Draconic Ascension - System Apocalypse Isekai LitRPG

For a few seconds, Michael remained rooted in place. He reflexively tried to intensify the Rune of Darkness' abilities, but they were already pushed to their current limits. His mind quickly went into disarray.

…Did they come this deep because I killed all the enemies on my way here? Or are they just bold?

The enemies he'd so easily crushed weren't ones that the average Tutorial survivor could defeat, based on the ones from his Tutorial Zones. Even worse, in this city-wide Dungeon, they appeared in groups. For what reason had people gone so deep into the Dungeon?

Michael's ears twitched as the sounds continued to arrive. Judging from the voices, there were around six people, all sounding relaxed and joyful.

"Damn, these fucking things give a lot of XP," he heard a young, female voice say.

"Hell yeah. I told you the subway was suspicious. We just gotta keep going!" an excited male voice replied.

"Keep going?" another man asked, riddled with anxiety. "Whatever flattened all those monsters is still out there. We should be getting the fuck out of here as soon as possible. Are all of you fucking insane?"

"Relax, Dan," the first male voice replied. "If it could actually sense us, we would be dead already. Let's just kill a few more monsters while we're here. It'll be fine."

Three more voices of agreement rang out, two men and one woman.

"You fucking—" Dan stopped talking abruptly. "Wait, do you guys hear that?"

Michael narrowed his eyes as his hearing focused on another set of footsteps. Heavy, thudding, and increasingly faster, with little interval between them. He had no doubt that it was a Field Boss, one that he still hadn't come in contact with. From the sounds alone, he tried to draw a mental picture of the enemy, but he was still too far away to do so. He only knew one thing – that thing was going straight for the group of people he'd just heard.

Michael's heartbeat sped up. What should he do? The safest alternative would be not to do anything and let the group fend for themselves; they had chosen to explore the Dungeon and should be able to deal with the consequences of their actions. However, the choice of leaving people to die couldn't possibly be the correct one. He had the Rune of Shadows. All he could do was believe in its abilities to erase the memories of the ones who saw him.

It was better than not even trying to protect a group of people that he could save. What was his power worth if he couldn't even do something like that?

Michael decisively started running toward the voices' location. His Dragonheart throbbed within his chest, almost doubling his speed and making him able to easily traverse the underground tracks and platforms. His Mana Field remained active, crushing any monster unfortunate enough to be too close to him.

The heavy, thudding footsteps he'd heard got faster and faster, to the point where he was sure the creature was running. The voices from before spoke again, this time in the shape of alarmed cries. Michael could hear the creaking of their armor and the rustling of their clothes as they readied themselves for battle. At the same time, now that he was far closer to them, he could better make out the shape of the enemy in his mind. It was a quadruped, one larger than all the beasts he'd faced so far. He cursed under his breath and sped up.

Finally, after making a slight turn, Michael could see them, both the beast and the people. Around two hundred meters straight in front of him, the six people cried out and cursed as they moved to attack an enormous two-headed wolf. The creature was over ten meters long, from head to tail, and incredibly muscular. The fur hid the skin beneath, but its muscles still shone under the subway's dim lighting, looking tougher than any set of armor. In comparison, the six people looked incredibly small. The two Mages at the back lifted their ordinary staves, expressions filled with fear, but also determination. The four Warriors at the forefront, two of whom were wearing shields, stepped forward.

Michael only raised the Elder Chief's Staff and pointed it at the lizard as he sank his feet into the ground, grinding to a halt.

Arcane Missile.

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The giant longspear of mana coalesced in front of him.

***

Evelynn looked at the giant monster in front of them with pure dread. The twin, gaping maws smelled like rotten meat, and the fangs were still wet with blood. The creature's claws scraped against the floor with a harrowing sound as it ran forward, each step quickly closing the distance between them due to the monster's sheer size.

Of course, the four warriors didn't sit still. John lowered his shield to the ground and tried desperately to halt the monster's advance, but it wasn't as if he weren't even there. The wolf easily pushed him aside, tumbling and spinning. Lauren and Oliver slashed at the Field Boss' legs, but their axe and sword only slid across its surface without drawing even a line of blood. With horror, Evelynn watched the monster raise its front paw, which was bigger than her entire body. The claws glinted under the dim lighting. She couldn't move.

So this is it.

She felt like time was moving in slow motion. Had their mistake been to decide to go deeper into the Dungeon? It had felt like a matter of course, given how few monsters they had encountered. In hindsight, they definitely should have stopped and run away the moment they saw the first few crushed puddles of flesh and ruined bones. But John had argued that it likely meant that there would be fewer monsters deeper in and that they would be able to more easily get good Equipment. They had been convinced to risk it and to believe that whatever killed all those monsters wasn't still around, and now they would die for it.

Such a pathetic death.

She smiled bitterly as the claw descended.

That was when it happened. A flash of blue light, so quick that she only just barely registered it. She blinked. Once she opened her eyes again, there was no incoming giant claw. All that remained was the slight smell of burnt flesh. Evelynn blinked again and lowered her gaze to look at the giant wolf.

It was missing both heads.

A shiver went down her spine as she started shaking involuntarily. What? What the hell? What the fuck had just happened?

Uncaring about her confusion, the wolf's corpse fell to the ground with a loud thud. No blood came out of the gaping hole that used to be its two necks; the flesh had been seared. Evelynn furrowed her brow as her friends turned to look at her.

"What the fuck?" Oliver asked in disbelief, wiping his brown, sweat-soaked hair.

Evelynn gulped and looked to the right, then to the left. She froze as the image of the approaching young man became clear. Her friends followed her gaze and froze much in the same way. For a few seconds, nobody said anything. The young man simply got closer to them, one step at a time. Once he was within a few meters, he stopped. Evelynn stared at him. He was tall, with black hair and green eyes, and wore a white robe. Despite that, she could still see his well-built body underneath it, making her momentarily question if he wasn't actually a Warrior.

"Leave," the green-eyed young man said, dragging her out of her stupor. "This isn't the kind of place where you guys can stay in. The monsters here are too strong. I take it you've already realized that. So leave, for your own sakes."

Evelynn stared at him. His words sounded almost belittling, but she could hear his sincerity. He was simply warning them.

"Were you the one who killed the wolf?" she suddenly asked, then belatedly cursed herself within her mind, as the answer was obvious.

The young man turned to look at her. Her heartbeat quickened a bit as she looked into his beautiful green eyes.

"Yes," he replied. "Now, please follow my advice. I don't want any of you to die."

"Did you kill all those monsters before? The ones that were crushed?" Oliver asked, interrupting their conversation.

The young man frowned at him, making him take three steps back in a heartbeat.

"I-I don't mean to pry," Oliver stuttered out, raising his hands. "Thank you for saving us."

Evelynn blinked and cursed under her breath.

"Thank you," she said loudly, making everyone look at her. "We would have died. We'll go back to the earlier parts of the Dungeon. Thank you again."

The young man smiled at her, making her heart skip a beat again.

"Thank you. Now, leave."

He turned around and started walking in the direction he'd come from, then started running. Evelynn wasn't in any mood to question why his running speed was even faster than that of the Warriors on the team. After a few seconds, the young man made a turn and disappeared.

The rest of the group slowly walked closer to her.

"Alright, what the fuck was that?" John said after glancing in the direction the young man had gone.

"I don't know, but we should follow his advice. He just saved us," Lauren said with a frown, her hand over her heart. "I really thought I was going to die. Damn it."

Evelynn belatedly nodded and took a deep breath.

"Let's follow his advice," she said slowly. "He was right. We'll die if we keep going like this."

The others nodded, a few looking a bit dissatisfied. They started walking back to the earlier parts of the Undercity Depths. Meanwhile, Evelynn was a bit lost in her thoughts.

He had beautiful eyes.

She furrowed her brow. What color had they been, again? Blue? She couldn't remember. Still, she recalled that she thought he was very handsome, but for some reason, she couldn't remember his face.

She blinked as she walked. What clothes had he worn? Had he ever stated his name? The more she walked, the more her memories got jumbled up.

…What am I thinking about? There was nobody with us. We just managed to kill the wolf and decided to retreat.

She nodded to herself with a grin.

As expected, she had made the right decision to argue that they should retreat. The monsters had become too dangerous, after all.

She walked with her group with firm steps.