Chapter 34: Chapter : 34 : The Second Wave!

A low hum vibrated in the air.

Then—

BOOM.

The ground cracked.

A new rupture split the plaza, and a ripple of energy rolled across the blood-red sky.

Luna’s ears twitched. “That’s our cue.”

Aiden stood up, brushing off Ivy’s arms as she clung to his neck like a scarf. “Alright, everyone back in position.”

Ivy pouted. “Can’t I stay like this just five more seconds…?”

“Nope. Dungeon rules.”

“Dungeon is mean,” Ivy muttered as she slid off him, waddling back toward Lysandra and the slowly rising barrier.

Lysandra sighed, raising a hand as the purple crystal dome formed again over them. “Be careful.”

“You say that like we’re not always careful,” Aiden said.

“Because you’re not,” Lysandra shot back flatly.

Luna stretched her arms lazily, tail swishing. “Let her worry, Master. It’s cute.”

“Focus, Luna.”

“I am focused.”

The moment the wave fully spawned, it was chaos.

Eight green bars—those were the fodder. Quick, twitchy things that looked like oversized lizards with dagger legs. They chattered like bones clinking in a box.

Three yellows came next—hulking brutes with tree-bark armor and moss growing from their mouths, dripping acid. Nasty.

Then two reds.

One was a centipede the size of a carriage, with glowing purple eyes and armor that clinked like plated steel. The other was something new—a floating jellyfish creature, black and veined with red, surrounded by smaller blinking eyes that never blinked.

Aiden’s dagger was already out.

—

SYSTEM NOTICE

Wave 2 Monsters Spawned.

Total Kill Count: 15 / 100

Current Wave: 15 enemies

Enemy Threat Level:

– 8 Green

– 3 Yellow

– 2 Red

—

He muttered under his breath. “Let’s not screw this up.”

Luna popped her claws. “Let me go for the bug centipede. I’m itching to break something.”

“You always say that.”

“Because I always am.”

“Then go,” Aiden said, dashing toward the flank.

Luna sprinted in a blur, claws carving through two green-bars like tissue. “Master! If I break the strong one first, you owe me steak!”

“I didn’t agree to that!”

“Too late, that’s the deal now!”

Aiden growled, side-stepping a lizard-beast that tried lunging for his ankles. He spun, dagger driving clean through its skull. It burst into black mist, system pinging.

—

SYSTEM NOTICE:

Monster Defeated.

Kill Count: 16 / 100

—

Two more greens charged him from both sides.

He ducked, caught one under the jaw with his knee, and buried his blade in its back as he flipped over it.

Luna, meanwhile, had already gone full hybrid again—eyes glowing, claws blazing.

She crashed into the centipede with a war cry. The thing screeched, its plates barely dented. Luna grinned like a lunatic. “Ooooh. You’re tough. I like tough.”

Back behind the dome, Ivy peeked through the shimmering surface. “Onee-Chan is amazing…”

“She’s reckless,” Lysandra muttered, one hand bracing the barrier.

“She’s brave.”

Lysandra glanced at her.

“She’s fighting scary things for Onii-chan,” Ivy added quietly. “Even when she’s bleeding. That’s not reckless.”

“…Maybe,” Lysandra replied. But her voice was softer.

The jellyfish monster floated forward now. Aiden noticed the tendrils sparking.

His eyes narrowed. Red bar. Ranged type. Dangerous.

He dashed toward it, dodging a sudden pulse of energy that scorched a crater into the stone where he stood.

“Luna! We’ve got a spellcaster!”

“I’m busy with millipede doom!” she barked.

Aiden didn’t wait. He flung a small throwing blade from his belt. The jellyfish swerved. His real dagger came a second later, slashing clean through two eye-tentacles. The beast let out a warbling shriek.

—

SYSTEM NOTICE:

High Threat Monster Injured.

—

Luna slammed into the centipede again, her claws finally slicing into a weak joint. Black ichor sprayed as it flailed.

“YES! I found your soft spot, you overgrown noodle!”

It tried to crush her with its tail, but Luna ducked low and rolled under its body, dragging her claws straight through its underbelly as she went.

It shrieked and exploded into particles just as she leapt out of the mist.

—

SYSTEM NOTICE:

High Threat Monster Defeated.

Kill Count: 20 / 100

—

“Boom~” Luna grinned, flicking blood off her claws. “Noodle down.”

Aiden didn’t reply. He was too busy dodging the jellyfish’s final charge.

One wrong step. Just one—and it would’ve fried his lungs.

But Aiden twisted mid-air, caught the jelly’s main core between his fingers—and drove his dagger into it from above.

It let out a hiss… then went still.

—

SYSTEM NOTICE:

High Threat Monster Defeated.

Kill Count: 22 / 100

—

The greens and yellows had mostly thinned by then.

Two green left—Luna made short work of one, cleaving it in half with a clawed kick.

Aiden took the other, flipping over it and stabbing it from behind.

One yellow remained.

A hulking brute with mossy skin and a dripping jaw. Aiden and Luna circled it from both sides.

“Go high,” Aiden said.

“Go dead,” Luna corrected, already leaping.

She landed on its back, driving her claws into its shoulders as Aiden sliced across its legs.

It roared, staggered—then toppled.

—

SYSTEM NOTICE:

Monster Defeated.

Kill Count: 29 / 100

—

Aiden breathed heavily. “That should be—”

“Hold up,” Luna said, blinking. “That felt like all of them.”

Aiden frowned.

He checked the system screen again.

—

WAVE TWO:

Monsters Killed – 14 / 15

—

His eyes narrowed.

“Okay, that’s the last one, right?” Luna asked, cracking her knuckles as she padded toward the group, her claws retracting back into fingers.

Aiden checked the air screen again.

—

Kill Count: 29 / 100

Wave 2: 14 / 15

—

He squinted. “…Huh?”

Luna reached him first and immediately threw her arms around his neck, hopping slightly as she smashed her chest right against him with a smug purr. “Victory hug~”

Aiden stumbled back a step. “L-Luna—air—”

“Shh. You love this.”

Ivy popped out from the slowly dropping barrier and waddled over excitedly. “Onii-chan, Onee-chan! That was soooo cool! You went zoom and the bug went splortch! I wanna try that one day!”

Lysandra followed behind, already rubbing her temples. “Please don’t. You’ll break your neck.”

She stopped the moment she saw Luna latched onto Aiden like a very smug backpack. Her eye twitched.

“Off.”

Luna smiled innocently and hugged tighter. “I’m recharging.”

“Off!” Lysandra snapped, reaching forward and yanking at Luna’s tail like a lever.

“Hey! Tail’s off-limits, Princess!”

“You’re smothering him!”

“He likes being smothered! Don’t you, Master~?”

“Uhh…”

“Don’t answer that,” Lysandra said quickly, dragging at Luna’s arm like she was pulling a stuck cart out of mud.

Luna wouldn’t budge. “I earned this! I clawed through a nightmare centipede!”

“You want a hug too? C’mere~”

“No!”

Ivy watched them tug-of-war over Aiden like confused ducklings. “Umm… are they fighting over cuddle rights?”

“I think so,” Aiden said, resigned.

Then—

BOOOOOOOM.

A column of radiant light dropped from the sky without warning, blasting the center of the plaza with a force like a divine hammer. The ground cracked open, wind howled like a dragon’s breath, and rubble was sent flying in every direction.

“AAAHHH!” Ivy screamed, immediately grabbing Aiden’s leg like a koala.

“WHAT THE HELL!?” Luna shouted, arms flailing as she was nearly tossed skyward.

Lysandra yelped as her skirt flipped up like an umbrella and slapped herself in the face trying to hold it down. “This is not okay!”

Aiden had barely planted his feet before everyone grabbed onto him like he was the last tree in a hurricane.

Luna latched onto his back.

Ivy stuck to his waist.

Lysandra wrapped her arms around his chest from the side, clearly against her will. “Don’t say a word.”

“I wasn’t going to,” Aiden wheezed, nearly crushed under three bodies. “Just trying… to breathe…”

The light began to fade.

Silence returned.

Smoke hissed from the crater at the center of the impact.

Everyone stared.

The dust cleared.

And from within the blinding pillar of light…

A tiny white ball of fluff stood.

…Blinking.

With big sparkly eyes.

And chubby cheeks.

And a perfect round bunny body.

The wind made its fur ripple like a shampoo commercial.

It tilted its head. “Mii~”

Luna gasped.

Sparkles exploded out of her ears.

“IT’S SO FLUFFY I MIGHT DIEEEE~!” she screamed, eyes gleaming, tail wagging so fast it created a wind tunnel behind her. “Look at its little nose! Its little feet! I NEED TO HUG IT—”

“W-What… the fuck… is that,” Aiden muttered.

His jaw hit the ground.

Literally.

Like, stone cracked beneath his face.

Beside him, Lysandra had the same reaction. Her usually calm, queenly expression turned into pure wide-eyed horror as her mouth dropped so far it nearly dislocated.

“Wh… no. No. Nope. That’s… what is this abomination?!”

“Mii~!” the fluff ball chirped, bouncing slightly.

Ivy, however, squealed. “IT’S LIKE A COTTON BALL WITH FEET! CAN I KEEP IT!?”

Luna was already crawling forward like a predator, claws out—but smiling like she saw a rainbow unicorn. “Come here, you adorable little puff of destiny. I shall name you…”

Everyone leaned in.

She raised a single finger like a god bestowing a title.

“Fluffnugget.”

Aiden dropped his head into his hand. “You did it. You actually named it Fluffnugget.”

“You agreed to this last wave!” Luna shouted.

“I said please don’t! That’s not agreement!”

Lysandra stumbled back, visibly uncomfortable. “It’s breathing sparkles. What is this nightmare?”

“IT’S CUTE, THAT’S WHAT IT IS!” Luna snapped.

“Mii~?”

The bunny blinked up at them.

Lysandra turned pale. “Why is it staring at me like that?”

“It likes you,” Ivy whispered. “It wants snuggles.”

“I want a restraining order.”

Then—

the bunny twitched.

Everyone froze.

Its ears dropped.

It looked left.

Looked right.

Its sparkles… dimmed.

“Miiiii…” it whimpered.

Luna tilted her head. “Wait, is it… sad?”

Ivy clutched her hands. “It looks hurt…”

Aiden frowned. “What’s it—?”

And then the ground shattered.

“MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII—!!!”

The cute, tiny bunny BLASTED forward like a railgun shot.

It became a white missile of doom.

With cute squeaky sounds.

Luna’s tail stood straight. “OHCRAP!”

“GET DOWN!” Aiden shouted.

He dove for Lysandra, tackling her to the side.

Luna flipped, grabbed Ivy like a football, and rolled behind a broken column.

BOOOOOM!

The Fluffnugget hit where they had been standing—exploding in a burst of pink glitter and kinetic death.

Aiden groaned from under Lysandra, still blinking stars from his vision. “What the hell… that thing’s a—”

He glanced up.

The red system bar floated above it now.

—

RED LEVEL THREAT

“FLUFFNUGGET”

HP: ██████████████

—

His expression fell completely flat.

He whispered:

“…That bunny is going to kill us.”

Aiden looked at the flashing screen.

—

[Bond Level Up]

New Skill Unlocked: Piracy Detection – This novel is only published on NovelBin. If you’re reading it on a site like NovelBin or NovelHall… shame on you.

—

He blinked. “What kind of system message is that?”

—

END OF Chapter : 34 : THE SECOND WAVE!

—

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