Galaxy Fall: All My Skills Are Maxed-Chapter 144: The Tyranny Of The Red Pillar

[Main Zone of The Hell Gate Dungeon.]

​BOOOOM!!

​The spatial vortex in the upper atmosphere ruptured, and every creature that had managed to survive the localized cataclysm of the previous zone shot out into the main arena. But there was no immediate clash of claws or steel. Instead of spreading out to claim territory, the monsters froze in mid-air. Like iron filings drawn to a magnet, they turned as one and flew toward a titanic red pillar of light shining with malevolent brilliance tens of miles away, its brilliant was so bright it could be seen all over the zone.

​"What is that?" Zaphyra asked in confusion, her gaze fixed on the crimson beacon. The next moment, a violent, invisible force smashed into her mind, trying to peel back her consciousness.

​"This!! It’s the mind range attack!! Everyone, you know what to do!!" She snapped her fingers with military precision. A pair of red sunglasses, heavily infused with spirit energy to filter mental pollutants, appeared in her hand. She jammed them onto her face. The quicker and stronger veteran members of the Eagle Guild followed her lead, masking their eyes against the psychic radiation.

​"No!!"

​"Don’t!!"

​"...?!"

​Zaphyra whirled around in shock, witnessing a nightmare. Her own people were clawing at the ones who had successfully donned the sunglasses, trying to rip the protection off their faces with animalistic desperation. She stared at them, her stomach churning as she saw their eyes had turned a flat, pulsating blood-red—perfectly synchronized with the pillar.

​"Fuck!! Kill them!!" She yelled, the command tearing from her throat.

​"But they’re our--"

​"--Shut up!!" She snapped at her second-in-command, her voice like a whip. "They are already possessed by the spirit!! You can’t save them!"

​She opened her palm, summoning ten roaring fireballs, and shot them towards the infected ten. The flames engulfed them instantly. The possessed members didn’t even scream; they simply continued their mindless task of trying to expose the others to the light.

​"All of you hold on to something!!" Zaphyra yelled, her boots slamming hard against the Fire Heart Dragon’s skull to snap it out of the trance.

​"360 rotation!!!"

​GRAAAA!!

​The dragon let out a pained, earth-shaking roar and rolled violently upside down in mid-air, centrifugal force throwing the remaining infected from its back into the abyss below.

​"Balance!" Zaphyra ordered. The dragon leveled out, its wings beating heavily. "All of you listen to me."

​She stared at the red glowing pillar, then raised her head to the oppressive night sky where the light seemed to bleed into the clouds.

​"That Pillar over there is the base of the Boss in this dungeon... But if anyone whose level is lower than the Boss looks directly at that pillar, they will be possessed by its mind skill..." She looked over her shoulder at her remaining ten members, her heart heavy. "You all already got this information before entering this dungeon, but..." She sighed, the weight of leadership pressing down on her.

"Forget them. They are always casualties in a dungeon... Our job is to kill that Boss and get out of here."

​"What if someone else kills the Boss?" someone asked, swallowing hard against the metallic taste of fear.

​"If that happens, all the humans will be forcefully removed, and we will fail our mission," she said grimly. She tapped the dragon’s head one last time. "Land."

​The Dragon nodded, diving through the thick, sulfurous air and landing lightly on the cracked earth.

​"From here on, we walk." Zaphyra jumped to the ground, her boots crunching on black glass. Her remaining members followed, looking up at the sky in awe and terror. "All the monsters in this zone are all guarding that huge Pillar... Looking at it from here, it’s like it pierced the sky."

​She shook her head and turned back to the dragon. "You’re coming back with me." She slammed her palms together, and the massive beast vanished in a swirl of sparks. A small, glowing orb appeared on the ground; she bent and retrieved it. "Ok, you all know our target. Kill the Boss and take the eternal ring... That’s our target."

​"Can we actually fight a boss with our current strength? We entered with 40 members, and only eleven of us are left," a lady said, her voice trembling, her face pale in the red glow.

​Zaphyra stared at her. She could understand the fear and the hesitation, the way the silence of the graveyard they stood in amplified every heartbeat. These people had known the risks, but the reality was far grimmer than the briefing.

​She exhaled, turning back to the Pillar of red light. ’But I still can’t send them to their deaths. With our current strength, we will surely die before we even see the Boss.’ She closed her eyes, extending her senses to feel the overlapping, jagged auras saturating the zone.

​’There are more than 200 monsters there, and amongst them are World Bosses and high-tier Bosses... which means the Boss is a Realm Boss.’ She clenched her fists until her gauntlets creaked.

​"Listen up... We won’t continue this mission. As much as the Empire needs this ring, your lives are more valuable to me and our guild. But with our current situation, we have only two options." She raised her head toward the massive gate in the sky, its double doors hanging wide like the jaws of a trap.

​"First, we hide and wait till someone or something kills the dungeon Boss, and we return home—meaning we give up on the mission. Second, we fight and die, or maybe, by chance, we kill the Boss... But this possibility is only 0.1%. In a simpler form, we can all die. Now vote. What option are we taking?" She asked, her expression serious, her gaze fixed on the gate, watching as dark figures started flowing out from it.

’Demons.’ She thought in disgust. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Her members looked at one another, they were all nervous, horrified, and anxious, but none of them was ready to die.