Chapter 38: Dungeon Conquest

Conquering dungeons was mandatory for every soldier and adventurer. If dungeons were left unchecked, they would mature and cause a dungeon break—an event where monsters escape from the dungeon and wreak havoc on their surroundings. The incident where Elysia was created as a lich was a direct result of such a break.

The time required for a dungeon to mature varied. Some took several months, while others took years. However, the longer it took for a dungeon to mature, the stronger its monsters typically became.

This particular dungeon was discovered only a few days ago by a scout from Quantora village. Marissa had then ordered Cecile and her team to subjugate it. Since the dungeon was still young, there shouldn't have been any particularly strong monsters inside. However, Cecile and her team were only level eighteen. Opponents that would be trivial for real knights and soldiers still posed a significant challenge to them without Hiro's enhancements.

The dungeon entrance was located deep within a forest, marked by a set of man-made stairs that bored deep into the ground conspicuously in the middle of a clearing. A clear sign that a dungeon had formed. Through Rebecca's mana eyes, Hiro could see the dungeon drawing in magical energy from its surroundings.

After double-checking their equipment and supplies, the group stepped down the stairs and into the dungeon.

Like most dungeons, this one was filled with winding caves and branching paths. Guttural growls echoed from the depths, signaling the presence of nearby monsters. Soon, several wolf-like creatures emerged—grotesque beings with five gaping mouths spread across their bodies and heads. Rows of razor-sharp fangs jutted out from every orifice. Some were feasting on the remains of their own fallen kin.

Hiro could only describe these monsters as abominations, something straight out of a horror movie.

"Cecile!" Rebecca commanded.

They had been together as a party long enough that Cecile knew exactly what Rebecca meant just from the way she called her name.

"On it. I'll try to kite them!" Cecile braced herself, holding her buckler and blue sword at the ready. Beside her, Nana stood poised with her new bow.

The battle quickly became a struggle. Their group clearly lacked a dedicated vanguard apart from Cecile. She managed to keep three hounds busy, skillfully evading their lunges while keeping them focused on her. However, three more were still on the loose. They soon targeted Nana and Elysia.

Thankfully, Elysia stepped in. She summoned her loyal undead minions to assist, but they were little more than chew toys for the wolves' numerous mouths. Despite her best efforts, her skeletons were torn apart almost as quickly as she could summon them.

"One down!" Rebecca called out as she fired off a powerful fireball. The explosion engulfed one of the creatures, and it let out a ghastly howl before collapsing, its charred body twitching before lying motionlessly on the floor.

Nana loosed another volley of arrows, but to her frustration, they barely seemed to affect the beasts.

"Ugh… that wolf already has three arrows in its head," Nana grumbled as she sidestepped a lunging wolf. "Should I switch to my spear?"

"Should we call Hiro? He can enhance your power, right? Or should we ask him to fight directly?" Elysia suggested another option.

Hiro considered it. Despite her voluptuous body, Elysia is a lich. She didn't have nutrients, so Hiro couldn't use his skills on her. But her stats were so weak that he had never seriously considered using them on her.

"No! We can do this!" Rebecca interrupted firmly. "Nana, switch to your spear. I'll incinerate them all."

Hiro tilted his head, puzzled by Rebecca's insistence on refusing his help. Weren't they a team? He had assumed Rebecca had accepted him, but now he began second-guessing his position in the group.

The battle dragged on for thirty grueling minutes. It was a war of attrition, draining them all. In the end, Rebecca had been right to withhold Hiro's enhancements for Cecile and Nana—without her fire magic, the wolves might never have gone down.

Even when only one beast remained, it refused to die despite Cecile and Nana repeatedly stabbing it. Only when Rebecca blasted it with another fireball did the creature finally fall.

"That was odd," Nana muttered, catching her breath. "Why were these things so resilient? Can we even kill them with blades?"

Cecile nodded in agreement, glancing at her tattered shield. Hiro attempted to repair it, replacing the damaged metal and wooden components. While his fix was perfect structurally, he could tell the shield itself had degraded from the repeated abuse.

The craftsmanship behind shields and weapons played a crucial role in their durability and effectiveness. Simply replacing a part of a wooden shield with the same type of wood wouldn't restore it to its original quality. Since Hiro lacked any crafting skills, the repaired shield retained only the base durability of the materials without any enhancement.

Curious, Hiro slithered out from Cecile and nudged the charred remains of the wolves. Their grotesque appearance and unnatural resilience led him to name them gorebeasts. At first glance, they seemed no different from other dungeon-spawned creatures, yet they had refused to die despite being skewered with arrows, spears, and swords. Something about them was off.

After a short rest, the group continued deeper into the dungeon. The cave walls were tangled with massive tree roots snaking down from above, forcing them to navigate carefully. As they hopped from one stable foothold to another, they stumbled upon a corpse.

"Whose corpse is this?" Cecile asked, frowning. "I thought this dungeon was new."

"The clothes don't look like they belong to a soldier," Rebecca observed, kneeling beside the body. "He's probably one of the refugees who escaped to our town. Some of them must have been absorbed into the dungeon. Just like Elysia."

The path eventually opened up into a vast circular chamber, where a glowing glass sphere hovered at its center, radiating a faint white light. Hiro had never seen a dungeon core before. Cecile and Rebecca, despite their experience as adventurers, were still beginners—they had never encountered one either.

"Is that the dungeon core?" Cecile asked, her voice tinged with awe.

"Yes," Rebecca confirmed. "I've never seen one in person, but the illustrations in the adventurer's guidebook back at the academy match what we're looking at. I never expected it to be so ethereal and beautiful. What a shame we have to destroy it."

"Let's get down there," Cecile said, looking around. "Where's the rope?"

Before anyone could respond, Hiro slithered out, wrapping himself securely around Cecile's waist. He volunteered to be the rope.

"Hiek! What are you doing? We are in a dungeon!" Cecile squealed as Hiro enveloped her bountiful breasts.

Hiro knew exactly what he was doing—he had even encouraged her to be squeamish. He chuckled internally, watching Cecile panic. She might be fine if he did it privately, but she definitely wasn't used to being groped in public.

"I think Hiro just wants to act as a rope to help you rappel down the cliff," Elysia said, her tone calm. But Hiro could sense that, deep down, her heart was pounding with excitement. Somehow, He had raised a masochist.

He smiled inwardly, pleased with how lewd his girls had become. All that's left is Rebecca. But for now, he chose to ignore her. He didn't want to force her.

"But why did he have to grab my crotch and my boobs?! My waist is enough!" Cecile protested, flailing in Hiro's grasp.

Hiro had only intended to imitate a five-point harness, similar to what rock climbers used. But as he slithered over Cecile's curvy hips and full bust, his tentacles naturally latched onto them.

"Just enjoy it, Cecile," Nana teased, sitting down as Hiro buckled her in. Her overly lascivious demeanor was starting to turn Hiro off. He wondered whether he should retrain her to be less desperate.

Nevertheless, the group rappelled down the cliff with ease. After Hiro secured himself to a nearby rock, the girls descended smoothly as if riding an elevator. His tentacles extended effortlessly, and though his stats weren't the highest, they were more than enough to carry his girls up and down.

As soon as Cecile and her group landed in the circular arena, the entire dungeon trembled. Dungeon cores could sense when they were in danger, and as a last-ditch effort for survival, they would summon a boss monster with all their remaining energy.

A dark portal formed before them, and from its depths, a grotesque creature emerged.

It was a bipedal giant, towering over them. Like the wolves Cecile had fought earlier, this abomination had mouths all over its body—its face, back, arms, boobs, and belly. Hiro shuddered when his gaze unintentionally drifted lower.

There, where its genitals should have been, were even more gaping maws, lined with serrated teeth.

Hiro recoiled in horror. He regretted even looking there.

From its grotesque openings, long, writhing tongues and slimy tentacles slithered out, their movements unnatural and disturbing. The creature let out a guttural, inhuman screech echoing throughout the arena.

Hiro had seen some horrific monsters before, but this one?

This was pure nightmare fuel.

As a male, Hiro shuddered. This female boss monster was the epitome of a man's nightmare. Sure, she had a curvaceous body, but her grotesque, nightmarish features completely erased any trace of attraction. There was absolutely no way Hiro would ever parasitize her.

"The monster swallowed the core!" Cecile exclaimed as the creature opened the massive maw on its back and devoured the glowing dungeon core whole.

Normally, a dungeon core would hide itself after summoning a boss monster, retreating to safety. However, this time, it fused directly with the boss. This process was called Forced Maturity—a desperate, last-ditch effort where the dungeon forcibly evolved itself, triggering its Dungeon Death.

The cavern trembled violently, the walls cracking as chunks of rock began to crumble around them. Cecile and her team had never encountered a dungeon core before, let alone a Forced Maturity event. But they did know what a dying dungeon looked like.

Five hounds emerged from the darkness, gathering around the grotesque boss. Cecile and Nana were undoubtedly stronger than most adventurers at their level, but even they knew—challenging a dungeon boss, even from a young dungeon, was reckless.

Perhaps Marissa had put too much faith in Hiro's abilities.

"Watch out, she has weapons!" Rebecca warned.

A black sword materialized in the monster's hands, accompanied by a shield—both covered in grotesque, snapping maws.

"Hiro! Now's the time! Full doping, please!" Cecile and Nana called out in unison.

Hiro agreed, activating both his Adrenaline and Amphetamine skills.

One of the hounds, the fastest of the pack, lunged straight at Cecile. But with her enhanced speed and reflexes, she struck with perfect precision, decapitating it in a single clean slash. Before its lifeless body could hit the ground, she followed up with a second attack, bisecting it completely.

The beast was dead.

No matter how resilient these creatures were to slashing and stabbing, losing half their body rendered them completely helpless. And yet, even in death, the twitching corpse continued to spasm for a full five minutes—a gruesome display of its unnatural endurance.

"Hiro, spears!" Nana shouted as she lunged at one of the wolves.

With her increased dexterity, coupled with Hiro's boost, she was now just as fast as the beasts—if not faster. Hiro wondered how she planned to deal with their unnatural resilience, but he quickly found his answer.

Nana leaped into the air, driving her spear straight through one of the wolves, pinning it to the ground.

The beast thrashed violently, but before it could break free, Hiro created another spear. Nana grabbed it mid-air and drove it into the struggling creature. Then another. And another.

Three spears pierced its body, nailing it in place. Even though the wolf was still alive, it could no longer move.

Two wolves down. Three more to go.

Rebecca fired another fireball, this time directly into the face of a wolf. The explosion engulfed its head in flames, burning it to a crisp. The creature let out a final gurgling howl before collapsing.

Meanwhile, Elysia gathered her skeleton warriors, using them as a shield to buy time for the others to finish off the wolves before engaging the giant boss monster.

But she failed.

The grotesque, nightmarish Gorebeast did not slow down. It mowed through Elysia's skeletons with its massive sword, cutting them down like weeds. The undead minions crumbled to dust within moments.

Thanks to Hiro's enhancement, Cecile managed to finish off the last remaining wolf, bisecting it into three pieces with a single precise slash. Nana, still using her earlier tactic, drove four spears into another and pinned it completely.

"Hyaaa!" Cecile let out a battle cry as she turned toward the looming Gorebeast.

The monstrous demon raised its enormous sword high overhead and brought it crashing down onto her.

The sheer size of the weapon—as tall as she was—filled her with dread. She had no time to dodge.

With every ounce of strength, Cecile raised her buckler to block.

A thunderous explosion rocked the arena as the two forces clashed. A shockwave of dust and debris erupted from the impact, blinding everything around them.

Cecile felt her bones crack under the sheer force. Pain shot through her arms, but she endured. As the dust cleared, her shield held on. But the monster was smiling—with every mouth on its body.

Hiro had thought the gaping maw on its shield was merely for decoration. He was wrong.

The mouth grinned.

The Gorebeast pressed its shield forward, the fanged maw widening—ready to devour Cecile whole. Just as it was about to consume her, several arrows pierced its head and arm. The monster flinched. Though incredibly resilient, the beast still felt pain.

It snapped its head toward Nana, who stood a few meters away, bow raised, already nocking another arrow. Cecile seized the opportunity, leaping back just as the beast turned its attention elsewhere.

Pain pulsed through her hands, her bones screaming in protest. But she gritted her teeth and readied herself. The weaker mobs had been eliminated.

Now—the real boss battle had begun.