"What do you mean by that? That sounds really strange coming from you." Aria smiled lightly.

"No, I’m serious. I’ll go into the hidden dungeon myself. You and the others should just stay here." Oliver looked at her firmly.

He tried to take the paper from Aria’s hand to check the hidden dungeon’s location, but Aria quickly pulled her hand away.

Her expression suddenly turned sharp as she stared directly at him.

"You...I thought you were different. But it seems you’re just the same as the others." she said quietly. After saying that, she immediately turned around and walked toward her soldiers.

"What... what does that mean?" Oliver stood there in confusion.

Later, Aria held a discussion with all the soldiers. Even Oliver was present during the briefing.

The army’s orders were simple, surround and secure the entrance of the hidden dungeon to prevent anyone from escaping.

Several soldiers, including Raeburn, were clearly worried about Aria’s safety. However, Aria still insisted on carrying out the mission herself.

After all the preparations were completed, Aria gave a slight nod toward her soldiers before summoning Frostrix and flying away.

As she soared through the night sky, she suddenly noticed Oliver riding on Husk while leaping rapidly from rooftop to rooftop below her. She lowered her altitude before flying side by side with Oliver.

"Why are you here?" she asked coldly.

"Didn’t you say you needed someone to cover you? I can do that." Oliver gave her a wide grin.

Aria immediately turned her head away before making Frostrix fly faster ahead.

"Oii! Wait for me Aria! Husk, faster!"

A faint smile slowly appeared on Aria’s lips.

---

Hazelbrow Hidden Dungeon

Boss Room

Thump!

A bucket was kicked across the room before crashing against the wall. The sound echoed loudly throughout the massive boss chamber.

The room was built from old concrete walls covered in strange drawings and markings.

"Calm down, Verner. Why are you so angry?" Helton asked calmly.

"Why am I angry? Really? You’re asking me that?" Verner snapped furiously.

"Let me tell you why!"

He immediately pointed toward the scorpion tattoo on his shoulder. Only the head of the scorpion remained while the other parts had already disappeared.

"All of my members are dead except for me! You told me they were only cockroaches! But those so-called cockroaches killed them all in a single day! One day!" Verner roared angrily.

"Lower your voice, Verner. Shouting won’t bring them back to life," Helton said. He remained crouched on the ground while drawing something carefully across the floor.

Verner clicked his tongue before finally calming down slightly. He sat on the ground and drank water from a pouch.

"What are you actually doing? You’ve been drawing that thing for over an hour already." Verner asked while wiping his mouth.

"Just preparing a little gift for the little Ice Princess. Now everything is ready. Bring those two here."

Verner then dragged Waine and Ingram forward. Both of them were tied up, and their faces had turned pale from the poison of Nightstinger’s stings. Their bodies already looked weak and exhausted.

"P-Please... let us go..." Waine begged weakly.

"Not yet. I promise I’ll release both of you if you do one thing for me. Can you summon your monsters inside the circle?"

Waine and Ingram did not dare question him further and quickly obeyed. Razormaw and Thorntailis were summoned inside the massive diagram drawn across the floor.

Razormaw still looked extremely weak from the poison.

"Good." Helton nodded in satisfaction.

"Now, Verner, throw the boss of this dungeon in as well."

Nightstinger immediately dragged and tossed the dungeon boss into the center of the diagram. The boss monster already looked half dead.

It was Scorvilex, the boss monster of the hidden dungeon.

<Scorvilex>

"Now, please don’t disturb me for the next few minutes." He slowly pulled out the forbidden artifact shaped like a lantern before raising it high into the air.

Then, he began chanting. Suddenly, a dark crimson-black mist poured out from the lantern and flowed directly into the diagram.

In the next moment, black flames erupted and completely engulfed the entire circle.

"Now... which one should I choose?" Helton muttered while looking between Waine and Ingram.

A grin slowly spread across his face before he suddenly grabbed Waine and threw him into the blazing diagram.

"AAAAHHHH!!"

Waine screamed in agony as he felt his body burning alive within the black flames. The horrifying screams echoed throughout the boss room for several minutes before finally falling silent.

Slowly, the black flames began dissipating. From within them, a giant humanoid silhouette gradually emerged. Its height was nearly three meters tall.

Even Verner instinctively stepped backward after sensing the terrifying aura coming from it.

"Hahahaha!" Helton laughed excitedly.

"It seems all my effort was worth it after all. Now, I only need the most important ingredient." His eyes slowly shifted toward the entrance of the boss room.

---

Aria and Oliver entered the abandoned building located near the center of the city. The ceiling and walls looked so fragile that even a sneeze felt like it could cause the entire structure to collapse.

After descending to the lowest underground floor, they finally discovered a swirling dungeon portal inside one of the hidden rooms.

Aria looked toward Oliver before giving him a small nod and stepping into the portal. Oliver quickly followed after her.

The two of them were instantly teleported into a dungeon tunnel covered entirely with old concrete walls.

Oliver noticed countless strange drawings carved across the walls, as though they were ancient markings from a forgotten civilization.

"There’s no time to examine them. Let’s go!" Aria immediately started running forward.

Both of them continued descending deeper and deeper until they reached the fifth floor.

Yet strangely, throughout the entire journey, they did not encounter a single monster.

Soon, they finally arrived before the boss room door. However, the massive door was already open. Both of them slowly stepped inside cautiously.

Boom!!

Suddenly, a gigantic figure descended from above and smashed directly toward them. Oliver and Aria quickly jumped away and narrowly avoided the attack.

The entire ground cracked violently from the impact.

Oliver immediately activated Overlord Eye to scan the enemy. But the information he received was completely different from anything he had ever seen before.

---

[????]

Rank: ???

Type: Chimera

---

"What the hell is this thing?!"