A red majestic door was now present in place of a broken wall. There was nothing out of the ordinary, just a door with no walls, but the aura that emitted from it felt like a portal.
Issei and the other peerage members stood in front of the entrance, staring at it with wide eyes. They had seen it before, a sign that was present in front of a seemingly ordinary cave. Unlike the one they knew well, it had different words.
[Fun Fun Dungeon! Limit: 6 people!] was replaced by [Elemental Tower. Limit: 8 people!]
"My~ This looks more terrifying than the Fun Fun one. But why elemental? I thought it was a dungeon?" Issei wondered aloud.
"The name doesn't seem to matter. What's important is that the limit increases." Kiba added, "Maybe this dungeon is harder than the previous one? The name certainly is different. We should be cautious, just to be safe."
Koneko looked at the others and tilted her head, "Why are we just standing here?"
"Right. I agree with Koneko. We shouldn't stay out here too long, especially if it's a danger." Issei said, "I'll go first, okay?"
Everyone nodded and Issei took a deep breath before stepping forward and entering the red double door. The door opened up with a creaky sound as the light enveloped Issei and his group.
As soon as he entered, his vision turned bright red.
***
[4 Challengers have entered Elemental Tower.]
Cain got woken up by a notification.
"Huh!? Challenger!?"
He quickly jumped out of his bed and went to the throne room. When he checked his screen, he saw the brown-haired pervert, the blonde knight, a black haired beauty, and a white-haired Nekomata.
"Issei's group!"
His face brightened up, a grin was formed. His tired face was replaced with excitement, his heart thumping loudly. He was excited for the coming battle and couldn't wait for them to get started. The screen was divided into 4 sections, and he could see Issei's team walking in a straight path through the Forest of Fire. The trees were burning, and the ground was full of traps that could burn anyone to a crisp.
Their surprised expressions were perfectly captured. Cain could even see their expressions as if they were looking at the camera directly. He grinned and chuckled softly as he watched them walk cautiously, looking at every direction with a wary expression on their faces.
However, he knew that the monsters wouldn't appear in this part yet because he didn't want to startle his challengers immediately.
This floor was the easiest one. There were only 3 types of monsters, Slimes, Goblins, and Orcs, something they had fought before. But, the monsters looked different than what they usually encountered, so that was the reason they looked so wary.
After walking for a few minutes, they found the first monster. A fire slime.
"A monster," Issei exclaimed. He quickly summoned the Boosted Gear on his left arm and charged forward, "It's my turn! I'll take care of this one!"
"Issei-kun! No! You're too hasty!" Kiba shouted, trying to stop Issei who was running towards the fire slime. "We don't know the enemy's strength!"
"Haahh!" The red gauntlet on Issei's hand glowed as he punched the slime in the face, causing a large dent in the body of the slime, "Take that, you stupid slime! I'll crush you!"
However...
The red slime quickly regained its original form and lunged toward Issei, its slimy body stretching and covering Issei's left hand, blocking his retreat.
"Wha—!" Issei screamed in horror. He could feel his hand getting wet as the slime began to suck him inside its body.
The hand eaten by the slime started to burn and turn red. The pain was unbearable, and Issei couldn't help but scream loudly in pain. The rest of his group immediately came to his aid.
"Damn you! Get away from me! Boosted Gear!" He tried to push the slime off, but it refused to budge, sticking to his arm like glue.
"Get off him!" Koneko punched the red slime, but it bounced back like it was a rubber ball, "Ugh!"
"This slime...!" Issei shouted, "It's not the usual slime! This one feels dangerous! It burns!"
He screamed in pain. His arm felt like it was about to burn up. His left arm, which was equipped with Boosted Gear, was burning. Issei didn't know if the slime would be defeated, or if he would die first. It was a life-and-death battle. Issei's body was sweating, his eyes wide open.
Kiba, Koneko, and Akeno were all shouting at the same time.
"Issei! Hang in there! Koneko! Hit the core! You can defeat it!" Kiba shouted.
"I'll kill it!" Koneko yelled as she ran up and kicked the slime's body.
Akeno raised her hands, electricity appearing between her fingers. "Lightning!"
Koneko's attack landed on the slime, making it bounce backward and releasing Issei's left arm in the process, freeing him from the burning sensation. Afterward, lightning struck the slime, and the core was burned by the electric shock. It died, and the red liquid splattered everywhere. Issei screamed again, and then fainted. Koneko caught his falling body while Kiba checked on his condition.
"Damn, what a troublesome slime." Issei groaned and rubbed his injured arm. His face was twisted with pain and agony. He looked up at Koneko and smiled weakly. "Thank you, Koneko-chan. You saved my ass there."
Koneko looked worried, her face twisted into concern as she stared down at her injured friend, "Senpai. Please don't do anything reckless again. I almost got a heart attack."
"Yeah." Issei chuckled.
Kiba and Akeno sighed in relief. The latter then put her arm under her breast and the other held her cheek, smiling.
"My, my, Ise-kun. That's a careless move, even for you. What were you thinking?"
Issei looked up, "Ah, I just thought it's the usual slime. Who knew that it would be so powerful..."
Kiba nodded, "Yes, the slime is a lot tougher and stronger than before, but it should be no match for our current power if we're careful. You shouldn't attack recklessly like that, Issei."
The brown haired boy scratched the back of his head and smiled wryly, "Sorry, I thought we would be fine with this dungeon. We did beat the last one, right? The Fun Fun one!"
Everyone nodded.
After that, they decided to move carefully, avoiding the traps and monsters.
However, it seemed like they didn't have any problems. With Kiba's Sacred Gear, Sword Birth, they managed to defeat another slime that was hiding in the tree, a fire goblin, and a few fire orcs without any problem. They were quite strong.
Cain was quite impressed, to be honest. Even if he was watching through a screen.
The group was injured and got burned, but they didn't seem too bothered. Their overall combat ability was good, especially Kiba, who was very strong in Forest of Fire with his Sword Birth. He could make many swords and thrust them at his enemies in an instant.
Lava and fire delayed their movements, so they moved very slowly. 30 minutes had passed since they entered the dungeon, yet they couldn't find the path to the next layer yet.
Seeing them struggling, Cain was tempted to give hints, but he held himself.
"It would be no fun if they can't clear it themselves." He chuckled, and the screen displayed Kiba and his swords stabbing the orcs that blocked their path.
At that moment, an alarm that he set when people approaching his dungeon rang.
"Whoa!"
He jumped in surprise, not expecting it. He immediately checked on the other screen, and his mouth opened wide.
It was the Fallen Angels.
He saw Raynare and her group approaching the dungeon.
***
Support and read advanced chapters in patreon.com/DungeonLove