Record of a Thousand Lives

The fifth floor of the Chimera Dimension was the strangest. The sun, moon, and stars were all up in the sky at the same time, and a galaxy flowed through the floor.

Sally smiled brightly and scooped up a handful of stardust in both of her hands. She ran toward Kang Yoon-Soo and exclaimed, “Papa! Papa! Look at this! It’s really pretty!”

“It’s fake,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied indifferently.

“Waah!Mommy!” Sally wailed. Shaneth consoled the little girl whose childhood had just been ruined.

Meanwhile, White was looking around trying to spot any prey it could hunt. “Grrrrr…! Rarumakro?”

Space distorted in the distance, and something with a barely visible form emerged. Its shape resembled that of a human, but it had no hair and its body was pitch black; it did not look like a human being at all. What stood out was its right arm, which had a sword embedded in it; the blade that protruded out of the humanoid creature’s hand was very sharp.

The entity’s cracked voice slowly flowed out. “You… stupid… alchemists…”

[The homunculus Ravian (Boss, Level 132) has appeared.]

It was the boss of the Chimera Dimension.

Homunculus Ravian slowly tilted its head, and the wide-open space started to distort.

[Ravian is the entity that controls the Chimera Dimension.]

[You can escape from the Chimera Dimension after defeating Ravian.]

They could no longer take it easy and had to give it their all now, because they could only leave this place after defeating the boss monster.

‘Ravian isn’t a monster you can defeat in one strike,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought. This was a battle of attrition. He raised his right hand and said, “Summon 54 Dark Landworms. Summon 400 Evil Chimeras.”

Several Dark Landworms gnashing their razor-sharp teeth, and a vicious horde of Evil Chimeras, poured out into the room. It was an undead army that numbered close to 500. To them, Kang Yoon-Soo pointed toward the homunculus Ravian and said, “Kill it.”

An intense battle broke out. Sally wrapped both of her hands in flame as she shouted, “Flame Equip!” It was the spell that could imbue weapons with fire.

The undead in the vanguard had their whole bodies burst into flame, but they were not fazed at all because they could feel no pain from the burning. In fact, their attack power significantly increased after they were covered in flames. A landworm and a chimera, both set ablaze, charged toward the homunculus.

“Annoying… weaklings…” The homunculus Ravian cut space open with a downward sweep of its hand, and dozens of chimeras charged out of the opening.

All hell broke loose between the flaming undead and the grotesque-looking chimeras as they clashed against each other. It was a battlefield filled with countless blazing corpses—whether they were moving or not. The chimeras summoned by Ravian used their vines to bind the undead army, but the undead fought using their overwhelming quantity of troops, not based on individual quality.

Kang Yoon-Soo swung his greatsword and cut open the neck of a chimera. Shaneth also cut down a chimera; her strength had been steadily increasing as Ignus’ power fragment slowly integrated into her.

Meanwhile, White charged like a storm toward Ravian; its bloodthirst could not be satiated by the blood of weaklings. “Urnokra!” it cried as it aimed its claws at the homunculus’ neck. Ravian quickly swung its right arm to block the blow.

Clang!

White growled at Ravian before retreating right after exchanging a few blows, realizing that Ravian was not someone it could win against in a one versus one duel. In addition, White realized that Ravian’s sword was not an ordinary sword. A normal sword should have been shattered, but Ravian’s sword was fine even after exchanging numerous blows with White’s claw.

“Ridiculous…” Ravian muttered. It drew a pattern with its left hand, shouting, “Watch, you alchemists…! Watch how terrifying what you threw away has become…!”

Ravian was suddenly surrounded by waves of blue mana that spread out all over the floor. The corpses of the chimeras strewn across the ground suddenly started to twitch. Even the body parts, including a split-open head, a bisected leg, and a severed finger, started to squirm. The corpses and body parts of the chimeras lunged toward the undead and clung to their bodies.

It was at that moment that Kang Yoon-Soo said, “Corpse Explosion.”

Boooom!

“Euk…!” Ravian grimaced. All of the chimera corpses around it suddenly exploded with massive force. The explosion turned every chimera corpse and body part into dust.

‘Corpse Explosion’ was a powerful skill, but constant use of it would immediately drain the caster’s mana. However, Kang Yoon-Soo did not hold back and relentlessly cast one explosion after another.

“Corpse Explosion. Corpse Explosion. Corpse Explosion.”

Bam! Boom! Boooom! Boooooom!

The sound of corpses exploding reverberated across the entire floor.

Ravian looked at Kang Yoon-Soo with killing intent and said, “You punk… You dare hinder my revenge…!” It had been staying behind the chimera army, but now it started to walk toward the front. It pointed the longsword in its right arm forward as if it were thirsty for Kang Yoon-Soo’s blood. However, Kang Yoon-Soo had no plans to fight him head-on.

“Life Drain.” A green aura flowed out of Kang Yoon-Soo’s greatsword and started to drain away Ravian’s HP. Ravian swung the sword in a flurry of rage, but Kang Yoon-Soo simply ran away whenever Ravian got close to him. It was as if he knew what Ravian’s next move was. Then, he began throwing bombs at Ravian.

Booom!

Ravian’s body was swept up in the explosion, and a part of its body was damaged whenever Kang Yoon-Soo threw a bomb at him.

“You cockroach bastard…!” Ravian swung its sword at a chimera beside it, and the chimera shrieked in pain before drying up. As soon as it was consumed, Ravian’s HP recovered, and the sword grew stronger as well.

“You will all… die…!” Ravian started to slash away at all the undead that approached. This was the reason why the boss monster was so scary. It had the ability to use its sword to drain someone else’s HP whenever its own HP ran low. It truly earned its title as the boss of the Chimera Dimension.

Dozens of undead, as well as chimeras, turned to dust by Ravian’s hand. However, Ravian’s HP still rapidly went down because of Kang Yoon-Soo’s relentless bomb-throwing, his use of Life Drain, and joint attacks from the other party members.

Just as the battle was about to end…

“Phew, we’ve finally made it… Heck! What is this?” Lee Kang-Hyun said, his mouth hanging open from shock. The others with him were no different. The battle with the boss monster was much more intense than they had imagined. The whole floor was a mess, with chimera corpses scattered everywhere, and it was as if a war had been waged across it.

“Let’s join too. I’ll provide support from the rear, and you guys take care of the front,” Shin Han-Yul said. The others came back to their senses and nodded in agreement.

“Spirit of the Sword!” The Swordsmen cast their unique class skill and ran toward the battlefield.

While the others were worried about the safety of Kang Yoon-Soo’s party, however, Shin Han-Yul had other concerns, thinking, ‘The boss monster's HP has depleted quite a bit.’

Ravian was visibly tired from fighting, and his pattern of draining the chimeras had been nullified by Kang Yoon-Soo’s continuous bomb throwing. If things kept going as they had, the achievement of completing the hunt and the sword would both go to Kang Yoon-Soo.

‘There’s no way I’ll let that happen.’ Shin Han-Yul bit his lip, then took out a parchment from his backpack; it was a magic scroll for an intermediate-grade spell. A magic scroll that could let one cast a spell just by tearing it was very expensive. He had managed to receive a magic scroll from the clan with great difficulty only after he swore an oath to reach Level 100. He would receive disciplinary action from the clan if he used it carelessly.

‘I don’t have the luxury of being picky.’ He tore apart the magic scroll, and strange mana flowed out from it before gathering in one spot in midair. The mana transformed into a spear that crackled with blue sparks; was the intermediate-grade spell, Lightning Javelin. However, Shin Han-Yul did not stop there and cried, “Mana Release!”

Mana Release was the unique class skill for Sorcerers. It allowed the user to release a portion of their mana to amplify a spell and increase its power multiple times over. The Lightning Javelin grew in size, making it big enough to sweep the battlefield.

‘I can do it with this!’ Shin Han-Yul took aim at Ravian in the distance. There was much ground to cover, but he was confident that he could accurately strike the target.

“Everyone take cover!” he shouted. His party members moved to evade the trajectory of the Lightning Javelin after they heard his warning. He threw the spear with all his might, and it was surrounded with a blue electrical current as it flew across the battlefield. It accurately buried itself in Ravian’s chest.

Bzzzt!

The lightning from the javelin spread out, and black smoke rose from the target. The room was filled with silence as those wondered if the immobile homunculus was dead or alive.

Shin Han-Yul let out a smile and thought to himself, ‘It’s over. I’m sure of it. Heh.’

At that moment, a large hand swiped away the black smoke; the homunculus was standing upright and had not sustained any damage at all. Not only that; Ravian had absorbed the Lightning Javelin and grown larger and more powerful. Its sword was now covered in the same blue current that had once surrounded the spear.

“You foolish humans…! You have chosen death for yourselves…!”

[Homunculus Ravian has absorbed an intermediate-grade spell.]

[The hidden ability of the sword has been awakened.]

[All HP lost has been recovered.]

Shin Han-Yul and his party were astounded.

Magic absorption? There had been no such thing in the quest information provided. The secret weapon Shin Han-Yul prepared had ended up helping the boss monster that was on the verge of being defeated, allowing it to evolve and become stronger.

At that moment, those present all had looks of despair on their faces… except one person. While the others were at a loss about what to do, a single man walked toward the boss monster. Kang Yoon-Soo pointed his greatsword at Ravian.

Ravian scoffed and asked, “You plan to go against me…? Foolish…!”

“You give better rewards after you’ve absorbed magic,” Kang Yoon-Soo said indifferently.

Ravian’s face crumpled in rage as it exclaimed, “You don’t… seem to value… your life…!” It aggressively swung its longsword, but Kang Yoon-Soo ducked and avoided the attack.

At that moment, the silver bracer Kang Yoon-Soo was wearing glowed, and a bright light shot out of it.