Kae

Dungeon Diver CH494

“Pledge your loyalty, or burn to ash!”

My voice echoes through the desert, using my screech perk to make my entrance known.

Just moments ago, memories of the entire battle flooded into my mind from a body double that was killed in the shockwave following the Lich King’s transformation.

Even while traveling over a kilometer above the desert, my dark blood-red soul energy aura melts the desert sand below.

It looks as if an enormous ball of fire is rocketing through...

Dungeon Diver CH493

A deep voice echoes back to Ember’s challenge as the desert ground behind the marching Ghouls turns pitch black.

“It seems I haven’t hidden myself enough to get past the eyes of a fellow Divine Beast.”

An enormous black shadow has been cast across the sand, and it begins to ripple and vibrate while something emerges from within.

The top of a dark cloak becomes visible, surrounded by a dark black aura.

It comes out of the ground to reveal a massive skull beneath...

Dungeon Diver CH492

Just over 200km away, back underneath the town, the dark red energy that seeps out from the final isolation pod begins to flow out at a much faster rate.

It is equal parts Qi and Mana, and they are so finely intertwined, they have almost become Soul Energy, but there is still a vital catalyst or energy level that is yet to be reached before the two combine.

However, this blood red energy does not just seep out of the pod and dissolve into the air and through the mana shielding in ...

Dungeon Diver CH491

The massive arachnid monster falls into the ravine with its two severed limbs by its side.

Both Abby and Arie follow it downward with their weapons poised to kill.

The tendrils of purple Soul Energy still violently pierce through Abby’s vital points, but they phase through her heart, head, and stomach as if nothing is hitting her at all.

The bright light green glow of her [Form of the Immortal Healer] ensures her physical body cannot take any damage at all.

Everythin...

Dungeon Diver CH490

The Dark Guard shreds the rest of its armor, revealing a dark grey-skinned man standing over 3 meters tall with considerable muscle mass, staring across the battlefield with four green eyes, each labeled with an orange glowing number [1].

Even underneath the black armor, this monster wears skin-tight silver plating on its chest, arms, and legs; but its bulging muscles and veins are hardly restrained by it.

A dangerous aura radiates through the air, and even without my inspect skil...

Dungeon Diver CH489

On the battlefield, the loud cracks and shockwaves of Qi and Soul energy between Monk and his old master echo throughout the sky.

Their rate of contact and intensity keeps rising, and they begin to land proper hits on each other too; it's not just blocking and equal force counter moves anymore.

Monk is the first to take a heavy blow to the side, sending him flying downward into a rock wall, shattering it to pieces as his Qi form destroys everything in its way. An entire rock struc...

Dungeon Diver CH488

Monk and the Dark Guard that looks like an old man in white robes are the first to confront each other in the air above the mountains to our left side.

I can see the blue text hovering above the man's head in my inspect skill reading [Lv. 1602].

White energy seeps out from Monk's body to match the color of the aura surrounding the old man.

His own robes and skin turn bright white, and the two men in the sky look like they share the same power.

For some reason, neither ...

Dungeon Diver CH487

Just 20 minutes pass before we all agree on the plan of action, and begin floating over to the housing where the 37 members of the Flame Emperor's army are all waking up to get ready for another day of training.

They're all greeted by a telepathy message directed into their heads.

"Today is the day that your training will finally be tested. We have an army approaching, and need your help to wage war."

Less than 30 seconds after my message is sent, everyone shows up in the ne...

Dungeon Diver CH486

The dead of night hits and we check on the Isolation pods while Luna stares out into the desert.

My teammates' pods say less than 4 hours remain, while my own pod is at just under 16.

The tension from the uneventful day is eating away at the back of everyone’s minds. However, once we make our way back up to the surface during one of Luna’s periodic scans of the open desert, she blurts out a startled remark to make all of our wildest suspicions come true.

“They’re her...

Dungeon Diver CH485

The words that escape her lips aren't exactly what I expected.

Ember did mention she’d be able to see his true form, but I assumed he meant in the heart of battle. Or that she’d be able to perceive that he is a soul energy user too.

I wasn’t expecting her to see through his disguise the instant she awakened.

However, it was within the realm of possibilities so I calmly respond.

“I am.”

She immediately replies.

“And that Red Hydra’s energy reek...

Dungeon Diver CH484

Hours pass.

I have my body double periodically dungeon walk back to the town to check on the energy readings to see if Maria has woken up from her rank-up process, but no signs of her completing it have come back.

Meanwhile, my method of sharing mana control with these recruits to boost their abilities is working very well.

Some of them still don't have the speed and raw power to kill level 400 monsters with Elite Level mana control just yet, but when working as a team, many...

Dungeon Diver CH483

Maria's level rises by 71, bringing her to level 1065 in an instant.

By the way she’s looking at her status, it's clear there is a rank-up notification in front of her waiting to be accepted.

However, she recalls my description of the others' rank-up process that I told her about on our way out here and decides not to press [YES] just yet. She picks up both the fragments of the dormant black obsidian golem's core, and places them into her item storage. Two of the larger chunks h...

Dungeon Diver CH482

My inspect skill picks up a reading as the black armor of the 5th Ranked Dark Guard falls away.

[Lv. 1572]

Its status is just like every other one of them, with no skills or items, but a [Curse of The Lich King] branded in orange lettering on its Buffs section.

The immense amount of heat that erupts from the broken armor and crimson glow leads me to believe that there is some kind of fire-wielding monster that is now emerging.

This will be the perfect opponent for Mari...

Dungeon Diver CH481

I expand the range of my all-seeing eye and enemy detection once I hear Luna shouting. My range reaches out as far as the town nearly 10 km away on one side, but I can’t sense anything in the opposite direction.

On full blast, I can feel the readings of rogue dungeons up to 50-70 km away if I push myself, but for some reason, I can't sense this Dark Guard that she's crying out about.

Maria is on alert too, and I feel her natural aura spread out a few kilometers, but the same con...

Dungeon Diver CH480

Long flowing blond hair and sharp royal blue eyes emerge from the white wave of Qi flooding out from inside the isolation pod as the door fully opens.

Maria steps forward and everyone is left in silence as we witness a pure outline of bright white Qi, twisting and swirling around her body.

Her skin looks smoother, her figure appears more mature, and her overall appearance looks as if she’s entered into a new prime. She’s glowing with power, truly an upgraded version of her pas...

Dungeon Diver CH479

After the first 4 hours pass, everyone matches the same level as the strongest boss that can possibly spawn, level 997.

Just about 500 million MCP is gained by each of them fighting. Luna does not have the combat ability to kill a minotaur, but she comes along for the ride and gets power-leveled through the roof.

She passes level 500 in just a few boss room runs and gains a new buff called [Eye of The Last Full Moon]. In addition to this, her available proficiency points are force...

Dungeon Diver CH478

I enter the middle room with Abby and open the hatch to the underground bunker with a single click.

A wave of visible dense Qi flows out, and I feel my body naturally absorb it once it hits my skin.

We both begin walking into the bunker down the spiral stairs, and I close the door above not to let any excess Qi come flowing out.

Down below, the sound of sparring takes place, and the humming rattle of an isolation pod fills my ears as well. It is vibrating and giving off a bi...

Dungeon Diver CH477

As the sun fully sets, I go to the canyon of dungeons and teleport back to the labyrinth to update Ember and my double on the news.

Afterward, one of my doubles that was farming the labyrinth takes the post of surveillance on the town while Ember and my final double continue their dungeon collapsing.

I receive a single small flake of luminite straight into my storage and a confirmation that my double is holding enough containment stones to charge another pod up to nearly 50x right...

Dungeon Diver CH476

The group below me begins to shift and talk amongst themselves.

A few speak up and ask specific questions about things from general city growth in the future, to the reason why I’m fighting Sector 1, and finally how I’ll be able to train them and grant them power if they wish.

One by one, I explain in further detail our situation.

The majority of people already knew there was a war going on just from the way I conduct myself, and the demonstration of power against the ga...

Dungeon Diver CH475

I airstep upward to appraise the silver diamond spear tip falling through the air before opening a spatial magic portal to let it fall into my item storage.

[Metal Fragment of Infinite Regeneration][+338% Strength][+290% Mental Strength][+277% Defense][Hidden Ability]

In the same upward movement, I pinpoint the 6th ranked dark guard way off in the distance flying away from me at high speeds.

I don't hesitate to blast off and follow it through the sky at an even faster rate u...

Dungeon Diver CH474

The orange soul energy spreads from its eyes to surround its entire body.

Its three horns atop its head grow larger and begin to turn into a shimmering orange metallic color.

The creature's eyes look sharper, and I can tell that it is now operating on a whole new level that just fractions of a second ago…

The attack I threw at its base form, hoping to incinerate it to pieces, collides with the outer layer of its orange shielding, and an eruption of black fire, orange soul ...

Dungeon Diver CH473

The silver-coated creature stares at me, completely unharmed after taking a point blank hit from my most powerful attack.

I’m positive I just blew apart and incinerated over 70% of its body, but in mere seconds it managed to completely regenerate despite me destroying all of its organs and even its entire head.

The creature walks forward and speaks up again.

“Do you see why you are weak? A simple hit to the head or heart will cause irreversible damage in a human body. No...

Dungeon Diver CH472

“Let me handle this… Dumb bird…” is the only thing I hear as the same silver arm that blocked my attack punches the brown bird in the underbelly.

Its wind magic attacks all disappear in an instant, and it goes flying high into the air without even having to flap its wings. It isn’t killed, but definitely knocked unconscious in a single blow.

I jump backward and go on the defensive immediately, scanning the figure in front of me, but hardly believe what I see when a [Lv. ...

Dungeon Diver CH471

The man doesn't get a chance to reply as I airstep toward the center of the city, activating my stealth skill and expanding my All-seeing Eye to find the closest dungeon to my location right now.

At my current speed, I’ll get to the main hub in less than a few minutes, but the underground train ride to a nearby dungeon could be unpredictable, adding even a few more minutes to my travel time.

Crossing downtown and going into the underground dungeon hub may be faster, but it will ...

Dungeon Diver CH470

Abby replies.

“Of course. Good luck.”

I walk out the door again, but this time, I use extreme speed and wind magic to quickly fly through the desert back to the canyon.

Once I set foot in a dungeon, I teleport to the dungeon hub in Vice City.

I change my face and appearance to that of a D-Grade hunter with average gear and allow my Qi Barrier to emit the tiniest amount of mana, making it seem like I'm just at the cusp of level 250. My new appearance is that of a ve...

Dungeon Diver CH469

I try not to laugh, scanning his status to see he's level 219 and has one of those rare team buff skills that increases everyone's strength stat by 25% in a small radius for a limited amount of time.

It's a great skill to have for helping newbies learn to fight, and beneficial to hunting squads that farm dungeons, but it's nothing special. However, he's very charismatic and confident. He said he had a business proposition for me when I met him and his girlfriends in line earlier without...

Dungeon Diver CH468

__________________

[New Perk Unlocked: Power Holder]

Info: The caster may borrow 10% of all Base Stat Points and Mana Control efficiency from Party Members under the allegiance of the Rising Emperor. In addition, 10% of the caster's Base Stat Points and Mana Control may be temporarily distributed to any Party Members under the allegiance of the Rising Emperor.

The caster may only borrow or share exclusively; both actions cannot be performed simultaneously.

Members affe...

Dungeon Diver CH467

She takes a step closer to the glass window of the octagonal reception center and continues to speak in the same tone.

“First of all… I thank you for saving me and everyone else that was captured by these horrible men. However, my eyes are sharper than anyone here. I’m not agreeing to any terms before you explain to me what kind of unique powers you’re using and what you’re really after in this city. Why did you save us?”

I stare back at her as she confidently makes he...

Dungeon Diver CH466

I take a few minutes to explain to Maria how I believe the gathering process in the pod will go. I give her some technique advice on long-term cultivation training. Isolation pods are a little bit different than my time in the Titans' domain, though.

They make the user slip into a calming and relaxing state, making it easier to channel energy, float in place, think through tough problems, or even sleep for prolonged periods of time.

It truly is the ideal environment for this type ...

Dungeon Diver CH465

After clearing the boss room 18 times over the next 45 minutes, everyone in the group reaches level 994. We could most likely push everyone up to 997 if we farmed here for a few more hours, considering the Minotaur Boss consistently appears at level 993 to 997. However, the minuscule gains aren't worth the extra time wasted right now.

So, we leave the Labyrinth back to the dungeons in the canyon.

The sound of heavy stone being pulled in wooden carts hits our ears as the red-orange...