The Stone Fort Dungeon—that was merely the name the tribe gave it on their own. Its true name had long been lost to history.
Unlike the six newly created dungeons from three hundred years ago, still fresh and running smoothly, the history of the Stone Fort Dungeon was hard to trace. All that was known was that it had existed for at least a thousand years.
Its structure was crude, divided only into three layers: upper, middle, and lower.
When the tribe first settled here three hundred years ago, the dungeon’s difficulty still increased step by step as one descended.
But this changed in the last thirty years.
On one hand, the dungeon had gradually decayed with time; the ancient fortress was reaching the end of its twilight.
On the other, there was the birth of the “Chiss.”
At a suffocating pace, it devoured the middle layer, severed the connection between upper and lower, and successfully turned the middle into the most dangerous floor.
The invisible Six-Clawed Stealth Monsters roamed within. Eye Insects, which spied upon all, hung suspended from the ceiling. Not to mention that it controlled several powerful beasts.
Even knowing that rich spoils awaited anyone who could carefully cross into the lower layer, most of the demonic tribes still dared only to hunt in the increasingly barren upper floor.“Hun…t…” Qiong’s voice carried disbelief as he hurried behind Shou. “We… really have to go and slay the Chiss?”
That was the Chiss!
An endless swarm of individuals, unified under one will, with both terrifying combat strength and flawless surveillance… Even if they somehow managed to locate its “brain,” did they truly have the strength to destroy it?
“As expected,” Shou’s voice was steady, his steps unyielding. “Given the situation, if we don’t eliminate the Chiss, the only option left is migrating south. But the elders clearly don’t want us contacting the Empire.”
“If you ask me,” Qiong muttered, “if the Empire is really that great, what harm is there in making contact? After all, Lord Demon King, he already…”
Before he could finish, Shou spun and clamped a hand tightly over his mouth!
“You want to earn lashes on the Pillar of Punishment?”
Facing Shou’s severe glare, Qiong widened his eyes in panic, shaking his head violently.
“Then don’t speak nonsense!” Shou released him, his voice cold. “Go back, prepare your weapon and leather armor. Don’t think about anything else.”
Watching Qiong flee like a startled snow hare, his back full of regret, Shou actually felt little blame.
In truth, for the new generation who had never basked in the Demon King’s glory, how much loyalty could they truly hold for that legendary master?
As for the Empire—separated by the frigid north—the hatred passed down from the elders’ mouths was far too vague to them.
Even Shou himself felt the same. Only, he knew that for now, it was the elders who decided everything in the tribe.
And among the older generation, how many had grown weary of life here and longed for the “warm lands” of the central continent?
Could it really be that behind the voices calling for migration south, no one was secretly thinking of contact with the Empire?
Shou didn’t know. He was just one more swept along by the current.
…
Two days later, the subjugation force was fully assembled.
The apothecary, eyes bloodshot, handed out the potions he had stayed up nights brewing.
This time, the tribe had wagered nearly everything.
Aside from a single upper-rank warrior left behind to guard the tribe, all five remaining upper-rank warriors were present.
Along with over thirty clansmen assisting, it was no exaggeration to call it a mobilization of their full strength.
After all, their foe was the Chiss. Even for a surprise attack, they had to throw everything into it!
As the team crossed the frozen plains, a three-meter-tall Ice Giant blocked their path.
The warriors, well accustomed to the dungeon, weren’t surprised. At the front, Hu Yan crushed it into shards with a single hammer blow.
But everyone knew these Cold Spirits were nearly impossible to kill without special methods. By the time they passed through again, it would have reformed, forcing them to fight once more.
Fortunately, the Cold Spirits were scattered sparsely across the frozen wastes, posing no true threat to the tribe.
The entrance to the Stone Fort Dungeon was no grand gate, but a gorge carved deep into the ice cliffs, weathered by time until it barely fit a handful of people abreast.
Yet once inside, a noticeable warmth spread through them.
The dungeon was self-contained, cut off from the frozen plain’s deadly chill. Its internal temperature was much higher than outside.
This slight warmth had once nurtured Slimes, Fat Beasts, and other monsters, forming the fragile ecological chain that the tribe depended upon to survive.
But as the dungeon decayed, sightings of such creatures grew rare, and even the temperature itself began to match the outside more and more.
At the end of the first floor stood a massive ancient fortress spanning the gorge’s center. That was why they had named this place the Stone Fort Dungeon.
Unlike the Amethyst Dungeon, where the divisions between layers were distinct, here, the moment one stepped into the fortress, they were already in the middle layer. The fortress was just a façade; inside, the space was far larger than it looked outside—essentially, a three-dimensional labyrinth.
“Do we really… have to go inside?” Qiong whispered to Shou, clutching his wooden staff.
It was a stupid question, given how far they had come, but Shou knew he was simply scared.
“Stay close to me. I’ll protect you.”
They didn’t enter through the front gate—that would have been like delivering food to the Chiss.
Hu Yan instead led them to a window opening outward, and they climbed through one by one.
They landed in a shadowy corridor. No breeding sacs. No flesh tumors clinging to the walls.
No sound in their ears either. Several scouts exchanged glances, all shaking their heads, confirming that no Chiss lurked nearby.
Clearly, Hu Yan wasn’t wandering blindly; he had indeed found a viable route.
The group moved through twisting corridors, staircases, and countless branches. The silence pressed in, broken only by their own heavy breaths.
After an unknown time, Hu Yan finally stopped at a tower isolated on the fortress’s edge.
At its base yawned a jagged hole, exposing a natural cavern below.
Moving deeper, they crawled to the tunnel’s edge—and there, at last, they saw the legendary “brain”!
A massive, pulsating dark-red mass of flesh, hanging from the rock like a heart. It was guarded by a swarm of Chiss, with Eye Insects patrolling above.
If not for the tool given to Hu Yan by the elder, they would have been discovered instantly.
“So it was hidden under the Stone Fort all along! No wonder it went undiscovered all these years!” someone snarled, clearly one who had suffered at the hands of the Chiss.
Hu Yan turned to them. “Cover me as I charge! I can destroy it in one strike! Without command, the rest of the Chiss will be nothing but scattered sand—we can cut our way out with ease!”
No one objected. Even Shou gripped his weapon tighter.
When they suddenly leapt into action, the Chiss were indeed caught off guard.
The upper-rank warriors carved through every Chiss in their path. Behind, others gave ranged support or unleashed spells to counter the Chiss’ stealth.
Qiong shut his eyes tight, sweat dripping down his temples, his hands radiating rings of faint blue ripples. With rare psychic magic, he silently bolstered his allies’ morale.
When Hu Yan roared and hurled his piercing spear at the “brain,” every heart leapt into their throats!
The spear pierced straight through the pulsating mass without resistance. The flesh convulsed, its surface losing all luster. Like a deflated sack, it withered and shriveled at once.
But before cheers could escape, cold reality seized their throats—
The Chiss moved as if nothing had happened!
Endless swarms surged forth in order, not invisible, not rushing to attack, but emitting screeching “sssk-kah” sounds—as though mocking them.
When two Evil Eyes, radiating overwhelming power, drifted silently into the cavern, the very air seemed to freeze.
Hu Yan’s expression shifted in an instant: from elation at striking true, to disbelief, then to searing humiliation at realizing the deception, until finally, all those turbulent emotions settled into icy, near-desperate resolve.
He spoke: “Shou, take the young ones and run! The rest of you, stay with me—we’ll hold off the Chiss!”