Much of the dungeon passed with Lev smashing golems with growing ease. Things got a little dicey when he had to deal with two guards and two gargoyles at once, but he pulled out all the stops at that point.

  Dozens of arrows put down the gargoles well before they could reach him. For the guards, Lev decided to dual wield Stargazer and his mace. Whenever both of them got close, he launched mana slashes to keep one occupied while smashing in the head of the other. His movements were awkward and inefficient but the amount of mana he used made up for it.

  Lev was currently waiting for his mana to regenerate again a large distance away from the recent corpses. Counting his cores, he had killed a total of 23 golems so far.

  How long has it been since I started? Lev wondered. There was no way to track time under the countless tones of stone. Doing some mental calculations, he realized it had at least been three days.

  The boss monster has to be coming up soon.

  Slowly advancing, the cave opened up into a large cavern. It was only a quarter the size of the final cavern he had trained with Drakys in. The other end and ceiling were visible far into the distance, and so were all the monsters occupying the cavern.

  These monsters were similar to gargoyles except their skin looked more like kobolds with cracks running through it. Their color too, was much darker, a dark grey with hints of blue.

  Lev's attention however, was occupied by only one of them. With four large and sharp wings, it constantly surveyed the cavern several dozen meters above ground. The other two dozen monsters in comparison, were simply loitering around with hollow eyes.

  Of course I have to meet a commander of a monster that I've never heard of. Marvelous, Lev exhaled in exasperation while backtracking. Sniping them from afar seems like the safest option if things go wrong. If they're not that dangerous, I can leave some alive to practice against.

  With a rudimentary plan ready, he spent a few more minutes considering his next actions. Since dungeon monsters were sensitive to mana usage, Lev would only have a little time to prepare everything.

  Four enchanted shields to block their attacks. I'll use my bow for the commander if needs be.

  In a single second, four shields enchanted with durability formed in front of him as Lev flew out into the cavern. Contrary to his expectations, they all screeched but none of them charged him.

  Wary, Lev slowly trickled mana into all his movement related abilities and ascended higher and away while he Identified them.

  [Imp Commander - Level 189]

  [Imp - Level 161]

  [Imp - Level 162]

  …

  Mana suddenly coalesced in the palms of each imp, and Lev found himself bracing against more than two dozen fireballs.

  He darted to the side to avoid as many as he could. The shields followed, their movement crisp due to the mana flooding them. Over 10 fireballs landed on the floating shields at once, blowing them away yet the fireballs all failed to even crack their surface.

  Lev had no time to rejoice. Stargazer in hand and charged to the brim, he tensed all his muscles and swung in a horizontal arc. The explosion from the previous attacks had yet to clear when his glaive met the commander's claws in the dispersing flames.

  The clash blew the fires away, revealing a large wing aiming to amputate his right arm. Mana reinforced his armor to the limit yet the wing still cut through the barrier armor, before stopping dead on the illusion armor.

  Holy shit, the thought echoed in Lev's head as he disengaged, surprised at the near-loss of his arm. The rest of the monsters were about to reach him too, which was not ideal.

  Dozens of arrows formed behind him as he made distance, each filled with a combination of lightning and fire mana. Gradually yet as fast as he could, he launched them at the chasing monsters.

  Some of them were dodged but most of them found their mark because of the sheer speed of his projectiles. Seven imps dropped to the ground from the explosions and lightning electrocuting them, yet Lev only received two notifications.

  More arrows found their mark on the slow monsters without any further kills before the commander was on him again. Lev was wary of the monster's glowing claws, and his hunch was proven right when three incredibly sharp slashes of fire mana flew at him from up close.

  Two shields were cut in twain by them as before Lev blocked them completely with the haft of Stargazer. The glaive held up admirably without even a single scratch.

  Lev went on the offensive this time, firing an overloaded lightning slash at the monster lunging at him. The attack landed with a loud crackling explosion, and Lev descended on the falling stunned monster before any of the other imps reached him.

  Stargazer bit into the commander's neck, digging several inches deep into its stone-like body. Lev released another slash inside its neck with great difficulty, losing visual on the monster in the explosive process.

  Any further attempts to capitalize halted when three fireballs landed on his reinforced armor. Lev didn't have time to stabilize himself when several imps grabbed him with their clawed hands.

  One of them tried to bite his arm but Lev imbued his armor with lightning, stunning all of them in the process as his mana manipulation guided all the lightning mana towards their hands.

  Stargazer flashed, and three heads flew from shoulders. Arrows and two new enchanted shields formed behind him as Lev flew close to the cavern's wall. Fireballs flew at him, all of them blocked by his shields, before more imps came close.

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  Since the commander was still far below and slowly getting up, Lev focused his all on the ensuing melee. Aerial combat against so many enemies was an entirely new experience for him.

  With the extreme freedom of movement, Lev danced around the monsters with his vastly superior speed. When they got close enough to grab him, he simply imbued lightning in his armor and disposed of the stunned monster.

  Their durability was considerably higher than most monsters of their level but that was no an issue when he could simply smack them in the path of his arrows. Where Stargazer failed to cut deep, his arrows were much more effective at shattering their damaged bodies.

  Most of the imps had fallen when the commander reached him much earlier than expected. Lev failed to notice the fire mana imbuing the monster's wings in time, only barely avoiding a collision at the last moment.

  Preoccupied with dodging, a large overcharged fireball flew up from underneath and hit him head-on.

  Lev's world turned into a world of pain and heat as the explosion engulfed him, searing his skin and hair but not much beyond that. His armors both strained but held against the blast, the only things that saved his life.

  A fierce kick from behind launched him toward the ground. Lev was prepared for that, and several arrows hidden by the flames of the explosion launched themselves at the commander before it had any time to react.

  [

  You have slain [Imp Commander - Level 189

  ]

  Hehe, idiot.

  Pain was easy to deal with, at least for him. The rest of the imps faltered, giving up on any ranged attacks as they all charged at him, frothing at the mouth from unbridled rage and insanity. Lev righted himself mid-air and turned to face the monsters. Three large lighting slashes put an end to them all.

  Breathing heavily, Lev inspected his body. The burns would heal easily, but the pain in his flesh and bones from mana overuse would remain for a while. It didn't help that Lev could feel that the next encounter was against something much stronger.

  Storing the illusion armor into his ring, Lev pulled out a healing potion and drank it. The effects showed themselves after a few seconds, and they were just as intense as the first time. He didn't even know how many places his body was bruised or damaged in before the potion started healing them all.

  Minutes passed in silent torture before he felt hale and whole again.

  That sucked, Lev concluded. But at least the burning from mana overuse is gone.

  Just one gold for such a potent potion was definitely a wise decision, Lev thought. No doubt the mistcrawler dungeon was going to be much scarier than the current dungeon. The potions would be monumental there.

  Checking his mana, it was surprisingly still over 60%. The constant increase in his Wisdom attribute was doing wonders for his fighting capabilities.

  [

  You have slain [Imp - Level 155]

  You have slain [Imp - Level 156]

  …

  You have slain [Imp Commander - Level 189]

  Mana Tempest has reached Level 155

  Advanced Mana Manipulation has reached 2nd Level 9

  Rapid Infusion has reached 3rd Level 1

  ]

  The new 3rd rank provided no new bonuses. Disappointing, but expected.

  Imp cores turned out to be mundane monster cores. Decent for practice and Classer equipment, but nothing anyone would use in creation for equipment lives depended on.

  Lev harvested them all nonetheless. The market for cores was extremely large, and he had only scratched the surface so far.

  Hours passed as Lev meditated in the cave several minutes away from the imp cavern. His mind replayed all the fights he had won in the dungeon so far, finding all his flaws and shortcomings to focus on.

  None of that would be helpful in the boss fight, though. Lev planned to go in guns blazing and end it as quickly as possible. If the difficulty of the dungeon so far was any indication, Lev simply could not win without cheating with his insane mana pool.

  Strangely enough, he could only sense an aura up ahead without being able to measure its strength. It was stronger than him for sure, but nothing beyond that was decipherable.

  With four shields, heavy mace filled with earth mana to be imbued at any moment, Stargazer, and all enchantments double-checked, Lev slowly glided deeper into the dungeon.

  Nothing attacked him for a long while. He remained tense and prepared for anything unexpected but he only had frayed nerves to show for it. The boss monster's aura was still the same, somewhere far ahead and stationary.

  I think I should turn back… The thought wormed its way to the surface of his mind. Lev stopped and gave it some serious consideration.

  Monster auras, at a level similar to his, were nowhere near strong enough to be felt from so far away. Lev could only come up with a singular explanation for it, and that was the aura being spread through the stone surrounding him. That was rare, enough so that Lev had never heard of it, but there was no other explanation in a level 180 dungeon.

  That already told him about how difficult the fight was going to be. Only, Lev refused to head back.

  From the very start, he had an incessant desire to become stronger. There was no rhyme or reason to it, only an itch that could never be fully scratched.

  That same itch was acting up again. Just from that alone, Lev now knew something was very wrong with the instance from the start. Being level 180, most monsters would be at most 10 to 15 levels higher.

  That was common knowledge that would've applied here too if Hakim hadn't specifically told him to clear the dungeon. Lev had concluded that levels were simply higher because the golem dungeon always acted oddly.

  That belief was currently being challenged. Hakim would never send Lev to his death, and the monster up ahead felt like it could very much kill him.

  If worst comes to worst, I'll fly all the way back to the portal.

  To prepare for that possibility, Lev backtracked all the way quickly and formed over four dozen enchanted shields and chains at different intervals. No point in taking any chances if it came down to fleeing.

  There was nothing else he could do. Leaving infused mana behind would just damage the container and eventually break free or dissolve into ambient mana.

  Steeling his resolve, Lev flew forward to challenge the boss. The cave changed slowly, going from dark gray stone to bright ivory over time. By the time he reached an opening, everything was illuminated by dimly shining ivory walls.

  Lev was observing the large cavern, smaller than the imp cavern, when the boss's aura spiked. All thoughts of fighting evaporated but before he could even turn around, the cave entrance was filled in with ivory stone, blocking his only chance to escape death.

  Slowly, limbs shaking from fear and panic, Lev gazed at the humanoid face that had emerged from the cavern wall opposite him. It had appeared soundlessly without a single trace of mana. The only indication was the sudden increase in intensity of its aura, something Lev's mind was still struggling to comprehend.

  This is a level 180 dungeon… The thought was shaky in his head, yet the situation was begged to differ. The boss monster, at most, should've been level 225. That was how dungeons worked, and how they should've worked for him too. And yet…

  [?? - ???]

  … I suppose running into something too strong was inevitable with all my overconfidence, Lev thought with a nervous, shaky grin. There was no turning back now.