A humanoid silhouette was sliced in two instantly, its body parts falling to the ground as if they had been lifeless, to begin with.

"Hah."

Next, to the body, a young man sighed in relief. He was of a medium build, less than average height, with dark hair, brown eyes, and a light brown skin tone.

Normally a person his age should be filled with the vigorous nature of youth, however, this young man appeared somewhat more mature. His heaving chest and deep breaths revealed that he was tired.

His expression displayed indifference, his faced hardened by constant battle. He was brandis.h.i.+ng a sword, the edge of the blade covered in blood.

Surrounding him, there were approximately 50 or so corpses littering the floor.

"d.a.m.n, these guys didn't give me enough experience! These demons are too weak; I just wasted five minutes for nothing!"

After muttering to himself the man, returned his katana to its scabbard and checked his body, to ensure he was all in one piece. He was pleased with the results, for his white robes were spotless. There were no cuts, dents, not a single speck of any sort on them, not even a drop of blood. It was almost as if he hadn't been in a fight at all! After realizing that nothing was wrong, he started looking around.

"Ah, I never did notice the surroundings. The moment I entered this place I was fighting!"

The young man gasped at the immensity of the room: it was a large, circular hall, with the diameter of an entire building. Its height stretched as far as the eye could see, its black walls covered in ancient looking golden runes.

"Right, it's time to go face the boss."

After taking in the view, the man slapped his own face and started taking steps forward, these steps, however, were not normal.

The moment he took a step forward, a sheet of ice, half a meter in area, would form beneath his foot. Every time he took a step forward this occurred, and a new sheet of ice would form, eventually creating a flight of stairs, coiling upwards, made entirely from ice.

After a while, the boy was out of sight, the steps turned into a vapor and dispersed. The floor was empty, apart from the bodies left by the young man. Behind the corpses was an open door: if one was to go through that door, a very large, long cave would be found.

The cave was seemingly normal. With the exception of the floor, every single inch of which was covered in blood.

The dismembered body parts of seemingly humanoid creatures littered its entire length, forming heaps the size of houses. All these body parts looked as though they were cut apart cleanly, by a blade, a very sharp blade. On close inspection, these parts were twitching, with minute movements, as if they had still been alive but a few minutes ago...

...

As Will climbed up bit by bit, his heartbeat was accelerated and his senses were heightened to the max. His Aqua sense had already told him that his enemy was above, so it was only a matter of time before he met his foe. Will was looking forward to the battle, but at the same time, he had a foreboding feeling.

Those things down there were too easy, which is a problem because Modus doesn't do easy. Odds are something very powerful is up there, waiting for me.

As Will got closer and closer, his expression began to look more and more surprised

'Hhmm? Why is this presence... so weak?'

One would expect an extremely powerful creature to exude a powerful life force, but Will could barely detect anything. Of course, there were creatures that could hide their presence, but it was unlikely that Modus would allow for such a thing. This was a boss, so it would most likely be a straight up confrontation. The question was, what kind of boss would it be?

Judging from what he had faced so far, Will expected to see a ma.s.sive beast-like boss. But his intuition told him otherwise. The mobs he had been fighting so far were humanoid, that coupled by the subtle presence that was being released made him start to doubt the idea he had.

'Am I going to face my first humanoid Boss?'

The very idea was enthralling. What kind of boss would it be if it was humanoid? Would it have human-like characteristics, and if so, would it make it more lethal?

'I refuse to believe that I am fighting something weak. I need to put my guard up, just in case I meet with an unpleasant surprise.'

As Will reached his destination, the vibe he got from his aqua sense became even more vibrant, but this was not life force, nor was it killing intent.

'This is... excitement!'