Averon held up a tiny orb between his fingers. It was small enough to fit inside his palm, made entirely of azure-blue glass that almost looked liquid under the dim swamp light. Strange symbols drifted beneath the surface before fading away again as if they were alive.
After checking it, he handed it over to Eleanor.
The moment she touched it, the System interface appeared before her eyes.
[???]
[Key to ???. If a user with ??? Bloodline uses this key at ???, they can gain access to ???.]
Eleanor’s brows rose slightly as she read the description. It was extremely rare for the System to completely hide an item’s information like this.
Question marks only appeared in special situations.
Usually, it meant the treasure’s worth was far beyond the difficulty level one went through to achieve them.
Obtaining them was only half the problem. Understanding where to use them and how to unlock their value required another layer of luck, and it was the real difficulty of making use of them.
Eleanor studied the orb for another moment before speaking.
"Let’s just store it for now before someone accidentally—"
"Show that to me."
Sera suddenly stepped forward and took the orb directly from Eleanor’s hand.
The change in her expression happened slowly enough for everyone to notice. First came confusion. Then shock appeared in her eyes. A moment later, sorrow followed. Her fingers tightened slightly around the orb as denial crossed her face before slowly turning into bitterness.
Finally, everything settled into quiet acceptance.
The others exchanged looks.
"What is it?" Eleanor asked carefully.
Sera did not answer immediately. Instead, she turned toward the Abyssal Jester.
"Lume, cut the livestream for a moment."
The Abyssal Jester glanced toward Emily first. Only after Emily gave a small nod did he move. Illusions spread outward through the area like transparent ripples. The surroundings distorted slightly as false images replaced the real scene being broadcasted to the outside world.
"It’s done, my liege," the Abyssal Jester said politely.
"Good work," Emily replied before turning her attention back toward Sera.
Sera stared at the orb for several seconds before finally speaking.
"It’s a key to a Temple of the War God. The temple itself was destroyed a very long time ago. But this key survived because it was protected by the remaining followers who still believed the War God would someday return. If this key ended up here..."
"Then those people are dead. The System probably took the key after realizing nobody would ever discover it otherwise and decided to place it inside a dungeon," Eleanor completed calmly. "Or maybe they handed it to the System themselves during their final moments, hoping their inheritance wouldn’t disappear with them."
Emily, Alice, and Eleanor immediately understood why Sera reacted so strongly.
They already knew Sera’s true identity.
She was connected directly to the War God.
The others, however, still remained unaware. Isaac did not have enough time to properly explain everything before the competition began. Even Alice only knew because Emily confided her while they were split away from Sera’s side.
Averon folded his arms thoughtfully.
"The War God..." he muttered. "Wasn’t he one of the strongest ancient gods before the Apocalypse? How do you know so much about one of his temples?"
Sera slowly calmed herself before answering.
"My family worships the War God. We are descendants of one of the scattered branches of his faith."
Averon gave a slow nod after hearing that. "I’m sorry for your loss."
For a brief moment, silence hung over the group.
Then Eleanor suddenly asked, "Did they fall during the Apocalypse?"
"No. They were not weak enough to die to the Apocalypse. Even their descendants should have inherited powerful Arts. They wouldn’t disappear so easily," she answered.
Sera’s fingers tightened around the orb again.
Her expression darkened.
"Most likely... it was the Purification Cult who destroyed them. They worship a God who stood against the War God."
Pure hatred slipped into her voice when she said the name.
"Purification Cult?" Averon repeated with a frown.
Sera immediately noticed his reaction. Judging from his expression alone, he clearly knew about them already, and not in a positive way.
Alice and several others also became visibly serious after hearing the name.
Sera narrowed her eyes slightly.
"You people also have problems with the Purification Cult?"
"They may be targeting Emily because of her ability. She can tame monsters corrupted by the Red Rain," Eleanor replied.
Sera’s expression changed instantly.
Thoughts flashed through her mind one after another as her hand unconsciously moved toward the spatial ring resting on her finger.
’So that’s why the woman who calls herself Mother gave me this artifact before I left.’
’And why she told me to hurry back.’
A cold feeling settled inside her chest.
’Did she already predict the Purification Cult would move?’
"Sera?"
Eleanor’s voice pulled her back to reality.
Sera blinked once before raising her head again. She looked toward Eleanor briefly before turning toward Emily.
A faint smile appeared on her face.
"Don’t worry. If something happens, I’ll protect you. I already have personal business with those people. This might become a good chance to settle old debts," she said calmly. There was coldness hidden underneath her gentle tone.
Alice quietly tightened her grip around her spear after hearing that.
Her thoughts became heavy.
Sera was an angel. She must be extremely strong. Yet even she was not able to erase the Purification Cult despite hating them so much.
That could only mean the organization’s backer possessed terrifying strength.
Alice slowly looked toward Emily.
’I need to become stronger.’
’Strong enough to protect everyone.’
The conversation naturally ended there as everyone slowly returned to their own tasks.
Averon began collecting the loot dropped by the Swamp Oracle Mini Boss. He knew the rewards would be later given to Isaac, who would handle the distribution, but collecting them still felt like they belonged to him.
The first thing he picked up was a pile of old silver coins covered in black swamp mud.
[Silver Coins] x1000
After that came several monster materials extracted directly from the corpse.
[Oracle Eye Fragment]
[Swamp Rot Crystal]
[Muddy Bone Essence]
Averon was quite happy.
Meanwhile, Lume restored the livestream.
Emily separated portions of the Swamp Oracle’s corpse carefully. Some parts were stored separately for artificers and blacksmiths to examine later. The remaining flesh became food for her summons.
The slime consumed huge chunks immediately without hesitation while the N’theris Serpent swallowed entire sections whole.
Even the Abyssal Shark and Abyssal Mammoth eagerly devoured the undead meat.
Apparently, abyssal creatures did not care whether something was alive, dead, or undead before eating it.
Emily watched the scene quietly while thinking.
Taming the Swamp Oracle would have been incredibly useful. A Mini Boss-level summon could drastically increase the strength of her team.
Unfortunately, Emily knew the other raid groups were definitely observing them from somewhere nearby. Some were probably using scouting skills while others likely possessed special equipment capable of viewing long distances safely.
The moment she started taming the Mini Boss, they would interfere.
Even a brief interruption during the taming process could easily cause the attempt to fail completely.
For now, leaving the Mini Boss alone was the smarter decision.
Since dungeon monsters revived after twenty-four hours, she could simply return tomorrow and attempt the taming under safer conditions.
Emily suddenly thought of another possibility.
’I wonder if I can tame a Mini Boss I already tamed before.’
The System would probably interfere somehow. Allowing infinite farming of powerful summons sounded far too broken.
Still, there was no harm in trying later.
After resting briefly and organizing all the loot, the group resumed their search for the third Mini Boss.
The swamp terrain slowly changed as they moved deeper into the dungeon. The ground became wetter while the fog thickened around them.
Eventually, they arrived before a massive black lake.
The water was completely still.
The dark surface reflected the sky like polished glass.
Nobody could actually see the monster hidden beneath the lake, yet everyone immediately felt its presence.
Something enormous swam in the depths below.
Something powerful enough to pressure the entire area.
"It’s a Leviathan Spawn," Avery suddenly said.
Unlike the others, her gaze seemed capable of piercing through the dark water itself as she calmly studied the currents moving far below the surface.
"You can defeat this one easily, right? You are the Spirit of Water," Averon asked.
"Of course." Avery smiled.
She slowly raised one hand toward the black lake. The moment her fingers moved, the water beneath them reacted violently. Massive pillars of water rose upward one after another before twisting together high in the air.
Soon, the pillars began forming giant branches and tree-like structures across the sky.
The sight was mesmerizing and terrifying at the same time.
An entire lake was being lifted into the air through pure elemental control.
The black water rapidly drained away while mist spread through the surroundings. At this rate, the Leviathan Spawn would soon lose its greatest advantage.
A Leviathan Spawn inside water was considered one of the most dangerous aquatic monsters. But once dragged onto land, its threat dropped significantly.
Suddenly, a deep roar erupted from beneath the lake.
The water trembled violently.
Before the lake could be completely drained, something enormous moved in the depths below. Invisible force spread outward as the monster seized control over portions of the water itself, trying to drag the lake back down.
Avery smiled.
The Leviathan Spawn was powerful. Extremely powerful for a Mini Boss. But trying to overpower a Water Elemental Spirit in water manipulation was pointless.
There was a reason beings like Avery were feared.
"Looks like the little one is trying to hide. Aeralis dear, pull it out so we can finish this quickly," Avery said.
The Abyssal Shark immediately responded with a roar.
Its massive jaws opened wide before releasing a beam of highly pressurized water. The attack tore through the remaining lake like a cannon blast. Water exploded apart, revealing a massive portion of something black moving underneath.
"It’s so big," Averon muttered quietly, realizing they were only seeing a small part of the creature.
Aeralis immediately created chains made entirely of compressed water. The chains wrapped tightly around the visible section of the Leviathan Spawn’s body before the Abyssal Shark began pulling backward with all its strength.
Draining the lake completely would still take time.
This was faster.
The Colossus Grazer stepped forward next. It grabbed the chains behind Aeralis using its massive jaws and pulled with overwhelming force. Soon after, Stoneward joined in, followed by the Crimson Sky Wyrm descending from above to assist.
Under the combined strength of four Overlords, the lake exploded upward.
A gigantic black body was dragged out from the depths.
The Leviathan Spawn was beautiful in a terrifying way.
Its body resembled a massive sea serpent covered in smooth black scales that reflected dark blue under the remaining water. Sea-green eyes glowed from its enormous head while several fin-like protrusions extended along its spine like blades.
Its sheer size dwarfed most monsters they had encountered so far.