Chapter 148: Over

Aria repeatedly went in and out of the battle, only wasting a small amount of her power and stamina each time. She acted well to make it seem like she was properly contributing, when in fact, she was only studying the flame dragon's pattern in order to solidify her winning chances when she finally gets to fight.

Alena also stood by the entrance of the dungeon, her sharp eyes glaring towards the vicious dragon as she collected information about the creature and sent it to Aria, who nodded as if she wasn't surprised at any of the data Alena gave her.

This was a rather anti-climactic fight. Although so many people were gathered, and so many attacks were launched, it still felt quite absent in action. The dragon was one entity against all of these attacks it received, and yet it never faltered. It was bound to be a long game from the start.

People were starting to get tired and loathed this battle, but to Aria, it was perfect. She had to play it safe because the dragon would become a pivotal component of her growing journey. So long as she finished this task of killing the dragon brilliantly, it would be her first major kill. A monster in the scale of a dragon. The rewards would be aplenty.

From what she learned, she knew that she had to leniency to play a bit aggressive when fighting this folk. In fact, she had to be aggressive in order to deal any damage to the creature at all.

She had tested hitting the dragon with her sword [Halvargg], but it seemed that even for her prized sword that helped her out of tough situations many times, it was still incapable of penetrating the dragon's tough shells. Luckily, the shells did seem to be deteriorating as the Hunters continually struck it. They weren't just normal Hunters, but those who were higher ranked. Of course, their attacks done with their best efforts wouldn't just be a snowflake.

The dragon was still a child, about to reach adulthood. Thus, it didn't need to be said that it was certainly vulnerable to the elemental attacks much more than the average dragon. There were many magicians in the roster, and some of them possessed Water Magic. When the magic was tested against the dragon, it seemed to be experiencing a scalding effect and felt enraged at it, become even more furious at the magicians more than anybody else.

It had its eyes on the defenseless magicians, but the tanks and vanguards provided proper support and defense to the mages so that they could continue to strike their spells and hurt the dragon.

If this continues, the dragon's defenses could be weakened. In that stage, Aria could swoop in and catch the dragon off guard, dealing killing blows to it.

However, she had to admit that she expected less of the subjugation team that were here.

For a randomly formed team, the team work that was created was quite great. They didn't have a thing called friendship, they were joined through a synergy based on the fact that they wished to keep their lives intact. In this perilous battle, just one misstep would cause their heads to roll away.

Thus, they tried very hard. This was the peak of their career. Saving humanity was a farfetched idea a few years back, but after the appearance of dungeons, humanity had to be saved by these special humans multiple times.

Just like those previous occasions, the Hunters who were here today are all heroes. With no exception. Those who fought to their limits and didn't hesitate to jump into the line of fire. Those who for this very moment, stood bravely against the adversities.

Moments like this were left undiscovered because the fight was isolated from the public's eyes. Alena, however, had a separate idea. She recorded everything. Down to each Hunters who were struggling to barely stand up and rise, to the enormous dragon who was fuming at the puny humans that climbed up into its lair somehow.

It was a great moment, but Alena had other objectives. If she was right, then once she had come out of this dungeon, she would be able to advance in her moves against one of the Crofts' strongest member. Her own sister, Stephanie Croft, and whoever was backing her in this cultivation for artificial monsters.

Or, should she say- summoned monster?

There was a theory that she arrived to in regards to the appearance of this dragon. A wicked theory that her sister would be able to pull off.

A theory of sacrifice.

What was a monster made of? Contrary of what people believed, monster worked just the same way as humans and animals. They were creatures, some of them were higher in standing than the others. Others who stood at the peak of this caste would have sentience- like how humans did.

To put a dragon inside this uncanny dungeon, and knowing that the clues indicated that it was not a genuine creation, then it became clear.

If, the core of a dungeon was not only able to be used for strengthening your power and as a form of energy, but rather a vital creation material. If, the core was akin to a 'generator' for these enemies.

Then, it would be possible to create artificial creatures out of these cores, right? Extracting the energy in some way or another and storing it for later use. She knew that Aria desired cores from when she fought alongside with her and saw her absorb the cores into herself.

Aria began to act more openly towards her, and the secrets behind her power were slowly being revealed.

Her ability to absorb the core was one of the aspects in question.

What other uses did dungeon cores have? This dragon's birth and timing, could it be caused with the involvement of a dungeon core? She had to obtain more information.

Not enough. Not sufficient! What she had right now was not enough!

She had to find out what the core entailed, and how it could work to her favor. Unlike her sister, she had the System on her side, who could provide her with more accurate information if she really tried at it.

She had to succeed. She had to find out what her end goal was, who were her enemies, and how she could defeat them.

Scarily enough, Alena still had questions about how this core was obtained. She didn't know how far their research has gone. It was like a race against time, to predict who would end up finishing the end creation first. Alena started late since she had just began going out to the field and personally collecting her research materials.

She was scared about a lot of things. How this core had the possibility to be fake. How they could have the technology to create all this. Above all, how her sister was able to obtain her powers.

She had not bothered about the Croft for quite some time after she went to seek Aria and recruit her, but it seemed like she needed to keep an eye on them once again.

Before, she thought that she could be free from their grasps once she had obtained her independent Hunter life. But looking at how her sister's influence was spreading to where she was right now, it seemed like the dream was still impossible to achieve.

With a long sigh, she watched. Then, her ears perked up.

There was someone at the gate of the dungeon. No, to be exact, a lot of heads. There were a bunch of people that was about to enter the dungeon.

The dungeon gate was the type to be open at all times, and it never closed down no matter how much entries there were. Only, one couldn't exit the place. The victims that failed to escape the dragon's wrath was not little in numbers, and humanity certainly lost a lot of talented humans today just to buy time for these folks to come through.

Blythe's ranks. The group led by the most powerful person in South Korea to date.

"Big sister, they are entering right now. Please proceed with your plans in caution.. We don't want any trouble, do we?"

"...I understand. I also think that it's time the dragon is taken out for good. These people really are lucky, to be able to count the perfect time to make their grand entrance. You have these guys' efforts on record, right? Save it. I will make sure to scrape off all of their benefits as much as possible, I don't like sharing glory with other people." Aria smirked as she stopped her run and watched as the gate showed a sparkling gleam.

From the spatial membrane, a familiar duo that she had seen before emerged.

The pair of siblings, Blythe and his sister Cha Seol-hyun.

She tilted her head, crossing her arms as she brought Alena to hide in another place.

The fight for the dragon's head was about to begin, then.

The stall was over.