laulau20

Chapter 116: Behind the Last Door

Added 2025-09-13 14:37:23 +0000 UTC

“Fuck! James! Why didn’t you help us sooner!” It wasn’t Andrew, but Hain who roared at James. He had been promised a chance to become a knight—a chance to improve, to gain something from this hellhole—and James had ruined it by not intervening.

“The knights are still alive. They would have attacked me if I showed up.”

“Why the fuck would they attack you? They were busy dealing with the monsters! And you too, Kouki! You should have killed that monster sooner! Why didn’t you use your sword aura? We lost our only chance of becoming knights of Mystis! It was a tremendous buff—making us immune to any debuff!”

“I did! They dodged it!” Kouki snapped.

“You should try harder! Is your expert sword mastery just for show?”

“Hain. That’s enough. We were just unlucky. If only the knights were less opinionated against people with alien body parts, this whole mess could have been avoided from the beginning. James was not at fault. Let’s just finish this dungeon and get home. We should still be grateful. Only one door and one more floor remain before we finish this medium dungeon—and we haven’t lost anyone yet.” Andrew’s face curved into a frown, clearly disappointed, but he pressed on. It wasn’t the time to mope.

“So, where is the door?”

“Here. This secret path beneath the throne room leads into a cave. At the end of the cave lies the door that blocked my previous playthrough. Along with it is the offer to return to Earth without clearing the dungeon.”

Andrew moved toward the throne room. James had a weird feeling as he followed—something felt off. Why were there three seraphs but only one throne? Who had been their leader? He realized then that this dungeon wasn’t over yet. There should be one last big boss waiting behind that door.

“Alright. Here is the door. We need to insert four dungeon cores from the novice dungeon here. I don’t know what lies beyond, so be prepared for anything.”

“This dungeon really sucks, huh? Why place this door here and not at the beginning? They could have saved so many lives.” Hain complained. Andrew nodded wholeheartedly.

“Hain…” Kouki frowned.

“Sorry. That was insensitive of me.”

James had skimmed the reports. This dungeon had claimed over fifty lives, with twenty of them survivors. As they approached, a message from the system popped up.

[Please insert four dungeon cores into the door.]

There was no prompt to offer a return. James realized the system knew they had four cores. This game was unfair and hard, but not unbeatable. Without the cores, the system would have offered them a chance to leave.

The group arrived at the fabled door where Andrew had to stop his previous adventure. The door was ornate and massive, blocking the entire tunnel. From James’ experience, he was certain a boss monster awaited inside.

“Alright. I’m inserting the cores now,” Andrew said, sliding them in one by one. With each core inserted, alien symbols lit up along the border. Once all cores were in place, the sound of metal grating echoed through the tunnel—a screeching noise that rang in their ears. The door groaned as the lock, which had held it in place for hundreds of years, finally released. The round door rolled aside, revealing an altar with a throne at its center. A stone statue of the god of pestilence rested there.

It was a bit smaller than James had expected, only three or four meters tall. Like the Seraph, it sprouted seven arms and a pair of wings on its back. Its right hand gripped a halberd while its left held a shield. The statue sat imposingly on the throne, as if demanding the others kneel before it.

“Any time now.” Sanders motioned for the others to step back with him, leaving Kouki and James at the front. James noticed the movement felt too smooth, almost rehearsed. It raised a frown on his face. Did they really practice this? Or was it just the natural herd mentality, unconsciously placing the strongest at the front?

“Andrew?”

“I know nothing past that door. If that thing comes to life, you know what needs to be done, James, Kouki. We’ll support you from the back,” Andrew said. James felt his respect for him drop a level. Before, Andrew had seemed so confident, like he knew everything. But now, he left everything to his vanguard.

Andrew was unlike James. He did not command or lead through sheer battle prowess. He often stayed in the middle—or even behind—observing the battle to find the boss’s weaknesses or using life magic to heal his vanguard.

Such leadership skills were alien to James.

As if on cue, the massive stone statue crumbled. James and the others had expected a boss monster, but there was nothing. No boss monster in sight whatsoever. The stone statue simply crumbled apart into rubble.

James stepped closer; his footsteps echoed in the dark room. His sword was ready to unleash his new skill, Lunar Counter. But even as he reached the crumbled throne, nothing happened.

No boss monster. No enemies. Only a small fragment of blue gem lay behind.

[Pure Fragment of Mystis:
With the catalyst of Mystis from traitors, the god of pestilence shall resurrect. All that is needed is to corrupt the fragment with parts from the god of pestilence. The god of corruption shall then awaken.
Skill: Blessing of Mystis]

“Where is this so-called god, then?” James asked as he inspected the fragment. It was still pure.

[Boss has been defeated. A portal to the next floor will be spawned.]

The system message cleared all doubt as a portal with an orange glow appeared. James kept his sword drawn, ready, but nothing happened. Only the silent hum of the portal filled the empty room.

“What the heck? Was the boss on the next floor?” James asked.

“It says the boss has been defeated. The system shouldn’t lie, right?” Sanders said.

“Let’s go to the next floor,” Andrew said after confirming that no monsters were tailing them.

They were transported to the waiting room. The white room with the loading screen felt nostalgic to James. He hadn’t seen it since he had arrived in this dungeon.

After the loading screen reached 100%, the group was transported to an arena-like colosseum. A glass cylinder stretched high to the ceiling, and an iridescent blue cube lay inside. James scanned the area, searching for monsters, before the system handed the group a message, urging them to pick up the core.

James rushed toward the core, sword drawn, ready to destroy it if it tried any funny business. The glass cylinder shattered with a swing of his sword. Only when he touched the core did he feel relieved.

[You have completed Dungeon LD 552. Congratulations. You and nine other survivors have triumphed. All survivors will receive ten merits and 1000 coins. A selectable weapon and armor chest will be given as your reward.]

A golden orb floated before every survivor. The air remained tense—they still didn’t believe they had cleared the dungeon. The reason there had been no dungeon boss beyond that floor was simple: James and Andrew had collected every part of Pestilence, and Andrew had destroyed them by submitting them to the knights.

Without the parts, the boss couldn’t revive. The seraph that was supposed to evolve into the Avatar of Pestilence remained weak. And thus, the stone statue in that room crumbled to dust.

James twiddled the small blue gem in his hand and looked at Andrew, prompting him to ask:

“What’s that?” Andrew asked. James then tossed the gem to Andrew, refusing to elaborate further.

“Hm.” Andrew inspected the gem, then activated the skill within it. Blue aura enveloped him like a blanket. He blinked at the familiar sensation that surrounded him.

“James?”

“It’s a gem from that stone statue. Apparently, those seraphs were once knights of Mystis. Good for you, huh?”

“Yes! Thank you! This is better than becoming a knight! With this, anyone can receive the Blessing of Mystis!” Andrew beamed. His face lit up like a child who had received their favorite toy.

“It’s just one,” Hain scowled. With only one gem, he knew it would most likely go to Andrew or Kouki.

“Well, better one than nothing,” Kouki shrugged. “Want to go home?”

“I want to see the armor chest and weapon chest. This one was from a medium dungeon. There must be an awesome set there!”

James was intrigued by the idea, but Kaina said otherwise, “Shouldn’t we do it in the waiting room or when we get back to Earth? I don’t like this dungeon. The chest won’t go anywhere, right?”

“Alright! Let’s get back, everyone! Don’t forget to open the chest!” Andrew walked toward the golden orb and touched it. White light flooded the room, transporting them to another waiting room. James then opened the chest.

[A selectable armor chest has been received. Please select one of these armors within an hour.]

Fire Dragon Scale Armor (Fire and Heat immunity)
Ice Dragon Scale Armor (Ice and Cold immunity)
Pestilence Armor (Poison immunity)

The choice was easy. James chose the Ice Dragon Armor. He was already immune to fire thanks to his firefur and immune to poison and paralysis because of his golem heart. So, there was only one choice for him here. He then moved on to the weapons.

[A selectable weapon chest has been received. Please select one of these weapons within an hour.]

Sword of Khine (Fire conversion)
Axe of Thor (Lightning conversion)
Javelin of Khine (Fire conversion)
Bow of Everwinter (Ice conversion)
Dagger of Etherworld (Soul conversion)

The weapons were harder to choose from. James was intrigued by the dagger, but since he didn’t have dagger mastery, it would be useless for him. He already had three other weapon masteries and didn’t want to overextend his arsenal. There was no inventory box skill here; carrying everything would be cumbersome.

“James, here. I’ll return the sword. Thanks.” Kouki said.

“Ah, you’re welcome.” James looked over the selectable weapon chest. Kouki could only use a sword, so the only sword in the chest was the Sword of Khine.

“I’ll choose the bow then,” James said. With this, all of his weapons could deal elemental damage. But bringing them to the field was another matter entirely.

James pondered whether he should actually bring them to his next raid. The loading bar ticked to 100 percent, and he returned to Earth, in front of the nuclear reactor compound. Three soldiers who stood guard called for their superiors as they rushed toward Andrew.

They had succeeded. The dungeon had been cleared.

[Name]: James
Age: 35
Sex: Male
Level: 58
Coins: 2400
Merit: 20
Biomass: 300

Stats:

STR: 180 (↑3)
Dex: 177 (↑2)
Magic: 140 (↑3)
Mana: 1240 (↑20)

Skills:

Novice Axe Mastery Level 5: Powerstrike, V-slash, Boomerang
Novice Sword Mastery Level 5: Hurricane, Vorpal Lunge, Twin Fang, Lunar Counter
Novice Bow Mastery Level 1: Quickshot, Homing Shot, Triple Shot
Beginner Dagger Mastery Level 1

Magic (Mind Magic Tier 3):

Mind Flay
Sense Alteration
Mana Sonar
Parallel Thought
Dispel

Class: Attacker (Level 41, ↑1)

Passive: 10% bonus when attacking
Stats Bonus: STR, Dex +1 per level

Shop (Level 2):

Health Potion (100 coins)
Hematonic Potion (50 coins)
High Potion (300 coins)
Antidote (50 coins)
Bullets (10 coins/round)
Grenades/Flashbang (50 coins/piece)
Arrow (50 coins/dozen)
Metal Pocket Arrow (100 coins/dozen)
Poison Dart (10 coins/round)
Sell/Repair function
Merit Shop (10 merit/skill)
Body Modding (Human: 100 biomass/part)

Unique Skill: Chimera Level 3 (3 extra slots open)

Goblin Stomach (Iron Guts) – Stomach Slot
Eyes of Mana (Mana Sense) – Right Eye Slot
Golem Arm of Valhalla (STR +30%, Physical Resistance +30%, Repairable, Mana -200) – Right Arm Slot
Flaming Tiger’s Fire Lung (Fire Breathing, Mana -100, Magic -10) – Lung Slot
Golem Core (Poison Resistance, Mana -250, Magic -10, Repairable) – Heart Slot
Orc’s Torso – Torso Slot
Shadow Snake Fang (Intermediate Life Leeching) – Mouth Slot
Flaming Tiger Lord’s Firefur (Fire Cloak, Fire Resistance, Physical Resistance +15%, Mana -100, Magic -10) – Skin Slot
Land Shark’s Ear (Echolocation 10m) – Ear Slot
Mana Core (Water Spell: Ice Spear, Water Manipulation, Magic +60, Mana +1000) – Extra Slot
Quetzalcoatl Horn (Lightning Shot: 20 mana per shot) – Extra Slot 3
Mana Core (Wind Spell: Wind Gust, Wind Wall, Magic +20, Mana +300) – Extra Slot 4