The ground rumbled as the three armored trolls charged, their stone-like skin glinting dully in the faint glow of the bioluminescent fungi.
Their roars echoed through the cavern, a cacophony of primal rage, as they swung clubs the size of tree trunks toward Dante.
He stood unfazed, a faint smirk tugging at his lips, and raised a hand with the casual grace of a maestro about to conduct a symphony.
"Hmm, so you are going to be my test subjects for the next item,"
he said, his voice laced with amusement.
"I present to you… the Chains of Heaven."
Golden chains erupted from the air around him, shimmering with divine light as they snaked toward the trolls like living serpents.
The links clinked with an ethereal resonance, their radiance cutting through the cavern's gloom.
They wrapped around the trolls' massive limbs and necks with unerring precision, halting their charge mid-step.
The beasts thrashed, their roars turning to guttural snarls as the chains tightened, cracking their stone-like hides.
Clubs slipped from their grasp, thudding uselessly to the ground.
Dante tilted his head, watching with detached curiosity. These chains once bound gods, he mused, echoes of Gilgamesh's ancient memories flickering through his mind. These brutes are nothing.
With a subtle flex of his will, the chains constricted further.
The trolls' struggles ceased as their bodies crumbled under divine pressure, reduced to piles of dust and shattered stone. The golden links shimmered once more before dissolving into the air, leaving silence in their wake.
"Too easy," Dante muttered, lowering his hand.
He'd come here to stretch his legs, to test the arsenal of powers he'd inherited, and while the trolls had been a step up from the shadow wolves, they still fell short of a real challenge.
Still, the thrill of wielding the Chains of Heaven for the first time with intent to kill sparked a flicker of satisfaction. This dungeon was his playground, and he intended to enjoy every moment.
He pressed deeper into the cavern, the air growing heavier with mana as the faint glow of fungi guided his path. The tunnel widened into a vast chamber, its ceiling swallowed by shadow.
A piercing screech split the silence, and Dante's gaze snapped upward. Six venomous wyverns dove from the darkness, their scales glinting with a sickly green sheen.
Venom dripped from their fangs, hissing as it corroded the stone floor beneath.
His eyes flashed crimson as he tapped into Cadis Etrama Di Raizel's vampiric bloodline. Extending his senses, he felt the chaotic thrum of their life force.
With a thought, he began to drain them. The wyverns faltered mid-flight, their screeches weakening to pitiful whimpers as their vitality flowed into him.
Their wings stilled, bodies shriveled, and they crashed to the ground as lifeless husks.
A rush of energy surged through Dante, sharpening his senses and invigorating his muscles. He flexed his fingers, feeling the power hum beneath his skin.
'This is what it means to dominate,' he thought, though a shadow of unease crept in.
Killing was becoming too effortless, a reflex rather than a decision. In his past life, every death carried weight—here, it felt almost trivial.
He shook off the thought and moved on, the mana thickening as he neared the dungeon's core.
His Six Eyes, even at limited range for the fun of it, picked up a powerful hum ahead. Anticipation curled in his chest.
'Are you going to be an easy kill or are you going to excite me a bit?'
The final chamber loomed before him, vast and oppressive, the air crackling with unleashed power.
The ground quaked as the dungeon boss emerged—a towering hydra with seven heads, each adorned with scales of a different elemental hue: red for fire, blue for ice, yellow for lightning, and more.
Its eyes glowed with primal fury, and its presence screamed A-rank danger, a beast capable of leveling towns.
Dante's grin widened.
"A stronger rat to unleash my chemicals on!"
The hydra lunged, its heads striking in a synchronized assault. A torrent of fire scorched the air, an icy spear hurtled toward him, and lightning arced in jagged bolts.
Dante teleported in a blur, reappearing behind the beast. He summoned EA, the Sword of Rupture, still sheathed.
This was one of the strongest chemicals our protagonist currently possesed.
This weakling was not worth the stain on its blade.
With a single, fluid swing, he cleaved the fire head from its neck.
It hit the ground with a wet thud, but the stump writhed, sprouting two new heads that roared in defiance.
"Regeneration, huh?" Dante chuckled. "Let's see how long that lasts."
The hydra retaliated, unleashing a barrage of elemental fury.
Dante danced through the chaos—teleporting past lightning, deflecting ice with Infinity, and letting fire wash harmlessly against his barrier.
His Six Eyes zeroed in on the beast's core—a glowing orb pulsing deep within its chest.
"Time to end this," he said, voice low.
Teleporting above the hydra, his fist glowed with cursed energy. With a shout, he plummeted downward, driving his punch into the core.
The impact unleashed a shockwave that fractured the stone floor.
The hydra shrieked, its heads thrashing in agony before its massive body convulsed and disintegrated into ash.
The dungeon shuddered, walls trembling as it began to collapse.
Dante landed lightly, un-summoning Ea as he strode back to the gate.
The fight had been exhilarating, a taste of the challenge he craved, yet it still hadn't pushed him to his limits.
'Hmm, I can solo this dungeon without using even a percent of my true abilities.'
'So this is what it feels like to have powers suddenly, without any struggle... without any effort... it feels dull.'
'Other than my family, is the rest of my Isekai life going to be boring? No fun in the fights?'
A dull expression appeared on his face which went away faster than it appeared, and a grin appeared on his face as he remembered something,
'Right, there's him, the protagonist, Jin Woo. Fighting his shadow army would be fun because, with the strength of this level, only the Monarchs and the Rulers can be of challenge to me.'
"Haha... Why am I even crying about the fact that I am strong from the start? Many would be crying to be in my place. Plus, if I had to start from scratch then I cannot guarantee whether or not I will ever reach this level."
"Plus, with this much strength, I can focus on the other aspects of life. I can mess around a lot more."
'Maybe I can help Jin Woo reach his peak sooner than in the original. Yeah... that sounds fun.'
'Monarchs and Rulers are not the ceiling of power in this universe. There were those titans as well at the end of the novel. Their leader was stronger than an individual Ruler.'
'Hehe, there's still a lot in this universe to explore. Expecting a three-hundred-chapter novel to cover the entirety of this universe would be pretty foolish.'
The curious spirit of Gojo Satoru rose inside our protagonist, and this curiosity would eventually lead to the deaths of many beings.
Stepping through the gate, he emerged into the forest, the crisp air a welcome relief after the dungeon's decay.
The container sat undisturbed on the rock where he'd left it, still warm to the touch. He brushed off a stray leaf and picked it up, resuming his trek to the guild.