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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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If you killed these creatures, most of them would drop artifacts, the famous “dungeon-born artifacts.”
They were called that because dimensional rifts used to be called dungeons.
As a side note, the abilities of artifacts were often related to the boss’s traits or abilities.
Therefore, it was possible to guess some of the boss’s abilities.
‘An ability related to subspace.’
I wasn’t sure how exactly it would be utilized, but it was definitely a tricky ability.
“I don’t see any monsters.”
“This place is so diverse that there might not be any monsters except for the boss.”
In such fragments, the boss was particularly ferocious.
‘It’s speculated that all other monsters were slaughtered by the boss.’
And since they were as strong as they were ferocious, dimensional rifts with only a boss were considered to be high difficulty.
‘There weren’t any rumors about this place having only a boss…’
It was also possible that the rumors about the rewards were so overwhelming that they overshadowed any other information.
“It’s really desolate. It’s even more so because it’s a wasteland.”
Indeed, the inside of dimensional rifts often had this kind of atmosphere, as they were ruined worlds.
Wastelands, barren lands, ruined villages, destroyed castles, forests filled with withered trees…
Most were like that.
This place was no different.
‘I’ve heard there are cases where it’s shaped like a maze, a giant cavity, or even a freezing snow mountain or desert.’
There were exceptions, of course.
“We’ll move together for now. It’s dangerous to split up. And we can’t rule out the possibility of attacks from underground, so stay alert.”
“Yes.”
I ordered Annelise to stay close to the Living Armors and not do anything unnecessary.
As we explored the interior…
“…It’s bigger than I thought. I can’t see the end.”
“If it’s this big, it’s probably at least the size of a small barony.”
This was a bit troublesome.
It meant that the exploration would take a long time.
“Any signs of monsters?”
“I can’t feel anything at all.”
I couldn’t sense anything either.
“Inha!”
At that moment, Athena, who had taken the risk of moving ahead, claiming it was her role, returned shouting.
“I found it!”
‘Found it?’
“Up ahead!”
Following Athena, we arrived at a spot where a giant snake was coiled up.
‘How is it so big?’
It looked at least 20 meters long, and its body was almost 2 meters thick.
“How did we miss that?”
“It suddenly appeared when we got within a certain distance.”
“It causes perception interference? Is that its characteristic?”
‘It can’t be using magic, can it?’
A snake of that size using magic… I didn’t even want to imagine it.
“…This won’t be an easy hunt.”
If it had perception interference, it meant it also used mana, which meant it was highly likely to have magic resistance.
And judging by its size, its defense must be high…
‘It could use poison since it’s a snake. Honestly, I doubt it would need poison with that size, but just in case.’
While I was making various assumptions about the creature, it slowly began to move.
“…It seems to have noticed us.”
“I thought it was sleeping.”
It flicked its thick tongue and stared at us for a while.
Red eyes. Huge, ochre-colored scales.
Overwhelming size.
The energy I sensed belatedly was incredibly ferocious.
The creature coiled its body.
“I hope the Bone Golem can hold out.”
Following my magic, the two newly created Mummy Priests mimicked my spell.
Strengthening magic was layered on the Bone Golem, and its entire body began to gleam black.
And at the same time, the creature uncoiled its body and ‘flew’ towards us.
I was momentarily dumbfounded.
I had expected it to slither across the ground at an incredible speed since it was a snake, but it used its muscular strength and elasticity to launch itself towards us, propelling itself off the ground.
Considering its length and thickness, its weight must be enormous.
Getting crushed by it would mean instant death.
I immediately sent the strengthened Bone Golem forward and shouted at the others to retreat.
Screeeech!
As the giant snake launched itself at us, the Bone Golem, following my command, blocked it head-on.
A huge explosion echoed, and the Bone Golem was pushed back several meters.
But that wasn’t all.
The giant snake wrapped itself around the Bone Golem’s body and began to constrict with incredible force.
Crack.
The triple-strengthened body of the Bone Golem screamed.
Completely entangled by the creature, it could only endure the pressure, unable to fight back properly.
‘It’s a good thing I focused on strengthening its durability for defense.’
And the Mummy Priests’ help was significant.
‘The Bone Golem wouldn’t have survived if it were just me.’
While the Bone Golem held out, the Skeleton Mages unleashed Dark Bolts.
Continuous explosions followed, but the creature didn’t budge.
‘Its magic resistance is strong.’
Hiss. Hiss.
Although weakened, the creature still glared at us, sensing the attacks.
But that was all. It seemed the Bone Golem was still the biggest annoyance to it.
The Bone Golem tried to resist, but it couldn’t move at all.
“Is it okay?”
“It’s fine. It can still hold out.”
Minor damage accumulated on its body here and there. I immediately infused demonic energy to regenerate the Bone Golem, and the Mummy Priests continuously cast strengthening spells on it.
Seeing that the creature wasn’t moving, even while being hit by Dark Bolts, Kayla was the first to step forward.
She kicked off the ground and approached the creature. She coated her sword with high-level Aura and struck the creature’s body.
The creature’s gaze swiftly shifted.
It seemed Aura was effective.
The creature then loosened its grip on the Bone Golem and swung a portion of its body towards Kayla.
The ground shattered from the single blow.
However, Kayla had already moved out of the way.
‘…It’s incredible.’
Not only was it huge, but it was also fast.
And because of its size, it felt even faster to us.
‘The range of its movements is different.’
I realized I couldn’t send just any undead against it.
‘Elites only.’
No. 1 was out of the question.
No. 2 and Cereo. Honestly, even these two were risky, but since I could regenerate them if they were destroyed, it was worth a try.
I also excluded the Specter.
It wasn’t human, and with its attack power, it would be difficult to inflict any significant damage on the creature. And since the creature also had magic resistance, the Specter was practically useless.
Kayla dodged the creature’s attacks while inflicting wounds on its body.
Athena also joined the battle to help Kayla, and Baldur looked like he wanted to intervene as well.
However, I assigned him a different task.
“Baldur, protect Annelise. You can retreat from the battle if necessary.”
Unfortunately, it was unavoidable.
At his current level, Baldur would have difficulty coping.
And if he was careless, he could be hit by an attack and instantly killed.
Therefore, I entrusted him with protecting Annelise.
Athena and Kayla dodged the creature’s attacks while steadily increasing its wounds.
The creature’s blood stained the ground.
‘There’s no poison in its blood.’
Even though shallow wounds were accumulating on its body, the creature didn’t seem to care.
‘…It’s regenerating.’
Incredibly, the creature also possessed a high level of regenerative ability.
It wasn’t at the level of a troll, but I could see its wounds healing with my own eyes.
No, considering its size, it might as well be at the level of a troll.
It seemed incapable of using poison or magic, but instead, it was simply strong.
‘I need to stop the regeneration first.’
Thanks to the creature focusing on attacking Kayla and Athena with parts of its body, the Bone Golem was relatively safe, so I used that opportunity to cast a curse on the creature.
Ptooey!
—!
The creature let out a short shriek.
The wounds Kayla and Athena had inflicted instantly worsened, and some even began to rot.
‘It has resistance…’
But it wasn’t strong enough to completely ignore my magic.
No. 2 and Cereo also joined the battle, striking the creature’s body.
No. 2 couldn’t inflict much damage, but Cereo, using unholy Aura, managed to inflict some wounds.
However, unlike Kayla and Athena, they couldn’t dodge all of the creature’s attacks.
After being hit a few times, No. 2 was half-destroyed and forced to withdraw from the battle.
As if venting its frustration at failing to hit Kayla and Athena, the creature repeatedly slammed its body against No. 2 and Cereo when they were caught in its attacks.
Cereo managed to escape, but No. 2 couldn’t, and it would take time for it to regenerate.
But that was all. We steadily chipped away at the creature’s health.
The surrounding area was devastated by the creature’s rampage, but Kayla, Athena, and I didn’t panic.
The creature’s wounds continued to increase, and as its regeneration was suppressed by my curse, the ground became soaked with its blood.
Then, the creature paused its attacks for a moment and opened its mouth wide.
Thud. Thud.
Countless snakes began to pour out of its mouth.
There were other monsters.
‘It didn’t devour them all…’
It seemed it had been storing numerous monsters inside its belly.
And unlike the creature, the snakes that emerged had menacing colors.
‘Are they venomous snakes?’
They weren’t ordinary, simple snakes.
Even the smallest one looked over a meter long, and their thickness was unusual.
And they had emerged from the body of a monstrous creature. They couldn’t be ordinary snakes. It was safe to assume they were a type of monster.
Hiss.
The snakes that had emerged all charged towards us.
Athena called out to me with a worried expression, but there was no need to worry.
‘It seems I was quite annoying to it.’
I had no intention of going down without a fight.
I immediately ordered the Centurions to block the snakes.
‘Undead are resistant to poison…’
And they were heavily armed.
I had prepared them in case we were overwhelmed by numbers.
Their level was too low to be used in the battle against the boss, but things were different now.
The Mummy Priests began to cast strengthening spells on the undead.
And these weren’t the boss.
I immediately cast Slow and Weaken on a wide area, and their movements became noticeably slower.
‘Their magic resistance is pathetic compared to the boss.’
Swish! Swish!
The enemy’s power was weakened, and ours was strengthened.
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