Chapter 13: Angel
For the next few hours, Zane practiced with his [Twin Shade] daggers and various skills inside the Training Dungeon. He could exit whenever he wanted now that he had mastery over it, but he wasn't exactly eager to go out and see that massive angel again just yet.
To his relief, it would seem using skills inside the Training Dungeon actually did level them up, though [Devour] did not work. Unfortunately, he didn't have infinite mana even in here, so Zane decided to alternate between weapon training and skills training. When he was out of mana, he used [Twin Shade] to take down enemies and practiced throwing it as well, and when he did have mana, he used [Fire Manipulation] to burn his enemies to ashes. Ever since choosing his class as a Progenitor, his mana regeneration had been increased as well.
In this manner, he continued for hours.
Of course, practicing his own skills wasn't the only thing he was doing. He also played around with the limits of the Training Dungeon, and found that it could simulate practically any Dungeon archetype in existence—at least, the ones he knew, from Desert to Rainforest, to even Catacombs or a City. Naturally, it could also simulate any Dungeon mob—at least, all the ones Zane knew of.
Gradually, he began to learn the attack and movement patterns of all kinds of different mobs, as well as the layouts and unique features of different Dungeon archetypes that he didn't know of before. At the same time, he also got more and more proficient at controlling his emotions to dictate the state of the Training Dungeon, and could now change the Dungeon archetype fluently without breaks.
Soon, however, his training session came to an end. A bright timer appeared in front of him, counting down the one minute he had left of the 'penalty'. He could stay here for longer if he wanted to, but really, he knew had to go back to the real world sooner or later. Before he left, he opened his status page to check on his skills to see how much they've leveled up, and was glad to discover the results.
[Status]
[Zane Silverdale]
Race - Vampire | Sex - Male | Age - 25
Titles | [???, Bearer of the Vampire Devouring Body, Ascendant]
Level 12 | [Progenitor] | EXP: 570/1,200
Specialization: Omnipotence
Physique: Vampire Devouring Body
[STR: 30] [DEF: 23] [AGI: 30] [INT: 30] [DEX: 20]
Skills: [Devour I] [Regeneration V] [Fire Manipulation V] [Cartography V] [Invisibility I] [Teleportation I]
Apart from [Devour] and [Regeneration], all of Zane's other abilities had reached the next tier. [Fire Manipulation] was now maxed out, granting him practically free control over any fire source, and both [Invisibility] and [Teleportation] had tier up from their 'basic' variants. Upon inspection, Zane discovered that those upgrades meant his scent would be hidden as well, and he could freely teleport directly from one chamber to another inside a Dungeon—although it did take quite some channel time.
Satisfied with these results, Zane simply waited for the timer to run out, and he was warped back to the real world in the blink of an eye.
He had a plan in mind—after all, the first mob he tried to simulate in the Training Dungeon was the Angel.
*****
When Zane returned, he found himself staring at the same destroyed nave he'd been in when he was forcibly pulled into the penalty Dungeon. There, ahead of him, was his target—Azakiel, the Angel. It hovered around the chamber aimlessly, waiting for an enemy to approach, and as soon as Zane teleported back into the Dungeon, it latched onto his scent.
Slowly spinning to face him, the angel held up its divine sword in both hands, burning with flames, and prepared to strike.
"Tsk, tsk… where are your manners?" He shrugged nonchalantly. "Ah, well—I wasn't exactly expecting a polite greeting anyway."
Azakiel, perhaps taking that as an insult, cut the air straight down in front of itself. Immediately, a bird-shaped blast of purgatory white fire burst out of the blade and flew towards Zane, but unlike before, he smiled confidently.
"Starting with the easier ones, huh? Fine by me."
This projectile-based sword attack was one of the easier ones to avoid, and was also one of the more common ones Angels tended to use. Not all the species Zane practiced against in the Training Dungeon used fire, but the few who did had near identical movements to this, so he knew exactly what to expect.
Easily, Zane dodged to the side with a deft tumble, and leaped onto a nearby stone pillar—one of the few things in the room that were sturdy enough to have not been destroyed yet. From there, he used his momentum to propel himself upwards into the air, and then cast [Teleportation] to close the gap between himself and Azakiel.
The Angel, not expecting this speedy and smooth maneuver, quickly attempted to counter, but Zane knew that it could not catch up. These things may be extraordinarily powerful and durable, but they were greatly lacking in the speed and agility department—most likely due to their colossal size.
Smirking in triumph while mid-air, Zane opened his palm and aimed it towards the angel's head.
"Have a taste of your own medicine, jackass."
A brilliant plume of orange fire shot out of his hand and directly into the angel's helmet visors, burning the interior contents instantly and setting its entire head on fire. Terrifyingly, however, Azakiel lifted its sword once more as if it didn't care about the flames, and sliced towards where it thought Zane would fall.
Too bad this had been within calculations as well.
The basic melee attack of the Angel was its fastest move—but still quite slow by Zane's standards. Since his mana needed to rest in between skill casts, that meant he couldn't use [Teleport] here—but that was fine. He had something else up his sleeve—something he'd practiced against the target dummies inside the Training Dungeon.
Smirking, Zane used his daggers to latch himself onto the sword's edge and climb up onto the flat side as the angel swung. The flames on Azakiel's blade seared his skin and threatened to scorch him alive, but the borderline maniacal smile on Zane's face made it difficult to tell which of the two truly didn't feel pain.
"Now—time for payback."
Grinning wide, Zane dashed up the sword's surface, up onto the hilt and handle. Then, before the angel could react, he jumped as high as he could—and found himself staring face-to-face with his opponent's metal casque once more.
This time, though, his target wasn't the visors.
Between his fingertips, Zane prepared not one, but six separate embers, each one soon to become a powerful fireball. Crossing his arms in an X-shape before his chest, he let the flames fly.
"Begone."
One by one, the cinders grew into blazing orbs of fire and struck each of Azakiel's six feathery white wings with a brilliant explosion, conflagrating them instantly. The Angel's figure trembled in the air as the fireballs went off one after the other, and its wings were reduced to ashes. Before they were fully gone, it attempted to use the wind attack as a final-ditch effort to eliminate its target, but this time, Zane was ready.
Having already experienced it once when Azakiel first emerged from the hole in the ground, Zane knew what to expect. Quickly, he landed on the ground, stabbed his daggers into the nearby pillar, and held on tight.
'Not this time, idiot…' Zane thought with an evil smirk. 'Doing that will only fan the flames and kill yourself faster.'
As if to prove his words, the flames on Azakiel's body suddenly surged in power, right when Zane felt a powerful gust of wind rushing past his body. This time, though, he was not sent flying—instead, it was Azakiel who fell from the air, its burning wings no longer able to withhold its weight.
With a loud crash, the Angel collided with the stone floor, creating a miniature crater in the ground. Its massive divine sword of fire, a gift from the heavens, dissipated into white light now that its wielder had been destroyed, and the angel's six white wings had now been turned to charred black ash.
"… Not so strong after all."
Zane, watching Azakiel's body burn, relished the sweet, sweet taste of revenge.
[Azakiel, the Purger (Lv. 20) — Defeated!]
[+200 EXP]
[Player Level Up!]
[Lv. 12 -> 13]
[+13 SP]
'Only level 20, huh… that explains it.'
Some Hidden Bosses were well above the Dungeon's intended rank, but others were pretty close. Zane already had a faint feeling when it took so damage from one attack, but it would seem this Angel in particular was part of the latter category.
"Now then… time for the fun part."
[Hidden Boss — Conquered!]
[Collect your rewards from the lootbox ahead.]
With some effort, Zane pulled his daggers out of the stone pillar, and holstered them by his belt. Then, walking up to the angel's enormous, burning body, he held out his hand, palm open.
'Devour.'
Immediately, he felt himself being rejuvenated. Health, mana—all that good stuff, flowed back into his body. Due to how powerful Azakiel was, the warmth that came with the process was stronger than usual, and Zane basked in the enjoyment for a good while.
"It's a Hidden Boss… this better be good."
As if to answer his calls, the process finished soon after that, and before Zane displayed a new System message.
[Azakiel, the Purger (Lv. 20) — Devoured.]
[Purgatory Flames — Skill Obtained!]
[Added to Compendium!]
'Purgatory Flames? Those white flames that the Angel was using?'
Just as Zane was pondering about that, a new notification appeared beneath the already-present ones, and he frowned.
[Body Maintenance — Quest Complete!]
[+10 SP, +50 Bloodrunes]
'Oh, right… the Quest to Devour an Elite-rank enemy or higher. The timer resets after the so-called penalty, huh?'
Zane put that aside for now, since right after that came yet another string of messages from his System. 'What is this, a chain combo?'
[Notice: A synergy has been detected between two (or more) of your skills.]
[Fire Manipulation // Purgatory Flames]
[Would you like to combine them now to free up more space for Devour?]
'More space…?' Zane thought. 'So, there's a limit on how many skills I can have, eh…'
Strange. He'd never heard of this before, though maybe that's because pretty much no other Hunter has ever needed any more than 5 skill slots, given that everyone had a Specialization. Zane was special, however, so perhaps this was just another feature of his unique System and physique.
Seeing nothing to lose, he thought 'Yes' in his head, and after a brief loading animation, the hologram's messages switched.
[The skills have been successfully combined.]
[New skill: Fire Mastery]
"Fire Mastery, huh… I like the sound of that."
Turning around, Zane did what any normal person would do—test the ability out. Lifting his arm, he aimed his hand towards the stone pillar he'd just stabbed his daggers in, and thought in his mind:
'Fire.'
Immediately, a surge of immensely powerful flames shot out of his palm and engulfed the stone pillar whole, so strong that even Zane backed away a few steps out of caution. These flames were not the orange he was used to—they were pale white, and ate away at the stone in a matter of seconds. The stone pillar soon dissolved completely, and the fire, with nowhere else to go, began spreading across the floor.
'Back!'
Zane quickly recalled his fire, and was glad to find out that still worked, at the very least. His new power, however, was terrifyingly strong. Not only were the flames themselves multiple times more powerful, they could also spread across surfaces normal fire could not—for example, stone.
And the best part yet?
Zane glanced down at his skills list, a smile tugging on his lips.
[Fire Mastery I]
He could level it up, all over again.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Cyclxne
Cyclxne Skill synergy and combination, huh...
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