Chapter 93: Defying the Heavens

Styx commandeered an empty classroom at the dungeon school with all his dungeon wives sitting around. There were a couple of bystanders too, which included Rhea, Vivy, and Vivy's current favored reverse harem member.

Fiore and Irie were the only two who hadn't undergone the Class Up procedure to become Second Step rankers, while two of the others had failed to initiate evolution.

"I want to work with everyone to determine the factors that are involved in triggering evolution. This is what we know so far."

Styx wrote several items on the board. They were being pregnant with a monster, having a piece of himself inside of them, and the direct infusion of an attribute.

"But why does it happen?" Therina asked curiously, as even she couldn't understand why evolution was possible for an exotic race.

"It is my belief that when you cross far enough over the line of being a monster of the dungeon, such as fulfilling all the conditions, you are recognized as a monster temporarily, triggering the evolution system alongside the Class Up system."

Beatrice nodded her head in understanding and crossed her arms under her large breasts, causing them to bound and be more pronounced.

Kale floated just above her chair while pinching her chin in thought.

"So why didn't Klair or Niah evolve? They fulfilled all of these criteria."

"Because for some reason, they weren't classified as enough of the dungeon's monsters to trigger it. I also don't know why this is the case, but it means there is a missing link or piece of information somewhere and it is why you all are here. I want to discuss this with you all."

Therina's lips curved up into a grin as stood up and stated, "I know what it is."

"Then kindly do explain."

The lithic naiad stood before Styx and rested her body against his chest, her dream like two tails fully extended behind her and waving in the air.

"It is the piece of you inside of us that makes the difference. When the person with that piece truly gives their heart and sole to you, it goes deeper within us, right down to our core~"

"And you can measure this?"

"No, it is just a feeling."

Therina turned her head and looked at Beatrice with a cold gaze, her tails wrapping around Styx tightly. Beatrice turned her head a refused to meet her gaze, her actions confirming the former's suspicion. Therina also glanced at Kale, who just appeared confused more than anything, but she understood instinctively.

"I never imagined Sister Bea had such powerful feelings though, she sure had hidden it well. Kale is a surprise too."

"So what does this mean for the rest of the girls?" Styx asked while thumbing the base of Therina's long, pointed ears, causing the naiad to look up at him with an amorous gaze.

"Irie will be able to evolve. Fiore won't, though."

Fiore had a forced smile on her face. She was possibly the least concerned about whether she could evolve or not, but she still had held onto some secret desires.

"Can I?" Aura askes with a blank expression.

"You are already Fifth Step, you can't evolve any more without undergoing apotheosis, but you are a monster, so you would evolve anyway," Styx answered the wolf eared woman while rolling his eyes. "By the way, you are close to levelling up finally, aren't you?"

"Yes."

Her voice was steady, but her tail swayed and betrayed her hidden excitement. Her mana network had finally expanded enough for her to store enough experience to level up, All that remained was securing the final amount of experience to reach the threshold.

~~~~~

⠀

A Third Step bloodthirsty yatch behemoth slumped to the ground as its head was torn from its body and sent flying, crashing through giant ancient trees and sending wood chips flying everywhere.

The ground shook as it bounced several times before coming to a full stop, a line of flattened trees and destruction in its wake.

⠀

[

Experience threshold met. Level Up!

Lv. 83 -> Lv. 84

⠀

Accumulated skill experience bonus:

Omnivore <Lv. 99> -> <Lv. 99>MAX

Overeating <Lv. 99> -> <Lv. 99>MAX

Hyperspeed <Lv. 72> -> <Lv. 77>

Gluttony <Lv. 99> -> <Lv. 99>MAX

Sloth <Lv. 42> -> <Lv. 49>

Instant Regeneration <Lv. 81> -> <Lv. 83>

Presence Erasure <Lv. 42> -> <Lv. 47>

Mana Burst <Lv. 45> -> <Lv. 48>

Polymorph <Lv. 21> -> <Lv. 25>

Spatial Movement <Lv. 89> -> <Lv. 99>MAX

Time Stagnation <Lv. 56> -> <Lv. 61>

Impenetrable Skin <Lv. 68> -> <Lv. 74>

Phantasmal Fangs <Lv. 27> -> <Lv. 39>

World Devourer <Lv. 7> -> <Lv. 8>

Phantasmagoria <Lv. 11> -> <Lv. 24>

⠀

All Stats(Excluding Luck): +16

Class bonus: Str +4, Dex +6, End +4, Vit +2 Int +1

Mana: 39,521 -> 45,134

⠀

+ New Title: Fate Defier

+ New Title: Limit Breaker

+ New Title: Dungeon Guardian

]

⠀

[

Skill level max limit exceeded.

Executing forced skill evolution.

Omnivore <Lv. 99> + Overeating <Lv. 99> combining with Gluttony <Lv. 99> …

⠀

Failed.

Restarting…

Failed.

Restarting…

Applying title: Consumer of All

Success.

⠀

+ New Skill Created: Sin of Gluttony <Lv. 1>

+ New Title: Queen of Gluttony

]

⠀

[

Species: Phantom World Devouring Wolf

Name: Aura

Age: 347

⠀

Mana: 45,134/45,134

Exp: 0/1,151,388

Level: 83

⠀

Str: 647

Dex: 682

End: 600

Vit: 621

Int: 497

Mnd: 449

Lck: 23

⠀

Skills:

Sin of Gluttony <Lv. 99>

Hyperspeed <Lv. 72>

Gluttony <Lv. 99>

Sloth <Lv. 42>

Instant Regeneration <Lv. 81>

Presence Erasure <Lv. 42>

Mana Burst <Lv. 45>

Polymorph <Lv. 21>

Spatial Movement <Lv. 89>

Time Stagnation <Lv. 56>

Impenetrable Skin <Lv. 68>

Phantasmal Fangs <Lv. 27>

World Devourer <Lv. 7>

Phantasmagoria <Lv. 11>

⠀

Titles:

Kin Eater, Invader, Human Enemy, Human Nemesis, Human Calamity, Elf Enemy, Elf Nemesis, Consumer of All, World Devourer, Monster Lord, Forbidden Zone Ruler, God Defier, Phantasm Ruler, Fate Defier, Limit Breaker, Dungeon Guardian, Queen of Gluttony

]

⠀

Aura had over a hundred years of built up potential stored within her body, inaccessible due to her withered mana veins. All of this came bursting out at once as the powers which governed the world also descended and endowed her with even more power from her new titles.

Several of her skills had combined into a new one called Sin of Gluttony too. This wasn

Inside of her body was a storm that tore her enormous mana network apart before reforming again. He skin split open and vermillion blood spurting out of her body and onto the ground, smoldering the grass and torching the ground with its intense heat.

Aura felt power far superior than she ever had and raised her head to the night sky before howling. Her howl was her shout to the heavens, expressing her defiance as she tore apart the restrictions that had been on her for over the past century.

Trees blew away from the shockwave of her howl as the entire abyssal forest shook from the display of her might. Her howl was heard not just in the dungeon, but even the nearest several dungeon cities heard the noise, high level rankers immediately waking up with a cold sweat as a deep sense of crisis assaulted them.

Her howl fractured and broke apart the sky, a green and blue aurora spreading throughout the kingdom due to the chaotic region.

As the heaven rending howl dissipated, everything was silent, people's pets, horses, and all kinds of animals cowering on the ground without daring to make a sound.

The other Monster Lords in the Abyssal Forest all looked in her direction with mixed feelings ranging from aversion and nervousness to eagerness. Aura wasn't the only Monster Lord who had hit the feared Max Level, and to break through that whilst being in the Fifth Step was heaven defying.

Secluded Monster Lords all over the Maple Dragon Kingdom's forbidden zones, and even several in the surrounding countries, turned their heads and looked in the direction of the Abyssal Forest. Their incredibly powerful senses allowed them to detect this even from kingdom spanning distances.

The two Fourth Step rankers of the kingdom also turned towards the Abyssal Forest with furrowed brows. Both the one in the capital city, and the one on the eastern border keeping the Neth'rite Demon Kingdom in check, worried deeply about this phenomenon.

Whilst the Treaty of Gods and Ancient Accordance was in place, this sign was an ominous premonition in their hearts.

~~~~~

⠀

There were several adventurers doing a night raid on the dungeon, when several monsters were inactive while others filled in their place.

It was a team of ten humans risking their lives to earn a fortune. Styx had been lenient on this group, giving them a good chance to earn rewards and return with tales of victory.

They fought against hordes of monsters, even some miners dropping from the ceiling to sneak attack from time to time.

Goblin mages buffed the monsters and shot fireballs like cannons while more powerful monsters like regenerating golems, leaf devils and midnight guards skirmished against them. Ranged monsters would also attack from the shadows.

This team was well coordinated and experienced however while the dungeon's layout was more and more well known among the adventurer's guild.

There were rumors about the power and beauty of the dungeon residents too, causing rewards for them to be posted by slave traders. The dungeon residents were seen as incredibly valuable and those in the slavery business saw the potential huge profits.

Targeting the dungeon residents was incredibly dangerous, as most whom tried to did not return. This only increased their value due to rarity, so there most adventurers would enter the dungeon with submission collars or other magitech restraining items in case they got lucky.

The current price for a First Step dungeon resident was 170 gold for a male and 320 gold for a female. This was an enormous price in the slave trading market and word of such lucrative deals travelled to distant dungeon cities along with merchants.

Many residents of the dungeon city watched the livestream of this group fighting through blood and steel to acquire rare treasures and cheered.

The local commentary heated up as the difficulty kept increasing and the two healers were struggling to keep everyone in top condition. They had stopped casting as many buffs and focused on purely healing.

Aura's howl and pressure travelled through the dungeon at this time, not only causing silence to fall over the watchers, but also caused the adventurer party to panic and fall in disarray. It was terrible timing as a nightmare vine and void mage beast attacked at the same time.

The nightmare vine had deep violet thorns covering it as it grew between the dream realm and physical plane. It attacked from the ground and air at the same time, the Water Mage not having enough time to respond before it wrapped him in numerous barbed vines.

The Water Mage's eyes rolled up as the thorns penetrated his body and filled it with venom. Crunching sounds followed as he offered no resistance as the nightmare vine crushed and tore the body apart, drinking his blood through the same thorns pierced in him.

He was then dropped on the ground as a shrivelled, dried husk of a corpse before a swordsman cut off several vines and caused it to retreat.

The base level of a nightmare vine was <Lv. 9>, but this one had grown all the way to <Lv. 14>. Just like all the other monsters in the dungeon, those that died were replaced, while those that lived increased in level. The birth, death, and leveling up of monsters was like a game of blackjack where Styx was the house, and the house always won in the end.

The void mage beast dashed through the void, appearing in the physical plane from time to time as it would leap out of the void before jumping back in. The window to attack it was small, while it attacked the moment it leapt out of the void.

It spat compressed balls of chaotic space rapidly like bullets, occasionally building up a large one like an energy cannon before shooting it. They were transparent balls that were very difficult to track, making them especially dangerous even when the opponent was defending against it.

This was one of those larger cannon balls of chaotic space, which flashed through the adventurers and connected directly with the head of a Second Step Cleric, causing her head to immediately explode in a shower of blood and brain matter.

The adventurer's were horrified and immediately begun retreating, leaving the corpses behind without remorse. There was a hint of insanity in their eyes whilst desperately guarding their porter who had this trips spoils.

Styx eased off them and allowed them to retreat, this being a successful endeavour for both parties.

The live audience of all of this were feverish with excitement. They were used to Aura's pressure by now and quickly recovered as their blood boiled at the battle.