Chapter 112: Three Records In One Day

The silent attack the Dragon Sovereign Guild had suffered in the raw materials market was like an invisible thorn buried deep within the body of the guild.

Although the Dragon Sovereign had relied on its enormous financial reserves to scrape together an emergency supply at several times the original market price, the damage had already been done. A massive amount of capital had been drained, and the guild’s carefully planned development schedule had been disrupted.

The consequences would continue to spread.

An oppressive, anxious atmosphere settled over the entire guild.

But Aiden’s offensive didn’t end there.

The economic attack was only the first step.

If Damien wanted to surround himself with the titles of "Leader of the Human Race" and "Number One Guild," then Aiden would tear those titles apart one by one.

He wanted to attack the Dragon Sovereign Guild in the areas where it took the most pride, stripping away the image of invincibility it had spent so much effort building.

Inside the underground safe house, Aiden stood before a holographic projection displaying the dungeon leaderboards for the Ashford City region.

Several records immediately caught his attention.

[Wailing Caverns — Heroic Difficulty]

[Dark Forest — Team Mode]

[Death Mines — Challenge Mode]

These were currently three of the most popular and representative high-difficulty dungeons in the region.

And all three records belonged to the Dragon Sovereign Guild’s elite teams.

These records weren’t merely numbers.

They were symbols of the guild’s strength.

They were displayed publicly to attract experts, recruit talented players, and convince independent players that joining the Dragon Sovereign Guild was the fastest path to becoming powerful.

They were living advertisements.

Aiden intended to smash those advertisements himself.

"It is time to remove the name Dragon Sovereign from those leaderboards."

He selected the first dungeon.

"Wailing Caverns. Heroic Difficulty."

Aiden’s expression remained calm.

"We won’t just break their record. We’ll set a time so far beyond their reach that catching up will become impossible."

Silas rubbed his hands together, the heavy plates of his armor clanking.

"We should’ve done this sooner. Let those people who look down on everyone else see what real strength looks like."

Luna’s purple eyes shone with anticipation.

She gently touched the cloak draped over her shoulders.

Aiden had just finished crafting it with a large quantity of Rare materials, including some of the resources acquired through their recent market operation.

[Stormbringer Cloak — Legendary]

The cloak was a deep blue-purple, its edges embroidered with delicate silver lightning patterns that seemed to move whenever she shifted.

Since equipping it, Luna could clearly feel the difference.

Her control over elemental energy had improved dramatically, her Spirit had increased, and her lightning spells felt more powerful than ever.

"I’ll give it everything I’ve got, Sir Aiden."

A moment later, the three members of the Abyss Squad arrived at the entrance to Wailing Caverns.

The dungeon entrance was still crowded.

Teams gathered around the area, preparing to challenge higher difficulties, farm equipment, or collect valuable materials.

The appearance of the Abyss Squad immediately caused a commotion.

Aiden’s mysterious melee fighter identity was already well known. Silas’s enormous shield made him impossible to miss, while Luna’s purple eyes and newly acquired Legendary cloak drew attention from almost everyone nearby.

"It’s the Abyss Squad!"

"Why are they here?!"

"Is that mage wearing a Legendary cloak?"

"No way. Legendary equipment already?"

"What are they planning? Are they actually going into the dungeon?"

"Have they lost their minds? The Dragon Sovereign Guild has issued a kill-on-sight order against them, and they’re still walking around in public?"

Under countless gazes, Aiden remained completely indifferent.

He stepped forward, selected Heroic Difficulty, and entered the dungeon.

[The team "Abyss" has entered the dungeon "Wailing Caverns — Heroic Difficulty"!]

The system announcement echoed throughout the entrance area.

The crowd immediately surged toward the record stele.

Everyone’s attention focused on the progress display.

At the top was the existing record.

[Dragon Sovereign Guild — 28:15]

Twenty-eight minutes and fifteen seconds.

The record had been established by one of the Dragon Sovereign Guild’s most elite teams. Their coordination was near perfect, their equipment was among the best currently available, and their twenty-player composition gave them an enormous advantage in sustained combat.

By comparison, Abyss had only three players.

Almost nobody believed they could break the record.

Then the progress bar began moving.

And it moved far faster than anyone expected.

The first zone consisted of large groups of Cave Lizards and Lurkers. A normal team needed five to seven minutes to clear the area.

Abyss cleared it in less than two and a half.

"How?!"

"How are they killing the mobs that quickly?"

"It’s the mage!"

"Her area-of-effect damage is insane! I saw fire and frost going off almost continuously!"

Before the crowd could recover, the second zone was cleared.

The first boss, Venom Spider Mother, was normally a battle that took eight to ten minutes.

Abyss killed it in three minutes and fifty seconds.

"Even the boss is that fast?!"

"How much damage are they dealing?"

"That shield guy barely lost any health!"

"And that melee fighter—what the hell is his damage?!"

The third zone was even more difficult.

It contained complicated trap corridors and tightly packed elite monsters, making it one of the sections where ordinary teams lost the most time.

Abyss cleared it in four minutes and ten seconds.

"They didn’t even stop for the traps!"

"How are they avoiding them?"

"Wait... that mage!"

"She’s predicting where they’re going to trigger!"

Luna had indeed been controlling the dungeon’s environmental mechanics with frightening efficiency.

Rather than simply avoiding every trap, she used elemental spells to trigger several mechanisms remotely, allowing the team to bypass dangerous sections while simultaneously eliminating groups of enemies.

Then came the final zone.

The Wailing Banshee was infamous for its mental attacks and summoning mechanics. Most teams needed more than ten minutes to bring it down.

Abyss took just over five.

The progress bar reached the finish line.

Silence descended over the dungeon entrance.

Then the system announcement appeared.

[World Channel Announcement: Congratulations to the team "Abyss" — Reaper, Silas the Bulwark, and Purple Lily — for successfully refreshing the dungeon "Wailing Caverns — Heroic Difficulty" clearance record!]

[New Record: 16 minutes 50 seconds!]

The entire dungeon entrance fell silent.

Everyone stared at the record stele.

[1. Abyss — 16:50]

[2. Dragon Sovereign Guild — 28:15]

The difference was staggering.

Eleven minutes and twenty-five seconds.

This wasn’t a narrow record break.

It wasn’t even a close competition.

Abyss had completely demolished the previous record.

"Monsters..."

Someone muttered the word without realizing it.

Then the crowd exploded.

"Sixteen minutes and fifty seconds?! How the hell did they do that?"

"Three people! They only used three people!"

"They were more than eleven minutes faster than the Dragon Sovereign Guild’s twenty-man team!"

"That’s not a record break. That’s a massacre!"

"Abyss is on another level!"

"The Dragon Sovereign Guild’s face just got smashed!"

While the crowd descended into chaos, the three members of Abyss calmly walked out of the dungeon.

They didn’t celebrate.

They didn’t acknowledge the crowd.

Aiden simply glanced toward the next dungeon.

Dark Forest.

The three of them headed straight toward it.

The crowd slowly fell silent.

One thought appeared in almost everyone’s mind.

Are they actually going to continue?

The answer came moments later.

[The team "Abyss" has entered the dungeon "Dark Forest — Team Mode"!]

The crowd erupted again.

Everyone rushed toward the second record stele.

The existing record stood at thirty-two minutes and eight seconds.

[Dragon Sovereign Guild — 32:08]

Then Abyss’s progress bar appeared.

And once again, it began moving at an absurd speed.

Their route through the dungeon was incredibly precise.

Aiden selected the fastest paths, avoiding unnecessary encounters whenever possible.

Silas gathered groups of monsters and held them in place like an immovable wall.

Luna turned the battlefield into a storm of elemental destruction.

With the Stormbringer Cloak amplifying her elemental abilities, her lightning spells had become particularly terrifying.

[Lightning Chain] jumped from target to target, tearing through entire groups of enemies while repeatedly triggering critical hits.

Aiden moved through the chaos with lethal precision, every strike aimed at a vulnerable point.

They didn’t waste a second.

They didn’t take unnecessary fights.

They simply advanced.

The record stele suddenly flashed.

[World Channel Announcement: Congratulations to the team "Abyss" for successfully refreshing the dungeon "Dark Forest — Team Mode" clearance record!]

[New Record: 19 minutes 15 seconds!]

The previous record had been thirty-two minutes and eight seconds.

Abyss had cut nearly thirteen minutes from it.

The crowd hadn’t even recovered from the second shock when the three players entered their third target.

[Death Mines — Challenge Mode]

This time, nobody questioned whether Abyss could break the record.

Everyone was simply wondering how far they would push it.

The Dragon Sovereign Guild’s record stood at twenty-five minutes and forty-one seconds.

The answer came soon.

[World Channel Announcement: Congratulations to the team "Abyss" for successfully refreshing the dungeon "Death Mines — Challenge Mode" clearance record!]

[New Record: 14 minutes 02 seconds!]

The crowd went completely silent.

Three dungeons.

Three records.

Three overwhelming victories.

And the gap wasn’t measured in seconds.

It was measured in minutes.

When the three members of Abyss finally stepped out of Death Mines, the accumulated experience from their recent high-intensity battles and successive record-breaking clears finally pushed them through another bottleneck.

Three beams of golden light rose simultaneously.

[Ding!]

[Congratulations! You have reached Level 15!]

The same notification appeared for all three members.

A surge of energy spread through their bodies.

Their attributes increased once again.

Aiden closed his eyes for a moment.

He could feel the difference immediately.

The moment he reached Level 15, the presence of the [Sovereign of Souls] within him seemed to become more active.

His perception of the surrounding energy had sharpened.

Even the presence of nearby creatures felt clearer.

More importantly, his instinct for identifying potential prey had become increasingly precise.

Aiden slowly opened his eyes.

Meanwhile, the dungeon entrance had completely erupted.

"Three records in a row!"

"All of them by enormous margins!"

"They were more than ten minutes faster on every single record!"

"How is that even possible?"

"From today onward, the Ashford City dungeon leaderboards belong to Abyss!"

"Hahaha! The Dragon Sovereign Guild just became the biggest joke in the game!"

The news spread across the forums at an explosive pace.

Screenshots of the three leaderboards appeared everywhere.

Videos of Abyss’s dungeon runs began circulating.

Players dissected their strategies, debated their classes, and speculated about their equipment.

But regardless of the discussion, one fact couldn’t be disputed.

The Dragon Sovereign Guild’s three most prestigious dungeon records were gone.

In a single day, Abyss had taken all three.

The image of the supposedly invincible Dragon Sovereign Guild had been dealt a devastating blow.

Its strongest public symbols of dominance had been ripped away and replaced with a single name.

Abyss.

Dragon Sovereign Guild Headquarters

The atmosphere inside the strategic conference room could no longer be described as oppressive.

It was suffocating.

Damien stood before the holographic display.

Three records glowed brightly on the screen.

Three records that had once belonged to the Dragon Sovereign Guild.

Now, every one of them carried the name Abyss.

Around them were countless forum posts and World Channel messages mocking the guild.

Damien’s face had turned livid.

His chest rose and fell heavily.

His fists trembled at his sides.

Then, unable to suppress the fury building inside him, he suddenly coughed violently.

A trace of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Aiden..."

His voice was low and filled with rage.

"Reaper..."

His hand slowly wiped away the blood.

"Abyss!"

His eyes were filled with unprecedented hatred.

"I, Damien Bale, swear that if I don’t tear you apart and grind your bones to dust, then I don’t deserve to call myself a man!"

No one in the room dared to speak.

The three dungeon records had become a public execution.

Abyss hadn’t merely defeated the Dragon Sovereign Guild.

They had walked directly into the guild’s most prestigious territory, taken everything the guild was proud of, and left without even looking back.

They had used indisputable strength to announce their arrival to the entire player community.

But for Aiden, this was only the beginning.

He stood outside the dungeon, feeling the surging Level 15 power coursing through his body.

His gaze turned toward the distant headquarters of the Dragon Sovereign Guild.

The first stage of his retaliation was complete.

The economic pressure had begun.

The military pressure was already underway.

The guild’s reputation had now taken a direct hit.

But none of that was the end goal.

Aiden’s eyes narrowed.

The second stage of the game was about to begin.