Assimilate All Talents

Renard, unable to move while under the effects of [Barricade], saw spikes of rock and marble erupt out of nowhere targeting the woman with a rapier and the long armed man. The two were caught by surprise as the woman had a spike penetrate her leg while the long armed man managed to get out of the way in time.

The two mages were shocked at the earth spikes and began to move to help their friends, but the moment they did spelled their doom. Amber appeared behind Tristan and stabbed directly into his neck. The earth mage was unable to even scream as his lungs filled with blood; his team was completely unaware of his plight as their attention was focused on the raging fire and earth spikes.

Unable to do anything, Amber finished the man off with one more well placed stab in the heart. Leaving before the man's body hit the ground, Amber repeated the same attack on the wind mage, finishing her off as well without any noise and retreated back to stealth.

By the time the fire from [Heat Wave] died down and Renard was freed from his skill, two of his friends were already dead and another injured. No one saw who did it, but they could all guess it was the woman who was nowhere to be seen.

They weren't able to process the death of their comrades as Sol amped up the attack, charging towards Renard with his flame sword. The shield and elemental blade clashed with Renard's eyes shooting open with surprise at the fact he was losing in a contest of strength.

Renard yelled in frustration. “Shit! Help me!”

His teammates wanted to help but had to focus on watching their surroundings instead. They knew if they created the smallest of openings, that assassin would do the same she just did to their mages. The injured adventurer was even reluctant to drink a health potion in fear that would be enough to incur an attack.

Under such conditions, the two could only watch as their friend was attacked by Sol helplessly. Under Sol’s onslaught of attacks, eventually, Renard’s shield became nothing more than scrap metal. Sol was about to deal the finishing blow, but he hesitated.

‘Do I really need to kill them?’

Though it was but for a single moment, Renard noticed the opportunity and took it. With the remains of his shield, he threw them at Sol, hitting him in the stomach. It didn’t do any significant damage, but it pushed Sol back far enough that it gave Renard some breathing room.

Freed from Sol’s attacks, Renard tried to back up to join back up with his allies. As he was moving back, Amber came out of invisibility and stabbed him in the back. Although Renard had full body armor, Amber could attack the gaps in his armor with unparalleled precision.

Now that the two adventurers could see Amber, they immediately jumped in to save their friend. The combined effort of the three made it hard for Amber to dish out any substantial damage.

This all happened within a few short seconds, and when Sol recovered from being knocked back, he saw Amber being cornered by the three adventurers.

‘Now isn’t the time to hesitate!’

Sol used [Ground Shrink] to near instantly appear next to the adventurers and Amber and used [Cross Slash] on Renard and the long armed man, creating a large gash on both of their bodies.

“Guhah!”

“Grahh!”

Both of them stumbled backward, but Sol didn’t let them have any breathing room. Sol released an onslaught of skills on the two men as Amber targeted the lone woman with the rapier.

Sol finished Renard off this time with [Fell Cleave] as Amber killed the woman. The long armed man, being the last of his team alive, screamed in anger.

“YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! YOU WON'T GET OUT OF HERE ALIVE!”

“Funny. I was thinking the same thing.”

Sol raised his sword as he slashed downwards at the man, but just before the blazing sword could make contact, a bright light flashed in all directions, blinding Sol and Amber.

Next thing the two knew, the long armed man was mysteriously gone.

Sol was confused. “He didn’t have any skills for escaping… How did he get away?”

Unable to find the man with [Mana Perception] and with no tracks to follow with [Wild Hunt], Sol had no idea where the man went. The two stood in the aftermath of the battle, with four bodies laying on the ground, not knowing what to do.

This gave Sol even more questions. “Why aren’t the bodies disappearing?”

Everyone knew that all who died in the dungeon were consumed by it, but for the first time, Sol was seeing this not be the case. With so many questions, Sol decided to stop trying to make sense of it all and instead think of what to do next.

“Amber, let's loot the bodies.”

If the bodies weren’t going to disappear, it meant they could obtain all the items that would have normally disappeared without any issue. Sol also took the chance to [Siphon] the skills from the dead adventurers.

[Mana Efficiency] leveled up! (7 -> 8)

[Counter] leveled up! (3 -> 4)

Learned [Piercing Lunge] Lv 5

[Piercing Lunge] Lv 5: Condense mana to the tip of your weapon and lunge forward, penetrating through most defenses. 150% increased damage. Mana Cost: 30

‘Does less damage than other skills but can easily go through armor. Not bad.’

Not long after they were both done looting the bodies, the ground rumbled, and the dead adventurers were absorbed into the ground.

Seeing the bodies disappear, Sol now knew what was the cause of the dungeon's delayed reaction.

‘That earth mage's spell [Harden Earth] temporarily makes it impossible for the dungeon to take away bodies.’

Sol siphoned the magic skills of both mages to learn new spells and in turn discovered why Tristan began the fight with that spell. It was so when they killed Sol and Amber they could loot their bodies.

Thinking of how fast they were to cast the spell and their actions as a whole, Sol clenched his fist.

“These people… have done it many times before…”

Amber turned to him not knowing what he was talking about. She understood it was about killing other adventurers but didn’t understand why it angered Sol this way.

Sol didn’t bother to elaborate his feelings. “Forget it, let's just go to the next floor.”

…

Near the entrance of the 13th floor, a blinding light shined, illuminating the dimly lit area. Two adventurers who were guarding the camp of the large group saw this and hurried over.

Arriving, the two men see the long armed man heavily wounded.

“Holy shit… Is that you, Omar?”

Omar spat blood and looked at them.

“Of course, it's me you idiots! Get me a potion!”

The two scrounged through their belongings and quickly gave him the best potion they had. Drinking the potion, Omar’s wounds began to rapidly close, and he thought back to what just happened.

‘FUCK! Made me use the damn life saving item! I’ll make you two pay!’

Not waiting for his wounds to finish closing, he spoke to the two adventurers.

“Give me a damn communication crystal!”

One of the men handed over a crystal they had for emergencies. It began to gently vibrate in Omar’s hands as a voice answered from the crystal.

“What happened?”

“My team is dead, but you won't believe what I found.”