Reborn As The Minor Villain In A Romance Fantasy Novel

Chapter 294: Rotenburg City Dungeon Break

Lucius was seated in the meeting room of the Grimmaw Guild though it was much bigger than he remembered.

'Has she been making renovations? That's really nice.' Lucius thought.

There were enough chairs for her people, his people and even Selene's people to sit comfortably. 'What a good day…'

After the two clones dispelled, he got their memories. The first wood clone had been doing paperwork all morning alongside having ice cream.

What a lazy clone.

'I'm not really that lazy, am I?' He thought while the second clone of himself had a much more interesting morning.

He had oppressed the World Council and even gotten a hand on what would become known as the Licht World Dungeon. 'Elliot was supposed to find a whole lot of goodies in there.'

Apparently the Royal Academy had decided to hold their first Inter-tournament final exams inside a World Dungeon and during that expedition, Elliot was supposed to get several items important to his growth.

So it was only right for an esteemed being such as himself to loot the place beforehand so that Elliot would arrive to find absolutely nothing waiting for him.

'Besides… I think I'm already doing enough emotional damage to that fucker.' Lucius thought.

He had videos of this guy's "loving" fiancée that would eventually be used to gain access to the Runenforscher Household and get his mother. 'I really should start focusing now…'

Vanessa cleared her throat. She was sitting at the head of the meeting room with one finger slowly tapping the table.

Two of her Captains were positioned beside her and behind her stood the Squad.

Raven, Erika, Matthias, Trisha and the three Hudson brothers. It had been a while since he'd seen them and he was glad they were doing well. They had to make him a lot of money in the future.

'Though I guess streaming with them will be harder now.' Lucius thought. Since he was the leader of the Supreme Guild and they were from a separate group, it would technically be a breach of some kind of formali— 'The hell, when did I start caring about formalities?'

He would stream with them regardless.

'I should really focus on what Vanessa is saying… Meh, I want to imagine the look on Elliot's face when I steal everything he's supposed to get.' Lucius thought while trying not to grin.

"I called all of you today to share the mission that has been assigned to the GRIMMAW Guild by the council." Vanessa said. "It's a premature dungeon break happening in Rotenburg city. The details haven't been released formally but as soon as the dungeon appeared, it began breaking. Nobody had time to even raid it."

"I'm guessing that since you called three different Guilds over, it won't be a simple one." Selene said and Vanessa nodded.

"The gate itself is expanding and the sensors are reading it at least as an A-rank dungeon break." That made everyone at the table very serious.

They had just finished handling a couple of A-rank dungeons so they understood the severity clearly.

If even a single A-rank monster broke through into the open city, they might as well prepare the evacuation notices now. "It's estimated to break within three hours, so I would like your assistance from your respective Guilds… Several of my own Captains are returning from raids and need rest. You will all be compensated greatly."

"I've heard enough." Selene put her hand down on the table, using every bit of her composure not to say sister wife out loud. "Innocent people are being put in danger and three hours isn't nearly enough to evacuate a whole city. The Diamond Scorpion Guild will not hesitate to help GRIMMAW."

Both of them turned to Lucius expectantly and he blinked out of his thoughts.

'Huh, what were we talking about? Why does everyone look so serious?' Lucius thought. He had been completely lost but whatever it was, it looked important.

He placed his hand on the table.

"No matter the situation, Supreme Guild will naturally do whatever GRIMMAW asks of us." He said with full confidence. "Please Leader Vanessa, lead the way!"

Several people in the room cheered immediately and Vanessa dipped her head.

"Thank you all." She said simply, letting out a quiet sigh and glancing sideways at Lucius. 'Why is he suddenly so fired up… Did something good happen?'

She was still waiting on something.

He had purchased an item that would help her rank up and Vanessa had been wondering when exactly he planned to hand it over, not that she was in a rush but Rita was S-rank and Selene was S-rank as well.

She wanted to be standing at that level alongside them and the gap bothered her more than she let on.

"Ahem, if I may." One of Selene's captains spoke up and the room looked at her. "Rotenburg city is quite far from Northcrest. How are we supposed to arrive in time? Unless Guild Leader Lucius teleports us."

"No need for that. We don't need Guild Leader Lucius's power for simple transportation right now." Vanessa said. "He'll help us secure a perimeter once we arrive so the surrounding area doesn't get levelled. As for getting there…"

A smile crossed her face. "Apparently being Top 3 has quite a few benefits. GRIMMAW just got approved for a private Guild jet."

Lucius's eyes twitched.

"Private jets?" He leaned toward Ayela.

"Yes, Guild Leader." She murmured back. "The Guilds in the Top three have private jets. After we fell out of the top three, ours got taken away."

"I see."

"You weren't aware?" Selene couldn't help herself. "I'm happy for you, Sister Wife Vanessa. The Diamond Scorpion Guild being a national Guild has two."

Lucius bit his lip. Were these two trying to oppress him by casually comparing their jet counts?

'Tch.' He was happy regardless. What was theirs was his, so in essence he now owned three jets.

Vanessa let out a quiet laugh and rose from her seat.

"Let's depart immediately. Unfortunately Luna won't be able to join us in Rotenburg but we'll manage." She looked across the room. "Now let us go."

Several minutes later, the very top of the Grimmaw Building opened and a red jet tore into the sky, banking hard in the direction of Rotenburg.

It was similar to the jet they had taken to Avalon during the vacation, though the Grimmaw one was painted a deep red and had their insignia running along the side.

Each Guild had their own section of the aircraft while Vanessa remained near the control room since her people were piloting.

Luna was buried in her drone debut project with the company from the vacation but she had at least left the stream bot with Vanessa, which was something.

"Boss." Iris said. "Did you hear the Academy is resuming in two days?"

Lucius's eyes went wide.

"Two days?" He blinked… Two months. It had only been two months but it genuinely felt like years. He had been having too good a time in this world.

"Yep, Boss." Cassie said with a salute. "We'll handle the Guild while you're gone."

"Very good." He reached over and patted Cassie's head.

The blonde didn't object though she didn't love it particularly either, she had a boyfriend but who was she to push her Master's hand away?

Iris sighed loudly.

"You can pat Cassie's head but not mine?" She said. "Talk about favoritism."

Lucius used his other hand to pat her head as well. He didn't really see what was special about it but the older woman clearly appreciated the gesture.

"Alright, all of you, stop being horny and focus." Ayela cut across the moment with a grim look on her face. "We need a game plan for once we land in Rotenburg. Our mission completion rate has placed us back at Top 7 but we need to push further up. If we perform well today, the rankings will move."

Lucius and Iris sighed at the exact same time.

"Party pooper." They said in unison.

A vein throbbed on Ayela's temple, she very much wanted to hit both of them.

"Calm down, Ayela." Nadia said, setting a small box on the table between them. "You don't have to be so upright all the time. Maybe if you relaxed a little you'd have a boyfriend."

"You don't even have a boyfriend either!" Ayela pointed an accusatory finger at her.

"Of course not, but when I get one, at least I won't drive him away like you would." Nadia said pleasantly.

It took the full force of Ayela's composure not to blast this woman across the cabin with a wind gust. "Anyway. While we wait, why don't we play chess?"

She pressed a button on the box and it expanded into a full board with pieces already arranged.

"Whoever beats me gets to order me around for the rest of today. I'm something of a prodigy, if I say so myself." Nadia said.

Lucius straightened in his seat… This was chess.

One of the few things from his past life he had genuinely poured time into. He had spent hundreds of hours against people far older and more experienced than him, back when he had nothing better to do than sit in front of a board and think.

This woman absolutely could not beat him.

"Game on then, let's see if you're as good as you say you are."

…

Rotenburg city was in chaos.

The gate had appeared in the dead center of the city and it was enormous, currently in the advanced stages of breaking.

The surrounding blocks had been evacuated and Lucius had used space to raise an invisible dome barrier across the perimeter so they could fight without the destruction bleeding further outward.

'I've been over-relying on space lately… I need to use wood more.' He thought.

He was going to master wood affinity specifically to spite the Hohenbergs, but it also genuinely gave him versatility he was currently lacking.

The Guild Leaders and their captains were distributed across the rooftops of the tallest buildings ringing the break zone. Below them, the gate pulsed with deep light as it was almost about to give weight entirely.

"Uhm, Boss…" Nadia's voice came from directly beneath him. "Has it started yet?"

She was on all fours and he was sitting on her back.

This was the result of the chess match. He had genuinely been about to let her win out of generosity until she leaned back mid-game and said she wasn't even really trying.

After that it was a straightforward sweep, she had made her bed after all. Now she needed to sleep in it.

"Not yet." Lucius said.

He glanced back at the line behind him. "Girls, are the rest of you ready?"

The gate was cracking louder now as long fracture lines split across its surface with sounds like breaking ice.

He had added capes to all of their uniforms using space while they were still in the air. It had seemed like the right decision to aura-farm.

"Yes, Guild Leader!"

He rose from Nadia's back and moved to the edge of the building. The four captains fell into position behind him, two on each side, with their capes hanging still in the moment before the wind came.

On the building opposite, Vanessa stood with two of her own captains flanking her and the rest of them behind her, her crimson cape was already moving from the rising pressure though she was more busy fumbling for the glasses that would allow her read the Stream chat.

'She gave me a prototype new drone…' Vanessa thought, the new design for this prototype was meant for who wore the glasses other than the viewers.

She would be able to zoom into where she wanted to zoom without interrupting the stream and even having a few features of Luna's mech-suit though the suit wasn't here.

"It's starting!" She said and her captains as well as the rest of the Squad were prepared.

Further along the skyline, Selene was adjusting her own white cape with a smile on her face.

"Do I look good?" She asked one of her people and the woman nodded.

"Madam, you look amazing." The two of them told her and she blushed, though Lucius got to see this beauty everyday, she wanted him to see it again today.

Another crack went through the whole thing and Vanessa decided to let loose of the pod drone as it soared into the air.

[Stream Has Started…]

Then the gate fractured.

The mana that had been building inside the dungeon since the moment that it appeared detonated outward in a single explosive exhale.

It wasn't a sound so much as a pressure that hit the entire rooftop at once. The force of it came screaming across the break zone and slammed into them like a wall.

Everyone's hair tore backward and the capes of the Guild Leaders exploded behind them in one violent snap, whipping in the wind but they didn't bat an eye.

They stood at the edges of their respective buildings and let it hit them, and against the roiling dark sky where the gate used to be, the image of three Guilds standing completely unmoved while the mana wind tried to tear them off the rooftops looked amazing.

[StreamViewer_Kael: BRO THE CAPES]

[NightOwl_Vera: they didn't even blink what is this]

[HunterFan_092: Supreme Guild said let it cook 😭]

[GuildWatcher_Mira: SELENE IS RIGHT THERE TOO this stream is insane]

[RotenburgLocal47: I live here and I'm watching this from my phone while evacuating lmaooo]

[DungeonTracker_Rex: A-rank break and these people are POSING… unreal]

[LuciusStan_Forever: he's so cool I can't do this]

[Fanatic_Dru: the way the capes just WENT I'm losing my mind]

[AssKing_99: three S-rank guilds on one stream someone call the government]

[HunterFan_092: Lucius didn't even move his feet I'm actually crying 😭😭]

[RotenburgLocal47: okay I stopped evacuating I need to see this]

|_ [StreamViewer_Kael: BROTHER GO EVACUATE]

The wind died and Lucius looked down at what had come through.

The monsters spilling from the shattered gate were large, fast and far too many, some of them were already spreading toward the edges of the barrier he'd erected… testing it with the dumb instinctive aggression of things that had never encountered a wall they couldn't break through.

He looked back once at the captains.

"Let's show them why the Supreme Guild is truly supreme."

"Yes, Guild Master!"

He simply stepped off the edge like the ground below wasn't forty stories away and dropped down to the ground, accelerating with each passing moment, the cape also went straight up behind him as the wind roared past his face.

The captains left their rooftop in the same instant, all four of them in formation, falling in a wide arc that converged toward the same point. From the drone's angle overhead, it looked like four arrows loosed at once.

On her building, Vanessa dropped the same moment without a word to her captains. They followed.

Selene stepped off her own edge gracefully, her silver hair straight up above her head as she fell with one hand extended downward like she was reaching for the ground.

Forty stories…

Thirty...

The break zone rushed up to meet them.

The moment Lucius's feet made contact with the ground, he exhaled once through his nose.

Wood exploded outward from the point of impact in every direction.

The spikes tore from the earth all at once across the entire visible ground floor of the break zone in a sudden dense forest of sharp rising timber that covered every street in a single violent instant, impaling everything standing on it that wasn't one of them.

The sound of it was enormous, a tearing crack that rolled outward across the city like a second shockwave chasing the first.

Monsters that had been mid-stride were simply gone, pinned or killed before they had even processed that anything had happened.

Dust rolled outward from the impact in a wide flat ring then the captains landed around him. Ayela hit the ground and the air pressure around her sharpened instantly turning into a controlled burst that cleared the dust from their immediate area in a perfect circle.

Iris touched down and the moment her feet found pavement a wall of flames slammed outward in all directions, any of the other monsters that were close-by and hadn't been killed in the initial strike were completely destroye.

Nadia landed with both palms hitting the ground and earth rose in angled plates around their perimeter, sealing the gaps the wood spikes hadn't covered.

Cassie was last, landing in a low crouch, and water erupted in arcing streams from the impact that froze mid-air into a dozen long jagged shards pointing outward.

The four of them rose from their landing positions and stood at Lucius's sides without a word between them with the dust still settling.

'Good… these girls are doing really well.' He thought.

The Rotenburg city dungeon break had officially begun!