Ethan couldn't help but marvel at how generous the military was.
Next, they were taken to the base's skill library—and the sight that greeted them left everyone's eyes widening in excitement.
Skill books of all different colors, shimmering with light, were neatly arranged on specialized shelves—there were dozens of them!
"Most of these skill books were collected by our soldiers during monster hunts in Black Iron Mountain over the past year," Major Frostburn explained.
"But due to the nature of the monsters here, most of the books are defensive, with earth and metal elemental affinities. Mage, archer, and healer skills are relatively rare."
Lucas grinned at that.
"Defensive skills? Perfect for me!"
He immediately dove into the stack of thick, earth-yellow glowing skill books, flipping through them eagerly.
The others scattered as well, searching for skills that suited their classes and combat styles.
Ethan made his way to the healer and support section, where only two skill books sat on the shelf.
Skill Book: Holy Barrier
Class Requirement: Priest, Paladin, or other Holy Light-affiliated classes
Level Requirement: Level 10+
Effect: Grants a target a sturdy Holy Barrier that absorbs (500 + 200% Spell Power) damage for 100 seconds.
If the barrier is not broken before the duration ends, it explodes upon vanishing, dealing damage equal to the absorbed amount to all enemies within a 1x1 meter radius.
Mana Cost: 100. Cooldown: 600 seconds.
Skill Book: Holy Purge
Class Requirement: Priest, Paladin, or other Holy Light-affiliated classes
Level Requirement: Level 10+
Effect: Purges all negative effects from a target with Holy Light. Mana Cost: 50. Cooldown: 300 seconds.
Ethan's eyes scanned the two skill books.
Holy Barrier was an excellent defensive skill with a nice damage-reflecting bonus—it was one of the few offensive skills available to Priests.
Holy Purge was an essential crowd-control counter for Priests, capable of turning the tide of battle in critical moments.
Ethan pocketed both skill books.
Thanks to his talent, both skills were instantly modified to cost only 1 mana point and have zero cooldown.
Combined with his E-rank Spell Cost Reduction talent, he now had two more skills he could spam infinitely without any cost.
With their skills chosen, the group stood before the entrance to the new dungeon in West Valley—a swirling, blood-red vortex about three meters in diameter, crackling with dangerous energy sparks.
The air around it trembled with energy fluctuations, and faint, eerie roars could be heard echoing from the depths of the vortex.
Major Frostburn saw them off personally.
"Remember—safety first! If things go south, activate the beacons and evacuate immediately! We'll be here to bring you back!"
Ethan looked at his teammates.
"Ready?"
Seven pairs of eyes stared back at him, filled with unwavering resolve.
"Let's move out!"
Ethan stepped into the energy vortex first, and a powerful pulling force wrapped around him instantly.
After a brief moment of dizziness and disorientation, he found himself standing on a strange, blood-red plain.
The sky above was a suffocating shade of dark red, with no sun—but a bizarre, eerie light illuminated the entire world.
Twisted, withered trees jutted toward the sky like the gnarled arms of the dying, and ominous growls echoed in the distance.
Entered Unknown Dungeon: Blood Wasteland
Warning: This dungeon is in an extremely unstable state.
Abnormal phenomena may occur.
Recommended Level for Current Area: 20–30
"Is everyone here?"
Ethan quickly counted heads, confirming all eight of them had arrived safely.
Ella tightened her grip on her blade, scanning the surroundings warily.
"The energy here feels... wrong."
Suddenly, the ground trembled, and dozens of blood-red wolf-like monsters surged toward them from all directions.
Ethan struck first, casting Mass Heal directly at the wolf pack.
Bloodthirsty Wasteland Wolf (Elite)
Level: 20
HP: 10,000 (Current: 25,157 ↑)
Attack Power: 1,000 (Current: 2,107 ↑)
Speed: 500 (Current: 1,121 ↑)
Defense: 100 (Current: 167 ↑)
Skills: Bloodthirsty Pounce, Wolf Shadow Evasion
Talents: Lifesteal (Gain 1% Lifesteal on attack), Flesh Curse * Initial (All attributes increase slowly, up to 10x the original limit.
Can devour other curses to upgrade Flesh Curse level.)
Status: Corrupted by Flesh Power.
All attributes are increasing slowly.
Immune to mental control.
Devouring its flesh will inherit part of its attributes, but will also cause corruption by Flesh Power.
(Merge with me!)
"Shit!"
Ethan's face paled when he saw the wolves' stats.
As he'd suspected—something was very wrong here!
This was the first time he'd ever seen a creature with two talents—and one of them was ridiculously overpowered.
A 10x attribute boost with no drawbacks?
His S-rank Conceptual Armament only doubled his stats, and even a 3x boost would have side effects.
This Flesh Curse allowed a 10x increase right off the bat—and this was only the initial level!
If it upgraded further, it could potentially grant a 100x, even 1,000x attribute boost. It was completely broken.
Ethan knew there had to be more to this than met the eye.
Since his talent had identified the Flesh Curse as a curse, there must be a hidden catch—a terrible price to pay for that power.
As Ethan was lost in thought, the pack of Bloodthirsty Wasteland Wolves closed in on the group.
"Watch out! These wolves have insanely high stats—almost on par with mini-bosses!"
With that warning, Ethan charged forward, staff in hand.
After the trials of the monster tide and the gear gifted by the military base, his overall attributes had reached terrifying heights:
[Strength: 2724 (+200)]
[Constitution: 1418 (+300)]
[Agility: 1212 (+200)]
[Spirit: 691 (+100)]
Coupled with the boost from Conceptual Armament, a single swing of his staff could now easily deal over 5,000 damage!
Even so, it would take five strikes to take down one Bloodthirsty Wasteland Wolf.
Fortunately, Ethan's attack speed was blisteringly fast.
He could bash a wolf's skull in and still toss up shields for his teammates in the same breath.
In the blink of an eye, only ten of the thirty-odd wolves were left clinging to life.
But then, something eerie happened!
The fallen wolves' corpses quickly shriveled and rotted, melting into puddles of dark red pus that seeped into the ground.
And the remaining ten wolves?
Their eyes blazed with a fierce crimson light, and their stats began surging at a visible rate!
[Bloodthirsty Wasteland Wolf (Elite)]
[Level: 20]
[HP: 10,000] (Current: 35,157 ↑)
[Attack Power: 1,000] (Current: 4,107 ↑)
[Speed: 500] (Current: 2,121 ↑)
[Defense: 100] (Current: 467 ↑)
[Skills: Bloodthirsty Pounce, Wolf Shadow Evasion]
[Talents: Lifesteal (Gain 1% Lifesteal on attack), Flesh Curse * Initial (All attributes increase slowly, up to 15x the original limit. Can devour other curses to upgrade Flesh Curse level.)]
[Status 1: Corrupted by Flesh Power. All attributes are increasing slowly. Immune to mental control. Devouring its flesh will inherit part of its attributes, but will also cause corruption by Flesh Power.]
[Status 2: The Bloodthirsty Wasteland Wolf is digesting its packmates' flesh, rapidly boosting its own attributes and upgrading its Flesh Curse!]
"Oh no! They're devouring flesh to power up!"
"Ella, max out Blood Burning—take them down in one hit!"
At this moment, Ella boasted a whopping 6,000 HP.
A single normal slash from her blade could deal over 30,000 damage.
With her damage-boosting skills active, she could one-shot even these beefed-up wolves with ease.
And for Ethan, topping up her 6,000 HP was just two Mass Heals away.
Ella didn't hesitate for a second.
The moment Ethan's voice faded, a crimson glint flashed in her eyes, and her aura skyrocketed.
-5999
Her HP plummeted to a mere 1 point.
But in return, her next attack's power surged to a terrifying peak!
Immediately after, Ethan cast two Mass Heals, restoring her HP to full.
"SLASH!"
A cold, sharp cry rang out.
Ella's figure blurred into a streak of blood-red light, her blade slicing through the oppressive air with a heart-stopping hiss.
The flash of the blade vanished in an instant!
Squelch!
One of the wolves—its stats now sky-high at over 50,000 HP—was mid-pounce on Lucas when its movements abruptly froze.
In the next second, a line of blood spread from the center of its skull down to its belly, splitting its massive body clean in two!
-69124!
An absurdly huge golden damage number floated above the wolf's corpse.
Instant kill!
A true one-hit KO!
"Holy shit..." Sam gaped, dumbfounded, swallowing hard involuntarily.
He knew Ella was strong—but he'd never imagined she'd be this terrifying with Blood Burning active!
"Quit staring! Back her up!"
Amy was the first to snap out of her shock.
She changed her swordplay style instantly, abandoning brute force for crowd control and parrying, creating the perfect opening for Ella to strike.
With flawless teamwork from her allies and Ethan's endless stream of healing, Ella transformed into a goddess of slaughter.
Her figure darted and weaved between the remaining nine wolves.
Every time her blade flashed, a wolf was instantly dismembered or beheaded!
In her Blood Burning state, her attack power far exceeded the limits of her level bracket.
In less than fifteen seconds, all nine wolves—now with ridiculously overpowered stats—had melted into puddles of pus on the ground.
The battle ended as abruptly as it began.
Silence descended over the group, broken only by their ragged breathing.
Staring at the puddles of pus seeping into the dark red earth, everyone's expression turned grim.
"These monsters... they're unnatural," Lucas panted, still shaken by the close call.
Ethan immediately pulled the specialized encrypted communicator from his spatial ring and pressed the activation button. A faint blue light flickered to life on its surface.
"Major Frostburn, do you copy? This is Ethan."
Static screeched from the communicator for a few seconds before Major Kris's voice crackled through, choppy and distorted:
"...Copy... Ethan... How... your status?"
"This dungeon is called the Blood Wasteland. We've encountered and eliminated the first wave of monsters, but the situation is highly abnormal," Ethan reported quickly.
"The monsters are Level 20 Bloodthirsty Wasteland Wolves, but their stats are triple that of normal monsters of the same level—and they're still rising!"
He described the wolves' attributes in detail, along with their ability to evolve rapidly by devouring their fallen packmates.
"...Repeat: When these monsters die, their corpses melt into blood that seeps underground, strengthening the surviving monsters."
A brief silence fell on the other end of the line.
Ethan couldn't tell if it was poor signal—or if the major and his team were just as shocked as he was.
"Copy... Information logged," Major Kris's voice came through the static, heavier and more solemn than ever.
"Based on your description, this matches the characteristics of the demonic creatures under the Lord of Flesh! This dungeon isn't a normal mutation—it's been deeply corrupted by the power of a Demon God! The danger level is far higher than we anticipated!"
The signal stabilized slightly, and his tone turned urgent, even harsh: "Ethan! Abort the mission immediately! I repeat, abort the mission! This crisis is beyond your ability to handle! Activate the beacons—evacuate the entire team at once! Now!"
Demon God!
The word sent a chill down everyone's spine.
This was far beyond a mere dungeon anomaly.
Three hundred years ago, when dungeons first appeared in this world, they didn't just gift humans with the power to become professionals—they also drew the attention of the Demon Gods!
For some unknown reason, the Demon Gods couldn't descend directly onto Blue Star.
But even the mere fragments of their power that seeped into the world were enough to plunge humanity into a state of constant alert.
Without a moment's hesitation, Ethan made his decision: "Understood! Everyone, prepare to evacuate!"
He pulled one of the specialized silver spatial teleport beacons from his ring and channeled mana into it without hesitation.
Hum—!
The beacon activated with a soft hum, glowing silver as it floated in mid-air, and spatial energy began to converge steadily.