Chapter 18) Dungeon Frenzy.

Master Kim Sao couldn't reach the hospital building anymore. Even with Elsa, the Snow Peacock, as a ride, there was no way for him to get to the hospital without conquering the dungeon that appeared mysteriously in front of it. Yes, he could easily go around it. But the fact that the dungeon had appeared meant that the beasts inside were ready to break out. They would hustle through whatever restraints that kept them within the dungeon and cause untold destruction throughout the city.

"What is going on?" Kim Sao wondered. He had never seen anything like this before. Fully formed dungeons didn't just appear like that. They normally took about a few minutes to manifest fully, enough time for the academy to be contacted to send a team of Mystics to vanquish it.

One moment, he had had a clear view of the Hospital buildings. Then out of nowhere, a tower that stood taller than all the surrounding skyscrapers appeared in front of it. There was something old and forbidden about the tower, telling tale to the fact that it was a dungeon in disguise.

Dungeons could appear in any form. Like the street train that had tricked them into entering inside it only to discover it was a dungeon. They could appear as streams, forests, caves, mountains, even normal residential houses. Once, Master Kim Sao had conquered a dungeon that disguised like an elevator. Humans went inside such places without awareness and with no trouble at all, but for Mystics it was something possibly deadly. Dungeons were only harmful to people when the beasts within broke out.

Even as Kim Sao watched, more towers sprouted out from nowhere till the entire hospital area was surrounded by the thick walls between each tower. The towers were made of pure marble with stone roofs, and walls green with algae, ivies and age. They had runic symbols all over them, as if a crazy artist had gone to work before releasing the dungeons into the world.

Glancing all over Ferling City, Kim Sao was surprised to see dungeon towers appearing in random places all over the city, looming over the steel and glass buildings like a reproachful uncle. He could count at least fifty dungeons. And that was within this city alone. He had a hunch that such dungeons were appearing all over a certain range around the hospital. He also knew that it had something to do with what was going on in the laboratory of the hospital. The dark moon set within the red clouds didn't calm his nerves at all. Night was fast approaching.

"System? Something is terribly wrong. Can you find out what it is?"

[Sixty Dungeons have emerged in Ferling City within the space of five seconds. All the dungeons are of Grade C varieties, with different kinds of beasts. They are all ready to Dungeon Errupt at any moment, releasing the beasts within to terrorize the city.]

[According to System data, such a thing has never happened before. No two dungeons have been known to appear within close proximity of each other at the same time.]

Kim Sao observed the red clouds above with a keen eye. "Does it have any connection with the doom storm clouds up there?"

[Yes. An extremely powerful Mythic X class forbidden spell has been activated. The Dominion Ritual is being performed.]

"What?" The Astral Mystic thought he had heard wrong.

[The Dominion Ritual is already in action, and will be fully complete in thirty minutes.]

Kim Sao's blood went cold immediately. Things were much worse than he had assumed. Selena Monte-Carlos was no longer into petty crimes here and there that didn't cause much harm. She had evolved from the last time he had sent her to Abyssal. She had gone extremely far with her antics this time.

The Dominion Ritual? Kim Sao had heard whispered rumors among other Mystic Teachers at the Academy about the existence of such a spell. The one spell that could bring an end to everything Mystic related because whoever performed the spell would get the power to do anything they wished, control over dungeons and even the Celestial system. He had searched ancient books, sacred scrolls and tomes at the Academy's library but found nothing that made sense.

Unable to quench the fire of curiosity in his heart, Kim Sao had gone to Tantai Xi, the only Phantom Mystic at the Academy. There were ten Phantom Mystics in all, but while the others had gone away to build mana power for leveling up to Celestial, Tantai Xi alone had chosen to remain at the academy. The Phantom Mystic had gone pale immediately Kim Sao mentioned the Domination Ritual. Voice trembling and eyes dead serious, Tantai Xi had replied with words Kim Sao would never forget.

'Never speak of such a terrible thing again. It is forbidden for a reason. The Domination ritual is the end to Mysticism and the Celestial System.'

Now, looking out at the dungeons blocking his path to Xavier, Kim Sao felt overwhelmed. He would never be able to get to the lab in time to stop the ritual.

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Among the normal humans of Ferling City, panic and confusion was rising at an exponential rate.

First the strange red clouds had appeared in the evening sky above the most popular hospital in the city. There were red streaks of lightning and strangely enough, there was also the black moon that very few people had seen before in their lifetime.

"It is a bad omen." An anxious looking old woman said, squinting up at the sky with shocked eyes.

"Come on, grandma." A closeby teenager mocked. "That's just the sun setting. Our Science teacher said something about the sky changing colour like that sometimes."

The old woman shook her head. "That is no sun. That's the black moon, Nissan."

The teenager chuckled, sharing an amused look with his friend. The two of them were in their school uniforms, and had stopped on the way home to play games on their iPhones. They had just settled on a bench by the roadside when the old woman joined them. Now she was saying nonsense.

"There are only two moons, Grandma." The other teenage boy said. "Camri and Venza. You should listen to us. We are students at the prestigious Ferling High school."

"You know nothing, children." The Old woman stood up, eyes still fixed on the sky. "Last night, Nissan shone brighter than the other moons. The black moon always, always brought bad tidings to the planet. Run to your mothers while you still can, children. It is going to be a long but terrible night." And she shuffled away, moving as fast as her tired legs could carry her.

"Can you believe that?" The first teenager said to his friend. The two burst into laughter at the Old woman's ridiculous behaviour, before returning to the game they were playing. Fortunately for them, the second teen's stomach growled a few minutes later.

"You are still hungry?" The first teenager asked in shock.

The second teenager nodded, his face red in embarrassment. "I've not had anything to eat for quite a while."

"We bought hamburgers on our way out of school!"

"That was an hour ago. I'm hungry now!"

The first teenager shrugged. "Don't eat me up, alright? Let's go to my house. My sister would appreciate your large appetite to accept all the food she is always cooking."

The second teenager shot to his feet. "Wow. Your sister is pretty and a nice cook too. The complete package. I can't wait to confess my love to her. We might actually start dating."

"Keep dreaming, big boy. My sister doesn't do high school kids. Especially not the ones who can consume a mountain of cheesecake in one sitting. Come on."

The two of them rushed to the nearest stop and got on a street train. They would reach the first teenager's house without trouble. But nowhere in Ferling City would be safe tonight.

As the night took over, street lights and building screens came on with light. People rushed about, trying to get home before the storm broke. The streets were alive with street trains, coaches, and the occasional hovercrafts. A different couple now sat on the street bench the two teenage boys had vacated some moments before. The man and his lady friend were chatting amiably, ignorant of what was about to happen.

No body saw it coming. The lone standing narrow tower appeared out of nowhere at the centre of the street. Two AI cars smashed into it, demolishing their front bumpers on impact. The sound of the collision drew the attention of people around to the new addition to the street. The tower stood tall and slim, like an ancient monolith with spiralling balconies and a domed roof. It was when two more towers of same features appeared along the same street, and after multiple amounts of bashing collisions of vehicles against them, that the screaming and panic began.

The worse was yet to come. As people scrambled to get off the street, the heavy metallic doors of the towers grinded open. The sound of the doors opening brought everyone to a shocking stop. Despite the honking of cars and the crashing of glass as vehicles slammed into the opposite buildings, a hushed silence spread over the street as everyone waited to see what would emerge from the wide doors of the towers.

Earsplitting growls rumbled from the darkness of the towers before the beasts began to emerge. It was like a dream...the stuff of nightmares. Someone screamed. Another fainted. But the beasts kept on poring out of the towers.