[CH200+ Continued] Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster's Power

Chapter 279

My footsteps echo in the hallway and the flickering yellow lights above mask the grime that covers the grey walls, ceiling, and floor.

There are metal doors every 10 to 15 meters that lead into similar-sized rooms, but the long curved hallway seems to go on forever as I make my way forward. My enemy detection skill only shows one other person on this floor and they are still rather far away at the end of the hall.

It's a level 202 with a swordsmanship skill as well as that same High-Grade shielding artifact activated. It must be something their boss hands out to each of them. However, a defense item of this class can't be cheap...

As my footsteps echo further and further down the hall, a raspy middle-aged man's voice eventually calls out.

"Number 5, back so soon? Did the kid finally talk?"

I don't respond, but pick up my pace slightly to see who made this remark. My appearance may resemble the short-haired blond woman, but my voice is still the same. Responding would not be the best idea.

I turn the final bend of the long narrow corridor to see a mean-looking man whose appearance is exactly what I'd pictured. Dark eyebrows and a buzzcut with poorly inked tattoos on his visible skin. Three bottles of alcohol are all half empty on a small table next to him along with a few piles of paper and a pen.

He crosses his arms and raises his head as we make eye contact.

"Come on, it was that bad again? You were hardly gone a few minutes. The boss is getting restless you know. We have another job to tend to 3 days from now so you better hurry it up."

I tighten my gaze and keep walking toward him. The rough-looking man has a silver pin on his shirt too, labeled "009". I get within 3 meters and see a stairway leading up to the next floor on my left side. He speaks again.

"What's with you today, you're acting differ-"

Before he can finish speaking, I get close enough to the man that he starts eying me up and down with lust-filled eyes. Reaching out my right hand I activate my newest ice magic skill and freeze him solid before he even knows what hit him.

I let out a sigh while manipulating the mana within my ice to phish out the labeled pin. I shatter him to pieces without a second thought and stare down at the small silver item using appraisal.

High-Grade B-Class Shielding Artifact [64/100][IC]

It's exactly the same as the one this woman was wearing. I throw it into my item storage and begin walking up the industrial-grade stairs without another thought. They're split into 2 sections of 12 steps, sturdy enough for dozens of people to walk on at the same time.

This place must have been built and used by a large organization a few decades ago but seems to have been forgotten by time. All the rooms are empty or filled with old tables and chairs. They've been stripped of their valuable items multiple times over.

The next two floors turn out almost exactly the same as the first one I just left. Each of them consisted of a long narrow corridor, abandoned rooms, and a guard watching the stairs leading up to the next floor.

Number 8 and number 7 are levels 245 and 269 respectively. They each have mediocre combat skills and the same enchantment shielding artifact linked to their numbered pins, I put each of these items into my storage after leaving them on the ground in pieces.

I move up to the next floor, this is where my enemy detection skills start to act up. I sense 8 people on this floor, but only 3 of them show their status. The first one I meet is level 286, number 6 at the top of the stairs.