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If you think of the large lake as a bathtub and the Absolute Space entrance drilled into the bottom as a drain, you could roughly imagine what was currently happening in the lake.
The lake’s water began rapidly draining through a massive hole with a diameter of 30 meters.
As a result, the water level dropped in an instant, and at the same time, the frozen surface of the lake began cracking and splitting apart.
Crackkk, crack!
At this rate, it seemed like all the water would drain out in no time.
However, the more serious situation was underwater.
As the water began rushing out all at once through the massive Absolute Space entrance, a powerful and enormous vortex formed underwater, and almost everything was swept into it.
The only exception was the Extreme Cold Ice Dragon.
It had enough strength to withstand the vortex and managed to hold its ground without being swept away.
But as time passed, the vortex grew stronger, and the lake’s water level dropped rapidly, causing the situation to worsen for the dragon.
As Seon Yul had said, the Extreme Cold Ice Dragon reached a point where it had to make a choice.
Would it get caught in the vortex and be carried to an unknown place along with the water, or would it escape the lake by going outside…?
It was not an easy decision.
What mattered most was that there wasn’t much time left.
And so, in the end, the Extreme Cold Ice Dragon made its choice.
“Yul, it’s quickly diving into the center of the vortex. It looks like it’s planning to escape through the passage with the water instead of coming out!”
Cheon Li Yu, who had been watching everything inside the lake with Divine Eye, quickly reported.
“Share your vision!”
Seon Yul immediately requested vision sharing, and Cheon Li Yu activated it without delay.
Flash!
In an instant, the Extreme Cold Ice Dragon appeared in Seon Yul’s sight.
It was indeed swimming faster than the current created by the vortex, heading straight toward the Absolute Space entrance at the bottom of the lake.
‘Just a little more… more… more…’
Seon Yul began timing it.
He carefully watched the dragon with his own eyes, waiting for the exact moment.
‘More… more… now!!’
And he caught the perfect timing.
[Close Absolute Space entrance!]
Shiiik! Slice!
At the precise moment, Seon Yul closed the entrance, and the Extreme Cold Ice Dragon, whose body was halfway through it, was instantly cut into two pieces.
The Extreme Cold Ice Dragon was eliminated far more easily than expected.
But in truth, even if it had chosen to escape outside the lake instead, the result would not have changed.
If it had come out, Seon Yul, who had been waiting at the exact position, would have concentrated all his firepower on its weak point, its underside, and eliminated it in a single strike.
“Done.”
Seon Yul released the shared vision as he spoke, neatly concluding the battle with the Extreme Cold Ice Dragon.
All that remained now was to collect the divided corpse and hand it over to the shadow worker for dismantling.
***
After dealing with the Gluttonous Tyrant Dragon and the Extreme Cold Ice Dragon, Seon Yul and Cheon Li Yu moved to hunt the remaining Blazing Flame Dragon and Shadow Dark Dragon.
Between the two, the Blazing Flame Dragon was easier to find.
It resided in the crater of the only active volcano on the 50th floor.
The two quickly approached the volcano and confirmed its presence.
Fortunately, the Blazing Flame Dragon was calmly resting with half its body submerged in the lava lake inside the crater.
“At least this one’s staying still.”
“Kind of like a chubby cat?”
After observing it through shared Divine Eye vision, they realized that this dragon had a different temperament from the previous two.
“This makes the strategy way too simple.”
“You mean that?”
“Yeah. There’s nothing better than that for an opponent just sitting there like that.”
What Cheon Li Yu referred to was, of course, “God’s Hammer.”
With target designation, it could also be used on moving targets, but it wasn’t perfect… if the target moved too far from the originally designated location, the lock could break.
Thus, a stationary target like the Blazing Flame Dragon was ideal.
Moreover, since it was inside an active volcano, dropping God’s Hammer would likely trigger a secondary volcanic explosion, dealing even greater damage.
“Shall we start right away?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
As if they had already coordinated, the two immediately prepared the skill.
Since they had done it many times, it didn’t take long.
In less than ten minutes, they were ready.
After confirming the dragon’s position once more, they dropped a 5,000-ton steel sphere without hesitation.
Cheon Li Yu’s targeting was added on top.
Whoooooosh.
This time as well, it was version 2, not 3.
There was no need to use a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken.
Ironically, since chickens were descendants of dinosaurs, it was somewhat fitting.
The steel sphere fell freely from 10 km above… and landed directly on the Blazing Flame Dragon inside the crater.
BOOOOOOM!!!
At the moment of impact, a massive explosion erupted.
The dragon likely died from the sheer kinetic energy alone.
But even if it hadn’t, the volcanic explosion that followed like an echo ensured its death.
BOOOOOOM!!!
The explosion triggered the volcano itself, causing it to erupt.
In one phrase: “hell descending upon earth.”
Seon Yul stayed comfortably inside Absolute Space until everything settled.
After eating and even taking a nap with Cheon Li Yu, he finally went outside, retrieved the torn and burned corpse, and sent it for dismantling.
“Now only one remains…”
The last mid-boss: the Shadow Dark Dragon.
The problem was… it was extremely difficult to find.
True to its name, it seemed to hide in shadows.
Even with repeated Divine Eye scans, Cheon Li Yu couldn’t locate it.
“It’s a limitation of Divine Eye. If I know where to look, I can see through anything. But scanning everything like this won’t reveal something deliberately hiding.”
“And from what I’ve heard, it has extreme resistance to physical force. Teams usually build very specialized compositions to fight it. It might be the worst matchup for us.”
If true, it was indeed the worst matchup.
Seon Yul’s power was heavily focused on physical damage.
“…Hmm.”
After thinking for a while, Seon Yul spoke.
“Then let’s do this.”
What he proposed was something he had already considered.
What they needed wasn’t the dragon itself, but the key obtained from it.
Which meant they didn’t necessarily have to defeat it.
“There must be teams hunting mid-bosses. Some must have already defeated it. So… what if we hunt another mid-boss again and trade the extra key?”
“So we skip the Shadow Dark Dragon?”
“Exactly.”
It was a far easier solution.
“I like it. Then which one do we hunt again?”
“The one that others find hardest… but is easiest for me… the Extreme Cold Ice Dragon.”
According to prior info, it was the hardest for climbers.
Trade required an equal or higher value.
“Okay. Let’s hunt it again.”
They returned to the lake.
***
One absolute law of the floor:
Everything restores within 1–4 days.
But since not even a day had passed, the lake was still destroyed.
“Let’s wait.”
After about a day, the lake was restored.
But not the dragon.
They waited longer.
On the third day, it respawned.
After that, everything went smoothly.
They drained the lake again.
This time, the dragon chose differently…
It jumped out.
But the result was the same.
Killed instantly by concentrated fire.
Seon Yul obtained another key.
Now only one thing remained:
To trade the Extreme Cold Ice Dragon key for the Shadow Dark Dragon key.
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