Chapter 302: Daniela Sneaks Away, Reaching The Dungeon Core!

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To hide from the danger closing in around her, Daniela had copied Riven’s "Veil of Invisibility" Skill at the last possible moment.

No other skill she currently possessed could have helped her in that situation. This was the only one that offered any real chance of keeping her completely undetected while the two overwhelming forces tore the chamber apart.

Veil of Invisibility normally had a clear and dangerous weakness. It failed against anyone ranked B or higher. Yet for some reason it was working against the two SSS Rank fighters outside.

The reason was simple, though Daniela herself did not fully understand it yet.

Her Mask allowed her to copy a skill, and when that skill was copied every original limit was stripped away. The copied version had no rank restrictions and no levels. It simply functioned at full capacity.

Because of that, Veil of Invisibility became far more effective than the original. As long as she did not attack, she would remain hidden. The same protection extended to Noir, who stayed beneath her shadow while carrying the unconscious bodies of both Riven and Vladimir.

Even so, the battle currently raging only a short distance away was genuinely terrifying.

"Eek! What do I do?!" Daniela whispered to herself, pressing a hand against her mouth. She glanced at the small heart that had somehow sacrificed itself to keep her hidden a moment earlier, then realized the dungeon boss was already dead. "Hey Noir... can you bring Riven’s hand out?"

Noir tilted his head slightly, golden eyes narrowing. A moment later Riven’s hand emerged from the shadow. It hung limp and unresponsive. He was not going to wake up any time soon. The fight he had just endured had drained both his body and mind more thoroughly than anything Daniela had seen before.

BOOOM!

BOOOM!

BOOOM!

While the two SSS Rank powerhouses continued their devastating exchange, somehow always managing to stop just short of hitting the crevice Daniela occupied—thanks in large part to her abnormally high Luck Stat—she began creeping toward the narrow opening she had spotted earlier.

Daniela pressed herself tightly against the slick wall of the crevice. Blood from the earlier battle still coated the stone, making every step careful and deliberate. Her heart hammered so hard she was half convinced the two fighters outside could hear it even over the constant crashes of their battle.

Noir’s large shadow-form moved ahead of her like thick liquid, the limp bodies of Riven and Vladimir held securely inside it. The wolf glanced back once to make sure she was still following, then squeezed through the narrowing passage without a sound.

Behind them the boss chamber had turned into pure chaos.

Guinevere’s Divine Spear Cagliostro cut through the air in sharp golden arcs, each thrust strong enough to crack the space around it. Rose Bloodmoon answered in her werebat form with high-pitched blood tornadoes and claws that ripped whole sections of the cavern wall free. Every time a shockwave rolled toward the crevice, Daniela’s Luck twisted the outcome just enough that falling debris either missed by a narrow margin or was blocked by a conveniently collapsing stalactite.

She kept moving, one careful step after another, forcing herself not to look back at the battle that could end her the moment the invisibility failed.

"Just a little further... please..." Daniela whispered, her voice shaking as she forced herself to keep moving.

The narrow crevice finally opened into a smaller circular chamber. It was no larger than an ordinary living room, the walls smooth and damp with condensed mana. In the exact center floated a crystalline heart roughly the size of a human torso. The thing was translucent and deep crimson, beating in perfect rhythm with the now-dead Sorrowful Heart outside, as if the two had always been connected. Thin threads of pure blood essence and mana coiled around it like living veins, pulsing slowly. The air in the chamber was so thick with power that every breath burned Daniela’s lungs and left a metallic taste on her tongue.

[Dungeon Core – Crimson Marsh detected.]

[Authority of the Lord required for conquest.]

Daniela’s eyes went wide. "There it is...!"

She spun toward Noir, who was still supporting Riven’s limp body. "Bring his hand out! Hurry!"

Noir obeyed at once. Riven’s blood-stained, scale-covered hand slid out of the shadows, completely limp and unresponsive. Daniela grabbed it with both of hers and shoved the palm forward until it pressed firmly against the floating core. At the same time she and Noir pulled the rest of Riven’s heavy body fully into the chamber so he wouldn’t slip back into the crevice.

Her face lit up with a sudden, hopeful smile.

Nothing happened.

"Eh?"

The smile vanished. Despair flooded her expression as she stared at the unresponsive crystal.

"Awww, come on!!!"

She started slamming Riven’s hand against the core over and over, even though she couldn’t see any reaction. The crystal remained cold and still under his palm. Exactly as she had feared, Riven needed to be conscious for the Authority to take effect.

"Come on... come on...!" she hissed through gritted teeth, pressing harder. "You’re the Lord, right?! Just—wake up already, Riven! Please!!!"

She slapped his face repeatedly, harder each time, trying to force some response out of him. His head lolled to the side. No reaction. Only the steady, heavy sound of his breathing.

Outside the chamber, Rose’s roar shook the entire floor.

"YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME, YOU CLAYMORE BITCH!"

A massive blood-red crescent wave tore through the boss chamber. Guinevere met it with a radiant barrier that shattered almost immediately, sending both women tumbling across the stone. The impact made the crevice walls groan. Cracks spider-webbed across the ceiling above Daniela as Blood and Light collided again and again. Spear thrusts met giant bat claws. The ground and ceiling trembled and exploded in places, the cracks spreading wider with every clash.

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!

Daniela flinched at every explosion but refused to let go of the dungeon core, even though the dense mana was starting to burn the skin on her palms. She kept Riven’s hand pressed against the crystal, whispering desperate pleas under her breath while the chamber shook around them.

BOOOM!

"Eeek!"

In the last explosion she caught a flash of Guinevere’s golden spear almost reaching the entrance of the chamber. Daniela jumped in fear but somehow managed to stay on her feet, clutching both Riven and the core as tightly as she could. The fight outside was getting closer. The walls were cracking faster. And Riven still wouldn’t wake up.

Seeing Guinevere pick up her spear and start fighting Rose again, Daniela’s panic spiked hard. She slapped Riven’s face once more, harder this time, her palm stinging from the force.

"Riven! Please! If you don’t wake up we’re all going to die and then you’ll never get to be with Elisa again!!! We have to run! We need your power!"

A faint golden spark flickered beneath Riven’s closed eyelids. His eyebrows twitched lightly in response to her voice.

Deep inside the abyss of unconsciousness, Riven felt something warm and desperate yanking at his soul. Daniela’s frantic calls reached him first. Noir’s loyal presence pressed against the edges of his awareness. Beneath it all came the cold, ancient pulse of a dungeon core that seemed to beg to be claimed.

"Huh?"

He slowly opened his eyes within the abyss he had fallen into after exhausting everything he could unleash from his body and even his soul. The darkness around him felt endless at first, a place without up or down.

"Why am I here?"

Within the skies of this strange abyss he could see Daniela moving around above him, still slapping his face constantly as she tried to wake him up. Her movements looked distant, like watching someone through thick glass.

"Where... where am I?"

He looked down. What had seemed like an endless black void shifted. Huge eyes snapped open one after another, blinking constantly as they fixed on his presence and on his soul. Dozens of them stared without blinking for long stretches, studying every part of him.

"What... what is this?"

He noticed giant arms and thick tentacles coiling around his body. They wrapped his legs and arms and torso, trying to pull him farther down into the abyss. The pressure increased with every second, dragging at him with steady, relentless force.

"S-Stop...! STOP!!!"

He crawled upward out of the void, fighting the pull as if something utterly malefic was trying to claim him from deep within his own soul and spirit. Every movement felt heavy. The more he struggled, the tighter the tentacles gripped.

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