The more Leon and the others walked, the more they faced Frost Dire Wolves. Eventually, the cave became large and then begun to fight against two Frost Dire Wolves at the same time. However, nothing major happened. Leon had the power to kill them before they could get too close.
"Why don't you guys use bows or crossbows?" Leon asked.
"Bows that grants us elemental arrows exist, but they consume mana with every arrow used," Ren explained. "Since the monsters appeared, most humans focused on raising their health and endurance while neglecting mana."
Leon did the opposite; he neglected this health. Now that he was back in civilization, he started to wonder if inflicting self-harm would increase his health, but he still was hesitating in doing that. Regardless, after walking for one hour, they finally found the first intersection, and one of the soldiers who was drawing the map of the dungeon made sure to detail that.
"Other groups didn't draw the map of this dungeons?" Leon asked. "Until what point they managed to explore?"
"In dungeons like this, every group has their own exploration maps," Ren explained. "I know what you are thinking, and the emperor decreed that we must share that kind of thing, but for a price. The more filled the map is, the more expensive. We don't have the funds to buy such a map, and I thought it would be better to explore the dungeon as much as possible to gather materials. We will need to create a stock of those since we won't explore the dungeon forever."
"I see…" Leon nodded.
All in all, Ren was thinking ahead. Perhaps it would be very profitable to clear that dungeon time after time for a month, but considering the promise he made to Leon, they couldn't do that. The idea was to increase his influence and make the Emperor get interested in Leon, to do that, they had to accomplish many different things. Leon felt thankful for that, even though Ren and his men hadn't the skill to work like that, he was keeping his promise.
"Mmm… perhaps I should teach them how to use basic magic. That should help me in the long run."
Leon didn't want to lose sight of his goal, but like that saying says… all paths lead to Rome. He could do many things to reach his home, but the best option was to increase his allies. Leon wasn't that calculative, but he was aware that teaching the survivors without requesting for anything in exchange, it would make them feel grateful. Just that wouldn't be enough to help him, but sooner or later, they would feel compelled to help him.
"Achoo!" Leon sneezed.
Congratulations! The skill Ice Resistance has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
While Leon was thinking about that, the most troublesome enemy of that cave started to annoy him. He thought that the tropical climate was annoying, but it indeed was nothing in front of the wrath of the cold. Leon grabbed a few pieces of Frozen Dire Wolf's leather and put it around himself. His body became heavy thanks to it, but that much was fine. Even though usually, he would use that chance to train that skill, the cold was too annoying.
"Geez, the man who killed hundred of megalodons can't stand the cold, huh?" Ren chuckled.
"Humans can accomplish a lot of things with the right mindset," Leon explained. "That is even truer now that we can use magic, but in the end, we all are still just humans."
Ren nodded seriously after understanding the meaning of Leon's message; he could see the endless potential of magic and spells. Still, everything was over once their hearts stop beating, or their brains stop working unless Ren and his soldiers understand that early on, they would die an early death due to arrogance. Ren didn't seem the type of person who would be fazed by power, but you never know…
After finding several bifurcations and dead-ends, Leon felt like they were about to find the end of the dungeon. That mountain wasn't that big, and even though they were just walking, Leon couldn't imagine himself and the others taking days to clear the dungeon.
"By the way," Leon frowned. "How do we prove that we cleared a dungeon?"
"Usually, we find a boss protecting the crystal connecting the two worlds," Ren explained. "So, we just have to bring the boss's head to the manager."
"And when that is not the case?" Leon asked.
"We have to go to the other world, kill a boss, and bring its head…" Ren answered with a pale face.
That was kind of dangerous, until now, the monsters only charged forward recklessly. Although Leon could easily kill them, things would certainly be different with the boss. Frozen Dire Wolves were much stronger than slimes, and a monster boss of that species would certainly be much stronger than the big slimes. It was even possible that it could use magic, so Leon decided a plan of action in case he finds one. His plan of action was to attack mercilessly.
Although Ren imagined that they would have to explore that dungeon for several days, at noon, they found the purple crystal. The map of the dungeon wasn't complete, but they could do that later. Their stock of Frozen Dire Wolf hide was almost too heavy for them to carry, so perhaps they would to do that other day.
Unfortunately, the boss was nowhere to be seen. So Ren and the others began to show complicated expressions since they leveled up their accuracy a lot and put the free status points in intelligence, now they had the power to kill a single Frozen Dire Wolf. However, each person had to hit the monsters two times. So, they barely had the power to kill a single ordinary Frozen Dire Wolf. Against the evolved version of that creature, they had no chance.