Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster’s Power

The wave of energy that soaks the Citadel in a blue tint of light feels warm, yet powerful.

Many of the Lords below 2nd Class feel a similar grasp on the system loosening that they did when the rising Emperor used his Noble Form to suppress them, acting as Drako Vermillion.

"That is Seraphel..." Abby whispers under her breath, staring at the reading on the Citadel's interface, but vividly remembering a large amount of memories she was granted from her staff while climbing this assimilation tower.

"And he's using that form..." she says to herself, picturing the massive blue Wyvern in memories fighting against Noble Demons tens of thousands of years ago.

It takes almost a full minute for the blue wave to pass.

Even after, shimmering blue particles of water magic stay stagnant in the air, and some have even managed to break through the airtight seals of the assimilation tower.

As Arie and Raven climb the final few floors, draining all of the ether, mana, and demonic energy, they activate a telepathy link with the two generals outside.

"Are we under attack? What was that...?" Raven remarks.

"It was not nearby," Abby replies. "You have nothing to worry about yet..."

In the next half hour, two more flashes of light bring the archer and the sword wielder into this control room, bringing the generals all back together in their human forms.

At the same time, doors to this control room from a private corridor open up, and two towering figures walk in.

Asic and Torvak meet the generals face to face and open their eyes in awe at the strange sight.

The Blue Ogre murmurs to himself, "Ember was right... each one of them has a path awakened just like Zashen... but they're a lesser race..."

The High Orc can't keep his gaze that has seen over 103 thousand years of life from scanning each one of these humans up and down with an awestruck impression. "I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't seeing it with my own eyes..." he whispers too.

However, Maria's stern voice breaks them out of their daze.

"Good to see you two in person as well. The holograms from the Lower Realm didn't do you justice..."

Her eyes scan back and forth, then back down to the visuals of the Citadel's defense systems being torn apart by the wave of blue light 30 minutes ago.

"I take it that's where the Wyvern we spoke to went?" Abby nods along with the two 1st Class Warlords, but Torvak is the first to reply.

"Yes. I take it you've been given tasks from the Rising Emperor."

She nods, but Abby steps forward and replies.

"Indeed, I'm going off to give support to Seraphel."

Arie and Raven step up next, with Raven speaking, "We're going to follow as well. Ember's scan of the fortress shows more enemy forces than one should have to handle alone."

The Blue Ogre nods, and Asic replies, looking to Maria.

"Then you're off to scout out Mensa while we stay here and protect from any rogue attacks on Ellipsia?"

She shakes her head abruptly.

"No. That's what they want... for us to leave this last Citadel free for the taking. I'm staying here."

Maria looks up, in the direction of the Mensa Citadel with a rainbow of Source Resin shimmering behind her frost-blue eyes.

–

As Abby, Raven, and Arie activate natural and borrowed stealth skills to leave the Citadel without being seen, off in the direction of the Sea of Corruption where that blue blast came from, Maria takes full control of the Ellipsia Citadel.

Her face is stone-cold solid, but behind it, many emotions spin around waiting to be released.

The first is a mix of satisfaction and excitement to be here in the Upper Realm, where the Rising Emperor has been awaiting them for what has been months in the Lower Realm's timeline. The 2.5 million Low Quality Ether surging through her body, dense green divine threads, and hundreds of worlds' worth of mana are empowering.

She feels astronomically stronger than she was just days ago.

However, the second feeling is a growing fear and anxious, squeezing feeling on her mind and body. It's hard to tell if it is nerves before a battle against an unknown opponent, or the fact that she herself doesn't fully understand the dark power growing in her chest. The feeling went away when she was pulling in large amounts of divine energy and ether inside the tower, but now in her suppressed state, it's like pressure is building up inside her and she needs to either let loose or pull in more energy to keep it at bay.

Maria carefully monitors the security systems, suppressing this feeling as much as possible, while Torvak and Asic both leave the control room and begin greeting all of the freed Demonic Servants that have begun to wake up in their new custom Freedom Avatars that match their actual races.

–

At the same time, I watch Round 9 go by in the Grand Citadel.

Memories from the wolfmen, visuals from my body double of Ellipsia, and the imagery of Zashen and Ember headed my way all play in the back of my mind as the 1st Class Lords and Elites in the dome below all fight for their spots in the main event.

I feel the suppression technique I've been using for a few hours start to grow warm from holding back the excess Noble Vibrations, but it is nothing I can't handle for another hour or so.

The last two seals on my body still hold back the majority of my true power. While that release during my round to finish off the Berserker Giant did slightly weaken the 2nd seal, they are both very secure.

I don't plan on unsealing them until an enemy at the strength of least a Noble Demon challenges me. Every single Elite in this room fighting me at once doesn't feel as though it'd be a challenge for me even in my current sealed state.

This thought makes me grin as I watch the last few minutes of round 9. A team of 4 mammoths all move on, with one mantis and another golem managing to survive the blasts.

The round 10 lineups look even more intense...

There are only 65k entries, while most of the other rounds had 110k to 150k each.

Though, I don't spot a single 2nd Class Lord, and the moment the timer starts, over 1000 violent bursts of aura are visible from a bird's-eye view without having to zoom in on any area in the dome at all.

It is a bloodbath of Elites.

There are over 1 million Demonic Servants floating around the top of the arena seating now, finishing up the extended row, and nearly 200 million Lords here to watch.

The Announcer that swaps between live feeds of the biggest fights in round 10 is getting noticeably excited as well, hyping up the crowd more and more.

Despite there being a massive number of Elites in this final round, they actually all eliminate each other much faster than the others.

Only 6 out of the 65k entries managed to press the avatar command to move on, while everyone else has been hunted off or caught up in the blasts of the devastating battles.

Every single one of the biomes in the dome are leveled, and in the final 5 minutes of that match, there are only two Lords remaining.

They are both Berserker Giants, and both are using the jet-black greater forms of the one I witnessed in Round 1.

I'd love to say my fight was the highlight of the preliminaries, but compared to the loaded stands now, and the intensity of the massive white sword clashing against an equal-sized dual-bladed axe sending cracks through the artificial ground over and over as the fight goes on—

It's hard to gauge the exact power they're releasing, but given the fact that each shockwave obliterates every biome in the dome after each collision, my guess is double or triple the strength of the Berserker Giant I faced.

The match ends with the axe wielder overpowering the Berserker with a sword, and slowly but surely landing heavier, more damaging attacks.

Both of them end the match with equally insane expressions on their faces and wide grins despite only one moving on, letting out a screech and holding his axe in the air.

"And that's it for the final round of the preliminaries, everyone! That makes a grand total of 214 entries for the main event! We shall reconstruct the dome and begin shortly. Please do enjoy some of the highlights of this morning's matchups for a few minutes, and place your final bets!"

The dome fades to green, and 7 flashes of light enter this holding room.

Then, all of the 214 Lords in here have their faces and entry numbers flash by on the big screen, with highlights of their best battles playing behind it. The announcer does some commentary, but I send a telepathy message to the admin in my mind, curious about something.

"Those Berserker Giants... And their black greater forms. I heard the Announcer say they were from the Obsidian Clan earlier, what— is that exactly?"

A reply comes back quickly, "Berserker Giants were meant to be the next in succession... to be rulers of the Upper Realm. Or at least those were the rumors I've heard, and it's a very logical reasoning for it. My home world never was linked to any of the Clans, but it's fairly accepted knowledge here. The stronger clans were all hunted and snuffed out in the Lower Realm before my time here... but they let this Clan survive just to give us false hope. The Obsidian Berserkers are the only ones that ever stand a chance against the beasts those demons release in the main event..."

I raise an eyebrow, "Interesting..." and patiently wait for the main event to begin.