The All-Time Best Talent was F-Class Purification - Chapter 14

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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14
Chapter 14 – An Elite Talent Awakened as an F-Rank Purifier
A premonition gnawed at me—the structure of this Dungeon, or perhaps the very existence of that Slime Lord, might be far more complex and dangerous than I’d initially imagined. But now was not the time to unravel such mysteries.
Below, Park Jae-jung continued to risk his life, drawing the Boss’s attention, and its protective barrier remained intact. Time was running out. I suppressed my anxiety and focused on the next objective.
The third Energy Supply Device was positioned on the far side of the Dome, the farthest Wall from where I stood. I flashed my flashlight briefly in that direction, signaling Park Jae-jung. From below came the faint sound of him roaring another taunt.
“Graaagh!”
He was sacrificing himself as bait once more, carving a path for me. To repay his trust, I moved forward without hesitation toward the next Catwalk Section.
This stretch was far more corroded and deteriorated than the previous one. With each step, the entire Catwalk groaned with an eerie sound, swaying beneath me, and through the metal mesh beneath my feet, a dark crimson Acidic Lake churned dozens of meters below. My improved physical abilities made maintaining balance manageable, but the terror of the ground collapsing beneath me lingered.
I kept my body low, relying on protruding pipes and structural elements along the Wall for support as I advanced carefully. The sounds of Park Jae-jung’s combat grew increasingly violent below. *Crash. Crunch.* The Gigass Shield shrieked relentlessly, punctuated by brief gasps of pain. He was reaching his limit.
I accelerated. With my enhanced agility, I vaulted off the Wall to leap across sections where rust had broken the Catwalk, and maintained balance even on precariously swaying platforms as I pushed forward.
After advancing some distance, the third Energy Supply Device came into view. But something was wrong. The final dozen meters of Catwalk leading to the device were completely covered in a thick, repulsive green slime. Above the mucous layer coating the Catwalk, highly toxic bubbles gurgled ominously.
‘Corrosive slime?’
I instinctively sensed the danger and stopped. From my waist, I retrieved a small scrap of metal that had fallen from the Golem earlier and tossed it onto the slime.
*Sizzzzz—*
The metal scrap dissolved instantly upon contact, vanishing with a violent hiss. The corrosive potency was far stronger than the Acid River I’d crossed before. One step on that surface would dissolve not just my combat boots, but my ankles as well.
‘It’s designed to prevent approach entirely.’
The distance was too great to jump across. No alternate route was visible. It was a perfect trap. Below, the sound of Park Jae-jung’s shield blocks grew increasingly unstable—a sign his Core Energy was nearly depleted.
I clenched my teeth. I couldn’t retreat now. Somehow, I had to break through that Slime Zone and destroy the third device. I recalled my ability once more: Purification.
‘It restores the essence of corrupted matter to its original state.’
I remembered crossing the Acid River. Back then, I’d used Purification Energy to temporarily solidify the liquid and create a path. Would it work again? But this opponent was no simple liquid. The slime breathed as if alive. It might even be another form of monster entirely.
My heart pounded violently. After a deep breath, I gripped my E-Rank Purification Dagger firmly. Direct contact was too dangerous, so I decided to attempt this carefully through the blade.
I concentrated Purification Energy at the dagger’s tip to its minimum level and gently brought the blade’s point to the slime’s surface directly in front of me.
*Shhhhk—*
There was no violent reaction as I’d expected. Instead, the slime where the dagger touched began to harden and turn white, as if freezing. The affected area was only about the size of a coin, but the effect was undeniable.
‘It works.’
I concentrated the energy again and this time traced a larger circle across the slime’s surface with the dagger’s tip. The white solidified zone slowly expanded. But simultaneously, my Core Energy began depleting at an alarming rate. Though I’d advanced to E-Rank, the energy was woefully insufficient to breach this extensive trap.
‘At this rate… my energy will run out first.’
I hesitated briefly. Was there another way? Then my gaze fell upon the boundary between the hardened slime surface and the liquid slime layer still writhing beneath it.
‘What if I made it smaller than last time?’
The previous crossing had required about a meter of solidified surface. Now, to conserve energy, I would momentarily harden only the surface where my foot would land—like sprinting across thin ice. It would demand incredible concentration and precise timing, but energy consumption would be drastically reduced.
Park Jae-jung’s shield blocks were growing fainter by the second. There was no more time to hesitate.
I drew a deep breath and concentrated all my enhanced senses to my feet. Then, toward the slime surface where I would place my first step, I released a short, sharp burst of Purification Energy from the dagger’s tip.
*Crack.*
The slime surface hardened and turned white. I seized that instant and stepped forward. The moment my foot landed, I released energy again toward the next stepping point.
*Crack. Crack. Crack.*
The instant I lifted my foot, the platform I’d just stood on reverted to sticky slime. A single mistiming, a single failure in energy control, would mean a horrific death. Every nerve in my body stretched taut to the breaking point.
One step, then another. I focused only on the path ahead and the sensation at my feet. When I took my final step and landed on the solid Catwalk floor beyond the Slime Zone, I was nearly collapsed from exhaustion.
“Haa… haa…”
My Core Energy was completely depleted. My entire body was drenched in cold sweat, and the air inside my gas mask was filled with my ragged breathing. I’d survived thanks to my E-Rank enhanced body, but had my energy been even slightly insufficient, I might have plummeted into the Acidic Lake below.
I leaned against the Wall for a moment to catch my breath. Below, Park Jae-jung’s desperate struggle continued. The sound of the Gigass Shield clashing, brief gasps of pain. He was pushing beyond his limits—for me, and for us both.
‘No time to rest.’
I gritted my teeth and forced myself upright. Before me loomed the third Energy Supply Device—a living heart unto itself. Unlike its predecessors, this was no mere machine. It nestled within the core of a dark crimson organic mass that sprawled across the wall, resembling the very heart of that grotesque organism. Around the device, thin tendril-like vines writhed with what seemed like deliberate vigilance, as if sensing my presence.
Would my purification ability penetrate that organic barrier? The corrosive spines I’d annihilated earlier suggested it might. But therein lay the problem—my remaining Core Energy. I’d depleted nearly everything forcing my way through the Mucus Trap Zone. In this state, I couldn’t guarantee I’d even breach those defensive vines, let alone destroy the device itself.
I reached into my bag and retrieved the final Core Energy Potion bottle. What little remained inside, I drained in one desperate gulp. A refreshing surge coursed through my body, but it fell woefully short of full recovery. Perhaps thirty percent restoration at best.
Dread crept over me, yet I had no other choice. I sent Park Jae-jung another brief signal. From below, the Boss’s increasingly violent roars echoed faintly upward.
I approached the device with measured caution. As expected, the moment I crossed a certain threshold, the vines around it convulsed like living serpents, lashing toward me. This differed from the earlier spine attacks. These tendrils sought to ensnare me, to drag me down into the Acidic Lake below.
I maximized my agility, weaving through the grasping vines with razor-thin margins while pressing forward. Simultaneously, I concentrated energy into my Purification Dagger’s blade, severing the tendrils that coiled around me. *Sizzle.* With each stroke, the vines blackened and withered, falling away limp and powerless. The effect was undeniable.
But their numbers were overwhelming. Dodging and cutting through vines erupting from every direction drained my Core Energy at an accelerating rate.
‘This won’t work. I need to be faster.’
I made the decision to take risks. Rather than engage every tendril, I focused solely on carving the shortest path to the device. I ignored the searing pain as vines coiled around my arms and dissolved my armor, driving forward with singular purpose toward the device’s heart.
At last, I pierced through the writhing tendril barrier and reached the Energy Supply Device itself. It seemed to sense the threat, its surface blazing with intensified luminescence as it mounted its resistance.
I didn’t hesitate. Channeling every ounce of remaining strength and purification energy, I drove my dagger downward against the thickest energy conduit connecting to the Boss.
*Crack.*
The blade sank deep. The resistance was far more violent than before. The device itself seemed to thrash in desperation for survival. My arm trembled violently as I gripped the dagger, and my Core Energy completely depleted, vertigo threatened to consume me.
‘Just… just a little more.’
Squeezing out the last reserves of my consciousness, I forced purification energy through the blade.
*Crackle.*
The energy conduit finally gave way, snapping with a sensation that reverberated through my entire being.
*Boom.*
The third device detonated in a thunderous explosion. The shockwave engulfed me, and I was hurled backward helplessly. I struck the Catwalk floor hard on my back, barely clinging to consciousness.
Through my blurring vision, I sensed the Boss’s condition. With three devices destroyed, the protective barrier enveloping it had plummeted to less than half its former strength. The sounds of Park Jae-jung’s battle below had noticeably diminished as well. He too had detected the Boss’s weakening.
‘We did it.’
Relief washed over me. Then I noticed something—energy flowing again, but different. Clearer. More potent. It spiraled upward into the darkness of the Ceiling, being absorbed not by the Boss, but by something hidden in the highest reaches of the Dome’s shadow. A far more vivid and powerful current than before.
‘It wasn’t coincidence. There’s definitely something there.’
My conviction solidified. This Dungeon harbored a hidden secret. These devices weren’t merely supplying energy to the Boss. Perhaps something far more significant—far more dangerous—lay concealed in that darkness, something that mattered more than the Boss itself.
I staggered to my feet. My Core Energy was completely exhausted, my body a canvas of wounds. But it wasn’t over. Two devices remained. And that unknown presence.
I turned toward the location of the fourth Energy Supply Device, my resolve hardening further with each step. Yet an uneasy feeling lingered in the depths of my mind, refusing to dissipate.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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