novelraw Chapter 72 : Chapter 72
Chapter 72 : Chapter 72
Chapter 72 : Heroes
As the cameraman moved into the open space, those in the Sky Lounge could finally check the core inside the dungeon.
The passage the strike team had passed through was just one of many routes.
There was a huge crater in the center, and holes were pierced throughout the walls, making the overall structure resemble an underground crypt.
As the camera moved slowly from side to side, several heroes could be seen taking positions and preparing to launch an attack.
Although faces couldn't be identified due to the distance, each strike team looked perfectly prepared.
Darkness pooled in the center of the crater, and intermittent flashes from the other side of the cave illuminated the hordes of monsters hiding within.
The camera headed toward the source of the light.
There, a large rock was blinking with light as if vibrating, accompanied by a monster's scream.
Behind that rock, at the edge of the dungeon, a portal was opening, growing larger and larger.
And that portal widened even further with the monster's painful scream.
Following that, a series of hand gestures appeared on the screen, delivering a situation report.
Quest exhaled sharply and turned to Harlan.
“Looks like we found our mental type Commander.”
Harlan stared piercingly at the screen without even answering, as if he couldn't believe it.
After a long while, he turned his head toward Quest and shook it.
“I've seen a Dungeon Heart like this before. It was much smaller then, but it had a structure similar to the Cores monsters use to boost their combat abilities in low-Essence environments. But this, it's being used to accelerate dungeon terraforming. It's clear. Right now, it looks like they're using that monster by connecting it to the Dungeon Heart.”
Confusion and excitement were mixed on Harlan's face.
“I've never seen a monster entangled like that. That means this guy is being used like a tool… and it implies there's an even more powerful existence controlling this Commander-rank monster.”
He pointed a finger at the portal on the screen and looked back at Quest.
“I'm finally getting a sense of what's happening!”
Then, before anyone could ask, he looked around the heroes in the room and continued.
“That Dungeon Heart blinking is a sign it's almost reached its limit. It seems the Commander isn't controlling it properly. If my guess is right, that tremendous number of tunnels was all a contingency plan against Divinity's foresight! Tunnels were connected to every location where the combat class was moved! Thanks to that, now they're in a situation where they can neither open portals for reinforcements nor escape.”
Neuro tilted his head and looked at Quest.
“So maybe they targeted that student in the Gold Cohort for that reason? There's a kid with the ability to open portals.”
Harlan pointed at the bound monster with an excited expression.
“The Commander must have wanted a replacement! Acting for one's own benefit is a much more natural motivation from a monster's perspective.”
At that moment, a sudden flash erupted on the screen, cutting the conversation short.
Everyone frowned and looked away from the screen for a moment.
When the camera focused again, a beam of light shining like a spear was flying toward the Commander.
Jez seemed to have led the ambush, as he was seen twisting his waist and taking an attack stance.
As the spear of light crossed over the crater and pierced the darkness, hundreds of monsters ambushing within were revealed.
But just before the attack reached the target, a humanoid monster appeared in mid-air.
That monster deflected the spear of light to the side, causing a huge explosion on the wall behind.
Thanks to that, everyone inside the dungeon could clearly see the monster's appearance.
Black armor rippling like smoke.
Two yellow eyes flashing beneath a helmet decorated with feathers.
A shield was formed on its right arm to block the attack, and after a moment, the shield disappeared and was replaced by a menacing blade.
But what made this situation even more terrifying was that darkness covered the area again as soon as Jez's light attack disappeared.
When the second spear of light flew, the illuminated dungeon looked completely different from just a moment ago.
The monster pit was fully activated, the black-armored Commander had already disappeared, and the heroes were all fighting in new positions.
The moment the spear crossed half the crater, the spear of light was deflected again.
At the same time, the black-armored monster was captured running through the air.
A shield was formed on its right arm again.
Sal couldn't hide his astonishment as he looked at the screen.
The speed of the newly revealed Armored Commander was shocking.
The battle taking place in complete darkness was a terror beyond imagination.
Sal stared at the screen without even breathing.
Intermittent light flashed on the screen, revealing scenes of heroes being surrounded by the monster army.
Sal had doubts about whether he was fit for that battlefield, but this scene shattered all hesitation.
He had absolutely no confidence in surviving this battle.
His body froze when facing just Sinclair alone, so fighting against hundreds of monsters was completely unimaginable.
At that moment, light flashed on the screen again.
But this time, it wasn't Jez's dazzling flash, but hellfire spreading in all directions.
The camera captured Porge standing in the center of the crater and his hammer embedded in the ground.
Flames spread out in a circle around Porge, instantly incinerating numerous monsters.
When he swung the hammer wide, it struck the chest of an approaching Hulker directly.
From the impact, the Hulker was flung back with its torso crushed.
Every time Porge swung the hammer without stopping, flames erupted explosively, dispatching every monster the fire touched.
Upgrade appeared in the gap of the first flame he created.
She moved following Porge's wide-range attacks, precisely aiming and shooting injured monsters with her hand cannons to finish them off cleanly.
The camera suddenly shook, and the screen fluctuated as the cameraman retreated hurriedly.
At the edge of that view, a sudden ambush by a Prowler was captured, showing that the Prowler had almost pounced on the cameraman.
At that moment, a shadow passed by like lightning, and the Prowler fell as it was, tumbling among dozens of corpses.
When the camera stabilized, Shade, the Guild Master of the Delvers Guild, was visible on the screen.
He winked at the screen, then scattered like smoke and disappeared.
Then light burst once more, and the cameraman turned his gaze in that direction.
On the screen, a head-on confrontation between the glowing Jez and the black-armored Commander was unfolding.
Jez's armor shone as if blazing, and he poured out attacks relentlessly with a sharp spear.
The Armored Commander was focusing on defense, clutching the shield with both arms.
Several daggers were already embedded in various parts of its body.
Then, aiming for the gaps created every time it defended against Jez's attacks, another dagger pierced its body.
“Blink…?”
However, recognizing that the figure appearing on the screen as if teleporting was Vila, Sal was so surprised his jaw almost dropped.
She roughly pulled the dagger out of the monster's body and disappeared again.
In the crater, Sinclair had transformed into Hulker form and was sweeping the battlefield with Porge and Upgrade.
Behind them, a man with a nimble physique wore a bright smile and was using martial arts with his bare hands.
It was an appearance that didn't match the surrounding heroes at all, but when his fist struck a Prowler's head, the monster's head exploded with a single punch.
The more he attacked, the faster he moved, and his techniques also became increasingly powerful.
It looked like an acceleration ability, but it was a skill Sal had never heard of.
At that moment.
“Kieeeeeeeeeek-!”
With a huge explosion, the Armored Commander let out a scream full of pain and turned its head.
Its yellow eyes stared straight at the shattered Dungeon Heart.
The camera shifted its gaze to show Anna Sakura standing, trampling on the fallen mental type Commander and the shattered heart.
With a single attack, the monster side had lost the means to open portals or manipulate future illusions.
Before Jez could stop it, the Armored Commander let out a roar full of rage and charged across the crater.
As Porge's flames illuminated the tunnel, the Commander's terrifying appearance was revealed.
The monster's rage as it cut through the battlefield was overwhelming, and its scream shook the entire dungeon.
Just before the black sword reached Anna Sakura, Vila appeared again and pierced the Armored Commander's helmet with a dagger.
The yellow eyes burst like an explosion, and that single blow should have been enough to lead the Armored Commander to death.
However, the monster possessed a very high regeneration ability.
A low, rough growl echoed through the battlefield, and the Armored Commander swung sword strikes full of rage wildly in the direction where Anna Sakura had been.
The armor swung its sword wildly around the corpse of the fallen mental type Commander, pouring out indiscriminate attacks.
Vila maintained distance and looked for an opening, but surprisingly, Anna Sakura jumped back into the battlefield without hesitation.
The moment she activated her Essence Nullification ability, the black sword disappeared, and the armor that had been rising like smoke vanished with it.
The Armored Commander lost its Essence and began to wander in confusion.
Her pale hand grasped the monster's neck, and with a final blow, she cut off the remaining Essence.
“Kiek, Kieeeek…! Keuk.”
The powerful, deep growl turned into a scream full of terror, and the Armored Commander ended its life just like that.
Vila looked at Anna Sakura as if she couldn't believe it, but she had already disappeared back into the battle.
Clap, clap, clap.
As applause echoed in the Sky Lounge, Sal came back to his senses as if dragged out of the battle.
Everyone in the room showed no sign of surprise, as if that outcome was only natural.
Alastair noticed Sal's mood and approached the sofa.
“That kid on the screen… isn't she the one who said she'd join your guild?”
Seeing the astonishment on Sal's face, Alastair burst into laughter.
“Sal. Right now, this might look like an insurmountable wall to you, but you've only just started. Everyone on the screen has been training day and night for years! It will be the same for you two.”
Divinity looked less flustered than Sal compared to the battle scene on the screen, but Barry sat with a blank expression just like Sal.
Then Neuro joined Alastair with a warm smile.
“Still, it must have been a good lesson. At least you've definitely realized that the people training you are the best of the best!”
Sal nodded helplessly, but the comfort they tried to convey didn't really reach him.
Even if given years, would he really be able to set foot in such a dungeon?
Upgrade was like him in that she was a Supporter type, but now she was mixing among heroes and dispatching surrounding monsters without hesitation.
The fact that Anna Sakura was still a student didn't feel real either.
She had practically taken down two Commanders who ranked high in the monster hierarchy, and she seemed to have done it very lightly.
At that moment, when Neuro burst into laughter, Sal turned his head.
Neuro raised a hand to apologize.
“Sorry, your expression was so funny I briefly peeked into what was going on in your head. Comparing yourself to others is healthy to some extent. But demeaning yourself like you are now isn't good. Each of you has your own strengths. In the future, that will become a strong power no one can ignore.”
He glanced at Divinity and laughed again.
“You're the person who knows that best!”
Quest clapped his hands and drew everyone's attention.
“Now it's the finishing stage. Let's watch together until the end, and then start organizing the situation!”
Neuro and Alastair nodded and sent apologetic looks to the students sitting on the sofa.
The dungeon on the screen was literally total chaos.
Heroes were cleaning up the last remaining monster hordes, and the monsters, having lost their commander, were all in confusion and being defeated individually, except for the Prowlers fighting in packs.
In the center of the crater, Sinclair handled monsters roughly almost like squeezing them in Hulker form, transformed into a Voiser in an instant to teleport to another area, and then immediately transformed into a Prowler to sever another enemy's neck.
Without showing his human form even once, he executed the surrounding monsters one by one just by exploiting their weaknesses.
In speed, strength, and mobility, Sinclair was turning the battlefield into a slaughterhouse.
The martial artist, who had been gradually increasing his speed from the beginning, was already soaked in monster blood from head to toe.
He subdued enemies instantly with nimble spinning kicks and explosive continuous punches.
Monsters hit by his attacks were flung away or died instantly.
Throughout the fight, the monsters continued to flock toward the heroes without any sign of trying to escape.
Explosions erupted all over the battlefield, and the guilds fought in perfect cooperation.
Some heroes soared into the air and then dropped into the crater, delivering powerful blows accompanied by shockwaves.
Porge and Upgrade moved like a single organism, making their surroundings a circle of death surrounded by flames.
If someone showed an opening, a shield was generated to protect them.
Exhausted combatants received healing and recovery from nearby Supporter-type heroes.
Vila and the Reavers Guild's strike team cleared monsters in a pack, and none of them looked tired yet.
Trench, one of the heroes Sal had met on the Credit Floor, created stone walls to guide monsters into a passage and killed them there.
And the highlight of that battlefield was Jez, continuously launching shining spears.
His attacks shattered everything in sight.
Nothing could block his path.
Even the word chaos wasn't enough.
Every hero pushed their capabilities to the limit and swept the battlefield, and in less than 20 minutes, the terrifying dungeon turned into a pile of monster corpses.
The cameraman slowly panned the screen, illuminating the edge of the battlefield.
The landscape was desolate, but smiles of victory were spreading brightly on the faces of the heroes on the screen.