Lencar stopped. He didn't enter through the main gap. That was a kill zone. If he walked through there, he'd be silhouetted against the light like a target on a shooting range. Anyone inside would see him instantly.
He looked up. He scanned the architecture.
There.
Twenty feet up, near the ceiling, was a small ventilation shaft. It was overgrown with thick mana-roots and choked with dust, but it offered a view.
He activated the Strider's Plumes. He jumped twenty feet straight up, grabbing the thick, glowing roots with his gauntleted hands. He hauled himself into the shadows of the ceiling, wedging his body into the crevice between the stone and the root system.
He crawled through the shaft, ignoring the cobwebs and the claustrophobia. Dust fell onto his cloak. He reached the ornate grate overlooking the room and peered down into the Treasury.
It was a cavernous space, a cathedral dedicated to greed.
It was filled with mountains of gold coins that glittered in the ambient light. There were ancient weapons mounted on racks—swords, spears, axes made of metals that no longer existed. Chests spilled over with jewels the size of fists—rubies, sapphires, emeralds. Floating grimoires drifted through the air like lazy birds, waiting for owners who had died centuries ago.
But the most prominent feature was the vast open floor in the center—an arena cleared of debris, waiting for gladiators.
The room was currently empty of combatants, but the air was thick with the residue of powerful magic. It felt heavy, charged, like the air before a lightning strike. The silence was deafening.
"I'm first," Lencar whispered, a mix of relief and excitement washing over him.
He carefully removed the grate using a touch of [Earth Magic] to dissolve the hinges silently. He dropped down from the ceiling vent, landing silently behind a massive pile of gold coins and jeweled chests in the far corner of the room. It was a perfect vantage point—shadowed, elevated, and protected by mounds of treasure that would block stray spells.
He settled in, crouching behind a chest filled with emeralds. He checked his gear one last time, running through the checklist like a pilot before takeoff.
Demon-Dweller Sword: Ready in the vault.
Black Iron Gauntlets: On his hands, the runes dim and waiting.
Ignis Driver Ring: Charged.
Quintessence: Circulating at 100%.
He was in his optimal state. His body was a coiled spring.
He waited.
Five minutes passed. The silence stretched thin, vibrating with tension. Lencar counted his heartbeats to stay calm. One hundred... one hundred and ten...
Then, he felt it.
A cold wind swept through the chamber. The temperature dropped ten degrees in a second. Frost began to form on the piles of gold, dulling their luster.
Heavy, rhythmic footsteps echoed from the main entrance.
Clank. Clank. Clank.
A figure walked through the doors.
He was a giant of a young man, encased in translucent, multifaceted diamond armor that covered him from head to toe. The crystal refracted the ambient light, breaking it into rainbows, making him look like a walking prism—beautiful and terrifying. He moved with the unstoppable, plodding momentum of a golem. His face was pale, his hair cropped short, and his eyes...
Lencar shivered. Mars's eyes were devoid of any emotion other than a bleak, nihilistic boredom. They were the eyes of a statue.
Mars.
Lencar stopped breathing. He tightened his mental shields, strengthening his concealment so that he can be hidden infront of a mage of this caliber. Even from across the room, the pressure coming off Mars was suffocating. It didn't feel like normal mana; it felt heavy, mineral-like. It felt like being buried alive in a landslide.
"So this is a General," Lencar thought, his heart hammering against his ribs. "The anime didn't do him justice. He feels like a walking mountain. He feels like a natural disaster wrapped in human skin."
Mars stopped in the center of the room. He looked around, scanning the treasures with zero interest. He picked up a golden goblet encrusted with rubies, an item worth a small fortune. He looked at it, then crushed it in his hand like paper, dropping the twisted metal to the floor with a dismissive clang.
He wasn't here for the gold. He was here to secure the dungeon for the glory of the Diamond Kingdom, and he looked bored by the task.
"Boring," Mars rumbled. His voice sounded like grinding stones, deep and utterly empty of humanity.
Then, a second presence arrived.
It came with a rush of wind and a blinding green light that chased away the shadows.
Yuno.
The prodigy of the Golden Dawn flew into the room, carried by a whirlwind. He landed gracefully opposite Mars, his four-leaf clover grimoire floating beside him, glowing with a fierce, golden light. He looked regal, arrogant, and perfectly composed, his cloak billowing around him like wings.
Beside him landed Klaus Lunettes, adjusting his glasses nervously, his Steel Magic swirling around him in defensive plates. And Mimosa Vermillion, looking around with wide eyes, her Plant Magic ready to heal.
"Diamond Kingdom filth," Klaus shouted, pushing his glasses up his nose, his voice echoing in the vast chamber. "Surrender now! This dungeon belongs to the Clover Kingdom! You are trespassing on sovereign territory!"
Mars turned his head slowly. The crystals of his armor creaked. He looked at them like a man looking at insects that had buzzed into his room—annoying, insignificant, and about to be squashed.
"Weak," Mars said.
He raised his hand.
Diamond spikes erupted from the floor, moving faster than sound.
CRASH.
The battle began.
Lencar pulled his cloak tighter, his Quintessence circulating with silent, oily precision. He was the ghost in the machine, the third variable that neither side had accounted for.
He looked at the [Ignis Driver Ring] on his finger. He looked at the vast, glittering piles of gold that separated him from the "protagonists" and the "villain."
The Strategy was that He wouldn't move. Not yet. He needed to see the first exchange. He needed to know if Mars's armor had a resonant frequency. He needed to see if Yuno's wind could actually penetrate that mineral density.
The Risk was that If he stayed too long, he'd be caught in the crossfire. If he moved too soon, he'd become the primary target for both sides.
"This is the peak," Lencar whispered, the sound swallowed by the cavernous room. "The best the Diamond Kingdom has to offer versus the prodigies of the Clover Kingdom. Show me the gap between us. Show me how much higher I have to climb."
The diamond spikes had only just begun to erupt from the floor, the first CRACK echoing against the distant walls. The world was about to explode into violence, and Lencar sat in the front row, a student of slaughter, waiting for the first drop of blood to hit the gold.
"Fight," Lencar whispered, his eyes locked on the diamond armor. "Show me what you can do. Break them. Push them. And then... I'll break you."