Chương 13: Dungeon Break

Immediately, upon spotting the incoming monsters, Vittorio took position in front of Alicia. Due to how tight the first floor was, his lance wasn't going to do well here, so he placed it on his back and drew his secondary weapon, a standard issue gladius of the Vael Royal Army. With his tower shield on the ready, the first group of monsters—frost skeletons—bashed their weapons on Vittorio's shield. Each of the skeletons was covered by a thick fur jacket, and their eyes glowed ice blue.

Their medium-length swords also left a bluish aura, and when it made contact on Vittorio's tower shield, a cool chill of air immediately washed over him, enough that it instantly froze the surface of his shield. They were also quite powerful with their attacks, so Vittorio's shield was forced back a bit. But he swung his gladius out afterward, taking out one of the frost skeletons that exposed itself to his attack. The skeleton's brittle bones shattered, its body disassembled in a single strike.

Then, Vittorio bashed his tower shield on three more skeletons, their bones cracking when his shield crashed on the wall beside him. Damn it, this is just the first floor, and they're above level 100 already. More skeletons and a few white bears, the same snow bear he encountered outside, emerged out of the darkness, rushing toward the two. Vittorio turned to Alicia and shouted to warn her.

"Your Grace, be careful—!" His eyes widened. In an instant, hundreds of strings made out of blood appeared around Alicia, shooting straight into the monsters that were about to attack them. Some of the blood strings whipped themselves horizontally, cutting the frost skeletons in an instant. On the other hand, other blood strings pierced the snow bears' chests. The beasts stopped as they screamed in agony after suffering dozens of mortal wounds each.

"Interesting." Alicia smiled a bit to herself.

"Their cores…I can sense so much mana in them."

"What…" Vittorio remembered a vampire knight he fought with during his last campaign with the Vael Royal Army. His memories flashed as the scene of the broken royal capital played again before him, the embers of destruction and death still so vivid that he could sense it all as if he were there again. Standing in front of the wavering Vaelrin phalanx formation was a vampiric knight, the wound she inflicted on her palm creating a dozen long strings of blood that could pierce any foe even a thousand paces away.

Just that one knight's blood arts broke the composure of the human soldiers in Vael that day, enough that hundreds of them died from afar due to that blood string and prevented their advance at the specific sector Vittorio was assigned to for a full hour. That knight, Vittorio heard, was above level 300. That meant this form of blood arts was extremely advanced; it was quite powerful too, and it usually required a blood source, either from a vampire or from freshly slain bodies, to create.

Alicia, on the other hand, whom Vittorio found out earlier seemed like someone who barely even drank blood, was capable of manifesting hundreds of blood strings without even lifting a finger. He shouldn't be surprised, really, considering how easy she dispatched those wyverns earlier, but still, the battlefield implication of her strength was extreme. Such power in this day and age, even amongst mankind, was extremely rare.

It was like she was ripped straight out of the pages of the era mankind called 'the Age of Heroes,' back when extremely powerful champions from both Vael and mankind, including the only legitimate Demon King, easily decided the fate of entire nations with their strength alone. What the hell is she really…? His thoughts were interrupted by rumbles coming deep within the dungeon. He looked up at the ceiling, seeing a few cracks appear. He knew what this meant, and it was most likely grave.

Considering the strength of those skeletons, alongside the fact that a few snow bears appeared, and they were only at the entrance, meant that the danger level of this cave was quite high.

"Your Grace," Vittorio approached Alicia.

"We've just triggered a dungeon break."

"I know." Alicia barely paid him heed. Instead, she continued casually manipulating her blood strings, picking apart the corpses of the slain monsters to loot their monster cores.

"You know how to stop it, right?"

"Yes. We need to either eliminate the dungeon core present in these ruins or liquidate the majority of monsters that it's controlling to disable it." Vittorio's next words sounded grim.

"If they get out, the village, and even other settlements will be threatened." Alicia stopped inspecting the monster cores she had acquired using her blood strings. They were a varied bunch, with differing colors, and each one had a certain luminosity. Some were brighter, some were dimmer, but they were all quite beautiful to look at. While Vittorio had no ability to properly appraise the monster cores that these creatures dropped, it must be good.

After all, he estimated the frost skeletons he fought earlier were at least at level 140 or 160. The snow bears must also be at least 50 levels higher than the frost skeletons, so they should yield better monster cores, at least C-grade, if his memory was correct. In fact, now that he was thinking about the strength of their enemies and their numbers, his worries grew. Again, these were just enemies at the entrance of the dungeon.

The remnants of Vael's Mercenary Guild classified dungeons through a color system in the following ascending threat levels: green, yellow, orange, red, purple, and black. While he doubted that this place was a purple or worse, a corrupted black dungeon—the same type that consumed the royal capital and killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers during the last war—there was a high likelihood that this place was at least a red dungeon, considering the powerful enemies even at the entrance.

Those frost skeletons, for example, can probably kill the average infantryman with ease. Indeed, to clear this dungeon, it would require at least a full mercenary/military company to do so, and they would take days doing that. Subjugation expeditions involved setting up camp outside and constant rotation of personnel as they slowly established control inside. This was why triggering a dungeon break when there weren't security forces present nearby was highly risky.

"We'll take the second option then," Alicia said, as the monster cores that she was holding on to suddenly vanished in thin air.

"Please inform Vikar about the dungeon break and order him to block any monster from escaping. Once that's done, come back here quickly. We'll liquidate all monsters present in this dungeon."

"As you wish, Your Grace." With a brief nod, Vittorio ran back outside. Her decision should be viable, and she should be able to liquidate the dungeon. The question was, how fast could she do it? Soon, a blizzard would envelop the land, and they would be caught in the cold if they took too long. He wondered if they could clear the dungeon before that.

It would certainly be impressive if that were possible, and just the thought of it, of seeing his liege easily conquer a red dungeon before the hour was over, made him want to see all of it. After giving Vikar a heads-up about the dungeon break and ordering him to remain in place outside to hold off any monsters that might leak, Vittorio quickly returned to Alicia's side. So far, no monster had attacked her, and she was just standing near the staircase that led to the next floor. She gave him his assignment.

"So that we can do this quickly, and so you can gain XP as well, I want you to deal with monsters coming at our rear," Alicia said.

"I'll focus on those attacking us from the front."

"Okay," Vittorio nodded, taking a deep breath.

"Let's do this." At once, the two advanced forward. The third floor was rather easy—most of the monsters that they fought at the entrance were the same as before; their numbers had only slightly increased. For now, Vittorio's job was rather light, as Alicia easily dispatched the monsters at the front. He mostly just kept watch for any monsters that might stab them in the back, but none appeared. The same remained true for floors four and five, not a single monster coming from their rear.

But already, Alicia warned him that the levels of their enemies were starting to increase. The frost skeletons were now at levels 200 to 220 and the snow bears at levels 240 to 260. That was quite disconcerting. When they walked in on floor eight, while Alicia dispatched dozens of monsters alone at the front, for the first time, monsters spawned from the rear flooded in to attack the two. A swarm of bluish bats—chillbats—rushed straight to Vittorio's position. They were mostly at level 120 to 140.

They were quite small, they had sharp fangs, and he could see a few of them already charging up an ice magic attack from their mouths. Since Vittorio only had a gladius, and there were easily three dozen chillbats about to swarm him, he recognized that there wasn't going to be enough time to eliminate them all. Not to mention, if all of them fired off their ice breath attack at the same time, he was probably going to suffer severe frostbite or worse.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Time to use one of my skills then. As the chillbats got closer, Vittorio bashed his tower shield hard on the ground. [Wallfire Blast] was one of his few skills that mimicked fire magic. The moment his shield connected to the ground, a powerful AoE blast engulfed everything in front of him in flames. The sound of the chillbats being completely eviscerated filled his ears; their screams were tiny yet full of agony.

As a draco, Vittorio had a bloodline traced from true dragons of old. His fire thus burned brighter and more intensely than it normally should at his level, so much so that [Wallfire Blast] immediately raised the temperature of the entire floor to the point that it could cause minor burns, even when the entire floor had near-freezing temperatures. When the fires disappeared, Vittorio found out that all of the chillbats had been reduced into nothing but ashes.

Multiple blood strings gently passed around him to reach out to the dead chillbats, and when he looked back at Alicia, she seemed like she barely even paid attention to his feat. No, she was still just looting the latest batch of monster cores from their kills.

"Move faster," Alicia ordered once she was done.

"I don't want Vikar to get too cold up there."

"Same." Vittorio inhaled deeply as he followed her. That singular attack tired him somewhat. In fact, he had never used [Wallfire Blast] more than five times in actual battle. AoE skills tended to be more extensive in their mana consumption, and Vittorio mostly trained himself in single-target combat. He could pierce the scales of a wyvern with 50 more levels than him using his lance, but he wasn't someone with skills and spells capable of dealing with a horde of monsters.

Back during the war, Vittorio usually had his old company in charge of fighting against normal soldiers, while he prioritized dueling human knights or officers who had better levels, gear, and raw strength. Alicia, on the other hand, seems to have it all. Crowd control, powerful single-target attacks, healing, and the ability to airdrop a palace in the middle of nowhere—it was so much that he wondered if there was anything she couldn't do. Am I even useful to her then? That thought annoyed Vittorio a lot.

The next floors became progressively harder. The number of chillbats grew, and for the first time, the first few frost skeletons and snow bears were spawning behind them. On the front, Alicia was dealing with two new major threats—ice golems that could smash an entire squad with one arm, and massive white snakes that had impossibly thick scales. Still, Vittorio was focused on the rear. He eyed a level 220 snow bear in front of him.

Beforehand, he eliminated a dozen frost skeletons, and then this gargantuan monster appeared. The roar from the beast caused the walls to tremble, its cold azure eyes glowing in contrast to its body, the lack of light obscuring it. Vittorio knew this was going to be a tough fight, especially since the space of this floor was constricted. Yet he prepared himself for a methodical takedown. First, he made himself an easy target.

This was a risky way to make an opening, but Vittorio believed his tower shield and another one of his skills, [Enhanced Barrier], would be sufficient to protect him. The snow bear immediately opened its mouth and fired off an icy pulse of magic straight at him. Cold immediately surrounded him, and he felt his feet digging through the ground as he blocked the attack with his shield and magical barrier.

Unbeknownst to the snow bear, though, its attack created so much icy mist that its vision was momentarily obscured. Vittorio used that opening to the fullest extent, running to its side, before driving his gladius straight into the bear's windpipe. Then, he used a variant of the manaburst skill he used on the wyvern he fought on the same night when Alicia saved him, [Blade Manaburst].

A flash of golden light immediately sliced through the neck of the beast, piercing it cleanly through and striking the dungeon's ceiling. When Vittorio pulled his gladius out, the monster collapsed pathetically on the ground. Fuck me. This is way more monsters than I ever fought in one go. I knew it; this dungeon needs at least a battalion of soldiers to clear effectively. Unable to even get a second of respite, seven more frost skeletons rushed at him.

Heaving a quick breath, he also lunged at them, using his gladius to cut them down one by one. More came from the top floors, as if they were swarming him. His tower shield began taking hits after hits, and once, a frost skeleton even managed to nearly hit his steel helmet. Luckily, he managed to dodge it before cleanly cutting the skeleton's skull in half with one swipe of his gladius. When the last monster finally dropped on the ground, Vittorio nearly fell on his knees, breathing in and out deeply.

He was starting to burn out quick—the volume of enemies he was dealing with was simply out of his depth, so much so that his levels were rapidly progressing in a way he had never seen before, and he wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign.

"Hey," a soft voice called out to him from behind.

"Are you alright?" Immediately, Vittorio straightened himself without a hitch. He resisted the urge to salute her, just like he always did in the military, but he still bowed a bit while supporting his weight using his shield.

"Yes, Your Grace," Vittorio answered.

"You know, you fought quite a lot of them already," Alicia said, her eyes trailing on the monsters he killed as she looted them.

"You've fought more than quadruple what I'm dealing with. I have no right to complain."

"That may be so, but if you're struggling, you can just say so. I can easily deal with all of them on my own."

"No need for that. I can still fight." Vittorio, this time, began walking ahead of Alicia, and he gripped his sword and shield's handle a little bit harder. Damn it, just because I'm weaker does not mean I'll let her babysit me. He couldn't falter when she was watching. He had to fight harder. She hired him as her first professional retainer. He didn't want her to think that he was an unworthy one. I need to push myself harder. I'll defeat stronger monsters. I'll defeat more of them.

He couldn't accept embarrassing himself in front of her any further.

"Alright," Alicia, however, simply sighed.

"If you say so." She quickly skipped ahead of him. Halfway through, she even began humming to herself, mumbling something about the monster cores she kept looting. It was amazing how quick she forgot Vittorio. The draco simply shook his head a bit at this sight and kept his eyes peeled for potential enemies behind. And there were more of them. Surprisingly though, fueled by the determination to prove himself to his new master, Vittorio managed to hold most enemies back as they got deeper into the dungeon.

It was good luck at least that none of the ice golems appeared behind them, but stronger ice skeletons, known as frost revenants, began appearing one by one at their rear. They were much faster and stronger, and they could mask their quick movement with a white mist that lowered visibility. Still, Vittorio dealt with them as he usually did, by either bashing their skulls with his shield or by hacking them to death with his gladius. But all this fighting was truly burning him out.

By the time they reached floor forty, Vittorio was on the verge of collapsing. Shit. I told her that I can do it, but I'm faltering. His hold on his weapon trembled a bit as he continued trying to push himself forward. Alicia still maintained her leisurely pace as her blood strings effortlessly tore through their enemies at the front. Meanwhile, Vittorio, who could only walk gingerly through the wake of her massacres, was starting to feel lightheaded as he tried to catch up to her while watching her back.

No, damn it. Keep going. We're close. I can still prove… that I can fight side-by-side with her! That was when his eye caught something ominous appearing behind them. Out of the darkness, coming from the staircase of floor 39, was a massive ice golem. With arms the size of a small boulder, the damned thing could flatten Vittorio with one hit. When its feet hit the ground, cracks appeared. He immediately used [Identify] on it. The monster was level 290.

The only silver lining was that it was alone, but that probably didn't even matter. He looked back at Alicia. She was now dealing with the full assortment of enemy monsters they had met so far. White snakes, snow bears, frost skeletons, blizzard revenants, and ice golems. There were easily dozens of them flooding out of the caverns every second, as if the dungeon core were throwing everything it had to stop her, and she was wiping them out over and over again using her blood strings. No, I can't ask for her help.

He steadied his stance as he stared at the monster in front of him. She's already got too much on her plate. Then, he withdrew his gladius and, at last, equipped his lance. Mustering all his strength, he poured his remaining mana onto his lance, aimed it at the golem, and prepared for one, vicious, and lethal strike. I'll either get crushed or I'll finish my assigned task perfectly. The monster bashed its arms again on the ground, now preparing to charge at him as well. I have to do this perfectly.

Then, Vittorio finally charged forward, his skills making his lance flash with such luminosity that it could blind people inside the dark dungeon. The golem responded, swinging its massive fist horizontally to bash Vittorio flat on the wall, but he ducked and dodged at the last second. It was enough for him to reorient himself and aim his lance at the torso of the ice golem with all the momentum he had. One hit, one kill! And then, he drove his lance straight at the golem and activated his draconic fire skills.

He screamed as his lance shattered the ice, piercing the golem's hard armor. At the same time, he felt his right arm's bones literally shattering from the force of the impact, and his muscles were torn. But his flames and the impact of his attack were enough. The golem's core was pierced and broken; then, the fires he released melted the golem in an instant. He remembered how Alicia used a fireball spell to do the same earlier, and somehow, he managed to do the same.

When all was said and done, all that was left of the ice golem was a puddle of boiling water and steam. Vittorio planted his tower shield on the ground, and using his intact left arm to support himself with his shield, he managed to keep himself upright. He turned back to glance at Alicia. She had just cleared floor forty, the dungeon core now in front of them, defenseless. Together, they conquered a red dungeon before the hour was over.

Even after fighting so many powerful monsters that attacked them from behind, somehow, Vittorio didn't collapse. He felt a great sense of accomplishment about that.