CHAPTER 68: BLACK FIELDS RAID [IV]

Dungeons here were very different from how they were usually portrayed in the usual novels that had Awakened.

The dungeons in this world had floors and staircases leading the Awakeners upward rather than downward.

The number of floors a dungeon had depended on its rank.

An average D-rank dungeon had three floors.

A C-rank would have four or five. From then on, everything changed.

B-rank dungeons? Twenty floors and above.

A-ranks stretched to fifty.

And then there were S-ranks were also known as world dungeons.

Monstrous things that towered like inverted fortresses, the kind of dungeons whose lower levels had already been cleared by legendary guilds decades ago.

Nobody sane went to an S-rank just to farm.

This one, however, was D-rank.

Just three stairs as the scouting groups had reported.

So it was manageable somewhat.

If the squad didn’t screw it up.

Matthias smirked, cracking his neck.

His shadow writhed faintly beneath him, like a stage hand waiting for cue.

"This won’t be a problem for me," he said smugly.

[Ding!]

[You have reached 50 Million viewers!]

[Your stream has gained the Blaze Tag!]

Luna’s eyes went wide.

Her small hands tugged at Lucius’s sleeve as she whispered. "Fifty million! We’re competing with top guilds already and this is only our third stream..."

Lucius tilted his head, a faint smile curving his lips. "Naturally. Greatness attracts an audience."

It was all part of the plan.

The others didn’t know it, but he was orchestrating this raid like a symphony.

Matthias, meanwhile, prepared to show off.

He sank into the shadows, letting them swallow him whole.

His form blurred as if sinking into a black pond, and he aimed to reappear on the staircase’s top in a single step.

It would have been impressive.

Would have been.

Halfway through, his form jolted.

His face contorted.

And then the dungeon spat him back out like rotten food.

He landed flat on his ass.

"What the fuck!" Matthias groaned, massaging his bruised backside. "The shadows, they won’t let me through! It must be the dungeon, some kind of anti-phase field."

Lucius’s lips twitched.

Wrong.

It was him.

Shadows were overpowered.

He simply covered them with a thin veil of space, rendering them untouchable.

Result: instant failure.

Matthias shook himself and, unwilling to give up, stepped boldly onto the slime-coated stairs.

At first, his foot didn’t slip. His confidence surged.

"Haha! See? Easy!" he shouted, sprinting upward.

For a moment, the squad actually thought he’d make it.

Then his next step landed on a deeper puddle of slime.

Shlick.

His foot skidded.

His eyes bulged.

"Wait, wait—!"

Too late.

SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-THUMP!

He tumbled backward down half the staircase, arms flailing like broken wings.

Erika lunged forward to catch him, and for one glorious instant, it looked like she had him.

Then the slime betrayed her too.

Both went tumbling down together, limbs flailing in slapstick chaos.

[@DungeonJunkie: Matthias shadow-nerfed by gravity itself 💀]

[@Frostbyte_: Bro hit the Uno reverse card on Erika]

[@CynicalCleric: Double kill!!!]

[@KingOfFails: Slime stairs MVP]

[@FlameChaser: I swear Erika fell in slow motion lmaooo]

[@NewtonHater: Matthias about to start beef with Isaac Netwong]

[@SilverLad: They’re supposed to be Awakeners?? This is daycare rank]

[@ClipLord: Someone clip this for the fail montage]

[@DungeonStats: Dungeon: 2, Awakeners: 0]

[@HyenaLaugh: My ribs are gone 🤣🤣🤣]

Lucius sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Idiots."

The rest of the squad took their time.

Inch by inch, careful as old people climbing a water slide.

Even then, they slipped once or twice, each stumble rewarded with roars of laughter from the stream.

Eventually, mercifully, they reached the top where Lucius stood waiting floating effortlessly with Luna in his arms.

He didn’t comment.

The contrast spoke louder than words.

The second room shifted the atmosphere immediately.

Carvings sprawled across the stone walls. They were ancient, jagged sigils that glowed faintly with a sickly green hue.

The air grew colder, the temperature dropping with every step they took inside.

Then came the gravestones.

Hundreds of them, stretching out in neat rows like a military cemetery.

The faint light cast long shadows across the cracked stone floor.

Lucius stilled, his grip on Luna tightening slightly.

’I know dungeons have different themes, but this has to be eerie as fuck.’

Graveyards unsettled him.

The only time he’d visited one in his last life was when his uncle died.

The memory of the graveyard that day till made his spine crawl.

He drew a slow breath.

Still. There were no monsters here.

This was one of those rare floors.

Sometimes, dungeons had safe zones which didn’t spawn in monsters but took on a floor.

If they moved quickly, they could bypass this one entirely.

’I wanted more action though,’ he thought, lips quirking faintly. ’The boss will have to deliver.’

He was about to order the group forward—

When Grimm leaned casually against one of the countless gravestones.

The young man squinted at the inscription, lips moving as he mouthed the carved letters.

"Ezarath... Metrion... Zinthos? Huh. Weird name."

The words echoed faintly in the silence.

And then the world dimmed.

The carvings on the walls flickered like dying fire.

The gravestones cracked, one by one, and from their broken shells, countless pale wisps poured upward.

The air filled with drifting souls, cold enough to bite the bone.

[@SaltMage: BRO JUST READ A CURSED SPELL LIKE IT WAS FREE WIFI]

[@ClownSchool: Grimm the type to press the big red button]

[@RaidFails: Congratulations, you’ve unlocked HARD MODE]

[@Paperweight: Someone take this man’s literacy card away]

[@FloorWiper: Dungeon: say nothing, touch nothing, do nothing. Grimm: bet.]

[@Animaniac: How you get us wiped by pronouncing a Pokémon evolution 💀]

[@SaneWatcher: This is why we can’t have nice things]

[@TaxCollector: He just summoned the IRS of the afterlife]

The brown-haired woman with glasses snapped her rifle up, mana already swirling into the oversized chamber.

Her voice rang out sharp.

"Soul Reapers!"

The wisps twisted violently, condensing into towering, humanoid silhouettes.

Hollow faces glowed with pale fire, jagged scythes materializing in their bony hands.

Lucius exhaled, long-suffering.

’Oh, fuck,’ he thought. ’Well... at least this is enough action.’