It wasn't just Minotaurs. They were flanked by heavily armed Goblins and Orcs. The Minotaurs were C-rank. Since Balak was a C-rank dungeon, Crowley had anticipated the possibility, but he never dreamed three would appear at once.

The Orcs snarled.

The Minotaurs charged.

The knights at the rear moved to intercept them while the foot soldiers braced against the onslaught of Goblins and Orcs, arrows from Goblin archers already peppering their shields.

"Eek! Get away from me!" a soldier shrieked.

"Chwik. Kill!" an Orc snarled.

While Goblin warriors and Orcs tied up the shield wall, Goblin rogues slipped through the chaos, wreaking havoc among the archers.

'Those bastards. They were aiming for the archers all along!'

The vanguard knights were still trapped in the pit, impossible to rescue without direct aid. The rear guard was their only hope. The Dungeon Master had clearly waited until his knights were divided before launching this attack. But it was a reckless move. Half the knights were out of commission, but all the soldiers remained.

'What else is he planning? No. This is already a meticulous plan. He won't get another chance!'

Crowley prioritized protecting his archers. The shield bearers formed an impenetrable wall, with spearmen reinforcing the line from behind. The Orcs and Goblins struggled to find an opening. Though Goblin archers kept firing, their arrows glanced harmlessly off the shields.

The Minotaurs were fighting furiously, but even they were reaching their limit against twenty seasoned knights.

"Press them harder!"

"We've faced dozens of Minotaurs like this!"

"I'll shatter that shield!"

These men weren't knights just because they carried swords; they were masters of combat, honed by relentless training. The C-rank Minotaurs couldn't hold out for long.

Slowly, the tide of battle turned. The stabilized archers began to fire back, and the Goblins and Orcs started to fall. Riding the momentum, Crowley prepared to wipe them out along with the Minotaurs.

At that moment, a brilliant light erupted before them.

"Wh-what was that?!"

"Is it magic? I feel fine."

"Be careful! It could be a trick!"

The startled soldiers and knights recoiled as the light flowed into the monsters' bodies. Crowley's face contorted in disbelief.

'They've healed?!'

The monsters, battered and wounded just moments ago, were now fully restored. A sacred aura now enveloped the Minotaurs. It could only be a priest's blessing.

Crowley realized with dawning horror that the dungeon had a cleric on its side, likely a captured member of the clergy who had been brainwashed.

"There is a priest helping them!" he roared. "Don't give them a chance to heal again! The Minotaurs are blessed—fight with extreme caution!"

They had to finish this before another blessing could be cast. The knights charged the Minotaurs again while the soldiers reformed their wall.

But this time, the Minotaurs broke through the knights' line.

"St-stop them! Don't let them get through!"

"These bastards! They're much tougher than before! My sword won't even pierce their shields!"

"Gah! What kind of Minotaur has this much health!"

The knights tried to subdue them, but the power of the blessing was absolute. The Minotaurs shrugged off their attacks and crashed into the shield wall. Goblins and Orcs poured into the breach, and the formation crumbled.

The archers were slaughtered. The blessed Minotaurs held the line tenaciously while Goblin rogues danced through the chaos, cutting down soldier after soldier.

"Damn it! Vartin!"

"M-my Lord Viscount, the archers are nearly wiped out!"

In the end, not a single archer survived. The Minotaurs' blessing finally faded, but the damage was done. Their objective complete, the monsters began a swift retreat.

"Stop them!" Crowley screamed, his voice raw. "They must not escape! Kill as many as you can!"

He urgently ordered a pursuit, but his men were at their limit. Without archers to provide covering fire, a proper chase was impossible. They managed to kill a few goblins, but the rest of the monstrous force vanished.

"Damn it. DAMMIT ALL!"

In an instant, he had lost one hundred archers, while the enemy had escaped with minimal losses. It was a devastating blow that could hardly be called a victory. Crowley furiously slammed his fist into the ground.

They belatedly rescued the knights from the pit, but it was too late. Their only long-range support was gone. The path ahead would be even harder now.

'The knights. I must save the knights at all costs.'

He still had his elite warriors, the core of his army. As long as they held the line, they could still break through.

For now, Crowley ordered his men to make camp in the corridor before the next room. They were all exhausted and needed time to recover their strength and stamina.

"Take turns on watch," he commanded. "We have no torches, so use the Light magic scrolls to keep the area illuminated."

"My Lord Viscount, what of the dead?"

Crowley's jaw tightened.

"...Bury them here."

"Understood."

They had no time to properly handle the bodies. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but their fallen comrades would have to be left behind in this cursed dungeon.

'I'll retrieve their bodies after I kill the Dungeon Master.'

He had come too far to give up. His archers were gone, but the pride of the Crowley Viscounty, his knight order, remained. No matter what monsters lay ahead, he believed victory would be theirs.

---

"Four Goblins and three Orcs died," Riel reported.

At her voice, Taehyun's eyes fluttered open. He had been taking a short rest while Crowley's forces made camp.

"A decent trade," he murmured, "considering they lost a hundred archers."

He had sacrificed a handful of his weakest soldiers to annihilate their entire ranged contingent. All that remained were shield bearers, spearmen, and foot soldiers. The knights were formidable, but he had yet to unleash his Trolls, let alone his full army.

"What will you do now?" Riel asked. "The corridors are all forked paths. They might reach the final room by tomorrow."

"I'll bleed them a little more, then finish it in the last room. There's no need for any more complex strategies."

"I see. For now, please get some rest. You've been concentrating for a long time. It would be good for you to clear your head."

Riel gracefully settled beside him, patting her lap. She gently guided his head down to rest there and began to stroke his hair. Normally, he would have pulled away, but his eyelids felt like lead. The fatigue of the past few days had finally caught up to him.

And so, Taehyun fell asleep in Riel's arms.

---

On the fourth day, Viscount Crowley's forces pushed past the fifth room and delved deeper. The dungeon remained a relentless forest, and his men endured constant ambushes. With their archers gone, they had no answer to ranged attacks, and their casualties mounted. The rain of arrows from the Goblin archers, who struck and vanished with masterful skill, was driving Crowley to the brink of madness.

It was the same in the sixth room, and the seventh, and the eighth.

By the time they stood before the ninth room, their forces had been cut by more than half.

'I never knew a dungeon could be so terrifying,' Crowley thought, his gaze hollow as he surveyed his surviving men. Forty shield bearers, forty spearmen, seventy foot soldiers, and forty knights. It was a pathetic remnant of the proud army that had set out. His only consolation was that he had managed to keep most of his knights alive.

'But this is the ninth room. There are no other paths. This must be the end.'

The Dungeon Master was just ahead. The crystal sphere, the dungeon's heart, was within his grasp. That thought alone was enough to rekindle the fire within him.

'I can finally have my revenge. Riden, just wait a little longer. I will take that bastard's head.'

An image of his son flickered before his eyes. His grip on his sword tightened. His men were making their final preparations. Crowley rose to his feet and gave the order to advance.

The troops filed through the corridor and into the final chamber. As expected, a large crystal sphere floated in the distance. But the monsters arrayed before it were beyond his worst nightmares.

Two hulking Trolls stood alongside five massive Minotaurs.

"T-Trolls..." a soldier stammered.

"How are Trolls here? The raiders said they were B-rank!"

"And five Minotaurs... How are we supposed to win?"

Despair washed over the men. With their numbers so depleted, facing such creatures was suicide. Crowley himself was reeling from the shock.

'Even the knights... against monsters like those...'

Seven medium-sized monsters. The sheer pressure they exuded was suffocating. Flanking them were all the other creatures that had been harassing them for days. Victory was impossible.

But Crowley ground his teeth and refused to retreat.

'No. I can't give up now. I will kill the Dungeon Master.'

His grief hardened into pure, unyielding resolve. He raised his sword high.

"Do not be afraid!" he roared. "We will kill the Dungeon Master and return to our territory with our heads held high! Show them the might of the House of Crowley!"

His voice cut through their fear, and the soldiers rallied, taking up their battle stances. The knights stood firm at the front, their expressions grim but determined.

Just then, a young man stepped out from behind the monsters.

"You've worked hard to get here," he said, his tone casual.

"Wh-who are you!" Crowley demanded.

"Who else?" the young man replied with a smirk. "Can't you tell? I'm the one who killed Riden. The Dungeon Master of Balak."

It was Taehyun. He stood before them without a single piece of armor, completely exposed.

"Eek! So you're the demonkin who killed my son!" Crowley spat.

"That's right," Taehyun said coolly. "Well, I guess there's nothing more to say. Attack."

"Attack!" Crowley roared in unison.

The battle began with a volley of arrows from the Goblin scouts and archers. As the arrows fell, the Trolls and Minotaurs charged the knights. The soldiers clashed with the rest of the monsters, and the chamber erupted into a maelstrom of violence.

The outcome was decided almost instantly.

"Mooooo! Try and hit me, you flimsy human!" a Minotaur bellowed, taunting a knight.

"You bull-headed bastard!"

"Hey! Where are you going!"

The monsters began to unleash their skills.

"These bastards! They're blessed again! They're too tough!"

"Even for a troll, isn't its regeneration too fast?!"

"They've broken through! Help me! 'Aaargh!'"

As Riel's buffs and heals rained down on his forces, Crowley's army was systematically dismantled. Crowley desperately tried to target the source of the magic, but the Trolls and Minotaurs gave him no opening. Fireballs and arrows hammered his men from all sides, and with his own archers gone, he had no way to retaliate.

"Grrrrr! DUNGEON MASTERRRRR!" he howled in pure rage.

"What is it?" Taehyun's voice cut through the din, laced with amusement. "I see you're starting to feel defeat closing in."

"You... you of all people!"

Blinded by fury, Crowley charged straight for Taehyun. In a flash, the two Trolls moved to intercept him, their massive bodies forming an impenetrable wall. Two of the elite Minotaurs had used Taunt to draw the knights' attention, freeing the Trolls to act as bodyguards.

"Get out of my way, you beasts!" Crowley roared.

As a Troll's massive arm swung down, Crowley deftly dodged and thrust his sword.

The blade glanced off the Troll's blessed hide with a sharp ring, not even leaving a scratch, and shattered into pieces. Crowley stared at the broken hilt in his hand, his mind blank with disbelief.

"Th-this can't be..."

The Troll's return swing sent him flying, and he collapsed in a heap on the floor. With their commander's fall, the last vestiges of morale shattered, and the battle turned into a rout.

And so, Viscount Crowley's forces all met their end in the final chamber of Dungeon Balak.

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