Chapter 127: Final Battle

Erick clenched his teeth and tried to break free from the golem, but he didn’t make it in time.

BOOM!

Suddenly, a comet fell from the sky… Or rather, Zaid.

He crushed the pup’s head with his full weight, killing it instantly. At the same time, he struck the golem in front of him.

Because the golem had more momentum, Zaid and John were sent flying backward. However, they suffered only minor injuries.

“Don’t stop! Watch your backs!” Zaid shouted.

“Zaid, watch out!” Once again, Erick noticed something before the others did.

The Harpy Eagle flew toward him. Its talons tried to tear Zaid’s head off, but he managed to protect himself immediately with his daggers.

His body rolled dozens of meters backward, carried by the eagle’s force and kicking up dust all around.

“Zaid!”

“Worry about the cubs and the golems!” Zaid roared in response to their concerns.

He looked ahead. The harpy eagle was right in front of him, just a few meters away, staring intently at him.

It was a beast, but it seemed very intelligent. Too intelligent. It wasn’t just attacking; it was literally waiting for the right moment of inattention to pounce on him.

Zaid smiled.

“Then you’re going to come play with me for a while,”

The eagle took flight again… or at least it tried to.

But its legs were grabbed by Zaid’s hand. “Where are you going, little creature?”

With a maniacal laugh, Zaid shook the huge, heavy body from side to side and flung it low through the air.

He immediately followed it and pounced on it. It didn’t see the flurry of punches and dagger strikes that rained down on its body and head.

BOOM!

Its massive body finally hit the ground and rolled until it nearly fell into the dark water.

Zaid followed close behind and struck with all his might.

BOOM!

A second explosion shook him, and he was hurled into the sky. The eagle had flapped its wings at just the right moment, creating a gust of wind that sent Zaid flying through the air.

And it, too, knew the importance of not letting him catch his breath.

Even though it was wounded, it flew at full speed toward Zaid before he could hit the ground and attacked him with its talons.

Zaid smiled. “Head-on? Let’s go!” He sheathed his dagger and channeled all his power into his right arm. It swelled, overflowing with power.

BOOOM!

A human fist against a harpy eagle’s claw. The explosion of energy shook the third floor, and both were knocked backward.

Zaid finally fell to the ground. But no sooner had he hit the ground than he propelled himself back into the air, countering the harpy eagle’s attack.

Once. Twice… three times.

With each blow, the creature lost altitude and Zaid gained ground. They clashed so many times that the tension could be felt in the ground.

The final blow sent the eagle crashing into the nearby trees.

Zaid landed on top of it, and his hand pierced one of its wings, tearing out the bones.

“KYAAA!” the creature screeched. It tried to fling him into the air, but Zaid grabbed it by the neck.

“You’re not going to fly again—give up.”

The harpy then opened its beak.

A massive surge of energy began to build up there far too quickly.

Zaid sensed the imminent danger and tried to dodge it, but the explosion hit him point-blank.

Zaid was hurled through the air, traveling hundreds of meters in an instant. He crashed through several trees before coming to a stop.

His body was covered in wounds.

He bit off the cap of one of the potions and spat it out. He swallowed the entire contents immediately and spat out the blood.

The harpy, though wounded and flying with difficulty, took to the air once more. Its astonishingly sharp eyes glowed with hatred.

“You’re really tough.”

Zaid took a deep breath, but his eyes sparkled.

“Valia,” he called out to her.

Valia laughed. “This is my moment!” she roared from somewhere on the battlefield…

Immediately…

[You have killed Tiger Cub…]

[PE earned]

[PE earned]

The system’s notifications covered his face as, somewhere on the battlefield, a fiery star began rapidly killing the cubs she had left dying, biding their time.

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

Zaid felt the surge of energy course through his entire body.

Level 19.

Level 20.

His strength increased dramatically, and the energy surrounding him grew more intense.

The harpy noticed too late. It had already pounced on him.

Zaid looked at it and waited.

He didn’t attack right away… he simply waited.

When the moment was right, Zaid vanished. His body appeared in front of the harpy’s head, and his daggers danced once more.

The creature’s head was instantly mangled, and blood spurted out like water gushing from a large pipe.

Zaid clung to it and slashed at it all over, striking its blow after blow until it was on the verge of death. Valia leaped from somewhere to finish her off. The enormous body crashed to the ground.

[You have defeated the Boss of the Harpy Eagle’s Underground Dungeon…]

[Harpy Eagle has been defeated.]

[Bonus on the way…]

The system sprang into action immediately, just as Valia began devouring the massive body of a harpy.

Zaid took a deep breath. The battle wasn’t over yet.

The cubs and golems kept attacking.

Zaid and John were bleeding and wounded. They had already run out of potions.

Zaid widened his eyes and gave them the last potions he had.

Their wounds had healed, but they didn’t have much energy left.

“Just focus on killing whatever I throw at you,” Zaid told them, and the slaughter began once more.

It took him more than four hours to clear everything out.

The battlefield fell silent when the last pups fell and the golems stopped coming out.

Erick slumped down. “Shit, I never want to come to a dungeon like this again,” he complained.

John collapsed next to him, lying down on the ground. He was gasping for breath.

“Hah… hah… I agree,”

They were covered in wounds once again. Potions are good, but they can’t work miracles. And they’d already run out of them.

Zaid laughed. “There’s no glory without hardship,” he said.

“That’s easy for you to say…” Erick and John grumbled, but they didn’t want to say anything more. They felt like they were running out of air and would die if they kept going.

Then, a loud sound reverberated around them, accompanied by a slight tremor.

Erick and John jumped to their feet. “What? Don’t tell me it’s not over yet…”

Zaid frowned and looked behind him—toward where Valia was eating.

“It’s Valia,” he murmured.

The three of them ran over… She had put on a little weight, but she was bursting with energy.

Her eyes were closed, and she seemed to be gaining strength rapidly…

“Is she going to ascend?”

They watched from the side without disturbing her.

Zaid sensed that she was growing stronger. ‘Will she be able to advance to the next rank?’

The creature’s energy entered Valia’s small body, coursing through her being several times and purifying her energy. She grew a few centimeters. Her aura became denser—more powerful.

Her spiritual fur began to take on a much more defined and powerful appearance. Her presence changed completely.

Other than that, not much changed. Her hair became shinier and purer, but her energy stabilized a few minutes later.

She opened her eyes.

Zaid could sense that she had grown stronger.

She flew over and stood in front of him.

“Did you make any progress?”

“Yeah, I reached the Prime Stage,” she replied.

Zaid nodded.

“But I don’t think I’m far from the next rank,” she said immediately afterward.

“Really? That fast?”

“It was a good beast, very intelligent,” said Valia.

“Is it the compatibility?”

“Yes.”

Zaid nodded. ‘I’ll have to find her more highly compatible beasts,’ he thought.

He looked at Erick and John. “What level are you guys at?” he asked.

“Level 18,” Erick replied.

“I made it to 13,” John said.

Zaid nodded thoughtfully.

Considering everything they’d gained, coming to this dungeon had been an amazing move.

Valia had advanced to the Prime Stage, climbing several stages along the way. She was close to Rank C, or Gold Rank, on the spirit scale.

Erick leveled up from around level 14 to level 18—probably close to 19, considering he killed a lot of tigers toward the end.

John, even though he’s the slowest, leveled up through levels 10, 11, 12, and all the way to 13. That’s an impressive rise.

If someone had told John he could level up that much in just one day, he wouldn’t have believed it.

He looked at his own level…

Level 20, with some PE saved up for level 21.

He had killed more than 115 beasts on his own and had helped kill more than 400 beasts. With the help of the PE bonuses from killing so many in a row, all of that resulted in a massive level-up.

But not only had he leveled up incredibly fast—managing to gain 9 levels in a single dungeon—he had also managed to farm enough ME to replenish practically everything he’d used just a few days ago.

[ME: 52,300.]

Essentially, 520 stat points earned in a single short dungeon run.