Chapter 188: Rush – Part 3

Chapter 188: Rush – Part 3 AnnouncementAnnouncement: I've turned myself into a Vtuber because why not? What's the worst that could happen? I've seen plenty of artists do that, so I might as well stream on my off time.

Come chill with me as I play a variety of cool and old games at

Fair warning, I'm still a newbie to streaming and very cringe, also, the furry model isn't final.

AN2: It's also time for a break. Next week, I'll be writing Heretical Magus, and the week after that it's Patreon stuff, then we finally return to the normal schedule release of Rupegia at the 7th of next month.

The next level is... different. Well, it's weird.

It's like being inside an omnidirectional camera that can see outside the dungeon. It shows the night sky, the clouds, the Gothic cathedral that is the dungeon's entrance, and also the Sky Lander fleet alongside our Carrier as they prepare the final line of defense. There are now even floating islands with tower fortifications that were brought by the Chimeras to allow more men to defend the skies.

The image is a bit warped, making it look obviously fake, but ahead of us, there's nothing, or rather, we can't see anything, as we don't have Alissa's fox eyes to scout ahead, so it's a bit disorienting.

"Send me back, Wolfy," Hana requests, pridefully trying to keep her exhaustion out of her tone.

I just nod and open a [Gate] for her.

The mounted mages stop spawning on the previous level, so Alissa and Roxanne clean things up, and then they land and contact Alcander to recover the airship because I can't afford to go back for it.

Now that the teens are free to return to the fortress, we could potentially push out with the melee squad again, but the grenades make that too risky. The Hau-Hou and Urmeie can definitely hold an entrance by themselves, but anyone following them would be too exposed if they went out any further than that.

Soon, the portal back disappears behind me as Ted and I fly into the nothingness, so I decide to get Samkelo to help me grab my Thread again to ensure that I don't get lost.

"I'm almost passing out, man..." he whines tiredly as he waits for the summon to connect the Bed of Preservation.

"Sleep a bit, then," I grumble back, not feeling like doing too much banter.

"I'd rather continue trying to help Lily," he replies stoically, and I decide to not give him shit for it due to his noble intentions.

"Then ask a healer for some drugs. They have some mean shit better than meth," I amusedly suggest, and he hums eagerly, making me shake my head.

But this gives Yunia an idea. "Perhaps we should put her in a Bed of Preservation," she concernedly shares through [Bind], still using [Soul Shield] on Lily.

At this point, it won't hurt to try.

Our fortress starts to get rocked by big spells as we can't properly go out anymore to deal with the mages. The average soldier already struggles against the golden cans, not to mention the shower of grenades, while there are too many hippogryphs for the Sky Lander airships and the Horns to deal with, and the shiny cans make even the girls and the Hau-Hou sweat, so there's not much we can do.

I don't know how many losses we've had already, but the medical area is so full that we're having to [Gate] the worst casualties back to the Sky Lands.

The fortress is falling, and we're gradually being pushed back.

"There's someone trapped in the rubble!" a knight desperately shouts as he rushes into the medical area. He seems to be one of Urmeie's.

Ciel immediately runs towards him and orders, "Take me there!"

And I sigh tiredly. It's 4 AM, and our nerves are starting to fray.

But I still don't see any sign of the portal, so I push the Raki to maximum speed and boost the enchantments again. My mana organ is starting to complain, though the girls have it worse because the enchantments in the Raki are at least super efficient, thanks to cheating with Lina.

I feel my Thread getting closer, though, so at least we're making progress.

Queen Patika comes back from her rest and deletes the horde outside by using [Water Magic]'s [Absolute Zero], then blows the statues away with a low-power but wide-range [Tornado]. She doesn't need to actually cast system spells since her "Magic Power" is high enough to bend the elements to her will, but it's just simpler unless you have the need for something very specific that's not covered by the system spells.

This only gives us a momentary breather, though, as the horde is continuous and endless. It feels futile to kill them when they just replace whatever we kill instantly, especially since we're barely holding the fortress, so we should just stall them while the Sky Landers arm the populace.

Then the Raki suddenly starts to shake so much that I almost lose control of it, forcing me to slow down to subsonic speed.

The fuck?

"Master, one of the wings is bending out of shape," Ted states observantly and points with her cute little doll arm.

It's barely perceptible, but the left wing really is bent.

"Can you fix it for me?" I tiredly request.

And she nods cutely. "Using [Manipulate Metal] will weaken the alloy, but it'll serve as an emergency fix."

Lina and Aoi help us so that we don't fuck up the tempering, and we put it back into its proper shape as best as we can. The shaking lessens, so I guess it's good enough, but my fly boy's time is running out.

Soon after, we finally spot the portal to the next level, but a dreadful feeling makes me hesitate.

"Order Sandoro to sound the retreat!" I hurriedly tell the girls.

"Wolfy?" Ciel questions confusedly.

"Something bad will happen when I cross this portal. The dungeon will escalate things."

"I understand," she immediately replies and goes to find him.

The siren resounds throughout the fortress, announcing the command to orderly retreat. Then I cross through the portal, and I come out into another "omnidirectional camera," but this time, it's observing our fortress.

Suddenly, seven spheres of metal appear in a circle above the fortress. Then they start to crackle with wild lightning, and I hover my finger over the summon button for the girls.

But I'm the only one who can see it, so I have them warn everyone, "INCOMING ATTACK! BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

We praise the Gods once again, for it still takes ten seconds for the spheres to launch, but when they do, they rock the fortress like nothing that's come before. The spheres don't get in very deep, though, thanks to the imperial fortress design that specializes in resisting siege attacks like this.

But then they come back out of the fortress and begin to crackle with wild lightning again, so Sandoro announces an immediate retreat as another siren is sounded, but it cycles much faster than the previous one.

Now there's nothing left to do but watch as the Titans demolish the fortress, even though their own troops are swarming it, which makes it feel like the DM is gloating about his little victory.

The losses mount as the spheres make it impossible to recover anyone buried in the rubble. Even Aoi and Hana don't feel like they'd come out unscathed if they got slammed by one of them.

It's painful to admit, but we held on for as long as we could; any longer, and the losses would've been unacceptable.

A part of me wishes that I could've stopped progressing, as going through the portals is clearly allowing the Dungeon Master to escalate things, but Lily's curse means I can't stop. The DM really has forced us to play along with this scenario, but I think we've still surprised them with how we've hard-countered most of the bullshit thrown at us.

I soon reach the next portal, then cross it unhesitatingly, and now the "omnicamera" is showing the Raki.

Fucking creepy peeping bastard.

But there's still nothing in this level, and keeping a hold of my Thread is starting to strain me. I also can't find where the hell this "camera" is, even though it's supposedly a few meters ahead of the Raki and perfectly following me.

The dragon is waking up, and it isn't happy.

Then I reach the next level, and things finally change.

It's like I'm back inside the overly-decorated Gothic cathedral of the 4D level, but at least now the architecture doesn't melt my brain. I didn't miss the gruesome imagery, though.

There are multiple corridors that I can take, but only one has a golden carpet, and my Thread is pointing in that direction, so I follow it for a bit. Then I reach the most stupidly huge pair of golden double doors ever.

Tacky sense of taste, to be honest.

So I land, store the Raki as I summon everyone, then open a [Gate] for Alcander, who opens his own gate for the rest of our group. Three of The Four, Queen and King Hau-Hou, Urmeie, Belind, Caterina, a few Companions to watch our backs, knights, and bodyguards. We still leave a bird summon with Sandoro and Sainalai for communication purposes, but we've brought everyone that has experience fighting alongside us.

"So, this is it?" Urmeie grunts as she stares at the double doors, a touch of excitement in her tone.

"Most likely, yeah," I dryly hum back. My Thread is telling me that I'm close, very close.

"Expect the Guardian of the core to be more powerful than even us," Queen Patika wisely warns everyone.

"But not more powerful than our combined might," Yunia haughtily states, and the deer Queen simply flashes a smile.

"Holy shit. Why can't anything ever be small?" Thant asks as he looks around and takes in the architecture.

"Ask the dwarves," Hana grunts back with a snort.

"Hey, that's a mean insinuation," Lina whines and frowns at her dear redhead sister-wife.

"Open up," I demand with a snarl. I'm tired of this shit, and I want to get it over with so that I can go back to appreciating my girls bantering again. I'm just too stressed out to laugh.

And Alissa just silently gives her newly-enchanted full-auto rifle a final check, sharing my "too tired for silliness" mood.

Big-Aoi slams against him the moment [Mana Block] is cast again, and he veers off course. Then Hana tries to punch him in the face, but the shield gets in the way, though she makes him stop in the air. Her next instinct is to hug the shield, and then it flickers, and she manages to touch his skin.

"FUCK YOOOOOOU...!" she roars as she breathes fire right into his face and attempts to crush him with a draconic hug.

"[WORM]!" he roars back as he tries to break free, but Lina's curses are starting to take effect, and Roxanne follows up with a [Gravity Crush] to keep him in check.

"AND STAY DOWN!" I taunt as I cast [Telekinesis], then slam both of them onto the ground, right in front of Urmeie and King Temamana.

"DON'T MIND IF I DO!" Urmeie howls as she slices him with [Searing Blade] while the king wordlessly slams his sledgehammer onto Goldie's head.

The hammer is stopped by the force field, cracking it further, while Urmeie's slash isn't, and it cuts off his right arm at the bicep while digging deep into his upper torso, but Hana hugging him stopped the Princess from bisecting him as she would've killed Hana too.

And the arm falling reveals that Goldie does, indeed, bleed, but his blood is golden, which makes me envious that mine isn't silvery.

"[ENOUGH]!" he growls in rage, and his whole body explodes with divine energy, but only Hana gets wounded before Thant contains it.

Or at least that's what I assume he did, for the sphere of light stops expanding as Hana is thrown back, her face burning even though she was using [Draconic Body], and then I touch the light and wrestle control of it with [Redirect Mana]. I can't use the skill on spells, as the presence of two wills fighting over the mana creates a Warped Reality, but when he just throws away energy like this, it's free real estate.

I absorb it all into my body, and the glow dissipates, but he's not there anymore.

The golems reflexively cast [Earth Bullet] at Goldie as he [Blink]s before them, but I interrupt and summon them, then have them immediately cast [Equip] on the Field Guns.

Haha!

Goldie stops in the air in confusion for a second, then suddenly launches himself towards us again.

The Field Guns fire, but they're not enough to stop him, though at least it seems that the silver force field is about to break. Then Aoi tries to slam him again, but her timing is off, and she hits the field before it flickers, and Hana has been blinded by the explosion, so I have the golems retrieve the cannons and then split up in all directions.

Seeing this, Goldie doesn't fall for the bait and simply stops in the air. Then his body glows with divine light again, and the cracks start to mend.

But you know what?

"Fuck that!" I shout and turn around as I summon a bird to act as Hana's eyes. Then I [Blink] forward and fly as fast I can towards the core.

The battle with the shiny cans is becoming too chaotic for my taste as more of them are teleported here faster than we can kill them, and Goldie is being a hard nut to crack (heh), so I'd rather end this already as the risk for us just increases the longer we fight. I don't know why Goldie isn't healing himself, but we're basically relying on getting lucky to even hit him, and I hate that.

But flying out of the mess turns me into a target, and I start to get pelted with spells and grenades. I cast [Reflection] on myself, and it works against the physical part of the spells trying to push me around, while the magic part is easily nullified by the divine energy accumulated within me.

"[WORM]!" Goldie finally notices where I'm going and tries to give chase, a sword of divine light in his right hand, but Ciel gets in his way and starts parrying his sluggish attacks (thanks to Lina) with her [Judgment]-enchanted glaive while Roxanne repeatedly casts [Gravity Crush], both things greatly slowing him down.

Then Alissa's, Aoi's, and Yunia's attacks hit simultaneously, a nearly impossible feat without our Gestalt. His spine is shot at the same time that he gets shoulder checked by Aoi, which throws him to the ground. This time, he falls in front of Brett, who takes the opportunity to copy Hana and give him a hug.

"[INFURIATING]!" he roars again and explodes with divine energy, but our cute corgi man is an unbreakable bastard, just like Lily. I guess it's paid off to have a spare.

"UOOOOOH!" Brett howls as he holds Goldie down. Then the force field flickers, and he gets his hands on the fake deity.

The shiny cans immediately change targets and try to attack Brett to free Goldie, but we're right behind them.

Now there's only the loud-mouthed robed Titan between me and the core, and he looks like easy prey. He even tries to cast an AoE spell on me, but with Chesa and Queen Patika here, no spell like that will ever get off.

Suddenly, the ground rises all around him and the throne, creating a dome of protection around the core, but I still have Patrono with me, so I cut a triangle into the white crystal as if it was made of paper. Then I kick it, and I hear the robed shit grunt in pain as he's almost crushed by the slab.

Then I hear a metallic sound of something snapping, followed by a more muffled snap, and I scream in pain as something happens to my legs, "AAARGH...!" I immediately look down and see that they're fine, but a dark, weak laugh comes from inside the dome, and I can see that the slab fell upon the Titan's legs in the exact same location that I felt mine snap, so I think I have a good guess about what happened.

I still have a lot of divine energy in me, so I send a bit of it to my legs, and they heal up almost instantly. Then I enter the dome. Goldie [Blink]s away, then grinds his body against the ground to free himself from Brett while Ciel whacks him with her glaive, but I've already won.

Patrono cuts the core in two, and Goldie lets out a horrible death scream while we all cum in our pants from the deluge of Experience and level-ups.

"You are now level seventy-three."

"Aaaahn~...!" the bird with Sainalai hears Lily's loud moan of delight, likely also leveling up as she's still in a Fellowship with the rest of The Four.

But then Ted suddenly warns us through [Bind], "The Titans are still here!"

Fucking hell!

We force ourselves to recover and engage the now enraged shits, but they're no longer being teleported in, so we just need to mop them up. Unfortunately, that also means that the horde is still out there, but as soon as we're done here, I'll summon a Fay Leviathan to deal with them once and for all, and then we'll free the Lord of Storms.

"No..." the snake-tongued Titan moans in disbelief as he stares at the pieces of the core disintegrating into nothing.

"Your 'god' is dead," I sadistically taunt as I glare.

But he seems too stunned to answer, so I leave for now. I'd like to have a few words with him later.

Announcement

Hall of Fame of Patrons

The patrons who support Rupegia shall have their names sung by the bards for they deserve the glory and honor. Their names are:

Prince PreownedFIN.

Prince Owldente.

Prince S. R.

Lord Andrew Meyers.

Lord Bakerdea.

Lord Maurice.

Lord Mattirro Draca.

Lord Tenebris Lupus.

Lord Paul Daval.

Lord Paul Daval.

Lord CopeyDunt.

Lord BlindTactic.

Lord Philip.

Lord d3235.

Lord SubJef.

Lord School work.

Lord patrick__starz.

Lord Peter Kraushuber

Lord David England.

Lord Marwin33.

Lord modislaszlo.

Lord Tenebris Lupus.

Noble Aclys.

Noble Carl Baxter.

Noble DND.

Noble Anon A Moose.

Noble GalacticTNT.