We—or rather, I—continued our rotations in a state of higher tension than ever before.
However, by 2:00 PM, Hinata-san’s MP was teetering on the edge of the red zone. Much to my chagrin, I decided we should take a slightly late lunch break.
Hinata-san and I filled our stomachs with convenience store bentos inside the Monster Room, which had essentially become a Safety Room. Afterward, we rested until 3:00 PM to allow her MP to recover.
Once the break ended, it was time to get back to the grind.
Hinata-san’s current MP exceeded 200, and she recovered over 100 per hour. Even so, a single hour wasn't enough to fully restore her reserves.
After consulting with her, I had her drink two mana potions to boost her MP recovery further.
I had considered dropping the pace to ten rotations for the afternoon, but since Hinata-san’s level had also gone up during the first half of the day, I judged that we could maintain our fifteen-rotation pace.
Truth be told, I just didn't want to slow down!
Grinding was fun! I wanted more experience points! I wanted to level up more!
For some reason, no matter how much I moved, I didn't feel tired at all! Well, I hadn't actually moved that much today, but still!
I set about persuading Hinata-san not to let the pace drop.
"I-Is it okay, Hinata-san!? Can I do it more!?"
"W-Wait, calm down, Takeo-kun!"
"Please! Let me do it more! I'll do anything!!"
"O-Okay! I get it! You can do it as much as you want!"
Since Hinata-san kindly agreed to stick with me for the rotations, I resumed the grind at 3:00 PM without a single worry.
A little after 4:00 PM, just as I finished the twenty-sixth rotation since my last level-up—
"——FEEEEEEEELS SO GOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!"
I reached my third level-up of the day.
『What!?』
『No way, seriously!?』
『No no no no! This is definitely wrong!』
『Even with a 3.2x multiplier, this shouldn't be possible!』
『Hey, Leveling Junkie Bro! You're pulling something, aren't you!?』
『There's no way someone in their 30s can level up at this pace...!!』
『The multiplier has to be way higher than 3.2x!』
『Wait, does he have another multiplier skill besides Seeker and Asceticism!?』
『No, surely that's...!!』
『But I can't think of any other explanation!』
『If so, what skill is it? Did he get a high-tier skill from the Seeker tree or something!?』
『Wait, hold on guys! Since he's not in a party with Hinata-chan today, the system might be treating Leveling Junkie Bro as a solo player!』
『What, you mean he's letting Hinata-chan do the work while he hogs all the experience points!?』
『Junkie Bro, that's low!』
『That's as scummy as a deadbeat or a DV boyfriend...!!』
『To think Junkie Bro was that kind of person...!? I'm so disappointed!』
"E-Everyone, please calm down! That's not it! We're properly in a party together!"
The clearly bizarre leveling pace had subjected me to a wave of heated slander from the viewers.
Thankfully, Hinata-san hurriedly denied the claims and scrambled to put out the fire.
Normally, I would have firmly pushed back against such groundless accusations... but right now, I hardly cared.
In fact, spending time worrying about that felt like a waste.
I allocated my status points and used my skill points to level up Asceticism. I let the comments wash over me as I continued the rotations.
By the way, the new status ailment added at Asceticism level 4 was "Consumption."
The effect was vicious: "Deals damage equal to 5% of maximum HP and MP every 10 seconds."
If I didn't take any recovery actions, all my HP and MP would drop to zero in a mere 190 seconds.
At very low levels, the damage was less than Poison, but as my maximum pools grew, it became far more brutal.
However, at my current speed, I only took damage twice during a Floor 7 rotation. Even combined with the drain from Poison and the cost of maintaining Fighting Spirit, the HP damage was a little over 40, and MP would only drop by 7 or 8.
Even with the damage from Asceticism, as long as Hinata-san hit me with one Heal halfway through, I calculated that I’d have enough HP left to fire off six Great Flying Blades. It was still well within manageable limits.
Furthermore, with Asceticism at level 4, the experience points multiplier reached 7.2x.
One rotation of the Floor 7 Monster Room yielded 333,252 experience points.
Which meant—
"——FEEEEEEEELS SO GOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!"
On the twenty-third rotation since my previous level-up, I leveled up again.
『No way...』
『Seriously, what is going on?』
『Four level-ups in one day? Is this for real?』
The viewers' comments had turned dazed, losing their earlier momentum.
Ignoring them, I recovered from the lingering afterglow of pleasure and checked my status to allocate points.
Having reached my fourth level-up of the day, my current status looked like this:
————————————————
【Name】 Takeo Samejima 【Level】 39 Experience points to next level: 99,855,182
《HP》 89/240 (30 up!) 《MP》 0/77 (11 up!) 《Strength》 125 (15 up!) 《Constitution》 115 (15 up!) 《Intelligence》 6 《Spirit》 71 (11 up!) 《Agility》 120 (19 up!) 《Dexterity》 125 (20 up!)
【STP】 0 【SP】 0
【Skills】 《Increased Damage with Bladed Weapons Lv. Max》《Berserk Lv. 1》《Goblin Genocider Lv. Max》《Fighting Spirit Lv. Max》《Blood Vengeance Lv. 1》《Sword Aura Lv. 1》《Taunt Lv. 1》《■■■■■■■ Lv. 1》《Life Magic Lv. Max》《Magic Sword Lv. 1》《Danger Sense Lv. 1》《Mighty Blade Lv. 3》《Seeker Lv. Max》《Indomitable Spirit Lv. 1》《Asceticism Lv. Max》
【Titles】 《Battle Junkie》《Goblin Genocider》《■■■■■》《Swordmaster》
————————————————
Whew... I’d finally reached level 39.
As expected, this surge of level-ups was coming to an end.
One look at the experience points required for the next level explained why. The jump from level 39 to level 40 required a staggering 100 million experience points.
The requirement had spiked before, but this was absurd. The total experience I had earned to get from level 0 to level 39 was 72,822,250. It felt a bit cruel that a single level-up now required more than my entire history of progression. Then again, that was common enough in games.
Well, anyway.
Setting aside the things I couldn't change, Asceticism had finally reached its maximum level. My experience multiplier was now a staggering 8x. In the Floor 7 Monster Room, I calculated I could earn 370,280 experience points per rotation.
While that was small compared to the requirements of the level 40 range, it was still incredible efficiency. If I changed hunting grounds, I could increase the yield even further—assuming I could survive a Monster Room on Floor 8 or higher.
As for the status ailment granted by Asceticism level 5, it was the "Mark of Death."
Its effect was...
『So Junkie Bro finally reached Asceticism level 5...』
『Level 5 was the Mark of Death, right?』
『Yeah, that notorious status ailment...』
『It's been going smoothly so far, but I really want him to be careful from here on...!!』
『The Dungeon Terrorism incident just happened, so please, no broadcast accidents, Junkie Bro...!!』
『Oh? Come to think of it, why are the Seekers so quiet? Usually they're complaining non-stop.』
『Seriously, you can't joke about the Mark of Death.』
『Too many members of the verification team and pioneers have died because of it.』
The atmosphere in the comments became uncharacteristically solemn.
And for good reason.
The status ailment Mark of Death wasn't the standard game trope where a mark appears and you die after a set time if you don't cure it.
In modern dungeons, the Mark of Death was more aggressive.
Its effects were divided into three stages.
First stage: A black mark is carved into the center of the chest, making Aggro from all monsters Maximum.
Second stage: Any opponent that attacks the mark holder has a Mark of Death carved into their own chest.
Third stage: If the mark holder is attacked again by an opponent who has been marked, both the attacker and the mark holder die unconditionally.
To put it simply, if you get hit twice by the same monster while marked, you die instantly, regardless of your HP. For some reason, the monster is taken down with you.
It was an extremely malicious, curse-like ailment.
But the truly dangerous part was...
『The Maximum Aggro is what's really terrifying.』
『With Maximum Aggro, monsters ignore defense and evasion. They attack with everything they have, ignoring friendly fire and their own safety. It's like a frenzy.』
『If a back-liner gets marked, every monster will ignore the tanks and just charge to kill the mark holder.』
『Depending on the numbers, even multiple tanks with Taunt and defense skills can't stop them.』
『Honestly, if 49 monsters hit you with Maximum Aggro at once, you're dead.』
『Dozens of pioneers verifying Asceticism died even against small groups of five or fewer.』
『And those were against lower-tier enemies they should have been able to handle!』
After the Seekers posted their warnings, the comment section fell silent for a while.
I didn't know if the full danger of the Mark of Death had been conveyed, but the viewers clearly sensed that things had turned serious.
Strangely, I felt a heavy gaze coming from the other side of the drone's camera.
They were wondering if I was really going to do this.
"Takeo-kun..."
Hinata-san turned a worried look toward me. I nodded back with a face of firm determination.
We gathered the drops and left the room.
"Hinata-san, if you please."
"Okay."
After Hinata-san restored my HP and gave me the usual Bless, I placed my hand on the door of the Monster Room, pushed it open, and dove in.
I tossed my gear toward the wall and immediately prepared for battle.
By the time Hinata-san followed me inside, the magic circle in the center of the room was glowing brilliantly, summoning 49 Goblins.
With my sword ready, I activated my skills in rapid succession, finishing with Asceticism.
Instantly, I was hit by a wave of intense pain, nausea from the Poison, the lethargy of Frailty, and the damage from Consumption. Then, a sharp throb hit the center of my chest. Though hidden under my clothes, I felt the moment the Mark of Death was carved.
GWUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHH!!!!!!
The Goblins let out a collective roar louder than anything I had ever heard.
The sound, heavy with a hostility that vibrated through my very bones, inspired an instinctive terror. Even without a specific skill, the sheer Intimidation was overwhelming.
Immediately, every Goblin's gaze snapped to me. Their eyes were filled with shimmering rage and murderous intent.
I felt an involuntary chill.
In the next heartbeat, shouting like frenzied berserkers, every single Goblin began to charge. Right at me.
My palms were slick with sweat against the sword hilt, but I raised my blade regardless—
"—Hell yeah! I won!"
Just like the dozens of times before, I won normally. What of it?
『Yeah, I k n e w i t. lol』
『He's been winning without letting them get close this whole time, so of course he won't get hit!』
『I knew it, but dammit all!!!!!』
『I was hoping for a second that he'd actually struggle against the pressure! Why does he just win like it's nothing!?』
『I thought it was okay for him to suffer a little!』
『Hey, you Seekers lol. I thought you were actually worried about Junkie Bro for once, but that's what you were thinking?』
『Eh? Eh? Eh?』
『Wait, was all that tension just a farce!?』
『What the hell!? Everyone was acting so serious that I was genuinely panicking!』
『I almost peed a little when the Goblins screamed, and I was just watching a screen!』
『Don't coordinate to create such a terrifying atmosphere without warning us! lol』
『But seriously, they got pretty close to Junkie Bro this time. Wasn't that dangerous?』
『Normally, they'd flinch a bit after seeing their allies get slaughtered so flashily.』
『Junkie Bro was clearly firing his flying slashes faster than usual, too.』
『If Hinata-chan hadn't timed that Heal perfectly, his HP would've been wiped.』
As the comments noted, it had been a bit of a close call.
Because the Goblins had charged so recklessly, they nearly made it into melee range. I had compensated by firing my Great Flying Blades faster than usual, but if Hinata-san's Heal hadn't been on point, it could have been bad. The entire battle had lasted less than ten seconds.
Of course, I’d known the mechanics of Asceticism from the start, so I’d already prepped Hinata-san on how to move once the skill reached level 5.
Even so, I was grateful to her for hitting me with that Heal with perfect timing on the very first try.
"Hinata-san, that Heal timing was perfect!"
I gave her a thumbs-up, and she let out a weary, wry smile.
"Yeah, but my heart was in my throat."
Despite that, she had followed the plan perfectly. As I’d suspected, Hinata-san’s nerves of steel were definitely not those of an ordinary citizen.
Still... the Mark of Death seemed like it could be useful in the right situation.
During that battle, not just the Bow Knights, but even the Archmages had been sprinting at me. The Bow Knights had their daggers out, and the Archmages were actually trying to bash me with their staves.
So that was the power of Maximum Aggro. Interesting.
Currently, Maximum Aggro has only been confirmed to trigger via the Mark of Death. It seems Taunt and other skills simply cannot generate that level of focus.
Utilizing Maximum Aggro would always mean dealing with the risks of the Mark of Death, which might make it difficult to use consistently.
————————————————
• Currently undisclosed information
Regarding the mechanics of Mark of Death:
Maximum Aggro is only effective against monsters with a status.
Definitive death after two attacks only applies to entities that both possess a status.
The attack check is not limited to direct melee; ranged and magic attacks also qualify.
The mark generated by attacking the host (the original mark holder) is also classified as a status ailment.
Since it is a curse-type ailment, dispelling it requires the skill Dispel Curse, learned through Divine Magic (the evolved form of Holy Magic). Alternatively, the mark is dispelled if the caster is incapacitated or dies.