CHAPTER 16: RAIDING THE UNDERGROUND DUNGEON.

           Though Morales already thought and went through his battle plan thoroughly, getting close to the hidden entrance of the underground dungeon left him feeling nervous.

He inclined his head a bit to look at his companion. To his surprise, Tigerclaw was completely focused with a nastily serious expression on his face.

Seeing this, he quickly came to a realization. “Yeah, why am I even afraid when I’m not there yet? With my strength, I don’t believe that I can die stupidly, I can escape if the situation goes contrary to expectations”.

As these thoughts went through his mind, he quickly found the entrance of the dungeon.

It was a grey metallic door with signs of rust already on it, but it was still sturdy from its outward appearance. Morales knew that a special enchanted scroll was required to open it, but he had alternative means.

The entrance was covered with a bunch of grass originally, but as someone familiar with it, it took him little time and effort to find it. 

“Tigerclaw, now!” He quickly called out.

“Got it. I hope this is worth it, I’m too young to die now”. Despite the grumbling, Tigerclaw still went to work.

He raised both his hands as with a red light flashing past, they both transformed into the paws of a tiger. Their sharp claws glinted under the morning light, reflecting a dangerous sheen.

He did not perform any flashy attacks, he followed Morales’s plan.

He carefully placed his transformed claws on the door and dug inside the metal covering. He dragged his sharp claws to the left, then to the right as a rectangular cut was inflicted on the door.

Pulling out, the door that seemed impervious to damage smoothly followed his claws out. This was the beginning of their operation; a big rectangular hole was now in the door.

Tigerclaw turned to nod at Morales smugly, the latter reacted with an encouraging smile while cursing softly.

Under the damaged door was a long ladder that led downwards into the darkness below. The walls of the tunnel had a spiral style like those of a coral that kept turning downwards. 

Tigerclaw did not mind his companion’s curse as he led the way, climbing the ladder down. This time, his expression finally grew serious as they were already in enemy territory.

About 2 minutes later after they started climbing down, they finally saw a faint light source.

Through the light, Tigerclaw could see 3 guards getting themselves drunk around a small table. They all held large bottles of alcohol which they drank lavishly while laughing loudly.

He licked his lips on seeing this as his hands raised subconsciously. According to Morales, only 5 guards were guarding below the ladder.

He suddenly released his grip on the ladder and jumped downwards as the effect of gravity made him quickly surpass his normal speed. Morales followed closely behind.

Boom!!

He landed on all fours as his sturdy legs and sharp claws ripped the table to pieces immediately, throwing the shattered bottle fragments randomly.

Seeing this, the guards were stunned as they hastily jumped up. They reacted fast, but his attack was even faster.

Before they could jump completely, his 2 hands already zoomed sideways as they drew a sharp cut on the first guard’s face. Before the poor fellow could scream in pain, another 2 blows severed his neck from his body.

Seeing the blood remains of their companion, the other 2 guards were flustered as they tried to counterattack.

Tigerclaw only stretched out his hands again as he easily gripped both guards on the throat and raised them up. They struggled fiercely, but it was all to no avail.

With 2 glaring snap sounds, the 2 fellow’s heads were turned to an impossible angle. In just about a few breaths of time, he already killed 3 guards.

The killing speed was outrageously fast that the other 2 guards at the corner only realized the danger they were in now. They quickly grabbed their guns and aimed at him, but he only smiled back.

Morales was already behind them.

Whoosh!! Morales’s leg launched sideways with immense force as the guard who stood at the left suffered the full brunt of the attack on his head.

His head was smashed against the wall ruthlessly with force, only blood and flesh like mashed potatoes were left of him.

Another sharp slicing sound quickly followed after this as the other guard stood motionless in shock. He quickly dropped his gun and held his neck desperately, but this could not prevent the inevitable outcome.

Blood blossomed like drizzling rain.

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-73

As you have over twice as much strength as your target, your attack dealt 50% more damage.

Critical hit -149

You have killed a guard of a secret underground dungeon, gaining 320 experience.

You have killed a guard of a secret underground dungeon, gaining 320 experience.

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Morales shook his hands to get rid of the blood that stained it with a calm face, nodded at Tigerclaw before going back to the direction of the ladder that led to the entrance.

Their attack ended so smoothly because this was the first time that this dungeon was being attacked, so the higher-ups were still complacent.

Back in his previous life, after the dungeon of madness was attacked a few times by the players, the higher-ups started employing more sophisticated methods to detect intruders.

He alone could have dispatched the 5 guards, but he brought Tigerclaw in the event that the guards here were more than he estimated. He felt relieved as this meant that this was still the basic dungeon of madness that he knew.

After getting to the location of the ladder, he raised his hand that held a long red object on it. This was a handmade flare signal propeller that he took from the dead guards.

He quickly shot the flare out as the red light illuminated the tunnel upwards before quickly disappearing outside. He stood to wait patiently after the light spread out.

He did not have to wait long as all the other escapees that came with him scaled the ladder down the next moment.

After everyone came down, he asked them again to confirm that they remembered the plan before they started proceeding forward. From here, they would finally start the main attack.

Unlike the other enchanted door at the entrance, the door that led to the main part of the dungeon was designed in a simple mechanical style.

Lionel easily worked the mechanisms of the door and unlocked it. For the early stages of the attack, the mechanics and the other ranged classes had the most important mission.

After unlocking the door, Lionel turned back to get Morales’s approval before he silently opened it.

Not detecting any reaction immediately, he heaved a sigh of relief. His fellow mechanics drew closer to him as they carefully revealed themselves to get a better look at the dungeon.

It seemed that this was the main hall of the dungeon as it was about a kilometer wide.

Contrary to their expectations, the hall was not filled to the brim with thugs and guards. It was even scanty a little, the guards there in the hall busied themselves doing different leisure things to kill time.

The large hall was constructed in a circle shape and the guards spread themselves mostly at the corners, forming various cliques among themselves.

A big door stood at the furthermost part of the hall, with 2 smaller doors perpendicular to it. According to what Morales told them, the small door on the left was where the kidnapped slaves were kept.

And saving the slaves was the target that was assigned to the mechanics.

After confirming that this was the exact place and structure that Morales described to them, Lionel raised his hand to give a thump up, which meant that everything was in place and they were good to go.

“Shaw, Dave, take the 11 o’clock and 1 o’clock respectively with your team. The rest, all of you are to follow me”.

After saying that, Lionel directly badged out of hiding as he pulled out the 2 large caliber rifles that were attached to his back.

It was at this moment that one of the guards finally noticed him. He didn’t care though, he stared back directly at the guard as he pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Bam!! Bam!!

2 gunshots reverberated as the 2 poor guards that were still blabbering a moment ago got their heads reduced to puddles of blood. All the guards reacted instantly as the hall seemed to come alive all of a sudden.

The 2 gunshots became the catalyst that heralded the start of this fierce raid.

All the other mechanics burst out of their locations as they shot rapidly at the guards who were still figuring out the situation, their movements were coordinated like a well-oiled machine.

This was when the other class holders finally revealed themselves.

Robust energy erupted from the Pugilists as they rushed out like a bunch of bandits, pushing forward amid the rain of gunshots. The agility-oriented ones moved like phantoms on the battlefield.

The Esper class holders also joined as their various abilities wreaked havoc on the battlefield.

The guards started retaliating also as the visual effect of different abilities filled the large hall, making the once casual hall suddenly seem like the core of a raging black hole.

Casualties quickly appeared on both sides due to the fast frequency of the battle, but none of them cowered. The impacts were just like rhinos fighting a tug of war.

As chaos spread among the battlefield, Morales finally revealed himself but he did not engage directly. This was among his plan. Through a special thief ability used by Nightwing, they were currently invisible.

This was an elite team that he formed comprising of himself, Nightwing, Tigerclaw, Bigfoot, and Hero.

Taking advantage of the commotion, they quickly slipped behind the defense of the now completely aroused guards. Their direction was towards the big door that stood at the furthermost point of the hall.

This door led to the core parts of the dungeon where the dungeon protectors stay. This time, the dungeon protectors were their targets.

Morales wanted to find someone important that he could interrogate to get a real knowledge of his background. With the elite team that he organized, he believed that no dungeon protector stood a chance against them.