Chapter 10: why are you doing this?

When the front panels slid apart, the air that entered the compartment carried the scent of sulfur and burning mineral dust.

Floor sixteen did not have walls made of tiles or wood. It was a massive volcanic trench. The ground beneath their boots was made of hardened black magma, cracked in places to reveal glowing fluid moving slowly in deep lines below the surface.

Dante stepped out. His black boots made zero noise, but his eyes narrowed as he looked at the open space. A year ago, he had saved Marcus from a reptile monster in this exact trench. Marcus had cried, thanking Dante for shielding him from the fire. Now, Marcus sat at the top while Dante had to walk through the ashes.

Yenna followed him, her black tail held low to avoid the rising heat. Her eyes scanned the black ridges.

"Movement ahead," Yenna said, pointing her finger toward a deep dip in the center of the zone. "My map shows a reptile. It has heavy scales. It has been waiting here since the system integration."

From the deep dip, a massive creature crawled out. It was a basalt monitor—a four-legged reptile covered in dense, mineral-hard scales that looked like shards of broken obsidian. It opened its jaws, revealing rows of jagged teeth dripping with a glowing, burning fluid.

The reptile let out a hiss that vibrated the ground, its tail slamming against the black floor, sending chips of mineral flying through the air. It fixed its gaze entirely on Dante and lunged, its massive jaws opening wide to snap him in half.

Dante did not draw his invisible weapon. He did not run. He just stood his ground on the black crust, his hands buried deep inside his hoodie pockets. The memory of his death on the fifty-fifth floor flashed through his mind, replacing any fear with a cold, absolute anger.

The reptile’s teeth slammed directly onto Dante’s shoulder.

The impact was immense, but the reptile’s teeth did not pierce the black fabric. Instead, the SSS-Rank reflection ability initialized. The force of the bite was instantly doubled and sent back into the monster’s own body.

The creature’s entire upper jaw shattered into fragments. The amplified force traveled down its neck, causing its obsidian scales to burst off its skin like shrapnel. The reptile tumbled backward into the burning fluid ditch, thrashing in pure agony as its own strength ruined its body.

Dante walked to the edge of the pit, looking down at the dying beast. His face remained completely still. He felt nothing for the monster, just as his old guild felt nothing for him when they locked the door.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the dark jade token. The crimson text expanded in his vision.

[System Notification: Hostile entity is dying.]

[Sovereign’s Tax has collected 5% of the target’s baseline attributes.]

[You permanently gained: +4 Strength, +4 Vitality.]

As the reptile stopped its movement, the digital clock in Dante’s vision hit the midnight marker.

12:00 AM.

Ding!

[System Notification: Midnight reached. You receive 1x Free Daily Spin.]

[The Gachapon wheel is initializing its movement...]

The colorful wheel spun in his mind, slowing down until the needle landed on a dull green slot.

[Spin Complete!]

[You got: ’Basic Fire Starter’ (F-Rank Common Utility Technique).]

[Description: Allows the user to produce a small spark from their fingertips to light a campfire. Damage output: 1.]

Dante watched the text finish. A second later, the golden interface of his second system slammed over the notification, rewriting the code.

[System 2: 100x Sovereign Multiplier Triggered!]

[’Basic Fire Starter’ (F-Rank) ---> Multiplied by 100x!]

[Calculating Highest Transformation... Complete!]

[You got SSS-Rank Divine Attribute: ’The Asura’s Hellfire Genesis’ (Bound).]

- Description: You control the primordial fire of destruction.

- Effect 1: Any spark you produce automatically multiplies its thermal output by 100x, bypassing all elemental resistance.

- Effect 2: ’Incinerate’ - You can cause any hostile target currently affected by your stat drain to catch fire from the inside out, burning their mana channels first.

Dante lifted his right hand out of his pocket. He snapped his fingers.

A tiny, dark purple spark appeared above his thumb. The moment the spark formed, the ambient temperature inside the volcanic trench skyrocketed, causing the fluid magma in the ditches to bubble violently.

He looked toward the gate at the back of the floor, which led to Floor 17.

"Marcus," Dante whispered, his voice carrying the weight of his twelve-month slumber. "I am coming up the stairs. And I am burning everything you built."

The transition between the sixteenth and seventeenth levels did not happen in a short time. The mechanical transport stayed shut for a long time, grinding its way upward through layers of solid mineral ground. Inside the small box, the heat from the volcanic trench slowly faded, replaced by a stale chill.

Dante stood near the front panel. His body remained perfectly still, He did not speak. He did not look back.

Yenna sat in the corner of the compartment, her back pressed against the iron wall. Her black cat ears were flat against her head, twitching every time the machine groaned. She kept her eyes on Dante’s back.

Ever since they left the guard station on Floor 14, she had noticed a transformation in him. When she first met him in the snow, he was cold, but he felt human. Now, after watching him snap his fingers and alter the temperature of an entire volcanic zone, he felt distant. He felt like the deep abyss itself.

"Zero," Yenna said. Her voice was very small, cutting through the mechanical hum of the transport.

Dante did not turn his head. "Speak."

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, her tail curling tightly around her ankle. "I wanted revenge on the squad that left me behind. We killed them. But you... you are looking at the upper levels like you want to tear the whole system down. You don’t even look at the loot. You don’t smile when you get these god-tier powers. It is like you—you are already dead inside."

Dante remained silent for few seconds. The transport vibrated as it passed a mineral deposit in the walls.

"A year ago, I was the top S-Rank hunter in the Radiant Dawn guild," Dante said, his voice flat, completely devoid of pride. "I built their defense grids. I carried Marcus on my back through fifty floors. When my mana ran out because I was shielding them, they locked me in a room with a Calamity beast so they could split my gear."

Yenna’s ears stood straight up. Her amber eyes fixed on his profile. "You... you are Dante Grey? The famous S rank hunter who climbed the 55th floor ? Well it’s make sense somehow but still..."

"Dante Grey died in that room," he said, his gaze fixed on the closed door ahead. "The person standing here is just a ghost checking the debt log. I don’t care about the loot, Yenna. I don’t care about the system. I am climbing these stairs because every single person who wears that guild mark needs to be erased from the world. If you are afraid of the fire, stay in the elevator."

Yenna looked down at her hands. The smoky dark energy from her SSS-Rank Asura Void-Seeker class was still swirling around her claws. She had been trash to the guild, a non-human porter meant to be thrown away in the frost. Dante had given her the power to stand on her own feet.

She stood up, her tail straightening out behind her. She walked up right next to his shoulder, staring at the door with him.

"My world was swallowed by the system five years ago," Yenna said, her voice turning firm and steady. "I have no home to go back to. The guild took my dignity, but you gave me a path. I am not staying in the elevator. Even if you burn the whole tower down to the ground, I will be the one tracking your targets."

Dante didn’t look at her, but the line of his jaw relaxed by a fraction of a millimeter. "Keep your eyes open then. The doors are opening."

The transport came to a sudden halt. The front panels slid open, revealing the entrance to Floor 17.

The ground ahead was not dirt or magma. It was a dark, twisting canyon made entirely of jagged ore and sharp mineral pillars. The walls were alive with the sound of grinding metal, as if the floor itself was trying to chew anyone who entered the opening.

"Use the text map," Dante commanded softly, stepping onto the iron floor. "Find the fastest path up."