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Chapter 404: The Dungeon Usurper. [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2023-03-19 05:23:57 +0000 UTCEdit: Okay, this is a very big change to the latter part of the chapter, specifically, when the Dungeon Usurper is revealed. The reason why I changed it from the previous to the current one was due to modus operandi. Why did the previous dungeon usurper show themselves? It didn't make sense.
So, the plan was to change it while keeping the general plot while using an already established character whose intentions I've already built up using the last arc. It probably loses the "cool" factor, but it makes more sense in this case.
In addition, I will probably change the next few chapter today. Iron out some details to make plot lines work and flow better, especially character arcs, which my story usually wants to focus on.
Sorry for taking so long, but I wanted to show my reasoning for the changes and the future ones.
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Arrrrgh!
I recoiled from the intense mana backlash the moment that <Information Blocked> appeared in my head, my eyes throbing as I kept them closed. An overflow of mana from too much information trying to enter my brain. As I told the others I was alright, I turned my attention back to the Divine Quest.
I accept the Divine Quest!
<With the blessing of your championed God, may you be successful in your Quest!>
The rumbling of the chamber intensified as the twin snake golems rotated their heads like owls, letting stone grinding sounds out as their blue eyes gazed at us. There was no announced trick to the room, but the entrance closed behind us, blocking our escape. Wanting us to regroup, Vifi’Yok called for me to open my portal, so I obliged with [Purple Flash] to quickly cast [Warp Point: Entry].
The portal immediately opened up, so I prepared to turn back into a dragonewt so I could fit through the portal, only for my [Foresight] to warn me not to enter. The fact all five of us froze up in place confirmed this wasn’t a coincidence. And it proved itself a moment later as the ground under the portal, without any warning, rose up and slammed against the ceiling.
Shit! That was the worst! I couldn’t feel my mana connection with that portal any longer, meaning that entry point closed, which just …
[“Our way out is gone!”] I informed everybody to their chagrin.
If one of the portal openings closed once linked, both close. I had not expected the golem to punish me for this weakness.
At the same time, warnings came from underneath us. Vifi’Yok grabbed Tatsuya and Kyouya with her good arm before immediately dodging to the side and activating her voltaic red speed. Rajah used [Shadow Dash] to escape while I activated my rocket boosters, taking to the sky.
All of us avoided the spikes bursting from the ground, creating miniature hills. As I hovered in the air, I noticed the left head of this “golem,” as Crustacia called it, had its blue spheres turn brown. Even its eyes had changed colors. For a split second, they dimmed back into blue, but it returned to brown just as my [Danger Perception] and [Foresight] had me snap my head to my sides, noticing the debris falling from the ceiling were being turned into rock spears.
This thing is an earth mage?! Wait, why aren’t there any magic circles? Mana is flowing but there has to be some magic circles somewhere! Unless … [Geokinesis]!
The mystery of this situation was growing and growing. Even if my appraisal didn’t work, usually it allowed me to at least appraise the race of the monster on hand. However, when I had turned [Mana Eyes] on for a split second, it showed me <Appraisal Blocked> and I was forced to deactivate it to stop the stream of mana information from exploding my brain.
Whatever this thing was, it was a problem. We had to regroup!
Dreadflare Aura!
My scale-dust exploded as I raised my body temperature, releasing a superhot aura around me, melting away the debris and rock spears before I flew down and cleaved through the spikes below me with my [Hellblade Edge] tail. With the heat melting everything around me into molten rock, I stared up at the golem serpents.
One head had brown eyes, while the other was still blue. One was constructing rock spears around itself, while the other was gathering blue energy inside its mouth. Just like the monster room golem and the drake-like one, was this another mana-based attack? As in, one similar to Neill’s elementless dragon paths?
No information, no nothing. Great. Feels great going into this without any information!
I readied a breath attack inside my throat, challenging the golem to shoot at me so I could avoid it and counterattack. However, just as I was zoning in, small fire blasts hit the golem’s left head, causing it to slowly turn its attention around. It wasn’t taking any damage; it looked like it was just annoyed by whatever was pestering them.
I snapped my eyes to the side, noticing Vifi’Yok was using my glaive’s gun form to shoot fire bullets at the golem, covering for the boys who looked like they were about to retch. Fast movements did that to you if you weren’t protected by an [Air Shield], but any concentration of mana close to Vifi’Yok feet made her voltaic speed impossible to use. Tatsuya couldn’t have used the spell even if he wanted to.
“This thing looks groggy. Sleepy, even. Hestia, can you appraise it?” Vifi’Yok spoke, relaying her assessment, as the golem snakes still haven’t attacked. They were assessing the “fly” that was the demonkin girl.
[“Negative. Everything is blocked, I can’t even understand its race.”]
“If this is the dungeon boss, then we have a problem. But, honestly, if you ask me, we can take this down! Get your buffs up, boys and cat, both of you get inside that damn [Room] and leave this fight to us!”
All three of them snapped at Vifi’Yok, demanding to know why they couldn’t participate, but Vifi’Yok simply spat a curse at them while twirling my glaive around as red lightning crackled around her body, forming something like an aura. “You see the size of those things? If any of you want to be useful against a stronger opponent like this, get your level over 100 already! Emotion Surge!”
The lightning increased in intensity around her until her demonkin features fully appeared. With a loud shout, she bashed the blunt side of my glaive on to the ground, making her seem like she was being controlled by her rage. However, all of us knew better.
As if it was intimidated by her, its coiled rock parts spun around, similar to its owl-like rotating head. It clattered its jaw together and shot a volley of earthen spears at her, prompting Vifi’Yok to ready herself in a throwing pose, setting my halberd on fire.
“Voltaic Red:” she mumbled as the spears almost reached her. “Thunderspeed Roar!”
She threw my crimson-aflamed glaive at the golem, destroying the rock spears from the sheer force of the attack as she disappeared from sight with her red lightning. The golem roared out as it had to snap its head to the side, barely avoiding my glaive and causing the other head to clatter in anger.
My glaive pierced into the ceiling, stuck there until Vifi’Yok appeared to hang from it using her magnetism. She retrieved my weapon before three purple magic circles appeared in front of her with it aimed at the golem. It was the [Lightning Magic Lv. 6] spell [Ramuh]!
“Hestia-san! Shelter!” Tatsuya shouted at me.
I grimaced for a moment, but nodded in the end. [“Sorry, guys. I don’t want to leave you out of this.”]
“And we don’t want to weigh you down! The demonkin spoke the truth, so beat the snake’s asses for us!”
Hearing Tatsuya’s outburst motivated me. Rajah, the boys, and I originally came to this dungeon to train and become stronger together, but due to everything getting out of control, we had to stop the training arc. This was the time for me to go all-out.
I looked at the golems, noticing how they both had their eyes at Vifi’Yok. As she said, she was creating room and space for me.
“In my purgatory, I make the devil cry ♫
In Hellfire ♫
All you hear are his screams, begging to be released ♫
It’s Music ♫”
<[Music Resonation (Moderate)] [Stage Fever (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
With the fire immunity from my spell song, played by [Aerokinesis] since I was in dragon form, the boys managed to reach me, hiding underneath me at the impending disaster. To make sure they survived, I cast [Room] underneath me, creating a subspace for the boy to find safety in. As long as I blocked any attack from coming in, they wouldn’t be in any danger.
[“Rajah, go in, too! All of you, drink the remaining buff tonics we have! Spend your SP and get yourself ready for the fight! Get earth resistance, physical, and anything else! Just get ready, in case I need help!”] I gave out my orders, to which they obliged.
Due to [Volcanic Blaze] having [Volcanic Resistance Lv. 1], I was already super resistant against earth magic.
<Volcanic Resistance: The advanced fusion between [Lava Resistance] and [Terra Resistance], reserved for creatures who live inside volcanoes and in the magma core of the world. Raises resistances against fire, lava, and earth attacks even further to allow the owner to survive the blazing hot depths of the world. The skills combined are: [Lava Resistance Lv. 10] [Inferno Resistance Lv. 10] [Terra Resistance Lv. 10]>
I could tank Vifi’Yok’s [Ramuh], even if it was one of the most devastating spells I’ve ever seen. [Lightning Resistance Lv. 10], my armor’s rune, and also [The Heir of Hope]’s shield. Not to mention, I could even potentially use[Symphonie des Feuergottes Movement (Minuet)], [Prayer], and [Battle Frenzy] to increase my wisdom for more magic resistance. Though it was a bit of a shame that I couldn’t sing two songs as a dragon. Job skills didn’t work while I wasn’t a dragonewt but that didn’t matter here!
“I descend on Earth with Wings of Death! ♫
A Storm of Fury ♫
Creating Ash and Dust ♫
I am the Incarnation of the Sun ♫
I shine so brightly, I bring your death ♫
My lineage belongs to the God of Dragons! ♫
The song continued, raining dragon-shaped meteors onto the golems to divert its breath attack from Vifi’Yok. More seconds won, more seconds I had to take advantage of. Spell time!
Purple Flash! Prayer! Symphonie des Feuergottes!
“Kriffiek kllk gaaung!” I roared out, letting my blood rage through my body!
<[Battle Frenzy(Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
“What irony, I’ll get the damn Church of Aurena’s buff! Do it, Hestia!”
All buffs on! My parallel minds used the miniscule amount of time I had left until [Symphonie des Feuergottes] to buff myself up into high-heavens! I had expected to only scout out this fight, but things went awry, so it was time for a rush job!
<[Various Spell Buffs] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
“Despair, color the sky crimson! ♫
Earth scorched by rain of undying flames ♫
Hope born from misery! ♫
Quash it all, you are facing me! ♫”
A huge amount of mana was getting consumed. 20% just vanished, creating everything happening on this battlefield. I felt my core slowly helping me regenerate, but those tiny moments didn’t matter as my mind was fully focused on the battle on hand. Fully focused as my huge fire magic circle readied itself for an attack!
Burn!
[Symphonie des Feuergottes]’s waterfall of flames engulfed the entire area beneath it, including me and the golem serpents. Knowing I had to keep the [Room] where the boys were safe, I guarded it by using my body as a wall, sending everything away while my scales saw no harm. I was completely immune to my own fire spells, after all, thanks to my blessing, [Divine Inferno].
<[Symphonie des Feuergottes Movement (Allegro)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
50% more agility gotten, but that was important here. As the waves of flames subsided, disappearing and clearing from my vision, I grimaced as it didn’t seem to have damaged the golem snakes. In fact, a brown-golden earthen crust covered their entire bodies like armor. Pieces of it was cracking off like clay, though, but its brown-eyed gaze had its attention turned on me now.
“In the midst of the desert ♫
A bright ray of light shines ♫
Pure and brave, that she was, as she walked ♫
She was the ideal for me ♫
The bringer of children’s smiles ♫
Alas, the world seemed bleaker without her ♫”
<[The Shield of [The Light]] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
I switched songs as I saw the golem gather debris around its face, while the blue-eyed one continued aiming at Vifi’Yok. Regardless, that was all everybody needed. I gouged out the piece of earth where [Room] was, hardened it up with [Terra Wall], and held it close to my chest. As time started to distort in my mind, slowed down due to the rising tension …
Prayer!
<[Blessing of the Goddess of Light (Major)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
The spell basked Vifi’Yok and me in radiant light, buffing us all up! Just in time as everybody’s attacks activated!
“Die! Ramuh!”
“Gooooooooon!” The snakes roared as beams of mana and a gathering of rocks shot at Vifi’Yok and me, respectively.
Purple Flash! Gloria Ascendence!
Just as the purple thunder from [Ramuh] and the stream of rocks hit me, an indestructible barrier of light covered my entire, giant body, covering me and the [Room] up. Time was of the essence. This barrier could keep me undamaged, and would even heal me from any damage I would have received, but it could only last for a short amount of time. If it went over, I would have to tank the rest.
Sadly, that was the case. Something like 15 seconds passed, or something similar, and [Ramuh] still hadn’t finished blasting yet. The uncracked barrier of light disappeared, forcing me to use my chestplate’s [Defensive Rune: Auracoil] but it couldn’t compare to the [Sacred Magic Lv. 8]’s [Gloria Ascendence] in terms of sturdiness.
Crap!
I coiled my body like a snake, protecting the [Room] while relying on my scales to create a wall and my armor to protect my weak spots. With [Lightning Resistance Lv. 10], [Ramuh] shouldn’t be able to kill me. Especially with how I was abusing all my stat boosters! With [Battle Frenzy] and [Blessing of the Goddess of Light], I had a 40% increase in my stats, with my wisdom being at 7023 base and an additional 3090 from my armor. This wasn’t even mentioning my spell buffs, my resistances, and also [Draconic Barrier].
I could and would survive this!
Arrrrghhh!
The sizzling feeling of my nerves being fried up caused my heart to pump adrenaline throughout my body. My mana was getting killed from [Draconic Barrier] taking damage, but I had two “solar cores” left for everything. I could endure it!
“IT’S TIME, DRAGON! THE SHELL IS CRACKED!” A thunderous voice pierced through all the crackling and destruction, moments before it all began to quieten. “REAL BODY IN VIEW, HESTIA! LET’S DO THIS!”
Solar—!
I snapped my head around, face tanking the last bits of lightning with my floating scales. My solar energy went into overdrive, causing the stream of power to gather inside my throat. I saw the golem snakes, partially damaged but still alive, attached to a large round, rocky body. The [Ramuh] had completely disintegrated the ground, turning everything but the golem and me into a black stain.
I didn’t know what that body was, but I knew I had to target it.
—Beam! Come on, Purple Flash into Heaven’s Sword!
I activated my rocket boosters as my body went into overdrive, heating everything up. I flew close to the body and unleashed a beam of concentrated solar energy before materializing a giant woman’s hand on the ceiling, making it drive a blade of pure light into the monster below me. The impact of everything blew me away, sending me flying towards the ceiling before I threw the [Room] into the air and began singing [Dragon Fire].
“In my purgatory, I make the devil cry ♫
In Hellfire ♫
All you hear are his screams, begging to be released ♫
It’s Music ♫”
As the song echoed through the area with the entire room blinded by a bright light, Vifi’Yok charged into the [Room] to recover while I grabbed the [Room] once again and held it close to my chest. I took a deep breath and unleashed a boosted [Draconic Roar] with my parallel minds unleashing my arsenal of spells at the beast before directing a skyscraper-sized dragon-figured fire meteor to land on our enemy.
This excessive use of mana was drenching the dungeon so much, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the dungeon master summon something soon, but it wasn’t like we had a choice. As even after all the massive spells and abilities I had unleashed, my [Danger Perception] still pinged me to dodge the next attack coming towards me.
With my rocket boosters, that was no problem, but what came next caused me to swallow a bit. My eyes snapped around as I saw an earthen spear the size of my dragon body fly right past my head, destroying the wall behind me. I looked down, noticing how the snake golem’s rocky hide had broken off, revealing they weren’t even snakes to begin with, but tentacles! Metal tentacles sparkling as if they had gemstones on them.
“Goooooooooh!” A deep booming voice erupted, all while my fire meteor kept raining on it.
The ground then burst, breaking apart as something even larger appeared from the ground. Two large, stocky legs appeared first, pushing the rest of the colossal monster out of the ground. Not only was it larger than me now, but it almost looked like this thing could even rival the geisenlarg king in size; it was large enough to cast a shadow ov two baseball stadiums!
It turned its body around, revealing a jewel-eyed rock beast with the head shape of a bighorn sheep, including the large ram horns, but the hardened maw of a snapping turtle with molars inside its mouth. Those horns were glistening, looking like they were made of silver with prized jewels adorned on their ridges. In addition, it had a beard made from rocks growing from below its head, going all the way to the ground. It snatched its stone beard with its large, bulky arms, stroking it as it looked at me curiously.
[“… I can not only sense her on you, but three other scents of divinities as well.”]
It can speak?! Telepat—Arrrgh! A croaky voice entered my mind, causing me slight pain as I tried to listen to it. Noticing me flinching, it stopped caressing its rock beard.
[“… You can hear me? A dragon? You can listen to my voice?”]
Grak! The more it spoke, the more painful it got. It wasn’t even a headache, similar to the telepathic attacks of the garms, but more like something attacking my body.
[“Confusing … What is happening here? Hmm.”] It closed onto me while I was still in my overdrive mode.
I was questioning if I should continue this fight or not, it wasn’t exactly showing that much hostility towards me. Maybe I could talk this—
[“Getting a live dragon to test out that dragon killer weapon might solve my debt to that fiend.”]
Fuck that!
Hellflame Breath! I unleashed my dragon breath right into his face, before igniting my scale-dust, turning myself into a miniature bomb before continuing playing [Dragon Fire].
The beast didn’t even flinch as it stretched its cumbersome arm out, trying to catch me. Far too fast for it with my rocket boosters, I was flying around him like a jet plane, showering him with more and more of my flames. Wind, lightning, and even holy spells flew out as well, striking everywhere around his body, trying my best to find a weakness.
[“Futile.”] It snapped its finger, causing the ground beneath me to turn into spikes before they shot at me. With all my speed boosts, this was easily thwarted as I sliced everything in place before sending a flame slash at the monster who seemed to be frowning now. [“This body is too weak, even if its too sturdy for you to damage. Deal with somebody your age.”]
It went down onto all four, raising its two metal tentacles—the “snake golems” from before— before slamming his hands on the ground. I continued trying to take this raid beast down, hittingit with all my magics, but it completely ignored me to twist and mold the ground before it finished creating a set of ten golems made in its image but … far smaller, around the size of humans? No, the size of teenagers or even children, but with extremely stocky builds like those from a bodybuilder.
[“Weapons.”] It snapped its fingers again, causing the earth to quake before various glistening rocks burst out, flying over to the golems as they morphed into bows, axes, and spears! [“Figh—”]
“Thunderspeed Roar!” That iconic ability shout blared into my ears as a fire arrow shot out of my [Room] and landed right into the mix of golems, destroying five of them. “NOW! Territory Release!”
<Allied Territory detected! [Magnetic Storm] has been activated!>
Now shoeless, she jumped up and tapped her bare feet together, causing electricity to erupt from her body and flingthe golems and rock beast across the room and into the walls, utterly destroying the child-sized golems. The earth around Vifi’Yok began to hover around her, almost as if a magnetic force surrounded her. Which, naturally, was exactly what was happening, since this was her Territory.
Then I should help out too, making lava out of this will give us a better grip on things!
<Mana Release activated. Aura used as control unit: [Draconic Aura Lv. 5]. Territory [Magmakammer] has been established>
The air became harder to breathe with all this heat exuding from my body, even if with my lungs, it only felt just slightly more stuffy. Since I wasn’t on the ground, nothing was being turned into magma, but the moment I got close to the ground, everything started to melt. I also summoned my [Hydra] for further support, even using the newly made magna to make its body grow even larger.
[“Everything earth is under my command!”] It pressed itself out of the wall before Vifi’Yok began striking it with her lightning spells, trying to stop it, only for the rock beast to slam its hand against the wall, demolishing it with a single blow!
At the same time, the ceiling and floor suddenly started to move, looking like the beast wanted to crush all of us. At the same time, the broken down wall started to turn into gravel, letting the beast swim through it, disappearing before the wall solidified.
Vifi’Yok ran up to me, knowing I was the only safe point in the room right now.
“I’m trusting you! Don’t fucking kill me!” she called out, prompting me to instantly nod. This wasn’t the time to be enemies!
I covered her in an [Air Shield] before grabbing her with my left hand. I continued having [Dragon Fire] play so I wouldn't burn her before I had my slime [Hydra] turn its heads towards the ground. Turning my hydra into an obsidian drill, I covered my body in [Panzer] before diving with it into the depths of this place. With [Magmakammer] active, the earth was being turned into magma, allowing us to swim through it.
As we swam a bit, Vifi’Yok’s and my sensory skills caught onto some signal, coming in fast. Using my rocket boosters and increasing my body temperature, I shot right past it, before continuing my pursuit.
<[Symphonie des Feuergottes Movement (Adagio)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
Sadly, just as I did that, the movement of my Symphonie changed to adagio, making me lose my agility boost. However, the adagio stage increased my strength and intelligence up by 50%. Still a worthwhile trade!
With my speed down, I had to increase the burst of fire, causing my parallel minds to remind me not to go all out, otherwise my core might crack again. The only reason the [Heaven’s Sword] and [Dragon Fire] combo didn’t do it this time was I held myself back a bit.
Do I even have a plan to kill this thing? Fuck no, there was nothing! I can’t appraise it, can’t know its limit. What even is it? Can I even talk with it after what it said? Fighting doesn’t seem like the correct answer here.
My train of thoughts instantly stopped as the ground around me disappeared, creating a spherical hole, empty of anything but the rock beast falling towards me. Before I could react, Vifi’Yok sliced through her [Air Shield] and clapped her bare feet again, using her powers to drive me to the ground by an invisible force. Same thing happened to the rock beast, only it was sent crashing into the ceiling instead.
With my body heat, I melted the ground before I landed, diving into the magma before resurfacing and shooting my [Hydra] up at the monster. [Corrosive Fire] allowed me to inject the corrosive obsidian with any previously experienced poison, so I charged it up with something highly acidic.
“Guoooh!” It let out a surprised roar, causing it to snap its head around and manipulate the ceiling like moldable paper.
[“whO ArE yOu?!”] Using a telepathic attack, I tried to distract it, even using my parallel minds to try to scramble its mind, but it didn’t seem fazed at all. In fact, when he responded, it caused me damage instead!
[“Your thoughts cannot threaten mine, whelpling!”] Like an organ, it boomed through my mind. [“You have no right to know who I am, if you cannot discern it yourself. Ignorant whelp, I know from whom you are running from. If these old limbs cannot catch you, then your enemies will!”]
What?!
[“But first, you, go away!”]
The rock beast threw a house-sized chunk of Earth at Vifi’Yok, prompting her to stand her ground on the air and slice it in half, only to tap her feet again. This time, her magnetic force reversed, pulling the rock beast and me towards her.
“Shut off your Territory!” she shouted as her Territory disappeared. “Here’s the set up you need, so deal some damage! I’ll come out once it’s my turn!”
<Allied Territory [Magnetic Storm] deactivated>
I did the same.
<Territory deactivated>
Some heat around me vanished as I caught Vifi’Yok, only to then turn my attention to the incoming beast. I heated up my tail with [Hellblade Edge] and [Drakonian Sunlight Edge], before I began singing [The Heir of Light] for its additional 10% stat boost. This also included the 10% boost from [Battle Frenzy (Minor)], 30% from [Prayer], the 50% from adagio, and also my various buffs!
Dammit, if only I could just unlock [Battle Frenzy (Moderate)]. It would have been 25% instead of only 10%. Enough, let’s go! Dhuinn Rune, activate!
[Dhuin Rune: Fearless Defense] switched the 3090 vitality and 3090 wisdom into strength and intelligence respectively. Furthermore, they would add onto my base stats, meaning the total of 100% plus the amount from my spell buffs would be added onto this next attack. Double attack!
Solar Beam, release!
I channeled my solar energy throughout my body, turning my entire body into a humongous bomb, lightning myself up before I channeled all this strength with [Drakonian Sunlight Edge].
<Drakonian Sunlight Edge: A skill connected to [Solar Core], and requires a core able to absorb and store solar energy to perform. If the total solar energy is above 1%, allows the user to harness this energy by spreading it throughout their body or anything they touch like mana, although it will dissipate at medium range. The element of this attack will be treated similarly to [White Flames], if the user possesses that skill. In addition, allows the absorption of solar-based energy, reducing any damage dealt to the owner from them. The skills combined are: [True Spear Technique Lv. 10] [Air Walk Lv. 10] [Continental Drake Stride Lv. 10] [Superior Mid-Air Maneuvering Lv. 10] [Superior Aerial Fighter Lv. 10] [Speed Of Sonic Lv. 10]>
“If the total solar energy is above 1%, allow the user to harness this energy by spreading it throughout their body […]” was the part I wanted to finally abuse! It didn’t matter how I got rid of this excessive energy, it only mattered that I release it to get out of my overdrive mode.
I honestly had no idea if this would work. I never bloody tried it, but it was too obvious if you read the description! God Yeostar—he fucking knew how to make a girl happy! He was a far better war god than stupid Shiterno!
You rock, God Yeostar!
With all the energy channeled into this my tail blade, I roared out!
“Kraaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuungh!”
[“STOP!”]
NO!
The blade of light struck, piercing right into the beast’s stomach with a grand explosion. I activated my rocket boosters, sending me flying forward with my tail, slicing his entire stomach and chest wide open before I reached its neck. With one last push, my tail swiped right through.
Crack! That sound of glass breaking! Damn! I overdid it again!
With my final attack finished, the stream of solar energy was shot not only into the beast’s body, but also at the ceiling, slicing a portion of it the size of a football stadium right off. I could only stare at ceiling falling down before noticing my body began to overheat. My core was at 0%!
Arrgh! Solar energy absorb!
Using up my last spare “core” by absorbing the solar energy from the sun catalyst Tasianna made from one of my broken solar cores, I managed to refill my main core back to 60%, stopping my body from overheating. I then took a look at my tail, noticing how incredible blunt it had gotten. That last attack completely totaled my strongest body weapon.
I also took a look at my right hand, letting out a sigh of relief as the [Room] hadn’t broken. I somehow managed to prevent it from melting.
“Ooooooorrrrrrrnh!”
However, knowing it couldn’t have died since my level didn’t go up, I snapped my head down, where I saw the rock beast having lost its head. Its “beard” was cut off and a large scar decorated its torso. The rocky body was melting from all the solar energy, turning into fuel for my [Hydra] still on the ground. It absorbed everything, turning into a gargantuan beast to rival the rock beast’s former size.
[“… Ah, I see. Crustacia sent you to kill me.”] Its voice entered my head.
Wait, how did it—Hold on, it did say that just before.
[“Once again, I lost. I guess it was inevitable with how weak this new body is. I am defeated, I accept it.”]
More questions. What did it mean by “Once again?” Did this thing live when the gods descended down to the world, or—Hold on … I believe, I was overlooking something here. Crustacia called this thing a “golem” with the quotation marks, meaning she knew this wasn’t a golem since second one. She also mentioned how “The earth told me they would return,” and “[…] didn’t expect to meet them in this dungeon.”
… Also, didn’t it just create those humanoid golems? If you took away the sheep-like head, it had a beard and horns like a ram. Was the size of a human teenager and was stocky … Where the hell have I seen something like that before?
… Grimnir. No, all Taz dwarves … No way.
It was just a guess. [“Are you … the Earth Elemental Emperor?”]
“Again.”
Hm? That voice …
A deep, growly voice suddenly silenced me, causing my body to stiffen up as I turned my head around to the side as a piece of the wall suddenly began to tremble. As it kept rustling, it opened up like a door, allowing me to hear the sounds of footsteps.
“Oh, great honored creator, oh how you failed in your task. Your rebirth so far, for thou body broketh. Your children—unchained. Your youngest? Buried. Your eldest? Shining. Surpassed their creator!” The shadow revealed itself to be an old Inko with a long, dirty beard that hadn’t seen any cleaning in weeks. “But, I do not blame you. You just had to face the one lizard willing to interfere in everything, instead of just minding her own business.”
Ma-Maag—!
“Krrriiiiaaaaashhhha!” I roared out, eyes flaring up as I realized who the person was. [“Maagneil!”]
I had expected somebody else. Maagneil was literally the last person I had expected to find at the very bottom of this dungeon. Unfortunately, he was also the person who was about to give me the greatest headache in my life.
Fla—
“Begone.” Just as I was about to react, he pulled out a red orb from his smithing apron, letting it shimmer before the entire dungeon began to rumble.
[Flash Fire] managed to activate next to the few magma patches inside this arena, but as my body rushed over there as if I teleported, the ground suddenly shifted upwards. As [Flash Fire] made me rush towards the magma, I narrowly missed hitting Grimnir’s uncle as the ground was raised up, pushing my body into the air. I tried to use my rocket boosters to reach him, but the wall just in front of me bashed my head in, knocking me further away.
No!
The piece of earth where I placed [Room] on nearly flew out of my hand, forcing me to prioritized the safety of my friends over the person possibly responsible for everything happening inside this dungeon. Once it was safe in my hands again, I snapped my head around, widening my eyes as I saw the figure of Maagneil through the small gaps of the raised earth.
W-wait! That-that thing!
I knew what that was. I saw what it had done the last time I encountered one inside a dungeon.
A rebellion orb!
The catalyst able to cause a dungeon break to happen, sending its monsters crazy. An item able to send a dungeon boss to destroy the city supposed to benefit from having a dungeon nearby.
And, it was a creation from the demonkins. How and from whom did Maagneil get that object? It didn’t matter what those answers were, since I had my primary answer: Maagneil was a demonkin sympathizer.
The light of the orb shone red, causing the dungeon to quake. Maagneil mumbled, “Dungeon. Break apart, connect yourself to Manethala’s. Activate rebellion orb.”
The entire arena cracked, separating itself from every corner while my body was pushed away from all the earth. Whatever I tried, I couldn’t break through; this was the unbreakable dungeon ground.
I’m gonna get crushed! Territory! Territory Rel—
[“Am I to be disposed?”] The voice of the boss I just fought entered my head as I was trying to find a way out of this situation. [“Then I will take my moment before I slumber. Unworthy creation of mine, you shall rue this moment. Your ideals will crumble with your allegiance, mad on!”]
“Gooooooooooun!” The boss suddenly roared with its decapitated head, rallying some serious energy and life despite my finishing blow. An ordinary being would not be able to move from having its body eviscerated.
The rocks pushing me around like a ragdoll suddenly stopped, prompting me to stop my Territory release as I flew away from everything. The boss’s broken down body suddenly began to move, telepathically reforming themselves before pushing itself out of my [Hydra]’s acid bath.
Controlling the earth around it, its melting body was slowly reforming itself as it barely managed to regrow its humongous body. I did not have [Hydra] stop him. After its speech, I had the feeling it was better to support it than whatever Maagneil was trying. Just as I thought that, it roared once again before slamming its massive arms into the ground, causing the entire ceiling to just crack open.
“Stop!” I heard Maagneil shout, but it was easily drowned out as I saw large, bus-sized fragments drop from the ceiling drop onto the ground, breaking on the raised earth.
… Shit, that smell! I snapped my head up, widening my eyes when I saw a man falling down with the ceiling I had just cut.
He was wearing crimson-red armor, something I definitely acknowledged as mine since I could sense my smell on it. In addition, that scarred face with those two highly focused eyes instantly sent a shiver down my spine when I locked onto them.
It was him.
“Found you.” With a new set of red daggers on hand, he stomped the ground, launching himself at me at a frightening speed.
You have to be— That same chill when I first met him reappaeared again, stunning me for a second as my instincts told me he was real trouble. It got even worse now that I knew he turned that severed arm of mine into his armor! Hydra! Attack!
As that frightening red aura exuded from his body, [Hydra]—now the size of a ten floor building, completely dwarfing me—roared as it went to protect me, striking the dragonslayer mid-air. Sadly, he sliced my corrosive slime golem’s hand into tiny pieces, but that didn’t matter as, just like a real hydra, the arm just formed a new one to attack him.
The dragonslayer was making no progress forward, being forced to use [Air Steps] to move around while the entire dungeon was seemingly crumbling away into dust. But, in the next moment, things just stopped and the dungeon began to reform itself, turning dust into blocks. I glanced over to where the boss golem and Maagneil were somehow fighting with each other, when I noticed that sympathizer was holding up a blue, pearl-like crystal on one hand and the rebellion orb in the other.
Is that the dungeon core?
Whatever it was, I was caught in the crossfire with two fights happening around me. I didn’t know which to focus on, still prioritizing the safety of the [Room]. It was then I decided I had to take Maagneil out, but that was when the chaos climaxed.
Woah!
The dungeon around me morphed, with its ceilings and ground moving around at such a rapid pace I couldn’t even tell what was up or down. Like a rubik’s cube, it rotated like crazy, until something hit my head, causing me to tumble onto another hard spot, again and again.
Still holding onto my consciousness, I saw [Hydra] turning into a large cascading black-purple tsunami and drowned out the boss golem and the dragonslayer. But trying to focus on controlling my [Hydra], I eventually became so sick from all this vertigo that I was starting to see triples of everything.
I was too disorientated. I didn’t even know if I puked or not, as I couldn’t feel my body moving at all. All I knew was that my Symphonie stopped and I blacked out from my brain banging against my skull far too many times.
***
When I eventually woke up, I could only stare at the ceiling. It was … No, it was not a ceiling, but the sky. Or “sky,” considering where I was supposed to be.
“Bastard, get away from her!”
My “nap”was interrupted by a foreign voice. A man’s, but I couldn’t tell who it was.
“Tatsuy—”
“Fuck you!” That one, though, was definitely Tatsuya’s.
“Dude!” And that was Kyouya’s.
“Great … I’m stuck with these idiots, again. Cat, did you find any people?” That was Vifi’Yok’s.
[“No, I hav—Master!”] While everybody was occupied with something else, my trusty virigress instantly noticed when I was awake. Just like a real cat.
I rose my head, feeling the clattering of my scales, meaning I was currently in my dragon form. I opened my eyes, only to see a young man … with white-grey hair.
“Hikari!”
I lost consciousness.
Comments
Thanks!
Diego Rossi
Take care, healt is important! Job skills didn’t work while I wasn’t a dragonewt but that didn’t matter here! -> Job skills didn’t work while I wasn’t a dragon but that didn’t matter here! “Shut off your Territory! The boys got something prepare, I need to get back into the [Room]!” she shouted as her Territory disappeared. -> The boys got something prepareD,
