The entire hallway was full of spikes from all directions, with the adventurers' bodies being pierced and left dangling midair. There were a few corpses that were pierced into the ground that the dungeon hadn't claimed, and Sol knew why.
'I hardened the ground and filled it with my mana to create the spikes, kinda similar to the [Harden Earth], but without the final step of making them launch towards people.'
Since the bodies weren't getting absorbed by the dungeon anytime soon, Sol did his best to [Siphon] the bodies while holding in whatever was left of his lunch. Sol, by now, was used to dead bodies, but this was simply on another level.
By focusing on the adventurers' status plates, it made the process much more palatable as Sol selected the skills and let [Siphon] do its thing.
[Disarm] leveled up! (7 -> 8)
[Intermediate Weapon Mastery] leveled up! (6 -> 7)
Learned [Seeking Shot] Lv 6!
[Wild Hunt] leveled up! (1 -> 2)
[Overpower] leveled up! (3 -> 4)
Learned [Mana Slash] Lv 2!
Many of Sol's skills leveled up once or twice, giving him a rather decent overall boost in power. After siphoning the last of the bodies, he opened his status page.
Name: Sol
Race: Human
Talents: [Siphoner], [Transformer]
Level: 71
Exp: 9,210,095/27,300,000
HP: 1400
MP: 1400
Str: 75 (+70)
Vit: 70 (+70)
Agi: 70 (+70)
Int: 70 (+70)
Wis: 70 (+70)
Talent Skills:
[Siphon] Lv 4, [Analysis] Lv 6, [Aggregate] Lv EX, [Reinterpret] Lv EX
Passive Skills:
[Muffled Movements] Lv EX, [Counter] Lv 5, [Shortened Cast] Lv MAX, [Increased Mana Regeneration] Lv MAX, [Mana Perception] Lv 6, [Mana Efficiency] Lv 9, [Precise Coordination] Lv 6, [Basic Psychic Mastery] Lv 3, [Intermediate Weapon Mastery] Lv 7, [Wild Hunt] Lv 2, [Invincible Body] Lv 8, [Perfect Balance] Lv 2, [Death Absorption] Lv 6, [Danger Sense] Lv 7
Active Skills:
[Cross Slash] Lv 3, [Ground Shrink] Lv 2, [Snap Punch] Lv 8, [Invisibility] Lv 5, [Terra Spikes] Lv 5, [Rock Throw] Lv 4, [Burrow] Lv MAX, [Fell Cleave] Lv 8, [Crippling Strike] Lv 8, [Telepathy] Lv 1, [Barricade (Variant)] Lv 9, [Intermediate Elemental Magic] Lv 5, [Overpower] Lv 4, [Create Undead] Lv 6, [Weapon Enhancement (Variant)] Lv 7, [Disarm] Lv 8, [Backstab] Lv 6, [Bombardment] Lv 1, [Storm Blitz] Lv 8, [Piercing Lunge] Lv 5, [Seeking Shot] Lv 6, [Mana Slash] Lv 2
The only two new skills Sol believed to be worth taking from the group were [Seeking Shot] and [Mana Slash].
[Seeking Shot] Lv 6: Fire an arrow that guides itself towards your target with mana. Unable to circumvent walls and other obstacles. Mana Cost: 75.
[Mana Slash] Lv 2: Compress mana on the edge of the blade and send it flying towards a direction. Distance: 6 meters. Width: 1 meter. Mana cost: 50.
Sol considered entering the hallway and looting the bodies, but from a glance, he could tell most of their equipment had been shredded by his attack, and the only valuable thing they could have were their storage rings. The main issue was Sol no longer had control over the spikes he created, and even if he did, he had no mana to remove them. As it was, the hallway was impossible to traverse with the spikes blocking everything.
'It's not worth it. At most, they'll have 1000 gold. It's a lot of money, but we should make that much by the time we reach the 20th floor.'
Instead of spending time trying to break through the spikes, Sol chose to get some rest and recover. After all, they will have to break through the remaining adventurers that were blocking their exit.
Unable to rest in any safe area, the two had to settle with finding a dead end and Sol casting [Earth Wall] to block the entrance. It prevented monsters from wandering into their temporary camp, but it couldn't be considered safe. At any moment, they could be attacked by monsters or adventurers alike if the remaining ones decided to chase them down.
Even though all Sol wanted right then was to get a full night's sleep, he was unable to do so as he had to maintain [Mana Perception] just to be safe.
'Why are you sleeping so peacefully…'
While Sol had to stay awake and keep watch, Amber slept without hesitation, which made him extremely jealous. Even if Sol decided to sleep he wasn't sure he would be able to fall asleep as quickly as she did because his worries would keep him awake.
Four hours later, the two had rested enough and prepared to set out towards the floor's exit.
…
At the exit of the floor, Urian was standing guard along with four other adventurers. The other five were resting, as they eventually realized this was dragging on for too long and implemented watch shifts so they would be in their peak condition.
One of the adventurers standing guard whispered to Urian.
"Hey, we haven't heard from them in a while. Could it be… they got the void root and bailed?"
Urian didn't respond.
"You know, keep it for themselves. Bigger cut-"
"Shut up, will you? I know what you're insinuating and no, they wouldn't do that."
Urian didn't trust all the ones who were chasing Sol and Amber, but he didn't have to trust them all. There were a select few in that group who he could truly trust and knew they wouldn't betray him like that. If someone in the group tried to convince the others to betray him he would know.
"… Then why haven't they called to say anything?"
Urian didn't respond immediately; he hesitated, letting his allies know what likely happened.
"They're probably dead."
"What?! Could those two be A-Rankers?"
"Doubt it, they wouldn't have run in the first place if they were. It doesn't matter if we are the last ones alive, do you plan to leave? They have a void root; even if we split it between all of us, we would each have enough money to do whatever the hell we wanted for the rest of our lives. Would you really throw away this opportunity?"
One of the nearby adventurers chimed in, "Besides, even if they are A-Rankers, I doubt they would be completely unhurt after fighting 20 B-Rankers. The two we left in the floor entrance also haven't seen them, so they must be injured or stuck fighting monsters, hopefully both. I just hope they don't die somewhere, and we lose the root to the dungeon."
"The dungeon giveth, the dungeon taketh away…"
The old saying elicited a few chuckles in the group, raising the mood as they continued to wait for the duo with the priceless material.