Chapter 141: The Thirtieth Floor
The attacker’s sharp claws flew toward Lee Shin as the other challengers approached him.
‘There are definitely more beastmen around,’?thought Lee Shin, recalling how his opponent’s feet had transformed into claws.
He immediately created a shield in the air, which possessed both softness and strength.
Bang—!
"Ugh!" The claw failed to do anything—a surprising yet annoying outcome for the challenger.
The claws had pierced the shield as if it were soft jelly, but they got stuck, as the shield had instantly solidified.
[Ice Spear]
While the challenger struggled to free their claw from the shield, an ice spear materialized from Lee Shin’s fingertip and pierced the opponent's side.
‘Since my Health Point decreased, my speed has also decreased.’
Using a single thunderbolt would have been easier to defeat the opponent instead of using multiple spells. However, when the stats had reset to 100, his Mana Power and Intelligence had also significantly decreased. Therefore, he had to distribute his mana very well.
In the meanwhile, the challenger had broken free of the shield and was trying to escape, so Lee Shin grabbed his ankle. If his Strength, Health Points, and Agility had been on equal grounds, he would not have to rely solely on his magic.
‘Because I have insufficient Mana to start with, there’s no need to waste it unnecessarily.’
Woong—
Grabbing his opponent's ankle, Lee Shin swung him toward a nearby tree. Then, with a thud, the opponent's body slid down the tree bark.
"Damn it... I chose the wrong person to attack," muttered the challenger, with blood trickling down his mouth.
The challenger glanced at Lee Shin and clenched the dirt on the ground. Lee Shin looked at the opponent and smirked—what the beastman would do next was obvious.
The opponent quickly scattered the dirt in his fist. However, it wasn’t as simple an attack as it sounded. He had used the wind to increase the intensity of his attack.
Hurriedly raising his arm to protect his eyes, Lee Shin looked up. The challenger was desperately flapping his wings, trying to fly away from him.
"You stupid bastard! You shouldn't have let your guard down until the end! Kahahak!" The challenger sneered, thinking he was home free.
However, Lee Shin did not even feel annoyed; he just laughed at the challenger’s antics.
[Hunger will strike after an hour.]
Hunger was a critical problem to solve on this stage. Without finding and combining enough food sources, survival for even the next 15 days was impossible. Luckily, the Growth Island was filled with various plants.
‘Besides, the truly delicious and beneficial plants are hidden in hard-to-reach locations.’
Lee Shin’s eyes flashed as he looked at the challenger attempting to escape. Just as the challenger was about to change direction and increase the distance between them, a long branch suddenly extended from a towering tree and caught the challenger.
Swoosh—!
"Krahhaaack!" The sudden ambush startled the challenger, so his scream reached far.
‘It’s over there!’
The tree was close to Lee Shin and contained ingredients that could alleviate the impending hunger. So, he kicked the ground to move toward it.
‘Is it this tree?’
Drosophiles, carnivorous plants that attached themselves to trees at least 30 meters high, captured and consumed flying organisms using their hidden tentacles. Finding them on the outskirts of Growth Island was usually challenging, but thanks to the challenger who had fallen prey to one, it became much easier to locate them.
The next moment, Lee Shin put his hands on the tree and released his mana.
[Flare]
Lee Shin ignited the tree from the top to prevent the fire from spreading to the surroundings.
Whoosh!
The rapidly rising flames engulfed the Drosophile clinging to the tree. These creatures disliked heat, so it would soon fall from the tree to escape the fire. And Lee Shin waited for just that. As the flames engulfed the Drosophile, the creature dropped from the tree.
‘Now is the time!’
A long tentacle and a sac containing digestive fluid popped out from the creature. When placed in a hot environment, Drosophiles placed their digestive fluid sack outside to maintain their temperature.
Lee Shin slashed the air, and a Blade of Wind was created along its trajectory, severing the creature's sac of digestive fluid.
Splash—!
The digestive fluid drenched the Drosophile itself. The branches and leaves of the creature, which begin to dissolve rapidly, wriggled violently. Apart from the dozens of branches, there was also a swollen entrance in the central body, which seemed to be its mouth.
"Kr...ugh...." Drosophile gasped.
When Lee Shin looked inside, he noticed that the challenger had lost his feathers and looked dazed.
"Please help… me..." the challenger asked Lee Shin in pain.
The challenger could not move his body easily because the digestive fluid also acted as a paralyzing agent.
"I'll let you go without much pain," Lee Shin muttered.
A wind blade materialized on the tip of Lee Shin’s finger and brushed past the challenger's neck.
[You have killed a challenger.]
[Your Agility has increased by 2.]
[Your Mana Power has increased by 300.]
The challenger’s corpse collapsed. Lee Shin’s gaze turned toward the Drosophile, still drenched in its own fluid.
‘I'll have to let him be for now.’
If Lee Shin had a sword, he would have stabbed and killed the creature, but without that and magic, there was no way to kill it. Drosophiles were not the kind of creatures that the first-day challengers could handle. Although it was weakened due to the digestive fluid, killing it would require much mana.
‘Ah… this stat reset sure is a pain.’
However, it was nothing compared to when his memories returned on the first floor.
[Lee Shin]
# Class: Death Ruler
# Status: Sealed - Unlock Level 3 (Details*)
# Title: Details*
# Health Point: 20000/20000
# Mana Power: 17150/20300
# Strength: 100
# Agility: 102
# Intelligence: 100
# Dominance: 100
# Divine Power: 23
# Luck: 8
# Divinity Class: 3
# Chaos: 2
# Skills: Details*
Lee Shin’s Strength, Agility, Intelligence, and Dominance had dropped significantly. This stage was very advantageous for those with many special stats compared to those who focused on developing their ordinary stats.
‘But, it won’t affect me much since I have the Divinity Class and Chaos.’
Looking at his stats reminded Lee Shin that he was much stronger than others now.
‘Hmm…’
The easiest way to locate that place was to climb a tree, but that was no different from jumping into the maws of death. Even with his current stats, dealing with all the Drosophiles hiding in the trees would be difficult.
‘First, I’ll move along the coastline.’
Lee Shin did not have to worry about getting lost. He needed to swiftly go to the coastline to find the hidden monument, the piece concealed there.
‘There, I'll also get my first kill.’
Lee Shin turned around and faced the nearly lifeless Drosophile. It had been severely weakened and had lost a substantial amount of strength.
[Fire Ball]
Whoosh—!
Lee Shin shot a fireball from his palm, which engulfed the Drosophile, turning it into roasted meat.
[You have killed the Drosophile.]
[Your Health Point has increased by 300.]
[Your Mana Power has increased by 300.]
[Your Strength has increased by 1.]
[Your Agility has increased by 1.]
[Your Intelligence has increased by 2.]
[You are the first one to kill the Drosophile.]
[You have acquired a rare chest.]
A small chest materialized above Lee Shin's hand; faint blue light trickled from its cracks. Without haste, he opened the chest.
The blue light spread in all directions, illuminating the surroundings. Even though it was midday, the blue light was visible.
‘These bastards…’
The blue light emanating from the chest served as a beacon, drawing the attention of those nearby. It indicated that someone had received a reward, which would lead to a competitive frenzy as everyone would try to get their grubby paws on it. Additionally, the light's color indicated the reward's class, allowing onlookers to discern its value at a glance.
Despite knowing this, Lee Shin had opened the box. In fact, that was why he had targeted the Drosophile as soon as he had seen the first challenger. While he was briefly lost in thought, the light had disappeared, and a new item appeared above it.
[Portable Regis’ Tent]
This is a tent made of Regis’ leather. Regis, which feeds on plants, emits a scent that repels plants.
# Plants will not approach the area near the tent.
‘Great.’
Lee Shin could not spend 15 days without sleep, constantly on guard. This meant that he had to find a shelter. Thankfully, he obtained a fairly decent item.
The chest often yielded useless items. As a result, many people failed to obtain anything useful and only attracted unnecessary attention.
‘This is probably due to Luck.’
With a Luck stat of 8, Lee Shin knew it was a rare attribute that was difficult to obtain and even harder to develop. He believed that few on the island had a high Luck stat like his.
Lee Shin immediately cut down some sturdy tree branches and tied the ends of the tent. He then hung the tent over his shoulder.
‘Now I just have to wait for them to come.’
Lee Shin used the dead Drosophile as a chair and sat atop it.
Whoong—
Only the gentle sea breeze blew, and there were no other signs of life.
After sitting still for about five minutes, Lee Shin finally stood up and lifted the Drosophile’s tentacles. The Drosophile was even larger than Lee Shin and had dozens of branches extending from its body. Also, its skin was a runny, gooey mess after getting digested by its own digestive fluid.
By now, the sections of its skin that Lee Shin’s magic had burned had cooled down. So, bits of its skin gradually fell off.
"Great," Lee Shin muttered with a satisfied look.
He grabbed the part of its skin that was coming off and yanked it, peeling it all in one go. It revealed the tender flesh inside the thick branch.
"The thick skin of Drosophilas hide behind them such soft and delicious flesh," Lee Shin muttered, munching on the tender flesh.
It contained an adequate amount of moisture and carbohydrates. Just five of these Drosophile’s branches were enough to satisfy the hunger that would soon come. After devouring five branches, Lee Shin patted his belly and reposed on the floor.
"Damn it, if only I weren’t full, I could have eaten more to increase my Health Point…” Lee Shin muttered and soon closed his eyes to rest.
He breathed softly as if he was about to sleep. Then suddenly, he opened his eyes wide and looked around.
"Wait a second, I need to hide this first," said Lee Shin.
Muttering to himself as if in soliloquy, Lee Shin quickly got up and grabbed the remaining branches of the Drosophile.
Swiiish—!
Lee Shin bent down to pick up the pieces. And milliseconds before he had bent down, a sharpened wooden stem had been flying toward his neck at supersonic speeds. The stem missed him narrowly because he had bent down.
“What was that?” Realizing that something had passed by behind his neck, he looked around with a bewildered expression.
While he stared blankly at one spot, another wooden stem flew toward him.
"Huh?" Lee Shin was surprised.
Crack—!
Simultaneously, another challenger of a different race, with a mane, emerged from the thickets and intercepted the wooden projectile. However, before Lee Shin could even thank him, he swung his sharp claws at Lee Shin.
Woong—! Baam—!
A large fireball abruptly flew toward them, engulfing them. As the flame disappeared, the challengers hiding around in all directions revealed themselves.
"Krrrr... these bastards." A lion-like challenger extinguished the flame, growling.
"Get lost, you idiot, if you don’t want to die.” The elven challenger responsible for the wooden arrows from before pulled back the bowstring with a contemptuous expression.
"Tsk, there are too many challengers targeting the reward.” A yellow-haired boy walked out from between the trees, shaking his head.
Four challengers, including Lee Shin, were in the area now. His gaze was fixed on them, but his senses were focused elsewhere.
‘There are two more hiding.’
Thanks to that brief confrontation, Lee Shin could sense their presence because they had also activated their mana. He didn’t know if these challengers were more skilled than the ones before him, but they seemed quite cautious.
‘There aren't as many challengers as I thought would come.’
There was a high chance that those seeking his chest had clashed and disappeared. That meant the ones here had overcome that competition. With his mana points at 16,000, it wouldn’t be easy to face them all.
This island was unpredictable, and anything could happen at any time. If he exhausted all his power at the very beginning, he would not be able to survive until the end.
‘There aren't as many enemies as I expected, but it doesn't matter. I'll let those guys fight among themselves first and then seize the opportunity in the chaos.’
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