Chapter 80: Sevenfold Tide

"Max, are you okay?" A voice came from nearby.

Max had just come to his senses as [Salvation] restored his Life Force. Since he didn't need to fight anyone at that moment, using Mana to heal himself seemed like the quickest way to recover from the pain. Otherwise, a potion would take much longer to restore him.

He quickly looked around to see who had spoken to him. His eyes landed on the party's healer, Helene, who was kneeling before him, ready to heal him.

"Yes, Senior Helene, I am fine. Please help the party. I will manage here," Max quickly advised as he looked at the hall, where a major battle was taking place. It meant that the Reversal Attack had been strong enough to destroy the barrier. But what had caused that explosion? Max wondered.

Paula had mentioned that if an attack was not powerful enough to break the barrier, it would backfire. His attack had been powerful enough to break it, but it had still exploded. The good thing was that he had run away quickly. Otherwise, the damage would have been severe.

"Marlak, are you there?" Max whispered after the healer walked away to join the battle. At the moment, Max could not feel the presence of the frog sitting on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I am here." Marlak's voice came from nearby.

"Oh, that's great. I thought you had fallen off when the explosion happened," Max said.

"No, I am safe," Marlak assured him.

"Tell me, what kind of monster is this?" Max asked as his eyes continuously followed the strange monster the party was battling. The party was managing without much struggle, which meant the monster's strength was equal to that of the monsters outside the Dungeon, with no anomaly in its strength. However, the monster looked very different from the other monsters in the terrain.

"I don't know," Marlak whispered.

"What do you know?" Max asked, disappointed by Marlak's lack of knowledge.

The monster fighting the party had a humanoid figure, with a spear in its hand. However, its head did not belong to a human but to an octopus-like creature with tentacles. The contradiction in the creature's appearance was like that of heaven and hell. Didn't octopuses live in water? Yet this one lived inside a desert, which was an anomaly.

To Max's surprise, the Seniors were faring very well. The coordination between the Mage, Butterfly, and the Tank, Barbara, was good. The two constantly moved in synchronization, attacking the monster. Butterfly was an earth mage, and she continuously made piercing spikes erupt from the ground and strike the monster. Whenever the monster tried to attack Butterfly, Barbara intervened and tanked the attack.

Meanwhile, Paula stayed behind, giving constant commands and attacking the monster whenever it targeted Barbara. As for the Assassin, Elaine, she moved at rapid speed for close-range battle, sneak attacking and retreating as quickly as possible. Maybe because the monster had woken up from its sleep, it constantly took the attacks on its body, and soon the ferocity of its counterattacks was sharply reduced.

The healer, Helene, continuously provided healing support to the party, while Isabelle stood a little distance away from the main battle. Max did not know how Isabelle could help in the fight. Even though her level would be around 15 or even 20, the Level 50 monster was far too powerful, so her attacks would be useless. Or perhaps he was wrong. From his guess, she was a Mage with a Natural Affinity, since she could grow flowers from her palm. If she was a Druid, such an ability could be a disadvantage in the desert, since there would be little nature for her to utilize.

But why had the second-years selected her as one of the party members? Max did not know. At least he had been selected for his [Salvation]. Max did not know the real reason, but Isabelle was useful somehow. Otherwise, the second-years would not have let her join.

Max sat in the same place throughout the battle without moving. Finally, the monster fell to Butterfly's attack as a sharp obsidian spike pierced its stomach at the earlier wound, making the attack fatal and ending the battle. They had successfully defeated their first Boss Monster and possibly earning their first point.

Max quickly stood up, and Marlak hopped onto his shoulder. He walked towards the battlefield, as he wanted to see what kind of loot the Boss Monster had dropped.

"Max, are you okay?" Isabelle asked when she saw him walking towards them.

"Yeah, I'm okay. There are no serious injuries," Max said, waving it off.

The party had gathered, and Helene was healing everyone after the exhausting battle. Max decided to collect the loot the Boss Monster had left behind. Looking at the ground, he noticed four items shimmering on it. One of the items could be set aside as the core, leaving three other items as potential Weapon or Artifect.

Max walked directly towards the spot where the Boss had died and picked up the first item.

[Undertow Knot]

Type: Control Artifact

Grade: Rare

Description: An artifact formed around a dense core, enclosed by eight flexible filaments. When supplied with Mana, it produces narrow currents of pressure that can influence the movement of nearby objects.

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Max read the details of the artifact. It looked like a very useful strategic tool, one that could disturb the trajectory of objects. Looking at the black bead inside and the filaments wrapped around it, Max tried to guess its functionality. Were the eight filaments used to determine which way an object would move? He wondered, but judging by the description, that seemed to be the right way to use it. Max was happy with this drop, as it would definitely be useful during this Hidden Dungeon adventure.

"What did you find?" a voice asked while Max was inspecting the artifact. It was Isabelle, of course, who was always tailing him for some reason.

"Here, look for yourself!" Max said, handing it to her before moving towards the next item lying nearby. Max bent down and picked it up, noticing that Isabelle was following him again. Since she was also very eager to learn about the artifacts, Max turned around and showed her the item he had picked up.

[False Reach]

Type: Weapon Artifact

Grade: Rare

Description: A compact spear that extends when its wielder supplies Mana during a forward thrust. Its segmented shaft shoots outward in a straight line, reaching a maximum length of three metres before retracting when the grip is twisted. The extension follows the wielder's thrust and adds no extra force to the attack.

Max read the details and immediately liked it. The weapon was currently in the shape of a knife, with a handle larger than that of a ruler knife. However, that was to be expected, since the handle was what enabled the knife to turn into a spear. It would be another strategic artifact. A person could easily ambush an enemy with a surprise attack. The only drawback was that the weapon would provide no extra force when it extended towards the enemy, so the wielder had to put sufficient force into the thrust.

Unfortunately, Max wasn't a Spearman. Though he could use it as a knife, doing so would waste the weapon's potential. However, no one in the party had the Spearman class at the moment, so they could exchange it for an equivalent weapon at the Academy or sell it to a student who was interested in it. Max handed it to Isabelle again and moved to the last item, the one other than the core.

[Sevenfold Tide]

Type: Artifact Component

Grade: Unknown

Assembly Progress: 1/7

Description: A fragment belonging to an incomplete artifact. Its original name, properties, and functions cannot be identified while the other six pieces remain missing.

"Oh, an artifact fragment." Max was excited. Artifacts found in fragments were always considered very powerful if someone managed to find all the pieces. Max was happy that they had chance to gather a powerful artifact, and based on its name, he could guess that it was related to water.

Furthermore, based on the total number of fragments required, he could make a guess about how many Boss Monsters this Hidden Dungeon contained. If the number of fragments corresponded to the number of Boss Monsters, there would be seven in total. Since they had already killed one, he guessed that six remained.

"Is it a good item?" Isabelle asked.

"Yes, it's going to be a good item," Max said as he handed over the fragment, which looked like a broken piece of a conch shell.

While the two of them were collecting the items, the party had finally finished healing. Max quickly looked around the hall to find the doorway that would lead them to the next Boss Monster. If they continued at the same pace, they would definitely clear this Hidden Dungeon within an hour. That was, of course, assuming the remaining monsters weren't stronger than the one they had just killed.

Max looked around, but he could not see any path leading to the next Boss Monster. He quickly moved towards the wall, pretending to check for a hidden door.

"Marlak, can you sense any other monsters nearby?" Max whispered, since he couldn't see anything. However, according to Paula, there could be several monsters, and based on his guess from the Artifact Fragment, six Bosses would still be waiting to be killed. So this single hall couldn't be the end.

"I don't sense anything," Marlak said plainly.

"Come on, spread out your senses and check. We need to move quickly and win this Selection. Do you want to eat cake or not? The only way we can leave the Academy is by winning this Selection. So, if you want to eat cake soon, find the path to the next Boss. Otherwise, it will take you a long time to eat cake," Max said quickly after hearing the frog's nonchalant tone.

"I don't think you are all capable enough to fight the next monsters. They seem to be formidable. You had better leave it here," Marlak whispered quietly.

"What? You can sense the monster?" Max asked, since the frog had been lying there until then.

"That's not the point, as I said. Your strength, and the strength of the other young adventurers, is not enough to move forward. That's all I want to say," Marlak stated firmly, warning him about the risk they were about to take.

Hearing this, Max went silent. Marlak would not warn him if things weren't extremely dangerous, so he had to consider abandoning this Hidden Dungeon. But they were trapped here. Paula had said that the Hidden Dungeon had to be cleared to exit; otherwise, they would have to wait for a rescue team to open the door from outside. Even then, would the door open from outside for others to enter? This sudden thought made Max's stomach churn.

"Do you think the Dungeon Door will open without killing all the monsters?" Max asked.

"We have to try," Marlak said.

Max walked back to the party, which had gathered and was checking the loot. He didn't know what to do or say. As he walked, he quickly asked, "How strong is the monster compared to the one the party killed?"

"I don't know exactly how strong it is, but it's stronger than the one the party killed," Marlak said, as he couldn't accurately gauge the monster's strength.

"That's not helping, man," Max said in frustration.

"Senior Paula, I couldn't find any other path leading to the next monster. I think this Hidden Dungeon consists of only this hall. We should find a way to open the door and exit," Max said as he reached her.

"What are you talking about, Max? I already found the hidden door during the earlier scan," the Assassin, Elaine, said.

God damn it! Max cursed inwardly. That useless artifact had failed to find the hidden monster, yet it had found the hidden door. It would become a disaster if he didn't stop them. However, if he tried to do so, they would definitely realize that something was wrong. Max weighed his options. The party's lives were more important than his secret, so telling them the truth would definitely help them avoid the catastrophe they were about to walk into.

Uhhhh... Max was in a tight spot. Then he suddenly remembered something he had forgotten: who was going to break the barrier? Max could say that he was at his limit and wouldn't be able to do it.

"Even if we enter, we have no means of breaking the barrier. I am at my limit, so I can't possibly break it to wake up the monster," Max said, pointing out the practical limitation they faced.

"Don't worry, Max. I have a way to break the barrier now!" Paula suddenly revealed.

What?! What do you mean you have a way to break it? Max was shell-shocked by this revelation.