The Supreme Level Up System

By using all the resources available, as well as every single person that could use a crossbow effectively, the group managed to defeat hundreds of enemies before they could inflict damage high enough on the ship. Some of the crew members jumped with joy, and others, like Aion, sighed in relief, knowing that the mission wasn't over yet.

"It is time to get the materials," Aion thought when he jumped into the ocean again.

Spearman Lv 95

Health: 494/494

Mana: 244/244

Stamina: 746/746

Strength: 156 + 100

Dexterity: 30

Magic: 121

Endurance: 01

Resistance: 01

Speed: 172 + 200

Status: 35

Spear Refinement Lv 100

Bonuses: Strength + 100, Speed + 200

Skills: Quick Spear Lv 46 (Power Lv 70, Efficiency Lv 70), Sonic Thrust Lv 01, Frozen Spear Lv 01, Fiery Spear Lv 01, Deadly Wind Lv 01, Throw Lv 11

Passive: Spear Mastery Lv 47 (Power Lv 100, Efficiency Lv 37), Block Mastery Lv 22, Critical Lv 29, Bleed Lv 19, Stamina Recovery Lv 06

Improvement Points: 12

Accumulated Experience: 0

Coins: 1.885.250

Inventory:

Absorption: 0/1000

Processing: 0/1000

Reset

While Aion was doing that to erase the vestiges of their actions and presence completely, he also checked his progress. The class leveled up, but it seemed that he would need to wait for a while longer to get to the next. It was a bit annoying after enduring all that trouble, but it couldn't be helped.

"That almost ended in a disaster… I thought that we would have to fight all the monsters, but I didn't think they would be able to coordinate so well," Seris said.

"That was my blunder… if they managed to decide to attack at the same time, I could only imagine something forced them to do that," Sauros said. "Don't tell the others yet, but I guess we will be facing a troublesome guardian before reaching the temple."

"A monster guarding the last part of the dungeon, and it can control others… that seems like a problem," Seris said. "Well, the worst it is over, right?"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that yet," Sauros said.

Seris wondered if more surprises were waiting for them. Considering what her brother said, it wouldn't be shocking if that were the case. There were many things about those dungeons that were hundreds of years old and had never been cleared that they didn't know of, after all. Even they didn't know everything about the things they had never dealt with before…

The group finished their final preparations for the next part of the battle at noon, and so did Aion with the cleanup job. It was only noon, and many of them were already tired because of that unexpected event, but they couldn't stop now. In fact, they have to push forward even more before the guardian of the dungeon can prepare something to get them.

"Although the operation almost ended in failure because of my blunder, I will be counting on you for us to finish this mission today," Sauros declared. "The Breeze of the Sea will go with us this time and offer support from above. The monsters will focus on the crew members that will stay underwater, after all, so it will be fine… this will be a bit dangerous, but we won't be able to retreat."

Another thing that Aion learned about being a commander was of never to admit his mistakes out loud. That would make his men doubt him, and once that starts, any army begins to fall apart. Still, Sauros was brave enough not to retreat after such a failure. In fact, he chose one apparently reckless approach. Since, as he said, they couldn't retreat in that kind of situation.

"Aion, I have a bad feeling about how the mission will continue from here, so you should save your mana until the last moment," Sauros declared.

"This is a pain… I am not very patient, you know," Aion said.

"Since you are our secret weapon, you have to in order to be as efficient as possible," Sauros said.

"You can try to fool me with such words, but that doesn't change the fact that it is a pain," Aion said. "It isn't like a big monster can leave the dungeon now. You can only expect to see something like that once we reach the final part of the dungeon."

"While I agree with you, we need to be careful, even when we are being reckless," Sauros said.

"That doesn't make any sense, but I guess I will wait and see how things will play out," Aion said.

After selecting those who weren't too tired to dive again, the group approached the dungeon using the ship. Eventually, more of those armored monsters approached and then began to target the ship, but the cannons worked to stop them. Just as Sauros had imagined, more monsters appeared, even though they definitely defeated all of those that chased them…

When they were five hundred meters away, the main group jumped into the sea to work as bait and to fight the monsters underwater as well. After they dealt with the closest enemies, they began to swim and then opened their eyes widely when they saw another massive group swimming around the dungeon. Aion wanted to believe that a dungeon couldn't make so many monsters at once, but…

"Until now, I treated the cores like things without a consciousness, but if they are smart enough to save mana and then spawn monsters like they need in situations like this…" Aion thought. "This thing here has hundreds of years worth of accumulated mana…"

The core definitely spawned some monsters over the years, probably millions, but what would be the point if they weren't sinking many ships? Sauros told Aion that dungeons were an automatic response of the environment trying to stop humans from destroying the world on any scale, but the damage that they could cause to people on the ocean was too limited… as expected, they needed to find answers to a lot more questions…