Chapter 105: Raid

Chapter 105: Chapter 105: Raid

For the next two days, Tolu had very little interest in the excitement spreading throughout the capital.

The competition was approaching.

Everywhere he went, he heard people talking about it.

Young cultivators discussed the strongest candidates. Merchants placed bets on which families would produce the greatest talents. Academies were quietly observing the participants. Even ordinary cultivators who had no chance of entering talked about the competition as though they were already watching the final battles.

Tolu listened when he needed to.

Then he returned to his dungeon.

He had two days.

Two days before the competition officially began.

And he intended to make every hour count.

The moment he returned to the dungeon after spending the evening at the Omimi residence, Tolu stood beneath the Solace Tree and looked toward the glowing Dungeon Heart.

The tree’s pale trunk rose several meters above him, its green leaves moving despite the complete absence of wind.

The Dungeon Heart pulsed softly within the hollow center of its roots.

"You said dungeon wars would accelerate our growth."

The familiar feminine voice answered almost immediately.

"They will."

Tolu tightened his grip around his hammer.

"Then let’s have some wars."

A faint pulse of light came from the Heart.

"As you command, my Lord."

Tolu smiled.

The first war began before midnight.

---

The enemy dungeon was not particularly large.

From the information the Heart provided, it was another Level Two dungeon hidden beneath a rocky region several dozen kilometers away.

Its territory consisted primarily of underground caverns filled with stone formations and pools of dark water.

Its creatures were simple.

Rockback lizards.

Cave wolves.

A handful of larger beasts that had developed stronger bodies after absorbing dungeon energy for years.

Nothing extraordinary.

But Tolu wasn’t looking for extraordinary.

He wanted resources.

He wanted energy.

And, more importantly, he wanted his dungeon to grow.

When the war began, the ground beneath Tolu’s feet trembled.

The dungeon’s energy surged outward.

His creatures moved.

Dozens of them.

Wolves rushed through the tunnels first, their claws striking stone as they charged toward the enemy territory.

Slimes followed behind them.

They were not particularly powerful individually, but their bodies could absorb certain materials and break down things that ordinary creatures could not.

Then came the stronger beasts.

The three Level Two hyenas that had survived their earlier encounter outside the dungeon led the charge.

They had changed.

Not dramatically.

But Tolu could see it.

Their bodies were larger.

Their muscles were denser.

Their movements were more coordinated.

They were learning.

Tolu watched through the dungeon’s perception as they entered the enemy territory.

The first clash happened almost immediately.

A pack of cave wolves rushed from a narrow passage.

The two groups collided.

Claws struck.

Teeth snapped.

Bodies crashed against stone.

One of Tolu’s wolves was thrown sideways, rolling several meters before struggling back onto its feet.

Another bit into an enemy’s neck.

Blood splattered across the cavern floor.

The battle spread.

Tolu didn’t interfere.

That was the point of the war.

His dungeon needed to learn how to fight without him.

He watched.

He observed.

He memorized.

When one of his creatures made a mistake, he remembered it.

When another discovered a better way to attack, he remembered that too.

The dungeon itself was learning through them.

Eventually, the battle reached the enemy dungeon’s deeper territory.

That was where things became difficult.

A massive Rockback Lizard emerged from beneath a stone shelf.

Its body was almost twice the size of the largest wolves.

Thick plates covered its back, each one resembling a piece of dark stone.

It opened its mouth.

A deep roar shook the cavern.

The wolves hesitated.

The Level Two hyenas did not.

The three beasts spread apart.

One moved left.

Another moved right.

The third approached from the front.

The lizard snapped at the nearest one.

The hyena dodged.

Its claws scraped against the lizard’s armored side, leaving only shallow marks.

The second hyena attacked.

The third followed.

For several minutes, the battle became a brutal exchange of attacks.

The lizard’s physical strength was superior.

But the hyenas were faster.

More importantly, they were learning to work together.

Eventually, the lizard fell.

Tolu watched silently.

Then he smiled.

"Good."

The victory spread through the dungeon.

When the enemy dungeon’s core finally collapsed, energy flooded into the territory.

The enemy’s remaining resources were absorbed.

Minerals.

Energy stones.

Several rare plants.

Creature materials.

Tolu immediately noticed the difference.

The dungeon felt fuller.

He could feel the energy moving through the roots of the Solace Tree.

The tree absorbed some of it.

The Dungeon Heart absorbed another portion.

The rest spread throughout the territory.

The victory had been worth it.

But Tolu wasn’t finished.

He spent the remainder of the night inspecting the resources his dungeon had gained.

Several materials were useful.

Some were ordinary.

Some could be sold.

A few could be used to improve his creatures.

And one mineral immediately caught his attention.

It was a dull black stone with thin silver veins running through it.

The Heart identified it as a material capable of storing elemental energy.

Tolu picked up the stone.

"This could be useful."

"It can," the Heart replied.

"Can we produce it?"

"Not naturally at your current level."

Tolu nodded.

Then he placed it carefully among the dungeon’s resources.

He would find a use for it later.

---

The second day began before sunrise.

Tolu had barely rested.

Yet he wasn’t tired.

The Solace Tree had changed that.

Its presence didn’t simply make the dungeon peaceful.

It made recovery easier.

The exhaustion that normally settled deep inside his body after intense cultivation seemed lighter.

His mind was clearer.

His breathing was steadier.

Even his spiritual energy seemed to circulate more smoothly.

Tolu stood beneath the tree for a while.

Then he looked toward the Dungeon Heart.

"Again."

The Heart responded.

"Already?"

Tolu lifted his hammer onto his shoulder.

"I have a competition to prepare for."

There was a pause.

Then the Heart seemed almost amused.

"Very well."

The second war began.

This dungeon was different.

Much larger.

Its territory consisted of dense underground forests.

Massive roots twisted through the ceilings.

Mushrooms the size of houses grew from the walls.

Streams of glowing water ran beneath the roots.

The creatures were stronger too.

There were giant spiders.

Horned boars.

Poisonous serpents.

And several Level Two beasts with unusually strong bodies.

Tolu immediately realized this battle would be different.

His creatures entered carefully.

The forest itself seemed to fight them.

Webs appeared between trees.

Poisonous spores filled certain areas.

Roots shifted beneath their feet.

Several wolves became trapped.

One was dragged into darkness.

Another barely escaped a spider’s jaws.

Tolu watched from his position.

He could have interfered.

He didn’t.

Instead, he issued simple commands through the dungeon.

Spread out.

Avoid the spores.

Attack together.

Don’t chase fleeing enemies.

The creatures responded.

The battle became organized.

The wolves began hunting in groups.

The slimes moved toward poisonous plants and absorbed them.

The hyenas stopped charging recklessly.

Even the weaker creatures began learning from the stronger ones.

Then something unexpected happened.

One of the enemy’s larger beasts attacked a group of Tolu’s creatures.

It was a massive boar.

Its body was covered in thick black fur.

Two curved horns extended from its head.

It charged.

The ground shook beneath its feet.

The wolves scattered.

The boar smashed through one of the dungeon’s young trees and continued forward.

A Level One hyena tried to attack from the side.

The boar caught it.

The hyena was thrown several meters.

The other creatures hesitated.

Then one of Tolu’s Level Two hyenas stepped forward.

It didn’t attack immediately.

It watched.

The boar charged.

At the final moment, the hyena moved.

It didn’t dodge sideways.

It jumped.

Its claws landed against the boar’s back.

The boar crashed into the ground.

Before it could recover, another hyena attacked from behind.

Then the third.

The three worked together.

The boar fought desperately.

But it couldn’t handle all three.

Eventually, it fell.

Tolu watched the scene with a strange sense of satisfaction.

His creatures were becoming better.

Not because he had commanded every movement.

But because they were beginning to understand one another.

The dungeon was developing an ecosystem.

A real one.

Not a collection of monsters waiting for orders.

And that was exactly what Tolu wanted.

The battle continued deeper.

Hours passed.

The enemy dungeon fought back harder than the first.

Several of Tolu’s creatures were killed.

Some were badly injured.

But they kept advancing.

Eventually, they reached the deepest region.

There, beneath a massive tree whose roots had grown around the enemy Dungeon Heart, stood the strongest creature in the dungeon.

A huge beast resembling a black bear.

Except it stood nearly three meters tall.

Its arms were enormous.

Its claws were long enough to tear through stone. Glinting in the low light of the oil lamps hanged on the wall

And its body radiated enough dungeon energy that Tolu could feel it even through his connection.

"That one is strong."