Rise Of The Infinite Sovereign-Chapter 346: Something’s coming

A gigantic dungeon settled on the soil, its huge frame lay for all to see.

Dwarfing everyone, its height was one third of a mountain’s.

Mimicking a triangular pyramid, its front surface was an open area filled with the same blue essence within active dungeons.

On all accounts, it signified an entrance.

Like the occasional dungeon, its sides were made of solid material, very smooth and coloured light brown.

Suddenly, it let off tremendous pressure, enough that the Grandmasters gathered a mile away felt it, not to mention the master ranks.

They were struggling to hold their expressions.

Ezra was unfazed.

The moment the dungeon blanketed the surroundings with its presence, he took the initiative.

Blasting forth, breaking the sound barrier, Ezra sends himself right into the dungeon.

If he could delay the otherworld forces or halt their advance, he could potentially give himself enough time to breakthrough to Transcendent rank.

But then...

*BAM!*

Unlike his expectations, this dungeon functioned a bit differently.

The entrance acted as a wall rather than a doorway to the dungeon’s inner parts.

As a result, Ezra was sent back with a rebound, hitting like soil and creating a crater before stopping.

Quick to get back on his feet, Ezra frowned.

For a Mythic rank attack to be deflected so easily, the defence was nothing to scoff at.

At the same time, he felt something strange happen during the moment he collided with the dungeon’s entrance.

No need to ponder when he could simply check again.

Taking a fighting stance, Ezra lunged for the entrance and punched out.

*BAM!*

A shockwave erupted upon impact. Like before, it rebounded, sending him back a few feet.

’Well this is something else’

Ezra paused, the glowing wall was more than tough enough and his attacks weren’t doing much damage.

Then, he’d felt the bizarre sensation much clearer this time, but it was still too muddled for him to clearly define.

Instead of slamming against the hard surface a third time, he walks up to it and gently places his hands on the surface.

Like clockwork, the phenomenon takes place once again.

There was a sudden pull as something foreign flowed into him.

Ezra hastily takes his arm off and steps back.

He touches his hand to check for changes, but...nothing.

Just then, Zydrax’s voice resounds.

[This...do it again]

Nodding, he places his hand on the glowing surface once again.

With less agitation, he feels it clearly.

Something unfamiliar was flowing or rather, he was absorbing something from the dungeon towards his...heart?!

[It’s your mana heart that’s drawing in the essence...oh!] Zydrax paused for a second. [Place your second hand on it]

Not sure what Zydrax had gleaned, Ezra complied anyway.

"What’s going on?"

[I think we found it] He spoke excitedly.

’What did we find?’ Ezra was reasonably confused.

[The key!] he says. This could be the key, the final piece to finishing the artifact!]

[Ezra, absorb it faster, let your whole body touch it]

As if trying to hug the dungeon wall, Ezra’s full body touched it, and like Zydrax said, the rate of the absorption increased drastically.

On the other end, Khasavar was commending the draped figure.

"I must say that I am very impressed. To have the dungeons combine to form a far bigger one to multiply its capabilities to fit the likes of higher modules. How exactly did you come up with such an idea?"

"It occurred to me while I was working on something" the draped figure drop spoke, lowering his tone.

"I was trying to create something that would ease the essence usage when I realized I didn’t need to create something entirely new"

"You’ve proved yourself. This is ingenious" Khasavar commends. "Once things settle, I will appreciate you with a reward higher than what I promised"

The draped figure didn’t say anything and nodded slowly. "It is greatly appreciated"

Though his eyes said otherwise.

With a nod, Khasavar flashes out of sight.

He appears in front of the ’friends’ he’d gathered.

With the attack soon to begin, he decided to give them a last reminder.

A pep talk, if you will.

"Remember," he says. "Do no more than necessary. You just have to crush their highest echelons of combatants and get them to surrender, keep the damage to a minimum"

The three figures nodded in response, gripping their weapons harder as their eyes glinted.

"No worries, we’ll make sure to do that"

"Rank five’s huh?" Another snickered, showing off his golden armoured claws "This’ll be over very quickly"

As a rank six incipient, he naturally looked down on those below him.

The third kept his peace, only letting out a satisfied huff as a sign of agreement.

At this time, a commotion broke out.

"Sir!"

Those checking the transparent screens quickly called the draped figures’ attention.

"All of a sudden, the gateway started using up far more essence, at least twice as much as it did just minutes before"

"Hmm?" The draped figure looked over it.

"Very strange" he mutters. "Something must be interfering with the gateway, but I don’t know what being or thing that could cause this type of reaction"

"What’s going on?" Without noticing, Khasavar had appeared behind him.

"Something’s causing the gateway’s to use up far essence than anticipated" the draped figure replied.

Right after, one of the rank six incipients spoke from behind him.

"Why don’t you let me go and check out what it is? Or is the connection still not stable?"

"Its stable now"

Khasavar ’hmm’ ed, giving out orders soon after.

"Fine, you’ll go first and see what’s causing this. But don’t wander and wait for others to arrive"

"You’re going to transport them all at once?" The rank six asked incredulously.

"No, but half of them should follow right behind you"

"Wow" the rank six speaks in admiration. "Must be good to be rich"

Khasavar didn’t bother replying.

In truth, this endeavor had dried out his coffers, and because he needed things done quietly, he couldn’t risk telling his parents.

Obviously he wasn’t going to tell the rank six that.

As with the the dungeon in Orion, a triangular shaped doorway made of energy manifested in front of the thousands of troops. freewёbnoνel.com

Sending them through the connection required essence, so to keep the essence usage low, the rank six incipients will go in one by one, and wait for the rest of the army on the other side.

"I don’t have to tell you that you shouldn’t get carried away and start fighting amongst one another, do I?"

The mute one shook his head and spoke for the first time.

"You don’t"

"I’ll trust that you’ll get the job done" He finished up with a whisper like sigh as the first of the rank six incipients stepped into the gateway.

As with other gateways, it transported items by temporarily transforming into an energy based lifeform.

Meaning those sent through have their entire being, genome and all, transposed into an energy state.

Depending on the gateway’s grade, this process was either effortless or excruciating.

Furthermore, the lower one’s grade, the easier a forced transform is, because each breakthrough caused new changes to one’s DNA and added more weight to their bodies.

So, for the rank six incipient crossing into the lowest grade dungeon, it was nothing short of excruciating.

But the rank six refused to let out even a squeak, squeezing his face and shutting his eyes as he felt himself shift to an existence compatible for transportation.

Piece by piece.

But even the most basic dungeons weren’t anything to scoff at.

Without noticing, the last of his body shifted and with a bright flash of light, he was gone.

What seemed like hours was actually less than five minutes.

Whilst transported, he felt nothing, not a single part of his body.

Yet, somehow he knew he was moving.

With the destination stretching at least a light year, getting there would take a while even with a gateway.

What? You thought the troops reached Orion on the same day they were sent forth? Not at all.

Troops took at least a day to reach Orion.

Do note that the method for transporting dungeons was different and many times faster than using a gateway.

On Ezra’s end, as soon as the rank six stepped in, Zydrax felt it.

[Something’s coming, something big]

"Huh?" Ezra bobbed his head whilst still hugging the dungeon and absorbing its essence.

[Something big is approaching, and it’s coming towards this dungeon]

’How big?’ he asks. ’And how do you know that?’

[Very big. It’s most likely a beast more powerful than those we’ve seen until now]

’So, Grandmaster level?’

[Likely, but if their aiming to dominate quickly, it could be a beast at the Mythic rank]

"Heh" Ezra smiled. ’I’ve prepared enough. Even right now, this essence is increasing my cultivation’

’We’ll just have to see how tough these beasts are’

With how much work he’d done, how could he be afraid?

Even though the inevitable feelings of anxiousness bothered him. Anticipation bubbled underneath.

He was expectant of the beast’s arrival.

From his lifetime as Kevin, he’d learnt that none of the otherworld monster’s were invincible.

He’d tried and tested it as Ezra.

Once one bridged the power gap, the opponent’s vulnerability was exposed.

He hoped for a peaceful solution, but a battle was fine too.

’So, how did you know?’

[I’ve examined a dungeon crystal before, I understand it’s working roughly, so I could sense that from this dungeons reaction]

"...."

’Whatever you say’

Frederick appeared by Ezra’s side, raising his eyebrows.

"You’re taking a break from cultivation?"

"Just for a bit. What are you doing?"

Pulling himself away from the dungeons opening, Ezra pulled an explanation right out of the air.

"It can deflect my attacks. So, I’m using my body to search for weak points to exploit"

"Destroying it will kill their attack in its tracks"

"Give it a try then" Ezra remarked.

Without delay, Frederick went round, punching the dungeon on every side, before landing at Ezra’s side.

Looking at his hurting fists, Frederick remarked. "I see what you mean"

"Should I join you then?"

Ezra shook his head. "No need. It would be better for you to help the Grandmasters instead"

Even as they spoke, more and more people arrived to join the army.

The Grandmasters didn’t slow their efforts, but reduced their speed.

As per Ezra’s orders, they were gathering as many masters as possible as insurance for whatever the dungeon threw at them.

"Sure" Just before Frederick takes off, Ezra places his hand on Frederick’s shoulder.

"Don’t worry. You’ll have plenty of time to sort things out once we deal with this issue"

Frederick sighs deeply as his thoughts are laid out. Taking off right after.

Ezra couldn’t act oblivious when he knew what Frederick really wanted.

The shock of seeing his sister was still deep in his mind, he’d only hid it with cultivation.

The pressure the dungeon gave off had completely faded by now.

Moreover, Ezra hadn’t been dilly-dallying the past few days.

If the otherworld beasts insist on going to battle, they would find some nasty surprises awaiting them.

Then, regardless of rank, he wasn’t letting his mom participate in the battle.

Who knew what could go wrong? Not him, so he wasn’t taking any chances, and had placed her in the safest location he could think of.

Don’t tell anyone, but she’s in his space ring.

Along with Fressia? Yes.

You forget, she’s there with Fressia AND Severus.

Though, Fressia didn’t seem to have any intent of or escape, you couldn’t be too cautious.

Severus matched her in power, and so Ezra told him to act as the guardian.

The day passed with Ezra absorbing the dungeon’s essence.

For one thing, it proved to be a tremendous boost for his cultivation.

Though, he was apprehensive as to the insatiability of his mana heart.

You’d expect the absorption rate to slow down as it continued, but it didn’t, and even increased, though not by much.

He was already close to mid Mythic rank as of the time he fought Alvarach.

Whilst the battle forced him to halt his cultivation for a year, the boons he’d gained from overcoming that hurdle was worth it

As of this moment, he was at Peak Mythic rank, thanks to an insane mana absorption rate and diligent cultivation.

With the amount of essence he was absorbing, he could feel the gap towards transcendent rank grow smaller and smaller.

Funny enough or to be expected, the gap between ranks only grew wider as he advanced.

It took thirty percent more effort to break through from a Peak rank to a new rank than to go from Mid to Peak.

Regardless, progress was progress.

So long one inched closer to his destination everyday, he would eventually reach it.

Then, Zydrax spoke.

[It’s here. Get away from the dungeon]

Ezra made distance immediately, leaping backwards twice.

The docile dungeon became active.

It started shaking, calling the attention of the coalition army.

With the enemies yet to arrive, it would be stupid to create tension.

So, beyond rehearsing war strategies and formations, they goofed around, laughing and duelling.

But immediately they noticed the strange activity, they got in place, arranging themselves in the practised formation.

On cue, the front surface brightened to an insane degree, blotting out everything else.

Then, something emerged.