Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Perhaps with the [Blood Frenzy] skill activated, his actual strength was even greater.

The blood red aura covering Marcus, undulated like lightning and vaguely formed the halo of an enormous Blood Saint Tiger. The power of a true inheritor of the [Beast Inheritance] was displayed in front of everyone.

Seeing Marcus lead the charge and pounce on one Andromeda after another, the rest of the geniuses of the other guilds also got a moral boost. They faced the andromedas unafraid and let loose their powers.

Various kinds of skills, techniques and magic were thrown around, each of which was quietly being analysed by the Andromedas.

[Initialisation completed… Data collection- sufficient. Modifying mk9 to the optimum state for battle].

A weird robotic voice came from all of the andromedas as their structures started altering a little. Their bulky frames started becoming sleeker, their weapons became smaller and multifaceted along with their colour which now had more of a golden touch along with the crimson.

[Modification completed. Combat Mode Ready. Starting Battle].

"I don't know what these golems are mumbling, but we don't have time to dilly dally. We need to go and assist the seniors of our guilds" Marcus yelled, he pounced towards the air and using the powerful physical strength of his state, he tried to slice two andromedas with his mythril sword.

However, one of the andromedas dodged the attack by firing the jet boosters in its back, legs and arms in a short burst. While the other Andromeda brought out the [Argo Sword] and clashed against the mythril sword of Marcus.

CLANG… BANG…

"What?" Marcus was shocked, although he did manage to overpower the Andromeda and make it crash onto the ground, he was surprised that his attack was stopped by that andromeda.

Even though he did not use any skill, the sword in his hand was no ordinary sword, but a sword made of mythril. If it was ranked, it would easily be [A] tier. So how in the world did the sword that was casually released by the golem, be able to clash against his sword and not break apart?

The other shocking part was the speed of the golems, they were now much faster than before, in fact, one of the golems that he targeted even dodged his attack.

"Dammit" Marcus wasn't given any time to think as the Andromeda that dodged his attack, started firing the ballistic gun which activated much more quickly now.

When he looked around his surroundings he was surprised to find out that all of his friends and comrades were also facing a similar problem. The golems were starting to pressure them instead.

What was going on, when did the golems become so powerful?

ZING… the Andromeda that got crushed into the ground, picked itself up and discarded the parts that got damaged. It then locked its unemotional eyes which were actually two lights, on him.

Seeing this scene, Marcus narrowed his eyes. He might have faced these andromedas back inside the mysterious ruins on the 34th floor. However, the ones he was facing this time, were different.

The andromedas were no doubt the mk9 version but the ones he faced back then were the unfinished version that was manufactured in a hurry. That version had many problems with its frames and most of its functions were not up to par.

The Mk9 they were facing right now was the completed war machine with all of its original weapons. That is to say, each of these andromedas were equivalent to a level 400 adventurer. What's more, the andromedas have been observing them for a while, and the data gathered by the various unfinished mk9 was uploaded to these finished ones making them even stronger.

The feeling of uneasiness that Marcus and the others were feeling, was precisely the emotions the players felt when they played the game [Rise of the Demolishers] the Andromedas were from.

These cold unfeeling war machines, came at you unceasingly. It didn't matter even if you destroyed them, they were just remotely controlled machines to begin with. It would just tire you out to no end if you fought them.

However, the true fear of facing these machines didn't lie in their numbers, but in their information gathering ability. It was so unfair that it was downright broken.

Think about it, in the game as the storyline progresses, each Andromedas that the players faced was equipped with the information that the other versions they had faced previously had gathered on them.

They knew all about your skills and abilities making it harder for you to destroy them. While you on the other hand would have to fight at a disadvantage not knowing what kind of new weapons and upgraded variations they had installed.

This became worse the further in the storyline you are and the more advanced versions of the andromedas you faced. It was so preposterous to the point of being nightmarish for the players.

That is why, the game [Rise of the demolishers] was declared as a team game, since no player was able to reach the end of the game solo. If you want to clear it, your only chance was to tackle it with a team.

And now that these war machines have been replicated in this world, it was time for these adventurers to experience its nightmare.

The mk9 had all the information it needed on these adventurers of the tertiary team and hence the balance had tipped towards the side of the andromedas.

"This can't go on for long, Marcus we need a plan" Tiana who had been supporting the team with her light magic, commented.

One could see that even the Lantz and the Rees brother from the crimson demolition guild were being pressured. If this goes on like this, they themselves would be in danger, forget about being able to assist the veterans.

"Look out" at some unknown point when Tiana had become absentminded in between her talks with Marcus, an Andromeda came attaching her with its [Argo Sword]. However, two daggers that came in the nick of the time, deflected the attack back.

Gallio materialised behind Tiana and cautioned.

"Gallio!!" Marcus and Tiana were surprised to see Gallio appear. The person seemed to have been in a state of utter despair a couple of minutes ago. What changed him?

"Gather everyone, I have a plan" Gallio looked directly into their eyes and stated.

Marcus and Tiana nodded their heads, the former signalled everyone to gather while the latter erected a shield made of light magic that covered everyone inside like a dome. Seeing that the golems were unable to break in, Gallio explained his plans to the gathered members.

"It's like this, we have fallen into their trap, and the situation is the same as the mysterious ruins. I have been trying for a while to send a sound transmission back to my guild; however, it is interrupted every time. I believe someone on this floor is interfering with the spatial laws".

"What?" Marcus and the others exclaimed in surprise when they heard that.

"It is possible, if someone from the opponent has set up a spatial formation on this floor or can use the space magic, interfering with the sound transmissions shouldn't be a problem" Hallie who was a little knowledgeable about space magic added in confirmation.

"Huh?! If we can't contact anyone then doesn't it mean that nobody will come to rescue us" some of the geniuses of the twenty guilds spoke in a trembling voices. The gravity of the situation finally dawned on them and the nightmare of the 34th floor once again played in front of their eyes.

"Calm down, didn't I tell you that I have a plan" Gallio spoke before everyone started panicking.

"As Hallie had mentioned, the opponent must be using some kind of spatial interference. However, I can assure you that it is not the former since the transmission conch was working just fine an hour ago. This means that it has to be the doing of our opponent".

Seeing Gallio analyse the situation so calmly many of them had trouble thinking he was the same man who had a face of despair just until a moment ago.

"The golems don't look like they have that kind of ability, it also seems unlikely that it is the doing of the demonic war horses attacking the backlines. Which means that it has to be one of the two maids".

"What are you implying, didn't you hear the seniors? The maids are too powerful of an opponent for us" Tiana rebuked shaking her head.

"You are misunderstanding me, I'm not saying that we go after the maids ourselves. But as Marcus had said, we can't just sit around and do nothing. We need to find some way to distract the user of the space magic so we can send a sound transmission back. The primary team needs to know these strong maids that are guarding this dungeon".

Everybody nodded their heads, in the worst case scenario they need to at least warn the primary unit that had gone down about these powerful maids.

"If we are able to execute my plan perfectly then we can turn this whole situation around" Gallio started explaining his plans.

After falling in despair, he had been thinking about what Marcus had said to him back then. The maids were unreasonably powerful to the point that even the seniors from their guild were unable to move or do anything.

Existence like them shouldn't be in a low class dungeon like this, it went beyond all reasoning.

Just when he was about to lose his hope and give up he saw something with his eyes, or to be more precise, with those [Mystic Eyes] of his. There was a single light of gold in this place full of red.