Chapter 133
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 133
As Beatrice took the lead, the rest of us fell back.
Rumble—.
From the darkness, colossal figures nearly ten meters tall rose to their feet. They were alloy giants, armed with spears, swords, shields, axes, and maces—the ancient dwarven mechanical guardians, each symbolizing the power of the Five Elements. Their single glowing eyes looked down on us from the shadows, the very picture of arrogance.
Without a word, Beatrice leveled her staff and began her chant. It was a 5th-Tier Specialized Magic of the fire attribute.
“Explosion.”
Vwooom—.
With her incantation, an immense amount of magic power gathered before the large gem embedded in her staff. Simultaneously—
Flash—!
A scorching torrent of flame shot toward the enemies lurking in the dark.
And then.
KABOOM—!!
With a vibration that seemed to shake the heavens and the earth, the entire boss room flickered with a blinding white light. A magical explosion erupted in a massive hemisphere.
Fwoooosh—.
Immediately after, acrid smoke and a cloud of mana from the blast rushed toward us. Thanks to the barrier Beatrice had cast beforehand, no one was harmed. I stared blankly at the overwhelming scene before me and swallowed hard.
…As expected of Beatrice.
So this was the kind of power she could unleash when she went all out. I could feel an overwhelming output that couldn't be measured by mere in-game effects or damage numbers.
However.
Creeak—.
Despite Beatrice’s overwhelming display of magic, most of the dungeon keepers were unharmed. Only faint scorch marks marred the surface of their alloy armor.
Of course, among the five dungeon keepers, the one with the ‘steel’ attribute—which was weak to fire—had taken immense damage and was twitching on the floor. On the other hand, the wood-attribute keeper, which one might expect to be weak to fire, and the others were perfectly fine.
Beatrice nodded as she observed the results.
“I see. It’s just as you said, Roen. Unless it’s a countering attribute from the Five Elements, the damage is negligible.”
“Right. Thinking that wood burns easily and blasting it with flame magic won’t be very effective here.”
The Five Elements, by nature, were less about the properties of the elements themselves and more about representing the organic interactions of energy. They could only be defeated by attacks of their specific counter-attributes.
As we spoke, the steel-attribute dungeon keeper that had collapsed began to reactivate.
Zzzzt—.
Small mechanical arms, hidden inside the thick alloy armor, began soldering the broken parts and reinforcing the plating. In the blink of an eye, the dungeon keeper finished its self-repair and rose again. Its single eye flashed as it swung its mace toward us.
“…Very well. Let’s get serious, then!”
Beatrice’s eyes gleamed as she raised her staff once more.
Vwoooom—.
Complex magic circles materialized behind her, and from them, brilliant, five-colored rays of light shot out, striking each dungeon keeper directly.
KRAKOOOM—!
Beatrice had cast five different spells, each with a different attribute, at the same time.
Quintuple Casting!
Kigigigik—.
[Guooooo!]
The dungeon keepers shrieked, unable to keep their balance as they were swept up in Beatrice's beams of light. Their weaknesses had been exploited, forcing them into a groggy state. It was like watching them get blasted away by high-pressure water cannons.
But they weren’t just being pushed back. Wherever the light touched, their thick alloy armor melted away, and the magic engravings on their surfaces were erased. I smiled faintly at the overwhelming sight.
…Even the ancient dwarves who created these things couldn't have predicted this.
Normally, to defeat these dungeon keepers, one would need to bring five specialized mages—one for each attribute. Furthermore, they would have to organically coordinate their magical output to suppress all the keepers simultaneously. If even one remained active, the other four would endlessly self-repair and re-enter the battle.
But if all five attribute magics could be evenly distributed like this, there was no problem. Their health would deplete at the same rate, and they would be dealt with in one go, without giving them a chance to recover.
It might look easy at a glance, but it’s anything but.
I thought of the bosses from the hundreds, even thousands of RPGs I had played. In many games, you often encounter twin-type bosses. Even if you defeat one, the other will quickly revive it if it still has health, causing immense frustration.
That was for just two bosses. Right now, we were facing five. Inflicting uniform damage to all of them to defeat them simultaneously was no easy feat.
Across the entire Union, the only ones capable of performing such a delicate yet overwhelmingly powerful task alone would be Beatrice and the Chairman.
Of course, there were many professors of a higher tier and with greater magical output than Beatrice. But the only other person who could handle all five attributes so evenly was the Grand Mage, the Chairman himself.
Krrrik—.
The dungeon keepers, continuously pushed back by Beatrice’s beams, activated all available cores to increase their output.
Pshhhh—.
Steam billowed from their backs, just as it had when Meyer’s magic armor increased its output. At the same time, their armor began to glow red as they entered an [Overload] state.
Clank—.
Once in their Overload state, the dungeon keepers began to advance step by step, withstanding Beatrice’s powerful beam attacks. This was possible because their ‘fortitude’ increased in the Overload state, giving them resistance to crowd-control effects.
“…!”
At their approach, Beatrice flinched, her body trembling for a moment. As the dungeon keepers moved, Yuliana and Bell tried to intervene, but I stopped them.
“Don’t interfere. We can’t let the damage balance get thrown off.”
If another spell interfered while uniform damage was being dealt to all five keepers, the balance would be broken. If that happened, all of Beatrice’s efforts so far would be for nothing.
This was my turn to step up.
Ch-ch-chain—.
I unleashed all my available mana chains, binding the dungeon keepers’ feet. Then, I stood before Beatrice, preparing to block their attack.
If this is the attack pattern they use when hit with two or more crowd-control effects while in an [Overload] state…
SWOOOSH—!
Just as I predicted, the dungeon keepers, now rooted in place, threw their massive weapons at Beatrice.
Whirrrr—.
The weapons—each one practically the size of a house—tore through the air at a terrifying speed.
“Look out!”
Ciel shouted and rushed toward me, but I silently took out a magic scroll and tore it.
[Spirit Magic – Wall of Earth]
RUMBLE—!
As the scroll activated, multiple earthen walls shot up from the ground beneath my feet. The dungeon keepers’ weapons had the same property as the alloy arrows we’d seen before, capable of dismantling magical barriers.
But it’s a different story with spirit magic.
This wall wasn’t woven from magic; it was a mound of earth raised directly by the power of a spirit. Of course, the massive weapons they threw still shattered the earthen walls with sheer physical force, continuing their trajectory toward me.
CRASH—.
But the walls weren’t entirely useless; the weapons’ speed had been significantly reduced. Trusting in the physical defense of my Aegis Shield and Altair’s suit, I stood my ground to block them.
KRAAANG—!!
A powerful impact, strong enough to rattle every bone in my body, struck me.
“Keuk.”
The damage was several times greater than when I’d blocked Meyer’s punch, and a huge chunk of my health vanished. But I was still standing. I wiped the blood trickling from the corner of my mouth and steadied my breath.
…That was close.
Thud—.
Blocked by the human shield that was me, the guardians’ weapons fell uselessly to the floor. With that, my role was finished. I turned my head to look at Beatrice. I hoped she would understand that I was leaving the rest to her.
Our eyes met. Beatrice bit her lip, and with every last ounce of her strength, she fired the rest of her magic.
Roooar—.
Under the waterfall of five-colored magical light, the dungeon keepers gradually lost their strength and collapsed.
Thud—.
Their bodies melted by the overwhelming magic, they fell to their knees and crashed to the ground.
[Guooooo!]
But they only held on for a moment. Soon, with a final death cry, their lights went out, and they shattered completely.
CRUMBLE—.
The dungeon keepers fell apart, spilling mechanical parts like collapsing buildings.
“Hah, hah.”
Beatrice, who had been unleashing an excessive amount of magic for nearly ten minutes, gasped for breath, using her staff for support.
“Good work, Beatrice.”
“…It was nothing. You saved me again, I see.”
“Saved you? Protecting my party members is my duty as the leader of this expedition. Get some rest. You did well.”
“……”
At my words, Beatrice’s eyes closed, and she collapsed. I caught her as she lost consciousness in my arms.
Mana exhaustion, then.
She had simply used too much mana; there seemed to be no other health issues. I crushed a mana replenishment stone over the fallen Beatrice, scattering its dust over her.
With that, the ether dungeon was conquered.
*
As if to announce the end of the dungeon conquest, a bright light filled the boss room. I gently laid the unconscious Beatrice down in a suitable spot. After restoring my health with a potion, I addressed the team before checking the clear rewards.
“Just like last time, rewards for this expedition will be distributed based on contribution. However, the Next-Generation Core Blueprint is an exception. We’ll all share that information.”
Rumble—.
The boss room began to vibrate. With it, a large altar rose from below. It was shaped like a pyramid. I stepped onto the altar and checked the clear rewards.
There was a treasure chest, far larger than the one I’d seen when we cleared the Spooky Dungeon. It was closer in size to a crate than a chest.
Click—.
When I opened the lid, the first thing I saw was a neatly rolled and tied piece of paper. My eyes widened as I examined it.
The Next-Generation Core Blueprint!
This was the very item that was the main objective of our expedition. Although it would take some time to implement this with current technology, it was an invention that would cause a revolution in the current magitech world. This alone was an incredible haul.
With trembling hands, I secured the blueprint and turned my attention to the ten gems lying next to it. A pair of Elemental Stones for each of the Five Elements. They were extremely rare materials used in crafting various high-grade artifacts. I needed materials to craft the Azoth Sword, and these would be perfect. I’ll take one of each for myself and distribute the rest to the party members.
Beside the gems were other rolled-up papers. On them were the blueprints for the Dwarf Mechanical Guardians we had just defeated, as well as the Automated Manufacturing Process Equipment Blueprint. If we could produce these and deploy them alongside the automated golems in the Union, they would become a formidable security force.
I tucked these away as well. Lifting the last of the blueprints, I saw that the space beneath was filled with gleaming yellow gold ingots.
…
I stared at the glittering gold, my jaw dropping.
How much is all this worth?
Considering the size of the crate, there had to be at least a hundred of them. Surely the dwarves who made this dungeon wouldn’t have cheaped out and padded the bottom with wood to make it look like more.
I took one set of Elemental Stones and put them in my pouch, then spoke to my party members.
“Come and help. It’ll be hard to move all these gold ingots by myself.”