It looks as if a new sun has risen from the horizon as a flash of bright white light makes every rock and leaf in the forest visible as clear as day.

I turn my head back to watch the eruption of power unfold.

From a tiny point on the mountain's top, a sphere of energy expands to envelop the entire top half of the mountain in an instant. Massive skyscraper-sized blades of wind erupt from the ball of mass moments later, ripping through the earth all the way down the mountain, and for over a kilometer on every side in deep gashes, making instant valleys in the forest terrain.

Thousands of trees are disintegrated in an instant, and once the sphere of bright white light hits critical mass, it envelops over 3/4 of the mountain's top, leaving only the base visible when it finally explodes.

A second even brighter flash of light blinds me, and only my All-Seeing Eye can watch the damage unfold as the entire mountain is torn to bits and decimated like it was never even there.

More violent tendrils of wind magic erupt from the center point and carve deep gashes into the earth. A crater over 2 km in diameter is created, and the outward destruction of leftover wind spreads out even further

The eerie part of all this is the sight I'm witnessing is completely silent... that is, until the shock wave of leftover energy, wind, and sound finally hits me.

I place massive walls of mana shielding behind both Bri and me as we continue to airstep away, and the mountain we passed does create a bit of shielding from the blast, but despite that, a wave of horror hits our senses anyway.

It comes in two rounds, the initial detonation, and the eruption of power once the mountain breaks and all of the built-up mana is actually released into the forest.

It all blends together, sounding like thousands of boulders are falling on top of each other, while bendable metal sheets are simultaneously hit with large sledgehammers, and in the process, countless thick trees are being split in two with dull axes. The metallic clangs, splintering rock and tree sounds, and overwhelming gust of wind that follows shows me power beyond anything I've ever felt before. It's hard to conceptualize, especially this far away from the blast zone.

The shock wave ripples through us despite all the energy barriers in place, and lasts for almost a full minute. We don't look back anymore, just continue to airstep forward and allow the leftover energy of the explosion to add power to our steps.

The fact that a large portion of the blast dispersed into the air makes me think we were lucky to have it explode on top of the mountain, so high above ground level. Even so, its aftermath is no joke.

Trees are pushed down and earth is turned up by the wind for over 10 km in all directions. As we near the outer edge of destruction, about half way to Vice City, Bri speaks up in a stern tone.

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"Did you know that would happen...? That sure is a lot more than just a dungeon collapse. We could have been in deep trouble if we were any closer."

I take a moment to respond, wondering what emotion is building more inside me; excitement or dread.

"I had a feeling something like that would happen. But, wasn't expecting it to be that massive... However, I didn't count out the possibility. There's a reason I asked for a dungeon away from civilization."

Bri looks at Vice City's night lights getting near, then back in the direction of the blast.

It was pure mana and wind magic that erupted, so once dispersed, the light dissipated too. The darkness of the night sky has completely taken over again and the mountain that is missing from the horizon won't be noticeable until morning.

"There's going to be a lot of search teams out here tomorrow... or even tonight! I'm sure quite a few people in the city saw that flash of light.The Association isn't going to just let this off as a natural phenomenon."

I point to an open clearing on the direct path under a low-branched tree.

"Let's set down the guards here right outside the blast zone, I'm sure if the Association has any questions to ask, these two will be the ones closest to the cause."

We glide down and sit them up against the tree's trunk and I put my hands up in the air, replying in a carefree tone.

"They reported an unusual dungeon break in a stable dungeon, and minutes later this happens. If they happened to be passed out during the blast, but somehow survived it, seems like they're the ones to blame for any misinformation."

I activate my stealth skill, and Bri takes the cue to do the same.

Before we leave, I grab one of the full restore potions out of my item storage and crack it open out of curiosity. I use telekinesis to feed them both half the potion as we walk away and store the empty bottle into my item storage from afar with a spatial magic portal once I'm done.

As we walk out of sight, the two guards come to their senses and immediately start talking to each other, trying to figure out where they are and what happened.

Their confused voices are drowned out as we airstep away. I murmur under my breath once we approach the city's entrance and put on my concealment skill disguise.

"I still need to do some more tests."

If that was the result of a wind stone explosion, then what would the difference be with a fire stone or an ice stone, or something else? The fact that it only sucked up mana means I could probably just use Qi to get away from it while its still expanding in the initial stages even if I couldn't use my dungeon walker skill.

This means it is possibly a success. Maybe I could use it in the Titan's domain as intended to collapse it from the inside without Ember's direct help. If it were to collapse into another dungeon, the great plains, it would take plenty of time to collapse that second dungeon as I escape with my teammates. Then again, this is all theory, and risking putting off an explosion like this inside the Dungeon Hub Beneath Vice City would not be very safe either.

As I wrack my brain for more ideas and definitive answers, Bri interjects.

"Absolutely not. Whatever you're thinking of doing, keep it away from the city, much further away. This was already far too reckless for my liking."

When she looks back at me, the corner of her lip is turned up despite her serious expression and tone.

I let out a sigh and agree, but can tell she secretly enjoyed witnessing that blast too.

"I'll keep my next tests to myself, that's fine. I'm glad at least no one got hurt."

Then I shrug and point in the direction of the Dungeon Hub.

"This way, you delivered on your end of the deal, now it's time for me to deliver on mine. I'll get you into the Labyrinth so you can rank up."