The Return Of The Exiled Villain-Chapter 235: Dungeon Crawl (III)

The plan created was not complicated, but it demanded a certain precision of execution across every layer of the labyrinth that Gray had built it with that in mind, after analyzing Ellen’s projection of the dungeon’s structure.

There were exactly three sections before the boss chamber.

A fourth transitional stretch leading into the circular arena itself.

Each section has its own terrain, its own threat density, and its own set of variables that need to be managed differently.

The first section was the simplest, but also the most important to handle correctly.

On there, there were only Early Master-level creatures spread across wide stone corridors with moderate mana density and relatively stable visibility.

The natural instinct for most classes would be to push through quickly, treating the first section as a warm-up and conserving energy for what came later.

It was the obvious approach, and it was the wrong one.

Gray’s plan treated the first section as a harvesting ground for him, and because of that, he even changed a little bit of the properties of the [Ring of Gluttony] to just absorb the Qi Orbs into his inventory.

Every creature carried Qi Orbs within their cores.

Individually, each orb represented a negligible amount of energy, barely worth noting in isolation.

But the first section of a Great Grandmaster Grade Labyrinth of this scale meant volume, dozens upon dozens of Master Realm creatures spread across branching passages and interconnected chambers, all of which had been clearly visible on Ellen’s map.

If they cleared it the right way, carefully, without leaving even one path untouched, they would gather a huge number of Qi Orbs from just that first section.

For the academy’s scoring, thorough clearing also meant earning the maximum resource acquisition credit, which directly influenced their final grade.

Here, the squads wouldn’t move one after another.

They would move at the same time.

Rather than moving as one body through a single path, Gray had divided the first section’s branching corridors between three parallel sweeping formations, each built around one of the sword-wielding girls as its close-range anchor and supported by one caster for crowd control and one support for mana efficiency.

They would sweep assigned branches simultaneously, compress their respective paths inward toward the central corridor, and reconverge at the section’s transition point.

The approach would cut the time spent in the first section by more than half compared to a linear sweep while leaving nothing alive and nothing uncollected behind them.

The second section required a different posture entirely.

Peak Master to Early Grandmaster creatures with pack coordination and basic ambush behavior meant that the parallel sweep approach had to collapse back into a unified front.

Splitting the group further in narrow passages against tactically aware enemies was the kind of mistake that compounded quickly.

Ellen’s map had shown that the second section’s corridors narrowed significantly compared to the first, with fewer branching paths and more choke points, which actually worked in their favor if the formation was correct.

Gray had designed the second section’s approach around controlled funneling.

Vanguard draws contact at the choke points.

The mid-range suppression layer saturates the kill zone before the pack can spread laterally.

Nothing reaches the main body unless the vanguard has already collapsed, and if the vanguard collapsed, Cassandra’s roving position meant the information reached Gray before the situation became irretrievable.

The second section was where mana discipline mattered most, because the third section immediately after it offered no recovery window.

The third section was where the real pressure began.

Late Grandmaster creatures. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

The mana saturation should be thick enough to physically slow breathing.

The map had shown that the third section’s corridors opened back up into wider cavern-like spaces, which sounded like a relief until you considered that wider spaces gave Late Grandmaster entities room to use their abilities at full range.

It also meant visibility dropped further as ambient mana interference thickened the air into something closer to fog.

Gray’s answer to the third section was simple and brutal: speed.

Not recklessness... but just speed.

There was a difference.

The longer the class remained inside the third section, the more mana each member would burn simply sustaining themselves against the environmental pressure, which left less available for actual combat.

The optimal approach was to push through without stopping to engage anything that wasn’t directly blocking the path, using the vanguard’s momentum to break contact before packs could fully form around them, and trusting the mid-range suppression layer to collapse any pursuit before it gathered into something dangerous.

The resource yield in the third section was lower than the first two by design, so sacrificing thoroughness there for speed was not a loss on the scoring sheet.

It was the correct trade.

Which left the boss chamber.

One hundred meters in diameter, in a circular form with mana vents along the walls, and no meaningful cover at all.

Four Intermediate Great Grandmaster minions guarding the inner core, coordinated and responsive to the main serpent’s aura.

And the serpent itself at Peak Great Grandmaster, carrying a berserk phase that could push it briefly into the King Realm if critically wounded or if its core was directly threatened.

This was where the plan stopped being about the class and started being about Gray specifically.

The minions had to be neutralized before any serious damage was dealt to the serpent.

That was an obvious first move.

Injure the boss first, and all four minions entered a rage state simultaneously, turning a difficult four-on-one encounter into a chaotic six-way engagement inside an open arena with no cover.

Ellen’s briefing had made the danger of that scenario clear enough that even the most eager members of the class had gone quiet when she described it.

So the minions died first, in pairs, quickly.

Gray had already decided he would handle that himself while the class held a perimeter formation along the outer edge of the chamber, keeping the serpent’s attention fractured and buying him the time he needed.

Maelis would be his anchor during that phase, covering his flanks with Gravity Magic while he moved.

Seraph would hold the chamber entrance to prevent anything from the third section from following them in.

Once the minions were down, the serpent’s berserk trigger became the central variable.

A controlled berserk was preferable to an uncontrolled one.

If the serpent entered the King Realm on their terms, with the class already in a dispersed formation that minimized the blast radius of its amplified abilities, the thirty-second minimum duration was survivable.

Two minutes was not something he planned to endure.

The weak points Ellen had specified were the eyes, the inner jaw, and the joint beneath the third scale segment behind the head.

The third scale segment joint was the one Gray was most interested in.

A precise strike there at sufficient force wouldn’t just wound the serpent.

It would partially sever the connection between its upper body musculature and its constriction mechanism, limiting its most dangerous physical attack without triggering the core-threat response that initiated berserk mode.

It required getting close, and it required the strike to land exactly where it needed to land, but if it worked, the serpent’s combat capability dropped significantly before the class ever needed to worry about the King Realm phase.

He had no intention of letting it reach that phase at all.

If anything, he would directly use [Nine Thunders Thunder Claw]. Even though it’s merely a Grandmaster-level Technique, it’s also a flawless one.

A Flawless Technique is a perfect technique whose strength is above its designated realm, reaching its limits.

Which meant that the [Nine Thunders Thunder Claw], despite only being a Grandmaster-level Technique, had the strength of a Great Grandmaster-level Technique!

Well... the core of the serpent was the only thing he needed.

Everything else, every resource, every mana stone, and blood essence fragment collected across all three sections could belong to the class.

After all, to him, a King-level Qi Orb and Core would definitely be the most beneficial thing, especially when he needs Emperor-level Qi Orbs to awaken Jasmine’s authority of destruction.

[...You’re scary.]

’...And why’s that?’ Gray replied inwardly.

[How come you came up with that plan after watching the Dungeon’s Structure a single time? A mere mortal shouldn’t be able to do something like that...]

’Do you have anything to say about my plan?’

[Not really. Considering the strength of your class... your plan perfectly checks every box. The only problem is whether they’ll be able to follow your orders perfectly or not.]

’...Don’t worry about. They will.’

Jasmine went quiet after that.

And soon... came the first test that Gray wanted to do. To test how cooperative the girls would be, he decided to start with the first group.

"Reinette, left branch. Sola, right. Vivienne, hold center until they compress back."

"Understood."

The group called out moved instantly.

The first wave of Master Realm beasts rounded the far corner of the left corridor, a pack of six, low to the ground, scaled, fast.

Their claws scraped against stone in a rhythmic, overlapping clatter that built into something almost like drumming before the sound was cut short entirely.

CRACK!

Reinette’s palm met the floor.

The stone beneath the pack’s footing buckled upward in jagged ridges, locking three of them mid-stride.

The other three leaped over the disruption and closed the gap in an instant.

Vivienne was already there.

Shing, fwip!

Three clean cuts, and the bodies hadn’t finished falling before she stepped past them to meet the next.

On the right branch, Sola moved through her corridor like water, finding the path of least resistance, her sword trailing arcs of condensed mana that hit harder than they had any right to at her cultivation level.

BOOM!!!

A larger beast suddenly slammed into her guard with its full weight.

She didn’t move backward, and instead, softly called:

"Darya."

"Already on it."

FWOOM.

A column of concentrated fire compressed into a single point caught the creature across its exposed flank, and it didn’t get back up.

’...Not bad. What do you think?’

[I guess they are called Genius in this world for a reason.]

’Indeed.’

His lips curled up into a satisfied smile.