Chapter 173: Chapter 173: The Iron Trap
The long obsidian hallway of Demon Spirit Land was completely choked with jagged heavy iron bolts.
The [Rain of Iron] trap hadn’t just fired a single volley. It was a continuous sustained barrage designed to completely shred an unauthorized raid group.
For the anomaly squad of Dante, the trap had been a brief moment of panic perfectly negated by the absolute emotional invulnerability shield of Garrick.
For the combined forces of Vanguard’s Legacy, the Legion of Blades, and the Apex Coalition, the trap was an absolute massacre.
The front line of heavily armored paladins and warriors didn’t stand a chance.
The armor-piercing iron bolts easily bypassed their standard physical mitigation. Tower shields buckled and shattered. Breastplates were punched completely through.
[-15,000! Fatal Damage!]
[-18,000! OVERKILL!]
The overlapping damage numbers flooded the hallway in a blinding sea of red text.
The first fifty players in the formation were instantly vaporized and exploded into a massive synchronized shower of blue pixels.
The sudden deletion of the vanguard completely exposed the squishy support casters and archers in the backline.
"Shields up! Rotate the tanks!" Kaleus roared.
He desperately tried to restore military discipline over the deafening sound of shattering metal. The Warlord raised his own silver longsword and actively attempted to parry the incoming bolts.
It was useless. The sheer volume of the artillery fire was mathematically overwhelming.
"We cannot block it!" Leonidas yelled.
His massive golden warhammer was completely ineffective against ranged projectiles.
The leader of the Apex Coalition took a heavy iron bolt directly to his shoulder pauldron, and his health bar dropped by a massive chunk.
"Fall back! Get out of the hallway!"
The three massive guilds turned and tried to run.
But they had crammed thousands of players into the narrow obsidian tunnel. The panic instantly triggered a catastrophic bottleneck.
Players tripped over each other and trampled their own guildmates in a desperate scramble to escape the kill-zone.
Silas stood near the back of the formation of Vanguard’s Legacy.
He watched his newly recruited army get systematically shredded. The pristine Silver-grade armor he wore felt incredibly heavy.
"Guild Master, we have to port out!" Kael, his chief lieutenant, shouted and grabbed the arm of Silas.
"We are not porting out!" Silas snapped and violently shoved the lieutenant away.
"If we abandon the dungeon now, Dan gets the Celestial pet uncontested! I am not losing to him again!"
Silas opened his inventory and pulled a massive glowing golden scroll from his robes.
It was a high-tier barrier scroll, incredibly expensive, purchased specifically for situations like this.
He crushed it in his fist.
[Item Activated: Aegis of the Golden King]
[Effect: Projects a massive localized barrier that absorbs up to 500,000 physical damage. Duration: 15 seconds.]
A massive shimmering golden dome erupted over the surviving members of Vanguard’s Legacy.
It instantly blocked the incoming iron bolts. The heavy projectiles slammed into the barrier and bounced off harmlessly.
"Move forward!" Silas roared and pointed toward the far end of the hallway. "The trap is localized! If we reach the doors, we are safe!"
The surviving players under the golden dome surged forward desperate to reach the heavy double doors at the end of the hall.
Kaleus and Leonidas were left completely exposed outside the protective barrier of Silas.
They watched the players of Vanguard’s Legacy advance while their own guilds were continuously decimated by the iron barrage.
"You coward!" Leonidas roared at Silas. "You shield your own men and leave us to die?!"
"We had a truce!" Kaleus yelled as he parried another bolt.
"The truce was temporary," Silas called back over his shoulder, and a cruel arrogant smirk spread across his face.
"Thanks for drawing the initial aggro, gentlemen. I will be sure to tell the server you died bravely."
Silas and his surviving squad reached the heavy golden doors.
They pushed through and stepped into the massive circular gold chamber. They expected to find the squad of Dante engaged with a boss.
They found nothing.
The gold chamber was completely empty.
The twenty ornate coffins were blown open, but there were no Elite Shield Guards, no loot, and no sign of the anomaly player.
"He is already gone," Kael whispered and stared at the empty room. "He cleared the elite check before we even triggered the trap."
Silas didn’t answer.
He stared at the empty room. His fists clenched so tightly his gauntlets creaked.
He had sacrificed his allies and burned a priceless defensive scroll just to enter an empty room.
Back in the hallway, the trap finally exhausted its ammunition. The heavy ballistas retreated into the walls, and the marble tiles reset.
The corridor was completely silent.
Kaleus and Leonidas stood among the massive scattered piles of dropped loot and fading blue pixels.
The Legion of Blades and the Apex Coalition had been absolutely annihilated.
Out of the thousands of players they had marched into the dungeon, barely a hundred remained standing.
"He betrayed us," Leonidas growled and gripped his warhammer tightly. His eyes were locked onto the open golden doors at the end of the hall. "Silas used us as meat shields."
The face of Kaleus was a mask of cold unyielding fury. The Warlord slowly sheathed his silver longsword.
"Vanguard’s Legacy is no longer a rival," Kaleus stated. His voice dripped with absolute malice.
"They are an active hostile threat. We will hunt Silas down before we even look for the anomaly."
The fragile alliance was completely and irreparably shattered.
The three major guilds were now entirely focused on tearing each other apart inside the enclosed dungeon instance.
***
Dante was completely unaware of the political meltdown occurring two rooms behind him.
He was busy focusing on his own survival.
The dungeon environment had shifted drastically after the golden chamber.
The opulent clean aesthetics were gone.
They were replaced by a massive sprawling labyrinth of raw jagged volcanic rock and treacherous narrow stone bridges suspended over bubbling magma rivers.
And the traps here weren’t simple pressure plates.
"Dodge!" Dante yelled. He grabbed Lila by the back of her robes and violently pulled her backward.
A massive swinging pendulum blade forged from dark iron swung down from the shadows of the ceiling. It sliced cleanly through the empty air where the Astral Arcanist had just been standing.
The blade retracted as quickly as it appeared and vanished into the darkness.
"Thanks," Lila gasped and clutched her staff. "My Intuition stat is practically zero. I did not even hear it."
"The traps here are randomized," Nyx warned and constantly checked her datapad.
"There is no localized pattern. The system is actively generating hazards based on our movement."
Mei marched at the front of the group and was completely unbothered.
She used her massive cast-iron frying pan to casually bat away incoming fireballs that spat from hidden vents in the walls.
"This is fun!" Mei cheered and swatted a gout of flame. "It is like a really aggressive obstacle course!"
"I despise you," Casanova muttered and carefully stepped over a tripwire.
They reached the end of the narrow stone bridge and stepped onto a wide circular platform of cracked obsidian.
The platform wasn’t empty.
Resting in the center of the dark stone was a massive incredibly intricate summoning circle.
It pulsed with a deep authoritative celestial light that completely overpowered the ambient red glow of the magma rivers below.
As the seven-man squad stepped fully onto the platform, the summoning circle erupted.
A pillar of pure concentrated white energy shot into the cavern ceiling.
A figure slowly descended from the light.
It wasn’t a standard mindless beast or a corrupted demon.
It was a towering heavily armored knight.
He wore immaculate glowing silver plate armor adorned with intricate dragon motifs. He held a massive double-bladed halberd that crackled with raw celestial lightning.
[Zone Boss Spawn: Heavenly Dragon Commander]
[Tier: Celestial]
[Level: 30]
[HP: 2,500,000 / 2,500,000]
"Level 30 Celestial Boss," Sera read the system prompt, and her voice was incredibly tight. "Dante, that health pool is astronomical. It is almost identical to the Void-Drake you executed."
The Commander didn’t roar. He landed heavily on the obsidian platform, and the impact sent a localized shockwave of holy energy outward.
"You have breached the sanctum of the fallen," the Heavenly Dragon Commander spoke. His voice was deep, resonant, and filled with ancient sorrow.
"You seek to plunder the resting place of my legion. I cannot allow this, Outworlders. I will test your resolve."
"He speaks," Casanova noted nervously. "That is usually a bad sign."
Dante didn’t hesitate. He didn’t want to engage in a long drawn-out dialogue sequence.
"Mei, hold the line!" Dante barked and drew the [Dawn-Breaker Blade].
"I am the wall!" Mei yelled. She charged forward and planted the massive [God-Slaying Skillet] defensively.
The Commander didn’t attack Mei.
He raised his crackling silver halberd and swept it horizontally. He unleashed a massive localized wave of celestial lightning across the platform.
The [Perfect Block] of Mei caught the center of the wave and harmlessly absorbed the kinetic impact.
But the lightning arched around the indestructible pan and threatened to hit the squishy backline.
"Aura!" Dante called out.
The Mystic Sovereign chimed and instantly pulsed her [Ultimate Guardian Halo].
The 60% damage reduction easily absorbed the stray lightning strikes to ensure Lila and Nyx didn’t take lethal damage.
Dante triggered [Phantom Dash].
He teleported directly into the personal space of the Commander and completely bypassed the long reach of the halberd. The sonic boom stunned the boss for a fraction of a second.
He didn’t use a massive Zenith-tier execution skill. He needed to test the localized physical mitigation of the boss first.
He swung the Gold-tier broadsword in a rapid brutal flurry of basic strikes against the silver breastplate of the Commander.
[-4,500!]
[-4,800!]
[-5,100!]
The damage numbers were respectable, but they barely moved the massive 2.5 million health bar.
The one-second stun expired.
The Commander immediately retaliated. He stepped back and thrust the halberd with blinding speed.
Dante didn’t dodge. He triggered his Zenith-tier parry.
[Skill Executed: Aether-Blade Storm]
The hundred glowing silver swords materialized and instantly intercepted the thrust. The phantom blades exploded and dealt 1,000% True Damage directly into the armor of the boss.
[-15,000!]
[-15,000!]
[-15,000!]
The Commander staggered and was clearly surprised by the localized burst damage.
Dante pressed the advantage, chained [Phantom Dash], and relied on the explosive parry mechanics to systematically chip away at the massive health pool.
With his infinite stamina and zero cooldowns, he maintained absolute flawless pressure.
Lila dropped chantless [Gravity Wells] to pin the movements of the boss, while Sera and Nyx provided consistent localized ranged DPS.
The fight was intense, but the synergy of the anomaly squad was too perfect.
Within three minutes, the health bar of the Commander dropped below fifty percent.
[Heavenly Dragon Commander HP: 1,150,000 / 2,500,000]
The boss finally realized he was losing.
"Your localized coordination is impressive, Outworlders," the Commander stated. His voice rang with renewed desperate intensity.
"But you lack the cosmic weight to fell a true Celestial Vanguard. Witness the absolute power of the Heavenly Dragon."
The Commander didn’t swing his halberd. He raised it high above his head.
The system interface flashed a blinding hostile gold.
[Boss Ultimate Triggered: Heavenly Dragon Incarnation]
[Warning: Entity is entering Absolute State.]
The silver armor of the Commander aggressively expanded.
His physical avatar didn’t just grow. It violently multiplied in size.
The localized celestial light completely enveloped him and shifted his anatomy.
In a fraction of a second, the humanoid knight vanished.
Standing in the center of the obsidian platform was a colossal heavily armored fifty-foot-tall Celestial Dragon.
[Stats Increased by 200%.]
[Physical Mitigation set to 90%.]
The massive dragon roared, and the sound physically blew Casanova and Nyx off their feet.
"Boss!" Mei yelled and stared up at the towering armored beast. "My pan is not big enough to block that!"
Dante looked up at the fifty-foot-tall dragon. He looked at his own tiny heavily out-scaled avatar.
"Do not worry," Dante said smoothly. A cold dangerous smile spread across his face. "I can fix that."
He opened his system interface and scrolled rapidly through his localized skill list. It was time to match the energy of the boss.
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