Chapter 287: Exploring the Underground Labyrinth 2

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"Roar!"

An enormous behemoth walked through the enormous caves illuminated by bright crystals and metals, the monstrous being's appearance resembled an enormous turtle whose shell was made entirely out of rock, metal, and crystals, however, its head was like that of a furious dragon, and its arms were elongated, differently than conventional tortoises.

Its body was covered in rock-like brown scales, while it held twelve crimson eyes on its head and sharp fangs on its large jaws, dripping with saliva, a Rank 9 Earth Dragon, a powerful monster that could be considered a Mini-Boss in this Dungeon, which Veronica and Ervas had been sweeping through as if it were a walk in the park.

The dragon roared, charging towards Veronica with its enormous and heavy body.

"Come at me! Your shell, scales, and bones will be a nice addition to my armor!" she said, expanding her body into a large humanoid demon being made out of pure dark metal, intercepting the dragon with her gigantic claws, and slashing it a large wound into the creature's jaw.

The monstrous dragon roared once more, opening its jaws and firing a powerful breath attack that impacted Veronica like an explosion!

Boom!

The Dragon closes its jaw as it glances at what should remain of Veronica after such a powerful attack, only to find nothing other than smoke.

"I'm here!" said Veronica, appearing from behind the creature as her claws grew into an enormous fist, which she used to pulverize the monster with as if it were meat that needed to be made tender.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

"RROARR!"

The Dragon roared in agonizing pain, as its limbs broke apart and its shell exploded into pieces, dying in the spot after Veronica's overwhelming assault.

"Amazing, Veronica, you're such a pro!" said Kireina at Veronica's side, as she extended her fleshy tentacles, covering them in scales, claws, and fangs, and using them alongside one of her technical skills to unleash a barrage of powerful whips, defeating a large group of Rock Wyverns that tried to devour her, leaving them like minced meat within seconds.

"To think that in my original world I had such a hard time with a Rock Wyvern…" recalled Kireina, as she remembered that in her homeworld, Genesis, she fought against a powerful Rock Wyvern alongside her entire family, which took incredibly long to take down.

Such a particular story was when she discovered a Dungeon near her Empire, which she had decided to explore, only to find out that it was (somehow) malfunctioning, making the monsters stronger, and that one particular Wyvern boss was absorbing the dungeon's power, has evolved into an incredibly strong variant.

However, after its defeat, Kireina gained a lot of power, which later on came in useful for her, letting her finally conquer the dungeon itself.

"Kireina, don't lose focus…" said Ervas, as he flew near the ceiling, releasing a breath of red flames that burned alive the creatures that tried to attack him from all sides, he was practicing his new draconic powers which he acquired from his latest evolution, although the monsters of this dungeon seemed to only be small fry to him now, EXP was EXP.

"Focus? I am not losing focus!" laughed Kireina, as she expanded her body like a grotesque mass of red flesh with many eyes, tentacles, tongues, claws, fangs, stingers, scales, exoskeletons, arms, legs, and more, a sight to behold.

Even the creatures being controlled by the Dungeon seemed frightened as they saw her presence, which she used to kill them before they could do anything else.

Clash! Clash! Clash!

By simply using her body as a weapon and not employing her magic in the slightest, Kireina covered a large tentacle with blade-like scales and fangs, slicing into countless pieces three Earth Dragons that had tried to attack her.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

"Woah, Kireina is really a bit ridiculous…" said Anna, jumping into the air as she released several slashes of thunder, crashing against two Earth Dragons and three Earth Wyverns, electrifying them until they were left as charred corpses, it seems that the high resistance against thunder damage that the Earth-type monsters had was of no use against her attacks.

Although she found Kireina's power ridiculous, Anna had become so strong that her power could be even comparable, but she did not realize this, mostly because she always thought that her mastery over the axe was lacking, striving for higher techniques.

"Yeah, she's such a cheat, peko!" said Pekorina, leaping around the heads of dozens of Earth and Rock Wyverns, while using her blazing legs to kick their heads out of their necks, killing monsters that would be seen as disasters in human towns as if they were mere ants.

Pekorina's ability to use blazing legs had increased even more after the Necromancer battle, after gaining such an enormous amount of EXP and Skill Proficiency, she had awakened her unarmed fighting technique, giving her kicking techniques an even higher level of power and intensity. 

"A-Aren't you two quite cheat too?" asked Acathea with a bitter smile, using her Berserk Mode Skill in perfect control of her own mind, something that was hard even for the likes of Ragdaz and Gaius, some attributed this to her mixed bloodline, but it was certainly a mystery that only made her even stronger in such a form, as her power increased while retaining her calmness and thoughtfulness.

Acathea used her powerful physical ability to punch and slash the monsters that dared cross her path, using her strong bear paws, which through a special technique, were covered in a layer of iron, making them even denser and powerful.

"Kireina is so cool! I want to be like her!" said Amelia with an innocent smile, as she employed the power of her magic, generating large waves of lava that melted her enemies, and if some resisted that, she summoned giant Lava Salamanders to fight against them.

"Amelia, make sure to not produce too much lava or the whole floor will melt…" said Ismene with a bitter smile, floating atop the sky at the side of her daughter as she summoned a barrage of hundreds of light, fire, and wind arrows towards a group of monsters, demolishing them into minced meat.

The monsters that tried to directly attack her were met with her triple elemental barrier, which fended off most damage that did not exceed her Resistance and Magic stat combined.

"Kireina might be strong… But aren't we all quite ridiculous now?" asked Jason with a bit of concern, as he casually grabbed the jaws of a furious Earth Dragon with his hands, quickly opening it wide until the whole jaw broke, the Earth Dragon agonized as it died a few seconds afterward.

Jason's entire body was bulging with enormous and sturdy muscles, giving him a natural armor that even fended off the razor-sharp fangs of the Earth Dragons and Earth and Rock Wyverns, meanwhile, he used a large club to smack them into the ground and then finished them off with either a strong kick or a punch… Oh, was it mentioned that Jason also used powerful flames to make sure that his hits were even more potent and faster?

"It really feels like it has been years since then, but only around half a year has gone by since I met Veronica," said Ervas.

"And we had grown so strong it is quite hard to believe…!" said Acathea.

"I like being strong, I can melt anything I won't!" said Amelia.

"Peko… To think that I used to be a little and defenseless girl some months ago… Now look at me! I am beating the crap out of the dragons, peko!" said Pekorina, as she set ablaze an entire Earth Dragon with her blazing uppercut.

"Hm, I am very proud of my little daughter! Mother and your siblings are as well, although they are not as battle-oriented as us. I am happy as long as we can protect them," said Pekoran, flying with his enormous body, an amalgamation of countless pieces of armor, weapons, and shields, shaping himself as a terrifying giant and pulverizing an Earth Dragon after another, while also protecting anyone that was physically weak, such as Amelia, Pekorina, and so on through his divided body clones, which were mere masses of armor and shields, which Ervas and Veronica had called 'Aegis'.

"This is ridiculous, these last floors are filled with high ranked beasts, we can grind so much EXP here!" said Alesia, the Ghoul Tribe chieftain, as she flew around at Ismene's side while releasing countless spells of fire and darkness, slicing, and burning alive the monsters that dared look at her.

"Hm! It is a nice feeling of fulfillment to get so much Experience, even after getting a lot the other day with the Necromancer!" said Leonidas, the strongest Ghoul male, leader of the males of the Ghoul tribe, with his enormous and muscular body covered in black flames, he released furious fists all across the battlefield, smacking anything that dared get near him, he was an incredibly talented unarmed fighter and a fearless warrior.

"Heh, I still have to thank that damn skull face for this power he gives to me… What Kireina calls 'Phantom Magic' which seems to be what I have, is some kind of branched death magic, it fits me well, although it's hard to control now that I lost the skull's blessing," said Azra, expanding his Phantasmagoric Aura and summoning dozens of Phantom Blades that fell from the sky, slicing the souls out of the bodies of the monsters, while making many other shrieks in agony.

"Now, now… We haven't even received the main dish yet…" said Kireina, licking her lips in her fairy form as she glanced at the enormous creature that emerged from a gigantic abyssal hole within the vast cave where the entire group was…

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