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anwhile, the Adventurers below the fourteenth floor heard a strange noise.
Parties heading back toward the upper floors stopped in their tracks.
"What is that?" An adventurer with enhanced hearing signaled his party to halt.
The others stopped in their tracks. What was that noise?
Soon, the roar of a heavy engine resounded through the tunnels, impossible to miss.
"Sothing big is coming."
As they peered down the cavernous intersection ahead, the chanical roar was joined by the agonizing shrieks of dying monsters.
At the crossroads of two massive tunnels, the source of the carnage finally revealed itself.
A pack of Hellhounds was relentlessly attacking a massive beast made entirely of hardened steel. They blasted it with magical flas and gnawed viciously at its body.
But with armor that strong, the Hellhounds only broke their fangs on the tal.
Any beast that got in the steel monster's way was crushed flat under its treads. Flesh and bone stood no chance against sixty tons of steel.
"H-Holy shit..."
Even from far away, the Adventurers watched in terror as the armored giant crushed the Hellhounds. These monsters were known for killing rookies and guarding the Middle Floors, but against the steel beast, they were completely helpless.
The Adventurers' jaws hit the floor. Their eyes bulged. Even the solid bedrock of the Labyrinth was being chewed up and pulverized by the grinding treads.
It was unbelievable.
But then a cannon blast showed them what real firepower looked like.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
Inside the armored cabin.
"We've drawn a massive pack of Hellhounds," August noted, casually loading a fresh shell into the breech.
"Traverse rear. Prepare to fire."
Lili peered through the targeting optics, smoothly rotating the turret to track the Hellhounds chasing them down the tunnel.
"Halt!" Lili barked. "Fire!"
The short-barreled smoothbore cannon fired a loud shot.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The high-explosive round detonated inside the confined tunnel. The pursuing Hellhounds let out a series of agonizing shrieks as the shockwave and shrapnel ripped them to shreds in a split second.
It was a devastating strike.
"Oh, that feels so good." Lili shivered. It was her first ti feeling the powerful recoil of a tank cannon under her command. The force sent a flood of excitent through her.
For the Adventurers watching from a distance, seeing the steel giant destroy a pack of Hellhounds with one blast was shocking. They could hardly believe humans had built sothing so powerful.
The heavy top hatch popped open. Lili poked her head out, surveying the smoldering remains. She whipped out her industrial vacuum and efficiently sucked up the carpet of Magic Stones scattered across the ash.
Once the area was swept clean, she dropped back inside and sealed the hatch. The tank's engine revved, and the tal beast rolled forward.
"That firepower... which Familia does that belong to?"
"Wait, was that a Pallum popping out of the hatch?"
"Does anyone recognize them?"
Any Adventurer who saw that weapon felt envious. For many, a powerful armored machine was the ultimate dream.
A veteran Supporter from another party quickly shut down their fantasies.
"Did you guys live under a rock? That's the Hestia Familia."
"We couldn't get our hands on toys like that even if we sold our own Gods. Only the Hestia Familia has that kind of absurd ordnance."
The veteran stayed inford. He knew just how dangerous the so-called "monster rookie" was.
"Oh... that rookie."
"Yeah, if it's him, this actually makes total sense."
As soon as they heard "Hestia Familia," any ideas of stealing or getting the tank disappeared. Everyone knew August was ruthless in the Dungeon.
Even when the Labyrinth seed to target him with impossible odds, he always ca out unhard after defeating countless monsters. A normal Adventurer would run from even a small part of that horde.
No one wanted to risk their life fighting soone like him.
The Adventurers collectively decided to mind their own business and continued their trek upward. They passed by the tank in complete silence.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
August ignored the Adventurers as they left. As long as they weren't with the Evilus or trying to stop him, he had no problem with regular Dungeon explorers.
He kept driving the tank deeper into the Dungeon, crushing anything that got in the way.
They began cruising through the sprawling network of the fourteenth floor.
"Why are there so few Hellhounds down here?" Lili muttered, peering through the periscope. "There's barely a fraction of what we saw on the thirteenth floor."
"Looks like it. The drone feeds are coming up mostly blank," August replied, checking the external monitors. "It's getting harder to push forward efficiently. The monsters down here seem to be actively avoiding us."
He had mapped out roughly eighty percent of the imdiate cavern network using his deployable sensors, yet the Hellhound population was suspiciously sparse.
anwhile, inside a hidden, unmapped cavern deep within the Middle Floors.
"Awooooooooo!"
A guttural howl carried through the massive chamber.
This wasn't a human encampnt. It was a staging ground for the fourteenth floor's denizens.
Along with the axe-wielding Al-Miraj, a huge pack of Hellhounds was gathered inside. After being defeated by August and Lili's tank, they had retreated here to regroup.
But it wasn't just Hellhounds.
Monsters from the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth floors had all gathered here. Even the Bad Bats, flying predators that attacked when Adventurers were vulnerable, hung from the stalactites.
This was why the Middle Floors were so dangerous for unprepared [Level 2]'s. The teamwork between different monster types was deadly: axe-wielding rabbits, flying bats, and magic-using Hellhounds.
Thousands of monsters cramd into the secret chamber. Once they poured out of this room, any Adventurer caught in their path would be instantly pulverized.
Why did they gather here?
They wanted revenge. After being defeated by the steel giant, they were planning a counterattack.
The magic-using Hellhounds led the group as pack leaders. They had forced the Al-Miraj and Bad Bats to join them. The tank had easily resisted their magic and defeated them. If they didn't fight back, they couldn't call themselves true predators of the Labyrinth.
The monsters communicated with snarls and chitters. Unlike the intelligent Xenos, their group was based on raw strength. They planned their ambush and attack with natural precision.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
But while the monsters made their plans—
"Sonar ping received," August announced.
He stared at the tactical display panel inside the cabin. His deployed acoustic sensors were feeding data into the tank's computer. The system filtered out the ambient cavern noise, isolating a massive cluster of non-human bio-signatures gathered in a single, tight location.
The volu was staggering. Way too large to be an Adventurer party.
Seeing the data, August reached a logical conclusion. The monsters were holed up in a secret room the Guild hadn't mapped yet.
Make no mistake, modern tech missed nothing.
"Lord August, what's wrong?" Lili asked, noticing the red warning lights flashing on his monitor.
"A massive cluster of monsters is massing nearby," August explained, turning the screen toward her. "We haven't seen a damn thing in the main tunnels, but my acoustic sensors just picked up a massive concentration of hostile signatures nearby."
The monitor blipped aggressively in red, indicating a severe threat level.
"Are they waiting for us to expose a vulnerability?" Lili gasped. "Ryu Lion warned us about this. Since we're considered anomalies, the Dungeon's malicious will is actively trying to kill us."
"The mont we show a sign of weakness, it will unleash this horde to tear us to pieces."
Lili was sure the Labyrinth was waiting for them to let their guard down.
"Waiting for us to slip up, huh?" August rubbed his chin, a small smile on his face.
"Do you think the Dungeon realizes this tank runs on fuel? If it thinks we're running on empty, it'll assu I have to step outside to refuel. That would turn us into a sitting duck."
August knew the Labyrinth was trying to outsmart him. The sonar showed many targets gathering together. They were definitely waiting in ambush.
"Lili, is it possible there's an undiscovered room here? Sothing missing from the Guild's maps?" August pulled up the digital map provided by Eina Tulle and Misha Flott.
"It's highly likely," Lili nodded, analyzing the topography. "Based on the intel Miss Eina and Miss Misha gave us, there are nurous uncharted vertical shafts in this sector. Adventurers sotis use them to bypass floors or accidentally drop straight down to the seventeenth floor. There are definitely hidden routes we don't know about."
Lili's deductive reasoning was sharp. The monsters were absolutely watching them from a concealed vantage point.
"Lord August, should we pack up the tank?" Lili asked. While the tank was incredible, fighting a coordinated ambush in an enclosed space was risky.
"No..." August gave a gentle chuckle. "If the Dungeon wants to see us weak, let's give it sothing to watch."
Pack it up? Hell no... His armor could shrug off anything short of a high-yield anti-tank missile or a concentrated [Level 5] magic barrage. re flesh and claws crashing against composite armor would only result in a bloody sar on his windshield.
"You stay on the gun. I'm stepping out." August decided to set the trap himself.
He planned to lure the Labyrinth into making a move.
"Got it."
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
August hit a manual override, triggering a localized system fault.
Sputter!
The tank stopped suddenly, releasing thick clouds of white steam and black smoke from the exhaust. It looked completely broken.
August popped the commander's hatch and climbed onto the hull, hauling a heavy jerrycan from his spatial void. He acted frantic, pretending he desperately needed to manually refuel the stalled engine.
In reality, the fuel tank was still ninety percent full. He was only pretending.
But this trick didn't just fool naive Gods. It worked perfectly on the Dungeon too.
The mont he cracked open the jerrycan, a violent tremor shook the cavern. It wasn't just the rumble of a charging horde—the actual bedrock of the Labyrinth was trembling.
The ceiling above them cracked as the Dungeon created new monsters right overhead. Just as Lili predicted: if you show weakness, the Labyrinth attacks right away.
From the distant tunnels, a thundering roar erupted. The cacophony of thousands of stomping feet and guttural snarls bood down the corridor as the massive horde charged out of their secret room, trying to blitz August before he could react.
But down in the cavern...
Lili, safely strapped into the gunner's seat, and August, standing on the hull, both flashed identical, predatory smirks.
August instantly tossed the jerrycan back into the void, dove through the hatch, and slamd it shut, locking it tight.
"Tunnel at our eleven o'clock!"
"Load canister!" August barked, rapidly slamming a fresh fragntation shell into the breech.
"Firing!" Lili yelled, whipping the turret around to face the encroaching horde.
The monsters dropping from the ceiling clawed at the tank's hull, but they couldn't even scratch the armor or open the hatch. Instead of attacking August, they were left helpless against the steel.
Lili squeezed the firing trigger.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The specialized canister shell blasted into the dark tunnel.
Before the front of the horde reached the light, screams rang across the cavern. The explosion sent thousands of tal fragnts flying down the corridor.
The shrapnel tore through the front lines. The lucky ones turned into Magic Stones right away. The others were left injured and writhing on the cavern floor.
The destruction terrified the surviving monsters. Their group was being defeated before they even saw the enemy.
But there were too many monsters. The tunnel was so crowded that they couldn't escape. They had no choice but to keep charging forward.
Watching the monsters rush toward them, August just grinned.
"Full speed ahead!"
"Let's show these bastards what high-speed armored warfare looks like!"
The engine roared, the tracks dug into the stone, and the tank moved forward. The heavy plow and bulldozing tracks destroyed everything in their path.
The monsters had only one option: to stand and face the charging steel tank.
August grabbed the comms, uttering his final verdict for the horde.
"Who the hell left these speed bumps here?"
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