Chapter 176: Incoming Storm

WHOOSH!!

​".....?!"

​The two turned toward the hill, feeling the chilling wind sweep across the rocky wasteland. They stared, utterly stunned, as Asher walked out from the fading light of the portal, his long dark overcoat torn slightly at the hem.

​"Lord Asher!!"

​The two exclaimed in unison, rushing frantically toward him: "Are you alright, Lord Asher?"

​Asher gave a simple, smooth nod: "Yes, the dungeon is cleared." He muttered, stretching his arms high above his head to loosen his tight shoulders.

​’I would love to continue grinding, but I am simply too excited to give Kelly her cure... I just can’t continue right now,’ he thought to himself, before adding aloud:

​"Okay, you two need some rest to recuperate... Let’s head back to the city." He instructed, turning his heel and walking straight toward the parked heavy armored jeep.

​"....?!"

​The two stared at his casual back, then looked at one another in sheer disbelief.

​Did he actually just solo and clear an SSS-RANK Dungeon?!

​’How strong is Lord Asher?!!’ Marianne thought, her heart hammering against her ribs in absolute shock.

​’I know Lord Asher is strong, but this is simply too powerful... Soloing an SSS-RANK Dungeon and even clearing it so quickly? This is crazy.’ Denise blinked repeatedly, his face draining of color.

​Asher completely ignored their dumbfounded expressions—he didn’t have the time or energy to explain anything. All that mattered was getting in the car and heading straight back to the estate.

​"AAAAWOOOO!!!!!"

​".....?!!"

​The three froze in their tracks, turning their gaze toward the distant ridgeline as a long, piercing howl echoed through the night. Emerging from the gloom was the exact same massive scout wolf they had spotted before entering the dungeon gate.

​"Isn’t that the..."

​Denise froze mid-sentence as dozens more silver-furred shadows moved out from the tree line in the distance—more than a hundred of them pouring over the rocks.

​".....?!!!"

​Asher paused, turning his head back to inspect the pack. The rank-and-file wolves parted cleanly to make way, and an S-Rank Alpha—twice the size of the surrounding B-Rank and A-Rank wolves, standing a full two meters tall at the shoulder—stepped forward with glowing red eyes.

​"These are Dire wolves, a whole pack of them!" Marianne flicked her wrist, and her crimson sword materialized in her palm with a sharp hum: "They are already this close to the city; if we leave them... Something bad might happen."

​Asher stared at her clearly exhausted form and sighed softly. Even after being pushed to her absolute physical limits inside the gate, her instincts were still driving her to fight and protect the civilian walls.

​"For now, rest... Leave this to me."

​Asher stepped forward, moving past the two exhausted guild members and placing himself firmly between them and the advancing horde.

​’These guys aren’t stupid. They knew we would eventually come out from the dungeon, so they waited here for an ambush... Standard Awakened will surely be injured and weakened once they step out from a high-tier gate. What cunning monsters; too bad for them, they met me.’

​"AAAWOOOO!!!!"

​The Alpha let out a commanding roar, and instantly, the entire pack shot forward, charging at their highest speed across the barren field toward the three humans.

​"We three won’t even satisfy all these wolves..." Denise muttered, his hand trembling on his weapon hilt.

​"Leave them to me." Asher stretched his bare hand out toward the incoming tide. The exact second the wolves reached five hundred meters from his position, he activated his domain.

​{Shadow Domain - Activated.}

​A spherical dome of absolute pitch-black darkness erupted from his feet, instantly swallowing the horde whole. The wolves’ charging momentum slowed to a crawl, then stopped entirely. They frantically darted their eyes around the empty dark void; their senses were completely shut down, and their internal energy was instantly sealed under the pressure of his aura.

​Grrrrrr!!

​The trapped wolves let out low, desperate growls, baring their razor-sharp fangs and blindly snapping at the empty shadow space.

​{Lightning Domain - Activated.}

{Poisonous Mark - Activated.}

{Devil Curse Throwing Daggers - Activated.}

{Swords Sovereign - Activated.}

{Judgement Strike - Activated.}

​Four Divine-Tier skills and one Heaven-Tier skill went off simultaneously inside the localized shadow expanse. Outside, Denise and Marianne stood frozen in complete confusion as arc-lightning and phantom blades illuminated the pitch-black barrier from within. In less than ten seconds, the dark shadow dome shattered into shimmering black particles.

​".....?!!"

​The two guild members—and the solitary Alpha—stared in absolute stun at the hundred-plus wolf corpses now lined up across the scorched dirt in neat, gruesome heaps.

​"These guys are so weak," Asher said casually, pointing the pitch-black bone blade of his Devouring Sword directly at the trembling Alpha: "I hope you put up a valid fight!"

​GRAAAA!

​The Alpha opened its cavernous maw, and the next moment, a thick, concentrated beam of black energy shot directly out toward Asher with intense force and blinding speed.

​’I can easily absorb such a weak attack using God’s Eye, but...’ He moved his gaze subtly around the quiet surrounding hills, ’There are always hidden eyes watching... I don’t want to reveal such a powerful skill just yet.’

​He shot forward, dodging the black beam with a simple, effortless tilt of his body.

​’Sword Sovereign has a 30-minute cooldown, but Judgement Strike doesn’t have one... Devouring Sword, use your ability.’

​BOOOM!

​{Flash - Activated.}

​Asher vanished from his standing spot, instantly reappearing directly before the S-Rank wolf while its jaw was still wide open from its attack.

​".....?!"

​"Weak!"

​WHOOSH!!!

​The blade clean-severed the colossal wolf’s head from its neck in a single fluid motion.

​{Health Maxed Out.}

{Devouring Sword’s Ability is ineffective.}

​’I expected that,’ Asher thought, lowering his weapon and glancing indifferent at the falling, headless body of the Alpha.

​"....?!"

​The two guild members watched the entire sequence, completely paralyzed by the sheer speed.

​"Did he just wipe out a whole wolfpack of more than a hundred wolves in ten seconds?" Denise muttered in a dazed, hollow shock.

​"I can also take on these wolves alone, but definitely not this fast..." Marianne muttered under her breath, her eyes tracking Asher as he stooped down, plunged his blade into the Alpha’s skull, and pried out a shimmering S-Rank Evolution Stone.

​"Taking all the stones from this many wolves manually is going to be exhausting... I need an artifact, skill or tool that can quickly extract monster cores. I don’t have anything like that on me for now." He wiped his blade and started walking toward the closest corpse:

"If this was inside an active dungeon system, I could just use the Awakened system to auto-extract them. What a bother."

​"It seems we will be busy for a few minutes," Marianne said, stepping forward past her shock to assist her new leader: "Denise, stay in the jeep and rest for now." Her tone was flat and businesslike.

​"Um... Alright," Denise said, nodding slowly as he watched Asher effortlessly handle the field cleanup:

’That Alpha was a legitimate Normal Boss-Tier monster. He literally one-shot it, completely skipping its second and third battle phases.’

___

​[Two thousand miles south of Silverspire.]

[Untamed Deep Forest.]

​Deep within an overgrown, primordial forest, an unmarked, unregistered SSS-RANK Dungeon’s long cooldown timer finally ticked down to zero.

​BAM!!

​The ancient stone gateway frame vibrated violently before the spatial seal shattered, twisting space into a churning, blood-red dimensional vortex.

​BAM!

​A colossal, scaly green leg stepped out from the swirling vortex, crashing heavily into the soil. A towering humanoid Lizard monster with a long, thrasher tail stepped fully into the open air. Armed with a massive iron broadsword, it stood ten feet tall, its nostrils flaring as it tasted the rich energy of the outer world.

​GRAAA!

(The gateway is finally opened.)

​Behind the scout, dozens more massive Lizards poured through the portal in tight formation, each wielding identical giant broadswords as their golden reptilian eyes scanned the surrounding canopy.

​GRAAA!

(Welcome the Master.)

​The elite reptilian warriors instantly dropped to one knee and cleared a wide path as a truly colossal Lizard—standing fifteen feet tall, carrying two massive broadswords strapped across its scaled back, and sporting two jagged black horns curling from its crown—stepped through the tear in space.

​"Hehehe... Find the closest human territory. I want to feast." It commanded in a guttural, terrifying voice, as the suffocating pressure of an Ex-Rank monster’s aura burst from its body, flattening the trees and driving every animal within miles into a panic:

"Send out the lowlife vanguard creatures first to taste the waters."