NOVEL NEXT Chapter 150. Cerberus!
The infamous Dungeon of Fiona—a dungeon rated for lv.55 and above back on Solis VR; it was one that was challenged by hundreds of users in raid parties yet still failed just because of one monster, The Succubus Queen—Fiona.
If I am not wrong, since this world is no longer Solis VR then that would mean the Succubus Queen should have some sort of consciousness. The thing that people didn’t really know or rather, didn’t care about was her backstory which described her as a legendary strategist. Her story was actually super tragic, but she was also a super powerful knight when she was a human.
Her creator, Silvia or the author of the entire plotline of Solis VR actually favored her a lot and wanted to turn her into the main character of another story of hers but with how much work piled up, she wasn’t able to write the book, though I wonder if she is writing one on the underworld empire she reigns on…?
Anyhow, this dungeon is a must for me to conquer for multiple reasons, one is the rare treasure that is hidden inside the dungeon—the Ring of Fiona which increases the wearer’s mana and attack output by 2.5 times which will benefit me a lot in this form, another reason is Fiona herself. If she does have a proper consciousness of this world then that would mean she can become an ally.
“I will conquer that dungeon. Hand me a map that shows the exact directions, then just wait for the good news to arrive,” I said nonchalantly with confidence.
He was a bit surprised by my sudden declaration which made sense since the dungeon is rated at a hundred percent death rate by the Guild and even back on Solis VR, it was rated a King-tier dungeon which means it isn’t easy to conquer even though it has only six layers.
“Are you sure, young missy?!” he asked with worry, “I know you are more powerful than me who is an S-rank, but no one really knows what is inside that dungeon, not to mention, we even sent an entire A-rank party there and they never came back even after five months…”
“No worries, I am much more powerful than two entire S-Rank parties. Not to mention, as her lady’s guardian, it is my duty to ensure that the land she stays in should be safe. What would happen if an outbreak were to occur on the dungeon, that would not only put my lady at risk but also the entire country…” I answered.
His face wrinkled a bit from what I said, and after a few moments of visible hesitation, he soon looked at me with a straight face, “I really want to stop someone as talented as you to go to such a dangerous dungeon but what you said is indeed correct.”
“It is the guild’s responsibility to keep the land safe from the monsters, we cannot afford to place the people we love at risk. I will give an exception this time and allow you to head to the dungeon but there is absolutely one thing you must do, run if you can’t handle it anymore…” his eyes stared into mine with pressure.
I shrugged off his words while waving my hand, “I know that already, the basic rule of all risk-takers, if the worst comes to shove, then one should run no matter what. Who doesn’t know that rule?”
After I finished saying that, he heaved a heavy sigh before gesturing me to follow as we walked towards another room where several teleportation portals could be seen. I was a bit amazed to see this many teleportation portals, even His Majesty from the other kingdom could only make one that could teleport you to the capital.
“These are all the portals to the dungeons we have visited; they usually are expensive to use but it’s an exception this time since you are someone who could possibly conquer the dungeon in question. Remember, once you enter inside one of the portals, you won’t be able to come back here using it again so remember to keep this map with you. It should guide you back to the town,” he said while handing me a parchment with an entire drawing of the route back to the town.
His words sounded like he was giving me one last goodbye which made me chuckle inside. As if I, a Vampire Empress and a Divine Human with the knowledge of the entire Solis VR game would die from a mere Succubus Queen—how pathetic would that be?
“You don’t have to send me off like I am being buried. I will never die unless my lady orders me to,” I said nonchalantly before materializing my scythe as I walked towards one of the portals which had a sign that said, “Dungeon of Fiona.”
While waving my hand, I looked at him once more, “Be sure to prepare me a hefty reward once I finish this dungeon. I want my money more than some random congratulations.” Which made him laugh a bit as I walked inside the portal.
The same feeling as if you were being warped all around could be felt before the scenery all around me changed. I was now at the top of a hill where a single cave waited with stairs that led downwards, the cave carried this spooky atmosphere around it.
All the greenery around the cave was nowhere to be seen, it was like the vitality of the hill was being sucked by the cave which made me amused. It did look the same as the cave that we spent a month designing back on my days, seeing the cave made me a bit nostalgic.
“To think that I, the creator of Solis VR would be conquering dungeons now,” I giggled before closing my eyes one more time as I took a deep breath with a bright smile on my lips, “It’s time to have some fun—Fiona, don’t disappoint me…”
After speaking those final words, I soon ran down on the stairs of the dungeon before a voice welcomed me, “Welcome to the Dungeon of Fiona, young hero.”
The voice surprised me a bit since there weren’t such things on Solis VR but now that I think about it, the people around knew what the names of the dungeons were which means, the voice could be heard by everyone who enters a dungeon which tells them the name of the dungeon… that’s amusing.
“Amusing but I want to make this quick since I want to see my little cuties in two days,” I said before ten dark dogs came to sight, barking in my direction as all of them dashed towards me.
Without hesitation, I swung my scythe horizontally, slicing them in half as adrenaline soon rose inside of me as more and more dark-colored giant dogs approached me like an endless wave of monsters. My entire body felt burning hot as I dashed straight towards the wave of dogs.
“Come at me, brats!” I screamed while swinging my scythe all around, creating slashes all around me as howls of the dark-colored dogs echoed throughout the cave. They weren’t able to reach even a few inches from me, their bodies would immediately be sliced in half once they reach my strike zone.
I felt an abundant amount of excitement as I continued to slash my way through the entire pathway, all the dogs could do were dash towards me and try to bite but it was pointless since my scythe would slice through them like paper.
After around twenty minutes of constant killing, the seemingly endless wave had ended. Piles of bodies ran throughout the entire first layer as I turned around with a smile, licking the blood on my lips which tasted delicious.
“I really am a vampire on this form,” I chuckled before all of a sudden, my scythe glowed upon touching the blood of one of the dead dogs. The scythe shone bright red as the bodies of all the dead dogs slowly turned into ashes, their blood was visibly being sucked onto my sight like a blackhole.
[Blood Consumption] has started… please expect a wave of pain.
A voice suddenly warned me before all of a sudden, my entire body screamed. Pain rushed all around me as I dropped the scythe, falling down to the floor. My arms were like being broken apart and repaired at the same time, blood rose into my mind, flooding it greatly as tremendous amounts of pain roared inside of me.
“AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!” I screamed for ten minutes straight before limply resting on the floor as the pain subsided along with the voice.
[Blood Consumption] complete. You have acquired two levels from defeating two hundred and seventy-six Shadow Dogs, please allocate your skills inside the land of memories.
I felt like wanting to die… the pain was embedded hard onto my mind. It was like the worst of all nightmares as if you were being tortured endlessly for ten straight minutes. Whether it’d be being sliced open by a sword then stitched back or something even more gruesome, all the worst pains that you could imagine could be felt at that moment.
Two hundred and seventy-six Shadow Dogs and that much pain for only two levels… isn’t this some major disadvantage that I was never told…? I really feel like dying inside, my body could barely move from the horrendous amount of pain.
“I—I won’t give up like that…” I mumbled to myself before forcing myself to stand up as the scythe flew back towards me like a magnet. My body could still feel the pain even though it shouldn’t be there anymore… it was like a virtual pain at this point, “I guess having this much power needs to have some kind of tragic disadvantage…”
Though I am a bit surprised to hear that I have leveled up twice since I can’t even check myself via the system, not to mention, skill allocation on the land of memories—what even is the land of memories… it seems like the Goddess gave me something more than just a new body.
“I will solve them later… I have to finish this dungeon up before they revive,” I showed a bitter smile, closing my eyes a bit before taking a deep breath as I tried to regain my composure. I could feel my entire body healing by itself which felt warm.
After letting my body heal by itself for around ten more minutes, I soon continued walking straight before a gigantic wooden door came into sight. The wooden door had the emblem of a Cerberus which according to the game design should mean the boss behind this is a Cerberus which makes sense since the monsters were dogs.
“To think that I would be fighting a Cerberus on the first hour… how funny,” I laughed a bit before taking another deep breath as I pushed the door open, “Excite me a bit more, Cerberus… show me whether you are worthy of being my opponent in this body.”
As if responding to my words, six bright red eyes shone from the dark room as torches lit up all around the room, revealing the Cerberus’s shadowy, gigantic black body with its three heads staring at me with full bloodlust.
Taking a step inside the room, the doors immediately closed like what I expected as I readied my scythe with a bright smile on my lips, “It isn’t a boss fight if there is no adrenaline, right?”
“RAWWRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”