Pick Me Up Infinite Gacha! - P.M.U Chapter 190: Advent Dungeon (2) (Part 2)

<Heh, interesting. I can sense determination from you.>

“If you understand, why don’t you die already? This is exhausting.”

Boom!

In a flash of light, the creature leapt.

It fluttered its wings and aimed its spear at me.

“Let me ask you something.”

“Is cheating allowed?”

“Great.”

This bastard.

He’s surpassing my expectations.

If he was just of the highest difficulty, he should already be dead and lying around,

Seeing the limits of relying on such legendary equipment, it seems like a demon-level difficulty creature.

‘They called him a primordial something.’

“Yurnet, open one more gate.”

The second-dimensional gate behind me opened.

This exhausted my third chance for weapon summoning.

No regrets. This was the right time to use this power.

I need to use everything at my disposal.

I flicked my right hand.

Boom! Gungnir turned into lightning and struck the creature.

Then, one after another, weapons rained down like a storm.

“Send all the equipment.”

<Yes.>

The equipment I wore were all top-tier, but as a low-level user, I couldn’t utilize even half of their efficiency. Still, there were so many that it somehow covered it.

“…Haa.”

Clad in top-tier items, I took a deep breath.

The dragon was watching me. Despite striking it multiple times with the dragon-slaying Soulblade Fusion, its body remained unscathed. It had resistance to attributes as a bonus and dominance over special attributes.

‘This is definitely a top-tier engraving.’

That if I could pass this test.

I spun Ascalon’s blade and kicked off the ground towards the creature floating in the air.

And.

Boom.

I threw the broken Ascalon aside.

Then I collapsed to the ground.

This bastard’s characteristic could be summed up in one word.

Dirty durability. Even with all sorts of effects applied in the Ascend state, I couldn’t inflict any significant wounds. The only injury I caused was breaking one of its six wings.

“It’s over.”

I answered briefly, spitting blood.

All the weapons of Niflheimr were unsummoned. Some had exhausted their durability, while others had reached their time limit. The important thing was that I couldn’t inflict any significant damage on this creature. I could only blame myself as the user.

‘Certainly, this advent difficulty was top-tier…’

No, this was no different from a hell-level.

I clicked my tongue. Did I miscalculate? No matter how much I wanted to get stronger, I wasn’t foolish enough to challenge an unwinnable fight. If it was a top-tier advent monster, I could have easily won using item summoning.

‘If penetration doesn’t work, nor neutral or dragon-slaying attributes, then what is its weakness?’

If I had a little more time, I might have found a strategy…

But now it’s too late. Communication with Yurnet was no longer possible.

<…>

The man looked down at me.

But his expression had slightly changed. Initially, he looked at me like an insect, but now he was looking at me with a smile, intrigued.

“Yeah.”

<Well, fine.>

The man smiled and folded his wings.

The flames enveloping his body, the pressure crushing me, and the black light coloring the sky all vanished.

“…?”

What the hell is this guy talking about?

The man’s pupils narrowed vertically.

A gaze that seemed to pierce through me.

“…”

The man threw something at the ground beneath me.

A translucent orb.

Inside the palm-sized orb, black flames burned.

The man glanced at me and then leaped into the sky.

Before long, his figure disappeared.

[Stage Clear!]

[You have cleared the Intermediate Advent Dungeon.]

[You have obtained the special engraving ‘True Black Dragon Blood (A)’. This engraving can be bestowed upon the hero who challenged the dungeon.]

[Eligible Hero – ‘Han (★★★★)’]

The clear message appeared.

‘I can’t make sense of it.’

I stood still, gazing at the orb.

[True Black Dragon Blood (A, Lv.1)]

[Proof of the pure bloodline of an ancient black dragon. It contains immense power.]

[Effect: All attribute defense +10%]

[Unique Skill: Black Dragon Scale (duration 1 second)]

An A-rank.

Considering the commotion, the rank seemed low.

The defense increase changed from physical and magical defense to all-attribute defense, but there didn’t seem to be any other special abilities. The unique skill also seemed unchanged.

‘Could it be…’

Was I tricked?

An A-rank engraving was quite high, but compared to the top-tier advent stone and weapon summoning I invested, it was an absurd exchange rate.

“…”

I shook my head.

I’d have to use it to know for sure.

I took out a magic silk cloth and wrapped the orb. Engraving it in an unfit state could lead to contamination. I planned to attempt the engraving after returning to the waiting room and making adjustments.

Holding the wrapped orb, I walked through the exit that had appeared at the back of the field.

[How was it, Loki? Huh? Huh?]

As soon as I stepped into the plaza, Iselle followed me.

I handed the cloth-wrapped orb to Iselle.

“Give it to me tomorrow evening. I’ll engrave it then.”

[Okay! Let’s see, wow, it’s an A-rank! As expected of Loki. You’re amazing…]

Chattering away, Iselle glanced at my expression and hesitantly spoke.

[Did something bad happen?]

“Not really.”

I frowned as I climbed the stairs to the next floor.

Even after returning to the waiting room, the aftermath of the battle lingered, with my whole body aching and tingling.

‘Damn.’

Even if it wasn’t an S-rank engraving, I could still become stronger depending on growth and combinations, but the result was definitely not satisfactory.

It was far from a fair deal.

Considering the investment.

For my level and grade, this engraving was a blessing, but still.

‘It has synergy.’

The damage immunity was a perfect match for Ascend and Soulblade Fusion.

But I wanted something… stronger. After all that show, it was just an A-rank. What a stingy bastard.

I decided to test the engraving starting tomorrow.

Hyung_Otaku

I'm currently Translating the following novels: Pick Me Up! | A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War! | The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player. If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!