Chapter 25: New SSS Rank Item

Yenna kept her feet behind him. Her black cat ears moved to track the sounds from the opening ahead. Her text map was open.

"Marcus is changing the floor ahead," Yenna said through the mental text link. "The walls are moving. He is using the floor’s own defense system to target the reptile and my position. The ground weight is increasing."

Suddenly, the floor beneath Yenna’s feet became heavy. A deep pressure pulled her down toward the ground, making it hard for her legs to lift. The reptile let out a sound from its teeth, its scales pressing hard against the floor as the weight multiplied by one hundred times.

Marcus was trying to pin Yenna to the ground so Dante would have to turn back.

Dante did not turn his body around. He looked straight at the high mineral walls ahead. He reached into his pocket and activated his new item, ’The Sovereign’s Core Matrix’.

"Release," Dante said.

He did not use a weapon. He simply used his mind to talk to the mineral ground. The SSS-Rank item took control of the level’s gravity system instantly. The pressure pulling Yenna down vanished. The weight returned to normal, and the reptile lifted its head from the floor, its scales moving freely again.

Instead of stopping there, Dante pointed his finger at the far walls where Marcus’s automated security units were hidden.

"Increase weight," Dante commanded.

The gravity within the two-kilometer corridor flipped. The ground pressure beneath the hidden security gates multiplied by one hundred times. The walls where the automatic traps sat began to crack under their own weight. The hidden metal systems inside the masonry flattened into scrap, destroying Marcus’s gravity grid completely before it could even fire.

[System Notification: Level defense system destroyed.]

[You have permanently gained: +5 Strength from the mineral core calculation.]

The passage was completely open now. The pressure was gone, and the path to the exit gate was clear.

"The grid is dead," Dante told Yenna. "Keep the reptile moving."

Yenna’s black cat ears stood up straight. She looked at the cracked walls, then back at Dante’s . Her text interface showed that the entire thirty-second level was now under Dante’s absolute ownership.

The reptile stepped forward, its scales scraping against the dry mineral dust as it carried them toward the exit opening. Marcus had tried to use the floor itself to crush them, but Dante had simply taken the floor away from him.

The giant reptile carried them past the crushed remnants of the security gates. Its legs left wide tracks in the mineral dust covering the floor.

Yenna sat low on its scales, her eyes scanning the text on her map layout. The initial panic of the gravity trap had entirely vanished from her mind, replaced by the absolute stillness granted by Dante’s mental link.

"The next gate is exactly fifty meters ahead," Yenna said, her cat ears twitching as she focused on the grid lines. "Marcus has no more automated traps active on this level. The main tower network shows his connection to Floor 32 is completely dead. You didn’t just break his tools, Zero—you cut his text commands out of the sector logic."

Dante did not answer immediately. He stood near the front of the reptile’s neck, his hands resting inside his pockets. The text inside his eyes updated as the minutes ticked closer to the next hour. Inside his private world, the constant melting of the Calamity cores continued to feed his raw baseline attributes, making the pressure around his shoulders grow heavier with every step.

"Marcus thinks a level belongs to him because he built walls on it," Dante said, his voice carrying a cold weight. "He forgets that the tower was here long before his guild signed its first investment contract. When you control the foundational mineral code, a gate is just a temporary barrier."

They reached the end of the long corridor. A block of stone stood before them, blocking the opening to the next floor.

Dante stepped down from the reptile’s head, He simply placed his right palm flat against the center of the massive stone block, letting the energy of his Sovereign’s Core Matrix flow directly into the structure.

’Property Seizure.’

The red security runes turned a deep purple before dissolving entirely into the stone. The system logic rewired itself within a single second, recognizing Dante’s unique soul signature as the absolute owner of the architecture.

With a grinding movement, the massive stone block slid upward into the ceiling, revealing the wide transport lift that led to the thirty-third level.

"Get the reptile inside," Dante commanded softly, stepping into the lift.

Yenna guided the twelve-meter beast forward, its claws scraping against the floor as it curled its long tail to fit the interior of the transport box. As the front panels slid closed, sealing them inside the quiet compartment, the digital clock inside Dante’s vision finally rolled over.

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

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

The glowing wheel manifested within his mind, its colorful segments spinning in a rapid blur before clicking to a stop on a low-tier slot.

[Spin Complete!]

[You got: ’Cracked Mineral Jar’ (F-Rank Common Utility Container).]

• Description: An old, brittle stone container used by low-tier workers to carry fluid. It leaks easily.

A small jar appeared in the air, dropping into Dante’s hand. To any ordinary hunter, it was literal garbage meant for a dumpster. But before the notification could fade, the golden interface of his second system violently slammed down over the text.

[System 2: 100x Sovereign Multiplier Triggered!]

[’Cracked Mineral Jar’ (F-Rank) ---> Multiplied by 100x!]

[Calculating Highest Divine Evolution... Complete!]

[You got SSS-Rank Divine Item: ’The Asura’s World-Eater Urn’ (Bound).]

• Description: An ancient relic forged from the core of a dying world.

• Effect 1: ’Mineral Fluid Extraction’ - Allows the host to instantly pull all natural mineral fluid, fire energy, or toxic liquids out of the surrounding ground and store it inside the urn.

• Effect 2: ’Attribute Conversion’ - Stored liquids can be compressed into pure energy tablets, permanently adding +15 to your base attributes upon consumption.

The jar in Dante’s hand underwent an instant transformation. The cracked clay dissolved, replaced by a dark, metallic vase carved with the text of ancient war deities. The object felt different , humming with a silent gravitational pull that seemed to draw the ambient heat out of the air.

Dante looked down at the dark vase, a slow, cold expression settling on his features.

"What did your map say about the thirty-third floor, Yenna?" Dante asked, keeping his gaze on the artifact.

Yenna closed her eyes, checking the data lines jumping across her screen. Her cat ears pinned back slightly as she read the new text updates from the upper sectors.

"Marcus is going completely desperate," Yenna reported. "He realized the gravity grid failed. He just unlocked the main reserve lines for Floor 33. They are flooding the entire entrance plaza with a wave of molten fire fluid to turn the level into a burning lake the moment our transport doors open."

Dante shoved the dark vase into his pocket, his right middle finger tapping against the metal rim.

"A burning lake," Dante muttered, as the lift began its final movement upward. "Marcus really doesn’t learn. He keeps giving me exactly what I need to grow stronger."