The light blue spinning mass of energy shines bright against the rock wall of the cave.
It lets off a barely audible hum.
Maria shrugs when she sees it, letting out a sigh then begins to walk off to where we were initially headed.
"Not the break. Let's keep going."
I throw a hand in the air.
"Hey, hey! Wait a second, don't you want to at least check it out? Ya never know what's in there. And- well. I'd like to set a teleport point in this dungeon too, it's always good to have a backup plan."
Maria turns, replying.
"Yeah... I guess you're right, I didn't even think about that!"
After this simple agreement, we both jump through the portal. White transport magic brings us to a forest-like dungeon. The grass beneath our feet is thick and lush green.
Maria deactivates her intense Ice magic, as it's not necessary anymore. I do the same, turning off my flames and looking around curiously.
I feel like I've seen a dungeon like this before... but it's been a while. The levels of mana my perception skill picks up tell me this is definitely a low-level dungeon. A mid-level E-class at best.
Using enemy detection and Inspect, I locate a few monsters between levels 30 and 40. This confirms my E-Class suspicions.
Before I can let out another word, a group of 4 large wolves comes running straight at us from a heavily wooded area.
Maria takes care of them with ease, and I look up to the sky, taking in the beautiful view of trees and rocky hills raised off in the distance.
It's so peaceful here.
After recollecting our thoughts and cooling off, we exit back into the steamy cave.
It was a nice little break, and I now have my Dungeon Walker spawn points fixed. So even if we destroy the break, I'll still be able to come back here if need be in the future.
Maria re-activates her Ice magic and I burst into a light flicker of dark flames.
We walk forth into the twisting maze of tunnels, taking out another 20 base-level mobs before facing another mutant.
Again, Maria freezes it solid before the creature can explode like our incident outside. The level 317 breaks into a thousand tiny pieces as we continue on our way to the next glowing blue portal.
The air has already gotten significantly thicker with both hot steam and pure mana.
It becomes much more difficult to see the yellow-orange light at the end of the tunnel, but I still have my perception skills to guide the way.
After a few more slain mutants and about 5 minutes of walking, the next glowing blue portal comes into full view.
We jump through, just to take another rest and get out of the heat.
Once we do, I recognize this landscape too.
Rolling hills of maroon-colored turned-up dirt. Plus, the disgusting smell of rotten flesh. The sky is grey, and the air is still. It's silent.
"A rat dungeon...."
We both deactivate our elemental magic and take a breather.
Maria is red in the face and breathing heavily. We both drink a bottle of water along with MP potions.
I speak up after a few seconds.
"We're almost there. The only dungeon left after this one is the break. No more rest stops, it'll be a lot hotter in there than in the caves we've been trudging through. So be prepared."
Maria nods, beginning to glow blue again and turning toward the exit portal.
"I'm ready. No point in wasting any more time."
I pause, finishing a water bottle and throwing it into my item box.
"You're right."
I begin to hear the scratching and clawing sound of teeth and nails digging into the up-turned soil.
A hoard of a few dozen rat mobs, all between levels 120 and 140 approach. The massive disgusting creatures peek their heads over a nearby dirt mound and the two of us take it as our cue to leave.
We fully activate our elemental magic and hop out of the exit portal nearby before the fight even starts.
I whisper under my breath as we leave.
"Two successful dungeon detours before the main event."
My transport points are set, and we're fully prepared to face the boss.
There aren't any crossroads moving forward, it's a single tunnel down to the final point. Light from mutant monsters leads the way as we continue into the twisting underground tunnel.
The cave floor has a slight descent, bringing us deeper and deeper underground the further we go.
After 5 more mutants and about 100 meters of elevation change further down into the rocky desert cavern, the heat starts to get even more intense.
I'm wiping sweat from my arms and face every few seconds. Maria is blasting her Ice magic with much more intensity as well.
White steam makes it hard to see even 5 meters ahead and my lungs feel like they're being cooked from the inside out with every breath.
I'm able to regenerate my minor injuries with ease, and there have been no complaints from the ice mage behind me yet, so we continue moving forward.
Finally, the distant glow of yellow light from the mutants we slaughter one by one begins to turn red. The mana density also spikes drastically as we round another narrow bend.
"Finally, we found it."
The cave walls around us start to vibrate the closer we get.
The floor beneath my feet rumbles, sending vibrations through my whole body at the same frequency as the now pulsing red light that gets brighter and brighter with every step.
The hot steam filling the air gets thicker, making full breaths close to impossible without breathing in fragments of burning cave matter.
We continue forward until the anomaly I've been searching for comes into full view.
A full-fledged dungeon break.
I've never seen one quite like this...
The cave floor rattles and shakes. I can physically see hot white steam pouring out of the blood-red mass of energy spinning in front of us.
It's over 4 meters in diameter, and the edges flicker and pulse.
The sour smell of sulfur fills the air and I hear Maria cough behind me while I stare into the twisting red void.
My skin feels just like it did burning out in the hot desert sun, but all I feel is the excitement of a new adventure ahead.
I turn back to the Ice user as she tightens the grip on her sword, giving me a nod.
Flickering with dark red flames I jump through and Maria follows.
White transfer magic fills my vision, and I instantly feel the heat around me multiply many times over...
What felt like an intense sunburn moments ago now turns into the distinct feeling of sizzling flesh.
I immediately activate my self regeneration skill while increasing the output of my mana to fuel my flames, combating the invasive heat.
As my vision attempts to come back into full focus, all I see is red...
The hard rock floor below me shakes and rumbles much more violently while the buzz of mana in the air has not left my ears.
Blinking a few times, the landscape eventually makes itself very clear. I raise my head to see a massive volcano before my eyes.
Over 2 kilometers high, it's the only thing visible in this entire dungeon.
The monstrous structure is made of jet-black rock, and behind it is an even darker ominous sky.
The rock beneath my feet slopes upwards at a slight incline. The slope increases the further up the mountain I look, making it easy to stand here, but rather steep when taking into account the entire peak.
The further up I look, the more outlandish the sight before me becomes. Portions of the sloped rock walls are cracked with magma flowing out.
Huge clouds of white steam fill the air and the dungeon crawls with flaming salamanders eyeing us from the crevices of molten stone.
Crimson lava trickles down from the top of the high volcanic structure and tunnels are being carved out by the hot molten material flowing down.
I sense a massive increase in mana output behind me, then turn to watch Maria putting out a new intense royal blue aura.
I've never seen her use this level of magic before.
Steam is coming off the ice she summons at an astounding rate, but the look of determination on her face tells me she's dead set on following me into this battlefield.
As I look back up at the volcano above, 3 mutants come charging down at us. They're levels 322, 317, and 315.
Their flaming tails and backs match the color of the lava flowing down from behind them. All 6 beady eyes, dark as night are locked onto us with intent to kill.
We respond by jumping into action as well.
With a flash of white, blue, and red light, it's all over in an instant.
Maria takes the two monsters that attack up front while I swerve off to the left side, to take care of an irregular mutant that stays about 30 meters behind.
Even in this extreme sweltering heat, Maria can still freeze the approaching monster solid before they're able to even think about a counter.
Satisfied, knowing Maria can fend for herself, I focus on the mutant I've run off to face. From a safe distance, about 25 meters away now, I let a mana-imbued fire strike fly.
On impact just like before, the mutant explodes into a display of molten rock and flames.
I use my Earth Summoning skill on the floor below me to create a black stone just in case, but the aftermath of its self-destruct feature doesn't reach me.
It looks like 15 meters or so is its total blast radius.
I walk over to the crater of molten rock leftover by this mutant's defeat and my eyes light up at item drop floating on the surface of the lava pool by my feet.
"A Firestone."
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Author's Note:
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