Ball of Nothing

Feeling adequately insulted by the brazen elf's choice of a nickname for him, the Silver Scarab King wasn't going to show him any mercy. Dung Lord wasn't a compliment, on the contrary, it was a taunt to get him out of hiding and it almost worked.

Thankfully, he wasn't that stupid to fall or such provocations.

"Don't think that this is over," he warned Zero. "I'm not an easy opponent like the other two. This will be your burial ground."

In the dark, Zero only rolled his eyes. Was it really necessary for such commentary? This last boss might have gained enough intelligence to be capable of common language but he wasn't putting his intelligence to good use. What a waste.

Zero showed no mercy to the wave of dung beetles sent by this overly confident monster and eradicated them with a hard smash using his tonfas. These beetles were too filthy to even be sold and Zero didn't want to be responsible for selling unclean things and promoting the spread of plagues.

"You might want to reconsider that," Mii told him. "According to my information, the hard shells of these scarabs can fetch a very high price. They make very good shields for warriors and are hard to come by."

Zero paused and looked at the scarab infantry with slight remorse.

"It's alright, I'll be more careful with the next wave. Thanks for telling me that. Please ask Wii to prepare a lot of disinfectants. We will be cleaning these filthy things up and disinfecting them from the mindscape before it reaches Zoe. I only want the shells to reach the village, everything else should be broken down and converted into energy."

"Noted," Mii said and informed him about the new wave coming.

From his dung throne, the Silver Scarab was growing more anxious. This adventurer was too powerful, destroying all his soldiers the instant they appeared within his radius.

"This won't do," he said. "I have to take care of this personally."

More than failure, the Silver Scarab was afraid of the dungeon's true owner. Retribution was harsh for them and he didn't want to be the next meal if he failed.

Zero was pleasantly surprised when there were no more scarabs sent his way after the second wave. If anything, the dung lord started changing his tactics. As it turns out, the monster did have a brain befitting of his intelligence after all! Zero was impressed but continued to follow the beetles who attacked without the intention of fighting seriously. Their job was to lure Zero deeper into the dungeon where the dung lord was and Zero knew that this was going to be it.

The closer got to the main room, the worse the smell became. It got to the point where Zero decided to completely stop breathing and simply focus on hearing for the beetles instead of smelling them out. The stench was enough to make anyone pass out and for the first time ever since Zero discovered the convenience of cleaning magic spells, he wanted to have a proper bath.

The final boss was bigger than Zero thought he would be. The Silver Scarab was actually silver and had red eyes instead of black like his minions. Was this what it meant to be albino? Hua Tuo mentioned that it was a rare genetic mutation that occurred in any kind of species. Still, who would have thought that Zero would meet a rare mutation here.

"Appraisal!"

[Appraisal failed. The monster's level is too high and the system is unable to overcome the appraisal block skill that they have. Please level up the Appraisal skill to Advanced stage to see the status of this opponent.]

"What?" Zero blinked, not believing that it was happening.

Lily flinched. "Sorry, master. Those spiders we appraised were too low-levelled and didn't contribute much to the system's levelling requirements."

Deflating, Zero sulked. He wanted to know what kind of crazy title this talkative third-rate villain had but it shouldn't be worse than "The Cowardly Emperor", right?

"Hey! You just thought about something mean, didn't you? Take it back. I'm Julius the greatest Scarab King in the Derby Desert. How dare you insult me!"

The doctor couldn't help but frown. "Do you have a complex or something? You sound like you have real issues in your head."

There was a pin-drop silence and Zero didn't know if he should start worrying about being too blunt about his opinions. This monster might be powerful but he certainly wasn't the brightest bulb around. How did someone like him become a king?

"Attack!" Julius screeched and threw all his meticulous battle plans out of the window. Against such an impertinent brat, he didn't care anymore.

Zero wasn't expecting such a passionate welcome and embraced for impact. Mii was ready and Wii mass-produced disinfectants with her clones.

"Not too many," the eggplant fairy told her sister. "Just ten at a time or we will be short-handed."

Zero gritted his teeth and left the absorbing to Mii while he dodged. He didn't want to be touched by these beetles who rolled in dung for years if he could. In fact, Zero wanted to do laundry in addition to bathing.

"You know what?" Zero asked and jumped up to avoid the crowd below. "I'm going to go for the big guy. Only ten is too difficult for me to handle. Is the big guy going to sell for a good price?"

Mii did the calculations quickly in her head. "Yes, an albino scarab of a boss rank will be equivalent to vanity armour for the rich heroes. We can milk a lot out of this because it is one of a kind. The Silver Scarab King - Julius is going to be our biggest haul so far."

"Noted," Zero informed her just a second before he changed his direction, heading straight for the dung lord.

With Zero's speed, he managed to break through the swarm of flying beetle soldiers. Julius wasn't ready for the sudden attack and couldn't call his army to protect him. Hence, he was forced to move from his dung throne.

Zero yelped when he couldn't stop on time and landed in the stinky pile. Thoroughly disgusted and angry that Julius dodged, Zero decided that playtime was over. He didn't want to use it but the flying beetles gave him no choice. He was disadvantaged without flight so Zero decided to transform. It was slightly embarrassing but the only way Zero could fly without using magic was to put on an additional accessory that the Great Gods gifted him for Christmas.

"Bring out the Angel Halo and Wings Set, I need to battle them aerially."

His mindscape assistants were stunned but Zero's resolution made them scurry to find it. Thankfully, Lily and Zoe did housekeeping well so they found the accessory quickly. Once they had it, Zero equipped it in record time, not caring if it looked ridiculous. It was always practicality over aesthetics.

Now that he was on an even playing field as Julius, Zero stared at the dung lord. This final battle was for dodging that last attack and making Zero feel like needing to clean just about everything he owned to get rid of the filthy feeling.

Julius felt cold when the elf flew and looked at him as if he was the grim reaper. Compared to getting ripped apart by this unknown adventurer, he would rather face the dungeon owner's wrath. Sadly, it might be too late for take-backs.

"Julius the Silver Scarab King," Zero said slowly so that the beetle could hear him clearly. "Your biggest mistake was for not cleaning up the filth before I arrived. For making me wish I had a bath for ten years straight after falling into your poop throne, you will become vanity armour to compensate for everything I've experienced in your care."

The screams of Julius the Silver Scarab woke the slumbering dungeon owner who yawned sleepily. When he couldn't contact any of his three generals, the dungeon master became serious.

"Who dares invade my dungeon?" the sandfish morphed into a human. He was a desert shaman who lived for hundreds of years. Those monsters had never once failed him but today, history was made.

Whoever this person was, the sandfish shaman would judge them for himself. He would meet them personally, dead or alive, and properly repay them for the troubles they have caused.