There existed a nameless dungeon within the Goddess's Land.

[Entering the ??? Dungeon.]

This dungeon, which Kang Oh called the ??? Dungeon, was where the fearsome Basilisks spawned.

Basilisks were legendary beasts, which petrified their prey with a single glance! They also possessed petrifying poison, scale missiles, and giant bodies that allowed them to charge at their foes.

They were so powerful that Kang Oh had his hands full fighting one.

Those times had passed. It should be different now.

Kang Oh, Sephiro, Eder, Tasha, and Sara began hunting Basilisks.

Hiss!

A Basilisk stared at Kang Oh's party with its yellow eyes. It also shot petrifying poison and sharp scale missiles at them too.

Its Petrifying Gaze wasn't a problem. They could just not look straight at it.

The poison was bearable too. Eder had given them a drug that slowed the progression of its effects.

Lastly, the scale missiles were quick, but they weren't lethal.

"I'm going!" Kang Oh threw Demon Sword Ubist.

Weapon Bombardment!

He was finally using the Tuslam Tribe's secret move.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

His jet-black greatsword fiercely spun like a fan's blades, slicing through the flesh at the back of the Basilisk's neck. This was its weak point!

Bam!

A ton of red shards burst like firecrackers.

Weapon Bombardment was, as expected, extremely powerful. It not only crushed the Basilisk's tough scales, but the thick skin underneath.

Hiss! Ptoo!

The enraged Basilisk spewed Petrifying Poison at him, but he was too quick. Kang Oh gracefully dodged it, and in no time at all, Demon Sword Ubist had returned to his hand.

Bam.

Kang Oh kicked off the floor and leapt into the air. As he did so, he naturally swung his sword.

Slash!

Swish!

He left behind a long wound on the Basilisk's body.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Dozens of scales, which resembled spades, came flying at Kang Oh all at once. Once he landed on the floor, Kang Oh spun his jet-black blade around.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The scales flung off his demon sword.

In the meantime, Eder's summon, Bone Minotaur 'White Horn', swung its giant axe at the Basilisk's tail.

Earth Slash!

The savage energy struck the Basilisk's body head-on.

Bam!

The axe had gone about halfway through the Basilisk's body.

Kyaha!

The Basilisk cried out in pain, and furiously rammed into White Horn.

Bam!

It was a huge collision. However, White Horn was unscathed, besides a few cracks to its bone armor.

Moo!

White Horn mooed, pulled out its axe, and swung it once more. Then, the angry Basilisk spat a ton of Petrifying Poison at the Bone Minotaur.

Normally, poison wouldn't work on the undead. However, the Petrifying Poison was on another level, so White Horn's speed noticeably slowed.

Then, the Basilisk opened its mouth and devoured White Horn's head. However, White Horn was an undead, so it didn't fear death. It obviously felt no fear when its head was swallowed.

The Bone Minotaur continuously swung its axe, gouging the Basilisk's body.

Meanwhile, the rest of Kang Oh's party barraged it with arrows, flames, blood, and ice magic. For quite a while at that!

Bam! Bam! Bam! Thwock! Whack! Bam!

Ultimately, the Basilisk, riddled with wounds, fell to the floor. Then, Kang Oh finished it off.

He forcefully swung downwards with his blade, and sliced the Basilisk's head clean off. That ended it.

"That was way too easy." Kang Oh grinned.

The Basilisks hadn't gotten any weaker. Kang Oh and his companions had just gotten that much stronger. And they would only continue to get stronger from now on!

"Let's clear this dungeon today!" Kang Oh's eyes gleamed.

It was time to figure out what this dungeon was hiding.

* * *

The Basilisks weren't an issue, even if two or three of them appeared at once. Three or four was somewhat difficult, but it wasn't impossible.

This proved just how powerful Kang Oh's party had become. Especially Kang Oh himself!

He wasn't a Master for no reason. With every swing of his sword, he cut through the Basilisk's tough skin like it was a thin piece of cloth. In other words, the Basilisks were no match for him anymore.

Thus, Kang Oh's party made their way deeper inside the ??? Dungeon. Of course, Kang Oh made sure to carefully search the dungeon, just waiting for his Hyper Intuition to activate.

However, it hadn't activated even once yet.

In exchange...

Swish.

He extended the Light Sphere he'd bought from the Tower, revealing a stairway that went further underground.

The dark and seemingly unending stairs gave off quite the creepy vibe.

Gulp.

Someone swallowed. It was probably Sephiro, since he was a scaredy-cat.

"Let's go."

Kang Oh was the first to walk down the stairs. His party soon followed him.

Once they made it to the end, Kang Oh raised the Light Sphere into the air. The luminescent light illuminated their surroundings.

There was a passageway before them. In for a penny, in for a pound. It was too late to back down now.

They made their way through the passageway. As soon as they made it out, Kang Oh extended his Light Sphere once more so that he could take a look around.

At that moment, Kang Oh and his party widened their eyes. There was an absolutely huge door in front of them. How large was it, you ask? It was about as tall as a 10-story apartment building.

[You have discovered the forbidden secret, the Underworld.]

[What a tremendous discovery.]

[If you report this to the continent's universities, then you will become an honorary professor.]

[You have acquired the title, Adventurer Who's Taken a Great Step Forward.]

The door to the underworld! In other words, this is where the continent's dearly departed went after death.

However...

There was a guard, no, a guard dog in front of it. It was quite a renowned monster in works of fantasy.

It was the three-headed dog, the Cerberus! This monster, no, raid boss, had yet to be seen in Arth.

The Cerberus's three heads were sprawled on the ground, seemingly in a deep slumber.

Snore, snore!

Their snores rang out as resonantly as the clap of thunder. They also opened their mouths and licked their lips. Whenever they did so, they would show their sharp fangs.

[You have discovered Deborah's Guard Dog, Cerberus Rakio.]

[You are the first to discover it.]

[Warning: Run away!]

The system message urged them to run away. It made sense.

[Rakio's special ability, House Dog, is activating. This ability makes Rakio nigh invincible within a designated area.]

[Rakio's special ability, Deborah's Blessing, is activating. Deborah's power has made Rakio nigh immortal.]

He understood why the system warned him to run away.

The Cerberus possessed the Guard Dog ability, which gave it almost limitless power within a certain area. Not only that, but the Goddess of Death's Blessing made it almost immortal too.

'Hunting it is impossible,' he quickly concluded.

He wanted to see what lay behind the door, but he wasn't about to lay down his life for it. After all, there was a 0% chance of victory at the moment.

"Let's retreat," Kang Oh whispered.

Sephiro and Waryong fiercely nodded their heads. Tasha and Sara had no complaints either.

"Yes," Eder said quietly.

Kang Oh's party quietly backed away. Sephiro was covering Waryong's mouth in order to keep it quiet.

They couldn't afford to awaken the Cerberus. Thus, they had to be as careful as possible.

However, life doesn't always go as planned!

Kang Oh stepped backwards and stepped on Waryong's tail.

Kyaha!

Waryong cried out in pain.

'Shit!'

The hairs on his body bristled. 'Why did this have to happen now!?'

"Hueok!" Sephiro quickly silenced Waryong with two hands.

"Shh!" Eder and Sara stared at Waryong and shushed it with their index fingers. 'Be quiet!'

Kang Oh quickly took a look at the Cerberus.

Snore, snore!

What a relief. It hadn't woken up.

Kang Oh used body language to direct his party. 'Keep backing out as quietly as possible until we reach the end of the passageway!'

His party seemed to understand. No, they had no choice but to understand. That was their only viable course of action, after all.

Steady...

Kang Oh approached the passageway without any problems.

However...

All of a sudden, Cerberus's middle head opened its eyes. It's like those times where you suddenly wake up and open your eyes for no reason.

That was exactly what it was doing.

Kang Oh's party suddenly froze as if they were playing a game of freeze tag.

'Please go to sleep!' They begged again and again.

Did their prayer work? It seemed to, as the Cerberus shut its eyes.

'Hoo!'

The party sighed in relief and began to back away again.

However...!

The middle head suddenly opened its eyes again. Its face was contorted, and gave off an extremely brutal vibe!

Kuhaahk!

The Cerberus roared. Then, the left and right heads awoke from their slumber.

"We've been discovered. Run!" Kang Oh yelled.

The party didn't give it a second thought and began running.

'Where do you think you're going!?' the Cerberus seemed to say, as it suddenly stood up and stomped on the floor.

The ground rippled like a wave, and Rakio quickly approached Kang Oh's party.

"Go, go!" Kang Oh yelled urgently.

The passageway was right in front of them. The ones farthest back, Eder, Sara, and Tasha, safely made it to the passageway.

Kyaa!

Waryong grabbed Sephiro with its feet and forcefully flapped its wings.

Safe!

The last one to arrive was Kang Oh, as he'd been at the forefront. He threw his body forward.

However, the shaking ground had caught up to Kang Oh.

Bam!

The ground surged, blocking the entrance.

"M-Mr. Kang Oh!" Sephiro yelled urgently from behind the barrier.

"Damn it!" Kang Oh cursed, as he was completely alone. He pulled out Ubist and swung horizontally.

Tempest Tiger!

The golden tiger struck the obstacle. However, the ground didn't even budge.

His party tried to open up a path too, but they didn't have much success either.

'I'm sealed off.'

Some raid bosses blocked off one's escape routes so that running away was impossible. Apparently, Rakio was one such raid boss.

Kang Oh quickly pulled out a return scroll. However...

[You cannot use a return scroll here.]

"Damn it." Kang Oh dropped the return scroll.

Then...

Rakio's body cast a giant shadow over him.

Grr.

The Cerberus had caught up, its three heads drooling.

'I'm screwed.'

That was the only thing on Kang Oh's mind.

* * *

The Arabas Kingdom, or the Empire Guild, wouldn't be satisfied with the conquest of the Baiyan Kingdom. They had to have more.

Once the Baiyan Kingdom fell, the Empire Guild reorganized the Arabas army and invaded the Dellas Kingdom.

It all happened in the blink of an eye.

They hadn't expected the Arabas Kingdom to invade them before they had stabilized the areas they'd conquered!

Fortunately, the Dellas King and the kingdom's higher ups weren't fools. Although their forces were much smaller than the Arabas Kingdom's, they had a way of avoiding complete ruin.

"We have to draw out this battle as long as possible," the Dellas King yelled.

Although the Baiyan royal family had collapsed, there had to be some forces spread across the Baiyan Kingdom that were still loyal to them.

When they gathered a critical mass of them, then...

The Arabas Kingdom would regret not stabilizing their conquered territory first. It was like the old saying, 'If you run after two hares, you will catch neither!'.

They formulated and immediately executed a plan that'd draw out the war as long as possible.

However...!

The Dellas army was no match for the Arabas army.

"Kill anyone in our way!" Dukeram yelled, riding atop his snow-white Pegasus.

"Uwooooh!"

Both the Arabas army and the Empire Guild came out in droves.

"Uhaaahk!"

"Uheok!"

"M-Mom!"

In an instant, the Dellas army crumbled. They were crushed in the first battle, and were forced back into a fortress.

However, it was a lost cause. Arabas, or more specifically, the Empire Guild, destroyed the fortress with siege weapons they prepared in advance.

The fortress's collapse was synonymous with the Dellas Kingdom's collapse.

Sometime later...

The Dellas Kingdom fell. It had only taken the Arabas Kingdom 15 days to conquer them.