SS Awakening: My Monster Merging System!

The three women’s eyes moved over his face first, but only for a brief moment, and soon their gazes settled on the backpack hanging from his shoulder. They did not stare openly, but Zich saw the pause, and his lips curled slightly.

People who survived long enough in Layer One usually developed sharp eyes for value, and even though his backpack looked plain at first glance, the quality was still far above what most beginners carried around openly. Seeing greed this early was almost reassuring in a strange way, because honest predators were easier to read than polite ones.

Adjusting his backpack strap and checking the angle of his sword at his waist, Zich took the right path from the split passage as if he had not seen them at all.

Behind him, the three women remained silent until he disappeared into the corridor.

The stone-gray armored woman clicked her tongue first, her scarred fingers tapping against the handle of her axe. "That backpack looks new, and the material is not cheap. A storage-treated one like that would sell for a few thousand gold coins in the marketplace."

The dark green armored woman looked toward the path Zich had taken, her flat nose twitching slightly. "He entered alone, and he did not even ask to party up. Either he is stupid, or he thinks he is strong."

The pale yellow-skinned woman smiled faintly while touching the scale patches along her neck. "Both types die in dungeons."

For a few seconds, none of them moved.

The stone-gray woman finally tilted her head toward the path. "Should we follow?"

"From a safe distance," the dark green armored woman replied while lifting her weapon. "Let him hunt first. If he is strong, we wait. If he is weak, we take everything."

Zich kept walking forward, and although the three women continued watching him from a distance, none of them made a move yet.

His hand rested loosely near his weapon as he advanced deeper into the cavern.

While the dungeon remained quiet for several minutes, the atmosphere gradually changed. The stale air grew heavier, faint growls echoed from deeper tunnels, and scattered claw marks along the walls became larger than before.

Right then, movement flashed across the rocks ahead.

A massive wolf-like creature stepped out from behind a broken pillar, its body covered in thick black fur mixed with pale scars, while its yellow eyes locked directly onto Zich. Even from a distance, he could feel the pressure leaking from its body.

The monster did not hesitate.

It lowered its body and lunged forward with frightening speed, claws tearing through the stone floor as it closed the distance in seconds. Zich’s eyes narrowed slightly, but instead of drawing his sword immediately, he called out.

"Silverback."

A large spectral figure burst out from the ground.

BOOM!!!

The Silverback Grunt charged forward and collided directly with the wolf monster, their bodies crashing together hard enough to shake loose fragments from the nearby pillars. The impact pushed dust outward in a rough circle nearly three meters wide.

However, there was a clear difference.

The Silverback Grunt was forced backward several feet, its heels grinding against the stone while the wolf barely lost momentum. One heavy claw struck the grunt’s shoulder and left deep cracks running through its spectral body.

’Hard-ranked dungeon indeed.... even the common mobs are stronger than elite monsters.’

The grunt roared and rushed forward again.

The wolf snapped at its throat while the Silverback swung its club downward, and after several brutal exchanges, the cavern floor became filled with fist-sized holes and broken stone. Neither side backed down, but although the grunt suffered heavier damage, its relentless nature slowly began turning the fight.

BOOM!!!

The club smashed into the wolf’s skull from the side.

Bone cracked loudly, and before the monster could recover, the grunt grabbed its neck and slammed it against the ground repeatedly until the struggling finally stopped.

Zich walked over calmly.

He crouched beside the corpse, collected the fangs and other valuable parts that could be sold, and searched the monster’s head for a soul shard but found nothing.

As he continued deeper into the dungeon, more monsters appeared.

Some resembled oversized cave hounds, others looked like twisted lizards covered in spikes, and one creature crawled across the ceiling using six insect-like legs while dripping venom from its mouth. Zich fought steadily through all of them, sometimes using his summons directly and other times finishing weakened enemies himself.

Just like that time passed quietly.

BOOM!!!

One monster crashed through a cracked pillar after taking a direct Heavy Swing from Blood Leech, and several chunks of stone fell from above, narrowly missing Zich by less than a foot. He stepped aside calmly while wiping blood from his blade.

During the fights, his thoughts occasionally drifted toward the Lucky Headband resting inside his storage.

Using it here would probably increase his gains significantly, but it remained a one-time-use treasure, and wasting something like that inside a mere hard-ranked dungeon felt shortsighted. Dungeons existed in every layer of the Ascension Mountain, which meant future opportunities would likely be far more valuable than this.

’Save it for something truly absurd. Besides...’

He paused and looked at his backpack, which was almost filled to the brim with drops and monster parts.

’Although I didn’t come here for this, I can still sell the extra gains.’

So far, alongside his beasts, he had killed a total of eleven monsters, bringing his tomb slots to 23/25.

Two more monsters and he would be ready to create another summon!!!

The mere thought of it excited Zich, and so he continued searching for more monsters to hunt.

For the next few minutes, Zich continued looking for monsters, but because the dungeon was shared and it usually took time for the monsters to respawn, it became much harder to find fresh targets.

Approximately two hours later, he reached a massive stone gate.

The air beyond it felt heavier, and faint growls echoed from inside the chamber behind the entrance. Even without opening the gate completely, he could already tell this was the boss room.

A slight look of regret crossed his face.

Killing the boss here would probably give him excellent materials for fusion and maybe even enough tomb slots to progress faster, but the shelter rules were clear. Breaking the contract over temporary greed would only create unnecessary trouble.

’Annoying.’

Right as he turned slightly away from the gate, danger exploded behind him.

FWOOOSH!!!

A violent slash tore through the air toward the back of his neck, moving so fast that even Zich realized he was already too late to dodge completely. His eyes widened slightly as the attack came within a millimeter of contact.

At that exact moment, Slimy, who was on his shoulder, moved!

Silk Barrier!

A translucent barrier expanded instantly.

BOOM!!!

The attack smashed against the silk barrier hard enough to send cracks spreading across its surface, while the force pushed Slimy backward several meters across the stone floor.

Zich spun around immediately, his expression darkening.

Three familiar women stood several meters away, and the one in stone-gray armor slowly lowered her weapon while a grin spread across her rough face. Her scarred knuckles flexed once as she stepped forward casually.

"So my guess was right," she said while looking toward Slimy with visible interest. "Your summons really are capable."