Chapter 103:

Once everyone was healed, they resumed their march into the depths of the dungeon. With Arthur’s men added, their number surpassed two dozen, and moving stealthily with that many people was no easy task.Nick tried his best to muffle their sounds but wasn’t sure how much it would help. He also resumed his role as the main scout, moving up front with Morris while the other rangers spread out along the treeline to protect their flanks.

A strange atmosphere had taken over. While everyone had been aware of what they were in for, confronting their mortality and then being rewarded for it took a while to process.

It didn’t help that they were following the trail of destruction left by the Moss Oni and that they all knew there was another one they had yet to face.

Some adventurers had misgivings about this choice, and they weren’t shy about sharing them.

“Marching straight into another Oni’s lair is madness.”

“Arthur’s out there, right? He’ll take care of it.”

“If we can kill one, the old man can handle the other. We don’t need to risk our lives again.”

Despite the doubts, Eugene kept them moving forward. None dared to challenge the Captain openly, though it was obvious that several people weren’t happy about it.

Nick wasn’t feeling very charitable, as what he overheard made it difficult to be nice.

They walked through the forest for half an hour, following the massive trampled path the goblin horde and the Oni had left behind.

And yet, no new monsters attacked them. That was very odd.

This deep within the dungeon, they should have faced constant harassment from packs of goblins, wolves, and even the occasional mutant creature spawned by the dungeon’s chaotic influence. At the very least, a fae or two should have tried to hinder their progress. Instead, they moved forward unimpeded.

Morris was the one who finally said anything about it. “The forest is too quiet.”

Nick nodded. “Think the goblin horde scared them off?”

The old ranger stroked his grizzled chin. “Most likely, it was the Oni. When something that destructive moves through, the smaller creatures get out of the way. Even dungeon-born monsters have some instinct for self-preservation, and I doubt it would care about allegiances.”

“Doesn’t mean they’re gone,” Eugene said, stepping beside them. “Just means they’re hiding.”

No one argued with that.

Nick kept his senses peeled, stretching , searching for movement, breathing, anything.

That was when he felt a tremor.

It was not from footsteps or a moving beast. Instead, it was carried through the air like a shockwave.

Nick slowed and gestured for the others to do the same, focusing on the direction it had come from, trying to discover its origin. The ripples in the wind grew stronger, shifting from mere tremors to violent quakes.

It didn’t take long to realize he was feeling the aftereffects of a battle—a titanic clash, considering the power being expended.

“I think I found the other Oni,” Nick whispered.

The others stopped entirely, looking at him warily.

Another tremor shook the ground. This time, everyone felt it.

“That’s the direction from which Arthur’s group came,” Morris muttered grimly. One of the men quickly confirmed it, "Yeah, we had to run southwest to escape the Oni, but we were headed northeast at first."

Another rumble. Then another. Each was stronger than the last until they were so powerful that Nick would have found it difficult to stand up without his increased DEX. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on N0v3l.Fiɾe.net

Then, suddenly—silence. The forest stilled. Some of the men exchanged glances.

“Who… who won?”

Nick didn’t respond, shaking his head. It wasn’t over yet.

An enormous amount of mana began to accumulate. It dwarfed the duel between Arthur and the wyvern by a long shot, and only the feeling of the power network that comprised the dungeon could be compared to it.

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Nick acted on instinct, feeling he had no time to explain. A blast of wind erupted from him, pulling everyone in the group tightly together.

“What the hell?!”

“Kid, what are you doing?!”

Even Eugene turned to him in surprise. Nick didn’t bother answering. Instead, he threw everything he had into a and reinforced it with as much mana as he could spare while deactivating .

A heartbeat later, the world turned white.

An explosion of lightning tore through the sky. Thousands of bolts crashed from the heavens as if a thunder god had taken exception to a specific patch of land.

The forest disappeared in a flood of blinding, golden light. The storm raged for two whole minutes.

Nick felt the barrier strain. The sheer power of the attack’s aftershocks forced him to pour more and more mana into it just to keep it from shattering.

Inhaling deeply, he drew on every ounce of steadiness the could give him. He felt pressure building behind his eyes but did his best to ignore the warning signs.

Then, just as suddenly as it had come, the storm passed.

Silence returned, only to be broken by groans of pain.

“Ah—my eyes—”

“I can’t see a damn thing!”

“Wha— what the hell was that?!”

The men covered their faces, blinded by the intense burst of lightning.

Nick breathed hard and finally allowed himself to drop the barrier, blinking to get rid of the spots despite having closed his eyes and turned away from what he knew was coming.

“Priests, see to everyone,” Eugene ordered. “Nick. What the hell was that?”

Nick took a shaky breath. “Arthur.”

Eugene’s eyes narrowed, but Nick had no other answer to give. Arthur was the only one capable of that kind of devastation.

The priests moved through the group, muttering minor healing spells to soothe the temporary blindness the lightning had inflicted. One of them approached Nick, but he waved them off. His barrier had protected him from actual damage.

His father frowned, watching as the others recovered. “It’d be good for you to talk with the others more.”

Nick resisted the urge to sigh, “Is that something we should focus on right now?” It was a deflection, as he knew very well what his father was worried about, but it was true that they were in the middle of a dangerous situation.

Eugene seemed to agree because he relented, “Very well, but we’ll speak about this later.”

The strike group moved quickly afterward, tightening their formation as they rushed ahead, bracing for another fierce battle. The sheer force of Arthur’s attack had left them all on edge.

Nick tried to detect anything alive beyond the devastation ahead. But as they continued deeper, he noticed something strange.

The lush greenery of the Green Ocean gradually began to wither. The towering trees that created an almost impenetrable canopy became dry and charred. The air itself felt wrong. Usually, Nick had to filter out all the insects and pollen moving around in the currents, but there were none ahead of them.

Sure enough, the grassy forest floor soon transformed into cracked, dusty soil, and even the faintest sounds of life vanished. It was a spooky change, and the men became more despondent.

“Looks like a separate environment. Some dungeons do that—transition into different zones depending on how deep you go.” Morris muttered.

Nick, however, shook his head. He wasn’t so sure this was a different area.

He wasn’t as attuned to the forest as Morris, nor did he have as much knowledge, but the air told him all he needed to know.

This place had been drained. Something had stolen every ounce of vitality from the land, leaving behind a hollow shell. There was no natural transition between areas. This was not the dungeon adjusting—this was something dying.

The skeletal trees gave way after a few more tense minutes, and the group emerged into a vast, open expanse.

A massive crater stretched hundreds of feet in every direction. Smaller ones dotted the landscape, some still smoldering from the destructive forces unleashed. The ground was uneven, shattered by the impact of an unfathomable attack.

At its center stood two figures.

The first was monstrous. It stood nearly thirty feet tall, even larger than the Moss Oni they had slain. Its massive body was scorched and still, with patches of charred bark-like skin peeling away. Its curled horns, thicker than tree trunks, framed its grotesque face like a crown.

It would have been terrifying if not for the gaping hole in its chest.

The second figure was human. Standing calmly, with his sword held aloft, was Arthur.

The adventurer looked untouched. His silver-white hair was barely ruffled, and he stood as tall as ever. The only sign that he had been the one to kill the Oni was the glow of fading lightning around his blade.

Then, the monster swayed.

For a long second, it seemed as if it might remain standing, but with an earth-shaking crash, it toppled backward.

Eugene was the first to break formation. With a burst of flames, he rocketed down the crater, crossing the battlefield in mere seconds.

The soldiers hesitated for a moment before cautiously descending into the crater.

Nick, however, lingered at the rim of the crater, taking in the destruction with awe and unease.

They had fought hard to kill their Moss Oni—he had to pull out all the stops and reveal more than he was comfortable with—but this battle was on an entirely different scale.

He could still feel the lingering energy of Arthur’s final strike as the air crackled with residual electricity. The devastation was beyond anything he had ever seen.

The wind brought up voices from below, pulling him out of his thoughts and allowing him to eavesdrop on the conversation between his father and Arthur.

“You’re late,” the old man said, as dry as ever.

Eugene snorted as he looked at the massive corpse beside them. “Seems like we would have been more of a hindrance.”

Arthur hummed. “That might be true.” He nodded toward the body. “This one had just reached Prestige.”

A hush fell over the soldiers who heard him. Even Eugene’s expression darkened. “You’re saying it was over Level one hundred?”

Arthur nodded. “Right beyond the threshold. It was a real pain in the ass.”

Nick barely restrained a shiver. They had struggled against a Level 72 Oni. This one had apparently been nearly thirty levels and a whole tier higher.

Arthur continued, unbothered. “The problem wasn’t so much its strength. It was its regeneration.”

Eugene frowned. “The dungeon?”

Arthur confirmed with a nod. “It kept drawing vitality from the forest to heal almost every wound I inflicted. I had to go for overkill, or it would have kept going for a long time.”

Nick had suspected as much, having seen the other Oni regenerate wounds before his severance ritual. It only made sense that the stronger one could endure much more.

One of the soldiers couldn’t help but ask. “So what did you do?”

Arthur finally turned to face him. His blue eyes were cold and inscrutable, flickering with something Nick could only describe as weariness. “I burned everything.”

A beat of silence followed. No one had more questions after that.

“Should we send someone to look for Marthas?” Nick asked his father through a whisper.

Eugene grunted in agreement, "Not yet. Let’s set up camp first. It’s almost evening, and everyone’s tired. We’ll get through the night, and then we’ll look for him tomorrow.”