part0007

Commander Daltos’ eyes slowly widened as the thousands of orbs of light rained down on the city and slaughtered the monsters. Even the monsters surrounding him weren’t spared from the spell’s wrath. Like a heated knife slicing through butter, the seemingly harmless orbs of light easily pierced the monsters’ bodies, killing them in an instant.

The moment the golden particles of light touched his body, his torn shoulder slowly healed, the cuts on his body closed on their own, and he felt an indescribable surge of vigor.

He amplified his eyesight using mana and looked at the sky, particularly at the figure hovering right above the city.

“The Lord of Blackstone Town?” muttered the commander.

Although most of the citizens failed to see who the magician was due to the distance, the commander recognized who it was. He was the same young man who defeated him in a duel during the United Grakas Alliance’s invasion of Blackstone Town.

Back then, the commander held contempt against the young lord. After all, numerous nasty rumors surrounded the noble. Based on what the commander had heard then, he was definitely a demon incarnate.

But the rumors were proven wrong after the commander saw how the young noble handled the beastman invasion. He realized that the Lord of Blackstone Town was not a vindictive, hedonistic, incompetent brat. On the contrary, he was a genius who would probably become one of the core pillars of the kingdom in the years to come.

“He’s become even stronger since the last time I saw him.”

Commander Daltos was certain that Lark Marcus had grown several times stronger since the beastman invasion. He was sure that a year ago Lark Marcus wasn’t capable of massacring all of these monsters on his own.

As expected of someone with the blood of the Marcus Family flowing through his veins. He’d become incredibly strong at such a young age.

For a moment, the commander wondered what it would be like, to serve under the Lord of Blackstone Town. Although the noble was young enough to be his son, for some reason, it didn’t sound too bad.

After taking care of the monsters that had breached the city, Lark flew toward the low-ranking nest.

Still, the nest continuously sucked in the corpses of the monsters, churning out eggs every now and then.

Lark cast his spell.

A thirty-meter magic circle appeared in the sky, right above the low-ranking nest. The magic circle glowed, and from it, a colossal pillar of ice emerged.

Lark activated the spell and the pillar of ice shot toward the low-ranking nest sitting on the ground.

The nest looked up and screeched, but didn’t attempt to evade it. As Lark had expected, the nest wasn’t able to move while it was giving birth to these monsters. This was its fatal weakness.

The pillar of ice crushed the low-ranking nest upon impact, reducing it to nothing but puddles of blue blood. The ground, along with the monsters standing on it, froze. The ice continued creeping up until it almost reached the top of the walls.

The soldiers on the walls who’d managed to survive until now were stupefied at this sight. With just a single spell, thousands of monsters had been instantly frozen on the ground.

All that was left was the portal.

After killing the monster horde, Lark flew to where the portal appeared. He flew at top speed, until he arrived at the infamous monster-infested lake near Lion City.

Lark quickly cast a concealment spell on himself and suppressed the mana from his body to avoid detection from the monsters.

“This is where it appeared,” he mumbled.

Based on the traces of mana, this was the very same place where the portal appeared a couple of hours ago.

The Lake of the Full Moon.

Lark had passed by several times before, but this was the first time he’d seen it in this state. A giant whirlpool was in the center of the lake, and thousands of monsters were swimming toward it, as though being sucked by the current.

“The lake’s entrance,” muttered Lark.

He could feel an ominous presence deep within the lake. A presence far more dangerous than any monsters he’d killed back in Lion City.

For several minutes, Lark continued watching the monsters. Eventually, he arrived at a conclusion.

There was no doubt about it.

Someone or something had ordered all of the monsters to go back to where they spawned from. The ominous presence he felt deep within the lake was probably recalling all of the monsters in this region, since even those on the ground and the nearby forest had started moving toward the giant whirlpool.

Should he just destroy the lake and annihilate all of the monsters at once?

Now that he’d reclaimed his sword, casting even a pinnacle-grade spell should be possible.

One of his five strongest spells, Judgment of the Sun God, should be more than capable of vaporizing the entire area.

Lark continued hovering in the sky, right above the lake, as he pondered on the best course of action. When he noticed that the number of monsters in the area had significantly dwindled, he finally came to a decision.

“Let’s see what’s inside. The source of all of these monsters.”

Lark was certain that there was a gate—an imitation of a portal—underneath that giant whirlpool. It explained how these monsters could easily come and go during a full moon. Since gates weren’t natural, someone or something must have created it.

Lark willed the Sword of Morpheus to wrap around him and cover his entire body, turning into a white, full body armor.

Even General Alvaren’s glaive wouldn’t be able to put a dent in this. Should anything unexpected happen within the gate, Lark was confident in his ability to escape.

“It’s starting to close.”

The whirlpool was slowly shrinking in diameter. Looking around, it seemed that almost all of the monsters had been recalled inside the lake.

With his body protected by the Sword of Morpheus, Lark flew down and entered the whirlpool. At the bottom of the lake, he saw the gate—a large black vortex.

Without hesitation, Lark entered.

It had been several hours since the members of the Arzomos tribe arrived at the dungeon. The haven prepared by the Elder was surprisingly spacious—even larger than the Great Cavern.

“Lord Luvart, you’ve really grown since we last saw each other,” said Jaraxus, the gatekeeper and protector of the haven. A humanoid, silver wolf. “I’m really glad that you escaped the Demon Realm unscathed.”

“I’ve told you this before,” said Luvart awkwardly. “There’s no need to call me lord. I’m not even an adult. The current leader of the tribe is not me, but my father.”

Jaraxus’ blood red eyes gazed at Kel’ Vual, then at Luvart. “Whether or not you’re the current tribe leader matters not. This servant was created using the blood of Lord Agreas and Lord Luvart. Now that Lord Agreas is no longer here, this servant shall heed only your command.”

Luvart realized that this was why the elder handed him the key to the dungeon, instead of his father.

Luvart was certain that this humanoid wolf was stronger than him. Furthermore, she held control over several high-ranking nests in this dungeon. Aside from Kel’ Vual, she was definitely the most powerful entity in the dungeon.

Luvart felt uneasy that someone as monstrous as her willingly became his subordinate.

“Well, isn’t this fine?” said Kel’ Vual. He placed a hand on Luvart’s head and gently added, “She was created with your blood. It’s only natural that she wants to serve under you, her creator.”

Kel’ Vual scanned his surroundings. “Agreas told me that he received help from the king of humans. But I never expected it to be like this. Impressive. It’s even more habitable than the Great Cavern.”

The dungeon was separated into five areas. The first and second areas were connected to the entrance and were guarded by high-ranking nests and several powerful monsters. The third area was a breeding ground for monsters, the fourth area was a maze, and the fifth area was a living space—the place where the Arzomos village was located.

It seemed that the human king had even sent workers to the dungeon hundreds of years ago. It was apparent because each of the houses were well-made and resembled human mansions.

Since the dungeon was conveniently built underneath a lake, securing food would also not pose as a problem for the Arzomos race.

Agreas really had thought things through when he created this haven.

“Jaraxus,” said Luvart.

“Yes, My Lord?” The humanoid wolf placed a hand on her chest and bowed her head.

“You said before that the key we used opened all three entrances,” said Luvart.

Under normal circumstances, only the main entrance would open during a full moon. But it seemed that the key handed to them by the Elder opened not just one, but all three entrances.

“That is correct, My Lord.”

“Then the monsters that managed to escape… what if they start attacking the nearby human settlements?”

“Please rest assured,” said Jaraxus. “The high-ranking nests already started recalling all of the monsters that have escaped. It’s only a matter of time before they are back inside the lake. I’ve already closed two of the three entrances. Once all of the monsters have returned, I shall also close the main entrance.”

Luvart was relieved to hear this. He’d seen the breeding grounds on the way here. In preparation for the upcoming war, Jaraxus nurtured over a hundred nests. If even one of those creatures managed to escape when all three entrances opened, it would be catastrophic for the human race.

“The monsters are coming back to this dungeon even as we spea—”

A screech reverberated throughout the village. Jaraxus stopped and her crimson eyes narrowed.

It was the screech of a high-ranking nest.

“Someone has entered the dungeon.”

All of the Arzomos froze. They’d seen on their way that the entrance was protected by a high-ranking nest. It would have been hard for intruders to infiltrate this haven.

Did the other demons manage to repair the portal?

No, that would have been impossible in such a short period of time.

Even Demon Lord Barkuvara would have a hard time breaking through the five pinnacle-grade spells binding the portal. Moreover, the pathway connecting the portal to its supply of mana—the mana well deep underground—should have been cut off by Agreas.

“I will see who it is,” said Jaraxus. Her eyes glimmered with a dangerous light. She leaned forward, planted her feet firmly on the ground, then shot toward the fifth area’s entrance. Her figure whizzed through the maze, through the breeding ground, eventually arriving at the second area.

Jaraxus skidded to a halt.

Her eyes widened at what she saw.

Thousands of monster corpses littered the ground. On the walls, she saw the remains of several middle-ranking and low-ranking nests. And what surprised her the most was the half-dead high- ranking nest near the tunnel connecting the first area to the second area. The tentacles of the high-ranking nest squirmed as it desperately tried to regenerate its mutilated body.

“Are you the master of this dungeon?”

A cold voice akin to a whisper was heard.

From behind the half-dead high-ranking nest, a figure clad in white armor emerged. Jaraxus was stunned upon realizing that the armor covering the intruder was made of clumps of mana. It was as though all of the mana in this region had been gathered and turned into armor.

No wonder even the high-ranking nest, a monster with absurd regenerative abilities, was unable to stop this intruder. Jaraxus doubted if her claws could even penetrate that armor’s defense.

The tentacles of the high-ranking nest violently squirmed as it forced its entire body to fully heal. In its attempt to protect Jaraxus from the intruder, it shot out several tentacles.

The intruder didn’t even bother to dodge the attack. Ignoring the blows, he leisurely walked toward the high-ranking nest, grabbed its head, and forcefully injected colossal amounts of mana into it. The high-ranking nest screeched in pain as it bloated up and exploded, splattering innards and blood onto the ground.

Amazingly, it was still alive. But Jaraxus was certain that it would still take several hours for the nest to regenerate after receiving that much damage.