⦗Area Danger will Triple!⦘
"From Area 03 to 09?" Bob wondered how much of a labyrinth this place was, but he dared not test it for himself. He had no attachments with the wolf, and it could die for all he cared, but, "isn't it a gamer's instinct to rush in and get killed by over levelled enemies? His senses were tingling…"
Okay, that rushing in and getting killed by over levelled bosses was not really a good trait, but of course, Bob could not resist initiating the battle. Before he knew it, his hands were reaching towards the door again, drool nearly dribbling down the corner of his lips, "Just one look… I won't die…"
'That's what we all say — right?'
"The fuck are you doing? Get out of there!" A sudden shriek pulled him out of his trance, and he furrowed his brows, wondering why Freya had to scream so much like a pregnant banshee! She had a beautiful voice, don't get him wrong but anyway, "That's a Demon Lord! Are you stupid?"
"I can just under—" Before he could speak, Freya pulled Bob away from the door. Skeletal arms shot out from the door, an eerie aura around them, and they clawed towards themselves. Bob stood stunned with Freya hugging him tight, wondering what sort of monster was that, "Is it a Lich?"
Freya pushed Bob away, then groaned in frustration, "Even though you are a fool, for the love of whatever you believe in, don't rush into an over levelled trap when you are so weak. Even I wouldn't dare to enter a Demon Lord's room unless I was 100% sure I'd survive strike two."
"Ah—shit." Bob had forgotten about those wicked instant kills, letting the dopamine rush from all those weak wolf kills get to his head. He turned to Freya, who looked at him wide-eyed with her face flushed, then sighed, "Thanks for the save, Freya. I owe you one, I guess."
He thought back to the achievement, [To Keep Dying], then turned crestfallen. Hopefully, that shit was not becoming an instinct for him. Bob wondered how many deaths it would take for all of his sanity to vanish, or for him to stand and be like: 'Oh, I died again. Anyway…'
"It's like you have a death wish or something. Didn't you get a warning or something?" She had calmed down, but Freya had not dropped the way she looked at Bob. It was as if all the brain cells in his head had died, or transformed into a collective mess, "or were you worried about your pet?"
"Uh, yeah." Bob lied without a second thought. He looked foolish enough in front of this woman so it would not hurt to look even more foolish. In the face of decisive situations, a foolish front could act as a deadly weapon to the unsuspecting, "You are a Level 300, you should help me save him."
"Level 300 or Level 1000, I would not dare wander into a Demon Lord's room. A Demon Lord is unaffected by the level cap and could reach hundreds if not thousands in levels. If we were unlucky, it could have amassed a massive army in there and we'd be busted down in seconds! All it needs—"
Bob blinked, turning around to the door, "Okay, I get the point."
"Don't worry, if your pet dies, it can be recalled with full Health!" Freya clapped Bob's shoulder, a reassuring smile on her face. Bob stood stunned hearing her words. Freya did not notice this, "As far as he is truly your pet, and you're lying, then he would most definitely survive!"
Bob stood silently, wondering what he should do in this situation, 'To rush in there alone? Drag this woman with me and risk getting killed before he gets there, or stand back and let the wolf die? If there is a path in front of me… then I must trend it! I must not melt under these testing flames.'
He clenched his fists tight, his brows furrowing as Bob continued his thoughts, ignoring Freya as she tried her best to talk him out of this, 'To become strongest, one needed to draw the line between proactivity and reactivity. What decision would I take to keep things interesting?'