Chapter 581 – Secret Entrance.

“GUAGHHH!”

“Quiet down. This won’t take long…”

A monster let out a roar as it struggled against the chains of mana binding it. Towering and fearsome, it resembled a lion with bat-like wings and a scorpion’s tail. Despite its strength, it was helpless against the iron-clad human methodically carving into its back. Once the task was done, the man retrieved a small vial and removed something embedded near the creature’s spine.

“These samples should be enough.”

He placed the item into another containment vial, ignoring the monster as it began to die before his eyes. Surrounding it were numerous smaller creatures, ghoulish in appearance. Their bodies emitted dark smoke and pus, which seeped into the corridors and clung to the stagnant air. Roland shook his head at the familiar sight of this phenomenon, known as miasma.

“There’s nowhere for it to go. If I don’t purify the area, new monsters could form, even without a dungeon involved.”

In this world, monsters could emerge in many ways, and miasma was one of the more insidious causes. It was a dark, poisonous fog that flourished in mana-rich environments. If left unchecked, it would give rise to abominations. Although mana levels had dropped in the tunnels after the dungeon break, enough remained to pose a threat. This made Roland’s task even more difficult. If he didn’t deal with the monster remains now, his golems could be attacked later.

“Stuck with the busy work again… I really don’t have time for this.”

There were three ways to handle the issue. The first was to gather and dispose of all monster remains before they could decompose and release miasma. The second was to purify the area using divine magic. While effective in the short term, this method merely delayed the problem if the bodies remained and eventually broke down. The final solution was to incinerate everything, reducing the remains to nothing and preventing any chance of miasma forming.

“I’ll just collect the better materials. The rest is inconsequential.”

For now, he chose to combine the first and third methods. He would salvage what was valuable and burn the rest to ash. However, just as he prepared to begin the incineration, a system prompt appeared before him.

“Getting closer, but…”

He paused, eyes narrowing at the notification. His level had increased again. With this, he was just five levels away from reaching level fifty in Runesmith Overlord, the midpoint of his main class. This milestone unlocked the option to take on the ascension trial. Still, he had no intention of changing classes. Runesmith Overlord granted a powerful stat multiplier, one that suited his build well.

Despite the class’s raw power, the skills he had been gaining recently felt underwhelming. When he first chose it, he received Overlord’s Might, one of his most potent abilities, along with Rapid Machine Reassembly from his previous class, a skill that perfectly complemented his constructs. But over time, the abilities had shifted. They felt more suited for a noble lord like Arthur than for him. The most recent example made that painfully clear.

Talking had never been his strength, and the idea of delivering speeches, especially ones that lasted several minutes or hours, was not appealing. While the buffs provided by the skill could be useful, it did not feel natural to him. He was not a leader in that sense or a motivational figure. He was a craftsman, a strategist, someone who preferred working alone or within a small, trusted group. Now that he was nearing the midpoint of his class, he could only hope the next few skills would be more useful than the recent disappointments.

‘It is not all bad. It has a wide range and can affect even an army of thousands. Still, I have to give a speech first.’

Public speaking had never come easily to him, and he had no interest in spending time learning how to speak well when Arthur could do it far better. During the Overlord trial, he had realized that he could not handle everything by himself. One of the essential skills for a lord was the ability to rely on resources and vassals effectively.

‘Still, the problem remains. How will I even level up? It feels impossible lately.’

Although his progress had once been rapid, it had slowed to a frustrating crawl. The recent battle with the giant turtle monster and the waves of lesser creatures had given him some experience, but the system had become increasingly stingy. Tier two monsters were now far too weak to provide any meaningful gains. Even defeating a level one hundred fifty enemy only earned him a single experience point.

Tier three monsters were not much better. Unless he stayed within a very specific level range, the experience he gained would continue to drop instead of rise. This was one of the main reasons he had come here: to search for the entrance to the super dungeon, a place rumored to hold tier four monsters.

If he could locate an area with high enough difficulty, he could finally resume his advancement. He might even be able to construct something similar to the cannon he had used against the Lich, only this time in a more controlled environment. He would make sure nothing gained sentience and spiraled out of control like before.

It was time to clean up. After collecting a few useful monster parts, he incinerated the entire area. The spell unleashed a blazing inferno within the tunnel, burning through everything in its path with holy fire. Nothing remained. Even the stale air had been wiped from existence, and all traces of the monsters had been reduced to ash.

“Time to move on. I don’t have much time.”

Back on his bike, he tossed a sensor toward the wall. It stuck in place, held firm by Rastix’s alchemical glue. He was beginning to run low on signal amplifiers and mapping devices. Once they were gone, he wouldn’t be able to contact Sebastian in Albrook, even if he tried. His golems were laying down cables behind him, but they moved at a fraction of his speed. Still, he refused to give up.

After analyzing the layout of the long tunnels, he had become convinced there was a pattern. Finding the source was only a matter of time. The monsters were growing stronger, and that meant he was getting closer. He had come too far to turn back now.

Arthur aimed to achieve a Tier 3 breakthrough before the Grand Assembly. He also had a personal goal, which was to reach level fifty with his current class. Despite lacking an optimized grinding setup, he was confident in his ability to train through conventional means. He could already defeat monsters far above his level, and that gave him the assurance he needed. All that remained was to find the source, then establish a teleportation gate to serve as a gateway to his new training grounds.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

He continued his journey for another two days, venturing deeper into the winding maze of ancient stone and corrupted magic. Monsters still blocked his path, but their numbers began to decrease even as their strength increased. Despite the growing danger, he was certain he was heading in the right direction. The tunnel walls confirmed it.