Chapter 41: Dungeon

This was what Salma saw when she reached the location after hearing the report from the panicked soldier. Her little daughter was leaping directly at a gigantic, gargantuan monster.

One could easily imagine the terrifying feeling of a mother as she witnessed this horrific scene with her own eyes.

"No!" Salma shouted at the top of her lungs, her heart dropping into a dark abyss as she tried to rush forward to save her child.

However, the moment she reached the outer border of the dried riverbed, an invisible barrier seemed to appear out of thin air. Salma slammed face-first into the translucent wall with a loud bang, her body rebounding violently onto the hard ground.

"What is going on?" Salma shouted in utter desperation, scrambling back to her feet instantly.

She summoned her dark shadow energy and tried to rush through the perimeter again. Yet, she was forcefully blocked and knocked back each time she touched the barrier.

"Young miss, it seems there is some kind of spatial restriction active around the riverbed!" Derreck yelled, feeling completely helpless as he stepped in to physically restrain his young miss from hurting herself further.

Derreck was growing deeply frustrated inside. He hated seeing his always calm, ruthless, and composed young miss becoming such an emotional mess because of that annoying zombie girl.

"Let go of me, Derreck!" Salma screamed, thrashing against her trusted bodyguard’s heavy grip. "We have to do something right now! She is down there fighting that ancient monster all by herself!"

"Calm down, young miss! That barrier is absorbing all external physical attacks!" Derreck gritted his teeth, holding her back with all his physical strength.

Leader Imani arrived at the crest of the hill right behind them, surrounded by a squad of heavily armed soldiers and Mayor Vincious Gerald.

Leader Imani had a deep frown on her face as she watched Salma’s frantic behavior. She had already been completely confused when Salma overreacted back in the command room earlier.

Why should the always cold, dangerous, and emotionless Rogue leader show such a desperate expression for a random zombie girl?

At that time, Leader Imani had genuinely believed that Salma was just trying to mess with her to undermine her authority.

But now, as Leader Imani stared directly at Salma’s tear-streaked face, she realized there was definitely something deeper going on behind the scenes.

What could that possibly be? What was Salma’s true relationship with that zombie girl?

Leader Imani raised a curious eyebrow, her sharp eyes darting away from Salma and shifting down toward the intense battle taking place in the crater below.

Down in the dusty riverbed, Summer hit the cracked earth with a quiet thud, her Swift Strider Boots absorbing the massive impact seamlessly.

The Void-Touched Vanguard turned its giant, bone-plated head toward her. Its dark eyes glowed with violent purple flames as it let out a deafening roar that shook the surrounding air.

Suddenly, a heavy, suffocating pressure slammed down onto Summer’s small shoulders.

[It’s activating its domain...] the system warned.

’What’s a domain?’ Summer asked in confusion.

[Something they can project outward.]

The low-grade Elite zombie activated its innate domain ability. Within a five-meter radius around the monster’s body, the air became intensely condensed, multiplying the atmospheric gravity several times over.

Summer felt her limbs grow heavy, as if she were suddenly walking through thick, drying cement. ℯℯ𝑙.

However, Summer did not panic for even a single second. Her glowing ruby eyes remained completely calm and focused.

This heavy gravity aura was undeniably powerful against anyone else. But for Summer, who possessed Shadow Mirage, it was entirely useless.

"Shadow Mirage," Summer whispered softly.

Her physical body instantly dissolved into a swirling blur of pitch-black mist. The heavy gravity domain had nothing solid to grip onto, allowing her shadowy form to glide effortlessly through the compressed air.

She reappeared right behind the towering monster’s left shoulder in less than a fraction of a second.

Summer brought her right fist backward, coating her Iron Brawler Gauntlet in mana.

With her monstrous strength attribute of twenty-four backing up her momentum, she punched straight into the exposed seam of the monster’s neck armor.

CRACK!

The thick bone plating shattered like cheap glass under her brutal strike. The Void-Touched Vanguard roared in agony, wildly swinging its massive, blade-like claws behind its back to slice her in half.

Summer effortlessly dissolved into shadow mist once again, dodging the giant claw by a mere millimeter.

She materialized directly underneath the monster’s tall chest, her small legs springing off the ground with terrifying force. She launched an explosive uppercut straight into the soft flesh of the creature’s lower jaw.

The sheer physical force of her strike sent the giant, twenty-foot monster flying backward into the air.

Before the heavy beast could even touch the ground, Summer flashed above its falling body using another Shadow Mirage burst.

She raised both of her heavy iron gauntlets high above her head, locking her fingers together into a massive, double-fist hammer.

She slammed her hands down onto the monster’s chest with all her physical might.

BOOM!

The giant body of the Void-Touched Vanguard crashed violently into the baked earth, creating a massive crater thirty meters wide. Dust and shattered rocks exploded outward in every direction.

The monster coughed up dark black blood, its chest cavity completely caved in and its bone armor thoroughly pulverized. Its giant limbs twitched weakly once before going entirely limp.

Summer landed smoothly right beside the dead monster, her dark hair fluttering gently in the rising dust cloud.

A series of bright system notifications instantly flashed across her vision.

[Target Neutralized!]

[You have slain a Low-Grade Elite Zombie: Void-Touched Vanguard (Level 15)!]

[Gained 400 Experience Points!]

[Progress toward Next Evolution: 1 / 1000 Elites]

Summer stared at the bracket on her screen, her small lips curving upward in satisfaction. She had officially started her grand evolution counter.

Suddenly, two brightly glowing light orbs dropped out of the dissolving corpse and floated gently above the ground.

Summer reached out her small hands and touched both glowing items simultaneously.

[Loot Acquired!]

Void-Bound Chestplate (Uncommon Gear): Grants +8 CONST and +5 STR. Passive: Increases physical defense against blunt attacks by 15%.

Skill Scroll - Gravity Compression (Common): Creates a 5-meter area of condensed gravity around the user, reducing the physical movement speed of all enemies within the zone by 30%.

Summer nodded in deep approval, happily storing the heavy dark chestplate and the skill scroll into her system inventory space.

Suddenly, before she could even lean down to extract the core, the dark sky above the dried riverbed opened up with a blinding flash of golden light.

A giant holographic screen, completely separate from her own personal system interface, materialized high in the sky for everyone in the city to see.

[Congratulations for being the first challenger to slay the Void Vanguard!]

Summer blinked her ruby eyes, looking up at the glowing words floating high above her head.

’Hm?’ Summer tilted her small head in silent confusion.

[A dungeon already?] the system remarked in her mind, sounding quite surprised by this development.

’What is a dungeon?’ Summer asked inwardly as she reached into the dead monster’s caved-in chest with her small hand.

She pulled out a large, dark yellow zombie core that hummed with dense energy. Without any hesitation, she popped the raw core straight into her mouth and swallowed it whole like a sweet jawbreaker candy.

She closed her eyes for a brief second, deeply enjoying the rich, cool energy washing over her body.

[A dungeon is a special, isolated dimensional space where you will get a lot of candies,] the system explained in a tempting voice.

The moment those words registered in her head, Summer’s ruby eyes brightened with intense excitement.

She wiped her pale lips with the back of her gloved hand, staring directly at the pulsing black portal floating in the center of the riverbed.