Dark Warlock in the Apocalypse

If anyone were to ask what the strongest monster in World Breaker is, the answer would be unanimous: it's the creature known as the dragon.

With its massive body and overwhelming mass, it flies freely through the skies on gigantic wings. Its teeth and claws can shatter ordinary armor like paper, while its scales are tougher than steel.

Especially terrifying is its breath attack, which can devastate entire armies if struck at the wrong moment. Truly, it is a living nightmare of a monster.

"It starts to appear in earnest only in the later stages, but even then, it's tough to stop, so fleeing is usually the best option," Justin thought.

Encountering a dragon unexpectedly was a disaster, especially if one was unaware of its existence. Cities and armies cultivated over hundreds of turns could vanish in an instant with the appearance of a dragon.

There were even instances where players would pray at their monitors with cold water beside them, begging not to encounter a dragon.

And this overwhelming power was also evident when dragons were turned into allies. There's a saying that if an opponent has a dragon, it's equivalent to having a legion.

"Well, the difficulty of capturing one was so high that it was rare to even see one in ten attempts," he mused.

However, for certain classes, there existed a trick to acquire a dragon relatively easily. The Warlock's second job change refusal event was one of them.

Unfortunately, one could not obtain a fully grown dragon immediately, but the opportunity to hatch and raise an egg was granted. This process, while arduous, was a small price to pay for the benefits of acquiring a dragon.

"What is that? It looks like an egg," Ethan blinked at the black dragon egg held in Justin's hand.

Justin promptly put the egg back in his inventory and said, "It is an egg. A soon-to-hatch one, received as a reward for refusing the second job change."

"What kind of egg is it? I hope it's a strong specimen."

"A black dragon."

"...Excuse me?"

"A dragon. You know, the kind that breathes fire and flies around."

When Justin casually revealed its identity, Ethan's face went blank.

Moments later, he grabbed Justin's shoulder with a shocked expression. "You're not talking about that dragon, are you!?"

"Calm down. I don't know what you mean."

"The monster that appears in the later stages and destroys entire cities!"

"Right. The one that breathes fire and wreaks havoc."

"Whoa...!"

Ethan staggered back, his face filled with shock, staring blankly at the air as if he couldn't comprehend what was happening. "Oh my, a dragon! Of all things, a dragon...!"

"What do you think? Doesn't this make refusing the second job change worth it?"

"Are you kidding me!? You did great! Really great!"

Having regained his composure, Ethan's face lit up with excitement. His reaction was intense, likely because he fully understood the power of a dragon.

The other companions' eyes also sparkled at the mention of a dragon.

"A dragon's egg! I've only seen it in movies!"

"Does this mean we can fly around on a dragon now?"

"Well, it will be a hatchling, so we need to raise it until it grows."

"Ah, that's true. But it's a dragon, so who cares!?"

Rachel and Nathan seemed thrilled at the prospect of seeing a real dragon, something they had only witnessed in movies.

On the other hand, Derek still appeared skeptical, as if he couldn't quite believe it. "Can we really raise a dragon?"

"Didn't you know? There have been some who did!"

"I've seen people summon and ride them, but it's my first time seeing an egg. Surely, it's not the type that weakens if it becomes an ally, right?"

"Not at all. In fact, once it grows, it can easily take down a wild dragon one-on-one."

Upon hearing this, Derek's eyes widened. It seemed he finally grasped the egg's immense value.

Justin chuckled and shouted to his companions, "Let's try hatching this egg after we return. For now, we have something else we need to do first."

"Ah!"

His companions had seemingly forgotten and began looking around the dungeon.

Although their progress had momentarily halted due to the second job change issue, they were in the midst of a dungeon raid.

They had just begun the initial stages after one battle, and they still had a long way to go before obtaining the dungeon rewards.

"There are still rewards left to collect. Let's go."

"Yes!"

The glimmer of excitement returned to their eyes as they shook off their momentary elation.

Justin led his companions back deeper into the dungeon.

'The traps are still not much of a problem.'

Unlike the significantly increased difficulty of battles, the traps remained similar to before.

With Nathan leading the way, most traps could be easily bypassed.

There were a few that took a long time to dismantle, but fortunately, they had means to save time.

"Master, look into my eyes! This despair and sorrow... Aaaah!"

"Sorry, but there's still one more left. Summon the imp!"

"Yes, you are not human! If you had a human heart, you wouldn't do this! Aaaah!"

Thanks to someone's noble and glorious sacrifice, they moved forward without hindrance.

Fortunately, there were only three such traps, so their progress wasn't significantly delayed.

It was then that they reached a location similar to that of the previous dungeon's treasure chamber.

"Grrrr!"

"Grrr!"

A horde of monsters, including orcs, greeted them.

Justin clicked his tongue as he watched the monsters blocking the path in front of the treasure chamber.

"Looks like the free ride ended with the first dungeon. From now on, the frequency of monster appearances will increase."

"I don't think this is the time to be so relaxed!?" Rachel shouted, raising her shield to block his way.

The other companions also changed their expressions, scanning the monsters before them.

And for good reason; the numbers were vastly different from before.

"There are only two orcs, but nearly twenty hobgoblins!"

"Even if the passage is narrow, we can't handle this many!"

If it were just the hobgoblins, whether there were twenty or thirty wouldn't matter.

As mentioned before, at their current levels, they could easily massacre them.

The real danger lay in the orcs, who would take advantage of their distraction as they dealt with the minions.

An attack could be deadly, even if it was a mere scratch from a toothpick, if it coincided with a flying axe overhead.

"Brother, we can't do this! Forget about experience points; let's strike first...!"

Ignoring Derek's cries, Justin gently closed his eyes.

He recalled the skill he had just acquired and muttered to himself, 'Intimidation.'

With a quiet whisper, the surrounding air changed.

It felt as if the temperature had suddenly risen by about one degree.

When he slowly opened his eyes again, he could feel a clear difference.

"Do you dare to challenge us? Attack! Attack!"

"Grrr...!"

The orc, with a confused expression, continued to issue attack commands.

However, the hobgoblins were frozen in fear, unable to move.

In fact, some were even slowly backing away.

Finally, one trembling hobgoblin dropped its weapon, a club.

Thud.

"G-grrrr!"

"Eeeek!"

With the sound of the club dropping, all the hobgoblins turned to flee.

The sudden retreat left the two orcs startled and shouting.

"Grr!? Where are you going!? Come back!"

"Come back! If you don't come back, I'll kill you! Grrr!"

Despite the orcs' threats, not a single hobgoblin returned.

Instead, they scratched at the walls of the blocked treasure chamber, trying to escape.

They were completely paralyzed with fear, seemingly unable to hear anything else.

Seeing the hobgoblins' actions, Ethan looked at Justin in disbelief.

"...What on earth did you do this time?"

"I just wanted to test out my newly acquired skill."

Justin shrugged casually, looking ahead.

"Now that the minions are all down... all that's left are the two orcs?"

"...!"

At his words, the expressions of his companions changed in unison.

The orcs, sensing the shift in their gazes, flinched.

After a brief hesitation, the orcs clenched their teeth and charged forward.

"Grrr! You two are enough for us!"

"Uh, no."

If they had to collect dungeon rewards first, that might have been the case.

But to them now, two orcs were no threat at all.

He pointed a finger at one of the orcs' heads, and Derek's hammer glinted.

It only took two strikes to handle the two orcs.

The remaining hobgoblins finally seemed to regain their senses and looked at them, but what threat did orcs-less hobgoblins pose?

They easily swept away the group of hobgoblins and stood before the treasure chamber.

"Ugh."

With a loud metallic sound, the door of the treasure chamber opened.

Once again, they were greeted by a mountain of gold coins.

The dazzling shine could easily capture everyone's attention.

However, their current interest was not in gold coins.

"Search everything! There must be hidden items here too!"

"Please, let there be some gear for me this time!"

They dove into the pile of coins, frantically rummaging everywhere.

While the gold coins could certainly be useful for territory development, the individual combat power and survivability of each companion were far more crucial.

Considering that a single good piece of gear could determine the outcome of battles, items were the top priority for their search.

But no matter how much they searched, there seemed to be no sign of items.

"This is strange. Usually, digging this much should yield at least one item."

"Could it be small, like a ring or necklace, so we can't see it?"

"There were rings before, but they were easy to find because of the light difference."

"Surely, they wouldn't only give us gold coins as a reward?"

After nearly thirty minutes of searching, their tired companions began to complain.

It was at this point that Justin, who also felt at a loss, noticed something.

"...Hey, isn't that a staff?"

"What?"

Rachel, leaning against the wall, pointed in one direction.

When he turned his head, he saw a dark brown staff deeply embedded in a rock.

Its storage method reminded him of a legendary sword in a fantasy tale.

The difference was that it was so dark that he could hardly see it.

If he didn't look closely, it wouldn't have been strange to pass it by without noticing.

He gripped the end of the staff and grumbled, "Why would they stick a staff in like this? If it were metal, it would be one thing, but a staff could break when pulling it out..."

Clunk.

"...But it comes out very smoothly."

Well, it was indeed the system at work.

Embedding wood into rock and pulling it out must be an easy task for them.

He hid his embarrassment and began to look around for other locations.

There might be other hidden items like this staff.

Other companions searched the corners with him, but no additional items were found.

"It seems like this is all there is. No matter how much we look, we can't find anything else."

"Is it just this one? Isn't the reward a bit too stingy?"

"Well, there have been cases with only two rewards, so it wouldn't be strange for there to be just one."

Still, dungeons with fewer rewards had stronger equipment.

How good could this one item be to end up with just this?

Curious, he looked closely at the staff when an item description window appeared before his eyes.

〈Staff of Gluttony〉

Type: Mage ExclusiveEquipment

Grade: Unique

Details: An evil staff that cries out from endless hunger. It voraciously absorbs the remaining energy from nearby corpses. Corpses around the staff instantly turn to dust, and the absorbed energy is used to recharge the owner's magic. The day its hunger is satisfied shall never come.

"...."

This was amazing.