CHAPTER 58: A REAL DUNGEON [1]

They stood on the precipice of a jagged canyon, wind howling across the crumbling rock formations. Below them stretched a black rift carved into the land, emanating a chilling miasma that carried the scent of blood and steel.

The portal shimmered with cold energy—its borders crackling with static. Unlike the smooth portals of the dungeons at the academy, this one felt ancient and feral.

Kaelen frowned as he scanned it with his mana sense.

"No ambient stabilizers. And the mana density is warped. The entire zone is saturated with corrupted leyflow," he muttered.

Derek, arms crossed behind them, nodded approvingly.

"You feel it? That’s a real dungeon. Not a cage match for students. This one has taken over four hundred lives in the past decade alone. A seasoned dungeon. The kind that not just fights back but hunts."

Alira drew one of her curved daggers, twirling it once. "Let’s hurry."

Neal cracked his neck. "We’ve been itching for this."

Derek turned slightly, glancing between the three.

"You think you’re ready?," he said. "You might have cleared thousands of young dungeons in the academy, fought your peers, or even faced monsters stronger than you."

Then he stepped forward, and his mana flared.

The world grew heavy.

The very air pressed down like lead, trembling under the weight of his presence.

Kaelen’s eyes sharpened. Neal raised a brow. Alira flinched just slightly.

Level 376.

It wasn’t just a number—it was a legacy made tangible.

For the first time, they understood why Derek Maglor had once been called The Stalwart Wall of Starfall.

"But out here," he said, voice quiet but resolute, "every misstep is death. No respawns. No instructors. No system bubble to save you."

Kaelen nodded once but it was clear he wasn’t listening. "We’re ready."

Derek looked at them for a long moment.

Then he turned, drawing his battle-worn sword from his inventory.

"I shall see about that."

The moment they stepped inside, the scent of rot struck them like a wall.

Slick, bone-covered terrain stretched before them—interwoven with living black tendrils and pulsing egg sacs. The dungeon resembled an abandoned fortress turned into a nest.

Kaelen immediately scanned the surroundings with Third Eye "Over a hundred mana signatures. Some clustered. Most mobile."

"Do we go quiet or do we go loud?" Kaelen asked.

Neal raised his palm. "Want me to burn it down?"

"Not yet," Derek replied, already pulling up three shields of condensed life mana around them.

"They will come by themselves."

The monsters had noticed them and they didn’t wait.

The Dark Lord would notify the monsters of any unwanted intrusion.

Within moments, monsters charged at them —a tide of bone-armored centipede-lions with six maws and eyes like burning pitch. Their screeches reverberated unnaturally, gnawing at the edges of sanity.

Kaelen struck first—mana threads slicing out from his fingertips like blades. He wrapped three at once, pulling their bodies in different directions until they tore themselves apart from internal tension.

That’s what he thought but the next instant the monster broke loose and charged at them again almost biting his legs off.

Alira danced behind the monster, her daggers flashing black and silver, bypassing natural armor and severing spines with clean surgical strikes. Her passive Shadow Veins let her glide between enemies like vapor—every kill silent and brutal.

Neal didn’t move much. He walked forward, face calm, arms folded.

When five centipede-lions pounced at him at once, he raised his palm lazily.

"Die!."

The explosion turned the stone corridor white-hot, and the enemies vanished—melted in place.

Derek, watching from the rear with narrowed eyes, slowly lowered his sword.

They’re strong, very strong but they lack experience and are too arrogant.

And their coordination... It’s instinctive.

1 point for that.

Kaelen complained "How the heck did a silver rank monster escape my mana threads?"

Neal scoffs "Cleric."

"Just you wait, you son of a b.."

Derek facepalmed. "I should have raised him myself."

While Kaelen was babbling nonsense another monster ambushes him from behind.

He smirked and raised a barrier around the group as another wave hit them, casting Purification to dissolve toxins sprayed by the monsters.

"You think I’d fall for a second time."

Derek noticed how the spell had evolved—it now cleansed in an area and simultaneously buffed resistances.

Alira appeared again, slicing through five creatures in a heartbeat and rejoining them. "That’s twenty two. Next wave incoming."

Derek leapt forward this time.

His old blade moved like thunder. Every swing was a lesson in control and weight, bisecting enemies with decades-honed precision. He didn’t move like a veteran—he moved like a storm that had memorized the battlefield.

Kaelen watched carefully as Derek shifted his weight before a strike, subtly twisted his wrist to catch a monster’s deflection, and used even the recoil to reposition.

"His body is slow, but every movement is meaningful," Kaelen whispered to himself, his eyes shining with reverence.

"He’s not wasting anything," Neal added.

Alira didn’t speak. But the awe in her eyes said everything.

They reached a chamber after clearing through what felt like miles of twisted tunnels. The dungeon didn’t seem to end.

The deeper they went, the more malicious the environment became—turning stones into flesh, darkness into weapons, and light into decay.

Finally, the Hive Queen emerged.

A twenty-meter abomination of bone, sinew, and radiant eyes, with claws the size of carriages. Her back pulsated with brood sacs that hissed with toxic mana. With a screech, the arena began to melt—literally.

Kaelen’s used Sanctuary. Lighting the dark chamber and marking it as his domain.

Then used Cascade of thorns. Hundreds of holy spears spike up from the ground towards the Hive Queen but it only makes shallow wounds and some just a scratch.

Kaelen’s eye twitched.

Really?

The Queen screeched in pain.

And hurled its massive claw at them.

"I got this," Neal said, stepping forward.

He launched a big spiraling solar flame Solar Lance, cutting through its claw and punching a hole straight through the queen’s shell. But she didn’t die. Instead, she split into three, mimicking herself via brood clones.

"Alira, you take the left. Neal center. I’ll flank right."

"And me?" Derek asked.

"Anchor our formation," Kaelen said without hesitation. "Be the wall."

Derek grinned, lips twitching.

He’s commanding a S+ adventurer like a potter...

They moved in perfect harmony.

Kaelen cast Life Veil onto Neal and Alira, followed by —a new cleric spell Purging Guard that burned any enemy who hit the protected target.

Neal absorbed the queen’s attacks like a titan, laughing as he burned brighter with every wound.

Bit by bit he disintegrated the monster slowly and eventually into oblivion.

Alira blurred into mist and struck at pressure points no one else could see, eventually severing a queen clone’s spine from inside its skull.

Kaelen unleashed Divine bind, pinning one clone down and walking calmly toward it, he stomped into the ground using Final Benediction.

A large holy phantom of his foot stepped down at the monster instantly crushing it.

Kaelen smiled with satisfaction.

" Now I await your S class recommendation."

They have killed the monsters before the one hour time limit.

Derek stared at his son, his comrades, and the corpse of the monsters littered around the chamber.

"You were holding back," he said.

Kaelen smiled faintly. "We had to adjust to your pace."

Derek snorted. "Brat."

Neal laughed. Alira cracked a small smile.

But then Derek’s voice turned serious.

"You three are stronger than I was at your age. Stronger than most in their prime. What you did in this dungeon... to be honest I’m impressed."

He took a deep breath. Then his tone turned into mocking.

"But if you think this is the boss you’re gravely mistaken. That wasn’t the boss. That was the sacrifice to keep it sleeping."

And before they could digest the meaning behind those words.

The sound of monsters clattering filled the chamber.

"Chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk......"