Announcement
Spoiler :
So I personally hate doing these as I feel its weird to have these mixed into the chapters (also feel bad about w/e get pushed off the update list on the front page) but I felt that this was kinda needed. So I returned I'll merely update this post to a chapter post later so I don't push another update off XD
On to the important matter, after reading all the feed backs for chapter 28 I'm decided to hold off on the epilogue and going onto vol 2 and fix chapter 28 first. Honestly I thought I was going to be able to end it on 28 so I went in with the mind set of completing it no matter what. Well as a result I had a lot more to write about than I originally though and instead of just stop I kept going and now we have chapter 28.
What will happen is I'll be working on splitting chapter 28 into 3-4 chapters of their normal length. Flesh out the fights and encountered and fixed some issues people saw. At first I wanted to make post explaining some of the stuff but then I realize if I had to explain it now then it should have been explained in the chapter instead. Since this is the weekend I have more time so I hope to finish in these 2 days but might take longer. I'll update chapter 28 with the new chapter and then update this thread with chapter 29 so don't expect any notification from RRL until Chapter 30 is posted.
Now since this is an announcement post I'll add one more thing. I do plan on publishing this as an ebook for this but will take a lot of editing and probably changes to the chapters to make them flow better. After all once everything is done it's a lot easier to see issues and change the previous points to make it fit the later part better. That being said I don't want to end up in a situation where I change a ton of things in vol 1 but only in the ebook but I also do want to the ebook to have some extra stuff so its worth the buy. So how I plan to do this is all the chapters will be updated with better grammar, that I feel shouldn't even be questioned. Now for the changes to story, key changes will be updated here as well but extra fluff I add will not. Say I might expand a battle scene or idk some side stuff that doesn't effect the story much I'll keep those for the ebook. Probably release some side stories for the ebook as well.
However all the ebook stuff is further down the line as I'll continue on with vol 2. Now as for vol 2 I do have a pretty good idea of where it's going so pace might keep up until the end of vol 2 but i promise nothing as things happen. So well deal with it when we get there I suppose. As for after vol 2 I got no clue. That's about yet, thank you all for reading and supporting me so far. I'm sorry for chapter 28, it was very rash and stubborn decision on my part that made it happen so I'll do my best to fix it.
P.S. I'm interesting in setting up a patron but I honestly have no idea wtf to even do for the rewards so anyone with some experience or idea can shoot them at me by posting here or PM me.
Sincerely,
Rex
Here is Chapter 29!
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*Plain South of the Dungeon Town*
The demon army charged across the plain, causing the ground to shake. The human defenders held their breath as they waited for the demons to arrive. Many of the adventurers had never seen a battle of this size before, so, even though many of them were stronger than the soldiers here, they were much more nervous. Penny noticed this and quickly shouted, “Remember that the lives of everyone back in the dungeon town depend on us holding them off! Most of the people back there are all rank F and G adventures who would be massacred should we let this army pass. You are all rank C or higher adventurers. You all have faced far worse to get there. So, get yourself together and get ready to fight!”
The adventurers’ morale immediately rose after hearing Penny’s speech as they all recalled the dangers they faced to reach their current rank. They all felt ashamed that they were shocked by such lowly demons while the weaker guards all stood their ground. Images on their loved ones back in the kingdom flashed across their minds. If they failed here, then there was a chance the entire kingdom might fall. They all recovered from the shock of facing so many demons at once and entered battle mode.
The guild master couldn’t help but smile and mutter, “She has really grown in the last few years.” His eyes turned to the Demon General. He knew that with him present, the only danger was the demon general. He wasn’t sure why a Demon General had come with the first wave or how strong the Demon General was, but he was fairly confident that he could win. After all, he had faced much worse in the past, so he wasn’t about to be scared of some brat who just rose to the position.
The demons closed in rapidly. 1000 meters, 800 meters, 500 meters, 300 meters, 100 meters… “Fire!” With that shout from Penny. All of the mages and archers shot their spells and arrows into the incoming demon horde. The hellhounds were nimble and dodged some of the attacks, but the imps weren’t so lucky and were hit. However, there were a lot more demons than human defenders, so although they hit about 30 or 40 demons, the reset reached the front line and the battle began.
The guards held the front with their coordinated movements so the demons couldn’t easily break through. Soon, the demons began to spread and surround the humans. A few rank B adventurers led a group of rank Cs to guard the side and killed the demons that tried to flank them. The five rank As didn’t do anything as they knew that their job was to deal with the ten elite demons, so it was best they didn’t waste too much energy on the small ones.
The battle quickly entered a stalemate as the human defenders held their ground and the demons kept trying to break through. So far, there were no major injuries or deaths while the demons were slowly being grinded down. If this could last for a few hours, then they would have easily won this battle without losing person. Sadly, that was only wishful thinking as 20 minutes into the battle, the elite demons began to move. The demonic lava golems were the first to move toward the front line. The rank A adventurers saw this and wanted to move, but they were stopped by Penny. “As much as we want to charge in and destroy them, it is too dangerous right now. We can’t go in while they have the support of all those imps and hell hounds. We have to wait until they move in closer before it is safe for us to move.”
One rank A adventurer couldn’t help but shout, “Damn it, but the guards can’t hold out against them!”
Penny shouted back, “They know their duty! Now, pay attention to yours!”
Everyone’s face darkened at those words, but they knew that Penny was right. This was the best way to wipe out the demonic lava golems. If they were to get trapped or killed by the enemy, then this battle would be lost. Although the guild master was there, they all knew that should he act, the Demon General would act too, and the battle between those two might kill them all. They gritted their teeth as they watched the demonic lava golems crash into the front line. Soon, the front line began to collapse as the guards couldn’t hold out against the lava golem and began to retreat. As well planned it all was, there were still unavoidable casualties.
Soon, the demonic lava golems pushed in deeper into the human defenders. Finally, once all ten were mixed into the front line, the rank A adventurers moved. They had been watching the battle for 30 minutes, waiting for the right moment, and this was it. Each of them quickly arrived next to a demonic lava golem and began to unleash their fury. The demonic golems were only rank C creatures, but due to their tough bodies, even rank B adventurers would struggle to finish them off quickly. However, the rank A adventurers had time to prepare, so all of their attacks were focused on the demonic lava golems’ weak spots. Soon, the golems started falling one by one. The golems seemed to notice that they had fallen into a trap, so backed up to regroup with the other demons. Sadly, they had already fallen too deep into the trap, so after another 30 minutes of fighting, eight were destroyed while only two made it back to the protection of the two elementals.
The plan was a success as it destroyed a large amount of the demons’ elite forces and the rank A adventures didn’t suffer much. That being said, a price was still paid. A total of 34 guards and two rank C adventurers died. Many more were suffering injuries. However, things were looking favorable. If they could wipe out the two remaining demonic lava golems and fire elementals, then the rank A adventurers could use their remaining strength to easily slaughter the rest of the imps and hellhounds.
Demon General Xaizal stood there watching the battle unfold with an indifferent look on his face. He really didn’t care how the battle went as long as it meant keeping them here, especially that old man. Truth to be told, aside from trying to ruin “her” plan, he was also very interested in testing his strength against the Legendary Max the Destroyer. He was raised to be a demon general after the great war, so he had only heard stories of this legendary human. He wanted to see just how much of the legend was true, but in his heart, he looked down on Max. He thought that the old man was just a relic of a bygone age and that he was going to be the one who inspires the myths now.
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After seeing eight demonic lava golems destroyed by the humans’ ambush, he knew that it was time for him to act. He needed to keep the old man busy so that the fire elementals could do some serious damage to the remaining human defenders. Even if his remaining forces were to get wiped out, as long as he hurts those rank A adventurers enough, then no one could help the dungeon even if his subordinate somehow screwed up and let a message get through. After ordering the fire elementals to fuse with the demonic golems, he finally stepped forth.
“Hey, old man, that was a pretty entertaining warm-up, but it’s time for the main event.” Demon General Xaizel flew forward, causing the guild master to frown. Guild master Max didn’t want to fight if possible. He wasn’t afraid of losing, but if he were to fight this Demon General, they would have to move a bit further away, or else the shockwave could kill everyone here. However, the situation here wasn’t completely safe yet. He also knew that this was why the Demon General acted now, because the demon was preparing for a counterattack and they didn’t want him messing it up. He let out a sigh and looked toward Penny. She also heard the Demon General, so when she saw the guild master look at her, she knew what he meant and nodded.
After seeing her nod, he let out another sigh and also moved forward to meet the Demon General on the eastern side of the battle field. The Demon General smiled and said, “Please go easy on me.” As soon as he finished, his body disappeared. When he reappeared, he was already before Max, swinging down his long sword. Max noticed this and immediately raised his hand, knocking the sword away with his mighty hammer. Soon, the two began to exchange blows rapidly creating shock waves that could be felt by the other battle. Their battle was quick and intense. No one besides the five rank A adventurers could even remotely see what was happening. All of them wished to observe this battle, but they all knew they had their own problems to deal with.
However, during the moments where everyone’s attention was drawn to the battle between the Demon General and Guild Master, the two fire elementals fused with the demonic lava golems. Right after they fused, they let out roars and each shot a giant ball of lava toward the guards. Penny was the first to notice and shouted, “Quickly, water barriers, now!” The mages suddenly withdrew their gaze from the battle to the east and casted water barriers. The lava was stopped by the water barriers and a wall was formed. Just as the water barriers disappeared, the wall was shattered as two demonic lava golems with fire elementals in them charged through and smashed into the guards. This time, these were rank A fire elementals inside demonic rock golems, which negated their weakness of being weak to being attacked.
The rank A adventurers quickly split into two groups of twos and attacked the golems. However, they didn’t realize that the fire elementals had secretly entered the golems, so they attacked as if they were only normal golems and suffered the counter-attack. The moment they hit the golems, they noticed something was wrong, but it was too late and two of the five rank A adventurers suffered serious blows. Penny noticed this and shouted, “Quickly, move those two out of the way and get them to a healer!” With that, she jumped in herself to fight one of the golems. “Hold that one there until we kill this one here!”
The battle became increasingly difficult at this moment as the two golems rampaged inside the front line. More than 70 guards had already died and three more rank C adventurers had fallen. Only about an hour and a half into the battle and only 125 guards and 25 adventurers remained. Penny knew that if this continued, they could still win, but their losses would be great, so she clenched her teeth and made a decision. Suddenly, her body began to glow as the mana in the area surged toward her. This was a special ability unique to her bloodline and why the guild master picked her up as his personal disciple, Mana Overload. This ability allowed her to draw more mana than her body could normally handle and for a short period of time, boost her abilities greatly. However, the downside was once was it over, she won’t be able to move for a week, and if she were to overuse it, then her body would disintegrate.
This surge of mana caught everyone by surprise, except the guild master, who only let out a bitter smile. He knew that she would have to use this move if they wished to keep the damage to a minimum. Once she finished activating the skill, she quickly moved and rapidly attacked the golem before her. The sudden burst in strength caught the golem by surprise and it wasn’t able to properly defend itself. Soon, after five minutes of suppressing the golem, Penny finally landed a fatal hit and killed it. As soon as it died, she and the other rank A adventurer rushed toward the remaining golem. With Penny and two rank A adventurers attacking it, the last golem quickly fell. With only one minute left on her mana overload, Penny used up all of the remaining mana in her body to cast a wide-area lightning spell before falling to the ground, unable to move....
*Dungeon Second Floor*
John and Blue quickly made their way through the second floor toward the surviving adventurers. Since Sage could see the whole dungeon, it was easy to point them in the right direction. John couldn’t stop thinking about the rank B demon down there. He knew that Sigrid was strong, but she was still only rank E, two ranks below rank B. No matter how he looked at it, she wasn’t safe. Yet, this blue boy said she was. Was it because of the dungeon? That made sense as this dungeon seemed to recognize the demons as a top threat above all else, even allying with adventurers to win.
He remembered that the final boss in his dungeon was reported as a powerful Kobold Lord that was around rank D in strength. Maybe with that boss, Sigrid could hold out until they could get help, but the difference in strength was still far too great. The more John thought, the more worried he became, and the more worried he became, the more frustrated he was at himself because he couldn’t help. All he could do was get help from the guild master, because even if he were to go down there, he would just be throwing his life away. He hated himself for not being stronger and for being such a scaredy cat before. If only he had started training earlier, he might’ve been at rank B himself right now. If only… if only…
Just as he was tormenting himself in his mind, he suddenly heard a cry in the distance. He quickly regained his sense and asked the boy, “Is there a surviving adventurer ahead?”
The body simply nodded and pointed forward to a turn. Just after the boy raised his finger, a figure came around the corner. The figure was that of a very disheveled adventurer. His clothes had many cuts on them with some minor injuries, but he was overall still alive and kicking. When he saw John, his face suddenly lit up and he shouted, “Please help me! People in my party suddenly turned on us and killed my other party members! Please save me!”
However, he soon noticed all the monsters next to John and immediately panicked again. “Ahhh, monsters! Get away!” He was around to turn around and run when John suddenly shouted, “Wait!” This came out much more forceful than John had intended, but all of the pent up anger he felt toward himself bursted out and shocked the adventurer in place. John took the chance and quickly arrived next to the adventurer and said, “Calm down and tell me what happened.”
But the adventurer saw the monsters coming as well and began to panic again, but John prevented him from running, “No, please don’t let the monsters get me. Please!”
John finally couldn’t take it anymore and slapped the guy. “I said calm down! The monsters aren’t here to kill you. They are here to help you. If you haven’t noticed, the only reason you are still alive is because the monsters have been getting in the demons’ way and slowing them down for you.”
The adventurer was dumbfounded and slowly said, “Really?” Then something suddenly registered in his brain as he shouted, “Demons?”
John nodded and explained, “Yes, demons. There were demons mixed in with all of the parties that entered here today. Their target is the dungeon and they used us to help clear out the monsters. Right now, our goal is to get out of here and report this to the adventurers guild to get help. Sigrid is trapped on in the third floor with the demon leader. We have to be quick. Can you still fight?”
The adventurer stared at John for a while as he processed all of this, but thinking back to how his best friend was killed in cold blood, his expression suddenly became serious. “Yes!” he replied. John pulled him off the ground and Blue walked up to hand over some medication. The adventurer was uneasy, but after seeing John nod, he took the medication and thanked the blue boy.
Shortly after taking it, Blue suddenly turned to look down the hall and said, “Demons coming.” Right after he said that, they could hear voices echoing down from the tunnel.
“Come here, little human. If you obediently come out now, we’ll grant you a swift death. Hehe..”.
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Edited by: General Luke