"What happened here?" Wang Yinglu managed to say as she turned to Dan whose jaw slackened.
He couldnât even shut his mouth despite gawking at the place for minutes. Great volumes of black smoke rose from where the palace was supposed to be, the first courtyard was riddled with countless arrows and holes which had been caused by the blood chain unleashed by the first guardian.
Not one living Crimson Taotie Soldier was in sight, this dungeon, the most dangerous dungeon in China, lay in ruins.
Just what in the world could have done something like this? It definitely couldnât have been a human alone.
"We... we didnât see anyone enter and weâve never taken our eyes off the gate." Dan stuttered.
"Someone entered..." Alex looked at the palace in the distance, from where smoke rose. "I can feel an outrageous amount of mana, itâs more dangerous than this dungeon at its peak."
Alexâs words made goosebumps flare up on everyoneâs bodies, even his daughter shivered.
"Donât be afraid." Alex looked at them from the corner of his right eye. "I recognize him."
"H-Him?!" His daughter stammered.
Alex didnât reply. He simply began to walk. When they entered the second floor, fear sank deeper into their hearts. The sun was high but there wasnât even one living Crimson Taotie Soldier in sight. They saw some, but those ones were dead.
When they got to the third gate, the shock became paralyzing. Some couldnât even bring themselves to step forward even when their guild master, the light and shield of their guild stood before them.
All that remained of the third gate, the gate that led to the palace was cinders. And that wasnât all. The entire palace was simply a scorched land with a five-hundred-foot depth wider than two football fields.
To do such damage to a Paragon Tier dungeon was no different from erasing a half a city. Wang Yinglu refused to believe that this was the doing of a human but at the heart of this scorched valley lay a badly burned young man.
At least his face wasnât burned but the left side of his torso and arms were in terrible condition, although it seemed as if they were healing but whatever caused the damage stalled the healing process.
Though lying there, naked and seemingly unconscious, the aura Wang Yinglu felt from this man made her almost fall to her knees.
"Itâs truly him." Alexâs eyes widened.
"This man cleared this entire dungeon alone or his comrades are dead?!" A member of the elite team gasped.
"He did it on his own." Alex muttered, remembering what his personal assistant told him. A summoner who could summon an army, the only type in the world.
"If he cleared this dungeon alone then thereâs no way heâs just a paragon." Wang Yinglu said, struggling to regain her bearing.
"Just?" Alexâs eyes narrowed. âHis feat made her reduce paragons to just. I knew this boy was strong but this is just monstrous. It isnât normal.â
"He wiped out a hundred thousand Crimson Taotie Soldiers. Can you do that, dad?"
***
A few hours later, reporters thronged the space outside the Forbidden City, hundreds of curious people behind them. They had all gathered after the news that the dungeon which hung on their head like a Sword of Damocles had closed.
Blue gates never closed but triggered by the news about Manhattanâs case, people gathered, especially the reporters and to their shock, there was no swirling blue mass at the Forbidden Cityâs main entrance.
"We heard there was an unknown man found in the dungeon? The world needs to know who has such strength?!" A reporter said.
"Itâs said that one man was found. Could it be the same figure who had led to the closing of blue gates that centuries have proven to never vanish. Has an anomaly surpassing Paragons risen in our world?" Another reporter spoke to his cameraman.
"This is epic! The gate is gone, itâs gone!" A young woman holding a phone squealed.
Yet the question remained, who in the world was the man found in the dungeon or was this just a lie to throw the public off as raids concerning the Forbidden City were always held a secret.
However the world began to ask questions. Could it be that those people who were in the mysterious tier called progenitors now walked Earth.
Many messages popped up, most of them expressing their dissatisfaction about DisasterNathan, Nathanâs name as a streamer. They would have gotten a peek into what happened. While people expressed their emotions, a phoneâs screen lit up in a dark room.
Its light shone bright in the darkness, revealing Nathan lying on his bed, face down. He looked at the screen and saw it was another text, reminding him of the opportunity he just missed.
With a groan, Nathan switched off his phone.
He had missed a great opportunity to blow even more than the level he was reaching. Streaming whatever went on in the Forbidden City would have made him the most watched in the world.
"I know it was that golden knight summoner. It has to be that freak of a summoner. Others are shocking the world with dragons and he summons freaking legendary knights. And... I was betrayed." Nathan wept.
***
While the Forbidden Cityâs news took the world by storm, there was peace in paradise. A day after the news went global, Arian woke up quite early in the morning.
He looked at the woman nestled in his arms. His fiancée who was now his wife. They had their wedding yesterday.
Today was his first day as a husband to a woman. It made him smile softly. Unfortunately that smile vanished when a white swirling gate appeared beside his bed.
"Itâs enough. Iâve said this countless times." Arian replied firmly. His eyes moving over to his wife. They had lost their child when she was held captive by that paragon. That news did something to him, something Arian never thought would ever happen.
It made him drop his blades and identity as a slayer. Though a son of a Japanese woman in love with the katana, his childhood passion crumbled.
He didnât want to be captain anymore. The cohort deserved the strong and Godfrey was his choice but his student lost his wife and had not returned to the cohort since then.
Percival, his next choice, left Earth for reasons only he truly knew.
Arian sighed, gently peeled his wifeâs arms off him and sat up. He only wore boxers, his perfect muscles and broad chest on full display.
His white hair hung by the sides of his face as he lowered his head only lifting it when the white gate vanished.
Arian sighed heavily as he left for the kitchen where he made a cup of coffee for himself. Suddenly, as he brought the cup close to his lips, the heat and aroma igniting his mind, there was a knock on the door.