Galaxy's First Ruler

Chapter 141: The Red Notification

[

You have entered a Dungeon

]

When the flash from the teleportation receded, Aldrich found himself at the foot of a hill. The wind was neither strong nor weak, but he could vividly smell and feel the saltiness that it carried with it. Aldrich craned his head up and at the top, he could see a high defensive wall.

"The Sagunto Castle?! Then this hill must be a part of the Sierra Calderona mountains."

Aldrich got to know about the Dungeon by making a connection between Castle and the Boss Crawler. He also found out the reason for saltiness, as the Sagunto Castle occupied the hilltop overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Aldrich took his eyes off the castle and looked at the notification.

[

You have 2 new Quests

]

"Open."

[

Quest 1: Clear at least 4 out of 7 Plazas

Quest 2: Hunt Elite Crawler

]

"This How can this be?"

Aldrich couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was not baffled by the number of Quests or by the mention of Plazas. The thing that had baffled him was the absence of the name Boss Crawler. He could have let it go if there was a Quest related to surviving the Boss's Skills or making the Boss lose a percentage of its HP. But no presence at all meant only one thing.

The RECORD didn't believe that Aldrich, as he was now, could take on the Boss Crawler.

Sigh!

With a sigh, Aldrich took a step towards the castle. He took his time to climb the hill and enjoyed the view. The sun was hot and bright and the sky was cloudless. Behind him, there was a layer of forests and he could see a village in the distance. Even if it was false, Aldrich could sense Earth's presence in this Dungeon. And along with his home planet, who knew how many Barren Earth's had their presence mixed in it.

Making his way through huge rocks and bushes, Aldrich reached one of the entrances of the castle he knew, called the Almenara Gate. The gate had an Islamic arch and provided direct access to the Plaza de Armas and Plaza de Almenara. Before the Sagunto Castle got occupied by El Cid in 1098, Muslims used the castle as a fortress to defend Valencia. Hence, the design of the castle had many similarities to other Islamic structures.

As Aldrich approached the gate, a portal opened in front of him. Aldrich knew from the Quests that he would be sent to one out of the seven Plazas. And from the tone used by RECORD, Aldrich analyzed it was a matter of chance if he would face Elite Crawler within the first 4 Plazas or not.

"Sha."

The heavy Stone Splitter appeared in his hand as he called out Sha. Aldrich put the Buster-Sword on his shoulder and entered the portal.

*

[

You have entered the Plaza of Armas

]

Despite saying Plaza, Aldrich didn't find himself confined by any walls.

All around him were hundreds of Megaliths, covered in dense bushes and trees. It was like he had come to a prehistoric ruin. The air was thick with humidity and Aldrich could detect a metallic and archaic smell in it.

Aldrich guessed if it followed the rules, then according to the name 'Armas', he would face many types of weapons in this Plaza. Aldrich spread his Divine Sense to scour the darkest and furthest corners of the ruins, but the sudden quake of the ground beneath him made him stop.

Aldrich noticed one of the Megalith in front of him had morphed and had turned into a cannon at some point. He looked around and found himself surrounded by many similar cannons. And all had their barrels aimed at him.

Boom! Boom!

Aldrich couldn't even raise his hand to activate the Rumok, as the primitive Cannons hadn't fired cannonballs but balls of Mana. The yellow Mana cannonballs left a cometlike streak behind and came burning through the atmosphere like beams of lasers. Aldrich, seeing no choice, raised the Stone Splitter and brought it down on the stony ground.

MEGATON CRUSHER!

BOOM!!!

Everything in a hundred meters radius of Aldrich seemed to have turned upside down. Enormous pieces of rocks came flying upwards and got pulverized by the Mana cannonballs. But the sheer numbers of stones were so many that not even a single blob of yellow Mana reached Aldrich. Seeing the cloud of dust settling down and the Cannons morphing back to Megaliths, Aldrich finally took a breath of relief.

"Let's first raise"

"You survived that easily."

Aldrich's words got cut off by an echoing voice. It was like many stones were getting crushed and it was also like metals getting hammered. Aldrich looked towards his left, and in the distance, he saw the thing coming out from the back of the towering stone pillar.

The Crawler was around 30 ft tall and had an even taller stone hammer in his hand. Its entire body was covered in brown hair and its long beard reached down to his chest. The Crawler had a green-colored cloth over his body and on its big round head, there was a makeshift crown of twigs and leaves.

"Do you know how much time it took me to set up those Cannons?"

The thing blabbered and scratched his head, giving it a comical appearance. But Aldrich had already his hand raised towards it as he saw the nonsensical Stats hovering over its head.

"I don't have time for you. Absolute Pull."

The space rippled inwards with Aldrich as the center, but the Crawler kept scratching its head and picking its nose. As soon as the Megaliths got pulled towards Aldrich, a satisfied voice came out of the giant's mouth.

"Ahh! Such a good massage. Do it more."

Aldrich had guessed that even with the strengthened Rumok he might not be able to pull it all the way, but not even make it flinch was beyond reasoning. Aldrich canceled the Rumok's Pull, and a smirk came upon his face as he observed the Crawler's nonchalant attitude.

"Daddy its time?"

"Yeah, let's do it. CHANGE!"

""

The Crawler seemed to look at Aldrich, trying to make sense of Aldrich's self muttering. But a bloody red hue had already covered Aldrich's white eyes.

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