I Received System to Become Dragonborn-Chapter 1190: Bigger

The monsters did not change.

They were the same kinds they had already fought, the same claws, fangs, and the same Magic signatures burned into their memory. But their numbers did not stop.

They kept coming.

Each corridor they cleared only fed into another surge and then another, until the floor shook constantly beneath countless advancing steps.

The air grew thick with colorful residual Magic and the stench of blood from both theirs and the monsters’s.

Arty’s breaths grew heavier between attacks. Sweat traced down her temple as she forced another surge of power outward, blasting apart a cluster that tried to overwhelm the flank.

Her Magic still struck hard but it no longer came effortlessly.

Aurdis felt it too. Her movements remained precise, but the margin for error narrowed with every passing minute.

The battlefield demanded more focus and more energy, which meant more strain from her Magic than before.

Aerchon’s Magic sword slashes stayed relentless, however, his shoulders began to rise and fall with controlled but visible effort.

His silver aura flickered for a fraction of a second longer than it should have before stabilizing again.

Adrien wiped blood from his cheek with the back of his arm as he sent another burst forward.

His Magic answered but this time it was just slower. He noticed it immediately.

Billy felt the burn in his limbs as he landed, rolled, and forced himself back up again. His breathing roughened and his chest tightening as he released another attack.

"There’s no end to these fucking things!" Billy said with a voice present and strained as he slammed a monster aside.

Adrien gritted his teeth. "They just keep coming!"

Lysander cut down another enemy and shifted position. His lightning was also crackling weaker than before.

"At this time I’m sure that they’re trying to wear us down," he said, tone present but sharp.

Arty exhaled hard. She said, "I can feel it. This isn’t about strength anymore!"

"I know. Just don’t slow down!" Aerchon said with a firm voice, though sweat soaked his collar. "If we stop, we get buried in this wave."

They pressed on anyway.

Above them, far from the clash, Erend, together with Eccar and Aesa watched in silence.

His fists tightened at his sides as he tracked Arty’s movements, Aurdis’s narrowing mistakes, the slight lag in Adrien and Billy’s reactions, and the other things.

Every instinct screamed at him to intervene. He wanted to descend and tear through the horde himself.

But he did not move.

"They need this. They have to stand without me," he thought, jaw clenched.

Beside him, Eccar saw it clearly. He followed Erend’s gaze, then looked at his expression and understood the conflict burning behind it.

He can only let out a quiet sigh.

"You want to step in, don’t you?" Eccar said with a calm voice.

Erend did not look away. "Yes."

"But you won’t," Eccar said.

"No," Erend replied. "If I do, they won’t grow. This pressure tempers them. We know how dangerous Zerathul is. They need this."

Eccar nodded slowly. "I know." He exhaled again. "Doesn’t make it easier to watch."

Below, King Gulben felt it fully now.

The pattern revealed itself not in the strength of the monsters, but in their persistence. The Dungeon World was not trying to kill them quickly. It was trying to exhaust them. Strip them down piece by piece and see who broke first.

This was a battle of attrition.

King Gulben raised his blade high and drove it into the ground, his voice cutting through the chaos without effort.

"This is a battle of attrition!" he shouted with a loud and commanding voice. "The Dungeon is testing our limits! Do not falter!"

His words hit their soul deeper than any spell. Their fatigue did not vanish but their resolve hardened around it.

Adrius reinforced the barriers again, teeth clenched as he forced more Magic through aching channels.

Sylmira adjusted space with trembling precision, refusing to let the pressure collapse inward.

Saeldir’s seals flared brighter as he anchored the battlefield despite the strain.

The attackers surged forward once more.

They moved slower than before, heavier, bruised, and burning with exhaustion. But they did not stop.

Magic flared and detonated. Monsters died by the hundreds, then the thousands.

The battle continued.

"HYAAAAAA!!!"

King Gulben roared as he unleashed more power through his sword, golden light erupting outward in a wide arc that killed the incoming wave.

His heavy and commanding aura flared brighter than before, forcing space itself to bend around his advance.

In his mind, a single thought remained clear and steady.

"This place is good for us."

He remembered the king he once was. If he had faced this amount of monsters back then, he would have fallen.

There would have been no room for error and no endurance to withstand this pressure. But now, after absorbing countless essences, after tempering himself through endless battles from the level before, he stood far stronger.

"This is how we must grow," he thought.

The others felt it as well.

Aurdis pushed forward despite the tremor in her limbs, her Magic flowing tighter, sharper.

"If I can endure this, there won’t be many battles that can break me anymore," she thought as she redirected another surge.

They kept moving.

Step by step, kill by kill, they pushed deeper until the corridor widened and the monster flow finally thinned.

Then they saw it.

A massive double door loomed ahead, towering and oppressive, forged from black stone.

Ancient twisted and jagged symbols crawled across its surface. The air around it felt heavier and denser, pressing down on their chests.

Before anyone could speak, the door trembled.

A deep grinding sound echoed through the corridor as something inside moved.

The doors cracked open.

From within, massive silhouettes emerged one by one.

They were monsters of the similar kind they had been fighting but warped, enlarged, and perfected for slaughter.

Their bodies stood several meters taller than the others, plated with thick, jagged armor-like hides. Muscles coiled beneath dark flesh.

Their eyes burned with concentrated Magic that looked far denser than anything before. The steps they took caused the ground to shudder. Blades, claws, and spines grew directly from their bodies, pulsing with raw energy.

A dozen of them stepped out.

Each one radiated pressure equal to an entire wave on its own.

The corridor fell momentarily silent, as if even the Dungeon World was holding its breath.

King Gulben lifted his blade again, golden aura blazing without hesitation.

"This must be the last wave," he said with a steady voice. "Hold your ground!"

The massive monsters roared in unison. And the clash began.

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