The three doors had already been deciphered.
Rei still decided to start with the one that carried the least danger.
Kanzaki Rei opened the doorway that stored various formulas and potions. Inside were ancient books sealed away for ages, and the moment the door cracked open, a rotten, moldy stench rushed out.
Rei casually lifted his hand.
A gust of icy wind blew outward.
The foul air inside the chamber was swept away in a swirling current.
As for whether those smells carried trace toxins, Rei wasn't particularly worried.
After all, Kumironi was here.
At least for now, as long as someone hadn't been dead for too long, it generally wasn't a problem.
"Another Death Priest secret scroll…"
"Why are the scrolls for this class so ridiculously common?"
Up to this point, this was already the third Death Priest secret scroll Rei had encountered.
Rei had studied a bit of secret scroll identification.
Now he could roughly determine what class a scroll belonged to just by examining the patterns etched onto it.
Reading really is wonderful…
When you have knowledge, you don't need to beg others for help.
Rei handed the scroll directly to Kumironi.
How she chose to deal with it would be her decision.
"Does anyone see anything they need?" Rei asked.
Luluvi picked up a bundle of arrows, along with a crafting formula.
"Soul-Piercing Arrows… Soul-Slayer Arrows…"
"I'll take these. And this bow technique—Soul-Piercing Arrow Rain."
Meanwhile, Iz flipped open a magic tome beside Rei.
"Ancient soul magic… Possession Descent Technique…"
"There are spells this strange? Interesting."
Rei stood on his toes slightly, extending his perception to see what Iz had discovered.
But what he saw was a mess of complex and chaotic script.
That language…
It must be Ancient Loyian.
He hadn't learned that language yet, though he recognized its distinctive characteristics.
It was an extremely difficult ancient language, rumored to be capable of recording the activity of souls themselves.
"This is a Tier-4 spell," Iz said.
"You can't learn it yet."
Alright, alright…
Even I can't learn it—being a Level-3 mage really means having no human rights…
Kumironi also picked up a dusty old book.
"Guidelines for Repairing Fragmented Souls."
The healing caster system differed somewhat from that of mages.
They needed an extremely detailed understanding of biological bodies—their structure, flesh, bones, and all kinds of intrinsic traits.
Only with that knowledge could they maximize the effectiveness of healing spellcraft.
If magic was about interpreting the laws of nature, using imagination to manipulate those rules—
Then healing was about interpreting life itself.
Understanding the structure of life.
And imagining how healing techniques should restore it.
Rei wasn't a healer, so he couldn't truly experience their perspective.
But judging from his understanding of flesh magic, perhaps it involved imagining how a body ought to heal.
A crude healer restoring a wound might be like taking two threads and stitching the two sides together—that counted as healing.
But a truly powerful healer would match every cell of the wound, even every elemental particle, aligning the flowing vital energy and blood perfectly before sealing it.
The speed of recovery and the perfection of the healing depended entirely on the healer's understanding of life.
Perhaps when healers performed treatment, the sensation felt very similar to performing surgery.
Unfortunately, Rei wasn't a healer.
He couldn't empathize with that experience.
Meanwhile, Akasei picked up a sword.
"Soul-Slaying Blade?"
"Why would a place filled entirely with soul monsters have a weapon meant to kill souls?"
"Well… it feels pretty good in the hand."
Akasei swung it a few times before storing it away.
Although he already possessed the best greatsword in the world, having other weapon types wasn't useless.
You never knew when they might come in handy.
Aside from that, there were also Soul-Piercing Daggers meant for assassins, a few assassination techniques, and various crafting formulas.
Essentially, most classes could find something useful here.
"Jackpot!" Akasei gave Rei a thumbs-up.
"I'm glad you found something useful, Brother Akasei," Rei replied with a bright smile.
Luluvi, meanwhile, held several arrows out toward him.
"Hey…"
"This arrow crafting formula requires someone to infuse a soul into them."
"Sister Luluvi, my name isn't 'hey'…"
Luluvi's face flushed slightly.
She simply didn't know how to phrase the request.
"…Help me."
"I'll help you in the future too."
Rei answered frankly.
"We're a team. Of course I'll help you, Sister Luluvi."
Rei glanced at the arrow crafting formula.
In truth, crafting these arrows also required some basic enchanting techniques, but nothing too advanced—no need for a professional enchanter.
The main difficulty lay in handling the souls.
Fortunately, Rei had studied some enchanter knowledge, so this wasn't a problem.
He took the arrows and began infusing souls into them.
The souls stabilized within the arrow shafts.
These arrows, once enchanted by Rei, emitted much brighter soul-glow.
Rei added more souls during the process.
Each arrow contained 50 souls.
Their power should be far greater than those dull-looking soul arrows.
When Luluvi received the arrows back from Rei, her eyes practically lit up.
She could feel the immense power contained within them.
Combined with her bow techniques, she would be able to unleash beautifully devastating attacks.
"Then… I'll have to trouble you again in the future," Luluvi said.
It seemed likely she would be using these arrows for quite a long time.
"Sure, when I have time."
Luluvi added,
"If you ever need my help with something, I'll help you too."
"Thank you, Sister Luluvi."
Having a Level-5 Observer assisting him in the future would certainly be convenient.
Luluvi's perception ability was something Rei envied deeply.
Ordinary Level-5 Observers probably couldn't see as far as she could.
Even though Rei had 「Final Perception」, which prevented his senses from being blocked—
In terms of distance, the difference was enormous.
After everyone finished dividing the loot, the remaining items were collected by Akasei.
He served as the team's gatherer.
He also handled miscellaneous collection tasks, as well as selling items and distributing the profits.
"Alright…"
"The second door."
Rei placed his hand on the door.
Mechanisms inside the doorway shifted.
Tiny souls drifted within the structure.
RUMBLE—
With a deep, heavy sound, the door slowly opened.
Beyond it was a twisting corridor.
No one knew where it led.
This was probably the path to receive the inheritance.
Rei had no intention of accepting it.
Who knew what kind of trap might be hidden there?
The inheritance of a Nest Lord.
Even if there weren't malicious traps—
The fact that the inheritance belonged to a monster meant Rei would never take it.
If a human inherited power from a monster, who knew what negative side effects might appear?
Rei had even calmly refused the War God's inheritance before.
Compared to that, this was even less appealing.
Instead, he simply extended a Mage Hand and remotely retrieved a ritual array diagram lying near the wall.
He didn't even step through the doorway.
Then he placed his hand on the wall and activated the Decipher Scholar's skill:
「Transparent Decryption」
The door that had just been opened sealed shut again.
Finally, Rei turned toward the final door—
The one sealing the Continental-Sinking-class monster.
"I'm opening it."
Akasei had already taken out his greatsword.
"Open it."
Rei placed his hand on the door.
He directly pried apart the hidden restrictions inside and manipulated the souls embedded within.
Normally, that wasn't how one solved the puzzle.
But the Decipher Scholar's techniques existed specifically to give them unconventional decryption abilities.
The door slowly lifted.
Luluvi's perception rushed inward.
Following her senses, everyone saw an immensely vast interior space.
Wait…
Was this still inside the cave?
Why was there an ocean inside this chamber?
They stepped out through the doorway.
Looking back, they realized the door was embedded in a massive mountain wall.
Nearby was a beach.
Beyond that stretched a dark, turbid ocean, filled with countless drifting souls.
"What… is this?"
Luluvi's pupils shrank.
Everyone's perception expanded along with hers.
Her awareness spread like vast clouds of mist, covering the sky and earth.
In a short moment, her senses had already crossed thousands of kilometers.
Then ten thousand kilometers.
Then twenty thousand.
Then thirty thousand kilometers.
This range already exceeded the radius of Earth from Rei's previous life.
Perception could stretch that far?
He had heard that a Level-5 Observer could see a thousand miles away.
But this was far beyond that.
Yet even after expanding her perception to such an extreme range—
They still couldn't find the end of this dungeon.
For a moment, no one knew whether they should be shocked by Luluvi's perception—
Or by the immense size of this place.
"Are we… still inside the dungeon?" Akasei said in astonishment.
"I thought this was just a chamber sealing a monster."
Rei stepped out as well, stunned by the sight.
Earlier, when observing this area from afar, he had assumed it was merely a very large room.
After all, he had already witnessed how vast this world could be.
But the scene before him had far exceeded his expectations.
"Rei… the Continental-Sinking monster you mentioned…"
"You don't mean this, do you?"
Rei frowned.
To be honest—
He hadn't even seen where the monster was.
But suddenly, his heart skipped a beat.
Wait…
Hold on.
The endless ocean before them—
This sea that constantly emitted rising soul-light—
A sea so vast that Luluvi couldn't perceive its boundaries at all.
Something was wrong.
Rei immediately adjusted his perception to observe the entire structure from above.
Looking down at the vast ocean—
His powerful spirituality detected the condensed will of an enormous entity.
Tier-6 — Continental-Sinking-class monster.
[Sea of Souls]
This entire ocean…
…was one massive monster.
Previously, the hanging corpse they had encountered hadn't been particularly large—smaller than many King-class monsters.
That had subconsciously made Rei think Continental-Sinking monsters might not be that big.
Perhaps it was because he had instantly killed the previous one.
Because of that, Rei never truly felt the danger of Tier-6 monsters.
After all, he had been one-shotting enemies all the way through, even fighting King-class monsters with ease.
He had even developed the illusion that Tier-6 monsters weren't that impressive.
But at this moment—
Rei finally understood.
The categories "Nation-Destroying" and "Continental-Sinking"…
…were on a completely different level from King-class monsters.
This was the type of creature that even Iz and the others treated with full seriousness.
Rei subconsciously took a step back.
His skill 「Soul Sovereign」 also had a range limit.
Currently, its effective range was roughly 50 kilometers.
Within that distance, he could collect all qualifying souls.
But this ocean…
…it was far too vast.
He couldn't harvest them all.
ROAR!
The ocean howled.
Tornadoes of souls and seawater spiraled into the sky.
BOOM!
Thunder exploded across the heavens.
The entire sky was filled with pale violet soul-light, while twisted faces of souls reflected across the dark clouds.
The howling soul-wind wailed in grief as it swept past their ears.
Rei saw countless souls passing through his body—
And at the same time, he absorbed enormous numbers of souls.
Every soul in the surrounding world was under Rei's control.
"Iz."
"We're fighting!"
Iz pressed down the brim of his mage hat.
Excitement shone in his expression.
Not the slightest trace of fear could be seen.
"Haha… what an interesting monster."
"This is my first time seeing one like this."
"And this environment—completely different from ordinary dungeons."
"It's full of surprises."
BOOM!
A colossal wave filled with countless souls surged into the sky.
The tsunami rose hundreds of meters high, forming something like a continent made of water and souls, crashing toward Rei and the others.
But almost at the same moment—
A scarlet flash split the sky.
BOOM!
A single sword strike erupted.
A massive hole blasted through the island-sized wave.
BOOM!
Another scarlet shockwave burst outward.
The enormous tsunami was instantly vaporized.
Akasei had already vanished from his position.
The entire ocean trembled violently.
Looking down through Luluvi's perception from above—
They saw that a stretch of ocean two thousand kilometers wide had been carved open, revealing an empty trench.
Countless souls evaporated into the sky.
It was as if the entire ocean screamed in agony.
This…
A Level-6 warrior?
One strike had pierced two thousand kilometers of ocean?
Seawater rushed back to fill the void.
Luluvi's perception barely captured a blazing red streak racing across the Sea of Souls.
"Heaven-Cleaving Spirit Wave Slash!"
BOOM!
A fan-shaped slash swept across the sea.
Like a bulldozer, it tore through the ocean, evaporating massive amounts of soul-infused water.
His figure flickered across the battlefield.
He easily evaded countless soul attacks while shattering wave after wave of water and souls charging toward him.
Gigantic craters formed across the sea.
So powerful…
This was the strength of a Level-6 warrior.
He was actually suppressing an entire ocean.
While Rei was still stunned by Akasei's display—
Izparult raised his staff.
"Rei."
"Didn't you say you wanted to see the Origin Magic I recently comprehended?"
"I didn't expect this trip to give me the perfect opportunity."
WOOO—
Multicolored lights began gathering from every corner of the world.
They converged at the tip of Izparult's staff.
During the process, Rei felt as though certain fundamental aspects of the world were being stripped away.
Yet he couldn't tell what exactly was being removed.
Even with his current spiritual perception, he couldn't see it.
He only knew one thing.
Izparult was preparing an extremely terrifying spell.
"Akasei."
"Let me take this monster."
"Next time we encounter a Continental-Sinking monster, I'll leave it to you."
At the tip of his staff, an incomprehensible condensed substance rose into the sky.
"Tier-6 Origin Magic."
"Essence Extraction."