[Chapter 146. Growing potential]

Lana slowly got back up to her feet; her arm was still throbbing with phantom pain. Her eyes flicked from Searanox to Carmen, her voice soft as she spoke. "He hasn't even moved."

Carmen did not glance back; she simply shook her head softly. "Don't," her voice was quiet as the young woman helped her up to her feet. "How is your arm?"

Lana balled her hand into a fist, then opened it again. "It's okay..." she said while hoisting her shield again. "...let's keep going."

Vanessa and Sarah looked at each other for a moment before following Lana, who was now moving more slowly than before. She checked every dark corner with a raised shield and boots planted firmly against the ground. She was showing the same level of paranoia that plagued Searanox when he was in this dungeon the first time.

The following fights were like the last; they possessed the needed strength to kill. The only danger came from the wolves getting close and overwhelming Lana to move past her into the backline. Each time another Greater was among them, its howl broke their formation. That alone gave the lesser Dire Wolves enough time to slip past her shield. They fought their way through the tunnels and into the first open chamber; they could see multiple levels arranged with what looked like a drop in the middle.

They stepped into the chamber and looked around; there were multiple wolves already alert to them. From one of the upper levels came a howl—not a deafening or disorienting one. This one was not aimed toward them. Within a few seconds, multiple howls answered from different tunnels.

Not long after, dozens of wolves came from tunnels and ledges, jumping down onto their platform. Behind Vanessa, the spell array for her Starfall Matrix was already in place, and it shot one arcane bolt into the chest of one mid-leap. It hit its target square in the chest; the sound of cracking bones and tearing flesh was clearly audible. It landed on the edge of the platform with a dull thud before falling into the pit in the center. The sound of scattered bones followed a fraction of a second later as it landed.

Sarah vanished and stabbed her dagger into the skull of one of them before appearing next to another. The other dagger sliced the soft flesh of its throat before she vanished once again by using Riftstep. Before the first one could fully collapse, three were already dead.

Carmen took a step back, seeking the safety of the rear. With a soft sing of her staff, a mark appeared on Lana's neck after it flashed brightly for a moment. Her staff kept glowing with its dull white light, ready to provide healing whenever needed.

Lana took a firm stance and screamed out, something akin to a war cry. Her shield, held in front of her, flashed with transparent energy; her shield size doubled with the use of her Sepulchral Anchor skill. All the wolves turned their attention toward her, giving Vanessa and Sarah even more openings.

As Lana got mobbed by a dozen wolves, Vanessa already had multiple arrays above her, each firing a bolt of Arcane Energy every time she cast another one. Sarah was appearing next to random wolves and stabbing them in vital areas.

With the second wave came the Greater Dire Wolves; they didn't jump down at first. They watched from high above as their kin got slaughtered by Vanessa's arcane bolts and Sarah's deadly strikes. But all that changed as the first howl shook the air; inside this chamber, it was even more intense than inside the tunnel. The sound of the howl hit them like a sledgehammer; there was nothing either of them could do to prevent its effect. That was true for all except Searanox, who just sat on his drone watching with disinterest from the rear. The first lesser wolf got close and attacked Lana, pushing her shield aside.

Another pack ran past her and went straight for Vanessa and Carmen; before they could reach them, though, Vanessa unleashed a volley of arcane bolts that hit most of them, killing a few. Sarah was not as lucky; she got jumped this time, and their sharp teeth dug deep into her flesh. Her dagger found a skull a few moments later, the pain tearing her out of the staggered state.

Carmen was now healing multiple fronts at once, keeping her healing spread across all of them. With Sarah and Vanessa free from the magically enhanced howl of the Greater Dire Wolf, they continued their attacks. Vanessa was focusing on the ones on their level while Lana held back dozens of them at once. Sarah, on the other hand, was jumping onto the upper levels and stabbing the Greater Dire Wolves that stayed behind, killing two and wounding three more.

Searanox had watched it all; his gaze was on them but still masked with indifference. Internally, he saw their potential, their growing strength. Sarah was becoming not just dangerous but deadly; her swift attacks appeared slow to him, but they were anything but slow. He knew that it was just his perspective, a result of his unnaturally high stats. The mere thought of her future was all he needed—when she would be strong enough to simply appear behind something and end its life within the span of a heartbeat. Vanessa was even more deadly the longer the fight went on; her unique spell was growing stronger with each successive cast. It was as impressive as Iris had described it to him; with enough mana, she could wipe out entire armies single-handedly. Although Carmen didn't demonstrate much of her skill, her potential lay in the way she used her abilities; it was not only calculated but pinpoint accurate. Not a single wasted action. She was focusing on three at once, switching constantly from Lana to the other two. And Lana—she was holding firm; she didn't give them a chance to act, a chance to break free from her taunt, forcing their ire upon herself.

Towards the end of the battle, Lana was bloody but holding firm, a dull white light emanating from her body. Her wounds were constantly healing. Still surrounded by several wolves a shockwave erupted from her, hurling their bodies into every which way. Its force strong enough to break bones as some of them impacted the nearby walls. The entire fight she was accumulating the damage the wolves inflicted into her Gravepulse Reprisal, to release it into one devastating wave.

Vanessa had over ten arrays active that had killed multiple wolves at once in the end; she stood there and waited for any others to appear. As none came, she took a step, and the arrays faded as they unraveled.

"This was not as bad as before," Sarah said as she reappeared next to the others.

Carmen looked at her. "Not as bad? Have you seen Lana? The ward activated even though she was under constant healing from me."

Searanox's gaze swept over the carnage, noting the strategic use of abilities and the coordinated, if brutal, takedowns. Vanessa's arrays had efficiently thinned the herd, while Sarah's deadly mobility had prevented any wolf from overwhelming their flanks. And Lana... Lana had become exactly what her class promised: an immovable wall of flesh and bone, enduring what would have killed any of them. But he kept silent, his face a mask of indifference.

Lana straightened her back, her bloodied clothes full of holes and deep tears. "It's not as bad as it looks," her voice was low and slightly robotic, as it had been when she had to be the shield. Ever since something inside her broke inside the Burrowing Depths—when she was burned alive and beaten beyond her breaking point.

She looked at Carmen. "How much mana do you have left?"

"About half," she answered, a pained undertone in her voice. She didn't like seeing Lana like this, fearing that she would become like this one day, too.

Lana moved forward as Carmen answered, pulling herself up to the next level before looking into the bone pit in the center; the white and yellow bones covered the floor in jagged shards. Several dead beasts lay inside it; many of them were wolves they had just killed that had fallen to their deaths.

From the new vantage point, she could make out multiple tunnels leading outside the chamber.

"There are a lot of tunnels leading out," Lana said in a low voice that echoed in the vast expanse. "Any idea on how to proceed?"

There was no answer for a moment before Sarah appeared out of a rift next to Lana. "We can just take a random one and see where it leads us."

"It's not as if we have any other choice," Carmen said as she effortlessly pulled herself up the ledge, contrary to her petite stature.

They moved through the tunnel that was on the highest level. After a long walk and some branches that ended after a few meters, they reached a dead end. The tunnel had just ended without much ceremony. After a heavy sigh, they moved all the way back to the bone pit to pick another tunnel. They ran from one dead end into the next. There were no more wolves in the side tunnels since they had all come out before; there was only the empty, labyrinthine cave network. It took quite some time before they found the right tunnel that led deeper into the cave; during all of it, Searanox had said not a single word. The only sound that came from him was the crackling of some wrappers; he had been eating through the entirety of the dungeon.

As they finally reached a chamber with a single ledge in the back, there was a sound that came as unexpectedly as anything else. All four of them jumped as they turned towards him.

"You will fight all of them in the tunnels; you won't enter the chamber."

His voice cut through the silence like a knife, making them all flinch simultaneously. Vanessa turned to him, her face a mixture of disbelief and simmering anger, her jaw tight.

"That's suicide," she snapped, her tone sharp and unyielding. "I need space for the arrays, Sarah for maneuvering." Her words were a logical, tactical analysis, stripped of any deference.

Searanox didn't even look at her, his attention on the half-eaten snack in his hand. "I am fully aware of that," he said flatly, taking another bite and speaking around the food. "You're still alive. If you want it to stay like that, do as you were told." The casual dismissal was more infuriating than any direct insult.

A low growl, deeper and more resonant than any they'd heard so far, echoed from the chamber ahead. The Alpha Dire Wolf. Lana took a half-step forward, her knuckles white on her shield strap, her face a grim mask of acceptance.

Deep down, they knew that he was right; the fact alone that he had spoken up now was something not even Lana could ignore. Vanessa's face was a storm cloud of fury, her mind racing through calculations and arguments that all died in the face of his absolute, unnerving calm. She wanted to scream, to point out the tactical idiocy of his command. But she couldn't.