Death's Sarcophagus
"Fuck!"
"These damn mole bastards!"
Jack and his raid team wore expressions of utter exhaustion.
Drenched in the blood and bodily fluids of the Hell Moles, they pressed forward with grim determination.
It was only because the Inazuma raid team had taken the vanguard that things weren't worse. If Jack's group had been up front, the casualties would have skyrocketed.
"Gah!"
"S-save... me..."
Awakened who weren't part of either raid team were swept away by the Hell Moles' onslaught, vanishing from sight in an instant.
Their fates were obvious.
Jack shouted at Conner.
"Buff us!"
"Got it."
A brilliant light radiated from the dwarf Conner's entire body.
Everyone within the glow felt vitality surging through them, their strength amplified.
Conner's awakening ability was a pure buff.
His direct combat prowess was weak, but he could momentarily elevate the entire party's power—a precious asset.
Like healers, buffers were essential for dungeon raids, yet just as rare, making them a luxury few teams could afford.
It was surprising that such a valuable buffer was in Jack's raid team.
"Raaargh!"
Declan bellowed.
His eyes were bloodshot red.
Declan was a berserker, and he benefited the most from his brother Conner's buffs.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Declan crushed Hell Moles indiscriminately with his massive frame.
Watching him, Kouji muttered.
"Good! At this rate, we'll reach the boss soon."
Thanks to the dwarf Conner, the Inazuma raid team's power had surged too.
The dungeon breakthrough was going more smoothly as a result.
A shout came from Shuhan, who was scouting ahead.
"Almost there! Just a bit more!"
"Raaargh!"
"Graaah!"
The Awakened squeezed out their last reserves of strength.
Crash!
With a thunderous explosion, a massive stone door shattered.
Inazuma, Jack's raid team, and the surviving Awakened poured into a vast chamber.
They had finally reached the boss room.
Kouji yelled.
"Seal the entrance! Don't let the adds join the boss!"
"Hyaah!"
Byron swung his axe at the entrance pillar. The tunnel they'd broken through collapsed in a rumble, blocking the Hell Moles.
"Haa!"
"Huff!"
Only now could the group catch their breath. But it was just a momentary respite—their crisis was far from over.
Groooowl...
A grotesque breathing echoed from behind.
"The boss."
"Shit!"
The source was the Hell Mole Boss, its ragged breaths filling the air.
True to its status, it was ten times larger than regular Hell Moles.
Its back bristled with spines like a porcupine, and its maw was forged from some unidentified metal.
But stranger still were the objects behind the boss.
"What the hell are those?"
Stone sarcophagi littered the area. Protruding from the tops were human heads.
Zeon clicked his tongue.
"Tch! The advance raid team."
He'd expected as much.
Hell Moles were adept at handling humans.
They'd clearly gained experience from the first group.
Zeon's gaze locked on one sarcophagus.
He recognized the face.
"Old man Clexy."
The pallid, eyes-shut face was unmistakably Clexy's.
"It's the Combination Master."
"He's there."
Jack and the Awakened spotted Clexy and shouted.
Combination Master? Yuse-hui got called that too. Former master? Related by blood?
It all made sense now.
That explained Yuse-hui's anxious plea.
For some reason, old man Clexy had led a raid team into the dungeon first and gone missing.
Yuse-hui had every reason to worry.
Problem is rescuing Clexy unscathed from the boss.
The stone sarcophagi were one of the Hell Mole Boss's abilities.
Death's Sarcophagus.
It turned sand into stone, encasing living beings inside.
Those trapped fell into a coma, and the boss absorbed their vital energy.
The humans drained of vitality inevitably died.
Then—
Kieee!
The Hell Mole Boss attacked the intruders in its domain.
Shooo!
Spines rained down from its back like arrows.
"Everyone, watch out!"
"Dodge!"
The Awakened deployed skills to block or evade the barrage.
Scattering, they assaulted the Hell Mole Boss.
Boom! Boom!
Flashy skills hammered the boss.
It couldn't dodge and took the hits full-on.
"Got it."
"We nailed it."
Joy lit the Awakened's faces.
Zeon's eyes darkened in contrast.
They didn't know.
The Hell Mole Boss's true power.
It wasn't overwhelmingly strong, but its abilities were tricky.
Crimson Cloud.
Suddenly, a blood-red mist began spreading through the boss room.
"What is this?"
"Careful!"
Kouji and Jack shouted in unison.
Veterans that they were, they sensed the mist's danger immediately.
The fog billowed like clouds, filling the room in seconds.
There was nowhere to run.
"Urk!"
"B-breathing..."
Slum Awakened clutched their throats and collapsed.
Yuri cried out.
"Everyone, to me!"
Winds swirled around her, forming a barrier.
The wind wall repelled the blood-red clouds. Inazuma and Jack's teams huddled by her and survived unscathed.
Yuri strained to maintain the wall.
"Can't hold it long. Three minutes max—take it down!"
"Got it."
Kouji replied, steadying his breath.
Comain added,
"Haven't seen the captain's Death's Dance in ages."
A skill that infused aura into eighteen sword strikes in one breath.
Named Death's Dance because wherever the sword danced, death followed.
"Here I go."
"Can't let you show me up."
Jack stepped up too.
Kouji was Inazuma's leader; he was Jack's.
He couldn't lag behind.
Shing! Shing!
Death's Dance and Jack's Silent Funeral activated simultaneously.
One unleashed eighteen strikes in a breath; the other concentrated all power into a single blow.
Beyond using swords, the skills shared nothing in common.
Their sword styles diverged completely.
Kieee!
The Hell Mole Boss's agonized screech echoed.
"Got it."
"We did it."
As cheers erupted, only Zeon sensed the impending doom.
"Everyone, watch—"
Boom!
Before he finished, the boss room wall crumbled. Something poured in.
The writhing mass engulfed nearby Shuhan and dwarf Conner.
"What?!"
"Aaaagh!"
They screamed, trying to escape the horde. But there were too many.
Zeon swept his hand. Flames erupted, incinerating the creatures.
"Haaagh!"
"Grah!"
The two gasped, barely escaping death.
Zeon ignored them, staring at the breached wall.
More abominations kept swarming in.
"Ghost Dragonfly larvae. So this was the real threat."
The wriggling horde was the same Ghost Dragonfly larvae Zeon had cleared earlier.
Hell Moles were a headache, especially underground.
But as a dungeon boss? Insufficient.
He'd suspected a true boss lurked elsewhere.
"Hell Moles and Ghost Dragonflies don't mix, though."
Hell and ghosts seemed fitting at first glance, but their habitats differed.
Hell Moles burrowed underground; Ghost Dragonflies needed open skies.
Larvae could lurk below, but adults required vast airspace to molt and fly.
That many larvae meant that many adults had molted.
No way they naturally infested this underground.
Groooar!
Worse, the "defeated" Hell Mole Boss rose roaring.
Kouji and Jack's attacks had wounded it deeply, but it endured.
"What now?!"
"Damn it!"
Kouji and Jack couldn't hide their shock.
The boss unleashed Crimson Cloud again. With Ghost Dragonfly larvae added, the room became true hell.
"Aaaagh!"
"Argh!"
Screams rang out nonstop.
Zeon shook his head slightly.
"At this rate, total wipe."
Raid teams or not, they weren't prepared for this dungeon.
They'd cleared plenty near Neo Seoul, but those were limited types.
Unusually similar dungeons popped up close by.
Experience aplenty, but no variety—hence their slow reaction to surprises.
Half-baked, huh?
He'd rather sit it out, but total annihilation was imminent.
"Fire Rain."
Zeon swung his right hand, murmuring.
Meteors of flame rained down.
Amplified by the Superheat Gauntlet.
The inferno torched the larva swarm and hammered the Hell Mole Boss.
The raid teams escaped death's door.
"Huff! Huff!"
"Fuck! That was close."
Survivors panted heavily.
Kouji scanned frantically for Zeon.
"Where is he?"
Zeon was nowhere in the boss room.
He'd saved them then vanished like smoke. But no time to search.
The wounded Hell Mole Boss staggered from Fire Rain.
Miss this, and it'd recover.
They had to end it now.
"Damn it! All-out assault!"