Alexa walked briskly ahead of the others on the team. Her muscles were tense, and she spat every now and then in anger. Her fingers twitched, generating fire sparks."She looks like a ticking bomb. Shouldn't somebody go and talk to her?" Skylar suggested to the rest of the group."Let her be, kid." Blade offered, shaking his head. "I know her better than most. Alexa and I went to training together, you see? She was this popular, cheerful girl who fell in love with one of our batchmates, Dom Faust. They were like prom queen and king.""What does that have to do with her present mood?""You see… Alexa and Dom were posted to Goldibad after we graduated.""Oh? Were they teammates? Where is Dom now?"Blade sighed. "They ran a campaign against a hybrid space pirates gang called the MANEATERS. One of their double agents betrayed them. He had them walk into a trap laid by the pirates."Skylar raised her eyebrows. "What happened?""The entire squad was wip
"They are called 'the nameless four' among our enemies," Argulus introduced his Generals. "They are undefeated in battle. You will find my generals more powerful than my entire army combined."The four warrior dark elves cackled to endorse their King's words. They walked gradually forward, producing swords that looked like bones."That's a tall claim! Hope your warriors can handle our attacks!" Titan fired back."Your fancy swords will falter in front of the spines of my ancestors," Argulus called out.[ Incoming ][ Species: Dark Elf ][ Dark Elf General: Level 50 ]"What do we do, Commander?" Titan asked Edmund nervously. Even though adrenaline made him act fearless, he was anxious about the level 50 monsters."What other choice do we have?" Edmund replied. "We have to protect Elektra until she is ready." "I am down with that, sir!"The Commander turned to Alice. "If any attacks from their side are aimed at Elektra, it's your job to deflect them.""Understood, sir!"She had already
"So… dark elves live in volcanic areas," Alice read from her HUD. "They are immune to fire attacks." She was going through the World Trinity Network Database on monsters."What else?" Edmund asked."They have ice, water, earth, and lightning resistance.""Any vulnerabilities? I'm sure our agents had encountered the species before and figured out its weaknesses."The Bridge-1 team was huddled at the entrance of the bridge. Edmund refused to let the team move forward until they had a battle plan ready.Alice pursed her lips. "Hmm. That's strange. They have no weaknesses. None whatsoever." "What? That's not possible. Every species has a weakness.""Intelligent species can selectively procreate and eliminate genetic defects and vulnerabilities," the Assistant Director explained. "That's why the outland monsters are so leveled up and dangerous. They've been consciously tweaking natural selection and evolution.""But these are monsters, aren't they?" Elektra asked. "How the hell do they kno
All the players received a system notification.[ Welcome to CATACOMBS II ]And then, they heard a resounding voice:|| THERE IS ONLY ONE RIGHT WAY ||“The WTN is behaving weird in here,” Piper said. “Anyway, it seems we have to choose one of the bridges to go across the gorge.” Everyone else nodded. There was obviously no going back. If the Assistant Director wanted them to keep moving forward, they had to. Commander Edmund decided they would scrutinize each bridge one by one before arriving at a decision. The first bridge was the widest and looked as if it was man-made. Heavy stone and iron formed the thirty-foot-wide structure. It could support a bus or even a train. The entire team exchanged glances and was tempted to go across.Skylar approached the signpost. She tried to read the scribble across it. | BEWARE THE MIRROR OF FLE KRAD |“Beware the Mirror of Fle Krad. What the hell is Fle Krad?”“Is it a monster or a magical item?” Edmund asked Blade and Alexa.“I have never heard
The Providence team collected all the loot dropped by the Boss’s defeat. [ Boss Drops ][ Giant Horn x 6 ][ Dungeon Ore x 30 ][ Gatekeeper’s Helm x 1 ][ Gatekeeper’s Armor x 1 ][ Gatekeeper’s Shoes x 1 ]Most of the equipment was too high level to be equipped by the players. Noah refused to accept any of them. Therefore, they were stored in inventory.The credit rewards were plenty and were distributed evenly among the team members."1 million?!" Piper exclaimed in disbelief. Killing the boss got us 1 million credits?!" "It makes sense," Blade explained. "This is an S-class dungeon, after all. Though we are mainly targeting the loot and the boss drops." "The God-tier weapon, you mean? Where do you think it could be hidden?""Well, most likely, it would be a reward for killing the final boss. But you never know. S-class dungeons could be completely different from regular ones.""I wonder if there is other good equipment here. The Giant equipment is obviously useless. The best p
The battle escalated into a raucous one, with attacks flying all over, destroying the dungeon walls. Edmund stayed at the forefront.[ Psychic Wave ]Zing! The Commander released an attack that looked like a cylinder of rings overlapping one another. Blip! It collided with the Giant, who slowed down for a few seconds. Then it rampaged again. Maahh!"The Gatekeeper seems vulnerable to psychic attacks, but the effect lasts only for a few seconds every time," Edmund announced on the radio."Let me try commander!"[ Mega Icicle ]“Take that!”Whoosh! Frost sent a fifteen-foot-long icicle in the Gatekeeper's direction.Crash! It rammed into the monster, causing an almost negligible HP loss.! ᴅᴍɢ 900The Boss's Auto-recovery skills made up for most of the damage points by healing it.[ Warning! ][ Species: Giant ][ Catacombs Gatekeeper Giant: Level 110 ][ HP: 99921/ 100000 ]"We are barely making a dent, Commander!" Frost said, exasperated. "Perhaps our level 100 teammate will have som
The blinding lights disappeared, and the players found themselves in a dim-lit, smoky tunnel. It was three people wide and ten feet high. The walls looked like the intestines of an animal. They trembled and pulsated eerily."Let's move in a queue," Edmund ordered. "And don't anybody dare touch the walls. You may be sucked into another tunnel. "The party started jogging down the passage."Where are the others?" Skylar asked. "I mean the other guilds and parties. There are supposed to be hundreds of gamers inside, right?""It seems a party which enters together gets its own passage," Jack replied. "But perhaps all these paths lead to the same floor. Let's keep going, following Captain Edmund's lead. He is the most experienced player here and has years of experience in dungeon raids."Everyone nodded and moved on steadily. After a fifteen-minute hike, a light opened at the tunnel's mouth. "We're finally here," Edmund warned. "Everyone, stay alert."They exited from the passage and enter
| Carn Hill |[ 70 miles || Outside Harmony City |"Sir, we have a problem," Major Vic James exclaimed as soon as Dr. Jack Chrysalis stepped out of the rover. James and his technical team were bunkered in a makeshift shelter. They were behind a hill near the dungeon's gate. A simple turn around the slope would bring them face to face with the entrance."Calm down, Major. And tell me what's going on," the Assistant Director replied.The other rovers arrived shortly, and the entire Providence battalion got off. They numbered over fifty and arranged themselves behind their respective Aces.James pursed his lips. "Sir, we have finally figured out why none of our agent teams that entered the S-class dungeon have returned."Jack stepped closer to Vic James. "Oh? Tell me what you know, Major.""It is complicated, and there are several parameters to it-""Just give me the bad news.""Yes, sir. To summarize- the dungeon is rejecting players under level 50…."There was a faint murmur among the