Chapter 52: A Fair Fighting Chance

Dungeons had only one single purpose in the grand cosmos.

That purpose was to replace reality itself.

However, a dungeon could not simply erase and replace any territory it desired whenever it wanted. Doing so was a direct violation of universal laws.

Universal laws dictated that every dungeon had to provide native inhabitants of the target realm a fair fighting chance. If native inhabitants managed to conquer the dungeon, its ultimate purpose would completely fail.

When a new dungeon opened its gates, it would create exactly one hundred portals across a radius of one hundred kilometers. It would then invite exactly one hundred challengers to enter its domain.

If a challenger died inside or failed their trial, the specific portal they had entered would explode into pieces. The dungeon would then immediately claim that specific territory, replacing the human world with its own monstrous biome.

If all one hundred portals shattered, the entire regional area would be completely consumed by the dungeon forever.

However, if even a single challenger managed to reach the deepest layer and claim the dungeon core, the dungeon’s invasion would end instantly.

Even if ninety-nine portals had already exploded and replaced their respective areas, conquering the core would instantly reclaim all lost territories, restoring reality to its original state.

Salma’s earlier assumptions had been entirely correct as she searched for her daughter across the ruined city.

She had noticed multiple glowing portals appearing near areas affected by strange natural occurrences. To her deep dismay, every single portal she found had already been entered by others.

’This is the seventieth one...’ Derrick thought worriedly as he stared at the exhausted face of his young miss.

Salma’s usually pristine appearance was now worn down by sheer physical and mental fatigue. Her pale face was drenched in cold sweat, and her beautiful green eyes were heavily bloodshot from running across the ruined landscape without a single minute of sleep.

Her desperate worry for her daughter hurt Derrick deeply.

Together with his concern, a quiet dissatisfaction simmered deep within his chest against Summer.

In Derrick’s eyes, Summer carried the blood of the man he hated most in the entire world. Yet, he could never bring himself to truly hate the girl, because her veins also carried the precious blood of his beloved young miss.

That complicated bloodline made him feel conflicted every time he looked at Salma risking her life for the child.

"Young Miss—" Derrick began softly, stepping forward to forcefully convince her to sit down and rest.

Before he could finish his sentence, the towering blue portal standing in front of them suddenly brightened with a blinding light.

A loud, violent bang echoed through the empty street as the spatial gateway exploded into thousands of shattered glass shards.

A sharp, global system notification instantly flashed in mid-air right above the ruined portal site.

[Participant Olender has been killed!]

[Dungeon has won Portal #56/100!]

Salma raised her tired head immediately, her bloodshot eyes staring intently at the floating blue holographic text.

’Fifty-six out of one hundred...’ Salma analyzed rapidly in her mind, her heart pounding against her ribs. ’So there are a hundred portals in total. If a participant dies inside, their corresponding portal explodes.’

Her pale hands trembled slightly as a wave of intense hope mixed with sheer terror rushed through her chest.

’My baby’s portal has not exploded yet... so she is still alive!’

Salma took a sharp breath, her eyes locking onto the shattering spatial shards hanging in the air.

’But what happens after the portal explodes?’

As if answering her silent thought, the system generated another glowing line of text directly above the ruined gateway.

[The Dungeon is now replacing the target area...]

A deafening crack echoed through the atmosphere as the very air in front of them tore open like paper.

A massive void rift opened in the middle of the street, swallowing surrounding asphalt and crushed cars into pitch-black darkness.

Before Derrick or Salma could even take a step back, a colossal tree root stepped out from the open void.

The wooden root was wider than a city bus, covered in thick moss and glowing blue mushrooms. It surged upward into the sky with terrifying speed, rising hundreds of meters into the clouds within a matter of seconds.

Heavy impact crushed nearby buildings like fragile paper boxes, sending a massive shockwave of dust and flying debris blasting across the avenue.

"Danger!" Derrick shouted, his demeanor changing in an instant.

He drew his dual steel blades with lightning speed, stepping directly in front of Salma to form an unyielding human shield.

Salma did not hide behind him like a helpless damsel.

Her own aura flared brightly as thick shadow mana erupted from her body, swirling around her hands in sharp shadow blades.

She had grown significantly stronger through her non-stop battles across the apocalyptic city. If Summer were here and looked into her stats, she would be surprised, as Salma now possessed dozens of talents, and all of these talents were at least Rare!

As the two of them held their breath and stared up at the colossal wooden root, a low, horrifying sound echoed from the dark void rift.

It was the wet, rhythmic sound of smooth scales slithering heavily against rough wooden bark.

Slither... slither...

The sheer weight of the approaching entity made the massive root tremble violently in mid-air.

Thick green smoke began pouring out from the void tear, melting shattered concrete on the ground into bubbling black sludge.

A split second later, a gigantic python head emerged slowly from the shadows of the rift.

The monster was easily ten times larger than any normal serpent, its glossy emerald scales glowing with deadly toxic mana. Its cold yellow eyes, as large as house windows, locked straight down onto the two humans standing in the street below.

"A mana-blessed?" Salma muttered as she read the monster’s status using her perception talent. "What is a mana-blessed?"

Her expression changed instantly the moment the massive python yanked its head back, its scaly cheeks bulging outward.

"Oh, fuck," she cursed.

Her shadow mana activated in a fraction of a second, instantly sinking her physical body into a nearby patch of dark shadow a few meters away.

Derrick was just a split second too late to react to the sudden movement.

A massive wave of thick, glowing green liquid rained down directly over him from the sky above.

’Pssss...’

The moment the viscous toxic liquid made contact with his armored shoulders, it began melting through his clothes and skin with terrifying speed.

Within minutes, Derrick was completely melted down into a puddle of bubbling slime, leaving behind nothing at all except a small, perfectly shaped square prism glowing faintly on the ruined asphalt.

Silence descended over the ruined street, broken only by the sizzling sound of melting concrete.

Salma stepped out from the shadow puddle a short distance away, dusting off her boots with a blank look on her face.

She stared down at the small square prism left behind where Derrick had stood just moments before.

"Ahem, I am sorry," Salma cleared her throat quietly, her voice entirely devoid of panic. "I forgot to warn you."

"No problem, young miss. After all, it’s you who has to reconstruct me with expensive metals now..." a voice came from the prism.

"Are you... angry?"

"How can I be angry, miss? I just melted to a slime, nothing serious."

"You are angry."

"Hmph..." Though Derrick acted as if he were angry, in reality, he was glad that his young miss had another thing to busy herself with to keep from worrying about her daughter. Even for a little time.