Chapter 68

The full explanation took a little over an hour, given the scale of the mind-breaking horrors we would inevitably face in the near future. Though understandably wary—having never fought nigh-unkillable entities spawned from the darkest corners of mortal consciousness—each woman was nonetheless prepared to commit her full strength to the cause.

Satisfied that I had given them sufficient warning, we rejoined the others to process our haul. I assigned Black Cat to assist Angelica with the appraisal, leveraging the cat burglar’s sharp eye for gems and jewelry while ensuring our accounting remained strictly in order. With the sorting underway, I turned my attention to the perimeter to search for my customary rewards: advanced technology schematics and rare components.

From the front, the monolithic mound offered only loose jewelry, uncut gems, and raw ore, so I circled around to inspect the undisturbed rear.

As I walked, the sheer scale of the treasure struck me. We had never seen a haul anywhere near this size. I wondered whether this was standard yield for a Rank 3 labyrinth, or if something far more anomalous was taking place. Even Lucoa, who had worked within the Adventurer’s Guild for an extended tenure, had been visibly taken aback by the sheer volume of wealth resting before us.

It lent weight to a theory I had heard whispered by veteran adventurers many times.

‘Some believe these labyrinths possess a rudimentary form of sentience. If that hypothesis holds true, could this bounty be an offering of gratitude for cleansing its parasite?’

I had never spent much time entertaining such speculation. To me, dungeons were placed here to help strengthen my allies and me, refine our abilities, and arm us with the tools needed to fix this universe. If these pocket dimensions possessed sentience, were they some sort of higher life-form, or something different altogether?

Regardless of the answer, I was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Once the spoils were divided and the guild claimed its standard taxes, Roxanne, Yunyun, and our summoned guests would walk away with a hefty purse of coin. That said, most of Roxanne and Yunyun’s shares would be sent back to their hometowns.

‘Shit! I forgot all about securing their families’ blessings for our marriage. Once I have a free moment, I need to source appropriate gifts and pay them a formal visit.’

I pinched the bridge of my nose, filing the obligation away for later. We had far more urgent matters demanding our attention; matrimonial diplomacy would have to wait until we crushed the Rachelle Holy Kingdom into dust.

‘Now then… where are my technical blueprints? Rank 4 yielded vastly superior tech compared to Rank 5. If that progression holds true for Rank 3, a BFG-10,000 schematic might just be waiting for me in this haul.’

As I rounded the mountain of wealth, I found only further drifts of gems and raw ore identical to the front. I was on the verge of turning away in disappointment when a bolt of golden lightning struck the ground before me, scorching the ground with a sharp crack of ionized air. The strike originated from a barely noticeable sword hilt buried within the hoard’s base.

When I drew near to investigate, I spotted two equally intriguing relics resting half-submerged in the coins beside it.

The weapon itself was a masterwork blade boasting an ivory edge, a blood-red spine, and a polished golden crossguard. Arcs of snapping yellow lightning danced across the fuller, roaring like a rampaging dragon. Resting beside the partially exposed scabbard was a pair of ornate platinum bracers, their surfaces engraved with forgotten mystical runes from a foreign universe and a matching wing design.

Both armaments were remarkable, but the third object eclipsed them entirely.

It was an irregular clump of midnight-black metal. While it appeared unassuming at first glance, the longer I studied it, the more unsettled I felt by its presence. The ambient mana within this dimension visibly warped around the dense mineral, curling away as if afraid to touch it.

With my curiosity thoroughly piqued, I reached out to grasp the stone, even as a quiet instinct in the back of my mind warned me to leave it untouched.

The instant my fingers touched the rough surface, my dual hearts skipped a beat. The mana in my forearm slammed backward into my abdomen with brutal force, like cold water striking white-hot iron. It felt like holding the pure, physical essence of anti-magic.

‘Just what in the world is this?’

I searched my mental archives but found nothing that matched its strange properties. Just as I prepared to reach out to Agamotto for a second opinion, Emma peeked around the side of the treasure pile.

She took one look at the dark metal and gasped.

“That… that is Mysterium!”

Emma rushed forward to examine the watermelon-sized mineral, abandoning her usual elegant poise. Drawn by her sudden outburst, the rest of the group gathered to see what had shaken the ordinarily composed telepath.

“I have never seen such a massive amount of it in one place.” Emma eyed the ore chunk with pure disbelief.

“Mysterium?” I vaguely recalled the name from my past life as a scientist. “Care to elaborate?”

Before Emma could answer, Storm stepped forward and took the heavy lump from my hands with a knowing, expectant expression. The second the metal left my gauntlet, the suffocating pressure vanished, and my mana circulation snapped back to normal.

“As your spirit no doubt felt, this substance is an absolute bane to the arcane.” Storm cradled the dark mineral with effortless grace. “In our homeland, mutant kind reached into the heart of creation to claim it, using its properties to humble cosmic courts and magical principalities alike. It yields neither to heat nor current, conducting both with absolute perfection, yet it stands as unyielding as primary Adamantium. Even the keenest precognitive senses cannot perceive its passage.”

Intrigued by her explanation, I summoned my Item Box. The spatial rift expanded beside us, and Storm dropped the heavy chunk into the dimensional void. The rift closed with a faint ripple, safely containing the metal’s passive deadening field.

While it held little value to me as it would suppress my arcane powers, that did not mean it was useless to our companions. Angelica, Clarice, Deirdre, Fenris, Gwen, Hertrude, Hertrauda, Lucoa, Olivia, Yunyun, and I possessed reliable methods for countering hostile spellcasters; the same could not be said for the rest of our team. At present, their only recourse was eliminating enemy magicians before they could complete their incantations, an outcome that was never guaranteed in the chaos of battle. If I forged protective gear from the Mysterium to shield them against hostile spells, they would have far less to fear in the coming war.

‘A fine weave of chain mail or an under-armor mesh would be the most practical approach. They would certainly appreciate the defensive edge, but that requires taking precise bust and waist measurements first. Roxanne should not be an issue—it is Black Cat, Emma, Mirage, Mystique, Squirrel Girl, and Storm who are bound to cause a fuss.’

With the Mysterium stashed away for the moment, I turned my attention to the remaining two relics. Forming a quick hand sign, I cast an appraisal spell to bring up their item details.

When the floating text appeared, something was off.

Only the sword returned readable words. The text hovering above the platinum bracers remained a garbled mess of broken symbols and alien letters, as if the appraisal magic were incompatible with them.

‘Hmm… I can definitely sense magical power radiating from them, yet it’s incompatible with the Marvel arcane structure. That would suggest these originate from the DC Universe. I will need to examine them in private, far away from the prying eyes of our benefactors.’

A sudden thought struck me. Gwen’s magic came from the DC Universe. If she used it out in the open, my watching benefactors would realize that there was a foreign magic system present in this universe. We needed to talk about this soon; we could not afford to throw away such a valuable trump card.

Not wanting to draw more attention to the bracers with everyone watching, I stowed them away in my Item Box to focus on the blade.

“The blade is called Dragonfang.” I scratched the back of my neck, drawing a complete blank on the name. Since I had an ancient authority on hand, I looked down at my amulet. “Agamotto, does that ring a bell?”

The amulet shifted against my armor as the carved eye flickered with sudden power, bathing the stone floor in a warm golden glow. A hearty, booming chuckle rumbled deep within.

<Hah! Well look at that old tooth.> The resonant voice reverberated through my mind with the amused satisfaction of an elder examining a forgotten bauble. <It has been an epoch since I laid an eye upon it. For generations, the Sorcerers Supreme passed that fang down as a sacred relic, until one of your reckless predecessors surrendered it to the halls of Asgard. You fancy yourself a swordsman, do you not, boy? Keep it on your hip—you would be a fool to leave it behind.>

Reaching down, I wrapped my fingers around the golden hilt. The crackling yellow lightning arced up my forearm, but instead of shocking me, the current hummed harmlessly against my skin, as if the blade were eagerly accepting me as its new master.

“Is there something special about it?” I gave the blade a measured swing, slicing through the air without the faintest resistance. It felt almost unnaturally smooth. “The Sword of Dawnlight already suits me fine.”

<Indestructible, boy! It cleaves mystical wards as though they were cobwebs.> The golden eye etched into the amulet flared brighter against my breastplate. <Better still, its enchantments hone the wielder’s martial instinct until every stroke finds its mark. In the hands of a mere mortal, that fang once held off gods. In the hands of a monster of your caliber? The heavens themselves would do well to mind their footing.>

While my mastery of the blade was formidable, I was far from the undisputed best. Among those who stood above me, there was one with whom I would eventually have to cross blades: Fulgrim. Ascending as a Daemon Prince of Slaanesh had elevated his dueling prowess to something grotesque and godlike. This blade might bridge that impossible chasm, offering me a chance to strike down my fallen brother and grant him release from his endless damnation.

“In that case, I will heed your counsel and keep it on my person.” I affixed the golden scabbard to my hip. “Is there any specific gesture or phrase required to awaken its enchantments?”

<No theatrical parlor tricks or secret incantations required, boy!> Agamotto scoffed with amused pride. <Keep that tooth strapped close, and its power will seep into your sinew on its own.>

“Understood. As always, thank you for your counsel and wisdom.”

The amulet’s amber light flickered, then faded away. There were no other treasures hiding within the hoard, leaving me a little deflated. If this was a sign of things to come, Rank 3 dungeons were only going to yield unique magical relics. While such artifacts were undoubtedly beneficial, they differed greatly from the advanced technology I was accustomed to handling. Schematics and hardware could be reverse-engineered and mass-produced for my armies; relics like these could only be entrusted to the people I held closest—my family.

With my search concluded, I rejoined the women in cataloging our haul.

---Guild Hall---

Two hours later, with the inventory complete, we stowed the entire bounty into my Item Box and ascended to the surface.

“Holy acorns, it is real!” Squirrel Girl threw the guildhall doors wide open, practically bouncing over the threshold. “It looks just like the guild halls in all those fantasy manga! Look at that spiked pauldron! Hey, Leon! Can I blow my cut on enchanted gear? Please tell me we can buy oversized swords!”

“Lower your voice before I remove your vocal cords.” Mystique seized the girl by the scruff of her collar and dragged her backward. “We agreed to keep a low profile, or did that walnut-sized rodent brain of yours already forget?”

Squirrel Girl did not hear a single syllable of the rebuke—she was mesmerized by the fantasy spectacle surrounding her. For a nerd like Doreen, this was nothing short of paradise.

“Grant the child her wonder, Raven. It is not every sunrise one steps into a realm born of myth and song.” Storm glanced around the hall, her regal gaze softening with a quiet appreciation for the unfamiliar sights and fragrances.

Black Cat casually juggled a pair of velvet coin pouches, purloined from a few would-be pickpockets they had brushed past on the cobblestones outside. The wretched opportunists had been utterly mesmerized by her form, granting Felicia ample opportunity to liberate their day’s ill-gotten gains with effortless elegance.

“Do restrain your kleptomania, darling.” Emma strolled past, her icy sapphire gaze skimming over the crowd while she delicately peeled through the thoughts of every onlooker. “Stealing petty copper from gutter-dwellers is dreadfully beneath us—and should you find yourself in irons, do not expect me to soil my boots staging a rescue.”

‘Vile, pathetic cretins…’

Emma’s expression soured. Sifting through the surface thoughts of several local nobles, she found them already calculating crude schemes to corner the unfamiliar women. Before her patience could wear through, however, their scheming ground to an abrupt halt. The entire hall stiffened in collective, suffocating dread, every man frantically averting his eyes. They silently prayed to whatever gods they worshiped that the colossal figure stepping through the doorway had not noticed their lecherous stares.

“Before any of you get any bright ideas, these women are with me.”

My voice cut across the cavernous room, crushing the ambient clamor into an instant, tomb-like silence. Every patron—even those who had been staring blankly into the bottom of their tankards—nodded in frantic submission.

“Now then, can you arrange a private room for us, Lucoa? I would rather not subject everyone to gawkers all afternoon.”

“Already on it!” Lucoa offered a cheerful wink before slipping past the heavy oak door marked for guild staff. “Give me just a few minutes to get things situated and summon the Guildmaster down.”

With that, we waited by the entryway, watching the hall hold its collective breath.

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