Ch 146 – Plundering the Plunderer

"It's nice to meet you two!"

It was a bustling night with countless cameras flashing against them. Their bright lights illuminated the entire area as many shouted out questions they wanted to be answered. But in the middle of all those flashes, were three figures.

One was Plunder who wore a black cloak over a black shirt and black pants. The color black resonated with his raven black hair and eerie black eyes, who stared at the two amicably. He smiled lightly, and even though his face was only above average, it was seemingly magnetic and full of charisma.

Opposite to him was Crimson King, who only stared at him with his pair of crimson eyes hidden behind his hooded black cloak. Under his cloak, Plunder noticed the black leather armor filled with pockets, with each holding an assortment of items ranging from daggers to potions and even talismans. One glance alone let Plunder know that Crimson King is a trained killer, which made him slightly amused and surprised as he strangely felt that Crimson King was younger than what most would think.

But beside him was Grand Magus. His hair was fluffy and brown, while his pearly blue eyes were filled with wisdom and intelligence that made him feel slightly uncomfortable under his gaze, it made him feel like he was an open book being read by the Grand Magus. He wore a scholarly white robe, and underneath them were a white shirt and black pants. Even though it looked simple, Plunder could clearly sense the runic inscriptions over those articles of clothing, and by his estimates, they were nothing short of a national treasure.

'Ohoho, to think two piles of treasure would be waiting for me to take!' Plunder laughed inside his mind. Two beings who each held absurd abilities, if he were to even get a fraction of them would alleviate his strength by a ton.

"Likewise. I'm surprised that someone from Japan is willing to accompany two other hunters to try and accomplish this new Z-Rank Dungeon that appeared from nowhere. Though, aren't you scared that we might do something bad to you? You dying will be completely normal as we are attempting our first Z-Rank Dungeon, so maybe you'd like to back out if you don't want to?" Grand Magus asked, his voice soothing and pleasant to hear that Plunder didn't even feel offended by his words.

Shaking his head, Plunder simply laughed and responded, "No need to worry. I trust the both of you that you won't attempt anything of that sort considering you two are well known as righteous hunters."

'But not me though.' Plunder secretly added.

"Oh, well thank you for trusting us~ Anyways, sorry for my partner here staying quiet. He really doesn't like to talk much to strangers with his persona and all that jazz. So, you ready to enter the dungeon?"

Nodding his head, the trio approached the dungeon entrance as they were attempting a level very few in the world has ever achieved. Z-Rank, Demigod, a power rivaling that of an entire nation's military strength, some being even capable of terrorizing an entire continent on their own like the Shadow Monarch. If the trio were to succeed, they'd be officially recognized as Z-Rank Hunters, allowing them to grow enough fame to rival the most famous people in the world.

Empress of Light, Shadow Monarch, Grid, and many more. They're all legends in the current world that wields strength incomparable to all. They're basically Demigods of this world, and three new potential Z-Rank Hunters are waiting in store for the entire world.

With that, the two walked through the dungeon entrance to prepare for the arrival of new legends.

"Hmm? A mountain range?" Hearing Grand Magus' voice, Plunder opened his eyes and was greeted by a beautiful sight.

A snowy mountain range that seemingly never ends in sight. Countless mountains can be seen everywhere, each being gigantically tall and grand in size. And the trio found themselves standing atop such a mountain, with the cold weather draping the three in snow. Not only that, the temperature was dangerously low that it could freeze any normal human to death within seconds.

Waving his hand to the sky, a magic circle appeared below the three colored fiery orange, and the freezing cold instantly disappeared around the three. Instead, it was like they were in a cozy warm household at that moment.

"You can also use fire magic? I heard you can utilize a wide variety of magic," Plunder commented while a blue magic circle appeared over his two eyes as he looked into the distance.

"It's nothing much. I was just simply given an inherent advantage compared to everyone else around here," Grand Magus replied.

"I was wondering, do you actually have multiple attributes or a single special attribute?" Plunder asked.

"Well, revealing too many secrets would be bad now, don't you think so?" Grand Magus smiled lightly.

"Sorry, sorry. I was just curious, you know."

'Sigh, I knew he wouldn't reveal it so easily. I really hope it's just a single attribute, because if it's many, then I'd only gain some of his attributes after I kill him.' Shaking his head, Plunder continued to scout around the area and he only saw more and more mountains in the far distance.

"Raiden, you mind looking around?" Hearing his voice, Plunder turned to look to the side and saw the short Crimson King nod his head, and crimson sparks erupted around him.

Instantly, he heard a loud boom and watch a crimson trail appear in the far distance, with it running through the entire area around them in mere seconds. With another burst of air, Plunder saw Crimson King reappear beside the Grand Magus.

"Each of the mountains around us has an Ice Dragon within it. And it all amounts to around a hundred mountains with each having an Ice Dragon inside it, and in the far distance, there was a mountain far larger than most which probably holds the boss monster of this dungeon. Considering there are around a hundred Ice Dragons, we'd probably face the Z-Rank Variant of Ice Dragons. And also, I've already awakened a hundred dragons so be prepared to face them all."

"What? You've awakened them all? Wouldn't that be-"

"Don't worry, Plunder. It's just a hundred ice dragons," Grand Magus replied with a nonchalant smile. Hearing his response, Plunder was slightly bewildered at their absurd confidence. It's not that he would have a hard time facing a hundred ice dragons, in fact, he'd want to do it as he'd rapidly grow stronger. It's just that it would be too time-consuming if he were to do so.

"Just watch the show."

Raising his arm to the sky, Plunder watches as the Grand Magus constructed an astronomically large golden sphere of light within mere moments. It was blindingly bright that he squinted his eyes just to be able to see the surrounding area.

The sphere of light flew to the air, its light and heat illuminating the entire area around them and warming the cold weather, and even dissipating the dark, gloomy clouds in the sky. Like a ball of sunshine alarming the ice dragons in the area, they heard countless loud roars erupting throughout the entire mountain range, even from the one below them.

Before Plunder could even realize what was happening, his body suddenly appeared in the sky with the air supporting him to stay afloat beside Grand Magus and Crimson King. Laughing loudly, Grand Magus said, "Enjoy this light show, because this is a spell that I'll probably only use inside dungeons considering it would scare the governments too much if they were to see my destructive power."

With that, Plunder watches in amazement as the ball of light transformed into countless beams of light. They each pierced the countless mountains all around them, and a glaring silence ensues as the awakened dragons all around them suddenly turned silent.

After that, a loud explosion ensued in each of those mountains as destruction arose. Countless craters can now be seen in the area, the previously tall mountains turned into nothing but a hole in the ground, leaving the previously majestic sight into nothing but smoke and rubble.

Strangely enough, Plunder even felt a stream of warm currents inside his body that made his eyes roll to the back of his head. He felt his body rapidly getting stronger, his muscles bulged rapidly while his previously warm cold turned colder, and one can even see his veins turning blue. He breathed out and a white mist erupted.

'W-What is this? How come I gained the… You know what, I'm not gonna question it. So this is what it's like to kill a hundred ice dragons, it feels so… exhilarating! With this strength, I can definitely-"

"ROAR!"

Plunder's train of thought was interrupted as he opened his eyes and saw the last remaining mountain which was the tallest that it pierced through the heavens suddenly explode. Out of the crater that formed was a snowy blizzard, the clouds gathered around it as the trio saw a ginormous dragon with a size capable of toppling over a hundred meters. It felt like a flying mountain from their perspective, and its aura was suffocating even at such a faraway distance.

"Oho! So that's what an Ancient Ice Dragon looks like! You three ready?" Grand Magus remarked before a golden glow covered the trio, and Plunder felt his strength increase by a large margin.

Nodding his head, crimson sparks covered Crimson King's body.

"I'm all good!" Plunder responded, and a tear in space appeared beside him. Plunging his hand inside it, he pulled out a strange silver liquid which then transformed into a silver spear.

"Let's do this!"

With that, the trio rushed forwards toward the mountain-size Ancient Ice Dragon. With Crimson King in the lead, his body pierces through the air and arrived at the Ancient Ice Dragon in mere moments, landing atop the dragon, his body ran around the dragon leaving behind bright crimson trails.

"<Mythical Beasts of Five Directions: White Tiger>!"

As a white tiger's silhouette encapsulated Plunder, his body pierced through the air and arrived right in front of the Ancient Ice Dragon, its claws dealing massive damage as a deep gash appeared around the Ancient Ice Dragon's face.

Moving away from the Ancient Ice Dragon, both Crimson King and Plunder watches as a spiraling beam of bright white flames appear. Opening its mouth, the Ancient Ice Dragon shoots a beam of cold ice out of its mouth.

The two beam attacks collided, causing a grand explosion to occur that brought massive changes to the area around them. Fire and Ice, two opposing forces caused the entire mountain range to be divided into two different extremities, a blazing hellscape, and a freezing blizzard.

As the fight continued on, the Ancient Ice Dragon resisted the trio with fury and rage, its raw strength toppling over the three. Its absurd regeneration caused any of the wounds caused by the trio to heal in mere moments, while its attack power remained in tip-top shape without falter.

But, it all ends here.

"Raiden!" Grand Magus shouted.

Hearing his signal, Crimson King stabbed his sword to the back of the Ancient Ice Dragon and a drastically large barrier of crimson electricity surrounded the Ancient Ice Dragon, paralyzing it in place.

In tandem, Grand Magus caused five different elemental attacks to be combined into one as it turned into a beam of white light, and he shouted, "Plunder!"

"ON IT!"

Flying through the air with his spear held straight at the face of the Ancient Ice Dragon, he flew in front of the beam of white light behind him as his spear glowed a piercing golden light, "<Mythical Beasts of Five Directions: Qilin>!"

Like a guide, his body turned into a golden arrow as it mixed with the white beam behind him, turning it into a bright golden arrow that illuminated the entire area of the dungeon. His body flew through the air at breakneck speeds, arriving instantly at the opened mouth of the Ancient Ice Dragon as it breathed out a drastically large beam of blue ice.

The two attacks collided with one another, and the explosion of light that occurred was blindingly bright that Plunder even had to close his own eyes in fear of getting blind.

But with the might of their friendship, the golden arrow called Plunder pierced through the beam of ice and flew to the opened mouth of the Ancient Ice Dragon. Like a raging river, his body passed through the insides of the Ancient Ice Dragon and flew out of the entire side, along with the golden radiance around him disappearing.

He breathed out roughly while draped in blood, and watch as the titanic Ancient Ice Dragon in the distance fell to the ground. As if confirming its death, a warm current appeared within him once more as his eyes glowed blue, while the bloodline of the Ancient Ice Dragon got incorporated into his own at a much deeper level.

Icy blue scales started popping out of his body, his teeth turned pointy and akin to fangs, and more changes started to appear. And as his power grew, a malicious smile slowly appeared on his face as he glanced into the distance and thought, 'Hahaha! This! This is true power! Now I only need to kill those two and say they died while sacrificing their lives!'

But, as if he has notice something strange, he saw that the two were suddenly missing.

"Bingo!" A voice shouted behind him, and he widened his eyes while slowly turning his head.

There he was, those pair of crimson eyes full of glee as the Grand Magus slowly neared them in the air. Looking back to the front, he saw a hand piercing through his chest and holding a pulsating golden sphere. The moment the golden sphere was taken away from him, he felt his power hastily receding away like it never belonged to him in the first place.

"Wait, wait, I have a great punchline for this. It seems like you got plundered! Kekeke!" Crimson King laughed maniacally while the light in Plunder's eyes receded.

He muttered lightly, "W-Why did-"

"Shut up, you're dead now."

As Plunder's body turned into dust, Crimson King yawned and watch as a purple tear in space suddenly appear, along with a force that grabbed hold of the golden sphere in front of them.

"Let's fucking go, Nicolas!"

"Yeah, yeah. And did you erase him from existence already?"

"Not yet, I still need to rewrite the timelines for a bit, but it should be done soon."

"Good, good. Now let's hurry up before the avatar of that multiversal Goddess that monitors Earth notices anything strange."

"I know. Though wasn't it hilarious that the guy thought that everything was going according to his plan when he was literally just a pig getting fattened up so that he'd be of higher value?"

"Shut up, you know that it would only put us at risk if we talk about those things."

"Oh c'mon, put more trust in my father. Risk isn't even in his vocabulary at this point."

***

In the dark void, a purple tear suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Out of that purple tear, a golden sphere appeared, illuminating the entire area around it, yet most remained in utter darkness.

As a strange force grabbed hold of the pulsating golden sphere, it slowly got corrupted by a dark purple color and turned into flakes of purple light.

And what replaced it was something new, a humanoid being can be seen appearing from nowhere along with an Ancient Fire Dragon in front of it. A golden sword then pop up in front of the humanoid being which he grabbed hold of and walked towards the Ancient Fire Dragon with apathetic eyes.

It plunged the golden sword into the Ancient Fire Dragon's eye, and as a strange energy moved inside the Ancient Fire Dragon, it silently died without resistance along with a strange force suddenly altering the fabrics of reality around the humanoid being and the Ancient Fire Dragon.

"Hmm, the target has absorbed the data of the Ancient Fire Dragon and increased his strength to be Level 8, though some strength has been lost due to the difference in physiology and other factors. System's Data Extraction Trial 2—begin."

AN: This chapter has 2752 words.

What?! System?! Data Extraction?! Crap, I really can't wait for the next arc which is basically fucking multiversal brain level of scheming. We'd get a new interesting character, an exploration of cheat and what it's like to be on the side of cheaters, and maybe even have Angelica be finally on screen.

But the plan at this moment is basically to have Plunder get stronger so that his cheat also gets stronger for the Data Extractor of the system, whatever that means.

(September 13, 2022 – 293rd day of writing)