“How annoying.” Sonic clucked his tongue as he glared at a group of Death Knights. Behind them, a basketball-sized orb floated within a purple pillar. Sonic recognized the dungeon core, but it was protected by a life-seal. Life-seals were barriers tied to a living being’s life energy. Such barriers were nigh-unbreakable without killing the beings linked to it. Due to the life-seal, Sonic’s strategy of avoiding fights to save time came to a crashing halt. He had no choice but to fight now.
Still, it was just annoying. Sonic looked at the level 190 Death Knights that would give most parties headaches with mellow eyes. With a slight snort, he charged at the angry defenders.
The Death Knights roared as they swung their swords at the kafu. Death scythes tore through the air, but Sonic seamlessly weaved through the attacks, before breezing past the Death Knights. The defenders quickly turned around, but violent tornadoes suddenly swallowed each one. Thousands of tiny wind blades embedded within the tornadoes shredded the Death Knights to pieces. Seconds later, the tornadoes dissipated with a small explosion, leaving nothing but dust behind.
“Second core down.” Sonic lazily placed thistle in his mouth as he walked over to the dissipating barrier. With a snort, he kicked out, sending a wind blade that shattered the dungeon core. Ding! Sonic grinned when he received a confirmation point alongside a flurry of experience points. However, he did not waste time enjoying his victory. The team was on a very short deadline. Every second counted!
After confirming the core’s destruction, he immediately charged over to assist the rest of his team in clearing the last one.
Elsewhere, Brilith’s team was just about to finish their assault on the last core. Their efficiency in eliminating the cores was frightening. Though, they did owe a large part to Brilith taking point to transport through the undead army. Still, it seemed like they would have the glory of finishing their objectives first.
Just when they were on the cusp of victory, Brilith’s expression suddenly turned red with anger. She suddenly roared, “Kashi!” and then send several tree branches shooting into the sky like missiles.
The rest of Silver Spear also turned to the sky in shock to see something rapidly descended upon their location. Within the blink of an eye, a dragonified Kashi came into view. The daeben’s eyes were desperate as he tucked his wings and slipped through the branches’ assault.
FTB appeared in Kashi’s hand, and he trained an arrow downward. Brilith frantically wrapped thick trunks over her vulnerable teammates, shielding them from Kashi’s attack. The wisben was livid as she glared at Kashi with hate, “What do you think you’re doing? Do you have the luxury to betray us right now!?”
Kashi let his arrows do the talking. Bang! Bang! Bang! A dozen arrows fell like meteors from the sky. However, the arrows crashed through the Death Knights, shattering them in one blow. The draconian then swiftly landed, and grabbed the core as the barrier dissipated. Only then did he finally relax and let out a sigh of relief, “Oof, just about made it on time.”
Brilith released her vines when she realized that Kashi was not there to kill them. However, she was not easily placated. She glared at the draconian with an accusatory glare. “What the hell was that? I cannot work with you if you keep doing impulsive acts like that.”
Kashi scratched his cheek and bowed in apology. “My bad. I really needed one core.”
Brilith could not understand what Kashi wanted to do with a dungeon core. Summoned did not have the authority to wield these cores in any meaningful way. In fact, Summoned could only destroy them. How was Kashi holding that core? Brilith probed him for information. “Your team had four!? You could not grab any of those?”
Kashi let out a bitter laugh and then pointed to the east. “Do you see any pillars? Hektor, that idiot, destroyed all of them before I could get close.”
“What are you talking abo—” Brilith’s retort froze in her throat. The east was indeed empty. Forget the pillars, even half of the undead had disappeared. Occasionally, she would spot lightning and flames amid the remaining undead.
‘Does this make sense? They finished that quickly?’ Brilith could not believe her eyes. No, wait, did Kashi say Hektor? That barbarian-looking man that looked like he had not showered in weeks? That simple-looking man was this strong?
Seeing the doubt in her eyes, Kashi replied, “Don’t think too much. Hektor and Drix just happen to be the perfect counter for undead.”
Indeed, even Kashi severely underestimated Hektor and Drixlia’s lethality. No, more accurately, he failed to account for Rex. The little dragon did not sit idly by while Hektor rampaged, but supported with fire spells from the sky. Even though he was still young, and lacking in many areas, the pure Divine Dragon’s flames proved fatal to the undead. Within a few minutes the trio crushed their assigned cores, and then, drunk on excitement ‘helped’ Kashi take care of his too.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Kashi almost cried when he saw the trio destroy his core. However, he could not chastise them—not when they had those excited faces. So, he dropped off Shadow and Zuri, and then sped off to the nearest surviving dungeon core. He did not risk stating his intention, just in case Brilith was spiteful enough to destroy it.
Kashi would never know, but he was right on the money. If he spoke up ahead of time, Brilith would have destroyed the core just so Kashi did not get it. Destroying her opponent’s resources and advantages was how Brilith rose to the top after all.
Brilith reined in her anger after Kashi’s explanation. She knew this was not the time to risk a fallout, so she continued her probing, “What do you want to do with that?”
“Oh this?” Kashi casually tossed the core into Orez and then replied, “I’m making dungeons for my guildmates to train. You can apply to enter if you’re interested.”
Brilith’s gaze turned frosty as she glared at Orez’s disappearing portal. Her spies in the Hopeful Maggots guild informed her that Kashi had some sort of inner world. However, they did not know the full details about its interior or how it functioned. Kashi was yet to give full access to all Hopeful Maggots. Once that happened, she would know more.
For the moment, she nodded, and said, “I might take you up on that offer someday.”
Kashi nodded, but he felt a bit uncomfortable under Brilith’s gaze. The woman felt like a tree viper, slowly coiling along the branches as she inched closer for the kill.
Fortunately, a bright red pillar appeared near the north, pulling their attention.
“Looks like the gate is here.” Kashi smirked, and then jumped into the sky. “If you’ll excuse me.” Using that excuse, Kashi left Brilith behind and then flew toward the pillar.
As expected, Kashi was the first person to reach the red beacon. He slowed down when he saw a massive red gate within the pillar. Indeed, the next floor opened as soon as Sonic’s team destroyed their last core.
Kashi dispersed his draconian form as he dropped to the ground. While he had no time limit on the form, it massively drained his stamina. Kashi suspected that would be the case until he completed Drakul’s Dream and became a full Elder Dragon.
But, if he did, would he still be a daeben?
Kashi did not have time to ponder much because the other teams caught up a few moments later. Funnily enough, they all looked expectantly at him. It was obvious the daeben had some cheats for this examination. The students were eager to hear more.
Kashi chuckled softly, but did not stand on ceremony. Pointing at the door, he said, “The next floor is the Hell Floor. We’ll suffer a heat penalty upon entry, because half of the floor is endlessly burning. Like undead on this floor, lesser devils and demons roam the Hell Floor. Devils specialize in illusions and hallucinations, while demons are brawlers. Just like this floor, I recommend rushing straight to the cores. We don’t want to get bogged down.”
Sonic and Brilith nodded. The heat penalty concerned them, but they both had their ways of dealing with that problem. Without hesitation, they opened the door and charged through. Shadow, Larsial, Syèl and Shokō followed the group, but Kashi held back Drixlia and Hektor.
“You guys clear this floor.” Kashi’s eyes shone as he stared at the sea of undead. These were massive experience points! Because of the Adjudicator’s curse, Kashi needed an exorbitant amount of experience points to keep up with the frontrunners. Fortunately, Drixlia counted as Kashi’s mount, so anything it killed sent some experience points his way.
Kashi thought about this when he saw Hektor and Drixlia’s efficiency. He would have stayed to help, but he did not want the other guilds to feel he was not pulling his weight. Also, Kashi had some things he wanted to check on the Hell and Heaven floors. He did not want to risk those items falling into Brilith or Sonic’s hands.
Kashi revealed a guilty smile as he thought of the Demon King’s core. He was about to mess up the Demon King’s creation. He knew just how long it took the Demon King to find the right materials for this project. “I’m bringing you back to life, so forgive me.”
Kashi shook his head and then grinned at Hektor. “What are you waiting for? Get going.”
Hektor’s eyes flashed and he nodded. He raised his sword and then charged into the undead with Drixlia. The young man was like a grim reaper sent by the heavens to return these vengeful souls to the afterlife.
‘Hm… He could be cooler.’ Kashi’s artistic instincts decided to design Hektor armor befitting his new identity at the first opportunity. ‘Full Plate. No, Hide armor. A barbarian Dragoon. Hehe, what a novel concept. I like the challenge.’
Kashi turned to look at Zuri, who waited by the gate with an expectant gaze. “Sorry I took so long. You said you saved some birds?”
Zuri beamed as he jumped onto Kashi’s shoulders while he walked into the portal. “And so, and so, Zuri beat those—” The little girl’s voice disappeared as they disappeared into the portal.