Assimilate All Talents

The wraith burned its own soul, causing irreversible damage to itself, but in return, its spectral form rapidly reformed and doubled in size. Its claws grew much larger than before, allowing it to easily destroy the incoming sand spears.

Before the wraith could rampage further, Sol used [Ground Shrink] to appear behind it, following up with [Phoenix Dive]. He slashed upward, and although it wasn’t strong enough to cut the wraith in half, it sent the creature soaring into the air. Sol’s upward swing carried him up as well, and he flipped his sword, slamming it downwards with all his might to complete the skill’s movement.

Caught in the downward slash, the wraith was unable to retaliate as they both slammed into the closed stone jaws, sending jagged rocks flying in all directions. Amber stood still as the rocks passed harmlessly through her body because she had turned herself into sand. She quietly put her daggers away as she saw the system notification announcing the results of the fight.

[You have slain a Lv 94 Nether Wraith! Gained 4,517,300 Exp (300%)]

Sol climbed out of the rubble with a sheepish grin.

"I couldn’t use [Siphon] in time…"

Because he had slammed the wraith directly into the ground, the dungeon’s automatic absorption of corpses took it away immediately. Normally, he would have cast [Harden Earth] to prevent that, but the unexpected variance in the undead had caused him to forget.

Amber leaped up onto the rubble and made her way to him. When she reached him, she tapped the top of his head with her palm, somewhat stiffly. "Next time."

In the face of her awkward attempt to comfort him, Sol did his best not to laugh or tease her, no matter how cringe-inducing it was. It was progress, and the last thing he wanted was for her to close herself off from everyone.

Instead, he smiled and patted her head back. "Thanks."

After their brief moment, Sol explained what he had learned from this encounter and shared his theories.

"I might be wrong, but I think every monster from here on out will have some kind of incomplete law technique—and they won’t be the same ones either."

Amber nodded, already assuming that was the case.

"What bothers me is why it’s not mentioned in the dungeon guide. The status page of the Nether Wraith we fought was the same as the one recorded, but there’s no warning about these potential abilities. I’m sure it was done intentionally."

The only difference the dungeon guide noted was that the monsters’ levels increased by four per floor instead of two, which most considered an insignificant change. After all, one, two, or even in extreme cases, ten levels of difference didn’t matter much at these later stages. Skills and abilities were far more important, and the attribute difference could be covered with attribute enhancing skills.

The dungeon guide didn’t mention these crucial details because they were related to the secret of becoming an A-Ranker. It was the same for floors past 30, where true A-Rank monsters resided. The guide detailed the status page but omitted information about law techniques and other vital details.

This lack of information had indirectly led to the deaths of countless B-Rankers and even some A-Rankers. But it served as a way to cull the numbers of rogue and criminal A-Rankers who unknowingly entered an A-Rank dungeon to gain levels, only to encounter incredibly strong monsters. A-Rankers with ties to organizations or nations like the Adventurers Guild or the Crestelia Kingdom didn’t have to worry, as they would be informed of this ahead of time—or at least, they should be.

Because Sol was supposed to be overseeing the test, Zaman didn’t think it was relevant to the matter at hand. If he had known, he would have given him the Royal Knight’s dungeon guide, which contained all those details, including a list of all known incomplete law techniques and the law techniques certain monsters might possess.

It was vital for those diving into these deeper floors to study the guide ahead of time to be prepared for all sorts of unique abilities the monsters might wield. But fortunately for them, there was a way around that.

"Regardless of the reason for the omission of information, we can keep going. I’ll disable their incomplete law techniques as fast as possible, and then we can take care of them easily."

Using the last fight as a benchmark, it took Sol about 7 seconds to disable the Nether Wraith’s incomplete law technique, but only after identifying which skill he had to target. Overall, the process took 15 seconds, which might not sound like much, but Sol and Amber could attack a hundred times in that span. It also required a lot of concentration, so until he improved, Amber would need to keep the monster’s attention while he focused on manipulating the enemy’s string.

"Okay." She accepted the dangerous role without hesitation, confident in her abilities.

Though she wasn’t durable in terms of defense or vitality, she could negate most damage by turning herself into sand and reforming. Even then, she was too fast to be hit normally and could create a large number of sand soldiers to keep the monsters busy.

With a plan in mind, the two began running once more through the dungeon, a place most would approach with caution and navigate slowly with care. The duo only had a week to get through ten entire floors, they didn’t have time to take it slow, nor did they need to.