~ Chapter 168: On how Dungeons fight ~

[Akardia’s point of view]

Nanya’s husband was undoubtedly a very powerful and intimidating Dungeon, however, the way he made his appearance in front of us, her parents, was what I could only call as being something disrespectful, savage, and maybe even ruthless? The amount of Magic Energy he released and the way he did so made it look as though he was declaring all those who stood below him on the ground as his worst enemies or at the very least weaker individuals who should not dare cross his path.

This whole time, was this man holding my daughter hostage though the link between Dungeons and their spouses? I wondered as I looked at him.

My husband, Graymore, was probably thinking about the same thing. This sort of hostility when meeting someone for the first time was typically unheard of unless we were talking about villainous individuals. If this was the type of personality he had all the time, I couldn’t help but fear that my sweet daughter didn’t have a very good married life. With a man as hostile as him, maybe he was constantly beating her and even doing all sort of perverted things to her? In what unspeakable manner did he even defile my daughter? Just thinking about this caused me to feel a bursting rage towards him as well, but the way she was defending him was also very strange.

My daughter was acting as though WE were her enemies. Was this just like my husband said? Did he have some way of controlling her affection towards him or maybe he even managed to brainwash her somehow? We definitely could not allow that cute little prankster demoness who only knew how to pounce from a bush on my tail like a silly nekatar be defiled by this monstrous Dungeon! As a mother, I could not allow my precious child to be harmed by this vile man!

As much as I hated seeing Nanya become upset with me or even starting to hate me, I rather preferred becoming the villain in her eyes and knowing that I did what was good for her than to end up regretting it later when this man harmed her in some way that would cripple her for life.

Do not worry... I thought and then said “Your father will take care of him.”

“Mother, there’s nothing to take care of! Why are you all acting like this towards my husband?” she asked as she looked at me with an expression marked by anger and confusion.

I simply glanced at her while answering her in my mind Don’t worry, Nanya, mother and father know best! We’ll protect you from that vile Dungeon!

My gaze went over to the middle of the Arena, where my husband was preparing to fight for our daughter’s sake. No matter what others said or how they saw our actions, we always thought about what was best for our children, that was why when we saw them ignoring the lessons we painstakingly taught them, we felt sad.

[Graymore’s point of view]

Dungeons were well aware when someone invaded their territory by force or when someone wished them harm. The one who arrived just now did not even bother to ask my permission as he zipped right through my Dungeon Territory, and if I wasn’t able to control myself so well, I would have most certainly caused the black fog to rise up from the ground.

The way this enemy Dungeon made his appearance was terrifying, in a way. He unleashed his presence and through it declared to all those present here that he was the mightiest of the bunch. Just like all those other idiotic Dungeons scattered outside the Dungeon Continent, he knew nothing but violence and continued to believe all the creatures around him were there only to serve him. No doubt he was controlling my daughter somehow, and I wasn’t one to stand for it! This enemy Dungeon made his presence known and quite seriously declared that he was our enemy!

Even my [Identification] revealed that he is way past level 3000, which meant that he was scrupulous monster who killed a lot of living beings. He probably had more blood on his hands than any demon on this island. Maybe my daughter was forced to stain her hands just like he did.

Nanya was never the strongest of my children, but I never considered her to be the weakest, on the contrary, I thought that she resembled a Dungeon quite a lot. We were curious and sometimes playful, but more than this, we were born weak and grew up to become strong. We were designed to assimilate all the lifeforms around us and reconstruct the terrain as we pleased, thus it was somewhat our basic instinct to consider those around us as inferior. However, only untrained foolish Dungeons still believed that.

“What have you done to my daughter?” I asked him directly while glaring at him.

“Nothing.” he replied glaring back.

It was clear that our hostility wasn’t going to be something that could be soothed with one or two words. I had no desire to leave my daughter in his hands. I never wished for her to get married with a Dungeon! Why did she have to pick a Dungeon of all the beings out there?! Weren’t there any suitable humans, el’doraw, elves, dwarfs, or even slimes out there?!

I was honestly starting to get angry just thinking of how this bastard of a Dungeon placed his hands on my Bear Bear... erm, I mean Nanya!

As a father and as a Dungeon, I could not allow myself to step aside while this vile man dared to take away my daughter!

“You’ll pay for that!” I growled at him.

“Huh? You wanted me to do something to her? Well... I don’t think you want to hear our intimate stuff, that’s a bit private and weird to say to her parents.” the green-haired bastard said as he scratched his cheek.

Hearing this made me angry, but then again it was no different from when the other no-good-men tried to grab my daughters as well. However, it was in no way possible for me to be blamed for their lack of ability of getting a man that was up to my standards and which I could approve of! He had to be better than me by at least three times! As for the one who will dare to take Sunsun from me, he will need to be at least TEN times better than me!

“I’m definitely going to make you regret defiling my daughter!” I growled at him as I prepared to charge my Magic Energy and show this outcast how a TRUE Dungeon from the Dungeon Territory fought!

“Wait? What?” he looked at me with a foolish expression, but I didn’t give him any time to think about his next move as I launched an attack at him.

[Illsyore’s point of view]

Let me get one thing straight, the green button on the device I gave to each of my wives would send out a call signal towards me which told me that they weren’t in any immediate danger, that they were safe and sound and just needed me for some other non-life-threatening matters, be them political or otherwise. Either way, when Nanya pushed the red button, the signal sent out towards me was one that called for my immediate presence to her side. No matter what I was doing at that moment, I had to drop it and fly towards her as fast as I could because that meant she was in a life-threatening situation and needed my full combat support.

This was the reason why when I flew towards her, I released my intimidating presence and tried to make my entrance as menacing as possible. I did not know who I was going to meet there and who could be a hidden enemy. Nanya was strong, she was wise too, so I knew that she wouldn’t call me with the red emergency call for something as simple as a family meeting.

Although it could be said that both Ayuseya and Shanteya were in perilous situations, but in both cases, my wives managed to judge their circumstances well enough to realize that they were not in any immediate danger. Taking my time to get to them or even dropping by in a casual and relaxed state was a given, but if they had used the red button instead of the green one, I would have rushed to them guns blazing.

If there was an opponent that my wife, who was Over Supreme, could not handle, then I could not afford to be dropping by on a casual note. For all I knew, I could end up landing right in the middle of a full-blown war.

As I got closer to the continent, I passed by the area where that rumored barrier was supposed to be, however, I did not find anything there. At first, I thought that it might have been mapped out wrong, but even when I was getting closer and closer to the Demon Continent, there was no reaction from my Dungeon Territory like it was back on the Boss Island. Actually, speaking of which, when I overlapped the Boss Island’s location with this barrier, what I found rather peculiar was the fact that the two were intersecting.

There was no such thing as an everlasting barrier. It had to gobble up power for itself from some place unseen by others. It was gigantic too, covering three whole continents and the mass of water around them. Not only this, but it had to be powerful enough to withstand the attacks of both powerful monsters and individuals all around it. So, either this barrier degraded in time and vanished when powerful attacks were launched at it, or it was somehow connected with the disappearance of the Boss Island.

As a Dungeon, I could see how using the Magic Energy in that place or by syphoning it from all those boss-level monsters you could generate a powerful barrier like this. If I was not mistaken, the Leviathan pack alone was enough to keep this barrier up and going. The others would be there in case powerful individuals attacked it. When we arrived on the island, it could be said that our power was the same as that of an average Supreme, but we could not even put a crack in it.

With no continental barrier standing before me and the Demon Continent, I continued my flight towards Nanya’s signal. Truthfully speaking, I was really doubting the existence of that barrier, maybe it did exist at one point or maybe it was there to mark the Dungeon Territory of the Dungeon who made Boss Island? Honestly, I had no idea, and I also had no interest in investigating this matter. What interested me, what was on my mind at that point was only the concern I had for the safety of Nanya, so I continued to fly towards her, leaving behind any thought of investigating the matter.

With the Demon Continent coming into sight, I saw to my right an enormous field of lava and smoke, that would turn even night into day, and a widespread forest to my left and in front of me. The waters were empty as far as I could see, with the only ships appearing on my radar being far off into the distance.

“I’m entering enemy territory.” I said as I spread out my Dungeon Territory and then pushed the control stick forward.

The jet fighter’s nose leaned down, coming out of the clouds and heading like an arrow towards Nanya’s signal. My Dungeon Territory felt the presence of another Dungeon nearby and immediately the two of us were like soldiers pointing guns at each other.

I passed over Nanya signal and then I made a U-turn in the air and pointed the nose of the aircraft back towards her. The moment I was at about 500 meters in the air, I stopped the engines and absorbed the plane. My body took over the impulse and using wind magic, I slowed down my descent, until I was able to make an imposing landing.

There were a lot of strange-looking people around me, probably demons each and every one of them. Their stares were a mix of fear and hostility, against which I refused to back down. Keeping an intimidating and imposing attitude, I locked onto Nanya and approached her. The very fact that she was wearing my high-tech armor told me that she was in some form of trouble.

I knew Nanya, and before she would take out this armor, she would use her own. If that one proved to be useless against her enemy, she would then use mine. Although I wasn’t so arrogant and self-centered as to believe that my weapons and armors were the best on the planet, but I wouldn’t class them as average either. At least, on those three continents, they were some of the most powerful pieces of gear you could get your hands on. For the people living there, it was the stuff of legends.

Our greeting and reunion were short as Nanya introduced me right away to her family, but besides the cute angel-winged little girl, the other two were looking at me with lightning and daggers in their eyes. They were releasing their own intimidating presence and their own killing intent, however, I didn’t feel as though either of them could be considered my equal in battle.

Nanya and I were the strongest ones here, so I was seriously confused as to who or what could have caused my wife to use the red emergency call, but I knew that I couldn’t let my guard down.

Then, mere moments later, I found myself locked in a glaring contest with Nanya’s father.

“What have you done to my daughter?” he asked me.

“Nothing.” I replied honestly What is he talking about? Is he by any chance referring to the Magic Channel operation I performed on her? It couldn’t be that he wanted Nanya to stay like that, right? She would have suffered a miserable death! I thought and glared at him.

“You’ll pay for that!” he growled at me.

“Huh? You wanted me to do something to her?” I replied then thought Is it possible that he’s not referring to her Magic Channel operation? Maybe he is referring to me becoming Nanya’s husband? I then said “Well... I don’t think you want to hear our intimate stuff, that’s a bit private and weird to say to her parents.” I scratched my cheek as I was starting to feel a bit awkward now.

“I’m definitely going to make you regret defiling my daughter!” he growled at me again as he prepared himself to cast some form of magic.

“Wait? What?” I looked at him as though he just told me the sky was green and the sea flew through space. If anything, I am just your humble average pervert! Nanya is the kinky one! I retorted in my mind, but those were not words I could dare say to my father in law.

The attack was immensely powerful, showing this Dungeon’s strength and decision not to hold back. The weird thing was that this attack, although it was just a simple [Fire Lance] was far sturdier and more focused than it should have been. I felt not only my Dungeon Territory but also my own Magic Armor being pushed back. It was something only an Over Supreme was capable of doing, as far as I knew.

My immediate decision was to jump back and avoid the second attack, which was a [Water Spear], the effects applied on it were the same.

You could do that with Magic Energy?! I thought a bit surprised.

Something here didn’t add up. The power behind the attacks didn’t match the concentration of Magic Energy in them. If this was the case, then I could understand how Nanya came to be in danger because of him.

“So, you are smart enough to realize that my attacks are more powerful than your Magic Armor can handle!” he smirked and then cast another spell, this time a Dungeon one.

Seven black chains appeared from the ground and flew towards me, trying to grab and restrain me, but I unleashed a small [Wind Sphere] just in front of me, which sent me flying back a few meters, enough to avoid getting captured. Then I cast an [Explosive Jagged Ice Spear] and a [Magma Spear] at him. The two attacks swirled through the air with overwhelming Magic Energy fueling them.

“Hmph! Your attacks are no different than those of a brute!” he declared and raised a sand wall that moved forward and swallowed up my attacks, almost as if he could actively control the sand with his own will.

Wait, you can do that too?! I thought as I was already starting to wonder HOW exactly he was doing all of that.

“From the look on your face, I can tell that this is the very first time you fight against a real Dungeon. Let me tell you something then, kid, there are far scarier and far more powerful Dungeons out there then either you or me and if you happen to annoy any one of them, my sweet little girl will be done for! So, it’s better if I get rid of you now before you end up causing her any grief!” he declared as the sand split into parts, taking the shape of swords that started to move towards me, aiming to slash me to pieces.

“That doesn’t make any sense! Aren’t you also going to cause her grief if you kill me?!” I retorted as I jumped back and tried to avoid his attacks.

One of them was able to pass by my Magic Armor because I was a fraction of a second too slow. It managed to scratch over the surface, but just that little touch was enough to cut through it. My Magic Armor that could barely be cracked by Nanya’s punches was scratched by this Dungeon’s attacks.

I retreated at a distance of a hundred meters from him. What just happened sent a jolt through me. I wasn’t afraid just surprised beyond words. I could not understand HOW it happened. Magic Armor was Magic Energy condensed to absurd values to form a barrier of sorts around the individual. It acted like one’s own personal havoc suit, so in order to damage it in any way or manner, one had to attack with a much more powerful force.

When I thought about this, I saw him walking towards me at a calm pace.

“One doesn’t need extremely powerful spells to defeat the mighty, they just need precision and luck.” he declared.

His words made me remember a video I once saw on Earth. It was a theory about how a sword could become sharper than anything by being only one molecule or atom sharp. If he applied the same principle to Magic Energy, then of course something that was ridiculously thin could cut through his defenses, but was it really that easy and simple?

No, sharpening Magic Energy wasn’t as easy as sharpening a sword. This was why I gave up on enchanting a blade’s edge and instead opted for plasma blades and energy-based attacks. Magic Energy at molecule level became very unstable. In essence, it was a form of energy, thus, it had its own rules of manifesting.

Besides, both from my own experiments and what I remembered from my past life, I knew that matter at macroscopic level didn’t behave the same at microscopic and even subatomic particle level. There were actually things like levels or stages that were governed by completely different rules.

When I thought about this, the first question that popped in my head was What is he using to stabilize the subatomic reactions of Magic Energy?

Nanya’s father charged up another spell and then rushed towards me. A wall was extended behind me, and it was then when I noticed that his Magic Territory circled around me to create that thing. I did the same, but I used Inconel, He was surprised by the metal, but while this stopped him in his tracks for a moment, it didn’t stop his advance. He jumped to the left, and I came into his view again. From his left hand, he released a [Spiral Ice Blade] spell that sent an ice spike shaped like a very sharp ice drill.

I dodged right away, but as I did this, I saw that his Dungeon Territory was extending under his spell.

Wait? Are you serious? You can do that? I thought since I never really got to trying something like this. To be honest, it never even crossed my mind before to extend my Dungeon Territory like this, but still, how could one even enforce the power of their spells with it?

This is so confusing. I told myself, although, little by little, I was starting to get the idea.

The thing was that if I wasn’t a Dungeon with the ability to think and react faster than a human could, I would have ended up dead at the first attack. This ability of fast thinking allowed me, when I remembered to use it properly, to both analyze my surroundings and strategize in order to come up with a new tactic.

This was why, while I was dodging his attacks, I spread my Dungeon Territory and started planting devices which I could control with my [Telekinezy]. That thing he did with his own Dungeon Territory, changing its shape like that, well, I had no idea how to do it just yet, but since I saw it in action, now I knew it was possible.

“Are all Dungeons able to fight like you?” I asked.

“Real Dungeons from the Dungeon Territory are far more civilized and powerful than those mongrels outside. You who are one of them have no right to take my daughter’s hand in marriage! Father won’t let you have her!” he shouted at me.

What the heck was with that reply?! I struggled to understand him, but he either was just another nutcase or I was missing something here.

With his last attacks failing, he started summoning monsters. About thirty Red Goblins appeared from the ground armed with powerful enchanted weapons and releasing a terrible killing intent. They were all a little over level 1000, which didn’t seem that powerful, however, I had never seen their kind before.

Against this small army, I released 30 Warrior Imps of my own, which were of level 2000 and just like his goblins, armed to the teeth with enchanted gear. The moment they stepped out they started chanting menacingly.

“BOOTS! BOOTS! BOOTS!”

“What have you done to those poor imps?” Nanya’s father asked.

“Long story.” I said looking to the side, far off into the distance, trying hard not to reminisce the moment when these critters turned boot humping into a religion of sorts.

The Red Goblins and the Warrior Imps engaged in a bloody battle, but although the difference in levels was high, the base species was also quite significant. Goblins were taller than a human and reminded me of some type of orc rather than an annoying humanoid critter that wore rags and kidnapped village women as a hobby. Either way, these guys were covered in thick muscles that would put bodybuilders to shame, while my own imps weren’t that far off behind. Although they were half the size of the goblins, they were immensely powerful and released a terrifying presence as well.

As such, they Warrior Imps could dodge the attacks of the Red Goblins and even launch a counterattack, but those strikes were powerful. When one of the Red Goblins attacked a Warrior Imp who managed to dodge at the nick of time, the moment his metal club struck the ground, a crater was formed there.

These guys, although they were only level 1000, they could easily handle a Supreme Ranked Adventurer. No, I would even say that Supremes were easy pickings for them. The power they displayed, the coordination in their attacks, and the ferocity of their killing intent was not something that the people on the three continents could handle.

A single Red Goblin was probably powerful enough to destroy not one but at least half of the countries on a continent before enough fighters were gathered to defeat it. If this type of monster was the standard across the world, then... I had to train the students at the Illsyorea Academy to see a Supreme Rank as something ordinary, common even.

Even so, my imps were the ones winning this battle, and the reason was because...

“BOOTS!” one of the Warrior Imps shouted victorious as he pulled the enchanted boots off the Red Goblin’s feet.

Yup, because their adversaries had boots.

Meanwhile, I was engaged in a ranged battle with Nanya’s father, shooting spells at each other, dodging them and trying to get the upper hand in this battle. He would attack me from time to time with his sand sword, but as long as I kept my Dungeon Territory stretched, I could feel them coming towards me and react in the nick of time. It was a bit frustrating that I had to repair my territory each and every time, but it was better than trying to take one of those attacks head on and see if my Magic Armor survived the ordeal.

“You are bound to run out of Magic Energy sooner or later!” shouted Nanya’s father.

“Nope.” I replied shaking my head.

The way my Magic Energy was being regenerated was a bit absurd in its own way, not to mention the fact that I wasn’t using any over the top attacks which entered the Over Supreme category.

Still, this wasn’t a battle of attrition, but more of a stalemate.

“A lowlife mongrel like you will never have my daughter! I’m putting an end to this unhealthy relationship today!” he shouted at me.

“Unhealthy? Leaving aside your insults, you don’t even know how your daughter lived so far! You were the one who chased her away from this continent!” I retorted and then activated my trap card, erm... I mean my hidden traps.

In that moment, six gatling AGLMC turrets of the latest generation popped out of the ground. Ever since I discovered how to Amplify and Generate Light with Magic Crystals, this type of weaponry proved not only to be one of the most effective but one of the most ruthless and powerful so far.

The weapons were first pointed at the Red Goblins and then unleashed the red beams of energy at them. The Warrior Imps, so as to not become victims of friendly fire, were ordered to take some distance from them.

“Gugii?!” the first reaction the red humanoid monsters had was that of shock and surprise before feeling the devastating attacks that burnt through their flesh and left holes in them.

They were level 1000 monsters with powerful Magic Armor and enchanted weapons, but even those proved useless against these upgraded beasts. To be fair the Magic Energy consumption on them was ridiculous too... I felt my pool draining and struggling to refill itself with each shot they took. If I were to keep them on continuous fire, the most I could keep them active would be 10 minutes, but even that was stretching it.

I did learn from my previous battles, so instead of relying on these turrets that kept Nanya’s father at bay and away from me, I used them as cover fire while I took out my own Plasma Sword and a new armor for myself. This thing was similar to theirs, but the lights on it were similar to my hair color, a jade green. After putting it on, I took out my own self-made Magic Crystal that replenished Magic Energy and used it to recover a little over 5% of my total pool. It was not enough, so I downed four more then tossed the empty crystals in my Inner Mind.

Now I was ready to make a comeback, but just as I was changing tactics for fighting, so was my enemy. He expanded his Dungeon Territory around me and then created a sort of barrier around himself. Because it was hard to spot, I couldn’t exactly tell how far it outstretched or how thick it was. The ability to control it to this extent was impressive to say the least, and it was something I planned on acquiring after this battle as well.

He did not shout any threats or anything this time and just focused on his attacks. I also prepared myself, keeping my Dungeon Territory around me, ready to use it to spawn a wall to defend me.

“That’s enough of this children’s game.” he said as he looked at me with serious eyes.

“Huh?” I furrowed my brow, but then... I felt a pain in my chest and the next thing I knew was that I was spitting out blood. “What the...?” I said as I looked down.

His Dungeon Territory was as black as the abyss and focused in a single spike that pierced through my Dungeon Territory with the ease of a sharp knife cutting through butter. Unfortunately, that was not the only direction he was attacking, I felt stabs from my right, left, and back as well. Sharp needle-like manifestations of his Dungeon Territory pinned me down like that.

“Children summon toys from their Dungeon Territory, while grownups use their very own Dungeon Territory to fight.” he said as he calmly walked towards me.

“This... Are you kidding me?” I said as I felt as though I couldn’t move at all.

“Against demons, humans, draconians, and other creatures on this planet, you would be a danger to say the least, but against a Real Dungeon born and raised on the Dungeon Continent, you are nothing more than a child who knows not how to fight with his natural-born weapons.” he told me with a note of ridicule in the tone of his voice as he raised his hand up “Now, shall we have you die and liberate Nanya from her hold?”