Days of Dungeon: From Simple Quest to Strange Adventure

A divine gift... It was the secret behind Gwen's overwhelming physical strength, as Lynn had revealed to Arezu just the other night—though she kept the way she knew about it a secret from him.

Regardless of its true name, Lynn explained that Gwen's divine gift creates a two-way link between her and her Minions, amplifying her strength to match—or perhaps even exceed—the number of Minions under her command.

"Resonance"

Although what Lynn said that night might have seemed hard to believe, witnessing Gwen's strength now made everything clear to Arezu: she was undeniably a Hero Candidate—or rather...

"...A Heroine," Arezu muttered, struggling to track Gwen's unbelievable speed, which had surpassed even her already swift movements.

Just before the incoming shockwaves struck from both the front and rear, Gwen vanished from her position.

Faster than the eye could follow, she had leapt high into the air, narrowly escaping the devastating destruction that shook the ground and reverberated through the air.

Using the dust cloud from the collision and explosion of the two powerful attacks as cover, Gwen masked the daggers she threw toward the second and third swordsmen.

Her daggers struck the ground beside her targets. With expert precision, she manipulated the chains connected to them, coiling and entangling the two swordsmen. Then, using her incredible strength, she yanked them both into the air.

Rotating mid-air, Gwen kicked against the very air itself—as if it were a solid platform—using it to boost her momentum. She then hurled the two swordsmen down with such force that they slammed into the ground, disarmed and unconscious.

Landing behind the first swordsman, Gwen released the chain and charged toward the archer.

The first swordsman turned to chase after her, but before he could take a step, Arezu intercepted him.

"You're not going anywhere!"

With his halberd-axe clashing against the opponent's buster-sword, Arezu held the swordsman's attention, buying Gwen the time she needed to reach the top of the barren hill—where the Dungeon Core awaited.

Gwen had never conquered a Dungeon before, much less destroyed a Dungeon Core. But she knew that every Hero gifted with a divine power possessed the ability to bypass the magical barrier protecting it and bring it down.

She had kept the existence of her divine gift a secret from both Lynn and Arezu, assuming the two had a strategy to destroy the Core themselves. What she didn't realize was that, based on Arezu's assumption, the entire plan actually depended on her hidden power.

As Gwen charged ahead, the female archer intercepted her with a hail of arrows. Each one sliced through the air with a sharp whistle, erupting on impact with explosive force.

But none found their mark.

Gwen sprinted between the arrows, dodging them with impossible precision. She weaved through cursed weapons embedded in the ground, even avoiding flaming projectiles conjured by the mage's Flame Arrow mystic spell, as she raced up the hill.

Without hesitation or fear of what lay ahead, Gwen pressed forward, trusting that her allies would give her the support she needed to win.

"Ice Lance"

As if answering her trust, Lynn's voice rang out—and a shower of crystal-clear lances rained from above. The sudden assault forced the archer and the mage onto the defensive, halting their attacks.

That brief opening was all Gwen needed.

She hurled one of her daggers at the archer, ensnaring her with the attached chain. With overwhelming strength, Gwen yanked the archer into the air and slammed her down the hill, knocking her unconscious upon impact.

Only the mage now stood in her path.

Drawing upon every last ounce of strength before reaching the limit of her divine gift, Gwen charged, determined to take down the final enemy and destroy the Dungeon Core.

In a flash, she appeared in front of the mage as if she had teleported, her dagger ready to strike.

But before her blade could land, the mage unleashed the mystic spell he had been preparing: Flamestorm—an advance-level mystic spell capable of incinerating anything it touched.

Even so, Gwen did not retreat. The fiery cyclone erupted from the ground, shielding the mage and the Core. It roared and pushed her back, but she endured it.

Even as the flames scorched her and the intense heat pierced through the protective veil of Aegis, Gwen tightened her grip on her daggers, steadied her stance, and took one determined step after another. Her gaze never left her goal.

She would end this fight.

Yet, just as she advanced, the mage cast another mystic spell—Fireball—intercepting her with a fiery explosion.

—Lady Gwen!—

Her Minions could only scream in panic as they watched her fall, the blast hurling her down the hill. Gwen lay barely alive, her body covered in burns, unconscious.

With Gwen out of the fight and Minion 1C busy keeping Minions 1A and 1B alive with their injuries, the battle was left to Arezu and Lynn—against the first swordsman and the mage.

But even with even numbers, it did not mean the fight was balanced.

Lynn was exhausted from fending off the archer's earlier attacks and continued to spend her energy shielding the Minions from a rain of flaming arrows conjured by the mage above.

As she held the line with Ice Lance, Arezu was slowly being overwhelmed.

The swordsman's attacks grew faster, heavier, more relentless. A powerful swing of the buster-sword pushed Arezu back down the hill.

Though he managed to block it and stay standing, the distance now separating them gave the swordsman time to prepare a devastating finishing blow.

Raising his cursed weapon high, the swordsman channeled his mana, activating a combat skill—one Arezu knew he couldn't dodge, not with Lynn and the others behind him.

He had only one option.

Standing his ground, Arezu channeled his mana into his halberd-axe—or rather, expanded the domain of mana within his body through it. He wasn't preparing to counter with an attack, but to block with his weapon as an improvised shield.

The swordsman unleashed Gale, the advanced form of Cleave—a strike capable of splitting hills and mountains.

Arezu responded with Fortress, the evolved version of Reinforce—a defense as unyielding as a castle wall.

The earth-splitting strike met the immovable barrier. A massive shockwave erupted, the force of the impact tearing through the battlefield.

From afar, Lynn could only watch, heart pounding, as the explosion's dust cloud engulfed everything.

Then, silence.

When the dust finally settled, Lynn saw Arezu—bleeding, kneeling, his halberd-axe shattered—facing the swordsman, who stood ready to deliver the final blow.

"…Arezu!"