The two-day break before the next tournament match gave Ren exactly what he needed: time to grind.
He didn't need experience points, but Erna did. The Primordial Devourer was a bottomless pit of hunger, and Ren's funds were sitting at a stagnant 75,000 Yen. He needed to save that capital for his own stat boosts during the tournament. To feed Erna, he needed raw dungeon materials.
Ren stood before the swirling blue portal of a C-Rank dungeon located on the outskirts of the capital, known as the Damp Hollows. Erna stood beside him, wearing a thick, oversized brown cloak with the hood pulled low to hide his silver wolf ears. To anyone else, he looked like a human child tagging along with his older brother.
"Stay close," Ren muttered, checking the edge of Eclipse. "And don't eat anything until I say it's dead."
"Okay, Ren-ni!" Erna chirped, his hidden tail thumping against the back of his cloak.
They stepped through the portal.
The air inside the Damp Hollows was thick, humid, and smelled of rotting vegetation. The walls of the cavern were slick with moisture.
They hadn't walked fifty meters before the ground began to tremble.
From the darkness ahead, three massive shapes barreled toward them. They were Pigsties—hideous, mutated boars with the bulk and horns of an ox. They didn't use tactics; their entire evolutionary advantage lay in a straight, unstoppable charge.
Ren didn't even draw his dagger. With his Speed (89), the charging Pigsties looked like they were moving in slow motion. He simply sidestepped the lead monster, grabbed it by the tusks with his Strength (106), and used its own momentum to flip it upside down, snapping its neck against the cavern floor. The other two crashed into the cavern walls, stunning themselves long enough for Ren to dispatch them with two quick, precise kicks to their skulls.
"Snack time?" Erna asked, drooling.
"Eat the cores and the meat. Leave the hides," Ren ordered.
As Erna happily munched on the C-Rank carcasses, a high-pitched, collective buzzing sound echoed down the tunnel. It sounded like a thousand tiny chainsaws.
Ren's Intelligence (142) flared with a sudden, intense warning.
A black cloud swept around the corner.
[Appraisal: Brain Eaters]
[Rank: C (Swarm)]
[Note: Mosquito-sized parasites. They enter through the ears, nose, or mouth to consume the host's brain matter. Highly lethal in swarms.]
"Erna, get behind me!" Ren shouted. You couldn't stab a cloud of mosquitoes. Physical strength was useless here.
Ren raised his left hand, channeling his Mana (78). He had acquired a new skill from the million-yen milestone, and this was the perfect time to test it.
[Skill Activated: Fire Tornado (Level 2)]
A vortex of searing, crimson flames erupted from Ren's palm. The cavern lit up as the tornado expanded, filling the tunnel and sucking the oxygen from the air. The swarm of Brain Eaters flew directly into the inferno. The sound of a thousand tiny insects popping and sizzling filled the cave, raining down as harmless ash.
"Whoa," Erna gasped, his eyes wide with admiration. "Ren-ni makes fire!"
"Keep moving," Ren said, shaking the soot from his cloak.
They descended deeper into the dungeon. The environment changed. The rocky floor became coated in a thick, translucent, glowing green mucus.
[Appraisal: Sluggeteria Slime]
[Effect: Non-toxic. Extreme viscosity. Reduces movement speed by 3x upon contact.]
"Don't step in the green puddles," Ren warned, carefully navigating the dry patches of stone.
They finally reached the Boss Room—a massive, domed cavern. But Ren's heart sank as he looked inside. The entire floor, wall to wall, was coated in a foot-deep layer of Sluggeteria slime. There were no dry patches.
Hanging from the ceiling by thick, steel-like threads was the boss.
[Appraisal: Spidly]
[Rank: C+ (Dungeon Boss)]
[Note: Giant arachnid. Highly venomous. Legs are covered in armor-piercing barbs.]
The spider was three times the size of a grown man, its eight eyes gleaming with malicious intelligence.
Ren had no choice. He stepped into the room.
The moment his boots touched the slime, the debuff hit him like a physical weight.
[Warning: Speed reduced by 3x.]
His 89 Speed plummeted to a sluggish 29. He felt like he was walking through wet cement.
Spidly didn't wait. It dropped from the ceiling, landing with a heavy thud, and lunged at Ren with terrifying speed. Its massive, venom-dripping fangs snapped shut.
Ren tried to use Shadow Step, but his feet were glued to the floor, throwing off his balance. He barely managed to raise Eclipse to parry the fang, but the sheer weight of the giant spider knocked him backward. He fell flat into the slime, completely immobilized.
Spidly reared up, preparing to drive its fangs directly into Ren's chest. Ren couldn't move his arms fast enough through the muck. For the first time since the Dragon, he was completely exposed.
Suddenly, a small blur of silver shot out from Ren's shadow.
Erna didn't use a weapon. He didn't have a skill. He just had his primordial hunger and a desperate need to protect his brother.
The eight-year-old boy leaped directly at the giant spider's face. Erna unhinged his jaw, his silver fangs elongating, and bit down savagely on Spidly's primary cluster of eyes.
The spider shrieked, a horrific, clicking scream that vibrated in Ren's teeth. It thrashed wildly, blinded and in agony.
Then, it reacted with terrifying speed.
Spidly didn't just swat at Erna. It swung a massive, barbed foreleg—thick as a tree trunk and covered in razor-sharp spines—directly into the boy's small midsection.
CRUNCH.
The sound was sickening. It was the wet, heavy snap of ribs giving way under immense pressure.
Erna didn't even have time to scream. The impact folded his small body around the spider's leg like a ragdoll. The barbs tore through his oversized cloak and bit deep into his flesh, spraying silver blood into the air.
He was launched across the cavern with the force of a cannonball.
BOOM.
Erna slammed into the solid stone wall twenty feet away. The impact was so violent it cracked the rock face, sending dust and debris raining down. He didn't slide down; he fell limp, hitting the ground with a dull, lifeless thud. His limbs were tangled at unnatural angles, and a pool of silver blood began to spread rapidly beneath him.
He didn't move. He didn't breathe.
"ERNA!"
The sound tore from Ren's throat, raw and animalistic.
Time seemed to freeze. Ren stared at the small, broken heap of grey rags and silver hair. The boy who had been laughing about snacks five minutes ago was now a broken pile of meat.
Something inside Ren snapped. It wasn't a logical decision. It wasn't a calculation. It was the cold, hard shatter of his restraint.
The "Assassin" vanished. The "Survivor" vanished.
Only a monster remained.
Ren didn't care about the slime anymore. He didn't care about the debuff. He channeled every ounce of his 106 Strength into his legs, his muscles bulging until the veins threatened to burst.
RIIIIIP.
He didn't step out of the slime; he tore the very foundation of the floor up with him, shattering the stone beneath the muck to break the suction.
He launched himself at the spider. He didn't use a skill. He didn't use his dagger.
He grabbed the spider's thick, barbed leg—the same one that had hurt Erna.
"YOU DIE!" Ren screamed.
He planted his feet and pulled. With a wet, tearing sound of chitin and muscle separating, Ren ripped the massive leg clean out of its socket.
Green blood sprayed over him, but Ren didn't blink. As the spider shrieked and collapsed to one side, Ren vaulted onto its back. He didn't stab it once. He drove Eclipse into its skull, ripped it out, and drove it in again.
STAB. STAB. STAB.
He turned the spider's head into a pulp. He didn't stop when the system notification chimed. He didn't stop when the spider stopped twitching. He stopped only when his mana ran dry and his arm was too heavy to lift.
Ren scrambled off the corpse, wading through the slime, falling to his knees beside Erna.
The boy was unconscious, his breathing shallow and wet. Ren's hands shook as he pulled a High-Grade Healing Potion from his inventory and poured it into Erna's mouth.
"Drink," Ren whispered, his voice trembling. "Please."
An hour later, Ren stood at his private stall in the Capital's Adventurer Guild. He had carried Erna out of the dungeon on his back.
He slapped the massive, pristine exoskeleton of the Spidly boss onto the counter. Because it was a C+ Boss material, it had value, but the market was currently flooded with low-tier monster parts due to the upcoming festival.
"I'll give you 880 Yen for the shell and the venom sacs," the Guild appraiser said, adjusting his glasses.
It was a lowball offer, but Ren didn't have the energy to haggle. "Fine."
He took the coins. He now had a specific shopping list.
He walked to the merchant district. He spent 500 Yen on a sack of dense, low-grade magical gems and raw iron ores. He then went to a butcher and spent 120 Yen on a massive slab of raw, bloody beef.
Finally, carrying the sleeping Erna, he walked into a quiet, warm restaurant off the main street. He ordered a hot, hearty dinner for himself, costing 160 Yen.
He sat in the booth, eating his meal in silence, watching the people of the capital laugh and drink. He had spent 780 Yen in total. He had 100 Yen left from the dungeon run. It wasn't a glamorous life, but it was honest work.
As Ren finished his meal, Erna finally stirred. The boy rubbed his eyes, his wolf ears twitching beneath his hood.
"Ren-ni?" Erna mumbled, looking around groggily. "Did we win?"
"We won," Ren said softly. He pushed the sack of ores and the raw meat across the table. "Eat up. You earned it today."
Erna's eyes lit up. He didn't care that they were in a restaurant. He dove into the sack, crunching down on the gems and tearing into the raw meat with ravenous joy.
Ren watched him, a rare, genuine smile touching his lips. Erna had saved his life today. The boy wasn't just a summon; he was family.
As Erna swallowed the last magical gem, a brilliant silver light pulsed from his body, illuminating the booth.
[System Ping!]
[Summon 'Erna' has consumed sufficient essence and battle experience.]
[Congratulations! Your summon has upgraded to Level 3!]
[Devourer Trait Enhanced: Stat conversion rate increased.]
Erna let out a satisfied burp, wiping blood and ore dust from his mouth. He looked at Ren, his silver eyes glowing brighter than before.
"I feel strong, Ren-ni," Erna grinned, flexing his small arms. "Next time, I'll eat the spider's whole head!"
Ren chuckled, tossing a napkin at the boy.
"Rest up," Ren said, looking out the window toward the Royal Stadium. "Tomorrow, we watch the second match. Eren versus Lira."
He narrowed his eyes. "I need to see if the Gaze Tyrant can break a Saint."