"Let him come." Allen's fingertips tapped the ice wall of the bunker.
"Let him die a hundred times." Six hours until dawn.
Victor Stone wouldn't launch a surprise attack at midnight. An S-rank Awakened One needs an audience. He needs sunlight. He needs everyone to watch the Black Serpent Guild crush the Brooklyn Ruins' signboard.
Allen opened the management panel.
First thing.
He pressed his finger on the golden dot representing Room Zero on the screen. Drag. Target node: Coffin Fortress.
[Dungeon Heart Transferring…]
[Progress: 20%…70%…100%.]
[Transfer Complete. The Brooklyn Ruins has now switched to child node mode.]
Even if the Brooklyn Ruins are physically razed, the core remains. The dungeon will only enter a downgraded hibernation, not be deactivated. This is the confidence brought by the dungeon network.
Second thing.
Eighty rooms. Drag all Level 4 trap modules into the activation slots.
Gravity Well. Spatial Cutting Line. Mental Oscillator. Corrosive Mist.
Allen locked the control panel. Leaned back against the ice wall. Closed his eyes.
The preparations were complete. The rest would have to wait until dawn.
—11:00 AM.
Allen opened his eyes. His neck was tilted. The ice wall's pattern was imprinted on the right side of his face.
The number in the upper right corner of the management panel jumped briefly in the sunless bunker.
BP Balance: 23,700. Passive output from three dungeons over eight hours. Brooklyn Ruins contributed the lion's share—the triple multiplier from the rerun of the Ruins Tower was still running, and four teams entered during the night.
That's enough.
The third thing.
The gray icon at the very bottom of the system tree.
[Administrator Avatar]
[Description: The Architect can project a combat avatar into their own dungeon. Avatar Level = Architect Level + Dungeon Level Bonus.]
[Current Estimated Avatar Combat Power: B+]
[Duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown: 24 hours.] [Consuming: 20,000 BP.] Allen's finger hovered over the activation button.
B+ against S-rank. Couldn't last three seconds.
But the Watcher's adaptation and evolution take time. Regeneration takes thirty seconds. During those thirty seconds, if Victor Stone directly attacks the dungeon's load-bearing structure, the entire space will collapse.
Someone needs to fill those thirty seconds.
Click. 20,000 BP deducted.
Avatar generation progress bar stuck at 99%, entering standby mode.
Noon. The DeepRift forum homepage's pinned post turned red.
Posted by: VictorStone_Official.
"This afternoon at 2 PM. I will personally visit the Brooklyn ruins. Architect_00, I hope you are prepared to receive me."
Attached image.
Black Serpent Guild headquarters rooftop. Victor Stone wore a pure black tactical jacket. No guild emblem. His face was the highest-level pass. The camera angle was slightly upward. He was looking down at the lens. Looking down at the entire city of New York.
The number of online users has surpassed 300,000.
"S-rank has entered the fray! This dungeon is doomed today."
"An A-rank leader had his arm broken, surely an S-rank can't be wiped out too?"
"Upstairs, there are ten A-ranks between S-rank and A-rank. No man-made structure can stop an S-rank." Black Serpent Guild Medical Room.
Anvil lay on the hospital bed. His left arm was in a polymer cast. He stared at the screen on the wall.
The dark red metal fist from last night was still replaying in his mind.
Now he was looking at Victor's post.
The guild leader wasn't here for revenge.
Manhattan, GWA Headquarters.
Robert Chen stared at the post on the screen. His coffee had gone cold.
"Sir, should we go to the scene to maintain order?" his assistant asked.
"Maintain what?" Robert threw the paper cup into the trash can. "An S-class is going to demolish the building. You think you can use compliance review regulations to block his punches? Notify the Brooklyn branch to set up a three-block cordon. Don't let civilians get close." The streets outside the Red Hook District were packed with scouts from various guilds. A GWA black armored vehicle was parked three blocks away. No one stopped them.
2 PM.
A figure appeared in the surveillance grid.
Victor Stone walked to the warehouse's main entrance.
He didn't reach out.
The rusty iron door emitted a sharp, twisting metallic sound, denting and tearing at both sides. An S-class's passive energy field. Objects retreated before even touching him.
He walked to the edge of the diamond-shaped opening in the basement.
Blue light shone on his black coat.
He jumped down.
Room One. Ruins on the street.
Victor didn't draw his weapon. He walked forward with his hands behind his back.
The Twilight Hunter pounced from a blind spot. Three meters away.
Bang.
The hunter exploded into a cloud of blood mist in mid-air. No attack motion. Pure energy field radiation.
Room 15. Rift Spider Swarm.
Victor walked through. The spiders on both walls, along with the bricks, were crushed into powder.
Room 30. Level 4 Trap Zone.
Gravity Well Triggered. Gravity parameters surged to three times.
Victor's boots left a half-centimeter-deep footprint in the ground. His gait frequency remained unchanged.
Fear Echo Emitter activated.
[Warning: Target's cognitive barrier is too high. Mental attack has been reflected.] Black smoke billowed from the emitter within the wall. Self-destruct.
A spatial cutting line swept across the darkness. It sliced through the golden energy layer on Victor's skin. Sparks flew. The energy layer didn't even ripple.
Room 51. Underground Sewer Zone.
Class C deep-sea lizards and hagfish lurked underwater.
Victor's feet touched the water's surface. He didn't sink. The golden energy field flattened the water by ten centimeters.
The area boss, the Abyssal Anglerfish, burst from the darkness, spewing a highly concentrated corrosive acid.
The acid evaporated instantly half a meter from Victor, turning into white poisonous gas. Victor passed through the gas. The Anglerfish's massive body split open from the middle, the cut smooth.
Room Sixty-Six. The Tower Area.
The gravity parameters frequently switched between 0.5x and 2.0x.
Victor ignored the suspended concrete platforms.
His legs slightly bent. A sonic boom exploded at the base of the tower.
He traced a golden straight line, flying straight upwards, ignoring the rules of gravity. He smashed through all the platforms and Twilight Raiders blocking his path.
Allen stood before the ice wall of Coffin Fortress, staring at the screen.
Seventy-nine rooms. Nine minutes.
This wasn't a battle. This was a stroll.
His designed ecological network, trap matrix, and crossfire points were utterly insignificant in the face of absolute numerical power.
The management panel's data stream was displaying a barrage of errors. Three layers of red warning boxes were stacked.
Room 80.
A pure black door.
Victor didn't kick the door. The door shattered automatically as he approached. Wood chips flew inward.
A black, mirrored space.
The Abyss Watcher stood in the center, his hands resting on his greatsword.
His dark red eyes lit up.
[Rule Attachment: Time Flow Modification (0.5x) in effect]
Victor paused.
The air thickened.
The parameters on the management panel fluctuated.
[Target resistance extremely high. Time flow suppression actual effective percentage: 15%.]
Victor turned his neck. Two cracking sounds came from his knuckles.
"A-Rank Boss?"
His voice echoed in the empty room.
"This is your trump card?" The Watcher drew his sword. Sparks flew as the blade skimmed across the mirrored surface.
First round.
Victor vanished from his spot.
A golden line appeared on the screen. The Watcher raised its greatsword to block.
Bang.
The golden fist slammed into the broad blade.
The blade bent. Immense kinetic energy flowed through the metal into the Watcher's arms.
The dark red arm guards shattered inch by inch from wrist to shoulder. Metal fragments flew backward.
The Watcher staggered back ten meters. Its feet carved two deep furrows into the mirror-like surface.
One punch. Destroyed the Boss's blocking structure.
Victor didn't stop.
The second punch.
The Watcher lost its balance, unable to raise its sword.
The golden fist slammed into the center of its breastplate.
The metal dented and tore. A gaping hole appeared in its chest cavity. Dark red core energy leaked wildly from the breach.
The Watcher's torso fell backward.
Before it hit the ground.
The third punch.
From top to bottom. Slammed into its helmet.
Boom.
The entire helmet, along with its internal energy structure, exploded completely. The crimson light faded.
The Watcher's remains slammed heavily onto the mirror, shattering into hundreds of black fragments.
Three seconds. Three punches.
Allen's fingers pressed against the ice wall, white marks seeping from the edges of his nails.
A red warning box popped up on the management panel.
[The Abyss Watcher has been defeated.] Immediately afterward, a golden progress bar appeared below the red box.
[Adapting and evolving…]
[Rebirth countdown: 30 seconds.]
[Adaptation content: S-rank pure power-type boxing - complete immunity.] Thirty seconds.
Victor stood amidst the fragments. A golden energy field slowly flowed across his body.
He didn't walk towards the wall at the far end of the room to damage the load-bearing structure.
He looked down at the black fragments at his feet, trembling slightly and attempting to reform.
"It can regenerate?"
Victor raised an eyebrow.
"Interesting."