Demonic Po*nstar System

Chapter 341: Strange Dungeon

The battlefield was silent.

Then, like the tearing of a veil, the silence broke. Black shadows rippled outward from a single figure at the center of the devastation. Vespera, the Shadow Monarch, stood amid the lifeless corpses of draconic beasts. Her form was untouched, and her eyes shone in the darkness like twin voids.

Anyone who would see this woman in her current state wouldn’t hesitate to label her a monster.

Hundreds of draconic creatures surrounded her still. Their wings beat the air, stirring ash and dust, but her expression did not change for a single moment.

She lifted one pale hand.

From the floor of the dungeon, innumerable shadows erupted like spears, skewering the creatures. Some fell instantly, others roared and struggled, making their fire-breath cut swathes of darkness, but it did not matter. Their efforts were futile.

Her shadows regenerated, devoured their flames, and bound their throats shut until silence reigned once more.

Then, with a single commanding sweep of her arm, the battlefield was drowned in a black tide. When it receded, only mountains of corpses remained.

Vespera lowered her hand slowly. She felt nothing. There was no time for sentiment.

Still… something was off.

Her cold gaze lingered on the bloodied remains. These draconics were different. They carried an uncanny resilience, sharper reflexes, and patterns of coordination that the “feral” kind that humanity encountered many times before in other dungeons never displayed. Their scales had crystalline ridges to them, their fire burned with streaks of violet, appearing to be some form of mutation she had not seen in prior dungeons nor in reports.

“A new subspecies, or… Evolving?” Her voice was flat, though the thought stirred a ripple beneath her mask of control.

But in the next second, the Shadow Monarch dismissed the corpses to her shadow-dimension with a wave. Then, her form blurred into shadows and vanished.

She reemerged within another cavern chamber with her shadows unfurling around her like wings. Ahead, three figures stood victorious over a fresh massacre of beasts.

Selena, her eldest daughter. She was regal, her long black hair bound high, her eyes sharp as her mother’s. Cassian and Calix, the twin sons, stood back-to-back among the fallen.

Vespera said nothing, no remarks of maternal pride or congratulations on a fight well done. Instead, her gaze drifted beyond them. Across the vast expanse of the chamber, the New Dawn guild was mopping up the last remnants of draconic resistance. At their head, Magnus Ashborn stood like a mountain of iron will, directing their awakened forces as their commander. But he was not the typical backline commander; his greatsword was red-hot from carving through the beasts.

It did not take long for the battle to end. The call went out, and soon, the leaders gathered.

A council of titans.

From New Dawn, Vespera and Magnus Ashborn.

From Crimson Dominion, Lazarus.

From the Radiant Order, Evangeline and Raziel.

And lastly—though not tied to any guild, yet standing on equal ground—the mercenary, Scarlet. The Flame Monarch. A crimson-haired beauty whose wildfire power had carved her a seat among legends.

The heat was still rolling off Scarlet’s body like ripples from a forge. Her crimson hair was bright orange, still showing sparks, while her burning eyes glowed like embers refusing to die. Just like Vespera Ashborn, this woman, too, was danger incarnate, wrapped in human beauty.

Her gaze swept the battlefield, then the bloodied corpses all around them.

“Is it just me, or is something wrong? These aren’t just stronger draconians. They’re never-before-seen upgraded versions in all senses of the word. Craftier. Strategic… Thinking on a deep level.”

Lazarus gave a grunt that could’ve belonged to a beast. He swung his colossal axe in a lazy arc, sending a fresh spray of black-red monster blood across the stone floor. The coppery stench filled the air.

“My secretary told me the same. Dungeons everywhere have been acting strange lately.”

Magnus’s towering form loomed, his greatsword resting against one broad shoulder. His steel-gray eyes were hard. “Reports came to me as well. It’s a global phenomenon.”

The tension hung thick until Evangeline finally broke it with a scoff. Her golden armor caught the weak dungeon glow, radiant even amid death. “So what? There have always been stranger things than overgrown lizards. You call them ‘upgrades,’ I call them roadblocks. Are you all really going to sit here as scaredy cats trembling before filthy reptiles?”

With a casual flick of her immaculate hand, she gestured toward the massive doors looming at the end of the cavern. They were ancient, ornately carved, veined with glowing mana.

The Boss Room.

“Let’s finish this.”

Not having anything more to discuss, the group approached. The massive doors groaned, opened, and revealed a chamber so vast it seemed carved from the bones of the world.

They only took a few steps before…

There it was.

A dragon.

Not a draconian, not a mere sub-breed. A true dragon. Its body was so immense that its sheer presence dwarfed fortresses, if not mountains themselves. Its dark-gilded scales were shimmering like obsidian dipped in fire. Horns arced like blackened towers from its skull. Its wings unfurled, being larger in size than skyscrapers. The air thickened with its mana before it even stirred.

Magnus’s jaw set like iron. “Is this not too much for a B-rank dungeon?”

In that moment, the reality sank deep.

No one in history had ever witnessed an A-rank dungeon, let alone S. They were myths, warnings, doomsday theories told in whispers. Every reading ever recorded capped at B. And this dungeon… this impossible colossus… had been measured the same.

B-rank.

Or so did the Awakened Association decree.

Vespera’s expression didn’t change, not even a flicker of doubt showed on her doll-like face. Her voice was as cold and sharp as the void itself.

“It matters not.”

Her shadows writhed outward like a living sea. The ground split, the walls bled black as spears, chains, and hands of darkness rushed forward in a tide of annihilation. Hundreds, thousands, then tens of thousands of blades erupted upward, forming a wave of shadow meant to swallow the dragon whole.

But then…

The dragon moved.

Its wings slammed once against the chamber, and its roar tore reality itself. The sound was more than sound; it was magic, raw and ancient. The chamber shook, stone cracked, and the very shadows Vespera unleashed disintegrated as though reduced to dust before sunlight.

The Shadow Monarch’s attack vanished into nothingness.

Silence fell for a heartbeat.

Vespera’s face was a mask of ice. She betrayed nothing. Without pause, her hand swept up again, summoning more shadows. Another attack. Then another. A murder machine given human form, adjusting instantly, unshaken by the appearance of a dangerous enemy.

The Shadow Monarch did not know fear.

…

At the same time, Kaiden and co were on the move!

.gg/necrobin