Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Clearing all of these itself took a lot of time and just like that, before the invaders knew it, they had spent a whole day inside the dungeon.

Currently inside the 84th floor, on top of a large mountain that had been cleaved horizontally to open up a large open ground, a base had been set up. From this base, one could observe a large area of the 84th floor.

Inside one of the large crudely built place, the three seven kings could be seen standing around a huge chopped tree trunk. The tree trunk was flat and wide enough to be used as a table.

At this moment, some drawings could be seen carved on its surface. If one looked carefully, one would be able to notice that the drawings on the tree trunk were not just any drawing but a crudely drawn map of the floor.

"This is nonsense. I didn't expect the floors of this dungeon to be this winding. Is the demon planning to cage us in his floors?"

The most short tempered out of the three and brawns for brains, Yverza was unable to handle so much information and cried out in frustration. It had been a whole day since they started their attack yet after reaching this floor it was as if they had been stuck into a mire, unable to get out or find a way.

"Patience Yverza, no matter how tricky the floor is, tricks are at the end tricks. Once we find out the reason behind it and disable it, it would be easy getting out of the floor"

Gil-Garna muttered his eyes continued to scan the makeshift map they created on the tree trunk.

"ShaShaSha… He is right Ivory Terraquake Rhino. As the leader of the king clans, it would be unbecoming of us if we were to panic" Shasurna added, his long tongue slithered.

TAK… TAK… at this moment, Gil-garna placed his finger on the tree trunk and tapped on it.

"As I thought so, every time that we try to go to the centre of the floor, we are diverted. All the other areas have been searched thoroughly, this is the only area that is still left. The entrance to the next floor has to be here".

Yverza and Shasurna looked at the place where his sharp nails were pointing at and saw a big undrawn area at the centre of the trunk. The other areas of the trunk was filled because they had already searched the other areas of this floor, it was only this part that was giving them trouble.

And if they wanted to proceed, they must find out the mystery behind the place.

"Respected Seven Kings, it is Gish-Bagh. I request an audience"

While they were looking at the trunk, an aura drew near and announced their presence.

"Come in"...

At those words, the makeshift tent made of tree leaves and branches, was pushed aside and the figure of Gish-Bagh entered in. He hurriedly got on his knees and bowed towards the seven kings.

"Disperse with the etiquette, quickly tell us your findings" Gil-garna waved his hand impatiently.

"Yes, on your orders, Grom of the Geofist, Surtana the Venomclaw and I, Gish-Bagh entered the mist in the central area. Although we are always diverted to someplace else on this floor, this time we piled up numbers against it"

"One of the members from the Snakemen clan was able to accidentally reach an uncharted area and find a complex runic system quietly rotating in that place. We believe that the abnormality in the entire floor is related to that formation".

"Hoh!!" Hearing his words, the fed up eyes of the Ivory Terraquake Rhino started shining brightly "So you guys have found the reason behind the floor's uniqueness huh. Good… good… we can finally start advancing now".

"About that, there is a slight problem" An expression of aggravation surfaced on Gish-Bagh's face at this moment.

"What do you mean?" the seven kings arched their brows, their jovial attitude dampened down.

"The thing is, the subordinate who found the formation was too weak and couldn't destroy the formation. I sent many powerful members inside the mist after hearing about the news. However, they have yet to encounter the formation as of yet".

The atmosphere in the tent became stifling for a second before it was broken by a sigh from Gil-Garna.

"You did great reporting it to us. Pass my words to all the clans, they are to stop their exploration on the other areas of the floors and divert all their efforts to the central area. As long as one powerful member gets through that area, they should be able to break the formation".

"Yes, supreme chief" Gish-Bagh hurriedly nodded and left to execute his orders.

Once he left, Yverza clicked his tongue "We are stuck on this floor for who knows how long again, all because of that weak snakeman"…

"Hmph, at least my clansman was able to find the formation not like yours who couldn't even do that" Shasurna retorted.

"What did you say?"

The two glared at each other, their auras palpable enough to materialise itself.

"Both of you stop" Just when it looked like the two of them would start fighting any moment, Gil-Garna from the side intervened, dowsing the fire.

"This is not the time to fight among ourselves. This is just the start of our attack on the dungeon. If we fall apart this fast, there is no way we can conquer this dungeon. Besides, I have a feeling that this dungeon has more floors like this". Novel Fire - novelfire.net

Hearing his words, Yverza and Shasurna both clicked their tongues and dropped their silly quarrel. Although the both of them did not see eye to eye, the attack on the dungeon took priority over anything.

After Gish-Bagh relayed Gil-Garna's orders, the three clans put all of their manpower and resources into exploring the central area. With all the three clans working together, it was only a matter of time before the formation was found again.

This time, the member who found it, was powerful enough to destroy the formation. Thus causing the mist that disarrayed one's senses to dissipate.

Once the mist cleared up, the entrance to the next floor also revealed itself. It was located right underneath a huge hollow tree where the rotating formation was found.

"So it was because of this huh? Talk about using annoying methods" Yverza spat looking at the destroyed remains of the construct that held the formation.

"This is no ordinary formation" Gil-garna muttered as he bent down to pick up some of the stones where the runes of the formation were carved.

"What do you mean?"…

"These runes in this formation are so ancient that even I can't understand any of them. However, I have seen such ancient runes many times back inside the ancient temple where I reside. Of course, the runes here are not as ancient as the ones on the temple; however, it must be quite high ranking for it to be able to trap all of us"…

"We already know that, what are you trying to get at?" Shasurna frowned.

Just looking at the outer construct of the formation, it was clear that it was quite complex and high ranking one. They were no scholars and their memories of the world were incomplete as such, deciphering them was impossible. It was unlike Gil-garna to state the obvious.

"What I am trying to say is installing such a high ranking formation is usually quite costly and something you mostly see in only high ranking dungeons. No matter how unusual this dungeon is, it is still a newly emerged one. The fact that a high ranking formation was installed here, could only mean that this floor was important and he wanted to buy time by trapping us here"

While not complete, the seven kings possessed the memories of the world from the ancient beast inheritance they received as such, they knew a little bit about the dungeon and how it works. Which is why, they knew what Gil-garna said was right.

If a high ranking formation was set up here, it had to be because the demon planned to cage them in. Either he was panicking or…

"We are close to the dungeon core" Yverza stated, a ferocious grin appeared on his face. "What are we waiting for let's keep pressing forward. The more faster we move, the sooner we will be able to reach the core".

Once they got to the dungeon core, subjugating the demon would be all too easy.

"Yeah, but don't forget to exercise caution. There is still the queen of the harpies we need to be careful of" Gil-garna added.

With his command, the three clans started moving again. The staircase leading to the next floor was wide and easily allowed large rows of figures to pass through at once. Even the mini truck size terraquake rhinos were able to pass through side by side easily.

Once the three clans finished descending the stairs, what appeared before them was a brand new scenery far different from the wildlands they had become accustomed to seeing for the past few floors.

What lay before them was not a land sprawling with trees and grass but a desert filled with sand as far as the eye could see. Plants native to the place could be seen, but they were far too sparse to be noticeable at all.

A prickling heat that stung one's skin pervaded the place and every step here caused one's foot to sink deep into the sand making the entire place too difficult to tread.