Minutes after the dungeon had been cleared, the Association President rushed in with every single paramedic that he could find. There wasn't any time to slowly bring the S-Rankers out. They had to be treated immediately. Healers and conventional doctors rushed to treat the wounded. Even A-Class members, who could barely breathe in such a mana-dense area, did their best to treat their seniors. Alas, that was easier said than done.
See, the Boss Room was filled with blood and gore. Remains of many S-Rankers were still laid out in the open for all to see. The President couldn't bear to look. Many of them had been beaten until they were unrecognisable, but there was still a significant minority that still had some of their body parts intact. A lifeless squashed head or a dismembered limb with a familiar robe. Those were the sights that the Association President could bear to see.
The elderly man loved many of those S-Rankers as he did his own children. He had planned so meticulously to reduce the risk of death and yet… About half of them perished. The President wasn't even concerned about what a huge blow it would be to Yudonia's military. He was just grieving over the loss of many younglings that had a bright future ahead of them.
"Aria, are you okay?" To take his mind off the pain, the President looked for the ones that were still living. Fortunately, the S-Class Archmagus, who was often considered to be Yudonia's next shining pillar, was part of the half that survived.
"I'm fine..." The maiden shook her head. "Just tired..."
"Yes, you should get some rest," replied the President. Normally, he would move to check on the others. However, he couldn't bear to move a single step away from the Archmagus. "Aria… I..."
"What is it?" The young girl asked. She could tell that something was off with the President, but then again, who wouldn't be? It was a bittersweet moment. Yes, the conquered the dungeon, but at what cost? The lives of those forty S-Rankers won't come back.
"Aria… I'm sorry..." The President bowed his head, begging for the young girl's forgiveness. It was something that someone of his stature should never do. However, the man didn't care about formalities anymore. What was saving face when forty of Yudonia's brightest stars had passed on under his watch?
"If I had listened to you… If I had pushed the government to seek help… If I had forced myself to investigate more about the two bosses… Maybe this tragedy could have been avoided..." The President hated himself for not taking Aria's request a little more seriously. He'd honestly thought that since the S-Class Dungeon had been smooth sailing thus far, it would continue on to the Boss Room. However, who could anticipate that the Angel and Demon Guardians are so far off the human realm of imagination?
Aria squinted her eyes. It was at this point that she should offer her consolation and say that it's not entirely the President's fault. However, Aria wasn't that type of girl. "That's right, you fucked up."
"!!!" Having such a retort thrown so bluntly at his face threw the President off the loop.
"If you had listened to me, no, if Yudonia's Parliament had listened to me, we could have invited a thousand S-Rankers and so many neighbouring superpowers to aid in our expedition. Their knowledge and expertise would have given us different perspectives about the dungeon and the two Bosses. I can say with certainty that if they had been here today, perhaps all of us would be living right now." Aria didn't mince her words. That was what she truly felt.
The President dropped his head, hiding his ashen grimace. It was hard to argue with the facts. Yudonia was far too green to solo an S-Class Dungeon. This tragedy showed that entirely. So many S-Rankers were dead because of the selfishness of the Yudonia government.
Before the President could issue yet another apology, Aria raised her hand, stopping the man from speaking entirely. "Still, you're not alone in the guilt." The Archmagus stood up, rotated her arm and cracked her tense neck. She strolled to the opposite end of the Boss Room and gestured for the President to follow. It didn't take long for the pair to reach the very end.
The Demon Guardian was still standing. Both its arms were spread open, blocking the sight of the final chambers of the dungeon. Aria gently caressed the surface of the plain door.
"I joined this Dungeon Raid, knowing the risks that I would put myself under, for one reason and one reason only," the Archmagus bitterly smiled. "To find out what's behind this door. What was the dungeon reward of an S-Class Dungeon? Back when Gondor was committing to its raid, outsiders weren't allowed into the final room. So, my master and I had been left out."
Aria clenched her right fist, digging her nails into the bottom of her palm as she remembered that time. "We worked so hard, just because we wanted to see the true nature of magic! We wanted to investigate what creates an S-Class Dungeon! But that opportunity had been ripped from us entirely!!!"
"Aria?"
"So I swore! I swore that I would become the first researcher in history to uncover the secrets of magic!" The Archmagus declared. Her eyes were filled with fanatical desire, so much so that it repulsed the elderly man.
"President… I joined this dungeon dive not because I'm patriotic or anything. I don't care if Yudonia burns to the ground tomorrow," Aria continued, ignoring the twitching face of the old man. "I'm doing this for my own interest. It has always been this way. And I'm sure everyone else in the Raid Force is the same."
"..." The elderly man brows perked up. He finally understood the point that the young maiden was trying to make.
"All of us. Those surviving, and those that died… We all knew the risks before we signed up for it. We knew that there was a chance of us dying in this place, but we did it anyway. Why? Because we believed that the rewards outweigh the risk. Those that survived were lucky, and those that died aren't… It's as simple as that..."
The President combined his brows together. As much as he hated to admit, that speech did lift his mood, even if it was just a little. "Your thinking is twisted, you know?"
"Perhaps..." Aria shrugged her shoulders, and an impish smile crept up her lips. "But it has gotten me this far." The Archmagus placed both her hands on the stone doors. Aria tested the lock of the gate, and as she expected, since the two Bosses had been defeated, the door was now as loose as can be.
Aria had played with the risks, braved death and spent her lifetime's worth in luck to survive… Now, it was time to reap the rewards.
"May I?" The maiden asked, but it was merely rhetorical. Turning around, the President could see all of the S-Rankers standing right behind them. It didn't matter if they were in casts or had a messed up body. They all had solemn expressions and were waiting for those dastardly doors to open. If the President dared to stop them now, he was confident that every single one of them would revolt.
"Hah… Go ahead..." The elderly man stood to the side and allowed Aria to do the honours.
"Hehe..."
EEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!
The door to the treasure room creaked open like an old wooden latrine. It was only two-metres tall and three-metres wide, so many S-Rankers had to get into a good position to view its contents. Aria, being the person opening the stone door, obviously had the best view. What could the S-Class Dungeon Reward possibly be? An entire armoury of S-Tier weapons? A complete library of ancient tomes that depicted the magic of the Dragons? Or was it a combination of both? Well…
"W-W-What?!" Aria was the first to see the treasure room's contents, and thus, she was the first to be surprised.
Instead of an armoury or a library, what they got was a gateway into a throne room. A dozen ornate pillars were towering over the hall. Gorgeous white marble flooring graced the entirety of the throne room, reflecting the tremendous light that blazed down from its ceiling. Golden carvings of Dragons, Humanoids and unfamiliar beings were littered all over the pillars as the hieroglyphics that were present at the dungeon's entrance, were being displayed en masse. But most importantly… A throne room wasn't complete without a king.
Seated on the five-metre tall diamond throne, was a young man who looked just above twenty. He had a full set of black hair, unblemished by time or disease. They were curly and ruffled, just like any puppy's. His creamy brown skin made him look rather exotic for the fair pigmented residents of Yudonia. The young man arched his head to the left as he continued to slumber, allowing the intruders to only see half of his face. His nose was high-bridged and slender, not too jarring for the eyes. His complexion was completely clear as if pores didn't exist in the man. Even though he most likely had never eaten for a hundred thousand years, the man still retained his healthy look, and his chest continued to expand and contract like any normal human would.
Every single soul dropped their jaw.
What kind of discovery was that? Yudonia's S-Rankers purged through the toughest S-Class Dungeon ever recorded in modern history, only to find out that they were just intruding on someone's bedtime?
Rumble… Rumble… Rumble… Rumble… Rumble… Rumble...
All of a sudden, the ground started to shake. Unlike the tremors of old, it wasn't just the S-Class Dungeon that was affected. The moment Aria opened up the stone door, she had unleashed the wrath of Pandora's Box. The entire Earth was now experiencing an earthquake, one of the likes that had never been recorded before. All of the S-Rankers fell onto the floor. The ground never let up as the entire Earth continued to shake. Mana seeped out from the core, and the montgen levels rose exponentially.
Everyone was flabbergasted. They didn't know what to do. What had they just unleashed upon the world?!
And then…
'He' opened his eyes.
❖❖❖
'It' opened its eyes.
Did 'it' even have eyes? 'It' didn't know. The world around it was completely dark. There was immense pressure mounting on every square inch of its body. 'It' waved its hands, creating a large number of bubbles with each swing. Fishes swam on by while seaweed grew from each side of its throne. Annoyed by the gloom, 'it' stood up, stretching its ancient body. Two of its fingers joined together and then…
SNAP!!!
The world of darkness got turned into a world of light. Flames that shouldn't burn underwater, ignited and brought vision back to the armoured knight. It was in a resplendent palace hall. No, it was in a palace hall that was once ornate. Pillars that stood a hundred metres tall had been destroyed by time. Hieroglyphics faded into nothingness, and everything that once made this palace great had been lost to the immense water pressure of the bottom of the ocean.
If any normal human could see this scene, they would instantly be reminded of the Epic of Knight Lancelot.
'It' was a three-metre tall knight, armoured to the bone with obsidian metal guards. No one could see its face, nor could they see its race. Was 'it' a Human, Elf, Dwarf, Giant, Vampire? Or was 'it' another race that had been lost to the annals of time? No one could tell.
'It' didn't understand why it woke up. 'It' didn't even know what it was, where it was, or when it was sent into hibernation. However, there was a base instinct left in it. An instinct to hunt.
'It' extended its arm. Darkness oozed out from its gauntlets and fell densely onto the palace floor. The inscription on the wall behind it began to vibrate violently, and the mana within the palace hall spiked to astronomical heights. Cracks dominated the walls of the ancient structure until eventually…
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!
The entire wall collapsed. Stones that were thousands of years old broke free, decorating the whole hall with its epic lustre. 'It' didn't concern itself with the annoyance. What mattered most was the content that it had just summoned out.
A gigantic black greatsword, one that was easily two metres long, dropped into the hands of the knight. It had been greyed up so much by rust, that one wouldn't be faulted to imagine that the blade was a million-year-old relic.
'It' didn't like that the sword had been degraded to this extent. Dark smoke slowly seeped out of its armour and enveloped the rusted blade. Clink… Clink… Clink… The bits of rust broke free from the body of the sword, revealing its original onyx hue. Engraved onto it were many ancient words, a language that had long been forgotten. The sword continued to heat up, sending out heaps of effervescence up to the surface. Though, since the palace was three kilometres down, in the darkest part of the ocean, it would take hours for the bubbles to reach the surface.
Entranced by the immense mana supply, a rogue A-Class shark monster torpedoed its way into the palace hall. Seeing the glowing obsidian blade, the shark swam rapidly, hoping to swallow it whole to bolster its own mana supply and trigger an evolution. Furthermore, the armoured knight that was holding onto the sword was completely stationary, as if it had turned into a sculpture.
Alas, it was just a trap.
Before the A-Class shark could even react, 'it' had traversed a dozen metres within the blink of an eye. There was no chance for the monster to evade and thus, the ancient greatsword got its first taste of blood in over a hundred thousand years. Dyed in life, the blade pulsated, as if in revolt. It denied the beauty that was life. Instantly, the shark's body was consumed by encroaching darkness, one that it could never escape from ever again.
It died. Life had been ripped cleanly out of the A-Class monster. However…
GRRRROOOOOAAARRRRR!!!
A new life was given to it. The pale grey eyes that it boasted turned completely obsidian. There was no more resistance by the foolish monster. Now, it was an obedient pet that did whatever the armoured Knight wanted. The shark swam out of the way of 'it' and bowed its head in reverence.
'It' was satisfied that the greatsword was working as it should. Swinging the blade a few times around, 'it' executed a gorgeous sword dance that would make any swordmaster cry out in envy. Taking a few minutes to centre itself, the Knight stopped when yet another tremor vibrated through the world.
Every single nation on Earth was panicking. Why was there a universal earthquake that could be felt everywhere? There was no place on Earth that was safe. Tremendous amounts of mana seeped out from the tectonic plates and plunged the world into yet another magic-filled age. However, in consequence, everything was shaking in fear, no… The entire Earth was shaking in anticipation, and every country's leaders didn't know why.
But 'it' knew.
'It' knew what had happened, and what 'it' must do.
Leaving the zombified shark behind, the Knight walked over to the centre of the palace hall. Fortunately, the palace had been submerged in the ocean, and no intelligent life form had ever crossed its path since it was sealed. Unlike the S-Class Dungeon that Yudonia had conquered, the palace hadn't been raided by Dragons or any other life forms other than monsters and sea creatures. So, everything was still in place.
'It' swung the obsidian greatsword straight into the ornate palace floor. The dark smoke that reanimated the shark crept slowly down into the marble ground. Just like the entire world, the palace started to tremble. Cracks appeared on the thick floor as the dark fog continued to tear apart the fabric of the castle. Soon, the first being reappeared…
RRRROOOOOAAAAAAAARRRR!!!
A full skeleton of a Dragon broke free from the bindings of the floor. The Dragon's skeleton was completely polished down until it sparkled with an annoying sheen. Every single tooth, claw, and bone was so defined and most importantly… It retained the magic power of when it was alive. The next second, another Dragon corpse emerged from the abyss. This time, it had a little bit of meat leftover. However, it was mostly decomposed and falling out of its flesh anyway. The next moment a colossal titan leapt out into the open. It stood at over fifty metres tall and had scraps of broken flesh and bone falling out from its body.
Slowly but surely, more and more beings answered the call of the Knight. Dark smoke continued to envelop them all as the magic peaked to unheard amounts in the modern era. 'It' didn't stop there. Hundreds of humanoid and animal skeletons crept up from underneath the palace, continuously infesting the area with its undead filth. Only after fifteen minutes, when the Obsidian Greatsword had lost all of its magic smoke, did the Knight finally stop.
'It' has awakened…
And 'it' has brought Necromancy back to the Earth.
~~~ End of Book 1 ~~~