Chapter 145 Dungeon Core: “The Eternal Training Ground”

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Book two is now live on Amazon

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Pov one of the five

I had a moment to breathe, a moment to collect myself. Looking around the room, we were not doing too well. The twins were in bad shape, and I didn’t think they would last long. The others weren't doing much better, except for the beetle.

That magnificent bastard was currently occupying five platinum ranks with dozens of gold ranks supporting them, and still, it was able to defend against them. Absolutely magnificent, but I couldn’t be outshone too much; I wanted to do my part.

At first, I scoffed when the core told us what we were going to fight. I did not think these opponents were easy any longer. Normally, when I used my wind blades, everything was split by them; not even metal was able to contend.

These pixies were small but more annoying—they let themselves be pushed by my attacks. This allowed them to be safe from the cutting power of my attacks, at least to a degree.

They were like a swarm of bees, although I do not want to insult bees by comparing them to these disgusting things. Anyone or anything that wants to take over the core—the being that not just gave us life but gave us purpose—deserves nothing more than death.

They think that I am slowing down, that I am exhausted, but no, I do not feel those feelings any longer; they will perish. I tapped deeper into my talent than I ever have before. I felt how the air around me leapt to my command.

The wind blades I had been using were too large, too clumsy, and too blunt for these creatures. I do not know where I got the willpower to do so, but I condensed my wind blades so they were a mere shadow of themselves, a small simple pointed stick, but they were so concentrated in power, and I let them fly around me.

The first wave of Pixies that were trying to contain me were shredded to pieces. I did not stay my ground; instead, I charged. No matter how good the Beetle was at defending, it was still being overwhelmed.

I had not needed to do this in a while, but as I moved forward, a point just in front of my horn started to compress air. Moving forward started to become a struggle, but I still pushed through it like back when I was still a creature in a playroom fighting for dominance with my own kind.

More Pixies tried to surround me, but when they got too close, they started to be shredded to pieces. I gave out a war cry that was also a signal. The beetle went into full defensive mode, and my other comrades disappeared, seeking shelter. It was now so hard to move forward, but I pushed one more step and then released the gathered-up compressed air.

Everything happened too fast for me to completely understand, but I was blown back at least 20 steps. The beetle was safe, as always, but I saw two platinum Pixies dead. They were angry now, but I summoned my wind needles—yes, that was a good name for them.

These ones were better at defending themselves, and I once again started to take wounds, but it didn’t take long for the beetle to get back out of its full defensive mode and use one of its skills to take the strongest opponents I had so they would fight it.

At the back of my mind, I once again felt exhaustion, but that part of me could wait—I had more important things to do, and that was to kill the things that wanted to take the core from us. Everything blurred together, but one thing stood out: the room that was usually a rocky grey was now colored red. Then it happened—one of the twins died.

It hurt my heart; we had been together for so long, training and fighting for this very moment. It didn’t take long for the other to fall, but I still continued to fight. I now only had one-tenth of the wind needles flying around me. I was half-blind, one of my glorious horns was barely attached to me, and I had more wounds than I had time to count them. Yet still, I found an opening.

One of the Pixies, one of the stronger ones who wasn't platinum, wanted to cut my leg. That one was a target for a lot of them and it was barely functioning. I pulled the last of my strength and with a surprisingly quick step, was able to crush one of the pixies under my foot. It was one of the more satisfying kills I've done. My strength, however, was leaving me.

From my still functioning eye, I saw a pixie flying towards me with a small glowing sword. All I could do was close my eyes and then I felt the jolt of energy. Then came the pain, the excruciating pain.

I screamed out, but then I opened my eyes, both of them. I looked around in panic, but only found green grass, the kind that I liked the most. My heart started to slow down as I looked around and saw that I was in my resting room.

Was that a dream? No, it had really happened. Then I understood. The core saved me. I didn’t even need to ask it anything as I could feel it being stronger and as free as ever.

For a few minutes, I just felt the connection between us as I understood a few things better and just was able to gather my strength. Moving around, I realized that I wasn’t saved; this was a new body. I had actually died. That was not a pleasant feeling; hopefully, I won’t have to do that anytime soon.

There will be time to get back to training, but right now, I just wanted to enjoy the wonderful grass. It just tasted so much better than any other type. It brought back memories of when I was still a creature and not a monster.

I feel blessed that I have been able to live both lives. If I didn’t have these memories, I would be a dumb monster, but if I was still a creature, I wouldn’t have such a deep connection with the core. I truly had the best of both worlds and the best job ever, defending the core.

POV Ace

It has been a bit over two weeks since the start of the rebellion. Almost all of the fighting has ended, but there was so much destruction, so many lives lost as simply a distraction.

Fortunately, with the disclosure that the Pixies were trying to assassinate me and had actually broken the rules, I was able to ban them from my lands. In fact, I took things a step further and put a bounty on them, so whenever they were killed in my lands, not only would it be allowed, but the person who did the killing would be rewarded.

Sadly, that was basically the only good thing that came out of all of this. Just today, I had already gone through over 200 reports and I still had a few dozen left. Quite a lot of them were missing in action reports.

The rebels were most effective at the very beginning of their attacks when they targeted the most prominent adventurers. The list of the potentially killed was really long but over the days, it has gotten shorter.

The main targets were mainly the front runners, and no matter how good the surprise attacks were, they were the very best of this dungeon. While many still fell, some were able to fight and kill their attackers, but even more were able to escape into the confusing maze of this dungeon's rooms. After the end of most of the fighting, slowly those individuals have been reappearing.

Still, a lot were killed and the worst to suffer was the Runners Guild. They are really mad and have been crusading against the rebels' strongholds ever since. My advisors and generals informed me that it would most likely take three months to get rid of all the strongholds, but the Runners Guild has made it clear that no one should mess with them.

They have been taking down those strongholds one by one and leaving no survivors. The reports I’ve been getting about these battles paint a scary picture. For quite some time, I imagine no one will dare to provoke the Runners Guild. One of my communication crystals informed me that an assault was beginning on the last stronghold. I made my way down to the war room so I could view the battle.

This particular device cost quite a lot, but it allowed us to see what was happening down in the dungeon. Another device paired to this one was able to show what it saw. I could see the madness in the frontline fighters; they were all wearing the runner's emblem. So many mages were bombarding the defensive structures built in the tunnel that led to this particular section of the tunnels.

It had been a long journey to dismantle all the defenses and make it to the junction that had enough space for a proper base. It had multiple tunnels connecting to this junction, but only two led to paths we could use to attack.

This was the last of their defenses just before the proper base would be revealed. The attacks intensified, and I could just imagine how they would feel if I were among the fighters.

The rebels periodically attempted to fight back, but they were outclassed. They tried to surrender once, but the guilds didn’t accept their surrender. The crack came suddenly, and only a few seconds later, the last defenses crumbled.

"Charge!" I heard yelled, and then a war cry followed when everyone started to rush in. It took a bit of time before the team with the device could get in.

The fighting had already been pushed to a secondary defensive position. What was left behind were broken, burnt bodies that stood no chance against the onslaught that was coming for them.

This was not an attack; this was a slaughter, but everyone still watched it. An hour later, the fight was over and the last of the rebels dead. "The war is over," I said in a quiet voice. Now came the time to mourn, and then we would start rebuilding.