Maria and Serah were both unsuspecting however before entering the dungeon they both tried to see if they could simply store everything in their inventory.
Sure enough, it worked. As long as it wasn't on them there wouldn't be any problem but they couldn't take anything out inside of the mountain.
Leon handed two of the other tree artifacts to them, the broken shield went to Serah while the piece of wood went to Maria. He explained a few things to them as they started exploring the dungeon.
" The duchess made it clear that magic was required to clear this place so I will rely on you two to hold back the monsters in there. I will take care of the rest since the only thing we can bring in are these useless artifacts. Once we get the proof of bravery we can get out."
Serah grabbed the broken-down shield and flexed her arm.
" You can count on me for that, even without my armor I still have some defensive spells."
Maria didn't say anything but she also looked determined to do her part. The first few minutes were pretty uneventful as Leon used Earth Manipulation to indicate which places they had explored. Thanks to that they managed to make their way deeper into the labyrinth pretty quickly.
Weird sounds quickly started to resonate around them, making it clear that they were no longer alone. Painful wails, disgusting groans, and intimidating growls mixed together to create an eerie atmosphere.
' I don't think anything can replicate such an atmosphere in real life. Making a show out of this is a good idea.'
Leon looked at the back of the small girl in front of him, despite her size and her timidity he had the feeling that she would become someone impressive in the future. He quickly cleared his mind as a monster appeared in front of the group.
It was a rotten corpse that was moving strangely, almost as if it was controlled by invisible threads. The disgusting sight caused the two girls to back off ever so slightly.
" Get ready."
While saying that, Leon activated Earth Manipulation in his mind, causing the ground under the corpse to rise quickly. The unsteady monster had no reaction as it was launched forward by the cantrip but the girls certainly reacted. The sudden movement scared them so badly that they both screamed.
' This is gonna be harder than I thought.'
Leon sighed in his mind, he didn't use his dual chanting instead he just used Lightning Spark. As the weak magic hit the zombie the electricity caused it to spasm out of control which finally urged Serah to act. Her fist started to shine with holy light as she smashed it into the monster's face.
The sound of flesh searing was heard by the trio. It had clearly dealt a lot of damage to the creature but it didn't seem to care as it scratched Serah with its bony fingers in return.
Blood started to drip from Serah's wound which caused Leon to smile. He sneakily grabbed the broken sword handle from his pocket to try and absorb the blood.
" We grow stronger while they grow weaker."
He whispered to the hilt in an almost crazed manner. The sword had a dark shine for a moment at those words, Serah's blood was slowly getting absorbed by it while Leon launched another Lightning Spark.
The paralyzing effect of the cantrip seemed especially effective against the undead as it spasmed again, giving Maria enough courage to go in.
She had somehow moved behind the creature, while she was out of its vision she stabbed it with her piece of wood and the effect was pretty scary.
It was a simple stab but a giant hole was formed on the creature's body. Its entire health bar disappeared with the hit, stunning both Leon and Serah.
" We need to take care of her first."
With one last whisper to the hilt, Leon stored it again.
" Ohh! Leon, there is a quest with those artifacts!"
The small lady jumped up and down in excitement from her discovery.
" You need to get the last hit on the next one, maybe these artifacts all have some special effects!"
Leon felt a tinge of regret for what he was doing when he saw Maria's innocent reaction however he didn't waver. Sometimes power was necessary to accomplish certain goals.
" I think it's better if you finish your quest first. What is it about?"
Maria looked back at her mission screen that was invisible to others to make sure she read the right thing.
" I have to kill a hundred monsters with the uncomplete bow. I assume that's the artifact's name."
Leon acted as if he had just learned about the mission.
" As a rogue, your attack power is clearly the highest of our group so you should try and kill as many as you can. We can test ours once you are done."
Serah agreed with Leon which caused Maria to feel a bit ashamed of stealing the spotlight.
" Well, if you guys insist. I'll try my best."
She made up her mind just before two other creatures appeared. One looked similar to the corpse they just killed but the other was walking on all four with its head twisted in a weird manner.
Maria was a bit calmer after some success, she immediately tried to hide in the shadows while aiming at the new creature. The thing was completely unaware of her presence as she lunged forward to deliver her attack.
Sadly for her, Leon wouldn't let it be that easy. He used his dual chant to create a Lightning Spark aimed at the normal zombie and with the second cantrip he slightly lowered the ground under the weird creature, causing Maria to barely miss.
The Lightning Spark was his alibi so nobody doubted him but it was useless since they didn't even have the time to look at him. The two girls were both wounded while the hilt slowly drained their blood.
Maria retreated as fast as she could to hide again, most of her damage came from a skill called Sneak Attack so she needed to be unseen to deal any sort of decent damage with the branch. The creatures weren't really smart so they forgot about her existence the moment Serah shined in a holy light.
Serah bravely fought against the two monsters with a clear expression of disgust and fear on her face, her holy magic reduced the damage she took but she was still getting injured. Before long, Maria emerged from the shadows to land a devastating hit that killed the normal zombie instantly again. Only the weird creature was left and it had more health than the zombie.
Despite Leon and Serah constantly attacking it its health was still a bit above half. Maria simply waited a bit and when she thought it was low enough she went it for another finishing blow yet the ground under it was slightly lowered again, leaving the rogue in a vulnerable position.
Rogues were the definition of glass canons, all attack with no defense. With only two hits Maria was left with 2/3 of her health but that didn't stop her from trying to launch a third sneak attack that finally landed, slaying the last monster.
" These things have some weird skill, I don't know how but it kept evading my attacks."
She looked at the corpse of the creature with slightly puffed-up cheeks.
" We should try and hurry, I have a feeling that something might be controlling these things. The more we fight those small fries the harder it's gonna be to defeat the boss."
Serah fearlessly started walking in front after saying that, she had regained a bit of composure after finding out that these monsters were nothing special.
Maria quickly ran up to her, almost sticking to the paladin's back like an eager puppy. Leon was a few steps behind, looking at the hilt that was slowly starting to be enveloped in a thicker shadow.
' Deeper... Bring them deeper and an ally will help you finish them off. The moment you give me their blood is the moment I will reward you with power. Come, my child.'
Leon listened to the whispers that slowly started to become more frequent while showing nothing on his face. They encountered a few more monsters and the fights all went pretty much in the same way. Leon would make sure that his two teammates would be injured then he would let them finish off the monsters.
Once they were both under half health they finally arrived at the center of the labyrinth. The center room was creepy, to say the least.
A dark dragon heart was slowly beating in the middle of it, around it was some altars filled with writings of an unknown language. It looked nothing like a royal test, it was closer to being the headquarter of some weird cult.
The moment all three of them stepped into the room a black portal opened above the giant heart. A skeleton face surrounded by black tendrils peeked out a bit from it.
" Welcome, foolish adventurers."
A voice that didn't seem human at all spoke, sending chills down everyone's spine.