Chapter 927. The Girls Go Dungeon Diving.

Chapter 927: Chapter 927. The Girls Go Dungeon Diving.

While Liu Shu and Flor talked, the rest of the wives went on with their daily lives. Right now, they had gathered to enter the new Dungeon Liu Shu created. The one where they had to support one side of the war.

The three sides had their names changed so it wouldn’t be too obvious.

The empires were the Endless Life Empire, High Sun Empire, and Dark World Empire. The High Sun Empire was the one being attacked, and the other two didn’t need much explanation.

The girls were currently standing in front of the Grand Commander of the Dark World Empire, their backs straight. [Quests] offered bonuses if you role-played perfectly.

"You sixty-six individuals are our elites. You are our main force, and you will focus on attacking the core of the enemy fleet."

Each of the girls had 10 subordinates with them. These individuals were also elites from the <Golden Sap Empire>.

"Your first objective is the following. You will have to take these 10 starships and lead them through the fifth Solar System ambush path. The High Sun Empire will be slightly distracted by the Endless Life Empire assault. If it becomes a dangerous situation, the High Sun Empire might surrender and join hands with the Endless Life Empire, so don’t become overconfident."

Obsidianis raised her eyebrow at that comment, but she decided not to speak. The man before them was a powerful individual with a BOSS Monster System page. Even if they all fought at once, it wouldn’t be an easy fight.

As for losing... The girls honestly didn’t feel like they would. He felt strong, but without his absurd regeneration and oversized ternary essence reserves, they could probably defeat him one-on-one.

Either way, they received three [Quests] in total.

The [Main Quest], which told them to go to the Solar System and complete the ambush on one of the High Sun Empire’s fleets. The objective would be complete as long as they destroyed over 30% of the fleet and killed the general and his advisor group.

The second and third were a [Secondary Quest] and an [Optional Quest].

The difference between them was easy to remember. Secondary meant that completing it before the main would give you an advantage.

Optional quests were completely unrelated to the main plotline and, if the dungeon evolved in certain directions, could be permanently lost. On the other hand, they offered the best reward-to-risk ratio, while also being incredibly difficult to complete.

For them, the Secondary Quest was about destroying certain World Tree roots in some key locations.

As for the Optional one, it was hunting a pack of <Astraelis> and giving them to the Grand Commander. The description said that those <Astraelis> could be used to improve a core potion their army used. With it, the neutral zones where the dungeon fought by itself would become more favorable for them.

If they lost the frontline, no matter where on the Questline they were, it would count as a Dungeon Failure. In those cases, without a proper <Dungeon Escape> ticket, it could result in unconditional death as the instance collapsed or some condition was fulfilled that boosted the enemy BOSS Monster to an almost invincible degree.

It greatly varied, though.

The army the Dungeon gave them was neither too large nor too small. All 10 Starships held around 10,000 Level 199 soldiers and 20 Level 225 Soldiers.

They were there and followed their orders up to a certain point. If they told them to just suicide charge, they would resist. Not that it was an intelligent option to begin with.

This army would accompany them through most of the Main Quests. They could replenish them only by completing quests and other events, but overall they didn’t respawn, and they weren’t mindlessly loyal.

If you ran out of soldiers or starships... good luck.

Seraphina spoke up while they moved toward their ship. "Should we quickly go and hunt those <Astraelis>? They are off our route, but it would take, at most, a one-week deviation. Their corpses should not be so large that we can’t carry them."

Tempestria nodded at her comment. "We can attach them to one of our starships and drag them along. We are in the void, after all. As long as we are careful with momentum shifts, etc., a single starship should have enough engine power to carry them."

When they entered dungeons together, Tempestria and Seraphina usually spoke first for tactics. They were the most battle-hardened and talented in that regard.

Obsidianis was also talented, so she put in her two cents. "The army inside that starship should be moved, then. Moreover, the starship will become a target, and that’s in our favor. If they see a starship carrying corpses of giant beasts, they will become suspicious and try to destroy them."

Cinderielle blinked. "That’s genius. It is not the first time we did this Dungeon, but this specific combination has never happened before, right?"

Verdantia smiled. "I heard that <Dungeons> in other Empires are not nearly as varied as ours. You actually don’t really need to go too far. Have you girls heard the girls talking about nearby ones from recently conquered empires?"

Harmonixia laughed. "Meldy went to one not long ago, and when she returned, she was full of complaints. She went like."

Harmonixia cleared her throat and did her best impression of her daughter: "Mom! You won’t believe it, their dungeons actually run in real time! Not only that, they are so simple and boring that I almost fell asleep while completing it. Go here and kill this many of this kind. Go here and deliver a letter. Go there and destroy the core of whatever with no prior hints about it."

The girls laughed because Harmonixia mimicked Meldy’s sweet tone of voice as she spoke. They could perfectly imagine that cutie’s expression. Obsidianis smirked. "If that girl knew, she would pout at you for a year straight."

After Obsidianis and Seraphina gave birth to their Sylvan daughters and Liu Shu also gave them plenty of Alraune babies, they felt much closer to the four veteran wives.

Previously, while they did get along, a barrier separated them: "older, more experienced wives" and "new wives." It wasn’t done on purpose, but some subconscious gestures and bonds built over time were hard to change. So, Verdantia and the other three sometimes spoke of things that Obsidianis and Seraphina had trouble following.

Again, it was completely unintended, but nobody could deny it happened.

Nowadays, though, Seraphina and Obsidianis could finally speak on those matters. They had raised plenty of Alraune children, and their two Sylvan daughters were already over 40, so they had experience.

The six of them now felt like one group, instead of one group of four and one of two trying to get along.

Cinderielle commented. "Going back to what matters, I believe killing these <Astraelis> is good. The <Quest> rewards are too sweet to ignore."

The other five nodded and then looked back. Behind them, their ten selected subordinates followed. The six of them began giving orders, and the subordinates followed with practiced ease.

It showed how much they’d grown over the last few centuries. Even when Liu Shu and other World Trees took the spotlight, there were very few people who didn’t know about them.

Not just because they were Liu Shu’s wives, but because their own exploits, feats, and even actions during important moments were ridiculous. Even within the Dungeon Diving community, the girls had one of the best dungeon-completion records and even held a few records.

Some Sylvans with big ambitions of becoming the next of Liu Shu’s Sylvan wives were always quite intimidated by them.

Cinderielle asked, curious. "Do you girls still have Sylvans asking to be tested as new wives?"

Obsidianis smirked. "I scared them away, so no one comes to me."

Verdantia blinked and glared her way. "So it was your fault that one day I felt as if more of them came my way?"

The darkness Sylvan whistled and placed her hands behind her head. "Who knows~."

"We are going to have it later, Obsidianis!"

Obsidianis smirked, her charming eyebrows raised. "Come at me, then. We can have some fun together with Liu Shu later."

Verdantia pushed out her abundant chest. "Are you sure you want that? You might not receive a single gaze from her and feel excluded."

Obsidianis glanced down and clicked her tongue. "Truly, Life Sylvans are cheating. Do you all keep your Life Aether Mana in those massive milk tanks?"

Harmonixia, who was quite flat in that regard, glanced at Obsidianis. "You are not one to complain. Among us six, you rank second."

Obsidianis shrugged. "And even when I rank second, I am nowhere near Verdantia. Also, you are not one to speak as well. You might be last in the upper weaponry. However, none of us can compare with your hips. A playful hip tap, and you might embed me on the opposite wall."

Harmonixia smirked and swung her hips alluringly. "What can I say~. I need good cushions to play my instruments for Liu Shu over the long hours at night."

They all joked around together when Tempestria looked ahead and raised her eyebrow. "Oh, that DC over there is a face I remember. He is really good at leading charges. What was his name... Charles."

DC, short for Dungeon Character, was something they used for non-BOSS characters that might appear often when Dungeon Diving and could help with some quests.

The DC blinked and looked over, straightening his body. "General! Lieutenant Charles is here!"

Tempestria nodded. "Great to see you around. I expect great things from you."

"I will do my best, General Tempestria!"

The girls looked around for DCs that they might’ve interacted with in the past, and each of them found some favorites. So, they approached them and made small talk while moving to the control room of the only Mothership-Class at their disposal.

When they arrived, one of the Golden Sap Empire elites chuckled. "Each time I see the interior of these ships, it makes me feel some nostalgia."

Another laughed. "Right. With the Star Reaching Starships, this feels like driving a vehicle from the last century."

Verdantia and the other five didn’t stop the conversation. The first few days were all about reaching their hunting spot and sorting out everything. Having run the Dungeon before, they had some advantage in this regard.

Tempestria spoke. "Without the prior knowledge, going for the <Astraelis> Optional mission might’ve been a big mistake. We are, after all, somewhat tight on time."

Seraphina nodded. "If this had been our first run, we might’ve been in some trouble. I guess we must share this info when we get out with the Explorer Association. All right, girls. All seated?"

"Yes."

"Go ahead."

Seraphina straightened and touched a button that opened the general communications. "All ships, start the engines. We are going to collect some resources before completing the mission. Set course to sector D-3-224-12!"