Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Chapter 322

The mages who were casting their spell forgot to channel their mana leading to the magic dissipating in the air, while the warriors who were trying to get back on their feet after receiving healing and taking a potion stood motionless.

“It is Impossible after all, we can’t defeat it” having their morale broken after seeing the condition of their guild master many of them fell on their buttocks unable to remain standing.

“Kodyyy” Frida’s sharp cry, woke the priest who was still in a daze.

“[Healing Light]… [Ailment Heal]…” Kody chanted one healing spell after another without worrying about conserving his mana while Frida who had completed her magic, blasted it towards the beast.

A huge flaming ball like a miniature sun dropped down on the Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse and engulfed it in an explosion that encompassed dozens of meters of area. The intermediate tier Flame magic was enough to rock the surroundings and cause a miniature earthquake.

Using this opening, she unfurled her illusory wings and swiftly carried Blake away. Kody hurriedly approached them and inspected the condition of the man.

“How is he?” Frida asked anxiously.

“Multiple bones broken, numerous fractures, organs displaced and heavy bleeding. We need to treat him immediately or else he might go into a concussion”.

He said with a grave face. Never in his wildest dream would he have believed that Blake whose defence was something that made him the steel wall that protected this guild, would get knocked like that.

Frida bit her lips, her eyes misted over when she saw the bloody condition of the man. She clenched and unclenched her hands before making her decision.

“I’m going to use the [Scroll of Return], you take command over all of them”.

Right after saying all that, she brought out an old scroll from her space ring and pulled it open. The scroll had many crisscrossing and complicated lines and diagrams which lit up after she inserted some of her mana onto it.

When the scroll started burning and turned into ashes, those diagrams floated up in the air and formed an intricate array.

Seeing Frida busy herself, Kody gritted his teeth and held the mallet in his hand in determination. Taking out multiple vials of mana recovering potions, he gulped down on it before casting a wide area Light Magic.

“Cleanse this land of all evils… [Purification]”.

From a distance, a bright light could be seen surrounding a part of the forest like a barrier illuminating the place with its milky shine. If one looked carefully, the barrier had a mysterious symbol that gave others a strong suppressive feeling.

When the snowflakes like light fell onto all those adventurers, they felt their bodies mysteriously lighten up and couldn’t help but look at the barrier over their heads.

“Sir Kody? What is he trying to do?”

“He is expending his last bits of precious mana on erecting a powerful barrier that heals you over time if you are inside it”.

Just as they wondered why one of their three leaders was doing something like that, the heated roar of the priest that usually stayed silent and calm, echoed out.

“Since when did the burning arrows guild have spineless cowards like you all? We came here fully knowing what kind of dangers lay ahead and now that our leader is down trying to save all of us, but instead of holding the frontlines in his stead, you people are lying on the floor like some spineless cowards”.

As the snowflakes of light continued to drop on their body, black smoke started coming out of them and they felt like their mind clearing. The instant their mind cleared up, they got up on their feet and frowned.

From the moment they entered this floor, they have been sensing that their mind was being affected slowly by something. That feeling just got confirmed when they say black smokes come out of their body.

Nobody retorted against those words of Kody, it was by their own mistake that they had fallen prey to this sinister effect. Also when they saw their leader being defeated, their morale had indeed hit rock bottom.

Seeing them wake up from their trance and clench their weapons tightly, Kody spoke.

“Frida is invoking the [Scroll of Return], buy her as much time as you can. As long as you stay inside the barrier, the beast’s mind corrupting abilities won’t be able to affect you”.

Everybody nodded their head and got into formation, all of them were aware of the [Scroll of Return] which was their final trump card that could get them out of this dungeon.

The scroll of return that they got for accepting the request from the Branch headquarter of the Adventurer’s Association was a powerful item that contained the laws of space and could connect two places together.

That is to say, with the scroll they could get out of here. However for the effect of the scroll to invoke, it needed a long time to prepare and an enormous amount of mana to fuel it. On top of that, the caster has to constantly focus on evoking the magic contained within the scroll leaving them completely defenceless.

That is why it was up to them to stop the advance of the beasts who would clearly not miss this big of an opening. The enemy was clearly just one, if it was just buying time, they could throw their numbers at him.

As the adventurers were thinking that, the Bloodthorn demonic warhorse who was staying unusually silent after defeating Blake, sulked seeing the light barrier. The mental effect that its [Demonic Grip] skill was having on all those people who had invaded his master’s dungeon, was purified by this damn light barrier.

The adventurer that was responsible for it, had created it big enough to engulf dozens of meters of land around this area. For some reason, being under it made it feel uncomfortable, but since Irene told him not to kill them, it couldn’t attack them with its other skills leaving it with only one option.

Just when everybody wondered why the entity had gone unusually silent, it opened its mouth and gave a coarse ominous roar.

NEEEIIIGGHHH… a huge shadow of the warhorse manifested itself exerting its aura all across the forest. The adventurers hurriedly closed their eyes worried that the scene from before would repeat once again.

However, when they saw none of the mages having any problem, they wondered what the roar was all about.

Frida and Kody narrowed their eyes, they knew that something was up, the unsettling feeling they had, won’t go away. And if to prove them right, they immediately knew why they had this feeling.

The ground rumbled and the distant noise that seems to be coming closer, echoed from every part of the forest. Adventurer that had detection skills, immediately knew what was going on, their face going pale white.

Before the others could wonder what was going on, cries of monsters and their approaching footsteps, rang out. It was not only one or two but was coming from every direction and in hordes.

After a while, the adventurers found themselves encircled by monsters all around with nowhere to run. The Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse used its roar to dominate all the various monsters spawned around this floor and obey its orders.

After it had woken up from its slumber, its level had increased marginally, it had gained new skills and even became self-aware. There was no way these ordinary monsters would be able to endure the bloodline suppression it had exerted.

“This is bad” getting sandwiched by all these monsters on top of also having to face the unknown beast was extremely dangerous. If nothing is done, their guild might very well be wiped off just like that guild… Kody thought internally.

He looked behind him and saw Frida who was doing her absolute best to invoke the Space magic inside the [Scroll of Return]. From her looks, it seemed that it would still take some time before the magic was complete.

That is to say, they had to fend off all of these monsters during this time. The absence of their guild master who would calmly assess the situation and give orders at this crucial time, became all the more apparent.

‘No, we can’t lose hope now. Other than that Beast, all the other monsters are no threat. If I can just…’ at that moment, an idea struck him. Kody glanced at his teammates and tightly clenched the mallet in his hands.

The enemies that surrounded them, gave no time to compose themselves and pounced at them. The warriors at the front, did their best to keep the droves of monsters away while the mages in the centre of the formation cast one spell after another to reduce the number of their enemies and lighten the burden on the frontline.

With just a single roar from the warhorse, the previously silent forest had become a chaotic mess with blood and magic flying everywhere. After descending nineteen floors, the Burning Arrows guild found themselves face to face with an entity they had no chance to win against.

Worse, their current situation was where it would not be surprising to see their whole guild get wiped out.

Why weren’t they calling upon the subsidiary team waiting for them on the floor above to help them? That is because there was no point in doing so, the beast had made it clear that be it one or hundreds of them, it made absolutely no difference.

The gap between their strength was just that big.

Frida who was channelling her mana onto the [Scroll of return] looked at the scene in consternation. The life of her guild mates, was a heavy thing to shoulder.