CHAPTER 75: VR DUNGEON (2)

Chapter 74: VR Dungeon (2)

The crystals grew dimmer as we descended.

The air shifted, heavier, damper, carrying the smell of something feral. The faint drip of water echoed, each sound amplified in the cavern’s throat.

[ Environmental shift detected. ]

[ Caution: Enemy difficulty increasing. ]

And then we heard it—harsh, guttural laughter.

"Grrrhahhh..."

Figures emerged from the shadows. Tall, broad-shouldered, covered in mottled gray fur and jagged bone armor. Each carried crude stone axes, eyes glowing with a sickly yellow hunger.

D-Rank Stone Gnolls.

Six of them, snarling in unison.

Maria sneered. "Finally, something with a spine." She lifted her staff, mana already crackling in the air.

But Aurelia raised her rapier, stepping forward gracefully. "Wait. If you flood the field with ice, you’ll scatter them. Control is key."

Maria’s eyes narrowed. "Control is a waste when I can obliterate them in one strike."

I stayed quiet, watching. Perfect. Conflict already.

---

The gnolls roared and charged.

Sakura’s voice cut clean through the noise. "Left flank. Three incoming."

Her bow snapped back. A glowing arrow loosed with a sharp twang. It streaked across the cavern, striking a gnoll’s eye with surgical precision. The beast collapsed mid-stride.

"Bullseye," she whispered.

---

Sam stepped up, his staff glowing golden. "Blessing Light."

Warm radiance enveloped us, light layering over our skin like a shield. My muscles felt lighter, stronger.

"Focus," he said calmly, "don’t waste energy."

---

Maria ignored him.

"Frozen Torrent!"

A wall of jagged ice surged forward, slamming into the front line of gnolls. Two froze instantly, bodies encased in glittering prisons that shattered into shards.

But the force scattered the others, sending them skidding apart.

Aurelia hissed. "See? You broke their formation—but now we can’t corner them."

"Dead is dead," Maria snapped. "Formation is irrelevant."

---

The third gnoll lunged at me, axe raised. I sidestepped, blade humming with frost.

"Frozen Edge."

The sword cleaved its arm clean off. The beast roared—but before it could strike again, Sakura’s arrow buried itself in its throat. It collapsed in a heap.

"Cover fire," she muttered, nocking another arrow.

---

Aurelia danced in. Her rapier glowed crimson.

"Blazing Spark."

She thrust, flames exploding outward, searing one gnoll’s chest. It staggered, screeching, before Sam’s holy light struck like a bolt, finishing it off.

---

One left.

It roared, charging at Maria. She smirked, raising her staff.

But before her spell released, Aurelia moved. Her rapier pierced its heart in a flash of light. The beast collapsed instantly.

Silence.

---

Maria’s eyes burned. "You stole my kill."

Aurelia flicked her blade clean. "I finished what you delayed."

Tension thickened between them, sharp enough to cut air.

Sam sighed softly, murmuring, "Goddesses help me, children with swords."

Sakura remained quiet, but her gaze flicked toward me briefly—as if weighing whether I’d intervene.

I didn’t. Not yet.

Let them clash. Every spark reveals their weaknesses. Every crack gives me leverage.

---

[ Enemy wave cleared. ]

[ Estimated completion time: 1 hour 43 minutes remaining. ]

The path ahead glowed faintly, a tunnel leading deeper. The crystal veins here pulsed faster, as though aware of our intrusion.

Maria strode ahead, frost aura trailing behind her. Aurelia followed, head high, every step mocking Maria’s urgency.

Sam trailed them, muttering something about "managing toddlers with destructive powers." Sakura lingered near me, bow lowered but ready.

I smirked faintly. Good. The dungeon is working exactly as I want. Breaking them apart... so I can be the one who binds them back together.

"Let’s keep moving," I said calmly, sliding my sword back into place.

The dungeon was only beginning to show its teeth.

And so were we.

---

The cavern widened suddenly.

What had been a narrow tunnel opened into a chamber—a cathedral of stone. Stalagmites jutted like jagged teeth, while the ceiling dripped with glowing moss. The crystals here pulsed faintly red, a warning.

Something wasn’t right.

My senses sharpened. Too open. Too quiet. This is...

The air split.

"GREEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Dozens of small figures dropped from the shadows above, their shrieks piercing the chamber. Yellow-green skin, jagged daggers, eyes glowing like coals.

Goblin Thieves. E-Rank.

But there weren’t just a handful.

There were forty.

---

And behind them, the real danger emerged.

A towering figure shrouded in tattered robes, its skeletal hands gripping a crooked staff. Its skull-like face burned with emerald fire.

Goblin Shazam. Rank D+.

It raised its staff, chanting in a guttural tongue.

Mana surged. A wave of darkness rippled outward.

[ Debuff: Weakened Resistance (–15% STR, –10% Mana Regen). ]

The thieves howled as their speed doubled, scattering in all directions.

---

"Forty?!" Sam cursed, immediately raising his staff. A golden dome flickered around us, intercepting the first wave of daggers. "This is a trap!"

Maria’s eyes flared with cold rage. "Then let’s bury them!" She lifted her staff, frost crackling in the air. "Frozen—"

"Wait—!"

But her ice wall shot forward, cutting down six goblins instantly... and scattering the rest across the cavern.

I grit my teeth. Damn it. Exactly what not to do.

The goblins split into groups, circling like vultures.

Aurelia stepped forward, rapier blazing. "Then we cut them down one by one!"

"Flame Lunge!"

Her thrust incinerated three—but left her flank exposed. A thief darted in—only for Sakura’s arrow to pierce its skull.

---

Chaos erupted.

Goblins swarmed from every angle, leaping, stabbing, retreating. Sam shouted prayers, golden shields flickering to block the worst hits. Sakura picked them off with precision, but for every goblin that fell, two more appeared in its place.

And the Shazam—

Its curses kept raining down. Mana slowed. Limbs felt heavier. Every move bled efficiency.

---

Maria’s frost storm clashed with Aurelia’s flames, disrupting each other.

"You’re scattering them again!" Aurelia snapped.

"Then kill faster!" Maria shot back, frost exploding another cluster of thieves.

The goblins laughed as if mocking their disarray.

---

I clenched my jaw. Enough.

Chaos is their weapon. Patterns are mine.

I exhaled, activating it.

Quantum Analysis Mind.

The world slowed. Lines, branches, probabilities bloomed before me. Each goblin’s path, each dagger’s arc, the pulse of the Shazam staff laid bare like a map.

Gamer rule number one: control aggro.

"Sam!" I shouted. "Barrier wall—center, hold the line!"

He blinked, startled—then obeyed. Golden light flared, forcing goblins to collide against the radiant wall.

"Maria—ice spikes, right side! Funnel them!"

Her eyes narrowed, but instinct obeyed. Frost erupted, walling the right corridor. Goblins screeched, herding left.

"Aurelia—burn left flank, tight arc! Don’t scatter—force them inward!"

She glared—but her rapier swept wide, a line of fire igniting the left wall. Goblins shrieked, funneled straight down the middle.

"Sakura—cover fire, headshots only!"

Her bow thrummed. Twang. Twang. Goblins collapsed mid-sprint, one after another.

---

The thieves’ chaos collapsed into order.

Forty became twenty. Then ten. Then none.

All funneled into predictable paths, slaughtered one by one.

---

But the Goblin Shazam wasn’t done.

It raised its staff high. "SKRRRRRRHHHHH!"

Green fire pooled overhead, condensing into a ball of necrotic mana. The entire cavern trembled.

A kill spell.

Sam shouted, "That’ll wipe the field—!"

Then we end it before it lands.

I dashed forward, frost blade igniting.

"Frozen Edge!"

The arc sliced upward, colliding with the necrotic sphere. Frost exploded, halving the spell.

But it wasn’t enough. The sphere trembled, still falling.

---

"Flame Lunge!" Aurelia’s rapier pierced the core. Fire and frost intertwined.

"Frozen Torrent!" Maria’s ice engulfed it, detonating the unstable mana.

The sphere cracked—then imploded, vanishing in a storm of sparks.

---

Silence.

The Goblin Lich hissed, retreating—too late.

Sakura’s arrow struck its chest. My frost blade followed, shattering its skull.

The lich crumbled into dust, staff clattering onto stone.

[ Boss defeated. ]

[ Enemy wave cleared. ]

---

For a moment, only the sound of our breaths filled the cavern.

Maria slowly lowered her staff, eyes flicking toward me. "You... strategy is amazing."

Aurelia’s lips pressed thin, her gaze unreadable. But I caught it—the flicker of respect in her eyes.

" Yeah , cleared them in no time "

Sam chuckled, weary. "Hah. Guess the ’kid’ knows what he’s doing."

Sakura simply whispered, "Efficient."

I exhaled, blade vanishing.

Not bad. Not perfect. But enough to show them... who really belongs in control.

The cavern lay silent.

Only the sound of dripping water and our uneven breaths filled the void. The stench of burnt flesh and frost still clung to the air, mixing with the faint copper tang of mana exhaust.

The Goblin Lich’s broken staff lay on the stone floor, cracked and smoldering.

[ Notification: Mini-Boss Defeated. Reward: +1,200 EXP. ]

[ Party Cohesion +3%. ]

The blue text flickered faintly at the edge of my vision. The system’s voice—calm, clinical—was almost mocking after the chaos we’d endured.

---

Maria was the first to break the silence.

Her violet eyes fixed on me, sharp as ever, but her tone was different. Not cold disdain—something else.

"...You predicted them."

I didn’t answer immediately. Wiping my blade clean, I sheathed it before meeting her gaze. "Not predicted. Just... saw their patterns."

Her lips pressed into a line. "Still. Without it... we might’ve lost people."

Aurelia, of course, scoffed at that. "Hmph. Don’t exaggerate. We had it under control."

But even she didn’t sound convinced.

Her rapier trembled slightly in her hand before she dismissed it into motes of flame. When she caught me noticing, her chin tilted higher, posture stiff. Pride wrapped like armor.

Still... the briefest flicker in her eyes betrayed it. Respect. Reluctant, but there.