Zombies were creatures with the terrifying appearance of rotting skin, and they moved erratically without any hints of human consciousness. It was said that anyone they bit or wounded would also turn into a zombie. That was why so many people watched zombie movies on the edge of their seats.

Other than the fact that zombies existed, these movies were realistic in all other ways. The main characters were always awaiting their doom as generally all of the humans on Earth had been turned into zombies. The last surviving humans had to proceed trembling in fear against these terrors.

But what if another element was added to this formula? For example, what if a person could disinfect themselves of the zombies’ poison by having a high constitution and a bit of mana? Or even if they didn’t have those stats, they could use Holy Water and spray it on their wounds and even melt the zombie by spraying it in Holy Water?

Of course, I did not believe zombies could break through my armor anyways. Even if they could, they would have a hard time breaking through my skin that was strengthened by my high constitution.

In any case, the situation was no longer dangerous for me. Instead, I was mostly irritated by the smell of rotting corpses and disgusted by the fact I was forced to see rather unsightly things.

“Gwawwrrrr!” the zombies roared slowly.

“Tempest!”

Tempest used in conjunction with the Black Earthen Spear swept up dozens of zombies like they were paper airplanes. Most of these zombies died on impact, and the ones that didn’t soon collapsed from being poisoned. Since I spent most of my time fighting Floor Masters, whenever I fought against normal monsters, I felt like a wolf in a flock of sheep.

“Tempest! Tempest!”

“Gwawwrrrr!”

“Gwawwrrrr!”

I had reached the point where I could use Tempest consecutively, like I was shooting out bullets. Now, the zombies around me exploded out in all directions like bowling pins. Blood from those that died from the Black Earthen Spear’s poison scattered on other zombies and infected them as well. I felt like I was playing a first person shooter game. Of course, even with my inflated mana pool, I had to drink a lowest-grade mana potion every minute because Tempest used 300 MP for each activation.

“Peika, take care of that side,” I commanded.

[Got it, Master!] she replied happily.

Since the zombies weren’t strong enough to make me use Spirit Aura, I left Peika to act independently. As her lightning was getting stronger with every passing day, she could easily take care of the zombies by herself as long as she had access to my mana. Individually, the monsters on the 21st floor were weak, but there were many. As such, I couldn’t just leisurely hunt them.

[You have obtained 70 gold.]

[You have obtained 80 gold.]

[You have obtained 75 gold.]

Since they were so weak, each of them dropped less than 100 gold. However, with so many zombies around, the gold piled up at an incredible rate. I ignored the annoying notification messages ringing in my ear and quickly made my way through the dungeon. Ellos had described the 21st floor as ‘advancing at a turtle’s pace in a situation where tension devoured reason’, but I didn’t know just where the tension was or how I was supposed to be turtle-paced.

I ran forward using Tempest while I gulped down lowest-grade mana potions. Fortunately, I had a giant stash of them. Peika flew in front of me, burning the zombies coming from directions I didn’t face. Just like that, I succeeded in breaking through the 21st floor in just two hours.

[You have reached level 22. You have obtained the qualification to enter the 22nd floor.]

[You have obtained 5 bonus stats.]

[In all of the First Dungeon’s history, you have broken through the 21st floor in the shortest amount of time. This record will remain for a long time to come. You have obtained the title, ‘Master of Divine Speed’. Your speed has permanently increased by 3 percent.]

[Divine Speed has been upgraded to level 2. When activated, it uses 19 percent of your mana and multiplies your speed by 550 percent for 0.55 seconds.]

Loretta looked at me with a slightly confused expression. “Shin-nim, why are you ba…Eh? This is the 21st Floor Shop, right?”

I nodded while panting lightly. “Yep. I just broke through. Why didn’t you tell me there was a reward for breaking through the dungeon quickly?”

Loretta had her mouth wide open like an idiot. She then spoke as she stared at me.

“Because I didn’t think someone would break through the 21st floor in just two hours…Usually, going through in two months is considered fast.”

“Is the 22nd floor like the 21st floor?” I asked.

“Yes? Ah, yes, it’s more or less the same until the 24th floor. That’s when ghouls start to appear. But wait, ah, Shin-nim!”

I ran off before she could finish her thought. “See you in a bit!”

[You have reached level 23. You have obtained the qualification to enter the 23rd floor.]

[You have obtained 5 bonus stats.]

[You have swiftly broken through, sweeping through the zombies on the 21st and 22nd floors. You have obtained the title, ‘Zombie Slaughterer’. You now have 10 percent increased damage and resistance when fighting undead monsters. This effect will become a 20 percent increase when fighting zombies and ghouls.]

[You have reached level 24. You have obtained the qualification to enter the 24th floor.]

[You have obtained 5 bonus stats.]

[The dungeon will remember this day for all eternity. You have set a grand record of clearing the 21st through 23rd floors in just 5 hours. You have obtained the title, ‘Incarnation of Lightning’. Your speed has permanently increased by 3 percent. Your affinity to the lightning element has increased greatly.]

[You have obtained the special passive skill, ‘Dash’. When you run, your speed will increase greatly and you will not get tired easily. The skill proficiency will increase the more you run.]

When I was about to enter the 24th floor to continue at my breakneck pace, Loretta hurriedly ran out from the Floor Shop and blocked my way. It was the first time I had ever seen her come out of the Floor Shop.

She shouted out, “Shin-nim, stop! It’s dangerous to recklessly charge through the 24th floor!”

I stopped and panted, “Huff, huff…O-Okay. Let me take a breath then.”

Titles made me stronger. Because I had been focused solely on that, I overworked myself. I first put some oxygen back in my tired body and regained my composure. When I looked back up, I saw Loretta glaring angrily at me.

“No matter how good the titles are, how could you brush past the 22nd Floor Shop where I was waiting? What a rude explorer!”

“Eh, that was the problem?” I gave her a quizzical look.

“…”

Loretta turned away silently. She seemed angry.

I apologized, “Sorry. I’ll always visit the Floor Shop from now on, so don’t be angry.”

She remained silent for a bit before finally spitting out one word, “…Ramen.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll bring you some,” I promised.

“Mm, okay. Then take some rest now.”

Loretta appeased her anger and smiled. Since she had brought it up, I decided to eat here as well. As I took out the necessary tools from my inventory, I cooked up some ramen for both Loretta and me. Loretta cheered loudly as she stared fixedly at the boiling ramen.

“By the way, Loretta, I heard that the monsters above the 21st floor dropped Residential Area Entrance Tickets.”

“That’s right, Shin-nim. What about it?”

Loretta’s eyes were still fixed on the boiling ramen. It was almost ready now.

“They didn’t drop any. I must have killed at least ten thousand monsters as I charged through the last 3 floors.”

She shook her head. “You shouldn’t think so simply. Residential Area Entrance Tickets are super rare.”

“Super?” I asked.

“Super.”

Loretta picked up her chopsticks as she answered solemnly. She was silently telling me to give her ramen. As I put some ramen in her bowl, I complained in a murmur.

“Damn it, when will I get to go? What’s the point of having a Special Mansion Purchase Ticket if I can’t use it?”

“…Special Mansion?”

Loretta had just stuffed her mouth full of ramen when her eyes suddenly became wide with surprise. I couldn’t help but think how cute she looked as I watched her trying to swiftly swallow the noodles.

I nodded while trying to repress a smile. “Yep, Special Mansion. I got it from hunting the Lizard Knight alone.”

“The only ownerless Special Mansion in the First Dungeon is Marianne’s Garden. Then… WHOO!”

Loretta suddenly clenched her fist and shot it up in the air as she shouted in joy. I looked over at her curiously and then our eyes met. Loretta seemed to have regained her composure as she slowly dropped her fist and looked away.

“Whoo?” I asked.

She stammered, “I-It’s nothing! Nothing at all!”

“…”

She ignored the obvious question in my eyes and exclaimed, “Come on, let’s eat ramen! Ramen~!”

Another unsolvable mystery had appeared.

After filling my stomach with ramen, I did some quick equipment maintenance and bought five more bottles of Holy Water. Then I got some intel about the 24th floor from Loretta.

“Shin-nim, you know about ghouls, right?”

I shrugged. “Kind of. If zombies are resurrected corpses, then aren’t ghouls monsters that appear in graveyards and feed on corpses?”

She gave me a look of approval. “Yes, that’s what Earth’s dungeon explorers say. However, their origins or methods of reproduction don’t matter. What’s important is how strong they are.”

She went on to explain that ghouls were in a different league than zombies. The first difference was in their speed. Ghouls were incomparable to zombies in terms of swiftness. They were also strong and tough. Their skin could easily make steel bounce off and their powerful claws even possessed strong neurotoxins. Furthermore, even if they were injured, they could recover by devouring the flesh of other zombies.

Not only did ghouls have high attack, defense, and speed, but they also had portable potions all around it! Their description alone made them seem terrifying. Loretta put up her index finger and advised.

“The moment you see them, either send its head flying or pierce its heart. Got it?”

I shook my head. “Tsk, looks like I’ll have to give up on progressing quickly.”

She gave me a stern look. “Don’t even try. If the number of ghouls start to increase, even Shin-nim would be in dire straits.”

“Thanks for the kind explanation, Loretta.” I smiled winsomely at her.

Loretta’s face turned red. “T-That’ll be 500 gold for the information, customer.”

At my words of gratitude, Loretta put out her hand and looked away with an ‘oops’ expression. I wondered why she was asking for gold when I thanked her. Life really was full of mysteries.

The dungeon generally had the same structure across floors. Each floor was as wide as a castle’s hallway and the ceiling was so high that you couldn’t actually see it. Torches hung on the side stone walls, lighting up the passageway. If you kept following the hallway, the path twisted and turned. If you kept following the path, you would end up in front of the staircase to the next floor. Although there were some crossroads, they all led to the same destination. It was just a matter of going straight or taking a roundabout way.

However, the 24th floor was different. First, the pathway was narrow and the floor wasn’t hard. Second, there were cross-like objects stuck here and there. The fire of the torches also gave off an ominous aura. It felt like my HP would drop just by being in this place.

[This is a place full of death, Master.]

Peika spoke, brushing her dress as if something had gotten on it. I tightened my grip on the Black Earthen Spear and observed my surroundings. Even the undead could get poisoned, as they still had flesh and blood. As Black Earthen Spear’s poison was one that burned blood and devoured bones, I had nothing to fear as long as I had it.

I believed in Loretta, but I didn’t let myself become too nervous. If I let myself get scared by something like ghouls, I couldn’t become the strongest!

“Commence Exploration!”