Ding!
You are the first party to have entered the [Royal Caverns]!
When the bright blue swirling light cleared from everyone's vision, they were able to see their surroundings clearly.
Glowing thick white marble pillars lined up along the white cavern walls lit up the rest of the white marble domed room.
Between the marble pillars, there were an uncountable number of holes in the walls... and all of them were crawling with [Lobsoach] similar to the ones they had killed earlier. Although these looked to be smaller and weaker there were still far too many of them!
“Aright you weaklings. Time to put your training into action!” shouted Zundar as he bashed his fists together.
The young Minos warriors all took a few moments to hype themselves up like Zundar readying themselves for the coming wave of [Lobsoach's].
The sound of thousands of sharp pointy legs scurrying across the unseen marble floor echoed throughout the domed room causing more tension as the Minos warriors formed up around Zundar while the Werewolves and Fluffball stood with Akira.
Seconds felt like hours but the wait was soon over as a massive black wave of small [Lobsoach] gushed out of the hundreds of holes in the walls all around them. [Lobsoach level 50] [Lobsoach level 100] Their levels seemed to vary greatly.
To lighten the load for the young Minos warriors, Akira and Fluffball went into action first shooting off several [Sword Slash] and Icy attacks at the wave of [Lobsoach] coming towards them.
Akira's attacks sliced through several dozens of monsters while the ice attacks exploded, freezing even more of them. Both attacks were able to cut out decent gaps in the large wave of [Lobsoach].
Before the [Lobsoach] reached them Akira took a sip of a blue potion and tossed Fluffball a blue candy to help him stay in top shape for the coming battle.
Although the [Lobsoach] seemed to be low level. There looked to be enough of them to cause a dungeon outbreak at any moment! Their numbers were enough to kill one person if they were worn down by the endless onslaught.
Akira did not let the thought of the [Lobsoach] escaping the dungeon enter his mind or any thoughts of havoc that they would cause to the local Minos villages. He only focused on hacking away at the swarming [Lobsoach] that were too young to use much of any special attacks.
His sword sliced through many of the younger [Lobsoach] bodies like butter while the ones with harder shells took a few more hacks from his sword as he led those around him into the fray of the wild battle with the swarm.
Fluffball had released his miniature form and had grown to his full size and was now encased in his holy ice armor allowing him to stand next to Akira, clawing and biting his way through anything that Akira did not attack.
They were not going all out to clear the [Lobsoach] as Akira knew this was a perfect time to help the young Minos warriors grow in strength so they made sure to let a good portion pass and reach Zundar's group.
“Watch where you're swinging and stabbing your weapon!” Roared Zundar.
The young Minos warriors were doing just fine with Zundar shouting out sharp scolding for any errors in their movements or attacks. There were even a few words of encouragement to those who were doing an above-average job compared to the rest of the group.
Spearia was silent the entire time as she just fought alongside the others.
The battle with the unending wave of [Lobsoach] continued for over a half hour causing a large wall of dead bodies to pile up before them.
This was causing more issues as the [Lobsoach] were now climbing up to the top and jumping through the air to attack people in the middle or rear of the formation making it hard to concentrate the attacks in one direction.
Akira seeing the need to change this situation readied his skill [Shield Bash] and plowed through the pile of dead [Lobsoach] sending the piled-up bodies flying through the air and to the side as he cut down the hill of bodies like a snow plow clearing a large snowbank.
With the large pile of bodies shattered the Minos warriors were able to continue fighting as before.
'Ahhhh, I wish I had it this easy when I was around their strength,' thought Akira as he watched their individual strength continue to climb with each passing minute of the [Lobsoach] swarm.
Around 45 minutes of nonstop fighting the wave of small [Lobsoach], the swarm seemed to be slowing down. After another 5 minutes, the last of the [Lobsoach] exited the holes of the walls and continued to rush towards the party intent on trying to do what several thousands of their kin could not do.
The Minos warriors including Spearia were all breathing heavily from the long drawn-out battle.
SCREEEEEECH!
THUMP!
A massive body towering over 8 feet tall and nearly 5 feet wide repelled down from a hidden alcove in the ceiling. As it landed with a loud 'BANG!' it crushed several of the young [Lobsoach] under its sharp spear-like legs.
The dungeon guardian had arrived! [Lobsoach Queen level 200 💀]
The Queen looked very similar to the [Red Lobsoach] they had fought with outside the dungeon. There was just one minor difference...
A freaking upper torso of a humanoid female was sticking out of the front part where the normal [Lobsoach] head would be! The upper torso was covered in thick black fur and the torso's two long arms had hands shaped like large scissors. The Torsos head had thick black hair that fell down its shoulders with bangs that hung just above its 8 sets of eyes and its wide open smiling mouth that had hundreds of sharp teeth gleaming.
Akira looked over to Zundar and asked, “You think that is part of some long-lost demon race?”
Zundar shook his head, “No, it's just some mindless monster.”
With how long the battle against the swarm of smaller [Lobsoach] lasted the young Minos warriors looked to be in no shape to even attempt to fight the Queen. Even if they were fully rested they lacked strength compared to the queen it would only be suicide to have them fight her.
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“Looks like it's our time to shine. Zundar are you in for the fight or are you going to stay here with them?” asked Akira.
“Of course, I'm fighting along with you!” said Zundar.
“Fluffball, that means I'll be leaving you here to help keep them safe! The rest of you need to kill the remaining small [Lobsoach],” said Akira as he pat Fluffball on the head.
Zundar relayed the orders to the Minos warriors before joining Akira in a charge toward the [Lobsoach Queen] with Akira and his guards.
“Roar!” said an unsatisfied Fluffball. He did not like getting handed the task of babysitting the Minos warriors.
Spearia and the rest of the young warriors had to pick up the slack left by the main powerhouses that had been helping keep everything in order. They were already struggling to keep up with the remaining attacking [Lobsoach].
“ROAR!” said Fluffball, giving out orders to the Minos who did not understand what he was saying.
It did not matter much that they did not understand him as he went about swatting them on the butt and pulling them back into position with his teeth in between shooting several ice shards at the small swarm.
With the help of Fluffball keeping them and the swarm in check they were able to somehow survive through the last wave of the small [Lobsoach]. With heavy breaths, they looked over to see how Akira and Zundar's group was doing in their battle with the [Queen Lobsoach].
“You *^$# bug! Come here so I can &^%$$ you!” shouted Akira using the [Potty Mouth] to get the queen's attention. Zundar, who had managed to move to the side of the queen, jumped up into the air and used his full might to attack the queen's back torso with his large metal warhammer.
Crack! The sound of the queen's hairy light exoskeleton torso was heard by everyone as blue blood started to escape from the open cracks.
In a pained rage, the queen's tail swiped forward and smacked Zundar out of the air slamming him to the ground where he let out a low grunt.
The queen moved her attention to Zundar and sent her tail shooting down, piercing into the stone floor only managing to graze Zundar's shoulder as he rolled away leaving a trail of red blood from his new shoulder wound.
The queen's back was now facing Akira as she repeatedly attacked the ground with her tail and pincer claws trying to hit the constantly rolling Zundar.
With her tail in full view, Akira took the chance to charge forward and activated his skill [Cross attack!]. The large blue X shot out and slammed into the exposed tail's weak point.
Ding! [Critical hit!]
The tail that had been shooting forward to pierce Zundar's chest fell limply onto him as it was severed from its main body!
SCREEEEE!
The queen whirled around and slammed her large armored claws into Akira before he could brace himself, sending him flying back into a glowing pillar.
Akira coughed up a mouthful of blood as he stood back up and activated the Skill [Harden] as the Queen started to hammer him with her claws.
He could hold his shield firmly protecting him from the bombardment as he waited for a chance to attack and keep her attention on him while Zundar got back up and recovered himself, he had several new fresh wounds on his body now.
When he thought the time was right he activated the skill [Sword slash] and aimed it at the queen's neck!
Only for her claws to swipe at the blue crescent and block it. The claws were not undamaged, although not deadly there was still a thin white line with a few drops of blue blood leaking out.
The enraged queen continued to slam Akira with claw attacks until he activated his [Shield Slam] skill shooting forward...
Only for the queen to sidestep and catch him in her pincers as she raised him up into the air and slammed him into the ground repeatedly.
Zundar, seeing Akira's predicament rushed forward and jumped onto the queen's back slamming his warhammer down on the hard shell trying to crack it open.
The sound was like a loud gong as the hard exoskeleton vibrated under his feet but there was only a large white crack where he had attacked.
However, it was enough to hurt the internal organs slightly causing the queen to swipe at Zundar with her free claw trying to catch him as well.
Akira, still trapped in one of the queen's claws, activated his skill [Shadow chains].
The queen was just launching what looked like a sticky web from her hand at Zundar but the aim was knocked off course as four shadowy wolf heads shot out of the queen's shadows and bit onto her two large claws and her lower body immobilizing her for a moment.
With her claws and body stuck her head shot forward with her mouth wide open as she bit deeply into Zundar's wounded shoulder.
With the queen now biting him, Zundar grit his teeth and used his free arm to wrap around the queen's neck and started to strangle her.
The queen tried to detach herself from Zundar but his muscles bulged as he ignored the pain and exerted power to choke her while pulling her neck back.
Akira, now fully recovered from the dizzying rag-doll slamming he had endured, managed to pry himself out of the weakening grasp of the queen.
“It's now or never,” said Akira as he rushed forward and attacked with his sword using all his might to land an attack on the Queen's exposed neck.
Ding! Critical hit! The [Bisection] skill has been activated!
Ding!
The [Royal Caverns] have been cleared!
The dungeon overflow has been stopped!
Additional experience has been gained as a reward!
Level up! Level up! You are now level 211!
The level of Fluffball is now 199!
Low-level party members have been given a bonus of 10 levels for participating in clearing an overflow dungeon.
A panting Akira looked over to Zundar and the others.
“That was harder than I thought it would be,” said Akira.
Zundar nodded as he looked at the large corpse of the [Lobsoach Queen].
When his uneven breathing calmed down Akira walked over to the black iron key that was floating in the air and walked to the black chest that had appeared on a small platform.
Using the key Akira was able to unlock the chest. As it opened a Black light burst out blinding him for a second before dissipating and revealing the contents inside. There was a large gold sack of what looked like a large pile of soft but sturdy gold silk. Akira guessed it was a good enough material that the skilled Kodria weavers could use to create an armored dress for Mileena.
Next to the gold silk was a large pile of gold coins and a small weathered leather scroll.
When his hand grabbed the leather scroll it began to let out a dim glow as he unrolled it revealing an incomplete map.
He felt a slight vibration in his bag and looked inside to see that the old map he had picked up long ago was also glowing!
“A pair? Or are there more pieces?” muttered Akira as he put the second map piece into his pack. As he did that the two map pieces stopped glowing.
He gathered the rest of the gold and silk inside the chest before rejoining Zundar who was currently being mobbed with questions from the excited young Minos warriors who had watched his fight with great interest.
“We can't stay here for long, let's get out of here everyone! I know everyone will be wondering where we all have gone. If we don't show up soon there might be some misunderstandings leading to some trouble for us!” said Akira.
Zundar nodded, “You’re right. Now's not the time to chat.”
“ROAR!” said an unhappy Fluffball who walked over to Akira's side and rubbed against him with his cold ice armor.
“You did a good job as usual,” said Akira, rubbing Fluffball's head.
“Get moving!” shouted Zundar to the excited Minos warriors as he started to herd them towards the swirling portal.
“STOP LOLLYGAGGING!”
He continued to smack and yell at them as he pushed them into the portal.
Fluffball, Akira, Klyn, and the werewolf guards were the last to exit the dungeon as the rear guard.