Recap

It has been a journey of nearly 200 years for a dungeon core named Eternal Training Ground, or ETG for short. During the course of its life, ETG grew from a small dungeon core that enjoyed watching how ants developed more than the adventurers who delved it. Into one of the largest dungeons in the world. With an adventurer population in the millions living in it and a population of its creatures it so enjoys observing well into the billions.

While the rest of it's brethren dungeon cores, had fallen prey to the other races of this world. It has managed to stay free, and keep it's freedom a secret from most. ETG even repel multiple attempts to chain it to serve the will of others.

ETG has gathered allies who have helped keep it safe—one of the biggest supporters being Ace. Ace was a simple adventurer who inherited a large piece of land where the Eternal Training Ground would one day be discovered. Over the course of nearly 200 years, Ace turned a once worthless piece of land into one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Thanks to the resources of the dungeon and the discovery that there was a safe area to exit the trade winds of this world that facilitated most of its commerce.

Many have made their home inside ETG's many waystations and hubstations. Finding close friends, building families and cities. None of it was easy for the adventurers who delved into this dungeon. Many have fallen in the pursuit of their dreams, yet more have succeeded thanks to the challenges they faced.

Now, however, a line has been met. The true powers of this world already know, or will soon learn, that this dungeon, ETG, is completely free and will not submit to their rule without a fight. Many will now have to choose which side they take in a war that will most likely decide the future of this world.

Chapter 251

As the creatures of ETG teleported away after declaring ETG's independence, many of the powerful platinum and diamond ranks immediately started to follow. ETG creature’s teleporter was not good enough to perform proper long-range teleportation, but what he was good at was transporting groups of people.

He knew how much mana he had—everything was calculated—so every five seconds, he teleported everyone once again, hoping they could get far enough away from the angry diamond ranks chasing them to escape back home.

At the same time, thousands of people all over the world disappeared as they finally received orders to abandon their missions and return home. None of them especially liked that their missions were cut short, as they had built a spy network unlike any other in this world. Many arguments were heard back in the dungeon about whether to keep or dismantle this useful spy network, but at the end of the day, everyone could see the writing on the wall.

ETG’s influence, which he had spread through his creatures to every corner of the world, would be discovered sooner rather than later, and it would simply be better to bring everyone back while there was still a way for them to return. Even now, their orders were not to return to Eternal City but instead to go into the underwater world and come back home through the gateway there.

The first to notice the missing people were the four great powers themselves. For the Beasts and the Masters, they learned immediately how deep the infiltration had gone, but for the Deliverers and the Pixies, they only slowly started to realize that something had gone wrong. Somehow, their servants went missing, yet even their diamond ranks, specialized in finding people, could not locate them.

Ace had received his orders three hours before the declaration of independence happened. There was only one option available to him, and that was to retreat into the dungeon. When ETG showed him what he had created for him and his nation, Ace was speechless. Immediately, he started his work. An announcement rang out in the Eternal City-State that all could hear.

"I have grave news for you all. You have all learned about who truly rules this world, but perhaps not all of you know that their strength comes from the fact that they subjugate every dungeon in this world. They hold back advancements and only allow those they deem fit—and that they can control—to achieve diamond rank. They did the same to me, not knowing that I was never their lapdog."

“The same goes for this dungeon that has been free from the very beginning, never under my control or anyone else’s. This might scare you, but for 200 years, ETG has not done anything to us to make us believe it meant us harm. The same cannot be said for the so-called rulers of this world, who only recently revealed themselves because their secrets have been spread to everyone.”

“Yet I have just been informed that, in just a little while, they will learn about the truth of this dungeon, and they will come here in force. I do not know what they will do, but I can guess. As they cannot trust anyone here, they will most likely falsely claim that this dungeon went mad and killed everyone here.”

“I have seen how ruthless they can be and can easily see them doing this. They could of course go another way and just leave things as they have been.” Everyone could hear Ace’s voice, it was like his voice perfectly conveyed a face of absolute disbelief as he uttered the last sentence.

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“This dungeon, however, seeing the future, has offered us an alternative. ETG holds many secrets, one of the biggest being how big it actually is. You know about the hub stations—well, it has constructed us a perfect replica of this nation in a place safe from the monsters, where we could all reside so we could continue to live our lives and enjoy the freedom that this world can never offer us.”

“It will not be an easy transition. While I can guarantee that no one will die of starvation, we will, of course, lose access to the most profitable trade route in the world. What I do know is that we would have access to the rest of the dungeon, and ETG has guaranteed that no one will ever reach our home to take it from us again. I will not force anyone to join; I would never do that, but I implore you to take this opportunity.”

“You might doubt my sincerity because, without you, I would not be a leader of a nation. You might perhaps think it impossible for ETG to defend against the powers of this world. But let me assure you that, honestly, I would rather not be a leader, but I am so because you all deserve the best of me, and this is the best solution I have found to protect you.”

“This dungeon has also been preparing for this conflict for almost its entire life, so be assured that no force would take it easily. However, even ETG does not guarantee complete safety, as in war, anything could happen.”

Ace continued his speech, giving a bit more information and then explaining how, in his entire nation and especially the main city, thousands upon thousands of dungeon entrances have now been opened and will take them directly to the same spot in the replica city inside the dungeon. There were people who immediately started to rush toward those entrances, but many were still in complete shock.

Ace knew that would happen, so he had already sent out his entire army—not to force anyone to escape into the dungeon but instead to help anyone who needed it and to explain the situation to those who wanted answers.

This situation was not going to be easily solved and would take time, but right now, there was no diamond rank close to the eternal city-state, and Ace stood vigilant, ready to fight any of the fast diamond ranks that could get here in a few hours if they truly pushed themselves.

The group escaping from the Masters and the Beasts Conference had managed to get about 2,000 kilometers away, thanks to their teleporter. Yet every one of them could feel the couple of diamond ranks still on their tail. They had hoped to have escaped but had also made contingency plans, and the last teleport had taken them to an airship unlike any other this world had seen.

The teleporter collapsed onto the deck, completely exhausted, but commands were already being yelled to get the ship moving. Far away, the diamond ranks, still following and continuing to accelerate faster, finally managed to see their prey.

Yet they were shocked to see where their current targets were. It was not a huge airship, but it wasn’t made out of wood; instead, it was fully made of metal. There were no sails on the airship, and none of the crystals that helped it levitate were visible outside the hull.

They continued to push themselves to catch up to the traitors. While they were shocked about the ship's appearance, they were also gleeful, as their prey was soon to be caught. Yet, all of them realized at this moment that they had celebrated a bit too soon.

They watched as huge columns of fire shot out the back of the airship, which now started to accelerate faster and faster. They were still catching up at an incredible speed, but in less than 10 seconds, the airship was approaching the speed of sound, leaving them all shocked. They pushed themselves faster, as they were currently flying at multiple times the speed of sound, but they didn’t know how fast this new type of ship could actually move.

On the ship, the entire crew was preparing for what was to come. At the bow of the ship was a singular individual, currently weaving a spell, waiting for the moment the airship reached the speed of sound.

This was far from the maximum acceleration this ship could achieve, yet if they pushed too far without proper preparations, the resistance of air itself would render the airship completely uncontrollable—not to mention the damage it would receive.

A special spell had been developed to deal with this problem, yet it required the ship to reach the speed of sound and for the accompanying sonic boom to properly activate and work. Many others were ready for the activation of this spell.

There were multiple other mages at the sides of the ship, who would also pour power into this spell and guide it along the airship. There were others prepared to dampen the G-forces everyone would feel, as even for platinum ranks, it would be hard to maintain their spells while dealing with the intense G-forces at the same time.

At the center of the airship, there were currently two people on each side of the deck, focusing a specific fire spell into the intake of the skill engine, making the ship move forward at this incredible pace. Yet, they were only there temporarily until two others beside them took over. The true powerhouses who would truly push this incredible skill engine to its very limits.

At the aft of the ship, people yelled out that they could see pursuers. Everyone’s nervousness on the ship ratcheted up multiple degrees. All of a sudden, one of the diamond ranks teleported extremely close to the ship, almost getting close enough to latch onto the airship. Yet before he could, a torrent of fire flashed over him. At first, he simply laughed it off, but soon he felt something was wrong.

The one that bathed this diamond rank in fire was a peak platinum rank with an extremely special talent. The diamond rank soon learned that his control of mana had been disrupted, and he fell towards the sea below. The platinum rank continued to let out bursts of this fire, forcing the other diamond ranks now following to avoid it, giving the ship just enough time to reach the speed of sound.

Many things happened at once as the airship reached the speed of sound. The spell activated to help control the ship at high speeds and mitigate the damage the air resistance would cause. The diamond ranks felt the power when each individual truly pulled on everything they had.

Blue flames entered the skill engine, and the ship started to accelerate at incredible speeds. Yet that wasn’t all. Inside the ship, near the bow, there was another man and another intake for the skill engine. This time, however, the spell that entered wasn’t a fire spell but instead a lightning spell.

The effects were immediate. The bluish cones of fire shortened, yet their power multiplied as the airship accelerated faster and faster. The airship started to vibrate like it was about to break apart, yet the construction held, and with every second that passed, the diamond ranks’ approach slowed down, even as they pushed themselves faster. Eventually, they stopped gaining on the airship and started to fall behind, even when they were pushing themselves to the absolute limit.

In a last-ditch effort, one of the diamond ranks teleported as close as he could, and before the flames hit him, he launched a devastating lightning strike—his specialty—onto the ship. He was aiming for one of the engines.

If only he knew that simply any attack hitting the hull would have been sufficient to break apart the delicate balance keeping the airship afloat and moving at such a speed, he wouldn’t have aimed at the one spot where his spell would have a minimum effect.

The skill engine was incredibly large and complex, taking up nearly half of the ship’s interior. Because its elements were fire and lightning, it was also incredibly resistant to those types of damage. So, while the spell did melt some of the housing of one of the engines, it wasn’t enough to do any proper damage. The diamond ranks could only watch as the airship carrying the traitors managed to escape, flying directly toward the dungeon they now knew was free.