Chapter 30: Bangs at the Barrier!
The TV still played, footage jerking and unsteady as the reporter’s camera crew tracked the chaos near the dungeon entrance.
Guild adventurers moved across the screen in flashes, fire spells scorching the air, blades flashing, explosions of dirt and debris where something had clearly gone very wrong.
Wounded fighters were dragged clear by their teammates. Civilians streamed toward evacuation checkpoints in the background, herded by guild staff.
Then the camera swung toward the dungeon’s mouth, and everyone in the room went still.
A massive humanoid wolf stepped through the portal.
Three meters tall, easily. Black fur bristled over corded muscle, and silver armor seemed to grow directly from its own hide, plated and gleaming.
Two eyes burned yellow in the dim light, sweeping across the battlefield below.
Not like an monster looking at prey but more like a commander assessing a battlefield.
It threw its head back and howled.
Every wolf visible on screen changed direction instantly, breaking off their current fights, streaming toward the portal in perfect unison.
The reporter gasped audibly.
The broadcast cut to static.
───
Nobody spoke for a long moment.
"That’s not a normal monster," Aurelia said finally, quiet and certain.
"Boss?" Lucien asked.
She shook her head slowly. "Mini-boss, or maybe the dungeon boss itself." She kept her eyes on the dead screen.
"Mini-bosses start appearing at B-Rank. Sure they have limited intelligence, but it’s enough to organize monster packs. That’s exactly what makes a B-Rank break so dangerous, it’s not random chaos. It’s coordinated chaos."
Lucien’s stomach dropped as a thought clicked into place.
"If that thing left the dungeon," he said slowly, "what happened to the adventurers who were still inside?"
Nobody answered.
’Rika’s team went in there,’ he thought, unease settling heavy in his chest. ’Kael, Zalor, all of them.’
He pushed the thought aside, nothing he could do about it from here and focused instead on what he could control.
───
He pulled up the system description for the defence array, letting the words settle into view.
[Uncommon Defensive Array]
[Rank: Uncommon]
[Type: Defensive Formation]
[A mana barrier designed to protect residences and small compounds. Once supplied with mana crystals and materials, forms an automatic defensive dome capable of dispersing incoming attacks across the entire structure.]
[Blocks attacks up to Peak C-Rank with minimal mana loss.]
[Withstands several Beginner–Mid B-Rank attacks before collapse.]
[Automatically repairs minor damage while supplied with mana.]
[Detects hostile mana contact with the barrier.]
Lucien exhaled, some of the tension easing from his shoulders.
’It’s not invincible but atleast it’s not nothing, either.’
Then he told the girls the defense arrays info.
"Its good for its rarity," Aurelia said, catching his expression. "But don’t rely on it completely, barriers buy time but they don’t win fights."
Seraphina let out a small breath. "At least we have something."
Evelisse flopped dramatically against the couch cushions. "Phew, I wasn’t emotionally prepared to die today."
Lucien laughed despite himself, and the tension in the room eased, just slightly.
───
They settled into an odd, tense sort of normalcy after that.
Lucien drifted to the kitchen, gathering ingredients, Mana Herb Chicken, Crystal Rice, a Forest Mushroom Soup simmering low, honey-glazed root vegetables roasting alongside it.
Aurelia sat cleaning her sword with methodical care, occasionally flipping through a sword manual, sometimes pausing to run through tiny, seated adjustments to her grip.
Seraphina sorted through her potion stock at the coffee table, scribbling notes in a small book, muttering quantities under her breath.
Evelisse sat cross-legged on the floor, eyes closed, mana crystals arranged in a loose circle around her, cultivating in complete silence.
"No TV today?" Lucien asked, passing by.
She didn’t open her eyes. "Priorities are different right now."
Huge, Lucien thought, genuinely impressed. A few days ago she wouldn’t put the remote down for a fire alarm.
───
Dinner came together within the hour, and he carried the dishes out to the living room, setting everything down carefully.
The moment forks touched food, the chime rang.
[Ding!]
[Aurelia — ×9 — Reward: Rare Mana Vein Restoration Herb]
[Seraphina — ×16 — Reward: Uncommon Detection Skill — Blood Pulse Sense]
[Evelisse — ×13 — Reward: Technique Comprehension (1 Week)]
Lucien blinked at the last two, pulling up their descriptions.
[Technique Comprehension: Select a known technique, manual, or skill. Gain the collected times worth of comprehension progress, scaled to personal understanding and aptitude.]
[Blood Pulse Sense (Uncommon): Detect nearby living beings through blood flow fluctuations within a limited radius.]
Detection skill, really perfect timing, honestly.
He claimed the skill instantly, then focused the Technique Comprehension on his sword manual, closing his eyes as the reward activated.
───
Knowledge poured into him, not information exactly, but memory, thousands of sword swings he’d never actually performed, each one correcting the last.
Grip adjustments, half a degree at a time. Footwork drilled into muscle memory that had never technically existed in his own body. Breathing patterns, timing, distance, the accumulated weight of a full week’s dedicated practice compressed into something felt rather than simply known.
Not learning, he thought distantly, lost somewhere in the sensation. This feels like more like remembering an entire other life.
Minutes passed.
His hand twitched toward his sword, almost involuntarily, before he caught himself and opened his eyes.
Aurelia was watching him.
"...What just happened?" she asked.
"I was thinking," Lucien said.
"People don’t sit completely motionless for ten minutes while ’thinking,’" Aurelia said flatly.
"I think very intensely." He replied.
She didn’t look convinced, but let it go for now.
’Not bad, though,’ he thought, flexing his fingers. ’Not at Aurelia’s level, not even close, but it’s still leagues above where I started. I have actual sword mastery now, however minor.’
───
The room went still all at once.
BOOM.
Faint blue runes spread outward across the barrier surrounding the house, visible through every window at once, rippling like disturbed water.
Everyone froze.
"Something hit it," Lucien said quietly.
They moved to the living room window together, and slowly, in the darkness beyond the garden, pairs of glowing eyes began appearing first one, then two, then four, then five right before the shapes attached to them finally resolved into view.
Ironfang dungeon wolves.
Each nearly the size of a horse, grey fur bristling, claws gleaming like sharpened iron, red eyes locked on the house.
They circled the barrier slowly, testing it. One scratched experimentally at the shimmering blue dome.
Another snapped its jaws against it, recoiling slightly at whatever resistance it met.
Then the largest of them, clearly the pack leader turned its head, and looked directly through the window.
Straight at Lucien.
Its jaw parted slightly, lips curling back in something that was unmistakably a smile. Not an animal’s expression.
A predator’s.
It threw its head back and howled.
The other four slammed into the barrier at once, the dome flaring bright under the combined impact before holding steady.
Aurelia rose first, quiet and controlled, picking up the sword Lucien had returned to her earlier.
Lucien drew his own the one she’d handed him while feeling its weight settle into a familiar grip now, a week’s worth of comprehension humming beneath his fingers.
Seraphina gripped two healing potions, steady despite the tension in her shoulders.
Evelisse cracked her knuckles, jaw set.
Lucien allowed himself a small, sharp smile.
"Looks like," he said, glancing toward the front door, "our first visitors are getting impatient."
"Yep, it seems like our first visitors are especially excited." Evelisse nodded.
***************
[A/N: Loving the story so far? Comment and let me know.
🔥 Add to Library so you never miss an update.
💎 Drop some Powerstones to help support the story.
💬 Leave comments and reviews sharing your thoughts!
Thank you guys so much for the support.]