Chapter 193

  After desding into the sewers, Jake opted to spend some time expl them instead of heading straight to the dungeon door. Following the city upgrade, all the monsters had grown more powerful, including those residing in the sewers. He wao gauge how much strohey had bee and whether ypes of monsters could now be found in the dahs.

  Over the few hours, Jake roamed the underground tunnels, sying their uling inhabitants. It turned out that the System’s area upgrade hadn’t introduced any new monsters in the sewers, but the two existing types of monsters—mutated rats and devourers—had bee signifitly stronger. Still, Jake was much better prepared for the area upgrade than the regur survivors were, so while battling the sewer monsters was undeniably more challenging than before, they still didn’t pose much of a threat to him.

  For a while, Jake wahrough the sewers, taking down all the monsters in his path. The mutated rats, a bizarre blend of rats and kangaroos and as rge as the tter, charged in numerous groups. In trast, the devourers, resembling alligators but with the size and physique of grizzly bears, were solitary creatures.

  Jake employed a range of abilities in the fights against the mutants, mostly relying on cws, smashfists, and bded tentacles. Since he had the Skeletoashed in his mouth, he refrained from using Acidic Spit to avoid melting the key. At some point, he discovered that Spikes were extremely useful when dealing with pautated rats. Upon activation, numerous long spikes erupted from his body—his legs, arms, and even his head became adorned with them, jutting out far from his form. These spikes were not only long but also remarkably durable, proving to be impressively hard to break.

  Jake liked to sprout the spikes from his body when a group of mutated rats surrounded him from every dire. Arick he enjoyed was running into the middle of a horde of monsters, activating the ability, and impaling the unsuspeg creatures. Sihe spikes sprouted from his body at a moment’s notice, the mutants had no time to react. Those lucky enough to evade being impaled scattered in every dire, keeping their distance from him afterward, hesitant to get too close. In these situations, Jake also made use of an upgrade that allowed him to unch the spikes like missiles, sending them flying in all dires. Although they didn’t travel far, they struck the mutants with enough force to kill them. It was definitely a useful and fun ability, but since each use ed a hefty k of his mana, Jake refrained from using it too often.

  He traversed the underground tunnels for a while, following his usual routine of sying its inhabitants. At some point, he gained a level.

  You have gained enough XP to level up. Your level has gone up from 78 to 79. You have gained 5 SP.

  Jake took a moment to sider where to allocate his skill points. With none of his skills or abilities having reached 100% yet and all avaible upgrades already purchased, the only optio was to improve his attributes. He thought for a sed and then assigned his skill points.

  Body: 70 → 72

  Mind: 70

  Magick: 70 → 73

  He tio wahrough the underground tunnels, killing monsters and gaining XP until finally, there were no more enemies left. It was time to head to the dungeon door, but before doing so, he took a moment to review his stats.

  Name: Jake Turner

  Race: Ex-Human Morphus

  Evolution Stage 2: “Savage Ast”

  Level: 79

  HP: 98%

  XP: 4,755/10,000

  SP: 0

  MP: 164,986

  Body: 72

  Mind: 70

  Magick: 73

  Cws: Rank III (44%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Swords: Rank III (37%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Bded Tentacles: Rank III (38%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Mind Reader: Rank III (10%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Smashfists: Rank III (29%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Gravity Leap: Rank II (45%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Cloak: Rank II (51%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Acidic Spit: Rank II (12%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Spikes: Rank I (11%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Serpentine Form: Rank I (16%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Enhanced Senses: Rank III (40%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Enhanced Agility: Rank III (42%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Enhanced Intelligence: Rank III (51%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Enhanced Reflexes: Rank III (38%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Enharength: Rank III (33%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Enhanced Regeion: Rank III (31%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Feral Instincts: Rank III (24%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Enhanced Durability: Rank III (29%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Adhesive Secretion: Rank III (15%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Toxic Resistance: Rank I (15%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Adaptive Armor: Rank I (8%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Finally, he reached the massive, ored door that led into the dungeon. It didn’t look any different from before. The t double-leaf metal door was adorned with intricate patterns, and a rune was etched in each of the four ers. A relief sculpture depig the skull of some kind of demonic creature, plete with sharp fangs and long horns, protruded from the ter.

  The door didn’t have a handle, only a rge keyhole. Jake opened his jaws and tilted his head forward, allowing the Skeletoo fall from his mouth. He extended his hand, catg the key ly in his palm. The top of the key was crafted in the shape of a demon’s head, strikingly simir to the demonic sculpture that jutted from the ter of the dungeon door.

  First of all, he issued a mental and to appraise the door, prompting a piece of text to materialize in his mind.

  he Maze of Torment

  Floors: 5

  Reended Level: 80-100

  The reended levels for the dungeon were 80 to 100, a signifit increase from the previe of 15 to 20. The number of floors remaihe same: five. Jake couldn’t help but notice that, at Level 79, he was one level below the minimum reended level for this dungeon. Would it bee a problem? Would the dungeon prove too dangerous for him? Probably not. However, it was too early to think about that anyway. Being a mutant, not a regur survivor, he might not even be allowed to ehe dungeon. One point in favor of that theory was that he had never mao find a Skeleton Key by himself and had resorted to stealing one from Los Demonios.

  So, it was time to find out if the System would allow him access to the dungeon. He ied the key into the lod tur. A loud click reverberated as the lock disengaged. Instantly, the ru each er of the dan to glow with an eerie red light. The eyes of the demon skulls at both the ter of the door and the tip of the Skeleton Key also fred to light, glowing crimson. Jake sensed a faint hum emanating from the door ahe air crackle with electricity, the telltale signs that magic y. He waited a moment, staring at the massive glowing door before him, but nothing else of note happened.

  He pressed his palms against both leaves of the door and pushed. At first, the door seemed to resist, but then it began to yield to his pressure. Drawing on his inhuman strength, he exerted a mighty shove, and the dungeon door swung inward, wide open.

  Jake remai the same spot for a moment, gazing into the imperable bck void beyond the open door. The darkness was so deep that even his nearly perfeight vision failed to reveal what awaited him inside. Jake couldn’t help but wonder why the dungeon was given that partiame. Was it named so because it was extremely dangerous and hard to plete? Or was it simply a thematic choice, featuring medieval-style corridors, torture chambers, and all the cssic elements one would expect from a cssigeon?

  In any case, the path to the Maze of Torment now y open before him. He crossed the threshold and stepped into the darkness of the dungeon.