Jake jumped down to the floor and took a few steps away from Miller. The human inside the mech was now dead, but the suit itself remained upright—it was steady and not easily overturned. He glanced around at the bodies of the other humans he had just killed. They were strewn on the floor in various stages of mutilation. He was aware that some of the bandits stationed at the dungeon entrance had fled, opting not to engage in the battle, but he had no desire to pursue them.
When he emerged from the dungeon, he was surprised to be met by Miller, clad in his mech suit, along with his team. Their waiting for him indicated they had uncovered the real culprit behind the massacre at HQ. That part wasn’t surprising to him, as he knew Miller would eventually unveil the truth. His efforts to make it appear as though it was a human intruder who killed everyone at HQ were solely to buy himself some time.
He knew that if they found out immediately that it was him who had infiltrated Base Miller, they would try to upgrade their defenses as soon as possible to prevent something like that from happening again. So Jake aimed to put the blame on one of Miller’s subordinates, and while they investigated the massacre, he planned to complete the dungeon and emerge more powerful than before.
It didn’t go exactly as he had planned. The reason was that he took his time in the dungeon. He could have completed it much sooner, but his desire to explore every nook and cranny and to collect every piece of reward and XP delayed him significantly.
Not that it mattered now. After the fight with the mech-clad Miller, it became obvious that his plan had partly worked. He was stronger than ever and felt prepared to launch an offensive on what used to be Miller’s base—though he knew it no longer belonged to him.
Jake glanced back at the motionless mech. During the fight with Miller, he had used Mind Reader on his opponent right after ripping the energy cannon from the suit’s right arm. Thanks to a recent upgrade he acquired in the Void Temple, Jake no longer needed to grab a human by the head to access their memories. Instead, he could do so from a distance without any physical contact, which was truly amazing.
After diving into a couple of days’ worth of Miller’s memories, Jake found that he had upgraded his mech prior to arriving at the dungeon, equipping it with two additional weapons. More intriguingly, he discovered that it was not Miller but Skullface who had unveiled the truth about what took place at HQ.
He also discovered that Miller had been demoted, and Catalina was now in charge of the base. Jake recalled encountering her twice by that point. The first encounter happened on a rainy night when she and several other bandits captured a group of survivors while he passively watched from the roof of a ten-story building.
The second time he saw her was when he was attacked by two vehicles filled with bandits. He took refuge in a small building, but one of the vehicles, a pickup truck, followed him inside. After dealing with its occupants, he used the machine gun mounted in the truck’s bed to kill the occupants of the other vehicle, an SUV parked just outside.
After he emerged and finished off the wounded bandits, he spotted Catalina watching him from a distance. However, she chose not to attack and instead fled, which was a wise decision. He recalled wondering whether she was part of the group sent after him or if she had stumbled upon him by chance.
Anyway, now that Miller had been demoted—and dead—Catalina was in charge of the base. It hardly mattered to Jake, though. Given that she was a legitimate member of the gang, he would kill her just as easily as he had Miller.
So Jake was finally ready to launch an immediate attack on one of Los Demonios’ secondary bases. He decided the first would be Catalina Base. After all, having killed so many bandits associated with that base, there should hardly be any guards remaining. He knew the main threat was not the humans, though, but the turrets defending the base.
However, after fighting mech-clad Miller and learning how powerful he had become, Jake no longer doubted his ability to destroy those turrets. Both his offensive and defensive skills had significantly improved. Even if the turrets were upgraded to the next level, he believed he wouldn’t have much trouble destroying them.
However, before launching an attack on the base, Jake needed to replenish his mana reserves. During the fight with Miller and his team, he used magic three times: two casts of Cloud of Darkness and one of Clones. Each spell consumed 10,000 MP per use. He assumed that the other basic spells he learned during his last visit to the Void Temple required the same amount of mana for a single use.
So he was down 30,000 MP. He had also lost a significant amount of mana during his battle with the Magma Titan and hadn’t had a chance to replenish it since then. So before launching an attack on any of the bandit bases, he first needed to restore his mana reserves.
Fortunately, after acquiring the Mana Absorption perk during his time in the dungeon and upgrading it to Rank III, he no longer needed to rely solely on mana consumables. Instead, he could now absorb mana from various sources, such as mana clouds and living beings, and he could even do so at a distance without any physical contact with a target. Therefore, it shouldn’t take him long to replenish his mana reserves.
Before heading to the exit of the dungeon, he took one last glance at the end of the corridor where the portal to the Maze of Torment had been located. He had spent much longer in there than necessary, but his intention to explore the dungeon thoroughly had made him significantly more powerful. Now, he was completely ready to launch a full-scale war against Los Demonios. But first, he needed to replenish his mana.
He made his way out of the corridor and a few seconds later, emerged from the open dungeon door. Given that all dungeons were single-use, the door would remain open forever, but the portal leading to the Maze of Torment would never materialize again. He was the sole individual who had benefited from this dungeon, and that suited him perfectly. He needed to maintain his status as the apex predator of this world.
Jake navigated through the sewers until he arrived at the section where the ceiling was cracked open. He crawled upward and soon reached the surface. Closing his eyes, he activated Mana Vision. Once he pinpointed the nearest source of mana, he set off.