Inside of the Goblin Crypt in the Town of Hartlepool…
William stood still with his eyes closed. The words that his father had told him still reverberated in the core of his being.
“I come as one, but I stand in the tens of thousands!”
The red-headed boy pressed his hand over his wildly beating heart as an image appeared inside his head.
A man stood proud on the back of a Chimaera Type Dragon with black horns and wings spread wide. He had his arms crossed over his chest as he looked fearlessly at the massive army that belonged to the Demon Race in front of him.
Suddenly, several portals appeared behind him. Resounding roars and shrieks pierced the air as Dragons, Ancient Beasts, and other Behemoths descended on the battlefield with fury. More portals appeared around Maxwell as a fearless grin appeared on his handsome face.
Thousands…
Tens of thousands…
Hundreds of thousands….
Millions…
The sky darkened as Maxwell’s Army of Dungeon Monsters poured out from the massive portals en masse. It was as if he was summoning all the monsters in the world to fight for him.
The Demon Army momentarily stopped their advance as the countless Dungeon Monsters roared simultaneously.
It was at that moment when William understood why there could only be one Dungeon Conqueror to exist at a time. No army, kingdom, or empire, would be able to withstand an attack of this magnitude–dozens of Myriad Beasts, hundreds of Millennial Beasts, thousands of Centennial Beasts and other strong monsters that were Class B and above.
The scene made William’s blood boil due to how awesome it was. Frankly, the word awesome was an understatement. Words couldn’t describe the feelings that were rising inside his heart.
Maxwell turned his head to look at William. There was a playful smile on his father’s face as he gave him a brief nod.
Soon, an earth-shaking roar resounded across the battlefield as the massive Monster Army charged towards the Demon Army.
William watched as the Dragons rampaged in the sky.
He watched as the Eight-Headed Hydras fired Dragon Breaths of different elements from all of their heads.
He watched as Giants brandished their weapons left and right, sending Demons flying in all directions.
He watched until the Demons sounded their bugle horns to signal their retreat.
The Monsters didn’t waver and pursued relentlessly as their enemies retreated like the tide.
William breathed a long deep sigh before opening his eyes.
His father had shown him the possibility that was waiting for him at the end of his journey. The Half-Elf clenched his fist as he made a vow to himself.
‘One day, I will come and see you father,’ William said in his heart. ‘Till then, watch over Mother for me.’
It was at that moment when he realized that a delicate hand held his arm and a pair of anxious eyes looked straight at his own eyes.
“What happened?” Wendy inquired. “The dungeon core disappeared after you pressed the ring against it. After that, you stood in a daze and no matter how much we tried to wake you up, you wouldn’t budge.”
William patted Wendy’s head to assure her that he was fine. “Let’s go back. Our mission has been accomplished.”
Wendy nodded her head and held William’s hand. Ian gave the two of them some space as he followed behind them. This was her way of compensating Wendy for the time that she had spent with William inside his Spiritual World.
William and Ian didn’t need to say anything to each other. Both of their hearts were connected, so the red-headed boy understood what Ian was trying to tell him.
‘Thank you,’ William said through telepathy.
Ian smiled as he walked behind William. ‘You’re not getting any sleep tonight.’
‘Is that a threat?’
‘Does it sound like a threat?’
The two bickered via telepathy as they exited the Goblin Crypt. Now that the Dungeon Core had merged with the Goblin Crypt inside the Ring of Conquest, the Dungeon in Hartlepool would slowly disappear over the passage of time.
Although William felt sorry that the townspeople would lose a source of income, he didn’t have the leisure to wait for the curse to be undone before he increased his private army.
William, Wendy, and Ian returned to the Armstrong Duchy to report to Spencer that they were going back to the Northern Regions.
Spencer made one last futile attempt to convince his sister to stay, but Wendy was adamant to stick to her boyfriend like glue. Naturally, William welcomed Wendy’s company, which gave Spencer a headache.
In the end, Spencer finally agreed and even gave them one of the flying carriages that belonged to their Duchy. Instead of a Gryphon, the one that pulled their flying carriage was the Lamassu.
As the Magical Beast soared towards the North, Wendy and Ian laid beside William on the comfortable bed inside the flying carriage. William hugged both of them as he discussed with the System what their next course of action should be.
According to the Dungeon Conqueror Job Class, William wouldn’t be able to Conquer a dungeon as easily as he had the Goblin Crypt. However, that restriction didn’t prevent him from adding another Dungeon to his Ring of Conquest.
Takam’s second condition was for William to raise four Centennial Ranked Beasts. William understood the importance of this because right now, he lacked powerful allies that had the Centennial Rank and above.
Takam also added that although William should also increase the ranks of the Minotaur Race to strengthen his forces, the Four Centennial Rank Beasts should not be counted on their side.
Erchitu was already a Millennial Beast, and the Lamassus were all Class A Beasts. Takam’s condition stated that he didn’t care where William acquired these four Centennial Beasts, but any beast from the Minotaur Race wouldn’t be counted among the four.
Although William found this second condition to be unusual, he didn’t mind doing it because he wanted to form a strong force to contend with the enemies he was about to face.
William checked his status page and found an empty slot right next to his Goblin Crypt. The very first dungeon that he had visited had now turned green, which meant that it was an ally Dungeon.
After merging the recorded Goblin Crypt with the real Goblin Crypt, William had unlocked the true power of the Ring of Conquest as well as the Hidden Ability Dungeon Conqueror.
What was that power? It was the ability to randomly teleport to any Dungeon in the world of Hestia that would serve as a Dungeon that he could conquer next.
This was a heaven-defying ability because it allowed William to practically travel anywhere and capture any dungeon he wanted.
‘This Job Class is insane,’ William thought. He was quite thankful that his father had prepared adequately to transfer this power to him. If this power landed in the hands of those who would use it for World Conquest then the chances of them succeeding were very high.
‘Fortunately there can only be one Dungeon Conqueror at any given time.’ William sighed in relief as he looked at the ring in his hand, that had accompanied him since he was a baby.
It was the ring that had taken William inside the Goblin Crypt, and forced him to acquire the Shepherd Job Class. If not for the Ring of Conquest activating at that time, William might have spent his childhood living a carefree life free without facing anything dangerous.
The Half-Elf took a deep breath as he made his decision.
He planned to have the new Dungeon serve as the place for his Thousand Beast Army to increase their ranks, in preparation for the battle against Deus, the Elves, and the Undead Army that threatened the peace of his own Thousand Beast Domain.
‘So, I just need to activate the Dungeon Search ability, and synchronize it with the Ring of Conquest to make a connection to that dungeon. This way, I can allow my Thousand Beast Domain to access it as well. Am I right, System?’ William asked.
< Yes. However, once a Dungeon is chosen, we can’t remove it from the Ring of Conquest no matter what. Are you fine with this, Host? >
‘Okay. let’s do this!’ William closed his eyes and used the Dungeon Search ability.
At the same time, the System synchronized with him and activated the Ring of Conquest.
< Activating Ring of Conquest! >
—
—–
The Ring on William’s hand glowed as a golden thread shot out from its center. It flew towards the window of the flying carriage and traveled North East.
Half a minute later, it crossed the border of the Southern Continent and headed out to the wide ocean. The System monitored the golden thread’s trajectory as it searched for a random Dungeon that would be connected to the Ring of Conquest.
According to the System, William would be able to travel to that Dungeon no matter where it was located. Simply put, he could travel across continents and back if the Dungeon that the Ring of Conquest picked was on another continent.
Five minutes later, the empty slot beside the Goblin Crypt glowed as the new Dungeon was registered.
William looked at the form of the Dungeon that slowly materialized on his Status Page. It didn’t take long before a Majestic City appeared in front of him.
He read the bold blue letters that appeared above the picture of the new Dungeon and frowned. It was a name that he was familiar with and it was considered to be a legendary city back on Earth.
The notification of the System resounded inside his head as it proclaimed the name of the new Dungeon that they had acquired.
< New Dungeon Acquired! >
< Dungeon name: Atlantis >
