Opening the Bridge

The citizens of Lagoon Porter City didn't understand what was going on, but the enormous barrier still covered the city and a thick tension lingered in the air, causing everyone to grow more fearful.

The streets were empty spare some nervous individuals.

Styx had commanded Aura to clean up the city guard alongside Vivy and Irie, as well as a small platoon of Third Step tiger beastmen. Aura was the main muscle of the operation, but she wasn't the kind to negotiate with others.

The remaining guard of the dungeon city had two options laid out before them, surrender or die.

Given the previous lord's death and capture of the city's dungeon core, most of the guards surrendered, but there were still groups that were determined to fight to the death, as futile as it was.

One such small resistance force even reactivated one of the city defense cannons before being met with the brutal wrath of a Monster Lord.

"Hilda, you will be responsible for informing all the citizens and other travellers of the change in management."

Styx was giving the barmaid her reward as she tightly hugged him whilst taking in his scent in deep breaths. He wasn't shy either as his hands were extended down the back of her pants and in her underwear, her prominent butt cheek tightly clenched in one hand whilst the other reached underneath and fingered her vagina from below.

Hilda moaned lightly and hugged her body against him tighter as his middle finger slipped inside of her sticky, tight hole. She spread her legs a bit more and raised her body up, letting stick submerge more of his finger inside her secret garden.

She clawed at his back whilst her vaginal walls tightly clung to his finger, but her natural lubricant made it easy enough for him to push his finger in and out whilst stirring her honey pot.

"My lord… I don't know how much longer… I can hold out…" Hilda erotically rubbed her crutch against Styx's, desperate for his manhood.

"Well, neither can I."

Aura was apparently unable to restrain herself for any longer as well, causing Hilda to freeze in shock as the Monster Lord discarded her clothes and forcefully joined their intimate moment.

~~~~~

⠀

King Wallanther XII appeared to have aged ten years. His brow was constantly creased and his hair greyer than it used to be.

"Zoerina, Wallace, Raph! You need to try much harder than that! Our enemies are bearing their fangs and they will not give you time to prepare yourself!"

A bulky man covered in giant muscles swung a claymore one handed and sent the two young princes and princess flying through the air like ragdolls.

The king watched on this training practice on the giant paved stone field within the castle's walls, giant statues of the kings past looking down upon the arena from the four corners.

The princes and princess shrunk away from the pain, but they were given no reprieve and forced to fight back with everything that had.

Ever since news of how dire the invasion was, the loss of the army set to subjugate an incredibly dangerous dungeon, and a pervading silence from the Eve Temple, he had lost his doting father traits. No longer were his children living a life pf pure luxury, but they were forced to become stronger to protect the kingdom.

The demon army had over two dozen Fourth Step rankers, whilst the dungeon in the southern regions of the kingdom had not one Fifth Step Monster Lord, but two according to the news he received far too late.

The royal family had the most powerful bloodline in the kingdom, which enabled them to become far stronger than anyone else of the same ranking. The princess had also been born with the strongest bloodline since the first generation king himself walked these lands.

"It's too hard!" The fifteen-year old crown prince, Wallace, cried out with his body so bruised and battered he could no longer stand up.

The trainer looked up at the king on a terrace on the edge of the field who responded with two merciless words, "Carry on."

"Yes, your highness," The trainer placed a clenched fist over his heart in respect before turning around to the crown prince on all fours and kicked him in the ribs and sending him flying back ten meters.

"The enemy will not stop just because you are sore, or tired. Fight as if your life depends upon it, never show weakness, and never give up!"

Zoerina, despite only being thirteen and had only just become an adult, was the hardest working out of all of the king's children.

"I… I know… A hero will show up one day… and I will be ready… to stand by his side… and protect this nation! Aaaahhhh!!"

The young princess pushed herself beyond her physical limits and fought back against the trainer with all that she had. The crisis the kingdom was facing had hit her far harder than her brothers, while her dragon bloodline also further fuelled her iron willpower.

Her fists were bloody and bones cracked by sunset, where several healers used the magic to heal their bodies, but they still needed rest to restore their fatigue.

~~~~~

⠀

King Wallanther XII sat at the head of a very long table, his children sitting on the sides whilst maids silently waiting at the edge of the dining room should anyone require something to drink or more food.

"You all did well today, especially you, Zoerina," The king sternly stated in praise between mouthfuls of premium marbled steak and exotic vegetables.

"Dad… can we really make such a big difference in the war by getting stronger?" Second Prince Raph asked nervously whilst weakly clenching his fist, mana stirring around his hand.

"If you reach the Fourth Step or even the late Third Step, you will be able to. Every high powered general is a treasure of the kingdom. Earl Vermonte bon Housen is also pushing his medicine to help us rapidly replenish our army numbers."

"We can win then, can't we?"

"This is not a battle we can win, we received news that the goddess has fallen to injury, which the demon kingdom have used as an excuse to launch this all out war. There are also Fifth Step Monster Lords who will consider this an opportunity if they learn of it, and an insidious dungeon to the south that…"

"What is it, dad?"

"We received several emergency messages today, and we have lost Lagoon Porter City right next to the Abyssal Forest. Somehow, this dungeon is controlling Monster Lords and blatantly using them to attack our Maple Dragon Kingdom."

"What!? How could they do that!? Do they not fear the repercussions of doing so!?"

"Calm yourself, son, the crown prince must always maintain a calm mentality so you can accurately judge and act on the kingdom's affairs. You are too young to worry about these matters and just take it as a learning experience. The kingdom tacticians are already working on managing the situation. You still have a lot to learn about the art of war."

The second prince, Raph, glanced at his brother from the corner of his eye at these words, a sharp and insidious glint hidden below the surface. He didn't hate his brother by any means, but only the crown prince could become king, and it wasn't uncommon for a prince or two in line of succession to perish before they were crowned.

The royalty enjoyed the best treasures that were naturally found within the kingdom. They had countless spiritual fruits to enable them to level up faster without hitting their Max Level, as well as being stronger than their equally levelled competitors.

"Zoe," The king addressed his only daughter whilst carefully cutting off another thick slice of steak, the gravy sauce dripping off the edges, "This will be your first year at the royal academy. We had been lax on your brothers the past two years, but you cannot become slack on your training because of your studies."

"Y-yes, dad!"

~~~~~

⠀

Styx sat in a secluded room deep below his dungeon. It was designed as a corridor, but the end of the room was a gigantic glowing blue crystal. This room had been especially created to create the bridge to a new area where Styx hoped to be able to secure new resources and knowledge.

Both Dragon and Loreley had arrived as special guests and further insurance against any unexpected scenarios. The former was deeply excited at finding out what the new territory will be, whilst the beautiful fallen angel had a stony expression set on her face.

"Styx, are you sure about this?" Loreley asked in a serious voice.

"Of course. Heaven does this frequently, doesn't it?"

"Heaven and you are vastly different in strength.

Every kingdom had their own technological tree, and whilst many mirrored each other, others couldn't be any further apart.

If it were a weak kingdom, he could even use it as an area of refuge should the worst case scenario happened. If it were a kingdom far too powerful, he would collapse this room and seal the entrance.

The connecting bridge would still exist, but they would have to recognize the bridge and then excavate it again to cross back over. He had Monster Lords and, in the future, the possible deterrents of Heaven and The Void.

There was truly little he was afraid of in this gamble, but he felt it was a necessary one. The other two uses of the core he could solve himself with hard effort and some time, but a permanent special bridge to potentially new resources was something he was incapable of creating anytime in the near future with his current knowledge.

"Everest, give me some space."

The spider Monster Lord in her giantess human form was squatting directly behind Styx so closely he could feel her breath on the back of his neck. She ignored his words and instead leaned forward before licking the back of his neck whilst eyeing him up and down.

She had changed clothes to a large flowing kimono like dress with flowery designs covering it. From within the sleeves and her exposed cleavage though, small spiders could be seen crawling around whilst eyeing the outside world.

These were her recently hatched children, whom she kept on her own body in order to protect them from the gluttonous wolf, Aura, who was determined to eat them once again.

One of the spiders leapt off her collar and aimed for Styx, but Everest casually caught it mid-air before stating "bad" and throwing it into her mouth.

"…"

Styx was speechless seeing this, but he had more important matters to attend to. The unbound dungeon core was humming with activity, constantly fighting against his control over the dungeon.

"Everest, Aura, bees, everyone else, get in defensive positions."

He still had the three options for the dungeon core available to him, and unhesitatingly selected Bridge.

The dungeon core suddenly fell silent before turning more and more red, like blood was spreading through it. The glowed brighter and brighter red before a small black singularity formed within the core of the crimson hue.

That hue suddenly cascaded inwards as the core rapidly collapsed in on itself. Within several breaths, all that remained was the black singularity.

Equally as suddenly, that singlularity seemed to bubble on the surface like boiling water before exploding and covering the channel in turbulent space and time. Aura erected a phantasmal barrier in front of everyone whilst Everest used webs made out of space itself to stabilize the room and prevent the spatial fracture from reaching Styx.

Everest also caught Styx in her arms and protectively covered him in her embrace, protecting his body from any collateral damage.

The dungeon residents participating in the expedition to the new area suffered a few small wounds, but they had their own defensive skills, or in the case of the women, could simply expend mana to regenerate the damage.

Silence pervaded the room with the exception of a faint cracking sound as the broken space was repairing itself and a bridge to a new area being formed.

Styx pushed Everest's arms away and left her embrace as the previous location where the dungeon core had imploding had changed into giant opening to the world beyond.

Both Monster Lords scrunched their brows and stayed close to Styx as their senses extended into the world beyond the spatial bridge.

The dungeon core had been an open dungeon, so the new extension was aboveground as well. The opening was on the side of a rocky mountain covered in ash and dust without a single sign of life, which Styx's dungeon naturally spread out into the local surrounding area.

"It feels… dead?" Styx mused to himself as his dungeon senses examined the surrounding area. "No… not dead, but… infinitely close to it. Everyone, let's have a look around."

The world outside truly did appear dead as the group emerged. Styx had assumed the exit was on the side of a mountain, but it instead turned out to be a desert.

Dunes of crumbling stones, dust and ash climbed all the way to the clouds in a desert that seemed to extend forever. Even the clouds were black, not by rain, but as if stained by the soot of the world below.

Between the clouds, rays of crimson light fell on the world, a color distortion brought about by red ribbon-like spatial cracks that shifted and swam through the air.

"I don't like this place…" Aura quietly said whilst glancing around.

"Oh, it's just terrible." Dragon commented sarcastically whilst Everest huddled her spiderlings deeper into her clothes whilst narrowing her eyes dangerously.

"What… is this place?" Loreley stared out into the dead, black and grey desert in shock.

"Haven't you seen similar places before?"

Styx rose a brow at the stunned fallen angel and focused his gaze on her large black crown like halo above her head. The fallen angel apparently hadn't noticed it herself yet, but it had stopped spinning altogether and turned dull the moment she stepped out into this world.

"No, never."

"Can you ask Heaven?"

This was Styx's test and managed to catch her by surprise as well.

"Of cour-what!? I can't contact heaven!"

"I had thought as much. Wherever this place is, it has completely severed your contact with Heaven… and that's not all…"

"What do you mean?"

"Kale, can you please cast some magic? Any spell will do."

"Of course, anything for my husband… Although… this is a little difficult."

Kale was the dark elf twin who had evolved into a cosmic prowler, a species capable of swimming through space like it was their own home. She was normally capable of freely flying, or floating, in the air, but she had been completely grounded by this world.

Her mana stirred and she cast a dimensional blade with a swing of her hand, which collided with the side of the dune and sent dust and soot flying in the area.

She looked at Styx in puzzlement, but quickly realized what he had noticed.

"My mana isn't regenerating!"

"Correct, the world itself is truly dead here. I don't know how this happened or is possible, but the mana has long dried up in the earth itself and caused everything else to turn to dust and die. There is no mana in the air, so there is no means of regenerating it. This is why Aura, Everest and Dragon are so offput by the area."

"W-wait, it just regained a point, it is still working."

"That is just because you are close to the entrance of the dungeon. The mana is slowly flowing out and dispersing into this dead corner of the world. I don't know whether this is a good or bad thing, we are essentially a candle light in a pitch black room as long as this occurs, I will have to create a barrier to prevent that from happening."

"Styx," Loreley expended some of her mana into the air, feeling it slip away from her fingers and experiencing the mana void environment for herself, "I wish to investigate this place, possibly call for some research reinforcements from heaven too."

"You are already setting up a temple here, tell them to hurry up and then we can negotiate a joint expedition."

"Thank you."

Loreley bowed at the waist respectfully, unintentionally giving Styx a perfect view down her cleavage before casually defending her body from his wolfish claws.

"Don't forget, this is my bridge. I'm sure Heaven are true to their word and won't try anything underhanded…"

"You dare! Heaven is not to be besmirched with slander!"

True to her nature, any doubt or insult directed at Heaven instantly ruffled the beautiful fallen angel's feathers.