Just teleport behind the Angel Guardian…

It sounded simple enough. However, the reality is anything but. For High Teleport to work, one had to understand the coordinates of the destination. Typically, it would be through having a line of sight, but with the Angel Guardian guarded by dozens of thick vines, Aria had to look for a different solution.

‘It’s been a while since I did this… Let’s just hope it works...’ Aria inhaled, filling her brain with enough oxygen to cast her next spell. Mana flowed from her core into the two black eyes she had, and soon… Her entire sockets turned pale silver, giving her a certain ethereal look that wasn’t usually present in most humans.

‘[Astral Vision]’

The world turned cybernetic from Aria’s point of view. Instead of rendering the images, all redundant details were swept away. She could see the mana signatures of everyone in the chambers, including the Angel and Demon Guardians. As they had hypothesised, the Demon’s Magic Core had been ripped out of its body, and it was only able to move by the grace of the Angel Guardian. That wasn’t the important bit. Using Astral Vision, Aria could see through many obstacles, and the tree vines weren’t an exception.

‘I see them! The coordinates!’ Aria picked out the weakest part of the Angel Guardian’s wing. Fortunately for all of them, the Boss was just sitting back, waiting for the Demon Guardian to come to its rescue. It was the perfect chance for Ridan to launch a surprise attack.

“Lassie! I’m almost done!” The Brawler hollered out. Ridan’s right arm was bulging out, veins popping almost everywhere. The shirt that held him in had been torn apart entirely. His clenched fist was red, and shockwaves from the muscles vibrating had pushed away anyone near. S-Rankers may have varying stats. Some would have overwhelming amounts of intelligence that gave them increased magical powers, others would have sky-high dexterity, giving them mind-boggling speeds. However, there was one thing that all S-Rankers shared.

And that was experience. They had been through many dungeons and weathered through countless storms. And throughout all of those years, they have gained a certain instinct that would warn them of any threat to their lives, and they all universally felt one thing…

If they stood in front of Ridan and took his punch, they would instantly perish…

“Good! Get ready!!!” Aria cried out, not just to the Brawler, but the other S-Rankers as well. She had long communicated her plan through the intercoms all while preparing to teleport Ridan over. The Creation Golem that she summoned melted down into thick armour made of light. Automatically, the heavy pieces slammed themselves onto Ridan’s body. Though they left the Brawler’s right hand alone, everything else had been covered up using Aria’s magic, and she was now ready to cast High Teleport on Ridan.

Aria looked to the ceiling. Flame Thaumaturge Nassisa returned the Archmagus glance and squinted her eyes for a moment. There was no need for words. Being two top mages, they could understand one another just by looking at their actions. Arcane Warlock Rhykius was the same. Every single magician in the Raid Force congregated their mana ready to launch a massive distraction for Aria to cast her spell.

“Mister Ridan! When I say go, you punch!” Aria falcon dived down onto the platform and placed her palm on Ridan’s armour.

“Roger that!”

At this distance, Aria could feel the enormous potential energy stored inside of Ridan’s shaking arm. Aria was confident that if she just laid a single finger on the tensed biceps, she would fly dozens of metres back. That’s how much power was in that fist. If that could break the Angel Guardian’s final wing, nothing could.

Aria focused up. Her Astral Vision locking on to the coordinates, never letting go for even a millisecond. Based on their earlier exchange, Aria could tell that even though the ancient Boss was wholly made of stone, it had the adaptability of a young child and was capable of changing its strategy within seconds. Thus, they only had one shot. Magicians around her continuously cast their spells and forced the Angel Guardian to continually focus on its front.

Slowly… Slowly…

Aria waited patiently. She was like a hawk eyeing down its prey, ready to strike at the perfect moment. The flames of the S-Rankers blocked everyone's vision of the Angel Guardian, but Aria could ‘see’ it perfectly.

‘Breathe, Aria… Breathe…’ The Archmagus calmed herself. Intense magic continued to blindside the Angel, and it thickened vines crept further up to protect its crippling body. The Demon Guardian could sense the peril that its compatriot was in and it plunged out into the open. All of the S-Class Paladins, Knights and Tanks were being pushed back. The blockade was stomped on violently by the Demon, who could only use physical attacks. If left alone for twenty more seconds, the Demon Guardian was sure to reunite with the Angel and then everything that Yudonia’s S-Rankers had planned for would be washed down the drain.

However… There was no way that Aria would let that happen!

“NOW, RIDAN!!!” The Archmagus didn’t bother to add honorifics and ordered the Brawler to unleash the Mountain Punch.

“AAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Ridan screamed with all the volume he could muster. Steam billowed up from his muscles as his sweat was instantly vapourised by the heat inside of those bear-like biceps. Aria was almost pushed back by the pure energy being released by the Brawler and was forced to create a wall of light to support her back. Ridan’s fist shot out rapidly from its coiled position and fired straight into nothingness. One might question, why would Ridan punch out when there was nothing but air in front of him? And the answer was really quite simple.

When the punch was about three-quarters thrown, the Brawler vanished. He had blind faith. He truly believed that Aria would move him to the best possible location for his Mountain Punch to work. And… Ridan was right in believing.

BBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

The entire Boss Room trembled. The ancient floor was shaking, and the dust and sand from the surroundings flew all over the place. Many fell straight to the floor, placing their hands over their ears. Crimson life liquid flowed out from the depths of their ear canals. Not even a plane breaking through the sound barrier could cause this much damage.

“Did we get it?” One S-Ranker near Aria asked. The Angel Guardian was hidden behind not only a wall of S-Class Fire, but also the dozens of thickened vines it created. Not a single soul present could see the results with their eyes. Aria, on the other hand, didn’t need to rely on such a flawed organ.

The two sides of her lips curled upwards, and her eyes sparkled in heaven’s joy. “Yes… Yes, we did...”

Just as she said those words, the vines of nature eroded rapidly, as if they weren’t supposed to exist. Life was replaced with ash and the intact wing that everyone was raving about, was no longer there.

“He did it! Ridan did it!!!” Rhykius was the first one to physically see the broken pieces of the Angel’s Wing fly forward, and he was also the first one to scream into the intercom. “The Angel Guardian doesn’t have any more spells to cast!!! Everyone attack the Magic Core!!!”

That was the plan of the President. Take down the pesky Angel’s final wing and leave it completely crippled. Without those mana-sucking vines in the way, the S-Rankers could execute all of their strongest skills or magic without worrying about the risks, because there would be none. Without its twelve wings and halo, the Angel Guardian was essentially a sitting duck waiting to be shot. And the S-Rankers all knew that.

Archers nocked their bows while martial arts masters brandished their weapons. If they took down the Angel Guardian’s Magic Core, the Demon Guardian would cease its movements as well. Hence, if the Angel Guardian fell, so did the S-Class Dungeon. However, they had to do it fast. Now that the Angel was utterly crippled, the Demon went into complete hysteria. The bindings that held it down was now broken entirely. It hardly cared about the pests that were at its feet. It just wanted to return back to its partner.

Aria didn’t concern herself with the follow-up. She cast High Teleport and brought Ridan back to Minerva’s Barrier, where Yvette was busy healing the fainted Finn. The Archmagus had done her job, and there was nothing else that she could contribute to. So, she decided to sit back, relax and enjoy the remainder of the show.

“Yvette, how’s Finn?” Aria asked the busy elf.

Yvette replied with a shake of the head. “There’re many abrasions and shattered bones. Some of his organs are punctured as well. Fortunately, he has been immediately sent to me, and I’d brought him out of the danger zone. However, it’ll take a few more weeks of treatment for him to get back standing on his two feet.”

“That ONE punch was so brutal?!” Aria gasped. Finn had used [Giantification] to increase his size and temporarily boost his constitution and strength, which was high enough, to begin with. He was also wearing a set of S-Tier Armour that could easily protect someone from the detonation of a nuclear bomb. Finally, Finn had all of his High Paladin’s skills and resistances. However, all of those added together was still not enough to withstand the force of the Demon Guardian’s punch. Just how high was its strength stat?!

It was a miracle that the other half of the Raid Force was able to hold the Demon Guardian back for this long.

After taking a few moments to catch his breath, Ridan turned to the Archmagus with a disgusting smile. “Buahahaha! Lassie! That was amazing!” The man slapped on Aria’s back, pushing her forward like a pinball. “You’re really good at dungeon diving! How about I offer you a position in my Guild? I won’t underpay you!”

The Brawler had ignored that fact that they were still in the midst of a Boss Fight and started his recruitment campaign to get Aria to join. Bitterly smiling, the Archmagus shook her head. “There’s no amount of money in the world that could bring me back into a godforsaken place like this ever again!”

“Hoho? You feel that strongly?” The Brawler raised an eyebrow. “So why did you join this expedition in the first place?”

It wasn’t uncommon for S-Rankers to decline the Association President’s request. In fact, there were a few S-Rankers in Yudonia that explicitly said no to the conquest. Either the money offered was too low, or the risks were too high. Those were the two main reasons why one would decline such a golden opportunity. However, just as there were demerits, the benefits of joining the S-Class Dungeon Raid were tremendous as well.

Some chased the fame of becoming one of the select few to have ‘S-Class Dungeon Conqueror’ in their portfolios. Others just sought the thrill of adventure, taking on the peak level of monsters to better their own skills and magic. Most did it for the money while a minority did it for the patriotism they had. As for what drove Aria to join…

“Why I joined the expedition?” Aria tapped her chest once before pointing straight at the opposite end of the Boss Room. A simple stone door, two-metres-tall and three-metres-wide, was hidden right behind the two Guardians.

After a Dungeon Raid force struggled through the earlier floors, destroyed all of the foes in their way, felt the threat of losing their lives with every passing step, escaped the certain death of traps and finally, defeated the Bosses that were far superior than any other monster they’d met, the Dungeon Raiders would be rewarded with a Treasure Chamber. Gold, Silver, Diamonds… Those were just the low-level rewards. Higher dungeon classes would even drop precious weapons, magic books, and rare items that could never be found in the outside world.

However, Aria didn’t care about material gains. Heck, she didn’t even want a magic book if they found one. What she wanted was…

“I want to investigate the true nature of magic...” The Archmagus said with conviction. “And I believe… What I seek, is through that door...”