Chapter 32: Dire Tombs (1/2)
Stepping into the dungeon, I felt the teradual slope I stood adjacent to Brald, who had his shi+eld up and his sword drawn
Jaseon ere in now It was a unique place, even aeons The beasts that made their homes here had been described in the records as "undead" I'd never heard of mana beasts that could come back to life Because of this, one of the hardest aspects of clearing this dungeon seemed to be the endless a deeper, souilds even speculated that inside the bottoht be a special artifact that was able to reanimate dead mana beasts, but no one had been able to prove it
Clearing the dungeon meant that the area had to be explored It was different froeon, where the mana beasts inside had been defeated and the treasures looted
This dungeon had been cleared—or at least it was, until Brald had discovered the hidden passage—but never defeated
"We're approaching the first level of the dungeon, stay on guard The , but there'll be a lot of the to collect the mana cores fro his stance
I heard a faintto coeon
While the goal of defeating a dungeon was usually to loot the accuh their lives,the beast cores on the way down In most cases, even if parties couldn't defeat or even clear a dungeon, they were still able to come out with a hefty suh price depending on their level
One of the reasons this dungeon had been unpopular, and why our party was the only one inside the dungeon was because thechunk of revenue froone
Suddenly, a steady growl filled the dungeon hall
Narrowing my eyes, I focused on the source of the sound We had just reached the end of the descending passage and into an underground cave no larger than fiftyin a dim, blue color Above us, the cave was covered in stalactites, threatening us with their sharp, glea tips
Out from the spaces between the stalactites fell two dozen e bats, except with four lis The hollow body of the bat-like mana beasts had their ribs fully visible and inside it, where the beast core should've been, was a cracked rock
I guess it was true
"Batrunners! They're not strong but they attack in groups Mini to be the key inside this dungeon! Get ready!" Brald roared over the growling of the batrunners, all of ere positioned to pounce, their patches of fur standing on end and their teeth bared
"Form and torment the foes around! Fire Cyclone!" I heard a yell from behind me and I realized it was Lucas who had casted the spell
Suddenly, four twisters of fire swirled to life around us, filling the cavern with a wave of heat
As the fiery cyclones spread out, sharp yelps and pained whimpers echoed from the ulfed by the fire tornadoes and were charred to ashes The ones that were fortunate enough to escape the tornadoes had fled, trying to circle around and attack us
I could hear Brald click his tongue, dissatisfied that Lucas had just ignored his orders and casted a spell that wasn't necessary
The fire cyclones had killed most of the batrunners and the ones left had been badly burned,it easy to defeat the rest
"Next time, follow orders and don't waste rowled over his shoulder beforeahead
Lucas just rolled his eyes, "I don't see the probleh so that everyone else could save theirhis head, Brald ushered us forward to the other end of the cave As we continued forward to the location of the next roourgling made us all turn our heads back
To ust, the batrunners that had just been killed began to reani into place as the ones that had been burned just seeain from their ashes
Dire Toeon
We chose to ignore them and advanced into the next room while Elijah quietly casted an earthen wall over the entrance so that the batrunners couldn't follow us
The opening on the other side of the cave led us through another dark corridor just wide enough for four people to go through at once
I could tell everyone was a bitthe first cave but I couldn't shake an uneasy feeling
As if to answer ht my attention
I immediately drew my sword and sidestepped in front of Samantha
My shortsword blurred as I instinctively parried the projectiles ai through the dim corridor
"Th-Thank you" Sa, I could tell that her face had paled as the round, har…there were no traps last time" Brald picked up one of the pointed spikes to study it but was baffled
"I don't think they were traps but strategically placed mana beasts, which doesn'tthe faint scuttle of the small beasts on the walls
"Stay alert, everyone," Brald said, kicking the spikes to the side Jas her vitals before Reginald and Kriol readied their weapons Sa htly at her wand
Fortunately, we reached the end of the hall with no other traps deterring us The next cave was similar to the previous cave, but twice the size and littered with suspicious holes all over the ground
"Don't get near the holes They're geysers that shoot extre as you're not in direct proximity of the blast," Brald announced as we all looked for any signs of mana beasts
As if on cue, the cave tre the sharp stalactites overhead to a nerve-wracking degree Forcingfroround
"Was that here last ti tone as we all peered up at the mana beast
The creature reseh to easily s any one of us here, whole With a glowing red hide and countless rows of teeth encircling the hole that I assu this creature was since its body was still et what's happening It doesn't eon like this" Our handso look, his one
"Cheh It's not a big deal It's just an oversized insect," Lucas quipped from behind
We braced ourselves for its strike, but to our surprise, the gigantic red worround, leaving in its path another gaping hole
"It doesn't seem to be after us," muttered Elijah while his sharp, bespectacled eyes studied the hole the giant wor itself into the walls of the cave, creating les, but it never confronted us
"Are we just going to stand around watching the woro?" Oliver, our lanky e the lead as he strode towards the other end of the cave
It was obvious not just to me, but to everyone else that Oliver's brazen attitude was to show off in front of a certain party member
"Get back here! We need to assess what's happening before we go across!" Brald barked, his face furrowed in agitation at the arrogance displayed by the conjurers As our leader stepped forward to go after hi rumble shook as the entire cavern fizzed with the sound of a boiling kettle
"Lucas! Heatwave Barrier, now!" I roared at the confused, blonde noble