“What the fuck?”

Aria couldn’t help but curse. Who cares if the Association President, one of the most powerful entities in Yudonia, was seated right in front of her? What she had just witness warranted an expletive. Aria had guessed that the two bosses were powerful, but this… This is taking it into another realm altogether.

The Archmagus slowly came to her senses. The fried up cells in her brain had begun to come back online, and Aria quickly realised something vital. “How the hell are you expecting us to defeat those two horrors?! Have you shown this footage to Parliament yet?!”

Earlier on in the briefing, the old man had requested that the S-Rankers face the bosses without the consultation of the World Council. Alone, Yudonia had about eighty-seven S-Rankers to spare. It was indeed a formidable line-up, but Aria was confident that even if all eighty-seven of them had perfectly combined their strengths, they wouldn’t be capable of defeating one of the Stone Guardians, let alone two. They needed assistance from allied nations, at the very least gather a hundred more S-Rankers and a handful of SS-Rankers. That way, Yudonia would have a fighting chance.

“Calm yourself, Aria. It may not be as bad as you think.”

“What do you mean it wouldn’t be as bad as I think?! You saw the memory of the Elder Dragon! We’re basically throwing our lives away if we face the Angel and Demon Guardians!” Aria was animated, and reasonably so. Who could remain calm after watching that otherworldly battle? “I won’t sit back and watch you send us to our graves! I have to tell the rest!”

“Listen, Aria!” The President raised his voice for the first time, freezing the Archmagus in place. With the young lady dropping down her energy levels, the elderly man continued, “As I said… Calm yourself… Take deep breaths in… Take a moment and really think about it. Do you really believe that I’ll send you, Yudonia’s greatest powers, to just die?”

“...”

Seeing Aria a little more settled, the President sighed and opened up a new tab. It was a picture of the current state of the Angel and Demon Guardians. “Have you forgotten that the two bosses are badly damaged?”

“You’re right...” Aria had been agitated, and so she wasn’t able to pull out those images from memory. Now that it was opened up in a tab for her, the Archmagus was able to calm her nerves just the slightest bit.

“The Angel Guardian had lost its lower body, eleven of its wings had been utterly destroyed, the halo that had the mystical ability to mend their broken bodies had been blown out of its head, and the thousands of Stone Guardians it could summon are nowhere to be seen.” The President pointed to the Angel Guardian and stated his observations. “The Demon Guardian is also badly damaged. Its two wings had been torn apart, its eyes had been sliced shut, the horn protruding out of its forehead is already breaking apart, that gaping hole in its chest must have been the result of an attack to damage its core, and its invincible body is now just a few more hits from complete annihilation.”

Unlike the bosses of any regular Dungeon, the Angel and Demon Guardians were just a few more hits from destruction. Also, Yudonia’s S-Rankers had a distinct advantage, akin to that of a cheat.

“Once we move all of the Elder Dragon corpses out of the dungeon, Rhykius will use his Arcane Magic to search through their memories, hopefully giving us a little more insight on what the two bosses abilities are. Who knows? Maybe we can figure out what magic that final wing does and how the Elder Dragons had damaged the invincible Demon Guardian. You don’t have to worry. We’re working around the clock to gain as much information as we can.”

Information was king when it came to battle. Once Yudonia’s Ranker’s Association was done with their analysis of the bosses, they could formulate the best approach to take them down, bringing the threat levels way down.

“Still… It’s too dangerous...” Aria bit on her fingernail as a dreadful feeling of unease kept bubbling up in her chest. “Even if we don’t request help from the World Council, we should call some of our allies. I’m sure Elfheim would send reinforcements if we give them some benefits.” The Archmagus couldn’t imagine a world where the elves would deny Yudonia of any help to conquer the S-Class Dungeon.

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“Aria, you’re still too naive...” The elderly man shook his head. He clicked on the computer a few times to lock all of the information, before shutting it down. Heaving out a heavy sigh, the Association President got out of his chair and trudged up to the young maiden. “This is an S-Class Dungeon we’re talking about. And not just any S-Class Dungeon, one that stood the test of time and had been around since the Age of the Dragons. You saw how powerful the Stone Guardians were and those bosses… They’re in a realm far above the S-Class, perhaps even surpassing the SSS-Class.”

There really was no comparison. Even if a thousand S-Rankers were attacking them, Aria was confident that the Angel and Demon Guardians in their prime would beat them down with relative ease.

“So… A dungeon of this calibre… What rewards do you think it’ll yield?”

Whenever there was a dungeon, there would be dungeon rewards. That was the law of this world. Sometimes, there wasn’t even a need to beat the boss to yield the rewards. Hidden treasure rooms, containing vast amounts of precious resources, were the bread and butter of any Dungeon Party. Gold, magic tomes, high-grade minerals and ores to craft magic equipment… The list was endless. However, nothing could beat the rewards given to the conquerors of the dungeon.

“Just one of those Elder Dragons could fetch a billion dollars easily, so you can just imagine the costs of the boss drops. If we defeat the Angel and Demon, we’ll be able to monopolise all of the rewards for ourselves. However, if we employ the help of our allies, chances are, they’ll take the lion’s share while we’ll be left with the scraps.”

That was the harsh reality of the world. Yudonia was a small country, a flick of dust compared to the behemoth superpowers of the world. Currently, due to the peace treaty signed by the World Council, other nations weren’t allowed to meddle in the S-Class Dungeon of the second-rate country. However, that could all change if Yudonia invites others to assist them.

When Gondor invited S-Rankers to help them clear their S-Class Dungeon, they could lay down the terms of what the S-Rankers could get because their military might was among the highest in the world. Yudonia didn’t have that luxury. Even if they brought in their closest ally, Elfheim, the juggernaught of a nation would demand the majority cut, and to keep their alliance going, Yudonia would be forced to comply.

“Aria, you really don’t have to worry. I’ll make sure that we analyse every nook and cranny of the two bosses, to ensure the maximum safety of the raid. I give you this oath, as the Ranker Association’s President.”

“That...”

Aria was torn. She could understand the predicament that the President was in, but the Archmagus was still shaken by the divine magic that the Angel and Demon Guardians displayed. Though they were heavily damaged, the bosses were still creatures that once surpassed the SSS-Class. There was a real possibility that instead of the overwhelming victory that the President was predicting, the Stone Guardians would wipe the floor with the S-Rankers, ending all of their pitiful lives.

The elder could sense the inner turmoil within Aria, and a bitter smile crept up his face. ‘Looks like there’s a need for one more push...’ He didn’t want to pull out this card, but for the sake of Yudonia and keeping Aria within the raid force, the President had to throw out everything that he had.

“Aria… Do you honestly think that the only rewards we can get from the Dungeon are physical?”

“Huh?”

“Aren’t you interested? In the magic of that Ancient Age where Dragons roamed?”

“!!!” Instantly, the lifelong researcher’s eyes sparkled in glee. Her feet got jittery, and she could feel butterflies within her stomach. The Age of the Dragons. There weren’t many accounts of that ancient time and those that existed often contrasted one another. What magic system did they use? How were Dragons so powerful? How different was magic during the time before the bronze age? Those were questions that stupified not only Aria but thousands of researchers around the globe.

“If we conquer the dungeon, Yudonia would monopolise this archaic monument. All of the magic tomes we might discover, the artefacts that lay behind the Boss Room, everything will be yours to study,” the President’s voice was as sweet as Mephistopheles, bringing Aria further and further into the dark side. “If we request for help, all of those research subjects that you might procure would go to Elfheim. Is that what you really want?”

“...” The Archmagus remained silent with her eyes planted to the floor. However, in the end, her heart of greed finally caved in. “If it gets too dangerous, I’ll be the first one to retreat with Yvette.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” The President smiled and tapped Aria on her shoulder. He had won. “Take a long rest. Go home if you want to. I reckon that it’ll take two to three days for us to gather enough information to execute a raid. Also, you don’t have to worry...” The elderly man kneeled next to Aria, holding her hand throughout. “I promise, I won’t let anyone die.”

The Archmagus snorted. She pushed the President’s hand away and stood up from her comfy position. With a sneer, she replied: “Yeah, right. As if you could promise that.” Aria walked towards the exit of the tent, hoping to flee this dastardly place. Before she took that final step out, the maiden turned back and gave the President one last plea.

“Just… Double-check, okay? We don’t need to lose anyone else...”

“Aria, you...” The President raised his hand with a slight shiver in his voice. In the end, the only response he could give was a lowly murmur. “Yeah, I swear to do that.”

“Good...” Aria bent her head slightly before finally taking her leave.

The night was chilly in the mountain range, but Aria didn’t shiver in the slightest. Well, not on the exterior at least. Internally, the Archmagus’ heart was beating at a thousand beats per minute, fearful of the potential tragedy that might befall on Yudonia’s Rankers.

‘Hah… I really am a bad person...’

Walking alone in the cold, Aria sought out the warmth of the blonde elf she treasured the most.