Chapter 73—The Sunken Labyrinth.
Chapter 73—The Sunken Labyrinth.
The morning mist over the Undercity was cold and dense, smelling of damp stone and crystallized mana.
By the time the news of the Sun-Forge Vanguard’s complete obliteration reached the High Citadel in the upper spire, Kaelen’s group had already crossed the thresholds of the lower vaults.
Armed with the Sun-Forge Crest harvested from General Cassian’s body, they bypassed the heavy imperial seal and stepped directly into the entrance portal of the Floor 2 World Boss Dungeon.
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[DUNGEON ENTERED: The Sunken Labyrinth of Aethelgard]
RECOMMENDED LEVEL: Level 140 - 150 (Raid Tier)
PARTY CAPACITY: 20 - 50 Players
CURRENT PARTY SIZE: 5 Players (Sovereign Faction)
HAZARD RATING: EX-GRADE (Subterranean Water & Spatial Distortions)
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SWOOSH.
The heavy spatial ripples of the portal entry faded, replaced by the deep, echoing sound of crashing water.
The party materialized inside a colossal, ancient subterranean cavern. Massive, moss-covered pillars of carved white granite stretched hundreds of feet upward into the darkness, supporting the ceiling of the lower floor. The ground beneath their boots was submerged under two feet of crystal-clear, glowing blue water that rippled with high-density aquatic mana.
"Two to fifty players recommended," Ignis chuckled, adjusting the heavy straps of his broadsword sheath as he splashed through the shallow water. "And we’re walking in with five. If the High Lord of the Covenant saw us right now, he’d think we’ve completely lost our minds."
"Numbers are a crutch for those who lack individual absolute authority," Kaelen stated smoothly, his boots stepping through the water without leaving a single ripple. His dark coat draped pristine and untouched over his shoulders, his dark violet eyes calmly scanning the vast, flooded corridors ahead.
Beside him, Lyra held her golden staff loosely in her right hand. Her silver armor reflected the bioluminescent blue glow of the underwater flora, and the subtle warmth of the twin-sun crest on her hand kept her divine aura humming at peak efficiency.
"The water here isn’t normal, Kaelen," Lyra noted softly, her blue eyes sharp. "It’s saturated with ancient spatial magic. Every step we take feels like walking against a gentle spatial current."
"She’s right," Ren chimed in, his fingers tapping rapidly against his gauntlet’s holographic interface as three silver mapping drones flew into the cavernous tunnels ahead.
"The map structure of this dungeon isn’t static. It’s a shifting labyrinth built on floating spatial plates. Every fifteen minutes, the corridors rearrange themselves automatically."
Ren projected a glowing 3D schematic of the dungeon into the air between them.
"Look here," Ren pointed out. "There are four primary sealing anchors holding the main chamber shut. To summon the Floor 2 World Boss—The Abyssal Leviathan, Abzu—all four anchors must be activated simultaneously using high-density mana."
"Four anchors, four corridors," Tsubaki’s voice murmured from the shadow of a granite pillar. "A standard raid team splits into four sub-squads to hit them all at once."
"We don’t need to split up," Kaelen purred, his low velvet voice echoing with absolute, dark confidence. "Ren, upload the coordinate keys to my UI."
"Done," Ren replied instantly, sending the data streams to Kaelen’s HUD. "Anchor One is two hundred meters down the western channel."
"Let us move," Kaelen commanded.
As the party advanced deeper into the flooded labyrinth, the ambient light faded, replaced by the eerie, pulsing crimson eyes of the dungeon’s natural guardians.
SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH!
From the deep waters surrounding the granite pillars, dozens of massive sea-serpent horrors clad in spiked bone armor erupted into the air! Their jaws opened wide, revealing rows of razor-sharp, venomous fangs dripping with green corrosive acid.
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[HOSTILE ENTITIES SPOTTED!]
MONSTER TYPE: Deep-Vault Sea Serpents (Level 138 Elite)
QUANTITY: 40 Units
ABILITY: Acid Bite / Submerged Stealth.
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I’ve got the vanguard!" Ignis bellowed with a fierce grin.
He lunged forward, slamming the butt of his claymore into the submerged stone floor. White-hot dragon flames erupted around his blade, boiling the surrounding water instantly into a thick, blinding cloud of steam.
"Dragon Fire Art: Boiling Wave!"
BOOOOOOM!
A sixty-foot tidal wave of roaring, superheated flames blasted through the narrow corridor, incinerating twenty sea serpents in a fraction of a second! The raw heat turned the creatures’ bone armor into brittle ash before they could even hit the water!
"Tsubaki, clean up the flanks," Kaelen ordered smoothly without even breaking his stride.
"Understood," Tsubaki whispered.
Tsubaki vanished into the steam. A split second later, dozens of dark crescent arcs sliced through the mist. The remaining twenty serpents were cleanly diced into geometric pieces, their health bars vanishing simultaneously as their drops materialized into golden light particles.
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[ROOM CLEARED!]
EXP RECEIVED: 680,000 Points!
PARTY PROGRESSION: Unhindered!
---
In less than three minutes, an encounter designed to stall a twenty-man raid squad for half an hour was dismantled like child’s play.
Kaelen’s group arrived before the first sealing chamber. At the center of a grand circular rotunda stood a massive twenty-foot pillar carved from ancient blue steel—Anchor One. The pillar was wrapped in thick, glowing red sealing chains that hummed with ancient defensive wards.
"To activate the anchor," Ren explained, stepping up to the console, "a normal raid team has to feed it 100,000 points of pure elemental mana over five minutes while defending against monster waves."
"Five minutes is too slow," Kaelen said coldly.
Kaelen walked up to the ancient steel pillar. He didn’t use an elemental spell, nor did he wait for Ren’s hacking protocol. He simply placed his bare, dark-gloved hand against the glowing red sealing chains.
HUMMMMMMMM!
The moment Kaelen’s Void Origin mana touched the ancient mechanism, the red sealing chains didn’t just absorb the energy—they turned jet-black and shattered under the sheer, overwhelming weight of his sovereign authority!
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[OVERRIDE DETECTED!]
SOVEREIGN MANA INJECTED: 1,000,000 Points (Void Class)!
ANCHOR 01 STATUS: FORCED ACTIVATION COMPLETE!
TIME ELAPSED: 3 Seconds!
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BOOOOOOM!
A massive beam of brilliant blue light shot out from the top of the pillar, piercing through the cavern ceiling and locking into the central dungeon core!
Ren stared at his gauntlet screen, his jaw hanging open. "You... you just forced a five-minute channel phase in three seconds by sheer mana density?!"
"Three anchors remain," Kaelen replied smoothly, turning back to his party with an amused, dark glint in his violet eyes. "Ren, lead us to the next one."
Meanwhile, high above at the main entrance gates of the Sunken Labyrinth, a massive army of over five hundred elite players clad in glowing golden plate mail and white robes had just arrived.
At the head of the army stood High Lord Aurelius himself—a level 155 Paladin King wielding a glowing, legendary two-handed broadsword that radiated blinding solar light. Standing beside him was Commander Julian, his face pale and nervous.
"Report!" Aurelius roared, his voice booming like thunder through the cavern entrance. "Where is the vanguard under General Cassian?!"
"My Lord..." a scout stammered, dropping to his knees in terror. "We... we found the vanguard at the eastern descent. All one hundred and twenty knights... wiped out. Their gear was stripped, and their crests were shattered."
Aurelius’s face contorted into a terrifying expression of pure, unbridled fury. The golden aura surrounding his body flared violently, cracking the marble ground beneath his boots.
"Kaelen..." Aurelius growled through clenched teeth, his grip tightening on his legendary broadsword until the steel groaned. "He dares butcher my elite legion in the dark and enter my floor’s World Boss dungeon?!"
"High Lord!" an Archmage yelled, looking at a magical scrying orb in his hands. "Look at the dungeon status! Anchor One of the Sunken Labyrinth has just been activated!"
Aurelius’s eyes widened in disbelief.
"Anchor One?! They entered less than ten minutes ago! How could a five-man squad reach and activate the first anchor already?!"
"They aren’t just clearing the dungeon, My Lord," Julian whispered in horror, staring at the scrying orb. "They’re sprinting through it!"
"ALL UNITS! ADVANCE!" Aurelius bellowed, drawing his giant sword and pointing it toward the glowing blue dungeon portal. "Enter the labyrinth! We will crush them at the central boss chamber and claim the World Boss drops for the Radiant Covenant! Leave no member of Sovereign alive!"
"YES, HIGH LORD." five hundred voices roared in unison as the massive army surged forward into the portal.
Deep inside the labyrinth, standing before the second glowing anchor pillar, Kaelen stopped for a brief second. A faint, cold smile curved his lips as he felt the distant spatial vibrations of five hundred players entering the dungeon behind them.
"They have arrived," Lyra whispered softly, her hand tightening around her golden staff as she felt the hostile magic presence entering the zone.
"Let them come," Kaelen purred smoothly, placing his hand onto Anchor Two and shattering its chains instantly. "A labyrinth is the perfect place to bury an army."