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"Hellstorm!"
"Attack magic."
Watching Fubuki and Frieren unleash their spells was like seeing two sisters with completely different personalities.
Fubuki's face carried that smug, almost arrogant smile that screamed confidence. Frieren, on the other hand, wore her usual blank expression, as if nothing in the world could spark her interest.
Different styles, same result—the golden city was taking a beating.
The labyrinth monsters had patched the walls countless times, but in terms of toughness they weren't much better than ordinary stone. Against the two women's magic, they crumbled like tofu.
The towering walls protecting the royal castle cracked wide under the roaring wind. Stones rained down, and thick dust clouds rose to blur the air.
"It's been ten minutes already. How come the dungeon master hasn't shown up yet?"
Gabriel scanned the surroundings. Aside from a few monsters running for their lives, there wasn't a single suspicious figure in sight.
"Ten minutes isn't long. Give it a little more time," Saeko said quietly, sword in hand.
Gabriel frowned. "You don't think the dungeon master got scared of them, do you? The plan was to wreck the castle to lure him out, but if they go too far, won't it have the opposite effect?"
Her voice had to rise just to compete with the constant explosions. She also couldn't shake the feeling that Fubuki and Frieren were secretly competing over who could cause more destruction.
This isn't even the mission anymore!
If the dungeon master never shows up, we're losing all those points!
Even Rosen started considering her point. And honestly… it kind of made sense.
The dungeon master, Hisel, was insane, sure. But at the end of the day, he was still a living being. Instinct told all creatures to avoid danger. And Fubuki and Frieren's destructive power was leagues above anything this dungeon had ever seen.
It wasn't impossible that Hisel was actually too scared to appear.
"Wait—if he runs away, what are we supposed to do?" Maruciel scratched his head, feeling like they'd just chased their quarry into a dead end.
"He's here."
Rosen's expression sharpened as he sensed a shift in the air.
At the same time, Frieren—hovering high above—caught the unnatural ripple of magic. Her jewel-like eyes instinctively turned toward the source.
In the shadow of the ruined city walls, a short figure appeared, cloaked and hooded.
"Fubuki, stop. Looks like the boss finally showed himself," Frieren called.
Since Fubuki couldn't sense mana, Frieren had to warn her.
The raging winds around Fubuki died in an instant. Her body still glowing faint green, she caught sight of the cloaked figure too.
Anyone daring to come this close despite their power could only be the dungeon master.
From the shadows emerged a small elf clad in deep purple, a turquoise robe beneath his cloak. Hisel's eyes went wide with fury the moment he saw the castle in ruins.
His once delicate features twisted into something monstrous.
"Damn you! How dare you destroy Lord Delga's castle!"
"Unforgivable. Absolutely unforgivable!"
Normally, Hisel could pass for calm—even gentle. But once that mask cracked, the truth showed: he was the golden city's most devoted servant, consumed by obsession.
In his mind, nothing had changed.
He was still the guardian of the golden city. These adventurers weren't explorers—they were invaders, plundering thieves. To him, Rosen's party was no different than an invading army laying siege to the kingdom.
Hisel's grimoire floated open on its own, pages turning rapidly as he chanted ancient words. A blood-red pool spread at his feet.
From its surface crawled several crimson wyverns, each about half the height of a man.
Blinded by his duty to "protect" the golden city, Hisel sent the pack of blood-dragons swooping toward Rosen's group.
Small, but fast. Their fangs could tear through steel with ease. Against ordinary adventurers, they would have been wiped out in minutes with no hope of revival.
But Fubuki just blinked.
She glanced back at Rosen with a look that clearly said: This is it?
Rosen shrugged. Hisel wasn't strong, but this was his home turf. That was the only reason Rosen had warned them to be cautious.
The dragons never even reached them. A flick of Fubuki's hand stirred up a cyclone that shredded the creatures into formless lumps of meat.
Back in her own world, ghost- and dragon-level disasters leveled cities on the regular. Fubuki knew when to retreat if things got too dangerous. But here?
This dungeon felt like it was stuck on easy mode.
The so-called "mad sorcerer boss" wasn't even ghost-level—maybe tiger at best.
Frieren casually blasted the rest, wiping them out in seconds.
The ease only made Hisel's rage boil hotter. His grimoire spun wildly, drawing even greater power that shook the dungeon floor.
Maruciel, also a mage, paled. Even Frieren cast him a wary look.
The blood pool spread wider. Larger shapes rose from its depths. This time, the summons weren't little wyverns but true dragons—scarlet, white, green, black, even serpentine eastern dragons.
Gabriel whistled under her breath. "Red, white, green, black… even eastern wyrms? Damn, his summoning power's insane!"
"Go, my dragons!" Hisel howled. "Crush these invaders of the golden city!"
The dragons roared in unison, storming forward.
For the first time, even Fubuki and Frieren felt genuine pressure.
Fubuki was pinned down by a black dragon with impenetrable scales and a white dragon spewing freezing breath. Her psychic powers lost efficiency in this environment.
Frieren fared no better, caught between a green dragon and a long-bodied eastern wyrm—both resistant to magic, both relentless.
The others panicked. The dungeon master's true strength was beyond anything they'd imagined.
Just as Fubuki was about to be engulfed in icy breath, Rosen vanished from where he stood.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared behind Hisel.
Under the elf's stunned gaze, Rosen's spear of light pierced straight through the white dragon's skull.
"..."
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