[Corruption Wielder] Chapter 146: Challenge Dungeon

It had been a while since Will had entered a dungeon that felt like this. Though he’d cleared a few here and there, he had mostly done those in externalized dungeons. He hadn’t done many portal-types in a while, which meant that it was a bit of adjustment just to enter that portal and walk into a new dungeon.

That was less noticeable than the visceral change in the surrounding mana, though. Will had gotten pretty deeply accustomed to the art of constantly probing the area around him, using his greatly enhanced aura control and senses to get an idea for the atmosphere and the attitudes of the people he was facing.

Most of the world carried a pretty similar mana signature. It was almost always colored by who the dominant force in a given area was, but the base beneath that was similar. Even the dungeons Will had been in—the ones he remembered, at least—had been like that. Cinder’s domain might have been a hell on earth, but there was still that distinctive Earth-Arcadia background mana under it. The superdungeon, of course, had its own flavor—though again, the base was familiar.

This dungeon was different. The magic in the air was sterile. Even crossing crazy thresholds like the ones in the superdungeon had brought a gradual change as the ambient mana shifted to match the dominant force in the area. This… Will could remember two times he’d felt something like this. 

Once at the trial of the champion, long after they’d realized that there was an outside force beyond the sponsors interfering. The other time… Will couldn’t be sure because his aura senses hadn’t been nearly as good back then, but he thought he might remember this sensation from the void that the tutorial had transported him into.

The area around him was reminiscent of that time, too. Will found himself in an empty white room, a single door on the other side.

Ayla: Wow, it has been a while.

The message popping into Will’s otherwise calm system screen actually startled him, as was the actual voice accompanying it. It had been a long time since he’d heard that voice and seen those messages outside the Beyond.

“Jesus,” he said aloud. “Can you hear me?”

Ayla: Yes. It’s almost exactly like it was in the tutorial.

“How the hell are you here?” Will asked.

Ayla: I’m not. I’m in a dead zone so far away from Earth that if you left right now, you still wouldn’t be halfway before Inanis-5 hit your planet.

“I’m aware,” Will said flatly. “That’s why I haven’t gone for it just yet. How are you in my chat right now?”

Ayla: You entered a challenge dungeon, didn’t you?

“Yeah. I figured you had me under 24/7 surveillance. You didn’t see that?”

Ayla: I see significant things. My best observations come in things that have an impaact so outsized that they make in impact in the land of dreams. Having a microscopic understanding of everything in your life is more effort than it’s worth even if I was at the peak of my power.

“Land of dreams? You can just say the Beyond, you know? I get to go there too.”

Ayla: Let me use a fun turn of phrase every now and again. Yes. The Beyond.

“You still haven’t explained how you’re watching me right now.”

Ayla: I have hooks set in every User I’m assigned to be a tutorial helper for. The system sets a trigger at a number of possible cycle-internal events, challenge dungeons included. If no hook is set, it picks a random helper that might be available at a nearby labor facility. Helpers sometimes choose to set a hook and sometimes not, depending both on the helper and the User they are assigned to.

“Pleasure to know that you’re still sticking with me,” Will deadpanned. “Aren’t you out of the system now? You’re in a dead zone and shit too, aren’t you?”

Ayla: I hijacked the system a little more than usual. They didn’t restrict me quite as much as they thought they did, and I had some help from a Dread Executor in the end. I don’t have all the permissions of a standard system helper, but I’ll at least be able to guide you along some.

“What if I told you that I’d rather have had some bum carry me through this?”

Ayla: I would tell you that you’re a terrible liar.

“Oh, please. I’m a great liar.”

Ayla: You terrify people enough that whether you’re lying or not is immaterial. Do you want me to start the dungeon or not?

“Yeah, yeah,” Will said, smiling ruefully. “Let’s get this done.”

#

Regina was not a woman who had the time to be watching a single man clear a challenge dungeon, but that changed once she factored her skills in. When she could lend eyes, ears, and hands from her subordinates, she was able to do a lot more with the time she had.

Besides, it wasn’t only her who had an interest in what the corruption wielder and his group had to show for themselves. Commander Charlie was one of a small number of elites from the ESNA who had witnessed William Li-Brown’s raw power firsthand, and even he was curious to see what Will could do when he wasn’t holding himself back. That went double for those who’d only heard about the devastation this one man had been able to unleash through secondhand accounts and official reports.

One of the reconnaisance rooms near Boston had been temporarily converted into something that looked more suited for a convention than a military facility.

The third or fourth thing Regina’s regime had discovered about the challenge dungeons after they opened was how easy it was to gain a live feed into them. Early drops in the challenge dungeons included a certain raw magical ore that, once refined, created a gem that could be used to watch current participants in that challenge dungeon. Since the early stages were pretty easy, it had been trivial to manufacture mass quantities of that.

News of the corruption wielder’s rival had spread like wildfire, bringing with it the rumors that accompanied any legitimate news. Regina had been sure to squash the more harmful ones—no, William Li-Brown had not eaten anybody’s baby nor murdered three silvers in cold blood, though the latter had been a pretty close call. The ones where he could bring the temperature of a room down just by being in it or where he was secretly the last survivor of another world? That was fine.

It came as no shock, then, just how many people were tuning into the challenge dungeon. Since Regina had spread the gems pretty widely, a lot of people were able to watch on their own. Those who couldn’t afford them still had the options of watching a publicly televised feed. Just off word of mouth alone, Regina estimated that there were in excess of ten thousand people watching this single contestant.

“He’s just sitting there and chatting to the air,” Charlie remarked, watching Will’s feed on the large screen someone had thrown up in the recon room. “Everyone else has started already.”

Of course, Will wasn’t the only person that people could watch. There were nine beings in Boston’s challenge dungeon—Hua Fang, Liam Wilson, otherworlder Yui, otherworlder Nathan, Lily Teneli, a gestalt being recognized by the system as “Jessie,” Wisteria Blake, elf Caiyeri Seven, and William Li-Brown himself. Regina hadn’t assumed that Teneli had been part of their group, but Will had nonchalantly let the silver-ranker join him despite her relative lack of power.

The corruption wielder drew the largest crowd, of course, but the other feeds were getting some traction amongst the military personnel watching. Regina could sense betting pools forming already, which she didn’t mind. Encouraging a casual atmosphere amongst her people was generally a good idea for a number of reasons.

“Pleasant,” a smooth voice came from beside her. “I do think some of your people are overvaluing how good the devouring gestalt is at clearing a dungeon, however. An incredible killing machine is not necessarily a perfect being to clear out traps meant for more complex beings.”

Regina started, looking to her right. She hadn’t seen or heard anyone come close to her, and her passive perception skills were always on. The man was something like seven feet tall and obsidian black—not exactly easy to miss.

Her danger sense hadn’t even triggered, not even in the slightest, which was an alarm bell in itself.

Primal instinct took over. She reached out—

“Not necessary,” the stranger said. “My name is Nynn. You should have a dossier on me.”

Regina paused, analyzing the man for the first time. Her analysis skills were more detailed than the supermajority of Users’, but it would take an idiot not to recognize the first few words out of it.

Dread Executor.

“I see,” Regina said, mentally refactoring the situation. She’d seen one of his kind before, though not from up close. “My apologies, though I hope you don’t expect me to offer a drink.”

“Apologies are unnecessary,“ Nynn said. “I am trespassing, after all. Besides, I am no Dread Executor. Not anymore.”

“You’re not showing up as much of anything to me,” Regina said, smoothing over how off-balance she’d been.

“I still know a few tricks. Do carry on. I was looking forward to watching this group.”

“You came in with them,” Regina said, not bothering to question how yet another person had been able to sneak through defenses that had proven ironclad against specialized infiltrator classes in the other world. “Not doing it yourself?”

“Oh, I’ve done my fair share,” Nynn said. “Ages and ages ago. I’m just here to watch.”

On the feed, William Li-Brown was finally done talking. Regina heard the faint sound of cheers throughout the city as he finally entered the dungeon.

She sighed. “Have a seat, then. I have some preparations to do.”

#

Ayla: Since I’m not actually sitting in front of a system console right now, I’m going to have to play a lot of this by ear.

“Yeah, I figured. Maybe I should’ve taken the bum.”

Ayla: Stop whining. I’m no novice when it comes to the system. The standard screens and leaderboards will show up for you. I haven’t entirely hijacked this, I’m just in the helper role.

“Yeah, yeah,” Will said, stepping across the gate into the first room. “We’ll see about that.”

Welcome to the Challenge Dungeon. 

World Tier: [Metal]. Dungeon starting difficulty has been set to [Gold]. Maximum dungeon difficulty set to [Diamond].

Location: [Boston].

Worldwide Top Score: 76 rooms. Set at the [Antarctica] Challenge Dungeon by leaderboard rank 2, [Draken].

This dungeon has been attempted [18,294] times by [4,859] people.

Local Leaderboard:

1. 31 rooms, set by leaderboard rank 10, [Regina].

2. 29 rooms, set by leaderboard rank 97, [Alexander].

3. 26 rooms, set by leaderboard rank 31, [Charlie].

Current Room: [0].

You have gained a [Escape Ticket].

Item: [Escape Ticket]

Common, gold

Only functions within a Challenge Dungeon. Consuming this item activates magic that will evacuate you from the dungeon over the course of a minute. You will not be able to attack or use other magic while using the [Escape Ticket], so using it to run away from a fight is not advised.

Punishment for Failure: [-1 level on death]

Now entering Room [1]. Room selected: [Antigrav].

[Antigrav] has been cleared [2,738] times. The current fastest clear time is [37.028 seconds] by [Amelia, alias “Telescope”].

The median clear time is [258.485 seconds].

Will raised an eyebrow as the system messages continued to scroll as he traveled in the tunnel between the two rooms. He recognized that name. Hadn’t she been one of the fighter pilots in New York when he landed?

Funny how those little coincidences happened.

The room started to materialize into existence as he got further along, the rules still displaying themselves.

Reward for clearing room 1: 10 gold credits. Challenge Ore x1.

Clearing with a time faster than the median also grants your choice of a basic gold-rank item. Clearing with a time faster than the current fastest clear time grants a gold-rank treasure.

True to the title of the room, Will quickly felt his steps launch himself into the air, a somewhat familiar sense of weightlessness taking hold of him.

This was a strange way to enter the next phase of the dungeon. Rather than passing through a door or portal to get into it, it seemed as if the Antigrav room was just coming into existence around him. Will’s magic senses were getting very good, but he could only just barely comprehend the broader strokes of what was happening. The place was drawing on the Beyond as well as some spatial and creation magic beyond his comprehension to get this working.

He wished he had more time to study it. There had to be something useful in there, but he just didn’t have the senses to understand it, even with the demonic eye.

Will floated as the room came into existence around him. It was wide—maybe the length of a football arena with the height to match. Free-floating debris clouded the entire place, reminding him eerily of the final fight at the trial of the champion.

Room: [Antigrav]

Objective: Eliminate all hostile entities. [0/10]

Hostiles: 9 silver-rank monsters. 1 gold-rank solo boss.

That was pretty simple. Will could already see the monsters coming into existence both through Sen and his demonic eye.

He smirked, dark clouds exploding across the entire arena.

“Finally,” he said. “Something straightforward.”

#

Charlie frowned at the display. He’d cleared the Antigrav room himself a number of times, but he still hadn’t managed to get his time under two minutes. The room itself wasn’t terribly complex—the monsters never changed, just their positions. The solo boss wasn’t even too hard, even for a silver-ranker.

The main difficulty in this room came from finding and defeating everything. This boss was a master-type boss, with the nine silver-rank monsters acting both as sensory organs and minions. Said monsters were virus-like blobs that clung onto the debris floating around, each of them moving with deceptive speed. Until the minion viruses were all dead, the boss was both invisible and invincible, making it a pain in the ass since it was difficult to tell where they were coming from.

That made this room a kind of search-and-destroy mission. Charlie’s skills were more suited for a full-frontal assault, so he struggled a bit with it, but he was durable and strong enough that his current best strategy was just to devastate the entire room. The problem with that laid in how the viruses were able to redirect themselves to protect against sudden damage, rendering AoEs less effective.

Telescope, one of the best Pilots in the ESNA air force, held the fastest time by nearly fifteen seconds, and that had been because she’d taken an element that was intended specifically for low or zero-grav environments and affixed it to her Perception stat. Her unique combination of skills let her kill the viruses almost immediately, letting her wail on the boss right from the start.

Her aside, the strategy for this room was fairly standard. Go as fast as possible, burn AoEs, and try to smoke out the viruses. Anti-gravity made standard speed skills not work for most 

There were two people who’d rolled the Antigrav room this time, but neither of them were following anything near the standard strategy. One of them was almost done already, though she’d entered a bit earlier.

Caiyeri Seven had two gold-rank guns out, both of them of a make that Charlie didn’t recognize. She handled them with frankly terrible form, but it hadn’t taken long for him to realize that the improper form was intentional—the elf was piloting herself through the air, narrowly avoiding hard-to-sense attacks. Somehow, every shot she fired found a target, and the main boss was already visible.

A point of light formed behind her, and a forcefield shimmered into existence, shattering just as blinding red force detonated into her.

Moments later, that same light exploded outwards again, this time aimed at a seemingly random part of the room.

[Caiyeri Seven] has cleared room 1, [Antigrav] in [Challenge Dungeon - Boston] in [47.181 seconds], setting a new #2 fastest time.

Murmurs passed through the viewing room at that. With most of the immediate threats dealt with, a lot of the ESNA military had turned to the challenge dungeons to train, and there were entire subcommunities that were extremely focused on it. For an outsider to walk in and clear a room that had been run so many times at that speed…

That surprise was rapidly overtaken by people realizing what was happening on another one of the feeds.

William Li-Brown’s feed had gone entirely dark, shrouded in an oily shadow. From certain perspectives, Charlie could see the formation of an iridescent shape that might’ve been an eye.

Even through the viewing crystal, he could sense the raw evil in that power.

When the darkness cleared, there was nothing. The monsters were gone—but so was everything else in the room. The only thing remaining was William Li-Brown, floating in place with his arms crossed and his eyes closed.

“What the hell…”

[William Li-Brown] has cleared room 1, [Antigrav] in [Challenge Dungeon - Boston] in [23.019 seconds], setting a new record.

#

“I did not think that would blow up as hard as it did,” Will said.

Ayla: I told you that more of this room would be interactable than you thought it was. Instance dungeons are often like that.

“Yeah, you said they’d be more interactable, not that I’d be able to kill the rocks!”

Ayla: That was implied. Shouldn’t you be moving on?

“Implied my ass.” Will grinned. “This is fun, though.”

He used an air-dash to propel himself to the next door, passing through it.

You have set a new record time for [Antigrav]. You have been awarded a gold-rank treasure!

Select your treasure below:

Will’s grin grew wider.

“It’s been a while since I got good loot,” he said. “Let’s see what we’ve got here.”