Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 85
Chapter 85: Episode 23. Pandemonium (2)
Krithli, who was holding the Death Cane, spoke in a grave, determined tone, “We must stop them without revealing any opening whatsoever. Even though our enemies are the Celestials, the combat force available to us aren’t pushovers, either.”
Over one thousand five hundred monsters ranked mid-grade and above had assembled on the first floor. Quite a few high-grade monsters were among them, as well.
The truth was, even if their force proved to be inadequate, they simply had to defend this dungeon no matter the cost.
This was their “last” home. Didn’t they swear to protect the Tree of Origin when it sprouted, even at the cost of their lives? Determination burned fiercely within the eyes of every Dark Elf present, including Krithli.
However, Julium was an exception. He spoke up with a concerned expression. “My queen, please stay behind us. The Celestials are not simple opponents.”
After her illness was cured, Krithli became the recognized “queen” of the Dark Elves through the ceremony with the dungeon master. Julium, and even Krathra, now addressed her respectfully. However, she was still not fully used to the honorifics yet and could only smile back awkwardly.
“Elder, Seven Spartoi and Liches are protecting me, so what can threaten me?”
“My queen, you do not know how cruel and frightening the Celestials can be…!”
Julium shivered visibly.
The Devildom. In that world, Julium had spent an inordinate amount of time in the backwoods and witnessed the Celestials appear through the Dimensional Gate several times in his life. Every single one of the angels used cruel, merciless means to massacre every lifeform in the Devildom. Whenever this event happened, all he could do was run as if his butt was on fire and ensure his continued survival.
Of course, the invasion of the heavenly world didn’t happen often, maybe once every several decades or so. However, every time it happened, almost every part of the Devildom bar the central area received considerably heavy damage.
In other words, only the weaklings that got chased out from the inland area were killed off. This was the reason why Julium tried his hardest to enter the World Tree. The fear of dying at any given moment while living in the backwoods still accompanied him.
On the other hand, Krithli was young. She had never experienced the terror of the Celestials yet. This was why Julium thought that she could maintain a calm state of mind like this.
“Please do not worry. I’m skilled enough to protect myself, at least.”
Krithli smiled brightly to allay the older man’s fears. Her beauty grew more astonishing with every passing day, and no other Dark Elf could even hope to match her looks anymore. Even the one and only Julium lost himself for a moment there.
After somehow regaining his wits, Julium spoke gravely, “…This old man will sacrifice himself to protect you, my queen.”
“Fuu fuu. I feel much more reassured now.”
Boom!
Ka-boom!
It was right then.
The dungeon was rocked by something. The Celestials had started attacking in earnest. Not too long afterward, many presences invading the dungeon through the entrance were detected.
Krithli tightly grasped the Death Cane. “Get ready. Our enemies have come.”
Two hundred angels.
Four “Rulers”.
And one “Power”…
That was the number of angels that had entered the dungeon.
Even though the interior was incredibly dark, they marched on without hesitation, evidently not affected by the darkness at all. Soon afterward, they encountered Saber Tigers on an uneven ground.
Growl!
Tens of Saber Tigers surrounded the angels. When the latter group wielding the weapons made out of light stepped forward, the big cats hurriedly leaped back. As if to say, follow me if you dare.
However, the angels didn’t fall for it, simply maintaining their ranks.
As expected, the Celestials were not simple-minded creatures. They instantly figured out that this was a trap. Krithli immediately mobilized the Lizardmen next.
Monsters in the lizard family, the Lizardmen were Lv2 mid-grade creatures, seen as geniuses when it came to direct confrontation.
Hiss! Sluuurp!
Fifty or so Lizardmen equipped with scimitars and round wooden shields, plus small armor draped over their bodies, continued to flick their tongues around. They attacked first in a provoking manner.
Compared to the two hundred-plus angels, the Lizardmen’s number was hopelessly low, but they hadn’t been sent out to win the battle in the first place. They were simply a sacrificial unit to analyze the enemies’ firepower.
It took only eight minutes for all of the 50 Lizardmen to be exterminated. Only by two angels, no less!
The efficiency was absolutely the worst, and the “Rulers” and “Power” at the rear didn’t even do anything, but this was a good enough result regardless. It seemed that this result could be used as an objective indicator of their strength.
“This is beyond my expectation. So, this is a Celestial…”
Krithli, who standing before the Dungeon Crystal Ball, an item that allowed one to check out every unfolding situation within the dungeon, could only suck her breath in. The prowess of the angels she witnessed through the crystal was simply too ridiculous.
“But, this is rather fortunate for us. There aren’t too many higher sphere angels in their midst.”
On the other hand, Julium was sighing in relief.
Krithli tilted her head this way and that in confusion and asked, “I’ve heard that the hierarchy of angels are varied and complicated. Are there such great differences between them?”
“Yes, my queen. The lowest sphere of angels features regular angels, Archangels, and the ‘Rulers’. However, just like how the Archangels are special existences, you shouldn’t carelessly pass judgment based on the sphere alone. An angel of ‘Powers’ rank can easily contend against a Dark Elf Lord for supremacy. Above this rank are the ‘Virtus’ and the ‘Dominions’, and each of them is powerful enough to fight against the highest-grade monsters all alone. And in the first sphere, the ones called the ‘Councillors’… I’ve heard that there are the ranks of ‘Thrones’, ‘Cherubim’, and finally, the ‘Seraphim’ but this old man had never seen one before so I can’t be certain of how powerful they really are.”
“The one above them all, the last boss, is the King of Heaven, isn’t it?”
“That is correct, your majesty. The King of Heaven is the master of the heavenly world, just like how the Dark Lord is the master of the Devildom. And if we only have to contend with the ‘Rulers’ and ‘Powers’ ranked angels, then the monsters in this place should be good enough for the job.”
Only then did Julium’s stiff expression soften up.
Krithli quietly stared at the crystal ball, before raising her voice. “I shall throw out another bait. Next will be the turn of the werewolves. Everyone… Prepare the ritual.”
First the Lizardmen, then the werewolves, and finally the Nagas were sent out to meet their demise at the hands of the angels. Not a single one was spared. Their blood scattered and clung to the angels’ figures.
If the sun was up in the sky, then the bloodstains would’ve vanished all on their own, but unfortunately, this was inside a dungeon. Wishing to be clean in a place filled with nothing but darkness was an extravagance.
In the end, the angels had no choice but to continue their advance while caked in blood from head to toe. And after the bloodstains from the Dark Bears and Trolls were splashed onto their bodies, the “ritual” finally got underway.
The rituals of the Dark Elves were rather peculiar. Initially, it’d be nothing more than spoken words or actions. However, they gave “meaning” and “soul” to everything they did and spoke, which in turn began displaying its true might after a lengthy period.
Because of this, rituals performed by different tribes widely varied from each other.
This was something impossible to explain even in terms of “skills”. It was far closer to a transcendental will, as it were.
Julium knew of a certain ritual of a “curse”, an ancient incantation that steadily weakened the targets after splashing them with the blood of specific monsters in a strict sequence.
As the angels were already doused in the blood of the monsters, they shouldn’t be able to avoid what was about to happen.
Dark Elves gathered into a group and settled down, before starting their prayer to console the dead monsters while cursing the Celestials. Quite a few of them even began convulsing uncontrollably as their emotions reached their absolute peak.
A short while later, a Saber Tiger appeared before them with a dead angel caught in its maw.
“Stab into the wings. The souls of the dead monsters will curse the Celestials afterward.”
After seeing the corpse, Julium pulled out a single dagger. It was such an ancient item that its edges were now dull and even its colors had faded. Although she felt strongly against touching the weapon, Krithli still received the dagger. She briefly wondered if such a thing could really curse someone.
She quietly sucked in a deep breath, before stabbing the wing of the angel on the ground.
Hi-aaaah-.
A bizarre moan leaked out. However, the dead angel’s mouth definitely didn’t produce it.
A powerful ripple of magic containing the curse was generated, and it crazily raced towards the Celestials.
The angels sensed something was wrong and got flustered for a short while. Julium nodded his head as he observed the unfolding situation through the crystal ball. “It’s a success. The ritual of the curse worked.”
“…In that case, let us get ready for the final attack. We shall drive out our enemies.”
She needed to deal a fatal blow to the angels with the least amount of loss possible.
The firepower of her enemies had been confirmed already, and as they had been weakened by the curse, she calculated that her side should emerge victorious without going past the acceptable level of loss.
The enemies weren’t only inside the dungeon. More of them were right outside. Monsters had to be preserved to the best of her abilities if their wishes were to come true.
It was at that moment that Krithli stumbled and faltered. Her legs twisted and gave away, and she nearly tumbled down but managed to avoid it somehow.
“It seems that you’ve heard the outcries of the souls, your majesty. Please, lean on me,” said Julium.
The curse also affected the caster, as well. The rebound would get worse with stronger targets. If it weren’t for Krithli’s intelligence stat exceeding 100, it wouldn’t be strange to see her blackout for several days.
The startled Julium tried to support her, but Krithli reached out and stopped him, instead. “I’m fine. Compared to him currently fighting so hard on the outside… This is nothing at all.”
Soon enough, she managed to stand straight on her two feet, and began moving out along with the other monsters.
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“Dawn is breaking.”
The evening went by. The moon slowly sank towards the horizon, and the amber twilight slowly rose in the opposite direction. Even then, Hashumal didn’t fall. Despite fighting against the monsters that continued to rain down a barrage of nonstop attacks, her stern body language and expression didn’t falter for a second.
“Hashumal… It seems that her fame was not undeserving, after all.”
Truly amazing. Honestly, I was deeply impressed by her. Realistically speaking, Hashumal was better suited to be a supporter, not an out-and-out combatant. As a matter of fact, she did support stronger angels and accomplished many great feats during that one and a half year period in my previous life.
That was why I was inclined ever so slightly to underestimate her. I had this misinformed idea in my head that she’d reach her limit once she was pushed towards the edge of the cliff, that she was nothing more than a mere supporter.
However, the current situation was more than enough to move even me. There were around eighty or so angels still alive, but in the end, their sole ray of hope was Hashumal and her alone. This was basically her fighting against every demon and monster all by herself.
The one who carried the light. She even knew how to aim with that light too, it seemed.
What if I was in her position? Just imagining it made me shake my head.
“Half a day. At a stretch, one day.”
I knew myself the best. That’s why I would never show reckless bravado unless the situation called for it. On top of this, I was never very good in a one vs many fight. Objectively speaking, lasting for that long would be my absolute limit.
However, Hashumal’s vigor didn’t wane. The sun rose and her completely-empty divinity began to recover, albeit only by a minute amount. She was indeed a perfect personification of the expression of “getting utterly fed-up.”
But thanks to her, the battle situation had entered a state of lull. Demons were in the middle of playing the numbers game by summoning the high-grade monsters here. Their intention of trying to shave down her stamina was so very clear to see.
“If hell really exists for humanity, this place must be it,” said Yoo Eunhye, as she approached me. Her breathing was heavy, labored.
Her previously-spotless face was caked with dust and blood splatters. She experienced so many events today that she even forgot to wipe the dirt away.
Unfortunately, our problem remained. The event was not over yet.
Currently, the surviving awakened including the attack unit members were standing in the middle of the battlefield.
It was a huge relief that the frequency of the enemy attacks had slowed to a crawl after everything fell into a lull. We even found some time to take a breather by using the monster corpses to build temporary walls and hiding within them, so…
Still, I reminded her, “Do not let your guard down.”
“Hoo! You don’t have to say that. It feels like I’ll kick the bucket in the blink if I relax too much. My head still feels numb, you know, because of those Invisible Insects or whatever they are called.”
Yoo Eunhye firmly massaged her temples.
I shifted my gaze and scanned the remaining awakened.
From my perspective, these humans were no different from a new-born baby finally learning to stand on its two feet. They didn’t even know how to run yet, so where would they have experienced a warzone of this magnitude before? However, they were clearly “growing up” as they spent more and more time on this very battlefield.
In the beginning, they became deadly afraid when the blood flowed like rivers, and corpses littered the ground. But now, they all seemed to have become desensitized. They grieved when their comrade died, but didn’t dwell on it. They had instinctively realized that this was the only way for them to survive.
Inside this short respite, every awakened carried a fatigued expression. But even then, the light in their eyes still burned brightly. They never let their guards down and vigilantly observed their surroundings.
Of course, some did turn tail and run away. The number of deserters already reached 40. However, most of them had ended up crossing the river they couldn’t come back from. Over half of them were killed by the monsters the moment they broke free from the ranks.
That only proved to be a blessing in disguise, though. Knowing that escape was not an option anymore, the remaining awakened began pressing on even harder than before. All of them had finally recognized that the only way to leave this place alive was through victory.
“Unit leader, did you hear something?”
Yoo Eunhye who was applying a potion on her wound suddenly tilted her head in confusion after hearing a strange noise. The noise in question was coming from the direction of the dungeon.
“T-there are more angels? But, why are they coming out from a dungeon? No, besides all that… Why do they all look like that?”
Yoo Eunhye gasped out in shock.
Tens of angels had come tumbling out of the dungeon’s entrance. The eyes of every awakened, even those belonging to the demons, nearly popped out of their sockets.
These angels were supposed to be raiding the dungeon’s interior. But their state was truly wretched. Most of them had one wing torn off, and one of them was trying to stop its entrails from spilling out of the grievous wound on its lower torso while flying out of the entrance.
“They are here.”
The corners of my lips curled up ever so slightly. Judging from their miserable appearances, Krithli must’ve succeeded in holding down the fort.
As if to announce their victory to the public, several monsters chased after the angels and emerged outside.
Thud!
Boom!
The first one to reveal itself was the high-grade Golem. Then, Lichs and several Saber Tigers and many others stood there to display their splendor.
The demons began making the “Damn it!” faces only then. If there was a dungeon, obviously there would also be its master and the accompanying monsters, yet no news of them had been heard until now.
If only these new monsters weren’t that remarkable, the demons would’ve easily ignored them, but the horde’s composition was nothing to scoff at. Even their numbers are considerable, as well – almost on the level of a single faction, no less.
However, the dungeon master was still nowhere to be found.
Was he an enemy, or a competitor?
The meaning behind those two words might seem similar, but depending on which one it was, the current battle situation could flip on its head. Then again, seeing how he only decided to reveal his hands just as a day had gone by, he must be aiming for something.
The state of lull came undone, and the Celestials, demons, and humans all fell into a tense, anxious state next. It was especially more so for the awakened – their shoulders seemed to be weighed down by an even heavier burden. To their eyes, the monsters emerging from the dungeon looked to be in cahoots with the other monsters already outside.
Wanting to lift the atmosphere somehow, Yoo Eunhye swallowed the brave pill and confessed, “Unit leader. If we manage to get out of here alive, I’m gonna give you a big fat kiss.”
“You can keep it.”