Chapter 139 Dungeon Core: “The Eternal Training Ground”

Pov Ace

Informing the general and a few other people about the second entrance was a little bit nerve-wracking. Fortunately, right now they didn't question anything and were just glad that we still had access to the dungeon. Almost immediately, supply lines were set up between the two hub stations so we could get supplies and, more importantly, fresh soldiers to those places.

Time seemed to be crawling as the fighting continued. Still, I found myself surprised when another 10 hours had passed. We had finally started to break the defenses of the entrance hall, and right now, if I hadn’t ordered otherwise, we would be launching an assault that would have taken the lives of many soldiers but would have secured us the entrance hall.

We didn't need to take it, although the multiple gateways would have been useful. No, it would be better—and everyone agreed with me on that part—that we simply continued to launch ranged attacks and let them continue defending. This way, at least a portion of their strongest fighters would be tied up in one place.

The rest of the fight was not going so well, but it wasn't going badly either. I was brought out of my thoughts by one of the runners bringing new information. "General, we have a confirmed the list of the guilds who are attacking." Absolutely everyone got up, including me, as we rushed to read the paper the runner brought.

The information on it was almost as bad as we thought. Somehow, eight of the top 10 guilds were a part of this rebellion. What surprised us was that the strongest guild seemed to be on our side.

"Wait, what's the name of the leader?" the general asked as she took the paper to properly see the person who was in charge of the guild. I glanced at the paper too, to find a different name than I was used to.

Since going into the dungeon to claim the hub stations and the recommended path, I familiarized myself with all the powers inside the dungeon and their leaderships. The name was not familiar to me, at least in that context, but there was something at the back of my mind saying that I knew the name. "Are we sure he's with us?" the general asked, and the runner immediately nodded.

"They're actually the only power that is currently pushing back against the rebels, but they’re asking for supplies and a coordinated attack on one of the taken hub station." The runner said, bringing around the satchel he was wearing and revealing the multiple communication crystals.

I was still a bit confused as to what was going on, but the general picked up one of the crystals and activated it. "So am I to believe that you didn’t build this guild of yours for revenge?" Immediately, I looked at the general, wondering if he had gone mad. That guild was one of our best chances to start pushing back, yet it seemed like he was provoking them.

"I will not lie; perhaps it might have been a part of my plans at the start. But no, I did not build it for revenge. I built it for myself. It was my arrogance and shortsightedness that made me fail against you. I have only revealed my name to you and everyone else so that you would understand that the fight down here is being led by someone who has experience."

"I also hope that you will see that I am dedicated to the ideals of this place and hopefully, you will grant me a pardon for my past mistakes." The general was silent and then looked towards me.

It was when I heard his voice that I finally remembered where I knew that name. He was the general in charge of the siege that almost broke us. So that's where he went as I never was able to find him afterward.

For a moment there, my anger overtook me and I wanted to order his death, but I calmed myself. Right now is not the time for vengeance, at least not for that war. I looked up at the general and gave him a barely noticeable nod. Immediately, he went to work.

In the following hours, things started to look more optimistic. We were gaining ground on the rebels, but then I felt something I’ve never felt before.

The world seemed to lurch to the left. It also felt like I was falling, then I got the feeling that I was in two places at once, and after a moment of dizziness, I sort of moved to the left, and then everything went back to normal.

From the silence of the room I knew I wasn’t the only one to feel it; absolutely everyone had. The general and a few others had gone white in the face, but the feeling I had was familiar for some reason.

Then I remembered when I first joined the Adventurers' Guild. In one of their mandatory orientations, they described a device and how it felt when it was used. "What’s that, a dungeon melter?"

The people who had gone white in the face all nodded. Then a report started to come in confirming that there was no dungeon destabilization. This event also caused the fighting to stop for a moment, but when it started again, we began to get reports that a lot of rebels had started to infight.

The general was quick to take advantage and ordered a lot of assault that we were still planning to attack early to take advantage of the confusion.

About 30 minutes later, we found out why a lot of the rebels were starting to fight each other. It seems that a lot of them were honestly trying to vie for the dungeon, but as soon as that device was activated, they knew that they had been misled.

The dungeon was still stable, which meant that the core wasn’t destroyed, and I think I would have felt it if it was. Then the same feeling hit again, and even more panic followed. Yet once again, the dungeon seemed to be fine.

Not even the guild master knew what was going on, yet once again it happened. Absolutely everyone was certain that the dungeon was now dead, but still, nothing happened. The worry was starting to make my hair go white. What was going on?

Pov Faris

This was going badly. If the dungeon didn’t break through soon, we would start to face financial problems. We had hired a lot of people to fill the ranks of our guilds and used even more bribes to get other guilds to join the rebellion that we were planning.

I was also running out of favors; no one in the council wanted to support this sink of resources since none of them believed we could make back what we had lost.

There were already talks that we should just use the dungeon melters and destroy the core. The only thing that stopped the order from coming down was that the analysts believed this dungeon could survive multiple blasts without shattering. So, no matter what, we needed to assault into this core floor to get close enough to actually reach the core while using those devices.

I was about to start writing another letter to use up another favor when I finally felt it. "Activate everything!" I yelled as loud as I could as I also activated all my communication devices so they could all hear the order as well. Immediately, everyone started to do their designated tasks, as did I.

First, I rushed into the secure vault where another four high-ranked Pixies waited. We used our keys to open up the vault, revealing the four dungeon melters we currently had and the chaining device. I took the chaining device and others took the dungeon melters. We then used one of our inborn skills that allowed us to teleport to the nearest dungeon core.

In the next moment, we were all at the entrance to the core floor. More and more Pixies were arriving with more equipment. "Lord, the attacks have started," one of my subordinates said. That brought a smile to my face. "Let them burn, and especially, I would enjoy hearing about Ace's death."

It still made me mad that our skill didn't work properly. This should already be over, but whatever skill this dungeon has allowed it to circumvent ours. We also couldn’t use normal teleportation; the dungeon was using its rules to block us.

So now, I need to wait as more and more Pixies teleported in and readied to fight our way to the labyrinth. It has been a while since I've seen such a gathering as thousands ready to assault and take this dungeon.