An ocean of orange fire blanketed the feet of the stone golems, warming the faces of the S-Rankers that stood near them. Angered by the cursory attacks, the stone golems’ eyes shone blood red as they regained their colours, moving robotically towards the barricade of Paladins that stood in their way.

Arius held his tower shield up high as his entire body started to glow with divine resplendence. His mouth opened and chest puffed out, the colossal man sucked in air as his scream echoed through the vast corridors: “Brace yourselves!!!”

The dragon-bear hybrid stone golem was the first to attack. Opening its monstrous jaws, the statue charged up a beam attack and fired it ruthlessly at the vanguard. Arius leapt forward and released all of his mana, creating a saffron-coloured barrier in the shape of his tower shield. The beam made contact with the ethereal guard, sending all sorts of particles flying in the alleyway. Arius instantly fell to his knees as the pressure started to mount on his dominant arm. The weight of the attack pushed the barrier back and was melting the holy shield at an unprecedented rate. If Arius were left alone, the tower shield that he loved so much would undoubtedly be burnt to a crisp within seconds.

“Assist the Guardian Paladin!!!” Everyone in the frontlines pounced into action. Unleashing their magical shields and aiding Arius in blocking the deadly beam attack. Many of them Armoured Knights and Paladins, the vanguard held back the burning light that came out of the golem’s mouth. Arius felt like his arm had gone through a marathon of weight-lifting after the attack dissipated and was tempted to drop his shield. Unfortunately, he couldn’t show any weakness as the Raid Commander, so he just shrugged the numbness off.

“Again! Rhykius, Kama! Attack them!” Arius barked out, creating a partial barrier that filled the lower half of the corridor so that attacks could fly upwards.

“Roger that!” The Arcane Warlock grinned and cast [Fly] on himself. His light body was flung up dozens of metres instantly, and the crown of his head was almost touching the high ceilings. The one-eyed darkness familiar of his followed Rhykius up, trailing at his back as if it were an obedient hound. The man raised his hand. Dense black lightning bolts coated the familiar’s entire body and were slowly being transferred into Rhykius’ opened palms.

Watching his fellow Group Leader winding up his attack, Kama was spurred to action as well. The mud-gold knife in his hands spun around twice as shadows slowly emerged from his back. The shadows were robed in untangible dark matter, like ninjas hiding in the night. Aria wasn’t able to have a look at their facial features, but even she could tell that the shadows were imitations of the Rogue Lord. Only after eleven of those figures had multiplied out did Kama release his Spiderman hold on the walls to dive straight at the dragon-bear hybrid.

Rhykius was the first to strike. When the black lightning had intensified to its maximum, the Arcane Warlock released it with a deafening roar. “IGNITE!!!”

For a moment there, Aria felt as if the air possessed a paralysing effect. Just witnessing the attack had caused her face to turn numb and her eyes to tear up. The already crisp air in the dungeon had become much more deadly for the spectators that even the bubble coating that the Association had developed had been rendered useless. To circumvent that issue, Aria casually summoned out a transparent barrier, which highly resembled that of a glass sheet, to protect the members of Group D.

Yet, none of them thanked the S-Class Archmagus. Including Yvette, all of their eyes were firmly attached to the black lightning strike of the Arcane Warlock. Hitting the dragon-bear golem squarely, everyone expected that one of the fifteen would go down immediately. Furthermore, just for good measure, Rogue Lord Kama dashed down with all of his shadow partners, swinging his extravagant dagger with laser-like precision.

Theoretically, it was the perfect combination. A devastating magic attack followed by a relentless physical one. Even if the golem was impervious to magic, the massive dagger strikes of Kama that were strong enough to split mountains in two should finish the job. However…

“You’re a tough one...” The Rogue Lord spat out as he looked at the marks he left behind. None of his strikes managed to slice through the thick stone hide of the golem and left only white scratch marks that were more commonly found on a child randomly scratching his own body. Even the lightning attack that Rhykius had unleashed that would paralyse any of the S-Rankers present did absolutely nothing to the golem.

The Arcane Warlock smiled. “Yeah, this is an S-Class Dungeon alright, it would be boring if you fell to the very first attack I threw at you!” He charged up his mana once more, ready to launch his next brutal attack; but then, the four birds flying up high had begun to sing.

“@!*#*@$)$”

They were singing in a tune that was utterly foreign to anything that Aria or Yvette had ever heard, which was rare, especially for Yvette. Elves had an extensive culture of songs and songwriting, in particular, dating back to the first days they roamed the earth. There was even a specialised ministry devoted just to the study of music. They kept an extensive database of any cultural songs, be it from the ancient era thousands of years ago, or the most recent pop songs of the modern day. So, growing up, Yvette had been exposed to an array of musical influences. Yet, none of those tunes rang a single bell.

The blue and red phoenixes were the first to break the stagnation. Flying about in a circle, chasing one another’s tails, the two birds screeched out maniacally, while blue and red particles fell from their backs. The songs intensified until finally, they materialised onto the material plane.

From the side of the golems, the entire corridor had become coated in dense ice, while patches of intense molten fire were littered all around, creating vents of steam hot enough to vaporise one’s face in seconds. The Elementalists in the raid force was the first to react to this unfamiliar phenomenon. Melting down the ice with their own fires, the S-Rankers created a safe soft for their companions to rest.

Alas, the birds weren’t done. Once the pair of phoenixes had sung their song, it was the three-eyed raven and the angelic dove’s turn. The raven cawed in yet another foreign tune. This time, there were immediate effects. Rankers with weaker constitutions fell to the ground as crimson blood flowed out from their ears. White light beamed out from the dove, and those who were nearest to it and unprotected, instantly had their minds blurred as hypnotic spirals could be seen in their pupils.

“Fuck! Snap out of it!” Arius was the first to notice the change and slapped an adjacent subordinate awake. However, the shieldbearer was still firmly attached to the Garden of Hypnos, and nothing that the Guardian Paladin did could wake him up.

The clock was ticking. In their moment of peril, the land-based golems started to move. The dragon-bear hybrid and the crocodile were the first to strike. Behaving like two kids in a sand dune, the golems charged forward with the intent of stomping the ants that stood on its path. The headless humanoid was in a similar state. It attempted to move at a breakneck pace, however, fortunately for the raid force, its hardened joints and extended damage slowed the golem down tremendously, and all it could do was slowly move the thorn in his hands.

Arius read the field and knew that if he hesitated once more, many would be injured or even fatally wounded. So, the veteran ranker screamed: “All those with their wits, stand your ground! Minerva, snap those confused bastards awake and buff us right now! Rhykius, use long-range attacks and try to shoot down the bloody birds! Kama, help us fend off the land golems!”

The Guardian Paladin didn’t even have the luxury to turn around to look at his comrades in the eye. Brandishing his massive shield up high, Arius cast the most potent defensive skill he had. It was a gigantic yellow barrier in the same shape as the weapon he held. Finn, the High Paladin, standing next to him also created the exact same barrier, hoping to hold back the golems advancement.

They may have lost the first exchange, but the raid force consisted of eighty-seven S-Rankers. Their experience far exceeded any other dungeon force in Yudonia. They immediately executed Arius’ orders, jumping into their respective positions. Group A followed Rogue Lord Kama in, speedily attacking the dragon-bear hybrid, electric crocodile and headless human. Assassins, Tempest Bandits, Shadow Scouts… They all showed extreme dexterity and speed, whizzing all about like angry bees. Aria could barely track their speed with her eyes and could only drop her jaw in awe.

All of the martial artists that were hiding thus far in Group C also leapt into the frontlines. Berserkers, Swordmasters, Swashbucklers and Cavaliers jumped over the barricade formed by the vanguard to hold back the land-based golems. Arcane Warlock Rhykius flew back to the top of Group C and commanded the magicians and archers to prepare their most potent attacks.

Luke, the Elemental Archer, switched the red crystal in his right hand and grabbed a yellow one from his dimensional pouch. The ornamental riser began to change colours as a string made out of a lightning bolt replaced his old string. Like Zeus of legend, Luke summoned out another bolt and pulled it entirely. Coils of lightning spun wildly out of control as the man became more vibrant by the second. Eventually, when he was charged-up, Luke aimed at the three-eyed raven that defied gravity with ease. If he could take down the golem responsible for dropping the rankers like flies, the fight would become a hundred times easier.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTT!!

The thunderbolt whizzed straight at the raven, travelling at the speed of light. No S-Class agility junkie on Earth could possibly dodge that lightning strike. However…

Before the lightning arrow could damage the three-eyed raven, one of the two stone gargoyles suddenly moved in front of it, taking the full brunt of the attack. Bits of lightning flickered all about its stone goblin body, making it look like the subject of a chemical experiment gone wrong. It took it a while but eventually, the gargoyle spread out its wings as if it were as good as new, blocking the four stone birds from the view of the raid force.

Another S-Class Archer fired another missile, this time it was an enhanced drill arrow that spun rapidly. Solely dependent on the wielder’s weapon proficiency, the drill arrow in the right hands could theoretically pierce through an entire mountain range with ease. And that S-Class Archer was precisely the master it needed to perform such a feat.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

Yet, just like Luke before him, the S-Class Archer’s arrow failed to meet its target. The second gargoyle flew over once again, grabbing hold to the drill arrow and halting it from destroying the dove with the halo.

“Looks like the gargoyles are the defenders of the birds.” Aria thought out loud, as many S-Rankers nodded their heads. “But they really are resilient… How can they resist the drill arrow and Luke’s lightning bolt so easily?”

Aria took a break from watching the fight and turned to her roommate. “Yvette, how are the dazed rankers?”

“Almost all cured up!” The elf gave the thumbs up. “Honestly, that spell that hit them is quite peculiar. I have never treated such a potent mental attack in my entire life.” Yvette released her palms off one fallen comrade's head and ensured that the light had returned to her eyes. “I needed at least a minute to treat one of them. That’s crazy...”

“That’s the quality of an S-Class Dungeon, though...” Aria looked at the valiant S-Rankers, using all of their attacks to weaken and damage the golems. It was rare to see an S-Ranker in a dungeon let alone eighty-seven. Witnessing all of their cheat-like abilities on full display, Aria couldn’t help but break a smile. “We have some outstanding talent on our side as well.”

“Yeah… They really are powerful...”

So what if they lost the first battle? It was the war that matters. Never giving in after witnessing the golems’ technical superiority, the four team leaders continued to lead the raid force, combining all of their powers spectacularly. Initially in bad shape, the eighty-seven rankers were now standing toe-to-toe with the fifteen golems.

“I guess it’s about time...” Aria stroked her chin thoughtfully.

“About time for what?”

There was no need for the Archmagus to answer Yvette’s question. After twenty long minutes of attacking the golems, Guardian Paladin Arius hollered out at the top of his lungs:

“Everyone! Retreat now!!! Don’t rush and back away orderly!!!”

“Huh?” Question marks appeared on Yvette’s head. Weren’t the raid force winning? Why did they have to push back? She looked to Aria, who had significantly more dungeon raiding experience as compared to herself.

With a smug smile, Aria replied. “That’s how normal dungeon raids are. For the first ever assault, we attack, figure out the attack patterns of the monsters and retreat. Once outside, we will develop countermeasures for their attacks and try again after the fighters have taken their rest. After all, the one who has the most information about the enemy would always triumph.”

“I see...” Yvette’s face brightened as she gained a flash of understanding. She had only entered dungeons that had been conquered many times before and where the monsters attack patterns were well-known to all. The elven girl had never been part of a newly explored dungeon in her life.

Dozens of S-Rankers slowly retreated, as the tanks held back the ruthless attacks. Oddly enough, the golems didn’t give chase when the raid force had reached a few hundred metres away from the entrance and returned back to their positions to act like statues.

Now, it was time for the Rankers in Yudonia to do some brainstorming...