The Prince of Heaven's Gate - Last Stand At World's End

“Did she succeed?” Barca asked upon seeing Lux’s figure enter their tent to discuss their plans for the siege.

Lux nodded. “She’s done her part perfectly. We should get some rest for tonight so we’re in our best condition for the siege next morning.”

“Good.” Barca smiled. “You don’t have to worry about Orobak, I will deal with him myself.”

“Okay. I’ll just cheer for you from the side.” Lux smirked.

Lux, Barca, and the Orc Warlords discussed for half an hour more before going back to their quarters to rest. After the meeting, their plan of action for tomorrow was finalized. The only thing they needed to do for now was wait for Eiko’s signal to storm the Stronghold and end Orobak’s rule once and for all.

As the Half-Elf laid on his bed, he wondered how strong Orobak really was. He was the Boss of the Ranked-C Dungeon, and the strongest monster in the Dungeon’s Nightmare Mode.

He already knew that Barca was strong, but if Orobak was really just as strong as Barca, then things didn’t add up. The Dungeon wouldn’t allow them to have a massive advantage over the Boss Monster even if the challengers managed to unite all the Orc Warlords.

“I hope I’m just thinking too much,” Lux muttered before closing his eyes to rest. He hoped that when morning came, they would be able to clear the dungeon and finally return to the real world and take a break from their exhausting expedition.

—-

When the first rays of sunlight peered over the horizon, a certain baby Slime opened her eyes._-.

She sleepily looked around and found herself in an unfamiliar place.

“Pa?” Eiko muttered before yawning.

It was at that moment when she heard the sound of footsteps inside the house, reminding her that she wasn’t with her Papa right now.

Eiko hurriedly went inside a wooden mug in order to hide from whoever was walking in her direction. The baby Slime closed her eyes as she bit her lip to prevent herself from saying anything.

The cupboard opened and the shuffling noises from things being taken out were heard. Soon, the noise stopped, and the footsteps gradually faded, as if its owner was walking away from Eiko’s current hiding spot.

After hearing the sound of a door being closed, the room once again descended into silence.

Eiko slowly peeked from the mug she was hiding at to ensure that the coast was clear. Although the encounter only lasted for a brief moment, she felt that whoever was in the room with her a while ago had a strength that was similar to the Draconic Kobold that attempted to kidnap her Papa in the past.

The baby slime remained stationary for an hour longer before deciding to make her move. Today was an important day, and she would need to play a part to ensure the success of her Papa’s mission.

—–

Outside the Dungeon…

“It has been three days already and they still haven’t come out?” Nevreal asked the guard captain that was assigned to watch over the Dungeon’s entrance.

“No,” the Guard Captain replied. Just like Nevreal, he was quite confused about what was happening.

This was not the first time that the Dwarven Riders had challenged the Nightmare Mode of the Orc Dominion. However, most of their expeditions ended after two days.

A day in Elysium was equivalent to three days inside a Dungeon. This meant that Lux’s group had already surpassed the number of days that the Riders of Norria had spent challenging the Dungeon.

“Are they perhaps playing hide and seek with the monsters?” Nevreal scratched his head in confusion.

Truth be told, he had thought of entering the Dungeon alongside the elites of the Stronghold in order to look for Lux and the Dwarf Children. However, since they would be taken to a different version of the Dungeon, looking for them was pointless.

“Commander Thoram sent his aide earlier to inquire whether or not they had exited the dungeon. Unfortunately…,” the Guard Captain sighed as he looked back at Nevreal with a helpless expression.

“I bet Thoram is now regretting giving them permission to enter the Dungeon.” Nevreal couldn’t stop himself from smiling bitterly.

What was supposed to be a Normal Dungeon Raid had become a big issue after Lux accidentally chose the wrong difficulty to challenge. All of them thought that they would return after a day inside the Dungeon, but they never expected that the Half-Elf and his friends would still be inside the Dungeon after three days.

—-

Inside Orobak’s Residence…

The baby Slime looked left and right to check her surroundings to make sure that it was safe to continue her exploration. After making sure that there were no signs of the Orc Chieftain nearby, Eiko entered the room to check whatever was inside it.

There, she found a large bed that was big enough for a bear to lie on. There were several things that were scattered here and there, which confirmed Lux’s suspicion that Eiko had arrived in the Orc Chieftain’s room.

‘Be careful, Eiko,’ Lux said through telepathy. ‘If you feel like your life is in danger, teleport to me right away.’

‘Pa!’

Eiko rummaged inside the room looking for things of value. Since she had no idea what was important or not, she just listened to Lux’s voice inside her head.

Most of the things that were inside the Orc Chieftain’s room were amulets made from the bones and teeth of monsters, several beast pelts, and beast horns.

‘Pa?’

‘Let’s just take all of them. Maybe they are valuable.’

‘Pa!’

Eiko then opened her mouth and ate the amulets, animal bones, horns, beast pelts, and anything that looked useful inside Orobak’s room.

Lux couldn’t use the Elysium Compendium while looking through Eiko’s eyes, so he couldn’t determine whether the items they found had stats or not. Even so, he was already quite thankful that he was able to support the baby Slime as she performed this dangerous mission on her own.

After summoning a Skeleton to help her open the wooden chest inside the room, the baby Slime found a stack of scrolls, a few rough gems, a dagger, and an ornate wooden box. She didn’t bother to check what was inside it because they were short on time.

Eiko then ate the entire wooden chest, leaving nothing behind. Since she had already taken a lot of things inside the room, it was obvious that Lux and the baby Slime didn’t care if Orobak found out that someone had stolen his belongings.

The baby Slime looked around the room from atop of her Skeleton Fighter’s head, to ensure that she didn’t miss anything. After seeing that there was nothing more of value inside the room, she decided to leave the room to return to her main mission.

Lux had tasked her to go to the Orc Chieftain’s residence to see if there were any valuable treasures inside it. The Half-Elf didn’t know what would happen once the Orc Chieftain was defeated, so he decided to play it safe and start looting in advance in case they were instantly teleported out of the Dungeon as soon as Barca defeated Orobak.

An hour later, Eiko scanned her surroundings with a critical gaze.

She was currently on top of the highest point that could be found inside the stronghold, which allowed her to get a view of what was happening inside it. Due to her small size, she managed to slip past the Orcs that had been patrolling the surroundings.

The Orc Warriors that were manning the gates were currently feeling lethargic, and some were even dozing on and off while leaning against the walls. Almost all the Orcs inside the stronghold were in a similar state due to the sedative that Baronar had created while they were traveling.

‘Fortunately, there was an option to spare Baronar’s life,’ Lux thought as he stared at the weakened Orcs inside the stronghold. ‘I’m sure that things would have been a lot harder if he hadn’t become our ally.’

As the Half-Elf continued to monitor the movement of the Orcs, he heard Orobak’s loud roar of anger. He must’ve already realized that his forces had been drugged. The remaining Orc Warlord, Oreg, was right beside him and was seemingly unaffected by the drug that was placed on their food supplies.

The Orc Warmonger’s elite units, the Orc Berserkers, were also unaffected by the sedative, and seemed to be acting normally. For them to be unaffected by the potion that the Orc Shaman had made to dull their senses, they were clearly trained to resist such drugs,.

‘Well, I guess this is the dungeon’s way of making things a bit more difficult for us. Eiko, it’s time for us to start the operation.’

‘Pa!’

The baby slime climbed down from her vantage point and headed towards the gate. The battle was about to start, and this would decide whether Barca would be able to realize his dream for dominion or not.