The World's Ego

Time of Despair

Third Person POV

It has been a week since the labyrinth siege had started, but there had been no reports returning from the army that entered the labyrinth. Calgurio was waiting impatiently and was getting anxious while annoyed at the same time.

"Is nobody going to return yet?!" He snaps at the people with him

No one responded to him, but like Calgurio, they also knew that the situation was not good. They had dispatched soldiers countless times on the first day and though none had returned, they were still able to communicate from the inside, and with the information collected, they were able to get a rough idea of what was happening inside. Upon entering, they would have to verify their identity and the conditions for clearing the labyrinth would be presented.

Defeat the Dungeon's Elite Ten and you can collect the ten keys. With the ten keys, it is said that you can obtain the right to challenge the King. And once you defeat the King, the labyrinth will be cleared.

This was considered to be simple in the beginning but now, they knew that the judgment had been a grave misunderstanding. Based on the information they collected, the labyrinth had more than 50 floors and they changed for every 1000 men, but the soldiers were received in regular rotations. They could still make contact with the soldiers inside, however, their first contact only came after more than 50,000 soldiers were already sent in. Based on that, they inferred that there could be 54 floors or more. According to the report from Yuuki, Shinji's team had reported that the labyrinth had 60 floors, but the information quickly became unreliable as the strength of the monsters was completely different from what they said. The moment they said that the boss of the labyrinth was a Wight King, their story already lost its credibility because a report that came in on the second day had informed them that a floor ruled by the Wight King was discovered. There were even rumors that said that the Wight King was one of the Dungeon's Elite Ten.

"Even with the best elites, it's no good, huh..."

"Yes. If this continues, the conquest will end in failure."

Calgurio couldn't accept the situation. The conquest ending in failure was an understatement as it would mean the deaths of 530,000 soldiers. He couldn't abandon the invaluable soldiers that Emperor Rudra had entrusted to him. It had only been seven days and there was still time to reach the limit, the attack was still going on in the labyrinth, so they just had to wait and believe. It should be the right thing to do but not just Calgurio, but also the other general staff felt that it was not a good idea to continue. The existence of the Elite Ten made them think this way. They had currently obtained four keys and the monsters were said to resurrect whether they were defeated or not, but they had succeeded to obtain four keys from the four Dragon Kings. As for the remaining six, there was no way to defeat them. The Wight King and the Death Paladin by his side who seemed to be his right-hand man were one of them. The queen who rules over insects and the lady of the beasts and there was the offensive Elemental Colossus nicknamed the ghost of Gadra. The identity of the last two was unknown. Unless these six were defeated, clearing the labyrinth was nothing but a pipe dream and with the forces inside the labyrinth, it was impossible to achieve their goals.

"But it's no use deploying all of our forces in this situation..."

"Yes."

"That will only wear us down. Besides, the defenses here will be insecure."

There was only one answer. They would attack the dungeon the way it was supposed to be attacked, with an elite force. After some deliberation, Calgurio gathered the best from among the corps. He gathered a hundred men and women, recruiting only the best and strongest of each unit. Sitting in the front row was a graceful, elegant man, Major General Minits, he was a man relied on by Calgurio the most and he was recommended by Calgurio as the Commander of this operation. Next to him sat a grinning man smoking his cigarette, Colonel Kansas, a champion who had left behind many brilliant achievements with the most famous being the animal beast extermination campaign, and he was the one who led the campaign. The other two famous people were Lucius and Raymond, Otherworlders who possessed Unique Skills. Lucius had the Unique Skill <Fusionist> and he was good at attacking with high firepower and was well-known among the Imperial Army. Raymond had the Unique Skill <Martial Artist>. He was a former martial artist, which was integrated with his skill, and he was a top-notch warrior who could use all kinds of weapons, martial arts, and even Arts that he learned in this world. These four were the most famous elites, but the others chosen were also great warriors. They were all at least Rank A and were elites of the elites, one in ten thousand in the Imperial Army. These hundred alone were capable of destroying knights of other countries, thus Calgurio decided to entrust the entire operation to these champions.