Beaumont's counterattack unfolded in a blur of desperate motion and raw power.
Beaumont leaped forward, his face twisted in a grimace of pain as the impact from the earlier hits throbbed through his ribs. The twin turrets, mounted high in their recessed alcoves, adjusted their targeting with mechanical precision, barrels whining as they tracked his airborne trajectory. The moment his boots touched solid ground again, they opened fire.
Heavy-caliber rounds screamed through the air. Beaumont didn't hesitate. He slammed his right foot down and pushed off with every ounce of strength his powerful legs could muster, launching himself backward in a explosive burst of motion. The stone floor where he had stood a heartbeat earlier erupted in a geyser of shattered rock and sparks as the concentrated barrage struck. Chunks of masonry sprayed outward like shrapnel.
His trailing foot dragged across the rough surface, carving a shallow groove before he regained his stance, muscles burning from the sudden exertion.
Woow, that was close as hell!
Before the turrets could fully re-acquire him, warm amber sigil circles flared to life above his open palms. With a wide, sweeping arc of both arms, he channeled deep into the earth. From the stone floor on either side of him, two massive, thick earthen walls erupted upward with a grinding roar. They rose rapidly, dense and reinforced, climbing higher than his head and continuing to thicken as more mana poured into them. The heavy strikes from the turrets hammered into the barriers almost instantly, sending vibrations through the slabs and filling the chamber with the deafening cacophony of lead punching into magically reinforced stone.
Beaumont exhaled sharply, eyes narrowed in the flickering light of his remaining orbs.
Seriously, what the hell are these things? I never thought their attacks would be that effective. Must be some kind of heavy-caliber guns from the ancient times… This dungeon really is old. Older and nastier than I gave it credit for.
He glanced at the four orbiting slate shards of his Ternere Aegis. Cracks had already begun to spiderweb across two of them from the earlier impacts.
"I better reinforce these guys," he muttered. "They can't fall apart this early. Who knows what else is waiting deeper in here."
Staring into the oppressive darkness ahead, he raised his arms to chest level. The amber sigils bloomed brighter, rotating faster as he poured dense earth mana into the defensive shards. The runes etched upon them flared, the slate thickening and hardening, edges sharpening further as fresh layers of magical reinforcement bonded to the existing structure.
A heavy, jagged grinding sound reached his ears. The turrets were chewing through his earth walls with terrifying precision and speed. Dust and stone fragments rained down as the barriers began to disintegrate under the relentless assault.
Beaumont's expression hardened, hazel eyes flashing with resolve.
"You gave me no choice," he growled, voice low and dangerous. "I'm going to bring this whole damn place down!"
He spread his arms wide. The sigil circles expanded dramatically, spinning with increased velocity. He planted his feet shoulder-width apart, grounding himself firmly, and drove his focus deep into the floor beneath him. Earth mana surged downward in a concentrated torrent.
"Ground Breaking!"
The incantation left his lips like a thunderclap. A deafening roar answered from the depths of the dungeon as the seismic spell took hold. The floor buckled violently. Deep fissures raced outward in every direction like lightning frozen in stone. The mounted turrets trembled in their alcoves before the load-bearing walls supporting them shattered. Massive sections of the high ceiling groaned, then collapsed with cataclysmic force. Tons of jagged rubble and dust cascaded downward, burying the turrets and much of the chamber in a choking cloud of debris.
Beaumont was already moving. He dashed forward ahead of the expanding wave of destruction, the cracks racing after him like hungry predators. The golden-amber light from his remaining orb cut through the swirling dust, illuminating the path ahead.
Up ahead, his tremorsense picked up the signatures of more turrets, identical to the first wave. A predatory grin split his face.
"Hey there," he called out into the chaos, voice booming with confidence, "I got something for you as well!"
He surged past the remnants of the first destroyed section and into the second wave. The cracking and crumbling behind him continued to expand, the roar of collapsing stone nearly catching up to his heels. Without breaking stride, he shouted another command.
"Tectonic Slide!"
The earth beneath his feet liquefied in a controlled surge of mana, turning the solid floor into a smooth, flowing current of stone and soil. Beaumont rode the magical wave like a surfer on turbulent waters, his powerful body balanced perfectly as he accelerated forward. He enhanced the spell further, pushing more mana into it, increasing both speed and stability. The enhanced mobility let him weave and surge ahead of the collapsing destruction, the destruction swallowing the second wave of turrets moments after he passed.
Agatha watched every second through the glowing surface of her sacred mirror, violet eyes wide with growing fascination. A slow, appreciative grin curved her lips.
"Reservoir," she murmured, almost reverently. "Not only does he possess a large mana pool, but the density and devastating output… what potential. A genius child of this era." She paused, a spark of genuine admiration in her tone. An S-rank adventurer, without question.
She briefly lifted her gaze from the mirror toward the high vaulted ceiling of the fifth floor, a soft sigh escaping her. This was going to be more annoying than she had anticipated. With a slight shake of her head, she returned her attention to the mirror, leaning back comfortably against the conjured magical backrest.
Beaumont continued to surf the second wave, the liquefied earth carrying him forward with exhilarating speed. He evaded sporadic attacks from the few turrets still operational, their heavy rounds whipping past him or slamming uselessly into the collapsing floor behind. The continuous seismic destruction swallowed turret after turret, the chain reaction extending further into the chamber. As he entered the third wave, two turrets positioned on each side yet he didn't slow down. With sweeping gestures, he hurled massive jagged stone boulders summoned from the churning earth toward each emplacement. The turrets responded instantly, blasting the projectiles apart mid-air in brilliant explosions of rock fragments, but their targeting was momentarily disrupted. Before they could reorient, the relentless collapse swallowed them as well. The destruction began to lose momentum, gradually dying down as the structural damage reached its natural limits.
Beaumont glanced back over his shoulder, noting the crumbling had finally stopped. He returned his gaze forward, breathing steadily despite the exertion. Only one light orb remained now; the other had been caught and crushed in the collision of falling debris during the third wave. The golden-amber glow felt smaller in the vast darkness, but it was enough.
He slid onward into the fourth wave. His tremorsense picked up the next set of turrets ahead, one on each side. Their signatures were different. Larger and different.
One? Not two or more. And their size… twice as big as the others. What's going on?
Fifty meters deeper into the fourth wave, everything remained eerily silent. No immediate barrage, he drew closer and closer to the projected positions, muscles tense, senses on high alert. The air itself seemed to thicken with anticipation.
Then it hit.
From recessed panels high along the walls, vivid sonic cannons erupted without warning. The invisible waves of concentrated sound slammed into him like a physical force. The frequency bored straight into his skull, rattling his internal organs and scrambling his heightened senses. A wave of severe pain exploded behind his eyes—mental, visceral, disorienting. Beaumont collapsed to one knee, hands instinctively flying to his ears as a raw, agonized wail tore from his throat. The world spun violently. His tremorsense fractured into painful static. Nausea surged through him.
Un guided rocket-propelled projectiles, eight in total—streaked toward his position at terrifying speed, trailing fire and smoke. The four reinforced Ternere Aegis shards reacted on instinct, aligning into a tight protective formation above him. They intercepted the rockets in a brilliant, thunderous chain of explosions. The combined shockwave and secondary sound blasts slammed into Beaumont, hurling him backward across the stone floor. He rolled painfully, breath knocked from his lungs.
The sonic cannons continued their relentless barrage, the overlapping frequencies drilling deeper into his body. Blood trickled from his ears and nostrils. His mind reeled, disoriented and foggy. The defensive slates hovered protectively above his prone form, glowing faintly as they absorbed what they could.
Another set of eight rockets screamed in from the darkness, closing the distance with merciless speed.
Agatha leaned forward slightly on her stool, violet eyes gleaming with dark delight. "This is going to be fun to watch," she smirked.