Chapter 258: – Dungeon Cleanup.

Heavy Metal

“What do we have here… a group of D-rankers, but their mana is quite strong.”

Rusty watched from his hiding spot as a group of demonic humanoids battled the crimson skeletons. Some wielded weapons, while others raised their hands and shaped raw mana into visible forms.

A streak of crimson light cut through the corridor as one of them released a spell. It struck a skeleton in the chest and exploded outward in a flash, scattering bone fragments across the floor. Another followed with a wave of dark energy that moved along the ground, entangling enemies in something that looked like vines made of darkness.

“Some kind of binding magic?”

His new enemies could indeed use magic. One was firing flame spells, while another used dark magic in ways Rusty had never seen before. His visor almost glowed as he tried analyzing this unfamiliar type of magic.

As someone who could use both dark and light energies, he knew a little, but not much. His soul forge helped him create simple enchantments, but nothing too advanced. At best, he could release large amounts of dark or light mana, but he lacked the knowledge to shape them into specific spells.

The light element was effective against undead creatures, while darkness worked well against the living. However, people could develop resistances or wear equipment that reduced their effects. Rusty had no one to teach him magic properly, and healing was pointless for him. Still, the dark vines wrapping around the skeletons’ feet to halt them looked quite useful.

“I wonder if I could learn that… and that flame magic too. It has some darkness mixed into it.”

He had seen fire spells before. Those cast by humans were brighter and more uniform, but when these demonic humanoids used them, the flames looked unstable yet more powerful. It seemed they infused their fire with dark mana, increasing its strength at the cost of stability.

The mage using dark magic snapped in annoyance as dust filled the air from a nearby blast. The flame caster had just incinerated another skeleton at close range, sending shards of bone and embers flying in all directions. Some struck their allies, forcing them to raise their shields, and tension in the air quickly rose.

“Then stay out of my way.”

The flame wielder replied, clearly irritated.

“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even hit anything with that aim!”

The dark mage shot back, claiming the other was useless without him. The two were on the verge of fighting, but the rest of the group, who seemed more like typical adventurers, quickly stepped in to separate them.

“Calm down, you two. We need you to defeat that living armor boss.”

“Yeah, it’s not a big dungeon. It won’t even take long.”

For a moment, the two looked at each other with anger in their eyes. There was an obvious divide, the grayish demons on one side and the crimson-skinned ones on the other. Rusty assumed their skin tone was tied to their mana. The red one wielded fire magic, while the gray one focused on dark magic.

‘They are quite disorganized. Good. That will be to my advantage.’

They were stronger than the last group and included magic casters, but they had clear weaknesses. The party now consisted of eight members, including the red archer who had escaped earlier. Rusty had seen him use a few attacks, but never his full capabilities.

‘Alexander said that light mana interferes with demonic mana. Perhaps I can use that.’

This was a good opportunity to test a few theories. Aburdon and Alexander stood at the peak of light and dark magic. They canceled each other out and were equals. However, when individuals using light and dark clashed, the one with purer magic could overpower the other and suppress their abilities. Both energies were weaknesses to each other, and Rusty could wield both.

‘I need to ambush them in the right spot. Those pitfalls are poorly placed, except for one.’

With that in mind, he moved his helmet away from the entrance into the chamber. He had been holding it with one hand while the rest of his body remained behind the wall. After placing it back onto his shoulders, he activated his silencing enchantment and moved through the corridor without a sound. He arrived at another section, a narrow passage the group would have to cross, with a pitfall in the middle.

‘Good thing I picked the Wraith this time.’

Thanks to his loadouts now working even in summoning missions, he could change forms. The Goliath was better for open combat and overwhelming enemies with brute force, but the Wraith excelled in confined spaces like this. Normally, there would be no good place for an ambush here, but there was one advantage, a position directly above the pitfall.

After choosing his loadout, his body shifted into a thinner form with clawed hands and feet. In this state, he quickly climbed the rocky wall and concealed himself in the shadows above. Then he waited. After about fifteen minutes, the group of demonic humanoids approached, their voices loud as they continued to argue.

“This better be worth it.”

The crimson-skinned mage complained, and the gray-skinned one responded immediately.

“It will be if you stop complaining and watch your footing.”

Rusty remained perfectly still above them, pressed against the uneven stone like a predator waiting for its prey. From this angle, he could see everything. The group entered the corridor in a loose formation, their attention divided between the lingering skeletons and their own arguments. The archer who had escaped earlier stayed near the back, his eyes surveying nervously, but it was clear the others were not taking him seriously.

“Maybe we should slow down…”

“Slow down? Did you lose your senses after getting those idiots killed? Just shut up and stay in the back.”

The archer was reprimanded by the crimson mage, who seemed to be the leader of this group of demonic humanoids. The others chuckled, clearly enjoying the scolding.

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“What are you laughing at? At least one of my brothers made it out alive. None of yours did.”

The laughter died quickly, cut short by a dull crack beneath their feet. For a fraction of a second, nothing happened. Then the ground gave way. Two of the frontliners dropped instantly, their surprised shouts turning into screams as they vanished into the pit. A wet series of impacts followed as their bodies struck the iron spikes below.

“Trap!”

The gray-skinned mage reacted first, jerking backward just in time to avoid the collapsing edge. Dark energy materialised around him as he formed tendrils of shadow. They shot out and clung to the walls, pulling him back just before he could fall.

“What is this? You said there were no traps here!”

“T-there weren’t, I swear!”

To Rusty’s surprise, they became even less aware of his presence than before. Instead of preparing for an ambush, they turned on the archer who had guided them here, blaming him for the situation. It gave Rusty the opening he needed to strike his first target, the most dangerous opponent for him, the flame mage.

“Huh?”

A small rock landed on the man’s shoulder, but when he looked up, it was already too late. Sharp claws descended from the corridor ceiling and pierced straight through his chest. Rusty did not relent, driving his claws in and out in rapid succession as the force of the attack slammed them both to the ground.

The demonic humanoid screamed and tried to gather his mana, but with the mounting wounds, he was unable to. For a moment, faint flames flickered around his body, but when Rusty plunged his hands in deeper, the man convulsed and went still.

‘Interesting, the heart seems to be on the other side…’

Rusty leapt off his victim as tendrils of black mana lashed toward him. He bounded onto the corridor wall, moving in a zigzag pattern, and landed on the other side of the pitfall trap.

“What is that thing?”

The dark mage shouted, but Rusty did not answer. Instead, he reached into his storage and pulled out the halberd he had kept there. The demonic humanoids stared in confusion as the weapon appeared out of thin air, realizing too late what he intended to do with it.

The pitfall trap was deep enough, but the iron spikes at the bottom were not quite sharp enough to kill the two demonic humanoids who had fallen inside. These beings were D-rank, their skin thick and resistant to ordinary damage. However, it was not enough to save them from his weapon.

With his elongated arms gripping the halberd, he thrust it down into the hole the two people were trying to crawl out of. The blade drove through the narrow space with brutal precision. The first wet crack was quickly followed by another as he delivered two rapid thrusts that struck both men in the head. They slumped back into the trap. Only five remained.

“Is that the boss monster? Why is it here?”

The dark mage shouted as he tried to bind Rusty with shadowy restraints, but Rusty’s movements were too quick and erratic.

“N-no, it’s different. The other one looked more like regular living armor.”

“I should never have trusted a useless Scarlet Tribe.”

The grayish humanoid pressed forward. Now that the trap was exposed, he simply leaped over it and continued the chase. Rusty retreated, satisfied that the group had not chosen to flee after losing nearly half their number so quickly.

‘These people are quick to anger and not very smart. Good.’

For a moment, the archer who had previously fled seemed ready to run again. But when the mage advanced, he followed. Rusty moved swiftly and slipped into the next large chamber beyond the trapped room.

“Where is that monster? It must be hiding. Find it!”

They were alert now. Several glanced up at the ceiling, likely expecting another ambush from above. But Rusty had already dismissed his wrath form and waited behind a large temple pillar. His shape blended into the shadows, nearly impossible to detect.

“It has to be here somewhere. Could it be a special monster? If we kill it, the core will be worth a fortune.”

Like many humanoids, these demonic beings were driven by greed. Even though retreating to regroup would have been wiser, they pressed on. Their leader seemed focused only on the reward, unaware he was playing directly into Rusty’s plan.

Then red skeletons burst from the sides and charged. On their own, they would not have posed much of a threat, but combined with Rusty, they were. He had already placed a bow at his hiding spot and now aimed at his next target, the archer he had previously allowed to escape.

“Blasted skeletons. Deal with them first, then we will…”

Before the mage could finish, an arrow shot past him. He reacted instantly, thrusting out his hand as a mass of dark tendrils slammed into the pillar where Rusty had been hiding. But the arrow had already found its mark.

“Agh…”

The demonic archer clutched his neck where the arrow struck. Blue blood poured out as he dropped to his knees. To Rusty’s surprise, the man endured longer than a typical humanoid would. Still, the wound was fatal. Moments later, the red skeletons swarmed him and finished the job.

Finally, the real fight began. Rusty held his shield tightly as he charged at his next enemy, the mage of the group. This time, the man managed to catch him. A darkness spell appeared under his feet and coiled around his metallic frame, locking him in place.

“There, kill that thing while I hold it down, you fools!”

He shouted at the remaining three men. They pushed the skeletons aside and rushed toward Rusty, just as he had planned. The moment they reached him, his body radiated an intense burst of light that quickly dissolved the black bindings.

“Ahhh, my eyes!”

One of the men cried out and immediately took a mace strike to the face. Another was knocked aside by Rusty’s shield charge, and the third collapsed while clutching his eyes in pain. Most importantly, the mage was disoriented long enough for Rusty to hurl his mace and strike him in the face.

The impact sent the mage stumbling backward, his concentration breaking as the dark bindings vanished completely. His nose shattered from the blow, and he dropped into a half crouch, hands trembling as he tried to regain control of his mana. Rusty gave him no chance.

He stepped forward and drove the mace into the man’s chest. The mage’s light armor cracked, ribs caving inward as the dark energy around him scattered. He tried to speak but only coughed up blood before collapsing to the ground.

That left three still standing, and Rusty had no intention of letting anyone escape. Soon, the area echoed with the screams of the demonic humanoids he cut down. One by one, they fell. Even when they worked together and managed to land a few blows, it was not enough to make a difference.

“There we go… all gone. Now I wonder if more will come later.”

Rusty stood victorious, already wondering what would happen next. He even considered whether he could use the remains to show the dungeon heart how to create new traps. To his surprise, a window message appeared before him.

“Oh, it’s over already? Was there something wrong with the difficulty setting?”

For a summoning mission, it had been rather short. He had only spent about a day here, and the demonic humanoids had not been particularly difficult to defeat.

“Hm… have I become too strong?”

For a moment, he considered it. He had defeated Varkas, a human at the top of D rank, while he himself was not even a D-plus rank monster. With his overpoints and numerous abilities, he was far stronger than others at his level. Perhaps he had underestimated himself when he chose a quest that was only medium in difficulty.

“Well, see you around, dungeon core. Try to keep yourself safe.”

“Safe…”

Just as before, the core responded with a single word. While he was not a fan of dungeon hearts, this one was not particularly unpleasant. There was something satisfying about letting loose in a place like this. He could hunt as he pleased, a simple kind of quest that felt almost relaxing.

Now he only needed to get his hands on those experience talismans. Perhaps once he reached D-plus rank, he might even be able to contend with C-rank enemies, something he looked forward to.