36 Chapter 36 - The Dire Tombs I: Is this really a Group?

[Luz Leywin POV]

Stepping inside the dungeon, I felt a shivering cold covering my body as we went down the small slope at the entrance. But I continued beside Kriol and Jasmine, while I saw the whole group ahead, holding tight in MW's bow form, I already started to pull the purple magic line that appeared whenever I needed it, creating an arrow of green, purple and black. That arrow was surrounded by the transparent mana and black mana that my mana core could feel.

According to the research that Jasmine and Arthur did before we went to Dire Tombs, this dungeon was a unique and mysterious type, with the beasts around here being classified as "undead" according to the latest explorations that were made before ours. I was quite interested, as there was a chance these "immortal" mana beasts were actually charged with the black mana I have. That is, I would be the best counter against them.

However, there was a theory made by the other groups that came here, that in fact the undead beasts are only reanimated thanks to an artifact that is in the deepest room of the dungeon, which was never really proven, only speculate.

By the way, I liked the way people here separated the terms, "clearing a dungeon" meant that the place was explored, which was different from "Conquering a dungeon" where absolutely all mana beasts were destroyed and treasures taken. This current dungeon was thought to be cleared, until Brald discovered a secret passage that has never been explored. That's when this group enter in the story.

"We're approaching the first level of the dungeon, stay on guard. The mana beasts here aren't strong, but there'll be a lot of them. Don't waste your time trying to collect the mana cores from the beasts... They don't have one." Brald declared, lowering his stance.

I soon could hear Oliver ahead of me, complaining in a low voice about the situation. That's when I understood, as most of the gains from entering a dungeon were the mana cores of the beasts around there, a dungeon with most monsters having no mana cores, was the same as a dungeon that only served to waste money. This factor could also be the reason why our party is the only one there. According to the reports, this dungeon has only been explored 4 times so far, counting the group that discovered it and our group.

Suddenly, a steady growl filled the dungeon hall. Narrowing my eyes, I focused on the source of the sound, while hold with a strong hand in my bow. We had just reached the end of the descending passage and into an underground cave with forty meters in diameter. Looking around the whole cave was glowing in a dim, blue color. Above us, there was the most natural trap, this cave was corvered in stalactites.

From the space between the stalactites fell two dozen of mana beasts that I would describe as wingless bats, or at best something resembling a wendigo. Their bodies looked hollow because their ribs were exposed and where there should have been a mana core, there was a strange stone full of cracks... From the stone there seemed to be a small residue of mana, but I couldn't identify it.

"Batrunners! They're not strong but they attack in groups. Minimizing the use of our mana is going to be the key inside this dungeon! Get ready!" Brald roared over the growling of the batrunners, all of whom were positioned to pounce, their patches of fur standing on end and their teeth bared.

"Great winds... Get my enemies far from us.... Wind Arrow, Air knockback." I recited a basic spell in a soft voice while aiming right at the center of one of the dozen beasts, so the area effect of my spell would reach the maximum possible. As the name said, the effect of my magic was only to push all enemies away from us, but before I even had a chance to shoot...

"Form and torment the foes around! Fire Cyclone!"

I heard a yell from next to me and I realized it was Lucas who had casted the spell. Four twisters of fire swirled to life around us, filling the cavern with a wave of heat. As the fiery cyclones spread out, sharp yelps and pained whimpers echoed from the mana beasts.

"What a waste of mana." Me, Zalgnity and Sylvia speak at the same time in my mind, I felt until my voice echoed for me to hear it twice, but it must be just my dissatisfaction with the scene.

My magic was undone in my hands, with the mana I used to recite it being absorbed into the bow, as if that spell had been storaged for other time. The fire cyclones had killed most of the batrunners and the ones left had been badly burned, making it easy to defeat the rest.

"Next time, follow orders and don't waste mana like that. Your spell was overkill!" Brald growled over his shoulder before marching ahead.

Lucas just rolled his eyes. "I don't see the problem. We killed them fast enough so that everyone else could save their mana."

With that speech, I was accelerating my step and slapped Lucas hard behind the head, he looked at me angrily and I just spoke. "So you want an excuse to spend all your mana on easy things and leave the strong mana beasts with us?" It didn't take a genius to come up with this theory, but my vision of essence made it blatantly clear that this was the blond fire conjurer's idea.

"Hey! Do you think I would do something like that?!" he said with a smug smile.

"From what I saw in your rank exam, you like to spend your mana to show yourself, this isn't a fucking competition, it's a dungeon and we're heading to an unknown part of it. So yeah, I think you would." I said and went back to walking, being next to Jasmine and Kriol.

Right after that, while the party was moving, Samantha, Elijah and even Oliver did the same as me, giving Lucas a hard slap on the back of the head, while they all looked with disgust at the blond noble. Apparently they either took my word for it because I was an S-Class, or they could just see that nobleman doing it without me having to speak.

I tried to pick up the strange stone that those mana beasts had, but it turned to dust with my touch, but halfway through we heard bone noises and the stone in the form of dust was forming again in that cracked sphere and floated behind me in high velocity. When we all turned around, we saw that the batrunners were rising, and those turned to ash by Lucas' magic reformed in our gaze.

"We killed them fast enough so that everyone else could save their mana." I spoke in a mocking voice, using the exact words Lucas said to Brald.

Brald asked if anyone knew of a way to stop the batrunners from approaching us. So we all ran to a path there, while Elijah and I used our magic together to create a hybrid wall of plant and earth. That way we cover the entrance where we passed, preventing the undead beasts from following us.

The path we were on now was a long dark hallway, wide enough for a maximum of four people to walk side by side. We took a few steps and soon I could hear a high-pitched noise, like a whistle?

Arthur soon seemed to make a quick move towards Samantha and used his short sword to defend against something, I know the defense was made, as there was a noise of metal echoing through the hallway.

"Th-thank you, Note..." Samantha said a little scared by that.

"Something's wrong... There were no traps last time..." Brald picked up what had hit Art's short sword, was a type of spike.

"I don't think they are traps but strategically placed mana beasts, which doesn't make the situation better." Arthur said, while I noticed a faint scuttle of the smal beasts on the walls.

"Stay alert, everyone!" Brald said, kicking the spikes to the side.

Jasmine already had her twin daggers guarding her vitals before Reginald and Kriol readied their weapons. Samantha was behind Arthur, holding him in his sleeve as her free hand gripped tightly at her wand. Fortunately, we reached the end of the hall with no other traps deterring us.

The next cave was similar to the previous one, but twice the size and littered with suspicious holes all over the ground. I could feel that it was hot in there, this was very different from before, that was very cold.

"Don't go near the holes. They're geysers that shoot jets of extremely hot gas. It should be fine as long as you're not too close to the explosion range." Brald announced as we all looked for signs of mana beasts. As if on cue, the cave shook, shaking the sharp stalactites above a stressful level. Forcing my attention from the swaying spikes, a large figure erupted from the ground.

"Was that here last time, Brald?" in one of my sides, I saw Kriol asking this in a worrying tone as we all peered up at the mana beast.

The creature was a type of Giant-worm with a glowing red hide and countless rows of teeth encircling its mouth. It was impossible to guess how long this worm was since its body was still mostly underground.

"Okay, we're not in the desert and we don't have Princess Leia, but did we have to have that there?" Zalgnity tried to make that comment to relax, but my expression didn't change, already thinking of some spells I could use.

"N-No, it wasn't.. I don't get what's happening. It doesn't make sense for a new mana beast species to enter a dungeon like this." Our handsome leader had a wavering look, his mask of confidence all but gone.

"Cheh. It's not a big deal. It's just an oversized insect." Lucas quipped.

We braced ourselves for its strike, but to our surprise, the gigantic red worm didn't attack us. Instead, the beast burrowed back underground, leaving in its path another gaping hole.

"It doesn't seem to be after us..." muttered Elijah while his sharp eyes studied the hole the giant worm had left.

While I was thinking, the red worm-beast was now burrowing itself into the walls of the cave, creating more holes from all different angles, but... It never confronted us...

"Wait a minute...." I said while my mind was thinking of what was happening.

"Are we just going to stand around watching the worm dig or are we going to go?" Oliver, our lanky emmiter, shoved Brald out of the way, fearlessly taking the lead as he strode towards the other end of the cave.

It didn't need to be a genius to know that Oliver's attitude was to show off in front of Samantha. And in this moment was when my mind clicked of an idea.

Without waiting any longer, I transformed the item that was in my hand, the MW changed shape, from a bow turning into a whip. I used my new item to charge Oliver and pull him, the whip was flowing with transparent mana and black mana while increasing in size to what I needed.

"H-hey?!?!" Oliver exclaimed angrily as the walls seemed to make loud noises.

"Lucas! Heatwave Barrier, NOW!" Arthur roared at the confused blonde noble. While fumes becan filling the cavern.

I tried to forcefully pull Oliver towards us using my whip, while Arthur pulled Brald by the arm so we were all together.

Just as the barrier was erected, a blast of mustard-yellow gas bombarded us. Lucas' barrier trembled against the pressure, but Samantha managed to gather her wits in time to help him out with a water barrier of her own just beneath Lucas'.

The two barries of opposing elements sizzled, making the area inside the spell a makeshift sauna. Despite the crude teamwork, however, the barrier held, leaving us sweating but intact, until the blast of gas began to subside.

I felt that my whip was too light, as if the thing I was holding had come loose, so I pulled it slowly and what we saw was something terrifying.

My whip was wrapped around a set of rib bones, and we looked in the direction Oliver was standing before. There were several bones and a skull. Our healer had been dissolved by the acid gas, leaving only the bones with pieces of fresh meat stuck together and his staff.

It took a single second, until everyone there was fully aware of what had happened, I could hear Samantha screaming in fear while everyone else was standing still. I on the other hand noticed that my whip didn't seem to have been affected, by the way the weapons provided by my special ring are incredibly tough and unaffected by things like that.

"Shit!" Brald cursed, gnashing his teeth. Oliver was our healer, and that idiot ran off, not even casting a protection spell on himself.

"We have to move!" Arthur and I seemed to say in unison while the others remained silent there.

My brother and I were now walking in front of the group. Art seemed to take an emerald stone from our Healer's corpse equipment and went to give it to Samantha. Possibly the magic stone he had was much better than our Water Conjurer's, if this stupid's death is worth it, at least help others.

"The masked duo are right, we need to move before another eruption occurs. That giant worm beast is making more holes. I don't think our barriers will hold for another wave." Our leader stated as he stepped in charge once more.

We were moving, missing halfway to get out of that part of the dungeon. Elijah who was behind us asked, addressing Arthur. "How did you guys know something was going to happen? I mean, Diamond tried to pull Oliver back to us while you told Lucas to use a heat shield." Everyone's eyes darted towards us, waiting to know what we were going to answer.

"We didn't know... Just a hunch that these mana beast movements weren't meaningless. So I deduced it had to do with the geigers that Brald mentioned." I answered him without turning around.

"Unlike my colleague, I didn't associate geigers with that, as the mana beast glowed red, I thought more about the alternative of it suddenly casting a surprise fire spell." Arthur said, doing the same as me, not turning around to answer, just continuing to move.

The giant worm that had been constantly burrowing in and out of the cave, creating more holes, suddenly stopped in front of us, blocking the exit. Without warning, it whipped its head forward and smashed at the ground we were standing on.

Kriol, who was positioned at the back, lunged forward and, with surprising harmony with Samantha, created a water barrier that cushioned the blow before they were sent tumbling back. However this gave enough time for Elijah to erect a large ring of rock to erupt, cuffing the worm to the ground.

"Impact Blast!" Reginald bellowed as his giant hammer glowed a bright yellow. Jumping up, he spun his body, creating momentum before smashing his hamer directly at the worm's head.

With this mana-infused attack, the worm's whole body shook, creating ripples on its red hide. However this also destroyed the earthen binding that Elijah had conjured, freeing the giant worm. The mana beast flailed its body, knocking away Reginald and Brald, who was also nearby.

Arthur managed to pull Elijah out of harm's way before we went charging at the beast. The giant worm shivered, then unleashed a shower of acid spittle at us.

We drowned out the panicked yells of our comrades, telling us to run away, as we advanced toward the worm. I created some wind barriers in the air to protect us at that acid yellow saliva. Once we were close enough, my brother drew his shortsword, willing flames to surround his blade. While he was doing this, I jumped and attacked the beast's head.

My sword was with a spell storaged inside it, that same "Wind Arrow" spell I used before when it was in the bow form. With this, my attack actually worked as a "knockback bonk". The worm went back with its head and my brother jumped slashing it with a fire in his sword, making it glow red.

The worm was with its flesh burning a lot, with a open space. Jasmine went to us and attack that weak spot, Art had just made in our enemy, with her wind mana daggers. The beast screamed and escaped back into the hole it had emerged from.

"The oversized worm wasn't even strong." Lucas just shook his head, disappointed, when all of a sudden we heard another rumble.

The noise of the gas coming towards us was reaching my ears and then I looked at my surroundings. Arthur was heading towards stupid Lucas, who was facing a wall instead of activating protection for the entire group.

That way the other members had to make protections on their own, Kriol and Elijah were together, with Kriol creating a water protection using his shield for both of them. Jasmine was with Reginald, creating a small windshield to protect them, as she herself is not a conjurer. And lastly, Brald was with Samantha, using the mana-embedded shield to protect himself, as Samantha was too panicked to activate a protection of her own.

I walked back to the group, my feet filling with wind, Arthur wasn't a conjurer, which made him protect only himself and Lucas.

"WIND BARRIER!" I was doing Lucas' work, creating a dome of wind around us, but from the distance I was, there still seemed to be some casualties.

Arthur, Lucas, Jasmine and Reginald looked untouched, Kriol and Elijah were fine, just with some red spots on their skin from the acidity of the geigers. On the other hand, Brald had his right arm hit, as some of the gas had managed to enter the dome and hit him, luckily, not hitting anyone else and not causing worse damage to our leader, who even so, had now lost from the right elbow down.

"Let's go!" Brald yelled through gritted teeth. I took his sword while he put his shield in his back. I gave his sword for him to hold in the left hand.

We immediately made a break for the exit to arrive in another dim hallway, much wider than the last one. Everything was silent, except for the breathing of most of the party members. Samantha was trying to use her cloak as a bandage for Brald, thus covering the rest of his remaining right arm. Kriol was holding on to his own shield while Reginald and Jasmine were leaning against one of the stone walls. Elijah had his hands resting on his thighs, still trying to catch his breath, panting and looking at the floor, with Arthur comforting him and helping him to calm down and take a deep breath.

Everyone's faces were down. We'd barely made it halfway through the dungeon, but we'd already had significant losses, like our healer dead and our leader missing half of an arm.

"This is why I said to stay alert, Lucas! If you had stayed focused and reacted in time to set up a barrier, we wouldn't be in this state.. I WOULDN'T BE IN THIS STATE!" Brald lashed out venomously but with good reason. His career as an adventurer was probably gone after this. He'd most likely be demoted from his class once the guild found out about his crippling injury.

"Don't blame me! It was your fault you couldn't protect yourself in time!" he spat back, standing up.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!? Note had to save your ass! While Diamond had to go back to us and create a Barrier while he was trying to be with us! He did your job! A ELF DID A JOB OF A FIRE CONJURER! You didn't do shit!! And YOU ARE SAYING IT'S MY FAULT?!?" Brald snarled, picking up his sword.

"ENOUGH!!!" I and Art Roared in unison with our voiced augmented with mana, while he was using normal mana, I used Sound mana. The large corridor echoed with our voices, as both Brald and Lucas immediately snapped their mouths shut in surprise.

"We need to stop blaming others here! The shit is done! There's nothing we can do! If we're going to complain to each other, let it happen when we're out of here!" I said to place order.

"And speaking of when we're out of here. Brald, regarding the damage suffered, Kriol and Elijah are with few burns, you lost half of your right limb, and we lost our healer. But me and Diamond have a total of 5 stones with magic ability for a healing spell. That means we can still go on, but will you still want to come with us? We're less than an hour from the surface if you keep running." Arthur said that looking at our leader.

"I'll continue. From my current damage, this is possibly my last dungeon. So I'll make the most of it." Even through the pain, he had a confident smile. This I respected.

Arthur soon faced the blond nobleman, after having Brald's answer, he looked snobbish, with a look of pride as if he had done nothing wrong. "Lucas, you need to understand that we must act together! It doesn't matter if you are a dark yellow core or GODSHIT NOBLE. Right now, the only thing you are is an adventurer who CAME HERE and JOINED A PARTY! If you continue to act like that, so I think you should be 100% on your own in the middle of this dungeon!" He glared back at my brother with a baleful look but kept to himself, whipping his head away from the group.

"Samantha and Elijah, we need you guys to stay focused and alert to set up a barrier at the right moment." I said, getting a nod of affirmation from the two of them.

"Let's get a couple hours to rest before we continue on, what do you think, Diamond?" Arthur said looking at me.

"It's a good choice, Note. Actually, I'm going to make a campfire here just to have some light that isn't this sad blue." I said, while my brother sat down next to Jasmine, taking out his sack of water.

The group grew silent, with some of the members deciding to sleep. I was talking to Kriol who was one of the few who didn't decide to take a nap, he just sat against the wall.

.----------.----------.

[Arthur Leywin POV]

When I woke up after taking my nap, I took in my surroundings, the bonfire that Luz made using a Fire Starter was still lit, and on top of the flames there seemed to be some.. Sandwiches? They are making food for us?

"Ooh! Note, you woke up. Want one?" Elijah said, his skin wasn't with the red spots like before, I looked at his hand, seeing him offer me one of the sandwiches.

"Oh...Thanks..." I looked at it as I took it from my friend's hand.

That sandwich didn't look like much, the only things I could see without having to open the bread was the melted and crispy cheese, along with a kind of red jelly. I lifted my mask enough so that only my mouth was showing and I took a bite to taste it, my eyes widened, it was just too delicious.

"M-my gosh! Who did that?!" I exclaimed as I took another hearty bite.

"Oho! Glad you liked it, Note. I brought the ingredients, it's a recipe my wife used to make for me." Kriol said sitting next to my brother and Brald.

"Oh my, really, this is divine! You're a lucky man if she always does something like that for you." I said laughing a little, that food had really improved my mood.

Kriol was silent for a few seconds and then smiled at me. "Thanks then. I'll tell her that apparently the masked adventurers loved the recipe. Oh and by the way, I gave the recipe to Diamond, he kept begging." he immediately laughed and my brother looked embarrassed.

We all ate at most twice that sandwich, with Lucas being the only one who looked forced to eat, as his belly was growling while his face was disgusted by being next to me.

"Well leader, can we go?" I asked looking at Brald but he shook his head in denial.

"I'm not the party leader anymore... I realized that... My state of agony and... Fear of dying I had when I lost half my arm... Can make me having bad decisions. I gave the role of leader to your friend." Brald said as I looked at Luz, who just gave me a thumbs up.

"Well, people. Are you all fed? If so, get your stuff and I recommend you already have your weapons in hand!" Luz said putting out the fire with a single light gust of wind.

We all packed up and walked, our mana reserves were full, which meant that there was no strategic reason for us to continue there, the formation was now different: Luz, me and Reginald in the front; Elijah, Jasmine and Kriol in the back, and the rest of the group in the middle.

The hallway we were in was wide, but not long. As we approached what appeared to be a large door with several runes that I didn't recognize on it. They all looked cracked, meaning whatever those runes were, they no longer work.

"I-I don't get it. Even this part is different. There was never a door here." Brald groaned, shaking his head.

"The only thing that was the same was the first cave, where the batrunners had been." He continued, analyzing the runes. He tried to touch it but with his dominant hand gone, he just swung his elbow hollowly at the air. After he realized what he was doing, he cursed aloud while my brother patted his back.

Poor guy...

"Well, no use complaining about it now." Reginald shrugged, lifting up his hammer. "I don't know what those runes or symbols are but there are cracks all over them. I doubt they'll do much now" He said as he swung his hammer.

The impact his silver hammer made against the old metal doors created a shower of sparks as a deep thud boomed. Reginald was visibly shocked by the sturdiness of the door as it lay intact.

"Impact Blast!" The door shuddered this time, but stayed firm. Luz was near Reginald, with his whip transforming in a gauntlet.

"Let's go together?" He said, clenching his right fist and Reginald agreed, both prepared themselves.

"Impact Blast!"

"Soul Punch!"

The blow this time was harder and the door clicked before opening just a little. Stepping forward, Reginald gripped at the slight opening and pried the doors open.

"What in the..." Reginald muttered.

"Why... How... Is this here...???" My brother said, very confused.