The Demon Queen's Royal Consort-Chapter 104 - Dungeon - XII

** Fifth day inside the dungeon

"Buzz." The sound of footsteps and lightning echoed across the second mountain's summit.

"Still too slow! This won't work!" I complained to Dorian.

I had woken up over a day ago and was genuinely surprised to find that, inside the dungeon, only a little more than sixty hours had passed. That meant the time difference between the ring's inner world and the outside was about seventeen to one. Not bad.

The bad part was the possibility of dying inside that damn place.

The moment I woke up, the entire group overflowed with joy. They were all immensely grateful that I had saved them, which warmed my heart a little and even inflated my ego slightly.

But I didn't have time to bask in it, as they quickly began explaining our situation. The dungeon's pattern finally made sense, but the complications were far greater than we'd imagined.

The first option was a stealthy trek across the swamp. We debated whether it was possible—with Dália and Aeloria's help—to create a suspended frozen path that would let us cross to the next mountain without drawing attention. It was the kind of idea that sounded perfect in theory but would be disastrous in practice. We'd be constantly draining two members' prana, and even then, we'd risk being attacked by any centipede that sensed our movements in the water.

As for Dália, Lesley's restrictions no longer applied, and she'd have to use her water-affinity magic. That is, if she wanted to make it out alive herself. She understood the situation and knew she couldn't rely solely on healing magic anymore.

The second option was to jump to the next mountain's summit or leap to an intermediate level and climb the rest of the way.

The first question they asked me was whether I could transport everyone to the summit using one of my spatial rifts. But even after evolving inside the ring's inner world, my abilities were still far from allowing something like that.

So, we settled on the low-gravity jump. I figured it was possible, and even if we didn't reach the third mountain's peak, we'd get close enough.

Which brings us to the present, where Dorian and Seraphine were pushing themselves to their limits trying to keep up with me as I moved at high speed.

Seraphine, her expression rigid and fully concentrated, moved like a storm chasing lightning. But every time her hands almost touched me, her fingers only grazed my afterimages. The speed gap between us wasn't massive, and since we'd started training, she'd inched closer to what I considered the bare minimum to avoid being sliced in half by a grasshopper.

"Enough!" I called out.

My energy calmed, and the lightning covering my body crackled with residual electricity before fading completely.

"This strategy won't work! Dorian will be split in two within the first seconds of battle!"

"Ugh..." Aeloria sighed. "Damn it! Any other ideas?" he asked, looking around.

"Fighting two grasshoppers at once is impossible," I said. "We're assuming they'll act separately, focusing on two people, which would give Aeloria and Dália time to act. But if both target someone like Dorian, he'll die instantly."

Dorian's situation was tricky. His body was nearly healed thanks to Dália's intensive treatments, but the last battle had drastically reduced his usefulness in the group.

He was supposed to be the frontline damage sponge—a tank—but his armor from the waist up had been destroyed, and his shield was split in half. That left him without proper equipment to fulfill his role.

So, we were trying to reorganize the group to work around the problem.

Seraphine, whose armor was intact, took over as the frontline warrior, while Dorian assumed her former role.

Though she couldn't absorb hits like Dorian, at least she was protected by her armor and wouldn't be dismembered by a single strike.

The problem was that Dorian wasn't a speed-focused warrior. With Seraphine taking his original position, our group had effectively become a speed-based formation.

Seraphine fought at high speed, with bursts of explosive strikes. My support was geared toward assisting the vanguard and rearguard as quickly as possible, and as the only one who had firsthand experience being chased by a grasshopper, I knew the minimum speed required to stay alive.

Dália and Aeloria now worked together in the backline, both focused on battlefield control. Their combo was insane—water and ice covering everything.

"So, what's left?" Dorian asked, disheartened.

"We need a plan to fight them one at a time," Dália argued.

"How?" I asked, curious.

"Ugh... We'll have to fight during the freezing night!" Dália answered, her voice heavy.

"What?" Aeloria exclaimed. "You'll freeze to death in seconds!"

"I've been thinking about this since we woke up. Why don't these creatures appear at night? The grasshoppers only move during the day, and at night, they hide inside the cave. That means there's probably a warm enough space inside where we could fight."

"Another dome like before?" Seraphine questioned.

"I don't know! But that's not the only problem. Inside the mountain is an endless maze. We'd have to survive the freezing night temperatures just to reach the third mountain and then find the grasshoppers' den."

"Why not just head straight for the fourth mountain?" I asked.

"Dália thinks the first centipede was the guardian of the first mountain, which we didn't explore. If the same applies, we'd have to worry about future enemies and the two grasshoppers from the third mountain chasing us from behind," Aeloria explained.

"Huh... That's new!"

The group remained at an impasse, with no solid idea for conquering the third mountain.

We sat around a small fire burning a few embers during the day. I pulled a biscuit from my bag and took a bite. It was rubbery and tasted like styrofoam.

'Military rations taste like nothing!'

Seraphine kept training with Dorian, while Aeloria wandered to the farthest edge of the summit, observing our target's movements and trying to brainstorm.

Dália sat beside me, slowly leaning her shoulder against mine.

"Ugh... Am I really going to have to reveal everything?" I whispered in her ear.

Dália gave me an impassive look before responding.

"I think Lady Lesley put us here on purpose, Young Master. I believe this is a test for you. The original purpose of dungeons was to show the world's true face—real danger. And honestly, with a group this strong, you'd never truly feel threatened otherwise."

"So it's just another damn test... Phew... I kinda figured, but I didn't think we'd reach the point where even you, a High Champion-rank mage, would have to help us."

"Don't misunderstand, Young Master. Even with me giving it my all, this dungeon is still far beyond what should be necessary to clear it."

"Damn it! I'm still an Initial Awakened! Why would she do this?"

"Honestly, I don't think your rank defines your power. You're way too far outside the norm to be classified like others. Look at this: Seraphine is already a Low Champion and still slower than you. You've literally beaten everyone here in direct combat—and that includes me."

"That was before you broke through to the next level. But... Ugh... you're right. So what do we do?"

"There must be a way to beat this dungeon. All dungeons, even the most impossible ones, can be conquered. We just haven't found the right idea yet."

"You're right..." My words were cut off by Aeloria's shout.

"That's it! That's it! That's it!" he yelled.

Everyone turned to him as he jumped in excitement, like he'd had a breakthrough.

The group quickly gathered around the fire, hoping for enlightenment.

Confidently, Aeloria sat at the center, his blue eyes gleaming.

"Alright, here's the plan!"