Chapter 46: Magic-Free World?

As he had guessed, this place was indeed a post-apocalyptic setting. The world had been ruined by war; when the war ended, only a few thousand people remained alive to try and rebuild civilization. However, the aftereffects of the war rendered the world uninhabitable, and soon, the remaining people started turning into mindless beings.

The Boss of this Level was the Dictator of the War. In order to defeat that Boss, they had to kill three waves of thousands of zombies, which were all Level 40 to Level 50. Then, there were ten War Generals guarding the perimeter of the Dictator Zombie, all at Level 50 to Level 60. Finally, there was the Boss, the Dictator Zombie at Level 75.

The only disadvantage of this Dungeon Quest for him was that he could not level up. Since the monsters were at a very high level, or rather, because his own level was very low, only Level 4. Level 40 monsters were simply too high; the EXP would not be compatible with his Mana Core. His level needed to be at least Level 25 to gain EXP from these monsters. However, he was not worried. He was not here to level up, but rather for the reward he had been promised.

"Max, I want you to stay hidden somewhere safe," Adrien instructed as he walked forward.

Max quickly affirmed as he followed. After they walked for around 100 meters, Max heard a rumbling noise. Immediately, he rushed toward a desolate building nearby. He quickly ran up the steps and climbed to the third floor, where it would be safe, and silently became as still as a statue. He did not want to make a single move; the Level 40 monsters were very fast and strong enough to finish him in a second. Thus, his entire mission was to hide somewhere safe until the party cleared the wave of zombies.

Max moved to a position where his body was fully covered by the wall, yet he could still see the whole battle. The party soon positioned themselves in a circle, with the Healer standing at the center, ready to heal if anyone was injured.

Everyone waited.

Soon, the rumbling sound increased, and Max began to feel the vibrations in his heart. The surrounding buildings started to shake. Max, who was on the third floor, slowly crouched down; he had not expected the enemies' entrance to be this terrifying. His eyes moved toward the seniors. He had almost expected them to be in a state of great agitation and panic, just as he was feeling. However, the party remained calm and collected. He recalled that they had already done this the last time they entered the dungeon.

The vibrations increased to the next level. The sound of the running mob could be felt as more and more crying sounds echoed throughout the area.

Boom!

At the same time, the enemies attacked with blinding speed. The enemies exited from the buildings and lunged toward the party members with their mouths wide open. Their jawlines were torn and fully open, aiming directly for the party members' necks. If anyone were to accidentally let themselves be bitten, their head would snap from their body. At least a thousand zombie monsters attacked from every side.

Max, who was crouching down, slowly stood up to see what was happening. Suddenly, something flew toward his face.

Shoo!

Max lowered his body, avoiding being hit by the object. The object hit the wall behind and fell to the ground, making a groaning sound. Max did not move to check what it was, as he had already guessed it. It was clearly the severed head of a zombie monster. Even though it had been cut from its body, the head was still making sounds with its jaw fully open. Fortunately, it did not move. It slowly started to turn into a wisp of smoke and disappeared. Max slowly stood up and craned his neck to assess the situation. Could he provide some support?

However, what he saw on the street was not a fight, but a complete carnage of killing zombie monsters. The party had not moved a single inch from the position they originally took. Everyone attacked and moved like water, smooth and deadly.

Adrien swung his sword ten times per second, killing twenty monsters with that attack. With every swing, a group of monsters fell to the ground. It was definitely a display of superior skill and technique.

It was not only Adrien; everyone in the party possessed similar skills and techniques that rendered the zombie monsters' attacks null. The zombies continuously ran and lunged frantically, but the circle of coordination did not break. The Tank, Leon, used his heater shield to repel the monsters, continuously crushing the fallen monsters' heads. Standing beside Leon, Ewan took the chance to sever the monsters' heads with his energy blade. He continuously sent out blade after blade.

On the other side, Katerina's lightning danced as it fried the zombies' heads, causing them to explode along the way. It was certainly a cruel sight to watch as heads exploded from the sheer power of the lightning attacks. Seeing this, a numbing sensation appeared in Max's head.

Beside her stood Harold, the Archer. Max closely watched his skills. Similar to himself, who combined two skills together, Harold also used a similar type of attack. However, the one major difference was that every time he released his bowstring, a total of five arrows were sent flying, landing on five different enemies within his field of view.

Is it some kind of skill that multiplies the arrows? Max wondered. It looked incredible. Looking closely, he noticed that upon the release of a single arrow, the other arrows materialized from the main arrow and shot toward different targets. It was a great skill. He should ask about it, at least for the sake of knowledge.

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Finally, there was the Healer, Candice, who attentively used her skills to improve the party's Mana. She constantly provided boosts with her abilities. Overall, the battle was relatively easy, and the seniors handled it very well. As the battle continued, the incoming wave of zombie monsters decreased, and eventually, the fight ended. The area descended into complete silence. That battle had continued for 15 to 20 minutes without stopping, yet the party had handled it without any issues.

They looked slightly tired, which was to be expected. Everyone took their time to recover their mana and stamina as they gulped down a few potions. Max finally stood up and decided to exit the building. As he walked back, he glanced toward the spot where the zombie head had been and suddenly noticed something out of the corner of his eye. His legs abruptly stopped; some loot had dropped from the monster's head.

Max walked backward to see what the severed head of the zombie monster had left behind. He bent down and picked it up. It was a small, rectangular object that could easily fit within the palm of his hand. Suddenly, the item's details appeared on his status window.

[iStorage (Damaged)]

Type: Dimensional Storage Device

Grade: Rare (Degraded)

Requirement: None

Internal Capacity: 100 Storage Slots (100 Cubic Meters equivalent)

Current Load: 30% Occupied (30 / 100 Slots)

Free Space: 70% Available (70 / 100 Slots)

'Oh, a dimensional storage device.' Max looked at the item. It looked strange. Usually, dimensional storage items came in the form of rings or bracelets. However, this one looked highly unusual, and it was even damaged. A capacity of 100 cubic meters was quite large, and it was already 30% occupied. Max's interest was piqued; there were already items stored inside the space. What kind of loot came with even more items hidden within it?

Max debated whether to take the items out to check them or simply hand the device over to the seniors. Alternatively, he could just pocket the item for himself. Although it was not as if he could not afford a storage device of his own, he was simply curious about the items inside. Making his decision, he quickly tucked the item into his sleeve and went down to exit the building. By the time he arrived outside, the area had been completely cleared; every piece of loot had been collected, and the party was ready to move further down the street.

"Max, are you okay?" Adrien asked.

"Yes. That was an epic battle, everyone. The zombie monsters were no match for you," Max quickly praised.

"Hahaha, these are just the lowest-level monsters. We may have to struggle the further we move forward," Adrien replied modestly.

"Okay, everyone, let us move out," he said, and everyone started to walk down the street.

Max walked in the middle of the group as he observed his surroundings. This ruined world looked completely different from his own. The buildings here were mostly constructed from an unfamiliar material rather than marble stone. In the distance, his eyes could see towering buildings that would be impossible to construct in his world, where building up to 50 stories was the absolute limit.

If one wanted to build higher, magical reinforcements and inscriptions were required, and even those were only useful for an additional 20 stories. Beyond that, it was simply impossible to erect a building. However, in this ruined world, there were buildings with more than 100 stories. It was bizarre to even think about what kind of world this used to be. However, suddenly, a question formed in his mind. Since Alchemic Technologies were very advanced in his world, was the restriction on building high-rise buildings due to structural difficulties, or was there some other reason?

"Doesn't this world seem very different?" Max could not help but ask out loud.

"You noticed it as well," Candice said. "Yes, this world looks and feels very different. Furthermore, it was a very advanced civilization compared to ours, but it was destroyed by something we cannot comprehend. It is so bizarre that many of these things feel completely non-existent in our own world."

"What do you think? The dictator's war destroyed this world, but what kind of magic could that dictator have used to destroy a whole world?" Max asked. He had been wondering for a long time about what kind of magic the final Boss could have used to destroy this entire world.

"That is the thing. There is strong speculation that there was no magic in this world at all," Candice continued.

"No magic? Then what did this world possess that could be strong enough to destroy it? How did things work? Could the absence of magic be the reason for this destruction?" Max was surprised by this revelation.

"Well, we do not know. We usually obtain unusual loot from this world, but it still contains magic that can be used in our world," Candice explained.

History told them that their world had possessed magic for millennia upon millennia, so there was no record of when magic had actually appeared in their world. Whether the world itself originated from magic was also a basic philosophical topic discussed during history classes. Therefore, Max could not understand how a world could exist if there was no magic. What kind of life would the people live? What kind of academies would they attend, or what subjects would they learn? What kind of government would they have? Would they face issues similar to the ones he was currently facing?

Max pondered for a while about how this world would have functioned, but once again, he could not comprehend it. Thus, he simply shifted his focus back to the dimensional storage device. What kind of items would it possess? Could weapons from this world be stored inside, or perhaps history books, or even worldly treasures? He could not know, but his interest continued to increase by the minute. However, he could not check it right now; he would have to wait until he left this dungeon.

With that thought in mind, he walked for another two hours before he heard another wave of monsters. This time, the party struggled a little, since the speed and the amount of zombie monsters attacking them were almost double the amount of the last wave. Once that was finished, they continued their journey and finally encountered the last mob wave. During this attack, a few party members were injured, and they struggled even more. As usual, the amount of monsters was double that of the second wave, making it look almost impossible to contain the oncoming horde.

Max witnessed the true speed and strength of the seniors, especially Adrien, and he finally understood why Adrien was the leader of the party. He exerted his full strength, reducing the pressure on the others. He possessed massive Mana and stamina reserves, and his skills had reached a top-level proficiency. It was truly amazing to witness the battle from afar.

With that finished, the party continued toward an enormous building located at the center of the city. Now, they planned to lure each General Zombie monster out and kill them one by one, since the ten General Zombies combined were stronger than the Boss Zombie. Adrien went out to lure a single General monster, while Max had already left the chosen battle spot, ascending to the top of a building.