Demonic Po*nstar System Chapter 793: The Siege Begins

The Skyfiends ejected their riders at the initial defense perimeter and ascended back into the hazy ceiling of the Cavern, rejoining the reserve wing Kaiden had positioned above.

Kaiden’s feet touched the abyssal stone as he dismounted.

They had reached the bottleneck where the Cavern narrowed into the corridor’s gateway. This position was set further back from the actual gate, with the Safe Zone’s hundred-meter radius visible across the Cavern’s expanse before them. Everything beyond the Safe Zone was his to command. Everything within it was deemed untouchable territory by system decree, remaining so until the enemy emerged from the protected area.

Vespera’s shadow lattice had already interwoven itself through every vertical surface encircling him, forming a barrier of dark tendrils poised to react to any pressure. Scarlet stood a pace to the lattice’s right, her twin scarlet-gold lances held in a ready stance, her aim directed at the gate.

Further back, within the throat of the passage, his frontline Monoliths were firmly planted on heavy, stacked plating. The remainder of the Maulfiend contingent lay in ambush formation behind these armored units. Even deeper, beyond the corridor and the Sink, within the Verdant, Taigi and the Dungeon-Born guarded the lush environment as the ultimate fallback line, should any breach occur, protecting his home.

The rest of his companions assumed their positions around him as the Skyfiends departed the airspace overhead.

With a mere act of will, he conjured the 3D map before him.

The dungeon materialized in the air, translucent and slowly rotating. The Abyssal Cavern, complete with its Safe Zone encompassing the gate. The two pathways branched out into their distinct hostile biomes. The Verdant stretched the long distance to the domain’s furthest boundary.

Every creature marker glowed precisely where he had designated it. The Nightclaw line maintained its vigil in the upper vault of the corridor, beyond the initial ambush chamber. Gorefiends were concealed in ceiling alcoves, and Nightshrouds, with their disembarkation loads prepped, were tucked away in the deepest shadows.

Deeper still, the magma channel pulsed with light, where Melty and her five sisters navigated the molten currents. Dreadwyrms were prepared for a concentrated burst of flame, Magmashapers analyzed the terrain, and the Pyremother rested lower within the brood pool, her attendants drifting around her in leisurely flows.

Every marker occupied its designated location.

’Good… Things didn’t get disrupted just now.’

For a fleeting moment, the domain remained stable.

Then, the gate shifted.

The seal that had repelled the exterior world yielded inward slightly, dimensional pressure easing against the abyssal stone by the barest margin. A silhouette emerged from the threshold, entering the Safe Zone.

It was quadrupedal, stout, and encased in dark gray chitin. A hooked mouthpart clicked once as its feet found purchase on the stone. Its head surveyed the dim cavern air in a slow sweep, its four eyes reflecting the ambient light with a dull sheen.

It resembled a scavenger-type creature, a variant of which Kaiden had encountered and vanquished a dozen times across various ecosystems during his awakened existence. Appearing to be in its mid-sixties, it was a disposable unit.

Not a top-tier threat.

The system responded to his unspoken thought immediately.

[Siege Phase 1: Begin.]

[Duration: 2 hours, or until threshold conditions are met.]

[Attacker objective: Claim 75% of defender’s dungeon ground.]

[Defender objective: Eliminate 100% of the attacker’s forces.]

[Dungeon Ground Held: 100%. Enemy Forces Eliminated: 0%.]

[No force regeneration this phase.]

The corner of Kaiden’s mouth tightened briefly.

’…Phase 1?’

The system overlay pulsed once within his perception.

’There are phases?’

[Sometimes.]

Kaiden tilted his head back a fraction of an inch, an action without a specific target.

’…Great.’

Beyond the Safe Zone’s boundary, the scavengers continued to emerge. A second creature passed through the gate just after the first, followed by three more, then eight. A pack of lesser juvenile forms scuttled in behind them, their oversized claws emphasizing their low-fifties classification. A line of bipedal walkers next, in their mid-eighties, presenting a heavier build than those preceding them, though still not the type of unit one would deploy initially. A cluster of blind serpents flowed in afterward, in their high sixties, creatures that hunted by sensing vibrations, propelled forward by the same surge.

The Safe Zone began to fill. By the rules, the defenders could only observe as the swarm congregated within the designated safety area.

Luna tilted her head to the side, observing the accumulating swarm, Stormblade tapping lightly against her knee.

"Seriously…? Where is the substantial force?"

"He is not committing them yet," Kaiden stated.

"It appears to be a probing wave," Nyx commented from a step behind, her gaze fixed on her own overlay. "He is assessing our capabilities before deploying any valuable assets. Given that forces do not regenerate for two entire hours, he must be conservative with his deployment."

Bastet had moved closer to the edge of the frontline at the chokehold, her amber eyes intently focused on the swarm across the Cavern’s breadth.

Her ears twitched once, slowly.

"I believe…"

Her observation drew Kaiden’s attention.

Bastet maintained her gaze on the gate, her eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Perhaps he is testing us, Master. But this creature is not designed with your strategic approach in mind. As I have stated previously: it does not engage in investment or intricate planning. It merely absorbs and replicates."

With her palm facing outward towards the expanding Safe Zone, she raised one hand.

"But perhaps my initial assessment was flawed... this clearly appears to be a strategic move, even if it stems from instinct and is rather elementary."

Her lower lip trembled, caught briefly between her teeth.

Though the composed queen maintained her regal bearing, a lingering sense of shame was palpable beneath the surface. Her initial judgment had branded the Claimant as nothing more than a brute, and the chasm between that perception and a genuine strategist was a difficult truth her friends and her Master would need to reconcile with her.

The burden of that miscalculation settled heavily within her chest before it could manifest on her face.

Kaiden noticed it and turned towards her.

He lifted his free hand, his fingers finding the base of one of her feline ears, and began to rub it gently in the familiar, slow manner she found comforting. The golden strand, a remnant of the Sin Fusion, woven through her dark hair brushed against his thumb.

"Brute or ingenious strategist, it makes no difference. We will emerge victorious regardless."

Her amber eyes fluttered shut for a moment as his hand continued its soothing motion, allowing her head to tilt unconsciously to the side, leaning into his touch.

When her eyes opened once more, the apprehension had subsided. The Manifestation of Dominion regained her composure, the image of the dignified queen restored, and she offered a small nod against his palm.

Then, a wild, almost sadistic grin spread across her lips.

With her ear still nestled under his hand, she turned her head to face the gate.

"...How dare you compel me to reveal such an unsightly aspect of myself before Master, you detestable creature?"

Her tail lashed once behind her as she lifted her chin defiantly.

"I will obliterate every last one of you!"

Sadistic kitten mode activated!

A slight twitch played at the corner of Kaiden's mouth as the Safe Zone counter on his heads-up display surpassed forty. Forty-three. Forty-nine.

At an even fifty-two, the vanguard of the encroaching swarm reached the boundary of the invulnerable territory and surged past it.

The first scavenger entered the Abyssal Cavern's lethal zone with a bounding, four-legged gait, its hooked mandibles clicking audibly against the hard stone.

Scarlet's accumulated heat had already coalesced into a searing lance, the red-gold energy intensely compressed within her right palm.

Vespera's shadow enveloped the nascent lance before it could be unleashed, pressing the potent energy back into Scarlet's hand.

"...Are you serious right now?!"

"Hold."

Vespera's crimson gaze locked with Kaiden's.

"The most prudent counter-strategy is this."

Kaiden discerned her intention before she had even finished speaking.

They were currently confronting a probing wave composed of the most basic tier of monsters.

He offered his mother a slow, deliberate nod.