Promotion to Boss! Dungeon Authority!

"Heh!" Wei Yuan laughed in amusement.

The medium secret realm had been sealed off by none other than the Void Insect Race.

Without a doubt, this was nothing but blatant extortion.

Trading two small secret realms for one medium secret realm was, in other words, little different from paying protection money.

If they refused, the medium secret realm would remain sealed, inaccessible to anyone and effectively useless.

And the Void Insect Race could repeat this process endlessly...

This was what made the Void Insect Race so vile. Invading dungeons was indeed an ability that most countries had no way to guard against, and Great Xia was no exception.

Wei Yuan would not compromise, but Great Xia still needed time to find a countermeasure against this ability.

Just then, his phone vibrated.

Wei Yuan glanced over and saw a message from Jiang Yuan Shuang:

[Yi Tian has entered the sealed secret realm.]

"Yi Tian...?"

Wei Yuan was well aware of the situation in the secret realm. After Ye Xiu, Jiang Che, and the other three had entered, the Void Insect Race had sealed it off completely. No one else could get in.

Invasion was a racial ability of the Void Insect Race.

Dungeons and secret realms were essentially independent, enclosed pocket spaces. Usually, only one group could enter at a time, after which the space would close.

But the Void Insect Race could erode space, corroding the walls of these enclosed spaces and invading in swarms.

Once inside, they could seal the space through special means, monopolizing the secret realm.

Countries around the world, and even most Other Races, had no way to counter this. Otherwise, Han Country would not have fallen so quickly.

Yet Yi Tian had actually broken through the Void Insect Race's blockade?

How had he done it?!

Seeing the thoughtful look on Wei Yuan's face, the insect parasitizing the driver spoke again:

"As the leader of Great Xia, you surely understand sacrificing the lesser to preserve the greater!"

"Just two small secret realms in exchange for a medium secret realm and the lives of five talented people from Great Xia. That is quite a bargain!"

"Wouldn't you agree?"

The parasite's voice was hoarse and unsettling, yet Wei Yuan gradually calmed down.

Since Yi Tian had the ability to enter the sealed secret realm and had dared to do so of his own accord, he surely had some confidence in handling the situation.

Besides, at this point, Yi Tian was probably the only one who could deal with the Void Insect Race's bizarre methods.

The parasite pressed him. "If you keep delaying, I cannot guarantee what will happen inside the secret realm!"

Wei Yuan chose to trust Yi Tian and gave a faint chuckle.

"I wouldn't be so sure."

Inside the secret realm, the Sky Isle Realm.

Alice's combat prowess had truly stunned everyone.

Six of her twelve winged lightwheel blades split off to guard against the smaller insects, while the remaining six worked with Alice as she fought two level 40 void insect elites.

She was single-handedly overwhelming hundreds of members of the Void Insect Race!

Alice darted forward, her six Light Wheel Blades streaking like auroras as she attacked the two void insect elites.

"Die, you lunatic!"

The Void Ao Beast was startled. He had never expected his opponent to charge straight through his attack and engage him head-on!

But he felt this was an opportunity!

Purple acid spewed from his hideous mouthparts, its intensely corrosive force engulfing Alice.

But in the next instant...

A long streak of black light flashed through the acid. A blade cleaved it apart, and the slash sent out a ripple that severed half the Void Ao Beast's body in an instant.

"!!!" The Void Ao Beast screamed, contracting all his nerve cords to defend himself as he let out an agonized howl.

"What?!"

The two exchanges had taken place in a mere instant, and the Void Webweaver's pupils shrank!

Her abilities focused on control. The black web covering the secret realm was her handiwork, but she had never expected her damage-focused companion to suffer grievous injuries in a single instant!

Black webs immediately spread from her body, filling the sky like an enormous black hand as they reached for Alice from behind.

This was her strongest control technique. As long as she restrained Alice, she could not only save her teammate but seize the chance to turn the battle around!

Yet, faced with the black webs sweeping across the sky...

Alice did not even turn her head. She reached her right hand behind her and clenched it around empty air.

"Final Judgment!"

Dozens of blood-red slashes swept out behind Alice!

The blood-red trails instantly shredded the webs, then cut straight through them and erupted across the Void Webweaver's body!

As though struck by countless blades, the Webweaver's body was torn into innumerable pieces in an instant!

Bang-!

With an explosive burst of blood, Alice slew the Webweaver before she could even scream.

She had attacked.

She had been instantly killed.

It had all happened in a single instant.

Specks of blue light rose from the Void Webweaver's corpse, turning into experience that Alice absorbed.

The Void Ao Beast standing before Alice was even more dumbfounded now.

The next instant, Alice summoned all twelve Light Wheel Blades.

Alice's slightly raised left hand was reflected in the Ao Beast's enormous pupils. Then all twelve Light Wheel Blades plunged into his carapace at once.

His dark-purple carapace cracked with an ear-piercing sound, like shattering crystal, as every trace of life was snuffed out of the Void Ao Beast's enormous body.

At that moment, Ye Xiu, Jiang Che, the others, and even the members of the mining team all stared in a daze.

For a moment, they could not tell which was more terrifying: Alice or these void insects.

[Employee-Alice has slain the Void Ao Beast and the Void Webweaver. You receive shared experience...]

[Alice has absorbed sufficient hunting experience. Her monster template has advanced from "Elite Monster" to "Elite Boss"!]

[Void Traversal has improved: daily usage limit increased from 6 to 10.]

As the panel notifications appeared, Alice's promotion to Elite Boss made her figure taller and more slender, while the two mantis blades on her arms grew considerably stronger.

Although an Elite Boss was considered a minor boss, she was still a boss and had completely left the category of ordinary mobs behind.

Along with that came the dungeon authority that belonged to a boss...

[Alice has obtained elite boss authority: ① May alter dungeon terrain/weather; ② May impose one ability restriction within a combat area.]

Yi Tian was pleasantly surprised to see this. He had never expected Alice to be capable of imposing ability restrictions already!

Among class holders, these were also called boss mechanics.

Some powerful bosses could impose restrictions within their dungeons, such as:

[Healing prohibited near the boss, fire spells disabled within the dungeon, all combatants disarmed, and so on...]

These were abilities unique to dungeon bosses.

As long as they were inside a dungeon, dungeon bosses could impose ability restrictions on any target. This was their unique authority as bosses!

The level 75 tier four dungeon that had stalled progress worldwide had one particularly outrageous restriction:

[Dungeon challengers' attributes reduced by 90%!]

However, that restriction came from an Ultimate Boss.

The higher a boss's rank and the greater its strength, the stronger the ability restrictions it could impose.

Although Alice was currently only an Elite Boss, obtaining the authority to impose ability restrictions proved that she had a promising future!

"Hiss-hiss-!"

With the two void insect elites dead, the countless smaller void insects around them let out panicked cries.

Their legs trembled, and they were ready to flee.

Even the two elites had been slain with ease. The remaining small insects had even less hope of defeating Alice.

Moreover, the Void Insect Race's innate ability to invade dungeons had limitations too.

Invading a dungeon meant barging into its boss's home territory. The dungeon boss would discover and target them unless they killed it or allied with it.

Only after a secret realm had been cleared and its boss had disappeared could these small void insects easily invade.

Once a dungeon boss was present, the small void insects would sense that they were in someone else's territory and could encounter danger at any moment, making them instinctively want to flee.

"Trying to run?"

But Alice was thoroughly enjoying the slaughter. How could she let them escape so easily?!

They were all experience for her monster template!

"Alice, impose a restriction prohibiting anyone from leaving!"

Yi Tian spoke, and Alice had been preparing to do exactly that...

In theory, the higher a boss's rank, the greater its authority, and a higher-ranking boss would override a lower-ranking boss's ability restrictions.

Thus, class holders in a dungeon were generally subjected to the main boss's mechanics and instinctively overlooked those of minor bosses.

As it happened, Alice was the only boss in this secret realm.

[Leaving the secret realm is prohibited]!

Alice exercised her authority as a boss and imposed this command on the entire secret realm.

In an instant, an invisible force seemed to envelop the entire secret realm, placing a restriction on every living creature.

[Elite boss authority can only impose the "Leaving the secret realm is prohibited" restriction for 1 minute.]

[Command activated. No target within the secret realm may leave for 1 minute!]

"One minute is enough!"

The demonized half of Alice's eyes turned scarlet, and under her control, the twelve winged lightwheel blades unleashed their full power!

Yi Tian checked his own status and discovered that even class holders were indeed prohibited from leaving.

A boss's authority within a dungeon was truly terrifying.

It was easy to imagine: if Alice eventually grew into an Ultimate Boss, or even a World Boss, what dungeon would they be unable to clear?

Never mind the Yagu Dynasty competing in Dungeon Racing at the Race Championship. Even if ten more Other Races joined the competition, they would still crush them all!

"Kill, kill, kill!"

She leaped up like a wolf charging into a flock of sheep,

While the small void insects floundered in panic, Alice was like a demon lord descending from the heavens. Wherever her twelve Light Wheel Blades passed, severed monster limbs and blood filled the air.

The scene was unbearably bloody.

"Hahahaha!"

Alice's crazed laughter reached everyone's ears, making Yi Tian, Ye Xiu, Jiang Che, and the others break into cold sweats.

The dozens of rescued miners had initially been delighted to see the void insects that had trapped them being killed.

Now, watching Alice's frenzied slaughter, the workers exchanged looks, their scalps prickling.

"Why do I feel like she's even more ruthless than those bugs?"

"Compared to those bugs, she's the one who looks like a boss!"

"Just looking at her sends a chill down my back!"

"No, dude, your back's cold because you're leaning against a bug's corpse!!"

"Holy shit!!!"

One minute passed.

Only the flashing trails of Alice's blades remained inside the dungeon. The enormous floating island and the void insects' black-web barrier were covered in slash marks and the severed limbs of small void insects.

Although there were many small void insects, Alice's extraordinarily high agility and twelve independently controlled Light Wheel Blades gave her a terrifying killing speed.

Ye Xiu, Jiang Che, and the others had wanted to help, but Yi Tian stopped them.

As these void insects were invaders of the secret realm, killing them would greatly accelerate the leveling of Alice's monster template.

Yi Tian had realized that this was also one of the reasons Alice could be rated a [dungeon bug].

Aside from her dual class-holder and monster templates;

As a dungeon monster, she could actually increase her rank without limit, even advancing from an ordinary mob to a boss. This was utterly impossible for other monsters.

As a class holder, she could level up by killing dungeon monsters;

As a dungeon monster, she could level up by killing dungeon challengers...

With her dual templates, Alice's future potential was immeasurable!

Hundreds of small void insects turned into experience that Alice absorbed, bringing her another step closer to advancing from Elite Boss to Lord Boss.

"Wonderful~"

With the slaughter complete, Alice licked her lips, looking utterly satisfied, as though she had just enjoyed a delicious feast.

"It's over," Yi Tian said to Ye Xiu and the others. "Take everyone from the mining team out first."

Ye Xiu nodded. "Understood."

The weather above the floating island cleared, and the black-web barrier covering the secret realm gradually dissipated, signaling that normal access to the secret realm had been restored.

Still wanting more, Alice turned to Yi Tian and asked, "Boss~ There aren't any monsters or Other Races left in this secret realm. Where should I go next?"

This was probably Alice's only weakness: she had always remained within isolated dungeon spaces, leaving her with absolutely no sense of direction and no way to reliably find suitable prey.

This killing machine needed Yi Tian to set her in motion.

"The Yagu Dynasty!"