Chapter 88: Chapter 88 Competitive
"Huuu... this took longer than expected. Those hunters really gave a lot of unnecessary input." Nanya muttered tiredly while walking toward the Barking Tree Dungeon portal. She had short brown hair along with numerous piercings decorating both of her ears.
Meanwhile, her attire consisted of a sporty outfit partially covered by an academy robe draped loosely over her body. Today, she and her students had been assigned a mission to eliminate the mutated boss monster within the dungeon.
However, the moment she arrived at the area, she realized nobody was there.
"Where the hell did those three idiots go?" Nanya frowned deeply.
"Don’t tell me, they already entered the dungeon?" Nanya’s expression immediately darkened in anger before she quickly stomped toward the portal.
---
"Smashing Horn!"
BAM!!
Travers slammed directly into Brumebark using the massive horn attached to his arm. At the moment, he was in Partial Form. His arm had transformed into the head of his beetle monster, Azuscara.
<Brumebark>
<Azuscara>
The Brumebark was sent crashing into a nearby tree before its body dissolved into piles of grass.
"Nice one, Travers!" Next one, Pollen of Spark!" Brie shouted.
She was also currently in Partial Form together with her moth-shaped monster, Sylphalune. Large white wings had formed behind her back, allowing her to float lightly in the air.
At the same time, both Brie and Sylphalune continuously released glowing spores from their wings.
<Sylphalune>
Several Brumebarks were struck by the pollen and immediately became stunned for a few seconds.
Rusti instantly took advantage of the opportunity and charged forward alongside his monster, Redrant. At the moment, his hands had transformed into large mandibles.
He grabbed one of the Brumebarks and lifted it into the air before violently swinging it toward another nearby monster.
Then, he seized another Brumebark and brutally clipped its body in half using his massive mandibles. Meanwhile, his giant ant monster, Redrant, also actively charged into battle and attacked the other Brumebarks.
<Redrant>
"Not bad. Not bad at all." Oliver commented while casually sitting on a nearby stone together while eating nuts. He had been genuinely surprised after discovering that Flora could create a small plant capable of endlessly producing nuts. Basically, he now had an infinite food supply.
After watching Travers and his group handle the Brumebarks with relative ease, Oliver decided that neither he nor Flora needed to join the battle for now.
"It’s honestly fascinating to think a world like this can actually exist inside a dungeon." Flora said while crouching beside a nearby clear stream. She gently placed her hand into the flowing water while observing the surroundings curiously.
"This feels like an entirely different world." It was Flora’s first time entering a dungeon, and she looked completely amazed by everything around her.
The Barking Tree Dungeon was a single-floor dungeon consisting of a vast forest arranged in a long stretch of land. At the center of the forest flowed a small clear stream that divided the area into two sections.
The sunlight beautifully illuminated the greenery of the forest, while the shade from the towering trees made the surroundings feel cool and peaceful.
Countless coniferous and green trees filled the entire dungeon, making it look more like a peaceful picnic location rather than a dangerous dungeon, at least for those who did not know where they actually were.
Oliver then shifted his gaze toward the other side of the forest. There, he saw Ovan and his group had already finished dealing with their group of Brumebarks.
"Looks like they didn’t even need to summon their monsters, it seems they really do have solid skills." Oliver commented while observing them carefully.
They were currently competing to see which group would arrive at the boss room and defeat the boss first. Both groups followed the river while steadily advancing deeper toward the end of the forest path where the boss resided.
It had already been around fifteen minutes since the competition started, and at the moment, Ovan’s group clearly held the lead. Their teamwork was excellent, and their movements were smooth and fluid without unnecessary mistakes.
Meanwhile, Oliver and Flora had said that they would only remain as bystanders and would not interfere with the battle unless necessary.
That statement had greatly irritated Rusti especially since Flora herself was the one who proposed the competition in the first place. When Rusti questioned her about it, Flora simply responded while making an innocent and adorable expression.
"Do you really want a delicate and weak woman like me to do something dangerous?" Flora said while blinking her eyes cutely.
"Brie is also a woman!" Rusti immediately shouted.
On the other side, Jermain merely scoffed while glancing toward the other group.
"We’re honestly just wasting time here. Let’s finish this quickly. I still need to return and study for our upcoming exams," he said coldly while cutting down another monster.
"Relax a little, Jermain. Why are you always in such a rush?" Ovan laughed while easily defeating one of the monsters before him.
"Don’t you get bored reading the same books over and over again? At least coming here helps us relax our minds from all the stress."
"Ovan is right, By the way, who exactly is that guy over there? Why does he look so relaxed? Does he seriously think he’s some kind of tough expert or something? Gross." Lakshmi said while pointing toward Oliver. Ever since both groups met earlier, she had not seen Oliver fight even once.
"Maybe they’re just babysitting him. I don’t really care about him. Let’s keep moving." Ovan said.
As both groups continued moving deeper and deeper toward the end of the dungeon, the concentration of trees gradually became denser.
The surrounding forest also grew darker as the towering trees blocked more sunlight from above. Finally, Ovan’s group arrived at a slightly larger open area within the forest.
Suddenly, a loud rumbling sound heard throughout the forest. Ovan and the others, who had arrived first at the boss area, immediately looked around cautiously.
Then, one of the nearby massive trees was suddenly uprooted completely from the ground along with its roots. And the one responsible for it, was the monster they had been searching for.
The mutated version of Brumegrove, the boss of the Barking Tree Dungeon.
<Brumegrove>
"Damn it! Looks like we’re late." Travers muttered as his group finally arrived at the boss area as well.
"Sorry, you guys, but this monster belongs to us."Ovan smirked confidently.
At the same time, the three academy students simultaneously called out their monsters. Summoning arrays of red, purple, and blue instantly appeared before them. Soon, the monsters emerged from within the glowing arrays.
"Hmmm... those are actually pretty good monsters." Oliver commented while activating his Overlord Eye.
