"That's it!"
William would never forget the judgmental looks he received after saying that.
"DAMN IT, THIS BASTARD IS ENJOYING THIS!" He saw who shouted first.
It was the same old man he had seen in the dining hall when he first arrived at the shelter. Now he was wearing several pieces of armor and holding a huge broadsword. William looked at him and saw that his level was 9. He was surprised, but didn't say anything.
"We have to get this man out of the shelter! My precious seedlings are covered in zombie drool because of this bastard!" Another man, who looked to be the same age as the old man, spoke.
With these words, the crowd suddenly became noisy, with everyone shouting, and none of the sounds were pleasant.
"All right, all right!" Joseph came over and tried to quiet the people down.
"SHUT UP!" Thinking that his first move and shout weren't enough, he had to raise his voice with Ley this time.
"William is the backbone of our shelter! Would he create such a storm of his own will? He chose a class related to ley, and because it contained so much ley power, he created such a storm. You can't blame him for that! There's no guarantee that you won't create such a storm when you evolve one day!" Joseph pointed at each person in the crowd and shouted.
"Also, be happy! We have no losses tonight, and even the lowest level among you has reached Level 4! In short, this is a celebration! Now, everyone get back to work!"
William saw that after these words, the people bowed their heads, albeit muttering, and walked quietly.
The first task was to clean up the corpses in New Telldure. They were loaded onto trucks and dumped in empty fields to the south.
Next, they had to clean up the farmlands and the edges of the walls.
The zombie corpses smelled awful.
The stench of rotting flesh couldn't even be buried in the ground most of the time.
When the people had left, William approached Joseph and thanked him.
"It's nothing, it's nothing, it's my duty. The truth is, tomorrow someone else could come along and cause the same scenario, so don't feel guilty. But you have to pay for the trouble you caused."
Joseph held out his hand. "Give it. You must have saved up quite a bit of money by now."
William smiled. "Actually, that's what I had in mind. I'd like to be of some use to the shelter."
William sent a trade request from the system screen. It was his first time doing this.
Two windows appeared before his eyes. One was his, and one was Joseph's. Items could be placed inside the window, and there was also a money window at the bottom.
William focused on it and entered the amount he wanted.
"Aren't you going to accept it?"
When he turned his head and looked at Joseph, he thought he was sweating coldly, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets in surprise.
"Doctor! Call the doctor immediately!" William shouted to Edmond, the most familiar person he could see on the sidelines.
Edmond rushed over and held Joseph from behind.
"What happened?"
William shook his head from side to side like a dog, "I don't know. I sent a trade request and then this happened?"
"Is he in shock?"
Edmond frowned and looked at Joseph. As a soldier, he knew first aid, and Joseph's movements showed that he was completely healthy.
"Is he in mental shock?"
As he was thinking this, Joseph came to his senses. "Okay, okay. I'm fine, I'm fine."
Joseph entered 1 SC on the trading screen in response to William's message.
The trade was completed, and Joseph quickly walked away.
"What happened?" William frowned and looked after Joseph.
"I don't know. What did you trade with him?" Edmond frowned. There had to be a reason for Joseph's strange behavior.
"Money... I only gave him 100 million SC. I didn't think he would feel so bad. Should I have given him more?" When Edmond didn't respond after William spoke, William looked to his right.
He saw that Edmond had fallen backward and fainted.
"Doctor! Is there a doctor?"
...
Two days passed quickly, and after the feverish work of a thousand people, the remains of the zombie wave were cleared away.
Despite this, Joseph was on alert and increased the number of guards for threats that could come from the north and west.
Today, they had gathered at the beginning hotel. Because now they had a target. A target that needed to be cleared.
Open Dungeon No. 34. Today, it would be cleared.
Led by Joseph, with William on his right and Marcus on his left, they entered the open dungeon.
Not many people joined them this time because they could now estimate their levels fairly accurately.
They calculated the power needed to defeat the Captive Prince Boss.
Nine people at level 13 would be enough. Of course, they would still have a hard time in the boss's second phase.
Six people at level 14 and finally three people at level 15.
Currently, the group consists of Joseph, William, Marcus, Eliza, Mick, Min-Jun, and Kim. Mick was the lowest-level member of the team, but since he took on the role of tank, he was able to provide sufficient defense even against zombies that were a few levels higher than him.
After killing the floating zombies in the first stage, William asked. "Is this really necessary? I can kill that captive prince by myself."
"This is a team effort, do you understand? Team. First, we'll kill him together and see what the rewards are. Then we'll kill him with fewer people. After that, you can try killing him by yourself. Our goal is to see how the rewards are distributed."
Joseph shook his head. He thought William had been very talkative lately.
Only he and Edmond knew how much money he had received from William. He had kept it a secret from everyone and had begun to systematically build the necessary buildings for the city.
Some might have been suspicious, but no one asked any questions, which made him feel at ease and allowed him to do his job easily.
Now his main goal was to completely solve this dungeon.
It would be best if he could clear the dungeon without the help of Marcus and Eliza.
Moreover, he wanted to know if what Saleem had said was true.
The timer problem. How many hours had to pass before the dungeon boss could respawn after being killed? It was important to know this.
Their next targets were the field bosses. The unknowns were starting to bother him. With William so powerful and by their side, he wanted to learn everything there was to know.
Shortly after, the seven of them arrived at the entrance to the third stage.
"Looking at that guy still gives me the creeps," said Mick.
He was right. Even William felt the same way, despite his great strength.
There was a problem, but he didn't know what it was. He had come to the edge of this place hundreds of times before, but he hadn't cared. Because he didn't care. He didn't care about the rewards and experience points the boss could give him. He could earn that experience by killing a few first-level zombies.
"Are you ready?" Joseph asked. Everyone nodded, and Joseph took a step back.
William was the first to take a step forward.
The moment he entered, he could feel every ounce of the captive prince's presence. Yes, it was powerful, and the advantages given by the system were numerous, but it wasn't enough.
After everyone else entered, William drew his twin swords.
"1st Stance: Crossed Curse!"
William crossed his swords and swung forward without waiting for everyone else to prepare.
The horizontal ley wave emanating from his sword instantly reached the captive prince, slicing open two huge, bloody gashes in his abdomen.
The cuts were so deep that William could see the prince's spine.
Then William didn't stop, lunged forward, and roared again.
"2nd Stance: Vertical Grief!"
This time, the cut created by the ley wave was even more deadly. The area from the creature's shoulders to its legs was completely covered in blood.
The creature looked at William haughtily.
It looked angry. Its eyes glowed golden, and despite all the pain, it pulled out its hammer and swung it forward.
William was very close, and there was no way to escape this huge hammer blow.
So he raised his twin swords and crossed them in front of him.
"4th Stance: Sunset Guard!"
A huge shield appeared in front of his sword. The blue ley shield had no corners, it was just a slightly slanted circle.
"BOOOOM!" The moment the hammer hit the shield, William's hands trembled a little, but that was all. That was all the effect it had.
William changed his stance again.
"3rd Stance: Horizontal Wrath! William swung his swords in opposite directions. He swung the katana in his right hand from his left arm and the katana in his left hand from his right arm.
The result was unbelievable. This time, the ley wave that came out of the swords was almost twice as strong as the previous one.
William was already very close to the captive prince.
As he swung his sword, the ley wave struck.
The captive prince's chest was split open, leaving a huge gash that almost reached his back.
The captive prince then staggered back a few steps.
William wanted to attack at this moment, but he waited.
He had heard that this was the captive prince's second phase. So he wanted to see what it was like.
Then he saw the creature transform from an emotionless zombie into an angel.
"Your wings are beautiful," he said, and William couldn't wait any longer and lunged forward.
At that moment, Marcus and the others had also arrived.
They had awakened from the shock of William's immense power.
They unleashed all their strength and charged forward.
Marcus swung his massive mace with all his might at the creature's chest, which had been healed by stones.
Joseph had already appeared behind the creature and was silently making a stabbing motion.
Mick just shouted "Attack!" and fired his pistol at the creature's body.
Eliza was preparing a Ley Bolt attack much larger than the one she had done before.
Kim was gathering Ley Energy at the tip of her sniper rifle, trying to make it as powerful as a cannonball.
Min-Jun's eyes were glazed over, only the whites showing, and he swung his large sword down toward the creature's head with all his might.
All of their attacks came at once! It was a sight to behold. The abilities they used were all different, and when they shouted, it looked like something out of a fantasy game.
Marcus shouted, "Seal of Judgment!"
Joseph shouted, "Silent Ritual!"
Mick just shouted, "Die!"
Eliza shouted, "Ley Bolt."
Kim just whispered, "Zero Breath..."
The coolest name belonged to Min-Jun. "Soul-Shattering Blow!"
William liked all of these names and laughed like crazy.
He saw that all of the attacks hit at the same time, leaving the creature's body almost unrecognizable.
At that moment, he couldn't contain his excitement anymore and shouted, pointing both of his swords toward the ground, holding it upside down.
"5th STANCE: SUNRISE FANG!"
The color of the Ley emanating from his sword was red this time. The wave was so massive it left all others behind. It looked just like two fangs of a snake.
It struck the creature vertically at an extreme speed. It appeared suddenly at the creature's center and sliced it in two.
"ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" The creature's angry screams echoed through the third level of the dungeon, but only seven people heard them.
The sound had not reached its intended destination.
Then, suddenly, the creature's body turned into pieces of white light and disappeared, and a countdown appeared in the middle of the third stage.
"Saleem was right." Joseph laughed.
He looked at the countdown.
"23:59:51"
Exactly 24 hours. A nice countdown. Then everyone heard a notification.
"Congratulations! You have defeated the Captive Prince Boss in Open Dungeon No. 34! EXP +11000"
"Rewards are being distributed!"
"Atredeus' Bracelet x1"
William looked carefully at the bracelets.
[Atredeus' Bracelet Lv11 (Epic)] SET 1/8]
[Power +5% (+10% SET1/2)]
William looked at the bracelet, which glowed slightly with a purple light. Atredeus' bracelet had a dazzling elegance. Bright green jade stones were strung together like prayer beads and skillfully threaded onto a thin string. When wrapped around the wrist, it created an air of both nobility and mystery. Each of the stones glowed slightly thanks to the Ley energy flowing through them, and with each step, they struck each other, emitting a faint sound. The large stone in the center of the bracelet was surrounded by thin gold rings, and a small circular symbol engraved on the surface of the stone seemed to hide a hidden secret belonging to the bracelet's owner.
The longer William looked at it, the more he admired it. He also thought it went well with his black and white outfit.
"It's really beautiful." He then looked around and examined the other award winners. Everyone had won something, good or bad.
"Did anyone win epic equipment?" William asked everyone.
Everyone shook their heads. No one had won epic equipment like him.
"I won blue equipment, and it says SET1/8 next to it." It was Kim who spoke.
He was holding a gray, metallic helmet with wing embossing on top.
"Let me see." They immediately made a trade, and William got the helmet.
[Ley Guardian Helmet Lv11 (Rare) SET1/8]
[Ley +3% (Ley +12% SET1/4)]
"I see." William then returned the helmet.
"The sets are also divided into smaller sets." He showed the bracelet in his hand. "For example, this bracelet requires two pieces to complete the small set effect. For the large set, all equipment pieces are required."
Everyone nodded as if they understood. The goal was now to come here at the same time every day to kill the creature and collect the set.
"I want to come here at the same time every day and complete this epic set. I will use it for as long as I need it, and when it no longer contributes to my power, I will give it to the shelter."
William announced this to everyone, and no one objected. With William's rate of improvement, they thought he would be leaving that equipment set behind soon anyway.