Chapter 53 – General of the Underworld (３)

Leaving Libre’s words behind, Gijun slowly pushed open the tunnel entrance.

Inside was an earthen burrow.

Where it led was impossible to tell, but the compass pointed straight into its depths.

Gijun glanced back and signaled to Amalta. Amalta crept forward, muffling his presence as much as he could.

“I’ll go in first.”

“Got it.”

“Libre. Link your senses with mine, like last time.”

[Agreed.]

If the compass was right and traps lurked inside, Gijun alone wouldn’t make it.

But if Libre linked her senses to his — just like during the fight with Manta — he calculated she could guide him past the traps and all the way to the General’s chamber.

In that instant —

[Your senses have been linked with Libre’s.]

The moment Libre and Gijun’s senses merged —

Gijun’s senses sharpened to a razor’s edge.

Feeling as though his eyes and skin had spread across every inch of the tunnel, he stepped inside.

Hoo…

The damp, musty air slid over his skin.

Absolute darkness—not a single ray of light breached it.

He cast a single Fireball.

As small as he could make it.

The sphere of flame pushed back the shadows.

Inside the tunnel, nothing stirred.

Only an endless corridor stretched before him, vanishing into the black.

Then a message flickered into view.

[Seeker-Exclusive Achievement triggered.]

[Shortcut Breaker]

– Break through the shortcut.

– Time limit: 20 minutes.

– Reward: Collar of Annihilation

Collar of Annihilation…?

He had no idea what it actually was, but a strong instinct told him it would be invaluable inside Tartaros.

Twenty minutes.

From everything I’d experienced so far, twenty minutes was an impossibly short window. No doubt about it.

But now that an Achievement had appeared on the horizon, the greed was unavoidable.

“Hnngh.”

Gijun watched Amalta sink into the tunnel entrance, then spoke.

“Amalta.”

“What is it?” The dwarf’s voice was wary.

“Stay close and follow my steps exactly.”

“…What are you plotting now?” Amalta’s unease was thick in the air.

Before he could utter another word of protest—

Gijun took a step forward.

Let’s go.

His senses were fused with Libre’s now, sharpened to a razor’s edge. He could feel every hairline shift in the cave’s pressure, every stray draft. Nothing escaped him.

“Just memorize where I put my feet, and you’ll be fine.”

“Ah—right, got it.”

With that, Gijun picked up the pace.

“Wh-What the hell…!” Amalta’s voice cracked behind him.

*

Ten minutes.

Roughly ten minutes had bled away since they entered the shortcut.

So far, so good.

Every trap, every hidden pit — he’d threaded through them all without a single misstep.

Amalta, however, was sweating bullets at the rear.

“I almost died. Twice.“

Unlike Gijun, whose perception had been pushed into overdrive, Amalta had to rely purely on memory — mapping Gijun’s footprints with his eyes, planting his boots in the exact same patches of dirt. One slip, and he’d be impaled.

There had been mistakes. Amalta nearly stumbled into a pitfall and came within a hair of a crippling injury.

Even so, the two of them had made it this far in one piece.

“We’re almost there.” Gijun’s voice was low, certain.

He could feel it now.

The exit of the shortcut — it was close. Just a little further.

In that same moment, something shifted inside him.

Finally.

Mana Handling’s Proficiency had jumped to B-Grade.

[Mana Handling]

>Grade : Legendary

>Allows the user to move mana and condense energy.

>Proficiency : B

>Magic Attack +100%

>Casting Speed +70%

>MP Consumption -50%

>Skill Range +120%

>Form Transformation

B-Grade Mana Handling. The existing benefits had naturally scaled up.

That was expected.

But there was a new option now.

Form Transformation.

Form Transformation?

Another window materialized before his eyes.

One that carried the details of the new ability.

[Form Transformation]

-Transform the shape of a single skill.

-Additional options are granted based on the transformed form.

-MP Consumption: 130% of original skill cost.

-Skill to Transform: —

-Form Storage: —

-Transformation Options: —

Ah.

Just like its name — the ability to reshape a skill’s form and grant it new properties.

This is good.

Gijun sank into thought for a beat.

I’ll start with Fireball. Transform its shape.

It made sense — Fireball was his main offensive skill after all. Its form should be the first to change.

The shape… I’ll make it into a spear.

The shape of a spear.

Put simply, a fire spear.

Fire Spear was a 3rd-Circle flame-aligned spell.

Which meant he’d found a way to mimic a 3rd-Circle spell with a 1st-Circle one.

‘A direct upgrade to Fire Bolt.’

Fire Spear was exactly that — superior to the 1st-Circle Fire Bolt in every respect.

A fast projectile, devastating power, and piercing force all rolled into one excellent Skill.

‘If I could fire five of those at once….’

The combat utility would be immense — that went without saying.

Gijun went ahead and added options to the form transformation.

– Transformation Skill: Fireball

– Stored Form: Spear

[Recording Spear-form transformation data onto Fireball.]

[Additional options granted based on the transformed form.]

>Range +30%

>Projectile Speed +30%

>Piercing Power +50%

‘Oh…?’

The moment the transformation options surfaced, Gijun’s eyes went wide.

‘This is insane?’

The effect was far better than he’d expected.

Range and projectile speed, plus 50% piercing power.

“I like it.”

Gijun smiled with satisfaction as he looked at the message floating up.

“Why are you grinning again?”

Amalta eyed him warily, his voice edged with unease.

“You’ll see.”

It was the plain truth.

Soon enough, Amalta would find out too.

The change that had come over Gijun.

‘Soon, Fireball’s Proficiency will level up, too.’

A gut feeling told him it was about time Fireball’s Proficiency ticked up.

‘Let’s move.’

Gijun picked up speed again and started moving.

Before long, they reached the end of the shortcut.

But.

“They don’t plan to let us through easy, do they.”

“Doesn’t look like it.”

At the end of the shortcut.

A massive hound stood blocking their path.

[Lv. 200 Guard Dog of the Fortress]

A beast with two heads.

It was a monster that called to mind Cerberus from Greek and Roman myth.

‘Perfect.’

But Gijun laughed instead.

‘Time to test out a new Skill.’

Transformed Fireball.

The moment had come to show it for the first time.

“I’ll handle this.”

With that, he stepped forward.

Amalta felt a chill.

‘What the hell is he up to now?’

He could feel it instinctively now.

That bastard was about to pull something insane again.

And that ominous feeling became reality.

The conjured fireball itself was fine—just like always.

But then, in that instant, the fireball began to transform.

“What in the…?”

It was the shape of a spear.

Barely a meter long—too short to really call it a spear.

But the form was unmistakably that of a spear.

What’s more, the flame-forged spear was spinning furiously in place.

“Dangerous.”

Amalta felt it in his gut.

This new form of magic was profoundly dangerous.

Of course, the sphere-type magic had been threatening enough.

When it struck, setting aside the sheer power of the flames, it felt like being smashed by a boulder—the impact alone was brutal.

But this? This was something else entirely.

The moment it touched him, a premonition flashed through his mind: his entire body would be impaled, helpless, crippled on the spot, unable to even resist.

“What a monstrous bastard…”

Amalta trembled again.

If he’d made an enemy of that kid? The thought alone was a nightmare.

And no one in the world could attest to that better than Amalta himself.

Unbelievable combat sense.

And a rate of growth so rapid it made even that combat sense pale in comparison.

‘If it’s really this guy…’

The thought flickered through his mind now, that maybe—just maybe—this one could take down the Monarchs of the Underworld and free Tartaros itself.

At that same instant—

Whrrrr!

The new-form Fireball streaked across the air.

Incredible speed.

The original Fireball had been fast too, but now, reforged into a spinning Spear, it was like watching a beam of light cutting through the void.

In the blink of an eye, the Fireball crossed dozens of meters and pierced the Guardian of the Fortress.

Thwack! Thwackthwackthwack!

Impaled by five Spear-form Fireballs, the Guardian didn’t even register what was happening to its body.

And by the time it did register, it was far, far too late to mount any response.

Krrraaaah!

With its entire body perfectly skewered, it couldn’t move at all.

Worse, the spots the Fireballs had punched through were exactly its joints.

Which meant he’d calculated every movement precisely.

But that wasn’t the end.

An explosion bloomed from each spot the Fireballs had pierced through.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

A blast vast enough to shake the entire underground.

But Jun was clever.

He’d already used Strong Wind to weave a barrier around the Guardian’s body, preventing the explosion from reaching the outside.

Within that wind-screened cocoon, the explosion compressed and compressed again, battering the Guardian over and over.

Grrrk… Grrr…

By the time the blast ended, a single attack had left the Guardian’s body in tatters.

It had lost all will to fight, no longer daring to charge at Jun.

What remained was almost ridiculously easy.

Jun cast his Skill once more.

Strong Wind.

Swoosh—

Wind rose inside the tunnel, sealed off from the outside world, and wrapped itself around the Guardian of the Fortress.

The layers of Strong Wind stacked one after another now filled the entire space and then some, its range so vast and its power so dangerously refined that it felt like a storm unto itself.

A wet, shredding howl cut through the air — Rrrrrip!

The Guardian Dog of the fortress was carved to ribbons in an instant.

And that was it.

That was all the breath left in the beast.

Horrifying.

Amalta shuddered again at the fight—finished before it could even truly begin.

Gijun lifted his gaze, a satisfied smile tugging at his lips.

[ You have broken through the Shortcut! ]

[ Seeker Achievement reward obtained! ]

[ Necklace of Annihilation ]

– Equip Requirement: Level 100

– Grade: Unique

– +25% Bonus Damage against Dark-attribute enemies

– +23% Damage Reduction against Dark-attribute enemies

Not bad.

The reward item was a Necklace of Unique grade.

The level cap was 100, so he slung it on immediately.

And the options—he was more than pleased.

It carried bonuses for bonus damage and damage reduction against Dark-attribute enemies.

This’ll come in handy in Tartaros.

Especially with a fight against a General just ahead — he couldn’t have asked for a better drop.

Anyway, the real fight starts now.

A General of the Underworld.

He had no idea how strong the bastard would be, but beyond this passage lay the bastard’s domain.

“Brace yourself.”

Amalta nodded at Gijun’s words.

“Right.”

And so the two of them pushed open the Shortcut’s door and began climbing upward.

*

Around that time.

Outside Tartaros, a fierce debate was raging.

[ Is that Manta thing ever coming out or what? ]

[ How do you even get Manta’s Jewel? ]

[ Anyone made it inside Tartaros yet? ]

Word had spread that getting into Tartaros required an item called Manta’s Jewel.

Only no one could find the monster named Manta anywhere.

[ Ranker guilds hoarding it for themselves? ]

[ Nah, they’re lost too — don’t know how to get in. ]

And that was true.

Even the players from the big guilds were wandering around, unable to locate the monster called Manta.

Complaints to the devs were met with silence.

The new content called Tartaros was spiraling deeper into a labyrinth with every passing moment.

Then, a rumor began to spread.

That the bastard called Manta had appeared — and been hunted down.