Heavy Metal [ A Monster Evolution LitRPG ]

“When was the last time we were here?”

“I don’t know, maybe a month or two.”

“Everything sure has changed. It's no wonder the guild asked us to sweep through the floors before they open it up again…”

A group of adventurers looked around a desolate swamp area. They had expected a thick fog, croaking poisonous toads, and groaning undead. There was almost none of it here. The fog that used to keep people from seeing a few meters ahead was gone. The monsters that should have been guarding the many crypts were gone, and their interiors were emptied out. It was as if something or someone had systematically purged the entire area of its threats.

“I heard this was supposed to be a case of over-hunting, but why would it continue even after the dungeon was closed?”

“Perhaps they have a different way to get in here?”

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Why’s that, Keyon?”

The woman in light leather armor asked her companion while the others listened. It was a party of four people. One was a dwarven warrior, another a large man over two meters in height wearing bulky steel armor. The two talking were an archer named Keyon and the party leader, Livi.

“Well, if that’s true, they could still be here. We can handle the monsters here, but if it’s another party of adventurers, it could get tricky. They could be in a large group or have high ranks with them. Do they really expect us to do this for a few silver coins?”

Keyon replied, his voice laced with bitterness. This new mission they were sent on was supposed to be easy, just reconnaissance to see if the dungeon had jumpstarted itself back. This was supposed to be a fairly new dungeon still going through a growth period. The guild made sure not to overtax it because until it reached a certain threshold, such occurrences were possible.

“You think they’ll pay us if we go back now?”

“Hah, probably not, if we don’t find the source of whatever has been causing this, we might not get anything at all.”

Livi frowned, scanning the surroundings. The absence of fog and monsters was unsettling. She had expected a routine check, not an empty, eerie silence. Their contract had a clause that in the event of unusual circumstances, they would need to investigate and report back before receiving full payment. Abandoning the mission now would result in no compensation and potentially damage their reputation within the guild.

"Let's press on. We need to figure out what's happening here. Besides, I don’t think there is anything worthwhile left down here besides the boss chamber. Let’s just go there, and if it’s empty, we’ll make the report.”

"Alright, leader. Lead the way."

Livi made the decision, and the other party members just nodded. The group moved forward and navigated through the desolate swamp at record speed. Without the fog impeding their progress, it was quite easy for them to reach the entrance to the eighth floor.

Soon, the adventurers descended to the eighth floor, but they couldn't help but feel the oppressive silence of the dungeon. The atmosphere was unlike anything they had encountered before. Usually, the air would be thick with the stench of decay and the sounds of undead roaming the halls, but now, it was eerily calm.

"Stay alert; something's not right here."

“The eighth floor isn’t much better than the previous seven. The density of monsters is really dropping down... Could some bastard have damaged the dungeon heart?”

“Now why would someone do something as idiotic as that?”

Keyon replied to Livi as the group moved through the destroyed chambers on the eighth floor, only to find one or two zombies crawling about. As they cautiously explored the eighth floor, the adventurers encountered only scattered remnants of undead, nothing more than stragglers barely posing a threat. The once-menacing atmosphere of the dungeon had dissipated, replaced by an unsettling calm. Every corner they turned revealed more evidence of desolation, urging them to press on with their search. The big question still remained: who was responsible for this, and were they still lurking inside the dungeon?

All of them remained on high alert. The threat wasn’t obvious, but they anticipated an unwelcome surprise at any moment. Keyon, the archer, kept his bow ready, skillfully scanning for any potential hidden targets. Despite their cautious progress, as they reached the entrance to the ninth floor, nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. They were nearing the end of their exploration, yet the possibility lingered that their adversary might be lying in it.

“Boss, this place is too quiet. Do you think we're walking into a trap?” 

Keyon whispered, his gaze fixed on the stairs leading down.

“I don't know, but we need to be prepared for anything. Keep your guard up. If we’re lucky, we’ll confront the boss and return. But stay vigilant, Dedrick you take the front, keep your shield up.” 

Livi responded, simultaneously issuing orders to the party members. They all understood that the difficulty on the next floor would intensify greatly, likely with a barrage of arrows awaiting them. The largest and most heavily armored man in the group nodded, extending his massive tower shield. Soon, the group descended the stairs and reached the next floor, where they immediately noticed a change.

“Do you hear that?”

“Yeah… Someone is there.”

Finally, they noticed a difference. The expected hail of arrows from the living armors defending the castle gates didn’t come. Instead, they heard loud noises: the sound of metal clashing against metal. Clearly, someone was already battling the iron armors on this floor.

“I think we might have discovered the problem. What do we do?” 

One of the party members asked. The party leader began to ponder. She knew it was possible that dungeon poachers were ahead of them, a group that would probably not be easy to deal with. However, if the poachers were already fighting the living armors, it presented an opportunity. They could ambush the poachers from behind, using the monsters to their advantage, and potentially earn a higher reward from the guild for completing their mission.

"Prepare yourselves. We're moving in. Keyon, stay at the rear and cover our backs, Reistel, Dedrick you two in the front."

“Aye, finally some action!”

The dwarf called out in a hushed tone while the larger armored man just nodded. Soon the four were moving through the long bridge that was usually covered in arrows. The adventurers cautiously moved across the bridge, their footsteps muffled against the wooden planks.

Driven by the sounds of battle, they continued onward. What they discovered further was a castle filled with empty hallways. This place was supposed to be overrun by living armor monsters at every corner, but instead, they were greeted by nothing but muffled sounds from afar. They nodded at each other and stealthily moved toward the source of the noise. As they approached the castle’s great hall, the clashing of metal grew louder, resonating through the cold stone walls.

“Hey, do you see that?”

“Yeah… doesn’t that thing look familiar?” Livi asked Keyon, who narrowed his eyes at the spectacle before them.

In the middle of the great hall was a lone living armor, different from the ones attacking it. In one hand, it held a large bronze mace, while the other contained a shield. With each swing of its weapon, it dispatched the seemingly more evolved variants, smashing their heads and directly targeting their monster cores. The battle seemed to be over a minute into their arrival, and soon the creature stood motionless in the middle of the hall.

“Yeah, it looks like that shitty armor that fell into the chasm, did it manage to crawl out and evolve or something?”

To their surprise, it was a monster they were all familiar with. Livi their leader still remembered the trouble she had selling its gauntlet that no one was willing to buy. It was now there, crushing the heads of the iron monsters like it was nothing. Even though these living armors were not their match, if they came in high numbers, even their party would have some trouble. 

“So, is this the reason? What do we do?”

Keyon whispered while notching an arrow into his bow. He had a clean shot for the armored monster and knew that if he hit its helmet in the right spot, he could knock it off. They only needed to get to its monster core to win this fight. 

“This thing probably caused the previous disaster, we need to be careful it knows darkness magic.”

“Don’t worry, leave it to me, I’ll just…”

The archer turned his head towards the lone monster and stopped talking. He was aware of the power this monster supposedly had and was planning to use his archery skills to finish the job. However, to his surprise, after he turned his gaze away from the armor for a few seconds, it had turned in their direction. To make it worse, it was now holding something that resembled a spear in its hand.

“Shit, dodge it!”

The large projectile made an arch and closed in on Livi’s head. The woman reacted slowly at the sudden attack coming her way. This spear had been infused with a strange dark substance and spiraling in their direction. Luckily, Livi was not alone and a large tower shield made of thick steel appeared in the hands of her party member. 

It connected with a resounding clang, and Dedrick, the heavily armored warrior, absorbed the impact. The force of the throw caused him to stagger back a few steps, but he remained standing. The spear bounced off to the side and its tip embedded itself in the stone floor and vibrated from the impact. 

"Get away from that, it's covered in black magic.”

While the projectile was deflected it still posed a threat to them all. The foul magic it was imbued with, was similar to poison but did not require them to ingest it. Being in close vicinity to this black mana would cause them to weaken tremendously. All of them scattered to the sides in fear of the after effects of this weapon throw. However, just as quickly as it appeared before them, the shadowy mist around it vanished into nothingness. 

“What about the monster?”

With haste all of them turned to the grand hall where the battle between living armors had been taking place but instead of seeing the bronze armor charging in their direction, they saw it retreating.

“Is that really a dungeon monster or is someone inside that armor?”

They paused out of shock as the living armor was acting very strangely. Normally, it should have attacked them instantly but instead, it was fleeing. Irregular monsters were special, some even had intelligence but this also depended on the type. This thing shouldn’t be capable of strategic thinking and the possibility of another monster wearing the armor was possible. 

“It could be trying to lead us into a trap, stay together.”

The four nodded at each other before giving chase. Despite the strangeness of this metallic monster, they were confident they could handle it. The chase was on, and tracking the noisy creature through the castle was relatively easy. Its metal body clanged loudly with each step, echoing through the corridors and chambers it traversed.

“Where is it trying to go?”

“I don’t know, but… watch out!” 

Livi exclaimed as they rounded a corner and encountered an area filled with poison. The ground was littered with the bodies of small worm-like creatures that had exploded, a hazard typically found on the second floor and not something the monster should have brought down here. They paused briefly, navigating through the initial burst of purple smoke, then continued their pursuit.

The adventurers cautiously pursued the mysterious living armor through the castle's corridors. When they gained on the monster, it lobbed a series of explosive potions native to the goblins on a different floor. Then, blocked an area with a strange ball of mangled bronze armor that should be here. 

“Wait, isn’t this the way to the tenth floor? Is it trying to get there?”

“It seems so, it must not be too smart if it's going there…”

They continued to chase and they soon arrived at a large staircase leading up to a set of massive doors. Just as they appeared there, they could see the bronze armor duck through the gates which prompted them to halt in their steps. Almost instantly after it had gone through the threshold, the massive chamber doors started to close upon themselves.

“The dungeon recognized it as a threat?”

“What do we do now, it went into the boss chamber?”

“There is nothing much that we can do now besides waiting… The boss will probably kill it for us…”

The adventurers paused while looking at the closed doors that led to what would be the tenth floor of this dungeon or what most knew as the boss chamber. Within would be a powerful monster that required a whole party of adventurers to defeat. In their eyes, the bronze armor was already dead as they could not see it being able to survive against such a tough opponent.

"What now, Livi?" 

Keyon asked as all of them settled before the large door. All of them knew that once these closed, they would not open until either the boss monster inside died or the one challenging did. 

"We wait. If that thing is as dumb as it seems. There's no way it can handle whatever's in there alone….”

******

“I think they aren’t following after me anymore… but what is this place, I thought this was the way to the tenth floor?”

Rusty had been finishing up his grinding session against his iron counterparts when he noticed the adventurers. He was now level fourteen and just one shy away from the new level limit. A new skill was gained during the leveling spree that allowed him to detect living beings in the vicinity and through it he was able to discover his enemies. Then after a quick decision, he made his way towards the tenth floor that he had previously discovered but not used. 

“This place is different from the other floors…”

After going through the large chamber doors he arrived at more stairs that started to lead downwards. He descended slowly and eventually arrived at a huge room that resembled something a king would inhabit. The ceilings were high, supported by grand stone pillars adorned with intricate carvings. Torches lined the walls, casting flickering shadows across the polished marble floor. At the far end of the chamber, a massive throne sat upon a raised dais, commanding the room's attention.

“There is no one there but…”

He had expected to find someone seated upon that throne, but it was empty. Yet, Rusty was not alone. Next to the throne, like a sentinel knight, stood a large armored creature. It towered over him by at least a head's length, its presence imposing. As he stepped further into the room, the armored figure's head turned towards him, its visor glowing with an eerie red light…