Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

His rosy words immediately uplifted the spirits of the adventurers and they couldn't help but imagine such a scenario. a future where they conquered the dungeon. 

What the man said wasn't false, they had yet to meet a strong monster on any of the floors and if everything favoured them, they could really try their luck on conquering the dungeon.

At this moment, the fear of the Dungeon Master being a powerful Demon Noble, was out of their mind. In their opinion, they were a powerful bunch of people capable of defeating hundreds of Stormwolves and Battle Bears easily. What does a single Demon Noble amount to?

"Sigh… these people are getting drunk on their recent success, aren't you going to stop them?" Frida said looking at her teammates who were getting needlessly excited.

Blake shook his and refused to comment. These people obviously haven't encountered a demon Noble nor have they seen their powers so it was no surprise that they were saying all that.

Although he wanted to burst their bubbles, he felt like this level of enthusiasm and passion was needed to tackle the upcoming floors plus, even if they encountered the Demon Noble, they still had that thing with them.

At this moment, Kody accompanied by a few guildmates, walked towards them after coming back from their patrol.

"What do you think?" Blake asked narrowing his eyes.

Kody nodded his head and replied, "I believe this is a Safe Floor".

Frida had an incredulous look in her eyes "Even your [Trail of Light] Skill didn't pick up the presence of any monsters around?".

The Skill [Trail of Light] that Frida was talking about, was a class-specific skill of Priests, a rare class just like the Sage, adept in Light Magic. The skills detects the presence of any monsters or possible tracks they left behind in a particular place.

If even the Trail of Light skill was unable to detect the presence of monsters here, it could only mean that this place really was a safe Floor.

Blake closed his eyes and took a deep breath after a while, he stood up and commanded his team to get ready to march forward. Their goal, the twentieth floor in front of them.

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In a place surrounded by speckles of light and gentle mist, sat an ethereal beauty. Her crystal blue hair was as beautiful as ice gently flowing down her shoulders and her creamy face which was reflected on the pond in front of her, was beautiful beyond belief.

At this moment, Irene who was staring at a window in front of her, blinked her eyelids and turned around to gaze at the beautiful crystal trees shining with a multi-coloured light.

Amidst the thick foliage of the trees, was a figure who had just currently woken up from its slumber.

NEEEEIIGGHH… it gave a coarse roar and reared its front legs. Power overflowed from its body, its three pairs of dark baleful eyes could give nightmares to anyone gazing into them. The being's powerful legs carried it towards Irene and it bowed its head in front of her.

Irene softly caressed its fiery mane while looking at the window. At this moment, the Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse nudged Irene and told her about its intention.

"You want to go there? Hmm~ Alright, it's time we show them, who are getting carried away with their success, the true terrors of this dungeon. Remember, do not kill them, just scare them away"…

                                                                      -----

The Burning Arrows Guild after resting on the nineteenth floor for a while, started arching towards the twentieth floor. As the group assembled in front of the twentieth floor, they opened their eyes wide in shock at the scene that lay in front of them. 

As far as their eyes could see, was a place filled with tall trees and grass that came all the way to their waists. Presence of monsters could be felt all around the place but more importantly, the thing that bothered them was that the density of mana around here was palpable.

The twentieth floor of the dungeon Laplace was a vast forest with all kinds of monsters present. They made their own ecosystem here and have established a food chain. The cycle of Death- Rebirth continued all day here.

However, at this moment the forest that was usually filled with the cries and howl of monsters, was unusually silent to the point where it felt odd.

While an ordinary person would not be able to feel it, how could these adventurers who had loads of experience, miss it? The moment they arrived on this floor, a heavy and dreary feeling enveloped their bodies and a sense of foreboding assaulted their hearts.

Droplets of sweat trickled down their faces and they were having difficulty moving forward.

"Give strength to my companions and dispel all evils [Brave Heart]" a white light radiated out from the mallet in Kody's hand and like a dome, encircled all the members within it. Immediately, they felt the sinister feeling overwhelming them disappear.

The priest turned towards Blake by his side and said "There are signs of dark magic being used here".

The man who was the guild master of the Burning Arrow Guild nodded his head, he did not question his companion's words since he knew that Kody as a Light magic user was much more sensitive to dark magic than anyone else here.

"Can you pinpoint the location from where it is being released?" Frida asked furrowing her brows.

Kody shook his head in consternation, the whole floor was currently being affected by it, there is no way of knowing where it was coming from.

"Do you think it's the master of this dungeon personally making his move?" Frida remarked while tightly holding onto her staff.

The dungeon was a low tier one so they should be approaching closer to the dungeon core, it wouldn't be surprising if the Demon Noble decided to act personally. the density of man being heavy here was evidence enough.

Blake had a serious expression on his face, it was up to him to decide whether they should move forward or retreat. With how contrast the twentieth floor seemed compared to the previous floors, there was no denying that they were about to face a difficult enemy.

To go or not go?… Blake had the option to end the exploration here and go back to the surface, even if the Adventurer's association pressed them for an answer, he could always create some excuse.

However, retreating was not like him, especially when all of their members had excess energy and were in almost perfect condition to proceed forward. Thus he made up his mind, raising his hands he gave orders for his team to proceed forward albeit extremely carefully.

Now that they were already there, they should experience the power of the dungeon themselves, it would be not too late to retreat after analysing the power of their opponent.

His confidence stemmed from his teammates and his defence he took so much pride in. Even if it was a Demon Earl, Blake believed that he would be able to last a few exchanges before going down.

The members of the Burning arrows guild marched forward but felt something was amiss when even after a while, they weren't being attacked. Typically, monsters would immediately attack them the moment felt their presence and would not hesitate to charge towards them.

However, the scene in front of them broke all their common sense and at the same time gave them an ominous feeling. These adventurers who were high on alert as they proceeded forward, halted their steps when they saw their leader stretch his hands towards the broad sword on his back.

The forest felt extremely creepy with the ominous silence, there was no one talking and only the infrequent gulps of the adventurers rang out.

RUSTLE… suddenly, there was the rustling of grass and the noise of something approaching them.

"Get ready to engage" the moment their leader shouted that, all the adventurers hurriedly raised their weapons and strained their eyes in the direction they could hear the noise coming from.

THUK…THUK…THUK… 

The cold noise of something stepping on the ground came as the entity appeared in front of numerous pairs of eyes from amidst the thick foliage. The moment it appeared the sinister aura around the surrounding became even more stronger.

The entity in front of them looked so menacing and demonic that multiple people started trembling on the spot. Its three pair of eyes that was as dark as the night, observed them and its body that was writhed in fire, gave it a unique look.

"W-what is that thing?" one of the adventurers asked the one beside him. However, just like him, his comrade too did not know what they were looking at.

When something incomprehensible is presented before humans, it is almost instinctual for them to start questioning and whispering about the absurdity in front of them and in some cases, even deny it.

Nobody knew what the being with three pairs of powerful legs, wide draconic wings and donning a battle armour was? The same went for the three leaders, they were looking at the thing with wide-open eyes.

The stare-down lasted for a while only to be broken by someone falling down on his buttocks. The adventurer that fell down had wide disbelieving eyes and a terrified face with which it was gazing at the entity.

"Level 568… how is that possible?" his mumbling was heard by everyone present.

All the adventurers revealed a shocked expression, those that had [Analysis], hurriedly used their skill only to stand stunned the next second.

Disaster Class, there was no other way to label the being in front of them.