Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player

Upon reaching this part of the dungeon, Kieran's sense of danger increased considerably, which meant a few things. The first was that they were in the presence of enemies that could pose a considerable challenge.

Considering his actions throughout this entire dungeon, the enemy would have to be quite strong for this reasoning to be true. At the very least, it should be reasonably stronger than Moribun.

However, because he no longer had access to Abhorrent Paroxysm, Kieran had to be precautious in terms of going toe-to-toe with an opponent of unknown power. Of course, this didn't mean Kieran had any reservations about doing such a thing.

After all, there was still Deranged Spirit, which was admittedly far stronger than Abhorrent Paroxysm. But unfortunately, there was an issue with that skill. 

It relied upon the direct stimulation of Argexes' Blood, which Hekaina had placed a layered mystical seal on.

In fact, this was part of the reason why Kieran chose to activate Abhorrent Paroxysm over Deranged Spirit. 

Until he could confirm the effects of Hekaina's seal, as well as the consequences or benefits, Kieran felt it was best to stay away from Deranged Spirit, which seemed to absorb bits of some unusual energy floating about and permeating his soul.

Aside from the presence of considerable enemies, another possibility was the Dungeon Boss. Since they had entered Hell Mode, Kieran was fairly certain that the boss would possess abilities of a corresponding absurdity.

Of course, Kieran also couldn't overlook the fact that this feeling could have something to do with the location itself. After all, in all of the rooms they've entered thus far, the environment played a role in restricting them, whether it be minor or major.

There were the boulders in the beginning, the strange liquids in the next room, and finally, the Madness Mist that Bastion had to take precautions against.

All of a sudden, Kieran's eyes blazed with an intense mystical light that made everyone cover their eyes. 

Due to his Blood Mania ability being engaged, the glow of his True Unveiling Eyes and Eyes of Profound Discerning activating simultaneously created a phenomenon similar to looking into a red sun.

Meanwhile, in this state, Kieran saw things that made his eyebrows furrow. 'There's so many of them… and they're no longer following a strictly humanoid basis. These must have been experiments of greater success.'

At that moment, as if understanding that they'd been detected, eyes opened across every wall and throughout the entire ceiling. 

Suffice to say, based on this development, Kieran and the others were surrounded.

Upon realizing this fact, Kieran wasted no time in reinforcing the Tensile Blood Swath that descended from his arm, moving it towards the floor.

However, before it could even touch the ground, it coiled upward, melding with the archaic cloth ribbon wrapped around Crimson Ashrune.

"Holy crap. How many of them are there?!" Nemean exclaimed, his eyes trembling from the sight of several strange creatures with craggy skin, skin hard and discolored enough to provide near-perfect camouflage.

These creatures, while bipedal, also stood on all fours because their legs seemed less developed than their hulking arms, the latter of which happened to appear as sets of three in descending size. 

The third set seemed the most human-like, but not quite because they protruded from underneath their ribcage.

Grwaaak!

Thunderous roars and screeches resounded from the creature, creating a humongous soundwave that hurtled toward Kieran and the rest all at once.

Rather than remain defenseless to this incoming attack, Bastion leapt above Kieran while his Pure Indomitable Will billowed from his body without the slightest bit of dampening. It was as if Bastion released an ocean of power to contend against the incoming soundwave.

"Defender's Resiliency: Impenetrable Bastion!"

BOOM!

With that, Bastion threw his shield down in front of Kieran, summoning an enormous barricade eerily similar to the protective bastion of an ancient castle. Looking at the skill, Kieran sensed something familiar from this skill of Bastion, and soon, the answer dawned on him.

'This skill is borderline a Will Construct. In fact… its aura isn't that far off from being an Esoteric Skill. I suppose this is most likely his other Lv.50 skill,' Kieran thought to himself.

A moment later, a heavy tremor filtered throughout the area as Bastion landed behind the skill to reinforce it with his touch. Whenever the shockwave bombarded his skill, jolting its foundation, Bastion would unleash another burst of Pure Indomitable Will and set his Will Armament shield ablaze.

The clash between the soundwave and Bastion's skill persisted for upwards of thirty seconds before he snatched his Will Armament from the ground as he stood up with a somewhat feeble sigh.

"God… this skill is so much worse than Indomitable Field," Bastion said, wearing his exhaustion like a physical mask. Surprisingly, not only did that skill exhaust his Will, but it also ravenously devoured his Stamina.

As Bastion voiced out his weariness, Kieran and the others looked at the information on these monsters. 

「 Lv.55 Deranged Homunculus (Champion)

Enhanced

False Elemental, Humanoid, Experimental Lifeform

Health: 20,000,000/20,000,000 (100%) 」

「 Lv.55 Chimeric Homunculus (Champion)

Enhanced

Beast, Humanoid, Experimental Lifeform

Health: 21,000,000/21,000,000 (100%) 」

"Enhanced Monsters," Kieran muttered.

Enhanced Monsters referred to creatures that were stronger than whatever rank they were given, but not strong enough to enter the next degree of power. 

So while these unusual homunculi were much stronger than typical Champion Monsters, their abilities were inferior to High Champions.

However, aside from the matter of their ranking, Kieran also noted the monster type of the Deranged Homunculus—False Elementals. 

Elementals were beings with innate affinities towards preordained elements. As such, Elementals were unusually limited to one element, but an Elemental possessing additional affinities was a sign of extreme potential. 

However, because of this innate affinity, their growth limit was pretty much predetermined.

The fact the system regarded these Deranged Homunculi as False Elementals meant the Mad Alchemist, the owner of this laboratory and the individual responsible for these experiences, must have conducted tests where they tried to create the abilities of an Elemental.

As Kieran analyzed these enemies, he began to grin. 'It's definitely here. I wasn't sure at first, but the first step to obtaining that item starts here. Not just anything can support an experiment like this.'

"Surely that wasn't enough to exhaust you, right?" Kieran questioned, placing his hand on Bastion's shoulder with a subtle yet goading grin.

"Not at all! I've still got some gas in the tank," Bastion said.

"Good." Kieran nodded in response. Afterward, he turned to Nemean, who continued to exhibit evident signs of increasing power. This was due to his level jumping quickly. 

Though the EXP disparity per level became massive after Lv.50 even for low-rank classes, the EXP from this dungeon was abundant enough to ignore that fact for the time being.

With that, as of now, Nemean's level had already reached 58.

"Give them hell, Nemean," Kieran ordered. 

At the same time, he loosened his grip on Crimson Ashrune. Thanks to his earlier experience with Dread Culling, Kieran understood that this attack benefited most from situations where he could cull a large number of enemies.

The odds of the special effect activating were much higher that way. Regrettably, his attack had to first kill the opponents successfully.

"This will be an extreme joint effort, meaning no one is allowed to slack off. Due to the density of monsters we're going up against, it'll be more dangerous than our earlier battle," Kieran announced.

A moment later, he began distributing commands. "Sora, start attracting their aggro with your ranged attacks. Alice, you'll do the same."

Once these two began gaining the aggro of the monsters, Bastion and Nemean moved to intercept the retaliation of said monsters. As the fight progressed, Kieran absorbed precious knowledge, understanding how sturdy these monsters were.

'They're slower than Moribun, but their STR and END are much higher. That means their DEF and Damage Reduction are higher as well,' Kieran inwardly thought.

Roughly ten seconds later, Kieran gripped the Tensile Blood Swath and slowly began to swing it around until it created a glorious crimson wheel revolving at breakneck speeds.

'It's been a while since I tried out the chained heavy blade style. I should definitely attempt to obtain one of decent quality if I can't ultimately use the ones I gained from Zelliolx.'

Once he began to spin his blade, Kieran turned back on the stream visual, sating the viewer's gnawing curiosity. When the scene went black, several had gone wild, wracking their minds to understand what was going on.

Now that the view had returned, they had gone even more wild, questioning if Kieran's actions were related to a new skill. The skepticism and speculation in the chat were high, but Kieran ignored them for the time being. 

For now, he had more important matters to tend to.

Ooom!

As Kieran continued to check the locations of the Enhanced Monsters, a few things happened. 

Aside from creating a fresh Dread Circlet, Kieran's Mystic Gate, or rather the Archaic Verity Compendium, released a subtle mystical signature that helped his Focus pass a small threshold.

〈System: The user's Hidden Attribute «Focus» has increased to 4 points.〉

When it came to Wordmancing, Focus was an indispensable principle, so it was only natural that a True Relic, like the Compendium, something intricately linked to Eni's Supreme Wordmancing, sought to hone Kieran's Focus.

'Due to the True Relic, it's like my mind and body are progressing at the same pace since both my Focus and Constitution are at 4 points,' Kieran muttered inwardly.

Once Kieran settled his thoughts regarding this matter, he turned his attention back to the newly created Dread Circlet, which he could now sense in greater depth. 

What he sensed in particular, however, was a hint of death.

'Is this sensation why those who face the circlet end up overcome by fear in the end? It's quite a dreadful thing to experience,' Kieran mused. 

Fortunately, thanks to the Fifth Syllable of Eni, Kieran didn't feel greatly affected by the negativity embedded in his technique.

Now that everything was seemingly in order, Kieran finally made his move, using a Surge Step to move backward before swinging out with an abrupt Accel Shift.

As his movement gradually slowed, Kieran swung his arm forward, giving birth to a rising wave of dreadful energy that took on a shape similar to an enormous shark fin.