Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster’s Power - Chapter 952

The lifeforms in front of me are all incredibly strong. It’s almost unbelievable.

In all of the zones below, I’ve managed to have some kind of edge on my enemies or quickly find the power to overwhelm them entirely. Now, I feel the true Auras of Purple Cored Demons and understand that they are on an entirely different level.

With the fractions of a second I have to think, the options of trying to borrow stats and activate my more powerful energy forms come to mind. However, the instant a flicker of my soul tries to activate even my astral form, my instincts scream at me to stop.

Maria and I are still connected to the open barrier between these two Primordial Trees, and increasing our perception will only do more harm than good that the added strength will grant.

Using my celestial foresight skill, I start to see many paths of the near future where my mind is fried by the pressure of the trees, and others where the shockwave of glyphs from the Demon’s collision with Ulgar tears our physical bodies to shreds.

Yet, one emerging pathway of futures catches my attention.

I don’t hesitate at all and follow it, with Maria trailing right beside me.

We both dive to our left, toward the closest tree root. It is too far away for us to hide behind before the brunt of the shockwave from the Outer Guards hits us, but avoiding it isn’t exactly what I’m aiming for.

The rust-colored aura from the Fiery Mammoth grows hotter and hotter behind us.

At first, I thought it was just announcing its presence like before, or possibly just moving forward, and the intensity of heat I’m feeling is what it naturally gives off. However, there are fluctuations in its vibrations that allow me to see its entire Aura with far greater detail.

It may be a side effect from still being attached to the domain barrier, but the more I think about its soul, the more it’s like flicking one strand of a spiderweb and seeing the entire nest mapped out in my mind.

We dive into a pocket of the Mammoth’s aura that is dense with recognizable glyphs. I’m certain these aren’t naturally occurring, and from the vague understanding I’ve gained from the digested Hydra’s Legacy in my sword, I can tell they are some kind of advanced shielding arrays.

The glyphs only attach to each other in a small area of space, and I can feel the Mammoth’s mind send simple patterns of vibrations into mine that push me to position myself closer and closer to these glyphs. By the time the shockwave hits, both Maria and I are behind them, and a horrific sight plagues the forest around us.

The tree root we were headed toward is completely annihilated, and so is the tough ground beneath it.

Even the footpath we took lunging toward this dense pocket of aura is destroyed as well.

Only a thin portion of ground is left behind a collection of white and rust-colored spinning arrays; everything else around us has been hollowed out like the enormous craters I witnessed back in the Black Ogre’s shelter.

The shielding in front of us starts fracturing and breaking apart from the impact of more shockwaves, but the heat from behind grows even more intense. I sense far more white glyphs pouring in toward us from behind, but they are not filled with any harmful intent. In the depths of my mind, I watch the white tusks of this mammoth glowing with High-Quality ether. Every time it whips its massive head back and forth, more ancient power peels off it and floats our way.

A very symmetrical box of shielding arrays starts forming around us, piecing itself together slowly. Its outer layers are tethered with extremely thick Primordial Aura that has somehow left the Mammoth’s body. It is no longer attached to its soul; now it is attached to the glyphs that hold a single purpose: to protect us from the blasts.

It’s eye-opening, as Maria and I stand unaffected by the chaos that goes on outside. However, a slight irritation lingers as I realize there was absolutely no need for it to almost kill us with its aura when we first met.

This thought quickly fades as I take in the complexity all around me. The majority of my inner mind is only able to focus on the arrays that have created this protective shield. Half of my soul is still lingering outside inside the domain barrier. It is protected by the unknown warm and inviting consciousness inside the strange structure, which allows me to see the battlefield with far greater clarity through a surveillance system-like sense of vision.

I stay silent and eyes wide while Ulgar fights 6 Purple Cored Demons at once.

He does not hold anything back. His previously nonchalant demeanor while being our guide is completely gone. The calm movements and simple battle style he showed while fighting the ascended demons on the flatlands were clearly not his true nature.

The Black Ogre is actually a ferocious assassin.

An absurd amount of killing intent leaks out from his soul as he starts sacrificing large percentage amounts of his High-Quality ether in every single strike he throws. Thick crescents of black aura tethered with Royal Vibrations, Primordial Aura, and High-Quality ether explode outward from his blades. These long-range attacks are all followed up by spinning slashes and close-up jabs at the Purple Cored Demon’s vitals.

Ulgar moves so fast, I can’t even see him with my actual eyes. The only way I can perceive his strange movements is through the domain barrier array. Even then, it looks like afterimages are popping up all over the battlefield. I can’t fully perceive everything.

These 6 Demons all counter with sword strikes, axe cuts, hammer swings, spear thrusts, shield blocks, and dagger attacks of their own.

The Demons look almost as fast as Ulgar to my unskilled eyes.

They all begin sacrificing large amounts of their high-quality ether too, creating explosions that tear holes in nearby trees and form craters all over the ground.

Some of them even start pushing a strange Essence that looks like it is imbued with Demonic Energy into their blows. They take far more glyphs to activate and seem to have a slower charge up time than their normal attacks.

However, Ulgar always dodges these and never tries to confront them head-on. The only ones he dares to take hits from are their normal high-quality ether strikes or longer-range weaker hits.

I can see why when an especially strong axe wielder misses Ulgar’s neck with a close-range attack, and it hits a tree trunk behind him instead.

The strike slices right through the base of a Primordial Tree and causes it to come crashing down. Explosions of Primordial Aura and foreign ether from that destruction blind my real body’s vision with a flash of white light. The sight from my surveillance even starts fading as Ulgar leads these Demons away from the barrier.

The last images I see are of one of the Black Ogre’s machetes tearing through a Demon’s neck and the other piercing the True Core of another.

The four remaining Outer Guards start to retreat, but Ulgar throws his two victims aside and flies forward to keep his momentum.

What he said earlier inside his Domain was true… if he doesn’t have to be careful of others’ lives, these Outer Guards really are no match for him.

A path of destruction leads far away, further than I can see. Now, the only proof I have that he is still fighting are the shockwaves that burst through the forest and continue hitting the array we’re stuck in.

Every blast tears layers of this structure off. I watch High Quality ether commands feature under the impact and fly away in the waves of energy bursting by our sides. Yet, just enough glyphs keep floating in from behind us to recreate the proactive shield and save us from harm.

The atmosphere around us glows brighter and brighter with rust-colored flames as the massive Astral Form of Vardon comes floating into sight behind us. He peers down at us, then back up toward the forest where Ulgar disappeared.

The box of glyphs we’re standing in lifts up off the small amount of ground left and moves forward at the same rate the Fiery Mammoth does. Its low, grumpy voice echoes through the air.

“If they knew we were coming, they would have sent more than just those guards. Odds are… they were only expecting you two.”

It gives a smug grunt, but I feel a ripple of amusement in its vibrations.

The shockwaves from far out in the forest stop coming, and Vardon nods to himself.

I can only assume this means Ulgar finished them off.

Without asking, we’re transported past the two trees where the Domain Barrier was opened. Vardon stops moving us and starts to retract the glyphs back into his tusks.

The intense aura outside starts leaking back in, now that it is not an active war zone.

Vardon is soaking up all of the stray fractured glyphs in the air, and many that are still intact and far stronger than anything I’d even attempt to absorb. He is protecting us from these but also benefiting greatly. His own Glyph Imprints flare up and glow brightly after each large pocket of ether is consumed.

The only glyphs he doesn’t dare touch or even go near are those still soaked with dark purple demonic essence.