Endless Leveling Done Right!

On the Fifth Floor of the Orion Dungeon…

Over a hundred Demon Worshipers lay in wait for the first teams of candidates to arrive at their location.

The weakest among them were Rank 3 Experts, while the strongest were Rank 5.

They were part of the Faction of one of the Elders who wished to increase his influence among their organization.

Like the students, each of them had a teleportation crystal that would allow them to escape once they were done with their mission.

The Dungeon Contest between the three academies would end after a day. According to the Demon Worshipers' estimation, it would take the students half a day to reach the Fifth Floor.

None of them dared to go to the upper floors to attack the students since Professor Rowan could very easily render all their preparations worthless the moment he saw them.

They had already added traps near the entrance of the Fifth Floor, as well as dispersed a paralyzing poison on the ground. The poison would take effect within a few minutes of being inhaled.

With this much preparation, they were confident that they would be able to kill the strongest students before help arrived.

Even if the Paragon of Space himself came to protect the students, his ability to instantly traverse between points would be limited since the laws of the Dungeon were different from the outside world.

He would take at least five minutes to reach the Fifth Floor, which was enough for the Demon Worshipers to kill their designated targets—the Princes of the Solara and Faelarun Kingdoms.

Between the two princes, the Demon Worshipers' priority was Prince Kaelen since he was the Crown Prince of the Elven Kingdom.

If Prince Kaelen died, the Elven Kingdom would definitely break ties with the Kingdom of Avalon, even if they understood that Rowan Vademort wasn't responsible. This would be immensely beneficial for the Demon Worshipers' grand scheme.

"Leader, should we assign scouts to survey the area around the entrance?" one of the Demon Worshipers asked.

"No." The leader of the team, who went by the name of Gaston, shook his head. "Once the Headmaster notices that something is wrong, our mission will be compromised. It is best to stick to the plan. Besides… This ambush area that we have chosen is the perfect hiding place to launch a sneak attack against those students."

While this was happening, several of his subordinates dealt with groups of Rank Zombies that were led by a Rank 3 Zombie Knight. As this was a very common sight on the Fifth Floor of the Dungeon, the Demon Worshipers did not dare to let their guard down.

The Boss of the Fifth Floor was a Rank 4 Death Knight. There was also a roaming Rank 4 Zombie Skirmisher, which was considered a Mini Boss.

So far, the Demon Worshipers hadn't encountered any of them since they were stationed in a part of a ruined fortress not easily visible or accessible.

The only consistent problem was the monsters that spawned inside the forest. However, they didn't pose a threat to any of the Demon Worshipers. Since Rank 3 and Rank 4 Warriors made up the bulk of their small army, these monsters were at most pests.

Suddenly, Gaston stood up and glanced around the fortress from his vantage point.

"What's wrong, Leader?" one of his subordinates asked.

"Do you hear something?" Gastos inquired. "Everyone, don't move. Listen well."

All the Demon Worshipers stopped whatever they were doing and focused on their sense of hearing.

A faint rumbling could be heard in the area, which made all of them wonder what was happening.

They had been inside the Orion Dungeon for a week, and this was the first time they heard something like this.

Even the occasional wail of a Banshee, who would appear from time to time in the Fortress, didn't make them feel the anxiety they felt right now.

It was then that one of the Demon Worshipers noticed something in the black mist surrounding the fortress.

"Over there!" he shouted, pointing in the direction where a few spots of light appeared.

Within a few seconds, the number of glowing spots increased to the dozens.

Half a minute later, countless spots of light were before them, looking almost like stars at night.

"This…" Gaston's eyes widened in shock because he immediately recognized those lights.

They weren't stars but the glowing embers from the eye sockets of Undead Soldiers! And now, a legion of them was heading toward the fortress the Demon Worshipers camped at!

"S-Sir, what is happening?" one of the subordinates asked, his voice cracking from worry.

If it had been only a hundred Undead Monsters, they could've dealt with the problem easily. But the light spots seemed truly endless.

Those at the front mostly glowed orange, but there were a few pairs of red lights.

The red spots belonged to the Rank 3 Zombie Knights, and they were leading the swarm of Rank 2 Zombie Soldiers.

Suddenly, Gaston sensed two powerful presences at the center of the monster army.

The Rank 4 Death Knight and the Rank 4 Zombie Skirmishers were also present!

Just as Gaston thought things couldn't get any worse, the wails of several Banshees, who were Rank 3 Monsters, sent chills down every Demon Worshiper's spine.

The Banshees only occasionally appeared on the Fifth Floor, but they were very common on the Sixth Floor.

Right now, Gaston could see that there were easily over a hundred Banshees hovering above the Zombie Army, slowly but surely marching toward the forest.

"L-Leader! Could this be a Dungeon Outbreak?!" one of his underlings asked, clearly shaken. "We need to get out of here now!"

"Calm down!" Gaston nearly shouted because he was also starting to panic as well.

He was a Rank 5 Warrior, so he was confident of his ability to fight dozens of Zombies at a time.

But even he knew that he alone was not enough to deal with the Undead Horde that was nearing their hiding place.

He was now left with two choices.

The first one was to head to the Fourth Floor and start their mission prematurely.

The second option was to destroy their teleportation crystals and flee while they still could.

"Everyone, head to the Fourth Floor!" Gaston ordered. "Move!"

Although the chances of their mission failing were now high, they had no choice but to abandon their original plan.

The Demon Worshipers didn't hesitate to follow Gaston as he ran toward the path leading to the Fourth Floor.

As they ran with everything they had, they encountered hordes of zombies also going the same way.

Gaston easily crushed them, preventing the worst-case scenario of being surrounded from all sides.

But in the Demon Worshipers' haste, they had completely forgotten about something important.

Realization only dawned upon them after one of their own cried out in pain, his foot struck by a razor-sharp Spring Trap, which they prepared for the students.

Soon, cries of pain, frustration, and fear filled the space as more and more Demon Worshipers were felled by their own traps.

Gaston was infuriated. Because of their carelessness, his underlings were falling into the traps that they had set up themselves!

Spring traps, pit traps, and poison traps were triggered one after the other, immobilizing, maiming, and killing whoever was unlucky enough to step into them.

Those who had fallen behind were forced to use their teleportation crystals to escape before they were killed by the Undead Army, which was now quickly closing in on them after detecting their presence.

But that was a mistake.

Since Professor Rowan was supervising the expedition, he had used his powers to seal off the area within the massive walls that surrounded the dungeon. Anyone—student or not—who broke their teleportation crystals would be forced to appear in this space.

The moment the Demon Worshipers showed up, Professor Rowan didn't hesitate to bind all of them with his magic, preventing them from escaping.

The Professors guarding the dungeon entrance were shocked to see the black-robed men appearing out of nowhere.

As more black-robed men appeared, they finally understood what was happening.

"Demon Worshipers!" Professor Zanna, one of the Alchemy Professors, exclaimed.

She immediately took out a few potions from her storage ring and threw them at the men who weren't supposed to be inside the dungeon.

"Headmaster!" Professor Nixie, who was the Magic Professor teaching the Second Year Students, shouted. "We will deal with them. Protect the students inside the dungeon!"

"Don't worry about them," Professor Rowan answered. "I have already informed the Professors escorting the students to evacuate as soon as possible."

As if to prove him right, several flashes of light appeared nearby. This time, the escapees turned out to be students.

Among them were Fran and Finn, who had experienced getting attacked by dozens of Zombie Wolves on the Second Floor.

Astrea, who also prioritized her safety above all else, led her team outside of the dungeon as soon as the Professors told them that Demon Worshipers had appeared.

The last battle royale had taught the students that they shouldn't take these warnings lightly. All of them escaped as soon as they heard the news.

Meanwhile, Alex and his team—who had gathered on the First Floor of the Dungeon—were dealing with the Rank 1 Skeleton Soldiers that were trying to reach the entrance.

Even if these skeletons numbered in the hundreds, they were no match against the members of Endless Horizon, who had prepared for this moment.

The artifacts that they had prepared had a stacking effect that weakened any Undead Monster within the vicinity.

The talismans were also giving off a gentle light that further weakened the Undead, allowing Chuck, Princess Xenia, and Mary to annihilate them without too much effort.

Dim Dim had also joined the battle, whacking the Undead Soldiers with its Toy Hammer as it bounced off the walls of the dungeon like a ping pong ball.

Alex stood at the center of the formation with his arms crossed. Nessia and Charles were by his side.

"Alex Stratos, what is happening?" Cassandra demanded. When she'd received Theo's order to monitor Alex and Endless Horizon, she'd not expect that things would go south so quickly.

"A party," Alex replied cheerfully.

"Excuse me?"

"An Undead Party is happening, so feel free to join us later when things get heated up, okay?"

Cassandra didn't know what Alex was talking about. But seeing that the young man was planning something, she decided to just wait and observe him more closely.

Alex laughed internally, certain that Cassandra would not be able to maintain her composure for much longer.

The real battle would only happen when the monsters from the lower floors finally reached the surface.

And when that happened, Alex was confident that his team would be able to make a killing by defeating the monsters and farming their valuable cores and parts.