Kae

Dungeon Diver CH821

I fly forward over the jungle with no specific goals in mind…

If I were to go all out, I could fly around this arena in a matter of seconds and gain enough points to pass to the main event, so there is really no rush.

My curiosity is more so focused on the white pillars of light and geo points on my mini map pinpointing the nearest [Duel], [Shop], [Gift], and [Challenge] areas.

Even further in the distance, I watch one of the pillars disappear, and another form out of the ...

Dungeon Diver CH820

I watch all of the Lords in my direct line of sight walk and run forward into the dome without hesitating at all.

The hologram of the grinning Demonic Servant fades away as well, leaving me in silence, staring at a shimmering mirror with an unconscious elf on my back.

After a few seconds pass, a timer shows up in my mind above the two new available buttons on this avatar shell, and it is counting down from 1 hour.

“Well… we better get to it, I guess…” I whisper, hopi...

Dungeon Diver CH819

“Report this news to Bri immediately. The Great Belt of Brymia is an ally of ours… if they’re sending more Demonic Troops out that far, it means somehow information leaked from that incident… Your updates will be very valuable.”

“Understood, it will be done.”

After a few mental one-way messages to Bri and Alveron, preparing them for what they’re about to hear, I reply to the admin that notified me of his work, as I feel his presence leaving the Inner City now, back...

Dungeon Diver CH818

‘All four are unique… This is good for now… but could get troublesome,’ Ember thinks to himself while analyzing the generals auras, but he does not have a pleased look on his face.

Ember is calculating what his next move should be, and trying to conceptualize every piece moving in the Upper Realm right now.

With his close call with the Demons that arrived here two days prior, he’s both relieved that nothing came of it before everyone was ready, but also on edge.

He...

Dungeon Diver CH817

I watch Ren slump down unconscious against the black wall of the cell, and every moment I make contact, the loud ringing in my ear gets more extreme.

The sensation of hot energy building up inside my body begins to make itself known once I pull my hand away again, and I whisper to myself… “It’s happening already…?”

It isn’t much, and really only feels mildly warm, but I recognize this feeling from when I was using the suppression technique Seraphel taught me while trai...

Dungeon Diver CH816

The same memories from our last contact, that of a Dragon’s crimson eye from a battle that took place over the Grand Citadel floods right back into my mind, but it quickly fades away, and the flashes of scenes get even grainier and harder to make out.

Time is moving backward in these memories even further and faster.

Tens of thousands of years pass every second that it feels like I’m watching, and there are even large gaps of time missing.

Before I know it, the perspecti...

Dungeon Diver CH815

Ember’s ominous warning, paired with the appearance of new Demons in the Ellipsia citadel, keeps my mind sharp as we zip through the Endless inner city of the Grand Citadel.

I remember the time it took to travel a few dozen blocks that spanned tens of thousands of kilometers across Ellipsia, but we’re just flying deeper and deeper, clearing this length multiple times without any change in sight or signs of stopping.

Even looking up, it’s like there is no sky, only more tower...

Dungeon Diver CH814

Hours pass as we walk through the last few remaining biomes.

There is an icy frozen lake biome, and two mountainous regions with mostly 2nd Class unintelligent elemental beasts in our way. Between the two final Regions, there is a final safe zone where the other Demonic Servants earlier mentioned it to be a good place for us to stop and get express crown cycles, but our Berserker Admin speaks up through the link as we pass it.

“We can register your fake Crown Cycles here. I have...

Dungeon Diver CH813

“Well… I can answer both your questions by explaining the arena. As you’ve already assumed, we Admins search for the strongest beasts and Lords that come to the Upper Realm to participate in a monthly tournament hosted by the demons.”

We silently walk through the black sand desert in a line with a heavy black block of ether commands wrapped around our wrists, while this Demonic Servant walks behind us and continues.

“They usually use it as training practice and to test o...

Dungeon Diver CH812

Unlike myself and Ava, the debuff commands sent out seem to have affected Ren’s avatar, making it extremely easy to hold them in place.

At such close range, surrounded by over a dozen 1st Class Premium Avatars, the natural intimidation and pressure of ether commands, dense divine threads, and mana control should be suffocating.

Yet, my eyes still shift toward the guard that initially caught my interest. He holds a double-sided sharpened axe to the left side of my neck.

“...

Dungeon Diver CH811

We’re so close to the Great Wall… Less than four full biomes away, and we’ve been caught now.

This doesn’t change the fact that Ren’s personality hasn’t shifted back to their docile and cooperative state. I can still feel sharp white eyes digging into my hand where Celia’s Ring rests.

It seems that despite twenty 1st Class Demonic Servants surrounding us, this is still the highest-priority target in their mind.

I grit my teeth while watching bursts of ether com...

Dungeon Diver CH810

I look out into the wilderness, scoping out a new biome that spans over 100 kilometers before me. It is a unique mountainous region, with small wildlife like trees and shrubbery; but a large percent of the biome’s floor is full of lava pools.

In them, unintelligent salamanders live, most of them triple-ranked up with supreme fire summoning skills.

This appears to be a large trend in the biomes around here.

There are hardly any intelligent Lords outside of the safe zones, a...

Dungeon Diver CH809

Over 36 hours pass as we venture forward at a much faster pace than before, targeting only territories with skills I need.

We avoid all black zones that don’t have physical proof around their borders of wild beasts inside and accept every premium quest we come across to obtain more and more biome maps, expanding the view in our minimap.

I methodically run down my status list, upgrading every single skill possible to [Divine Grade] and every single elemental summoning skill from ...

Dungeon Diver CH808

In the Lower Realm, in the deepest depths of a canyon in the Crimson City, the final member of the Crimson Army finishes their power leveling session in the most powerful labyrinth on the human world.

Pluto, the True Cored Common Blood Demon, follows the protocols of his orders and brings the labyrinth up to its 200th Floor.

There is enough pure mana inside this labyrinth to fuel an entire 2nd Class World, as a majority of it was pulled from off-world. What is happening now should...

Dungeon Diver CH807

Deep within the Sea of Corruption, within the crevasse of even denser black liquid—still as corrosive as it was tens of thousands of years ago when the Wyverns' Citadel fell—Seraphel remains in his fully unsealed Celestial Form, glowing light blue and spanning over a hundred kilometers from wingtip to wingtip.

The fact that his High Noble Vibrations have been artificially sealed and forcefully pushed deep within his soul for millennia has caused a horribly painful delayed reaction i...

Dungeon Diver CH806

As the hordes of rats run forward, we do too.

I aim for the weaker rats, at 5th and 4th Class, while Ava attacks the 3rd and 2nd Class beasts.

Some of them are even triple-ranked up, growing in size to 7 or 8 meters long.

Their teeth, claws, and tails are as sharp as blades, acting as soul weapons, dense with ether commands inside their basic-grade avatars.

I activate my fire summoning skill over and over on its lowest setting, even using the simulated commands of my a...

Dungeon Diver CH805

Notifications continue to ring in my mind as more hours pass. I absorb over a thousand more low quality ether through a few dozen more biomes, and [Hush], [Iron Fist], [Bloodweaver], and [Dagger Mastery] are all upgraded to [Divine Grade].

I managed to absorb Bloodweaver from another premium 2nd Class quest, taken from a vampiric beast race. They all looked like overgrown wolves, but their blood-red eyes felt like they had merciless, intelligent minds behind them.

Even after killi...

Dungeon Diver CH804

We leave the dining lounge and walk through the streets on the other side of town from where we entered.

I’ve counted exactly 362 Lords in total in this safe zone, which really isn't much… There are far more wild, unintelligent beasts in the wilderness.

We still get a few glances as we walk past the housing areas—some Lords recognize us from the Adventurers’ Hub, while others are just enamored by Ava’s unique appearance.

The three of us walk through the outer barri...

Dungeon Diver CH803

The dining construct around me is only made of pure mana, green divine threads, and ether commands; but every flat surface projects lifelike illusions to create a luxury experience. The lighting is dim, making the red booths stand out, especially as waiters carry bright white trays full of dishes upon Lords ordering.

While this is an impressive display, my mind focuses much more on the trackers I placed on the wolfmen, which continue to move downward.

It’s not like they’re jus...

Dungeon Diver CH802

“Oh, we don’t need much. Just sightseeing before we head back out into the Wilderness,” Ava replies, eyeing the back of the room labeled [Premium Dining Lounge].

The sales specialist picks up on her eye movements and turns to the sectioned-off area.

“In that case, if you’re not looking to buy or sell any specific gear, may I suggest you relax in our dining lounge? For those who miss the taste and experience of eating food, we have many options for all races and documente...

Dungeon Diver CH801

“Black zones? Well… they’re one of two things. The first being an out-of-control beast, usually 2nd or 1st Class, that terrorizes the territory for too long. If that serpent wasn’t taken care of soon, the Eden Forest could have been turned into a Black Zone…”

“Interesting… so what is the second?”

“Well, it's far more rare, but if the admin of a biome goes dark, so do their monitored areas. In both cases, Black Zones result in the total isolation of an entire re...

Dungeon Diver CH800

Inside the outer wall of the Grand Citadel, a few hundred entry points away from where the two newest Lords entered, a Demonic Servant receives a ping from Safezone 022089.

“Finally, that nuisance was taken care of…” the Servant whispers under his breath while confirming the legitimacy of the scan of the serpent’s scale provided.

This 2nd Class Beast has been causing havoc in some of the lower-class zones for months, and routines have been posted across multiple safe zones...

Dungeon Diver CH799

We walk down toward the safe zone appearing below us, linking the border of three biomes, and the air pressure shifts in very odd patterns. The earthy air from the mountainous forest region mixes with the cold air from the snow biome, but it is completely thrown off by the dry and hot air from the desert.

The safe zone itself is no larger than 2 kilometers wide, with countless dense white strands of ether protecting it from the outside.

My unaided eyes can’t see through it from ...

Dungeon Diver CH798

Ava’s eyebrows raise with surprise and understanding. After spending years of her life trapped beneath Ellipsia in the Exile Zones, it’s only natural the Grand Citadel would make something similar. It would be illogical to miss out on so much profit. Though, she is still in the dark about how exactly profit is made… and so am I.

So, she replies back, “Yeah, I was serious. We arrived here at the Grand Citadel just a few hours ago… What do you mean we can’t leave? Is there som...

Dungeon Diver CH797

The Demonic Servant at Entry Point 021458 closes up the ether commands that give entry into the Citadel, but the twisted grin on his face doesn’t leave.

The Servant stands at the ready, monitoring thousands of other Lords he’s sent down into the wilderness. Many of which are intelligent beasts he’s categorized and sent to agreed-upon regions with similar crown levels and suitable environments.

Usually, unintelligent beasts stay with their own, within the biomes they’ve bee...

Dungeon Diver CH796

The wolfman’s soul weapon stays on track for my chest, and his angry gaze doesn’t leave me, his target.

This makes me scan my surroundings one more time and find that the serpent slithering through the trees toward my back is actually very well hidden, using a stealth skill.

My baseline senses are far too advanced to register this, and it just appears normal to me once it enters the small aura I’ve been letting out.

‘Even better…’ I think to myself ...

Dungeon Diver CH795

“Hey Xaden, do you really think it’s even out here? Maybe the bounty monster just left for the swamplands or something.”

“No way, Togi! Boss is never wrong! He said he smelled it! It’s out here, we just have to keep looking!”

Two voices chat back and forth, with slow and almost goofy-sounding mannerisms. But a rougher and more focused voice cuts through their lazy words.

“Shut up. I can hear you. We’re certainly not going to find it with you two making all th...

Dungeon Diver CH794

I feel an ether orb form, and the subtle visuals of movements and ether commands triggering all around us.

All that can be seen is a blinding white light afterward, as the density and opacity of this orb are far different from the standard ones from Ellipsia.

—

Seconds later, the blinding light disperses, and I feel my feet hit solid ground…

Eerily natural and familiar solid ground, actually, like there are real rocks, grass, and dampness below me.

I breathe ...

Dungeon Diver CH793

Ember stands in silence on the top floor of the High Orc Tower.

His gaze is steady on the sleeping berserker in front of him, but the back of his mind—and his perception, which can see through ether structures with ease—watches the four generals within the central tower.

Small fluctuations ripple through his senses as they begin to absorb the energy in their respective floors.

Once all of the necessary mana and qi per floor is absorbed and processed, complex arrays bound...

Dungeon Diver CH792

The Grand Citadel gets larger and larger, filling every corner of my vision, making the entire horizon and sky before me turn black the closer we travel.

The density of ether commands gets thicker too, but my unaided senses stopped being able to tell the difference tens of thousands of kilometers ago.

If I were to really try and examine my environment, I would certainly be affecting it by looking, and that's the last thing I want. I do not know who or what is keeping track of thes...