144. Dungeon Bane

“This…” Mae couldn’t believe her eyes as she stood up. She looked around and she couldn’t stop her eyes from tearing up. The heat, the texture of the sand, the wind, the sunlight… all of it had been out of her reach for her whole life.

“Are you okay?” She was shaken by a voice. She slowly looked to her left and saw Allan looking at her in concern. She didn’t move an inch for a few moments before suddenly hugging the blond as if her life depended on it.

Allan froze on the spot. His arms were twitching. He had no idea what to do. Should he return the hug? He had literally met this woman less than six hours ago. But he had to admit that they had somehow built some trust and understanding, if anything, after their two fights.

He ultimately returned the hug with a sigh as he knew for a fact that the lamia’s tears were not fake in any way. This caused a few giggles from the onlookers and he gave them a stink eye.

“I don’t want to interrupt you lovebirds but we should get out of here,” Rakna suddenly said with a hushed voice, and before anyone could ask, they heard a loud clank coming from the castle. They snapped their heads toward the source and saw the gargoyles and other statues from the castle’s façade hammering at the fences and gate.

“The fuck…” Allan frowned and spotted several Skulking Angels looking through the windows. He also heard noises coming from the door. “That’s creepy as hell,” he uttered and Mae took a step back from his chest to look at the Dungeon.

“They are going berserk,” she said solemnly while wiping her tears. “These are the first signs of an overflow. Is it because of my absence?”

“Perhaps…” Rakna answered groggily; his mind still a bit blurry from the stunt he pulled to free the lamia from the clutches of the Dungeon. ‘Alexa, do you know?’

[Negative… I cannot say for sure as this has never happened before. But a Boss can be considered the heart of a Dungeon. If it’s gone… there will not just be an overflow. It will collapse for good and may well also go into overdrive and release thousands of monsters into the wild.]

“…that doesn’t paint a good picture,” he muttered as he looked at one of the Skulking Angels. “If killing machines like those things get out, it might get ugly.”

“You wanna do something about it?” Allan asked.

“Honestly… I have no idea what I could do,” Rakna retorted as he casually created a few chakrams and shot them through the fences, crushing the heads of a few statues.

“Blow it up,” Mae immediately said and they all looked at her. “The instant the overflow begins is the time the dimensions of the Dungeon become unstable. If an explosion powerful enough occurs at that exact moment, a chain reaction will destroy everything in it. But…”

“But?” Rakna urged her with a scowl.

“I don’t know if the System will sanction you for this,” the lamia said troubled. “After all, it’s still a property belonging to the System’s administration. In other words, Eva might get at you for this.”

“Doesn’t that apply to you as well?” The therian retorted with a snort. “I’m already knees deep in this mess. I was planning to meet Eva at some point regardless. It’s not like I will be killed. At least, if I understand it correctly, Hosts must have some sort of value to the System.”

Mae blinked in surprise. “You… may be right.”

“Let’s get away from here for now,” Rakna said and turned back into a werewolf. He deployed his wings without warning, shocking the lamia, and grabbed her along with Allan. He used two of his tails to grab Tyran and Pronos before flying off, Flavia, Evelyn, and Nyx following him.

They landed two miles away, on a dune with a direct view of the Dungeon. Rakna dropped off his ‘passengers’ and turned back to the castle. “Nyx, remember our talk about lunar energy?”

The former goddess cocked her eyebrow. “Do you need me to give you some? If that is so, I have to warn you that it will be nowhere near as effective as the full moon.”

“It’s fine. With a bit of luck, it will be enough,” Rakna said and channeled his mana. Nyx walked to his back and the area seemed to dim a bit. He immediately felt a rising quantity of lunar energy in his surroundings and his tails began to avidly absorb it.

He grunted as the energy mixed with his body and mana and extended his hand forward, initiating the casting of Natcattiram Cataract. “[Crystals of Frost Abide the Star’s Wrath,]” he intoned and his head became clearer. “[Ought Rime Rip Bo-!]” He closed his mouth in the middle of his mantra as a headache assailed him.

“{Careful, devourer, your soul power is dangerously low. You don’t have enough to invoke more than the first line of your Cōl Lāli,}” Higure informed him. “{What are you trying to do anyway?}”

‘Use Mystic Magic. After leveling it up, it triples mana consumption and raises damage by 150%. My strongest spell is Cataract but it takes 50% of my pool. In other words, a mystic version of it would cost me 150% of everything I have, which is impossible unless I use external sources, like lunar energy, or reduce my mana consumption even more.’

After responding to the lioness, Rakna fell silent and swallowed a mana pill as several four-pointed stars formed around him. Thanks to the lunar energy, his consumption was further decreased by 10%, ignoring spell cost limits. Which meant the total cost of Cataract was now 120%.

‘No choice, I’ll have to try that now. I wanted to experiment this under safer circumstances but I can’t go back now,’ he thought and resumed his spell, fusing the compressed stars into one.

At that point, a starry blanket was starting to envelop him and the others stepped back because of the cold. Only Nyx stayed to provide lunar energy with Tyran warming her with his fire.

“Moment of truth,” Rakna whispered and cut off his connection with his spell just before his mana reached zero. The compressed star briefly shook but otherwise remained stationary. During that moment, he had no control over the spell. Anything could make it go off or someone might even be able to steal it from him with a strand of their own mana.

Rakna sighed in relief when he saw that it wasn’t going to explode on his face. He would have been forced to shield everyone with his body if that had happened. The point of this was for him to be able to interrupt a spell during its casting and recover mana in between.

He proceeded to pull out a heart from his storage and ate it to replenish his mana pool. He then re-established the link with his spell and was able to finish it with the mana it lacked.

“It’s ready. Nyx, you can retreat for now. It’s going to be even colder when I launch it,” he said and focused on the ‘spring’ holding the star brimming with barely suppressed energy.

“All right. Don’t hesitate to ask if you need our help,” the night goddess said before joining the rest who were watching nervously.

‘Alexa, can I have your help on something?’ Rakna asked internally as he activated Fabled Sight to lock on Grit Castle.

[What is it?]

‘Are you capable of calculating the time necessary for my spell to reach the castle from here as well as the precise time at which the dimensions will become fragile?’

[…calculations completed. It is possible.]

Rakna snorted. ‘Nice work. I’ll rely on you to give me the fire signal.’

[Understood.]

After saying that, the werewolf fell silent as he focused on maintaining his spell. In the meantime, he observed with his far sight the state of the Dungeon. He could see that the Skulking Angels had now already broken out of the castle through the door and windows.

Before it was too late, Rakna decided to try out one last thing. He triggered his Cross Sight and used it to analyze his spell. As he expected, he found several focal points on it. With the remaining control he had on it, he modulated its form to reduce that number to one.

[It is coming, Rakna. 4.]

He cracked his neck and pulled the star toward him, building tension in the spring. The star began to rotate and release mist. “[Fly to the Heavens,]” he chanted the lexis that specifically belonged to the spell.

[3.]

“[Mystic…]”

[2.]

“[Natcattiram…]”

[1. Now!]

“[Cataract!]” He bellowed and the star was shot at the sky at high speed. It disappeared past the human eye perception and returned a few seconds later, descending to the Dungeon like a meteor.

Rakna’s golden eyes whirled as he spotted a few cracks appear on the gate of the castle right before his spell hit the roof of the building. Then, with a flash of light, the odd but familiar sound of the cold explosion echoed across the desert and large clouds of sand were sucked in.

From afar, everyone other than Rakna gasped at the dome of unrelenting energy that shrouded the whole Dungeon. It then exploded a second time into a massive pillar that ended with a pointed star at the top.

As he admired the results of his long-range strike, Rakna abruptly felt himself growing stronger before a new tail grew on his back, followed by a faint increase to his attributes.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw the shocked faces of his companions as they looked at their status and he eventually imitated them when the system message appeared before him.

❮ ◈ ❯

WARNING! DIMENSIONAL COLLAPSE!

You have destroyed Grit Castle!

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Lv.40 Skulking Angel killed! x195

Lv.30 Gargoyle Sentinel killed! x262

Lv.35 Stone Golem killed! x356

…

Lv.37 Robot Golem killed! x195

Lv.37 Rockers killed. x389

Your level is too high! No experience can be gained.

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You have accomplished an astonishing feat!

You are rewarded with 2 500 experience and the title ‘Dungeon Bane’.

You have leveled up! x5

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You have modulated a part of a spell frequency into Dimensional Energy!

Cross Dimensional Sagacity leveled up!

Cross Dimensional Sagacity leveled up!

Cold Star Magic leveled up!

Magic Theory leveled up!

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Core Genome Updated: Four Tails Unlocked. Next Tail: Lv.51/Lv.100

Number of Skills Affected: 1

Number of New Skills Attuned: 0

- Shape-Shift: A skill exclusive to the Nine-Tailed Werewolf. Grants the ability to shift between three forms; Wolf (speed +76% -> +79%), Werewolf (all attributes +56% -> +59%), Therian

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3rd Factor Genome Updated: Onera, Cloud of Dreams, Unlocked. Next Layer: Lv.51/Lv.100

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Eva is watching you.

??? is watching you.

??? is watching you.

❮ ◈ ❯

AhraManyu

Fuck, I'm so groggy right now. This feeling when you wake up at the weirdest of hours...