Ethan didn't hesitate for a second.
These goblins weren't sentient beings—they were just extensions of his will.
No matter how many exploded, he could summon more.
He sat cross-legged at the center of the swirling energy vortex, eyes cold as steel, his command sharp and absolute:
"Keep going—Goblins, blow him to hell!"
One after another, goblins marched out of the glowing portal, their bodies surging with unstable energy, each one a living bomb ready to detonate.
Draconiel roared, his scales cracking open, wings thrashing wildly as he tried to swat away the suicidal swarm.
Lightning and holy light burst around him, but the explosions came too fast, too relentless.
Each wave of self-destruction hit like a sledgehammer, forcing him back step by step.
"Damn it… Get away from me!!"
He bellowed, energy inside him surging out of control. He tried to open a spatial rift to escape, but the nonstop blasts kept interrupting him, pinning his power down like a lid on a boiling pot.
The chain of explosions rocked the entire palace, flames and shockwaves tearing through the air in every direction.
Finally, Draconiel's knees buckled. He collapsed hard onto the ground.
Blood streamed from the cracks in his shattered armor. The pride in his eyes shattered, replaced by raw, naked despair.
"Enough… please… I give up…"
His voice was hoarse, trembling, soaked in terror.
Ethan just gave a cold, cruel smile, the corner of his mouth curling with merciless satisfaction.
"Give up? Funny, you weren't thinking about surrender when you were laughing at me."
He flicked his fingers.
A dozen goblins lunged forward, clinging to Draconiel's broken body.
A second later, a cataclysmic explosion swallowed everything.
The earth shook. Fire and light consumed the palace on the eighth level.
When the smoke finally cleared, all that remained was a charred, broken corpse. Draconiel's presence had vanished completely.
Ethan let out a long breath, his voice low and heavy:
"It's finally… over."
He stared at Draconiel's smoldering remains, exhaling slowly.
But before he could even relax, the air around him began to hum violently. Space itself trembled and tore open across the eighth level.
One after another, swirling portals ripped into existence.
In the blink of an eye, dozens of elite warriors from the Sky Citadel descended from above, their sheer presence nearly crushing the palace under their weight.
Three of them stood out—monsters in human form, each radiating power at mid-tier SSS, 16Tier level.
Ethan's pupils shrank.
"Shit… another wave?!"
His chest heaved from exhaustion, breath coming faster now. What was supposed to be a scouting mission had turned into a full-blown disaster.
No time to think. He barked the order:
"Goblins!—Go! Blow them to pieces!"
A horde of goblins surged forward, their bodies crackling with unstable energy, charging straight at the newcomers.
But this time, the enemy leaders raised their hands in unison. Holy radiance and thunder intertwined, forming a thick, impenetrable energy barrier.
The explosions roared like thunderclaps—but every single one was absorbed, blocked completely.
The air reeked of scorched flesh and gunpowder.
The enemy formation didn't budge an inch.
Then, one of them suddenly spoke, his voice calm and clear:
"Don't be rash. We're not here to fight you."
Ethan narrowed his eyes, staring them down with icy focus. His hands still rested on his knees, ready to issue another command at a moment's notice.
"Not here to fight? Then what the hell do you want? Between me and Sky Citadel, it's already a war to the death."
The opposing group fell silent for a beat.
Then, the strongest among them stepped forward in a blur, landing steadily just a few feet in front of Ethan.
He wore radiant holy armor, but his voice dropped low, almost conspiratorial. "My name is Caelthos. I'm the Lord of the Tenth Layer."
He locked eyes with Ethan, his expression stern, but there was an urgency in his tone he couldn't quite hide. "Sky Citadel… isn't whole anymore. It's splitting into two factions. Our side—we're not the ones who've been hunting you."
Ethan's brow furrowed, a flicker of surprise flashing through his mind.
Caelthos pressed on. "We don't want to waste strength fighting you. In fact, we want you to join us. When we win—when the dust settles—you'll rule several layers of Sky Citadel."
Ethan's pupils contracted sharply. His heart skipped a beat.
"What…? Internal conflict in Sky Citadel?"
He hadn't expected this. The mighty, untouchable Sky Citadel—cracking from within?
This… this might be the opening he'd been waiting for all along.
Just a few layers? That wasn't nearly enough. If he had the chance, he'd take the whole damn thing.
Now they were tearing each other apart.
A slow grin crept across his face.
Ethan took a few steps back, his mind already racing.
With a flick of his hand, he recalled every last goblin under his command.
"Fine. But from this moment on, everything below the Eighth Layer belongs to me. I don't care how you two sides tear each other apart—but if either of you steps into my territory, you die."
The words hit like a thunderclap—bold, absolute, and dripping with menace.
The Sky Citadel elites froze, stunned by the sheer audacity.
Before they could even respond, Ethan had already opened a spatial rift behind him.
He and his goblins vanished into the void without a trace.
Caelthos stood there, momentarily dazed.
Because for a split second… he could've sworn he saw a shadow of the Supreme Highlord of Sky Citadel in Ethan's eyes.
But now wasn't the time to dwell on it.
The civil war within Sky Citadel was reaching a boiling point. Staying here any longer would be a fatal mistake.
He turned and led his forces back into the rift.
After leaving the Eighth Layer, Ethan exhaled deeply.
The pressure in his chest eased slightly, but a cold glint still flickered in his eyes.
Sky Citadel was fracturing.
And for him, that was a gift from the heavens.
If he stayed patient, let the two factions bleed each other dry, then struck at the right moment—he could take it all.
"But before that…" he muttered, eyes narrowing, "I need to make the Emerald Castle's army even stronger."
The plan was already forming in his mind.
He pushed thoughts of Sky Citadel aside for now and turned his attention to other "dungeon worlds" he could exploit.
His gaze landed on a long-forgotten region on the system map.
A place he'd stumbled across during the Feywild mission:
A world surrounded by the Abyssal Chasm.
Unlike typical dungeons, this chasm was a world unto itself—massive, brutal, and fractured by endless factional warfare.
At its heart stood a towering, ancient fortress.
Rumor had it the people there were monsters in human skin—ruthless, savage, where only the strong survived and the weak were devoured.
If he could seize control of one faction, crush the others, he could carve out a foothold in that world—and from there, build a new empire.
Ethan took a deep breath and tapped the region on the system interface.
A cold, mechanical chime rang out: Official source ıs 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭⚫𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦⚫𝘯𝘦𝘵
[Congratulations, Player Valkarion, for selecting a dungeon world.
Reward multiplier activated! If you successfully slay the "Archdemon of the Umbral Abyss: Millennial Wyrm," you will gain dominion over the entire Umbral Abyss dungeon world!]