[CH598+ Continued] Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster's Power

Down in the Lower Realm, on the human world, in the outer edges of the Crimson City, deep within a canyon filled with the highest quality dungeons in the Dark Continent, a Demon and Dragon stand before a containment case holding enough mana to bring this Labyrinth to a collapsing point.

A ping in the Demon's ear arrives not long after he sent his request, and it comes from Bri, the woman who gave him this task in the first place.

"The Rising Emperor has granted you permission to move on to the next stage. You will soon return to the Demonic Realm, but we need a few more days to take advantage of the power-leveling opportunity at such a high floored Labyrinth. So, consume the mana in small bursts and wait for another confirmation to push it over the edge to create the final floor."

Pluto smiles at these words and looks his True Cored Dragon in the eyes.

Thanks to the Rising Emperor before leaving, Pluto was granted an earth summoning skill—normally reserved for a small subset of 2nd Class monsters and an extremely small percentage of humans and other intelligent 3rd Class mana-based lifeforms.

Demons cannot naturally gain such a skill, and as a result of this, the Labyrinth Guardian has awakened quite the unique True Core skill that will certainly set him apart from any other.

Even considering the fact that many of the strongest demons, even some nobles, do not have their true cores compressed after completing their trials, it is very common for this stage of training to be conducted in the Demonic Realm.

Pluto does not come from any of the 5 Great Families' bloodlines, nor did he come from a powerful demonic world to give him a 3rd, 2nd, or 1st Class Bloodline Transformation.

He is a commoner of the Demonic Race. This fact puts him on edge, so despite the good news that he won't be a part of the 99.99% of Demons that die in their off-world Labyrinth Trials and never return, he is still unsure if he stacks up against the Demons of Royalty.

Living outside of the main Kingdom walls, even the red Cored Demonic Knights of the Vermillion family are worshiped like gods by the commoners.

"Do you really believe this will work...?" he asks his earth dragon.

The dark brown eyes of his soul-bound partner hold many memories behind them that only it can know. Any that are shared with its bonded partner will be burned away by the Fallen One's curse.

However, the dragon replies, understanding that to a common demon this all may seem too good to be true, but the fact that they are linked to the Rising Emperor's system means that this mission they've been given is far more important than he could ever know.

"It will work. Considering the Vermillion Family has just lost a Noble Demon and a strong squad from their Lower Realm Forces, they will be searching for as much fresh talent as they can. It is not common for a demon to return with a True Core already compressed; there is certainly an open slot you can fill."

–

In the Upper Realm, fractured memories of Andras Vermillion's time on the grand citadel, and even more blurred and fuzzy images from various sources of the Demonic Beasts I've killed, come to the surface of my mind.

However, the most important parts are missing.

I know the Citadel is massive, multiple times larger than the one I stand on now, but for some reason the large-scale imagery and exact location of this place is a blur in every memory I recall.

There are vague visions of time inside the core of the Citadel, where the family head stays. However, they are all inside, and I have no memories of how to reach this place. Many other strange corridors and massive rooms full of storage and secure meeting and training rooms are fuzzy in my mind too.