Wain could kill the Golden Tiger and receive decent rewards for doing so, but he had issues.

"In my current state, I can't move on... It's problematic..." Wain muttered.

He was bleeding, his body was covered in burns, and some of his organs were damaged. In this condition, he could hardly walk, but if he engaged in combat, he would die instantly.historical

Wain sat against the wall and took a cigarette out of the pack. He decided to rest and wait for his tissues and wounds to recover. He exhaled a blue puff of smoke, which gradually turned into the image of a game and a long string.

Wain's eyes widened with surprise, and he had an idea.

'Hmm, at the moment, my natural regeneration is greatly enhanced due to the effect of Ghost Healing Threads, but this passive skill has an active ability as well. I can regenerate a limb or regrow one of my organs, but the cooldown is a month. Perhaps I can use this ability to heal less serious wounds?' Wain thought.

He didn't think he would soon encounter an enemy that could destroy his arm or any of his organs. So Wain wanted to restore burns, bleeding, and cuts with this ability.

Wain concentrated, and the next moment a needle with a long ghostly thread appeared before him. He smiled as he succeeded.

[You have used the active part of the skill of Ghost Healing Threads. Next time you can do it again in thirty days.]

Whoooosh.

The needle went into motion and pierced Wain's body. It was painful and similar to the way Isabella treated him. The needle pierced every inch of the wounded flesh and the damaged organs.

Wain tried to endure the pain, but when the needle pierced several organs in a second, he could not stand it and scream.

He felt as if he were on an operating table, and several surgeons were stitching up his wounds simultaneously while he was conscious. However, after a few minutes of suffering, Wain felt better.

He watched as the burns rapidly disappeared, the wounds and cuts healed, and the bleeding stopped. When he was completely healed, the needle and ghostly thread flew into his glabella and disappeared.

Wain prostrated himself and headed on his way. Of course, he could have waited for his wounds to heal without using the skill, but he didn't have time for that. He had to hurry and find the second part of the map.

"By the way, where do I go?" Wain muttered.

After killing the Golden Tiger, he thought that a passage would open somewhere, but it didn't. Wain thought about it, and suddenly he heard a quiet knocking. Wain approached the monster's body and, to his surprise, saw a golden heart beating in the tiger's chest.

Wain grinned and plucked the heart from the monster's chest. Then he squeezed his hand tightly and crushed it. The heart burst, and the room shook. The wall in front of Wain came into motion and behind it was a passageway beyond.

"Great."

Wain pulled out his compass and checked which way was part of the map. As he expected, he had to go forward.

...

Wain walked down the tunnel for a long time and watched the compass arrow closely. There were no enemies in the tunnel, only a few dim torches faintly illuminating the passage.

Suddenly Wain saw a bright gleam in the distance and ran forward. He entered the spacious hall and saw an incredible scene.

There was a mountain of gold coins as tall as a three-story building. Also on the mountain were many levels, each containing a chest of varying value.

Below all of them were wooden, simple chests, even without locks. At the top were huge chests with gems encrusted in them. Wain could not see what was on top.

Wain looked around and saw several other passageways leading into this room.

'Hmm, considering no chests have been opened yet, I got here first. The organization head's group is still coming this way. Maybe I should wait for them.' Wain pondered.

However, he shook his head and walked over to the wooden chest with a slight smile on his face. Wain opened the chest, but instead of a reward, he saw some purple tentacles and a big red eye in there.

"Fuck!" Cursed Wain and bounced aside.

He wasn't expecting it to be Mimic again.

"Why am I so unlucky? All the chests I've found are fakes and traps." Wain said grudgingly and snapped his finger.

He swung his hand, and the dark sword came down on the monster. Mimic, however, was not about to die. Suddenly legs grew out of the chest, and the monster jumped aside. Mimic was not going to fight Wain, it tried to escape since Wain was many times stronger.

"Freeze!" Wain shouted and turned into blue lightning.

He easily caught up with Mimic and killed the monster with a powerful punch of his fist. A white soul flew out of the shattered chest and headed toward Wain.

[Soul of Wooden Mimic (Destroyed)

Chronicle: First

Rating: Common]

Wain was about to crush the soul, but something distracted him. He watched as a large amount of energy burst out of the chest and spread across the Dungeon.

"That's right... Sven was saying that actually meeting Mimic in Dungeon is good luck. They are a substitute for a bounty chest, but they contain a lot of energy. In the end, after clearing the Dungeon, I'll get a better reward." Wain muttered.

[You have acquired the Soul Essence of Wooden Mimic level 16.]

'Such a small level... However, it's not surprising considering how weak that Mimic was.' Thought Wain and walked over to the next wooden chest.

There were thirty chests on the first platform, twenty-five on the second, and so on until one chest was left at the top.

Wain immediately attacked the chest as he was sure it was another Mimic, but suddenly the chest teleported elsewhere.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Wain muttered and attacked the chest again.

However, when the sword blade almost reached the chest, it teleported elsewhere again.

Wain was puzzled and tried to open the chest. He thought maybe it was some defense mechanism against destroying chests.

Click.

When Wain opened the chest, he saw the same picture again. A large eye with many purple tentacles was looking at him. Wain frowned and killed Mimic with a sharp blow, preventing it from escaping.

The white soul flew into Wain's body, and Dungeon absorbed the energy stored in the monster.

Wain smiled. In front of him was a mountain of gold with dozens of chests. He realized that if each of the chests was a Mimic, he had just hit the jackpot.

"Wooden Mimics are the weakest, but even they can greatly increase the final reward. I wonder what will happen when I kill each Mimic? I can't wait to find out!" Proclaimed Wain and was about to attack the chests, but suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps in the distance.

He turned around and saw a group of people fleeing from the east passage. There were seven of them in all. A tall girl with long green hair and silver armor was running ahead.

It was Vineta Folks, and she was the leader of Twilight Steel. Some of the people in the group were wounded, but each of them could join the battle if necessary.

'I see. They, too, handled their opponent. I wonder if they fought the Golden Tiger too, or did they have another monster?' Wain wondered.

Beside Vineta ran a girl with short blond hair and green eyes. It was Selena Yuihtan. She was the deputy head of the organization and the person who had sent Harald to capture Lea.

When the group saw Wain, they became wary. Vineta did not understand why anyone but them was in this Dungeon.

Wain smirked and waved, "Hi, how are you doing?"

Vineta frowned. She could feel a menacing aura emanating from Wain, and unlike them, he was not wounded. Vineta and Selena were the only ones in the group without any wounds.

"Who are you?" Vineta asked.

Wain shrugged and said, "A simple treasure hunter."

"Vineta, I don't know who he is, but I sense that he is extremely dangerous. I'm also pretty sure he's not from the west side of town. I would know of the existence of such a person." Selena whispered.

Vineta nodded and stepped forward.

"Where are you from? From the south, the north, or maybe the west?"

"I am from another world." With a sneer Wain replied.

He told the truth, but naturally, Vineta did not believe him. She thought he was mocking her, and it began to annoy her. She had thousands of people submitting to her, and she had achieved that in just three months.

"Boy, I give you thirty seconds to get out of here because these treasures belong to Twilight Steel." Vineta said coldly.

"Do you really think I'm afraid of you? I too have gone through serious trials to get here and have every right to get these treasures." Calmly said Wain, and his aura began to intensify.

Vineta answered nothing, she frowned and was ready to attack. A lightning spear appeared in her hand. It contained great power capable of killing most First Chronicle Creatures.

Wain smiled and was ready to activate one of the forms, but suddenly the hall trembled. Everyone in this Dungeon was now in one place, so a special mechanism was activated.

All passageways were closed with doors, and a glass barrier appeared around the mountain of gold. It was ten times stronger than the one that guarded the golden heart.

Every treasury had its protector, and this place was no exception.

Crackling.

Suddenly the ceiling trembled, and a passage opened. Everyone looked up and saw something falling down.

Bam.

It was a massive golden statue, four meters high. Outwardly, this statue resembled a knight in bulky armor and a huge spear in his hand. The knight's eyes glowed red, and it stared intently at the intruders.

The knight glanced at Wain but shifted his gaze to Vineta and her group.

"I suggest we postpone our conversation for later. We should team up and destroy this knight, then divide the reward equally." Said Vineta.

Wain answered nothing and nodded. He had not yet made his final decision. He did not need to kill Vineta and her group unless she attacked first.

However, there was no way Wain would give the reward of Dungeon to someone else. At that moment, he decided not to think about that and concentrate on the battle ahead.

'There's a menacing aura coming from this knight, but he might not be the only one protecting these treasures. Damn, I should have hurried up and killed all the Mimics before the members of Twilight Steel got here.' Thought Wain and the Ring of Damned glowed brightly.

Whisper appeared in his hands, and Wain immediately used Distant Bullet. He decided to test how strong an opponent the Golden Knight was and decide which form to use.

Click.

Wain pulled the trigger, and the bullet flew out of the weapon at lightning speed. It was like a white flash that instantly reached the Golden Knight. However, the bullet bounced off the knight like a rubber ball.

"Looks like the situation is even worse than I imagined..." Mumbled Wain.

Vineta, Selena, and the others also prepared for battle. They didn't know how powerful Wain's attack was, but they knew that the bullet had to do at least some damage. Instead, not even a scratch was left on the knight's armor.

Vineta attacked first. The lightning lance shone brightly, and she turned into a blue flash.

Bam. Bam. Bam.

The girl brought her spear down on the Golden Knight, but the monster only swung its arm smoothly and gripped her weapon tightly. Vineta was surprised as the Golden Knight was able to block her attack. She could not believe what was happening.

Whooosh.

Then the knight swung his arm and threw the girl aside. Vineta managed to react and jumped away from the wall, but she didn't know how to defeat the Golden Knight.

'Damn, he's strong. What's more, the knight acts slow and relaxed. He doesn't even consider us as enemies. Hmm, I should wait a little while.' Thought Wain and stepped back.

He didn't want to take any risks, so he preferred to have Vineta's group fight the guard. That way, Wain would enter the fray when his opponents were wounded and exhausted.

Vineta understood this, but there was nothing she could do about it. She had a more important problem than Wain's actions.

"Stay behind and wait for him to attack. When he decides to attack, we will surround him and attack him all at once!" Vineta said loudly, pointing at the Golden Knight.

Her subordinates nodded and activated their fighting skills. Each of them possessed powerful souls and was an important member of Twilight Steel. They believed they could handle any enemy, no matter who they were.