Chapter 73: the fading fantasies

The true motive behind the desperate stand had finally come to light. The Black Snake Man didn’t have a trumpcard but he was frantically trying to open an exit portal for escaping

​Opening one was no simple feat. As they had been informed that forming a portal of any kind was a delicate, time-consuming process. The caster was required to remain entirely stationary throughout the channeling phase, anchored to the spot until the gateway stabilized.

​This revelation confirmed that the Black Snake Man truly possessed the Dungeon Core right here in the cavern. On the other hand, it presented a terrifying reality—he was only seconds away from successfully escaping.

​Although the rules of the dungeon prevented him from running away with the Dungeon Core but his personal escape would render the entire decapitation strike a total failure. If he survived the remaining snakeman army would continue their relentless assault.

​The entire purpose of their high-risk decapitation strike had been to kill the commander first, throwing the enemy forces into complete disarray before executing their pre-planned contingency retreat. Allowing the Black Snake Man to step through that portal meant total annihilation for them so He had to die here, Magenta and Brenda—who were spearheading the front line—did not hesitate for a single second they immediately allowed a gap between them creating a path.

​At that exact moment, Fiona who over the course of the grueling battle, her body stored a massive amounts energy absorbed from enemy attacks.she funneled that energy directly into her legs.

​Sinking into a deep crouch, Fiona accumulated the power for a fraction of a second before launching herself forward like a cannonball. She didn’t even bother raising her heavy shield to brace for impact. Fueled by raw, explosive momentum, she threw her body straight into the snake man standing between the party and the Black Snakeman’s guards.

​The impact was violent. The three were bowled over like wooden pins,Seeing the path cleared, Magenta and Brenda surged into the gap, with the rest of the girls following closely in their wake. To gain every possible ounce of speed, they intentionally left their pawns, leaving them behind to stall the enemy troops attempting to flank them from the rear.

​However, as the girls closed in on the Black Snake Man, a secondary line of defense immediately slid into place: a solid wall of heavy tower shields held by his personal guards.

​Fiona, having completely spent her accumulated energy in that single explosive rush was left unable to assist.

​The Black Snake Man was visibly terrified. The glowing boundary of the exit portal was swirling right in front of his face, yet the intruders had somehow closed the distance in a matter of seconds. Panicking, he screamed orders at his personal bodyguards to hold the shield wall at all costs, needing only a few precious moments to step through.

​His plan was simple: escape through the portal, leave his guards behind to buy time, and wait safely on the other side until the intruders exhausted their stamina. Once their combat effectiveness dropped, he could leisurely lead a fresh counter-attack to clean up the remnants of the battle.

​But the girls had no intention of letting him step across that threshold.

​Seeing the shield wall blocking their path and knowing time had run out, Magenta executed a move that left even Smith—watching anxiously from the rear line—completely dumbfounded. Without warning, Magenta released her grip on her weapon,She was entirely unarmed right in front of the enemy line.

​ she extended her bare hands and grabbed the overlapping edges of the two central tower shields. Channeling her physical strength and forcefully yanked the shields apart, prying open a gap in the formation as if opening the sliding doors of an elevator.

​Brenda reacted instantly, matching Magenta’s movement. Both girls threw their bodies directly into the opening, using their own limbs and weight to physically pin the guards to the sides creating an opening.

​In that split second, a shadowy figure flashed through the human doorway Magenta and Brenda had created.

​The Black Snake Man, standing directly before the swirling portal, believed he was safe. In his mind, the intruders were completely bogged down by his elite guard, unable to break through in time. He reached out his hand, ready to pass through the gateway.

​Then, he made the biggest mistake of his life: he turned his head around to look back at the fight.

​That single moment of distraction cost him everything. As he turned, he could clearly see the blood-stained armor of the intruders holding his guards at bay. But before his mind could process the threat, a shadowy figure moved at an incredible, blinding speed.

​Just as his fingertips brushed the surface of the portal, a sudden, ice-cold chill ran down his spine. he had no time to defend himself.

​He could only watch helplessly as a cold dagger bit deep into his neck, punching cleanly through his throat.

​All his grand fantasies—returning in glory to his tribe—vanished in an instant. As the last sliver of his consciousness slipped into total darkness, the Black Snake Man collapsed lifelessly onto the floor, right in front of the portal.

​Vesper who had delivered the fatal blow paused for a fraction of a second, visibly surprised by how smoothly the strike had landed. she pulled her blade free and immediately darted back toward the others.

​The moment the Black Snake Man breathed his last, the battlefield transformed completely. 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

​Seeing their primary objective accomplished, the girls instantly shifted into a defensive retreat formation. Magenta and Brenda released their grip on the personal guards, grabbed their discarded weapons from the ground, and reversed their charge. They began carving a path back toward Smith’s location, preparing to initiate their secondary contingency plan to escape the cavern.

​However, before the remaining snake men could launch a desperate counter-attack, something extraordinary occurred.

​The surrounding enemy soldiers, who had been fighting with mindless, ferocious aggression just a second ago, suddenly froze in their tracks. A collective tremor ran through their ranks. It was as if an invisible hypnotic veil or mental control spell had been abruptly lifted from their minds.

​Disoriented, the snake men began frantically looking around, taking in their actual environment for the first time. What they saw horrified them.

​The cavern floor was a covered in the dismembered bodies of their comrades. Standing in the center of the carnage was Velvet and her squad, drenched head-to-toe in crimson blood, looking like terrifying demons crawling straight from the depths of hell.

​Sensibility and fear returned to the enemy ranks simultaneously. Velvet’s group did not waste a single second of the enemy’s confusion; they immediately launched into a ruthless killing spree, striking down the dazed soldiers where they stood.

​Panic spread like wildfire. The rigid battle formations that had previously held Velvet’s team at bay completely dissolved into a chaotic, screaming mess.

​During the slaughter, one of the snake men looked toward the portal area and spotted the black snakeman lying dead in a pool of his own blood. He let out a horrifying shriek in his native tongue. As the message spread, the last remnant of resistance in the enemy army collapsed.

​In the midst of the chaos, a fleeing snake man spotted the active exit portal still swirling nearby. Viewing the portal as his sole chance at salvation, he abandoned his weapon and sprinted headlong into the black portal,Seeing this, the others realized an escape route was open. A mass retreat toward the exit portal immediately broke out. The remaining soldiers who were still engaged in combat turned to see their comrades fleeing, leaving them conflicted between avenging their fallen leader or running for their lives.

​Velvet and her group quickly recognized the shift in dynamics. Splitting up slightly, they adjusted their tactical approach. Instead of attempting to cut off and slaughter every single fleeing soldier, the girls intentionally slowed their killing pace, using controlled pressure to herd the panicked snake men toward the portal.

​They knew the rules of the dungeon: the Dungeon Core was bound to the slaughterhouse area and could not pass through the exit gateway. Therefore, there was no risk of a fleeing soldier accidentally or intentionally taking the core with them.

​By maintaining steady, terrifying pressure behind the enemy while leaving the portal unblocked, the girls forced the snake men into a full-scale retreat.

​Within a few minutes, the frantic shouts faded away. The exit portal flickered as the last of the survivors disappeared through it.

​Silence descended upon the cavern. The air was thick with the stench of blood, and the floor was littered with corpses of fallen snake men. Velvet and the rest of the girls stood among the dead.

​Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Velvet walked over to the base of the exit portal.

​Lying quietly on the stone floor where the Black Snake Man had fallen was a heavy, perfectly spherical core. It was pitch-black in color and radiated an overwhelming, dense gravitational pressure that made the surrounding air feel thick. It was none other than the Dungeon Core.

​Reaching out, Velvet safely disabling the exit portal to prevent any enemy coming through. She then picked up the Dungeon Core.

​With the core in hand, the group quickly regrouped with Smith. Their time was nearly up, and they needed to clear the area before secondary complications arose.

​However, just as the party began to catch their breath and allow themselves a moment of relief, a sharp, echoing sound shattered the silence.footsteps resounded from the only entrance of the cavern—the very path they had originally used to enter here.