Chapter 112: Golden Fortune City XVIII
The sound this time wasn’t just growls—it was a rumble, as if something massive stirred beneath the earth itself. The gates screamed under the weight pressing against them, bronze bending and runes snapping like brittle twigs.
[ Wave 8 – Begin ]
The ground cracked open in front of the gates, and from the fissures crawled Ashbone Golems—towering constructs stitched together from blackened rock and glowing embers. Each step left molten footprints on the cobblestones. Their cores pulsed like burning hearts, wrapped in jagged ribs of stone.
"Golems?! Those aren’t beasts—they’re siege monsters!"
"They’ll crush the buildings if we don’t stop them!"
One raised its arm and slammed it down. The street shattered in a shockwave, sending players flying. A second tore a chunk of stone from the plaza itself, hurling it like a boulder at the crowd.
"Shields!" a commander roared. A line of Guardians raised their barriers, the impact shaking them to their knees but holding.
Then a Lunar Blade Adept stepped forward. He raised his katana high, silver light blooming along its edge. "Mooncut: Horizon Splitter!" His blade carved a crescent of radiant energy, shearing through one golem’s arm cleanly. The crowd erupted in cheers.
But the monsters didn’t slow. The cut limb melted into molten shards and fused back into its body.
"Cores!" Rhys shouted, voice cutting through the chaos. "Aim for the cores in their chests!"
Puddle answered his call, summoning [Light Bullets] that drilled into one golem’s ribcage. Cracks spread across its chest, exposing the pulsing ember-heart. Rhys dashed in, sword glowing with water magic, and thrust [Water Blade] straight through. Steam exploded as the molten core shattered, the golem collapsing like a crumbling tower.
All around, players adapted. A Rune Sniper etched runes into his arrows, piercing cores with precise shots. A Tempest Warlock raised twin cyclones that pulled debris from the ground and smashed it into the constructs.
Minutes stretched like hours, but one by one, the Ashbone Golems fell. When the last collapsed, its core burst into dozens of radiant loot boxes that scattered like coins on stone.
[ Wave 8 Complete ]
[ Total Monsters Defeated: 712 ]
[ Wave 9 will begin in 20 seconds ]
The plaza was scorched black, the smell of ash choking the air. Players leaned on weapons, gasping, some laughing in disbelief, others too drained to even speak.
"Wave 9 already... what the hell comes next?"
"If those were mid-boss types, the tenth wave’s gonna be—"
The gates cut the whisper short with another thunderous crash. This time the roar that followed wasn’t a beast, nor a construct. It was... something else. A sound that carried hunger.
The cobblestones trembled like drums under the weight of whatever was marching closer.
Rhys tightened his grip on the Ruinous Darkness Blade. The True Moonstone against his chest pulsed once, steady and grim.
The Endless Waves were only sharpening.
The gates split open like paper under a storm.
[ Wave 9 – Begin ]
From the breach spilled Famine Hounds—wolf-like creatures, all hide and bone, their bodies stretched thin as if gnawed by their own hunger. Dozens, then hundreds poured through, their claws clicking like knives on stone, their eyes glowing a diseased green. Each howl rattled the air with despair, gnawing at the courage of those who heard it.
"They’re fast!" someone cried. "Too many!"
The first wave hit like a black tide. Hounds leapt into the frontlines, tearing through armor with teeth that crackled with curse energy. One Guardian screamed as his shield dissolved under the bite, rot spreading across the metal like acid.
"Cleanse them!" shouted a High Priestess. She slammed her staff down, [Blessing of Dawn] flaring golden across the plaza. The light burned away the curses, knitting shallow wounds closed. For a moment, the hounds shrieked in pain, their diseased bodies blistering under the holy glow.
But hunger doesn’t retreat. It only devours.
A cluster of them broke off toward the ranged lines. A Rune Sniper fired arrow after arrow, but the hounds twisted unnaturally, bending like broken marionettes to avoid the shots. Just as they closed in—
"[Whirlwind Slash]!" Rhys’s blade carved a spiraling arc of steel and magic, scattering the pack in a spray of ichor. Puddle surged forward in tandem, summoning [Shadow Tendrils] that lashed out, binding the survivors before they could regroup.
Other players rose to the moment. A Frost Dancer vaulted into the fray, twin blades leaving trails of ice that froze every pawstep. She pirouetted midair, unleashing [Winter Lotus], her strike blossoming into a storm of frost petals that impaled half a dozen hounds at once.
Still, the tide didn’t end. Every kill was replaced by two more leaping from the breach. The cobblestones slicked black with ichor, players slipping as they fought tooth and claw.
Then a massive silhouette lumbered through the gates. Alpha Famine Hound. Its body was skeletal, ribs exposed, belly caved in, but its maw... its maw stretched wider than its head should allow, a gaping pit lined with infinite teeth.
The Alpha’s howl shattered windows, driving weaker players to their knees. The lesser hounds surged, frenzy doubling.
"Fall back!" someone yelled. "We can’t—"
"No," Rhys muttered, voice low but firm. "We end this here."
The Moonstone on his chest pulsed, synchronizing with Puddle’s magic. Light and shadow twined around his sword, water flowing like a second blade.
The Alpha charged.
The ninth wave had teeth sharper than steel—and it was hungry enough to strip the city clean.
The Alpha hit like a landslide. Cobblestones cracked under its weight as its claws gouged trenches through the plaza. The air itself seemed to shrink away from the thing, its hunger pulling like a gravity well, dragging dust, broken lanterns, even loose weapons toward its gaping maw.
"Hold the line!" a Guardian Captain roared, planting his shield and activating [Bulwark of the Unbroken]. Light flared across the plaza in a dome, the Alpha slamming against it with a thunderclap of force. Cracks spiderwebbed instantly across the barrier.
Players scattered left and right, spells and arrows raining on the beast. Fireballs detonated against its ribs, arcane bolts streaked across its hide, and spears of stone rose from beneath its paws—but the Alpha’s flesh simply folded around the wounds, swallowing fire and stone alike.
"It’s eating the magic—!" a mage screamed.
The Rune Sniper climbed a broken column, aiming carefully. His next shot wasn’t at the beast’s body but into its shadow, his runed arrow pinning the darkness itself to the ground. The Alpha staggered mid-charge, frozen as though a piece of its essence had been nailed in place.
"Now!" the Frost Dancer shouted, leaping high. She spun, blades flashing. "[Frozen Veil]!" An avalanche of ice shards cascaded from above, locking the lesser hounds in place, their bodies entombed in crystal.
But the Alpha tore free with a convulsion, its maw unhinging further, pulling at the very light in the air. One of the Sniper’s allies screamed as their bow was ripped from their hands, vanishing into the void inside the beast’s throat.
Rhys surged forward. His blade shimmered with [Water Blade], currents spiraling into a drill of liquid force. Puddle layered over him, conjuring [Light Bullets] that peppered the Alpha’s chest in precise bursts, forcing its ribcage open.
"Go for the core!" Rhys roared.
A War Monk answered with a battle-cry, fists igniting with holy fire. He leapt and drove both hands into the beast’s exposed chest. "[Sunbreaker Palm]!" The strike detonated like a star. The Alpha reeled, chest caving inward, ichor spraying molten black across the plaza.
Still it did not fall. Its howl rose again, a sound of bottomless hunger that made even veterans falter.
Rhys closed his eyes for one heartbeat. The True Moonstone throbbed against his chest. He let Puddle’s energy flow into him, fusing light, shadow, and water into his sword. The blade’s edge shimmered with impossible sharpness, an echo of every element he carried.
The Alpha lunged—mouth wide enough to swallow him whole.
Rhys met it head-on. "[Arc Surge Slash]!"
The strike carved through air and bone, a single line of radiance cutting from maw to tail. For a frozen instant, the Alpha seemed untouched. Then it split, its body collapsing into black mist that shrieked as it dispersed, leaving only its shattered ribcage and a rain of radiant gift boxes.
[ Wave 9 Complete ]
[ Alpha Famine Hound Defeated – Rare Loot Multiplier Triggered ]
[ Total Monsters Defeated: 1,324 ]
[ Wave 10 will begin in 30 seconds ]
The plaza was a graveyard of ice, ichor, and scattered loot. Players leaned against walls, clutching wounds, staring at the pile of gift boxes like treasure-chests fallen from the heavens. Laughter, ragged and disbelieving, broke out among the survivors.
But Rhys didn’t relax. He lifted his gaze to the broken gates. The earth beyond was trembling again—not with hunger this time, but with something older, heavier, a presence that pressed against the air like the weight of a collapsing sky.
The Endless Waves had only just bared their fangs.
The laughter faded when the sky itself seemed to groan. Clouds churned unnaturally above Golden Fortune, their edges glowing as if something vast and burning pressed against the veil of the heavens.
The ground heaved. Cracks raced across the streets, swallowing lanterns and stalls. The shattered bronze gates were no longer enough to hold back what stirred beyond. They disintegrated into dust as an unseen force pushed through.