Chapter 368 The Tower On The Lake

POV Vesuvius:

The light flickered in the cave-like tunnels as the huge dragon flew through, lightning crackling around him, the long trail of dark smoke stretching behind him.

His eyes were fully focused on a massive structure blocking his path.

A giant stone tower, built of massive black bricks, each large enough to fit the entire house, connected the cave's floor with its ceiling, thick enough to encompass a small town into its interior. The lake of phosphorescent liquid calmly glowed around it, the tower looming over it. However, there was no reflection in the crystal-clear liquid.

A lonely and narrow bridge poised above the lake connected the tower with the shore. The bridge was made of a single piece of smooth, black stone, suspended in the air and not touching the lake as if it floated.

'This must be important. Just the scale and style are so out of place with the rest of the dungeon.' Vesuvius couldn't help but compare it with the small stone houses built through the dungeon.

His heart pounded with greed as he could only imagine treasures hiding within the majestic tower that surpassed any building he saw.

The lightning crackled out as the dragon gradually slowed down.

The cavern was extra dusk, as there were no radiant crystals anywhere near, only the shine of the lake driving back the glooms.

'I can't just smash... I am here to treasure hunt, not to break everything in my path.'

A complex magic circuit lit up around the dragon, the magic runes floating and orbiting around him as if he was a center of a solar system. The golden radiance banished all the shadows and darkness.

Finally, his form vanished, submerged into the bath of golden light.

His divine energy flowed, and his body tingled with the comfortable warmth seeping into every single cell of his body.

Then as if golden lightning struck, the bright light flashed and vanished, leaving the four-meter tall, bipedal draconic beast flapping its wings in the sky. Its body, fully covered in royal armor of black, incredibly shiny metal with golden ornaments and glowing lines of golden lava, slowly descended down.

'Fighting in this form... it will be hard, but if I can get some extra treasures out of this it will be worth it!' Vesuviuse's draconic and gamer instincts screamed at him that the tower was filled with treasures!

He couldn't help but get a headache, as he simply couldn't smash the tower apart as that would erase most of the potential profit. Instead, he was forced to enter it and fight in disadvantageous form, 'Damn, I was too lazy with this... but I need more powerful minions for something like this. This dungeon is simply too high level for most of them.'

The dragon's golden eyes turned on the pitch-black entrance tunnel at the end of the bridge, his nostrils twitching as he felt the fortune in the air.

'There must be something worthwhile inside!' it wasn't well, but he still felt like it was an important part of the dungeon.

He flapped his wings and slowly glided downward, the black tunnel quickly closing on. The air was almost glowing with the mana it was charged with.

'It doesn't look like something built purely by magic. So the amount of work and effort put into it is simply ridiculous.'

The dragon's black, glowing swiftly and elegantly glided straight into the dark maws of the tunnel. He folded back his wings as his feet touched the ground with a quiet thud, and his claws dug into the black stone.

A dim light flickered far in the tunnel's depths, reflecting in its flawlessly lustrous, ebony stone walls, ceiling, and floor. It felt like they weren't even created by mortal hands as they were flawless and without a single flaw.

Even the dragon's sharp eyes could not discern the construction method behind them.

The heavy silence brought a tense atmosphere, the air feeling heavier and denser than usual. There were no sounds, not even echoes.

'This amount of mana isn't natural. Something must be controlling it and condensing it.'

The dragon stepped forwards without fear, his eyes glowing brightly as he advanced through the dark tunnel. He kept walking forward in absolute silence, only his heart pounding and his claws scratching on the floor reverberating through the black abyss of silence.

His muscles were tense, ready to move at the first sign of attack, as the flickering glow at the end of the black tunnel was reaching closer and closer.

'I feel like I am entering into an afterlife.' He clenched his clawed hand into a fist in resolve as he remembered his minions getting massacred and slaughtered, and the anger quietly boiled within his many veins.

'Cowards and worms! That is what they are! They are worse than angels and demons! They have no honor!'

Gradually, the hallway opened into a circular auditorium, its uniform, black stone walls, and the night-sky-like black ceiling creating an illusion of unending space.

The chamber was perfectly empty, and the air was stale and old, as it had been there for decades without any draft to stir it.

'Why would anyone build something like this? Such a waste of space.'

Suddenly an old male voice interrupted the dragon's thought, "So you have arrived."

It came from up and echoed multiple times between the tall walls.

"Show yourself!" The dragon tensed, his tail swaying behind him and his claws brandished as he scanned his surroundings, ready to attack at any moment.

The sounds of something tapping against the stone slowly got closer and closer as a blue light lit up above him, the echo making it impossible to discern the origin of the sound.

"Uhhh? I expected a reaper, yet they sent a dragon instead. Such a shame... I hoped for an intelligent conversation..."

The voice gradually turned quieter, and the tapping vanished, leaving only the silence and the looming atmosphere behind.

"Are you insulting me mortal?!" Anger swelled up in the dragon's fiery heart, his blood almost boiling, 'Is he looking down on me? What does he mean by such a shame?'

The entire tower shook under pressure radiating out of the dragon's body.

"Mortal? Maybe for a now, but it will soon change!"

The air pulsed with magic, and the entire tower vibrated and rumbled as if it had come to life. The thin blue mana lines lit up all over its towering walls, forming circuit-like patterns.

The blurry humanoid forms materialized from thin air, their green eyes staring at the dragon, and their blurry swords of energy were raised, ready to attack.