Rise of the System Slayer

Ares prepared himself, and before leaving, he went to his sister to inform her that he would be gone for a few days. When he told her, she nodded.

'Okay, brother,' Lily replied quickly.

She was busy working on her school project, which she needed to finish on time to pass high school. Seeing this, Ares quickly left, giving her space so he wouldn't disturb her.

He immediately went out and prepared himself, heading to a place where no one could see him. He wanted to open the dungeon alone because if anyone saw him doing it, they might mistake him for a monster. In the past few days, dungeons had been appearing more frequently—not just in his city but in every country.

And there was one more thing bothering him—his MP capacity was only 250, which meant he could only summon a level 1 shadow. If it was killed, he would have to wait for his MP to restore before summoning it again, making it a hassle for him.

Even if they had a high level in the past, it would be reset after they became part of his shadow. The shadow has a ranking system where he can level up and upgrade it if he wants.

The shadow ranks are categorized based on the following levels:

-Soldier Rank – Basic troops

-Elite Soldier Rank – Advanced fighters

-Knight Rank – Elite warriors

-General Rank – High commanders

-Marshal Rank – Top commanders

-Grand Marshal Rank – Ultimate leader

To be promoted to the next rank, the shadow must be leveled up ten times per rank. Currently, all of his shadows are at Soldier Rank, with each of them still at Level 1.

'Damn it, I need to resolve this before I enter this unknown dungeon, or else I won't be able to come back alive,' he murmured. Little did he know, he was the MC of this story—what a fool. But he could come back, thanks to his system, which had a variety of stores offering different items.

After pondering for a while on how to solve his problem, he decided to check the system and browse for any item that could expand his MP.

After a few minutes of searching, his long face began to reshape. His eyes widened, and he licked his lips as he found the item he needed. 'This is it! What I'm looking for!' he thought, quickly exchanging his GP for the elixir that was priced at 500gp.

-500 GP

[Elixir of Boundless Mana]

Item Type -> Consumable

Effect -> Increases the user's maximum MP by 50% for one week. After the effect expires, the user's MP will gradually return to normal over the next 48 hours.

After the elixir appeared in his hands, he immediately swallowed it. The taste was normal, and his body felt refreshed because it was quite cold.

He quickly sensed his mana increase and checked his status.

HP: 100

MP: 250/250 (Increased max MP by 50%)

Strength: 35

Agility: 15

Sense: 11

Intelligence: 10

Fatigue: 0 

Buff: Mana Surge - MP increase by 50% for 1 week. After the effect ends, MP will gradually return to normal over the next 48 hours.

After a while gazing at the screen, he swiftly got the key in the screen, and while holding it, he rotated it in front of the tree, and a big blue gateway appeared before him.

As he entered the dungeon, a city loomed before him, with buildings on fire and smoke curling into the darkening sky. The air was filled with the aroma of burning wood and ruin.

In the distance, a huge demon castle towered over the chaos. Its jagged spires rose into the stormy sky while dark energy crackled about its walls, casting a frightening shadow on the city below. The castle's gates were wide open, encouraging him to enter the center of the turmoil that awaited.

"It's scorching," he murmured, feeling the intense heat inside the dungeon. His face started sweating. As he walked forward and entered through the gates, a huge monster appeared before him.

A monstrous Cerberus prowls. Its three massive heads are wreathed in roaring flames that flicker like torches in the darkness. Its obsidian-black body is covered in thick hide, with every muscle rippling as if forged from raw power itself. Each of its glowing crimson eyes locks onto intruders with an eerie intelligence.

Its level was twenty-five. As Ares gazed at the Cerberus, it growled, signaling an attack. Before he could pull out his dagger, the beast quickly charged at him. However, he dodged in an instant, using one of his shadow summons to shield himself. The Cerberus struck the summon instead.

Thanks to expanding his MP, Ares could now summon multiple shadows to aid him. Before another attack could come his way, he immediately called out to his shadows.

'Come forth!' he whispered.

In an instant, several shadow orcs emerged around him.

A screen appeared in front of him as the system assigned him a task.

[KILL A CERBERUS]

[RANDOM REWARD WILL BE GIVEN AFTER COMPLETING THE TASK]

A random reward popped up below the task, indicating he would receive it upon completion.

He was in a hurry after seeing the notification, hoping he would get another skill that would make him even stronger.

He pointed at the Cerberus, signaling his army to attack. Immediately, over 20 of his summoned shadows charged toward the beast, engaging it in battle. However, despite their numbers, the Cerberus easily slaughtered them. They were still low-level compared to the monster. But this was all part of Ares' plan—to wear it down. Even if they couldn't kill it, they would drain its stamina.

As the hours passed, Ares' summons were continuously slain by the Cerberus, just as he had expected. His MP was depleting rapidly, and even after increasing it, it still wasn't enough to take the monster down. Realizing he had to fight on his own, he pulled out his dagger and dashed forward to join the battle.

As he neared the beast, his eyes widened—a massive wave of fire erupted from the Cerberus' mouth, scorching everything around it. Wildfires spread rapidly across the ground.

"Damn it… it can still pull off another attack, even after all this?!" Ares gritted his teeth. He needed to take it down soon, or he would be the one to fall.

As the Cerberus remained distracted, fighting his summons, Ares focused on activating his Phantom Skill. After a few seconds, he unleashed a swift slash—one of the Cerberus' flaming heads fell to the ground. He let out a breathless laugh, satisfied with his successful strike, and immediately launched another attack.

"Two," he counted as he severed another head.

For his final attack, he gripped his dagger tightly, ready to end the fight. In an instant, he switched his steel dagger to a serpent blade and threw it. Poison spread through the beast's remaining head. Within seconds, the Cerberus' movements slowed until it finally collapsed, lifeless.

Ares gazed at the fallen beast and let out a disappointed sigh.

"All that barking… and this is all you had?

He didn't know how much stronger he had gotten since acquiring two skills. Earlier, he tested his shadows, but since they were still level one and couldn't keep up with the enemies, he decided to keep them for now and gather more shadows.