(Arthur Leywin POV)
Beyond the large doors lay a stunning meadow that stretched beyond my sight. As we gazed at the brightly lit field of grass, sparkling like polished emeralds, the fact that we were underground felt surreal.
"Let me guess, this field wasn't here last time," Reginald muttered, his eyes glued to the enchanting scenery.
Brald exhaled sharply, still staring. "N-No, nothing like this."
Reginald sighed and stepped through the door, prompting us to exchange hesitant glances before following him.
Once inside the meadow, I surveyed the vast area. For a moment, I thought we had teleported out of the Dire Tombs until I noticed the stalactites high above, glowing so brightly I had to squint.
What puzzled me was how such a space could exist underground. There were no visible pillars, and the area stretched for hundreds of meters. I was surprised it hadn't collapsed.
"Wow! It's so pretty!" Samantha exclaimed, her head swiveling to take in the view.
Tall trees and shrubs dotted the field, and I felt an urge to relax here, but the hairs on my neck stood on end, urging me to stay alert.
Everyone seemed relaxed except Jasmine and Elijah, whose eyes darted around, searching for danger.
"Something's off. Stay alert," I warned, drawing my shortsword and resting my hand on the hilt of Dawn's Ballad.
"Are you sure? I don't hear anything," Kriol said skeptically, but he raised his shield.
I continued scanning our surroundings. The light from the stalactites was brighter than in previous caves, and a thin veil of haze hung over the meadow.
What am I missing?
Suddenly, the mist thickened, obscuring our vision.
A deep thud broke the silence.
"Clara? Is that you? H-How are you alive?" Kriol shouted, dropping his shield and reaching into the fog.
"I knew you couldn't be dead! Stay there! I'm coming!" He bolted off, disappearing into the mist.
"Damn it, Kriol! Stop, it's dangerous!" I yelled, but he was already gone.
Something yanked my arm. "I think the mist is an illusion," Jasmine said, her voice close but hard to discern.
"I thought so too." I clicked my tongue in frustration. "Everyone! Stick together! This mist is playing tricks. Samantha, barrier!"
They gathered around my voice, forming a sphere of water for protection.
The mist thickened, limiting our vision to a meter. The once peaceful meadow now felt ominous, as if the mist wanted to consume us.
"Clear my enemies from my path with an ever-raging howl," Jasmine chanted, struggling to control the wind.
[Storm's Gale]
The tornadoes she conjured collided, bursting forward and clearing a path through the mist.
But our excitement faded as we saw what lay ahead: tentacles of vines and branches advancing toward us.
"Enough of this!" Lucas shouted, pushing Jasmine aside and swinging his staff.
"Crescent Ember!" he yelled, unleashing a fiery blade.
The flames scorched the vines, but they barely flinched.
"Shit! What kind of trees aren't afraid of fire?" Brald hissed, igniting his broadsword and charging.
"Samantha! Elijah! Lucas! Support us!" I commanded, channeling mana into my sword.
The mist was absorbed by the advancing vines, finally revealing our foe: a colossal mana beast resembling a centaur, towering over us.
Its upper body was armored, wielding a drill-like lance, while its lower half was made of the very vines we fought. Its green eyes glared down at us with malice.
I swallowed hard, realizing we had been battling its toes for the last hour.
"We have to run," Jasmine urged, pulling me back toward the doors.
"What about them?" I protested, glancing at our friends.
She remained silent, tugging harder.
Rationally, fleeing made sense, but abandoning my team felt wrong.
Suddenly, the beast thrust its lance, creating a gale.
[Earthen Shield]
Elijah conjured a wall of earth, but the beast's lance shattered it with a thunderous explosion.
Reginald was caught in the lance, and the beast seemed to gloat, having captured another insect.
I grabbed Samantha, who was frozen in shock, and lifted her onto my shoulders. "Jasmine! Grab Brald! We need to run! Lucas, Elijah! Block any attacks!"
Jasmine picked up the one-armed Brald, and we looked back to see the beast staring at us.
"We need to move!" I shouted, but just as I willed mana into my body, a blast of fire hit me, sending me flying as Samantha tumbled off.
Though my body absorbed most of the impact, I was stunned, and Lucas was already running for the exit.
"What the hell are you doing?" Elijah shouted, pointing his staff at Lucas, who was almost at the cave's entrance.
"You think I'd risk my life for you? Be honored to be the heroes who stalled the beast for my escape!" Lucas scoffed, turning back to smirk at me before conjuring a smokescreen.
"That coward!" Elijah cursed, adjusting his glasses as the cavern trembled from the beast's fury. The vines began to climb out of the crater left by Elijah's spell, advancing toward us.
The elderwood guardian let out a terrifying roar, its green eyes turning red as its tendrils transformed into a tsunami of vines, barreling toward us.
I quickly assessed our options. Even if I activated the first phase of my beast's will, I wouldn't last long enough to save everyone.
Frustrated, I realized I had no choice but to use it. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes to search for Sylvia's dormant power within my mana core. Releasing it, I was engulfed in a suffocating surge of energy.
The world around me blurred as a vibrant aura enveloped me.
"Phase Two," I whispered, my voice strained. "Dragon's Awakening."
__________________________
Flying through the skies of the Beast Glades, I was searching for the Dire Tombs. It was hard to find; I knew it was near the Dragonspire Inn, but I couldn't locate it anywhere. After a long time, I finally found it. Landing at the entrance, I said, "Nue, wait for me to come back," while patting my owl. I then started to walk toward the dungeon entrance.
Stepping into the dungeon, I felt the temperature suddenly drop as I descended down a gradual slope.
I had done some research on the Dire Tombs dungeon. It was a unique place, even among the mysterious dungeons. The beasts that made their homes here had been described in the records as "undead." I had 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 number of undead mana beasts.
Digging deeper, some adventurers and mage guilds speculated that at the bottom of this dungeon might be a special artifact capable of reanimating 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 from conquering the dungeon, where the mana beasts inside had been defeated and the treasures looted. This dungeon had been cleared—or at least it was, until an adventurer discovered the hidden passage—but it had never been fully defeated.
Suddenly, a steady growl filled the dungeon hall.
Narrowing my eyes, I focused on the source of the sound. I had just reached the end of the descending passage and entered an underground cave no larger than fifty meters in diameter.
Looking around, the whole cave glowed with a dim blue color. Above me, the cave was covered in stalactites.
From the spaces between the stalactites fell two dozen mana beasts that looked like large bats, except with four limbs replacing what would normally have been wings. The hollow bodies of the bat-like mana beasts had their ribs fully visible, and inside, where the beast core should have been, was a cracked rock.
I guess it was true.
"If I remember correctly, they attack in groups," I thought.
As the bat beasts spread out and began to circle around and attack me, I pointed my two fingers at them and said, "Dismantle." Sharp yelps and pained whimpers echoed from the mana beasts.
Many of the bat runners had been cut down. As I continued forward to the location of the next room, the rather sickening sound of bones crunching and flesh gurgling made me turn my head back.
To my surprise, the bat runners that had just been killed began to reanimate, their bodies snapping back into place.
I chose to ignore them and advanced into the next room.
After a while, I went through two different rooms, and the same thing happened: the first was a small flying beast, and the second was a giant worm.
This hall wasn't as long as the previous ones, but at the end of the hall was a large double door with unfamiliar runes etched all over it.
Pushing the door open, I walked in, and what I saw was chaos. "I'm late," I thought, looking at the effects of the spells: ice, fire, earth, plant, and lastly, the black metal. "I wanted to fight the monster. Sigh. Well, what's done is done. Let me look for the core and check on them."
I remembered that the core was with the blonde girl. Searching for her body, I saw black metal protecting a person. Walking toward the black metal, I tapped it. "Hmm, it's hard," I thought. Placing one hand on it, I muttered, "Cleave," and it cut open. Inside was the blonde girl holding onto something. "She's badly injured."
She was just barely hanging on. Both her legs had been broken clean in multiple places from where the elderwood's tendrils had grasped her. Splinters of white jutted out from the bloody mess that were her legs, and milky yellow pus indicated that her wounds had already become infected.
The good news, if we could even call it that, was that only her legs had incurred serious damage. The rest of her body had cuts and bruises but was otherwise unharmed.
Limping toward her, I checked her neck for a pulse and placed a hand on her forehead. "Well, she doesn't have a fever yet, and her pulse is steady enough that I don't think her life is in danger anytime soon. The silver lining is that she's unconscious. If I help her, I know she won't die, but she may never walk again."
"Don't send that to me, you stinky tiger. Okay, okay, I will help her. I'm not that bad, you know."
I made a shadow graphic with my hand and muttered, "Round deer." A towering deer emerged from my shadow. "Welcome back, healer," I said while scratching its head. Crouching down and opening her hand, I saw the core. Taking it off her hand, I inspected it. "Hmm, it looks normal."
"Well, I'll do some research on it later. Heal her," I instructed the deer. It started to walk toward her and leaned its head to touch her body. A green aura began to emanate from the tip of its nose into the blonde girl's body, and she started to heal rapidly. In a second, she was back to full health.
"With this core, I finally finished the first phase of the plan," I said, stretching my arms.
"Should I check on the others? Nah, they will be fine. I should probably prepare myself for going back and getting scolded by my mother." I felt a shiver of fear as I remembered my mother's anger.
"No! I don't want to. Don't you dare start telling me what's right and wrong now. They are fine—just some bruises. I will check either way."
Ever since we discovered that the tiger could somehow talk, she hadn't stopped asking questions about everything I did. I know she is curious, but the moment she questions my actions, I start to get annoyed. So, I found a way to block her thoughts, and it worked. Yes, she did get upset and sad, but I finally found some peace.
Pulling myself from my thoughts, I arrived in front of their dome of black metal. Touching the dome, I muttered, "Cleave." The dome was cut open by my technique. Looking inside, I saw them. After a brief check, I said, "Mmm, yes, they are fine—just some bruises and burns on the failure girl. The rest are okay."
Let's go back to home now .