[CH598+ Continued] Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster's Power

Chapter 657

As the 16 scouts close in on my location, I think about how easy it would be to kill them all before they even take their next breaths. With only two days left until the abyss completely recedes and I have to face their leaders anyway, expediting the process and antagonizing them to come to the Dark Continent early would be the worst move I can make right now.

I crush a teleport crystal and find myself back inside the shielded bunker below the city, letting out a unique aura once I'm inside.

I imbue strong true core divine threads into my mana while activating my master of illusion buff, creating an identical image of what they scanned the last time they were here.

It now appears like there is nothing more powerful than newly awakened orange cores among us—other than Ember. I make my own presence nonexistent, concealing my core behind my purple barrier and using stealth to disappear. However, I change the perceived image of Ember's core to be identical to the bronze dragon I faced when I first met Raven.

It's an easy feat, as the pure yellow divine energy inside it now is equivalent in thread contents to that bronze dragon; the only oddity is that it's still expanding in size and hasn't collapsed yet. Ember's yellow core is twice the size mine was when I collapsed it. His has golden and silver strands of divine energy that keep it stable while simultaneously forcing it from collapsing while he stacks more yellow threads inside.

I believe if the scouts get a proper reading on whatever is taking place here now, it will be even more suspicious than if I simply changed the scene to portray Ember as an already awakened True Core.

After seeing Redgrave's divine flames for myself, I'm confident that even this high level of power will not make them bat an eye. At the same time, it will quell their suspicions from the faulty reading before.

—

I stay still, holding my breath while the scouts perform their scans.

It takes less than ten minutes once they arrive, and moments later they fly off to the west as if nothing happened, satisfied with the new data.

Once they're completely out of my senses, I release my buffs and skills, letting out a sigh.

Then, as if waiting for my experiment to finish, I feel a light pulse of energy coming from Maria's core to my right side. Her eyes open, glowing bright yellow yet still piercing blue underneath.

She looks around the room, meets my gaze, and stands up with a grin. I can't help but point out the obvious with a smile of my own.

"You've consolidated your yellow core... congrats."

She looks down at her hands, then around the room, observing the others.

Abby is on the verge of awakening her yellow core, well past halfway there, while Fisher and Lydia have about ten percent of the necessary threads cycling through their bright orange cores.

She looks up at me again and replies, "I have. But this power... it's too much. If even this isn't enough, then whatever battle we're preparing for will split this world in two..."

The corners of my lips turn up, but behind my smile, I agree with her. Whatever happens in the next few days will permanently change this entire world. I reply with a nod.

"Indeed."

Over the next few minutes, I give Maria a brief explanation of everything that has transpired since she began consolidating her red core days ago—from my initial fight with Raven to my new knowledge of the throne and the originators from both The Saint and my encounter with the unique artifact on Palmyra.