The SSS+ Dungeon: "Target Zero"Depth: Layer 4 - The Corpse Valley
The transition from the war-torn trenches of the Third Layer to the Fourth was not marked by a change in scenery, but by a sudden, deafening silence.
The gate deposited them onto a ridge overlooking a vast, desolate canyon. The sky here was a bruised purple, swirling with thick, noxious clouds that rained ash like snow. But it wasn't the landscape that made the two men pause.
It was the smell.
It was a stench so thick it tasted like copper on the tongue—the overwhelming, metallic tang of fresh blood.
"We finally arrived on the fourth layer," Nicholas rumbled, his voice low. He tightened his grip on Mjolnir, the golden metal sizzling against his gauntlet. "But... look at that."
Damien stepped up beside him, his boots crunching on the bone-dry earth. He looked down into the valley.
It was a slaughterhouse.
Mountains of corpses were piled high, creating grim hills that dotted the valley floor. These weren't human bodies. They were Monsters. High-Rank Monsters. Behemoths, Drakes, Void Stalkers—creatures that would take a full raid team to bring down were lying in heaps, dismembered, crushed, and decapitated.
Standing atop the highest mound of carnage were two figures.
One was a towering, elegant male elf clad in pristine white robes that were miraculously unstained by the river of blood beneath him. The other was a small, petite female demoness with crimson skin and horns that curled like a ram's, wearing a gothic dress that looked like it belonged in a dollhouse.
"Ohh Goddess!" the Demoness squealed, swinging a massive, blood-encrusted mace as if it weighed nothing. She brought it down on the head of a surviving Drake, crushing its skull instantly.
"Give me power! Give me the power to slaughter these blasphemers and heretics who trash your name!" she screamed, her voice a mix of childish glee and religious fanaticism. "Give me the power to judge their death!"
"What the..." Nicholas whispered, his eyes widening. He had seen many things in his decades as a Hunter, but monsters killing their own kind with such prejudice was new.
"Are those our reinforcements, Nicholas?" Damien asked, squinting through the gloom. "Because I swear, if the Intelligence Division missed the fact that we have allies down here, I'm going to shoot the analyst myself."
"Stop jesting, you goddamn brat!" Nicholas hissed, grabbing Damien's shoulder. "This is not the time for a joke. Also, I don't even have information that they are our reinforcements. Look at their mana. It's pitch black. They are deeply connected to the Dungeon."
Damien shrugged, reaching for his Glock. "Just checking. So, do we shoot them?"
"Shh!"
Nicholas suddenly yanked Damien down behind a large, ruined pillar of obsidian.
"Hey!" Damien protested in a whisper, dusting off his tactical vest. "Why did you pull me? I thought it was our chance to sneak up on them? I could have put a bullet in the little one's head."
Nicholas glared at him, his blue eyes intense. "No. Look closer. Do you see how they just effortlessly killed those SSS-Rank monsters? That pile they are standing on? Those are Apex predators."
Damien peeked over the edge of the pillar. He focused his mana into his eyes.
"Those piles of monsters... are SSS-Rank?!" Damien breathed, shock finally piercing his composure.
He recognized the carcass of a Void Hydra and a Greater Demon Lord. Those were catastrophic threats. And they had been butchered like cattle.
"Yeah," Nicholas grimaced. "Those are SSS-Ranks. And don't ask me how I know. It's not like you didn't know already that us SSS-Rank Hunters can sense their residual levels even in death."
Damien raised his hands in surrender. "Hey, old man monkey, I didn't even plan to ask that. I have common sense, y'know. Unlike some people who wear gold armor in a stealth mission."
Nicholas just sighed, ignoring the jab. He focused his senses on the two beings below.
The 3rd Apostle, the elf, wiped a speck of dust from his sleeve. He looked around the valley with cold, dead eyes.
"This is enough, 5th Apostle," he said, his voice smooth and melodious. "The Pope called. It is time for the final preparations to unseal our Goddess."
The Demoness—the 5th Apostle—stopped mid-swing. Her amber eyes gleamed with excitement, her tail swishing behind her.
"Really?!" she chirped, hopping down from the corpse pile. She landed with a heavy thud that cracked the ground. "Our Goddess will finally be unsealed?!"
"Yeah," the 3rd Apostle said, a small, arrogant smirk touching his lips. He nodded to her.
"Does that mean I can finally avenge my parents and my friends?!" the 5th Apostle asked, clutching her mace to her chest like a teddy bear.
"Mhm." The 3rd Apostle nodded again. He was known for his patience, especially with the 5th, who was the youngest and most unstable of them all.
"We can finally avenge our friends, our families, and our loved ones," the 3rd Apostle continued, his voice darkening. "We will burn the surface world to ash."
He paused. His ears twitched. He slowly redirected his eyes toward the ridge where Damien and Nicholas were hiding.
"And you two..." the 3rd Apostle said, his voice projecting effortlessly to their location. "Come out now! Before I drag you out."
Damien and Nicholas froze.
"Wait, how did you find them?!" the 5th Apostle cried, puffing out her cheeks. "Not fair! Not fair! I wanted to play hide and seek!"
The 3rd Apostle raised a slender finger and pressed it to his lips. "It's a secret. And..."
He narrowed his eyes at the pillar.
"You know it's bad looking at us like perverts, y'know? Stalking in the shadows."
Behind the pillar, Damien and Nicholas were having a furious, silent argument.
"Do you have a plan?" Damien whispered frantically.
"No. Do you have one?" Nicholas whispered back, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Goddamnit, why would you ask me?! You're the SSS-Class Hunter, not me! Figure it out yourself, Titan!"
"Hey! It's not my damn fault that you have no skill in hiding!" Nicholas hissed, blaming Damien.
"Me?! My fault?!" Damien looked incredulous. He poked Nicholas's chest. "You goddamn bastard, it's your fault that they found us! If it weren't for your Mjolnir sizzling and doing a ZZZZ sound like a broken microwave, they wouldn't have found us! So it's your goddamn fault, not mine!"
While Damien and Nicholas were ranting at each other like a dysfunctional father and son, the 5th Apostle looked at the pillar in confusion. She tilted her head.
"What are they talking about?" the 5th Apostle asked the 3rd.
The 3rd Apostle listened, his superior elven hearing picking up every word. "They were arguing... blaming each other. And oh... they are also planning something. Apparently, we are 'Plan B'."
"Really? There would be a fight?!" The 5th Apostle gleamed again, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
The 3rd shrugged. "Ehh, it's not like they have much choice."
The 5th Apostle then summoned a massive scythe from thin air. It was larger than her entire body, radiating a black, necrotic aura.
"Then it's time for a slaughter!" she cheered.
The 3rd stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
"Why?!" she whined.
"Let them finish what they are talking about," the 3rd said, crossing his arms. "Also, I already told you, you should respect adults. They are clearly having a moment."
"Yeah, yeah, not like they're adults! I'm already 100 years old!" the 5th argued.
"Yeah, in Demon Years. While for them—and for me—you act like you are 15 years old."
"I'm not 15!" the 5th shouted, pouting furiously.
The 3rd Apostle ignored her tantrum and shouted up at the ridge.
"HEY! ARE YOU TWO DONE TALKING?!"
Damien and Nicholas stopped bickering. They looked at each other, then at the elf, and sighed in unison.
"So what's the plan then?" Damien asked, resigning himself to the inevitable.
"Plan B," Nicholas said, gripping his hammer.
"Plan B?" Damien tilted his head in confusion, a question mark practically appearing beside his head. "We didn't discuss a Plan B."
"Yes. Attack!"
-BOOM!
Nicholas disappeared. He launched himself off the ridge with enough force to shatter the cliffside, appearing instantly in front of the 3rd Apostle.
"Hello!" Nicholas roared, bringing Mjolnir down.
The 3rd Apostle didn't even dodge. He just smirked.
"Now, we're talking!"
-CLANG!
The 3rd Apostle caught the hammer with a single, slender dagger. The impact created a shockwave that cleared the corpses in a hundred-meter radius.
"Wait, you goddamn old monkey!" Damien shouted from the ridge. "Shit! You should have warned me before—"
-WOOSH!
The air displaced in front of him.
"Peekaboo!"
The 5th Apostle appeared directly in front of Damien's face, hanging upside down in the air, her scythe poised to strike.
Damien widened his eyes. He raised his dagger instinctively.
-CLANG!
He deflected the blade of the scythe, but the weight behind it was astronomical.
'Goddamnit! That attack is so strong that my muscles are straining apart, even though I'm using my Black Death Mode!'
Damien was launched backward, skidding through the dirt.
"Hahaha! You're funny!" the 5th Apostle laughed, landing and spinning her scythe.
-SMASH!
-CLANG!
She attacked again, a whirlwind of violence. Damien parried, dodged, and weaved, but he was being pushed back.
'Shit!' Damien thought, his eyes widening as he felt the wind pressure cut his cheek. 'This little gremlin! I should not underestimate her!'
While Damien fought for his life against the Demoness, Nicholas was engaged in a high-speed duel of death with the 3rd Apostle.
The Elf was fast. Too fast. He moved like smoke, his dual daggers weaving a net of steel around Nicholas.
-ZIP!
-SLASH!
A cut appeared on Nicholas's cheek. Another on his thigh.
'Shit! If I didn't avoid that, I would be dead already,' Nicholas thought, sweating buckets.
He looked at the 3rd Apostle. The elf wasn't even sweating. He looked bored.
"Is that all you got?" the 3rd Apostle asked in a mocking tone, twirling his daggers. "I thought an old man like you would have so much more experience! You are the Titan of the West, are you not? Disappointing."
He ran towards Nicholas, his speed doubling.
"You should have stayed home if you are this weak!"
As the 3rd Apostle appeared in front of Nicholas, preparing to deliver a fatal strike to the heart, Nicholas's eyes glowed.
"Don't get cocky, kid."
Nicholas slammed his foot into the ground.
-SMASH!
'MJOLNIR SECOND STATE: THIRD CRY!'
'INCINERATION!'
-ZAP-BOOM!
Nicholas summoned a torrent of holy fire mixed with lightning from Mjolnir. The blast radius engulfed the entire area.
But instead of stopping to check if he hit, Nicholas added another attack immediately.
'MJOLNIR THIRD STATE: SECOND CRY!'
'PILLAR OF THUNDER!'
A massive pillar of pure, condensed lightning dropped from the dark sky, trapping both the 3rd Apostle and Nicholas inside a cage of electricity.
The smoke cleared.
The 3rd Apostle was standing there, his white robes slightly singed, but unharmed. He had blocked the lightning with a barrier of dark mana.
"Ahh! I see," the 3rd Apostle said, nodding appreciatively. "You are the Avatar of Thor. Your Constellation is Thor, huh? Interesting. And here I thought I would get bored."
The 3rd Apostle smiled—a cold, terrifying expression. He raised his two daggers, crossing them over his chest.
"Then I'll show you how great our Goddess is!"
The atmosphere shifted. The air turned heavy and cold.
'DEMONIC DIVINE ART SECOND STATE: FOURTH FORM!'
'ABSOLUTE SLASH OF THE ABYSS!'
The 3rd Apostle disappeared.
Nicholas's instincts screamed. He raised Mjolnir to block.
-SWISH!
-SLASH!
It happened in a microsecond.
A line of black energy bisected the space where Nicholas stood.
Nicholas stumbled back. His face went pale.
His right arm—the arm holding Mjolnir—detached from his body.
It fell to the ground with a heavy thud, the hammer clattering beside it. Blood sprayed like a geyser.
Nicholas's eyes widened, but he didn't scream. He clamped his left hand over the stump, cauterizing the wound with lightning instantly.
'Tch!' Nicholas thought, pain flooding his system. 'He cut through the Divine Armor like it was paper.'
Nicholas rolled his eyes, looking everywhere, trying to find where the 3rd Apostle was hiding.
"BOO!"
The whisper came from right behind his ear.
Before Nicholas could react, the 3rd Apostle's twin daggers appeared at his throat.
"Checkmate."
-BAM!
A gunshot rang out.
A bullet, imbued with black, swirling energy, tore through the air and struck the 3rd Apostle's left arm.
"AAHHHHHH!!!" the 3rd Apostle screamed, dropping one dagger as his arm exploded in a spray of gore. He leaped back, clutching the wound.
"You goddamn human!"
Nicholas looked over. Damien was standing on a corpse pile fifty meters away, smoke rising from his Glock.
But Damien wasn't alone. The 5th Apostle was right on top of him.
"You ignored me to help him?!" the 5th Apostle shrieked, her face twisted in rage. She summoned her massive scythe back to her hands.
"Take This!"
"SCYTHE OF THE ABYSS!"
The 5th Apostle screamed as she lifted the massive scythe. Dark energy gathered at the blade, forming a vortex that threatened to swallow Damien whole.
Damien holstered his gun. He grabbed his poignant dagger with both hands.
'BLACK DEATH FOURTH STATE: SECOND FORM!'
'BLACK FLASH!'
"You should not declare your attack," Damien whispered.
-ZWOOP.
Instead of being sliced by the massive scythe, Damien disappeared. He moved at a speed that defied physics, a streak of black lightning.
He appeared directly in front of the 5th Apostle, inside her guard.
-SWISH!
He slashed horizontally.
The 5th Apostle froze. Her eyes went wide.
"H-how?" she gasped.
A thin red line appeared on her neck.
"As I said before," Damien said, standing behind her now, wiping his blade. "You should not declare your attack."
The 5th Apostle's head slid off her shoulders.
-THUD.
Her body collapsed, the massive scythe dissolving into purple mist.
Damien dropped to one knee, huffing and sweating bullets.
"HUFF!"
"HUFF!"
"HUFF!"
'Goddamnit,' Damien thought, his lungs burning. 'That damn gremlin really did push me to my limits. My mana is half gone.'
He looked at his right arm. It was battered, bruised purple and black from deflecting the mace and scythe. His muscles were screaming.
Across the battlefield, the 3rd Apostle stared at the headless body of the 5th.
'Goddamnit!' the Elf thought, panic rising in his chest. 'They caught me off guard. I... I am the 3rd Apostle! I should not be defeated like this! Not like this! And the 5th... she is dead!'
Nicholas picked up Mjolnir with his left hand. He walked toward the 3rd Apostle, blood still dripping from his severed stump. His face was a mask of cold fury.
"Any last words?" Nicholas asked.
The 3rd Apostle glared at them. He clutched his ruined left arm.
"Tch! I have no choice then," the 3rd Apostle spat.
He reached into his robes and pulled out a talisman. He pressed it against his chest.
"You know I would only use this as a last resort, but..."
"You really pushed me to my limits, y'know."
The 3rd Apostle screamed.
"AAHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
A shockwave of purple energy exploded from him, knocking Nicholas back.
Horns erupted from the Elf's head, curling and jagged. Leathery bat wings tore through the back of his white robes, spreading wide. His skin turned grey, and his eyes began to glow with a malevolent violet light.
A symbol appeared on his chest.
Nicholas's eyes widened. He recognized it.
'What the!' Nicholas thought in shock. 'That symbol... it's identical to the Demon God symbol in the file!'
"No way!" Nicholas gasped.
"What the actual—" Damien said, his eyes widening.
Suddenly, a headache split Damien's skull.
"AHH!"
'Goddamnit, why would another headache appear in a situation like this?!' Damien thought, clutching his head. It was the same pain as before, the connection to "Rudeus." But he forced it down.
The 3rd Apostle's transformation finished. He landed on the ground, the stone cracking beneath his hooves. He looked at the two humans with a gaze that promised eternal suffering.
"Now," the 3rd Apostle said, his voice layered with a demonic echo. "Let's continue to play."
"You goddamn murderers."
***
Meanwhile.Depth: Layer 5 - The Abyssal Sanctum.
The chamber shook.
"Your Holiness," the 4th Apostle said, his voice trembling. "The 5th Apostle is dead. Her life signature has vanished."
The Pope froze.
"And the 3rd Apostle..." the 4th Apostle continued, looking at a glowing crystal. "He used the seal. He used the Forbidden Seal as a last resort to send us a message. The humans are here. And they are strong."
The Pope turned slowly. He looked at the statue of the Goddess. A single tear tracked through the dust on his face.
"5th Apostle..." the Pope whispered. "Such a young girl. Died at the hands of those cruel murderers. She never even saw the sun."
"Send me there, Your Holiness!" the 4th Apostle shouted, stepping forward. "I promise, I will kill those fools who invade our territory and stop our ritual! I will bring you their heads!"
"No!" the Pope barked.
"Both of you—the 1st Apostle and you—stay here. If the 5th Apostle died to the hands of their murderers, and the 3rd Apostle was forced to use the Forbidden Seal to unleash his full power..."
The Pope looked at the statue, his eyes hardening.
"Then both of you will lose too. The humans have sent their monsters."
"We shall await the Goddess's arrival," the Pope commanded. "And then..."
He smiled. A crazed, fanatic smile that stretched his skin too tight.
"We will kill them all. We will avenge our dead comrades and everyone we lost. We will make them pay in blood."
The two remaining Apostles knelt before the Pope.
"Then we shall follow!" they said in unison.
***
Back to the Fight.Layer 4.
The battle had reignited, and it was cataclysmic.
-CLANG!
-CLANG!
-CLANG!
Nicholas, wielding Mjolnir one-handed, was fighting a desperate defensive battle. The 3rd Apostle, now in his Demon Form, was faster, stronger, and wielding a Lance of darkness that seemed to absorb the light.
Nicholas activated another attack.
'MJOLNIR SECOND STATE: FIFTH CRY!'
'GODSTEP!'
-ZAP.
Nicholas disappeared, reappearing instantly in front of the 3rd Apostle, swinging the hammer upward.
"Do you think you could catch me off guard again?!" the 3rd Apostle roared.
"Not a chance!"
The 3rd Apostle swung his lance.
"DIE!"
Nicholas didn't reply or retort back. He just chanted silently, his eyes glowing white.
'MJOLNIR FOURTH STATE: SECOND CRY!'
'THUNDER GOD'S SMITE!'
-BOOM!
A bolt of lightning struck Mjolnir at the moment of impact, magnifying the force.
"Tch!" the 3rd Apostle grunted as the lightning lingered on his body, paralyzing him for a fraction of a second.
And then Damien appeared.
He dropped from the sky, his poignant dagger imbued with the deepest shadows of his [Black Death].
'BLACK DEATH FOURTH STATE: SEVENTH FORM!'
'THANATOS SCYTHE!'
Damien slashed down at the Apostle's back.
-SLASH!
A deep wound opened on the Demon's wings.
"AAHHHH!!! GODDAMNIT! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF BOTH OF YOUR ATTACKS!" the 3rd Apostle screamed, clearly annoyed.
"Every time I successfully slash, someone appears in my back and catches me off guard again! And Again! And Again!"
The 3rd Apostle spun around, swinging his lance in a massive circle.
"I HAVE ENOUGH!"
"AHHHH!!"
A shockwave threw both Damien and Nicholas backward. They crashed into the same pillar they had been hiding behind earlier.
"TAKE THIS! AND JUST DIE ALREADY!"
The 3rd Apostle flew into the air. He raised his lance. It grew to the size of a skyscraper, composed of pure void energy.
"LANCE OF DEATH!!!!!"
'Shit!' Damien and Nicholas thought in unison.
-BANG!
-BANG!
-BANG!
Damien shot three bullets at the lance, but they dissolved upon contact.
"Goddamnit! I thought that plan of yours would work, Damien!" Nicholas shouted, trying to stand up.
"It goddamn worked, old man!" Damien yelled back, coughing blood. "It's just that... we're both crippled! My right arm is battered because of that goddamn gremlin, and your right arm is cut off! We lack DPS!"
Nicholas didn't try to retort back because Damien was right. They were running on fumes.
"So what's the goddamn plan then?" Nicholas asked, gripping his hammer.
"Tch! That big Lance is already coming towards us and you're gonna ask me?"
"Yeah."
"Goddamn monkey," Damien muttered. He looked at Nicholas. "Tch. How about this... we will combine our strongest attacks. We hit the tip of the lance at the exact same moment and redirect it back at that motherfucker."
"Nice plan! Would it work, Damien?" Nicholas asked, skepticism in his voice.
"I dunno, figure it out! You have so much fighting experience on these monsters!" Damien answered in a mocking tone.
Nicholas grinned. "Then it will work. I'll use my strongest attack. You use yours. On three."
"Yeah, yeah. Let's just get this done already! I'm already tired. It's been like hours. And also... where are the others anyway?! I forgot to ask this, but did they lost?"
Nicholas just shrugged. "If they died, we'll mourn them later."
"Goddamnit, fine! Let's do this!" Damien said in a pissed-off tone.
The giant Lance of Death began to descend.
Nicholas nodded. He channeled every ounce of mana he had left into his remaining arm.
'MJOLNIR FIFTH STATE: FINAL CRY!'
'VALHALLA!'
A golden city appeared behind Nicholas, spectral warriors chanting his name.
Damien focused his Black Death. The markings on his body turned from black to white.
'BLACK DEATH SIXTH STATE: FINAL FORM!'
'THANATOS' JUDGEMENT!'
A reaper appeared behind Damien, raising a scythe that cut reality.
They struck together.
-BOOM!
The two attacks met the Lance of Death.
"AAHHHHHHHH!!!!" Damien and Nicholas screamed together, their muscles tearing as they tried to hold back the weight of a god's power.
They pushed. They redirected.
"AAHHHH!!!!" The 3rd Apostle screamed back, his eyes widening as he saw his own attack turning around. He tried to resist.
"AHHHHHHH!!!!!"
"AAHHHHHHH!!!"
The combined force of Valhalla and Thanatos overpowered the Lance.
"Ohh shit!" the 3rd Apostle said, realizing it was over.
"AAHHHHHH!!!!!"
Even though the attack was already redirected, Damien and Nicholas still screamed together to secure their victory, pouring their life force into the blast.
"JUST DIE ALREADY! YOU FUCKING MONKEY!!!" Damien and Nicholas roared in unison.
The blast hit the 3rd Apostle.
"AAAHHHHHHHHH!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!!! YOUR HOLINESS, SAVE ME!!!!!! SAVE ME!!!!!!"
-WOOM!
-BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!
The explosion was blinding. It wasn't fire; it was erasure.
The 3rd Apostle failed to kill Damien and Nicholas. He didn't just turn to ash; he was erased from existence. His scream lingered for a second after his body was gone, then faded into silence.
Silence returned to the Corpse Valley.
Then, the sound of two bodies hitting the dirt.
-THUD.
-THUD.
Damien and Nicholas lay on the ground, staring up at the bruised purple sky.
"Huff... huff... huff..." Nicholas wheezed. "That's the first time I saw an attack like that... that combined together and erased a World Ender Being like that from existence. Thanks, kiddo. You saved my ass."
"Huff... huff... huff..." Damien gasped, his chest heaving. "You're welcome... you goddamn old monkey."
Nicholas sighed and looked at Damien. "No, really. Thank you. You really made my life exciting again. I haven't felt this alive in twenty years."
Damien ignored him. His eyes felt heavy. The adrenaline was gone, leaving only pain.
"Whatever," Damien mumbled in a tired tone. "I'll go to sleep first."
He closed his eyes. Darkness took him instantly.
Nicholas looked at him, a soft smile on his battered face. "Yeah, kid. You deserve rest."
A moment later, a figure appeared in the distance. It was Morgane. She was covered in green blood, her staff cracked, but alive.
"Nicholas?! And Sir Damien?!" she shouted, running toward them. "What happened to both of you?!"
She saw Nicholas's missing arm. She saw the devastation around them.
"Shh," Nicholas whispered, putting a finger to his lips. "Someone's sleeping. We should not disturb him, Morgane."
Morgane stopped, looking between the two broken men.
"Sigh," she exhaled, her shoulders slumping. "You need to explain right now why you two are in such a state! And where are the Apostles?!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'll explain, but..."
Nicholas looked at the sleeping Damien again.
"You should heal us first. Or at least him."
Morgane sighed again, raising her staff. Green light began to gather. "Alright. But! I need an explanation."
"Yeah, mom!" Nicholas said as a joke, wincing as the healing magic touched his stump.
'Sigh,' Nicholas thought, looking at the unnatural skies of the 4th Layer. 'Seems my life will start to be exciting when I'm already this old, huh?'
He closed his eyes, letting the light wash over him.