Nameless King

When Wain went inside, he saw a golden temple that looked like a pantheon. There was only a dome covering the entire area.

"It looks epic, but so much gold... What a tasteless thing." Wain muttered and headed toward the temple.

The Ring of Damned glowed bright green, and a pack of cigarettes appeared in his hands. Wain pulled out an engraved lighter and, in a second, held the cigarette to his mouth.

He felt the heat seep into his body and his lungs burn. For a normal person, such a thing might even have been traumatic, but it was what Wain needed.

Wain exhaled a puff of smoke that turned into an ingot.

Wain walked forward slowly and looked around. Wain was not invincible, and so he was wary and waited for an enemy to appear at any moment. The battle with Hana had taught him that he could die despite his stats.

However, as he walked toward the golden temple, nothing happened. The ground around it was lifeless, and beyond the dome was nothing but emptiness. All there was to this Dungeon was a huge temple.

Wain walked past the tall columns with decorative carvings and approached the gates. They were open, and footprints were visible on the floor as he expected.

"Great, they've already gone part of the way for me. I'll have to follow them, and soon I'll have the second part of the map and more." Proclaimed Wain and went inside.

Wain also wanted a reward for clearing the Dungeon completely. He had only been in the Dungeon twice so far. It was Crypt of the Demonic Ants and Muddy Waters. He killed all the monsters the first time and even met Mimic, but he was interrupted by a sudden World of Darkness challenge.

He had a different goal the second time than completely clearing the Dungeon of monsters. Moreover, Muddy Waters was too big a location. Wain didn't have as much time to search and kill every monster to the last.

The first room of the temple was empty, with nothing but a massive crystal chandelier. It shone brightly and illuminated everything around it.

Wain was alert, however, he saw signs of battle. There were several scratches on the walls and floor and many pieces of gold lying on the ground. He didn't know what kind of monsters lived here, so he was prepared for any outcome.

'Hmm, not a single bloodstain or scraps of torn clothing. Either the monsters they fought were weak, or the head's group is pretty strong.' Wain thought.

Tremble.

When Wain reached the middle of the room, he felt the room begin to shake. Wain braced himself for a fight, for he thought an enemy was about to appear, but after a few seconds, the trembling subsided.

Wain sighed, "Damn, the shaking was because of a fierce battle elsewhere. Caution is never unnecessary, though."

Sometimes Wain mistook some sounds or rustles for danger, but it turned out to be a common coincidence.

He shook his head and walked on, but just as he took a step, a loud clicking sound was heard.

"Fuck, why does it always have to be like this?" Cursed Wain was looking at the pressure plate he stepped on.

The slab was impossible to see since it was also golden and blended in with the general background. Wain could have accidentally stepped over it, but he was out of luck this time.

Whoooosh.

A multitude of golden debris began to morph into a single creature in the next moment. It looked like a massive three-meter tall guardian with a huge shield. Wain snapped his finger, and a dark sword appeared beside him. He was ready to attack.

Roooooaaaaaaaaarrrrrr!

Suddenly the monster roared furiously and stomped its foot with all its might. The whole room shook, and Wain swung his arm. The dark sword flew toward the enemy, but suddenly a crystal chandelier fell on the monster with a crash.

Hundreds of crystals shattered into small pieces, and the monster would be buried under the massive chandelier. It tried to get up, but a dark sword cut off its head, and a blue soul flew to Wain.

[Soul of Golden Golem (Destroyed)

Chronicle: First

Rating: Rare]

"Sometimes it's pretty hard to tell whose side fortune is on." Wain muttered and crushed the soul.

[You have acquired the Soul Essence of Golden Golem level 21.]

[You ger Rare Rating Spiritual Box]

'This monster was level 21. That's a pretty high rating. It looks like this chandelier was not just a decoration but also a trap. Otherwise, the golem wouldn't have cared about it.'' Thought Wain looking at the blue box in his hands.

Every time he received a Spiritual Box, he got excited. It was like a roulette wheel in a casino. He was curious what he would get this time.

Wain opened the box, and inside, he saw a small triangle-shaped figure.

[Golden Prism (First Chronicle, Rare Rating)

When you use this item, it flies into the air and collects and accumulates Soul Essence from the environment for five seconds. Then the prism glows brightly, and lethal rays shoot out from the triangle's vertices.

The prism also begins to rotate, gradually speeding up and becoming more chaotic. This will last for ten seconds, after which the prism will explode. The blast radius is ten meters.

Powerful enough to deal lethal damage to any enemy with a Stamina less than 130, the explosion can damage even enemies with a Stamina greater than 170 points].

"Not bad. It's a strong item." Said Wain and moved the gold figurine into the ring.

Then Wain headed into the next hall. He passed through a massive archway and froze in shock for a second.

The first hall showed signs of battle, but the second was far worse. Wain felt as if he were in the butcher's workplace.

The golden walls and floor were covered in blood, and even a few pieces of flesh were lying around. Many craters were located throughout the hall and large shards of gold. Wain was used to the sight of blood, but he didn't expect to see such a dramatic change suddenly.

Moreover, the smell of blood was so strong that even Wain was uncomfortable with it. He cautiously took a step forward, but suddenly he heard something.

Cough.

It was a cough. Wain turned around and saw a tall man in the corner of the hall, sitting in a pool of his own blood. He was seriously wounded, had multiple cuts on his chest, bleeding, damaged internal organs, and missing his right arm. With wounds like that, it was almost impossible to survive.

Wain approached him and asked, "What happened here?"

The man was still alive, but he was struggling to breathe. He struggled to raise his head, and seeing Wain said,

"Have you come to help? Who are you...?"

"Yes, I came to help, and that is the most important thing. Where are the others, and what kind of carnage happened here?" Wain asked quickly.

Wain wanted to get as much information as possible, and he realized he didn't have much time. The man in front of him could die at any moment, so he was in a hurry.

The man nodded, "Terrible creatures attacked us... They were half gold and half flesh... We didn't expect them to be so strong... Some of us were badly hurt..."

"I see. Where did they go?"

The man looked toward the next passageway and wanted to say something, but suddenly his eyes went blank. At that moment, his heart stopped beating, and life left him.

"Shit!" Wain cursed and stomped his foot as hard as possible, cracking the golden floor.

He headed for the next hall but turned around and walked over to the dead man.

"Though a little, you helped me." Wain muttered, and a white bullet appeared in his hand.

Whoooosh.

Wain threw it at the ceiling, and a multitude of debris collapsed on the man, gradually filling him up. He was buried under the gold, and it is his tomb as well as his crypt.

...

In the next three halls, the situation was calmer. They were similar to the first hall, where there were also signs of battles. Wain did not encounter any monsters, as all of them were already dead.

After a while, Wain arrived in a huge hall, and there, the bloody scene was repeated. Moreover, he saw the bodies of three people. They were torn apart as if they were fighting a horrible wild beast.

There were claw marks and craters from explosions on the walls. In one place, there was a large amount of gold debris.

'Most likely, this debris was formerly the monsters that had put up this gruesome battle. They've lost four people already, maybe even more. I wonder how many people are in their group?' Thought Wain and looked around.

Unlike the last, this room had no passageways to other rooms, but Wain quickly found where he needed to go.

Behind the mountain of golden rubble was a long altar. Underneath it was a staircase leading down. Initially, the passage had been closed, but the group checked all the options and found a hidden path.

Wain smiled and stepped forward. The descent was dark and very long. It was lit by only a few dim torches faintly burning yellow flames.

After a few minutes, Wain saw a narrow passage in front of him. He entered it and then looked around. Next to him were five different passageways, each leading in a different direction.

"I see, there's a labyrinth under the temple that complicates things..." Mumbled Wain looking at the golden brick walls.

Wain could get lost in the maze just like anyone else, but that wasn't the problem. If he chose a different path, he would probably end up somewhere else and not cross paths with the group. That development didn't suit him.

He had to catch up with them, or at the very least, meet them on the way back to take away part of the map.

"Hmm, in that case, I'll have to force my way through. Right?" Mumbled Wain and, with all his might, struck the wall of the labyrinth.

However, the brick walls suffered no damage because the golden floor began to crack last time because of his stomping foot. Instead, the brick at the point of impact glowed brightly, and then the same thing happened to the other bricks until they went out.

"Damn, it looks like this labyrinth was created with a special technique. These bricks absorb the force of the impact and divide it among themselves. In that case, if I don't have enough power to destroy all the bricks with one blow, I won't be able to punch a hole in the wall."

Wain could use one of the forms, but he wasn't sure it would help in this situation. Code of Light and Darkness made each of his aspects stronger, and he became a versatile fighter with good speed, attack power, defense, and survivability.

Cursed Swordsman and Blind Sorcerer didn't fit either. The forms had special skills, but they weren't powerful enough to take out every wall in the maze in a second.

Wain shook his head and took a cigarette from his pack. He lit a cigarette and headed to one side. Wain didn't know where to go, so he chose at random.

He tried to find traces of the group, but he had no luck. He needed special skills or equipment to track them.

Wain wandered through the maze for about an hour. He hit dead ends dozens of times and tried several tactics to get through the maze during that time. However, nothing worked for him, and he finally decided to go randomly.

This annoyed Wain, but there was nothing he could do about it. He walked forward, smoking and pondering the present situation.

After a while, the passages became wider, and Wain smiled. He quickened his stride and ran forward.

This labyrinth was uniquely constructed. Usually, all the passages in the labyrinth were the same width and height. Also, there was always only one way out of the maze, but this one was different.

There were several right paths in this labyrinth, and further narrow passages widened and became much larger. Moreover, they eventually led to one point.

In the tunnel in which Wain was, no one has passed yet. The group of Twilight Steel had taken a different path and might have already reached their final destination.

Wain smiled. He now finally had a target, and he saw his enemies.

"Great, it's time to have some fun." Proclaimed Wain, and a dark sword appeared beside him.

He stared intently at the dozens of golden skeletons in the distance. They walked slowly through the tunnel from side to side. They had all sorts of weapons. Some had swords, axes, or hammers.

The Golden Skeletons were rather weak monsters, but they were many, and that was their main advantage. Even weak creatures could defeat a stronger one if they teamed up. What's more, the Golden Skeletons had special abilities for that.