Chapter 189 Dungeon Core: “The Eternal Training Ground”

Pov Edmund

Damn, I hate those constructs. "Keep holding it still!" I heard someone yell. Does he really think that I’m not trying? I looked towards my cousin, who was also in his bear form. We had finally reached the front lines, and the fighting had gotten a lot harder. We were currently facing a construct that must have been at least 10 meters high and looked like a noble knight.

It was struggling fiercely, but I held on to one of its legs as strongly as I could while it tried to drag me towards our back line. There was no time; I couldn’t hold on. It was about to do another shield slam, and I didn’t think my defensive skills were going to hold up to another one. The next moment, I heard an explosion and looked upwards to see its remaining arm be destroyed and the shield droped right beside me.

Immediately, I started to use my claws to climb upwards, my immense mass finally tipping the monster over, with me landing on top of it. Now that it was on its back and didn't have any arms, my cousin and I both started to claw at its chest until we finally reached its core and destroyed it, finally ending the struggle.

It took a moment before I was calm enough to start transforming back. "How the hell do the other front runners fight these things? It would have crushed me in my human form," I said to no one in particular.

My cousin took a while longer to get out of his bear form, but as soon as he did, he yelled and screamed in triumph like he killed this enemy alone. It didn't surprise me that he went to claim the loot by himself, yet he was still unaccustomed to not getting loot without having to do the work of harvesting.

"Stupid dungeon, harvesters, get in here! I want to see what we get!" he yelled thunderously, and I had to cover my ears.

"Keep it down, we might not be alone in this room." My cousin simply scoffed at that. Our minder didn’t like it. It was our fifth one, as the other ones had been demoted for not being able to keep our secret well enough and for us having to kill multiple groups of innocent bystanders.

In all honesty, I have a mind to just poison my cousin, especially now since we are on the front lines and everyone here is important in their own way.

I was so certain that one day he would get the wrong person killed and things would go from bad to worse. The question is what kind of poison would work on him? He looked stupid, but his mother was cunning, and knowing her own son, I bet she made him take some skills that would help against assassinations like that.

This dungeon, however, was more unique than most realized, as even the plants here were unusual. There were also bugs here, and I’m pretty sure that some of them might also have poisons.

It was the first time I had seen bugs in a dungeon, which is weird because I’m pretty sure they’re outlawed, but that's most likely because of those feral ants. I have gone to one of those exterminations, and they are truly fierce, but just because of those bugs, banning all bugs from dungeons seems stupid to me. I just can’t think of any other reason why they would be banned.

My thoughts were interrupted when our minder appeared. "There is another large group closing in. Be on your best behavior, especially you," he said while looking at my cousin seriously. "I do not care who your mother is. If you mess this up, I’ll kill you before they demote me."

Absolutely everyone turned to look at the minder with stupid faces, and I’m pretty sure I was making one as well. My cousin took a step back, and for the first time, I saw proper fear in his eyes, but it was gone the next moment.

What replaced it was something ugly, but I’m pretty sure our minder was serious about his threat. Whatever the case is, I don’t think he will last longer. While my cousin's mother isn't the strongest, I would never try to cross her. We all looked towards the west, where we could see a group closing in fast. That was weird and a bad sign.

Usually, groups announced themselves and didn’t approach until the reasons why they were coming were made clear and terms agreed upon. However, they just continued to approach with who seemed like the leader just raising his hand and waving, and only doing that once.

"Gather up, this is strange," our minder commanded, and we did what he told us. "What is your business here?" our minder yelled out to the group.

"Just here to find someone," the person who looked to be in charge answered. When they were close enough, it was easy to see why he was their leader. While he looked a bit strange, I guess society would find him a bit ugly. He still somehow radiated charisma and strength. It was a weird combination and sort of reminded me of my grandmother in a way.

Then, from behind him, what looked to be a young boy, but was probably just a scrawny adult, appeared. "Is this person here?" their leader asked the scrawny man. He seemed quite frightened, yet I was pretty sure that he was still stronger than the average adventurer, but I guess everyone in this dungeon might be that.

He then pointed straight at my cousin. "That’s the bastard who purposely changed himself so he could get my party, my friends, killed. Their teacher isn’t the same, he wasn't the one who killed," he said while pointing at our minder.

That was so bad, yet now that I saw this scrawny man, he did seem kind of familiar. Yet how could our minder miss someone who was barely gold rank? "That is unfortunate, but at least we will get the main culprit today. I, the leader of Curious Adventurers, challenge you, killer of innocents, to a duel to the death. If you choose not to accept this, everyone here with will die today, damn the consequences."

Our minder was about to act when all of a sudden my cousin spoke out. "You are a funny little man. I accept your challenge. I do not know how we missed that pathetic thing, but I do remember you now. I will kill you and then your entire guild will die because you have discovered our secret." He then laughed like a madman.

Why was I rooting for the other team? If anyone knew, it would be quite troublesome, but when I looked around, I was pretty sure that basically everyone was hoping that this stranger would kill my cousin.

It was a nice thought, but I was pretty sure our minder would step in before anything could happen. We watched as my cousin and his challenger walked a little bit further away from us and took the customary 50-meter distance before a duel start.

"Please put up at least a little bit of a fight, and please tell me your name before I crush you to death." My cousin said. Immediately after that, he transformed into his massive bear form, which was still smaller than me, which he hated.

He started charging but hasn't used any of his movement skills just yet. The other man just shook his head. "You are a true disappointment and an embarrassment to what you are." He said while walking casually forward.

It seemed that our minder felt something was wrong as he started to get closer to the fight. When there were only about 20 meters between them, I could feel my cousin activating his movement skill and flashing forward incredibly fast.

"Call me the bug guy," the man said, and just before my cousin hit, he transformed into a giant beetle. That grabbed my cousin’s throat, stopped his charge, and started to squeeze. My cousin let out a roar of pain.

Our minder moved, but he couldn't, as someone was behind him holding his shoulder and stopping him from moving. "This is a sanctioned duel, and do you think we were stupid enough not to bring our own platinum rank? This is the front lines, not the middle floors."

I had only taken my eyes off the fight for a moment, yet when I looked back, I saw my cousin’s bear head being detached and falling to the ground. He was dead just like that. The beetle changed back to a man, and it was wearing all of its clothes.

He was our kind, although I thought that all the bug bloodlines had died out long ago. Everything happened so fast that it was hard to keep up with everything, but finally, the realization hit: he was killed, my cousin was killed in a sanctioned duel between our kind.

I wanted to yell out in victory, but I managed to hold myself back. "We will be leaving now and stop causing trouble," the person who had held down our minder said. The scrawny man had tears coming out of his eyes, but he wasn't crying. I’m pretty sure that he was just happy my cousin was dead, and I was in complete agreement.

Yet who were they? Obviously, they knew our secret, but how was there someone of our kind we didn’t know about? Or was this the situation of, you aren't important enough to know these secrets?

When they were gone, our minder finally relaxed, but I could see the defeated look in his eyes. We all looked towards my cousin's body.

At least his mother would get a little bit of honor back as my cousin died in his true form, a mighty bear. If only he had also been an honorable bear, he would have gone a long way, but that’s the folly of thinking you are unkillable and untouchable.