The crystalline ground swelled.
The white crystal bending upward as if pushed from below. Then it grew even faster, forming a massive mound that tore itself free from the surrounding terrain.
At its core, a deep red light ignited.
It pulsed from within the rising mass, intense and unstable, like the heart of a volcano on the verge of eruption.
— ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAR!!— The roar was deafening.
Fissures tore across the crystalline surface.
KRRRKK
KRAAACK
CRRSH!
Cracks spread in every direction, jagged and uneven, and from within them the red light spilled out, bleeding through the crystal like molten fire.
— ROOOOOOAAAAAARRR!!
The mountain shuddered.
A massive fissure split open at its peak, tearing downward as if something inside were forcing its way out through sheer strength alone. The crystal screamed under the pressure, fragments breaking loose and crashing to the ground.
KRRRRRRRR!!
The roar intensified.
The red light flared brighter, until it drowned out every other color. The once-clear, radiant seventeenth floor was bathed entirely in blood-red brilliance, the white crystal reflecting the glow until the entire chamber looked submerged in fire.
The ground trembled violently.
It couldn't endure anymore.
BOOOOOOM!!
The crystalline mound exploded outward.
Shards of crystal were hurled through the air as the earth itself split open, torn apart from within.
And from the gaping rupture...
— ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAR!!
The Goliath emerged.
Arms burst through the shattered crystal.
They tore free from the ruptured ground, colossal and trembling with raw force, rising straight upward as if ripping open the Dungeon itself. Along with them, molten rock and searing magma were violently expelled, splashing and pouring down their massive limbs in blazing torrents.
SSSSSSSSHHH!
CRAAASH!
Chunks of crystal were blown aside as the magma hit the floor, hissing and cracking on impact, spreading heat and smoke through the chamber while the giant arms remained raised, trembling with restrained power.
The crystal continued to rupture, opening wide enough for him to come out.
From the heart of the eruption, a massive shape rose steadily, carried upward by the violent force beneath it.
Rough, gray skin coated its features, thick and uneven, as if carved directly from stone. Long, black hair spilled down around its face in tangled strands, scorched at the tips by the heat rising from below.
His eyes were wide open, those of a monster, without any distinct features like pupils or sclera, just two large, vivid red orbs filled with malice and a thirst for destruction.
Crystal plates snapped and slid off them as they forced their way upward, unable to resist the pressure. Heat poured from the gaps, carrying smoke and ash that rolled across the chamber in heavy waves.
It was like a true volcanic eruption.
But he was the disaster itself.
— ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAR!!! — The Goliath roared again, this time in his full glory after bursting free from the ground.
FWHOOOOOSH!!
He didn't even have time to fully rise.
His lower half was still trapped in the shattered earth when a spear tore through the air toward him, slicing straight for his core.
A sense of danger screamed through his instincts.
The Goliath barely managed to cross his arms in front of his abdomen.
BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!
Like a bolt of lightning crashing down from the heavens, the spear struck.
But it didn't stop.
KRRRAAAASH!!
Its tip punched through the Goliath's crossed arms as if they were nothing more than brittle stone, before vanishing completely into the giant's massive torso.
The arms were torn wide open.
The shock traveled through his entire body in a single, merciless surge.
— ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAR!!
The Goliath screamed.
His roar twisted into agony as the overwhelming force lifted his colossal frame off the ground, hurling him backward in an awkward manner, flung away with even greater violence than when he had been expelled from the earth itself.
Crystal shattered in his wake as he was hurled across the floor, carving devastation through the Dungeon and obliterating the massive spiral pillar on the way before crashing down.
BOOOOOM!!
A towering cloud of dust erupted.
For a moment, everything went silent.
...
The dust slowly began to settle.
Bit by bit, the shattered crystal floor came back into view.
And there...
The Goliath lay sprawled across the ruins.
His massive body was motionless, half-buried among fractured crystal and stone, steam rising slowly from his wounds.
— Grrr…
A weak, broken sound escaped his throat.
It was no longer a roar, just a strained groan of pain. For a fleeting moment, it almost looked as though the Monster Rex had been defeated.
But appearances were deceiving.
The Goliath was a Monster Rex.
And like all of his kind, he possessed a super regeneration that surpassed his level entirely. Ordinary wounds, no matter how deep, no matter how destructive, were never truly fatal.
Given it's needed time, flesh would knit back together, bone would reform and even catastrophic injuries like a brain damage would eventually be undone.
There were only three ways to truly kill a Monster Rex:
To sever its head... but that works for anything.
To grind its regeneration down through a prolonged battle of attrition, exhausting it's magic crystal completely together with it's value.
Or, the easiest way... to destroy its magic crystal.
— Grrr...
The Goliath's massive arms finally lost their tension.
bam... bam...
They fell heavily to his sides, crashing against the crystal floor with a dull, lifeless thud.
That movement revealed the truth.
The spear was still there.
Buried deep in his abdomen, embedded, but not piercing through. The weapon had driven itself straight toward his core.
The spearhead must have struck its target, as a faint light could be seen emanating from the wound, meaning the core was pierced but stopped just short of completely destroying it.
By all accounts, the Goliath's last-second defense had been just enough to preserve his fleeting life.
— Tch… I missed. — Finn said, still frozen in his throwing stance.
Monster Rex.
Giant monster.
Magical powers.
Abnormal regeneration.
They were nothing more than labels.
Before true might, all things were reduced to insignificance.
And standing between Finn Deimne and the Goliath. There was no doubt who the stronger one was.
THUD- THUD- THUD- THUD!!
Rapid footsteps tore across the crystal floor.
Finn Deimne sprinted forward without hesitation. As a Level 6 and a Pallum, his agility was naturally his greatest attribute. His body cut through the air like a blade, every step launching him dozens of meters ahead.
The Goliath lay hundreds of meters away.
Normally, that distance would mean nothing. But he was giving his all to reach there as fast as he could.
At Finn's speed, it wouldn't even take a full minute to reach him, more than enough time to finish the Monster Rex before it could fully recover.
However...
The Goliath would not simply allow himself to die.
Not when he had barely finished being born.
— GRAAAAAAOOOOHHHHHH!!
The sound that burst from his mouth was different from before.
It wasn't just a roar.
No force followed it, the wave passed by Finn and didn't even moved his hair.
Yet wherever the "voice" passed, the crystal reacted.
White surfaces began to gleam faintly, veins of light awakening across the floor and walls, responding as if they had heard a call.
Something was about to happen. A explosion?
Finn's expression hardened.
— Fuck…!
He leaned forward even more, pushing his body past its limits. His speed spiked again, crystal shattering beneath his feet as his fists clenched tight.
That single punch would shatter the Goliath's magic crystal into fragments.
But It was already too late.
KRRK!
KRAAACK!
CRRSHH!!
Cracks began to spread all around them.
The crystal floor fractured violently, fissures tearing open in patterns every adventurer recognized instantly.
Dungeon spawn points.
— GYAAAAH!!
— GRRRRRRAAA!!
— SKREEEEEE!!
Screams erupted from every direction.
Monsters surged out.
Goblins flooded the floor in swarms, followed by Hellhounds, Almiraj, and towering Minotaurs emerging one after another from the fissures.
Above them, massive shadows took shape.
Young Dragons rose from the crystal, their roars echoing through the seventeenth floor.
Hundreds of normal monsters.
Dozens of elite variants.
One Chief variant.
For. Each. Species. Of. Monster.
This was why they were called Floor Bosses.
This was why they were feared.
This was why Finn felt apprehensive.
Why would Finn, strong as he is, feel the slightest fear in facing a monster weaker than himself? He'd probably killed dozens of Goliaths before, and even after evolving, one of them shouldn't pose any danger.
But Finn was never afraid for himself, but for the others.
Call of Monsters
Every Monster Rex possessed this same authority, the ability to summon a legion of every type of monster that existed within its domain.
The Goliath, in particular, ruled over three.
The Upper Labyrinth, which lacked a Monster Rex of its own, fell under his dominion. The Middle Labyrinth, the very region Finn's expedition had passed through. And a third one, but didn't matter right now.
The real problem was something else.
Each Dungeon floor housed anywhere from twenty to thirty different monster species.
And the Goliath had just summoned an army of all of them, from three different sources.
All of it, unleashed upon adventurers who could do nothing but run for their lives.
— Shit!!!
Finn skidded to a halt.
His boots scraped violently against the crystal floor as he turned, sparks and thin trails of smoke rising from the soles due to the sheer friction.
For a moment, he stood between to disasters.
In front of him, the Goliath lay sprawled across the shattered crystal floor, barely holding itself together. One decisive strike was all it would take to end it.
And behind him, thousands of monsters charging forward with bloodshot eyes, howls and shrieks overlapping as they hunted down the adventurers Finn had sworn to protect.
His jaw tightened.
He looked back at the Monster Rex.
That was when he saw it... a smile.
Slow, crooked, and unmistakably malicious, forming on the Goliath's battered face as his massive fingers carefully closed around the shaft of the spear embedded in his abdomen, trying to remove the weapon without risking further breaking its fragile core
It was as if he were saying...
And now? What will you do?
Finn's eyes widened slightly.
'He did this on purpose…' He thought, noting how smart the monster was despite its appearance.
— Hmph! — Finn exhaled sharply.
He might be powerful, but he still just one man, and can't be in two places at same time. He couldn't fight the Goliath and entire army while protecting everyone at the same time.
That was exactly why he had ordered them to run.
The plan had been simple.
Kill the Goliath in a single blow. End it immediately. Stop everything before it could escalate.
But he had missed.
And now, they were all about to pay the price for that single mistake.
Finn's grip tightened.
Reluctantly, he turned his gaze to the spear lodged deep within the monster's body.
Then...
He turned his back on the Goliath.
Without another word, Finn Deimne broke into a sprint, racing toward the battlefield behind him, toward the people who still had a chance to be saved.
'Fucking Dungeon...' He thought.
Behind him, a low sound echoed.
— Kh… heh… hhrrk…
A laugh, twisted and broken by pain.
The Goliath's shoulders trembled as he carefully worked the spear free, inch by inch, a white light pulsing faintly beneath torn flesh.
— Hrrr… hhah…
The monster laugh, certain that, for now, he had won.
...
The adventurers ran.
Boots hammered against the crystal floor in a frantic race for survival. Breath came in ragged gasps, lungs burning as fear drowned out all thought.
— DON'T STOP!! WE'RE ALMOST THERE!!! — Someone said, helping another person to get up after tripping.
A massive shadow descended from above.
— GRAAAASHH!!
The Chief Hellhound, a three headed infernal dog, slammed into him with ferocity.
— AAAAAAAAH!!
The scream barely had time to escape.
Claws shredded armor, jaws crushed bone, and in a heartbeat the Chief Hellhound tore him apart, blood spraying across the crystal floor before what remained was thrown aside like worthless meat.
— IHHH—HH—!!
The scream came out broken, incoherent, soaked in pure terror as the adventurer stared at his companion being devoured right in front of him. His legs moved before his mind could follow.
— I-I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'M SORRY!!!
He turned and ran.
Tears streamed uncontrollably down his face, vision blurred, lungs burning as he fled with everything he had, the sound of tearing flesh still echoing behind him.
The monster lifted its three heads.
Red eyes locked onto the fleeing adventurers.
And it ran after them, not satisfied with just one.
The same scene unfolded everywhere.
The fastest monsters gleefully descended upon those who were slower, the weaker ones who fell behind without the help of the others.
It was carnage.
Blood and entrails were thrown into the air with grim familiarity. While the monster sang victory howls as they trampled on their limbs.
A grotesque déjà vu.
But this time, the ones dying were a different kind of monster.
And Bell…
Could only watch.
She was carried over someone's shoulder like a sack of potatoes, her body swaying with every hurried step, fingers clutching weakly at cloth she couldn't even see. The world jolted up and down, but her eyes never moved.
'What… is happening…?'
Her mind couldn't catch up.
'Why is this happening…?'
Moments ago, those same people had been laughing, talking.
Sharing food, jokes, stories of past expeditions and future dreams. She had walked among them, listened, smiled, felt included. For a fleeting moment, she had been part of it.
It felt like a new beginning, her beginning.
The start of her adventure.
The opening chapter of a dream she had chased for so long.
Now...
That dream was being torn apart right in front of her eyes.
The world suddenly felt distant.
Everything moved as if trapped in slow motion, no sound, no screams, no roars, only images burning themselves into Bell's eyes.
She saw the kind uncle man who had shared a meal with her earlier, his body pulled apart as a Silverback seized him, arms tearing him in two with brutal ease.
Bell's breath caught in her throat.
'No…'
She saw a beautiful young woman collapse to her knees, crying and screaming as Goblins swarmed her, small bodies piling on as they devoured her alive.
'Stop… please…'
Everywhere she looked.
Death
People she had spoken to.
Dying
People whose names she almost remembered.
Dead
People who had been alive just moments ago.
Screaming
Begging
Dying
So many voices.
So many faces.
So many lives ending before her eyes.
'This isn't… this isn't how it's supposed to be…'
Her chest tightened until it hurt.
Tears streamed down her face, blurring everything, but she didn't look away... not that she could in her position.
This wasn't a story of heroes and swords.
This was reality.
And it was devouring everyone, just like it had started devouring her dream.
BOOOOOM!!!
Something crashed down between the monsters and the fleeing adventurers.
The impact shook the crystal floor, sending debris and dust bursting outward.
Bell snapped out of her stunned state.
Her breath hitched as her eyes focused on the figure that had landed there.
BAAAM!!
CRRSH!!
DOOOOM!!
Monsters were hurled aside as if struck by an invisible force.
Bodies flew through the air and slammed into the crystal floor or crashed into one another monster with a bone-shattering impact.
— GRAAAH!!
— SKREEE!!
— GHHRR!!
Screams of pain erupted as limbs twisted unnaturally, bodies bounced, rolled, and stopped moving.
Bell stared.
Her breath caught in her throat as the impossible unfolded before her eyes.
'What…?'
She watched monsters, creatures that moments ago had been unstoppable, being thrown away like debris. It was as if his fear was meaningless.
The dust began to settle.
A small figure emerged from the haze.
Finn Deimne
The Pallum captain ran straight into the swarm, arms spread wide, posture low and feral.
Where he passed, monsters were launched away with brutal force, bodies crashing into others and knocking them down in chains of destruction.
That's... when he doesn't grab one of them and use it as a weapon to beat the others in the most cartoonish, unrealistic, and brutal way.
WHAM!!
CRASH!!
He swung a dragon by the tail like a weapon, smashing it into the others before discarding the broken body and moving on without slowing down.
Bell's eyes trembled.
Her chest tightened, not with fear this time, but with something else she couldn't name.
'A… person… can do that…?'
Hidden from the eyes of others, behind layers of clothing and armor, the Falna on her back, for a fleeting instant, shone!
— GRAAAAAAARGH!!
— SKREEEEEEEE!!
— GYAAAAAAAH!!
The monsters surged.
What had been a chaotic mass suddenly collapsed inward, dozens of bodies throwing themselves at a single point.
Finn Deimne vanished beneath them.
Claws, fangs, blades of bone and rusted metal piled atop one another, forming a writhing mound that swallowed his small frame completely. The sound of steel striking flesh was drowned by snarls and shrieks, the weight of monsters pressing down without mercy.
A flash of white.
A tiny fist burst out from within the mass, vanishing one creature after another, but it wasn't enough to stop them. More climbed over the fallen, crushing him down.
Bell's breath caught.
— Captain…!
Then she saw it.
Blood splashed against the stone floor, dark and unmistakable.
A monster collapsed sideways, its weapon still embedded in Finn's shoulder.
He didn't scream.
He tore the weapon out of his body and used it to kill everything in his path before discarding it.
The mound burst apart as he forced himself up, back hunched, teeth clenched.
One hand crushed and sent monsters flying. With the other, he drove a random spear forward again and again, bodies rupturing with each thrust.
He was fighting alone to protect them while all they did was run away.
Bell's body moved before her mind did.
— Put me down!
She twisted violently, hands clawing at the armor of the person carrying her, legs kicking uselessly in the air.
— We have to go back! We have to help him!
Her voice cracked, turning shrill with panic.
— Bell, stop it!
The grip around her tightened, iron-strong.
— What do you even think you're going to do down there? We'd only get in the way. Captain Finn can handle it.
— He's surrounded, he's going to be crushed!
Then, shouts erupted ahead.
— The passage! The passage is here!
— We made it, oh gods, we made it!
— Move! Everyone, move now!
Adventurers stumbled forward, some laughing hysterically, others crying as they ran, weapons slipping from trembling hands as the passage to the next floor came into view. Light spilled from beyond it, a promise of survival carved into Dungeon stone.
— We're safe!
— We're really safe!
Some collapsed at the threshold, others dragged the wounded through, voices overlapping in disbelief and joy.
Meanwhile, Bell thrashed harder, screaming raw and desperate.
— Let me go! LET ME GO!
Her fists pounded uselessly against armor she couldn't break, her nails scraping and her throat burning as she shouted Finn's name again and again.
The adventurer carrying her didn't answer.
He tightened his grip and descended into the passage, ignoring her screams, her sobs, the way her body fought him with everything it had left.
— Captain Finn will handle it, he is stronger than all of us. If we go back, we die too. — His voice was firm and decisive, end of discussion.
The ground tilted as they went down.
Bell twisted one last time over his shoulder.
— CAPTAIN!!!