Chapter 37: Dungeon Core

Using his skill, "Absolute Concealment," Rahul vanished into thin air.

"Let's find out what's happening in this dungeon," he murmured. With his skill, he swiftly reached Indrajit's location.

Upon arrival, he was shocked by the state of Amar and Divya. Quickly regaining his composure, his eyes turned icy cold as if freeze the soul, "Indrajit, incapacitate these players."

"Understood, master," replied all the skeletons in unison, readying themselves to fight the D-rank players. Rahul himself unconsciously moved toward Amar and Divya.

"Huh! I sense a chill," the first D-rank player muttered suddenly, his attention drawn to the skeletons.

"Skeletons in the goblin dungeon?" reported Mob 2 with wide eyes.

Hearing Mob 2's report, the D-rank players realized that something was amiss.

"Fifth D-rank, appraise their ranks," the second D-rank player ordered urgently, sensing the strong aura of blood emanating from the skeletons.

"They are peak D-rank skeletons," the fifth D-rank player exclaimed, but there was deep fear. At this moment, he also realized, "They weren't trapped—we are."

After a moment of hesitation, he informed them anxiously, "I can't inspect the stat points!"

"What! You can't inspect their stats?" the third D-rank player exclaimed in disbelief.

Mob 2 quickly analyzed the situation. "They only have three, but we have five D-rank players to counter them."

"Yeah, Mob 2…"

"Enough chatter!" Indrajit interrupted them, his smirk widening. "Let's enjoy the hunt."

"Let's hunt!" the D-rank players echoed.

Rahul, observing with narrowing eyes, sneered at their futile attempts, but Indrajit's wild behavior brought a thought to his mind. "Does naming attribute this behavior?"

The vast difference in stats between the D-rank skeletons and the players quickly became evident.

As Rahul had predicted, the players were swiftly incapacitated within five minutes despite outnumbering the skeletons. They lay on the ground, utterly defeated.

For Rahul, this was a daily routine, but for the surviving players, it was a shocking and terrifying experience. It took them a moment to comprehend that they had been defeated by skeletons.

The survivors, except for Divya and Amar, were consumed by fear.

Rahul also didn't delay and, while handing over HP potions, "Amar, take care of Divya and yourself, I may be busy."

But Amar interrupted, "Boss, are you going?"

"Yeah, I'm going. I have some matters to attend to."

This time, Amar nodded. "Okay."

Following the battle, Rahul ordered the other skeletons, "Take these players to a safe location," and instructed the remaining skeletons, along with Indrajit, to eliminate all the monsters.

"Yes, master," Indrajit replied, moving the players to a secure area while the other skeletons set off to hunt monsters.

Rahul and Indrajit arrived at the safe location, where the defeated players lay.

"Indrajit!" Rahul called out.

Swish! A sharp sword separated the head from the defeated player's neck.

"Netherworld Soul Devouring," Rahul murmured, summoning blue flames that enveloped their bodies. Though already dead, the players' bodies twitched in pain.

In a flash, memories flooded Rahul's mind along with some prompts.

[You used Netherworld Soul Devouring skill on a D-rank player]

[Your stat points are higher than the target]

[You didn't get stat points but received the memories]

"What a sinister plan. They were going to sacrifice all the players in the goblin dungeon, artificially upgrade it, and claim the D-grade dungeon core," Rahul thought, his lip curling in disgust. But there was also a deep excitement on his face as he ignored the prompts.

"How did they discover this, a secret even the 'Federation' normal authority doesn't know? Only the high authority of the Federation can know. Are they involved?" Rahul mused. The next moment, he realized he could sell the dungeon core to Neo.

"Indrajit, let's go," Rahul said, leading the way to the dungeon core's location.

Outside the dungeon

Alok received a report from a middle-aged man about his daughter. He became furious and got the guild and the 'Federation branch' involved.

"What's going on?" he shouted angrily at the 'Federation dungeon manager.'

"We don't know how it happened, sir," the manager replied carefully.

"I didn't ask about that! I want to know what's happening in the goblin dungeon," Alok yelled, his eyes burning with fury.

The manager trembled as he quickly replied, "Sir, a cult group is trying to forcefully upgrade the dungeon."

Rahul's perspective

Rahul reached the exact spot where he noticed a big opening in the monolith wall.

He knew this was the end of his search, where he could find the dungeon's core by tapping into the cult's memories.

Entering the cave, he felt a surge of energy pass through him and Indrajit as they went deeper.

Inside, they found a complex pattern surrounding a black stone emitting a mysterious energy.

A message suddenly appeared.

[Host, you can't touch this core physically, but you can store it in your inventory.]

"Oh!" Rahul exclaimed, remembering the material scorched by his flames.

"Can that material be used to store the core?" he asked, curious about the possibilities.

[Yes, that material has special properties that make it suitable for this purpose.]

"Sht! I wasted my investment," he thought, regaining his composure, "Auto-pick."

[Auto-pick auxiliary function activated]

[D-grade dungeon core stored in inventory]

Without hesitation, the dungeon started to collapse, so he urgently asked, "Neo, take me to the room."

Outside the dungeon

Divya's father, anxiously awaiting his daughter's safe return, heard a sudden sound that filled him with apprehension.

"Sir, the dungeon is disintegrating," the manager reported, his anxiety palpable, fearing the worst.

Alok stood up abruptly, bracing himself for the worst possible outcome, vowing, "If anything happens to my daughter, I will obliterate every cult in this world."

10 minutes earlier

As soon as the skeletons exterminated the cult members and dispersed to eliminate the monsters throughout the dungeon, only Amar's party, Divya, and some E-rank players survived.

Divya rushed to an unconscious E-rank player, seeking help from Amar's party.

Amar didn't delay and moved toward the unconscious player, pouring an HP potion into his mouth.

Gulp

After a moment, his pale complexion returned to its previous state, and his expression eased.

"Healer, help him," Amar and the others implored simultaneously, seeing that the HP potion had done its work.