Chapter 288: Exploring the Underground Labyrinth 3: Againt the Ancient Earth Dragon King!

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Within the abyss of the labyrinth that filled the ancient mountain, which extended to the depths of the world, Ervas and Veronica's party reached the last floor, an enormous cave area that extended for kilometers, where many deadly monsters, of a minimum Rank of 8 appeared like swarms one after another.

Although their strength, skills, and even magic were impressive, with each monster being cataloged as a disaster in any human society, Ervas and Veronica's party fought and demolished them like nothing, getting through the enormous dungeon floor swiftly, only to reach the last area, where a gigantic hole that led to an even deeper abyss within the underworld appeared.

As they defeated more Earth and Rock Dragons and Wyverns, Giant Earth Worm Variants, Enormous Moles and Demon Rats, and more, the party finally was greeted by the Dungeon Boss!

Its entire body made the enormous cave tremble, its size far surpassing that of any dragon they had ever fought, the behemoth crawled its way upwards, woken up by the annoying beings that disturbed its sleep.

Charcoal black claws that could pierce entire mountains, each claw with the size of a building of ten meters, shining with a metallic luster and completely clean of any scratches.

Enormous and muscular limbs covered in hard, silver-colored scales and black-colored scales, a big torso covered in a tortoise-like shell made entirely out of metal and filled with sharp spikes that could impale entire legions.

A long-tail covered in even sharper metallic spikes, ending in a long, spear-shaped tip reinforced with many layers of metallic material.

A gigantic mouth, with jaws filled with razor-sharp fangs of enormous size, twelve golden eyes starting down to the group of annoyances disturbing its sleep, a majestic crown of horns and a deadly presence, which oppressed anything around itself, even the Earth Dragons lowered their heads to him, a true ruler of the Dungeon. 

"Oho?! What is this thing?!" asked Kireina in amusement, as she flew a few steps back from the behemoth, a dragon-like monster of a size nearing one hundred meters.

For a being so large to be born in a Dungeon, it must be incredibly ancient, it seemingly had been living hundreds of years inside the dungeon, perhaps being born right when the dungeon itself was created, surviving, and sharping its skills while evolving for so much time, it seemed to be the apex predator of this ancient labyrinth, a being that suppressed even the most arrogant of Earth or Rock Dragons.

"Ervas, Veronica, what does its status says?!" asked Anna.

Ervas and Veronica glanced at it without much surprise, even after such a behemoth, they had already fought against a God, and the Necromancer, a bigger dragon than the rest wasn't much of a surprise.

"Rank 12 Ancient Earth Dragon King Grakgna, Level 42, it has a ton of Skills, alongside awakened Earth Attribute Magic named Earth Dragon King Magic at level 3… It has strong defenses, enormous physical strength, good at magic, but slow, very slow… However, its regeneration is rather outstanding… It has 35000 HP, 23000 MP, 21000 Strength, 26000 Defense, 19000 Magic, 24000 Resistance, and 6300 Speed…" said Ervas, analyzing the monster within seconds.

"Oh? Isn't this finally a fitting challenge?!" said Veronica, baring her Phantasmal Aura and covering herself with it, as she started to expand her metallic body, assembling herself and giving out the spectacle as if she were an incredibly advanced mech from Earth's fiction.

"We might use his soul to create a strong Earth Attribute Ghost as well," said Ervas, already deciding the fate of the creature as Pete at his side remembered how he came to be… he was now about to see the same fate happen to this 'poor' dragon.

Although Pete was being very well treated by his Masters, so he didn't mind being a ghost anymore, and he had also discovered that he was able to gorge on food as much as he wanted after acquiring the Digestion Skill, which was one of the biggest reasons in why he didn't like being a Ghost at first.

"It has been a long time since I have seen such ants from the surface descend to the abyss of my nest… Welcome to my throne, the place where you will perish… Do not worry, I will make sure to enjoy your flesh, so nothing shall be wasted!" muttered the dragon, speaking with a hoarse voice!

"Damn, he's a total villain guy, I guess there's no room to talk in here, time to eat him- I mean defeat him!" said Kireina, expanding her flesh and readying magic through dozens of magic circles around her.

"Agree, new ghost time," said Ervas.

"I-I see that you two are quite excited about it…" said Anna.

"A Dragon that can talk, this is something that you only hear from legends and stuff…" said Ismene.

"We can't become friends?" asked Amelia.

"No!" said the Dragon, commanding his lackeys, the Earth Dragons and the Wyverns, whose eyes flashed with crimson light, becoming fiercer and more cooperative with their attacks, to the point of forming groups and putting greater pressure into Ervas and Veronica's party.

"So not only can he talk, but he's asocial…" said Jason in surprise, as the monsters he and his group was fighting against had become fiercer now that they were below the command of their King.

"Roar!"

The tortoise-like Earth Dragons roared, firing their breath attacks while gathering in groups, unlike they had done before where they fought without any kind of coordination.

"Careful!" said Pekoran, extending his large body into a mass of metallic pieces, similar to a shield, shielding Pekorina, Acathea, and Amelia.

Clash!

"Ngghh! Phantasmal Aegis Shield!" said Pekoran, using his Shield Technique, whose effect covered his entire body, strengthening his defenses momentarily.

Flash!

"Let me help you out, these things, despite working together, will still die the same way they did before nonetheless!" said Ismene, as Alesia and various other mages at her side conjured combined magic spells, showering the Dragons and Wyvern that attacked with their breaths with a rain of magic projectiles of several shining colors, breaking through their hard shells and scales and slicing them into pieces!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

"Blazing Club Barrage!" roared Jason, breaking down the organized groups of dragons and wyverns, smacking them into flattened dragon pancakes one after another with his ridiculous strength and muscle power.

"Grryarr!"

"Growl…!"

"Grrakkh…!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Enormous moles began to appear one after another, working together with the dragons and wyverns as well! And even Earthworms dived through the ceilings and walls, surprising the party with attacks from all sides!

"Heavenly Blazing Uppercut!" said Pekorina, leaping into the air and then doing a double jump in midair purely through the power of her own legs!

Her legs reached the ceiling, clashing against a Rank 9 Titanic Gold Armored Earth Worm that had surged the moment the Dragon King appeared, most likely heard his call for backup.

Clash!

Pekorina's enormous kick broke through the earth worm's golden armor, reaching its tender flesh and burning it into grilled meat from the inside, the earthworm shrieked in agonizing pain, vomiting blood and blazes, dying instantly!

"One shot!" said Pekorina, as she was surprised by more enemies to form all sides, firing her barrage of attacks after another, which she either evaded or tanked with her kicks, firing her own magic, although she was not as versed on it as the rest of the girls, being a strong kicking specialist.

"You can't simply go alone on your own, Pekorina!" said Acathea, leaping into action as she assisted Pekorina, firing magic of her own while distracting the dragons, although their dragon scales were able to disrupt magic if the magic fired wasn't of high level, leaving her attacks almost useless!

"Well, not like I am a mage anyways! Dragon-tearing Iron Claws!" said Acathea, using a special technique she created, which was especially effective against Dragons, tearing apart the dragons that neared her, cutting off their legs or their heads straight away, while the moles or earthworms that tried to put some pressure were hit by Pekorina's kicks.

"Lava Salamander! Lava Salamander!" said Amelia, conjuring salamanders made out of Lava with the assistance of her Spirits, directing them against the hordes of monsters, who mostly had their limbs melted away as they tried to attack the Lava Salamanders, although a group discovered the salamander's weakness, firing earth magic until the salamanders dried out and crumbled into rock pieces.

"Hey, you can't do that, that's cheating!" said Amelia innocently, as she was assisted by her mother into defeating the annoying and smarter enemies.

To the other side, Azra enveloped himself in Phantasmagoric Aura, firing Demon Fire fireballs one after another, freezing the monster's limbs and then letting Gaius and Ragdaz finish them off with their extremely potent physical attacks.

Near them were Lilith and her sisters, the beautiful and enchanting vampiric Blood Human ladies danced amongst the massacre, employing the blood of the fallen into their techniques and weaponizing it by crystallizing the blood into deadly spear-shaped jewels amongst many other things. Lilith showed the most talent, using her blades with enormous talent and precision, assisting her lords as much as she could.

Goliath joined in with Leonidas and other physical warriors such as Draconia, fighting with their powerful physical attacks and special abilities, Goliath covered his fist with Iron and enhanced their durability and attack power, flowing off the ground several enemies, while Leonidas set them ablaze with his black flames and Draconia used her Fire Breath combined with her electrifying attacks and vibration attacks to shower the monsters with a variety of attacks of different types.

Meanwhile, the Ancient Earth Dragon King Grakgna glanced at the battlefield unfold, feeling excited about the battle to come.

"Your army seems impressive, to be capable of fighting against my pawns, the ones I've governed for hundreds of years is really commendable…! I hope you can give me a good challenge, I've lived too much time in idle!" said the dragon, roaring furiously as its claws descended towards Veronica and Ervas, alongside countless magic circles formed around him, firing a variety of Earth-type Spells, such as gigantic boulders, spears made out of iron, and so on.

"Guboooo!" roared Aqua, employing her enormous body, extending herself and entangling one of the Dragon's limbs with her entire body, which was not as big as the creature!

"Hmph! Pathetic slime!" roared Grakgna, tearing apart Aqua with his sharp black claws, only to find that she simply regenerated from those wounds!

"Slimes are surely tricky creatures, but I've dealt with your bunch before! Roar!"

Grakgna charged a powerful breath attack towards Aqua, only to met an enormous wall of purple-colored energy, which made him believe that Aqua had disappeared!

"What?!"

Seeing that he would end up damaging himself if he fired without any target, he quickly redirected his breath, only to feel the sharp pain of Aqua's magic attacks and unarmed fighting techniques unleashing over his torso!

"Huh?! You are still attached to me! But I saw you that…! Impossible, what kind of magic…?!" roared the ancient dragon, as Kireina glanced from above with a smile.

"Illusion Magic, Illusory Screen…!" she said, generating countless illusions around the dragon!

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