Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Facing him, was a figure of immense stature and daunting presence. His form was like that of a behemoth, towering over all who stood around him.

His bulky figure was clad in endogenous armour unique to their race and looked like it was forged from the very essence of the earth itself. Each piece forged to fit his bulging muscles, he was a sight to behold, a creature of primal might and unyielding strength.

What's more, the armour gave off a mysterious glint making even Mythril look pale in comparison to it. It was said that even the legendary metal mythril is unable to so much as scratch its surface.

With every movement of his, the endogenous armour clinging to his muscles like a second skin, rippled with threatening intensity and each small movement of his gave others a glimpse of the devastation he was capable of unleashing.

That said, it was not his extremely conspicuous armour that stood about him, his physique as well as face did too.

Standing well above three meters tall, he was a hulking monstrosity, a living embodiment of power and destruction. His face which was partially visible through his endogenous helmet, bore the scars of countless battles, each one more hideous that the other and was a testament to his vast battle experience.

His eyes, cold and unyielding, gleamed with a fierce intelligence that belied his brutish appearance. On top of his helmet, a single horn juts forth like a deadly spear. The horn was the symbol and power of his status.

Longer and more menacing than the others of his race, it was a weapon of devastating potential, capable of piercing through even the toughest of defences with ease. It was said that with a single thrust, the horn could shatter any armour and sunder flesh.

This juggernaut of destruction that embodied savagery and brutality itself was the King of the Wastelands, the lord of the Terraquake Rhinos, the Ivory Terraquake Rhino, Yverza.

"Hoh, how do you know that?"

Yverza questioned his eyes turning towards Gil-Garna. As one of the Seven Kings, he was on the same level as the king of the Black Ogres.

"A subordinate of mine, Gish-Bor went to the harpies territory the other day to search for a missing subordinate"

At those words from Gil-garna, Yverza added "One of mine, Drovos of the Earthquake went missing there too".

"Yeah, I am aware. Anyways, though he was unable to find them, he did manage to find out the fact that they had deserted their territory. What's more, he had also coincidentally found the shortcut the harpies took to relocate into the dungeon"… Novel Fire - novelfire.net

"What?!!"…

"Gish-Bor, report your findings"

At those words, one of the human like ogres with indigo horn standing behind Gil-Garna, stepped forward. If Simon was here, he would be able to instantly recognise the man after all, he was one of the intruders who had entered his dungeon recently through the installed Phased Floor in the harpies territory.

"Yes" on the ogre king's command, Gish-Bor started recounting the events that occurred that day.

"And that's how I was able to tell that the place I was in was the dungeon. It was not only the monsters, but the mana and the natural treasures there were all pointing out that I was right. I don't know how it appeared there but my guess is that it was created to allow the race of harpies to relocate to the dungeon"

"If we can use the very same shortcut to invade his dungeon, the demon would be caught by surprise and we would not have to spend our efforts clearing the dungeon from the start" Gish-Bor explained.

The place turned completely silent once he was done recounting his findings. Everybody whether they be the Black Ogres or the Terraquake Rhinos, they all wore varying emotions on their faces.

Some were shocked, some had questioning gazes while some stared at him with looks of disbelief. However, since their two leaders had yet to make a comment, they did not dare to utter anything before they did.

"This is interesting, I do recall some vague information about the dungeons being able to do something like that from the Memories of the world that I inherited. If it really is the shortcut, then it would save us a lot of time and effort" Yverza muttered, his voice booming.

"Any chance that it is a trap?"…

"I thought along those lines as well when I first heard it. That is why, I sent a few more subordinates to investigate it. Considering that the shortcut is still open, it can either be that it's not a trap or the demon is not unaware of us"

"Either way, the existence of the shortcut is a good thing for us. Once we enter it with our forces, trap or not, we can just destroy it with overwhelming might"

Gil-Garna gave a fierce smile. As one of the Seven Kings, even though he was wary of the Demon of the East and his fastly growing powers, the confidence he had in his strength was absolute.

"Haha, you are right. It makes no difference whether it is a trap or not once we enter it. However, things seem to have become a little troublesome now that we know the queen of the harpies has sided with the demon"

Yverza muttered, a slight frown of concern could be seen on his face. More than the demon, it seems that this juggernaut of destruction was more afraid of her.

As one of the Seven kings, it did come with reason that the two of them would be daunted by her presence. The two of them were very familiar with her powers.

The queen of the Harpies, not only were her abilities unique but her Evil Eyes were mysterious and deadly. One wrong move, and even they who were fellow Seven kings, could die under those eyes of hers.

If it was a head on battle, then the both of them had absolute confidence in winning after all, the Black Ogres and Terraquake Rhinos were warring races born with high stats and a natural fortress like body built for combat.

However, the harpies were a race that specialised in aerial combatants and tricky abilities that made them a tough opponent for them. And among them, their queen who possessed the unique Evil Eyes was even more of a headache to deal with.

Given all of this, it was only natural for them to be concerned.

"You are right, Melinda is indeed a big concern. However, as long as one of us could hold her down, the other can then swiftly defeat the demon. Thus essentially neutralising her presence"

Gil-Garna stated. It was just as he said, their opponent was the demon, not the queen of the harpies. As such, as long as one of them held her down and stopped her from helping the demon. They could avoid fighting life and death battle with her while also effectively neutralising her presence.

"It looks like you have come up with all kinds of scenarios in your head"

Yverza looked at the king do the black ogres and smiled in a manner that held several different meanings.

"But of course, I have been planning for this attack for a long while now. You should know that I have been keeping a close eye on the Demon of the East ever since I became aware of his dungeon"

"If not because I was held up by some other matter at hand and couldn't leave my station, I wouldn't have allowed that demon to grow till this point. I am sure that after witnessing the spectacle that occurred in the eastern skies of the forest a couple of months ago, you would agree with me"

On Gil-Garna's words, a solemn look appeared on the former's face. The spectacular phenomenon that occurred in the Eastern Sky was visible from the entire Ghastly Winding Forest and even from lands far beyond.

That vast column of mana rushing into the sky like an erupting volcano only occurred during certain special situations. And the only thing capable of creating such a huge commotion in the ghastly winding forest was the new dungeon created by the demon.

Only a dungeon when it reached a certain rank would be able to create such a natural phenomenon. The eruption of mystical energy into the air marked the ranking of the dungeon.

And for a newly established dungeon to be already creating such a worldly phenomenon, what did it indicate? The concept was so ridiculous that Yverza felt that it wasn't even funny.

To be able to grow at such a rate, the demon had to be controlled if not eliminated before he became a threat to even to them. It was also for this reason that the king of the wastelands, the Ivory Terraquake Rhino decided to form an alliance with the king of the Black Ogres.

The others might not think that the demon was any threat to them; however, he thought differently. Unlike the others, the memories of the world he inherited when integrating with the power left behind by the ancient beast carcasses possessed a little more information.

As such, he held certain information that even Gil-Garna or the other Seven Kings didn't have.

"What are our chances against the demon?"

He questioned. If the demon was so easy to deal with, they wouldn't have formed an alliance or waited this long for that matter.

"Don't worry, I have been preparing for this attack for a long time now. The dungeon will definitely be conquered by us. I have received formal replies from… Oh!? Speak of the devil, they are here"