Isaac smiled slightly after reading it, feeling even more convinced that choosing the Title had been the right decision.
The two stepped through the portal together. Moments later, the entrance disappeared behind them.
...
Only a few minutes later after Isaac and Catherine left, another party finally reached the Boss Arena. They stopped in shock as they looked at the empty battlefield.
"What the hell? It hasn’t even been five minutes since the Boss location was revealed. How did the fight already end?" Riener, the party leader, said with ragged breaths.
Sarah opened her mouth to answer before quietly closing it again. She simply didn’t have any explanation for what they were seeing.
Their six-person party had traveled from the far eastern region of the Sector. Along the way, they had cleared numerous dungeons and defeated powerful monsters, earning themselves an excellent reputation.
They had only learned about this Great Dungeon after entering the region and rushed here immediately. Unfortunately for them, they had still arrived too late. The First Clears of the first three Areas had already been claimed, leaving no chance for them to obtain those rewards.
Even so, none of them planned to leave the Great Dungeon. They had already discussed this possibility on the way here and believed they still had a chance to secure the First Clear of the Fourth Area if they moved quickly enough.
Riener remained silent for several moments as he looked at the defeated Boss Monster. Finally, he turned toward the young woman holding a white staff.
"Sarah, revive the Boss," he said in a decisive voice.
Every member of the party snapped their heads toward him. Their expressions showed the same disbelief because they all understood the price of what he had just suggested.
"We need to move quickly. The next Area is a maze, so whichever team cleared this Area shouldn’t be able to finish the Third Area very fast. If we wait until this Boss revives naturally, they’ll probably have already claimed the Fourth Area as well," Riener explained calmly.
Sarah lowered her eyes to the staff in her hands and tightened her grip around it.
As a Saintess, she possessed a resurrection skill, but she could only cast it once every twenty days. Using it now meant giving up a powerful trump card for a long time.
After thinking quietly for a few seconds, she slowly nodded.
"You’re right. If we want the First Clear, we’ll have to take risks. Otherwise, we’ll always be one step behind," she said.
Golden light flowed from the tip of her staff and wrapped around the Boss Monster’s remains. Bone fragments gathered together while shattered pieces reassembled themselves, and before long, the undead creature stood up once again.
The rest of the party immediately prepared for battle. No one complained anymore because they all understood the importance of reaching the Fourth Area before the unknown team.
...
"It’s done," Isaac said as he stretched his arms while looking at the corpse of the Boss Monster, Infernal Minotaur.
Compared to the previous Areas, the Third Area had required considerably more effort.
Isaac could no longer defeat every Mini Boss and the Boss Monster by himself, forcing him to bring out several summons during the battles.
Fortunately, that didn’t affect Catherine’s solo clear. Since Isaac himself was still counted as Catherine’s summon by the System, every summon he controlled was treated the same way.
Catherine looked around the battlefield before turning toward Isaac. There was something she had been curious about ever since they entered the maze.
"How did you find your way through the labyrinth so quickly? From what I could tell, the paths kept changing the entire time," she said.
Isaac scratched his cheek while thinking about it. He had been wondering about the same thing during the journey through the maze.
"I think it’s because of the Solo Conqueror Title. At first, I thought it only helped me predict Boss Monsters’ attacks, but now it feels like it helps with every part of clearing a dungeon. I just instinctively knew which direction to move," he said after a moment.
He didn’t sound particularly confident because he had no way to confirm his theory. Titles didn’t provide detailed descriptions like Skills, leaving users to discover their effects through experience.
Catherine was genuinely surprised by his explanation. At first glance, the ability sounded simple, but she immediately realized how extraordinary it actually was.
Whenever a new dungeon appeared, Awakeners spent weeks exploring it. Many people lost their lives while mapping the layout, locating Boss Monsters, and figuring out the weaknesses of unfamiliar enemies before later groups could clear it efficiently.
Isaac’s Title bypassed much of that process. If it really guided him toward the correct route and important enemies, then its value couldn’t be measured simply by combat strength.
Isaac suddenly remembered the reward of clearing the Third Area.
He looked toward Catherine with a curious expression before asking, "Can your Title be upgraded again? If I can share the upgrades again, the Title will become stronger."
Catherine opened her Status Screen and checked the notification once more. Then she smiled slightly and nodded. "Yes, it can be upgraded again. I’ll choose it now."
She selected the upgraded Title without any hesitation.
A familiar portal appeared nearby as soon as the reward selection finished, leading them toward the Fourth Area.
While walking toward the portal, Isaac silently spoke inside his mind. He wanted to know whether the upgraded Title had revealed anything new.
’System, share Sis’ upgraded Title and its next upgrade!’ he thought quietly.
The familiar notification appeared before his eyes almost immediately.
Solo Conqueror Expert → Solo Conqueror Master.
Solo Conqueror Master → Solo Conqueror Grandmaster.
Isaac looked at the notification thoughtfully as they stepped through the portal. The earlier upgrades had granted the ability to predict Boss Monsters’ attacks, while the third one seemed to let its owner instinctively understand dungeon layouts and locate powerful monsters.
He couldn’t help wondering what the fifth upgrade—Solo Conqueror Grandmaster—would provide. If every two evolutions granted another completely new effect, then by the time they left the dungeon today, the Title might become one of the strongest dungeon-related Titles recorded.