Nona, a harpy adventurer affiliated with the Adventurer' s Guild, Department of Surveillance and Intelligence, only takes orders directly from Rosen or higher authorities.
Too late to escape, I activated my Feather Armor skill.
It' s a skill with a major drawback: it uses all my feathers to wrap around me in layers, forming a giant egg-like shell.
Despite its flaws, it offers incredible defensive power, easily withstanding fire.
The Bubble Explosion attack is devastating in water, creating underwater shockwaves that slam into barriers. On land, its power is reduced, but when used in large numbers, even my Feather Armor could only withstand a few blasts before shattering into pieces.
The hot gust from the explosion knocked me out of the sky. A featherless bird can' t fly.
I quickly regained my composure, flipping mid-air to aim my head downward and spewing a fiery breath to slow my fall. Once my speed decreased, I flipped again to land on my feet—the strongest part of my body.
Thud!
"Ow!"
It still hurt, but it was better than falling to my death or being crippled.
My spear had been lost when I formed the armor, as the feathers only protect me. If I' d been more focused, I could' ve stored it in my dimensional inventory.
I hurriedly opened my inventory, grabbing healing potions to drink and pour on my legs, then sprinted to escape the third-floor monsters.
The Bubble Shrimp, about the size of a full-grown dog, were slow on land and water, so they didn' t chase me. They didn' t fire their bubbles either, likely to avoid hitting the third-floor monsters.
As a harpy, I' m unmatched in the air, but running or walking? My large clawed feet aren' t suited for it, especially on waterlogged ground caused by those Fat Fish. I could barely move quickly.
So, I pulled out dual swords from my inventory, gripping them tightly, and forced myself to run as far from the dungeon as possible.
When I entered the attack range of the Fat Fish, I raised my swords defensively, but they ignored me, continuing to spew water. I decided to run past them.
But the third-floor monsters? They chased relentlessly. The wet ground was like a buff for them, letting them move faster.
As I started to tire and they closed in, I stopped running, turned, and prepared to fight.
If it' s just the third-floor monsters, I could handle them. Better to kill them quickly before the Bubble Shrimp catch up.
That' s when I heard the sound of something slicing through the air, moving incredibly fast from behind. Harpies have sharp hearing when it comes to the wind.
I rolled to dodge and looked at the source—a water ball from a Fat Fish.
Glancing around again, despair washed over me.
I cursed my own foolishness back when I still had wings. Instead of rushing to report to Lord Rosen about the presence of a commander controlling entire floors, I stayed to fight, hoping to earn his praise and admiration.
Surrounded by countless Fat Fish in every direction, they stopped spewing water and glared at me with ferocious eyes.
The third-floor monsters stood at a distance, watching me.
They had lured me here, to their killing ground.
Then, water balls came flying from all directions.
I unleashed every ounce of my strength, spewing fiery breath around me.
I can' t die yet—I haven' t confessed my love to Lord Rosen! Burn hotter, even if it destroys my throat!
But it was futile. One water ball I couldn' t burn in time slammed into my leg, sending me cartwheeling. My legs pointed skyward, and my head smashed into the ground.
My mind went numb, vision blurred. Blood poured down my face. Shaking my head to regain focus, I looked at my leg—broken, with white bone protruding.
"Arghhh…!"
Before I could finish screaming, another ball hit my face, sending me rolling several times.
The impact was so strong it tore open my scalp. My left eye went blind, my nose broke, and my teeth and jaw were shattered, leaving my tongue dangling.
The Fat Fish stopped firing and resumed spewing water, leaving the third-floor monsters to charge in and finish me.
I groped around for my swords. Focusing hard, I saw one had flown toward a Fat Fish, while the other was broken and unusable.
I opened my inventory, pouring healing potions on my head, then grabbed my last weapon—a dagger—to defend myself while crawling away from the approaching third-floor monsters.
"Don' t come near me!" I tried to shout, but it came out as garbled noises.
*****
Monsters never heed the pleas of their prey.
They battered Nona with their shields, breaking her bones across her body, before tearing her apart while she was still alive.
After Nona' s death, her personal dimensional inventory collapsed, spilling her items onto the ground.
Among them were various healing potions, dried meat, sweets, cosmetics, a mirror, money, clothing, food containers, and miscellaneous gear.
The monsters ignored the items and returned to their task of protecting the Bubble Shrimp under the orders of the dungeon core' s boss monster.
But one monster decided to devour every piece of Nona.
After finishing, it intended to resume its duties, but suddenly, excruciating pain coursed through its body. It writhed on the ground in agony.
Its body began to boil, skin collapsing and reforming. Bones cracked incessantly before its entire form collapsed inward and started reconstructing.
After some time, it successfully evolved into a newborn demon.
Its fish-like body transformed into a gaunt, hideous fish-human hybrid, covered in soft, underdeveloped scales.
It collapsed, panting, before speaking.
"I… need… more… must… eat… more…"
It grinned widely, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth. The voice of the dungeon core' s boss in its head was gone, replaced by a new voice urging it to eat and evolve further.
*****
City Outer Wall, Slum District
Over ten thousand soldiers formed a semicircle around the slum' s outer wall.
"Form ranks! What are you doing over there? Get into position!"
The front line consisted of five rows of shield bearers, standing shoulder to shoulder, followed by three rows of long-spear wielders.
Behind them were six rows of archers, thirty rows of sword-and-shield infantry, nearly one row of mages scattered at key points, and finally, five rows of cavalry.
In front of the shield bearers, another group of soldiers dug and planted steel spikes into the ground.
"Finish planting in ten minutes! Anyone slow will be left behind!"
The spikes were waist-high with sharp tips, reinforced with smaller angled spikes around them to maximize damage. They were arranged in a zigzag pattern, spaced apart, stretching from the city wall to just before the shield bearers.
"Dig faster! If you don' t have a shovel, use your hands!"
Not far from the shield bearers, soldiers were ordered to dig wide trenches to slow or stop the monsters.
"Hurry up! Is that all the strength you' ve got? Lift and tie faster! Are you waiting for them to eat your heads?!"
In front of the shield bearers, cavalry dragged logs to form a pile, which infantry then tied together with ropes to create another layer of obstacles.
*****
City Wall, Slum District
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Take your positions! This is not a drill! Get to your posts and prepare to fight!"
Shouts of command echoed alongside relentless drumbeats.
Soldiers rushed from both sides of the wall to converge at the center.
The frontmost row consisted of spear bearers ordered to kneel to avoid blocking arrows, followed by five rows of archers in a zigzag formation.
Behind the archers were mages at key points, with two rows of swordsmen at the rear.
"Prepare!"
Seeing the massive horde of monsters advancing toward the city below, the commander issued orders immediately, despite the soldiers still catching their breath from forming ranks.
"Fire!"
The archers fired in sequence, aiming for continuous kills.
Countless arrows soared into the sky before raining down on the slums like a storm.
*****
Monster Horde from the third, fifth, and sixth floors, numbering over five hundred, rampaged, destroying everything in sight—houses and hidden slum dwellers alike.
The sixth-floor monsters were four-armed fish with no legs, wielding swords in each hand. They slid swiftly across the ground, aided by the water released by the Fat Fish, which had risen nearly to waist level. Endless snowfall provided the Fat Fish with limitless resources to generate water.
The slow-moving Bubble Shrimp clung to the backs of the sixth-floor fish, launching explosive bubbles into the air. When arrows struck them, the bubbles detonated continuously, creating powerful gusts that blew unprepared soldiers off the city wall.
Some were lucky enough to be saved by mages who slowed their fall or pulled them back, but the unlucky ones plummeted to their deaths below.
However, the archers' relentless volleys depleted the bubbles. Arrows then struck newly released bubbles before they could float away, causing the monsters to be torn apart by their own explosions. Organs and bright red blood splattered everywhere.
The monster horde within the archers' range hadn' t yet reached the slum' s front line. During a lull in the wall' s firing, the Fat Fish hiding among the ruins began to move.
They had been concealing themselves and secretly releasing water since the soldiers took their positions on the wall.
Now, under orders, they rolled to areas where water hadn' t yet reached and spewed more.
The commander ordered another volley. With countless arrows, the Fat Fish were riddled with holes.
As they died, their bodies swelled before bursting, releasing massive amounts of water that expanded the monsters' territory.
With no monsters in range, the order shifted to vigilance and rearming.
"Cease fire! Reload arrows!"
"Reload arrows!" "Reload arrows!" "Reload arrows!"
The order reached the ground-based armory units, who began passing crates of arrows up the wall.
During this brief respite, unbeknownst to anyone, seventh-floor monsters had already emerged.
Starfish-like creatures with the ability to blend into their surroundings, they were crawling and spreading along the soldiers' side of the wall.
*****
Slum Front Line, Soldier Side
Soldiers and adventurers split the defense, with soldiers covering the left near the city wall and gate, while adventurers handled the right, benefiting from faster support from the guild' s city office.
The soldiers were led by a knight commander, who listened to reports in a temporary war command tent.
Reports came from both the ground and the wall.
The first order was to herd slaves and slum dwellers to the front line, unarmed掐, without giving them any weapons. They could only grab whatever they found—swords or knives if lucky, or just sticks or planks as makeshift shields if not.
The slaves and slum dwellers were forced forward, with spear walls behind them. Anyone who slowed or fell was stabbed to death.
Along the way, any slum dweller or slave, no matter how injured, was forced to keep moving. Adventurers, if severely wounded, received basic treatment and were sent to the adventurer side.
Based on reports and the overall situation, the knight ordered the army to march quickly to reach the dungeon entrance before the adventurers.
When reports came of flooded areas ahead—caused by cluttered houses and garbage blocking drainage—the order was to cross without clearing the path, to save time.
The plan was to surround the dungeon entrance, then bombard it relentlessly to minimize losses and end the battle quickly.
Dealing with the final floor' s boss might require cooperation with the adventurers.
But once it was defeated, the soldiers were ordered to secure the dungeon core regardless. That alone would be a major achievement.
Who knows? After this battle, the king might elevate the knight' s noble family to a higher rank.