Darm braced his greatshield and blocked Cassandre’s first descending strike.
“Ugh...!”
He did not even last a full breath.
A heartbeat later, Darm’s iron boots carved two deep grooves into the stone floor. The entire greatshield sank violently, and a teeth-grating metallic groan came from its surface.
Darm clenched his teeth hard. Every muscle in his arms stood out, his face flushed red, and sweat quickly beaded across his forehead.
He had blocked it.
Barely.
That strike this morning, at least, had been something he could endure without being forced back.
This time, it was on a completely different level.
Aside from Cyrus, everyone’s expression sank. But no one retreated. Blake let out a low growl, and Sanna was already circling to the side.
Jessup, who had downed several potions in one breath, looked frighteningly pale. Yet his eyes held a nearly mad light.
The calm, intelligent look he usually wore was gone. He raised both hands, and in the blink of an eye, more than a dozen violet arcane missiles appeared around him.
The instant Darm once again held off Cassandre’s attack, Jessup shoved both hands forward.
The violet arcane missiles became a dense rain of light, hammering into Cassandre one after another.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions rolled across the circular plaza, and smoke and dust burst outward, swallowing Cassandre’s towering figure.
Darm coughed several times from the smoke and could only take the chance to retreat a few steps.
“Good. Stick to the plan!”
A trace of urgency threaded through Cyrus’s cold voice.
As everyone waited for the smoke to clear, Sanna’s pupils shrank behind Cassandre.
“Darm! Watch out!”
Almost the moment Sanna shouted his name, Darm had already half-crouched and reset his greatshield.
Cassandre’s heavy sword swept out from the smoke.
Clang!
Terrifying force smashed into the shield and punched a huge dent into its surface.
Darm grunted. His whole body stumbled back half a step, and his knee nearly struck the ground.
Blake could not wait any longer.
He pulled the longsword in his hand back to his waist, drew the temporary spiked mace at his lower back with his other hand, and rushed forward, smashing it hard toward Cassandre’s elbow.
The spiked mace struck the outside of Cassandre’s arm guard with precision.
Clang!
A dull impact rang out, and the magical patterns on the gray armor dimmed slightly. The heavy sword Cassandre had been about to press down was knocked off course by the blow.
Darm was able to use that chance to pull himself out from under that terrible pressure.
“Hah!”
Savage excitement instantly appeared in Blake’s eyes.
“See? This thing’s fucking—”
He did not finish.
Cassandre suddenly turned halfway, and its free left hand shot out.
It came within a hair’s breadth of seizing Blake by the breastplate.
Fortunately, the instant Blake saw something was wrong, he threw himself to the side.
Cassandre’s grasp missed. It was about to pursue when Sanna’s steel cable struck from behind, wrapping several times around its left arm. The sharp claw hook bit firmly into a protrusion on the arm guard.
“Quick! Now, while it’s—ah!”
Sanna had just tried to repeat her earlier trick and wedge the other end of the steel cable into the gaps between the floor tiles when Cassandre merely turned.
Her entire body was dragged to the ground in an instant.
The steel cable let out an ominous twisting sound.
Seeing that, Blake rushed over and grabbed the cable with her.
While the two of them desperately held Cassandre’s left arm back, Cyrus charged in from the other side. The spiked mace in his hand hammered again and again into the back of Cassandre’s knee.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
This morning, those blows had been enough to make Cassandre’s body sway.
Now, after the gray-white patterns lit one after another, they only made the towering knight turn its head slightly.
Its attention settled on Cyrus.
“Shit! Jessup! Again!”
When Jessup heard Cyrus’s demand, his face darkened. He nearly refused outright.
Reason told him he should stop.
But then he thought of Cyrus’s promise. He thought of how this was their last chance. He thought of the treasure they might never touch in their lifetimes, waiting just beyond the gate, if only they could reach the Core Chamber.
They could come back to life anyway.
That thought almost instantly crushed his reason.
“Cyrus!”
Jessup roared hoarsely.
“You’d better not screw me over!”
After shouting that, he pulled the last few cloudy potions from his belt pouch.
Their colors were darker than the previous ones, and the bottles were even giving off faint heat.
Jessup stared at them, the muscles in his face twitching several times. In the end, he squeezed his eyes shut, pulled the stoppers, and downed them all in one breath.
Within seconds, an unnatural purple tinge began to spread across his pale face.
Blood vessels burst at the corners of his eyes. Blood began to leak from his nose, the corners of his mouth, and his ears.
“Ugh... hahaha!”
Jessup’s vein-covered face twitched violently, as if something were crawling beneath his skin.
A moment later, nearly twice as many violet arcane missiles appeared around him.
And this time, their glow was deeper.
Jessup bared his bloodstained teeth.
“Get the fuck out of the way!”
He did not give anyone time to react.
The violet arcane missiles screamed through the air and crashed madly toward Cassandre.
Boom! Boom! Boom-boom-boom-boom!
Violent explosions merged together at the center of the plaza. Firelight and violet mana burst and tangled, sending fragments of gray armor and stone chips flying everywhere.
Blake and Sanna were farther away, and were only staggered back by the shockwave.
Cyrus was the closest. Two fragments pierced through his shoulder on the spot, and the blast’s aftershock threw him back several steps.
The author's official page contains this chapter, but this copy was reproduced without consent; the posted version supports their work.
Darm had it worst.
He had been about to move back in and take Cassandre head-on again, but the blast wave struck him directly, sending both him and his greatshield flying. He crashed heavily to the ground.
For a moment, the smoke-filled center of the plaza fell silent.
Cyrus stared at the place where Cassandre had been standing and silently pulled the fragments from his shoulder.
Blood flowed down through the torn leather armor.
He did not even frown.
Truthfully, he had not expected Jessup to unleash that much power either.
Cyrus turned his head toward Jessup.
Jessup had already collapsed face-down on the ground, his limbs twitching beyond his control. Blood slowly spread from the side of his face. A twisted smile still clung to that purple-tinged face, but the rise and fall of his chest was so faint it was almost invisible.
He was beyond saving.
Cyrus did not look at him again. He turned back and continued staring into the smoke.
“Haha! That’s what I’m talking about!”
Blake’s undisguised cheer rang out from the side.
“Let’s see if this damn thing can still—”
Once again, he did not finish.
Because a sound came from within the smoke.
It was not the rumble of collapsing stone.
Nor the brittle crack of shattering armor.
It was an unbearably heavy scraping sound.
Krrrk.
Krrrk.
Krrrk. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
The smile on Blake’s face froze.
Sanna still gripped the badly twisted steel cable, her palms covered in blood blisters.
Darm tried to push himself up with his greatshield, but he only made it halfway before grunting and dropping back to one knee.
The smoke slowly dispersed.
Cassandre still stood there.
A huge section of its breastplate had shattered, and one pauldron had been blown clean off. Beneath the opening, they could see a body as dried and withered as dead wood.
But it still stood.
Even its heavy sword remained clenched tightly in its hand.
The gray-white magical patterns across its armor gradually dimmed until they disappeared.
Yet in its once-dull, hollow eye sockets, two blazing crimson flames now burned.
Sanna’s pupils shrank.
“Something’s wrong...”
She instinctively tried to back away.
But the steel cable in her hands was still wrapped around Cassandre’s left arm.
Cassandre merely lifted that arm.
Creak.
The steel cable snapped taut.
Pain immediately twisted Sanna’s face. Blake’s veins bulged as he desperately held on.
“Let go!”
Cyrus’s voice had only just sounded.
Snap!
The badly twisted steel cable broke on the spot. The severed wires whipped back like lashes, slicing past the side of Sanna’s face and leaving a line of blood.
Cassandre slowly raised its free left hand and removed its ruined helmet.
The helmet struck the ground with a heavy sound.
The head beneath it was not as completely rotten as its withered body.
A few traces of humanity still remained on that face, though its skin was gray-white and cracked. Crimson flames burned in both eyes.
Then it slowly opened its mouth.
“Sinners.”
Its voice was like rusted iron scraping over stone, low and hoarse, yet carrying an icy dignity.
“Halt.”
Before Cyrus and the others could react, Cassandre charged toward Darm.
It was faster than before.
Even more agile.
A bleak look appeared on Darm’s face.
He no longer had the strength to hold on.
Even so, he clenched his teeth, forced his trembling legs under him, and staggered toward Cassandre with his shield raised.
“Aaaagh!”
The greatshield crashed head-on into Cassandre.
Cassandre’s towering body staggered slightly.
The instant Cassandre’s body shifted, Cyrus leapt from behind. He had already switched back to his twin daggers and slashed toward Cassandre’s neck.
Clang!
Sparks flew.
Cassandre’s left arm had risen at some point, and the bracer on that arm caught both daggers perfectly.
Cyrus’s pupils shrank to pinpoints.
It saw him.
No. It had predicted him.
But Cyrus did not retreat.
He gritted his teeth, kicked hard off Cassandre’s back, and used the force to shoot upward instead, lunging toward the head exposed beneath the removed helmet.
As long as he cut off its head.
As long as he cut off its head here.
No matter how many tricks it had left, no matter what else this dungeon had prepared, it would still end.
His twin daggers crossed in midair and slashed straight for Cassandre’s neck.
But Cassandre seemed to have been waiting for that exact moment.
It twisted halfway around, and its free left hand shot up from below. While Cyrus was still in midair with nowhere to push off from, it seized him by the throat.
“Ugh!”
Cyrus’s eyes bulged slightly, and a muffled sound squeezed from his throat.
Even then, he refused to give up. He forced the daggers in his hands down and stabbed viciously toward Cassandre’s neck.
The tips pierced in.
Only a little.
A moment later, Sanna, still sitting dazed on the ground in the distance, saw a black shadow hurtle toward her like a cannonball.
With a muffled impact, dust exploded outward.
Cyrus smashed a deep crater into the ground beside her.
Sanna stiffly turned her head.
Cassandre had already raised its heavy sword again, bringing it down toward Darm, who lay limp on the ground.
Darm tried to raise his shield.
But that shield was already bent beyond recognition.
The heavy sword fell.
Darm still raised the shield on instinct.
The twisted greatshield let out one last groan under the impossible strain.
Then its surface split apart.
Together with Darm behind it, it was cut in two.
The party’s final line of defense fell just like that.
From the moment Darm went down, the battle had already lost all suspense.
Blake did not charge out immediately.
He froze in place, and for the first time, his expression went somewhat blank.
Darm was dead.
That monster who usually said nothing, yet could shut him up with one hand.
That shield warrior who infuriated him, irritated him, and even made his spine crawl whenever he got too close.
He had been cut in half by a single strike.
Blake’s throat bobbed.
He suddenly remembered last night, when Darm’s hand had clamped around his jaw.
That force that had nearly crushed his bones.
And now, even someone like that was dead.
“...You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Blake’s voice was hoarse.
If even Darm could not hold it back, what did they have left?
Fear surged up from his chest.
Blake’s face twitched. Then he forcibly twisted that fear into anger.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
He roared, as if trying to shove the chill out of his throat through sheer volume.
“I’m not standing here waiting to die!”
He tightened his grip on the spiked mace and charged at Cassandre.
Blake swung the spiked mace with all his strength, smashing it desperately toward Cassandre’s head.
But just as the mace was about to come down, his entire body suddenly froze.
He could not move.
Blake slowly raised his head.
Cassandre’s dried left hand had, at some point, closed around the mace’s haft.
The muscles in Blake’s face twitched.
“You’ve got to be kidding...”
Cassandre did not answer.
It only pulled hard, ripping the spiked mace from Blake’s hands.
The next moment, the mace came down in reverse.
Bang!
Blake’s laugh stopped abruptly.
His skull was smashed down into his chest, and the crude new armor over him caved in with it.
His tall body swayed.
Then it collapsed heavily.
Sanna sat limp on the ground.
She sat among the rubble, still clutching the broken end of the steel cable.
Her palm was a bloody mess, and the side of her face had been cut open by the snapped wire.
There was nothing left.
The steel cable was ruined. Blake was dead. Darm was dead too.
Jessup had already stopped twitching a moment ago. With a flash of white light, he vanished from where he lay.
Sanna did not try to stand.
She only raised her head and looked at Cyrus as he pushed himself up from the crater.
Then she nodded.
Still gripping the severed steel cable, she nodded to him.
Cyrus said nothing.
He rushed out from the edge of the crater and swept past Sanna.
A dagger cut across her throat.
White light rose and quickly swallowed Sanna.
Cyrus did not spare her another glance.
There was no chance left this time.
Cyrus lowered his eyes and looked at the dagger in his hand.
He did not hesitate for long before reversing the blade and pressing it against his own throat.
But just as the edge was about to cut into his skin, a cold, withered hand closed around his wrist.
The grip was so powerful it almost crushed the bones.
Cassandre had appeared in front of him at some point.
Those eyes burning with crimson flame looked down at him.
That gaze seemed to tell him one thing.
It would not allow him to choose his own death.
Cyrus clenched his teeth, and his other dagger stabbed fiercely toward the broken opening in Cassandre’s breastplate.
The tip pierced in.
Only a little.
The next moment, Cassandre’s heavy sword fell.
Before death truly arrived, an absurd thought suddenly flashed through Cyrus’s mind.
He had come to destroy this dungeon.
To destroy the dungeon that could bring people back after death.
Yet only now, for the first time, was he truly grateful.
This dungeon really could let people come back to life.
Darkness rose over his vision like a tide and swallowed him completely.
◆ ◆ ◆
Inside the Core Chamber, Owen silently watched the final scene in the plaza.
Honestly, he had started to feel a little impressed by Cyrus.
That ruthlessness that would use any means to reach its goal. That calm that let him immediately treat death as a way to retreat, even after every one of his teammates had died.
If it were Owen, he probably could not be that decisive.
At least, he could not end a companion’s life without even blinking the way Cyrus had.
That said.
“But I’m not letting you off easily for trying to tear down my house.”
Owen gave an angry snort.
If Cyrus could put that kind of thinking into properly clearing the dungeon, how good would that be?
The thought had only just surfaced when Owen fell silent for two seconds.
Then he got even angrier.
“No, wait. Anyone who actually wanted to clear the dungeon properly wouldn’t rush straight for the core the moment they got in!”
At that moment, a system notice lit up.
[Marked targets have triggered Trial Return.]
[Marked targets: Darm, Blake, Jessup, Sanna, Cyrus. Penalty in progress.]
Owen’s entire core lit up sharply.
Here it was.
Finally.
For this moment, he had spent so much Soul Energy, endured so much heartache, and built Blackstone Dungeon’s exclusive single rooms.
At last, they were receiving their first official guests!
[Penalty complete.]
This time, no white light rose from the floor of the starting chamber.
Instead, the light appeared in five of the prepared “private single rooms” on both sides of the canyon entrance.
The pale-blue, semi-transparent light screens still quietly sealed the rooms from the outside.
Behind those light screens, white light began to glow across the cold stone floors one room after another.
Five figures reformed within that light.
When the glow faded, Cyrus and the others were each lying inside their own stone room.
◆ ◆ ◆
Cyrus opened his eyes.
In the first instant, he prepared to sort through the battle as he always did.
But before he could even begin thinking, he abruptly realized something was wrong.
This was not the starting chamber.
He slowly sat up.
Beneath him was not the familiar cold stone floor, but a rough stone bed. Beside him stood a low stone table, and deeper inside the room was a short partition wall.
Other than that, there was nothing else in the room.
The stone room was not large, and the outer side was sealed by a pale-blue, semi-transparent light screen.
Wait.
A light screen?
Cyrus shot to his feet and rushed toward it.
Through the screen, he could clearly see the canyon entrance outside the starting chamber.
“Fuck. Blake and his damn big mouth.”
For the first time, Cyrus’s expressionless face could no longer hold itself together.
How was he supposed to get out now?
Cyrus slumped down onto the floor.
Was he really going to starve to death in this cursed place?
“Hah. I never thought I’d actually fall to a low-level dungeon one day.”
He tilted his head back slightly, leaned against the light screen, and slowly closed his eyes.
◆ ◆ ◆
Inside the Core Chamber, Owen’s barely suppressed laughter rang out.
There was a bit of schadenfreude in that laugh, and more than a little smug satisfaction.
“Welcome to Blackstone Dungeon’s exclusive single rooms.”
Owen spoke slowly.
“Your rooms have been prepared in advance. Please enjoy your seven-day stay, you bad guys.”
After a brief pause, he quietly added,
“Not that you can hear me.”