Free Web NovelChapter 188: The Dungeon Raid Begins
The crowd today was even more excited than previously, especially the ones from the North.
After the points had been announced, turns out they gathered the most, and although this was not a competition between the regions, that didn’t stop the North’s crowd from cheering anyway.
It was the first time in the Convergence Festival’s history that the North had topped the hunt’s point tally, and no one from the North was going to pretend that didn’t matter.
Behind the North was the South, and they had only lost to the North by a few points, which was surprising since Darius and Orion had definitely hunted the most beasts, given the fact that they were competing with each other.
The academy was third, followed by the royal family, the West, the East, and finally the church.
Though the last one didn’t get enough points because of a ’glitch’ in their magic tool that didn’t allow recording of the beasts they later hunted.
The herald, acting as the festival’s presenter, suddenly spoke up again, "It’s time for the festival’s second event."
The crowd cheered after his words; they sounded even rowdier than before, though they still couldn’t match the South’s energy.
"This year’s second event will be quite different from usual," the herald continued as he gestured towards a certain direction
The crowd’s attention shifted as they followed his gesture toward the large circular structure that had been prepared overnight at the festival grounds’ center.
The circular structure housed what seemed to be seven stone doors, each one standing tall on the raised platform, arranged in a wide circle facing outward.
Dungeon entrances.
On the surface of said stone, doors were what seemed to be unreadable texts that were subtly glowing.
If one managed to translate said texts, they would know exactly what was waiting for them in those dungeons.
But that was unnecessary, after all, the herald was going to explain all that.
"The second event of the Convergence Festival will be," the herald announced, his voice carrying across the stands as he gestured towards the seven stone structures again, "the Dungeon Raid."
"The rules are simple," he continued, "all representatives will enter their respective dungeons simultaneously. Points are awarded for floors cleared, beasts defeated, and magic tools retrieved."
The representatives, gathered before their assigned dungeon entrances, listened carefully.
Darius, as usual, had an excited expression; his arms seemed completely healed now.
And it was definitely not because they tried burning it again. Though he still wrapped bandages around them.
Cedric stood by his side, silently looking at the stone door before them, as did most candidates.
"The dungeon closes in four hours. Anyone still inside when it closes will be extracted automatically," the herald continued before pausing and looking towards the crowd before adding, "that has never been a comfortable experience, so I would advise against it."
The crowd let out an awkward chuckle at that, some even feeling chills going down their spines.
"Anyway," the herald said with a small smile, "let the dungeon raid."
He paused and turned towards the candidates.
"BEGIN!"
****
Grand Duke Boreas looked at the representatives walk towards the dungeon entrances.
His eyes were particularly rested on a certain butler as he recalled their conversation the previous night.
If the kid’s words were to be believed, then he’d owe him a debt that no arrangement could adequately repay.
He had spent the better part of the night staring at the egg that the kid had handed to him, and then at the sealed letter beside it.
Honestly, he still wasn’t entirely convinced, but then again, he couldn’t help but feel hopeful, even slightly.
He very much wanted to believe that the kid was right, but that couldn’t be confirmed until he returned to the North, something that wouldn’t happen anytime soon thanks to the festival.
So for now, he just silently watched as the butler disappeared into the Academy’s assigned dungeon.
He then turned his attention to the other entrance and watched both his children disappear into it.
A moment after all the representatives disappeared into their respective dungeons, the broadcasting tools flickered to life above each dungeon, projecting the interior scenes for the audience to follow.
***
The representatives found themselves in a similar large stone chamber, the very first floor of the dungeon.
Adrian looked at the far end of the chamber and noticed another stone door similar to the dungeon’s entrance.
Conan also noticed it and muttered, "That’s probably our way to the next floor."
"It is," Adrian confirmed as he looked around, noticing the broken stones lying all around, but he paid them no mind.
After all, he seemed to be waiting for something to happen.
He didn’t have to wait long because the next second, the stones started rolling around and stacking on each other, forming multiple figures.
The figures seemed like knights made completely of stone, and in the center of their chests, the two watched as the stones rearranged themselves to protect their cores.
These were stone knights, and currently, there were seven of them, each one roughly two meters tall.
They were similar to golems created by Earth Spirit mages....well, they basically were the same.
But these things were a pain to deal with since they were each at B-Rank and were a lot faster than golems.....or at least they’d be a pain to deal with for most other spirit mages of similar rank to Conan and Adrian.
"I’ll handle them," Conan said as his hair turned white and his eyes became blue.
{Ice Module activated.}
Adrian watched as the surroundings became a lot colder, so much so that it seemed to even be snowing.
The stone knights immediately identified the threat, and in the next second, they all launched themselves towards Conan.
He also moved to meet them mid charge, and the moment he was close to the first, he extended his palm towards it, launching a blast of ice towards it.
Before the stone knight could retaliate, it was completely encased in ice, and Conan didn’t bother glancing back at it before moving to the rest.
Whilst this happened, Noctis appeared on Adrian’s head and looked around the chamber.
"Do you notice any magic tool on this floor?" Adrian asked.
He could try tracking and locating the magic tools with his glasses, but all mana within the dungeon seemed to have purposely been suppressed, so they’d be almost impossible to track.
«No,» Noctis shook its head, «there’s none.»
"I see," Adrian muttered before adding, "then perhaps the next floor."
He then turned towards Conan, who was now done with the stone knights, the cores of each in his hands.
With that, they prepared to move to the next floor.
***
Conan let out a sigh as he took out the last stone knight on the third floor of the dungeon.
They were barley an hour in and they had already come this far.
Till now, Conan was handling the fighting whilst Adrian and Noctis were responsible for finding the magic tools hidden in each floor, something they were quite good at judging by the number of magic tools currently in the [Shadow Vault].
Unfortunately for Conan though, the higher they climbed, the stronger the stone knights became.
The ones on the first floor had been quite straightforward enough that he hadn’t needed to think too hard about them.
The second floor had required a bit more effort, and the third had actually made him work for it.
They were all at the same B-Rank, but they felt a lot stronger as they moved a lot faster than the ones on the previous two floors.
Though, his struggle might just be because he was trying to save mana for now since he had no idea what was waiting for them on the upper floors.
Conan watched the butler retrieve what looked like an ordinary stone from a crack in the wall, except the moment it left the surface, it flickered faintly before going dormant again.
"How hard do you think the remaining three floors will be?" He asked.
"Harder than this," Adrian simply responded as he sent the magic tool into his [Shadow Vault].
"The knights will continue getting stronger the higher we go?" he asked again as they walked.
"Mm," Adrian nodded. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
"Think the ones on the last floor will actually be a problem?"
Adrian glanced at him briefly, "For you?"
"Yeah."
"Probably," he said, and Conan wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be reassuring or not.
It wasn’t.
"Would you like me to help?" Adrian asked as he looked at the kid.
Conan was silent for a while before smiling, "nah, these rocks are nothing."
"Besides," he continued, "both Isla and Alvíss are watching right now, so I’ll show them how cool I am."
"I see," Adrian muttered as he placed a hand on the stone door before him, Conan following his lead.
The door glowed for a second before they suddenly disappeared, transported to the next floor.
***
Conan didn’t get the chance to fully materialize when he was suddenly face with a stone sword headed directly for his head.
With how close it was, there was no way he’d be able to move out of its way in time, so he just froze,
And then,
BOOM!
